None of the others would accept it.

Every attempt he made in getting them to let him handle it himself were quickly shot down. It wasn't like he wanted to charge to his death in there, but that seemed to be how they all assumed he was thinking. "I ain't letting y'all get hurt. Especially not now. But we got to keep movin."

He was halfway to the bulkhead when Kenna and Mason grabbed him. He put up a bit of resistance, but they were both much stronger than him, so he was forced to give up on the idea. Cora was simply watching from beside the door. That's probably why he was the first to notice the smoke slowly seeping through, already having formed a ball about as large as an eye floating above the door. "One of em's tryin to get in. Smoky."

Every eye in the room turned to look at the intruder, only for it to shrink back through the door quickly after it was noticed. Beck was released as Kenna and Mason retrieved their equipment, at which point, he drew his focus gun as well. Motioning to each in turn, Kenna and Cora both took hold of the wheel on the bulkhead while Mason positioned himself and his shield so that he could block most, if not all, of what came through the door. Beck took position behind and to his right, prepared to shoot the first imp that came into his line of sight.

When the door opened, the Hells broke loose. Immediately, three of the imps surged through the opening. Luckily, he was able to get a couple shots off, followed by a ding as the two remaining creatures each picked targets. A cloud of steam expanded rapidly from the floor, obstructing view while also imparting weak burns to any exposed skin.

A short breeze blew the steam back through the aperture at the same time Kenna got a solid hit on an imp that looked to be formed from mud. The orange glow from the head of her weapon gave away the fact that she was pumping it full of mana, and the creature soon crumbled into clumps of steaming dirt. Mason had an ice-type imp in one hand, smashing it repeatedly into the metal-reinforced side of his massive shield until it crumbled like the other.

That left the two smoke-types. Peering into the room, he quickly ruled out the possibility that they had stayed. At the same time, a sound very similar to the steam explosion from earlier and a grunt of pain caught his ears. The three at the door all turned at the same time, only to see a large cloud of smoke behind them, from which they could hear the sound of Cora coughing.

Mason dove in immediately. Beck and Kenna shared a look, at which the woman shrugged and followed, leaving Beck watching in the case that the imps left the cloud. Shortly after, Kenna reemerged carrying the still-coughing Cora, who, once free of the smoke, took a deep breath before releasing a powerful exhale aimed at the cloud. The sound of rushing wind accompanied the action, once more blowing away the smoke. It also revealed that Mason was in the process of being double teamed by the two remaining imps, whom Beck promptly shot. They didn't even seem to register that their cover was gone.

A series of dings followed, and now that there were no threats he knew of, he let the notifications through.

You have slain a Minor Steam Elemental Demonspawn!

You have slain a Minor Smoke Elemental Demonspawn! x2 You are now Lvl 5! +2 stat points!

The level was unexpected, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Once they had all caught their breath, they checked themselves for injuries. Beck and Kenna only had minor burns, mostly along the arms, while Cora was barely any worse for wear, just a bit of a cough left over from the smoke in her lungs. Mason's hand was starting to have issues moving, though. When they pulled off his gauntlet, the skin halfway up his forearm was red and inflamed, and Beck could see specks of ice lodged into it like splinters. It was cold to the touch, bordering on freezing.

Kenna didn't waste any time, her healing flame transferring from her hand to his, melting the embedded ice and slowly but surely reducing the swelling. After maybe ten minutes, Mason was able to flew his fingers again, and soon after, his hand looked no different than it had before they came here. While she worked on him, Beck pulled some water from his waterskin to soothe the burns on their arms and faces. They still had plenty, so the small amount he used was probably fine.

While Kenna was working on the burns, Mason and Cora had gone ahead to check the next room. It didn't take them long before Mason returned, though. "Y'all, uh, might wanna take a look out the window over here." He punched a thumb into the air behind him, "Somethin's goin on and Clink's gettin agitated." The pair followed him, and Beck immediately understood the problem.

"He's got an army."

Cora shook her head, though. "He's eatin em. All of em. That ain't even the worst part, though. Look behind him."

Now that it had been pointed out, the thing she was talking about was pretty hard to miss. "A big metal box? What's that got to do with anything?"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The gnome shot him a look through her hair. "That's not just a metal box. It's a Creator Cube. I only ever saw pictures. We thought they were all destroyed in the war. Its basically a one man factory. So long as you have the know how and the mana, you can pump out as much of just about anything as you like. It might as well be a sacred artifact, and he's been using it to make these things." Her last statement came with a disgusted wave of her hand.

When he looked back to the others, he found that Mason had laid a hand on the small woman's shoulders and Kenna was simply staring out the window, watching the metallic monster consume its servants. He sighed, "We'll get it back. Try to, at the very least. Gotta figure out how to get down there, first."

At that, the party set to work. Some of the stories mentioned hidden doors hiding treasure troves or shortcuts through the structures of the Ruins, so they had been on the lookout for these things since entering. Before he could forget, Beck sent his two new points into Wisdom and Constitution. Odd numbers always kind of bothered him, after all.

Then a new system message made itself known in front of him.

Congratulations! You have breached the First Threshold in Wisdom!

As a reward, you may choose from three Boons determined by your previous accomplishments!

Aside from the horrible colors it assaulted him with, it was yet another thing that no one had ever told him about. Thankfully, it switched back to its normal color for the rest of the windows.

\\\\\\ Boons ////// Boon of Mana Boon of the Hawk Boon of the Wolf

The two animal ones were pretty self explanatory, but the mana one could have been basically anything. So, rather than blunder blindly through the system, he pulled Cora aside. "You've got a high Wisdom, right? Do you know what the boons are?"

"That depends. Which ones did you get?"

"Hawk, Wolf, and Mana. Why does it matter?"

"Just in case you got somethin' weird. Those are all pretty normal, though. Hawk makes your eyesight real good, like you're lookin' through telescope all the time, but without the loss on peripherals, while Wolf is just an overall boost with an emphasis on tracking. Mana can be a bit trickier, though. For some people, it just gives em extra mana, but for others, it makes their mana recover faster. Whatever it does, it'll be focused around having more available mana to draw on."

"Alright, thanks." With that, they returned to searching. Cora did, at least.

Beck was going back and forth between the boons of Mana and the Wolf. On the one hand, more mana would mean more ice bullets and more leeway in trying to come up with more, better spells. On the other, the Wolf might help in finding any hidden rooms here. It wasn't all that great a chance, nor did he have any clue if it would actually work or not, but it was still an attractive prospect. Before he could change his mind, he mentally selected the Wolf.

Blood in the water The Boon of the Shark grants an increase to sensory perception, especially sense of smell. In addition, this Boon confers the preternatural ability to track any creature that has been wounded. This ability gains efficacy if the creature was wounded by your actions.

“That ain’t right.” That statement drew all the eyes in the room to him, but that was less important than the new scents in his nose. Following them led him to a completely unremarkable section of wall that he had checked earlier, where the smells of brimstone and ozone had leaked into the room, but were now slowly dissipating. His hands went scrabbling over the stone, but found no purchase. Out of ideas, he placed himself in between two areas where the smell was strongest and pushed against the wall with all his might.

The sound of stone grinding against itself filled the room as the section of wall recessed, then slid to the side, revealing a dark passageway. The smell veered off from the right, though he couldn't see very far down due to the lack of light. Just to confirm his suspicions, he followed the trail to the bulkhead they had come through, which was the area that the smells were strongest. The entire time, the others had just been watching him sniff the air like an animal, something he only realized when he turned back to them and they were still staring at him. Cora had pushed her hair out of her eyes.

Kenna was the first to speak. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just uh, got a boon. Different from the one I picked, though. Wasn't even on the list, actually. Boon of the Shark, it says. Y'all ever hear about it?"

They all shook their heads, with Kenna chuckling. "A shark in the desert, huh?"

"Very funny. What'd you get for yours, huh?"

"The Boon of the Cougar."

Cora piped up at that point. "Hold on, we ain't just gonna brush over the fact that it gave you somethin different than what it was showin you. I've never heard of that happening before."

Beck could only shrug. "Ain't like it told me why it did that, just that I have it now. And I ain't about to complain. Now, lets get a move on. Longer we sit around, the more imps that thing is gonna eat."

Thankfully, she dropped it after that, and they set off into the cramped tunnel. Kenna lit their way, channeling her mana into a torch-sized ball of flame atop her pick. Many of the pipes lining the walls, ceiling, and running beneath the floor would rattle occasionally, causing their party to freeze, ready to launch a counterattack. In the end, though, they made it to the other end of the tunnel unaccosted.

There, they found themselves in a circular chamber hewn from stone, with an earthen floor that showed signs of digging. The most eye catching thing, though, was the two humanoid sculptures standing in alcoves on opposite sides of the room. One was broad and tall, with more masculine features, while the other was slight and feminine, a head shorter than the first. They both seemed to be crafted from steel and wood, but they lacked even a hint of rust or rot.