~~Run 7, Magic Carpet Ride. Floor 2, The Fallen Merchant City of Aerlyn~

It was in the carpet room that my plan hit a snag. GluttyKnee and Grendelkin were powerful and could do many things but couldn't jump. Thankfully, it was about then that I finally decided to look at the map. There was a door I had missed back in the entrance room. Apparently, because there had only been one exit the previous three times didn't mean that was always the case. But I still needed to grab the relic that was in this room. I was certain that if I didn't feed the two lumbering oafs soon, they would collapse to the ground and waste all the effort I put into spawning them.

So, I did what any sane person would do in this instance. Using my 17 in strength, I tried to pick up GluttyKnee, and wouldn't you know it… I was strong enough to lift the giant collection of whale blubber. I grinned. I wouldn't be able to see if he was in front of me, but I had the solution to that, too.

From my infinite container of useless junk, I summoned rope and a bunch of wooden planks I had found in the previous run. These rooms full of random junk were starting to pay off.

Using the rope and planks, I fashioned a device that would allow me to hoist the oversized Goblin onto my back or to drag him from carpet to carpet, and then I would do the same for the Grendelkin. It was absurd and ridiculous, but this entire place was both. Having my friends for whatever battle lay on the other side of that door or even down below in the depths was worth any amount of embarrassment.

I chuckled, imagining the sight I presented, and then jumped. For example, last time, I had to take the time to figure out when I would need to jump between.

This was the dumbest thing I had ever done in the dungeon, but I had to do something to get them over. But as soon as he was on my back, I tried to jump, and my feet wouldn't budge. I tried different angles and different moves, but as strong as I was now, I couldn't jump. I let myself fall to the floor while the mana battery yelled. "HUNGRY> HURT!" I sighed. I had to think of something. I started pulling out all the wood and metal I had gathered over the past few runs. The pile was much larger than I thought, and an Idea formed.

I pulled out the ropes I had gathered, worried I wouldn't have enough for my plan, but I had plenty on hand. So much, in fact, the pile started to dwarf the small hills of wood and metal that had formed beside me.

I started shaping the wood into platforms and then placed the metal into sheets on top of the wood. It was wonky like a child had cobbled it together from sticks and rocks. I used the ropes to tie the makeshift bridge together. And then came the moment of truth. I leaned the bridge against the first carpet, grateful it was static.

I was now testing whether the carpets could hold my new friends or if I had to abandon my plan altogether. I grabbed GluttyKnee by the wooden straps and pulled him onto my back. I was unable to jump, but I could carry him around. It was much like running around on the carpets without any stamina.

I successfully walked him up to the first carpet, grateful it had enough room for us both. I dropped him off and went to receive our other friend. He was much heavier but broader overall, and balancing his lighter weight was awkward after getting used to G.K.

I placed them on the carpet and then tried to devise a plan to move them to the next carpet.

It was moving horizontally, so I couldn't lay the bridge down onto it, but I could do something different.

When balancing items at the store for my mage friend, I knew I could easily use heavier things to keep an unbalanced item from falling over a ledge. So, if I kept gluttyknee on this carpet as a balance, I could make two bridges that overlap.

"I know what I'm doing. I will make alternating platforms extending the carpet length to transport my pets.

My hyperfocus faltered, and I stumbled.

"Oh." My brain shut down briefly as I looked around at the pile of wood, metal, and ropes and my half-starved mana batteries. What was I doing?

I shook my head and slowly extricated my pets and myself from the first carpet.

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I shook my head, slowly awakening from the mind fog I had been stuck in. This wasn't the first time I had done something stupid and convoluted…

~ Memory

The day I first met Jamie, I pulled off a heist, stole from the palace, and almost got myself executed that first day. Father had spent our breakfast money on Blaze, as always, and I had missed dinner the previous night because I had been hanging out with friends.

It had been a fruitless endeavor. The palace was crowded with political guests and guards, and security was heightened because the next week would be the queening. I shrugged my shoulders as I hid underneath a table in the hallway. Thankfully, it had a skirt hanging down to protect the edges, so the only thing visible would be my shows, and only if they looked down.

As soon as the guards' voices died down, I snuck back around the corner and followed them carefully. If I could find a kitchen or a dining room, I could steal the gold and silverware that would be omnipresent in the room. If I had been careful with my pilfering, I would have been able to hide my theft altogether.

I tried the first door I came to down the hallway and found exactly what I was looking for.

I could get 1000 Aurums from just a handful of plates, spoons, and forks. They were thankfully easy to carry. I did a quick glance at the room to look around. There was a dusty-looking cupboard that was likely decorative next to two tall-looking plants. My fingers itched as I spied gold and silver cutler lined out for midafternoon tea. And then I heard the voices.

The plan was already settled, so I jumped into the cupboard. Dust piled up and floored me in a cloud, and I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from coughing.

I could feel the tickle in my throat as I hid. I bit down hard and felt the blood trickle out of the tiny wound.

As the voices died, I pushed the doors slightly ajar, light filtering through the crack. Whoever had come in was gone, so I immediately grabbed a few items. I never grabbed from the same plate; instead, I randomly grabbed to ensure that someone would think it was just speedy employees making mistakes.

I had just finished grabbing my fifth item when voices returned. I nearly tripped over myself, rushing back to the cupboard. I had been worried that I would be caught, and in my haste, I knocked over the vase that had been precariously placed on top of the cupboard.

“What was that?”

I thought I was caught, but I quickly shuffled the shards into the cupboard and pulled them closed.

“It came from the dining hall.”

"Spread out. Today's luncheon is crucial to the king. He is meeting with the ambassador from Aerlyn."

If past me had known what I do now, my eyes would have widened. How could Aerlyn be a real place? It was the kingdom of Penance. It wasn't, right?"

I flashed back to the present.

~

“Crystal, Is Aerlynt a real place?”

I shook my head. "You know what I meant. Not in Penance but in real, living life."

I was reeling from the implications. If Aerlynt was real, what did it mean?

Ultimately, it meant nothing to me now. I would never see the real world ever again.

As I left the carpet room, I sighed. As silly as my complicated plan had been, I didn't want to stop. It was the first thing in this place that interested me.

I backtracked through the rooms to the prison, and my hunger giants continued screaming. And there, in the middle of the jail cells, was the door I had somehow skipped.

I pushed the door open and stepped into

~Goblin Gauntlet~

And lucked into the best possible room to feed two hungry beasts that kept screaming for food.

I wanted to test out my new spells since I barely used them even in the previous rooms, but I was hesitant with the drawbacks that mana drain had brought.

Instead, I just sat back and kept ending my turn. It was a slaughterhouse.

As the first wave of goblins approached, Grendelkin reached back on their hind legs and grabbed a goblin with each hand before rearing back and biting them in half. Gluttyknee rolled into the room and crushed the two goblins under his bulk. He peeled them off the ground before rolling them up. He then shoved one after the other into his cavernous, unhinged mouth.

He crunched down and swallowed the goblins whole without chewing. MORE FOOD"

I wasn't sure which started the chant, but the two mana batteries echoed each other repeatedly as the next wave of goblins spawned.

"There you go, boys, more food."

MM, YUMMY." GluttyKnee rolled forward until he stopped, his turn ending and halting him mid-roll. The 5 goblins rolled forward and started swinging at the giant blob.

"Hurt. Stop." Gluttyknee roared, and then our turn came back, and the rolling continued at the same speed as if it had never stopped. He only crushed three goblins, but it didn't matter as Grendelkin grabbed the remaining two between his paws, pushing them against each other before biting their heads off like he had.

This all occurred over a minute. There was more carnage than I had seen in a minute than in any previous thing I had done, and it wasn't even a true minion spell—it was a mana battery. What the?

As soon as the turn ended. Both of my pets froze bits of gore on their mouths and hands. And a shadowy figure slithered up from the ground.