The amount of stuff they pulled from their would be ambushers would have made the run a resounding success on it's own. Four storage rings, full of ill gotten gains. Grunt took a few things as the man of the hour, but with the windfall Corvayne was able to give Dot and Preshe defensive enchanted rings, two dumb looking but sturdy magic leather helmets, and boots that improved grace and walking speed, giving grace to Dot and the boost to pace to Preshe, whom sometimes tired at the pace they took. Mister I took one of the blood robes, and Lady Blood Claw took the bone mail, clicking and tightening black ropes.

"Decent."

Corvayne collected as many knives as he could, adding poisoned enchanted knives to his collections.

They went quick through the next few floors, with Corvayne occasionally asking summoning questions to Babs about her weapons, or asking Leigue something regarding armsmasters. He had a feeling that the summoning was important in some way, but the fight with strong enemies showed how important it was to be able to finish fights off one mistake or opening.

He was pretty sure he wouldn't get Bab's class but he felt there was something in having summoning as an option. He might be able to work on his skills, but he'd never be able to level up a seperate class to a respectable level. Lady Blood Claw had leveled up again, and was closing in on 50, while he was still at 31. It meant that he couldn't expect to get the core traits he needed to use summons directly, as they required support if you were not just summoning decoys. On the other hand, he had saved Bell and possibly given her some sort of life power.

The group took their time on the floor to heal from crossbow bolts punching through them. Oseem didn't seem to have any wounds but had been near the back, so he might not have even been in the portal. Corvayne was almost certain he was a fraud but Mister I seemed even more sure he wasn't, so it was a sort of harmless crystal expense.

The only question for floor 8 was if they wanted to go through the plant filled crevice. Corvayne voted no for the alien jungle – He didn't want to accidentally kill his crafters when it was some sort of poison hell.

They found a stairway near where Grunt had created a crater, and also saw that the Tower was trying to repair a path to get to it. Little flecks of stone were forming a stairway to the square cave on the far high wall of the crater. Corvayne used gravity to climb up and drop a rope, then aided their weaker members by hauling them up with rope.

Floor nine was a vast and beautiful beach. Corvayne remembered this one. "Every step summons crabs or golems."

Lady Blood Claw started walking and killing, with Spears following her and Grunt just stomping crabs and exploding golems alike, forming a 20 foot wide path along the beach as sand and shells went flying. Leigue was grabbing blue cores from the golems left and right.

Corvayne took over for Lady Blood Claw after 15 minutes of non stop swinging of her sword. They ended up blazing a trail of a mile, with what Leigue estimated was 600 golem cores. A small fortune in raw crafting materials and useful for all sorts of animation projects or creating his own golems. He needed to hand those over to Mosh for sure.

They arrived at a floor 10 full of strange glowing plants in a dark forest. They looked like sea creatures, curved and sprouting little bumps and ridges. The monsters in the floor were glowing goblins, biolumicent orbs that rolled around on the ground and shot lightning, undead that were lit with neon pink, blue, and green fires as they rolled towards the party leaving trails of blazing light, and finally something like a toad that spit up caustic chemicals that erupted into strange colors before exploding in sparks. Mister I had excess ammo he wanted to get rid of and Corvayne as well as Spears were not keen to fight so many monsters that hit weaknesses of theirs. There was a dark spot where the only way to see, even with Corvayne's near perfect night vision, was to use monster parts to light the way.

He didn't bother with those shadowy paths that likely held more treasure, as he had a different goal before they finished the boss and he dispersed most of the mercenaries.

"Preshe, we're going to practice again."

Corvayne used [Cross Skill: Nerve Pinch] on one of the non poisoned throwing knives he had. He noted her interest in how he had put the monster to sleep at range... he did remember she had some skill with knives and that might be what weapon he would start with, if she decided she did want to stick around. He knelt next to her.

He took a deep breath, then activated [[Unity]] and [[Essence]], putting a hand on her shoulder. She pushed the monocle into place and started working.

He could see the strands of stars with his eyes, pulling like webs where her fingers touched them. Unlike him, she was able to take a little bit of it as she tugged, holding a bright mote with her hand and somehow sustaining it, then putting it back.

She pulled another, and this time squeezed after it was away. He saw it flow into her, changing color subtly to match her own as it did.

"Try to harvest the loose ones now." He drew a dagger and with a spin slammed it into the sleeping goblin's head. Almost instantly the web of stars broke, a few flinging themselves to him. Preshe tried to grab them with her hand and stuff them under the upper part of her missing arm. A lot of them seemed to float away when she grabbed them.

Corvayne let his power drop, and saw that Preshe looked worried. He nodded at her. "Don't get frustrated. We are making progress. Are you okay with trying to learn to do this?"

He relaxed as he spoke, letting [[Unity]] be open for hints that she was telling him what she thought he wanted to hear. There was a desire to be useful, and a worry that she would be left behind.

"I will learn it."

"Do you want to? Is there something you dreamed of doing?"

She looked down at her hands. "I was born to be a slave sir Corvayne. I envied the free. I... I don't know what to do. I am happy that you don't-"

"Preshe. More then food, or clothes, or a safe place... I'm looking to make sure that you have all that and choices."

"Sir, forgive me for presuming to know better, but you wished to mold me into your ideal class."

Corvayne opened [[Unity]] up as he rolled his eyes. "Find the lie: I do not want you to feel you need to become an Essence Master."

When he looked over he could see she was using the monocle on him. "Sir, it's faint but I don't think I see it. What should I look for?"

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Corvayne wondered if this was what Wick and Grunt were dealing with when they picked him up. It suddenly clicked that he was, in some way, constantly trying to do that. He would have to have some serious Mister I time. That, and remind Grunt that he loved the big guy as a brother. Granted, a brother with some pretty big secrets.

Corvayne pointed to the cavern around them. "I know we are power marching through here-"

He was interrupted by the retort of a few different rifles going off, and waiting until it was quiet.

"I know we are in a dangerous place, but do you feel like you are in danger?"

She shook her head.

Corvayne nodded. "We are strong, but even with that strength we need more. I have goals I can't accomplish the way I am. I have to keep improving. But that is separate from Preshe. You are free to ask us to train you in whatever you like, or keep with trying to get a new class, or don't do anything like that and live a comfortable life, staying with us as long or short as you like."

"What about Princess Bell and Spears? They didn't like when Miss Babs asked to join you."

Corvayne smirked at that. "It's because she's annoying and you are not."

"Sir Corvayne, if I become annoying, please tell me?"

He considered trying to keep being reassuring, but instead ruffled her hair. "Will do. Now, do you want to try to catch raw power in your hands again?"

She thought about it and nodded.

The 10th floor didn't give them an Inn, instead presenting an endless temple. Ayame, the cyborg, sighed. "Not this bullshit again. I'll be in the boss room."

She strode out of the quiet gray hallway. Corvayne nudged Bell. "Cmon, I'm going to make offerings to Lythandies, Gygax, and Falenti."

She sighed and took his elbow. "What about my Sister's goddess?"

Corvayne tensed and she laughed and lead him to Lythandies. "I am kidding. Besides, Lythandies should be fine for what I was thinking."

Lady Blood Claw followed and gave a token bit of black crystal essence, which vanished as it landed on the altar. Corvayne gave them a knife of black crystal each. The larger portions sank into the altar. Bell donated to Lythandies, both a bit of black essence she had not gotten change for, and a handful of seeds made of gold. The offering glowed brightly. Corvayne looked at her.

"It is not always the value of a gift, but what it signifies in the relationship." She thrust her chin up and smiled, enjoying showing off clearly.

"Good. I owe a lot to Lythandies."

Lady Blood Claw was waiting at the dusty shrine to Falenti. Corvayne nodded after making his offering, and LBC nodded back. Spears had wandered off to find a particular altar, as did Babs of all people. Probably a solid gold one.

Preshe tugged Corvayne's sleeve.

"Who shall I worship sir Corvayne? I was not permitted near shrines before." She left unsaid because gods tended to free their worshipers, but with [[Unity]] he got all that.

"Lythandies is the Goddess who's helped us a lot. She is about crafting, life, building things, and healing. She saved Bell's life once, and her gifts helped heal you. We hope she can help you grow a new arm. Gygax is a god who is deeply interested in information and the system. It has been noted that is associated with a game that may have some influence "

"What about this one?" She pointed at Falenti.

Corvayne thought about it. "Secrets I think? He hinted at a lot of the things we're trying to do. It is, I suppose, sort of his meddling that made me ask for a person with mana sight to help me."

She thought for a moment, then used some of the crystals Corvayne had already given her to donate to the three gods, with a little more to Falenti.

They moved into the boss room and were greeted with what looked like two giant robotic hands, larger then cars, tapping their huge fingers gently on a battlefield made of some sort of high tech foam. He expected they were loaded with weapons, also the square cubes that were cover made him suspect they would be ranged.

Leigue pointed to the door. "Go ahead and put this up to the full plus 3."

"It will add additional powers to the boss?" Corvayne asked.

"It won't matter." Leigue said with full confidence. And he was right, wasn't he?

"Lady Blood Claw." Corvayne said. "[Sundering Blade]. Left then Right."

She nodded, casting haste on them. Corvayne turned to Buh'Bo. He paused, realizing that she had it worse then he did regarding names. Scratch that, she could probably change hers. He had some weird connection to his that made him hate it, its nicknames, and somehow picking a different name all together.

That aside, he cleared his throat and addressed ehr. "Buh'Bo, do you have something you can buff us with to further increase our speed? We just need to get to the monsters and hit twice each."

She nodded and used her own Airfoil Blade to cast the area buff. "Well then, try to impress me. It won't work."

Corvayne looked at Ayame. "If you can use a skill that holds them in a spot for a few seconds, we should be able to kill them both in no time."

Mister I had pulled his bow out. "I'll pin them down too!"

Grunt gave Corvayne a thumbs up, and Spears moved back to where their two or three non combat set up members were.

Corvayne switched to [[Agility]] and then [[Unity]] to let Lady Blood Claw dip into his speed, before boosting off through the halfway mark of the arena like a rocket. The moment the hands started to move Mister I and Ayame fired, causing them to stop. Good thing too, as they were splitting.

Corvayne used [Cross Skill: Sundering Strike] as he looped by one hand then hit the other with the same attack, blade shining with red energy as it left rusty gashes in the monsters armor. Lady Blood Claw followed up with an overhand [Sundering Blade], leaving a deep red after trail as her first hit connected, then bouncing off the armor of one hand to land another [Sundering Blade] on the other. A moment later, there were two furious clouds of dust, enveloping both bosses. Corvayne saw the hand split up into fresh groups of five smaller robot fingers but the tornado burned away the metal like a fire slashing through a single sheet of paper. In a moment, both arms were dead.

He dropped, landed, and bee-lined for his Compass door in his mindscape, waving at Growl-Whine's fragment and the lightning wraith.

He woke up before he fell over, and walked over to the treasure chest while fishing up the last crystal payments, including Leigue's black crystal. The elf offered him a cigarette with a smile. "I have not had this interesting of a job in a long time."

Grunt just picked up the chest and dumped it into a spare storage ring. Corvayne turned to everyone.

“Thank you for your assistance. Oseem, I appreciate letting Mister I learn your secrets.”

“Of which, I have many.” The elderly man said. Corvayne might have gotten scammed, but Mister I was beaming with excitement to try to harness mystic energy.

“Ayame. Nice shooting. Thanks for showing me and Bell some new tricks with the rifle.”

She saluted and spun to exit.

“Babs.” He said.

“You shall address me-”

“Thank you for working with us. I am sure we will meet again.”

He turned to Dot Inkwell. The librarian. “We are going to floor 0, so to speak. We are perfectly happy to have you join us as we prepare to go to the world where we might find your father.”

She nodded. Corvayne got a sense she was a little bit... overloaded with the nuance she would have as an awakened.

Ah, well. They'd help her a day at a time. On the other side, Preshe looked nervous. “I just follow you?”

“If you trust us, sure. Otherwise, everything you have is yours, money and the items we gifted you. I would like to show you Cascadia and help you with your arm.”

She nodded, and he stepped into the exit and returned to the parking lot of the forest parkland. He turned around and saw, of course, every single 'mercenary' had followed him out. Even Ayame who had left before him.

She saluted. “Sir, permission to join up.”

Corvayne waved away the salute. “I'm glad but, why?”

“Payout around you is insane.” She said, tapping her cybernetic eye. “These are not cheap.”

“All right. You'll have to dive to find experts I'm pretty sure, we don't have too many Cyborgs. We can fix your parts though. Divine power.” Maybe Mosh could whip upgrades together for her, but the magical component made Corvayne suspect they would beat home made gear.

Babs, meanwhile, had rushed a nice looking car that was not theirs. “Ha! Shotgun!”

He pointed at the beat up truck that Mister I drove. She shrieked. “That THING? You ride that?”

Leigue was pulling out a folding bike scrawled with runes with one hand, smoking with the other. “If you don't always pack transportation, I pity you.”

Note to self: Make packable transportation going forward. “There's room on the back with Grunt.” Corvayne said, which was completely true if they tied a few party members to the roof.

Oseem stepped out. Corvayne decided to error on the side of caution, bowing. “My respects elder, but our contract is over. Do you wish me to direct you to the nearest portal, or are you going to continue to train Mister I pro bono?”

The man laughed. “Icarriii is a shining star talent. Once in a hundred years of looking. But no, I can see karma is drawing me here. This is the place I should go to find something... interesting to me.”

Still no evidence he was for real. But if he was a fraud? He was an exceptional liar to himself as well.

Dot looked overwhelmed. Perhaps some sort of jet-lag living at sped up time and dropping back down to the real world.

Preshe moved to stand next to Corvayne, looking at the tree covered hills and sun rays peeking through the rain clouds. It made him feel like he had done something right.

“Let's get you home.”