Levi sat for a long moment in the room where he’d killed the Soul-Seeker until his breathing and pulse slowly stabilized, trying to decide whether to press on or retreat.

Soloing dungeons really was as bad an idea as everyone said. Two could do it, barely, but he’d been lucky so far. He couldn’t count on surviving the next time.

“We need to figure out how to revive Skarm and I need more levels ASAP.”

Gremlin Two squeaked a query.

“Oh, right, you’ve never met Skarm. He’s your partner in minionship, probably going to appoint him boss of the gremlin division.”

Gremlin Two looked up pleadingly.

“Yes, you did well, but Skarm has seniority. Got it?”

Gremlin Two nodded in reluctant agreement.

“Now, let’s look at your stats before we do anything else.”

He looked over the sheet, but not much had changed. Just one more stat point to spend. Looked like gremlins were similar to everyone else in that they’d only earn ability points at every threshold level. And if he had to guess, that threshold level would be 5, same as humans or dungeons.

So far, he’d kept Gremlin Two to his tankier build, but there wasn’t much point in stacking health on a gremlin. Sooner or later, Levi would start getting sturdier minions to serve as frontliners, and then the gremlins would be back to their original purpose as scouts or stealth attackers.

He put the point into Spirit.

Name: Gremlin Two Type: Horned Gremlin Level: 3 Strength: 2 Psyche: 0 Spirit: 1 Health: 60/60

(+3/min) Mana: 0/0

(+1/min) Stamina: 60/60

(+2/min)

Levi should be closing in on level 5 himself, but it would probably be at least one more dungeon before he crossed that threshold. Which left the question of whether it would be better to continue in the Control dungeon or leave and come back later.

In the end, he could only get the levels he needed by continuing to delve dungeons. Control might be more dangerous in some ways than the others, but any dungeon would be a life-or-death struggle. Every dungeon tried its best to slaughter anyone who entered.

He waited long enough for his stamina to reach a respectable level, then lost patience with sitting around doing nothing. More monsters could show up at any moment; it would be best to press on until they reached the treasure room.

“If it’s safe, poke me. If it isn’t, I’ll try to protect you.”

Levi crossed to the next door, then closed his eyes and pushed it open.

He listened as Gremlin Two scampered in and then ran back and poked his leg. Levi opened his eyes.

“Oh, huh.” A treasure room. “Of course.”

Only four items, but ones that made Levi’s face break into a grin.

A mana and health restorative went into their respective pockets on his belt. The others...

Shortsword (Manablade, Standard)

Abilities: (Insert power stone)

Power stone: 0/1

Upgrade Slots: 0

Leather Greaves (Legwear, Standard)

Abilities: (Insert power stone)

Power stone: 0/1

“Beautiful.” He ran a hand across the manablade, still shorter than he was used to, but far better than the dagger. He passed the dagger to Gremlin Two, strapping the new shortsword to his belt. The greaves he equipped as well, feeling marginally less vulnerable without his legs exposed. “Still no power stone though. Not even a token.” He buried his disappointment and stepped through the next door.

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Disorienting wrongness assailed him, then deposited him back outside the dungeon. He blinked for a moment, unsure of himself. “That’s it? A bunch of empty rooms, one monster, and a treasure room?”

It had been challenging enough, but... it still felt lacking.

Well. At least now he knew what to expect. He’d need to re-run the dungeon a few times at least until he got a few Control tokens out of it. But he wouldn’t be trying it again until he had at least one more minion. Against a foe that could instantly take him out of play with a single slip-up, they needed a numerical advantage.

“Guess we’d better get back to the first dungeon?” He squinted at the sky. “It should be refilled by now.”

Then he frowned.

“Wait. What about my special extra treasure?” He’d used the map, there should have been something more. His loot was above average for a dungeon of this level, but not abnormally so. Not nearly enough to justify the map.

He turned back to the hovering glint.

Control Dungeon: Level 1+

Still marked as a plus.

“We missed something.” He stepped back inside.

The empty rooms remained as empty as ever, slowly tilting downward until they culminated in what he now knew to have been the boss room. The deflated Soul-Seeker remnants had long since disappeared back into the dungeon, but he searched over every part of the walls and floor in case he’d neglected to notice something important.

Nothing.

Which only left the treasure room.

Unlike the bright polished marble of the other rooms, the treasure room had the same basic carved stone appearance as any other dungeon. The central table with its glorious presentation of rewards remained utterly ordinary, so much so that he’d entirely forgotten he was here following a secret map.

Gremlin Two tapped on his greaves to catch his attention. To both of their surprise, the sound was deep, almost drum-like. Two jumped back in surprise, eyes wide as though to plead innocence at what he’d done.

Levi chuckled. “It’s fine. What did you need?”

The gremlin pointed to the table — not so much a table as a rectangular block of stone, but Levi approached.

“What about it?” He ran a hand across its surface, checking for any secret buttons or seams. Nothing.

Gremlin Two tapped his leg again, then pointed up at the table. When Levi didn’t understand, the gremlin crouched on the ground and pointedly looked up at the stone block.

Levi got to his knees beside the treasure table, running a hand down its side. He found a faint depression, then leaned down to get a closer look.

Something pale white was embedded in the stone, forced upward at an angle, coming so close to filling the depression that if he hadn’t been looking right at it, he’d have missed it completely.

With the tip of his sword, he levered the object out. It fell to the floor with a ringing plink. Light dazzling off it as it sparkled like a diamond-cut opal… or like pure crystalized mana.

Unbound Seed Fragment (Rare)

1 of 3

Unite what was broken

He turned it this way and that. The Seed Fragment was smooth, polished, and beautiful, all but vibrating with the strength of mana contained in it. Locked in it. He tried to pull the power out, but it didn’t even radiate. It seemed to be a perfect mana seal, holding unknown levels of power without a leak.

Its shape and size were too long and thin for a power stone, but he ran a finger down the rounded outer edge, then the flat plane where it was sheared off. He could imagine it being almost exactly the right size if three more fragments were united with it.

Was there such a thing as a flawless power stone? If so, it could power a weapon or armor almost indefinitely. Even a theoretically flawless stone would expend power when impacted, but the option of having an armor’s protective power on all the time without worrying about the perpetual mana drain would be an unbelievable boon.

Manablades and other mana-powered items were prohibitively high in mana cost over time due to the inefficiency of the circuit. No power stone held power perfectly, so any time a weapon or item was active it would leak constantly. Therefore, no one kept their sword activated when not in a fight, and armor was generally only powered in brief bursts when attacks were anticipated.

With an effort of will, Levi reined in his imagination. He shouldn’t get his hopes up too far. ‘Seed’ as a power stone tier might be a bit of a stretch.

More likely it would be an actual seed for some rare tree: valuable in the long run, but useless to his immediate plans. He’d never seen a tree seed that looked like a crystal, but he’d also never pursued crafting professions. For all he knew, there were all kinds of weird seeds out there.

Still, even just a rare plant seed he could trade for quite a bit once crafting got up and running. It would be worth his time regardless what the ultimate prize at the end might turn out to be.

Now was not the time for speculation.

He squatted down to look into the indentation, hoping...

Yes, there it was. Behind where the Seed Fragment had been lodged, he saw the tip of a page.

The next step of the treasure hunt.

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