By dawn, he was weary and hungry, having killed only a handful of Minotaurs, the Beast kind, who never saw his [BackSlash] coming, and were even less prepared for Ashi to use [Choking Mist] to fill their lungs with water. Kaden spent the hours inbetween chatting with a silent [FalCrow] and attempting to tame a drowning minotaur.
Both had a similar level of success, where similar was ‘none.’
The sun’s light revealed the trail of destruction left by the World Boss. The truth was that it coming in the dark had saved most of the town. Kaden harvested four more [Moon Moth] corpses, receiving a handful of scales and minor pollen, then leaped down to the ground, and caught Ashi as she jumped to him.
“Sleep,” She said. “Travel can wait. Your mana is still limited by the [Moon Moth] attack. We are both weary, and this place, this people will welcome coins.”
You have completed a Faction Quest (Guard the Gates).
Rewards: XP, Faction Favor (10 points), Faction Token (x1).
You have completed a Quest: (A Wider World - 1) - Complete a Faction Quest.
Rewards: XP.
You have received a new Quest: (A Wider World - 2) - Complete Five Faction Quests (1/5 complete). Only new Factions will count toward this.
You have recieved a new Quest: Getting to Know You - Obtain Faction Favor of at least 100 with any one Faction.
Kaden checked his experience. He’d been granted XP for all the [Torrods] Ashi struck with lightning, putting him well over a third of the way to twenty six. As the townspeople began to emerge and take stock, Kaden found the inn and roused the inkeeper, dropping a gold piece on the counter. “A room. A meal.”
“How many months are you staying?” the inkeeper asked.
Kaden shook his head. “A day. My friend and I need sleep and we need quiet.”
The inkeeper handed him a key. “Third room, second floor, it’s the corner room. Best thing I have. Meals are—whenever you want to eat.”
“I will eat now,” Ashi said, “if it is not too much trouble, bring the food to my room?” She added a gold coin as well.
Lodging was probably ten silver.
Ashi was right, they’d need money. Kaden took her up to the third floor and unlocked the door. “I have to go back to the beach. There may be Adventurers there that can be resurrected. Are you going to be ok here?”
“I will go.” Ashi’s voice was slurred with weariness.
“I need someone to guard a heap of treasure. Can you do that?”
“Treasure.” Ashi said it like the word was poison. “What treasure was worth your life?”
Kaden began to drop items from Inventory. Then stack them, adding all the weapons, armor, all the bits he’d taken from beneath the [Torrod] Coral. And they kept coming, swords encrusted with coral, a dead fish he tossed out the window, a handful more staffs he’d thought were tridents. “There. That’s everything I could take from beneath the Torrod Brood Tree.”
Ashi hadn’t spoken. She stared. “As Evelyn would say, ‘this is a most Kaden thing to do.’ But you must be wise. You are the Adventurer, they are the townsfolk. Offer silver to anyone who brings back a corpse. Tell them to take it to the temple. Pay the priests ahead of time.”
It was frankly a better idea than him running around and doing it.
“Give that to me,” Ashi said, suddenly opening her eyes. The scepter that had blown up the coral tree had caught her attention. Uncontrolled explosions were exactly her style, so Kaden handed it over, then answered the knock at the door and gave Ashi her meal, which she ignored, picking through the loot.
Kaden left her there and headed to the town square, looking for the magistrate, a young woman who surveyed the damage with a group of [Builders.] He waited his turn, then dug the spare silver from Inventory, six or seven hundred. “If there are corpses on the beach, there’s a hundred silver for every one brought in. Tell your Temple Priest I’ll pay a bonus for every resurrection they can pull off.”
She didn’t look at him with gratitude.
No, that was Fear. Then again, he was twenty five levels higher than anyone in the town. Kaden knew what it felt like to tread carefully around the more powerful. “If you run out of money, I’m good for it. Kaden Birch, the Guild will back up my debts. If you try and rip me off by killing commoners and then resurrecting them, I’m going to come back in a very bad mood.”
He left her there and headed back to the inn. Ashi sat silent on the bed, eyes closed, the scepter grasp tightly. She’d arranged the loot into a pile of everything she didn’t care about and a bronze partial set of armor that was missing at least half the pieces—or most decorative.
She snored softly as Kaden locked the door and carried the bed—and Ashi—across the room to barricade the entrance. He shoveled everything back into Inventory, then summoned Rocky from deep in his soul.
The Rock Gobbler hated leaving a perfect world for anything less hot, or dry, or filled with rusted metal and hard rocks, but one thing Rocky could absolutely do was watch the window. The only thing remaining to do was dispatch the FalCrow to Eve.
Eve hadn’t sent any more messages.
As he slid into bed, Ashi startled awake. The Scepter glowed with brilliant orange light—then dimmed as she recognized him. “There is no need to hunt for a FarPortal. Tomorrow, we must go to Vichor, you and I.”
Even a short trip would be days or weeks, and Kaden had seen enough of Vichor for a lifetime. “You can go, I have to care for my dungeon. We’ll see you when you get back.”
Ashi shook her head. “Look at the engravings on this scepter. Do you not recognize them? It is Vichorean. It belonged to my older brother, Uri. When you touched it, it yielded to you, and you must yield it to Mother.”
“I yield it to you. I’m not going back to Vichor.” Kaden said it, and even then, he felt something shift. But not away, as if it were leaning closer.
“If your words made it so, there would be a choice. I do not have authority to take this. I know of your fear. But this is a royal artifact. With it, my brother may be made King. Jagi will never take the throne. Never threaten you. Or me.”
Kaden knew his answer. “We leave tonight.”
###
Hours later, Kaden woke as a green parrot zipped through the window, and spoke in Sara’s voice. “Gigantorrod has sticky aggro, and Eve was tagged along with Cutter. We’re taking refuge in Foul Water Swamp to wait it out. We have rations, Even can cook, and we don’t need to run the dungeon, just hide in it.”
“I’m making a side-trip to Vichor. I’ll make it as short as I can. I may not have control of that, but if it’s longer than a day, I’ll stage a break out.” Kaden dispatched the FalCrow and woke Ashi. “We should go. Will the token still work?”
“It is Mother’s will.” Ashi asked, gripping the scepter closer. “Give it to me, and I will ease our travel.”
Kaden still had the odd coin too large for his hand. He didn’t regret handing it over. “I never want that again.”
“Is it so terrible, to have the favor of my mother? To be an envoy of her will? To right wrongs and place a man of peace in power?” Ashi waited.
“Your mother is frightening. I can’t even look at her without her using some illusion. You’re her daughter. I’m—” Kaden shook his head. “I’ll surrender the scepter. But you keep the token.”
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“This I can do.” Ashi grasp it to her, and unlike the last time, when he’d blacked out and woken in the in-between, a portal opened to a place Kaden knew. The Royal Gardens of Vichor. Lush Green plants walked on root-legs, moving into different formations.
Kaden stepped through.
Mana poured into him, flooding over the [Moon Moth]’s damage. Vichor was quiet, but then again, it was always quiet. If they had a war, it would be impossible to hear one street over.
The Royal Pavillion stood ahead, and seated in the shade waited a figure who made reality shiver in her presence. Ashi’s mother was so close to ascending Kaden couldn’t look directly at her.
Ashi’s wrap transformed into gossamer strands of pure mana that gleamed in every color of the rainbow. Unlike the flat tan he knew, these were clothes that matched her power and ability. She gripped his hand and pulled him along as she kneeled down, pressing her head to the ground, and produced the scepter from Inventory. “I bring terrible news. Uri died in the outside world, Mother. Kaden found his armor and the nishu scepter near the feeding ground of a World Boss, [Gigantorrod]. At great risk, he retrieved it. Now we come to return it so that another may take it up.”
Someone spoke.
The world shattered.
Ashi’s hand on his arm grew hot and she pulled him closer. It might have been midnight, or dawn, or perhaps the world was ending as the ground about him caught fire. Kaden instinctively activated [Stealth Aura]. “Close your eyes,” Ashi whispered. “Her rage will pass. Rage is a fire, but sorrow is rain.”
When the ground grew still, Kaden opened his eyes to find the garden dead. Every time he tried to look up, his head began to ache even through [Fortress of Stone].
*Give it back to me, my beloved one. Let Najur show all of Vichor Fate favors him.* The grass, the wind, the sky spoke.
Ashi leaned closer. “His armor. Give it to Mother as well.”
Kaden wasn’t about to risk keeping a piece of Uri’s armor, so he dumped everything out of Inventory that even looked like armor. Metal boiled, burned, caught fire, twisting like tinder. But some pieces survived the fire, taking on a golden sheen like the Solar Mana Ashi sometimes used, rising to join together in something that could only be called armor the way Sara’s underclothes could. Maybe Vichoreans had enchantments that made the armor attract blows. Otherwise, he understood what had killed Uri—something with a point. Or blades. Or teeth. Or maybe a particularly sharp fern, that armor simply wasn’t going to stop anything.
*And you, Dungeon Master. Do you desire power? It is power. Strength, it will make you unparalleled. No binding could hold you. Will you still surrender it?*
Anger flared deep in Kaden. “How dare you dangle something like that in front of me? Something’s rotten here. What are the odds I’d just happen on the special stick Ashi’s brother needs? Not high.”
Ashi gasped.
Kaden slowly raised his gaze, ignoring the pain. He would not turn away.
*This was not chance. Fate works so, to weave together a tapestry of lives against the Cataclysm.*
He wasn’t buying it. “I was only on that beach because of a bet with Sara. My pride not letting me back down. She could have thrown out a dozen other names. How would you have gotten your sceptre back?”
*You are still key to Fate’s design, and so you cannot see it. I will not argue the patterns of heaven with the blind. Answer my question, Kaden Birch.*
He shook his head. “I don’t want your sceptre. I don’t want anything except this binding removed so I can resurrect Trella. I asked once before. I’m offering now. You can have the sceptre, remove the binding.”
The feeling, like the sceptre had grasped his hand, wrenched away.
The world sighed.
The wind wiped the hair aside from his forehead.
*It is not your Destiny alone at stake. I will not do so. Ask for what I can give without harm.*
Kaden could barely see, but he willed himself to match Ashi. To stare an ascendant in the face and tell her what he truly thought. “I don’t want anything else, but I do want to leave now. I brought you your scepter. I gave you anything even remotely armor-like. Every minute that passes is a minute I’m not searching for something that breaks this binding. I will do what you won’t—or can’t.”
*As it must be. You give up power, I grant you power. You bring me gifts, and so I give to you. You ask to break a binding, I grant you another. You will understand in time. Rage as you will, for my daughter’s sake I will not grant what you ask.*
Ashi spoke, her voice a song like the gentlest breeze.
*You have grown stronger, Beloved One. You know my command and what must be done. Time is patient, and I, too, will be.*
“Yes, Mother.” Ashi’s voice was distant, too far distant
Kaden couldn’t see her. Or maybe, more likely, he couldn’t see at all. He’d stared into the sun and gone blind.
*The Demon’s Daughter holds the key, and I have given you what you need, if not what you desire. You will find her in your past. Keep my daughter safe. She will awaken in the second tier, and with it understand what she does not yet. I can not spare her this pain.*
The second tier had been a change for him. A deepening of who he was. Ashi would face the same. “I’ll be there.”
*Then I am content with her path.*
Your skill with [Beast Soul] has increased (ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_ENTITY).
[Hatred Mark] has been damaged. (_ERROR_INFORMATION_UNAVAILABLE_).
The world grew blinding white.
The garden grass ran like rainwater, forming stone under his feet—then green grass again. The song of birds. The screams of battle. Kaden blinked, and he realized a few things. First, he cradled Ashi in his arms. Her wraps were once more the same dull tan, though the mana beads in them gleamed with brilliant light. He stood in tall green blade grass.
And in front of him, a battle had ceased.
A baffled TriTerror paused in mid chomp, a [Shield]’s body in its jaw. A pair of [Thorn Monkeys] still clung to the back of a [Rogue] while another had both fists entangled in the hair of an unfortunate [Mage] woman. Kaden couldn’t guess what the other three bodies were, one carried a bow, the other a spear, and the last was lacking limbs.
And the dungeon was silent. “Don’t stop on my account,” Kaden said.
The [TriTerror] dropped her corpse and pivoted to face him, as [Thorn Monkeys] leaped to the ground and approached.
The [Mage] and [Rogue] ran, leaving their party members behind. Maybe they thought he was an optional boss, some kind of mega boss. Level twenty five, to fifteens, it was probably the right move. “Toss the corpses into the antechamber,” Kaden said as the Dungeon door closed. “You’ve gotten stronger. How many parties did you have?”
Wait. He could check.
Your Core requires Directed Mana x100,000 (23,000 acquired)
1000x Adventurer Party (378 acquired)
100x [Entity Seeds] (33 aquired)
1x Lieutenant Seed
10x Loot Seed (10 acquired)
Optional, Required for next Rank: 1x [Secondary Boss]
The directed Mana was very, very high—until he did the math. In fact, it meant that parties had spent less than sixty mana a run. Something was broken.
Kaden willed the Core to spawn softer grass, and a tree to shade Ashi. She stirred as he set her down, but settled back into a sleep.
The Core had perfect memory, and as Kaden watched past runs, he realized that the Adventurers had mapped his mobs. Found a perfect route. Almost a cheat, sending an [Archer] and [Rogue] to deal with Star Shadow, a [Shield] to farm loot from the vipers, attacking only one set of [Thorn Monkeys] and then rushing the TriTerror.
Part of him couldn’t help admiring their ingenuity.
The other part saw this offense as personal. They’d broken the contract. Now, he’d make them pay. All that Directed Mana just cried out for Kaden to change the Dungeon.
Kaden began by adjusting the layout of the forest section, adding an outer route that crossed with the boss room. And four patrol sets of wolves. The treasure room he’d left in the forest grew heavy rocks and the mouth of a cave, then bones—the dungeon had so many bones to choose from, left by previous parties. And down in the cave? A single [Bearzerker] hiding a suit of armor. It took six tries, but he figured out how to lock the level at ten, meaning the adventurers would have a chance. A choice.
The skulls told the story here, anyone who challenged it knew what they were getting into.
The plains gained a waterfall that led to caves. Caves with scorpions, who truly didn’t actually like caves, but they were scorpions, and even more so, dungeon spawns meant to play a part.
One of the Adventurers must have been a summoner, because now he had small mobile spike-balls called [Splintrax]. They seemed like the kind of Beast that would be guarding a treasure tree, and even better, he could spawn a dozen, and a single [Thorn Monkey].
Now, the section of vines nearest the farmhouse were withered, and the berries carried a moderate poison. Obstacles required making their way through the entire gauntlet of Verdant Vipers to reach the winery, and now a second [Vibrant Empress] stood atop a dead adventurer just inside the house.
As he paced the dungeon, he kept coming back to the [Bearzerker]. It would be wrong to set it as the boss, but he’d search for forest monsters. It might have been hours before Kaden completed his masterpiece—a winged scorpion that only spawned on a timer in the center monkey room.
The TriTerror wouldn’t gain abilities until he ranked up, but a Ruby Hydra would make a great minion for her. As he tinkered with the arrangement, Ashi stirred. Her eyes shot open and she leaped up, a look of sheer horror. “No!”
“What’s wrong?”
Ashi just kept shaking her head. “Look at me. I have always been different, this I knew. My father was not of the same System. But Mother always said I would grow to match them. Look.”
Ashi had gained level. Entered the second tier. This should have been fantastic. Her HP had quadrupled, her mana…Ashi would be deadly. If this was any indication of what she’d be like as a Centurion, there wouldn’t be an equal. “How?”
“Mother’s gift. She is not bound to the System as you are—as…I am. All of my family can ascend, given time and dedication. My path will not be theirs.”
Instead of speaking, Kaden just waited with her. Just listened to her. And when there was nothing left to say, he sat with her, until she stood. “We should go.”
At the entrance to the Dungeon, Ashi opened the door and Kaden tossed corpses out, then wrapped them both in [Stealth Aura] and stepped out. A level twenty Thief lounged at a desk where Mistress Scylla had once stood.
He looked at the corpses and shrugged. “Dungeon’s open, keep it fast, make your run sharp, anything more than half an hour and you get bumped to the back of the list.”
No one so much as looked Kaden’s way as he stepped to the side with Ashi held close. He waited as the next group of six stepped up, reciting their assignments. Watched the door close behind them. Felt it lock.
It was the little things in life that made being a Dungeon Master worth it. The cool sun on his face, the fall breeze. The screams deep in his dungeon as they learned that plans could and did change.
It was a kindness, really, that he told the dungeon to unlock.
A mercy that the [Archer] stumbled out.
Good adventurers adapted.
Good dungeons also adapted.
In the commotion, Ashi flash-froze the lake. It was time to go home, and let everyone adapt.