Kiresula had worked a lot over the next few days. Her task was mostly to lead people to and fro while en route explaining the basics of foraging to other groups. With the others lacking the skills, it was hard, because it was more of a matter of rote memorisation than learning. When they reached the dungeon, the group did one or two runs of the quite passive-aggressive Dungeon of the Black Waters. It knew that there was no one in its preferred skill range, so it made a very ridiculous challenge: The first room had one singular goblin, the second one two goblins, both unarmed. After each room, people had the chance to leave and forfeit their winnings or challenge themselves further. Each room afterwards had a slightly more difficult goblin challenge. Kiresula only was able to progress to the tenth group when she was on her own, the group of all three of them together reached room 25: 3 goblins with fire spells. The group was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but afterwards needed the services of a healer. This was as far as anyone could go. Of course, the fact that the rooms didn't have any elements that the glitchlings could use for their advantage. Partly for that very reason, most other people were not able to get to room 4.

Kiresula had long since assumed that glitchling levels were more fine-grained so that glitchlings level up easier, but each level up had less rewards. The glitchlings were not able to defeat opponents as easily as people of the same level who are in the conventional system. This was partly affected by the fact that the glitchlings had much more specialised classes. Kiresula never encountered the same class twice and some of them, including her own, were strangely specialised.

With food foraging explained, a stream in the vicinity, some crafty workers able to restore a fishing boat to seaworthiness, and some former farmers eager to get started on working the land again, a few days later Kiresula, Mayana and Kju departed to Ilkshehir. This time, they travelled fast, until the light of dusk faded and they had to take a rest until the early dawn. When they reached the city, they entered it through the subterranean passages and reached Haina's mansion.

When the group reached the staff entrance, Kju knocked and the group was led to their room. Washing was quite a relief after the time on the road. Kiresula didn't get any notifications on the journey, but now as she had returned, she received one:

Class Achievement: Led a group of people through dangerous territory and made it safely back to your previous location. This provides experience to your Seferian Mage class.

She smiled.

Afterwards, she looked after her plants and thanked the maid Djansu for taking care of her plants. The group then caught up on sleep. The hard ground was a bad replacement for a nice bed. It was in the evening when Haina arrived. He looked absolutely miserable and his clothes were bloodstained. Kiresula wasn't certain if it was his blood or that of a prisoner. "You're back!" he shouted in excitement.

Kiresula smiled: "We are indeed! Sorry for our long absence."

Haina asked: "Let me guess: You are also the reason for the absence of the glitchlings?"

Kiresula made a vague gesture: "Without the help of the Holy Order, we'd've never convinced anyone to come. Can you imagine how long the journey is when you are a level 1 glitchling?"

Haina looked at the others and asked: "So, did this work? Have they arrived?"

Kiresula nodded: "They did. There were some setbacks on the way, but we eventually made it. Gained a good few levels from it. Also helped the dungeon of the black waters, which was basically about to descend into the nether. It did a pretty passive-aggressive redesign afterwards, but I guess we deserved that one."

Mayana added: "Eventually, we will get through room 25 though. It's just hard on flat terrain without any tricks that my wifey would have used otherwise."

Kiresula added: "We mostly have to rely on bubbles against fireballs, which makes the entire room hot and humid! And of course on the excellent blade skills of Mayana."

Kju smiled: "Or we need to ask a particular group of adventurers to fight with us. They'd rush through it!"

Haina looked worried: "Were there any injuries or casualties?"

Kiresula nodded: "A few people had bad blisters when they arrived. Some people got a nasty sunburn. Nothing worse though."

Haina smiled: "That is good to know. I was worried. I sometimes was able to give food to the community, so I really want them to thrive."

Mayana smiled: "Yeah, the group should know how to eke out a living off the land and the sea. They should be able to start farming eventually. And of course delving the dungeon in order to level up."

Haina nodded thoughtfully: "If glitchlings have the means to exist outside of regular society, that would be good… I mean, I hope that we can prevent the glitching of society, but if we cannot and broken magic slowly takes over the land, then the best we can hope is that society slowly can adapt, that people can level up, that not everyone is a hapless person without any means to progress but that when the last people glitch, there are already level 100s… Or whatever high enough level in the new system would be."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Mayana nodded: "I hope this will work. There are glitchlings right now who also live on more or less independently in the Black Cat Ruins and near Memleket. I hope that this means that there is a chance."

Haina thought about something: "I see. I guess we should go to another place with many glitchlings so you can do your magic on them to allow them to progress again. I was thinking about doing the Rainbow Turtle Dungeon with you as it shows inclusion of broken magic, but maybe it would make more sense to go to a place with more glitchlings… I would have loved to go to Sahilkasaba, but you know,... Tshimenshehir is also a nice place."

Kiresula and Mayana perked up: "Tshimenshehir‽ That's where the Academy is where we studied! I'd love to go back!"

Kju looked confused: "Isn't that near Memleket?"

Kiresula looked pained: "It is not really near Memleket, but Memleket is on the way there."

Kju smiled: "That's awesome! I missed my friends from the Rainbow House!"

Mayana urged caution: "What Dungeon do you want us to do there? Helajaku?"

Haina shook his head: "That one seems stable… I was thinking of Juiseli."

The group looked at each other before they all exclaimed the same thing: "No way!"

Haina looked confused: "I thought you did frequently best things past your level…"

Kiresula responded: "There is 'past your level' and there is 'suicide mission'! And Juiseli is not 'past your level'. Not even our instructors delved it. And they all had triple digit levels! No! There is no way we are doing that one!"

Haina quietly said: "I thought you did the Forbidden Dungeon?"

Kiresula said: "We were given the option to get out after the elemental eagles. We didn't get to the very end."

Haina raised an eyebrow: "I wasn't aware that the dungeon even lets people out before the stone threads. I guess it deemed that there were too few 'dungeon nutrients' in you to warrant using transport magic. to the next level. I heard that dungeons deem the death of a high level delver much more pleasing to them than the death of a low level delver. So, that could have been the reason for that… It's interesting. Do you think that you could clear the Rainbow Turtle Dungeon?"

Kju shrugged: "I don't know anything about it, so I cannot say anything about how we would do with it. But think about something that we can do at level 15."

Kiresula nodded: "We're not really at the level that we can beat a turtle that has access to basically all elements and is insanely hard to damage. I did it at level 23 with Mayana and a few other folks."

Mayana nodded: "It was a bit of a challenge back then, but we were 6 people…"

Haina asked: "So, that is a yes if I fight on your side?"

Kiresula smiled: "When will we depart? Maybe we can gain a few levels before that?"

Haina smiled about that: "Have you considered running the Ratcave? It is a newbie dungeon, but if you defeat it consecutively, it becomes somewhat harder. I can get off in two tendays, so we can go then. What do you think?"

Mayana shook her head in disgust: "I don't like that particular dungeon. Just by the name. Dungeons where you are up against a swarm of small creatures are always difficult."

Kiresula nodded: "I am sure that we can defeat it, especially with some nice enchanted equipment. The Ratcave is supposed to be for level 5 and upwards. Some pupils went there on summer vacation to level up."

Haina added: "This is an instanced dungeon. You are in your own space as a group – even in the rest area. That's why I suggested it."

Kiresula's eye lit up: "That might raise less flags than our trip to the Savage Dungeon"

The group talked about the exact plans for a while until they came to the conclusion that it would be best if the group stayed in the Ratcave and fought there to gain a few levels. That would avoid them sneaking into the dungeon occasionally in order to delve it. The Shanastanis would probably not rat them out as they also were not supposed to be there, but had it been another group, the reaction might have been different. The Savage Dungeon was reopened claiming that the detected incursions must have been a mistake, so running this one would no longer be possible. Kiresula asked how the Holy Order decided to explain the changes of the dungeon and Haina said that it didn't. They just blocked the green entrances, which would lead to the synthic area.

Kiresula chuckled about this. It seemed to fit their modus operandi: They wanted to keep people safe and at the same time make it seem like they were the ones doing so and keeping their position in society. But at the same time, they had this ideological blindness regarding the green system and a misunderstanding regarding the lacking sections in the status screens. It seemed so obvious to the others, but it was something that ran into so many tenets the Holy Order taught and was taught. It ran against some very foundational ideas that people were not aware of that they were even debatable. The idea that the spells to gain information wouldn't work implied the very system they believed in didn't, especially as their description didn't mention any situations where these spells failed. So for status elements not to show up, and due to the different scaling lower real-world effects of the green stats, was a crisis and made it seem very much like people would lose the concept when they lost the stat. Kiresula knew that it would take a lot to convince a member of the Holy Order.

She didn't think the secular order cared so much about if someone was glitchling or not as long as they paid taxes and didn't disturb the order too much. The issues they had seemed less prevalent than what the Holy Order did. She would assume that eventually, the glitchlings would need to go official and have their village registered and put under the protection of the co-prince, but until then, a lot of water would stream down the rivers.

It was when they were in their room again, that the group got to talk.

"I don't know what Haina was thinking! The Juiseli Dungeon‽ What kind of drugs was he on‽ No way we could have defeated that one."

Kiresula nodded: "I think Haina might have misunderstood what making it out of the Forbidden Dungeon means. But it worries me as well. Eventually, he will overestimate us and then, not even healing spells can help us – unless someone knows synthic ones."

Mayana nodded: "And I am not sure that anyone in Beyaz Utshurum can cast any glitchling healing spell."