Mind Lord has perished!

Congratulations! You have successfully spooled the psyche and soul of Level 17 Brain Harvester!

Icy Blast (Crimson Shards) Is now Adept Rank 2.

Congratulations! Snip, Pinch, and Spool have hit Adept Rank 1! Perk chosen: Mithril Blood Infusion! Few foes will be able to counter tools able to instantly channel the mithril laden blood of your being! - Note. This perk is in effect only so long as you have tools of Mithril and at least trace amounts of excess mithril ingested, infused into your bones, or stored in a soul pouch! Excess mithril can be reclaimed with every harvested soul!

Shear has achieved Adept Rank 4! Sheer free the souls of foes far more powerful than yourself easier than ever!

"Nice job, everyone, smooth and efficient. Just what I want to see!" said Chu Hua, clapping Barlton on the back and commending his mighty squid-head squishing final swing before she turned to Jack, piercing his soul with the warmth in her gaze.

"Alright, let's all take a breather and meditate our our latest kill before taking out the next! Focus on everything we did right. Visualize exactly how we want our next target to fall to our spells and blades."

And Jack thought it remarkable how readily everyone complied to the orders of a girl who had been with them only a fraction as long as some. But she had proven herself over and over again, none of them ignorant of the bonuses they sensed benefiting them when they allowed his girlfriend to take the lead. And in rare moments, when they were truly in the zone, all of them could somehow sense exactly what the other was intending, like fingers on a hand. It was then that Jack sensed the behind-the-scenes bonuses spiking through the roof as they acted and fought as one.

For now though, most of them were content to sit back and breathe deep, thinking about the battle just survived, or milk it for all the experience it was worth, as Aroust wryly put it to his girlfriend's scolding glare, even as the Chu Hua and her sisters seemed to take things a bit further, actually meditating or cycling, and strengthening themselves in ways Jack couldn't entirely understand, though he was impressed, truth to tell, to see Elof copying their breathing and movements so perfectly. Was Elof now cycling his potency as well as they?

He quickly dispelled the extraneous thoughts, having found his own way to meditate, or so he thought of it, going over his spell and skill use with a fine toothed comb and trying to recall exactly how losing himself in the flow of intent and completion, desire and action, until every visualized action was him using his skills with as much potency and deliberation as he could possibly visualize.

All but tasting the fiery hot advance of his skills, feeling such a heady sense of triumph as he grew in ways transcending any particular level, for all that he had learned no levels at all.

Just the fact his skills were blazing like comments in the skies of his potential, and even Icy Blast was just a heartbeat from advancing, was enough for him.

Even now he couldn't wait until they had rested away any trace of fatigue or anxiety, and felt at peak readiness once more. Because it was his intention to farm everyone of the bastards he had so skillfully separated by stone bars that melted into walls since he had woken back up, using a bit of the potency with his latest kill to strengthen the barriers between each of them, so they could ambush their foe in perfect synchronicity, shamelessly farming foes that could so easily kill them in different circumstances, such that he took fierce sweet pleasure in their deaths as his own group of friends grew ever stronger, ever more ready to face the unknowns life would forever throw before them, each advance in growth and power doing that much more to assure that they were the masters of the glorious storybooks of their own lives, not bit characters to be killed off like meaningless nothings in the annals of some enemy's saga.

"Jack, are you alright?"

Jack cracked an eye open from his crossed leg position, catching the soft blue-eyed gaze of none other than the young novice Delver who was, in fact, a federal agent in a country he almost but didn't quite recognize, and how eager he was to see and explore the wonder of a world, a life, so like the one he remembered, a part of him already wondering if he and Chu Hua could start over and make a fresh life for themselves not too different from the one he was forced to leave behind with the destruction of absolutely everything he had once called home.

He blinked, shaking away the maudlin thoughts, taking in the strikingly beautiful face of a woman who wasn't so young as all that, 45 he somehow recalled her saying... thinking? For all that she still had the flawless features and the body of a voluptuous 20 year old in the peak of health... and if fortune held, always would. Yet he could sense that despite the pride she took in her appearance, and the rue she now felt for her choice in class, what she identified herself as more than anything else was the mother of two beautiful little girls only a handful of years old, with the father nowhere to be found, her eyes making it damn clear she couldn't figure out why the hell she was even here, and not holding them tight and reading them a bedtime story at that very moment. Why the hell was she risking her life to this madness, over and over again? Was the craving for risk and the rush of power that came with leveling up, to say nothing of her dreams of career advancement and one day running for office worth the peril of leaving her children orphans, no matter how rich an inheritance they would have? She was already immortal with near perfect recall and the body of an Olympian swimsuit model forever. What the hell else did she need to risk her life for? If it weren't for the entire city being in dire need of a functioning power plant, and the need to purge the horrific creatures who could be taking over the minds of the local power brokers at that very moment... she would be begging the too young adventurers who should be daring nothing more than curated White Tier Delves opened for students of every ivy league college to run at full speed with her for the exit, and never look back.

Jack lowered his gaze, ashamed to have caught glimpses of thoughts and feelings so personal... even as he caught her brooding gaze flicker to the gauntlet that was inert as she now feared her how once brilliant career path forward would be.

"I'm sorry?"

She flashed a gentle smile. "It's rare you find adventurers willing to face down a horror that can overcome your body and mind and leave you nothing but a hollowed puppet in turn. But not only did you face it, you seemed to be offering yourself as bait?" she shook her head. "Truly, Jack. To have such faith in your friends, to somehow know that they would be able to kill it before it took over your mind, is a rare blessing in any party." Her gaze hardened. "I can only hope you won't one day end up regretting that trust."

He blinked at this, before flashing a bemused smile. Careful with his words, but speaking the absolute truth before what was, after all, a federal agent. Who knew what perks she might or might not possess that allowed her to taste the veracity of any acquaintances, or suspect's, words?

"No worries on that account, Lady Elva. I have absolute faith in my friends doing their part to take these bastards down."

She swallowed, features turning wan as she gazed at the brutalized remains of the abomination they had slain, the hoots and howls of screetching Death Bears and the awful cephalopedian hiss that was almost as much mental as physical, pierced the mind with endless susurrations. Still, Jack couldn't help admiring how she did her best to shake the dread she was clearly feeling away, gazing intently at Jack once more. "So, what's your strategy for clearing out this infestation?"

Jack flashed a grim smile, gazing at the walls sealing off so many foes that wanted them dead. "Same as it is for any delve, I'm guessing. Work the rooms until we find the big boss, then devise a strategy to bring him down. But first, we'll finish what we started."

With those words he exchanged a look and a smile with their ruthlessly efficient tactician, all of them getting into place once more before Jack opened a slit in the stone and spells were unleashed before a flurry of flashing mithril ended with the desperate screams of a mortally wounded beast hissing in fury... before it's guttural roars became howls as Jack tore free psyche and soul, and this time it was Aroust whose deadly fast glaive flashed in a streak of brilliant crimson death, parting head from body and another absolutely perfect kill.

"Blood hell!"

Until the squid head began slithering forward to attach itself to a madly scrambling Jack, face locked in a rictus of strain as he attempted to coil the soul of a being far more powerful than him.

"Now, Barlton!"

As Chu Hua's panicked voice cut through the air, sensing imminent peril before Barlton's golf-club like swing sent the creature smacking against the far wall, now an utterly lifeless ball of flaccid flesh, as Jack held tight to the strands of it's spirit now torn completely free of its flying body, Jack panting like a madman as he force trembling hands to still and deposited yet another skein of spiritual thread in a warded pouch only he could ever use.

"That was too fucking close," Jack said with a soft chuckle, terror replaced by exhilaration as his soul flooded with the sweet nectar of potency so far above his level once more, channeling it back into skills as he always did before he burst, his friend's rapt expressions making it clear theirs was no sweeter joy than the furious glory of ascension, Drake's awed chuckle making it clear they were on the cusp of yet another break through.

"How close?"Jack asked with a smile when his heart finally stopped racing in his chest.

Drake gave a rueful shake of his head. "A few more encounters, Jack, and I think I'll be at level 15." The rest of the party solemnly nodded and Jack didn't know whether he should be overjoyed or bitter with envy. So he laughed off his own ambivalence, taking solace instead in skills now so close to being mastered the flashed like sparkling diamonds of insight, pearls of endless possibility, blossoming within his soul.

"Well who are we to let such a trifling thing as a close scrape with death keep us from our rightful pools of Ex?" Jack smirked at the wall. "I do believe a few more bastards need killing before we head to the main course. Wherever the hell the boss's layer might be."

"Jack, are you sure?" Chu Hua's powerful hand gently squeezed his armored shoulder. So powerful her grip now was he could still feel it, for all that she was careful not to mar his masterwork spell.

He turned to flash his lover a heartfelt smile. "Damn right, I am. You guys are shooting up like meteors in reverse, least I can do is get my spells so perk heavy I'll need a pickup truck just to bring them all."

Drake laughed at that before furrowing his brows. "What's a pickup truck?"

Jack winced, stealing a glance at a too intently staring Elva.

"Not something I want to drive around in New York City, that's for sure."

His friend's bemused smirk turned serious. "Jack, are you sure you want to keep doing this? Because every time I see those squid heads all I can think is that one wrong move..."

Jack's brittle smile hardened. "Yeah, I know. But let's be honest, Jake. When else am I ever going to get a chance to empower these skills? Skills I might one day have to use in far less ideal circumstances than this. Because if I can't even take on these horrors when they’re pinned, stunned, and weakened with six gaping wounds and handful of stunning shouts and spells..."

"Then we're as good as dead if we're ever forced to deal with them any place save here," Chu Hua finished for Jack, her calculating gaze now turning Lady Cristova's way.

"You do know that if you give too detailed a report to your superiors, you've all but sealed our dooms, yourself included, if even one of them is compromised, don't you?"

Elva blinked, her eyes widening with obvious alarm when the entire party suddenly stilled, all of them gazing at her with cold, unblinking eyes.

Jack could sense her sudden fear, even as she tried to reason it away, projecting an aura of gratitude and reassurance. "I do," she said. "You may rest assured, I value my own life, and the lives of my rescuers far more than that." She flashed a bleak smile. "I'm just glad to see you all so skillful at taking down those hooked horrors, and if any mention of octopedian creatures comes up, I'm happy to inform my superiors that you all mastered the art of striking before they could shoot ink at us, or whatever it is they can normally do."

Aroust gave a slow, thoughtful nod, surprising Jack with his follow up question. "If you don't mind the querry, what level are you, exactly, Lady Cristova?"

She straightened her spine, just a bit. "Level 8, Lord Aroust of Clan Keindish. And far closer to level 9 than not."

Aroust shared a look with the others. "What do you think?"

Chu Hua exchanged a look with her sisters before turning to Jack. "Jack?"

"Why are you asking me?"

She just stared.

Jack smirked, turning to the curious federal agent. "Any interest in partying with us for a bit, and maybe earning a level while you're here?"

Lady Cristova instantly stilled, and Jack could instantly sense how profound and significant an offer that was in this time and place. "I mean, it's obvious we can link, since we're communicating at the same time in the same dungeon, something that doesn't normally happen back where we're from, so I guess it means we're on the save wavelength?"

And much to Jack's surprise, Elva immediately bowed, deep and low. "If you're serious..." she swallowed before flashing a genuine smile. "Why, yes. It would be a genuine pleasure." Then her cheeks flushed with sudden shame, gazing down at her gauntlet. "Yet much to my regret, my artifact was damaged by that monster Amir." She gave a bitter chuckle. "And just like that, all my vaunted training and specialization, is rendered near worthless because..."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Her voice suddenly broke off, eyes widening as Jack approached with a too intent expression on his face. "May I?"

Worldlessly, she handed him her gauntlet with oddly nervous hands, now gazing at him just as intently as he was gazing at the gauntlet.

Jack closed his eyes, ignoring the murmurs from his friends behind him as he poured all his focus into the artifact.

It was idiocy, he knew. For all his flashes of insight, and his unique, rune-based creations, he was no master enchanter! He had no doubt at all that, his increasing artificer skill aside, he's be nothing but a talented apprentice in need of years of practice under a benevolent master before he could truly call himself any type of master.

Yet still, the artifact called out to him. And whether it was his Master Tier Rune Forging and Elite tier Arcane Manipulation talents symbolic of his many weeks feeling the flow of mithril in the pressure cooker of the deep, combined with what was now mastery of multiple runes, or something else, he didn't know.

Because the fact remained that he had only the vaguest idea of how the device even worked. But what he did know without a doubt, what immediately brought a smile on his face, was the source of the problem was blindingly obvious.

A broken circuit or mana connection, the miniscule mithril filaments linking the topmost row of gems to one another had been ruptured.

Arcane Manipulation skillcheck: Critical success!

Jack smiled. Surprised by how easy it was to not only fix the connection with just the tiniest bit of his own mithril reserve, but to widen and deepen the channel and to replace the shoddy alloy that barely had any mithril at all with his own crimson-tinted mithril he reinforced with whispered runes of resilience and potency, carefully turning all the dials while ignoring Elva's increasingly wide-eyed stare as he spent a handful of minutes lost in the trance of creation, his own smile widening as he felt his understanding of the artifact snap into crystal clear focus, such by the time he was done strengthening the connections between the primary jewels glittering with such potent arcane energy and their modifying gems, he felt the master of the gauntlet. For all that it had cost him no less than 32 milligrams of his priceless mithril, he still had many, many kilos to spare.

"Here you are," he said at last, handing her what was now a crimson gold gauntlet, surprised by how much her hands trembled when she reclaimed her prize.

"Why don't you try it out? You might find it a tiny bit off-spec now."

She frowned at those words, abruptly jutting her hand at the far wall. "Freezing Rain!"

For along moments, they all stared, and shivered at the perifery of the massive spray of supremely cold mist that formed, instantly icing over several of the green slime filled birthing pools and freezing the face of at least one groaning mindless victim bulging with egg sacks such that now his face was frozen in a rictus of horror, but at least his moans had stopped.

Elva took a deep, shuddering breath, before turning to gaze at Jack with something close to awe.

"What the hell did you do?"

Jack blinked. "What's wrong? It should be working better than ever. I think?"

Elva took a deep breath, shaking her head, then jutting her hand out once more. "Flame Strike!" And suddenly a pillar of roaring flame blasted through the air before dying a second later, and Jack was imppressed despite himself. It might be the farthest thing from the solar flare of a plasma blast his Windfire had metamorphed to, but any low level critter that got caught in that blast point blank would be feeling the pain, that was for sure.

Elva slowly turned to face Jack once more. "Jack?"

"What's up, do you like it?"

Elva flashed a strained smile. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Jack nodded. "The mithril circuits were a mess. So little was used it was hardly adding to the efficiency at all. So I upgraded your circuits and cleaned out the gunk. Metaphorically speaking.

She blinked. "Metaphorically speaking?"

He nodded. "It's like I took out cheap corroded copper wires and replaced it with a super conductive alloy. It should be working a bit better, now, and best of all, no asshole backstabbing guildmaster will be able to knock brittle wires out of alignment. Not easily at least."

"Jack, it's running at least 300% above spec!"

Jack flashed a wicked smile. "Think it might be potent enough to blast through a mind-flayer's hide then?"

Elva blinked. "Shit, I think it just might!" She matched his cheeky grin. "Alright, you're on, hero. Let's see how these things go when coming up against a little thing called teamwork!"

And with surprisingly little friction, Elva fit in like a missing piece to a puzzle, flanking Jack when he launched his elemental spells just after Drake and Veti launched a whole host of debuffs, Jack surprised to see that her explosion of ice shards now looked surprisingly close to his in potency, and with a twist of a gear her spray turned to a single lance-sized icicle even she was surprised by the size of, managing to harpoon the last of the Brain Harvesters just before Chu Hua and the rest sliced it open six ways to sunday and Jack reveled in claiming the final desperate abomination's psyche and spirit, their ruthless technique of stunning and crippling their prey before rendering them insensate and half insane with pain and injuries such that, even if their oversized brains had been desperately striving for a counter to the humans isolating and tearing through their number, when their time came all they could do was lash out at the one smiling target they could see through the murder slit of stone left for them... each finding out only in that moment that their did indeed exist a counter to the tyrannical control Mind Lords and other psionicists could normally exert over their prey, and not a one would be permitted to live long enough to reveal that deadly secret.

And it was only when the last of those monsters were dead, and the two Death Bear guardians Jack obliterated with flame after a surprised Elva was cooly told to step back that Jack bothered reading his messages even as his friends whooped and crowed, all of them having hit level 15. Even their newest companion had the flushed cheeks and euphoric smile of someone savoring the greatest rush of their life, one that left no regrets behind, only the awe and wonder of stratospheric growth.

You have personally slain 2 Death Bears via Wind Fire (Plasma Beam modification!)

You have successfully claimed the spirit and psyche of five Mind Lords!

Experience earned!

Crimson Shards is now Adept Rank 2!

Snip, Pinch, and Spool are now Adept Rank 4!

Shear is now Adept Rank 5!

Jack flashed a smile of fierce satisfaction, more than pleased with his growth, for all that he sensed that Windfire still had a ways to go before it ranked up any further. But considering that he had already achieved Elite Rank 3 and could effectively use it as an inconcievably deadly plasma beam already, he knew he had no cause to complain.

Though he couldn't help spinning around when he saw a breathless Elva, gazing at him with an odd mixture or disbelief and wonder. "I can't believe that actually worked! Those traps... isolating them utterly, controlling initiative and line of sight, arranging things not only for safety but to assure everyone gets a cut. Literally!"

Jack exchanged a grin with Barlton, even then dancing around in a thunderous jig with Aroust clapping a beat as Veti laughed in her beau's arms and Drake showcased a surprisingly melodious voice. "Believe me, we've had a lot of practice at this!" Jack confessed over the unexpected din. "And I'm grateful every time it works!"

She dipped her head before pointedly eyeing the deep furrows of superheated stone that had cut completely through the farmost stone wall cutting off their former captives, now corpses, from the chamber just beyond this one. She then pointedly gazed down at the pair of Death Bears that had bean sliced in half, the flesh charred and cauterized for several inches on each side of the incision, which might have stopped blood loss but didn't stop death after being cleaved in twain.

She then looked back at Jack. "So, I have a question for my clever young spell casting friend."

Jack took a deep breath. "By all means, ask away."

"How does a delver who purports to be level zero manage to cast a Tier 5 spell?" She furrowed her brow, taking a look at the damage once more. "Or maybe Tier 6?"

Jack couldn't help laughing at that. "Hardly! It's a level 3 spell, no more than that!"

This earned a burst of incredulous laughter from a girl who clearly wasn't buying it.

Jack smirked. "How's your gauntlet performing, Elva?" She flushed, flashing an awkward smile. "Damn fine, Jack, to be honest. And you have no idea, absolutely no idea, what that means to me." She bowed before him. "I'm going to have your back for as long as you're hear, for as long as you want me. I hope you know that, Jack."

Jack flushed at her choice of words, suddenly feeling Chu Hua's gaze on his back, before turning to take in the results of his plasma beam. "It really was a Tier 3 spell, Elva. Our foes were captive, which allowed me to spend the extra couple of seconds taking care of both of them. Because it's not like I could take on any 20 Quickness horror from the deep in anything but the most controlled environment."

She shook her head in disbelieving wonder. "What kind of Tier 3 spell..."

"A Masterwork spell combining the elements of both Air and Fire and a good handful of perks," Jack quickly amended. "Add to that Elite rank 3, and a couple affinities I picked up along the way, and it all comes together.

She furrowed her brow. "Fusing 2 elements together normally raises the base spell a full level, so..."

Jack shrugged. "I did say it was categorized as a masterwork spell, much like my Blood Shield and Crimson Armaments."

"Jack, you cut through that stone wall like a torch through butter! Do you have any idea how high a temperature, how concentrated the plasma you'd need, to perform such a feat?"

"I'm guessing it would be quite a bit."

She smirked and shook her head. "Quite a bit is right." She shook her head, glaring down at her gauntlet. "And I don't even want to think about how much the modifications you made would have cost me in the care of a master craftsmen. Noble or not, it would have blown my budget for a year."

"Which is nothing, if it keeps you alive," said none other than Chu Hua with her no nonsense gaze.

Lady Cristova gave a rueful chuckle. "Indeed you're right, Chu Hua. Even so, my gauntlet had its yearly maintenance inspection. A gauntlet I earned the right to call my own upon graduating MIMT. And for all that the most elite among us might have found the means, resources, or contacts to tweak it up a maddening 50% above spec... this three-fold baseline." Intent blue eyes locked with Jack's own. "At least."

Jack swallowed, suddenly feeling a bit flustered, not knowing what to say. Only in that moment under the careful gaze of a federal officer of sorts did he appreciate just how freewheeling he had been in terms of using the vast mithril reserves his companions seemed more than happy allowing him unrestricted access to use as he would. An act of faith he had, perhaps, repaid many times over with weapons that could cut through even the toughest hide of Orange Tier horrors, forge the runes that could do anything from unlocking hidden feats that would allow one to mend the fissures in the cores of their souls to actually elevating one's soul to resonate with such pristine potential that reality itself would accept the imprint, allowing a once common born mortal to take his first steps along the path of peril, just like an original, with all the added perks that granted, most importantly the knowledge that somewhere, somewhen, when fate or folly would end the tale of their lives, they might just be reborn anew. Of course, at that moment what they most apprecaited was simply being able to level up at what for others who didn't walk the path, would be considered a meteoric pace.

And with all the boons he had done his best to share with a party that had helped keep him alive with as they face down one series of horrors after another, they were more than forgiving at him giving an unexpected boon to another.

But the truth remained that Jack had enhanced her magical gauntlet in ways that transcended all expectation, by the simple expedient of using rune-enhanced mithril, 30 times the trifling amount used in the original construction.

"Lady Cristova? Could I make a suggestion?" said none other than their tactician, mind racing with a complexity of thought that made Jack increasingly certain she was investing in Perception and Scholarship as well as her physical attributes.

Elva flashed the Elite Warrior of the Dawn and indulgent smile. "Of course, Chu Hua. Suggest away."

"Tell no one about the changes to your artifact."

The noble lady's eyes widened as Chu Hua spoke on. "Because if the rules of influence and the passions of power in this nation are anything like the codes of dominion laced in duty my sisters and I delt with back home... you will find yourself both stripped of your gauntlet and perhaps your freedom, made to reveal every last secret you think in the comforting glow of this moment to keep safely hidden." Their tactician flashed a bleak smile. "Never forget, my lady, no matter how warm and indulgent the smiles of the men who control the channels of power may be in your world, they enjoy the positions they do for a reason, having achieved a feat that only the most ruthless, calculating, and cunning can ever hope to. Which is a truth few care to consume, even if it's a bitter meal fed to us all, in one way or another."

To this Lady Cristova flashed a placating smile. "I suspect the machinations of politics and power aren't quite as lively here in the UFA as they are for you back home, but your point is well made." She gazed at her gauntlet with a rueful smile. "You've given me a blessing beyond compare. But since this particular model is considered a priceless tool doled out to military and government parties alone, not privately owned at all, you're right. I'd be a fool to risk revealing it's improvements save my party, who would in turn be fools to reveal the specifics of a tool aiding in their own survival."

She turned her gaze back to Jack. "And speaking of gauntlets and survival, I'm now the proud owner of a gauntlet that can shoot a stream of fire farther and hotter than any gauntleteer can dream of. And it's still just a tiny fraction of the power of your supposed Tier 3 spell." She flashed a cajoling smile. "Are you truly going to say that you have no class at all, Jack?"

Drake winced. "You might as well tell her, Jack."

Jack blinked, genuinely confused. "Tell her what?"

Drake and Aroust exchanged a glance, before turning back to their de facto latest member. "Jack's something of a Jack of all Trades," explained the duelist. "Even though he claims no class, his skill mastery rate is nothing short of absurd."

Drake gave an exasperated Jack a friendly clap on the shoulder. "No shame in that either, even if that is your class, Jack. Between your mastery of stone, runes, and fire, we've been keeping our heads in places that should have seen us disemboweled and devoured in the blink of an eye, and for that, we'll always have your back, brother."

Jack smirked. "Thanks for that. But if I actually have a class, then why am I still level 0?"

Veti frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe it's a problem with your interface?"

Barlton scowled. "But that makes no sense, luv. How can he do what he's done fer us," he said with a pointed look and a finger to his nose Jack sarcastically thought that there was absolutely no way Elva wouldn't be suspicious of, "if he canna do the same fer himself?"

Veti furrowed her brow in thought, then flashed a satisfied smile. "For the same reason few healers dare to treat their own wounds. It's sometimes far easier to fix the flaws in others, inspired by your own flaws that might be impossible for you to do anything about. But at least you gain the satisfaction of being able to improve the lives of those you care about, regardless of your own personal fate."

Then Jack felt the acute discomfort of seeing his friend's concerned, almost pitying gazes now mirrored by Lady Elva herself. "Alright, break time's over. I'm glad you're gauntlet's working so well, Elva. So what's say we finish clearing this dungeon and finally get out of here?"

Words that immediately elicited cheers from his friends, for all that Lady Cristova blinked in startled surprise, perhaps having no idea what it would be like, being forced to survive months in the deep without fresh air, light, or hope. Just the sweet rush of growing power to abate the strain of endless darkness, and knowing, inevitably, that they were all doomed to a hideously violent death in the dark, a realm away from anyone and everyone they had ever known or loved.