Marci woke me with a soft chirp as she repositioned herself. She was nestled on my left shoulder and Camile was sleeping against my right. Gazing around the mine saw everyone resting in a similar manner. Higher stamina limited the need for sleep but it didn’t prevent the mental fatigue of the non stop combat and deaths.

Glancing at the counter there were still 500 ghouls remaining in the dungeon and a little over two hours left of the break. I went through my notifications again after the chaos that had erupted following the Antoraks death.

Congratulations! You have survived the halfway mark of this survival event! There are 6 days remaining in this challenge. There will be no new foes for six hours, all health bars and wounds will be healed. Rewards based on contribution to this point.

Congratulations! You have reached level 33!

Congratulations! You have reached level 34!

I placed both of the skill points in Empower bringing it to level six. It wasn’t the strongest skill but it felt like it would prove useful later. Some skills we had learned would gain additional properties as they leveled. Another interesting thing about skills we had learned from this dungeon was that a skill couldn’t be higher than your current level. The Thork mines healer had only placed skill points in her healing skill and had reached that limit.

Contribution Leaderboard

Sylar

37%

Pulling up the contribution leaderboard showed a surprising amount of contribution for myself. I had been fighting since the beginning but so had many of the others. I played around with the interface and guide for a few moments before figuring out how to check the entire contribution board.

Contribution Leaderboard

Sylar

37%

Rocks

9%

Leslie

9%

Arthur

5%

Camile

5%

Gerald

5%

Laryn

4%

Walter

4%

Tim

4%

Jason

2%

Sarah

2%

Mason

2%

Paula

2%

Merry

2%

Jessica

2%

Melinda

1%

Brett

1%

Tua

1%

Morgan

1%

Jose

1%

Min

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1%

37% represented the amount of total ghoul kills plus damage done to the Antorak divided by the amount of survivors. The total made sense once I realized that my contributions included Van and Marci. It felt odd to me that they earned experience and leveled on their own, including skills, but counted as my contribution. I received three Ruby Item Boxes and five Silver Item Boxes.

The first Ruby Item Box revealed an incredible prize. It was a portable alchemy kit that could be placed in and out of my inventory. Any potions crafted using it would also be able to be stored in my inventory. Only recipes that I already knew and had crafted using a full alchemy table would be able to be used for the portable kit.

Marci was the recipient of the second Ruby Item Boxes contents. It was a small ring that could be placed on one of her talons. The ring would grant +10 to all primary stats when worn. This effectively doubled her primary stats, greatly increasing her combat abilities. She was still sleeping on my shoulder so I moved on to the next box.

This time it was Van's turn to receive an item. It appeared in the box and took the shape of a helmet. It was made out of a dark metal and had a large sharpened blade sticking out of the middle of it. It would be perfect for Van, who loved to ram his head directly into his enemies. It had no eye or face protection and only offered 5 armor, it was a purely offensive helmet. As odd as that was compared to normal it was fitting for the young forest ape.

The five Silver Item Boxes contained various alchemy ingredients, I could make a few more major health potions and two hallowed lights. My alchemy level was still 20 even when using the portable kit. We hadn’t had to use any health potions after the battle with the Antorak so our supplies were still adequate. The Thorks healer was proving to be incredibly useful for this sustained type of fighting.

I gently woke Camile and moved over to an empty spot to start crafting. The portable kit was a gray rectangular box that when opened would expand outwards. It contained one burner for heating water or ingredients that created flame on its own. Several containers and bowls and even a small collection of tools for crushing, grinding or mixing. This was going to come in handy for field use. I was able to craft eleven more major health potions and both hallowed lights.

My potion bandolier was completely full, as was my health and energy. Most everyone was up and moving around now, preparing for the remainder of the dungeon. Gerald and Arthur were having a discussion with several of the miners and it looked animated but not angry. Rocks was stretching near the barricade, armor piled off to the side.

Marci stirred on my shoulder so I tried to place the ring around her talon. She squawked at me and flapped her wings, rising up to eye level and staring at me with annoyance. I tried to explain to her the concept of the ring over our bond but she wasn’t having it. She chirped at me and flew away, irritated at me for waking her up.

I looked around for Van but couldn’t find him. My panic rose for a moment before I remembered he would show on my map. Pulling it up and finding his marker, he was deep down below us in the mine.

“VAN!” I yelled mentally through our bond. “What are you doing! Get back up here!”

He replied with a series of images revealing tunnels beneath where we were standing. The tunnels crisscrossed in a complex series of overlapping levels. They were half lit with the same persistent lanterns that were present above the hole. Gems shone from the walls, treasures waiting to be mined.

He started moving back towards the surface, confused at my concern. I envied Van’s uncaring attitude about danger, the young ape simply didn’t believe in being scared. I moved over to the edge of the hole to wait for him to surface. He popped up over the edge and beat his chest, coming to stand near me.

I showed him the new helmet and his reaction was mixed. He didn’t understand the concept of armor or why he would want to wear it. I sent him a series of mental images to try to show the helmet protecting his head. He wasn’t interested until I tried a new tactic. I took the sharpened blade sticking off the top and used it to cut my hand. I showed him the blood and then mimed the helmet headbutting me.

The young forest ape's eyes lit up and he let out a roar. He clambered over the rest of the distance to me and grabbed for the helmet. He tested the edge himself and projected satisfaction when it cut through his skin. I placed the helmet on his head and he let out a satisfied roar and pounded his chest twice.

Marci suddenly appeared on my shoulder and pecked my head. She looked at Van’s new helmet and hesitantly extended her talon. The stubborn little bird didn’t want to be outshone by Van’s new toy. I placed the ring on her and she let out a shrill, satisfied chirp. Flexing her wings she flew over and landed on Van’s helmet, annoying the ape. She held out her new ring to show it off while the ape futilely tried to shake her off his helmet.

There was a laugh from behind me, I turned to see Camile walking up.

“They make quite the pair, don’t they?” She asked with a giggle.

“They sure do. They are both young, even for their species. I don’t really know how the framework has changed the way they age.” I replied. We stood there and watched as Van moved to more and more aggressive maneuvers to dislodge the falcon. She was using her new strength and agility stats to maintain a death grip on the helmet.

“Break is over everyone. We have one hour to prepare and a load of new information and strategy to discuss.” Arthur called out from the other side of the room. He was standing next to Gerald and the Thorks Miners.

I shared a look with Camile before we both turned to walk over, hoping the hostility from earlier was over.

“It’s time we started working like a team and not two groups shoved together by a mad system.” Arthur started when everyone had gathered. He took a deep breath and scanned the crowd with his eyes before continuing. “Van was wrong to kill the miner. We all acknowledge that, despite his bond with Sylar he remains a beast. His instinct was to defend his companion and he likely overestimated how strong he was compared to the rest of us.” He finished and looked at me to see if I wanted to say anything.

Not trusting myself to not ruin the moment, I simply nodded.

Satisfied, Arthur began again. “I have been discussing strategy with Gerald. The group from Thorks Mine is down to five able combatants. They have seventeen non combatant members who need to be protected. This is an unfortunate reality but it is what we have to work with.” He pointedly looked at our group. “We knew we were the stronger group and we did not consider their weaknesses, due to that they have lost their other five combatants. Had we worked together better at the start of this, that may have been avoided.”

“They have ten support classes that directly impact combat ability by increasing stats, reducing fatigue or preparing supplies. We need to fully utilize these support classes to bolster our lower number of fighters. I will be assigning teams to take advantage of the support skills. We need to be flexible and prepared to change plans depending on what beasts spawn.”

“We have five capable miners with the tools to make a tunnel. For the next hour they will work tirelessly with our help to dig out a new tunnel that will be a dead end. This tunnel will have a ceiling too low for something like the Antorak to attack. We can house the noncombatants in this tunnel, while we start to fight again they will be busy working on a back exit incase of a breach. We will move the barricade to the front of the tunnel to create a defensive position.

“Leslie is the healer. She is level 22 and her healing skill is level 22, she passively increases health regeneration by 22% within 100 feet of her position. She will be positioned at the front of the tunnel when possible to provide that boost. She has other targeted heals, you will need to call out to her when you need them. She will be joined by Brett and Tua, who will try to retrieve anyone who goes down away from the tunnel.” Arthur pointed out Leslie to everyone.

“Anyone with stat boosting skills will be rotating off cooldown to the front of the tunnel. We estimate that for 100 feet in a circle around the tunnel, primary stats will be boosted by 50-200% depending on cooldowns. This will be orchestrated by Mason.” Arthur was making a point to include the names of the other Thorks Miners.

“We have a little over one hour left to get ready. Let’s not waste any more time. We all came to this dungeon in different ways with different goals. We only have one goal now, two groups of strangers united in purpose, survival.” Arthur finished.