Back on Tzintkra, it was finally morning. The group split up to look for more stone buildings like the one Serenity had teleported into. Hale asked them not to enter any; they’d meet at lunchtime and decide where to go from there.

Serenity and Raz surveyed the jungle area from high in the sky, looking for breaks in the canopy. When they found one, they’d descend and see if there was a building. They didn’t find any buildings as large as the first, but they did find a pile of rubble with what was left of a forest giant lying where it had knocked the building down.

While they were surveying, Serenity worked on Raz’s hand whenever he had enough mana. By the end of the morning, only his fingertips were still without sensation.

When they met for lunch, they found out that Katya had found another dungeon, but all she’d been able to tell was that it was a three-person Unrated Standard dungeon. She assumed it was Death, because nearly every dungeon on Tzintkra was, but all they could do was add it to the map since they didn’t have a dungeon specialist with them.

“I could take a look at it.” Raz offered. “It’d be good to see another dungeon.”

Hale shook his head. “We shouldn’t go in. The first opening often has some bonuses, we’ll get a better reward for the information if it’s unopened.”

Raz’s tail drooped, but he was still nearly bouncing in eagerness. “I don’t have to go in. I just mean - I can check the entrance. I, I’m not a dungeon specialist yet, but that’s where I’m going. So I want to see as many dungeons as possible.”

Hale grunted, then thought for a moment. “Fine, we’ll all go. It’ll make it easier to put on the map anyway. This does mean you’re coming back to the Shining Caverns with us, though. You don’t get to go off and report dungeon locations to anyone else until we’ve got credit for them.” He sighed. “It’s too bad we didn’t recover Zekia’s map. I’d have liked to have Zan turn that in, too.”

“I have it.” Everyone turned to Zan in surprise. “I think you were distracted by Katya with the core when I searched the room. There was part of a set of armor, just the chest armor, and a bag in a corner. The bag had Zakia’s map.”

Serenity was sure it had held other stuff as well, but he wasn’t going to object even though he’d been the one to make sure Garrett stayed dead. He’d seen the bag when he was adding tapestries, but hadn’t checked it - and he wasn’t the one who’d lost a sister.

Losing family hurt, and he didn’t see any reason to keep Zan away from anything that might help him deal with it.

----------------------------------------

Before they reached the dungeon, Serenity felt the disc cross into a strong area of raw mana. He stopped moving the disc forward in surprise. He felt the mana flowing past him, but as it did it also flowed into him. It resonated with the Core in his brain and the crystal in his belly. He could feel it flowing between the two, changing as it moved.

He could taste it as it flowed into his mouth and down to his stomach. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he recognized that this was part of what “manavore” meant. He’d thought it meant that magical meat provided more energy, and that seemed to be true, but this was like drinking from a fire hose instead of a cup.

“Serenity? Do you see something?”

Serenity pulled himself back to the normal world to find that Raz was looking all around them. Serenity tried to concentrate enough to keep moving but was almost immediately distracted. He felt full in a way he hadn’t felt in longer than he could remember. Not just not hungry or comfortable but actually completely full. He was starting to feel overstuffed.

“Can you take over for a bit, Raz? I need to concentrate.” Serenity closed his eyes, even though that didn’t make much difference, and tried to figure out what was happening. It was starting to get uncomfortable, and he wanted to stop it.

“Sure?” Raz seemed doubtful, but Serenity felt the disc start moving again as he started pushing on the mana around himself, trying to get it to stay out.

All that did was slow it down.

The movement between his core and the crystal wasn’t painful; it was the mana he was still eating that hurt. His healing reserve was long since full, and he could feel it complaining at him. It really was too bad that he no longer had a way to turn overflow into Ev.

Serenity concentrated and pushed the mana away from his mouth and stomach and into his brain and crystal. They were very close, so it should be possible-

Something seemed to click into place. He felt something change on his head, and when he reached up, he found that he had a tiny pair of horns, less than half an inch tall. They were probably mostly hidden by his hair. He could feel them gather the raw mana, pulling it away from where he didn’t want it to go and directing it to where he did want it. They seemed to be directly linked to his Core with more crystal fibers, but somehow he was certain that if he wanted to eat the raw mana, he’d be able to do that instead.

Stolen story; please report.

“We’re here. And you have silver patterns on your skin.” Raz sounded a bit shaken, so Serenity turned to him, opening his eyes since he no longer needed to concentrate. Raz sounded confused when he continued, “Your eyes are glowing. Purple? Like your scale color?”

The oddest question passed through Serenity's head for a moment - When had Raz seen his scales? … Right. When he took the top part of his armor off for the Heart.

As for the patterns on his skin, Serenity wasn’t surprised they were there, but he’d expected them to be black. They had been back when he took care of that guy who was ill from all the mana stones. Was it because this was mana instead of essence, or had they actually changed color at some point?

The glowing eyes were probably from Sense Raw Mana.

Serenity supposed it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t like he could see any of it.

Serenity figured he’d better respond. “We’re in a ley line. I wasn’t expecting it to be so distracting.”

“So that’s why you’re glowing?” Zan’s voice came from above, and Serenity started. He hadn’t even realized Zan was up there. He was usually more observant than that. He should have known Zan was somewhere nearby; after all, both Katya and Hale were floating on their flying chairs a little ahead of the disc, near a door that looked like it led into a building.

They were both also looking at Serenity.

Serenity considered acting like he knew what was going on, then dismissed the idea. There were downsides to showing his ignorance, but in this case it seemed less dangerous than the alternative. “I guess so? I hadn’t realized I was.”

Raz hopped off the disc and sauntered up to the door. Serenity followed him, and when Raz put his hand on the door to check it, Serenity did the same.

[Dungeon: Ancient Temple]

[This dungeon formed at a ley line nexus which crossed over an ancient temple complex used to prepare the dead for burial. While the temple was not connected to the Catacombs, the dungeon has dug deep enough to reach them]

[Status: Full]

[Tier: Unrated]

[Type: Death, Undead]

[Next Wave: 10 days]

[No current assault(s). Maximum capacity per group: 3]

[Catacomb Key Required to Initiate Assault]

[Enter Dungeon?]

[Bypass Key Requirement?]

“Death and undead,” Raz reported. “It’s a wave type, and it’s full. I can’t tell exactly how long until it spits out a wave. A week? Maybe a bit more.”

A bit over a week was close enough that Serenity didn’t say anything.

Why was he seeing as much information as someone working to become a dungeon specialist? Was that a chimera thing? Serenity didn’t think it was because he’d eaten the Last Refuge of the Deathless’s dungeon core; he’d seen more information than he expected on that dungeon, too.

Maybe it was because of the crystal seed?

“Can you tell the rating, or at least how deep it is?” Hale was standing directly behind Serenity when he reached past the two of them to put his hand on the door as well.

Raz sighed. “All it says is Unrated. That just means it hasn’t been explored in long enough that its rating has expired, if it was ever rated in the first place.” Raz’s tone of voice sounded like he was saying and you should know that, but Raz didn’t say anything that rude out loud.

Serenity glanced back at the dungeon description. It was still odd that he could read anything the Voice showed him since he couldn’t exactly see, but he supposed the Voice had to be able to interact with everyone. It was better than just knowing things. That was still creepy, even though he was starting to get used to it.

The Catacombs were mentioned in two places, but Raz must not be able to see the key requirement or he’d have mentioned it. “Read the flavor text,” Serenity stated. “It looks like it’s there.”

“The what?” Raz sounded lost.

Serenity had a sinking feeling that reminded him of the first time a puppy followed him home to his new apartment. He hadn’t planned to have a dog, but Brianna had been a good dog. The best dog. He’d avoided getting another pet after she passed. Rissa had a yard and they’d talked about it, but it hadn’t happened yet.

Raz wasn’t a puppy, and Serenity didn’t know why he was suddenly reminded of Brianna. It was a good memory. A little bittersweet, but good.

“The flavor-” Serenity stopped himself. Of course Raz wouldn’t know the term. It wasn’t new on Earth, but it was definitely a colloquialism, and it didn’t translate well into Bridge. Serenity realized he’d literally said “the eating words.” It was a mistake that was easy to make when thinking in one language and speaking in another.

Serenity tried again. “The dungeon description. It’s there.” Surely Raz could see that?

Raz read it out loud. “This dungeon formed at a ley line nexus which crossed over an ancient temple complex used to prepare the dead for burial. While the temple was not connected to the Catacombs, the dungeon has dug deep enough to reach them.”

“A Catacomb dungeon? Good to know. It’ll be worth more.” Hale took his hand away from the door. “I keep thinking I should figure out how to see that stuff, but it’s so rarely necessary.”