“Oh, now that is something different.” Grat announced, holding up a beautifully faceted blue gem. “This was flawed, with a crack running right through the center. It’s perfect now. Did you do this, Duke?”
“I…I must have.” Duke looked around at how “new” everything around looked. “The mana from that necromantic staff was taking over and I just reacted, using RESTORE at a monstrous level to expel it since I knew that it worked on the undead before.”
“I felt the wave pass through me. It was a stronger wave than I have felt in quite some time. How much Mana did you put into the Spell?” Baslin asked, his curiosity piqued.
“A bit over 100,000 Mana.” Duke responded nonchalantly.
“That’s more than my entire Mana pool.” Grat shook his head. “Monster.”
Baslin’s eyes went wide at Duke’s casual statement. He shrugged and went back to sorting through the loot, no longer reacting as he once did to Duke’s outlandish growth. He paused for another moment and picked up the staff Duke had drained. With a small gesture, it burst into flame as he dropped it to the floor. The flames grew brighter and hotter until they finally extinguished themselves, leaving only a pile of ash.
After sorting though the pile of items, there were a few more that were significant.
*** You have found an Elixir of Decay. This liquid will rapidly age anything it is poured on causing it to decay. ***
*** You have found a Jewel of Whispers. This magical jewel can be used to whisper words over significant distances. The user must know the target and the target must be within Psyche/10 kilometers. ***
*** You have found a Shield of Spell Reflection. This well-polished shield can reflect magical attacks back upon the caster. It is far from perfect and only has a 25% chance to activate on any given attack. ***
*** You have found Gloves of Thunder. When these gloves are worn and slapped together, they create a sonic blast directed in the direction that the wearer’s fingers point. This blast is strong enough to knock down small to medium sized trees. ***
*** You have found The Crown of the Mage King. This artifact is the final remnant of the Mage King’s rule and power. When worn by a ruler, it provides a prosperity bonus to all productivity within the demesnes of the ruler. The bonus is based upon the wearer’s Psyche. ***
*** You have found an Eldrich Wand. This wand once contained several charges of a grand-grade Spell, but the Spell has faded from the wand. This wand, however, has been fully recharged and is ready to contain a new Spell. The Spell can be of any level up to and including Grand. ***
*** You have found Momentary Nova. This crystal, when shattered, will release the heat of a star for three seconds. Anything within proximity of its release will be incinerated. ***
The group collectively decided that although the items were interesting, they did not have much use for them at the moment. Since he had the most room in storage, Duke was elected to carry it all.
“Well, I guess we don’t need to spend time getting used to our new equipment. Anyone for a few days of group-tactics training before we go conquer the hardest level in the dungeon that hasn’t been completed in more than fifteen thousand years?” Duke offered.
“Wait, what?” Grat asked.
“What?” Duke responded.
“You are saying that no one has completed this next level in fifteen thousand years? Are you jesting?” Grat exclaimed.
“15,288 years, 229 days, 8 hours, 12 minutes, and seventeen seconds to be precise.” Sam decided to make an appearance at that moment to clarify. All four companions marveled at the nearly complete vision of a person that now stood before them. He was still glowing blue, but he was nearly completely substantial.
“You seem a whole lot more…you.” Duke remarked to Sam.
“Thanks to your recent magical outburst, yes. Much appreciated.” Sam responded.
“I don’t even know where to begin to unpack that statement. Do you mean to tell me that you get stronger when I use Mana?” Duke asked.
“Not just you, Duke. Any expenditure of Mana. This big bag of Mana next to you has been holding out on me.” Sam gestured towards Baslin.
Baslin held up his hands and said, “Hey, I just didn’t have the right Spells available, you know. Now if you want to give us some forewarning of what the next level entails, I can have the right spells prepared and we all win.”
Sam actually seemed to think about it for a moment before responding. “I cannot tell you what you will be facing in the next level. The Overmind forbids it. I can. However, tell you that there are 36 chambers in the next level.” He actually smirked and then hunched his shoulders as if expecting a smack in the back of the head that never came. “There. Now you can have the right spells ready.”
“Truly, that tells me nothing.” Baslin responded.
“And thusly, I am spared The Overmind’s wrath.” Sam retorted.
“The 36 chambers of Shaolin?” Duke asked incredulously. Sam winked out of the room with a look of shock and terror while everyone else looked at Duke.
“I think you may know something that you shouldn’t have known.” Baslin remarked as the others nodded in agreement. “Would you share what you know?”
“It’s a movie from my world based on an ancient place and their training methods. Nobody really believes that there were really 35 training chambers but more that they were tied to disciplines to master in order to perfect the lifestyle and fighting techniques.” Duke explained.
“Can you show us?” Elaine asked hopefully.
“Oh geez, it’s been a LONG time since I saw the movie but let me see what I can remember.” Duke plumbed the depths of his memory for his recollection of the movie and strangely found that he remembered it nearly perfectly. I guess this 250 Reason actually means something other than contributing to Mana and Mana regen. Huh. Cool.
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Duke had everyone sit down as he walked them through the movie. Or, at least tried to do so. They interrupted him so often that it took hours to get through it but by the time they were done, he was reasonably certain he had relayed the major points and concepts, including the 36th chamber not being traditionally part of the training.
“So that’s what this next level is all about?” Grat asked. “That doesn’t seem too hard.”
Elaine slapped him. Hard. “Do NOT tempt fate like that!” She then seemed to realize that she had hit him that hard and helped him back to his feet. “Oh, by the Great Trees! I’m so sorry love. I…I’m stronger than I thought I was.”
Grat cast a healing Spell and rubbed at the side of his face. “I’ll say. You hit like a runaway ox cart! And there’s no tempting fate here. The level is set. No matter what we say or do, what was waiting for us there yesterday will still be the same tomorrow.”
“I hope you have the right of it, Grat.” Baslin added. “But speaking with such certainty in a situation we truly are uncertain of can lead us to complacency and that, my friends, is the death of adventurers.”
“Yeah, that’s why the stat rises as you complete missions but drops off quickly after a number of successes.” Duke added.
“The stat? What’s that?” Baslin asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Something from my past. It’s the statistical survivability chance on any given mission. There are a lot of factors that come into it like the type of mission, how many missions you have flown, type of aircraft, and who you’re flying with. But the general concept is that you are most likely to bite it on your first mission because you are a newbie dumbass. If you make it past the first mission, your chances steadily improve as you learn all the things that only practical experience teaches you. Somewhere around your eighth mission, complacency sets in – that feeling of immortality takes over and you make stupid mistakes. Lucky for me when I got that cocky, I had a squadron leader who beat the shit out of my cockiness. Saved my ass on that mission. Now that I think of it, that’s what finally got me killed leading me to this world. Son of a bitch. Did it to myself. Fuck!”
The group gave Duke a moment to process before Baslin spoke up. “When I was an apprentice, there were five of us training under Asalov, The Unbound. We were, and this is not hubris speaking, the best young mages of our generation. Back then, there was a magical tournament conducted every five years and we all were entered as a matter of course. There was no restriction on who could enter and, although there were ‘skill brackets’, many mismatches occurred. One of my fellow apprentices, my best friend, Dothalon, won his first six matches effortlessly. His fire magic was beyond compare. And I mean beyond compare. There were masters who couldn’t match him even master water mages.”
Baslin paused to look all of them in the eye, making sure he had their focus before continuing. “His seventh match was against an older mage known as Negron the Nemesis who was equally undefeated. This match was for the championship of the bracket. Dothalon was supremely confident and demanded a ‘true match’ against the tournament favorite. His opponent quickly agreed and all protections within the arena were removed. The only protection that remained was the supreme seal around the arena that kept anything from entering or leaving the arena until the match was complete. Nothing, not even air, would pass through that barrier.”
“The fight began much as we all expected. Dothalon surrounded himself with his fiery aura and prepared to burn his opponent into submission. What happened next is forever carved upon the landscape of my memory. Negron drew all the air in the arena to himself to form a protective bubble. He drew the air so forcefully that Dothalon’s fiery aura was extinguished entirely. But it didn’t stop there. His suction increased in force, drawing the very air from Dothalon’s lungs. He suffocated to death before anyone thought to turn off the arena barrier. I recall slamming my fists against the barrier, completely ineffectively. I screamed my throat raw until it bled.
My friend was dead and there was no recourse. We abandoned the tournament in shame and pain. Our master never taught us an offensive spell again after that day and we were forbidden from the tournaments for as long as we remained his apprentices. The desperate, panicked look in my friend’s eyes still haunts me to this day. I can see it every time I close my eyes without another thought to occupy my mind.”
“So, yes, I well know the arrogance and danger of success. But for a small quirk of fate, it would have been me dying in that arena while everyone else watched horrified. Everyone watched. But no one acted! No one did anything until it was too late, and my friend was gone. I would sooner have us flee this dungeon than see any of you breathe your last. I have not had a friend, someone I have trusted, in a long time. I consider you three to be my friends. I will not stand by and allow any of you to pass. I have prepared what Spells I have but we DO NOT need to finish this dungeon.”
“I do.” Duke said with quiet certainty. “I have to finish this. I will do it alone if I have to, but this place has taken so much from me that I need to see it through to the end. The power growth I have seen in this place dwarfs anything I saw outside. I have no illusion about the danger waiting in the next level. Anything in there is going to be at least level 300 with the bosses probably pushing 500. But with my ridiculous progression, I am ready to handle it. Or not. But I have to try. The trials coming when we finish here are much larger in scope. We will need all the power we can grab from this dungeon to face them.”
“I stand with you, Duke.” Grant announced.
“You have my claws.” Elaine grinned eagerly.
“And my Spells.” Baslin added grimly.
“And my axe.” Duke quipped.
“Your axe?” Grat asked, confused.
“Never mind, dammit.” Duke answered, crestfallen.
“Fucking Idioms!” The entire group shouted enthusiastically. The laughter that followed was good at breaking up the somber mood.
The group set to training together intensely for their remaining time. As their time passed, Duke found that his newly enhanced XENOGLOSSIA Ability was both a boon and a curse as he was now able to read the subtle body language signals that he had never picked up on before. At one point he yelled at Grat and Elaine to “Just go to your fucking room already!” as he read the increasing sexual tension that even they were not aware of until he so bluntly pointed it out. They chuckled and ran off together.
“That was…odd, Duke.” Baslin said.
“You’re telling me.” He responded. One of my Abilities got significantly enhanced when I Tiered up and now, I can read body language like its nobody’s business. Combine that with an Intuition over 300, and I feel like I’m reading minds.”
“That’s a dangerously powerful Ability then. Dangerous for enemy and ally alike. You’re going to have to learn to control it so that you don’t make everybody around you uncomfortable and afraid to even be around you.” Baslin counseled.
“You’re probably right about that. But I am guessing this will make it easier to know if someone is lying to me. Not that any of you will, but after we get out of here, yeah, there’s going to be a lot of people lying. Especially once we get back to the capitol.” Duke conceded.
“That place is a city of lies built upon lies. It will be harder to figure out who is NOT lying to you in that place.” Baslin’s face grew dark as he spoke.
“I know the king and the nobles are shitstains but not everybody in the city is going to be like that. If they were, it would be safer to nuke the place from orbit. It’d be the only way to be sure.”
“More idioms, but I expect I understand what you are saying. Yes, there are still good people in the city, and it behooves me to remember that. The king’s actions have poisoned me to the whole place. You have to admit that you weren’t treated much better there.”
“Sure, the leadership is all kinds of fucked up but everyone in Leviathan treated me well. They tried to help me and I’m not going to forget that.”
They waited for the couple to return and continued their training, hoping that they truly were prepared for the next dungeon level. Their time ran out quickly and Sam appeared again.
“Delvers, the time has come. Do you wish to proceed to the fifth and final level of the dungeon?”
Duke looked to the other three, receiving nods of affirmation. “Yes, we are going to finish this!”
“Very well, your portal awaits.”