The interior of the revival room had been shifted in the brief moments before it had been opened to them, providing several stone slabs at seat height, as well as a table and some lighting.
“Jake, what’s going on?” Alan asked, looking around the room in amazement. “How did you do this?”
“I explained our issue to the Dungeon, and it kindly provided for us,” Jake said, glancing up the ceiling as he continued. “Thank you for the change in furniture and extra lighting. It’s appreciated.”
Jake felt a distant echo of satisfaction from the Dungeon and looked back to see the others were all staring at him in shock.
“You can just talk to it like that?” Aspen asked in a strangled voice, his eyes wide.
“Yeah, but it’s a recent development,” Jake said, shrugging slightly. “I didn’t even realise it worked like this until it changed the way the monsters worked.”
“I knew there was something odd about that!” Aspen shook his head, looking a little overwhelmed. “Is this something that all Dungeon Nobles can do?”
Jake shrugged and looked to Nepthys for help, but she returned the gesture. “Our bloodlines don’t often work together, so your abilities weren’t really part of my training.”
“Well, I hope all Dungeons will be like this,” Alan said, getting as comfy as he could on the stone seating. “It certainly beats sitting out in the cold between delves.”
Jake nodded as he followed suit, wondering how easy this would be to recreate with other Dungeons. For that matter, he wondered if they could communicate somehow, or were they isolated?
There was just too much that he didn’t understand, but this still felt like a huge step forward. It was also a nice tangible benefit to his Class beyond his Boons. One with staggering potential as well.
-**-
They delved twice more before heading back to the safehouse, the mood of the group almost back to where it had been before they lost Felix.
It wasn’t the same, in some ways Jake thought it would never be the same again. Still, it was a step forward, and if they wanted revenge, they needed to keep moving forward.
Ari was sat outside the safehouse when they made it back, his sword on the floor next to him along with an empty bottle. “How did it go?”
“It went well, we got several delves done, and I found out I can communicate with Dungeons,” Jake said, relaying the whole story to Ari. “Did you know that was possible?
“No, I didn’t,” Ari said, frowning in thought. “Dungeons change slowly over time for the most part. I’ve heard of a few larger changes in the past, but always as rumours. Not that I’ve had much to do with your side of things.”
“Maybe those minor changes are actually other Dungeon Nobles,” Alan said, fighting back a yawn. “Interesting as this is, I’m going to go get some sleep.”
“Yeah, not a bad idea,” Jake said, stretching and yawning as well. “Let’s set up a watch schedule and get some sleep.”
-**-
It was difficult to sleep during the day, which wasn’t entirely unexpected, but Jake eventually managed to catch a few hours sleep.
Hopefully, he’d get used to it, but it was only a temporary measure, so even if he didn’t it wasn’t that big a problem.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“So, which one next?” Aspen asked as he served up some heated rations. “Any preferences?”
“The undead Dungeon would be my choice,” Gargan said, sipping his tea as he spoke. “Undead are unclean monsters, so my Abilities will be strong against them. If they’re all Beast strength undead I expect us to have little issue completing the Dungeon quickly and with a minimum of effort.”
“Strong argument, I do like easy Dungeons,” Aspen said, arching a brow as he turned to Jake. “What do you think?”
Jake spread his hands palms up. “We’ll be doing both, so it makes no difference to me. Leaving the one we’re going to dislike the most to last is fine by me. That way we can go back to whichever we liked of the others.”
“Now that that first Dungeon has changed things a bit, I don’t mind it,” Aspen said with a slight shrug. “Once we’ve done all three I wouldn’t mind delving there again.”
“Same, it was a good test of my skills,” Alan said, his eyes going distant for a moment before he sighed. “I still have a lot of hidden things to find to reach my next tier, but maybe the mud Dungeon will help with that.”
“What about the two of you?” Jake asked, looking between Aspen and Gargan. “How close are you to reaching the next tier?”
“Pretty close,” Aspen said with a heavy sigh. “The problem now is finding Worthy enemies. I only need a dozen, maybe even less. With how things are going, though, that will take some time.”
“Same situation for me,” Gargan said, tapping his hand on the table for a few moments. “It is getting somewhat frustrating. Awakened monsters are still Worthy for the most part, but that’s only one monster for a full delve.”
“So, how does that work when we’re all fighting one?” Alan asked, cocking his head to one side in thought. “Is it just whoever actually deals the killing blow?”
“To an extent,” Nepthys said. “The System judges participation and involvement. If the two of us were to fight something Worthy and we were both heavily involved, we might both be awarded for it.”
“Right, that sounds hard to judge,” Alan said, rubbing his jaw. “It feels like everything gets harder the better we get at doing this.”
“Stagnation is failure,” Aspen said with an uncaring shrug. “The road to success is a steep path. Every step forward is a step up, and the next one gets a little harder.”
“A cheery sentiment,” Alan muttered, shaking his head. “One that I wish I could argue with.”
Jake picked at his food, considering his own issue. This need for the other Classes to earn Deeds was tough, but his own problem with Wyrdgeld was only going to get worse.
His next rank was going to cost almost eight hundred Wyrdgeld, a staggering amount and it was only going to get worse. If Jake was working things out right, the last two ranks would be over a thousand Wyrdgeld each.
Shaking off his worries, Jake finished off his meal and went to grab his things. “Come on then, let’s get going.”
-**-
“Alright, let’s wait here,” Jake said as they reached the edge of the clearing around the second Dungeon. “Alan, could you go on ahead and see what the situation is?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Alan nodded, walking quietly forward to get a closer look.
A few minutes passed before the Scholar came jogging back. “No one here, as expected. We’re good to go.”
“Alright, let’s see how bad this one is,” Jake said, setting off for the Dungeon while they still had some light. As he did, he mentally went over the information Aspen had given them, making sure he was ready.
From what Gargan had said, they were in a good position to deal with this Dungeon, but Jake did worry about being overconfident. Eventually, they would be going back to second tier Dungeons, and he didn’t want to bring any bad habits along with them.
Heading down the stairs to the first floor, Jake stepped through the dark interior of the door to find himself in the ruins of a city illuminated by a full moon in a clear sky.
Much like the last time they’d been to an undead Dungeon it looked like the bounds of their path was set to a single wide street. This time, however, the location of the monsters was clear in the form of a group of eleven shambling zombies.
The monsters were moving as a group in a random pattern but came no closer than a hundred feet from the entrance. Roughly the same distance beyond them, Jake could see the exit to the second floor.
“Disconcerting, isn’t it,” Aspen said, giving Jake a knowing look. “We’re so used to ambushes and having to follow a path that something direct like this catches you off guard.”
“Yeah, I see what you mean,” Jake said, chuckling softly to himself. “I must admit, though, I kind of like it. There’s no pretense at being something else.”
“Yeah, but it isn’t great for new classers,” Aspen said with a laugh. “Imagine if this was the first Dungeon you tried. Back when I first Ascended this would have been a nightmare.”
“Well, good job that we’re not freshly Ascended then,” Jake said, drawing his sword and wand and baring his teeth at the other classer. “First to seven kills wins?”
Aspen’s face lit up at the offer and flames blossomed around the head of his spear as he nodded before immediately darting forward, Jake only a few steps behind him.