Chapter 18 - Test
Kai finally found out how many stat points he was gaining per level.
He had gained just four stat points from running rooms five through ten.
He had gotten far more during his solo grind but with Syl now fighting By his side he didn’t push himself anywhere near as hard. So despite running more rooms and fighting higher level enemies, his stat gains had been disappointing.
Some quick math told him he had gained seventy-two and a half stat points total in four levels. Deducting the four he knew for certain he had gained outside of levelling up and dividing the remaining sixty-eight and a half by his four levels told him he was getting roughly seventeen stat points per level.
Was that good? Was it even accurate? If only Syl had not forcibly levelled him up, he would probably know for certain.
As if thinking about her summoned her, Syl reappeared beside him in a flare of fiery orange flame
“That was an insane amount of essence. I completely skipped level two and I managed to take myself just over halfway into level three. I am just behind you.” Syl said cheerily.
“How is your core?”
“We need to push to the higher rooms, hopefully get another unique dungeon monster to level myself up with.” Syl said, dodging his question.
Kai sighed, “I just worked out that I’m getting somewhere under seventeen skill points per level, that sound right to you.”
“It’s fifteen, it would be less if you let the system level you up. Alicia is going to have some catching up to do.”
“Is that a hard limit?”
“For humanoids. You know it doubles the first time you compress your core. So the sooner we get that done, the better.”
“When do you expect us to be able to do that?” Kai asked, loving the idea of doubling his stat gains.
“Well, the latest would be around level one hundred. But something's seriously wrong with you if you leave it that late. We’re aiming to do it around level fifty.”
“We can’t do it sooner than that?”
“No. Unfortunately It’s like making a snowball.” Syl started with her now-familiar, This is important so you better listen tone. “You know how If you don’t have enough snow when you try to compress it into a ball, it all just melts in your hand. Well, that is what happens if you try to compress your core too early.
“People who never exercise their core and rely on the system to level up. They have to wait until they get to a higher level simply because they’re essentially trying to make their snowball from slush full of grit and chunks of ice. They can probably make a good ball, but the structure doesn’t bind properly and will usually come apart the moment they try to throw the snowball.
“You, however, have been using only the cleanest snow and each layer is built with a degree of care. In theory, when you have enough to compress it all, you will have to do is squeeze.”
“Sounds a little like my mana bolts.” Kai thought out loud.
Syl's eyes just narrowed slightly as she thought about it.
“Let's say compressing your mana bolt is like compressing snow into a snowball. Compressing your core will be like compressing planet… I think.” Syl sighed, “No one in the tutorials actually tiered up. There were hints put in place by the system, but they were vague, initiate level information. That’s the only reason I know what I know.”
Kai got up and walked over to where the terror of the woods had been digging.
“What’s with the snowball analogy?” he asked as he knelt down to see if there was anything obvious to explain the bear's interest.
“I had a much longer explanation the last time I tried to explain it to you. You came up with the whole snowball concept.”
“That explains why I think I understood.”
Syl just looked about the goblin camp. “Where’s the portal to the reward room?”
Kai shrugged as he kicked at the loose dirt. “Either a goblin or two got away or we need to investigate whatever the bear was trying to dig up.”
“So what you waiting for? Dig already.”
“I’m trying to decide if we should run the room again. We might be able to get the bear to spawn again, but we might not. Not that that’s a good idea. This didn’t feel like a rare spawn to me, it felt more like a rare scenario. I’m worried we will lose out on an opportunity of some kind and never know it.”
“I know I could go for another chunk of essence, but we will probably only get around one level if we did encounter that guy again.” Syl said eagerly.
Kai turned on Syl as she drifted in closer, “Syl, that thing was regenerating faster than we realised. It could have probably killed me in just one attack. If I hadn’t overloaded that mana bolt, I doubt we would be talking right now.”
“I’ve seen you take on worse alone and come out alive. What’s up? You weren't nearly this reserved before. In the tutorials you revelled in the challenge. When you were grinding like mad, you pushed yourself to the limit.”
Kai didn’t like how light-hearted Syl was being, he could have died and if he died, she died.
“When I was grinding, I had an easy retreat and in the tutorials, I knew I was coming back if I died. Now I have not just myself but you to worry about. Remember when I took that crossbow bolt to the shoulder and you panicked? What happened to that Syl?”
“I-“ Syl started but Kai levelled his best think-about-it look on her.
“Think past the rush of finally fighting after years of just watching, past the rush of levelling up when you thought it would be nothing but a struggle for us both. Think about how one mistake could have killed us both.”
Syl struggled visibly, her mouth working for a moment before things started to sink in and she really started to think about how dangerous what they had just done was.
If Kai was honest, the rune bear terrified him.
There was no way he could have gone toe to toe with the thing with his swordsmanship. If it wasn’t for Syl constantly stunning the thing and locking it down with barriers, he wouldn’t have had the time to construct the spell that killed it.
Even then, Syl was constantly using mana potions so they could maintain their attacks.
If he had been alone against the terror of the wood, the moment he ran out of mana, he would have been dead.
There is no way he could have avoided it long enough to drink a mana potion.
And he highly doubted he was outrunning the damn thing to get back to the room entrance.
He needed to get some more skills, round out his abilities. He needed some actual melee attacks so he wasn’t just relying on his swordsmanship skill. Some kind of movement skill to dodge, evade or even flee would be ideal.
“I’ve never had to think about my own mortality as anything other than a stem authority facing reabsorption,” Syl said softly, breaking Kai from his own thoughts.
“Being mortal is different, isn't it?”
Syl nodded.
“If we weren't what we are, connected the way we are, you know we would both be dead right?” Kai said gently. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t take any risks. I’m just asking you to include me in the risk assessment before we do anything stupid.”
Syl nodded again.
“Heck, I’m saying all this knowing I would have tried to fight it anyway. I was all for it when I thought it was just a level thirteen bear.”
“No, you’re right… I should have told you it was a named dungeon spawn. I know they are magnitudes tougher than anything else on their own level… I wanted to be like you. I- I don’t want to hold you back. I mean I can fight with you now. But before, all I had was my guidance to help you with, which wasn’t so bad. But then we discovered I was draining your essence… Kai, I’m a leech, a parasite.” Syl said, her eyes brimming with tears, which she tried to hold back.
“You can fuck right off with that!” Kai said, kicking at the dirt in frustration. “If anything, we are in some kind of weird symbiotic relationship. You know you make me better in every possible way. In retrospect, fighting the rune bear was dumb. But we still killed a level thirteen named dungeon spawn together whilst I was level two and you were level one. There is no way I could have done that alone.”
He dug his foot in and scooped some loose dirt aside. “I mean I’m the one that’s failing to bring anything to the table here.”
Kai kicked again, thud, his boot hit something hard and hollow.
He ignored it.
“You good, Syl? I think I'm just annoyed you didn’t tell me it was named…”
“You’re an ass.” Syl said as she pulled a tissue from nowhere to wipe her eyes.
Taking her smile and not her words as confirmation that she would be fine Kai looked down to see what he had kicked.
There in the dirt by his foot was a small wooden box. By its fresh condition and the loose dirt around it, the box hadn’t been in the ground long.
His best guess was the goblins had buried it to keep it hidden.
Kai looked around at the mess the camp was in.
If the goblins plan was to hide it from the likes of the bear, they clearly hadn’t buried the box nearly deep enough.
He reached down and carefully pulled the little box free. Syl had told him the rune bear was magically attuned so he was running on the assumption whatever was in the box was some kind of potent magical item.
Kai found a metal latch and popped the lid open to see a small, flat, rounded stone that looked like black sea glass, only there was a dim red glow coming from within it.
“What is it?” Kai asked as he looked at the stone wearily. “It doesn’t look powerful, at least I can't feel anything. But whatever it is, it got that bear's attention.”
Syl raised her brow as she looked at him, “For the umpteenth time, you have examine.”
“You’ve been telling me not to examine things for hours.”
“It’s a glowing stone, not something that will get all its buddies to come kill you the moment they feel your eyes on them.”
“In my defence, it’s my first random glowing stone, for all I know, it could explode if I were to examine it poorly. So I defer to my beautiful symbiote system guide for answers. You want to be useful, don’t you?
Stolen novel; please report.
“Not exactly how I want you to use me…” Syl sighed, “The only reason I’m letting this slide is you finally admitted out loud that you think I’m attractive and the fact that there are things out there that might just explode if you examine them wrong.”
Syl looked down at the stone. “Hmm, it’s a keystone, totally not going to explode on you, sadly. I’d pretend it could if you handled it wrong just to mess with you but you already kicked it pretty hard so that’s out the window. Ooh, want to try infusing it with some mana? Syl said as she drifted away from him.
Kai took the stone out of the box to get a closer look at it, the moment his fingers touched the stone, an archway to what he hoped would be the reward room appeared off to his side.
“I guess no goblins actually got away, or…” He paused to think about why he had to find and touch the stone for the archway to appear. “This has to be some kind of alternate scenario, if we didn’t find the stone, we would either have to hunt down any survivors to get the portal the way we normally do or restart the room altogether...”
Thoughtfully he examined the stone, hoping it would give him some answers.
Dungeon Keystone.
That was it? Maybe he had been too subtle.
He examined it harder.
Dungeon Keystone.
He looked up to see Syl eyeing him.
“I give, what’s a keystone?”
“It's a key,” she grinned.
She was taking way too much pleasure from stating the obvious for his liking.
“A key to what?” He asked, hoping she was just teasing him and had an actual answer.
“How am I supposed to know? Could be anything. The stone has a specific magical signature that can be used to unlock something, what exactly, I don’t know. Could be a door, a barrier, it could be multi-use or single.”
She floated up to him and made to tap him on the nose as she said, “I- do- not- know,” playfully.
“Is it safe to assume it’s not for something in the forest since the portal appeared when I touched it?” Kai asked the question more for himself than it was for Syl.
Syl shrugged. “Do you want to spend the rest of the afternoon hunting? The room’s cleared. We don’t need the supplies but we might find something.”
Kai eyed the portal. “No… I’m pretty sure this is meant for something later in the dungeon otherwise, that wouldn’t have opened.”
It was Syl's turn to look about. “We going to loot the goblins or are you ready to go?”
Kai shook his head as he closed the small box and stored it and its stone contents, he wanted his rewards and he already had hundreds of dead goblins and their gear.
The reward room was the same bare stone room as before except for one major difference. Instead of the usual two archways, there were three. The one they entered through and another two spaced apart on the other side of the four reward chests that sat in the middle of the room.
Kai and Syl looked at each other and agreeing silently, Syl disappeared to then reappear a moment later with a grinning Alicia in tow.
“How did you know?” Alicia asked as soon as she arrived.
“I wanted to be certain but I think I did it, it was all there. I mean, it looked different to both of your cores. I mean, my main core is much, much smaller so finding my physical core and my mana core was easy.” Alicia spoke rapidly, her accomplishment evident.
Alicia turned from Syl and noticing him, she leapt forward and hugged him tight. “You were right, Kai. I found my core by following the feeling of essence. I do not think I could have done it without you.”
Kai was glad he wasn’t covered in goblin bits. Bear bits, however, he hadn’t checked for.
The hug lingered longer than he expected.
Alicia for her small stature, gave him quite a good squeeze. He actually liked hugs but with their contract and the lingering implications, Kai didn’t quite know what to do with Alicia’s arms now wrapped around him. In the end he relaxed and opted for his usual gentle but firm squeeze in return.
If Alicia had found her core, then she had done in just a couple of days what Syl had predicted might take weeks. She deserved a comforting acknowledgement, not a stiff, confused, awkward hug.
Syl let out a gentle ahem and Alicia released him. Slightly abashed, Alicia took a couple of steps back.
Yeah, that hug was definitely awkward.
Alicia still couldn’t contain herself, she bounced on her toes and continued her words coming out at a rapid pace, “People think that feeling is the system telling you how far along you are to the next level. But it is not. I actually think more people would find their core if the system was not automatically levelling them up. They could follow the feeling, but the system uses the essence so the feeling is gone before they have the chance to investigate it. Master will want to find some people and investigate this further but this has far-reaching implications.”
“Huh, so my advice actually worked. What did Syl have you doing?”
“Ugh, meditating, feeling deep within myself for the root of everything.”
“Really, Syl, that was your core exercise?” he asked, unable to hide his amusement.
“It’s not like people avoiding automated system actions was part of my job. That’s just what people who found their core did. I mean, we talked about it and it’s what you did. Usually took you a month to figure out at first… then maybe a week. But you never once mentioned anything about essence to me.”
“You mean I forgot to tell you something I potentially discovered during the thing I had no way of remembering?”
“You would still talk to me, you know. I just couldn’t reply,” Syl pouted.
“Anyway, congratulations, Alicia.” Kai said as he gave her an approving nod and a cheerful smile.
“Yes, congratulations.” Syl copied, “But Alicia, that’s not actually why we brought you out here.”
Syl floated in front of Alicia and pointed over her shoulder.
Alicia turned around slowly to see the four chests and the two archways.
“What room is this?”
“It’s the reward room just after the tenth, we killed this giant bear and-“
“You killed a bear! The terror of the woods?!” Alicia asked as she spun around, her eyes wide.
Kai pointed at the two ornate chests, one on each side with two simple chests separating them. They were the same shiny metal as his last dungeon achievement chest, only now they depicted a single man facing off against a giant rune bear.
“Nasty thing-“ Kai started.
“No, you don’t understand. You actually killed it?”
“Why, should we not have?” Syl asked, confused.
“The terror of the woods has only been reported three times since the dungeon was discovered. Each time it was a lone survivor reporting the encounter after their entire party was killed… "I- I did not think to warn you since it has not been seen in the last three centuries, or at least no one has escaped the encounter to report it in three centuries.”
“I told you it was risky.”
Syl just looked off into space.
“The teams that encountered it were always exceptional… prodigies.” Alicia looked at Kai and Syl. “Teams so good they were expected to finally clear the dungeon.”
“It was Syl's idea. We pinned it down with multiple barrier spells and unleashed a storm of modified mana bolts on it. Even then I think it was regenerating faster than we could damage it. In the end we killed it by blowing its head off.” Kai explained as he kept an eye on Syl, it looked like she had completely checked out of the conversation.
“The last bolt I used, the one that killed it, had about two persons worth of mana compressed into it.”
“It was actually closer to five or six people your level,” Sly said as she shook her head without looking away from whatever it was that had captured her attention.
“What is it, Syl?”
“We have an observer, a new one.” Syl said.
The moment she said her last word, the sound of slow clapping echoed through the chamber as a pressure descended.
A tear in space opened and an ageless human-looking woman with bright purple eyes and long, straight black hair down past her thighs stepped through. The moment she was clear, the tear closed behind her as if it was never there.
As she clapped, the golden silks she was wearing shook and shimmered as if they were suspended in water. Her bare feet causing the dungeon floor to crack with each gentle step as she moved over to look at the three of them closely.
“This is a first.” She said smiling, her voice soft but firm. Somehow old but decidedly young, “To think someone who just turned level three was able to detect me.”
“Who are you?” Kai asked as the woman scrutinised Syl deeply.
“They’re a god, an old one too. But not exactly ancient either.” Syl said as she returned the woman's look with complete indifference.
Alicia stood frozen on the spot, her eyes wide as they darted between Syl and the newcomer.
“Yes, I reached the divine a long, long time ago. But I’m not here as a god, technically. More so as an architect.” Said the woman as she gently bowed her head, “This is a dungeon I designed aeons ago, it is actually a bit of a failure so imagine my surprise when I get a system notification that a team of two killed the rune bear.”
“The system wouldn’t allow for an impossible scenario…” Sly said
“Exactly, but the scenario wasn’t to kill the rune bear. It was supposed to be a test judgement. Even if you attack it, if you retreat, it would only chase you so far before it heads back to the camp. The whole point is to reveal the location of the keystone and trigger the alternative path.”
“Then why make it look like it’s heavily wounded? Anyone would judge that to be the dungeon hinting it’s possible to kill the thing. That was my judgement call.”
The woman sighed, “As I said, the dungeon's a bit of a failure. It’s supposed to help separate out the truly exceptional, not kill them outright… The three of you are very interesting.”
The god looked off to the side for a moment, her eyes rapidly darting back and forth as if she was watching something very fast.
She turned to Kai, “Repeating the floors until you can run it perfectly. A very clever approach. And your slaughter of the training floors. How are you only level four? You should be a much higher level?”
Her purple eyes bored into him, “Oh, I see, that makes more sense. An… anomaly and an outcast, you two are quite unique.”
“Special,” Kai corrected.
“Yes, you have quite the smell of system interference on you... so much about you is forbidden even to me.” She sniffed, “Shamiale of all things, and someone much older, one I don’t recognise.”
Shrugging to herself, the god walked over to stand in front of Alicia. She placed a finger on the bottom of Alicia’s chin and lifted her head so she could look her in the eyes. “Yes. You too have potential. I see you haven’t participated with the other two but you are still connected to them, a contract, a novel one too.”
She looked off to the side once more, “I see, the fifth reward room, halfway through the dungeon. Had your last party utilised you correctly, they might have gotten further. In the end they went on four more floors without you and their defender took a critical injury. I don’t think they realised how much you were actually boosting them. They retreated okay in the end.”
Alicia relaxed visibly.
“Such a pity, had you entered the dungeon with the other two, I think you might also be on track to get the more exotic rewards this place can offer.”
“Rewards?” Kai asked, unable to contain himself.
The god ignored him as she looked about in thought, seeing the two archways, she tutted. “You have two choices, two paths ahead of you. One is to the fiftieth floor, where you are supposed to fight the terror, save the village and wipe out the corruption. This is the normal route for normal people.”
The corridor to the right seemed to glow as she spoke.
“As you know, Alicia here will only be able to join you after the fifth reward room. The rewards are good, they have to be for the difficulty.” the god sighed and shook her head. “This dungeon has appeared many thousands of times across the multiverse and yet that path has only ever been completed a few hundred times. The difficulty curve is all wrong. But alas, people see it as a good training dungeon to push until it gets too hard. the system keeps spitting it out despite my many requests not to.”
The other corridor to the left lit up.
“This path is only unlocked by those with the skills and judgement I desire. I use it to, let's say, recruit… though I dare not actively peruse something the system itself seems to have an interest in until I get some kind of confirmation it's safe to do so.”
The god Looked about and sighed in disappointment when nothing happened.
“I have seen far too many godlings snuffed out by their zealous conduct when it comes to the system itself. I do not take Shamiale’s touch on you two lightly.”
“Bob must be Shamiale…” Syl murmured to herself.
The god spun on Syl and snapped her fingers, “Yes! That one does like his monikers. He is the divine version of the bogeyman. Many of my contemporaries do not believe he exists, just a myth to keep them in line. It really doesn’t help that he uses names like mortals use toilet paper.”
She turned back and gestured to the left arch, “Anyway, this path is much shorter but it has no intermediate reward rooms until you reach the end.”
“How much shorter?” Kai asked as he was weighing the two paths up in his mind
“Just ten short floors.”
“Just ten as opposed to the forty we currently face?”
“Yes. Each floor will be slightly different. Specifically designed to test something I favour. There are no outright fail conditions but death is still a possibility. Let me be clear: only eight people have completed the trials. A team of five, a pair and then a solo adventurer.”
“The guy that did it alone was nuts.” The god said through gritted teeth, “I regret that one.”
The god cleared her throat with a soft cough and continued as if she hadn’t been scowling at something. “If you go this route, Alicia can join you as she has not yet walked this path.”
The three of them looked at each other and Alicia spoke up, “Is the reward comparable? If Kai and Syl remain on the normal path, they will have eight opportunities to gain great rewards, will they not, especially with their approach to perfecting each floor?
“I promise you that the rewards for satisfactorily completing the test will be magnitudes greater, fewer, but far greater. But I do see a problem now that you mention it.” The god cupped her chin in thought. “I cannot offer you a boon unless you are beholden to me in some way, and that is usually part of the reward... If you agree to take this path, how about I sweeten the pot a little and give you something now to help you on your way?”
Once again the three of them each gave the other a searching look before nodding in silent agreement.
“Great,” the god turned to Alicia and held up both hands as the archway to the right collapsed behind her.
In one hand two shards appeared and in the other a simple stone.
“These shards are needed for the final reward. The reward that allowed me to submit such a difficult dungeon to the system in the first place. I know you had more shards before but it is only fair that you are all on level footing and find the other shards on the floors to come. The stone, however. The stone will turn one item of your choice into a growth item, amplifying its potential to suit you exactly. Choose the item you use it on wisely.”
Alicia took the offered items reverently.
“Growth item?” Kai asked, curious how things would match up with his expectations, his dreaded preconceived notions.
“Growth items are exceptionally rare, they bind to your soul and level up with you. But to have one that also adjusts to you exactly, that is rarer still.” Syl explained.
Yeah, it pretty much matched exactly as he thought it would. He wanted one.
“For you two…” The god got that distant look for a moment before a sly smile curled her lips. “I think I will enhance your current rewards.”
The room shook slightly as the four chests in the centre of the room shifted and grew larger.
“The god grinned. Yes, that will do nicely.”
“Who are you? I mean, what are you a god of exactly?” Kai asked, unable to hold his curiosity in check any longer.
“Oh yes, I suppose I didn’t introduce myself. I am known as Atheos. I’m just a god. I don’t particularly have a stick, if I did, I forgot it a long, long time ago. Now with that little bit of power I've used up my time here, I hope to see you all again soon.”
“Wait! Crap, I was going to ask what the keystone is for.”
“Spoilers,” Atheos's voice echoed through the chamber as her lingering presence faded.
“She’s still watching, isn’t she?”
Syl nodded.