Chapter 76

Trevor checked his own skill list for the last time before approaching the staircase leading back to the first floor of the dungeon. He had two common skills that were of the more classic kind, at least according to how the boss saw them through his video game interpretation of magic, which were [Mana Shield] and [Water Whip]. He had trained them up to the first bottleneck, level 5, increasing their power significantly: he could use the shield to negate any damage coming at him while fighting at a distance with devastating whips of pressurized water until his mana ran out. The whips were strong against non-magical enemies, capable of cutting down trees in a single swing and probably bisecting cars and people alike. Against magical enemies they struggled a bit more, but it was to be expected in this rapidly changing world. Plus, it seemed like Michael’s Silver aura could almost stop them wholesale without him taking much damage at all unless Trevor overcharged the skill with mana.

They were still very strong for a common skill, truly hammering in the fact that being common wasn’t the same as being weak. Unlike other magic systems like Mister Tyrell’s, skill stones were classified by the dungeon based on how commonly they dropped. According to Michael, Candle Light had been given at least one rare skill stone that was utterly useless in a fight, barely any useful at all as utility, but was so exotic as to be classified as rare.

Trevor also talked with Johanne and the others, getting to know them better and finally understanding their hurry to establish a proper science division within the corporation and a production line that could accommodate magical artifacts. Of them all, Mister Tyrell was the most worried, mentioning how skills like [Ghost Market] could make entire fortifications vanish, and even water whips could carve out walls like they were made of butter. A little mana enhancement would go a long way towards mitigating these issues, once they figured out how to do it.

Now, after almost two weeks of constant training, Trevor was about to face real danger again. Two weeks of magic. Two weeks of pushing his body to the limit, being healed back up to health, and gorging himself at massive feasts held by strange creatures called the Fae in order to give his body the fuel it needed to improve itself.

He still wasn’t used to any of it. He still couldn’t believe that magic was real. That he had magic, and that he was about to step into a place that was something straight out of a video game. He thought about his grandson, spending entire nights with his face glued to a screen playing games he called rogue-likes, and smiled.

Perhaps one day he could walk up to him and tell him: hey, you know all those games you waste so much time on? Well, I’m doing that stuff in real life.

He would have to think about it: he wanted to make the sentence sound like an old man complaining about lazy youngsters as much as possible in order to maximize the cognitive dissonance once his grandson understood what he was talking about. Perhaps even show him some magic while he was at it.

He knew the time would come, eventually. Michael had been enthusiastic about his plans to build what basically amounted to a walled city close to Site 00, where personnel and their families could live while remaining within safe distance to where all the important stuff was located. According to him and the others involved in this mad plan, it would be the idyllic, perfect city, powered by magic so that they could have all the amenities they wanted and live a life of luxury and fulfillment. Once they figured magic out, of course. Trevor would doubt anyone else, but not them. Michael was strong and resourceful, Mister Tyrell was a force to be reckoned with, bending considerable resources, expertise and power to their cause. Mister Chestermill was a sly fox, the old geezer who had been somewhat relegated to the sidelines now getting his second chance to shine thanks to magic. Johanne was crazy, hot and smart. A dangerous woman. Then there was Jennifer, who he trusted with his life and knew just what she was capable of.

Yes, if it was them, they could pull it off.

He shook his head with a smile. Good times were ahead of him, if only they managed to get through the initial growing pains.

***

Michael watched the man psyche himself up and step on the staircase with a determined look on his face. Following behind, soon the valley was but a faraway memory as they found themselves deep within the dim cavern system of the first floor. He was providing all the light with his own skills, allowing the second in command of security at Site 00 to handle the fight without distractions.

Michael obviously planned to take away said light in later runs, after Trevor had gotten used to real fights. Sure, he had trained by fighting to the death against the Fae, who could respawn and even adapt to his fighting style, but it had always been in a controlled environment. The Fae could die, but they were instructed not to kill him because he could not respawn like they could, a restriction the monsters of the first floor did not have.

Which was why when the first skeleton attacked, Michael was surprised to see Trevor rush at it with no hesitation, not even raising a mana shield to protect himself. Instead, he looked like he was saving up mana for his other skill. With a nimble side-step, Trevor moved unlike a man his age had any right to, putting the not much older Old Dave to shame thanks to his superior training and reflexes, and ended up right behind the skeleton before it could even raise its weapon.

Then Trevor touched it. To an untrained eye, it was as if nothing happened for a full second. The two figures were frozen, unmoving.

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Michael saw the fight for what it really was and understood. Trevor was not simply training to fight the classic way. He had trained to fight on two fronts: the physical and the magical. He did not use his common skills immediately, instead he used [Ghost Market] and, armed with the level-5 uncommon skill, he was already pushing it beyond its simple scope, figuring out interesting ways to abuse its power. His magic slowly overtook that of the skeleton, until…

The skeleton vanished with a pop.

It was a wasteful use of mana. It was an improper use of the skill. Michael could only nod, impressed. This was the right mindset to have, of course, to grow beyond one’s limits. Indeed, it seemed that Trevor got the confirmation that his work had been rewarded with a notification, for his face lit up, but forever the professional he did not let it distract him. Instead, he turned around and finally unleased his other skills. Against a normal opponent, his opening move would have been a devastating shock and awe tactic. Against skeletons, it was training.

He dismantled all the opposition in the room in moments, using magic with much more skill than Michael could claim to have had back when he was at his level. The man was a natural at fighting, but unlike Old Dave, he had never come to like it. Old Dave’s face was a grin when he fought monsters, Trevor’s was concentration and professionality. He did not like what he did. But he did not have to like it to be good at it.

“I did it. Level 6. But there are depths to this skill I yet have to explore. I think I can push it to rare once we leave the dungeon and I can experiment properly.”

“That’s great,” Michael said. Unlike Trevor, who was clearly suppressing his enthusiasm lest he leave his battle trance, Michael could allow himself to grin.

“After we deal with the current emergency.” Trevor said, “let’s proceed to the second room.”

“Before that,” Michael held up a finger, “remove the skeleton from the market and defeat it the normal way. What you did was cool and all, but the last thing we need is someone purchasing a magical skeleton on Ebay.”

***

“This…” said Jennifer. She was bloodied, foul liquids from deceased goblins mixing with her own blood and sweat. She had beaten the whole room alone, snarling and raging like a maddened beast and had been rewarded for it with a book that positively glowed with magic. She was proof of yet another different approach to fighting, unleashing the beast when she fought.

Michael wondered where that put him. How did he go about fighting? He mulled about it while Jennifer looked in awe at her own reward, handling the book with reverence, not wanting to ruin the moment for her.

I would call myself something of an Adaptive Master. I started out like a bumbling idiot, barely any better than a goblin, full of myself and thinking that some karate classes had made me into a warrior. Then I got handed a skill stone to heal myself. No fighting ability, just the ability to endure. With it, I could bash my head against enemies a million times, learning, growing. Then I got more skills, and I adapted. Then I incorporated weapons, guns, explosives. I made my own skills grow more powerful. Every time my style changed. It’s changing yet again now that I have [Okinawan Mastery]. It’s like I have a million different styles, and I can choose what to do in the situation I’m in. One day, perhaps, I will make a single style out of them all.

Not to mention the many things I’m still missing. What does my strange Soulfire Silverweb aura even do? I still haven’t done much with my level 6 manipulation allowing me to do unbound magic. What if I can use the elements in a fight?

The road to mastery is long.

The introspective moment ended as Jennifer got up, gingerly holding the book in her hands.

“This… is magic!”

At once, her battle lust receded and the feral look on her face was replaced by reverent awe. Then she schooled her face, turning slightly red.

“I apologize, sir. The book took a lot out of me when I touched it.”

Michael nodded. He had seen it all play out with his magic sense. Beyond that, he felt like he had gained some insight into the interplay of magic and human minds, something that should be tested and explored when he wanted to finally attempt at leveling up [Healing Aura] again. The skill had been stagnating on an almost-full fractal for a while, and a level-up was going to happen soon.

“That’s okay. So, what does it say?”

“Do you want to see for yourself?” she asked.

“Later, maybe,” he said, “but this moment, it’s yours. You earned it.”

“Can I test it out, sir?” she asked, professionally, but not without excitement.

“Sure. But if it’s an area-of-effect skill, please think of me as an ally as you do so.”

She nodded as she concentrated on the book. Michael felt a vast build-up of magical energies, elemental energies and Qi as she did so, with perhaps a little bit of Intent mixed in, something that left him surprised until he remembered that he too had managed to produce Intent while he was still at Copper-rank. Then a flame erupted from the book in concentric waves, silver in color like a myriad of tongues of liquid metal. In its wake, not even the stones of the ground remained, turned to nothing.

“Tingly, but not uncomfortable,” Michael said. “Almost… soothing. I like it.”

Jennifer was looking around at the damage she caused. He could see the gears turn in her head as the awe was quickly processed by her highly trained mind. She would probably be too excited to sleep tonight, but right now she would be focused like a laser.

***

“Alas,” Michael spoke. The others were all sitting at the large table in his treehouse, solid wood that was harder than stone. “The time is almost up. We planned, we schemed. I gained two levels just by helping you, which is awesome. I have one last thing to do and then we can leave this place and return to the real world.”

Old Dave nodded. “I’m going to miss the daily feasts.”

“You can come back here, old man.” Said Travis, “you have the power to challenge the first floor now, and Michael’s blessing to enter his Valley.”

The old man scoffed. “Only after you, protocol-enthusiast slave driver, prove that it’s safe and it won’t send me to the second floor alone! How about that.”

“Sure, old man,” said Travis, sipping on a Fae drink. “Mm, this is good. Anyway, we are as ready as we can be. We can all come back here after we’ve dealt with the situation outside.”

“Alright,” said Michael, “we leave tomorrow morning.”

“Why not now?” asked Trevor.

“I want to head to the glacier first. There’s an element I want to master before I leave.”

“Can I come?” the man asked, “I want to see what the place is like.”

Michael thought about it, then nodded, “sure. The place is pacified. Anyone else?”

There were no’s all around. “Too tired, boss man,” said Jennifer, “magic still takes a lot out of me, and I need my beauty sleep.”

“Then, Trevor, let’s go.”