Chapter 15: Recuperation
High Priority Target - Research Team
Ivy woke from a vivid dream. One where she was just a little bit faster and a little bit stronger. Which meant she hadn't gotten a Skill despite leveling. She would have preferred if it cut the fancy stuff when there was nothing to teach, and let her sleep in peace instead. A level was a positive though, especially because of the healing effect. Coughing up blood had not been pleasant.
Ivy was lying in a bed, every part of her body aching despite the healing. She knew there was no permanent damage, as while she had overused her dash, she also had a Skill for knowing her limits. A few more dashes and she would have snapped a couple of tendons and scarred her lungs. She would have gladly made the sacrifice to save more people, but having difficulty breathing for the rest of her life was not very appealing.
Her thoughts turned to the attack on the village and to the dungeon. She had always tried to prepare herself for the sight of blood and death, but seeing it herself was different. She had nearly frozen when she saw the bloodbath in the village, but she pushed through. Ivy had grown up in a city, a place with strong fortified walls and safety, but she always thought the safety was a comforting lie. Sooner or later either the gods or monsters or they themselves would tear it apart. There could be no true safety in this world, not while the nobles hoarded their cores and fought wars for even more, not while the gods stood in judgement without considering the lives they would destroy, and most certainly not while things like that fucking dungeon exist. She would either find a place without any of them, or find a way to stop them all, even the gods.
She refrained from telling people about the last thing, as people would think she was crazy.
Ivy looked down at the core still in her hand. She had not let go of it, even as she slept. She channeled a tiny bit of mana into it, and felt her senses expand. What were usually vague feelings now revealed themselves to her. Usually Skills faded into the background and became an indistinguishable part of yourself, only visible to and given names by people with particular Skills. But when she held the core, she felt all four of them, as if she were in the same dreams that had taught them to her.
She could feel the way her [Lesser Dexterity] sat in her spine and limbs, making her movements more precise, closer to what she actually intended. She could feel the things that made her hands shake and her heart beat faster and make them just...stop.
She could feel the distance a [Dash] would take her, the speed of it and how much it would tire her. She could control it and predict it, as if she had trained with the Skill for years, and had learned its every detail.
She could sense the way her [Feel Limits] overrode her pains and aches and tiredness, to replace them with something less overwhelming and yet greater in detail. With a thought, her aches were gone from her mind, and all that was left was an understanding that she should not strain herself.
Her last Skill acted differently. She could feel the world as her [See Tracks] saw it, before it translated its vision for her. Something incomprehensible hid behind it, ever-shifting signs and portents and lines carved into the world. She was forced to turn the Skill off, to keep it from overwhelming her.
She had used her boosted abilities to dash through the forest as fast as she could physically sustain. To position her arm in the correct way, so she would not break it as her sword plunged into the goblins. The core had let her do that.
Robert had said knowing the dungeons Aspect would reveal its weaknesses, but for now it only showed her why it had been so dangerous. They did not understand what to call its Aspect, but it was something that interacted with every Skill they tested. The effect was lesser for Robert and Kalen, most of their Skills less compatible. Kalen refused to hold one because of a bad interaction with a Skill he refused to name, but Robert had said the night before that holding the core made him feel like he could finally close his eyes from the blinding amount of perception Skills he had. Ivy was still young, not having gained very many Skills. She could only imagine what would happen if someone like her, but more powerful got their hands on one of these cores.
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The only cores of comparable potential she could think of were those of the Royal Dungeon, whose primary Aspect was, amusingly, Cores. The Kings and Queens who controlled the dungeon demanded oaths of fealty from entire dynasties in exchange for a single one. They liked to pretend otherwise, but the only thing that defined nobility was a piece of armor or a weapon from the Royal Dungeon studded with cores to combine their power. And now there was another dungeon for them to fight over, if it didn't just continue its killing spree.
She hobbled out of bed and out of the small house, slow enough that she would not slow her healing. Rosewood looked very similar to Esterland to her, and left her with a pang of anxiety as she imagined goblins and spikes invading it like they did with Esterland. There were still thin trails of blood from the villagers who had escaped with injuries. She was afraid many would die from infection if they did not level, which would have sealed their injuries. She was glad they had at least killed one of the goblins, and distracted another plus a dire wolf, before they reached the village. Still she wondered how many more could have lived if they had been in the village instead of in the swamp. A part of her wanted to blame Robert, but a greater part of her refused, as he was not responsible for the dungeon acting as it did.
There was a small crowd outside. Melissa, Kalen and Robert and a few escaped villagers were speaking to the local leaders and villagers, telling them about what had happened in Esterland. She joined them and listened to them planning. They wanted to go south, to warn the villages and towns before the dungeon could reach them. She could tell that both Kalen and Robert felt guilty about not being able to do more. Melissa seemed only disappointed, as if she had seen it all before and had hoped for better. Ivy had questioned her about how she had survived when they made their way to Rosewood yesterday, only to receive a light smile in return and a statement that it was not the first time she had been bait.
Ivy noticed a movement in the woods, and would have flinched if the core hadn't been boosting her self control. Instead of goblins she saw armored figures emerge from the forest path leading towards Esterland. They were covered in blood, which was disappearing in wisps of blue smoke, and on the edge of collapse. The seemed otherwise uninjured, with only one of them walking with a slight limp.
Ivy pointed to them "More survivors, don't look like villagers."
A few villagers ran off to help them, and as the strangers came closer she saw the markings on their armor. Three looked like mercenaries, but one had ornate armor, with golden trimmings and runes betraying that it was a core. Not a true noble, but most likely a knight of some sort. She removed her helmet, revealing a woman wearing an expression of guilt, grief and anger. When she reached a house, she calmly sat down and leaned against one of the log walls. She shooed the villagers off, stating that she was not injured.
Ivy went up to her, and waved to Robert, Melissa, Kalen and what she presumed was the elder of Rosewood to join them. The woman looked like she wanted to talk to someone.
"Did you come through Esterland?" Ivy asked, as she sat next to her. "The village to the south."
The woman seemed to be both put off by and grateful for being addressed without the usual fanfare. "Yes. We were attacked by...goblins." She said the last word with visible confusion. Ivy nodded in response, and the woman continued. "Whatever happened in that village was spreading south along the road."
"Stone spikes and dead plants?" Robert asked with concern. He received a nod in return. "It's not going to stop, is it?" he asked from nobody in particular, and there was a moment of silence.
The woman took the opportunity to finally introduce herself. "I am Evelynn Ulisia. [Knight] and [Bodyguard] of House Calder." And then quietly added, perhaps having forgotten that Ivy was sat close enough to hear her. "Not much of either though..." Ivy had mixed opinions on knights, as they were usually just thugs in service of the nobles, but she thought Evelynn was someone who might be able to actually convince the nobles to send a greater force to destroy the dungeon.
Everyone else introduced themselves, revealing that the mystery villager was indeed the local elder. Robert explained the nature of the dungeon to her, and she had a strange reaction when Ivy showed her the core, a mixture of disgust and realization, although she did not reveal why. She did reveal that the dungeon had begun constructing traps, which according to Robert made approaching the core of the dungeon extremely dangerous.
The discussion did not go for long after that, as Evelynn and the mercenaries needed to rest. There was general agreement that Evelynn, Robert, Kalen and the two uninjured mercenaries would head south, following slightly different paths to avoid the dungeon, and try to warn the towns and villages in the dungeons path. Ivy was too injured to join them, and they were worried the wound of the third mercenary might begin to fester during the journey.
Ivy squeezed the core in her hand. She wanted to be strong enough to stop the dungeon, instead of trying to ineffectually slow it.