“Ah, hmm. Sorry about that,” the wizard behind the bars told me.
I was standing in the center of a magic circle of some sort, arms crossed over my bare chest, tapping my foot against the ground in annoyance. I was beginning to wonder if this was System’s doing, I seemed to keep getting in situations where I ended up bare chested since becoming a woman and I was starting to think there was a conspiracy.
I didn’t even really have a chest worth looking at, yet I’d been shirtless in front of more people in the last 24 hours than I’d ever been as a guy when not at a pool or beach. Did this world operate by anime logic? Should I submit a bug report?
“It’s not registered to you, you see,” he stammered. Behind him a young guard jogged up, carrying Dawn’s shirt, which he handed to the wizard.
When I’d stepped into the circle all the items I’d been carrying that were from the armory or which hadn’t been registered to me were teleported into a sorting and containment room somewhere on the other side of the bars. That included Dawn’s shirt.
The wizard held the shirt out through the bars. I saw the guard not-to-subtly look at my chest, seeming a bit disappointed both at my crossed arms and the obvious lack of volume in that area. I didn’t need to channel Tavi here to know what she’d do, but I did it anyway as I didn’t think I could make myself do it otherwise.
“Nah, it’s fine, I was headed to the showers anyway,” I said, dropping my arms and walking over to the door. “Dawn, the old guy has your clothes if you want them back,” I told her, speaking a bit too loudly as I approached. Other than Lucus the others were all already done with their check in.
I didn’t bother covering myself, I’d done a mental poll and found that not one version of me really cared if I was bare-chested. None of us had any particular mental conditioning saying I needed to cover up. I was split between the instincts of someone raised as a human male, and the instincts of a female goblin, and neither cared if people saw their chest. If the universe was determined to take my shirts away, then so be it.
That thought made me pause. Something tickled the back of my mind. I suddenly had a terrible foreboding as connections snapped together in my mind.
Fuuuck…
I rubbed my forehead and looked over at Dawn. “Dawn, tell me something, if you trade a daemon something physical, does it ever have more lasting effects?”
Dawn looked worried, whether at my behavior or the question I couldn’t tell. She answered anyway, “Daemons are conceptual beings, they deal with the reality of a thing, what defines its existence more than the physical thing itself. In short, yes it can, but how that manifests varies. Why…? What did you trade one?”
I groaned. It wasn’t System doing this to me, it was Greebil. “I traded one the shirt off my back…” I told her.
Dawn started laughing, she laughed so hard that Savas had to hold her up. She kept laughing until she started hiccupping. I could see the others didn’t get it, but Dawn’s laughter was so contagious that by the end of it we were wiping tears out of our eyes. When the guards came to escort us, they found a confused Lucus and an exasperated Arven looking at the rest of us as we recovered from our fit of giggles.
So, I’d traded the very concept of wearing a shirt to the damn daemon. I wondered if daemons were bound by ideas like causality and the flow of time. Was this responsible for all my shirtless escapades, or just the ones since meeting Greebil? I’d have to ask Dawn about it.
It turned out that exiting the dungeon worked a bit differently than entering. We weren’t allowed to enter the prison proper until we’d been fully decontaminated. After taking our gear we were escorted to a set of showers that were quite a bit different than the ones I’d used that morning.
These showers were more obviously intended for a small group, and to my great relief and terrible disappointment they were much more private than the morning showers had been. They consisted of individual stalls that lacked any backs, but which none-the-less provided a much more private environment.
This bathroom also had hot running water. It was less like a shower from earth and more like a small waterfall that just happened to fall into the stalls. There were no temperature controls, and no individual valves. All the stalls were either on or off at the same time, as determined by the guards. The hot water was less of a comfort and more of a safety measure.
The builders of the prison had a deep fear and respect for the things inside the dungeon and they had taken appropriate measures to ensure nothing escaped, including diseases. In addition to being physically cleaned we were also subject to a whole host of magical effects intended to cure anything we might have been infected with.
The showers were arranged in a rectangle, with four stalls on each side of a wall down the center of the room. Without any discussion on the subject all the men walked to the right-hand side of the room, taking up the stalls there. That left me and Dawn alone on the other side. I had to resist a nearly overpowering urge to see what would happen if I just followed Lucus into his stall. Or if not Lucus then maybe Savas…? Dorian was a bit too pretty for my tastes…
I found myself being dragged towards the other set of showers by Dawn, and suddenly realized I had actually started walking towards the men’s side without realizing it. Fuck. This was bad. I was losing it. What was wrong with me?
The moment had passed, and I was in control again, but I didn’t understand what was happening to me. It was like intrusive thoughts on steroids. For a moment there I had been fully intent on having some fun in the shower with one of the men and I hadn’t particularly cared who. I hadn’t even recognized how strange it was until I’d snapped out of it.
While we showered Dawn and I talked about my predicament with shirts. Dawn hypothesized that the less conceptually shirt-like a thing was, the less likely I was to suddenly have it taken away. I’d probably be fine with my typical bindings and could likely even wear a dress, but the closer to a shirt something was the less likely I’d be able to wear it safely.
Greebil had apparently taken away the reality of me wearing a shirt. Any attempt to defy reality was doomed to end poorly, as existence itself was now conspiring against me. It could be dangerous to even try to wear one, as reality would try to correct the situation by any means possible.
Dawn warned me that probability and causality were only suggestions to daemons, and situations where it was least likely I would lose my shirt would be the most dangerous as the methods employed would become more extreme and esoteric as reality stretched to find a way to make me go shirtless.
When we wrapped up in the shower I dried off and wrapped my chest with some fresh bindings. As amusing as walking around without a top on was, I wanted to see what would happen if I just wore bindings for a while. I needed to practice putting them on anyway, and wanted to do it while Maraci’s lesson was fresh in my mind. There was more to it than just wrapping cloth. Getting it to stay up and in place while moving around and fighting was a bit of an art form.
Much like the morning shower there were piles of clean clothes available for us to choose from. I sorted through the various sizes of prison pants looking for some that would fit me. Looking at all the different sizes and shapes of plain white linen pants made me wonder just how many species there were. Some of these were clearly made for things without a humanoid body structure.
I also got to see how tails were handled - this is something I’d wondered about in the abstract for a while now and it was interesting to see the solution. Most of the humanoid pants had drawstrings on both sides, and what I at first thought was the font of the pants turned out to be the back. They had openings and flaps similar to how men’s pants worked on Earth, but the drawstring was threaded around the entire opening.
After some examination and stealing a peek at Dawn, I realized the idea was to stick your tail through the opening, then draw the string tight around it before tying it off. For those of us without tails you just drew it completely shut before tying it off. There was some fabric bunching, but these pants weren’t meant to be sexy or even comfortable, they were utilitarian and intended to fit as many people as possible.
I ended up picking out some slightly too big pants with a tail slot and pulling them on. They had drawstrings in the leg holes as well, so I tied those up at my ankles to keep it from being an issue, making them baggy but comfortable. The underwear situation was virtually identical to the pants situation, just with less fabric.
I was also able to restock on rags and dispose of my old ones in a wonderfully empty container that had been set aside for that purpose. Thankfully I hadn’t had a Carrie situation in the shower. Dawn’s healing was still in effect, and it stopped the bleeding as well as the pain, so I’d only seen a bit of spotting so far. I’d have to deal with that again soon, but better now than in the dungeon.
To finish my ensemble I wrapped a strip of cloth around my head like a bandana or headband, and used it to cover the gemstone embedded in my skull. I also liberated a drawstring from one of the pairs of pants and started to use it as a hair tie, putting my still wet hair into a ponytail.
Dawn had dressed herself already, and despite being just as damp and plainly dressed as me, she still managed to look both classy and exotic. She’d wrapped a towel around her head in a turban, using her small horns to help anchor it in place.
When she saw me start to tie up my hair she stopped me. “No dear, not like that!” she said, taking my wrist. “Wet hair shouldn’t be tied, it's too stretchy, you’ll damage it. Here, do this.”
She expertly guided me through the process of pressing excess water out of my hair and wrapping it in a towel to dry. “There, that’s much better. Leave that on for half an hour. We may not have all the amenities here but no reason to damage your hair any more than necessary!”
Thus equipped, Dawn and I strode from the shower room to find a single guard waiting for us. The men had finished before us and were waiting as Arven gave a report to the guard, then the lot of us were released back into the mess hall for dinner.
Here the group finally separated. We’d agreed not to speak about our experiences in the dungeon until we were back inside the next day. To avoid temptation we each went our separate ways, getting food then eating quickly.
Dawn and I ended up rejoining each other when we were escorted back to our cellblock. Her cell was one of the first on the block while mine was a bit further in. As we parted, she bent down and gave me a hug before entering her cell. “See you tomorrow, Tavi. Sleep well.”
I was surprised by the hug. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to earn her affection. I was happy though, I liked Dawn despite being mistrustful of her patron god, and she’d been nothing but helpful. It was nice to have a friend here that I’d made on my own merits rather than having inherited them from Tavi.
The door to my cell closed behind me. Zaeri was already here, lying on her bunk and staring at the ceiling. She sat up when I came in and gave me a nod of welcome. “How was your first day in the dungeon?” she asked, then seemed to reconsider. “No, wait, don’t tell me. If you tell me before Regga and Yanell get here you’ll just have to tell it again for each of them.”
Instead, Zaeri spent the next half hour regaling me with stories of her dungeon exploits. She was a thief herself, and had heavily invested in the Windows skill, making her a skilled climber. Her party would dangle her on a rope through the manholes leading out of the sewer and leave her hanging in the void. She would then use another rope and grappling hook, or sometimes a long hooked pole, to latch onto nearby buildings, which she would then loot as best she could with what her “leash” would allow her.
Many of her stories were about encountering monsters while on her own in the ruined buildings, having to run for her life and launch herself out into the void, trusting that her party was ready to haul her to safety. Occasionally they’d be attacked while she was looting, and they would have to kill or drive off whatever was attacking while still being ready to haul her to safety at a moment’s notice.
I found myself very glad I hadn’t ended up with a group that wanted to use me for “loot fishing” but Zaeri seemed to be fine with it. When I asked, she seemed surprised that I hadn’t been doing something similar, and I could tell she wanted to ask me more, but instead she explained that it meant that she got first chance at any loot.
If she found something good that could be used in the dungeon, she could keep it and nobody could stop her. She’d found a few good things this way, including skill scrolls. Anything she couldn’t use or didn’t want, she brought back and they either used it or turned it in.
Zaeri had arrived with a three-year sentence but had managed to knock over two years off it so far. She only had a little over six months to go and fully expected to knock a few more months off it before she was done. She also answered several questions I’d been wondering about for a while now.
Everyone was required to go into the dungeon nearly every day, but the minimum amount of time you had to spend inside was 6 hours. According to Zaeri, many groups didn’t ever leave the dungeon entrance, giving up the chance for loot in return for a defensible position and greatly reduced danger.
When not in the dungeon our time was split between our cells and a courtyard area that was set up to ensure all prisoners got some direct sunlight at least some of the time. We were allowed to spend one day there a week, and for everyone that wasn’t on the ground floor it was the only time you got to spend outside the dungeon or behind bars.
One of the perks of being on the ground floor of the prison was that if we wanted, we could spend one day out of the dungeon doing chores around the place. This was seen as a privilege, and prisoners on the upper floors could be rewarded by being moved down to lower floors for turning in valuable loot. Being kept on a lower floor when your sentence was for a higher floor required constant success in the dungeon or you’d be relocated back upstairs.
During all this my menstrual cramps started back up, and I settled in to ride it out this time. Zaeri’s stories help distract me from the pain and discomfort, as well as the occasional waves of random horniness and nausea. I wasn’t sure how close this was to normal human periods, but it sucked, and I wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with it every week.
I knew that birth control medication could reduce the effects of or even stop periods altogether, and I was going to have to look into that when I got out of jail. On the plus side it finally occurred to me that some of the issues I was having with self-control were probably hormonal in nature. That actually made me feel better as it put a label on at least some of what I was going through.
Regga finally showed up, about an hour after me, and she looked pissed. The guard who dropped her off looked ready to bolt. She was one of very few female guards I’d seen, and she looked positively tiny next to Regga’s bulky form. Moments after the cell door closed the guard vanished as if she’d used a teleportation skill.
Regga looked at the two of us, eyes red with anger, then she seemed to really see us for the first time, and I realized her eyes weren’t just red with anger, she’d been crying.
Zaeri figured it out a moment before me. “Oh no, Regga, what happened?”
The big woman heaved out a forlorn sigh and sat down on the bunk beneath me. Zaeri and I had both been sitting on our top bunks chatting from across the room, and now we both climbed down and sat on either side of the much larger woman, comforting her as best we could.
“Yanell is dead,” Regga told us. I flicked my eyes to the bunk across from us where the quiet woman I’d met yesterday had slept. Her only crime had been homelessness.
As it turned out, Yanell and Regga were in the same dungeon group. Their group was one of the passive groups that were just waiting out their sentence by defending the dungeon entrance. Regga was the only real fighter in their party, and I got the distinct impression that this is why she kept getting herself arrested–she would take people like Yanell into the dungeon and protect them as best she could.
This time, it hadn’t been enough.
“We had set up in our normal position, just a few meters from the entrance. There’s a side tunnel right there that dead-ends in a gutter drain. It has bars on it, nothin getting through that way I thought. Anyone needs to take a piss, they go over there and piss into the sky. Yanell, she went down there, and when I checked on her ten minutes later, I found her being eaten by one of those damn bugs. Her face was already gone. If I hadn’t known it was her I wouldn’t have recognized her.”
“Oh no… I’m so sorry,” Zaeri said, hugging the larger woman. I didn’t know how to react; I wasn’t used to touching people to provide comfort. I consulted Tavi’s emotions, and discovered something surprising, something I could understand. I found anger.
“Those fucking bastards!” I spat, hopping off the bed and pacing around the cell. “She was just homeless, and they fucking killed her for it. Who came up with this stupid system?”
That last bit I’d said while looking up at the ceiling, symbolically looking towards the gods I knew were ultimately responsible for this, but it was Regga that answered me. “The Duke is to blame. He and his family are devotees of the mad god, the Eternal Hunger. They have perverted the Starmaiden’s justice and turned it to their own profit.”
“You shouldn’t say such things,” Zaeri told her. “Not even here. Maybe especially not here.”
“Sorry, who’s this mad god? I don’t recognize that name. Is the Starmaiden Astraea?”
That got me some curious looks. “You not from around here or something?” Zaeri asked. “Maybe raised by wolves or something?”
“Badger actually, but no that’s not it. I guess I didn’t explain much earlier… Sorry about that.” I’d taken the towel off my hair a while back, but now I also untied the cloth covering my forehead and pushed back my hair to show them the gemstone that was the real me.
“I got hit in the head so hard yesterday that this thing is embedded in my skull now, and I’m told taking it out will kill me. I got magical healing, but it scattered my brains a bit and I’m having trouble remembering a lot of things.”
“Oh wow!” Zaeri said, hopping off the bed to get a closer look at me. “That must be worth at least a few hundred gold, you’ve got a fortune in your skull!”
Regga was more subdued, but this seemed to have taken her mind off Yanell. “No wonder we found you crying yesterday. I’d be crying too if my head got hit hard enough to scramble my brains. Why’d they throw you in jail though? That somebody’s jewelry and they decide you stole it with your forehead?”
“No, incredibly that’s unrelated. Some jerk of a merchant decided I stole some holy relic from him and got pissed when he couldn’t prove it, so he paid for a warrant. They dragged me out of bed to search for it, then hauled me off to jail when they couldn’t find it.”
Thinking back on it now, I realized I had been in a lot more danger than I had realized. I’d still thought this was a game, and if I’d pushed things a little further the merchant might have decided that a death warrant was worth it, no matter the cost.
Zaeri pulled back, in even more shock than she’d shown when I revealed my forehead. “You’re here on a warrant!” she practically squeaked.
Regga just started laughing, her booming laughter drew the attention of the guards who came over and told her to quiet down. She didn’t even acknowledge them, and eventually they turned away with a half-hearted admonition to “Keep it down.”
When she recovered, Regga pulled me close and gave me a slap on the back hard enough to cause a single point of damage. “You already understand well enough girl! The mad god is named Reign, but I think his title, the Eternal Hunger, fits him better. He’s the god of those who are willing to maim and kill for their own profit, avarice personified. His followers don’t like it when you put it like that though. They blind themselves to the truth so they can sleep at night.”
She started off jovial, but by the end of her explanation, her face and tone had become grim. “And yes, Astraea is the Starmaiden, for it was she who searched the stars for a new home and found this world among them. She wanted a world built on her ideals, but the other gods would not allow it, so now we are left with this broken world where wealthy men can send a girl to prison or to death with their gold.”
Zaeri had recovered somewhat, but she still seemed almost afraid of me. She climbed back up on her bunk and sat, feet hanging over the edge. “It’s not that bad, they can’t just send you here for no reason, the Arbiter has to sign off on the warrant.”
“You say that like you didn’t just get scared that some rich bastard might get mad at you just for being friendly with Tavi here,” Regga scoffed. She looked back at me. “It’s not that bad no, not everywhere, but here it is. The Duke has dedicated this city to Reign, as long as that is so there will be no justice here that cannot be bought with coin, and no punishment that could not result in bloodshed.”
Zaeri looked a bit ashamed, but she didn’t contradict Regga. “Anybody that’s got that kind of gold to throw around isn’t worth pissing off. People like that never just let things go.”
Regga nodded. “Who’d you piss off anyway, Tavi?”
I’d written the name down in my notepad just in case, and I rattled it off now. “The asshole’s name is William Strumald, he’s some sort of merchant. I don’t remember anything about him, so I’m not sure if I knew him before the accident or if this was the first time I met him.”
It was Zaeri’s turn to laugh, but Regga looked grim. “Tavi, Strumald is the Duke’s family name. I don’t know this William but if he’s a merchant then he’s not from the main branch of the family. He’ll still be very wealthy and very powerful. If you stole from him, you’d be wise to give it back and apologize, and hope he’s satisfied with your current warrant. He could easily make your life a Jira cursed nightmare.”
“Probably too late for that… When I talked to him, I was still recovering from getting my head turned into pudding, and I may have said some unwise things. I distinctly remember offering to shove a giant wooden dildo up his ass at one point.”
Zaeri smacked her own face hard enough to leave a red mark, but Regga just grinned. “You’re probably not going to live to celebrate your next name day, but at least you’ll die knowing you spat in that asshole’s face on your way out.”
“Don’t count me out just yet alright? I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve still,” I told them, a little chagrined.
“Well, I guess there’s nothing to do about it while you’re in here. Maybe we can fake your death or something to get him off your back.” That seemed to perk Zaeri up a bit. “Hey, you think we could get a reward for killing you? Not for real, but like, if we fake your death I mean.”
“You really want to get involved with this business?” Regga asked, cocking an eyebrow at the gnome.
“Ugh, no, never mind. Forget I asked.”
“Well, now that Yanell is gone there’s a place in my group for you Tavi. If one good thing can come out of this at least I’ll be able to protect you. If you’re only going to be here for a week there’s no need for you to go risking your life on dungeon runs,” Regga said.
I grimaced, “Ah, uh, thanks for the offer but I can’t leave my current group. My friend is in it, and I can’t abandon him.”
“Oh yeah! You never told us about your day. How was your first day in the dungeon? Which group are you with anyway?” Zaeri butted in over an obviously worried Regga.
I settled in to tell them the “official” version of my dungeon dive, and Regga’s worried expression gradually turned into concerned, then angry as I talked about our trip to the wall and our plans to cross the river the following day.
In this version of the story nothing out of the ordinary happened, and I downplayed my own role in killing the second Nightstalker. Zaeri was practically on the edge of her seat for the whole thing, interjecting with questions and exclamations.
When I finished Regga finally spoke. “Tavi, you shouldn’t be with that group. I’m disappointed that Arven would even take you, I thought he was more responsible than that. He’s serving a life sentence, and he’s determined to serve as little of it as possible. Those with him are the desperate or the foolishly brave. There’s no need for you to be with them, no matter what they find your sentence can’t be reduced and no other rewards can be worth the danger.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “I wasn’t going to go with them initially, but my friend thought that they’d be able to keep me safe. Arven agreed with him once they talked.”
“Is this friend of yours in here for the same thing as you? Do you trust him with your life?”
“He is yeah, he turned himself in just so he could be in here with me. He saved my life yesterday.”
Regga let out a “Harumph!” then continued. “Did Arven tell you why he has open spots in his group? Did he tell you about Vistali and Rena?”
“No… Who are they?” I asked her, my stomach clenching ominously.
Zaeri was the one to respond, now looking much more subdued. “They were both members of his party. Vistali was a former guard, got caught taking bribes. Reign doesn’t mind bribes, but Astraea does, and the Arbiters tend to be harsh on that sort of thing.”
She paused, a pained expression on her face. “He died just before the last reset. They tried to cross the river… He didn’t make it.”
Regga picked up where Zaeri trailed off. “It ate him. The river I mean. I don’t know how close a look you got at it, but I’ve heard the stories. It’s alive, or whatever passes for alive in there, and it ate him. Rena left their party the next day. I haven’t heard her talk except to ask Jules if she could join him from now on. Jules does the same thing I do, takes people just inside and keeps them safe. Last I heard she had eight more years on her sentence.”
We all sat in silence for several long moments. “Thanks for the warning,” I told them. “I promise I’ll be careful, but I have to do this.”
“Fine. I cannot protect you from yourself,” Regga said, falling back on her bed. She rolled over and faced the wall, apparently unwilling to speak further. I hoped that I hadn’t alienated her by refusing her help. I knew she was hurting now from Yanell’s death, and I didn’t want to add to that.
Zaeri and I spent the next couple of hours quietly going about our business. Regga clearly wanted to be alone, and so we kept the conversations to a minimum. Zaeri had an actual book, something she’d earned as a reward for her finds in the dungeon, and she settled in to read.
The book was titled “The Six Ordeals of Oshira the Cursed” and Zaeri told me it was a historical fiction based on a real person that had clashed with, and defeated, The Adversary in multiple encounters with his minions. I made a mental note to borrow it from her when she was done.
I had some reading to do of my own. It was time for me to dig into all the stuff I’d unlocked during the dungeon run. I had a few skills to look at, some new titles, and a few achievements I hadn’t looked at yet.
I had to wonder if other people from earth were getting achievements at the same rate I was. I suspected some were, as it seemed like a lot of achievements were reserved for us Travelers specifically, presumably because the people who’d been living here would have already earned the native versions of those achievements.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
That said, I had to wonder if my situation was a bit unusual. I had started with only a single level in my real class and species, but I’d inherited all of Tavi’s levels. Had I gotten a fifteen-level head start on everyone else? Were there any other Valerians out there, or was I unique?
Ultimately these were questions I couldn’t answer yet. I hadn’t even seen any other Travelers yet, so I had no idea what they were going through. I shelved those thoughts for the moment and had a look at my notifications.
> New Achievement
>
> I am Invincible!
>
> You survived a blow that dealt over 100% of your maximum health. Don’t let it go to your head.
>
> Rewards Earned:
> Survival is its own reward.
> +5pp (Universal)
> New Achievement
>
> Let me solo it
>
> While in a party you defeated a monster at least twice your level without help from anyone else. Either your group doesn’t like you much, or you have a death wish, or perhaps you’re just that good. Call it luck or call it skill, but call me impressed either way.
>
> Note: The reward for this achievement scales based on the level of the monster you defeated and cannot be earned before level 20.
>
> Rewards Earned:
> +10pp (Universal)
> Random Loot Box (Tier 3)
> Orb of Comprehension (Tier 2)
I was lying in bed at this point, turned to face the wall, so when loot suddenly appeared in my lap it wasn’t immediately visible to Zaeri in the bunk across from me.
Unfortunately, the orb was glowing. I shoved it under some sheets as quickly as possible, hoping it had gone unnoticed. The prison was lit by magical lanterns that gave off light similar to an old incandescent lightbulb, it was warm and steady while the orb’s light was cool and shifted with various colors under its glassy surface.
I waited quietly for several long seconds, until the sound of a turning page let me know that Zaeri was still absorbed in her book. It seemed that System hadn’t counted Dawn’s accidental friendly fire on me as helping, even though it had ended up healing me. It was a generous but reasonable ruling considering she’d actually attacked me, and then my own skill had done the healing.
The other item that had suddenly materialized in my bed was a small box, about the size of my clenched fist. It looked like it was almost entirely made of solid gold and featured a latch with a comically large keyhole on it. When I touched it, I got a prompt.
> System Message
>
> Loot Box (Tier 3)
>
> Would you like to open this Loot Box? A tier 3 loot box contains your choice of one of three tier 3 items, chosen when you open the box.
>
> Warning: Opening a Loot Box cannot be undone.
>
> Yes / No
I couldn’t open this here–even if it wasn’t flashy as hell when it opened, which I was sure it would be. The orb was a different story.
> System Message
>
> Orb of Comprehension (Tier 2)
>
> Would you like to absorb this Orb of Comprehension? A tier 2 orb contains half a level worth of experience which can be applied to a single class or species.
>
> Yes / No
I mentally selected yes, and the orb let out a barely perceptible flash from under the sheets where I had my hand on it. I felt it dissolve into my palm, leaving behind a cool tingly sensation.
> System Message
>
> Allocate Bonus Experience
>
> Please select a class or species to award bonus experience.
>
> Choices:
> - Valerian (Level 5, XP: 55%)
> - Nilbog (Goblin, Level 12, XP: 3%)
> - Trailblazer (Level 4, XP: 5%)
> - Thief (Level 6, XP: 85%)
This was not as easy a decision as it may have seemed at first. My goblin subspecies was higher level than anything else by far, and I had to assume that made it more difficult to level. Having a flat 50% XP added to it might be a relatively huge chunk, and while Nilbog didn’t get me many progression points I hadn’t forgotten that some skills had species prerequisites.
It seemed reasonable to me that both classes and species would unlock new skills as they leveled up. I knew classes worked that way, but species most likely did as well. I couldn’t base my decision just on how many progression points a level might give me.
I eventually decided to put the XP into Valerian. The same logic that supported putting points into Nilbog applied there as well. What decided matters was the fact that I was very likely going to need to buy more soul-space storage pretty much immediately.
Like the goblin I was, I found myself hoarding universal progression points against some possible future need. I’d made a few rash decisions earlier while stuck in Tavi mode, and while it had worked out well the careless expenditure of points was now grating on my nerves.
I turned my attention to my new titles next. I had four new ones to look at, one of which the whole party had gotten for killing the rare elite. Checking my titles reminded me to re-equip Rule Breaker so I didn’t end up losing stats to the required Prisoner title, and I took care of that first before digging in.
> Dungeon Delver
>
> Title (Tier 2)
>
> You’ve dared to enter a dungeon, a type of pocket dimension formed by fragmented dreams of other realities. While exploring a dungeon you double your luck bonus when attempting to detect traps and concealed openings.
> Killjoy
>
> Title (Tier 1)
>
> Nobody likes you, and it shows. While this title is equipped your reputation with all creatures is set to Disliked unless it was already lower.
> Lucky
>
> Title (Tier 1)
>
> You get a +3 bonus to luck while this title is equipped.
That Killjoy title was weird. Was there an actual reputation system? Was my opinion of someone able to be altered by external influences like that? I’d need to investigate this more later, but it could wait for now. I turned my attention to my newly unlocked skills instead.
> Limit Breaker
>
> Passive Skill (Tier 10)
>
> Prerequisites: Chosen of the Gods (Limitless)
>
> Rank: 0 / 1
>
> PP: 0 / 20
>
> You cannot be bound by the arbitrary limitations the System places on the power of your skills. You can ignore the maximum rank for any skill, however, for each rank above the normal maximum you obtain the cost of ranking up that skill goes up by a number of progression points equal to its tier. For example, increasing this skill to rank 2 would require 30pp, while increasing it to rank 3 would require 40pp, etc.
>
> Note: Some skills do not have any benefits beyond a specified rank and will not benefit from going above their normal maximum. Additionally, you will still unlock skill evolutions normally in the process of over-ranking a skill, and you will be given the choice of over-ranking the skill or transferring its points to the newly unlocked evolution, if any.
> Unrestrained
>
> Active Skill (Tier 10)
>
> Prerequisites: Chosen of the Gods (Limitless)
>
> Rank: 0 / 1
>
> PP: 0 / 20
>
> Activation Cost: Stamina (High)
>
> Activation Type: Instant
>
> Cooldown: 1 Minute
>
> When you activate this skill, you are instantly freed of all restrictions that bind you. Additionally for the next 10 seconds you are immune to any new effects that this skill would normally free you from. The duration of this immunity increases by 10 seconds for every rank in this skill above the first.
>
> Special: This skill can be activated even under circumstances where you could not normally activate a skill.
> Smite!
>
> Active Skill (Tier 2)
>
> Prerequisites: [ Cleric (Level 5) ] or [ Chosen of the Gods (Any), Willpower (15) ]
>
> Rank: 0 / 5
>
> PP: 0 / 4
>
> Activation Cost: Mana (Low), Stamina (Low)
>
> Activation Type: Instant
>
> Cooldown: 1 Minute
>
> Imbues a weapon you touch with holy power, which is particularly potent against the undead and enemies of your faith. When a weapon imbued with this skill strikes a target it will deal extra damage based on your Willpower times the number of ranks in this skill. If this power is not used within 1 minute, or if it is used against an invalid target, the power is lost.
>
> Special: This skill has no effect on targets with more than a third of their maximum hit points remaining.
> Paralytic Claws
>
> Passive Skill (Tier 2)
>
> Prerequisites: Ghoul (Any), Body (Claws)
>
> Rank: 0 / 5
>
> PP: 0 / 4
>
> Your claws secrete a paralytic poison that has a chance to afflict anyone you injure with your claws with a paralysis bane. Your chance of inflicting this bane increases by 5% per rank in this skill.
> Lifesense
>
> Passive Skill (Tier 2)
>
> Prerequisites: Ghoul (Any)
>
> Rank: 0 / 10
>
> PP: 0 / 4
>
> You can sense the life force of creatures near you without having to see them. The range of this sense is one meter per rank in this skill, and it can penetrate half that distance of materials such as wood and fabric, or a quarter that distance of stone or metal.
> Embrace of Shadows
>
> Active Skill (Tier 3)
>
> Prerequisites: Ghoul (Nightstalker)
>
> Rank: 0 / 5
>
> PP: 0 / 6
>
> Activation Cost: Mana (Medium)
>
> Activation Type: Sustained
>
> Cooldown: N/A
>
> Nearby shadows animate and cling to you, creating a cloud of roiling darkness around you. Shadows obscure your form and movements, as well as your exact location, making you more difficult to hit with attacks. If you are in an area of darkness this can also provide concealment making you difficult to spot without the aid of special senses.
>
> While this skill is active you get a bonus to your Dodge skill equal to 3 times the number of ranks in this skill against attacks that rely on sight. Additionally, the shadows count as cover for the purpose of concealing yourself from sight. Shadows from this skill will be disrupted by light cast by a skill of equal or higher tier.
> Spiderclimb
>
> Passive Skill (Tier 1)
>
> Prerequisites: Ghoul (Nightstalker)
>
> Rank: 0 / 10
>
> PP: 0 / 2
>
> You can cling to vertical surfaces and hang from ceilings as naturally as other creatures walk on the ground. You must maintain contact with a solid surface with at least two limbs while spider-climbing, or you will fall. Additionally, the movement speed penalty for climbing is reduced by 5% per rank in this skill.
> Undeath
>
> Passive Skill (Tier 4)
>
> Prerequisites: Undead (Any)
>
> Rank: 0 / 5
>
> PP: 0 / 8
>
> You are immune to the effects of poison, disease, and bleeding, and cannot die from old age. Additionally, you get a 20% bonus to your Armor and Resilience against all sources other than Holy and Fire per rank in this skill.
The knowledge that I could learn any of these skills, many of which were clearly not intended for someone like me, made me a little giddy. The most immediately interesting thing though was that I almost qualified to learn the Smite skill, which had proven its worth in two major fights in the dungeon so far.
I suspected that Dawn had more than one rank in the skill, but she had hit me for more than my total maximum health when she’d accidentally hit me in the fight with the Nightstalker. Smite was also the first skill I’d seen with more than one set of prerequisites, and it seemed I could satisfy either of them to learn the skill.
I suddenly remembered something else that I should have thought of previously. People who discover a skill for the first time are supposed to get a free rank in that skill. Did monsters that had these skills natively count against that? What about skills from achievements? Just to be sure I went through and checked each of my unlocked skills looking for any that I could learn for free.
Unfortunately, I got mostly the results I was expecting. Nearly every skill I’d unlocked was not a new discovery. The surprise was the one that was.
When I checked Embrace of Shadows I was prompted with the same message I’d seen before, telling me I had a free rank and needed to select a class for it. This was baffling, as Embrace of Shadows had exactly the same prerequisites as Spiderclimb and came from the same source. Why did it count as a new discovery? Had I found another bug?
I went ahead and accepted the free skill, assigning it to my Thief class which seemed the most appropriate. As I did so, the world seemed to hesitate, like something was holding its breath in anticipation. The rustle of a page turning behind me told me that whatever I was feeling wasn’t shared by anyone else, but for me it was like the tension I felt pulling back my crossbow. Any further, and something would snap.
Suddenly I found myself deluged with notifications.
> System Message
>
> New Class Discovered!
>
> Congratulations, you are the first to discover the class “Shadow Thief.” As the discoverer of a class, you gain several benefits and may adopt this class immediately, ignoring normal prerequisites. Note that if you choose not to adopt this class immediately you may do so at any time from your character screen, but if anyone else becomes a member of this class before you do, they will gain the benefits of being the first member of that class, though you will retain your discovery bonuses.
>
> Shadow Thief
>
> Class (Tier 2, Thief)
>
> Prerequisites: Thief (Level 25), Intelligence (20), Agility (25). Dexterity (25), Shadow Magic (Tier 3+)
>
> Class Skills: Embrace of Shadows, Shadow Step, Blades of Twilight, Hands of Night
>
> Class Attributes: Dexterity, Agility, Intelligence, Luck
>
> Growth Rating: 6 / 10
>
> Affinities: 4
>
> Note: The listed prerequisites apply to anyone taught the class normally. As the discoverer of this class, if you teach it to someone else you can allow them to waive one of the non-class prerequisites, or reduce a single class prerequisite by half the normally required level.
>
> Would you like to become a Shadow Thief now?
>
> Yes / No
I hesitated for a long moment. I absolutely did want to become a shadow thief. It sounded way better than being a normal thief and all the free skills would be amazing. The problem was that I was going to be examined going into the dungeon tomorrow and I wasn’t sure what would happen if I suddenly had a new class.
I had not realized that you could discover something without being able to qualify for it. Why had I discovered it exactly? Was it something about the skill, or was it the fact that I had all the requirements even though they were still too low?
I was also concerned that I might have bugged out the process a bit, as what was happening with Embrace of Shadows seemed like an error. From what I could see I neither met the prerequisites nor did it seem like I should have gotten a free rank in the skill. I was definitely going to report this, but I was concerned it would cost me a bunch of free skills.
I left the prompt open and navigated to my help menu, locating the section on classes. A few minutes of reading later one of my fears was assuaged. In the section on multi-classing I learned that you had to select an active class if you had more than one, and only the active class was able to earn experience. It seemed that my Dual Nature skill was making it possible for me to have two classes active at once, but one of them had to be Trailblazer.
The good news was that my active class would be what others saw when they inspected me with anything but the strongest and most intrusive examination effects. Some such effects apparently could detect even non-active aspects of your stats, which likely also included inactive titles. If I got hit with one of those effects I was screwed anyway, so why not accept the class now and just set it as inactive until we were in the dungeon?
I selected “Yes” and immediately got more notifications.
> System Message
>
> Prerequisites Not Met
>
> You cannot learn the skill “Embrace of Shadows” as you do not satisfy the prerequisite “Nightstalker (Level 1)”
Yep, I’d definitely broken something, but the messages didn’t stop coming.
> New Achievement
>
> Pathfinder
>
> You are the first Traveler to discover a new class! How many will follow in your footsteps, and will you lead them, or will you hoard this knowledge for yourself?
>
> Rewards:
> +20pp (Universal)
> Title Unlocked (“Sage”)
> New Achievement
>
> Where None Have Gone Before
>
> You are the first Traveler to become a member of a newly discovered class. This achievement replaces the “Destiny Awaits” achievement and grants additional rewards.
>
> Rewards:
> +20pp (Shadow Thief)
> Title Unlocked (“Founder”)
> Blank Class Scroll (Tier 3)
Congratulations, you have received enough XP to become a Level 7 Valerian!
> System Message
>
> Class Founder Benefits Gained
>
> As you have discovered a new class and become the first member of it, you gain the full benefits from both, and are considered to be the founding member of this class. As the founder of a class, you gain one signature skill of your choice, and you may select one of the following special benefits that will be permanently associated with this class.
>
> Option 1: Guild or Faction Membership Requirement
>
> Adds an extra prerequisite to this class that requires membership in a guild or faction of your choice in order to learn the class. Once a guild or faction is selected it cannot be changed, however if it merges with another this requirement will transfer over. Members who leave the guild or faction will have their class forcibly set to inactive but will retain the skills learned.
>
> Note: Methods exist that allow a class to be separated from a guild or faction, but these are generally as difficult as discovering the class in the first place.
>
> Option 2: Deific Dedication
>
> You may dedicate this class to the service of a deity. If you do so, being a follower of that deity becomes a prerequisite for joining this class and high-ranking members of the god’s clergy will be able to freely teach the class to others.
>
> Dedicating a class to a deity will cause the class to change in nature to better fit the selected deity and their domains. This change will empower the class and may alter the name, tier, and skills granted, but will not count as a new class being discovered.
>
> Leaving the service of the deity will cause members of this class to revert to the original version of the class and forcibly set it to inactive. Additionally, for dedicating a class to a deity you will receive a blessing from that deity.
>
> Note: It is still possible for a non-dedicated version of the class to be unlocked via a different set of prerequisites.
>
> Option 3: Master & Apprentice
>
> If you select this option, you can only ever teach this class to a single other person at a time. So long as your apprentice lives, no others can learn this class, and should you die all the benefits you gain as a founder of this class will transfer to your apprentice who then becomes the new master. If your apprentice dies you can select a new apprentice freely. Either position can also be resigned, which will set this class as forcibly inactive.
>
> In return for these restrictions both Master and Apprentice receive various benefits. The master can ignore branch restrictions on skills unlocked from leveling this class. When a branching skill path is unlocked, they may choose one from the list and automatically learn it at first rank. Additionally, they can spend affinities to instantly evolve a class skill.
>
> The apprentice gains bonus class XP from working under the master, allowing faster leveling under the master’s guidance. When selecting from a branching skill path, the apprentice automatically receives a rank in the skill the master took at that branch. The apprentice may also spend an affinity to ignore the branch restriction of one other skill at that level. If the apprentice later becomes the master, all such affinities are refunded.
>
> Note: Should the master and apprentice both perish, this class will become available as a class scroll in appropriately themed loot drops.
>
> Option 4: Global Announcement
>
> If you select this option the details of how to learn this class will be announced globally for all to see, and you will be publicly acknowledged as the founder of the class. This may have a wide-ranging impact on your reputation with many factions and individuals but is basically guaranteed to make you famous–or infamous. Except where local laws prohibit it, this class will forever become available for training at public training halls for anyone who wants to learn it.
>
> Option 5: A Head Start
>
> If none of these options appeal to you, you may take the class as-is, with no changes. If you do so, you will gain 5 free levels in this class immediately and you gain one extra signature skill. The class will not have any additional barriers to entry, but no active measures will be taken to teach it to others unless you take that upon yourself.
>
> Note: Once a class is discovered some items and rewards are capable of effectively teaching a class or giving knowledge of its prerequisites. If you select this option, you should expect the class to enter general circulation eventually, especially once people know to look for it.
A scroll tube quietly joined the growing pile of stuff under my bed sheets. I ignored it as I tried to read through the veritable wall of text in this latest prompt.
When I’d still thought this was a game, I’d been planning to discover a class or two and start a guild and attract other players who’d want access to the unique classes I could teach them. Maybe I would have sold access to the class to other players for exorbitant fees. What I hadn’t planned on was making it a thieves guild. I didn’t think I wanted to live that kind of life.
“Lights out in 10 minutes!” bellowed a guard from down the hall, interrupting my chain of thought. Behind me Zaeri sighed and closed her book, and I heard her start preparing for bed. I had plans for after everyone was asleep, but right now I needed to sort out this mess.
Dedicating the class to Valera seemed like a good way to go. I was already her champion or something like that, and it seemed like she’d like it on general principle even if her portfolio didn’t have anything to do with stealing.
I had to wonder how the class would change if I took that option. I definitely didn’t want to unleash a bunch of super-thieves onto the world, but of the available choices this one seemed like the most controllable of the public options.
Option 3 seemed like the best way to control access to the class, it would guarantee there were no more than two shadow thieves in the world at a time, even in a worst case scenario. It would also work very well for me with my extra affinities and ability to generate lots of progression points.
My main hesitation here was that I was pretty sure the scroll case I was clutching was for creating a class scroll that could be used to learn my new class, and I was pretty sure it’d become useless if I took that option. Maybe a blank one was still valuable? I had no way to know.
I briefly considered the last option as well, but in my mind there wasn’t a lot of difference between it and the global announcement option. It was purely a matter of time. Maybe it would be ok if I purely kept it to myself, but if so, what was the point of the class scroll anyway?
Realizing that all the options I was willing to take made the class scroll pretty useless made things easier for me. Maybe it had a use for the Deity option, but if so it seemed pretty minimal since members of the clergy could teach people and only followers of Valera could learn it regardless of source.
The question then was if I wanted to gamble on how the class would change under the influence of Valera, or if I just wanted to go all in on becoming the ultimate shadow thief. I wished I knew if Valera even wanted this class in her service. She was supposed to be an ally of Astraea, goddess of justice.
If that was the case, it seemed like it might get a bit awkward if she had a class specifically dedicated to breaking the law. I pondered the situation for a few minutes, barely noticing as a guard came by and lowered the hoods of the various magical lanterns that lit the cells from the hallway outside.
I nearly smacked myself when I remembered what I was in jail for. I’d stolen a statuette of Valera, and when I’d identified it before storing it in my soul-space it had told me it could be used to contact the goddess once a month. I could just call her up and ask.
I fiddled with the prompt a bit and managed to minimize it so it wasn’t blocking my entire vision. I wasn’t ready to call Valera just yet. I had no idea what using the statuette would look like and had no intention of taking it out of my soul-space anywhere its owner might be able to track it.
Thankfully, I had a way around that, but I wasn’t quite ready to do it. I needed to make sure Zaeri was asleep first.
In the meantime, I went ahead and cast Identify on my two new items. I’d probably be stuffing them into my soul-space soon so might as well get that out of the way.
> Gold Loot Box
>
> Loot Box (Tier 3)
>
> This box contains three randomly determined treasures. When you activate it, you may select one of the three treasures to keep, while the other two are lost. All the loot contained in this box will be Tier 3.
>
> This box contains a weapon, an accessory, and a pet.
> Blank Class Scroll
>
> Class Scroll (Tier 3)
>
> This class scroll can be used to record all the information needed to learn a class and unlock its starting skills. To read the scroll a reader must meet the prerequisites of the class, otherwise all they will learn is the prerequisite list. If this scroll is filled out by the discoverer of a class it will become a Legacy Scroll and will retain the discoverer’s ability to lower the prerequisites to adopt the class.
>
> If this scroll is used to record a class that has the Master & Apprentice founder benefit, the reader will become the new master if none exists, otherwise they will receive a quest to seek out the master and petition to become his or her apprentice, even if they already have an apprentice.
>
> This scroll can only be used to record class information for a Tier 3 class or lower. The final product will be the same tier as the class, or one level higher if it is a legacy scroll.
So, if I took the Master & Apprentice option I could actually use the class scroll still, but only as a means of randomly selecting my apprentice. That didn’t really change much, but it was good to know.
I went ahead and opened up my skills sheet and started to put points into Soulspace but stopped when I noticed that I’d managed to accumulate over a hundred total progression points.
I flipped over to my penalties list and looked at my two remaining penalties, Diminutive was just a move speed reduction, and I was canceling that out with my adventurer title. The elephant in the room was the bizarrely named “Look Ma, No Hands… or Feet!” which was a ridiculous tier 50 penalty costing 100 points to pay off.
The last time I’d paid off a penalty it’d given me a species evolution, but it wasn’t really clear what this penalty even did. It seemed to just be describing my status as a spirit inhabiting a gemstone. My other penalty, which had only been tier 5, had cut my max HP in half.
I was sure it would be worth it to pay off the penalty, but I decided now wasn’t the time. I needed to buy more soul-space slots and I might need to dump a bunch of points in my new class as soon as I got that sorted out. I also had to buy more Innovator ranks and unlock Limitless’ skills, which was going to be expensive… Paying off the penalty would have to wait a bit.
Twelve Valerian and six Universal points later and I was shoving my new loot into my soul-space. That skill was rank 8 now, and it seemed like soon I’d need Limit Breaker just to expand my inventory.
There was no point putting this stuff off further, so I started planning out how I wanted to spend my points. First, I bought my 2nd rank of Innovator with mostly Trailblazer points, but I held some back so that I could use them to assign new skills to that class.
I followed through on that plan immediately, purchasing Limit Breaker and assigning it to my Trailblazer class - not only did it seem more thematically appropriate, but I liked the idea of assigning one god’s skills to another god’s class.
The moment I finished assigning the skill I got yet more prompts.
> New Achievement
>
> Heresy
>
> You have perverted one of the gifts of the gods and bent it to your own whims. This act has offended and enraged the god who’s gift you have misused, and you will find no aid among the followers of this god’s religion should they discover your transgression.
>
> Your act of heresy has also pleased the rivals of the god you have wronged, granting you their favor.
>
> Rewards:
> Faction Relationship Change (Church of Limitless: Despised)
> Title Unlocked (“Heretic”)
> Minor Blessing of Odin
> Minor Blessing of The Adversary
> +5pp (Universal)
> System Message
>
> Divine Wrath
>
> You have been cursed by one of the gods for your sins against them. Know that this is not something a deity can do lightly, as it costs them considerable personal power and influence amongst the other gods.
>
> Divine curses take the form of skill penalties and are subject to all the same rules as normal penalties, except that you may use the petition system to have them mitigated or removed by another god if you have sufficient favor with them.
>
> For a deity to remove a penalty they must expend as much power and influence as the original god did to curse you in the first place, so it can require significant favor to completely remove a divine curse.
>
> Curse of Impotence
>
> Penalty (Tier 10)
>
> Source: Divine Wrath
>
> Rank: 5 / 5
>
> PP: 0 / 20
>
> You have been cursed by a deity, sapping your strength. You get a -2 penalty to all stats per-rank in this penalty. Additionally, you are sterile and cannot have children while you have this curse.