With Slammy resting comfortably on his pauldron, Alforde opened the door to Crestheart and walked inside. It was dark and gloomy; none of the crystal torches hanging from the walls were glowing, and the runes of Vee’s floor orders slithering across the tiles didn’t provide much in the way of proper light. That wasn’t a big deal to Alforde, since the armorsoul could sense his arena down in the dungeon’s depths, and he navigated through the labyrinth of rooms and hallways with ease.
Mentally, he prepared himself for the day ahead. In accordance with a self-help book he’d read long ago but no longer remembered the name of, he made a mental list of the things he wanted to accomplish.
The first of these was that Alforde wanted to extend the duration of his domain. Thanks to all his practice, he could summon it consistently now, but keeping the [Chilling Tempest] active for long was nearly impossible if it was much bigger than fifteen feet. With his current reserves and control, he could only manage to shroud his entire arena for ninety seconds at most, and his movements were sluggish and weak for several minutes after.
Unfortunately, domains were something of a rare topic in most literature, which meant that Alforde hadn’t had much luck finding other information about them in any books. He’d talked to Holly about it, but the way she accessed her powers was different enough than his own that the [Snowmancer]’s advice wasn’t terribly helpful. If he wanted to keep improving, he’d have to find his own way. That was fine, but also tedious, so Alforde continued holding onto hope that he’d stumble across something more formalized in a book somewhere.
Alforde’s second goal for the day was to improve his footwork. He’d gotten sloppy lately, he felt, and a few of his challengers had managed to shove him into uncomfortable situations where he’d been forced to rely on [Give No Ground]. The skill was darned useful, but Alforde didn’t want to rely on it more than he had to, lest he open himself up to tactics that took advantage of the cooldown period.
Before he could settle on his third goal for the day, a shifting sound to his right drew Alforde’s attention and the armorsoul’s helmet whipped toward it. Fa, one of Vee’s [Dungeon Maintainers] had come out of the hallway and was walking toward him.
“[Dungeon Champion], Do requests assistance. Please follow.”
There was still some time until the day’s runs started, and so Alforde didn’t miss a beat. Nodding, he said, “I’m happy to help as I can. Please lead the way.”
He followed Fa out of the dungeon and out to an abandoned lot where Do and some of the other fiends were hard at work. They’d scrounged up big wooden beams from somewhere out in Westown, and were fastening them together with a combination of thick ropes and bits of refined ectoplasm.
They formed a large lattice, and there were still plenty of ropes and beams to be attached.
“What are you all making?” Alforde asked, taking in all the pieces. He was impressed by the breadth and complexity of the structure.
“This is going to be a training course for low level adventurers,” Do said. The fiend’s speech was still slow and slightly stilted, but it was forming complete sentences regularly. “We heard Master Vee talking about needing to come up with something to help them develop their skills, but he’s been busy lately so we started production on this. It’s coming along well, but we need your help to get it properly installed.”
Now that was surprising, Alforde thought. Do and the other fiends were taking initiative on their own. He’d have to tell Vee as soon as possible.
Beyond that, the armorsoul found it strange that this was what the fiends decided to do. Vee talked about…well, a lot of things, frankly – his ability to bounce between subjects depending on his fancy was simultaneously his greatest strength and weakness – but for some reason, the plight of the low level adventurers had resonated with the orchestra.
He’d have to mull that over another time.
“I see. How can I be of assistance?” Alforde asked.
Do pointed to a series of holes across the lot. “We were hoping you could hammer some of the posts down into place. We can get them in without any problems, but it’d probably be better if you gave them a few strong hits to make sure that they don’t move before we bind them and seal them in place.”
Alforde nodded. “Of course, that won’t be a problem. Which one should I hit first?”
The [Dungeon Maintainer] led the armorsoul over to the first set of beams, which were already buried and ready for striking. The fiend pointed down, to a band of yellow paint a foot above the ground.
“Drive it in until that’s no longer visible,” Do said. “That should be enough to lock it into place.’
Hoisting Slammy up, Alforde did as he was instructed. It took a few blows to move the first one into place, but the [Dungeon Champion] got the sense of how much it moved with each strike and the second one went a lot faster.
After each set of blows, Do would grab the post in question and give it a good pull, trying to move it. When it failed to do so, it nodded in satisfaction and led Alforde to the next set.
The work was simple, but satisfying, and Alforde felt his plates loosening up the way they did after a good warmup. Being able to simply focus on moving his hammer as efficiently as possible was nice. Instead of having to worry about fighting, he could just relax and put all of his attention into his swing, making sure that his blows were as long and smooth as possible.
Progress was quick, but there was lots to be done and Alforde fell into the rhythm. Now and then he looked back, amused at the fact that a quartet of [Dungeon Maintainers] all trailed behind him. Each time he moved on, they started connecting other pieces to the ones he’d just driven into place, and there was a semblance of a catwalk appearing in his wake. They were fast, diligent, and almost completley silent. Alforde wondered how they all seemed to know exactly what to do, as he saw no drawings nor any lists of instructions. It was like they could all see the final piece in their minds.
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That was definitely another thing to mention to Vee, he decided.
He brought Slammy up overhead to strike another post, feeling a serene satisfaction when he brought it down again. He was using his weapon to build, like he’d learned from Glenda and Jared.
A moment later, a notification appeared before his eyes.
[Congratulations! You are now a Level 30 Hammer Afficionado!]
[Class upgrade requirements met! Evaluating primary type.]
Alforde tensed his plates as power spread through his pauldrons and down into his gauntlets.
[Congratulations! Your Hammer Afficionado class is now Hammer Specialist (Combat Emphasis)!]
[Consolidating and recalibrating levels!]
[You are now a level 5 Hammer Specialist!]]
[Your hammer skills are now more powerful!]
[Might +3]
[Endurance +1]
[You can now use the Echo Strike skill!]
[You can now use the Hammertime skill!]
The armorsoul pumped his left arm with joy and closed his eyes to examine his new abilities in his soul’s mirror.
[Echo Strike – (Active) User empowers their hammer for the next (1) melee attack, creating a temporary afterimage that can also hit opponents. Blows from this afterimage have a 20% chance of inflicting the Stunned or Dazed status effects!]
[Hammertime – (Active: Requires a target to be affected by Stunned, Dazed, or other similar status effect). User refreshes and extends the duration of a target’s active debuff and gains bonus impact damage against them until it expires.]
“Are you okay?” Do asked. Alforde nodded eagerly.
“I’m fine. Do you need my help with anything else? If not, there are other things I need to attend to before the day’s challenges start.”
The fiend looked over the construction site and shook its head. “No, I think we’re all set for now. We’re needed in the dungeon as well, so we’ll have to go ahead and stop here. Appreciation, [Dungeon Champion].”
Alforde bid the fiends farewell and left, barely able to contain his excitement as he scurried back to the dungeon. Boy oh boy, a new class – or at least, a new name for an old one – and some new skills to go experiment with!
He couldn’t wait to use [Hammertime]!
----------------------------------------
Once Brice left, Vee turned and looked across the dungeon. The fiends were slowly filing in, taking their positions and waiting for the day’s runs to begin. Alforde was doing…something down in his arena. Vee had felt a class change and a surge of elation through their bond earlier, but the [Dungeon Master] didn’t have any specifics beyond that.
What was his friend doing?
Well, it mostly looked like he was just taking the biggest swings he could imagine with his hammer and waiting for something to happen afterwards, although now and then Vee thought he saw a shimmer of blue light following the weapon’s trail.
He squinted into the viewing crystal, but Alforde stopped his practice and summoned Shadowforde. The pair sparred a bit, but Vee had seen that plenty of times and he turned his attention elsewhere.
The first adventurer was about to head in, and recognizing the elkin [Earth Mage], Vee went ahead and activated [Boost Drops]. He hunted down all the affected minions, moved them into position, and sat back while the run got underway. Things were going to get crazier and crazier over the next few weeks, so the [Dungeon Master] would happily take any chance he could get to kick back and relax.
Reginald adjusted his magnifying crystal and leaned close. “Alright, adventurer. Are ye prepared for the horrors that wait inside Crestheart? Steel thy heart, for you’re about to face a mighty dungeon!”
When his [Announcer] silenced his crystal, Vee looked over and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Ye and thy? Where’d that come from?”
The hat shrugged his yellow spirit arms. “Dunno. Just felt right. I’m trying to decide how I want to address the out-of-towners who come for the circuit. Why do you care? Not a fan?”
“Not especially. It’s a little weird,” Vee said. “Feels…ancient, you know? I think your normal way of addressing adventurers is fine.”
“Sure, but fine is boring,” Reginald said. “We need something special. Something pithy!”
Vee grunted noncommittally. He could have probably argued the point, but it wasn’t important and there were better uses of his time.
The elkin below blasted through the first room of the dungeon, sending large [Gravel Missiles] into the ghosts and wall. She paused to pick up the shard of chaos that dropped from one of Vee’s marked minions, and headed into the next room.
This one would take her a while, if history was any indication. Vee decided to take care of another task on his list. He needed to start prepping his fiends for their new task.
Closing his eyes, the [Ghost Maestro] reached through his bond to all the members of his light section and got their attention.
“Attend me later this afternoon, there is a matter we must discuss.”
They all replied affirmatively, and Vee opened his eyes just in time to see the elkin narrowly dodge a skeleton lancer’s piercing strike.
“You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to reach the boss,” Reginald cried. “Friends, I daresay that we’re going to have ourselves a short run!”
Before Vee could say anything else, Reginald deactivated his magnifying crystal and looked over. “Just practicing for when we have a crowd, boss.”
Vee groaned. Right. He needed to talk to Do and the rest of the [Dungeon Maintainers]. There was an abandoned lot near the dungeon that would work perfectly for setting up some spectator stands.
Add another thing to the list, he thought.
Main Character Sheets:
Vee Vales (UNCHANGED FROM LAST CHAPTER)
Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 29
Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 23
Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 6
Might: 15
Wit: 35
Faith: 24
Adventurousness: 7
Ambition: 15
Plotting: 19
Charisma: 15
Devious Mind: 24
Leadership: 19
Guts: 14
Intimidating Presence: 10
Citizenship: 21
Public Relations: 8
Determination: 4
Persuasiveness: 4
Bargaining: 2
Patience: 1
Competitive Spirit: 1
<3<3 Infatuation <3<3
Alforde Armorsoul:
Primary Class: Hammer Specialist (Self), Level 5 (UPGRADE AND LEVEL CONSOLIDATION)
Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 15
Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 18
Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 10
Might: 54 (+3)
Wit: 14
Faith: 28
Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9
Endurance: 29 (+1)
Intimidating Presence: 12
Heart of a Champion: 12
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 8
Vigilance: 8
Vanity: 2
Reginald:
Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ??
--~%@(%$@ &% (*$ #&#e !i$$ (#$%#$%#$@!)~--, #$v@& ????
Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 41
Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 18
Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 10 (+1)
Might: 1
Wit: 36
Faith: 16
Ambition: 27
Greed: 24
Deceptiveness: 27
Manipulativeness: 39
$#&*!@!!: !!!
Loyalty: 46
Patience: 9
Irritability: 22
Remorsefulness: 17
[#&%%%@%!#@__--#%]
Hop@#!! @#$@!@#
@#$@%%^
#4^5#*&_!+++#(@$#
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 8