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Mira felt her Qi core ring like a bell, as she formed another layer of solidified energy around it. She breathed in deeply breaking from her cyclic breathing pattern. The effort of cultivating her Qi and compressing her core had wrung her physical body dry while it energized her soul at the same time.
Her advancement came with a profound change. She felt a new sensation that she had only heard about from her warrior cultivator friends. She could “feel” the Qi beyond her own body. The room was alive with massive amounts of it. As gorgeous as the room had been to her visually, to her new spiritual sense it was a sublime riot of colors and flavors of Qi.
She focused on a small bundle of Qi that felt familiar. She had joined her Qi with Tiamat in their Familiar Bonding Ritual and she was intimately familiar with the scamp’s Qi signature. The little dragon's energy was cycling slowly, and its form made it look like maybe she was…sleeping.
Mira peeked open one eye. Sure enough, her faithful familiar, back-watching guard, and trusted companion had fallen asleep on the job. Again. Mira ground her teeth; she had been so out of sorts that she hadn't even spell-locked the room’s door. Mira’s normal payback for oversleeping was a water spray cantrip to the face, but this dangerous lapse deserved something more.
She silently conjured her traveling bath, a huge copper tub, from her dimensional space and quietly filled it with ice-cold water from her Polyphial Flask. Her telekinesis tattoo tingled as she activated it. The Qi density in the room made it easy for her to levitate the bath high above the snoozing dragonette. Flipping her wrist, a deluge dropped. The torrent of water crashed down on Tiamat. She sputtered and scrambled to her feet, instantly awake. Mira quickly restored the tub to her inventory and closed her eyes pretending to be deep in a cycling meditation.
Tiamat rampaged across the room shaking water off. With her new spiritual sense, Mira could “see” the little brat huffing and knew when Tiamat had finally figured out exactly what had happened. As the dragon flew at her head for a tackle, she opened her eyes and caught the flying lizard in a big hug just before she could deliver on her flying tackle.
“Apology accepted for falling asleep, stinker!” Mira cackled as she gave Tiamat a good tickling.
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The pair shared a quick meal from conjured food plates that they had stolen from the magical kitchen and left the life-saving Cultivation room. Back in the sitting area, Mira took the time to cast her most powerful locking spell onto the Portal room's entry door. It wouldn't do for more Abyssal creatures to be wandering about. Mira had no desire to ever see another Soul Drinker again.
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Mira realized as she cast the ritual to lock the door, that her array of saved spells seemed a little more spaced out. Inspecting it, she realized that her core growth had given her more anchoring room. She could “hang” more spell glyphs into her spell array if she had the time and energy.
The pair slowly climbed up the stairs following the flowing faen traces. They arrived at the top, the stairs had led to a large atrium with a glass ceiling showing the moons high in the sky. The landing extended with several choices for exploration. Two intricately carved Volus Wood doors, a brass spiral staircase going up to a tower that could be seen from below through the glass ceiling. Above the stairs, a pillar extended into a large cupola with massive telescopes reaching outwards. The last and final choice was a huge, poorly lit hallway that stretched into the distance.
“Of course, the strings of fate want us to go down the creepy hall. I would expect no less.” Mira whispered to Tiamat, who snorted.
The hall’s end had a disappointingly normal-looking door the size of a castle portcullis. Mira couldn’t see any enchantments, mechanical traps, or even locks on it. The faen threads swirled around the door in anticipation giving Mira a sour feeling in her gut. She reached out to Tiamat with their bond.
“Hey T, let’s keep the chit-chat to telepathy only. There isn’t anything blocking the door but the faen tides are extremely agitated. I expect a surprise. We need to stay stealthy and maybe we can bypass whatever is in here.”
Mira eyed the rusty latch and hinges on the door. She pulled her Polyphial and selected the oil contained within. Floating the flask with her telekinesis, she applied the oil liberally to the moving parts. Tiamat nodded appreciatively. They both knew enough thieves and thieving techniques to know that squeaking hinges were the bane of far too many would-be burglars. Slowly, she teased open the door and they slid inside.
Mira swore in her head. The room was bigger than any she had seen yet inside of the palace. No lights were needed in the gloomy room as it was illuminated by the glow of a Dragon with a capital D. The enormous monster was curled up and sleeping against the far wall atop a hill of loose gold coins, jewelry, and gems. The beast’s power pulsed in the room, almost painful to Mira’s newly awakened Qi senses.
Mira could see the target of the quest high up along the far wall, a massive Mithril door. It was heavily enchanted with all manner of locks and traps, and it fulfilled every gamer’s imagining of a proper treasure vault door. Mira frowned, the door was elevated and framed with a balcony, but there were no stairs. The dragon’s resting place made it appear the dragon itself could be used to ascend to the door.
Seriously, whoever designed this dungeon thought this would pass as a rational thing for a quester to do. Of course, that dragon will wake up if we climb it. This is so stupid. T, I’m going to need to take a little extra time here to quiet-cast a levitation spell to get to the Vault. You fly ahead a bit and hug the wall. Don’t touch the door. It’s trapped. Okay? Mira thought.
Can do, Boss Lady. Tiamat thought back and quietly ascended. Mira began to pull Akasic energy to start her levitation glyph when she realized the Dragon’s eyes were no longer closed. The large glowing gold eyes were looking directly at her!
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