Olivander pushed his conjured bicycle to the limit. He was stronger and faster than any normal person, so the bike practically screamed as he tore across the frozen lake.
He rode with his staff across the handle bars. He brandished it when a stream of water punched through the ice towards him.
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Staff of the Grand Magus
* Conjured Weapon: Staff
* A staff that compliments the power of a Grand Magus.
* Capable of conjuring blasts of elemental power.
* Can be used in conjunction with rituals to enhance projectile effects.
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A globe of fire the size of his head manifested on the end of the staff. It shot towards the incoming stream of water and reduced it to a cloud of mist. Olivander had to jerk his bike to the side to swerve around it.
"No fire it is!"
Using the staff was expensive, mana wise, so he generally only called it out when he needed either maximum firepower, or knew he wasn't going to be fighting for an extended period. It also provided instant cast ranged attacks, which was one of his weakest areas.
"Olivander!"
Sous pointed to a crack in the ice that was swiftly making its way across the lake. Where the ice cracked, water gushed up.
"Try to get ahead of me!"
Sous glowed brightly for a moment, then shot forward.
He hadn't been able to toss him deep into the dungeon earlier, and he thought that was most likely because he hadn't actually started the trial at that point. Now he should be able to use Sous as a portal anchor.
For all that he loved his abilities to conjure all manner of things, he sometimes wished he hadn't picked up the Lesser Conjurer class. As Burtrum had once told Gregory, picking a class can sometimes color future gains. In Olivander's case, he was often annoyed that most magicians with the Traveler class could just Teleport where they wanted to go. Not Olivander. He was never offered a teleport spell. He could only conjure portals. They had more utility, but less flexibility. It was a tradeoff he wished he had the option of making.
Sous raced ahead, gaining ground on Olivander, but it wasn't going to be enough.
They were out of time. The ice was breaking in front of Olivander.
With a flash of power he sent a message through their connection.
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Portals!
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Sous understood Olivander's intention immediately. He drew on Olivander's power and called up his portal ability. He could feel how compressed and constrained it was.
Olivander opened a portal in front of himself as the ice was about to break under his bicycle, and he leapt through it.
In the same moment, Sous opened a portal from where he was to the point where Olivander's portal would let him out. He kept racing ahead, hoping that their gamble would actually work.
Olivander emerged from his portal and dropped through Sous'. As soon as he emerged he opened another portal, and then Sous opened another portal.
Olivander continuously fell through portal after portal, but they had a little less range each time.
Sous could feel that the portal ability was about spent, one or two more and they would be shattered by the dungeon.
When his portal finally failed. He hung his head in shame.
Olivander dropped out of his portal at a not inconsiderable speed. Slamming into the ground.
Sous looked down. He hadn't noticed they were over dry land.
"We did it!" he cheered.
Olivander groaned. He drew a ritual.
"Healing Ritual Reinforcement: Minor Recovery!"
The healing fixed what he assumed was a broken collar bone.
"Come on Sous," Olivander said, climbing to his feet. "No time to waste!"
* * *
A collective groan went out around the room when Olivander smashed into the ground.
"I told him he should bring some potions," Fezzic said. "What if he had broken his arm and couldn't draw a healing ritual!"
"He could use his nose," Cooper suggested.
"Maybe. You have to at least kind of get the shape right though," Gregory put in.
They watched Olivander heal himself and then get back up and race forward.
"What's next?" Gregory asked the Guild Master.
"I'm not sure. The dungeon has a few variations, but it's also in a whole configuration that we rarely see. All we know is what the higher level platinum rankers tell us about it, which is usually colored by their own perspectives and how they tackled problems. One thing I can say is that it will probably end with a climb."
Burtrum nodded, "I hated that damn wall. Knocked me off on my first two attempts and ruined my times."
"Why did you want a good time?" Gregory asked.
"Bragging rights, son. Like a lot of adventurers, I came here with companions, and we made it into a bit of a competition."
"Many do! It's one of the things that excites me about this new development!"
Olivander worked his way through an area not unlike the basin around Du'la'melio. He and Sous fought off elementals, blasting through them like they were wet tissue. Olivander always took care to keep them outside his reflective ward and avoided falling water whenever possible.
"I don't think he's avoiding the water just for fun, or a desire to stay dry," Burtrum said. "It's taking too much of his time."
"Maybe there's some kind of crazy bonus clear condition like 'Don't get wet,'" Gregory guessed.
"Hmm, it is possible, though bonus clear conditions are exceptionally rare at our dungeon."
Olivander blew through the last few elementals, and approached a massive wall, easily one hundred feet high.
"This should be interesting. The dungeon won't let him teleport or levitate. He really will need to climb. The wall is usually a little shorter than that."
Olivander conjured a series of metal rods, then used another ritual and tossed them into the air. They drove themselves into the rock wall.
"Of course," the Guild Master hedged, "he might still use magical tools."
* * *
Olivander dismissed Sous, who could no longer fly next to the wall. Then he began to hop from metal stake to stake. He quickly made his way up the wall, clearing about a third of the climb before his improvised steps ran out.
He couldn't use the same trick again. He might be able to balance while holding a pile of conjured spikes and drawing a ritual, but the ritual was a little too large to manage that while up on the wall. He found some handholds and began to climb in earnest.
The wall was just as he recalled — fairly easy to climb. The handholds carved into the rocky face were deep with plenty of grip, and there were a lot of them. No, the challenge was the occasional cascade of water that came down from the cliff's edge high above. He jumped to the side, grabbing some new handholds as the water fell past him.
He advanced continually. His stamina drained at a painful rate. He finally scrabbled over the edge. The ring of runes that marked the end of the run was right in front of him.
He got up to run to it, stepped on the edge of his robe, and tripped. He tumbled for a moment, but was able to get into the finishing ring after a second.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Whew! I did it!"
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Waters of Du'la'melio complete!
* Clear condition: Reach the end of the run. (Completed)
* Bonus condition: Finish in under 7 minutes. (Failed, time 7:01)
* Bonus condition: Reach the end of the run without getting wet. (Failed)
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"One second!? I tripped! WHAT!? I'm not wet!"
He looked down at himself. He was drenched in sweat.
"I can't sweat?"
His body began to glow as the dungeon carried him back to the entry room.
"Celuria! Is this your idea of a joke! Don't think you can just ignore me! I know you're out there laughing at me," Olivander was yelling even as his body rematerialized.
"You want to play it that way? I was only casually cheating! Just you wait, you haven't even seen real cheating yet!"
No dungeon spirit manifested.
He pulled out a spare robe from one of his dimensional bags. It was one of the robes that Helga made for him. He didn't wear them often, but it had the perfect properties for the dungeon.
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Traveler's Robes
* Armor: Robe
* Rarity: Rare
* A robe designed to keep the wearer comfortable while traveling.
* Regulates temperature, keeping the wearer warmer in a cold environment, or cooler in a warm environment.
* Actively repels water and keeps the wearer dry.
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He quickly swapped his rich purple robes with the more humble sand colored robes. He felt his sweat wick away as the enchantment took effect, and the room felt more pleasantly cool.
"You know, Olivander, I had heard you were losing your touch," a feminine voice said from behind him.
He turned to see a translucent woman in flowing blue robes. The bright dress and her flowing green hair adorned by various flowers were offset starkly by the solid black orbs she had for eyes.
"Bested by your own apprentice and kicked out of the palace. I don't know why you're complaining, you passed my dungeon. I even gave you the knowledge to create a link between inside and out. If anything, you should be grateful."
"Celuria, it's been too long. You know, when I saw the diagrams the Guild Master gave me, I assumed you had left for another dungeon, and that some new spirit was doling out secrets that should be better left in the hands of those with the restrictions not to abuse them."
"You know better than most that those rituals are more dangerous to the wielder than the world as a whole. I'm only sworn to protect one of those things. But come, tell me of this new Arch-magus. The conclave is right around the corner, and I would know of him before I go back to Castleton."
"Surely you know of Amegnon? You had to have met him."
"When he was an apprentice and had no real power of his own, yes. He's in quite different shoes now."
Olivander sighed.
"This is to be a friendly exchange of information? What are you bringing to the table? Don't tell me it's those rituals, you gave those to the Guild Master."
"Instead of information, I will ease the restrictions on your next run's bonus conditions. How does that sound?"
Olivander scoffed, "Pah, I'm more than capable of handling your trivial dungeon. If you want information, you're going to have to do better than that."
"What would you have of me?"
Olivander reached into a pouch at his waist.
"How about telling me where Thorgar’mirous got this," he passed her the Eye of the Dark Magus he had been carrying around on Cooper's behalf.
"Now that is curious. He gave this to you? When, how?"
"A few weeks ago now, a temporary dungeon popped up north of Serin, and he was put in charge of it. He gave it to one of my students after I promised him I'd handle a few stray mana imbalance issues while I'm on my journey. Cooper found it in the dungeon bonus chest."
"This exchange is acceptable. We spirits cannot enter the Realm of Madness, but that doesn't mean it's residents cannot find their way into our dungeons…" she trailed off handing back the eye, and Olivander understood the implication.
He understood it, but he didn't want to believe it.
"You can't be serious. He's trapped. I sealed him in there myself."
"You should think of the binding that holds him there to be more akin to the binding that holds me to my dungeon. I can certainly leave, and I do regularly. But it is not without cost or limits."
Olivander considered that. "You know, I almost pulled him through in Serin. There was a new Ghoul Mimic domain, and I pushed myself too far."
That made the spirit take a step back.
"A new domain?"
Olivander had never seen Celuria so surprised. He had certainly known that what the Mimics did in creating their domains was something akin to how dungeons worked, but he otherwise hadn't imagined there was any connection between the two.
"...What do you know about the creatures?"
"I'm sorry, Olivander. This is outside the bounds of our agreement. Tell me of Amegnon, and then if you manage to complete the dungeon's bonus objectives, I will make a little more information one of your boons. If you fail…well, you'll have to pay for it."
Olivander couldn't complain about that. Getting information out of the Dungeon Spirits was often like pulling teeth. He told her of Amegnon, about how he left to earn his grimoire and travel the world, and when he came back years later, he was powerful and had unknown intentions around the position of Arch-magus. He told her of the events leading up to their encounter in Serin and an abridged version of that conversation.
"He's very dangerous right now, but I believe most of that is ignorance. He's hiding things from me and the Magi, and he doesn't understand the extent of his job. I hope guidance from you and the other Dungeon Spirits at the conclave will set him on the right path better than I have."
Celuria took all this in and did not speak for a long moment.
"Thank you Olivander. That is quite helpful. We will speak more after your next attempt."
She faded away before he could reply, but that had never stopped him before.
"See you in a minute," he said, smiling to himself.
* * *
"What's taking so long?"
"He might need to recover some mana," Gregory offered.
Cooper put his head back down where he was lying on the floor.
"That was a solid time for his first attempt," the Guild Master said. He was speaking with Burtrum and Zeke, Gregory's brother-in-law.
"About seven minutes by my guess," Burtrum agreed with a nod.
"You think he'll improve on the next try?" Zeke asked. He wasn't an adventurer, and was pretty unfamiliar with dungeons in general, not having grown up around adventurers.
"The layout doesn't change between consecutive runs, so he'll know what's coming, and be able to plan more carefully. You need to use up your required runs before the dungeon rewards you. I think Olivander's first run technically went to the young lord."
"What do you think, Guild Master? He once made a more advanced vehicle that we used to rescue Fezzic there," Burtrum said.
"That's a possibility. I'm not sure of all our former Arch-magus' capabilities. The bike seemed like more of a knee jerk thing. He wanted to move faster, but wasn't sure what would be possible. He might have a better idea now, though we didn't see him do too much experimentation."
A flash of light caught their attention in the viewing construct.
"Oh! He's starting!"
When the figure resolved, they once again found Olivander, but instead of the purple robes that Gregory was used to seeing, he was wearing some the color of desert sand.
"Oh! Those are the traveling robes I made him," Helga said. "I wonder why he changed. They just have some temperature regulation and moisture repellant."
"Ha!" Burtrum laughed. "I knew he was trying to avoid getting wet. Interesting. I wonder what else he'll do differently."
Olivander didn't give them much time to wonder. He stepped off the platform and his grimoire appeared next to him. Sous activated as well.
Gorillas made their way out of the jungle, but they were intercepted by various conjured food and cooking implements. Sous zipped back and forth destroying gorillas while Olivander drew ritual after ritual.
"Anyone know what those are?" Burtrum asked. Gregory's father had never been one to delve into magical theory. He was more interested in running a business than scholarly work.
Gregory just shook his head. The Guild Master stood up and looked at them more closely.
"I have a solid grasp on basic rituals, but these are more advanced than anything I've seen in person. Only the Magi and a couple other specific classes use rituals so often."
Olivander finished the last of a series of seven identical rituals. Then he began moving the rituals around and forming delicate connections between them with threads of light. He was clearly talking, though they couldn't tell what he was saying.
"Is he talking to himself? Or is he talking to Sous?" Timothy asked. "I wish this could let us listen too."
"Nope," Gregory said confidently. "That's his 'muttering to himself about something' face. He puts it on when he thinks someone has slighted or underestimated him."
Olivander lined up the rituals, which seemed to form a short tunnel. Then he walked down their length and opened a portal in each ritual circle.
He smiled to himself and his grimoire began to glow with a bright light.
Each ritual flashed in turn, and with each flash, the next portal was extended hundreds of feet away. A few moments later, the last portal opened up on top of the cliff at the end of the trial.
Laughing to himself, Olivander stepped through the first portal at the beginning of the trial, and he came out at the end of the trial, the viewing magic blurring to catch up to his abrupt change in position. He said something to the air above him, and then he stepped into the ring of glowing runes that marked the finish.
"Well that was a little anticlimactic," Timothy said.
"Honestly that's exactly what I expected him to do the first time," Gregory said, and Cooper nodded.