We were sitting together by a fire on the 14th floor.

No one had come after us, but then again, we weren't in any real danger down here. That and I had a feeling James Robertson planned this from the get-go.

That was fine.

The ceiling above us was beautiful. A sea of jagged stone made up of hundreds of thousands of stalactites. Each one coated in a glowing slime that reminded me of the pools in the other Dungeon.

The tiny dots shone like a millions stars in the night sky. Twinkling in and out of focus as a cool, gentle breeze swept over the red grass field. Each blade dancing back and forth like embers in the firepit.

The clashing light and the beauty of the fields made me think we were stuck in some oil painting. Slowly being brought to life by the brushstrokes of someone or something beyond our comprehension.

"So, do you feel better?" Elsie asked. Without a hint of worry or judgement.

"Yeah." I admitted. "I feel... so much better than before."

She grinned.

"I told you it'd be cathartic."

She brushed her fingers through my hair. As my head still rested on her thighs.

"Everyone in my family loves coming here to kill gnomes. It... it's a small thing, but it reminds you of how terrible monsters really are. Of what we're fighting for, you know? It makes you think about what might happen if we weren't here. Trying our best. That and it always makes you feel good and righteous in the end. No matter what kind of stuff you have going on."

Then she poked my ribs.

"Though I didn't expect you to take it that far. Coach Russell was right. You're a menace."

I scoffed.

"That is a load of nonsense and you know it. I'm the most normal person in this entire Dungeon."

Some screams echoed in the distance. Followed closely by the ringing shots of Bio-rifles.

The Saboteurs had caught themselves another gnome and would now be delivering it to the makeshift lab I'd made. From there, it would a hop, skip and a jump to the Pool. And from there, to my belly.

It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things. Not after what we'd ended up doing across the lower floors before making our way back up. But hey, a point's a point.

Still, you'd think they would have learned by now.

"Are the gnomes always like this?"

"Yeah. I told you."

"No, I know. But what's the point? What's the endgame?"

"Well Cecil. My darling hunk of a BF. You might be content to flood the entire floor with crashing waves of snarling teeth so your minions can do all the dirty work, but we normal decent people have to grind for ourselves. That's why we have a whole economy where someone make swords and someone else makes spears and someone else makes potions or armor or what have you. We actually have to get our hands dirty when we fight."

"That is a filthy freaking lie if I've heard one. Not only do you have the psychic blasts, but you also have the whole mind-blending thing. And the Skill-sharing. What's the limit again? One person per level? That is actually wild. You are freaking broken. Mike can copy Skills too and I can see him crying tears of blood when he finds out."

Elsie scoffed.

"Oh please. When I do it, everyone connected to me gets the same benefits. Mike can take Skills by touching people and then he can keep them for as long as he wants. I need to stay near the people I'm connected to."

"He needs to touch the person again if he erases the Skill with another one." I pointed out. "And he only has two empty slots right now."

"If." Elsie repeated. "And he has two empty spots right now. Also, I could only dream of getting a Skill at 80% efficiency. Not even great-grandpa Carlyle can get that much."

"So? It doesn't change the fact that your Skills are a force multiplier. I honestly don't see any situation in which someone would rather have Mike's Core instead of yours. It sounds to me like you're just salty for no reason."

"I AM salty, as a matter of fact. But the point is that these floors are filled to the gills with traps. Like our own mini version of Nam. The gnomes use their Magic to read harmful memories and traumas, and then they use those to get under people's skin before running off to their freaking tunnels and luring unsuspecting people to their deaths."

I made a rude noise.

"They aren't nearly fast enough for that."

"No, darling. They are. You're just a freak of nature. Also, you started using that Skill of yours properly. Without losing control. Also, we don't use guns when we hunt in the Dungeon, as it doesn't train up any stats. And even if we did, our guns don't fire War Crime Roaches or Body-Snatching Worms. The gnomes down here were very, very surprised."

I chuckled in good humor.

"That they were. That they were."

She reached out to grab my hand. I grabbed it back.

"Thank you." I told her honestly. "I was so caught up with the things I'd done wrong and the people I'd hurt, that I didn't stop to think about the how the Skill might be used for good. I was too afraid of myself to move forward."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She snorted.

"Don't thank me yet. You still suck at using Presence. Despite having the stats for it." She poked my nose. "I thought the mind-blending would help, but you are honestly hopeless."

"I'll get there." I answered calmy. "But that's a conversation for another time. It recently hit me that you went out of your way to make me feel better. Despite us not being in the best of terms."

"Well darling, we are engaged." She paused. "Or so all my folks keep telling me."

She poked me again.

"They're really on my case. You're lucky you're cute, or else I might be plotting your murder."

I didn't say anything else for some time after that.

Instead, I merely continued to rest my head on her thighs. While taking in the spectacle above us and relishing the breeze.

"You also went out of your way to help Eva and my aunt out. And you did all that when I still had nothing but bad things to say about you."

"Well, I might have teased you a bit too much in the beginning. So I thought it was only fair."

I didn't say anything.

Instead choosing to bring my eyes back to the Analyzer.

[Level 2 - Last Measurement Recorded.]

[Vitality: 48.9 -> 49 (Five Days) - (Monster hunting - estimated 1292 specimens killed directly. Monster hunting - estimated 23, 421 specimens killed indirectly. Absorbing additional processed Magic via a Skill. Continuous self-experimentation. Experimentation with skills.)]

[Endurance: 48.7 -> 48.9 (Five Days) - (Monster hunting - estimated 1292 specimens killed directly. Monster hunting - estimated 23, 421 specimens killed indirectly. Absorbing additional processed Magic via a Skill. Continuous self-experimentation. Experimentation with skills.)]

[Potency: 39.5 -> 39.6 (Five Days) - (Monster hunting - estimated 1292 specimens killed directly. Monster hunting - estimated 23, 421 specimens killed indirectly. Absorbing additional processed Magic via a Skill. Continuous self-experimentation. Experimentation with skills.)]

[Precision: 42 -> 42.2 (Five Days) - (Monster hunting - estimated 1292 specimens killed directly. Monster hunting - estimated 23, 421 specimens killed indirectly. Absorbing additional processed Magic via a Skill. Continuous self-experimentation. Experimentation with skills.)]

[Fortitude: 48.2 -> 48.3 (Five Days) - (Monster hunting - estimated 1292 specimens killed directly. Monster hunting - estimated 23, 421 specimens killed indirectly. Absorbing additional processed Magic via a Skill. Continuous self-experimentation. Experimentation with skills.)]

[Level 3 - First Measurement Recorded.]

[Vitality: 49 -> 147 (27 Minutes) - (Level-Up!)]

[Endurance: 48.9 -> 146.7 (27 Minutes) - (Level-Up!)]

[Potency: 39.6 -> 118.8 (27 Minutes) - (Level-Up!)]

[Precision: 42.2 -> 126.6 (27 Minutes) - (Level-Up!)]

[Fortitude: 48.3 -> 144.9 (27 Minutes) - (Level-Up!)]

Name:

Cecil Fowler

Core:

[Life] (7th Stage) / Gains skills from: [Adaptation] / [Constitution] / [Healing] / [Hunger] / [Effort] / [Animal] / [Plant]

Level:

3

Vitality:

147

Endurance:

146.7

Potency:

118.8

Precision:

126.6

Fortitude:

144.9

Skills:

[Drain] / [Perseverance] / [Heal] / [Transform] / [Spawn] / [Terraform] / [Over-Mind] / [Dungeoneer] / [Seeker-Mind] / [Assimilate] / [Stored Potential]

"Oh yeah. Those numbers are looking good." I said with self-satisfaction. "It's good to see all my efforts coming to fruition after so long."

Elsie slapped me upside the head.

"Ow?" I said. "What was that for?"

"What do you mean what was that for? You little cheater. You talk as if you've been training forever and you finally broke through after shedding all kinds of sweat and tears."

"But, that's what I did?"

She smacked me again.

"Hey! I worked really hard for all the levels I have!"

"No honey. You worked really hard for your first level. I can appreciate that. You kinda sorta cheated your way through the second level. Pool-Cecil did all the heavy lifting. But that's okay. I think we've got him more or less under control."

I nodded. Taking a deep, relaxing breath and releasing it in a continuous sigh.

'Kill her.' The annoying voice whispered. 'She's taking away your freedom. The power isn't worth it. You could have done all that yourself without her help. The boost isn't even that good.'

I chuckled to myself and snuffed out the voice.

'You can silence me but you can't silence the tru...!'

I sighed again and looked up to Elsie.

"Your family's going to keep using me right?"

"Cecil!" Elsie chided. "You make it sound so wrong when you say it like that. Don't think of it like being used. Think of it like being a star employee."

I made a rude noise with my lips.

"Yeah, well. At least you're getting paid. I have to work pro-bono because of the family business."

"Yeah yeah. I wonder if I'm getting paid even a fraction of what old man Robertson is making."

"Oh darling. Of course not." Elsie cooed. Using the same tone a handler might use when speaking to a particularly stupid puppy.

"But you are getting paid a lot. Case in point, you should ask for another mansion before the new arrivals take all the good real estate. I don't fancy having to share when we grow up and I move out."

"Jeez. Getting ahead of yourself don't you think?"

"No. I don't think so." Elsie countered. "I showed you my ambitions. All of them. And I took in all your stress and everything that worried you. We both came to an agreement and so now we're both in this together."

Well that was true enough.

I took in another deep, relaxing breath and moved to stand.

"By the way, my uncle..."

"I'll make sure my new in-laws have everything they could possibly need." She assured me.

"And my aunt?"

"I don't think that'll be as big a problem as you think. Everyone is still reeling from the whole Pool-Cecil incident and I have been hanging out with her. People like Candice are going to think twice before picking a fight."

I nodded. Knowing she was right.

"Okay then. I guess I can't stall for time anymore. Let's go up to your folks and introduce ourselves."

Elsie beamed.

"Finally. Maybe now I can get them off my back for a couple months."

She drummed her fingers on my skull.

"And speaking of the future, make sure you leave some time to for delving after school from now on. I have a good feeling about the kind of progress we can make."

"Do you still want me to bring the clones?"

"Yes, and I hope you're not saying that to their face Cecil. It's very hurtful."

"Right. Sorry."

"But yeah. I wanna see what Mike and Mercy can do when they get some real training under their belt. Not to mention Patience."

That reminded me of what James Robertson had been saying, as well as the worries she herself had expressed.

"About that, do you really have no idea what her Core could be?"

"Cecil, why are you asking me that? You've been through my brain. More than once. If I knew then I'd run along and tell my dad and grandad and great-grandpa Carlyle so they'd stop pestering me about it. How am I supposed to know when the Analyzer's on the fritz and she herself doesn't know?"

I shrugged.

"It just bothered me how there was no information at all."

"Yeah Cecil. I know. You're not the only one who feels this way. Again, I feel like I'm being harassed constantly about this."

She let out a sigh of her own.

"But enough about that. Let's get topside so we can get some studying done tonight."

She drummed her fingers on my head on last time.

"It would look really bad if you started failing classes after all."