A dizzy Jack spent long moments gazing at Aroust before the world snapped back into focus, the too close howls of an abomination making it clear that their sanctuary was about to be breached!

Jack's eyes locked on where Aroust's trembling finger pointed, one of the massive clawed behemoths having squeezed it's arms and head through the opening between duct and wall, Jack surprised and displeased to see that the heat and remains of the deathtrap would do nothing to deter the swarming horrors once they sensed any sort of weakness, now doing all they could to squeeze themselves through the too small gap as Jack's friends roared and shouted, unleashing a devastating barrage of cleaving chops and deadly thrusts with naginata and spear, and Jack was actually surprised to see them draw blood now spurting from limbs and the hideous maw of the creature as Elof roared a potent shout and blasted forth, plunging his spear down the craw of their opponent's throat, that attack alone generating a spurt of blood and a struggling retreat.

Jack flashed a fierce smile. "We actually scored blood that time."

Aroust's eyes blazed. "That thing could have broken through!"

Jack lowered his head. "I know," he said, even as he walked over, sliced open his palm, and used a surge of his will to reinforce to rim of the hole.

"That should keep our largest murder hole yet fully intact." Jack smiled at his friends. "Nice job, Elof! You and the girls almost finished off that asshole all by yourselves!"

Elof positively beamed. "We gained two more levels with that half dozen who fell into our trap, yesterday!" He then turned to gaze at the girl now holding his hand, favoring her with an adoring smile. "And thanks to Ah Lam's help, I now understand the spear so much better than I had before. I'm even learning how to use the Glaive and Naginata! And even if I'm not mastering defense yet, learning the basic forms, and having targets that want to kill me at all times to inspire me, and to practice my strikes against? It's fueling my growth like nothing else you can imagine!"

He flashed a fierce proud smile. "I've already unlocked cleaving swing and Deadly Strike!"

Ah Lam was positively beaming. "And my sisters and I have been repairing the cracks within the core of our soul, mending flaws none of us even knew were there, following the advice of our SiFu." She gazed fondly at her sisters. "And I'm happy to say, we're all happy to say, that all three of us have achieved the state of Pristine Harmony, according to our interface."

All three sisters abruptly bowed before Jack, solemnly and deep, Chu Hua the first to raise her head, flashing a heartfelt smile his way. "Thank you, Jack. Now we can taste the dreams of peril and wonder from which true legends are sprung, even from the depths of nightmares like this! Now our souls and minds are focused enough to take on disciples of our own, and we owe it all to you."

Jack slowly shook his head. "You owe it only to yourselves. You're the ones who were willing to take the harder path, I just showed you the way. And frankly, after pulling you all from the safety of your homes with a spell sequence I had no business using, such that we're all now stuck here in the Orange Tier, a little bit of insight and wisdom is the least I can do to make it up to you."

And Jack found himself standing there like a deer caught in headlights as Chu Hua boldly strode up to him, clasping his hand with her own. "So make it up to me."

Jack flushed at her words as she chuckled throatily. "Just do your part to help us survive this, Jack, and you'll be nothing but heroes in our book, til the day we die."

"Which we can only hope won't be immediately!" said a suddenly urgent Aroust as yet another horror did its absolute best to wedge itself through the enticing but still too small hole... before earning a pair of deadly crossbow bolts down it's gullet from a fiercely grinning Barlton as Elof roared and plunged his now glowing spear into the back of the horror's throat, right before being knocked of his feet as the creature's roar seemed to shake the entire cavern as it twisted free, but not before a fiercely grinning Elof had torn free his pound of flesh from his foe.

Chu Hua, still holding Jack's hand, beamed approvingly at Ah Lam. "Our disciple continues to improve."

The youngest of the three girls beemed and nodded. "Our Elof is truly blossoming in the crucible of peril."

Su Li dipped her head. "And his petals will, I think, be as rich and red as the heart-blood of our foes."

And the pride Jack took in seeing the fierce resolve glittering in his friend's eyes, for all that they were now trapped in nightmare depths that were closer to hell than not, a purgatory that Jack just knew had sent countless would be delvers into hideous despair before claiming their lives effortlessly over millenium beyond measure... and here his companions were, a pack of bedraggled beaten hounds forging themselves into wolves willing to take down even the most savage prey.

If only their fangs were sharp enough to pierce the impossibly tough, nightmare infused flesh of their foes.

Like his impossibly hot flame, that had managed to fry a good half dozen. Not because of the hideous heat that blazed like the surface of the sun, but because he had infused it with his life force, his blood, his will, a potency that with a willpower check could conquer even an enemy mage's flame wards. It was that intensity alone that had given them any hope of claiming these monster's furious potential for themselves.

The blood of his spells.

The blood of his wards.

Jack gazed down at what was now effectively his brigandine worn under his Crimson Armaments. That which even his foe's had been unable to rupture. Armor which had protected even Aroust from loving his arm in an eyeblink, countless hours before.

He shook with sudden epiphany, somehow knowing exactly what his next move had to be.

How desperately he would need to push even masterwork skills and his now exhausted soul, forcing himself to unthinkable heights in the depths of darkest dream.

"Elof."

A single word, somehow commanding the attention of their entire band.

Because Jack trembled with it.

The weight of the path he would choose.

The burden it would put on his soul.

Elof's questioning gaze met Jack's own.

"Give me your weapon."

Aroust's eyes widened, lips pressing in a hard, thin line. As the youngest among their group stepped forward, still panting with battle, his youthful cheeks of just days ago already replaced by the chiseled features of a warrior who was being forged in fire.

Presenting to Jack not the sword and shield combo they had been grooming him for, but rather an almost humble looking spear, though the head looked like a cross between a straight, clipped back naginata blade as much as it did a classic leaf-shaped spearhead. An odd hybrid of spear, naginata, and glaive that could chop as well as give excellent point. Just one of the spare weapons the trio of privileged daughters of a corrupt administrator who were determined to do the right thing had had in their generous storage ring. Resources that had done absolutely nothing to save them from dire peril before Jack's path crossed their own.

A weapon that the youngest, Ah Lam, have given Elof in the comforting cloak of darkness, before sharing so much more.

Elof's expression was that of a young man feeling both chagrin for taking a different path than his guardians had expected, yet still determined to follow his own path, wherever it led.

But he didn't hesitate to hand Jack the weapon that was still intact only because Jack hadn't hesitated to honor Chu Hua's soft request of just hours ago to reinforce the shafts and blades of all their weapons, which he had done, just like he had for his own party.

Which was the only reason why all their weapons weren't shattered kindling.

But they needed to be so much more, if they were to have even a hope of survival.

"Jack?"

Surprisingly it was Barlton who spoke, bushy eyebrows widening as Jack locked gazes with the powerfully-built dwarf, so much said with a single smile.

"It needs to be sharper."

This earned bitter laughter from Aroust. "Of course it does, Jack. None of our weapons can do more than scratch those damned hides!"

Jack nodded. "And that's something I need to change. Should have changed."

This earned him a number of intent looks as their group did their best to ignore the hideous hoots and cries beyond the neigh indestructible barricades. Cries that still took a terrible tole, until all their terror and dread had been burnt away like slag, leaving only a survivor's rage and the fierce, hot determination to survive at all costs.

Jack smiled above the hoots and howls. "The handful that fell to my trap... our trap... I almost died from that surge of potency."

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Aroust smirked. "We know. Potency so great we all shot up two damned levels. Myself included."

Jack flashed a bitter smile. "Potency I channeled in the only way I could. And with my poor soul now stretched to exploding with their potency once more... time I put it to use." He locked gazes with Barlton. "I couldn't help but note the pride with which you shot those bolts, Barlton. Even I could see how careful you were with the sharpened heads of those bolts."

Barlton flashed a fierce smile. "Aye, lad. That they are. Punch through almost anything, almost as fine as me own mithril pick!"

Jack nodded, still pinning his friend with his gaze. "Just how sharp can you make a pick if you put your heart into it, Barlton?"

Barlton chuckled softly. "Sharper than a dream, boy. I'll tell ya that fer free."

"Honed to impossible sharpness, just like the bladed heads on your quarrels?"

Barlton's smile hardened. "There be a cost ta gettin' any weapon that, sharp, my boy. Ya need a head o finest killin' steel. Sword steel or better, and ya can't expect it ta last more than a single shot, so it's a lot o' work."

Jack nodded. "But worth it, if you're more than a casual hunter," Jack said, gazing at his friend in newfound appreciation as a half dozen disparate inconsistencies clicked of a sudden into place. "Because you're so much more than a low-level miner, aren't you, friend Barlton?"

And with those words the atmosphere suddenly changed, Cold hard eyes gazing into Jack's own, not saying a word.

"It wasn't that much of a secret," a bemused Aroust noted, clapping his giant friend on the shoulder. "I don't know what path dwarves take, or how that aligns with the Guild or the interfaces in our heads, but only a complete fool would think you were daring the deeps as a level 1 anything."

And despite the hoots and howls beyond, it was Barlton who was suddenly radiating the deadliest aura of all for an eyeblink...before being his gruff yet good-natured friend, though his eyes held a weight Jack wouldn't take lightly. "Some tales are best not told, friend Jack."

"So long as you're not hear to assassinate my father or my family, by all means, keep your secrets with our blessings," said none other than Drake, his gaze calm yet oddly intent. "We're brothers in blood and battle now, Barlton. We share each other's burdens, because we're tied in ways the mortals above will never understand."

This earned nods from all, even from the newest trio of temple warrior who, perhaps thanks to so many newly risen pristine souls in their group, had forged two parties into one. A feat Jack sensed was unheard of, if the looks Drake and Aroust had exchanged earlier were anything to go on, for all that Aroust's strangely gentle smile for Su Li made it clear he welcomed the anomaly as much as anyone could.

Barlton gazed at Drake for long moments. "If that had been why I was here..."

Drake bowed his head. "I know. You could have killed my father and I in a single eyeblink when you were playing the drunken good-natured lout of a guard drinking his fill in our... cellars."

Jack locked gazes with Barlton once more. "So tell me how sharp an elite dwarf can make the tools of his trade?"

Barlton sighed, shaking his head. "Sharp as regret itself, boy. The last thing we need down here, any more than we have already. because each quarrel I shoot, is one we all know is gone fer good." He snorted and shook his head. "And I'm a fool ta waste even one!"

Jack's hard smile grew. "Show me."

And sparing only a moment to catch the gazes of his friends, Barlton whispered words that thrummed through the midnight darkness they could now all see through, pulling out a bench of glittering quarts covered in runes and sigils Jack would have been desperate to study in another time and place. But what his mind truly focused on as their friends gasped and cursed, were the clamps and odd tools Jack sensed could make an edge very, very sharp indeed.

"You've been holding out on us, friend," whispered a darkly smiling Aroust.

The dwarf snorted. "That comin' from ya is a bit rich, my friend."

Aroust smirked. "I know. But still."

Then the air broke with a handful of whistles and soft curses as Jack revealed just how large a reserve of liquid blood mithril he had left, but he was already tuning out all distraction, already knowing how how utterly and absolutely focused he would need to be.

"Quiet." A single word, echoing with an impact as great as Drake's own steadily improving Shouts as Jack poured all his focus on the tool before him, and the mithril pool of potential now at his feet.

He looked up to meet Elof's eyes. "Once I forge this... this will be your weapon. Is this truly the path you want to take?"

Elof paled, swallowed, then jerked a nod. "I it's Ah Lam's gift to me. It flows well with the forms she is teaching me. She and her sisters are teaching me, and it feels strong in the thrust. Very much like... no, better, much better than the roughshod spears all recruits are forced to train with until they are one with their piss poor weapons. But Ah Lam's gift feels, well, it just feels right in my hand."

He could sense the almost confessional quaver in his voice, the way Ah Lam's hand slipped into Elof's own, to know that he had accepted so much more than her gift and was fiercely determined to prove himself as a warrior, and a man. But emotions alone Jack was now tasting on the air, no longer looking Elof's way as he lost himself in the examination of the weapon before him, perfectly sensing the quality of its construction, how it had benefited from his Resilience rune, and the potential for more.

So much more.

You are attempting to infuse Bladed Spear with Mithril Infusion!

He knew what he was doing skirted the limits of what his Artisanal and Arcane manipulation should allow, but refused to let that stop him as he sliced open the palm of his hand and attempted to fuse ever more of his blood, his potency, in shifting the mithril essence he had pulled free of the bedrock of nightmare countless days ago, closing his eyes and remembering the thrum echoing through his soul with that bit of impossible madness.

"Now, Barlton. Sharpen the blade. Sharpen it so fine light itself would be cleaved by that blade."

"But Jack..."

"Just do it!"

A thrum that now threatened to tear his soul apart as he infused the mithril ore to an impossible degree, somehow visualizing the crystaline matrix of that impossibly rare and precious mineral that was as much living magic as inert mineral fusing together in a way that bordered on perfection, feeling the pressure build and build as he waiting desperate agonizing minutes for Barlton to finish his careful shaping of material Jack held in just the right malleable state, like a man clenching tight to the lip of a perilous cliff, knowing a single mistake, the weakening of his grip and will, and death would be his only reward.

"Jack, you're bleeding!" Chu Hua's concerned voice was a distraction Jack didn't need as his world became one of pressure and pain.

"His ear just ruptured, what the hell is he doing?"

"Back up, Drake! I think... just give him space. It's all we can do," Veti's horrified words were thankfully muted even as the pain continued to grow and grow, the crimson pressure threatening to grow so tight Jack could feel his soul tearing free, desperate for one final gasp when finally, finally Barlton said the words Jack now felt more than heard.

"It's done, boy. Do whatever it is yer gonna..."

"Mollis! Vibro! Somnium! " Jack screamed, focusing all the built up pressure in an explosion of potency as every single component within the now hideously sharp naginata head linked together as one.

One impossibly sharp molecular blade that, upon opening his tightly clenched eyes and blinking away the blood, Jack saw seemed almost to cut the too weak strands of light as it flickered between reality and living nightmare, despite the gloom even Barlton's exquisitely lit work bench couldn't entirely dispel, yet even that light was enough for it to scintillate across the edge of the impossibly sharp blade. It was a feat Jack knew was impossible to forge, even as he snarled and somehow forced Nightmare itself to bend to his will. Before paying the price for his daring as he collapsed to the ground, blood dripping from his ears, eyes and pores as he trembled with a state beyond exhaustion, only now forced to endure the messages flashing across his mind's eye.

Congratulations!

You have successfully fused the Runes of Resilience, Resonance, and Dream!

You have successfully fused the Mithril component of your weapon into a perfectly bound molecular whole! Monofilament edge now resonates between multiple dimensional states!

You have pushed your soul and art in heretofore unexplored directions!

You have successfully saved versus oblivion!

You have suffered critical injury.

Your life-force has been damaged! (Permanent loss of 10 HP!)

You have dared to force Nightmare itself to bend to your will. Your mad obsession now transcends mortal limits! Willpower has been permanently elevated!

Artisanal & Arcane Manipulation are now Adept Rank 5!

Rune Forging is now Master Rank 3! You may now forge artifacts within the crucible of Nightmare! These forgings are capable of cleaving through the links between reality and dream!

Warning! Soulbound artifacts constructed in this fashion exist only in Nightmare.

Dread Naginata successfully forged in Tier 4 Depths. Skill check needed to manifest in less Mana-dense tiers!

The message blazed inside his head as he gasped and shuddered with unspeakable pain, having somehow drawn the very essence of the Midnight Mantel itself into his soul. And he had paid a terrible price for his daring, he realized with a whimper.

A price that transcended mere pain, a full 10 health points forever leaving him in the most perilous pits he could imagine.

But still, he couldn't help choking out a bitter chuckle.

Because as awful as the price had been, he now knew the secrets to forging Soulbound Artifacts, the knowledge thrumming through a soul that refused let Nightmare rip free any more pieces of itself.

So long as he had the stored potential to pay the costs of his daring.

"Jack, what the hell did you just do?" Jack smiled up into Aroust's angry gaze, well able to sense the worry and fear underneath."

He forced a bloody smile, looking Elof's way, who was gazing at the weapon whose skintilating edge now flickered so brilliantly with the colors of blood and fire with something closer to trepidation than wonder.

"Claim it, Elof. I paid a steeper price than you can imagine, forging it for you."

His young friend swallowed, anxious features filling with wide-eyed wonder as he finally reached out for the weapon at the behest of Ah Lam's soft urging.

"Jack, this..." He blinked, his expression transforming to one of awe. "Jack, I... I feel it! Linked to me, somehow."

Jack nodded, forcing himself to speak as he desperately wanted to slip away into exhausted slumber. "It's now linked to your soul, Elof."

He smiled weakly at his friend's horrified grimace.

"That's a good thing!" Barlton quickly said. "It means no one can take it from ya! And ya don't even need a storage ring, right, Jack?"

Jack nodded. "You don't. Once you finish bonding to it, it will be a part of you. Literally. No one will ever be able to take it from you. Of course, the flip-side is... I don't think you can summon it at all on mundus, only in realms of Shadow & Dream." Jack flashed an exhausted smile at his friend's furrowed brow. "I mean whenever we enter the deeps and step out of mundus, however gentle or terrible the realm, so long as it's not our own, which doesn't have the potency to support it."

Elof frowned at this, but the look on Ah Lam's awe-filled features made it clear he had just been given an unspeakably precious gift.

Solemly, Elof turned to honor Jack with a bow of his own, but he had already slipped off on tides of nod and nightmare.