One of the patrons, a burly man as tall as Duke began to stand and start heading Duke’s way. Duke was too tired to deal with anyone and simply let the beginnings of UMBRAL REAPER’s darkness fill his eyes while issuing a simple command. “Sit back down.” It was delivered slowly, emphasizing each word and it had the intended effect as the man sat right back in his seat, paling.
Duke had to put the chest down as Aurelia all but tackled him in her rush to hug him. She leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around and squeezing for all she was worth. He gladly returned the hug, absolutely relieved to see for himself that his friends were OK. He just stood there basking in the feeling before he opened his eyes and noticed that the rest of his team had come over as well.
“Glad you all are OK. When I saw you were all gone, I nearly lost it.”
“You TELEPORTED us all out when you started the fight. What happened in there?”
“I won. It took everything I had in me, but I won the fight.”
“So how did you get through the rest of the waves?” Baslin asked, concern heavy in his voice.
“I let it all out with UMBRAL REAPER. It lasted for long enough to get the rest of the waves I guess.”
“How much Mana did you put into that Ability?”
“All of it. It was…It was bad. I’m glad I got you all out beforehand. There’s even more news, but there are way too many prying eyes here.”
“May I suggest you take this to the banquet room?” No one had noticed Dagny waking up to their group but Duke offered him a wide smile.
“Yes, Dagny, that is a great idea. Let’s do that.” The minotaur innkeeper led them to the banquet room where they were able to settle in with some privacy. Duke placed the golden chest on the table and everyone gathered around.
“Why don’t you all go through the chest while I deal with a few more notifications. The loot should be pretty spectacular. If not, I’m going to have words with someone.”
Duke opened his latest notification, unsurprised that it was the dungeon completion notification.
*** Congratulations! You have completed the Desert Fortress of the Amber Sands dungeon at an extreme difficulty level. You gain the following:
First Clear Bonus: 100,000 experience
Clearance Difficulty Bonus: 250,000 experience
Ending Credits: 197,895 – These credits have been spent to increase the ending loot value
You gain a rank increase to any one Ability below Master rank
You gain the combined value of several dragons’ hoards. The total comes to 15 Grand Crystals, 7 Large Crystals, 9 Medium Crystals, 4 Minor Crystals, 27 Gold, Six Silver, and 1 Copper. These have been automatically transferred to your INVENTORY.
You have gained the Title Dragonbane. This Title grants you a 2x damage modifier when attacking dragons and draconic creatures. You are also now immune to any draconic fear-based Abilities or innate qualities.
All additional material rewards reside within the reward chest.
***
Duke focused back on his companions and the chest on the table, wondering what goodies they had pulled from it. He was confused when the chest sat upon the table, unopened.
“You didn’t have to wait for me. I told you all to go through the chest while I dealt with my notifications.”
Aurelia gave him the look that dripped with a magical mix of compassion and sarcasm. “You’re the only one who can open the chest, idiot.”
Duke chuckled at himself and opened the chest. Rather than pull things out one at a time, he just dumped the contents out onto the banquet table. His intention was to spread out the loot so that everyone could see it and sort through it together. What actually happened was that the chest emptied out for a full ten seconds, pouring coins, crystals, gems, jewels, and items all over the table and cascading onto the floor.
“Guess we got a bit of a reward.” Duke commented.
“We?” Eihlen responded.
“Yes, we. I didn’t do this by myself. Your healing kept us all going, Baslin’s spells were always there for us, Greslarnier managed the towers and coordinated our communications when we were separated, and the rest of us handled the melee. It was a full team effort. I may have finished it, but we all got to that point together. Shares should be equal for all.”
“Well, let’s sort through all this then.” Jablach chuckled.
“Allow me.” Baslin responded, casting a quick spell. Immediately, the loot all lifted into the air, swirling into a cloud over them and filling the entire ceiling. With a snapping of his fingers, Baslin directed different types of treasure to different parts of the room. The crystals went to one end of the table, and the coins to the far corner of the room, neatly stacked and sorted by value. The items covered most of the rest of the table, and a single large gem glowed a deep crimson as it floated in the air over the table.
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“I think, and I am just guessing on this one, that the gem is for you, Duke.” Axis quipped.
Duke reached out and took the gem from the air, IDENTIFYING it as he did so.
*** You have found the Dragon’s Heart. This gem is part of the Draconic Regalia. This item provides its bearer with the calmness of a dragon’s heart. Mental and emotional trauma is significantly reduced when the item is carried or worn upon your person. You will be immune to fear and similar emotional or mental attacks. The full Regalia includes:
The Dragon’s Heart
The Dragon’s Tooth
The Dragon’s Claw
The Dragon’s Tail
The Dragon’s Eye
The Dragon’s Scale
Gathering additional pieces of the Regalia will provide additional benefits. ***
Duke looked at the gem for a long moment before placing it on the table with a sigh. “It is part of a set of items related to dragons. There are six items in the set. This one balances your emotions, making you essentially immune to fear and things like that.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you might need to keep that one.” Eihlen said quietly.
When Duke looked over at her, Aurelia spoke up. “She’s not wrong, Duke. And you know it too.”
Duke shook his head, resignation overtaking him as he picked the gem back up as he watched the glow.
“Why are you hesitating, Duke? Is there something you are not telling us?” Aurelia asked.
“My love, you and Baslin are the only ones here who know my full story, or at least most of it. I have come to trust you all, so I’ll share this with the rest of you as well.” Duke flexed his will and his DUNGEON MANIPULATION Ability to make the room absolutely cut off from the rest of reality. He wanted no one and nothing to be able to spy on this conversation. Unbeknownst to him, the Overmind stepped in and reinforced the protection to prevent even Entities from listening in on the conversation.
Duke looked around the room, meeting each and every one of their gazes before continuing. “Most of you know that I am not native to this world. The world I came from has its Mana locked-down in some way. That means that there is no, or virtually no magic there at all. There most certainly is not a magical system that allows people to get stronger through experience with characteristics , classes, and Abilities.” He paused to let that sink in.
“I was brought to this world in the instant of my death. I don’t know for sure if I actually died or if coming here allowed me to survive. For all I know this is my second life, but that is not all that important right now. What is important is that two supremely powerful Entities brought me to this world, giving me my initial Abilities. I don’t know if something went wrong, or if it was planned, or just something about the world I came from, but things don’t quite work the same for me as everyone else and that has allowed me to become far more powerful than I should be, even at this advanced Tier.”
The others listened intently, urging Duke to continue. He did. “The Entities communicated with me through system messages and notifications.”
“Not even the gods can alter system messages.” Axis protested.
“That may be true. These Entities are as far above the gods in power as the gods are above a newborn child. These Entities are also insanely jealous beings. When I spoke with some gods of Teldin, they stripped me of a lot of power.”
“Damn.” Jablach added.
“Yeah. But, with the help of another Entity, I have broken free of their influence.”
“That’s awesome!” Eihlen exclaimed.
“Yes, and no. Getting me out from under their thumb has been a great thing for me. The Overmind and I work very well together. He treats me well and I do what I can to help him out. But there is a greater purpose to all of this. And this is where I know a lot less than I really wish I did.”
“Greater purpose?” Greslarnier asked.
“There is some sort of cosmic contest coming soon and the various Entities out there are building up their individual champions or participants or contestants. I don’t really know the right term for it. I was to be the Twin Entities’ entrant, but now I represent the Overmind, and they are hopping mad about it.”
“That sounds bad.” Axis said.
“It is. They can’t attack me directly because of some sort of rules that I don’t understand any more than you do, but they can still attack me indirectly.”
“What does that mean?” Aurelia asked, her voice nearly cracking with emotion.
“They have put a contract out on me.”
“A contract? What does that mean?”
“It means that they have put a prize out there for anyone to claim by killing me.”
The room went suddenly silent as they processed what Duke was saying. Aurelia grabbed him into a hug. “We’ll face whatever comes together.”
Duke hugged her back before continuing, “The good news is that they can’t have someone who is ranked higher than me complete the contract and they set the contract before this dungeon run. So, I’m a lot more powerful than I should be.”
“But there are assassins coming for you from worlds beyond ours.” Jablach added.
“That would seem to be the case. I need to get even stronger than I am now so that when the assassins come, I can beat them.”
“We can beat them, you mean.” Axis replied.
“No, I’ve put you all in enough danger already. In order for me to rapidly build my power, I’m going to have to go away for a while. I have a plan and none of you can come with me for this part of the plan.”
“I won’t let you leave me alone again.” Aurelia burst into tears.
“I won’t leave you behind love, but I have to go away for a while. The assassins will come to Teldin to look for me but I have a plan for that.”
“And just what is that plan, Duke?” Everyone save Duke started at the appearance of the Overmind’s avatar.
Duke forestalled the confused questions with a simple introduction. “Everyone, please meet the Overmind. This is my sponsor, the one who get me away from the Twin Entities.”
Nervous greetings filled the room as most were thoroughly disturbed by the Entity’s appearance even though he was masking his avatar’s true appearance.
“I have been watching and listening to this conversation. No one, and I mean no one. Not even another Entity can penetrate this obfuscation, so I allowed the revelations to continue. But I must warn all of you not to speak a word of this outside this room. You would place yourself and everyone you care about in deathly jeopardy from forces you could not hope to even comprehend let alone stop.”
Once he saw the sober looks pass around the room, he continued. “Now, Duke. Tell us about this plan you have concocted to increase your power and confound the coming assassins. You have about three weeks local time before the first ones arrive by the way.”
Duke nodded. “Thanks for the heads-up on that. The plan is simple. I am going to move to one of Teldin’s moons and plant as many dungeons as possible.”