CHAPTER 290 – TWISTING TUNNELS
With the strange dream still echoing in his consciousness, Tom slipped back into natural sleep. Standard dreams took him away. He fell into the dark ocean and then sank beneath the water. To his surprise, there was no need to breathe. It was like he was back in the tutorial. The power and strength that had returned to him was nice. What wasn’t so pleasant was the five sharks circling him all of whom saw him as dinner. They were all both larger and faster than him. Even the extra attributes he had in the dream were meaningless against their mastery of the water. His magic and skills all working together only sufficed to keep him a moment ahead of the killing bite.
He woke with his blood thundering in his ears and a spear butt, poking him in the ribs. His own weapon appeared in his hands and he gripped it tightly and physically used that contact to stop him from lashing out.
“It’s dinnertime Tom.” Harry told him, and then the ritualist lowered his voice. “Bad dream, hey.” Gently the spear he held was poked to give context to the comment. It had been days since Tom had last materialised it in this situation and its presence now spoke eloquently about his inner turmoil.
He sighed heavily. “Yeah, you could say that. The True Dream was fine. The nightmare that followed… yeah, that was less than pleasant.” As he lay there looking up at the fake stars through the leaves of the palm tree, he could hear the crashing of waves on the shore of their current island. “I hate sharks…”
“That type of dream?”
“Yep, somehow I fell into the middle of this ocean and there were five of them trying to eat me.”
There was a nervous chuckle. “Hopefully it wasn’t prophetic.”
“It wasn’t…” Tom said with conviction. He could tell the difference between dreams constructed from figments of his imagination and the crushing reality of the oracle created ones.
“Easy, man.” Harry said quickly. “I wasn’t suggesting otherwise.”
“I know.” Tom pushed himself to his feet. “I know, it’s just hard getting woken from a dream.” He massaged his brow. He felt wrecked like he had done an all-nighter and then been prodded awake as he was drifting off. Being awake was not pleasant. The light of the campfire was boring into his eyes and the crashing waves wanted to make him scream.
“Take your time.”
Tom laughed. “What’s the point. We know it doesn’t get better. Only sleep eases this.”
A plate with meat and a glorious pile of grilled vegies was past to him. He ate the food, and it helped somewhat.
Michael sat down next to him. “So a true dream.”
“A weird one,” he answered through a mouthful of meat. “Not directly relevant.” He recounted the details as he finished his meal. It felt pointless, but this was a policy they had put in place.
“Those artefact spikes,” Keikain said finally. “The artificer in Selena’s squad, it might be a clue regarding the best way to use him.”
“It’s possible,” Michael agreed. “Tom any resonance with that possibility.”
He shook his head, which sent pain throbbing through him. It was terrible. He needed to collapse.
“Really?” Keikain asked in surprise. “I thought the link…”
“I’m not trying to be difficult. The artificer is important, I’m certain. Possibly critical, but…” Tom trailed off. He remembered the mythic class he hadn’t taken. The concept of him giving cryptic advice… this conversation felt like that. “I don’t even know if the point of these two true dreams is truly to get us to throw explosives with sling shots. It’s sort of on the right track…” he stopped talking as he searched for resonance, as Michael named it. The word was wrong. It was more when talking about the meaning of the dreams he could sometimes tell if statements were accurate or not. Exploding projectiles? sling shots?… it was a sort of correct and also not. “On the right track, but not true.” Tom concluded helplessly. “I don’t know.”
“That…” Keikain started, then stopped talking. “Precognition skills are famously flaky, but yours is tier nine. Surely you can do better than act confused.”
“Easy Keikain you’re being unfair. Enlightenment might only come with a future dream,” Michael said reasonably. “Anything else you need to share, Tom? No matter how small.”
His head throbbed, so he answered the question by lying down on his sleeping mat. Maybe there was more to recount, but if there was it could wait until he was better rested. He used his skill and then he was asleep once more.
Water was all around him and fast swimming shapes greeted him. Mentally, he screamed. He was not going through that again. With a wrench of his will, he broke the nightmare in search of something more restful. He spent the night dreaming of his throat constricting and stopping him from talking at critical moments. Apparently, his mind was in the mood to torment him.
The next day, they continued their progress. The chosen were ruthlessly efficient in their actions and just after mid-morning they landed on an island with a cave in its centre that led deep underground. Without fuss, they distributed ten fruits to everyone and when it was his turn, he cashed in the quest.
Congratulation for completing the zone quest as a group.
Your contribution is 5%
Experience awarded 80,000
He sighed a little about those numbers, but on an hour spent metric it was the same as the previous zone. Sixty thousand per day it was not enough. It was slightly less than what they had been generating each day in the first two zones and with the experience cap boost they needed to get almost twice the amount.
“Eighty thousand.” He complained.
“I got seventy-five.” Michael told him grimly. “But the last couple of zones haven’t really suited us. Hopefully, this next one will.”
“But two zones down in eight days.” Everlyn said brightly. “I think we can probably complete a fourth on this layer, which is a bonus.”
“It’s clearly not about the number of zones we finish,” Michael countered. “It’s how many monsters we kill in them.”
She smiled. “Yes, and we might need to consider what zones we’re going to clear in the future. The elementals were clearly a mistake. If it’s at all possible, we need to ensure favourable matchups”
Together, they traversed the long tunnel that would link them to the next zone. The new passage mirrored the one that let them enter the zone and, as expected they emerged into one of the pseudo safe rooms.
“Do you really think we’re free from attack in here?” Harry asked finally. “It feels like we should be, but I can’t see any specific magic to ensure it.”
“Best to assume the worst,” Rahmat told him from where he stood weapons ready while he carefully scanned the surrounding area. He walked right to one of the exits and peered out. “This is interesting.”
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“Agreed. It’s nothing like what I expected.” Everlyn said quietly.
They had exited in a standard underground space and outside the safe room there was a jumbled hive of tunnels that radiated off at random angles.
“Navigating this is going to be a nightmare. They double up on each other all the time,” she told them after a moment’s hesitation. Tom looked at her curiously. She must have gained some sort of remote scouting skill to make a statement like that when she hadn’t even left the safe room. “It’s chaotic and even though there’s almost no dead ends it’s going to be so easy to get turned around.”
Tom walked forward and his Earth Sense at least for the distance it extended agreed with what Everlyn reported. One of the tunnels in front of them just did a loop with five side tunnels branching off it. The rock itself was also interesting. There were dozens of locations where he could trigger a localised roof fall. “I suspected it would be something like this.” Tom admitted.
“I’m with Everlyn,” Rahmat told them firmly. “This underground… it’s bullshit. I thought we were going to be above ground and fighting on top of a jumble of massive vines. That tile looked to be like an extended pile of spaghetti, which is why I thought plants.”
“It was very distinctive,” Michael agreed, “But in hindsight this makes sense.”
“And if it was underground, I was thinking mining, or tunnels created by miners, not this. Is it natural?” Everlyn glanced at Tom and Keikain for confirmation. “I can’t tell. I don’t have any earth skills.”
He could only shrug.
Keikain, on the other hand shook his head. “My guess it’s a bit of both. Probably originated from some strange eco system. I’m guessing slowly cooling lava with something swimming in it and then later a different monster that ate rock came through. Most of these connections are natural…” he pointed at a join between two tunnels. The angles were awkward and tight, but they could see how geothermal processes could have created it. “That’s naturally formed because you can’t swim or eat on that angle. Some of the others however…”
“And Tom,” Michael said. “I call bullshit on you expecting this. In the pictures, all the monsters had wings. There’s no way you assumed subterranean.”
“Really Michael,” Tom said indignantly. “There’s such a thing as bats.”
“Bats Tom?” Michael arced an eyebrow. “Bats fly in the open. I know some species live in caves, but they primarily hunt above ground.”
“It looked like caves to me.” He was only half listening to the conversation as he worked through what the filter he had created to exploit the details Earth Sense produced was telling him. He traced out what would happen if he collapsed bits of various tunnels.
The results shocked him.
“Guys, the rock is really interesting.” He pointed above him as he tried figuring out what he was sensing. It was the most unusual rock configuration he had ever sensed. Given they were in a trial that shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. “It’s the same for all the passageways. One to three metres of unstable rock and then after that it’s like the Underground. Can’t affect it even if I try. It’s that solid.”
Everlyn looked at him speculatively. “What are you carrying on about? It sounded almost scientific.”
“I can cause tunnel collapses without risking the overall stability of the entire complex.”
“That’s useful.” Everlyn answered absently, but it was clear she had already entered problem-solving mode. She pulled out the tiles memory crystal and her eyes unfocused as she studied the details. “I’m wondering if we can use more than just localised rock falls. From this, it looks like not everything is like this. A complete mess.” She waved at the jumble of intersecting tunnels. “Deeper in the zone, everything becomes more uniform… According to the map there’s supposed to be a lot of long straight sections. How confident would you feel using Harnessed Meteorite?”
“You got to be kidding me,” Michael interjected. “I’ve seen enough of those go off. You can feel the vibrations from hundreds of metres away. You can’t unleash them underground.”
“But you can,” Tom disagreed. “The basic integrity of this area would be fine with that type of explosion occurring nearby. Of course, I can only sense so far and it’s possible that it’s only near the safe room that the rock is as stable as the underground, but I can monitor once we start exploring. If local conditions extend everywhere and you can give me a hundred fifty metre line of sight, we’re good to go.”
“Bullshit. It’ll backfire.”
“It will not,” he said in exasperation. “Well, a little maybe. It’ll create localised rock falls all around the place, but it’s not going to do any wider structural damage.”
Everlyn pivoted to face the chosen. “Elder, do you have any insights to contribute.”
The creature immediately buzzed over to hover in front of her. Tom could see that she was struggling not to step backward. The aliens were observant. They knew about human personal space, but their formal communication method insisted they get close when addressing someone. It was a brief bit of discomfort for a human or a significant amount for one of the chosen, so it was best for all to go with what the chosen preferred. If they asked, he was sure they would back off, but it wasn’t worth it.
“Perceptive one, we will at a minimum support as we have previously. Whether we can actively engage in combat depends on how close to sapient that this zone’s monsters are.”
Everlyn smiled. “Largest one, I was more asking if you had any insights into the structural stability question.”
It wobbled side to side uncertainly. “Perceptive one, I’m sorry that’s… it’s not something we can answer. If the blessed says it’s find, then it most certainly is.”
She shot Tom an inscrutable look. “And if the blessed had no opinion.”
The air became heavy, the hairs on the back of Tom’s hands rose, and there was a slight hum in the air. The humans exchanged glances as they recognised the signs. There was discord. The chosen were conversing in what to them was an animated argument with raised voices. They had learned that humans could only sense the chosen communicating with each other when they were emotional or it was a controversial subject.
“Perceptive one, the blessed of sanatories appeared to have expressed an opinion on this matter.”
“I’m not certain of anything,” Tom interrupted. “Please share your honest views.”
The elder shifted to face him. “Blessed of Sanatories please forgive us for doubting your insight. We don’t wish to displease you.”
“Harnessed Meteorite in these tunnels. What do you truly think? Thumbs up or down.”
“Blessed? Thumbs up or down? What do you mean?”
Tom winced at that misunderstanding. They didn’t have hands let alone thumbs to make sense of the phrase. “What do you think? Can I use it?”
The Elder bobbed and shook at the same time. “Blessed of Sanatories we lack the data to make the assessment. We can buy diagnosis tools if it is important to answer more precisely.”
“It’s unnecessary,” Everlyn interrupted. “Tom, Keikain I want your view on the feasibility within half an hour.” Then she turned to face the Elder. “Largest one in regards to fighting. As always please stay back from the fight until we get a better understanding of whether you can contribute. If they are non-sapient then let us know and we’ll adjust tactics.” She looked at Tom and Keikain. “We’re moving out and remember I need to know about Harnessed Meteorite sooner rather than later.”
Keikain gave her a mock salute, and then they moved out into the jumble of twisting corridors of rock. They were all thankful for their advanced attributes, because navigation was not easy. The tunnels were not smooth but instead had upthrusts of rock like tree roots running randomly down or across the corridor. Often those ribs had broken to reveal their hollow interior, but that left sharp edges behind that had to be avoided. There was very little flat ground to travel along.
Tom had as always used his mana as it regenerated, so while traversing the tunnels, two lesser elementals and five spinning rocks spun around him as he stepped from spot to spot. Their route was not a simple one. The tunnels would be blessedly horizontal for fifty metres and then shoot upwards and force them to climb a near vertical twenty-metre-high cliff and then a short time lower themselves down a hundred metre drop.
There were no monsters for the first fifteen minutes and Everlyn as usual had moved on ahead.
“Bad news guys,” she said, using her party communication skill. “I was hoping otherwise, but the monsters are swarm based.”
“Perceptive one,” the elder said immediately. “What is your view on their intelligence.”
There was a slight pause. “Honestly, for now if I was you I would sit out. There’s a clear hierarchal structure. It’s not proof of near sapience but… It’s a pretty solid indicator.”
“Noted perceptive one.”
“Everyone else back up. We need to discuss strategies before we kick the hornet’s nest.”
They immediately retreated and about five minutes later Everlyn joined them.
“Why the retreat?” Keikain asked. “We don’t have time to waste.”
“Because there’s no point going fast if we’re dead.”
The earth mage looked significantly at the chosen. It very much said, what could go wrong. If too many swarm us, then they’ll be able to fight it off.
“Because I’m not going to deliberately do that to them.” Everlyn snapped at him. “If I judged that they were only beasts, I would have taken more risks.”
“Good call,” Michael said after a moment’s thought. “What next then?
“The swarm I located were too many to fight,” she answered. “I think we slink around to find a smaller group to test against. We can’t face a thousand rank twenty monsters.”
“Did you get anything from identification?” Toni asked hopefully.
Everlyn shook her head sadly. “Sorry Toni, all the ones I spotted had air resistance.”
Toni put on a brave face. “Chaos bolts aren’t that bad.”
“So you’re going to head out again?” Tom said, asking the obvious question.
Everlyn nodded vigorously. “I’ll find a small group to test ourselves on. In the meantime you guys stay safe.”