Jake reached out hesitantly and took the ring from Varin, slipping it onto the index finger of his right hand.

“What now?” Jake asked, looking to the others for guidance.

“Channel some Wyrd into it, just a little will do,” Felix said, watching the proceedings with an amused smile.

Jake did as instructed, causing the ring to tighten around his finger, becoming a snug fit that was comfortable yet tight.

You have begun to bind the Woven item, Woadheart Ring - Uncommon

Which Ability would you like to bind this item to?

A mental list of Jake’s Skill and Traits flashed across his mind and he quickly picked the one he wanted.

Confirmed. Binding the item to your Infused Strike Skill now.

Jake felt something shift inside him and once he received the confirmation, he quickly called up the System to see what had changed.

Active - Infused Strike (II) - Uncommon - You are able to infuse your weapon with a small amount of Wyrd, strengthening your blows and sharpening the edges of your weapon.

Bound Items

Infused Strike - Woadheart Ring - Uncommon - The bound Skill now has a small reduction in Wyrd cost and whenever used, imparts an additional small amount of force to the strike.

“So, what does it do?” Alan asked, peering at Jake as though trying to see the answer directly.

“It makes the Skill cost less Wyrd, and I’ll hit harder when using it,” Jake said, trying his best not to get too excited over his first piece of Woven gear.

“The first is quite common. That’s part of what mine does as well,” Gargan said. “The second effect is quite good as well. Sometimes, the effects can be a touch esoteric, but that one is nice and practical.”

“Agreed,” Felix said before giving Varin a nod. “Thank you again for your work in making this.”

“Of course,” Varin said, bobbing his head slightly. “But were there more materials you had for me?”

“Oh, yes,” Jake said, pulling out the Jask feathers and handing them over along with the Murkwood that he still had. “This is everything.”

“Hmm, interesting,” Varin said, looking over the feathers intently. “I’ll wait for you to complete your next delve and then head back to make more items. Try and bring me the spearhead from the end and some Murkwater, if you can?”

“Wait, spearhead?” Jake echoed, raising one brow questioningly. “And for that matter, what’s Murkwater?”

“Like Murkwood, Murkwater is a dungeonous material. It is essentially water infused with poison and decay, useful for imparting those aspects onto other items. The spearhead will be on the spear of the Murkling, which is the final Guardian.”

Aspen let out a low whistle, so Jake looked over questioningly. “What sort of creature is that?”

“The Awakened monster within the Raosk lineage,” Aspen said, explaining further at Jake’s blank look. “Those rats we fight, both the small ones and the Murk Hounds. The next step is a Murkling, which are humanoid rats. It’ll have armour and poisoned weapons, and will command the nearby creatures.”

“That sounds nasty, but surely it isn’t as tough as a Woadite?” Nepthys asked with a frown.

“Oh no, it isn’t,” Aspen said easily, though his expression was grim. “Humanoid monsters like that are much worse, though. That Woadite might have commanded the closest enemies in a crude manner, but the Murkling will have more comprehensive control.”

Jake nodded, taking the warning to heart, even if he didn’t fully grasp how that would put a humanoid rat on par with a Woadite.

No doubt he’d found out the hard way.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

With their new gear given out, they took some time to rest and replenish the few things they used before heading back into the Dungeon.

This time they were going all the way, and with their new gear, Jake was feeling confident.

-**-

Surprisingly, that confidence didn’t fade by the end of the first tier, and Jake was able to use his new dagger a few times to take out some Murk Hounds.

The infused blade took any Wyrd he gave it with ease, though not quite as smoothly as his Boon weapons did. Even without the extra Wyrd, though, Jake found that it could cut through the fur of the Murk Hounds.

A most satisfactory upgrade to his small arsenal.

“Alright, that’s everything,” Alan said, adding the Wyrdgeld from the reward chest to his pouch and tucking away the Murkwood. “Ready to move on?”

“Absolutely,” Jake said, flashing him a grin before heading over to the exit and waiting for everyone else to join him.

Stepping through, Jake looked around warily at his new surroundings.

Unsurprisingly, they were in a tunnel again, those these were larger and with far more mushrooms than before. The mushrooms were also taller, and their glow seemed to intensify with size, which was nice.

Between Alan’s torch and that mushrooms, they were in quite a good situation for lighting, which would go badly for the rats.

“Alright, let’s take it slow and steady,” Jake said, motioning Alan to the front. “We don’t want any surprises.”

“Don’t worry, I’m on it,” Alan said, his eyes shining with Wyrd as he led the way down the tunnel.

Soon enough, the path ahead widened out into a small cavern, with some of the mushrooms growing as tall as trees in the open space.

A Murk Hound was faintly illuminated by the glow of one of these mushrooms, as were a number of Spitters.

Taking up position, Jake and the others unleashed a barrage of attacks on the monsters, with Aspen and Nepthys borrowing Jake and Gargan’s spare wands.

Thorns, ice and fire swept over the Spitters, while Alan put an infused oaken arrow into the Murk Hound before it could even get up.

“Well, that was a good start,” Alan remarked, hurrying over to retrieve his arrow, which had passed through the Enhanced monster unharmed.

“It was, but we should remain vigilant,” Gargan said, giving Alan an admonishing look. “Better equipment won’t save us from mistakes.”

“No, of course,” Alan said, flushing a little as he put his arrow back in the quiver.

Jake might not have been the one Gargan was talking to, but he took the message to heart nonetheless. There was no need for him to be using his dagger so often, not when his sword would do the job.

In fact, now that they were out of the first tier, he should start taking things more seriously.

Expending a use of his Manifestation, Jake conjured his spear, catching it with one hand as it fell from the air before him. With this, he had all the reach he needed.

Pushing on through the floor, they encountered several more chambers of enemies, each with an Enhanced foe. Most were Murk Hounds, but one of them held a Breth, which was the Enhanced version of the acid-spitting beetles.

Unlike its smaller brethren, the Breth spat coherent streams of acid, rather than small globules. The range was about the same, but the Breth were slightly slower with their attacks, which was about the only good thing.

Getting caught by a stream of acid was really not how Jake wanted today to go.

Thankfully, the reasonably short range Breth could spew their acid was much less than the effective range of their wands, or Alan’s bow, for that matter.

Jake and the others took full advantage of that weakness as often as they could, either by engaging the Breth first or by slowly withdrawing once they had their attention.

Like the previous Dungeon, the sheer number of enemies meant that clearing each floor took time, and regardless of how well it was going, it could go wrong at any time.

Thankfully, the worst it got before the Guardian floor was a trio of Murk Hounds with a dozen rats. By this point, Jake, Nepthys and Aspen could each fight a Hound without support, and Gargan’s flames were ideal for the rats.

Ironically, the Challenge room was not long after that encounter, and was one where they had to sacrifice five Wyrdgeld to enter, and would then fight a Murk Hound alone.

Defeating the monster within a time limit got the cost of entry added to the rewards, which were, unsurprisingly, some Murkshrooms and Murkwood.

Alan came out of the Challenge with a claw wound to the leg, and Aspen had taken some acid to the forearm earlier, but a healing potion each took care of that.

As long as they took it slow, it looked like Dungeons like this weren’t a problem.

Of course, they still had the Guardian floor to go.

“Anyone need a rest before we go in?” Jake asked once they reached the end of the ninth floor.

“I can manage without, but I’d prefer to wait for a few minutes,” Gargan said, holstering his wand. “The coming fight will be more chaotic than with the Woadite. We should wait until we are at our best.”

Aspen was nodding along with Gargan’s words, so Jake saw no reason to say no and they settled in for a short rest.

Their overall pace had been faster through this Dungeon, which was good, but it meant that Jake had had less time to recover any Wyrd he’d used up.

The speed, and the fact that he hadn’t used the leeching effect his spear had, also meant that Jake had only used a small part of his active Manifestation.

With three more ready to go, Jake was feeling confident about what he could bring to the fight. He wasn’t at the point where he could do one of these Dungeons on his own, but with his new dagger and armour, he was getting closer.

Leaning back against the cave wall, Jake took the time to fully appreciate the glowing mushrooms around them. They were actually quite pretty, for mushrooms anyway.

He’d prefer daylight, but this soft ambience from the mushrooms helped make the Dungeon feel a lot less imposing.

They all sat in silence, lost in their thoughts, until Gargan gave the signal that he was as recovered as he was going to be.

Checking with the others, Jake nodded and got back to his feet.

It was time.