Jake and Alan took some time to do a second walk around the Dungeon, checking for any other suspicious signs or objects. Thankfully, they found nothing, but that didn’t especially reassure Jake.
Once they were done for the day, Jake climbed into his bed with a grateful sigh, glad that the day was over.
-**-
Jake opened his eyes to darkness. No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t dark, he just didn’t have any way to see anything.
Sensations beyond count and beyond recognition were right there, just at the edge of his perception and just out of reach.
Jake turned, trying to focus on the closest one, only to find them shut off and pushed away as a weight settled on him and the surrounding area.
It was a familiar weight by now, and Jake found himself able to stand comfortably within it.
Images flashed through his mind of the Corrupters, of their foul deeds and of their death at the hands of him and his friends.
Approval.
-**-
Jake shot up in bed with a gasp, covered in sweat and breathing hard.
Immediately, he could feel that something had changed, something was different.
Assuming that the vision he’d had was real, the Great Dungeon might well have rewarded him directly, so Jake checked his System.
It took a full read through before he realised what had happened.
Passive - Agent of the Great Dungeon (III) - Very Rare - You are bound to the Great Dungeon by blood and Deed. Other followers of the Great Dungeon will recognise you and aid you as they may.
The Agent of the Great Dungeon Gift had been with him since he first Ascended, and its wording changing was both exciting and somewhat nerve-wracking.
Jake didn’t feel anything different beyond that, so only time would tell what difference that truly made.
Dismissing the prompt, Jake got out of bed and got ready for the day, taking his time to make sure that he was well and truly relaxed when he went outside.
-**-
Between the stress of the day before and Jake’s vision overnight, breakfast was a quiet thing, all the more so once he and Alan explained what they’d found at the camp to the rest of the group.
The thought that there was a second group of Corrupters out there was a worrying one, and not just for him.
The presence of the two stronger Corrupters in that first group seemed to have rattled Ari and Felix a little, and the idea of a second was clearly bothering them.
“Alright, let’s go ahead and take on this Dungeon while we’re here,” Jake said, getting to his feet once he’d finished the sandwich that Aspen had made him. “We might as well get the reward from it.”
“Works for me. Cutting loose on some monsters is just what the doctor ordered,” Aspen said before popping a piece of crispy bacon into his mouth with a smile and heading back to his cabin.
The others followed suit, leaving Jake with Ari and Felix, neither of whom looked like they were fully recovered from the fight the day before.
“Are you both okay?” Jake asked, deciding to take a direct route. “Were you wounded in the fight?”
“No, no wounds,” Felix said, sharing a look with Ari before continuing. “Remember how you could match that classer you fought because he was constrained by this Realm?”
“I won’t forget that anytime soon,” Jake said, thinking of the dagger-wielding classer they’d fought when trying to rescue Nepthys. It had taken all of them to bring him down. “We were lucky he couldn’t use more of his Abilities.”
“Exactly, though the luck was really that you didn’t fight him first. He’d likely used all his Skills to cut through the Triarchy guards, which left him vulnerable.”
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“Right, I remember you saying that it is more difficult for higher tier classers to use their Skills on lower Realms, or something like that, anyway.”
“You’re pretty close,” Ari said as he stretched out along one of the empty benches, using his pack as a pillow. “The higher you go through the Realms, the more concentrated your Wyrd becomes, so when you come back down a Realm, it takes longer to recover. A lot longer.”
“Mix that with how much more some of our strongest Skills cost, and you begin to see the issue,” Felix said, shooting Ari an exasperated look that was thoroughly ignored.
“Okay, so both of you are down a lot of Wyrd, and you won’t be getting it back soon,” Jake said, the realisation of what they were really saying hitting him a moment later. “You’re worried about this second group and any potential fight with them.”
Felix said nothing, but the look in his eyes spoke for him.
“There’s something else,” Ari said, sitting up abruptly and continuing to ignore the looks Felix was giving him. “Anyone who knows me knows I win through overwhelming force mixed with speed. If you were going to counter that, how would you do it?”
Jake blinked in surprise, but gave it some real thought. “Maybe a single strong target with lots of armour, one that you wouldn’t be able to just bull through.”
“And Felix is a one-handed combat instructor. Good with a sword and highly skilled in one-on-one fighting. What about him?”
“I’d overwhelm him, stop him from being able to use that ability,” Jake said, a sick feeling building in his gut. “Exactly like those two Corrupters we fought. They went straight for the two of you as well.”
“Now, we both have Skills and Traits to counter out weaknesses. That let us win, even when surprised, but I don’t like how they matched up against us.”
“Gods protect us,” Jake muttered under his breath, abruptly feeling a lot less confident about their plan and a lot more exposed. “Could you win those fights again if you fought now?”
The two older classers exchanged a look before Felix nodded. “Yes, but that would leave me tapped. I’ve used a lot more Wyrd than Ari training you all. I have two big Skills to help me fight, the first you’ve already seen. While I can use that twice more if I have to, if we encounter anyone of our strength, I will have to use both, and then I’ll be out completely.”
“Wait, what about Wyrdgeld, can’t you consume some to help your recovery?” Jake asked, wondering about giving Felix some of what he was saving for his next rank.
“I can,” Ari said, producing a coin and doing just that. “And I will. Felix can’t, though. Wyrdgeld isn’t enough at his tier.”
“Wait, what?” Jake was reeling from all the information being thrown around, but that piece cut through the rest. “How can Wyrdgeld not be enough?”
Ari went to explain, but Felix cleared his throat loudly and sent him a quelling look before turning back to Jake. “After a certain point, Wyrdgeld must be exchanged for crystallised pieces of Wyrd before being used to advance or consume. I’ve been down in this Realm long enough that I’ve run out, and there is no one here I can trade with to get some.”
“Wait, just what tier are you?”
“I’m tier six in the Hastiliarius Class, which is a hybrid between combat and non-combat. I sacrificed some combat Skills to account for my hand, which is the only reason I can keep up with combat classers close to my tier.”
Jake blinked and looked over at Ari, who sighed. “I’m tier four in the Veteran of Blades Class. Keep that to yourself, though. I don’t want it spreading around too much.”
“Of course, yes,” Jake said, trying to process the fact that Felix was such a high tier. He’d known that he was significantly further along than them, but not by how much. “Sorry, I’m just struggling with this.”
“Understandable,” Felix said dryly. “I would have preferred to keep this form you. I’m far from a typical example of my tier, and you should bear that in mind. Especially in the higher Realms. Understood?”
“Yes, understood,” Jake said, agreeing more out of reflex than anything.
“Jake!” Aspen shouted as he came out of his cabin, geared up and ready. “Just waiting on you.”
“Got it, I’ll meet you at the Dungeon!” Jake shouted back before looking back to Felix and Ari. “So, anything else I should know?”
Felix exchanged a quick look with Ari before shaking his head. “No, but be quick in the Dungeon. We should move on as soon as we can.”
“Got it,” Jake said, pushing himself up to his feet and setting off at a jog to get his gear.
Aspen was right. Killing some monsters sounded like a great idea right about now.
-**-
An hour later, Jake emerged from the Dungeon, dripping in sweat and soaked from the knee down to the point that his boots still squelched as he walked.
He was thoroughly displeased with this Dungeon, and was glad they would move along. The thirty or so Wyrdgeld he’d earned from this had not felt worth it at all.
His System told him the Dungeon was called Ormal Infernis, and it had been based around the snakes they’d encountered in the past.
The elements of water that they’d seen last time had been far more prevalent in this Dungeon and the whole thing had been filled with steam.
That didn’t even account for the water in the Guardian Floor, which had been knee-high in places, and had been both annoying and incredibly dangerous.
Even the Boons offered by the Dungeon hadn’t been especially interesting, so Jake had taken the increase to his Manifestations instead.
The way he saw it, more Manifestations meant more versatility and more options. Now that he had his spear as well as the dagger, that was more important than ever before.
“Well, that was a fun one,” Aspen said, heading straight for a bench to take off his boots and shake them out. “We’re not going to have to do that again, right?”
“No, I got what I needed,” Jake said, laughing at Aspen’s exaggerated sigh of relief.
“So, what now, then?” Alan asked, following Aspen’s lead and shaking out his boots.
“I’m not sure. Let’s take a few minutes to rest and dry out and then make some decisions.” Jake managed a slight smile as he took a seat with the others and pulled off his waterlogged boots.