Hiral groaned a bit at the name of the little construct, but Seeyela was beside the thing in an instant with a Bamf.

Beside it… and completely ignoring it. Instead, her attention was firmly on the cover of the book while she knelt beside it.

“That portal,” Seeyela said. “It was different. What did you do?”

“Uh…” Seena started. “Nothing? I just followed the instructions in the book.”

“Can you do it again?”

“In about thirty minutes,” Seena said. “There’s a cooldown between summons.”

“And what is this thing?” Yanily asked, knocking on the top of the Brass Cannon with a knuckle. “And don’t just tell me the name again.”

“This new book, the Machinis Liber,” she pointed at the tome in front of her, “can call on constructs created by Tomorrow to fight for me. Us. But mainly me.”

“A new army for my Mistress!” Li’l Ur said, throwing up his hands with little blue sparks shooting off in fanfare. “One step closer to taking her true place as ruler of this world.”

Yanily knocked on the little Brass Cannon again. “A small step, maybe.”

“But there’s a cooldown on it?” Hiral asked, and Seena nodded. “How strong is this little guy?”

“C-Rank,” Seena said, and everybody frowned.

“Not sure how much help that will be…” Hiral said slowly.

“With the cooldown, not much at all,” Seena agreed. “Except.” She smiled like she knew something they didn’t. “This won’t go away,” she pointed at the Brass Cannon. “Not until it’s destroyed. The portal you felt was different, Sis, probably because it’s a gate connecting this book to the facility where it was made. And where more are being made.”

“It’s not a magic portal,” Hiral said. “But… mechanical? Or at least, produced by a machine?”

“That’s what the book is saying,” Seena said.

“There were definitely some similarities,” Seeyela said, then stood up and tilted her head back. “Then again, my portals aren’t exactly the same as the PIMPs. Maybe it’s like that? Huh, I’ll have to think about it.”

“One more thing about this book,” Seena tapped the tome in front of her. “Right now, I can only call on these Brass Cannons – and only one every thirty minutes – but, since I’ve activated the Machinis Liber, the facility will start ramping up. New constructs will be made for me to call on. More powerful ones.”

“B-Rank?” Hiral asked.

“And above,” Seena said. “At least, that’s what the book suggests. We’ll have to wait and see. The only downside is I don’t know if I can take them through dungeon portals. They don’t count as companions like Wallop or Li’l Ur here, so I’m worried they’d take up a dungeon spot.”

“You could solo dungeons with your own little army,” Yanily said, then his eyes widened. “Wait, no, don’t do that. Then we wouldn’t get any experience or loot! Don’t leave us Seena!”

Seena laughed. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t even considering it,” she said.

“Even if you can’t bring them in, you can summon some inside… but that would mean you lose them when you exit. Maybe?” Hiral said. “Is there a limit to how many you can call?”

“No limit beyond the time it takes to build them,” Seena said.

“Huh,” Hiral said with a nod. “I wonder where that facility is…”

“Maybe something to explore after we deal with the squids and have more freedom to travel,” Seena said. “Anyway, we spent way too long talking about my new toy. We should get on to achievements.”

“We should,” Yanily agreed.

“You can have the honors,” Seena said to the spearman, and he walked back over to the interface from where his chest was.

A swipe of his hand. “Achievements.”

As soon as he said that, a series of windows popped up in front of Hiral’s eyes, and he got right to work going through them.

Let’s see what we got this time. Looks like four achievements… one for each of the big guys, and then the final one for completing the dungeon. Kind of nice to get full rewards again.

Achievement: That’s No Moon

Reward: Class Modification: Allied Killing Spree becomes Class Modification: Allied Killing Spree+

Allied Killing Spree+: Each enemy defeated within 60 seconds of the previously defeated enemy grants the following stacking bonuses:

+15% experience gained, +3% to all attributes (duration: 60 seconds or until a new stack of Killing Spree+ is obtained), +3% solar energy instantly regained, instant minor health recovery, and chance on kill to trigger Class Ability – A Violent End

Class Ability – A Violent End: While under the effects of Allied Killing Spree+, killing blows have a chance (based on current stacks of Allied Killing Spree+) to cause the target to explode.

(Explosions! Are back!)

Explosions caused by A Violent End have different effects based on who they strike.

Note: Enemies struck by explosions caused by A Violent End take damage based on the exploding target’s health immediately prior to exploding.

Note (2): Allies struck by explosions caused by A Violent End regain health based on the exploding target’s health immediately prior to exploding.

(Explosions! Explosions! Explosions! Yeaaaaah! Explosions!)

Hiral facepalmed. He was thrilled about the ability. Really, he was. But, back to the explosion routine? And the others would see it too as soon as they looked at the ability, since it was shared through the Party Interface upgrade of his advanced class. Oh well, nothing he could do about it now.

Er, well, I could try to edit it… but would it be worth it just to scrub out those lines? Nah. They’ll get a good laugh out of it.

Another roll of his eyes at the notification window – it was almost exactly the same as his original Killing Spree+, which had been a great ability – and he moved on to the next.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Achievement: It Won’t be Back

Reward: Class Ability (Active): Hundred Handed becomes Class Ability (Active): Hundred Handed+

Hundred Handed+: Gain control of eight spectral arms to make attacks or conduct actions for 3 minutes per Rank (current duration is 12 minutes)

Note: Damage of attacks based off Str or Dex (whichever is higher).

Note (2): Speed of limbs based off based off Str or Dex (whichever is higher).

Note (3): Precision and deftness of hands based off Wis or Atn (whichever is higher).

Note (4): Skills and Abilities can now be channeled through limbs produced by Hundred Handed+ as if they were the user’s own natural limbs.

Note (5): Don’t worry, these don’t explode – unless you want them to.

Hiral almost activated the ability just to fist pump with all the hands at the same time. Hundred Handed had always been an ability with a lot of potential, and while the upgrade didn’t seem like much at first glance, it had huge potential. Now, if he was reading this right, he could channel his runes through the spectral limbs. Sure, he’d used Dreaming on the limbs, but this was different. Adding the Rune of Impact to the already powerful punches? Oh, yes please! Breaking too? Not to mention his claws of Separation.

He was going to be a terror.

“He’s got that look again, Mistress,” Li’l Ur said from nearby, forcing Hiral to glance at the lich on Seena’s shoulder. “He’s plotting something.”

“Oh, you bet I am,” Hiral agreed.

“Will it assist the Mistress in her goals?”

“You mean your goals for me,” Seena corrected.

“Details,” the lich said with a wave of his small hand.

“Definitely will,” Hiral told Li’l Ur, and Seena sighed at both of them.

“Then you may continue, my would-be-apprentice,” Li’l Ur said. “Plot well. Plot often.”

“Just finish your achievements,” Seena said flatly.

Hiral gave her a thumbs up. Ah, damn, if I had used Hundred Handed, I could’ve given her ten thumbs up. Then again, looking at her face, maybe just one was for the best.

Moving on!

Hiral closed the notification window with a thought and moved on to the third. Another ability upgrade? That seemed to be the trend for this dungeon.

Achievement: It’s Not the Size that Matters...

Reward: Class Modification: Dismantle

Dismantle: Critical hits can now be scored on constructs, at a -25% penalty to your critical hit rate.

Short, but also – potentially – hugely impactful. It had been impossible to score critical hits on constructs previously – without Seeyela’s aura – regardless of their crit rate. Now, they could crit again, albeit at a penalty of twenty-five percent. It seemed like a significant hit – likely making it still impossible for some people to crit – but with how much Hiral and the others had? They’d be critting again. A lot.

That’ll make the next run of this dungeon a lot smoother. Not to mention any other fights we have against constructs.

At the thought, Hiral remembered the fight that had gotten them this achievement – the Boss of the dungeon. The one with the note suggesting there were more of those behemoths out there. This class modification could really help with that, too.

Then again, even with the ability, a real one of those wouldn’t be B-Rank. It couldn’t be. They still had a ways to go before they could reasonably take it on. All the more reason to get out of this dungeon so we can get back in to farm for experience.

Hiral closed the window and opened the fourth and final one.

Achievement: What Tomorrow Brings

Reward: Class Modification: (Lost) Evolutionary Inspiration becomes Class Modification: (Lost) Evolutionary Inspiration+

(Lost) Evolutionary Inspiration+: When a nearby creature experiences an evolution, you gain a permanent bonus based on that evolution.

Note: Benefits are gained when allies or enemies evolve in your presence.

Additionally, whenever you evolve your class, you gain an additional bonus of +2 to all attributes per level of the advanced class.

Evolve my class…? Wait, does it mean getting an advanced class? I… guess that would make sense, since we are getting Evolutionary Inspiration bonuses from people getting advanced classes near us. Or, should we be calling them evolved classes from now on. Either way, plus-two attributes per level? Of each advanced class?

Even quickly doing the math in his head wasn’t enough, and Hiral whipped open his status window to look at his attributes. Oooooh. He’d only gained the two levels since they’d entered the Ascender’s Tower – putting him at level twelve now – but his Dex and Atn with this new Evolutionary Inspiration+? Wow.

Attributes

Strength (Str)—18 (25+24) = 84

Endurance (End)—18 (25+24) = 84

Dexterity (Dex)—20 (25+410+25) = 733

Intelligence (Int)—18 (25+24+24) = 116

Wisdom (Wis)—18 (25+24+21) = 112

Attunement (Atn)—20 (25+410) = 694

He’d broken seven-hundred Dex, and almost done the same for his Atn. Just. Wow. Though, looking at his stats, the bonuses he was getting from the others seemed to be trailing behind his own. Because none of them are hyper-focusing on two stats like I am? Yan is also building strength and wisdom with his dexterity, along with a bit more endurance. Seena has bridged more into intelligence and some dexterity, and also some more emphasis on endurance. Seeyela is dexterity, wisdom, and I think maybe some strength and attunement too. Oh… and endurance.

Maybe – just maybe – that’s not a terrible idea? A tougher body to take more hits…

Nah. I’d rather just avoid getting hit completely.

“Did you guys just get a crazy upgrade to Evolutionary Inspiration?” Seeyela asked. Seena and Yanily nodded right alongside Hiral. “That’s a lot of stats.”

“It really is,” Yanily said. “I love it.”

“What did you two get for the dungeon-clear achievement?” Seena asked Romin and Gran.

“One you mentioned you already have,” Romin said. “Momentum.”

“Oh? Interesting,” Hiral said. “But, that’ll be great for farming this dungeon when we get back to the Mid-Boss.”

“Yeah, you would’ve fallen more behind us in levels without it,” Seena said. “If it’s anything like last time, we’ll hit that fifty-percent bonus pretty quickly. It was more noticeable in here than in the Plateau dungeon too. Maybe because of our level relative to theirs?”

“I think so,” Hiral said. “When we were checking before, you guys – because you were a bit lower level than me – got more base experience than I did per kill. Even with the bonuses I had from Beauty Sleep – before I combined it into Healthy Living – I never really got far ahead of you. Maybe two levels at most. The higher base experience you got for being lower level off-set my bonuses.

“I bet Gran and Romin didn’t fall behind any more than they were when we started because of this. What level are you now?”

“Level nine,” Romin said. “Not too far from ten.”

“Level six,” Gran said. “Halfway to seven.”

“Momentum should help you catch up even more,” Seena said. “Good addition for what we’re about to do. Everybody finish getting their achievements?”

“All done here,” Hiral said, with the others quickly echoing his words.

“Great, we’ll review outside. Before we go, anything else anybody wanted to do in here? I’m not planning on clearing the dungeon again – at least not for a while. We’ll farm what we can then reset the dungeon, instead of locking ourselves out by killing the last Boss here.”

“We’re not going to try and beat our time?” Yanily asked.

“Not for the moment,” Seena said. “I’m sure we could, but getting some levels is our priority, and the Boss here wasn’t worth as much as The Fourth Crusade was, relative to the rest of the dungeon. If we can stall that scorpion Mid-Boss and kill adds there, that’s our play.”

“Destroy the tail,” Hiral said. “As long as we do that – and don’t push it to phase two – Wallop can probably tank it forever.”

“You two good with that?” Seena turned to the Bonder and his companion.

The Rune-o snorted, and Romin nodded.

“Good chance to test my new armor,” Romin said. “Should know the limits of it before the raid zone.”

“Gran? See any problems with it?”

“None,” Gran said. “Feel free to use Delicate Balance up to fifteen percent to start. I’ll tell you if you can increase it.”

“Great,” Seena said. “Sounds like we have our plan then. Last chance, anything else in here?”

“Nothing,” Hiral said. Everything was gone, anyway, even the Black Gate. “Curious to get Nivian and Wule’s take on everything that happened.”

“And to see if it was the same as ours,” Left added.

“Good point,” Hiral said.

“Okay,” Seena said. “Let’s get out of here, catch up with the twins, then get some rest.

“After that, well, let’s see how close we can get to A-Rank.”