Welp, that fight ended pretty much how I expected it to. He never stood a chance once that old man decided to go all out, his flames were something, not even ashes remained. His golden soul was unaffected though, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of dissonance I felt when I gazed upon the cloud of unknown energy that now floated around him.

It was strange, some even tried to cling to Kölgə’s soul but my soul essence consumed it, I didn’t know where it went but it did something. It was almost as if it used it to weaken something within me, but the feeling faded as quickly as it came and soon slipped out of my mind.

“Dungeon! You anomalous thing! Forcing me to spend so much mana! This won’t be the last time we meet!”

And with that, the man was gone, vanishing through a portal made of scorching hot azure flames.

How was he even doing that? I call bullcrap magic, how did fire even tie into space!? Anyway, it was mana! Man this world keeps getting stranger by the day, two types of energy? Soul essence now mana?

It was interesting at least, why was mana suddenly all over the place? Why couldn’t I see it before? Did it even exist before? What changed?

These were all questions I wanted answers to but didn’t know where to look, who would I even ask? A conundrum, not a big one but still. Maybe the incomplete system in my head could help me?

I mean, it was worth a shot, I’ve been meaning to check on it since forever too. The connect rune I unlocked last time had saved me an immense amount of time and I barely spent any time there. What would happen if I spent a day of subjective time there, or a week?

But anyway, what was I going to do now? The party had splintered, adding gold coins in the mix was really a bad idea. But how was I supposed to know gold was that valuable?

I mean an entire pouch full of 100% pure gold coins that glowed like crazy was overkill but still…I never expected it to be this bad! This was supposed to be a normal dungeon dive! Why did it turn out like this?

The common ratlings were a bit too powerful too, I wasn’t going to change their power, just make their spawn chance lower. A quick update to the loot enchantment later and that was done, I also reduced the amount of golden coins in the leather pouch because clearly it was too much.

Stolen story; please report.

Changes made I returned my attention to the anxious party of three, Pal looked as stoic as ever but the rest had grim expressions on their faces, especially when they saw that the fighting had stopped and Bob didn’t return.

As I was contemplating if I should give them their rewards or not he appeared, startling them a little.

“Hello my friends! I’ve experienced a change of heart, you see. Here!” The man twisted his finger and mana rose from his body and twisted the air around him, making it move almost like water.

The magically charged air began to turn and twist a second later as a combination of soul essence and mana seeped through it and returned with their loot which he dropped at their feet before disappearing again.

Huh?

He was acting weird, where was his aloof, arrogant and greedy side? I felt something twist inside my soul at my question. I peered inside, curious to see where the odd feeling came from but saw nothing but the floating character screen and the fractals that represented system runes floating about lazily.

Huh? What the heck? Honestly, today was just a weird day, one that kept on getting weirder.

I glanced at the fractals once more and saw that some now flickered with blue light, indicating that they were unlocked. I felt a pang of excitement rush through me instantly but I clamped down on it, now was not the time to look at them.

System runes required a shit ton of time and processing power to conceptualize, the concepts they came with were so strange that even my soul had to shift itself to accommodate it. The connect rune was one such example, it changed my soul fundamentally, imbuing it with concepts and knowledge that I couldn’t conceptualize.

Part of me wonders what would happen if I were to slap a copy of it onto a regular soul. I shuddered mentally, such a thing would be barbaric and too inhumane, even for me. Maybe one day, when I’m bored and my morals start to slip too far or something.

Anyway, Sero accepted her loot and so did Pal, he wore a confused expression though, as if he noticed the sudden change like I did. Maybe he did, something strange was going on, with myself and this world. I didn’t like it but there was nothing I could do, for now.

They wisely chose not to venture into the boss room, there was nothing there after all. They quickly made their way to my door, which slowly began to open, tension was slowly leaving them as light peeked in.

“By the gods and all great mages! We actually survived that! We did it!”

“Cough, Indeed young lad, indeed. Tis quite the hefty sum of gold, oddly shaped but it's still gold! I could retire and open a smithy and still have more left to last thousands of generations! Ha! If only Hal was here..haaaa, sad times, riches but not a soul to share it with.”

“Oh come on Pal! We’re here! We did this together, as one. I know I messed up a few times but we did it! That’s the best part, no? Isn’t that right, lady Sero?”

“I suppose the mage does indeed have a point, we couldn’t have done it without you, Sir Pal. Cheer up a little.”

What an interesting conversion, who was Hal? The name felt familiar, somehow.

Wait! What happened to the archer!?

I turned my attention to where I last saw the body only to realize that it was gone, as if it never existed.

What?!