“I’ll coach when I need to, but mostly I’m just a lifeguard,” Hans said to his group of Apprentices. “You should treat this as a real crawl where you won’t have my help.”

The adventurers nodded.

“Excellent. Crawl starts now.”

“Why do I feel so electrified?” Olza quietly asked Hans.

With a grin, he answered, “Adventure!”

The Apprentices moved into formation: Two Rangers in front, a Rogue directly behind, then both Mages, and the Druid at the rear. That gave them Honronk’s Nightsight eyes facing forward, and Buru’s Druid ears listening backward. In battle, Chisel would lend her eyes as well.

The party made those choices without input from Hans, a fact that filled him with heart-fluttering pride.

Honronk called out the gnolls before anyone else in the party could see them. The monsters bared their teeth as soon as torchlight reached their shadow-like fur. Two gnolls with weapons–one a club, the other a rusty, pitted sword–stood side by side in the hall. A third gnoll stood behind, mostly obscured by his companions.

“Sword, please!” Terry called. That told Sven to prioritize the gnoll with the blade over the other targets.

But Sven didn’t fire because the gnolls didn’t move. The beasts stood their ground, waiting.

For a moment, the Apprentices hesitated, surprised their attackers hadn’t closed the distance for them. When Terry and Yotuli advanced, their swords and shields at the ready, the rest of the party knew to follow.

With about fifteen yards remaining, Sven called, “Arrow!”

The Rangers stopped and lowered their stances, still as gravestones. Sven launched an arrow at the gnoll with the sword. Its shoulder ripped backward from the arrow, bursting through its shoulder blade. The gnoll didn’t so much as stagger before its snarl turned into an angry bark. It charged.

“Vine!” One of Buru’s bolo-like plants spun over the Rangers’ heads and wrapped the neck of the bladed gnoll.

Seeing an opening, Yotuli cleared the distance in one shuffle of her feet, landing to execute a thrust with her momentum behind her. The gnoll clawed the vine at its throat and didn’t see the sword that pierced its stomach.

Hans smiled when he saw that Terry had followed Yotuli forward, moving to provide support and ready to intervene if Yotuli needed to retreat.

After watching its companion fall, the gnoll with the club stood stunned, now doubting the wisdom of picking this fight. The third gnoll that was out of sight before pushed by its cowardly companion, and the party saw that the third gnoll was, in fact, armed. With a hatchet.

As the enraged wolfman leaped over its dead ally, swinging the hatchet down with fury, Yotuli set her feet. With textbook finesse, she deflected the axe with a shield parry and used the power of her outward motion to quicken the thrust that followed. Between the gnoll’s weight flying forward and the force of her thrust, the gnoll fell onto the sword and sank until it could go no farther, her hilt catching on its ribs.

While the Ranger had succeeded in outwitting her opponent, she had not considered the steps that came after. A gnoll a head and half taller than Yotuli continued traveling forward until it crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. Sven stabbed it in the neck for good measure.

Meanwhile, the gnoll with the club had turned on Terry, but the monster’s indecision doomed it from the start. Terry was already crouched low, his sword arcing into the outside of the gnoll’s knee. The creature buckled to that side, and Terry helped it along with a bash of his shield. Finally, Terry stabbed downward to kill the gnoll.

The Guild Master clapped. The Apprentices smiled briefly and nodded to one another, but they were soon back in formation, setting aside their celebrations for a safer time.

The squonks died as easily as usual with Chisel and Yotuli briefly breaking from the party to resolve the hopelessness aura. Their encounter with the camahuetos was anticlimactic compared to their battle just days before when the unicorn yaks nearly killed Sven. Prism blunted their charge, then arrows and vines targeted one while the Rangers ganged up on the other. It seemed trivial. Harvesting the horns felt more demanding than the fight to get them.

But the battle must have been loud because they expected to face two gnolls next–based on how the dungeon seemed to grow monsters. Instead of two gnolls, they faced five. Only two had clubs, and none had swords.

For the first time that day, Hans’ hand went to his hilt. The Apprentices hadn’t prepped for a challenge like this.

“No Prism,” Honronk stated to remind the party of his cooldown.

As a group, the party seemed to share the same instinct. They stopped, keeping their distance while Buru and Sven tried to reduce enemy numbers from afar. When they finally clashed, Sven supported Terry and Yotuli. The Rangers got scratched up pretty good, but none of the claws had dug deep. Otherwise, the party was healthy when the fight ended.

Hans exhaled and offered another clap. Olza clapped too, though she bounced and wiggled with more enthusiasm than the Guild Master.

The Apprentices returned to formation to search what remained of the dungeon. As they expected, no other monsters were found. Outside the fissure to the dungeon core, the group stopped for lunch.

While they ate, Hans briefed them on what came next.

“We have reason to believe we can influence the dungeon,” Hans said to gaping mouths, many full of half-chewed food. “If our experiment goes as we predict, everything you just fought will regrow. Don’t assume you know what you’ll fight next. Yesterday we saw it add a completely new type of monster. Any questions?”

“Yeah,” Sven said, raising his hand. “What the fuck?”

The Apprentices laughed but nodded agreement.

Yotuli took over. “We’re one of the first people in a dungeon. It’s a secret dungeon. Then we got to see a dungeon core in person. Now we’re manipulating a dungeon?”

The Guild Master resisted bouncing with joy. Barely. “Yes, adventurers. So rest, but don’t release your focus. We never know if a dungeon is truly clear, so always assume it isn’t.”

“We’ve heard that rule,” Honronk joked, oddly enough.

“Yes, yes. Eat, rest. I’ll warn you before the experiment.”

In the room with the dungeon core, Olza confirmed that Hans’ blood seemed to boost the core’s growth. The surface had several small buttons of new sphere material, each where blood had landed. That seemed indisputable. Hans felt the temptation to leak an irresponsible amount of blood on the core, but he didn’t verbalize it. Nor did he act on it.

“Do you want to do the honors this time?” Hans asked.

Olza shook her head. “I thought about that. I don’t think we should change any other variables right now. I also got to thinking that we amend today’s experiment.”

“How so?”

“When you test ‘turning off’ the squonks, maybe think about replacing them instead?”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“...With what?”

“A demon.”

In his head, Hans screamed, “Are you out of your mind?!” In reality, he stood motionless, his eyes wide.

“An imp would be sufficient.”

Hans managed a scoff. “Oh, is that all?”

The alchemist explained that imp blood could be used to make Magic Resistance potions. When Hans didn’t make the connection, she continued. If the nightmares plaguing the tusk children were the result of a spell, Magic Resistance should temporarily relieve it. They had already ruled out curses as the source with a Cure Curse potion. Barring a high-tier caster, the potion would have undone a curse for certain. A Magic Resistance potion might answer the same question but for spells.

She had eliminated it as an option early in their research because she didn’t have demon blood and had no reasonable expectation of acquiring it in the winter. But was adding imps to the dungeon too big of a risk?

Provided they grew the imps Hans was familiar with–if ever a surprising monster arrived when another was expected, demons would surely be involved–the Apprentices would have to contend with a spellcasting flying demon. The size of toddlers and with similar durability, imps relied on agility and distance to avoid harm while attacking with various spells.

Alone, an imp was a mere nuisance. If imps were behind a row of gnolls or camahuetos, they would be deadly, as most spellcasters safe from harm were.

“I don’t know, Olza,” Hans said, his hand over his mouth. “That’s a jump, for sure.”

“Maybe you could lead instead?”

The Guild Master looked at Olza with incredulity. “It’s not that simple.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair to ask you.”

Hans wobbled his head. “They’re capable, but they haven’t learned it yet. Flying monsters and spellcasting monsters are unique challenges separately. Together… Mistakes get expensive.”

The kids have been suffering every night for nearly the whole winter. What misery for anyone to endure, let alone children.

“They signed up to protect Gomi,” Hans said about the Apprentices after a pause, “They would be right to be upset if they didn’t get a say.”

Not to mention it’s a really good idea, potential dangers aside.

The pair returned to the adventurers waiting in the hallway. Buru stood watch, while Yotuli slept and the others sipped at waterskins. The party roused when they saw Hans and Olza approach with serious faces. The Guild Master explained Olza’s Magic Resistance idea and the potential for the dungeon to grow imps, if they wanted it to. He detailed the various dangers they posed and described the kinds of injuries they might receive.

“I’m for it,” Terry said. Every other Apprentice nodded. The party unanimously agreed.

“That quick?”

“Tandis’ little girl is suffering,” Chisel said. “If you say we can do it, we should do it. That’s our job.”

Another round of nods rippled through the party.

“Alright then. Here’s how you do this.”

***

Two flaming arrows shattered into sparks of orange mana when they hit the Rangers’ shields. Buru and Sven responded with their ranged attacks. Two stringy creatures with dark purple flesh hovered near the ceiling at the back of the squonk room, deftly dodging the arrow and the vine that flew at them. Though their wings beat, their pace and strength didn’t match the weight of their bodies, giving them an otherworldly, ominous presence.

They were in the squonk room, and there weren’t any squonks.

When the two imps conjured more arrows, Honronk cast Prism. The wall of rainbow light didn’t block the attacks, but their distance from the hellspawn was enough that the Rangers could dodge or block with relative safety. More importantly, the imps couldn’t see through the Prism. The Rangers advanced, stopping to crouch on their side of the wall of light. At the same time, Buru and Sven readied their next attack.

Prism timed-out. The demons dodged the next arrow and vine, but they didn’t notice the Rangers. Terry and Yotuli jumped to lengthen the reach of their thrusts, both imps sticking to the ends of their swords like fondue fruit. They shrieked and scratched. When Terry saw blue fire forming in his imp’s mouth, he smashed the monster off the wall. Yotuli liked the idea, but used the floor instead.

And then Olza taught them how to properly collect imp blood. Sven did not enjoy the process, but Buru liked the idea of the imps being used to serve a greater purpose.

Quest Complete: Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

With that battle, they killed two imps where two squonks used to grow. While his fix wasn’t a hunting strategy, it did make Gomi and its adventurers much safer.

That counts.

Quest Update: Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.

The imps posed a new kind of threat in the dungeon, but they were better than squonks. Hans restrained his giddiness, knowing they had more dungeon yet left to search, but he was certain the squonks were gone for good. He felt that knowledge the way he could feel the cobblestone floor beneath his feet.

Even better, the Apprentices handled the imps expertly, which was praiseworthy, but they didn’t solve the puzzle themselves. Hans gave them the answer for their safety, bypassing what they might have learned by pondering and discussing the problem on their own. They could make up for it later, but to do that Hans had to acknowledge and remember what he skipped.

Back on the surface, Hans debated how to get Olza back to town swiftly to mix the Magic Resistance potions. She could make the trip alone, but anyone but a Druid would be foolish to travel unaccompanied in this season. One strong snowstorm was enough to be a traveler’s last. He wished Becky was here.

“I could send for Becky,” Buru said.

“Really? How?”

“The first thing she taught me was how to talk with sparrows.”

If Becky and Becki could take Olza back to Gomi, she could test the Magic Resistance potion in days rather than in weeks. Prepping the potion would take time, but the sooner that clock started, the better for the children.

Though they would provide temporary relief, if they worked at all, the potions were not a long-term solution. A child would need two a day, a quantity Olza couldn’t hope to fill. Not to mention what the potential side effects of long-term use might be. The potion may not be the final fix, but it could provide an important clue.

Buru returned in minutes to say it was done. Hans didn’t know what the progression cadence was like for Druids, but the tusk seemed like a quick study. He’d have to ask Becky.

As much as he wanted to come along with Olza to witness the test, Hans had only just arrived at the cabin. The Apprentices needed instruction, so his own curiosity would have to wait. He could pass the time thinking about what either conclusion–whether the nightmares were caused by a spell or not–would mean for Gomi. That was almost like being present for the test twice.

Almost.

Before Hans left the cabin, Sven asked, “What rank would these encounters be?”

“Iron. If the imps bunch up with something else, could be Bronze.”

“Look at us already talking about taking on a Bronze-ranked encounter.” Sven celebrated while Honronk shook his head.

The Black Mage Apprentice said, “Don’t overestimate.”

“You’re both right,” Hans said. “You should be proud of yourselves for today. Truthfully. You all did excellent work. But don’t get cocky.”

Hans had hoped Becky would arrive in time for Olza to depart that day, allowing the Guild Master to reclaim his private shelter that night. Instead, he roughed it in the A-frame shelter one more time. The Druid would likely arrive in the morning to take Olza to town, at which point Hans would resume training the Apprentices. He decided they needed to improve to the point that they could run the dungeon in teams of three. If they were too slow to achieve that, they would not be able to rotate adventurers out for days off.

The Apprentices had already seen more true dungeon time than most Bronze-ranks. They couldn’t keep the pace going forever.

Quest Update: Learn the results of Olza’s potion test and continue researching non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

***

Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

Mend the rift with Devon.

Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

Protect Gomi.

Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

Rethink the approach to the dungeon cabin. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

Learn the results of Olza’s potion test and continue researching non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

Test structural suggestions for the next dungeon core experiment.