Susie stepped back, her body trembling slightly as the energy settled into her. She turned to Jack, her eyes shining with exhilaration. “I did it,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“So, Time Weaver, huh?” Jack nodded, a genuine note of approval in his expression. “Good choice,” he said. “You’ll make good use of it.”
Her face broke into a radiant smile, and before Jack could react, she threw her arms around him. He stiffened slightly, surprised by the gesture, but after a moment, he returned the hug.
“Now, uh,” he said as she pulled back, “I think it’s a good idea if you, umm. If you got something decent to wear,” he finished sheepishly. His sudden awkwardness surprised her, and she started laughing.
“Sure,” she said, catching her breath. “I would, but you know-” she gestured at herself and her threadbare clothes -that were now more a cosplay of every buxom comic book heroine from the 90’s and early 00’s, after a fight against a fire breathing tentacled slime monster- than real garments. Then she waved her hands around the room, pointing out the utter lack of any convenient shops to be found.
“No access to any replacements,” she finished with a pout, which quickly turned into a flirty smirk. “My current state doesn’t make you uncomfortable, does it?” She proceeded to do her best impression of Jessica Rabbit, and Jack felt the heat.
He kept himself still however and withstood her charms as he calmly reached into his Fractured Cloak and withdrew several pieces of armor and clothing that he had been withholding until now.
Her eyes widened first in shock, and then in fury as she saw what he held for her.
“How did you-” she verbally stumbled, “you’ve had these -this entire time?” The fury was rising in her as her voice elevated in pitch. “And you didn’t tell me?” she was almost screaming now.
Jack held up his hands in a placating surrender gesture, as he tried to explain.
“I would have, except these would have been just as bad off as your clothes by the time we’d finally gotten out of that tunnel,” she was barely listening as she sorted through the assortment of leather armor and gear. “And besides, you wouldn’t have wanted to be wearing leather in that slime. It’s beyond uncomfortable. Trust me.”
She paused, what Jack had said finally sinking in. “Wait, you mean this stuff,” she waved at the gear surrounding her on the floor. “Is not enchanted like yours?” she finished in disappointment.
“Sort of,” he hedged.
Her shoulders slumped as she thought Jack was confirming her suppositions to be true.
“It’s enchanted -just not in the same way.” That was all she needed, and she started to strip off the remaining scraps of cloth, before struggling her way into the various pieces he had made available.
Jack wasn’t about to tell her that he also had a cleaning solution, one specifically designed for times like these in dungeons when you had no ready access to a bath or shower. It was a concoction he had developed with the alchemists in Lord Arlington’s retinue. And once it had been perfected, it had been a huge hit. He liked to call it Zesty Clean. The old soap commercial running through his mind when he first named it. He even had a card that would work in a pinch. But you’d have to be pretty desperate to waste the exp needed -on a bath.
Besides, he had a limited supply of Zesty Clean, and until he could replicate it here on Earth, he didn’t want to run out.
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By the time they reached the end of the dungeon, Jack’s spirits were about as high as they could be under the circumstances.
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In addition to Susie gaining a decent power-up, one that would scale very well at higher levels. Jack could finally claim the core -and his long-overdue primary class- without a twinge of guilt. The rules of dungeon-diving were clear, and these dungeon incursions seemed to be following the same formula: in every mid-tier dungeon, there were at least two opportunities for class advancement.
The primary one was tied to the dungeon’s core; the second, if the dungeon was of a high enough level, came through a shrine. Anything beyond that -like boons from deities, unique quest rewards, or rare class-granting artifacts- was pure luck, and the odds of encountering such opportunities were slim at best.
Jack had learned that hard truth early on, in both triumph and regret. Boons and loot were tantalizing, but uncertain. The real bread-and-butter of progress came from conquering cores and shrines. Everything else was just icing on the proverbial dungeon cake.
This dungeon, however, had proven to be far from a simple run. Jack had hoped -prayed, even, though he’d never admit it aloud- for a quick smash-and-grab. Get in, get out, crush the core, and come away with his class. Take Susie back to the surface, let her celebrate her gains, and leave with a good experience under her belt for the challenges to come.
But no. Of course not. It’s as if the dungeon had heard his hopes, laughed in his face, and then vomited out one of the most grueling, disgusting, and annoying challenges he had faced in years.
The desert worm wasn’t just big -it was a sprawling monstrosity, stretching for what felt like miles. Clearing it wasn’t just a fight; it was an endurance trial. Every twist and turn of the winding tunnels brought new horrors: acidic pools, flesh-like walls that pulsed with grotesque life, and a seemingly endless army of lesser wormlings, slimes, and mutated insects.
At one point, Jack swore he saw something that resembled a fetid bog wraith, and he didn’t stick around long enough to confirm it. He had dealings with the disgusting monsters in the past, and he had no interest in repeating the endeavor. It had taken weeks to remove the stench from the party. Hence his creation of the Zesty Clean recipe.
Susie held her own admirably, though not without a few close calls. She’d grown tougher, smarter, and sharper with every fight, adapting to the shifting dangers of the dungeon. Still, there were moments when Jack had to pull her back from the brink, his machete cleaving through a would-be ambusher while she caught her breath.
“This is insane,” she muttered during one brief respite, leaning against the wall of a chamber that oozed a faintly glowing green fluid. Her hair was plastered to her face, and her voice trembled somewhere between exhaustion and frustration. “How much of this thing is left?”
“Enough to make me regret every life choice that got me here,” Jack replied dryly, wiping ichor off his blade. “But we’re close. The dungeon is changing.”
“How do you even tell in this hellhole?” she asked, gesturing vaguely at the pulsating walls. To an inexperienced eye they looked the same as they had for the last several miles.
“Echo Sense,” he said with a faint smirk, as he gestured with the card.
“How do I get cards like that?” She asked, not for the first time.
“Like I told you, by gaining enough experience to craft them.” He saw her look of consternation, but he continued. “And the required components and reagents.”
With the skeptical look she shot him, Jack added- “If you’re genuinely interested, I’ll teach you.”
The way her eyes lit up was enough to let Jack know he made the right choice. And withthat assurance she didn’t press further.
By the time they reached the final heart chamber, both were battered, bruised, and caked in layers of grime that no amount of scrubbing would easily remove. Susie was starting to understand Jack’s warning about how uncomfortable leathers can be in environments like this.
The final boss was similar enough to the Worm Lord so as to make little difference. There were more adds to contend with, so Susie was busier than in the previous encounter. But once you’ve learned how to counter the primary mechanisms of a particular fight, future iterations of the same fight became rather mundane.
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The chamber itself was massive, its walls lined with translucent, fleshy membranes that glowed faintly, casting the room in an eerie, amber light. At the center, the dungeon core pulsed with a sickly, rhythmic glow -greenish-yellow with veins of black running through it, like corrupted quartz brought to life.
Jack approached cautiously, machete drawn, every nerve on edge. Glancing up, he saw nothing.
After everything they’d endured, he half-expected one final trap, some grotesque monstrosity to erupt from the core’s pedestal. But nothing came. The dungeon was spent, its defenses depleted. He reached out, grasping the core in his hand. Its surface was cool, almost glass-like, but with an unsettling sense of motion beneath the surface.
“Ready?” he asked, glancing at Susie.
She nodded, though the exhaustion in her eyes was impossible to miss. “Do it.”