… it’s okay, Agnetha,” Layne laughed shakily, in shock himself. “I have a healing potion in my bag. Can one of you grab it quick?”
At those words Lily’s breath caught in her throat, and her heart froze. The healing potion. That's the one thing she never fixed after swapping the fake with the real one in Layne's bag to save her father. Layne didn't know, and he was depending on it. If anything happened to him now, it would be all her fault. The sentiment of general relief in the clearing was in stark contrast to Lily's rising panic.
“A healing potion?” Carlie said. “Thank goodness, I’ll get it."
“No, no,” Lily heard her voice break through the small assembly. “It won’t work.”
Down in the dungeon, Claire’s attention snapped to Lily. Lily’s voice sounded strained, with only a half-suppressed note of panic.
Agnetha looked up in alarm as she said, “The potion.”
“What about the potion?” Layne asked. His voice was wavering, and his skin had begun to take on a pallid quality.
“We switched your healing potion with replacement so we could heal Lily’s father,” Agnetha made a matter-of-fact statement.
“What?” Layne’s voice rose, and his body stiffened as if he meant to rise to confront them.
“No!” Agnetha hastily commanded. “Stay quiet and don’t move around. We cannot afford to aggravate the wound.”
“You want me to stay quiet?” Layne said in disbelief, but he did keep still. “You and Lily stole my healing potion. And this after I offered to take you dungeon diving, Lily. Is this how you repay my trust?”
“I’m so sorry,” Lily whispered from behind him as she pressed her shirt against the blood pooling out from his back around the sword blade. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“I don’t suppose you switched the healing potion with a lesser healing potion?” there was only resignation in Layne’s voice as he asked the question. No one answered him.
“You took the healing potion. There is no healing potion,” Carlie said, stunned, and then she turned to Agnetha. “We have to save him, Agnetha. What do we do?”
“I don’t know, dungeon child. What can we do? What can the dungeon do? For if you don’t devise a plan, he will surely die.”
<>
“Agnetha wants me to devise a plan. And Layne will die if I don’t.” Claire’s voice sounded slightly hysterical to her own ears. Her own life being in danger was all well and good. She could live with that. But having someone else’s life in her hands? That was another matter entirely.
“Now, now, core,” the master soothed. “Don’t be bothered by this. He’s just an adventurer – this is not your problem to solve.”
Claire wanted to hyperventilate and scream at the same time. Rather than doing either, she whirled her core towards Rick.
“Rick, what can I do,” she demanded. “How do we save him?”
Rick floated like a deer watching some unimaginable monster racing down on it, looking just as horrified as Claire felt.
“Claire,” he forced out. “I don’t believe we can save him.”
“What do you mean?” Claire fought. “A healing potion. Where do healing potions come from? Can we make one?”
“You haven’t progressed far enough in your levels to create your potions yet. And you don’t have a blueprint for one either. You don’t have a blueprint for any animal fast and large enough to transport him with, and you have no medicinal plants. Even if you did, those two outlaws are sitting in your entrance corridor, so you can’t produce anything right now. Claire, I don’t think there is anything we can do.”
“No, no. I don’t believe that. I won’t believe it. We can’t do anything down here, but what about up there? Is there something we’re missing?”
Outside at the campsite, Carlie started pacing and muttering fiercely as Claire observed through her eyes and thought.
“You’d better hurry, dungeon child,” Agnetha said. “We’re starting to lose him.”
And it was true. The material that Lily and Dean pressed against Layne’s wound was soaking through with his blood, and he was starting to sway. Agnetha did her best to prop him up and keep him steady, but he was a large man. A knight, after all.
Seeing Carlie not respond, Agnetha added, “The least you can do is come help to hold him steady so his wound isn't aggravated further.”
“I’ll do it,” an unexpected voice sounded. It was Perez, having recovered from the dart, who walked into the camping site and knelt on the ground to support Layne’s body from the other side. No one questioned his action, even though it was unexpected. There was a bigger emergency at play.
Claire didn’t know what to do; the pressure was unbearable. Despairing, she had Carlie take a step back and look at every single person and object within the camping site again.
And then she found a sliver of hope.
<>
Carlie whirled around to look at Little Harry, where he sat curled up on the ground with his little eyes squeezed shut, shrinking in on himself in the face of the brutality of it all. It was something no child should ever witness, but the Gods had asked neither his mother nor his opinion before bringing him on this path.
“Little Harry,” she said, walking over and crouching in front of him. “Little Harry,” she repeated as she gently placed her hands on his arms. “The Gods gave you a class, didn’t they.” He gave a small nod.
Claire ignored the gasps of surprise behind Carlie. Yes, she had gathered that it was very uncommon to gain a class at a young age. Even more unusual at an age as young as Little Harry’s. But she knew what his mother was, and she was pretty sure there was a reason Little Harry achieved whatever he got.
“Come on, Little Harry, you know me. I might be a little strange, but I’m still Carlie. I was there in the clearing where all the other kids played. I played with them. I was here with you all of tonight; I am here. Could you please tell me what class you got?”
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Little Harry shook his head, clenching his little body together more tightly.
“Please, Little Harry, please? It could help to save young master Layne’s life,” Carlie asked again.
Then relief washed over her as he displayed his main screen for her to read, not saying one word about it.
Harry Skari
Miracle Worker Level 1
Progress to Miracle Worker Milestone 1
0/250 EXP
Claire did not read any further, calling on Rick and the master instead.
“A miracle worker, he’s a miracle worker. What can they do? What abilities does he have?”
“A miracle worker? I’ve never even heard of such a class,” Rick said in awe.
“I have,” the master said, equally amazed. “The last time we documented this class was three centuries ago. Who would’ve thought?”
“Never mind all that,” Claire pushed. “What can he do? How can he help us save Layne?”
The master paused, studying her core thoughtfully.
“I don’t know if I should say,” he said.
“What? Why? We don’t have time for this!”
“Cores are not supposed to get involved with adventurers. It can lead to unfair bias, as well as decreased learning and progression.”
“Well, I’m an anomalous core, and I’m telling you that if Layne dies because of you, I will kick you out of my dungeon and never speak to you again. And I’ll do a bunch of bad anomalous things.”
“What are you talking about, you silly core? He will die from his sword wound, not because of me.”
Feeling a dangerous build-up radiating from Claire’s core, Rick quickly intervened.
“Just a moment, master. We are both in agreement that Claire is anomalous, right?”
“Yes.”
“And anomalous cores do anomalous things, yes?”
“Indeed.”
“And the role of a dungeon elemental is to assist and guide, not make decisions for the dungeon.”
“I suppose.”
“No,” Rick pushed. “That is what our creed states.”
“Yes, that is true," the master reluctantly admitted.
“So, Claire, our anomalous dungeon core, is requesting our assistance. Will you break our code and deny her?”
“Fine,” the master conceded and then addressed Claire.
“This is what little I know of the miracle worker class. The class develops as a rare interaction between a person spending extended periods of time in the presence of the Gods and being present during an unusual or even miraculous occurrence. At its lowest levels, it presents somewhat similar to luck.”
“What does that mean,” Claire said, “And explain fast.”
“It means that it is like a lucky break. For example, adventuring parties will often have their member with the highest luck stat access rewards as a way of optimising their loot drops.”
“Now that’s what I need to hear – we have a chance,” Claire said as she refocused on her avatar, Carlie, and the events at the campsite.
<>
Carlie jumped up and rushed over to Bastian’s body, rifling through its pockets.
“What are you doing, dungeon child?” Agnetha called, watching her along with everybody else present at the site.
“Looking for something to save Layne,” Carlie responded.
“The box,” Perez said. “Look in his bag. Bastian had a little box, which he always hinted at contained something special.”
Carlie grabbed the bag and upended it on the ground. Out fell some coins, various objects, and the little box. It was locked.
“The key,” Carlie said as she turned back to his body for another frantic search. “Where’s the key?” It wasn’t in his pockets, it wasn’t around his neck, it wasn’t with the bag’s items. “I can’t find the key!”
“Bring it over here; I’ll force it open,” Dean offered.
“No!” Agnetha countered. “Such boxes are often warded to destroy the contents when forced open. But also, the locks on that kind usually aren’t that advanced. Perez, do you have a lock-picking skill?”
“No,” he replied.
“Lily, at what level is your lock-picking skill?” Agnetha switched.
Lily checked, “First-tier, five out of twenty. I don’t know if that’s enough.”
“It’s not, but it’s close,” Agnetha responded. “Dungeon child, switch with Lily. Lily, do your best.”
“No, Agnetha,” Dane fought, his father’s heart rising to protect his child. “That’s not fair. You can’t lay this on Lily.”
“I can, and I will,” Agnetha responded. “A man’s life is at stake here. If we do nothing, he will die. That is certain. We have to try every measure at our disposal. Dungeon child, Lily, get moving.”
Claire’s metaphorical heart froze as Carlie took in Layne’s condition once again. He had fallen unconscious at some point and was now being held up solely by Dean and Perez as Agnetha and Lily tried to staunch the bleeding around the still-embedded sword. His skin had assumed a deathly pallor, which frightened Claire even more than all the pooling blood.
Then Carlie switched with Lily, and she felt his hot blood on her hands as she pressed Lily’s soaked shirt close.
Meanwhile, Lily grabbed the little box and furiously began tinkering. Everyone kept quiet as they watched her jiggling the lock with her little tools, this way and that.
Lily’s heart hammered in her chest as she fought to remain calm enough to keep a clear mind. She needed it. Nothing else mattered at this point. She pushed all her emotions aside, blocking out every noise from the night as she explored the lock, experimented with her little lock-pickers, and visualised its inner workings. As the minutes ticked by, she gained a better and better understanding of the mechanism.
Lock picking +1
Lock picking +1
Understanding +1
Lock picking +1
Knowledge +1
Lock picking +1
Understanding +1
She ignored every notification as she kept working. Solving the lock’s puzzle bit by bit. Her concentration was so intense that time slowed, and everything about the lock gained the greatest clarity in her vision. She could see it all.
New skill unlocked: Focus +10
And finally, the lock clicked, and the little box unlocked.
Lock picking +5
“Don’t open it,” Carlie said. “Give it to Little Harry.”
Little Harry took the box from Lily and then looked at Carlie for confirmation. Carlie nodded, and he opened the box.
And there, nestled in velvety material, lay a potion.
“Agnetha, that’s not a healing potion,” Lily said as she slumped in exhaustion.
“Bring it over here, Little Harry,” Agnetha responded. “Let me see.”
Little Harry trotted over, holding the box open to display the potion for Agnetha. She took a moment to study it.
“I don’t know what it is. Though I can tell you that it is something powerful enough that it is above my ability to use identify.”
“We have to use it on him,” Claire spoke through Carlie.
“Dungeon child, we don’t know what this does!” Agnetha replied.
“Yes. But you said it. If we don’t act right now, Layne will die. This unknown potion is all we have left that can possibly save him. We have to do it. Lily, feed it to him.”
“I, I can’t,” Lily stammered. “I mean, I’m too tired; my hands are shaking. I might spill.”
“Okay,” Carlie said. “Switch with me again. I’ll do it.”
Freed from her duty, Carlie took the potion out of the box. She didn’t even spare one moment to look at it as she knelt in front of the unconscious Layne, holding his face with one hand and dripping the liquid into his mouth with the other.
In the dungeon, a notification flared in Claire’s vision, which she immediately swiped away, having only eyes for what was happening to Layne. She could read a bunch of useless information later.
At the campsite, Layne’s breath stilled, and so did his blood, stopping its flow out of his body.
All the breath wooshed out of Carlie. "Oh no," she said as her little frame slumped.
“No, I know this – I've seen it once before. Preservation.” Agnetha stated with relief. “It’s a preservation potion, preserving the person in time. Time. We’ve got time.”
“How much?” Carlie asked, relief flooding through Claire.
“My best guess, since I can’t identify the potion, would be about an hour. Now, we need to get him back to the manor, fast. Perez. Dean. You’ll have to carry him. Don’t wait for us. Run for the manor and get a real healing potion down his throat. Run! Now!”
Claire looked on in fear. The manor was at least two hours' walk away, and Agnetha was only guessing at how long the potion would last. Besides, how fast would Dean and Perez really be able to go, carrying Layne's weight through the remaining hours of nighttime darkness? Would they make it back to the manor in time?
<><><>