After they’d rescued Yanily from the living-up-to-her-new-class’s-name woman, everybody was settled again and ready for Seeyela to accept her advanced class.

“You all get a bonus for people evolving around you?” Romin asked.

“We do,” Hiral said. “I think we got it because we had two evolutions at the same time.”

“I could hold off on hitting yes?” Seeyela suggested. “Until somebody else gets the option.”

“No,” Seena said, already shaking her head. “Sorry to Gran and Romin, but you shouldn’t wait. We don’t know how long you can keep the window open – it could close automatically after a certain amount of time. And, since we’re going to run this dungeon some more to farm for experience, it’s a good chance for you to practice with your new abilities.

“We don’t want you to pull a Hiral.”

“Pull a…?” Hiral started.

“Yeah, testing new things out during Boss fights,” Seena said.

“I don’t…” he started, and everybody looked at him. Including Wallop. “It’s worked out so far,” he pouted.

“It has,” Seena agreed, smiling at him to make sure he understood she wasn’t seriously complaining. “But it’s also a great chance to get more familiar with her abilities. You and Yan should take advantage of it too. Even though this is a B-Rank dungeon, now that we know what’s coming, I’m confident in our ability to handle it.”

“We’ll also have some new abilities,” Yanily said. “If we ever get around to achievements. Will need to practice with them as well.”

“Exactly, so, Sis, take your new class,” Seena said, then seemed to think of something important. “After we step back. No way I want to be close to you if you explode like Yan or Hiral did.”

Just the memory of the Ghost-Web Venom was enough to make Hiral back up almost all the way to the far wall. Then, when everybody was safely away from Seeyela, she held up her hand to hover above the Yes button only she could see.

“You sure?” Seeyela asked.

“Yes,” Seena said.

“One Malice of Greed coming up.” Seeyela tapped the air.

As soon as she did, the status window appeared in front of her fingers, immediately turning a sickly green before it began to dissolve. Drip by drip, sections of the window fell to the floor below, where the brass sizzled and popped. With each one that dropped, a ring began to encircle Seeyela, the line speeding up as more and more of the window vanished. As it went around Seeyela, though, additional lines emerged within the circle.

These new lines weren’t something Hiral had seen with the other evolutions. Very fine – barely noticeable against the floor – and forming in a visible pattern, they immediately reminded Hiral of something. A spider’s web.

Growing just as fast inside as the ring etching its way around Seeyela, the whole web was built within a few seconds. Then, unlike Yanily’s bolt of lightning that stormed down from above, green energy bubbled out of the net at Seeyela’s feet. And, it wasn’t only energy bubbling up. Spiders – thousands of them – erupted like an egg sac rupturing, each of them made of a glowing mote of energy. In an instant, they climbed up the woman standing in their midst, each dragging a single strand of webbing.

With so many spiders, though, Seeyela vanished within a cocoon of energy in barely a few heartbeats. Since there didn’t seem to be any panic or pain from their friend, none of the party members did anything more than squirm at the thought of that many spiders crawling all over them.

Other than Yan who pressed himself up against the wall in an attempt to get as far from the spiders as he could.

Seeyela, though, was as calm as could be, the cocoon of webs around her perfectly still. The spiders completely vanished within the next second, their task complete, while a glow began to grow inside the web. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t a single color. There was the green of the Ghost-Web Venom, of course, along with the purple and red from the infernal and entropic qualities. Another, darker purple also appeared – that had to be from the Void Venom or maybe Gravity Venom. After that, the colors blended together so much, Hiral couldn’t tell one from the next.

Just as the rainbow of colors filled the cocoon, there was one, final flash of black within – like a lightning bolt – and the whole mass of webbing simply deflated. Empty.

“Sis?” Seena asked.

“Over here,” Seeyela said, off to the side of the party. The woman stood looking at her hands, and while she didn’t have a new form like Yanily did, there was definitely a new weight to the solar energy swirling around her. Literally.

Her portal abilities – and the energy that fed them – had grown denser to Hiral’s senses. As Cycling watched the flow around and through the woman, Hiral noticed something very interesting. Seeyela wasn’t just breathing in energy anymore – like Cycling taught them to do to enhance their absorption. No, now it was getting transported directly inside her whenever it got close.

Sure, her skin was still absorbing as usual, and it was just the Cycling technique that had been modified, but it was fascinating.

“Seeyela,” Hiral said, practically mesmerized by watching the flow. “Did your Cycling change as well?”

“Hrm?” she replied, opening and closing her hand as she stared at it. Then she seemed to realize he’d asked her something. “No, it… oh! It actually did. It’s called… ugh. What is it with these ability names now?”

“Just tell us,” Yanily said. From behind Seena, where it was safe. “You know you will anyway.”

Seeyela rolled her eyes. “Gluttonous Cycling+.”

“Ouch,” Seena said, her eyes drifting down to her sister’s stomach.

“It’s not going to make me chubby!” Seeyela said.

“It’s hard to tell with the armor,” Seena said.

“Better solar energy than pastries,” Hiral said, looking sideways at Right and Yanily.

“What?” they both said at the same time.

“You know exactly what,” Hiral said flatly.

“Whatever,” the spearman replied.

Hiral could only chuckle as he turned his attention from Yanily, and to his new notification, courtesy of Evolutionary Inspiration. A thought brought the window up in front of his eyes – the others doing the same thing by the way they stared off at nothing – and he immediately began reading.

Evolutionary Inspiration: An ability granted through achievements has been chosen at random to be upgraded.

Chosen ability: Class Ability – Empower becomes Class Ability – Empower+

Empower+: The strength of your allies is your own. Borrow an energy type from one of your allies to infuse into your own attacks or abilities to inflict bonus damage.

Note: Only one type of energy can be applied by Empower+ at a time.

Note (2): Damage and duration of Empower+ based on Atn.

Note (3): Energy types borrowed through Empower+ have a chance to ignore resistances. This effect can be increased further.

Hiral blinked at the notification. Was note three the only change? There’d only been the two notes before, and this new note didn’t even tell him how he could increase the effects. Then again, his gut was telling him the answer lay in his runes. Namely Energy and Dreaming. Still, for an Evolutionary Inspiration, this wasn’t all that…

Oh, wait a minute. There’s no mention of the Greatsword of Amin Thett in this. I can Empower any attack now? That’s something else entirely. Now I can add Seena’s fire to my claws of Separation, or Yan’s lightning to my RHCs. It’s too bad adding one of Seeyela’s venomous types doesn’t actually inflict the venom… but maybe if I upgrade it again?

Small dreams of inflicting Ghost-Web Venom on everything around him filled his thoughts until Seena coughed gently to get his attention.

“You’re making the same face Li’l Ur does when he’s plotting world domination,” Seena said.

“World domination in your name,” the little lich clarified. “The loftiest of goals.”

“Still not quite there yet.”

“The time will come, and when it does, my plans will already be in motion. Don’t you worry.” The lich steepled his fingers together in front of his face.

“Oooookaaaay…”

“Now that Seeyela has joined the advanced-class club,” Yanily spoke up. “And we got our inspiration from that, can we finally do loot and achievements?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“He’s right,” Seena said. “A lot’s happened, and I’m sure we have more to talk about – including what just got upgraded – but let’s get these done. We need to fill Nivian and Wule in on what this all means.”

“Do you think they even realized who they were escorting?” Hiral asked.

“Maybe?” Seena said. “We did tell them about the version of Vorinal we met up on Fallen Reach, but who knows if they recognized the name.”

“We can just ask them after we get out of here,” Yanily said. “Which is after we…”

“I know!” Seena threw up her hands, then pointed at the spearman. “Go swipe.”

“Yessssss,” Yanily said, practically skipping over to the dungeon interface. As soon as he got there, he swiped his hand across the crystal, then paused for the usual dramatic flair of the dungeons. Nothing happened.

“Did you break it?” Seena asked.

“No,” Yanily said. “I got the notification windows. No light show this time?”

“Maybe because we already got it after Vorinal finished speaking?” Hiral suggested.

“Could be,” Seena said with a nod. “But then where’s the…?”

“By the glass wall,” Left said. “Chests are already there.”

Hiral turned slowly to look – his attention had been completely on Seeyela and Yanily. Of course, Left was correct, the chests were lined up against the wall separating the room from where the Black Gate had been. Much like the soldiers in the hallway with Zeed, it was like they’d magically appeared within his sensory domain, hardly even triggering it.

“Those definitely weren’t there before,” Seena said. “But, since they’re there now, let’s get to opening. I’m pretty curious about what this High-B-Rank dungeon is going to give us.”

“Me too,” Yanily said, already over by a chest sparking with lightning. The man’s fingers played along the top like it was an instrument for a second, before he snuck them under the lid and flipped it open.

Hiral didn’t stick around for any more of the man’s flair – he’d find out what they all got soon enough – and instead went over to his own chest, which matched the theme of the dungeon. Brass and mechanical. At the same time, Left and Right moved towards the communal chest in his sensory domain. Except…

“Eight chests?” Hiral asked. “Do we have two communal chests or seven party-member chests?”

“Wallop gets his own,” Romin said. “All companions do. It’s usually a type of food that gives them permanent bonuses.” The Bonder stopped and looked at the very large chest in front of the Runeocerous. “Never this much food before.”

Wallop snorted.

“Yes, you’re a growing boy,” Romin deadpanned. “But I don’t think the PIMP would give you a chest full of biscuits.”

Another snort.

“I guess that’s true,” he looked at the rest of the party and thumbed at Wallop. “He says a boy can dream.”

“Can he also open the chest?” Yanily asked, one hand inside his own treasure box.

In response, Wallop leaned forward and flipped the lid with his horn like it was the most natural thing in the world.

And if the Rune-o could do it, so could the rest of them. Turning back to his own chest, Hiral took a quick second to inspect his it. And it was big. Probably as long as he was tall, and just as wide. Actually, it was kind of like a massive, brass, mechanical coffin, with faint script within the yellow light weaving between the complicated components. It definitely wasn’t runic script. More like a cheap knockoff.

Either way, the chest wasn’t the loot.

“Might be a fishing rod,” Yanily said, and Hiral turned to look at the man. He had a contraption of some kind in his hands. It was impossible to tell what it was at a glance, with long connecting pieces still dangling into the chest.

“It’s not a fishing rod,” Hiral repeated the same words Yanily had said to Vix what felt like a lifetime ago.

“Probably not,” Yanily said, a bit of a wistful look passing across his face.

They’d come a long way since their first dungeon run. Lost a lot. Gained a lot. Still, it didn’t make missing their friends any easier.

“Probably not,” Hiral agreed, then flipped his chest open. There, laying on a velvet cushion that went from end to end in the chest was… definitely not a fishing rod. Sure, it had what had to be a five-foot-long haft forged of the same brass found throughout the dungeon, complete with its own mechanical levers and devices along it. There even looked to be two, sliding grips with triggers of some kind.

Triggers for what?

Likely something to do with the absurdly large warhammer-head resting at the top of the haft. The thing was comically sized, nearly as big as Hiral’s chest, with what looked like a dragon’s head. The beast’s mouth appeared to be holding flames made of brass within it, to create a slightly-rounded blunt side, while the back had the dragon’s spiked horns for ‘decoration’.

Except the horns felt hollow to Hiral’s sensory domain. What the hell?

Instead of trying to puzzle out what he was looking at, Hiral just waited for View to kick in.

Weight of Tomorrow – A-Rank

Effects: Grants user access to Ability – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and Ability – No Time Like the Present

Ability – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Call on the advanced technology of Tomorrow to enhance your next strike with the weapon, increasing velocity and power, at the expense of accuracy. Damage and critical hit damage each increased by 30%; hit chance and critical hit chance each reduced by 20%.

Ability – No Time Like the Present: At the moment of impact, trigger a mechanical facsimile of Tomorrow’s breath to devastate your target. Damage based on combined total of Str, End, and Dex.

Note: Weapon features are mechanical in nature, not magical.

Hiral blinked a few times as he reached down and hefted the weapon up. Then had to add some threads of Gravity to make it a bit more manageable. The thing wasn’t just big, it was also heavy. His Str had progressed considerably since he’d first come to the surface, but whatever this thing was made of wasn’t kidding around. Maybe Bash could wield it like it was meant to, but Hiral would need to supplement his Str with some runic shenanigans.

Little bit of testing and practice should be enough.

That last note was very interesting as well. Mechanical in nature, huh? Probably meant it wouldn’t work with Emperor’s Decree, but it couldn’t hurt to test to make sure.

All in all, it was a very interesting weapon. He’d been thinking he needed a… blunt solution to some of their enemies. This would combine well with his Rune of Impact no doubt, and depending on how the two abilities worked, he could probably tie some of his other runes into it as well. Once he got the hang of swinging the beast around. In a way, it was like Fate Spinner – big and hard hitting, but slower to wield.

That didn’t exactly fit with his mobile fighting style, but if he treated it like he did when he upped the weight on his greatsword – timely single hits as opposed to lots of smaller strikes – it could work. Yeah, he’d play with it and see what it could do. All in all, he was pretty happy with it.

And, frankly, it looked beastly.

“Every problem is going to be a nail now, isn’t it?” Seena asked him, coming over and eying the huge hammer.

“At least for a little bit,” Hiral admitted.

“Not it,” Right said to Left immediately. “You know he’s going to want to test it.”

“You bet I am,” Hiral said. “Let’s worry about that later. What was in the communal chest?”

“Something called a MUPS,” Left said. “A Mechanized Unit Production System.” The double gestured to the chest. “It’s inside a crate in the chest, and it says that once we set it up, we can’t move it again.”

“What’s it do?” Yanily asked, coming over, with what looked like mechanical vambraces running from his shoulders down his arms, and across the backs of his hands. Pistons pumped and jetted steam with each movement, and he gave Hiral a thumbs up when he saw him looking.

“According to the notification window,” Left said. “The MUPS produces constructs that can be used for defense. B-Rank constructs. Similar to the Sentinels.”

“Reaaaaally?” Hiral asked. “How many? How fast?”

“Doesn’t clearly say, but it doesn’t sound like it has a high output.”

“Wonder if Nivian got one too,” Seena mused. “We could use those on our islands, or in the Hanging Garden.”

“Or the raid zone, if we can find a place to set up a permanent camp,” Hiral said.

Seena snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Probably exactly what they’re for. Who wants to carry it?”

“Left, can you drop it into Shared Storage?” Hiral asked, and the double did just that. “Now everybody in the group has access to it.”

“Good thinking,” Seena said. “Okay, what did everybody else get? Yan, what the hell are those?”

“They’re called Servo Braces,” Yanily said. “They up my strength by a percentage, and more importantly, increase the damage of lightning attacks I use that involve my hands.”

“You usually Chain Lightning from your spear,” Seeyela said. “Does that count?”

“It does,” Yan said. “These are pretty good. A-Rank. How about you?”

In answer, Seeyela turned around – and the woman suddenly had a mechanical tail to go with the crystal TRAP along her back, the four spectral spider legs, and the cloak of blood which had conveniently split to make everything else visible. A scorpion’s tail, complete with an impressive looking stinger. As soon as she noticed people looking at it, the tailed bobbed up and down like it was waving.

“I can control it,” Seeyela explained. “Helps my balance, and can be used for its own attacks. Best of all? I can choose any of my venom types to apply through the stinger.”

“Your sponsor okay with the image change?” Gran asked.

“It’s like my new advanced class,” Seeyela said, as if that answered everything. And, thanks to the looks on everybody’s faces, she figured it out and continued. “Our sponsors,” she pointed at herself, Seena, and Yanily, “all gain something from us growing stronger, like Li’l Ur said. But, it doesn’t have to be in their image. Power for the sake of power makes them stronger. And! They get even more benefits by us growing in a new way, not just following in their footsteps.”

“How do you know that and I don’t?” Yanily asked, Seena nodding along with the man.

Seeyela rubbed at her chin in thought. “I just know? I got the impression during my evolution to keep – as Hiral would say – forging my own path. The Void-Venom Empress approves of my agreement with the Black Gate, and the combination of its blessing and hers.”

“Agreement?” Hiral asked.

“Blessing?” Yanily asked at the same time. “You have two sponsors now? You can do that! No fair!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Seena said, patting the air. “Calm down you two. Let’s save those questions for when we have Nivian and Wule with us. I have a feeling it’ll impact them as well.”

“Happy to not have to explain twice,” Seeyela said, her new scorpion tail lifting above her shoulder. Oddly, her Little Shadow’s Cloak seemed to copy the gesture, so Seeyela had a tail over each shoulder, one made of brass, and the other made of blood.

“Good. Gran, how about you?” Seena pointed at the vampire.

“New glasses,” she said, pointing inside her hood. “Apparently help me see weak points on targets or some nonsense. Let’s me do more damage and more healing if I target those.”

“Kind of like critical hits?” Hiral asked.

“Got it in one, boy,” Gran said with a small cackle. “Not as gaudy as the other two, but a good fit for me.”

“Gaudy?” both Yanily and Seeyela said at the same time. Then, again, as if in sync. “More like badass.”

Seena could only rub the bridge of her nose while Hiral chuckled.

“Romin, save me from these two,” Seena pointed at the Bonder. “What did you and Wallop get?”

Romin pointed at his large, bulky chest in response, then at Wallop’s. “I got Armor of Tomorrow’s Sentinels,” he said. “A-Rank armor modeled after – you guessed it – the constructs we fought at the beginning of the dungeon. A bit big, but good defense and some bonuses to my attributes. Also reduces the chance I’ll take critical hits.”

“That’s some nice armor for a tank,” Hiral said. “Did Wallop get the same thing.” Hiral could only imagine the Rune-o walking around in brass plates like some kind of massive construct.

“Actually, no,” Romin said. “Wallop got weapons. The guns from the Scorpinator’s tail. They’re apparently called Tomorrow’s Mini-guns.”

“There was nothing mini about those things,” Yanily said.

“How is he… uh… going to use them?” Hiral asked.

“They seem to be shoulder mounted,” Romin said. “After we do achievements, I’ll put on my armor and his new weapons. I may need some help.”

“Happily,” Hiral said. “That just leaves you, Seena. What new toy did you get?”

In response to his question, a new – third – tome lifted into the air in front of her, this one with a cover made of metal, gears and pistons moving as the book opened. Inside, even the pages looked to have the sheen of metal – like they’d been hammered flat – and she tapped down on the book. As soon as she did, a portal spiraled open beneath the tome, and a small, knee-high construct strode out.

Four, crablike legs made of the familiar brass supported what could only be described as a cannon. In fact, the thing looked almost identical – other than the material it was made from – to the crystal constructs they’d fought back in The Lost Refuge of the Lost.

“Is that…?” Hiral started.

“You got it,” Seena said. “A Brass Cannon.”