“Diplomatic ties with the Ze`nadar taught us many things about the surrounding galaxies, Including the fact that our galaxy was considered unpopulated by intelligent species capable of interstellar travel and the entire cluster of galaxies in Laniakea was considered somewhat dead zone on the universal scale.

The Hive Mother expressed great interest in Humanities history, and we thirsted for knowledge about the universe at large.

While trust was slowly building between the Hive Mother and The Emperor of Mankind, so was the understanding between the soldiers of our species on Epsilon Centauri 1.

Maybe it was because we served different roles in nature or the control the Daughters the Hive Mother sent to oversee the Ze`nadar population consisting mostly of drone-class insectoids we found ourselves seldom at odds with when it came to the first species of our universe, the empire made contact with.

As strategies were made to liberate Epsilon Centauri 2 and 3, the Magi discovered, to their astonishment, that Legionaries who often saw combat had a high chance of creating a Spiritual stone. There did not seem to be any correlation outside of combat that dictated what Legionaries developed the ability to create Spirit stones.

While the Magi had long been aware of Spirit stones and their importance, it was the same orb that gave the Magi the ability to rewrite reality with their arcane calculations and rituals with the power of their boned domain, but how the Magi developed theirs was a closely guarded secret, it was not through the same means as the Legionaries did. The possibility that Legionaries would develop them naturally had never been considered before.

A decree was made to have any Spirit stones the size of an adult fist harvested from the Legionaries since it served no more purpose to them than the appendix did. By doing so, humanity had a new source of almost fathomless power made available to them.

What no one had expected was that a Legionary that had its Spirit stone removed was found to start creating a new Spirit stone shortly after the old one's removal, thus beginning the process anew.

While there are rumored to be sites the Magi constructed to speed up this process, little was found to confirm these rumors.

Sometimes, we look back and ask ourselves why no one watches the watcher.”

Elistar Iscariot, Grand Magister during the second Kingfisher dynasty.

Sifting through half-melted bodies is not the most pleasant way to spend an hour, but with the slimes being insistent on feeding, it was what it took to get all sixteen Hunters medallions. We would hand them over once we got back to the fortress or in town if we decided to go directly. At least the few with families would know some peace.

“That was all of them, wasn't it?”

A slightly sickly but mostly sad-looking Mira asked.

I didn't need to be a mind reader to understand what she meant.

“Yeah, there were around fifteen before us waiting to enter. Well, sixteen as it tunes out.”

None of them had any loot to speak of, and I just couldn't bring myself to take the little food I found while looting the corpses of their medallions.

We stood there for a bit, looking at the carnage. Well, I did. Mira wasn't really looking at anything.

“They were from the shanties, you know, the poorly equipped ones always are. Doesn't matter if someone from the shanties dies, you see. They are nobody. Even worse. They are more likely than not criminals or beggars. The unwanted and unseen but always exploited.”

Oh, I knew. The Shanty Towns surrounding the kingdoms, cities and larger towns were full of the lesser people. Those without hope or value. They only existed to feed the desires of those who could take advantage of them.

The shanties existed, so the citizens had someone to look down on and consider less worthy.

Much like I had been raised to look down on everyone else and consider the people around me as little more than, at best, useful tools, so did the Joe Baker on Miller Street look at the people living in half-finished huts and blanket tents outside the city walls.

We look down on Bravell, but the reality is we just call it something different.

The memories between being me and waking up after being dead showed me things and ideas I wasn't sure I liked. Still, the truth in the ideas and teachings I was shown was undeniable, even to someone as self-serving and egotistical as me.

Shaking my head, I did something I knew I would regret. I reached out and pulled Mira into a hug.

While waiting for a knife to be repeatedly introduced to my kidney, I was surprised that she only started crying harder, so I just stood there like an idiot and held her as her body shook from anger or sorrow, gasps of breath the only thing giving pause to the soul wracking sound escaping her lips.

I wasn't sure how long we stood there, but I really needed to take a piss.

Eventually, she pushed away from me and said.

“Let's go Beakface. There's nothing else to do here.”

“Whatever you say, miss Jigglybottom.”

“I'm not fat, you ass.”

“Whatever you say, miss Jigglybottom.”

“Screw you.”

“That costs extra.”

That managed to drag out a snort from her, at least.

“Come on, let's go before I remember how good life used to be before I met you.”

The first thing I noticed on level seven was that there was no light, or to be more precise. I noticed the change in contrasts I had to deal with when there was light.

The floor was once again made of stone that looked to have been hewed by primitive tools. The tunnel almost immediately expanded until at least eight people could walk abreast, and it was three adults tall.

The light Mira had hanging over her shoulder was more than powerful enough to let her see everything from the wall to the sealing, but unnatural darkness could be felt, driving the light back, not letting it reach deeply into the tunnel.

I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but deciding to stay on the side of caution.

“So this isn't creepy at all…this is supposed to be a hunting ground for some buffalo?”

“Blue back buffalo. Tastes a bit strange, but I have only had it dried. Yeah, this is all wrong.”

Changes on dungeon levels could happen, if extremely unlikely, on one as stable as this one, and one had never occurred while a hunter or a mercenary was inside of the level being changed. It was why the camps were possible in most dungeons.

This level should have been full of hunters who gathered, smoked or dried the buffalo meat. It wasn't worth much, but the quantity made it quite lucrative if your team could get the contract for it. Something that was highly contested and bid on by the more affluent teams.

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No, this was not some grassy plain with the sun shining gently down on us. That didn't stop us from continuing down the large tunnel.

The tunnel opened wider into a cavern, with large stalactites going all the way from the ceiling to the floor. The ground was becoming uneven as if we were walking in an ancient marvel of nature.

It seemed to be going on forever, but in the distance, I could see a light flickering between the never-ending forest of pillars. Turning to Mira, I said while pointing towards the light I saw.

“Hide your light. I can see something glow over there.”

“You sure? I can't see anything.”

“Don't blame me for being so old you're losing your sight.”

“Sit on a porcupine and spin shiteater. Fine, but If I fall, I'm kicking you.”

With the light inside a pouch on her belt, I led us further toward the light. I considered having Mira walk into a stalactite or two, but the headache would probably not be worth it.

Then I started hearing voices again. Admittedly, these were more like a pig being tortured by serpent voices than anything my head would normally produce, so I was fairly certain it wasn't a figment of my imagination.

As we carefully made our way toward the light, I finally saw a campfire surrounded by three lizards or reptile men. They reminded me of something in the booklet, but to me, they looked like Iguanas walking on two feet with hunched necks.

The closer we got, the more I could smell them, and the more I could smell them, the more I wanted to vomit. I could see Mira holding a hand in front of her nose.

I didn't know how well these reptiles could see in the dark, but considering they had a small campfire going, I could make out a couple of mining lamps by which they had put their spears. At a guess, my dark vision was better than theirs, something I confirmed by leaving Mira by one of Earth's pillars and vigorously waving at the camp while at least two of the five were looking in my direction.

Going back to Mira, who was half a second away from turning on her glowing rock thingy, I quickly explained my plan, at which she was shaking her head and mouthing no.

In the end, I got her on board with the plan and in position.

Creeping along to my position, I hunkered down, waiting with my sword drawn in my left hand, shield strapped for easy access on my back and a throwing spike in my right hand. Sure, I may not have hit anything with them so far, but this may just be my lucky day,

Time seemed to stand still as I was alone for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, but in truth, so much had happened that I promised myself a day or two off after I picked up my things in Murktown.

Then, it started at a slow beat. At first, it seemed erratic, but soon enough, an even rhythm was picked up, slightly faster than a heartbeat.

In the camp, the lizard people, as I was now calling them, all turned their heads towards the sound coming out of the dark. One of them barked and hissed something at the four others, and soon enough, five spear-armed walking lizards started making their way toward the rhythmic.

I stalked them for the short trek, making sure I stayed close enough not to be late, attempting to mask my movements with the steady drumming coming from a pillar close to the six of us.

The lizard people seemed to grow more agitated as they realized the sound was coming from the other side of a rather wide stalactite. The one I now thought of as the leader, on the merit of having more red along its neck scales than the other four, I'm sure. Barked and hissed something to the four others, and they started making their way towards the right with the leader close on their heel.

Then, the dark lit up as if the sun had decided to visit this dark and dank place. The sound of Mira's battle cry probably made the experience worse for the poor lizards. She had quite the voice on her was all I had time to think.

Seeking the familiar presence of power oozing like tar out of a burst wound, I reached to my rift and established a connection with the dark on the other side, the hungering void that filled me in seconds. Flooding me with power beyond what I could really comprehend.

Time slowed as I felt myself shaking with the power of my domain, demanding to be used. For a moment, my legs moved at a snail's pace as if I were moving through molasses. Then, time itself seemed to let go of me as I sped up.

Reaching the leader was more a matter of thought than forcing my legs to move faster.

Deciding not to take a chance this time. I slammed the spike into the back of the leader's head when I came abreast, took a step forward, and switched the sword to my right hand, stabbing from a low guard and up to my right as I slung the shield down my left arm.

My right leg followed my sword as I took a cross-forward step to the right, piercing the torso of the rightmost lizard in front of me. Twisting, I pulled out the sword and took a cross-step to the left, bringing my sword up and in an arch, slicing through the unarmored back of the lizard man in front of me before slamming my shield against the side of the head of the lizard man to lefts. My shield exploded and transformed into splinters as my left forearm continued through the wreckage, snapping the lizard thing's neck.

In front of me, Mira had just shield-bashed the last walking lizard and was planting her war hammer in its head. I just stood looking at the scene for a moment before smiling. Then, I promptly fell on my side with a scream.

I felt completely empty. I had wrung out every last drop of power my body and spirit could handle from the rift. My heart was struggling to beat properly. One of the bones in my left arm felt broken, my muscles were torn and swollen, and even my ligaments felt like they were about to snap if I so much as moved.

The only thing keeping me awake was the four wisps of power that entered my spirit. To my surprise, the rift didn't start greedily sucking them in as it normally did. Instead, the sparrow's egg started spinning.

Drawing in strands of power from all over my body, but as much power it took in, it released, making a continuous circle of power churn through my body. The longer it spun, the more I noticed the power moved through my body and spirit in a pattern, a pattern too complex for me to understand. There were set places all over my body that the stream of power moved through. Some it visited only once, others several times.

A pattern was forming, but it was far too complex for me to discern its entirety. I only grasped the idea of its existence. Like looking at a painting and being told there were layers of the painting, I would be unable to see, but the hint of their existence was as blindingly obvious.

Then Mira was leaning over me.

Looking at her from the left eye, I gave her a big smile and said. “You did great!” and she had. Her role was ideally as a non-combatant. Only to take part in battle if necessary, Healing and giving buffs to her allies as the situation demanded. Admittedly, her domain did give her a more combat-oriented focus, but it would never be on par with an Awakened that focused on death and destruction.

“Shut it. What happened? Where are you hurt?”

“Oh, just stepped wrong. My ankle gave out, nothing to it.”

“Uh-huh…Come on, you little crybaby. Let's get you to the campfire.”

For a moment, I considered resisting, but this was a good bonding experience. If I wanted Mira on retainer one day, I would need to trust her and her me. Familiarity helped with that.

Pretending that each step didn't make me want to scream my lungs out, I walked slowly with Mira supporting me from the side until we reached the former camp of the walking lizards.

Setting down, I looked at the strange fire, and then it hit me. The walking lizards were using cow patties as fire if cows were three times the size. There even was a little stash stuck up by the pillar the camp was at. The more you learn, the crazier everything seems.

“Thank you, crap breath. It's getting better every second. Promise.”

“Shush. Sit and drink this, a sip at a time. I followed your sorry ass when it comes to fighting, but when it comes to the team's well-being, my word is the law. Now shut it and drink slowly while I gather our things.”

She said, handing me a small vial with a dark red liquid in it.

Well, shit. At least I know she's taking her side of things seriously. I was halfway convinced she would leave me to suffer as a form of practical joke up until now.

“Yes, mam,”

I said before uncorking the vial and, to my horror, taking a sip of a truly vile concoction. I knew it had been too good to be true. I thought while glaring at her back as she made her way back to the site of the battle.

Trying to ignore the taste, I took a look at what was going on inside me.

The streams of power were still going strong. Circling the strange pattern, I couldn't really see. What surprised me was that the parts of me torn, beaten and broken were slowly being made whole even before I took the vile vial.

The healed parts even seemed denser if that was the right description. I had no idea what to expect as an Awakened, so this fumbling in the dark was getting a bit annoying. Sure, I had hints from my memories of those other lives, but they didn't seem to follow the same pattern, and in those, the power was mostly used through predefined patterns on artifacts like the one hurling small darts over vast distances. The rest was just the natural improvement from being one of the Awakened over a long period of time. What people meant when they said Awakened became something else, and the higher your rank of Awakening, the more different you became.

It didn't take Mira long to come back, one backpack at a time. I could probably have gotten my own at this point, but I felt petty because of the vile vial.

When I asked her if there was any bounty on the lizard things, she looked at me strangely for a bit before explaining, as if to a child. No, the guild offered no bounty on Kobolds because the kingdom didn't consider them monsters, and they seldom acted like it in the wild.

I learned that the species were more prone to trade with humans than attack them. There were also several recorded instances of Kobolds leading lost children back home to their village.

While not considered an intelligent species by humans, they seemed to be smarter than most dogs. It was quite the academic discussion that had been going on for centuries.

Those found inside a dungeon, however, were always dangerous, but as not to have Hunters hunt down the ones just living their lives in the wilds of the kingdom, there was no bounty on Kobolds no matter where you found them.

We finally came to the topic of what in tarnation was going on with this dungeon. Nothing seemed to be as it should be after meeting the slimes. This level was not in the booklet description, nor was the level before this, so the big question became whether we should push on to level ten and pray the camp was still there or leave the dungeon.