“Okay, I’m just gonna go let Joe know that we’re all okay before we head in then.” Zoe said and teleported back to the tower on Foizo’s wall where she left Joe before.
He was still standing there, staring at the purple flames that rose from the library in the distance. More flames began popping up around the city, creating quite the spectacle of colourful flickering lights.
“Zoe!" Joe shouted when Zoe appeared. ”You’re okay!"
Zoe nodded. “We all are. It didn’t do anything to anything outside Flester’s walls. Did you get the feat?"
Joe nodded. “Flester’s Might, right?”
“Yeah.” Zoe answered.
“It really is a dungeon now, isn’t it? All that history, everything we worked to build up. In another hundred years, it will just be a regular dungeon people come to explore.” He shook his head. “All the stores that we visited, the homes that filled the streets. The parks.”
Zoe nodded. “I’m sorry, Joe.”
“You didn’t do anything. And it’s been gone for years now.” Joe waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “I guess I just thought one day we could still move back. We could take our city back, build it into something again. Is the dungeon okay? Are we safe here?”
Zoe shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. Do things often leave dungeons and raid nearby towns? I feel like I would’ve heard of that happening if it was common.”
Joe shook his head. “No, I can’t say I’ve heard of that happening. It’s just worrying, Zoe. Dungeons don’t just appear a short walk away from your home regularly.”
“I know. I’m going to go explore it though, if you wanted to join? Emma and Jeffrey are waiting for me so I don’t want to keep them for too long.” Zoe asked.
Joe shook his head again. “No, I’m sure I’ll get called away for a meeting any moment now to discuss what this means for Foizo. But thank you. Keep Jeffrey safe, please. He’s a smart kid, but he can be reckless.”
“I will, Joe.” Zoe said and vanished, appearing next to Emma and Jeffrey just outside Flester’s Might a few seconds later.
“Took you long enough. We good to go now? People have already been entering and we’re missing out.” Jeffrey said.
Zoe rolled her eyes as she walked into Flester’s Might. “It’s a big city, Jeffrey. There’s enough to go around.”
Jeffrey and Emma both followed along behind her as she wandered through the city. The dungeon almost looked like somebody had come through Flester and done a haphazard job of repairing it. The buildings were damaged and worn, with dark burn marks etched into everything Zoe saw. Like what had happened to Flester just wasn’t as bad as it truly was.
For the first few minutes of wandering through the city, nothing stood out to them. No monsters jumping from the buildings, no treasure luring them into traps. Just the very familiar city and mana that was being pulled into the buildings and streets. But as they turned the street, they watched as a small blue fire elemental rose from the middle of the street, about the size of two wolves cuddling or a very large pumpkin. Dark blue level one thirty six, to Zoe’s Identify.
Zoe pushed mana into her Nature’s Decay skill and the flickering blue flames seemed to diminish ever so slightly. And then space warped, twisting and compressing the fire elemental into the size of a small coin and rubbing it along the cobble street like a cigarette butt.
Emma’s smirk from next to Zoe was almost palpable. “I’ve been practicing.” She said.
“Yeah, I see that. I was trying to test my new skill though, you know?" Zoe said.
“Oh were you? I didn’t even notice.” Emma said smugly. “Such minor things are hardly worth my attention anymore.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Very good, Miss space mage. How positively radiant of you.”
“If you two don’t mind, could I try taking some of the lower level ones? They seem about my level, so it’d be good experience I think.” Jeffrey asked, he was a dark blue level one twenty five. Zoe was up to one fifty, and Emma was close behind at one forty eight.
“Ah. Sure, you can have the next one then.” Emma said.
“I wanna try my new skills out, but you can have the next one.” Zoe said.
Jeffrey nodded. “Thanks. Are we going to raid these buildings? They probably have random junk in them, I’d guess. If the dungeon created buildings, it would have created a reason to go in them, right?"
“Good point,” Zoe said and moved over to the sidewalk to walk closer to the buildings, letting her sphere of perception peer into them as she passed them. “I’ll let you know if I see anything interesting in ones over here, anyway. Might miss some stuff though, can’t see too far.”
“You can see through walls?" Jeffrey asked. ”That sounds convenient. How’d you get that?“
Zoe shrugged. “Something like that anyway.”
Jeffrey nodded.
The three continued walking through the city for several minutes before they found another fire elemental. A flickering yellow flame, dark blue level one thirty two. Would they all be around level one thirty, or would they get stronger as they moved closer to Kaira library? The type of dungeon was still up for discovery too, Zoe realized. Maybe it was a lodestone dungeon for higher level people, though Zoe figured the most likely option was a ruin dungeon.
Flester’s ruins, were after all, ruins.
Jeffrey stopped a dozen feet from the flickering elemental and summoned several empty glass vials to his hands that filled with a clear liquid. He hurled them at the fire elemental and they broke in the air above the elemental, splashing the liquid onto it.
The fire elemental burst with flames and drifted towards Jeffrey, firing off small pellets of yellow flame that Jeffrey as he hurled more vials of liquid at the fire elemental. Each splash of liquid exploded as it hit the elemental in a puff of steam and flame, leaving the elemental looking worse for wear with each burst.
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Jeffrey lead the fire elemental around in a wide circle, crossing back and forth over the road as he threw what seemed to be an infinite supply of the liquid potions at the fire elemental. Many of the pellets of flame he failed to dodge, and he grimaced as they left dark scorch marks on his torso, burning through the light red shirt he was wearing.
A few minutes after the fight began, the fire elemental sputtered its last dying breath of flame and vanished in a puff of smoke that was pulled towards the distant Kaira library.
Jeffrey leaned on his knees and took deep, calming breaths. “This’ll be convenient for the people in Foizo.”
“What do you mean?" Zoe asked.
“These are all fire elementals. You know? The same kind that gives you the Slayer of Fire feat?" He said.
“Oh! I didn’t even think of that.” Emma said. “You think we could pull them out of the dungeon?"
“I dunno. Maybe?” Zoe said. “We can try with the next one. I’ll drag it away, see what happens.”
Jeffrey nodded, and the three continued wandering through the city. They soon found another fire elemental — a bright pink flame that licked at the window of a building it was haunting. Zoe captured it in a box of Earth and tried to drag it out of the dungeon, but as she reached the boundary of the dungeon the mana cost of holding the elemental grew immensely with every inch she managed to move it.
Maybe something would break at some point, and the fire elemental would be able to escape. But even for Zoe’s incredible quantity of mana, she could only manage to pull the elemental about half a foot outside the walls before her box of earth shattered and the elemental was pulled back into Flester like a spring that was suddenly released.
They found many more elementals as they wandered through the dungeon, and Zoe tried using her Nature’s Decay skill on them. At first, the skill didn’t seem to do an awful lot. The buff it gave her to all of her stats was nice but minimal, and the damage the skill dealt was almost unnoticeable. At least on such a high level elemental.
But as the skill levelled — and it levelled rather quick as she pushed so much mana into it to use it against the high level elementals, it grew more and more useful. Dumping enormous quantities of water on them with her Torrents skill was still far more effective, but the buff she got continued to grow and the constant drain was a nice addition to her arsenal she found.
Nature’s Clearing was an excellent skill while she was exploring the dungeon with friends, and she ended up just leaving the skill on all the time. Jeffrey and Emma would run off to fight their own elementals, then return to heal up without needing any more input from Zoe. Jeffrey seemed capable of his own healing, though he didn’t have enough mana to be able to sustain himself entirely as Zoe did.
“You must spend a lot of money on those vials, huh?” Zoe asked Jeffrey as he rested in her Nature’s Clearing aura.
“These?" Jeffrey asked as he summoned another dozen glass vials.
“Yeah, those.” Zoe said.
He shook his head. “No, they’re free actually. Don’t last long, though.” Jeffrey tossed a vial to Zoe and it shattered just before it reached her, the shards of glass dissolving into tiny wisps of light that joined with the natural mana that filled the dungeon. “Useful for combat or testing things, but that’s about it.”
“Ah.” Zoe said. “That sounds convenient, then. I was thinking you were even richer than me for a moment.” She laughed.
“I wish.” Jeffrey said. “You got company.” He pointed down the road to an older man retreating from a lime green elemental that drifted down the street after him. Pillars of stone rose from the ground to impede the elemental as he ran, though the elemental just drifted through them as the flames wrapped around the stone and combined on the other side.
Zoe summoned a bow, along with an arrow of Frost, and enchanted it with Shield-fighting, Water, Torrents and an explosive Elemental Arsenal with a focus on Torrents. She aimed it at the elemental chasing the man and let the arrow fly. It screeched through the sky, impacting the elemental and exploding in a cloud of water that burst from inside the elemental, sending steam and smoke rising into the sky and leaving little more than a puddle that soaked into the dry stone road.
The man jumped as the arrow screeched past him and continued running as the elemental exploded behind him. Zoe watched as he continued, stopping just outside Zoe’s green aura. “Might I join you?" He asked. Zoe identified him, a dark blue level ninety eight worker.
Zoe shrugged. “I don’t know about join us, but you can come in the aura. It heals you.
He stepped over the boundary. “Oh thank you. I am in well over my head here.” He laughed. “I’m Timothy.”
“Zoe. I can get you out if you want to leave?" Zoe asked.
“No, no. I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity.” Timothy said.
“Opportunity?" Emma asked as she teleported in next to Zoe.
“Oh! Hello. All of you are so brave, delving into a brand new dungeon without even a hint of fear. Somebody needs to document it! To preserve this moment for all eternity.” Timothy said, full of pride.
“You’re a… journalist?” Zoe asked.
“Oh goodness no, I’m a sculptor.” Timothy said.
“I’d really prefer not to have a statue made of myself.” Zoe said.
“You can make one of me! I’d love a statue. As big as you can make it, and include my two little boys too please. Oliver’s a precious little baby, and Fennel’s a bit of a jerk but he’s also a precious little baby.” Emma said.
“You call your son a jerk?” Timothy said, looking a little shocked.
“Cats. They’re her cats.” Zoe explained.
“Oh! Well, whatever the case, I apologize but I will be sculpting whatever moment I find that fills me with inspiration. A heroic gesture maybe, a confident declaration. A moment of sorrow and longing. Who knows! It’s a brand new dungeon, anything could happen.” Timothy said.
Zoe sighed. “Well you can come with us, but if you make a statue that looks like me I will find it, and I will destroy it.”
“Very well, but once I’m healed I must be on my way. I believe the most beautiful moments will be over there.” Timothy said, pointing at the bright purple flames that covered the canopy of Kaira library. “Oh to see somebody diving headfirst into a dangerous fight, the subtle fears and anxieties that fill them as they approach what might be their final moments. The excitement they might feel at facing a challenge nobody’s seen before.” Timothy shook his head.
“I must bare witness to it. The triumph as the first person clears Flester’s might, or the devastation as the first person falls to Flester’s might. A fitting name, I must say.” Timothy waved his hands out in front of him as he imagined his creation. “Flester’s Fall, maybe. Flester’s Triumph. Flester’s Final Flame?” He shook his head. “It will be beautiful, whatever happens.”
Emma grabbed Zoe’s arm and whispered to her. “Come on, lets take this guy and go be the first to clear Flester’s Might. It’ll be fun and we’ll get a cool statue made for us.”
“Fine.” Zoe sighed. “Jeffrey, you want to come fight the boss with us?"
“Uh, yeah. Of course. Are you stupid? Free rewards, and I get a statue made in my honour?” Jeffrey answered.
“Okay, Timothy. Here’s the deal. My two friends really want a statue, so I’ll bring you with us and we’ll go fight the boss right now. But you have to make me unrecognizable. Give me a mask or something.” Zoe said.
Timothy hummed and hawwed for a moment. “A masked hero, supporting from the side. Maybe they already knew of the dungeon, maybe they created the dungeon themselves. Intrigue abound.” He nodded his head and summoned a stone mask engraved with flames that almost seemed to flicker as he held it out to Zoe.
Zoe grabbed the mask and put it on. “Alright, lets go fight this boss then.”