A couple of guards were looking uncertain. Another guard was downright shaking. A fourth, the first of the group to have seen us approach, had taken a very well timed bathroom break and hadn't returned. Hopefully, he was just hiding, and hadn't gone to fetch anyone I didn't want to see.

I left Ja'yakril to explain that he was escorting me to the temple while I inspected the row of stakes. Despite Ja'yakril's claim, I wasn't convinced that the priesthood had come out completely on top from the conflict, given that a couple of guards were busy removing them. Perhaps the balance had shifted somewhat after the death of the arch-priestess? Besides, even if the priesthood came out on top over the warriors, there were still three other castes that hadn't been decapitated. They may well be moving to seize more power, or playing other political games. The priesthood may have 'won', only to find themselves immediately involved in a second situation in which they had no hope of prevailing.

The guards removing the gruesome display hadn't got very far, and I saw So'layn, Si'janrii and Si'chieen all still up there. I was actually surprised Ja'yakril had survived, given that everyone else I'd met that had tried to do anything to me hadn't. No wonder he was so nervous.

Given how long it took Ja'yakril to convince the guards to let us through, I wasn't sure I really could have got through the gates unaccompanied. He had to explain that we were on our way to fix the shrine, point out that without the barrier their jobs had become a lot more dangerous, and display the mana crystal that would be used for repairs. Their reaction to the mana crystal was a bit of a surprise. I'd thought Ja'yakril's comment about it being valuable had just been made on general principles because he didn't want to give it to me, but novice empath picked up shock from all three guards, so maybe they were legitimately precious?

"Where do mana crystals come from?" I asked as we walked.

"The corpses of powerful, magic-using monsters," he replied. Then there should be one in the giant centipede... I'd have to go over it with sense mana the next time I was there. And what about the spider queen? Her body was too small to fit a crystal of that size. Would she give a mini one?

This time, there were no overheard voices while we travelled. The streets were quieter than my previous visit, but not deserted. It was just that everyone who saw us seemed to suddenly decide they had somewhere else to be, turning into shops or down side streets. I saw parents grab children and drag them inside, and a few walkers who outright reversed direction. It was kinda lonely having people react like that, but better than some of the alternatives. At least it meant we made it to the temple without getting accosted by anyone.

The temple itself was not looking good. The structure was now black and devoid of mana, matching the other buildings. The inside was better, still lit up by their white plate lights, but the statue was cracked and crumbling.

New side quest: Make an offering to the weakened shrine

You have encountered a desecrated shrine, whose power is waning due to the defilement. Make an offering to restore its full glory and restore the barriers that protect this land.

Clear conditions: Sacrifice mana crystals worth a minimum of 100 mana to the weakened shrine.

Reward: Gain one class level

Awesome. I got the side quest, and the reward was a class level! I could get my last skill. Probably because the shrine hadn't been damaged for long enough for the biome to degrade.

"You... you came back?!"

Oh, great... Incoming zealot. I turned to see Do'myrith rushing towards us.

"I'm not staying. I heard some idiot broke your shrine, so I came to fix it. Then I'll be heading into the catacombs."

She stopped and blanched. "Why down there... That's not a place for..."

I ignored her and took the mana crystal from Ja'yakril, offering it up in the same way as last time.

Side quest complete: Make an offering to the weakened shrine

I did appreciate it when my quests were easy... The statue lit up and repaired itself, and I felt the pulse of mana as the barriers reasserted themselves.

"Give Ja'yakril the thanks for the materials, and now, if you don't mind, please show me the way downstairs."

"Won't you please wait for a bit? Our leaders want to meet you."

"No. I want nothing more to do with you people, and if the entrance to the catacombs wasn't here, I wouldn't have come back at all. Please, just show me down there, and I'll be on my way."

Given that sense presence was picking up a major signature rapidly approaching, one of those leaders apparently wasn't prepared to wait. Thankfully, Do'myrith didn't quibble, and led me through the back door, down a couple of passages and to a massive, black, metal gate, engraved with some of the most disturbing imagery I'd seen since my drug fuelled artistic episode back on the top floor. A lot of it consisted of one fox-kin committing various unpleasant acts to another, but there were depictions of skeletons and what I assumed were various types of undead. Skulls featured quite prominently. Guess that confirmed the nature of the next floor.

Standing around the gate were a group of priests and priestesses, as well as others in outfits that looked much like Mi'taan's. There were even a smattering of guardsmen. I didn't see any wounds, but there were signs of fighting, and all were looking relieved. Through the gate was a staircase leading downwards into darkness.

"Do'myrith!" called one of the priestesses. "The barrier is back! They've retreated. We..." she stopped abruptly as she caught sight of me following behind.

"Yes, I know. Well done everyone for keeping up the defence. Katie here repaired the barrier for us, and she will now be heading into the catacombs."

Novice empath advanced to level 5

Not that I needed the skill to pick up on the confusion most of them were showing. Apprehension and pity from some. Even a spot of glee from a few of the warriors. Still not wanting to deal with fox-kin any more than I needed to, and with the strong presence now inside the temple, I hurried past them and down the stairs. There were plenty of surprised mutterings, but none directed at me, so I simply ignored them all.

"Hey, Katie! Wait! Come back! We need to talk to you!"

Okay, that one was directed at me. I recognised the voice, too: Mi'taan. He hadn't been with the contingent of mages defending the gate. Did he come with the large presence? Either way, while I wasn't particularly averse to speaking to him, I had no intention of heading back up when there were so many others around, so I kept on walking, pulling out my shield once it got too dark to see.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

And then I walked, walked and walked some more.

Seriously, how long was this staircase? I wanted to stop and pick my final skill, but I was really hoping to get somewhere flat first. The air was starting to get stale and dry, leaving an unpleasant taste in my mouth, while the temperature dropped to the point of unpleasantness. I kept a careful watch on my footing in case of sudden patches of ice, but continued downwards.

What I hadn't seen was any sort of enemy. Given that they had apparently been attacking the temple only minutes before I'd arrived, that was strange. Maybe the sudden impulse from being pushed by the barrier had caused them all to fall down the stairs, and once I finally got to the bottom I'd find a big pile of them. I probably should have asked what the enemies were, but I was too busy trying to pretend the fox-kin didn't exist.

A sudden tickle in my throat caused me to cough. The air here was really bad. It wasn't just my throat it was irritating either; even my skin was starting to get itchy. I hadn't had any new resistance levels for it, but I doubted I could 'resist' some tickly dust, or even a lack of oxygen. Poison nullification should at least counter stuff in the air that shouldn't be there, and it wasn't telling me that I was being poisoned right now.

A few more steps and I coughed again, violently, and with alarm I saw a few spots of blood end up on the floor.

Right... New theory. Ja'yakril had rather enigmatically stated that all that was down here was death. From the skill description of disease resistance, I knew undead blight counted as a disease. That skill was capped at level twenty, and hadn't yet evolved, so wouldn't level even if I was hit by some awful disease. I was probably under attack by undead blight.

I activated trigger respawn, because I had no idea if turning into some sort of zombie would count as dying, before continuing on. A burning sensation on my skin was enough to get me to stop and remove my armour, and in the light of my shield I could see my skin was covered in sores, some of the larger ones weeping black fluids. And this was with disease resistance?!

I started another coughing fit, and this time I couldn't stop. When I saw the amount of blood that was coming up, it was obvious that I wasn't going to survive much longer, so I hurriedly stored my shield, plunging the staircase into complete darkness. There was no trace of light visible anywhere, not even from above.

The coughing fit caused me to lose my footing, and I went tumbling down the stairs. It turned out I had almost reached the bottom, but 'almost' was a relative term, and there was more than enough time for me to hear the bones smash as my limbs twisted in unnatural directions. Amazingly, I managed to not break my neck during my rapid descent, and even landed in something soft. The fact that what I'd landed in was moving was something I tried not to think too hard about.

Actually, I didn't need to try. I noticed I was struggling to think hard about anything. Brain damage from the fall? I'd definitely bashed my head more times than was healthy on the way down. At least I'd finally stopped coughing.

...Actually, now that I paid attention, I'd stopped breathing.

I... What was I even doing down here? I was looking for something? Why was thinking so hard? And why was I so hungry? That must have been what I was looking for; food. No, that made no sense; the food was all upstairs, but I'd deliberately come down here. There must be something else...

Something...

Evolution conditions met: Disease resistance ranks up to disease nullification

Dirty water, contaminated food or infected wounds are all things that an adventurer needs to be wary of, even before considering even worse things like undead blight or magical plagues. You have survived a necrotising virus, a massive parasite infestation and even the dreaded undead blight, feats for which your resistance has been upgraded to nullification. This skill greatly boosts your immune system, helping your body fight off foreign living contaminants and even providing resistance to magical diseases. It will also alert you when your body is under attack by disease.

My eyes snapped open back in my respawn cave. Well then... That was an interesting experience. Didn't even get as far as fighting my first enemy. And that bit at the end... A few minutes more, and I'd probably have been hankering after brains. Still, I was pretty sure I died before trigger respawn kicked in, so at least there didn't seem to be any danger of getting stuck as a zombie forever. That was...

Sense presence advanced to level 7

I froze as I spotted a giant centipede sized presence nearby. It was in my pet murder tree's room. It wasn't paying me attention, and wasn't moving, but even so, what was that and where had it come from? Had the spider queen returned? I really needed to learn how to tell presences apart, or at least gauge their strength accurately enough to use that as an identifier. Hopefully, a skill evolution would give me that.

The safest way to find out if it was the spider queen would be to visit the spider queen's new home and see if she was still there, but my bed and stuff was in the tree's room, not to mention my artwork. It was embarrassing. While I was debating whether I wanted to risk poking my head in, I checked out my available new skills.

Faster respawn: Cut respawn time by 95%.

Magic focus: Gain magic skills much more easily, and level them significantly faster. Counts as an achievement for the purpose of evolving all tier 1 magic skills.

Combat focus: Gain combat skills much more easily, and level them significantly faster. Counts as an achievement for the purpose of evolving all tier 1 combat skills.

Scouting focus: Gain scouting skills much more easily, and level them significantly faster. Counts as an achievement for the purpose of evolving all tier 1 scouting skills.

Crafting focus: Gain crafting skills much more easily, and level them significantly faster. Counts as an achievement for the purpose of evolving all tier 1 crafting skills.

Healing rest: A couple of hours' rest completely restores health, stamina and mana.

Register spawn location: Mark up to two additional locations as alternate respawn points. A custom respawn point can be reset once a day.

Stable equipment: Damage to equipment is dispersed across the whole and repairs can be conducted by merger with construction materials. Material required for repair is less than the material required for construction. Equipment is indestructible.

Fast travel: You can move instantly between spawn points.

Stable body: Your body is significantly harder to wound, but health damage remains unaltered. Reaching zero health forces a respawn.

Another RPG staple! I got fast travel! That would be nice, but was it functionally better than picking faster respawn and suiciding my way between respawn points? It would leave less mess, at least. And it would have got me out of the arch-priestess's stupid sanctuary spell.

The final addition was a version of stable equipment for my own body. That made sense too; in a typical RPG, each character had a one-dimensional health bar and didn't need to worry about things like broken bones and wounds. That would have tempted me more if it had a better defined effect than 'significantly harder'.

Register spawn location now looked even more tempting with the addition of an extra location, but again, all the skills had upgrades. Stable equipment would now save materials, healing rest was down to a couple of hours, focus skills would give an even bigger levelling improvement, and faster respawn had halved the time lag since the previous level.

In the end, I picked fast travel. I was likely to find more shrines in the future, and being able to hop back and fore between an arbitrary shrine and my home base would be handy. Really, though, I wanted all of them. It was a pity that the lack of any further locked skill slots in my status suggested that wasn't going to happen.

Name: Katie

Primary class: Princess of undying laughter (level 5)

- Class skills -

Trigger respawn

Item box

Mapping

Appraisal

Resistance focus

Fast travel

- Combat skills -

Unarmed dabbler: Level 5

Novice dodger: Level 10

Spear proficiency: Level 15

Proficient blocker: Level 12

Dagger proficiency: Level 15

Sword dabbler: Level 10

- Resistance skills -

Friend of fear

Pain nullification: Level 20

Poison nullification: Level 20

Corrosion resistance: Level 12

Disease nullification: Level 20

Mind magic resistance: Level 11

Heat tolerance: Level 4

Light tolerance: Level 1

- Crafting skills -

Improvisational artisan: Level 11

Artistry: Level 4

- Scouting skills -

Novice stealth: Level 7

Sense presence: Level 7

Novice empath: Level 5

- Magic skills -

Sense mana: Level 5

Bend mana: Level 1

With the disease nullification evolution, I wanted to take another stab at the catacombs, but first I was going to poke my head in to see who was bothering my favourite tree.