After a bit of cajoling, Zavira convinced me and Niall to take a week off once we got settled into our new apartments. I was almost positive Niall spent most of that time crafting since he wasn’t very good at relaxing.

I was only a little better, but I did force myself not to actively gain experience during our short break.

I’d been tempted to explore Spire, the city on one of the floating islands, but I decided to wait since there was more than enough to occupy my time in Quintet.

As I wandered, I realized the city showed surprisingly few signs that it was almost totally self-contained. Without knowing better, I would assume it enjoyed active trade with outside communities. But unless there was a lot of trade going on through the kiosks, I didn’t see how that could happen.

The floor didn’t have nearly enough variety to fulfill all of the residents’ needs. Where did they get the spices used in cooking, for example?

The question had led me to the library, where I learned that the dungeon did, in fact, trade with outside entities for bulk materials and items. Almost all of it was done through dungeon golems and the occasional dungeon Merchant – people like Jackle before he rejoined the climb.

I was just about to look into how the dungeon handled the manufacturing side of things when someone bumped into my table. It wouldn’t have drawn my attention had the culprit not whispered, “Excuse me.” In English.

Having grown very accustomed to speaking and even thinking in Common, hearing my mother language was a bit of a shock. It was certainly enough to make me lose my train of thought.

“Wait,” I called out a little louder than I intended. The short woman paused and glanced back. “Are you from Earth?” I asked in English.

“What? How did you know that?” the woman asked with a British accent, answering my question as she turned to face me. “Wait,” she said as her mind caught up. “You’re speaking English. Are you from Earth?”

I smiled. The woman was the first Earthborn I’d encountered on the floor since none had apparently taken part in the war. At least, she hadn’t on the sects’ side.

“I am. I’m from America.”

“Yeah, you sound like it,” she said, stepping closer. “I’m from the UK. How long have you been in the dungeon?” She nodded at a chair. “Mind if I sit?”

I waved a hand. “Go for it,” I replied before moving on to her other question. “I’ve been here for a few years, local time. But you know time moves faster here than it does back home, right?”

After being alerted that the woman had identified me, I returned the action.

[Ava Townsend – Level 47 – Weaver/Researcher – Nature/Earth]

The woman’s professions surprised me – especially the first one. I really wanted to ask her about it.

“Right, right,” Ava said dismissively. “We figured that out a while back. But what you said doesn’t make sense.” She looked at me curiously. “If you’ve only been in the dungeon for a few years, how are you on the fifth floor already? It took us almost twelve years to get here, and my party progressed much faster than most groups.”

Twelve years was a remarkably short time to reach Tier Five, even outside the dungeon.

The first three tiers were usually the fastest since rifts are plentiful and reset quickly. But once you hit mid-tier at four, things slowed down a lot. That wasn’t the case in the dungeon. It still took longer, roughly twice as long as the previous tier, but that was just a product of the ascension requirements. It wasn’t a limitation of resources.

“Wow. Congratulations,” I said sincerely. “That’s really impressive, especially for someone who was thrown into the dungeon at level zero with no idea what was going on. Did you play Atlas Online?”

Ava shook her head. “Nuh uh. You answer first. How’d you reach the fifth floor in just a few years? Does it have something to do with those robes you’re wearing?” she asked, motioning toward my clothing.

I took a deep breath and released it. “I entered the dungeon at Tier Three after getting a bunch of training from people specializing in my types of magic. One of those was a sect Patriarch who decided to make me his disciple. Since I was fighting alone, I earned experience pretty quickly, then with the sect war…”

A variety of emotions crossed the woman’s face. With a complicated expression, she asked, “Did you choose to enter the dungeon, or were you taken like the rest of us?”

Not seeing a reason to hide things, I explained what had happened and how I took my brother’s place so he could raise his family. I told her about the booklet I’d published to the dungeon’s kiosk marketplace in hopes that it would reach the people taken from Earth.

I was surprised to learn she’d read the booklet and had found it helpful. Because of the cost, she and her party members had decided to forego the interface upgrade. They’d already been Tier Five when I arrived in the dungeon, so the cost of the upgrade was quite steep.

“Will you leave once you reach Tier Seven?” Ava asked. “That’s the earliest you can survive outside, right?”

I sighed. “No. I’ll take a short break at Tier Eight, but I promised my Master I’d try to reach the peak of Tier Ten within a century – Atlas time, not dungeon time.”

“But why?” she exclaimed a bit too loudly, drawing a warning notification.

The color in her face drained slightly. Her reaction seemed a bit extreme since I doubted the consequences of making too much noise would be too severe. Then again, her second profession was Researcher. She might need access to the library to gain experience through it.

Quieter, Ava asked, “Why would you promise something like that? Don’t you want to see your family again? Even if you progress twice as fast as my group, you’ll still be here for centuries.”

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“I’ll see them during my break,” I replied. “I get to leave the dungeon for ten years. That’s a long time.”

“But then you’ll come back?” she asked, making a face.

I nodded.

“But, why?”

“Because I made a promise,” I said before explaining my thoughts on the topic in greater detail. The woman seemed to understand by the end, though she didn’t like it. I didn’t like missing so much of my family’s lives either. But not liking things didn’t change reality.

“Well, I know you mentioned having a team already, but if you want to hang out and maybe share some of those super secret insights you’ve acquired, I’ll be here for a couple more years at least,” Ava said as she stood.

We’d discussed a bit more about our experiences since arriving in the dungeon over the last couple of hours, but it was getting a bit late. I agreed to hang out sometime, and the other woman left.

I didn’t mind sharing whatever I could with other people, especially Earthborn who had such an obvious disadvantage. Even native dungeoneers were better prepared for the challenges facing them than the people dropped in the dungeon by Sir Eri’Non.

It was why I published the booklet in the first place.

----------------------------------------

Two days later, I was enjoying lunch at one of the nicer restaurants in town when I received a message from Zavira.

[Zavira: You should come to the Hot Spring in Spire. Bring Niall.]

I’d considered going to the Hot Spring during our little vacation a few times, but I figured the prices would be a bit out of reach, given our limited fifth-floor funds. I’d even spoken to Zavira about that, so for her to tell me to come anyway…

[Me: Isn’t it too expensive?]

[Zavira: Not anymore. I’ll explain when you get here. Niall is waiting at his apartment.]

Curious about the sudden availability of the very valuable resource, I picked up Niall, who was equally confused, and teleported to Zavira’s location. Zavira and Niall both carried small beacons I’d attuned to already, so it wasn’t hard to find her.

Niall and I arrived outside what was once a very posh getaway. I could tell by the quality and artistry involved in the fragments of the buildings that remained.

“What happened here?” I asked as I took in the scene of broken buildings and destroyed landscaping.

“The family that was controlling access to the Hot Spring decided not to allow any elites access. Obviously, we saw that as a problem,” Zavira said smugly.

I eyed my friend. “Are you becoming a vigilante?”

“What?” she gasped. “No! Of course not. The family was stupid to think they were going to prevent the strongest people on the floor from getting access to such a resource. A dungeon resource,” she added, as if there was some other kind.

I glanced around again. “Well, I guess this is one way of proving them wrong.”

“What other way is there?” Zavira asked curiously. “Sure, there’s a city and rules, but they only matter if they can be enforced. And as long as the elites are completely out of control, there really isn’t much the rest of them can do. The Hot Spring is a dungeon resource, put here to strengthen elites like us. We did them a favor by solving the issue without a bunch of death.”

“And if the city leaders respond?”

Zavira scoffed. “Let them. They should all be Tier Five. We’re not in the wrong here,” she replied. “Honestly, I’m surprised the dungeon hasn’t taken over management of the Hot Spring already. It’s not like anyone can argue with the dungeon.”

Niall and I followed the Hephaistos disciple into the wreckage. Niall looked disappointed, probably because he hadn’t gotten to take part in the fight.

“They had the spring split into several private pools,” Zavira said, motioning at the destroyed buildings. “We can use this one.” She pointed to what remained of a smaller building.

Looking at Niall, Zavira said, “You can join us here or join some of the males using the larger pool over there.” Zavira motioned toward the only intact building in the vicinity.

It was larger and better constructed than most of the other buildings, which might have been why it survived the fight.

The three of us had gotten over any shyness involving Hot Springs on the previous floor, so Niall simply shrugged and began peeling off his clothing.

I set up a couple of wards around our pool to hide us from detection before joining them. It wasn’t that I expected to be disturbed… except I totally did. There was no way the city would let something like this go. That was why I only blocked sight and sound one way, not both.

Sure enough, we heard shouting a short while later.

The three of us remained concealed in our pool as the drama played out. The distraction made it impossible to absorb the true benefits of the pool, but that was okay. It was still relaxing.

I probably should have been nervous or… something… when the city officials showed up. Instead, I found myself surprisingly neutral. If anything, I was lightly amused at the officials’ blustering and grandstanding.

We were in a dungeon, for crying out loud.

Property ownership was a complete illusion. You were either strong enough to hold what you wanted, or you lost it – especially when you rudely excluded people from accessing valuable resources when the excluded party was easily capable of taking what they wanted.

Had the people in charge simply charged elites more, they would have grumbled a bit and paid up. Everyone would have won. But they didn’t, and they were now dealing with the consequences of their actions.

I found it hard to sympathize.

Was I getting desensitized already? I didn’t think so, but my thoughts certainly implied as much.

“Ohhhh, Disciple Carrion is getting involved. He’s one of the peak disciples stuck pushing through his alternate level,” Zavira said as she shifted forward. “His sect is known for using Death and Poison mana. Their magic is such a pain to fight against without the right resistances.”

“Isn’t it like that with anything?” I asked as I watched the epitome of a Young Master approach the group arguing.

Aside from the hunter-green robes with yellow-green trim representing Death and Poison, respectively, the tall man did not look like someone I would associate with either mana type. Of course, I was basing my opinion on unfair stereotypes, but it was still a thing.

While most people wouldn’t ostracize someone with one or both of the affinities, there was still some instinctual avoidance there. Sure, both could be useful in the right circumstances, but there was a reason people were often wary of mages with such magic.

The only Poison mages I’d ever encountered were rogues who used their magic to disable mobs, so I wasn’t super wary around them. Death was much rarer, and I couldn’t recall ever having interacted with a Death Mage before.

I’d seen them before, but it wasn’t like I talked to everyone I saw.

“He’s going to claim the Hot Spring,” Zavira said confidently. “He’s the strongest person on the floor, I bet. Nobody is going to tell him he can’t claim it when the last people gained control the same way.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

I’d spent a little time in the library, but I hadn’t bothered researching the history of the Hot Spring yet. It hadn’t been relevant.

“I asked around when the people running it refused to allow elites inside,” she replied before pausing. Her eyes were glued to the drama.

I wished I had a bag of popcorn to hand her.

“The resource is meant for the elites and those actively challenging the dungeon,” Disciple Carrion stated calmly. “We only just finished a war on this floor. I wonder how open the dungeon would be to another,” he mused before pinning the highest level representative with a glare.

“Would your city support going to war with the elites over withholding such a resource from its intended target? I’m almost certain that simply declaring such a war would cause any resident below Tier Five to be sent to their proper floor.” He emphasized the word ‘proper’ pointedly. “You might want to think about that before pushing the topic.”

I shook my head lightly. It was an empty threat. I was like… ninety percent sure of it. I couldn’t see the dungeon allowing the temporary sect alliance to declare war against a city for something like this. Then again, if sufficient notice was given for the unrelated personnel to leave…

It was definitely an interesting threat. I almost hoped the blustering official called his bluff.