Over the next six days they averaged at five delves a day, giving them a steady income of Wyrdgeld and plenty of chances to practice working as a team and for Jake to learn to better use two weapons at once.
He was making good progress with the wand and sword, but he was still a long way from where Nepthys was. That wasn’t really that surprising, though, not when she’d been doing this for so much longer than him.
The delves were easy enough, and after the second day, the only thing slowing them down was the time it took to simply travel through the Dungeon.
Thankfully, that big windfall of Wyrdgeld meant that Jake reached the fourth rank, Alan got to third and Nepthys led the way at the sixth rank. The Wyrdgeld she’d saved up had let her get a couple of extra ranks on them, but now they were all progressing together.
Jake sighed as he considered his requirement to reach the next rank, six hundred and eighty Wyrdgeld. A tremendous amount, and one that was over half of what they’d earned in the last six days of working hard.
Alan and Nepthys would reach the top of the tier well before him, but then he may well be able to Ascend to the next tier before they could. He supposed it depended on the Deeds they needed to increase their tier.
Then again, the reason Alan hadn’t quite gotten to the fourth rank was that he’d spent every last Wyrdgeld he had upgrading his Abilities when he ranked up. Everything he’d already had now gave the most benefit they could, and he’d bought a new Skill called Piercing Shot.
Alan’s new Skill was the result of his many conversations with Felix, as well as a lot of individual practice with infusing his arrows, and was already rated as Rare.
Jake did feel a little jealous of Alan gaining a new, powerful Skill, but he also knew the Scholar had been working hard. He’d not only practiced the process, like Jake had, but he’d been examining how it worked, and how to improve it.
Jake had done a little of that, but nowhere near as much, which, he supposed, told him exactly what to do to be able to upgrade his Skill’s rarity.
“So Felix and Ari are meant to be back any time from today, right?” Nepthys asked, dropping down onto the bench next to Jake.
“Yeah, I think so, they said about a week, right?”
“They did,” Gargan said, joining them with a slight nod.
“So, do we do anything different today, then?” Nepthys looked to Jake questioningly, who shrugged. As far as he was concerned, they’d just carry on as usual.
“Is there actually anything we can do?” Alan asked as he and Aspen walked over and sat down.
No one replied immediately as Aspen passed out their breakfast, which was something he called an oatcake, and was filled with plentiful amounts of sausage and egg.
Jake was once again struck by just how much Aspen spent on food, did he actually keep any of the Wyrdgeld they were making for himself?
Jake quickly devoured his portion, judging it to be a decent alternative to a standard sandwich, before finally responding. “I’m not sure what else we can do. I agree that the amount we make isn’t much in the face of the rising cost of ranking up, but I don’t see an alternative.”
“Well, there is one thing we can do,” Aspen said, polishing off his own food. “But it's dangerous, especially for you guys.”
“You can’t be serious,” Jake said, his attention fully on Aspen as he leaned in. “You want us to take on the second tier of the Dungeon?”
“Wait, what?” Alan echoed Jake’s shock, but Aspen simply shrugged one shoulder.
“I’m just being clear that it’s an option. You’re on the cusp of being ready for most of them, just a couple more ranks each and it would be doable. This Dungeon, though, is ideal for us as a group. I think you could do it.”
Jake had assumed Aspen was being cavalier about it all, but he actually seemed like he’d given it a good amount of thought. “What do you think, Gargan?”
“Aspen does have a point,” the caster said, frowning slightly as though it pained him to even admit that. “He and I can take advantage of their weakness to fire, and you are all coming along steadily in strength. My concern is that we don’t know what the second tier looks like, and that the Guardian floor will hold an Awakened monster, perhaps even two.”
“Awakened are nastier than Enhanced, right?” Jake asked, thinking back to the hierarchy that Ari had taught them.
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“Yes, they are far more intelligent, and are usually stronger and faster as well. More importantly, though, they are strong enough to do real damage to your soul. An Enhanced monster might cause lingering damage, but an Awakened might kill you.”
A tense silence stretched in the wake of Gargan’s statement, but Jake found himself genuinely contemplating it. The risk was there, but he trusted Aspen’s assessment of them.
“I spoke to Ivaldi yesterday,” Jake said eventually. “He let me know that Varin will be here tomorrow, so we’ll need to wait at least that long, perhaps longer if Felix and Ari haven’t returned. That means there’s no rush to do this, if we even decide to.”
“I’m happy to continue as we are,” Aspen said with a shrug. “I just wanted you to be aware of the choice.”
“I’m not opposed to the idea,” Nepthys said. “But I would be more comfortable with another rank or two each among the three of us.”
“Well, we have at least today and tomorrow,” Jake said, working out how much Wyrdgeld he could get during that time. It wouldn’t even be close to enough if they kept the same pace. “Let’s get some delving done, and then see where we stand when everyone else gets here.”
“Works for me,” Aspen said, getting to his feet and grabbing his spear. “Ready when you are.”
-**-
They got two delves done before stopping for lunch, and were just about to head back inside when Alan perked up. “They’re back!”
Jake looked over where Alan was pointing and saw Felix and Ari walking their way. The two older classers waved an acknowledgement as they saw they’d been spotted, and adjusted to come over to where they’d been sat to eat.
“Good to see you’re all still in one piece,” Ari said cheerfully as they joined them. “Have fun burning things, or are you getting stabbed too much?”
“It’s been going pretty well, actually,” Jake said, looking between the two of them. “What did you find?”
“There’s a group of at least a dozen Corrupters heading north, that’s for sure,” Felix said with a frown. “We dealt with a couple that were too slow moving on, but the rest are in the wind. It looks like they’re targeting tier one Dungeons that are nearby as they travel.”
“We should hunt them down,” Nepthys said immediately. “We can leave in the morning and catch up with them.”
“It won’t be as easy as that,” Ari said, his cheerful demeanour fading away. “They’ve gone into hiding now we’ve picked some off, and they seem pretty good at it. I think we can still track them down, but it will be a hunt, not just a chase.”
“So we hunt them them down. We can’t just let them go around destroying Dungeons!”
“We’re not saying that,” Felix said, shaking his head slightly. “They do need hunting, but we’ve also got an issue with the Triarchy. The Hunter they brought in is heading south, and our contacts told us that local Triarchy forces are looking for the Corrupters. If we go after them, we significantly increase the chance that they spot us. Once that happens, we’ll have to be constantly on the move, and even then, that might not be enough.”
“I think it’s worth the risk,” Nepthys said stubbornly. “Every Dungeon destroyed weakens Strovia’s future, and is an act of heresy against the oldest laws of the gods!”
“But if we fight the Triarchy in the process, it might just make matters worse,” Alan said. “They want Jake, and they want him badly. Maybe even badly enough to ignore the Corrupters and chase us instead.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” Nepthys said, but it was clear that her heart wasn’t in the protest.
“Never underestimate the Triarchy’s desire to put their own desires ahead of everyone else,” Jake said bitterly. He knew in his heart that Alan was right; as soon as any Triarchy patrols caught their trail, the Corrupters would be a secondary priority.
“I don’t want to believe it, but you would know best; I’ve only been dealing with them for a comparatively short amount of time.”
Jake nodded, thankful that Nepthys hadn’t fought them harder on that. He agreed that it was an important thing to hunt down those Corrupters, but they all needed to be aware of the potential dangers involved.
“So, if we’re not setting out after them immediately, then what do we do?” Nepthys asked, looking between Jake and Felix.
“Our initial plan will no longer work,” Felix said, motioning to the north. “The lack of first tier Dungeons will stop us gathering additional Boons for Jake. That means we need to head elsewhere if we wish to do so. We also need to look at alternative ways to build you up to the point that you can tackle the stronger Dungeons as a group.”
“Varin will be arriving tomorrow,” Jake said. “He might be able to help with items and getting us equipped.”
“We were also discussing the possibility of attempting this Dungeon,” Aspen said, nodding over to Gargan. “The two of us have quite the advantage in this Dungeon, and we’re coming together as a group. I think we have a real shot at completing it successfully.”
Felix and Ari shared a look before Ari shrugged and Felix turned back to them. “We’ll run it ourselves when you next go in and take stock of how difficult it will be. If you can complete it, though, that would help towards future Dungeons.”
“So we wait here for Varin, and then see if we think we can take on the second tier?” Jake asked, looking at each person in turn to gauge their opinions.
“I don’t like leaving the Corrupters any time to act, but I think that would be best right now,” Nepthys said, Gargan and Aspen nodding as well.
“Good. Continue with your delves, then, while Ari and I take a look for ourselves.” Felix went to stand up before pausing, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Alan. “Alan, what’s bothering you?”
The Scholar had had a distant look in his eyes and he blinked as he refocused on the group. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“About?”
“The Corrupters destroying all the tier one Dungeons in the area and heading north. They’ll be going back to where we were last seen, right?”
“Right,” Jake said, wondering where he was going with this.
“So, I know they do this for their own reasons, but doesn’t it feel like an odd coincidence that they’re heading to where we might be hidden, and are destroying everything you’d need to progress in the process?”
“You think this is an attempt to cut off Jake’s access to Dungeons?” Nepthys asked, one hand toying with her braids as she considered it. “It seems a big risk for them, just to cut off our access to a localised area of Dungeons.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Alan said, giving the Inquisitor a half-smile. “It just feels like everyone is moving with a purpose, and we keep having fewer options.”