?—6721 Essence

As I walked the edge of the cave, I deliberated. The boon of aspects that I’d gotten from the dead lizard was [Armor 2 / Earth 2 / Reptile 2], and I wasn’t sure which to choose.

The rank of each key in a skill had to equal the total number of keys in a skill; rank 2 keys could form skills with more than one type of aspect across its keys.

[Reptile 2] was an interesting option. The resulting skill, [Reptile Bond], would synergize with my existing [Wildbond] and give me much greater power in finding and psychically communicating with all reptiles.

But Palefang wasn’t a reptile. It would certainly help me hunt out more essence, and might be the most useful option if I had plenty of time… but I didn’t have plenty of time. I had less than two hours, I was sure.

[Earth 2] could serve to strengthen my [Earth Magick 6], and then only if I upgraded the already-existing key to rank 2. True, it was easy to coalesce [Earth] keys, and I only needed two more to go with the 1000 essence required to fuse to rank 2… but upgrading the ability wouldn’t do nearly as much for me as getting a new one—and I had skill cores to spare.

I could also fuse it another rank 2 core for a new ability, but the best option in that case was a [Body 2] key for [Earthen Might]. But a [Body 2] key would combine much better with the [Armor 2] key in any case, creating an excellent defensive skill, [Primeval Hide]—once fused with one of my [*Primeval 5] skill cores, that was.

The only other thing I’d want an [Earth] key for was [Meteor Strike], and that would need keys at rank 4—which was, unfortunately, not something that would be happening today.

[Armor] it was, then.

- [Armor 2 / Reptile 2 / Earth 2]: [Armor 2]

[*Primeval 5] + [Armor 2]: [Primeval Armor 7]

[Primeval Armor 7]

[*Primeval 5] + [Armor 2]

+ 3.3×[Bestow]×[Primeval Resonance] to [Aegis]. (60)

This skill’s [Aegis] only affects your equipment.

This skill’s [Aegis] only affects primevally oriented materials such as leather, hide, and bone.

Your gaze now discerns which materials qualify for this skill.

Exclusive: this skill cannot function in conjunction with other [Armor] skills that grant [Aegis].

I smiled and rolled my shoulders as more than 6 levels worth of [Aegis] began to affect every part of my leather armor except the metal plates inserted between its layers.

In normal circumstances, passive skills were so strong that even a few of them could double a creature’s attributes, scaling as they did with both skill rank and their bearer’s bestow. But for me, this was blown to absurd proportions because of [Primeval Power] doubling my [Primeval Resonance].

Hence why I’d always been fond of the more passive skills. It was nice to outsmart my enemies, but I preferred to overpower and outwit them at the same time.

The bonus would become less absurd compared to my normal attributes as I leveled and bought more… but not by much. Bestow increased every 5 levels, after all.

Speaking of:

- 5 550 Essence: + 4 Level! (11/12)

+ 3 [Bestow 8]! (3)

+ 2 [Bestow]! (10)

+ 1 [Bestow 10]! (1)

+ 2 [*Primeval]! (2)

I checked my [Primeval Armor 7] once again and smiled. Its bonus to [Aegis] was now 75.

As for my attribute bestows, I knew I still needed to favor [Strength]. The whole confrontation with the lizard would have gone much easier if I’d been able to shoot out its eyes. At this point, though, it was hardly a choice. My bow was an elven matchbow, crafted for me by Hashephel, and its draw strength grew greater as my [Aegis] increased.

Five levels worth would have left it close to unusable: it was made for an elf whose [Aegis] was one and a half to two times greater than their [Strength].

- 3 [Bestow 8]: + 24 [Strength]! (52)

I closed a fist, enjoying the feeling of new power flowing through my body as my [Strength] attribute doubled. Of course, [Strength] didn’t include the actual strength of my body… my overall strength had only increased by about 50%.

Next I put the last level in [Source]—I would be fighting continuously during the primeval convergence that I still intended to trigger, and I’d need more mana on hand to sustain that combat, even if I was mostly spending it on small, efficient uses of [Earth Magick] as I had been.

- 1 [Bestow 10]: + 10 [Source]! (28)

I queried for my attributes:

?—Your Attributes:

39 [Agility]

52 [Strength]

12 [Aegis] + 75 [Primeval Armor]

4 [Channel]

28 [Source]

39 [Focus]

10 [Bestow]

104% [Primeval Resonance

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280/280 Mana — 40% Primeval

[Primeval Power] was clearly doing its job, and [Sable Grace] was helping my [Agility] and [Focus] keep pace. With luck, I’d be able to build two more passive, attribute-increasing skills fairly quickly.

It was a little absurd that my [Channel]—the only attribute that I applied a massive multiplier to—was so low, but for now I could get by on willpower alone. The Verse had estimated my innate channeling capacity at 120, which was almost 300 with [Primeval Power] and the channeling bonus of my primeval mana. A couple of added [Bestow 10]’s wasn’t going to drastically change anything.

I needed [Strength], [Agility], and some [Body] keys to upgrade my [Primeval Armor]. Higher levels would see [Channel] rise to its proper place as the centerpiece of my skillset.

For now, though, I’d reached the last 2 of my skill cores:

?—Your Skills:

0: [Sable Grace 20]

0: [Primeval Power 30]

0: [Earth Magick 6]

2: [Wild Bond 6]

4: [Life Magick 6]

6: [Primeval Armor 7]

8: [*Primeval 5]

10: [*Primeval 5]

A class granted a number of extra skill cores in the first 10 levels equal to its tier—in my case, 5. Beyond that, I’d get one every 5 levels. With how difficult it was to raise the level limit for my class, I had to hope that I’d be able to reach level 15 before confronting Palefang.

I told myself it wouldn’t matter. I was now more than a match for most of the creatures I’d met since arriving. Hopefully I could find a [Body] and [Air] key.

I still needed to compose a spell to fight him with, something that kept him from healing and replenishing or absorbing mana….

As I considered all this, I moved along the cave wall and searched for a way out. Soon I found a break in the crystal that coated the cave, with more of the partly-fused boulders making up the wall instead. Extending my senses past it, I found a network of tunnels beyond.

I finished my circuit of the cave, but the other routes all led into the caves above me. I returned to the first passage and began to carefully excavate myself a small door with my [Earth Magick], cracking the stone and clearing it away in fist-sized hunks. Soon I had a small, narrow opening that I could squeeze through sidelong.

I took one look back at the massive cavern, now filled with dust and corpses, but still lined with beautifully pure quartz. The crystal was much harder to manipulate than ordinary stone, and I had to wonder how much essence the lizard had spent creating this massive shell for her nest—had she made it all herself with creation skills? Stolen it from another creature who had? Had the cave been built up over generations? Sadly, I had a feeling that it would be a long time before I could let my curiosity run wild.

Once I was out of the dust, I checked around me to make sure I was safe. The passage was much cleaner-cut than the ones above had been, smoother walls that almost looked like they’d been made by tools. It was also narrow, barely wide enough for me to walk alone.

I’d expected to find the larger lizard’s hunting ground, but this passage was obviously too small—perhaps the lizard hadn’t blocked this place off with quartz because it sometimes sent its young through?

I’d find out soon enough, but for now I opened my canteen and drank it all, then cast a spell to fill it with water that I condensed out of the air and drank that, too. Then I pulled some strips of dried meat from my pouch and ate while I filled my canteen and transferred some arrows from a sheaf into my quiver so that it was full.

I progressed into the passage, soon finding it to be a kind of maze—more narrow corridors branched off from the first, most of them dead ends. The marks on the walls seemed more like they’d been made by claws than chisels when I examined them more closely. Very strange, when [Earth] cores were apparently so common among the wildlife.

Of course, anything underground that didn’t have [Earth Magick] didn’t have [Earth] as its class core type—freeing it up for something else. It was possible than some wildlife had adapted to simply steal the tunnels built by creatures with [Earth Magick] and had class cores that made taking them easy: [Air] could be used to suffocate things fairly well down here, and [Wild], in a strong enough creature, could compel other burrowers to do the work for them.

The maze ended suddenly at a large, circular pit, its edges smooth. I sent a light down into it and saw that it extended downward about fifty feet, ending in bare stone floor. I tore a stone from the wall and dropped it into the pit, hearing to the echoing clatter of stone striking stone—and nothing else. It was eerily quiet.

I descended, tearing handholds out of the stone with [Earth Magick], expecting something to come out of the dark any moment and still hearing nothing. Finally I reached the lower level to find myself in an an almost perfectly round cave, another tunnel much like the one I’d just come down, but horizontal.

I followed this for twenty or so paces until it opened into a larger chamber, one whose ceiling and end I couldn’t see. I flared my light and found that it was another circular tunnel, only this one was gigantic, the ceiling sixty or more feet above me, and its end further than my light touched.

“What built this?” I muttered.

What was most curious was that small slots had been carved into the stone, each a thin line about twenty inches long and a few millimeters wide, all of them spaced at regular intervals of a few feet, all of them running perpendicular to the curve of the chamber.

Beneath each of them my gaze saw only a rounded cavity, a space big enough to fit a horse. There was something in it—I could feel it pressing against the stone of the cavity, but couldn’t detect its shape. Normally this would simply mean it wasn’t made of earthen or biological substance—but [Sable Grace] let me detect the shape of anything that was in darkness.

Suspicious of what I’d found, I took a few steps toward the center of the chamber, my teeth on edge. When I’d reached the labyrinth above, I’d gotten far enough from the stripped aspect of the jungle to coalesce another core, but had waited because I knew it would have likely been another [Earth].

Here, though?

- 500 Essence: [Earth 1 / Insect 1]

My mouth fell open in wonderment. “A sleeping hive,” I said, sweeping my gaze across what must have been thousands of insects. The reason I couldn’t sense them with my gaze was that their controller kept them well-protected and hidden, something common to hives that were under the control of a psychic entity.

I smiled. As much as the part of me that was curious and passionate about the natural world found this fascinating, the part of me that had just blinded a mother’s children for a tactical advantage before roasting her alive knew that it was clearly time to leave.

But where to go? There were other corridors branching off of this main gallery—I could see a half-dozen within the circle of my light. Normally I would want to retreat back the way I came… but I could feel the motion of the air around me. These caves were ventilated, likely had to be if they stored an army of tens of thousands of dormant insects.

I decided to take a risk and follow the flow of air, treading lightly in case my footsteps would wake anything. More likely an attack would be preceded by the touch of a hive mind against my own, but I felt nothing.

I kept wondering about the maze above, the transition between this place and the lair of the lizard. What was it for? Had these insects built it? It would be a good place to back Palefang into, if he tried to come for me down here—the hive would likely assess him as the greater threat, giving me a chance to leave.

I entered another circular tunnel, this one sloping downward, and definitely the source of the air. It had larger, thicker grooves cut into the stone, however—and I peered curiously at these, comparing the diameter of the tunnel to the size of the cavities I’d seen earlier.

The grooves, I thought, must be rungs or footholds—the tunnel felt like it was big enough to accommodate insects crawling across its every surface at once. It was an efficiently-carved transit route, which made me wonder about the purpose of the upper maze even more.

On the air I could smell the growing scent of ash, mildew, flowers, rot, and sweat. I was definitely headed outside.

You.

For a moment I froze in terror, convinced that the hive-mind in command of the sleepers had found me—but it was only Palefang.

Just me, I said.

Palefang hissed. I must have words with you.

It was about time.