-=- 30 Days Until Departure -=-

Trillia lay on the cool stone floor, breathing heavily. Her fencing counterpart had knocked her into the water with the jellyfish again. Ba'Shoon fished her out and healed her up. Trillia sat up, looking at the goblin.

"Is it ok if I try the other path today as well?"

The goblin looked into the air as the dungeon spoke to it. "Father wants to know what your plan is. You fight different today."

Trillia looked at Amelia and Ba'Shoon, who were peering into the water at the jellyfish. Glancing back at the goblin.

"I'll be challenging the dungeon alone from now on. I need to get stronger. I have plans to venture out on my own, and I need to be able to fight alone. I was also hoping we could begin training for taming a wolf."

A few minutes of silence went past as the goblin stared at the ceiling. Trillia looked up as well; maybe the dungeon should add a mural on the ceiling so that the goblins have something to look at when they talk to it. Maybe they'd get distracted by that.

Gobbinz's voice pulled her out of her own distraction. "Come. Let us discuss things at healing hall."

Trillia stood and offered a little bow to the fencing goblin that she still hadn't bested. The dungeon was gaining levels far more rapidly than she was, which evidently translated into the dungeon monsters also getting stronger.

Trillia explained that she was heading to the healing hall to Ba'Shoon and Amelia, and the two decided to follow along.

Once they were all sat in the healing hall, Gobbinz asked them to wait. A few moments later, Stibs and Paws came into the room as well.

Gobbinz nodded to everyone before sitting down on a stool. "Father says he wants to help you. Since your tribe has done so much for us. We will begin teaching you about monster taming immediately. What is it that you're trying to learn exactly? Father may be able to set up a more personal approach to the boss."

Stibs spoke up next. "We can also duel, just you and I. Or just you and Paws for a while as well. It won't count as a victory for the purposes of clearing the floor. But it may help you learn how to fight."

Ba'Shoon had an odd look on her face. Once Stibs was finished, she spoke up. "It's rather unheard of for a dungeon to be this willing to help a would-be conquerer. Why is your core so willing to help, Trillia?"

Gobbinz looked up for a few minutes before turning his head back to Ba'Shoon. "Father says it's better to leave a good impression. He has no interest in dying. He has no interest in those of us who cannot respawn dying. Father says that goodwill goes a long way in dealing with orcs. Goblins respect power, and that is how our hierarchy is based. Orcs respect power and honor. That is Father's view of how your society works."

Ba'Shoon stared at the goblin for a moment before turning to Trillia. "It's up to you, Trillia. The goblin seems sincere. It's impossible to tell if the dungeon is."

Trillia sat there, staring at her stump. "Your father said previously that he could see my mana veins were tied into something else. Does he know what that something else is?"

This time it took a solid five minutes of awkward silence. Gobbinz wasn't even looking up, just waiting for the dungeon to answer. When it finally did, Gobbinz jumped a little before repeating the words.

"Father says that Alirast wants you to be strong. He does not know why, but he knows that your veins are connected to the output of Alirast itself. He is..." the goblin paused, squinting his eyes. A little trickle of blood came from his nose.

"I..I don't understand. The things Father is trying to show me hurt. I am sorry."

Trillia nodded. Amelia used [Restorative Chant] on the goblin, just in case he needed healing. Trillia, once more, looked at Ba'Shoon. "I trust the dungeon. It hasn't killed me. It's had plenty of chances. " looking back to Gobbinz once more. "I accept. Thank your Father on my behalf. Should we leave for the day?"

Gobbinz nodded. Motioning to another of the raider goblins. "This is Tim The Tamer. Father giggles whenever he says his name, but he knows how to tame monsters. He can start teaching you outside while we get the dungeon ready."

Tim bowed slightly. The goblin had dark green skin and bright orange eyes. He was covered in various wolf pelts and furs. Seemingly, he had no weapon at all.

[Plains Goblin - Monster Tamer - 31] Mental Mana Manipulation

Notable Traits:

Pact-Bound [Dungeon]

Pack Leader

Trillia returned the bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tim."

Tim gave a little nod before standing there in silence. Waiting for them. After a short awkward pause, Trillia motioned for the others. "I guess we'll head out for now?"

Gobbinz nodded as he stood as well. "One of us will head out to let you know when Father feels ready. Please ask the others to let us work on the dungeon for the next couple of days."

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

Trillia nodded, and the three of them, plus one Tim, left.

-=- 28 Days Until Departure -=-

Trillia's mana dropped another three thousand points as she loosed a volley of arrows into a [Megapede's] side. Amelia twisted her body at the last second to take the full brunt of an acid spray to her back. She must have had several levels of Acid resistance at this point because it did little more than burn the first few layers of fur and skin.

Ba'Shoon stood off to the side, watching and waiting, just in case. The dungeon still wasn't open for business yet. The three of them would do large circles around the scout's camp, looking to pick off stray monsters. That was whenever Tim wasn't teaching Trillia how to communicate with monsters.

Evidently, it was a process. Not an easy one either. Tim was overjoyed when Trillia revealed she had telepathy. It made the training go a little easier. But it was still a tedious process of studying a monster's body language and training herself to notice shifts in the mana in the air when they got spooked.

The [Megapede] darted towards them, stopping short and whipping the rest of its body past them in a rolling motion. The girls were getting used to the attack patterns for the monsters and didn't take more than a few scratches. Trillia slid under one such attack and slammed her rapier into its underbelly.

Jamming her left arm up. She placed Shattered Bolt's tip against the creature's soft underbelly and released another three thousand mana volley - ten arrows worth of mana - into its soft flesh. A heavy thud from further up near the head let Trillia know that Amelia was hard at work. The thing shuddered and fell. Trillia retrieved her rapier. All this time and she still hadn't gotten any sort of skill for skinning or gathering from her kills. She also hadn't gotten a skill for her crossbow yet. Hopefully soon.

-=- 23 Days Until Departure -=-

Trillia dropped her rapier, quickly grabbing onto the wall and trying to stop herself as spikes shot up from the floor. One of them clipped her shoulder as they went back and threw her slightly up and back. Her right hand shot to her chest and yanked free a roll of cloth. She was getting extremely fast and patching up random wounds that she received.

Ba'Shoon and Amelia were further back, observing her, ready to offer criticism and tips when she failed.

So far, in this new iteration of the dungeon, she hadn't even seen the boss door. Let alone the goblin and wolf behind it. It was a gauntlet of trapped-filled hallways and goblins set up in such ways as to divide her attention and pelt her with ranged weaponry from different angles.

Trillia slammed her back into the wall and slid down it.

Every breath hurt. Her eyes felt heavy, and her bones threatened to rattle out of her body with every step she took. Ba'Shoon and Amelia kept cautioning her to take breaks, to stop pushing herself so hard.

But, Trillia knew. She knew she could do this. She knew she'd succeed. [Fencer] had gotten back up to level thirteen. She was making good progress. Something in her brain told her to push herself harder. Maybe it had been something Ralrouk said about surviving in battle. Gritting her teeth as she stuffed cloth into the wound and dumped the tiniest little bit of healing potion on the wound.

She pushed herself up the wall, giving herself a brief moment to catch her breath before she reached down to pick up her rapier and continue.

-=- 19 Days Until Departure -=-

The mini-boss before the proper boss. The goblins informed her that this was the halfway point.

Trillia leapt from platform to platform, avoiding the fencing goblin entirely. Charging volley after volley in her crossbow and leveling it at him. Anytime the goblin ducked behind cover to catch his breath, she instead aimed the volleys at the jellyfish in the water below.

Only now, after her third day running this room. There were no jellyfish left alive. Trillia spun and began jumping towards the goblin's cover. Charging another ten-volley blast.

The goblin stood and spun on her.

"[Daring Lunge]!"

"[Riposte]"

"[Opportune Parry][Counter Riposte]"

All skills had been used in the span of a breath, the two giving a frankly dazzling display of swordsmanship. It was brought to an end after Trillia's last parry. She brought her left arm up to his chest and released the arrows. The goblin's body flew back from the weight of the arrows, but Trillia didn't let up.

Two long strides brought her in close to skewer him as she charged another volley.

The goblin dropped his weapon as he fell over, raising his hands.

"I surrender."

Trillia skidded to a stop, shooting the volley into the wall.

Her vision was blurry, her eyes bloodshot, she wavered as she stood there. The only thing she really processed was the sound of her heart thumping ever quicker in her ears and the ground ascending to meet her face.

Trillia was vaguely aware of her mana dropping by almost twenty thousand points, though she knew not why. Her eyes refused to work and open.

She felt the cool stone of the dungeon floor beneath her, half wet from the water in the pit.

Voices swam around her head before she felt the cool warmth of healing magic flow through her body. Notifications rang through her mind.

She tried to focus on the voices, tried to focus on the warmth of healing magic. But all she could hear was the thumping of her heart.

Thump.

Thump.

...

Thump...

An old friend she hadn't seen in many years showed up to take her to her slumber.

Darkness washed over her, and Trillia knew nothing but sleep.

-=- The Next Morning -=-

Her eyes still refused to work.

But a notification was demanding her attention, constantly flashing and popping up in her mind. She had been trying to hide most of her notifications at this point. Half of them were just her class skills leveling. She had set it up so that every point from Orc was being put into Vitality, so other than when a class hit max level - which she checked for at the end of every day - she had only really been looking for new skills.

Evidently, that's why Dawn was so insistent about this particular notification.

[Minor Health Regeneration] Level 0 Obtained!

Minor Health Regeneration:

A creature possessing this skill regenerates health at a rate equal to one-quarter of their Vitality stat every hour. This skill reduces the debuff time on all Bleed debuffs by 5% per level.

Trillia wore a little smile as she read the skill. That'd certainly make her life easier. As she tried to sit up and open her eyes, her mind spun, and she flopped back into bed.

Suddenly she was aware of her overly dry lips. It felt as though she hadn't drunk anything in a week.

She tried to weekly croak out for water. No words came, just some terribly grating raspy sound.

Amelia's familiar, soothing voice reached her ears. "I got you, Trillia." delicious, cold water touched her lips, and she was aware of Amelia lifting her head slightly so she could drink.

After greedily partaking in the offered water, she lay there breathing heavily once more. Her head still swam, she tried to reach her hand up to force her eyelids open, but her body just refused to move. After a few more deep breaths, she once more passed out.