Zack didn't want to admit it, but there were a few concerns weighing him down. The first was that he wasn't entirely sure what had caused him to go to sleep again. He considered it again because it felt very much the same as it had when he woke up from his initial five year slumber: like he blinked and time passed, and he had knowledge and understanding that definitely wasn't there before.
The second concern, and one he knew he had to share at least with Archie, was in regards to empowering his Medibolds. He distinctly remembered what happened last time he tried to upgrade their abilities, and was scared it might happen again. He at least remembered that attempting to do so was what damaged his integrity the first time.
Zack's lab was an ever changing room. For safety reasons, he never kept it in one place for very long. Sometimes it would be under the burrow, or in a secret room just off the lobby. The reason he moved it around so much was both to protect its contents, and to protect others in case something went horribly wrong. Today, the lab was in a secret room within the manor. Given what happened last time he attempted this, Zack considered it prudent to keep it isolated from the rest of the open dungeon.
Archie found the room easily enough, and Zack opened the door without making the rabbit go through any of the puzzles normally required for others to access it. He had plans for this room once it was finished as his lab, but they could wait until he was actually ready to open the manor to customers.
"Zack, are you sure you're okay to be working?" Archie asked, as he stepped into the room. The actual lab was a rather barren place, with only Zack's wisp to provide light.
"I'm not okay, actually," Zack admitted. "But I'd rather wait for Alex to get in before I explained it, okay? I… I'd rather only tell the story once, if that makes sense."
Archie nodded. "Very well. What is it you require my assistance with, then?"
Zack didn't bother puppeting the wisp, as Archie didn't need it to be aware of him. Instead, he focused his mana and spawned a Medibold in the middle of the room. Before it could start moving, Zack disabled its thought processes. The act felt incredibly easy to him, though he couldn't remember when or how he learned such an ability.
"Can you do me a favour, please?" Zack asked.
"A favour? Zack, that's rather unlike you." Archie crossed his arms and raised a worried eyebrow. "Are you sure you should be doing this?"
"No, but… Look, it needs to get done, okay?" Zack heaved a frustrated sigh, the noise more mental than anything else. Archie's ears flicked, as though he had no difficulty interpreting Zack's unspoken words. "I'll tell you all about it once Alex gets here, I promise. Just, can you work with me right now. I need to take my mind off things."
"Okay, I will work with you. Pray forgive my prudence, though. I worry, is all. You have to remember, I am not like Greg or Chandra. Individual I may be, but I am still as ever a part of you," Archie reminded him. "What do you need me to do?"
Zack directed Archie's attention towards the static Medibold. "Can you access its status?"
Archie stared at the kobold through narrowed eyes. After a few seconds, blue lines flashed across his eyes. "Got it."
"Okay. Under details, I need you to access known spells, and then try to upgrade them," Zack said.
Archie frowned, and looked over his shoulder at Zack's disembodied awareness. "Are you sure that's something you want me to do? That sounds like a task more suited to you than me."
"Trust me, I can't do it right now."
Archie waited for further explanation. When none came, he nodded and turned his attention back to the Medibold. His eyes narrowed as he focused again on the status page.
Zack felt it when Archie tried to access the upgrade tree. It was like electricity was shooting through him and into Archie. It hurt, but not so much that he felt he would shatter. It wasn't the flood of information that damaged his integrity, but rather like the information was being channeled through him and into his mod. The sudden influx of information hit Archie next, sending the rabbit to one knee.
"Bloody hell," Archie coughed, regaining his composure after a moment's hesitation.
"Yeah," Zack concurred. A quick glance at his integrity made him flinch. Forty-three percent. He needed to find a way to repair himself sooner rather than later. The longer he put this off, the worse his damage was going to get.
"I see three potential upgrades, which one did you want?" Archie ask.
"What are they?"
Archie scowled and turned on Zack. "You mean you don't know?"
"Nope."
Archie pinched the bridge of his nose and flicked his ears. "Zack, forgive me, but I feel as though there might be an issue here that I am unaware of. Is this at all related to what you wished to explain to Alex?"
"Yes."
The rabbit chewed his lip for a moment before nodding. "Very well, I will not press further. Is it safe to assume that you cannot view these options at all?"
Zack peered at Archie and then at the Medibold. Any attempting to view their status simply brought up the existing information he already knew, and he didn't dare try to access the upgrade tree for spells yet. The memory of that information flood was painful enough, the last thing he needed was to experience it again.
"Right now, I can't see them," Zack said. It was a lie by omission. He really didn't want to tell the story twice.
Archie wasn't stupid. He tapped a foot impatiently and raised a frustrated eyebrow, evidently not enjoying being lied to. He was an extension of Zack's being, so Zack could only imagine how the rabbit mut feel about being kept in the dark this way. Still, he didn't argue. He narrowed his eyes once more at the kobold and scanned the potential upgrades.
"The three upgrades are all rather basic. The first would remove the spell's stamina cost in exchange for a higher channeled mana cost. The second would convert it to a single cast rather than a channel. The third eliminates the mana cost all together and instead channel's the caster's health to heal the target," Archie explained. "They are called Lesser Healing Stream, Lesser Flash of Healing, and Lesser Lifestream respectively."
"Can you choose which ability to upgrade to?"
Archie scrunched his brows in focus, then shook his head. "The system says I do not have the authority to upgrade a monster beyond myself."
"Dammit," Zack hissed. He tried concentrating on Archie in an attempt to bestow that authority upon the rabbit. The only thing that popped up was his stat screen again. "Well, at least now I know what the options are. Maybe I won't need to actually see them to upgrade the spell."
"Can you not see the upgrades?"
Zack ignored the question and focused on the Medibold.
[Medibold]
[Level 1 Monster, Dragonoid]
[A kobold capable of using healing magic in a pinch.]
[Cost to create: 10 mana]
[Status]
Stolen novel; please report.
[Health: 30/30]
[Mana: 10/10]
[Stamina: 10/10]
[Strength: 2]
[Endurance: 2]
[Agility: 3]
[Dexterity: 3]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Wisdom: 5]
[Known Spells]
[Lesser Accelerated Heal: Level 1]
[Spell, Healing]
[Heal up to 5 points of health, at the cost of the caster’s mana and the target’s stamina.]
[Cost: 1 mana, 1 stamina per point of health healed.]
Zack narrowed his concentration once more onto the known spells. He could feel the option to view potential upgrades gnawing on his consciousness, but didn't dare access them again. The aching cracks in his core begged him not to risk it. Instead, he fed a single point of mana into the Medibold, and issued a new command.
"Upgrade Lesser Accelerated Heal to Lesser Flash of Healing," Zack said.
He felt it the moment the command settled over the Medibold. When he checked them again, their known spells had changed.
[Known Spells]
[Lesser Flash of Healing: Level 1]
[Spell, Healing]
[Heal up to 6 points of health.]
[Cost: 5 mana.]
The relief escaped Zack like pressure from a valve. It felt like a massive weight was taken off his chest—or in this case, his core. As further experimentation, he channeled three more points into the Medibold, and used them to upgrade the spell to level 4. The Medibold's level, to his surprise, also increased with the spell.
[Medibold]
[Level 4 Monster, Dragonoid]
[A kobold capable of using healing magic in a pinch.]
[Cost to create: 14 mana]
[Status]
[Health: 30/30]
[Mana: 13/13]
[Stamina: 10/10]
[Strength: 2]
[Endurance: 2]
[Agility: 3]
[Dexterity: 3]
[Intelligence: 8]
[Wisdom: 5]
[Known Spells]
[Lesser Flash of Healing: Level 4]
[Spell, Healing]
[Heal up to 13 points of health.]
[Cost: 5 mana.]
"Zack?"
Archie's words brought Zack's attention away from the Medibold and back to the real world. Casually, Zack fed the Medibold one last point of mana, bringing both it and its spell up to level five. He saved the pattern—overwriting the old Medibold in the process, and then turned his attention back to Archie.
"What happened to you?" Archie asked again.
Just as Zack was about to tell him to wait, he felt a presence step into his dungeon. At first, he thought it was a customer. They felt off, but Zack couldn't discern why. Then, he felt the familiar touch of Alex's mana. The strangeness of it distracted him, and he shook himself to bring his focus back to the lab.
"Alex's is here now. Why don't you fetch him and then I'll explain what happened to me, okay?" Zack offered.
Archie seemed suspicious of Zack's intention, but he didn't refuse the olive branch. As he half-jogged out of the lab, Zack got to work tidying up. He dismissed the Medibold and set to work creating new advanced spawners in the various rooms capable of spawning this variant without his intervention. As the Medibolds were strictly non-combatants, there shouldn't be a need to respawn them often, if at all. Still, it was better to give them a dedicate spawner than risk eating at Zack's mana. He made sure to disable the spawner in the spider warren, not wanting to give the horde within a free snack.
Archie returned with Alex in tow after a few minutes. Once again, Zack disabled the puzzles blocking the lab from the rest of the dungeon and allowed them access. For Alex's benefit, Zack centered a wisp on his awareness to give his friend something to look at.
"So, you're finally awake!" Alex said, practically running into the room.
"Don't Skyrim opening me, please," Zack groaned. "Seriously, things are rough enough without you trying to attack me with memes."
"What, like you didn't attack me with memes the first time you woke up?" Alex smirked, crossing his arms.
"Point taken." Zack laughed, but it was more out of habit and obligation than any enjoyment or humour. The reality was that Zack didn't feel like humouring such behaviour. There was, however, something he needed to ask before he jumped into his own explanation. "What did you do to your brand?"
Alex's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, you noticed that?" He held up his hand, revealing the new status tattoo on the back of it.
Zack stared at it for a moment. It looked different from his old one, but not so different that he couldn't identify the displayed information. Oddly enough, as he studied it, he realized that this was the source of the strange new sensation he felt when Alex stepped into the dungeon.
There was something hitching a ride on the status tattoo, but it was hidden deep within the magic. Before Zack could explore it deeper, Archie cleared his throat to get the dungeon's attention.
"Zack was patiently waiting for you to arrive so he could explain why he went to sleep again," Archie explained, as Alex gave him a look.
"Right. Yeah. Okay," Zack mumbled, as both sets of eyes fell expectantly on him. "First of all, I don't actually know how or why I fell asleep again. I've always assumed that dumping all my mana would knock me out, but I've been super conservative with how I spend it. It's why so many of my mobs have dedicated spawners instead of relying on me to cycle through them."
Alex nodded. "Right, I remember we talked about that before. But if that's not what knocked you out, what did?"
"It has something to do with upgrading spells," Zack explained. "When people learn magic, they're forging or deepening their connection to the Akashic System. This allows them to learn new spells. Monsters—specifically ones not born in the dungeon—learn new spells by adapting to their environment. Basically the same as people, just a bit more violence-focused."
"Okay? I already know all this. You've made a point of explaining it multiple times," Alex pointed out. He crossed his arms and stared at Zack's wisp from under raised eyebrows.
"My point is that we haven't stopped to think about how dungeons learn new spells," Zack said. "We saw that I can harvest spell nodes from monster patterns and then apply them to mobs, but that's not the only way. As we saw with Archie, my monsters can also upgrade their spells. This means I can harvest the upgraded spell nodes, acquire their patterns, and add them to my repetoire."
Archie and Alex shared a look with one another, before shrugging and shaking their heads.
"Zack, are you going somewhere with this?" Archie asked, frowning.
"We all learn magic by deepening our connection to the Akashic System. But Zack doesn't need to do that. He's integrated with the Akashic System—functionally an extension of it the way you are to him, Archie." Alex tapped his chin in thought and paced around the room, as the reality of his statement hit him full force. "Zack, what happens when you try to upgrade a spell?"
"I get overwhelmed with a rush of information," Zack admitted. "Like enough to the point it hurts me. Physically damages my core. I've got cracks."
"Is that what knocked you out?" Archie asked, his eyes bugging in worry.
"I don't think it's the direct cause of my weeklong nap, but it sure as hell didn't help," Zack said, shaking his wisp from side to side in a negative motion. "All I know is that right now I can't risk viewing the upgrade trees on my own, not without risking severe damage to my core. As it is, just letting Archie see them was enough to hurt me."
Archie flinched away in horror. "I never—"
"It's not your fault," Zack said quickly. "That's why I didn't want to tell you. I didn't know if letting you see the upgrade trees would affect me in any way. The reality is that you don't have a real connection to the Akashic System. Everything you get has to be filtered through me—including spell upgrades."
Archie's ears drooped. Evidently understanding that he had inadvertently harmed Zack was distressing to him. Zack made a point of reassuring him again later, but for now there were more pressing matters to attend.
"Can we see your core?" Alex asked. "Maybe we can help you heal it?"
"Sure. It's just around the corner. I'll open the way," Zack said. He mentally urged the doors leading down the manor to his core room to open, and directed his wisp to lead the way.
This section of the dungeon was still very much under construction. There were fancy rugs adorning glittering tile floors, and the walls were covered in intricate designs, but beyond that there was nothing to see. Archie trudged along behind Alex, clearly still concerned about the accidental harm he caused Zack.
Zack's core still sat on the desk where he left it. It still looked like a long piece of jagged quartz, glowing with blue-green light. There was a large crack splintering down the center of the crystal, and Zack could see threads of mana leaking out. He quickly tried to prevent them from bleeding off, but his efforts were in vain.
"Jesus," Alex breathed, his eyes bugging at the sight of it. "Zack, that's…"
"It's bad, I know," Zack said quickly. "I'm trying to figure out how to repair it, but that's proving harder than I'd like."
"Why not get a Medibold in here and let them heal you?" Alex asked.
"Because it's not health, it's a different attribute," Archie said. He froze in the doorway, watching the crystal with a worried expression.
"It's called integrity," Zack confirmed. "And right now, it's under fifty percent."
"So how do we fix it?" Alex demanded. "Do you need more mana? Or materials? Whatever you need, Zack, I'll make sure you get it!"
"It's not that simple. I'm a rock, Alex, not a meat puppet. I can't just be healed. I don't know what it'll take for me to recover, but I do know that trying to push myself too hard will only make things worse."
Alex swallowed, his fists tight. Again, Zack caught a glimpse of his friend's new status tattoo, the strange brand once more alerting him to the strange magic within.
Before Alex could open his mouth to speak, Zack suddenly felt an immense pressure enter his dungeon. He gasped in shock, the sheer volume of power passing through his doors more than he could handle at that moment. His core shuddered on the desk, and Archie lunged in a blur of motion to pick it up protectively.
"Zack? Zack are you okay?" Archie asked, staring worriedly down at the crystal in his hand.
Zack's core didn't stop shivering, no matter how tight Archie gripped it. "Something's here, something powerful."