An hour later, I finally felt like I was back to normal and checking my Status confirmed my suspicion, the [Ka-thunk] debuff was gone. I was sitting with Ylsa, Raiju, and Jaegan around the remaining half-built [Goblin War-Wagon] drinking some water.
“For a buff that only lasts fifteen seconds, a debuff that lasts an hour is a steep price to pay.” I groaned and rubbed my neck. “At least it’s over now though.”
“Did you find any loot?” Jaegan loomed over where I sat. “The [Goblin Mastermind] you killed sounds a lot like a boss monster, so it likely had the final chest hidden somewhere in here.”
With a nod, I tossed a small four inch puzzle box to him. “Just this. I wasn’t going to try working on it with that damn debuff on me. It would have driven me nuts, wading through mud while working on it.”
He looked it over for a minute before tossing it back. “There’s not much I can do with it. My hands aren’t much use for the fine motor control this requires.”
I looked at the puzzle box for a few minutes as Ylsa used a silver brush we’d found to go through Raiju’s fur. At first, the wolf hadn’t liked the idea, but as soon as Ylsa got started, she changed her tune. She was a puddle of white wolf as the berserker worked her coat over from snout to tail.
“Ah, that makes sense.” I mumbled as I clicked a hidden button on one side of the cube. “Aerion’s Theorem, huh. It’s been a while since I saw that one.” My fingers blurred as I finished the rest of the cube in less than a minute, pressing dozens of buttons and sliding panels out of the way with practiced speed. “And with that,” I pushed the final panel out of the way, “we have an open puzzle box.”
Jaegan and I leaned in to look inside the box and a stupid grin took over his face as he leaned back. “Congrats.”
“Come on. Don’t make me wear it.” I groaned. “It’s so… gaudy.” Inside the puzzle box was a golden ring that took up two ring slots on a single hand, stretching from ring to middle finger if worn normally. The gaudy part was the fact that as soon as I touched it, it engraved the blank circle of gold with a color rendition of my personal crest, or at least that’s what I thought it was. Instead of my father’s keep and pencils or my mother’s sun over a lake, it was something new.
The keep and pencils from the Ironwind Clan still appeared, but they were in the back corner, opposite the lake of the Sunbeam’s crest. In the center of the crest was Raiju with a simple platinum circlet set with seven gems hanging from one ear. Her other ear had a multicolored ring representing all the elementals I could summon around its base.
Part of me wanted to reject it, but somehow I had a feeling it was a gift from Dominus, especially since it resisted my [Essence Reading]. Sighing, I put it on and was immediately greeted with a description front and center in my vision.
[Suzerain’s Seal - Unique
Description - This ring shall act as the seal of the Chosen of Dominus throughout his life, to be passed down only in the event of his permanent death. Any Spells cast by Arthur or his descendants while wearing this ring with an elemental component have their potency increased by fifty percent. In addition, this ring allows Arthur to access an aspect of the System long lost, the Party System as well as Party Chat. This ring is immune to Analyze type effects.]
Sonofabitch. I groaned. This thing is basically telling me I have to be a caster. Dominus, why do you do this to me? I’m a Rogue build, damnit! Summoning is fine, but I refuse to cast combat Spells!
My left eye started to twitch as I sat there, stewing.
Eventually, Ylsa got curious enough to ask what was going on. “What’s wrong? It looks like you got some kind of custom item from the Dungeon, why aren’t you happy?” She set her ax down against the wall as she withdrew a whetstone from her bag. “I can feel my goddess’ presence, so it must be a gift from her.” She nodded happily as the sounds of her sharpening her ax filled the chamber.
“The ring is amazing, it’s one of the effects I don’t like. It enhances elemental spellcasting.”
“Sounds like she’s trying to tell you something.” She nodded. “Maybe you should listen.”
Jaegan roared with laughter. “You’ve got him there, Ylsa!” He slapped his knee a few times as he carried on for a bit. Wiping a tear from his eye, he took me in with a shake of his head. “Your build is fine, but you really should embrace your magic. Even your summons are fearsome and they don’t have half the might I’m convinced you could bring to bear if you really leaned into your talents.”
“I’m not having this argument again.” Brushing my pants off, I waved to the [Arcweavers]. “Let’s go clear out the other paths, they shouldn’t be nearly as troublesome as this one was.”
Lightning elementals in tow, I left Raiju, Ylsa, and Jaegan to go and kill some monsters. Anything to get away from that damn conversation again. I know what I want and it isn’t to be a damn caster!
The next tunnel we went down ended in what appeared to be a nursery that was blissfully empty of any young goblins. Even if they were monsters, killing kids was not on my list of things to do. In the corner, I found a hidden door where I heard a few goblins arguing behind it. With a thought, I sent the pair of [Arcweavers] through the door and, thirty seconds later, they reported the room was clear. As they were my summons, the XP still went to me, and I was almost certain I’d leveled up by then. Dominus, here I come. I hope you’re ready for an argument! I planned my revenge as I went through what passed for loot in the room.
Twenty gold worth of coins later, I left the room behind and made my way out into the massive entrance chamber. With only one path unexplored, I started down it while checking for traps. I only found one, but it would have immolated me if I hadn’t found it, so I was glad to have done so. I managed to disconnect the fuel canister on the mechanical trap and threw it into my spatial ring, you never knew when you’d need a bunch of fire.
I turned the corner to find a single level ten automaton slamming a brick of metal into an anvil within a small forge. It didn’t even look up at me as it kept hammering away, despite the metal in its grip being cold. With a pair of daggers to the eyes, I got the bit of XP it was guarding and immediately felt as the Dungeon relaxed. It was the only word for it as I felt the world start to condense. I hurried to search the room as it began to shrink. Finding nothing, I headed back into the central chamber to find my friends sitting on my furniture in the landing zone.
“You finished clearing the Dungeon, good job m’boy.” Jaegan grinned as his gaze swept all over me. “Are you sure this is your first one? I’ve seen veterans of dozens of Dungeons struggle more than you did.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Yup.” I stepped within the landing area and the world around us shook as the tunnels all disappeared simultaneously. “We should get going. We can divvy up the coins out in the real world.” Without waiting for a response, I strode through the portal.
***
“... and that should do it.” I finished piling up the bags of coins before Jaegan, Ylsa, and myself on the same table I’d sorted them on before. While all of our piles were vastly different in size, they all contained the same value of coin, 2,990 GP. My pile was the smallest, but for some reason I really liked the feel of platinum running through my fingers, so I took twenty-nine of those and ninety gold to fill out my total. Jaegan’s pile was huge, as he’d taken all the copper. He said he had a use for it, so we gladly passed them his way.
The pair of them had argued with me for hours about taking a larger percentage of the payout, but they didn’t know how truly wealthy my family was. I suspected Jaegan knew, but he still tried to push for a four way split, with me taking Raiju’s share. In the end, I agreed to take a larger portion of the next loot haul we received if they agreed to take equal portions this time.
“This money,” Ylsa stared at the pile of coins before her in a half drunken haze, “it will buy my people so much of what they need.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought it would be decades, but now–”
“That’s enough, lass.” Jaegan patted her back in a grandfatherly way. “As soon as we can get what your people need, we’ll make a trip to visit them. But before that, we need to help our boss here gather up his reward from King Evergreen.”
Tossing the small bag of coins from hand to hand, I pulled out a single platinum coin, palmed it, then stored the bag away. “We should get going.”
“Aye, you’re right about that.” Jaegan waved a hand and his bags of coins disappeared before standing up with a surprising amount of creaking.
Unlike Jaegan and I, Ylsa didn’t have a storage ring, eschewing it for a storage bag. Storage bags had a lot more storage space for the same level of rarity, but weren’t nearly as easy to use compared to storage rings. It took her a bit of time to slide her assorted coin purses into her bag, but when she finished she stood ready with her axe slung over one shoulder.
“I’m ready to go.”
With a nod, I led the way out of the gold mine with Raiju at my side, Jaegan behind me, and Ylsa pulling up the rear. I was almost tempted to check out the rest of the mind, but after a few moments thinking about it, I gave up on that idea. It’s not like we need the money right now. Plus, if the king asks if we took anything from the mine, now we can honestly say we didn’t without lying.
The moon cast an ethereal glow upon the abandoned mine, its silver light struggling to penetrate the inky shadows that clung to the weathered stone buildings. Squat structures, once bustling with life, now stood as silent sentinels, their windows hollowed eyes staring blindly into the night. A chilling wind whispered through the skeletal remains of equipment, carrying with it the faint scent of decay and damp earth. The only sound to break the eerie silence was the distant howl of a wild creature, a mournful echo in the desolate expanse.
“We should hold up in one of the buildings for the night.” I nodded to what I assumed was the bunk house for the mine’s former workers. “We should be safe to sleep in there, even if it isn’t comfortable.”
None of my companions argued, and soon we were able to get set up on the second floor of the bunkhouse. We shoved the crappy bunk beds into a corner and got our bedrolls set up, though Raiju and I slept on the [Cloud Carpet], finding a mattress of air far more comfortable than the hard ground.
The following morning after breakfast, but before we were able to set out, a monotone voice started speaking in my ear.
“Listen up, I have a deal for you.” The voice sounded tired, like the person behind it hadn’t rested in days if not weeks.
Putting a hand up to that ear, I frowned. “Who is this and how did you contact me?” Magic for contacting people over a large distance was rare and somehow I could tell that was what I was dealing with.
“Ha ha ha, very funny.” The voice maintained its monotone. “This is King Evergreen of Verdant and I’m using a [Farspeech Tome] to speak with you. This ink is insanely expensive, so pay attention.”
That makes sense, I guess. Mom told me about those, but even her family thought using them was a waste of money. He must be desperate.
“I’m listening.”
“Good. As soon as you finish with the gold mine, I need you to head to Chalcedony. The Tower there is causing problems and you and your companions are the only people I can ask to go and take care of it.”
“Where’s my payment for clearing the gold mine dungeon?” I glanced over and found Jaegan staring at me with a curious expression. “A king always pays their debts, right? Pay up and I’ll consider helping you further. Don’t forget you’ll have to pay Jaegan and Ylsa for their services as well, seeing as they’re rightfully free now.”
“If you’re lying to me, I’ll see you all blackballed and stripped of your adventurer cards. I swear it.”
Wrong choice, jocko.
“You know what? I think I’m good with the stacks of coins I got in the Dungeon. Get me my payment and I won’t have my grandfather burn your capital to the ground for sending assassins after my friends and I.”
“Hold on. What assassins? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jaegan mimed a man wearing a crown with his eyes covered and I had to suppress a giggle. “You’re blind to the betrayal of your council. I’m currently standing in the bunkhouse for the mine and it looks like no one has been here in months. I even have paperwork detailing the reassignment of the workers here.” I snorted. “To top it off, the Dungeon was hours from breaking, not weeks. If we hadn’t flown in, there’s no way we’d have been able to stop it from breaking and you’re questioning my veracity? Shame on you, King Evergreen.”
“Prove it. I’ll have an [Item Box] delivered to you within the hour. Within will be the best [Skill Scrolls] I’m able to scrape together in that amount of time. Put any proof you have inside and I’ll make sure the Governess of Chalcedony has payment ready for you when you finish in the Tower there.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll give you until noon if it gets me better scrolls, I’d hate for you to not get what you wanted because you dealt in bad faith.”
“Cheeky brat. Stay tight. The box will be on the way as fast as I can con those losers I call a council into making you some [Skill Scrolls].”
I flopped back onto the [Cloud Carpet] with a sigh. “Well, that could have gone better.” I groaned. “Got us a new gig though, so that’s good.”
Jaegan padded over and sat next to me. “You did well with King Evergreen. He only respects those who deal with him directly, instead of through backhanded deals. That’s another reason he doesn’t get along with his council very well anymore. They only deal behind the scenes and he’s anything but subtle.”
“I noticed.” I smiled as I remembered him showing off his [Unique Skill] right in the middle of his throne room. “I wonder what kind of [Skill Scrolls] he’ll be able to scrape up. I hope they’re decent.”
“Milord, I have finished cleaning Storm-Runner’s fur and claws.” Ylsa knelt before me with her head held low. “What else would you have me do?”
“Relax a little. We’ve got until noon, so I’m going to try and actually sleep for a few hours to see if I leveled and apply it if I did.” I laid back on the [Cloud Carpet] with a yawn. “Don’t hesitate to wake me if you need to but… don’t need me. OK?” I snapped my fingers and the [Arcweavers] from the Dungeon appeared. “Guard my body as I rest, but obey Jaegan’s orders as if they were my own.”
Somehow, they’d come through with me and it didn’t feel like they were going to leave anytime soon. They each only sapped three percent of my max Mana, so I figured having a pair of unsleeping watchmen was well worth the price, especially with me not casting in combat.
“Sleep well, milord.” Ylsa bowed once more before moving to guard the entrance to the bunkhouse room we occupied.
Meanwhile, Jaegan sat in the corner with a pipe in his hand. “Don’t do anything hastily, think your level over. Twenty-five is a big level, with many benefits and pitfalls. Be sure to read everything available before doing anything you’ll regret long term.”
Raiju, to her credit, was already asleep beside me with nice clean fur. Ylsa did a great job. I gave it until the day after tomorrow for it to get messed up again.
I drifted off to sleep to the sound of Raiju’s snoring. Somehow, it reminded me of my Dad’s snoring and it put me at ease as I fell asleep cuddled up next to her.