By the time Levi and Gordon had walked Kaden through the process of devolving his Fighter class and restarting as a Tamer, it was well into the night.
“You good to go?” Levi asked Gordon after they parted ways with the new Tamer. “Or do you need to rest for the night before we head out to the Ice dungeon?”
Gordon considered, then shook his head. “I think we'd best tackle that well-rested.”
He didn’t argue as Gordon drove the pair of them back to the motel.
Levi managed to sleep for a few fitful hours, then slipped back outside to the car. He collected Skarm and the centipedes and set off toward the level 1 dungeon they’d cleared a day before. It would be easy enough to run by themselves, no need to involve anyone else.
He had another minion slot open now and would be getting another for each of the next two levels leading up to the second Threshold. At that point he’d have to decide whether to go all in on minion slots right away or add new abilities, but even at his ridiculously fast leveling rate, it would be at least another week before that could happen.
As they ran, he reviewed stats for himself and his minions, then put his stat point into Spirit. Evasion and mobility were essential to his fighting style. Even when he stopped fighting on the front lines, being able to move quickly would be valuable.
Levi Morrison, Secret Seeker
Tamer Level: 7, Minions: 4/5
Strength: 1, Health: 147/147
(+2/minute)
Psyche: 2, Mana: 67/67
(+3/minute)
Spirit: 4, Stamina: 127/127
(+5/minute)
Movement was essential; being able to draw on stamina in a fight and recover it reasonably fast was his biggest holdup at present.
All three regens would be necessary in the long run, of course; mana would be ever more in demand once he started upgrading to powered armor and more powerful manablades, and health was the ultimate buffer between fragile human flesh and obliteration, but so far, he felt the lack of stamina most keenly and frequently.
He gave both Cen and Centoo a point of strength. They weren't going to be in any fewer frontline confrontations; more health and regen could only help.
He still felt guilty about leaving Two out of commission for so long—they'd been through a lot together—but events kept conspiring against him.
Skarm's regens had all increased with his threshold, an interesting development that Levi wouldn't have expected. As far as he knew, the only way to increase regen was with stat points. He kept finding new ways that human and dungeon creature leveling differed.
Satisfied with their progress for the moment, he led them into the pristine dungeon.
This one, though simple to traverse, added to his growing treasure stash, with two Destruction tokens, a pair of health restoratives, one of stamina, a pouch of deathvine seeds, and a pair of untraced gloves. The gloves he put on, the protection welcome even if they wouldn’t serve as power armor anytime soon.
He finished well before dawn and decided to test his luck running a second dungeon before Gordon woke up. He could maintain a steady run by now, with his stamina regen matching his expenditure as long as he didn’t push into a sprint. Cen and Centoo could keep up with him, though Skarm would have been left behind if not for Centoo carrying him. They ran through the nighttime city, a group of bizarre phantoms, seen but not believed and gone too quickly to be proven.
The second dungeon was level 2. Levi hesitated before entering. If this one had formed an Essence like the last two, then he could be in trouble. They’d only barely taken out the last one even with help from Gordon and Flomper, and each had been a long and dangerous confrontation.
“I’ve come this far,” he muttered. “If it’s another Essence, we’ll back off without entering the boss room and come back with Gordon. Deal? Deal.”
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The dungeon had already been cleared, though. A few stragglers remained, an occasional side passage or detour that hadn’t been emptied, but it appeared to have been delved quite recently.
As Levi and his team neared the boss room, they heard the sounds of voices, clashing weapons, and buzzing.
Correction: this dungeon was in the process of being delved.
Levi stopped, his minions forming up around him.
“I think you should wait out of sight,” he said, after a long moment’s consideration. The last thing he wanted was to spook the delvers inside into attacking them.
Skarm crossed his arms, looking rebellious.
“I can handle myself. I’ll call if I need you, but there are already people here.” This shouldn't be anything Levi couldn't handle on his own.
Cen took a step toward Levi, hunching forward as though anticipating reproof, but unrepentant.
“Thank you, but any stragglers the group missed won’t be a threat to me. You can go back.”
Skarm continued to scowl, but patted Centoo’s head and the centipede turned to move away. Cen reluctantly followed.
Once they were hidden, Levi continued forward slowly, thinking through what he should say when he and the delvers encountered each other. He still winced internally when he remembered his first time encountering people in a dungeon. He'd really not been coherent then. This time, he'd do better.
Rounding a corner, he saw five people, a good group size for dungeons of this level, decently coordinated, but obviously amateurs at fighting. He stayed back and watched, gauging their progress, and quickly understood why so many of the dungeons in the area were being allowed to form Essences.
If this group went up against a boss, even a level 1, they'd not survive. Their movements were too slow, their attacks clumsy and inaccurate. They weren't drawing on their stamina or mana at all, just relying on basic human strength for everything.
Levi waited until they'd finished clearing the room, then stepped inside and raised a hand in greeting. “Hello.”
“Who are you? How did you find us?” demanded a large woman with a greatsword, pointing the weapon at him. A scrawny teen drew back his bow while two more sword-wielders stepped up to either side of the woman. Another Ranger moved quickly from monster to monster, touching each before it faded, as though searching for something.
“I am Levi Morrison, and I'm here to give you all a few survival tips. Like, you might get away with skipping bosses until a dungeon reaches level 4, but after that, you absolutely have to start clearing them. You do not want a thresholded Essence on the loose. Get together a bigger group if necessary, but you can't keep skipping indefinitely.”
The delvers looked at each other. “How do you know we've been skipping bosses?” demanded the one on the right. “Have you been spying? Are you from Doom Raiders?”
“I am currently not affiliated with any local guild. I'm an independent party trying to increase the power of humanity as a whole.”
The sword-wielder on the woman's left scowled irritably. “What, you want us to give out our loot freely to whoever asks for it?”
“Not at all. I'm simply sharing my own knowledge freely rather than charging for it or limiting it to certain guilds. I'm not planning to impose any restraints on your trading with one another.”
“So why are you here?” demanded the woman in front, still pointing her sword at him.
“I'm clearing Essences in the area and wanted to verify whether this dungeon contains one before I bring in my team tomorrow.”
“You trying to steal our dungeon?”
“No. I'm trying to save this city from being destroyed ahead of schedule.”
“Ahead of schedule? You're planning to destroy the city?”
Levi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This wasn't going at all how he'd hoped. “Essences will continue to grow in power until they're strong enough to leave the dungeon entirely, and if they start spawning Essence monsters in the middle of a bunch of unAwakened, what do you think will happen?”
“More competition,” muttered the Ranger. “If everyone knows dungeons exist, we'll lose our edge.”
“Really? That's your biggest concern? Losing your 'advantage'?” Levi pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to think of any way to explain. Nothing came to mind.
“I suggest you take your nonsense somewhere else.”
Levi shrugged. “Fine. I'm leaving. Don't forget, kill the Essence as soon as possible once you hit level 5. It'll be about twenty times harder than a normal boss, and it won't go down easy. Do not attempt it without a large team. Practice working together. If you can find some level 1 dungeons to practice on, do that. Killing some normal bosses together will help your teamwork.”
“I thought you were leaving?”
Levi turned, beckoning his minions to rejoin him as he passed their hiding place. “I hope the rest of the guilds are less stubborn than these guys.”
His team didn't have time to clear another dungeon, even though this one had proven to be a bust. Levi led the group back to the motel, leaving more than a few confused people in their wake. Not a lot of people were out this time of night, but those who were got quite a surprise.
He was safely back in the room pretending to try to sleep by the time Gordon woke up.
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