Cal had to stand up. The tiled floor was getting uncomfortable.

Besides, it was getting crowded in the room, with the big mostly stone troll taking up a ton of space.

Perkle Tinkletwerp eyed the wall. “Barb can control most of the dungeon, but the HVAK is going to remain out of her grasp. Now, to answer your first question, the HVAK stands for Harvey’s Ventilation and Air Konditioning.”

Gwen made a face. “Who is Harvey? And why misspell ‘conditioning’? Wait. My Gadget Intuition is kicking. Oh, right, I bet you that Harvey is a dungeon core, like the breakroom cores, who worked on this old air ‘konditioning’ technology.” Gwen grew even more excited. “He’s also the tenth core that Ji-Soo sensed. Have you, uh, talked to him?

Perkle shook his head. “Can’t find the core gem. And old Harvey didn’t talk to me, even when, by gosh, by golly, by gee, I was so polite and nice. But probably something wrong with his voice, I think, like Daphne and Fullgeers before you tinkered with them.” He glanced around. “Where’s the boss spider?”

Gwen’s face dropped, and Cal’s mouth dropped open. He didn’t know what to say.

Perkle shoved a knuckle into his eye. “Gosh, don’t wanna cry in front of you, but I should’ve known he’d be gone. Knew that the Celestial Node changed. Didn’t put it all together until just right now.”

Gwen brushed tears off her face and cleared her throat. “What about Amorfo?”

Perkle threw a thumb back at the vent. “He’s in the ductwork, eating, drinking, resting up. Don’t know about you all, but I’m nearly tuckered out. We’ve been up for two days, dealing with this.”

Cal didn’t feel tired. In fact, he felt overflowing with energy, probably just an adrenaline rush, which meant he could crash at any time.

Kronke swiveled his head atop his torso of stone. “Hello, Perkle. Pinkerton very upset that arm not flesh. ‘Cause Pinkerton trapped. Maybe good thing. She getting more and more negative.”

“Speaking of negative,” Gwen said. “What do we know about the breakroom cores? Do we know if they were cracked or not? I’m pretty sure that the IBM tank didn’t make it. It’s how Barb and Cardi could get their minions onto the first and second floors.”

Cal winced. “I was bouncing all around, so I don’t have a good sense of what happened in the Freezer Section.”

Perkle blew his nose with an oily rag. “If Barb’s forces made it past your stairwell defenses, I think our friends are gone for good.”

Cal missed his old boss keenly right then. He wanted Dave to lead them, but he was gone, and the task fell to the elven accountant. He gathered up the Spidercrat’s things and put them in his pouch.

Cal had to focus. “I guess we need to, um, contact Ji-Soo and let her know what’s going on.”

Then something flashed in Cal’s vision. An update.

<<<>>>

Congratulations! You have become an Azure Branch cultivator with strong ties to the dungeon core community. I’m sorry about the Dungeon Meld disconnection thing but consider this a last gift from your boss. It’s terribly sad that Weavelord didn’t make it. Let’s make sure his sacrifice wasn’t in vain.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Note: I suggest you try on Mr. Copperblade’s red tie. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

<<<>>>

Cal sat, blinking.

He’d made it to Azure Branch. He was B-Class. He’d dreamed about rising in the ranks, gaining power, doing amazing things with the Apothos flowing through his soul, but a lot of that had felt like a pipe dream. Then, when he’d left the dungeoneering life, he figured he’d just be a low-level clerk for the rest of his life. He’d die with thousands of audits he could be proud of—along with a decade or two of TAP reports he’d painstakingly filled out to help dungeons better protect their Celestial Nodes.

That would’ve been enough. In fact, if he could’ve avoided combat, that would’ve been a best-case scenario. He’d live a quiet life, take up a stamp collecting hobby, take some dances classes in Cogsville, and get the nerve up to ask Ethel out. Or if he really wanted to swing for the Aldaleeran fences, he’d set up a coffee date with Dirndil Müeller.

It would’ve been a peaceful life of government service, and satisfying, oh-so satisfying for him.

Now? He’d leveled. He’d saved worlds. He’d fought evil raiders to the death on numerous occasions. He’d helped design, in real-time, dungeons that kept Celestial Nodes safe. He’d come as close to becoming an actual dungeon guard as a mortal guy with a soul could get.

Now, this final gift from Dave, a boss that had changed before his eyes, felt unearned. It felt like too much. He wasn’t sure what to say.

He stood there, with the Blackberry in his hand, in the circular tiled room, which seemed to be shrinking? Was it getting smaller? Tiles cracked as the walls started to close in.

“Oh my gosh!” Perkle waved them on. “You guys get back in here! Barb is back to her old tricks. Her power must be increasing exponentially if she can squeeze the HVAK venting rooms. This is terrible. It’s the only thing that saved me.”

Hurricane scrambled out of the room while Cal lifted Kronke’s body with the Ruby Staff and slid into the vent. Gwen and Perkle followed.

Cal scrambled into the vent, but not before he realized he’d dropped the last Blackberry. He hadn’t just dropped it; he’d also squashed it under his boot. Now, they had no way of contacting Ji-Soo. This was why relying on fruit for communication was a terrible idea.

From the safety of the ductwork, they watched as the tiles cracked and started popping off the wall. The room shrank to nothing, and they soon faced a blank wall.

Nothing happened for a long time. All was quiet.

Cal’s head continued to spin.

Gwen patted his back. “Don’t worry about that last Blackberry, Cal. You would’ve just ended up fighting with the messaging system. And it’s not like the Arcandor Initiative has been super helpful.”

Cal scraped the last of the berry off his boot on one of the steampunk duct sleds. “It’s not that. It’s…I got a message. I ascended. I’m, uh, B-Class now.”

Gwen exploded. “Really? Oh my gosh! And here I thought we’d all leave you in the dust, but you’ve gone and gotten awesome. What kind of cool stuff can you do now?”

“Kronke so happy!”

Helga called. “That’s my Calcannis.

Amorfo crawled down the duct to them. He tilted his heads and his snakes, still dotted with varnished paper, looked as confused as their master. “Uh, cow are you B-Class? Honey trees. True stew have any honey on you? I could go for something tweet. I got that waste of varnish kill in my mouth.”

Gwen titled her head. “Amorfo, I have no idea what you’re saying. I think your condition is getting worse.”

“I understand snake-hair man,” the troll paladin said. “He have bad taste in his mouth. Kronke have cookie in pouch. Pouch not stone. Maybe grab cookie for Amorfo?”

Several of Amorfo’s snakes looked green with nausea. “Troll pouch cookies? Blow bank view. Are dew really B glass, Cal?”

“B Class.” Cal nodded. “Azure branch.”

Gwen laughed. “Sure. Kronke can understand Amorfo. Why doesn’t this surprise me?”

Perkle rubbed a finger across his chin. “Let’s talk somewhere more comfortable. I know of a place, but golly, I’d like to get as far away from the dungeons area of influence as I can get. If Barb can affect the HVAK’s drainage rooms, she might find a way to get to us in the ductwork. Then we’d be cooked. Let’s hope for the best. I’m so curious to see what Mr. Cal can do now!”

Cal was too overwhelmed to look. And he still had a ton of questions for the Gadget Gnome and this strange HVAK system.