Solo (Part 2)

There was nothing else for it but to push through. He hefted his hammer and prepared to charge before having a sudden thought. Charging in had made sense when he had a healer to back him up and when the creatures they had been fighting constantly ran away. But he didn’t know how these fought. If he could draw them out, handle them in smaller groups… maybe, just maybe he could make it work.

As long as they didn’t have a shaman resurrecting all his kills.

He stood and strode out in plain view in front of the exit to the main hall. Stooping, he picked up a handful of small stone fragments and began throwing them at the nearest group of cave imps.

After just a couple of throws the in-charge one looked over at him. It signaled and the three smaller imps with it grouped up and charged.

“First test…” Idris said to himself. He waited until they were almost on him before turning and running for the door. It opened and he ran out into the main hall.

Turning he saw the imps gathered at the east gate. One of the bolder ones stuck a toe into the passage, like it was testing the temperature of water, and pulled back. The group of them began yelling and shaking their weapons, but after a few moments the door eased back into a closed position and remained so.

“That’s one mystery solved,” Idris said, and a plan began forming in his head.

For several hours he repeated the exercise. He would dip in, find the nearest group, taunt them into chasing him, and retreat. When he engaged he would activate Adrenaline Rush to ensure the fights were as one sided as he could make them.

But the clever little creatures were so much more bold than their original counterparts. It was almost impossible to get them on their own and, as his kills and XP racked up, so too did his injuries.

They were small at first. A cut here, a scrape there, but they were slowing him down. Not only that but the fatigue of so much running back and forth, always working to stay ahead of the creatures was wearing him down - and this was only the first room.

For awhile he had been dragging the bodies back to the entrance but soon he noticed the first of his kills slowly disappear into the stone of the cave floor, reclaimed by the dungeon. He realized no shaman was coming for these ones and though he was as exhausted as his first attempt at clearing a dungeon, thankfully it wouldn’t be an exact repeat of history.

When it was finally over the dungeon left no mystery to it. Crystals glowed and veins of purple light guided him to the exit where, he was excited to see, a treasure crystal waited for him in a small altar.

As he approached he noted with satisfaction that his diligent use of skills had led to a proficiency level up in Weapon Proficiency, Adrenaline Rush, and even Imbued Strike which was now all the way up at level three. Recovery block lagged but that skill was a bit more difficult to train directly.

He had even improved his Toughness to 22. He’d have to find a way to explain that one away to his trainers.

The improvements to the rest of his stats and skills were great, but expected, Weapon Proficiency reducing fatigue of his movements and Adrenaline Rush increasing his speed and perception by a total of 75%. It was Imbued Strike he was most excited about.

Proficiency Level Up

Skill: Imbued Strike - 3/5

Progress: 22%

Description: At level three, an additional strike can be banked, meaning that two powerful attacks can be unleashed without waiting on a cooldown. The cooldown for the second strike only begins once the first has completed.

Reward: 10XP

Impressive, but not without its limitations. He could hit twice in rapid succession, which would be more than enough to end any of the fights he had had so far, but once he did, if the fight continued then his advantage was over. It still took 27 seconds for the cooldown to elapse and, if he understood correctly, that meant he would have another 27 seconds to wait to bank the second strike.

He dismissed the prompt and stepped forward for his prize, hoping against hope the dungeon would continue to armor him. The treasure crystal opened and exploded into fragments of light before disappearing and revealing the item within. Casting Identify was second nature at this point.

Enchanted Ring of Second Wind

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Rarity: Rare

Description: This ring contains the magical essence of endurance and can restore the energy of the user as completely as a full night’s rest.

Cooldown: 12 hours

Idris stared in awe at the ring he held. It was powerful beyond anything he expected to receive from the dungeon at this stage in its growth, powerful beyond any magical artifact he had ever even seen - though he had to admit to himself his experience was limited.

The possibilities of the ring spread out before him like the paths in his interface. Would he ever need to sleep again? What class of opponent would it take to out-last him in a fight of attrition?

He could continue the fight! Cast the spell, find Eana, get her home. And he could do it tonight.

He slipped the ring on his finger and noted the instinctual knowledge of how to invoke it. Much like his spells, he had an icon in his interface that he could mentally push down on or, simply by force of thought, invoke the spell contained in the ring.

Feeling exhausted and beat down from all the fighting and running he had already done, he was poised to do just that when he remembered something.

Dungeons always worked to entice you deeper. To will yourself to go beyond and, at the worst possible time, find your true limitations.

He looked down at the bloody wounds that he had taken throughout the fight. Though not deep, there were a great many of them. The more he paid attention to the pain signals in his body, the exact signals his toughness dimmed into background noise rather than the screaming they should have been, he found even more problems. His shoulders were raw from overuse, his knees seized slightly if he stopped moving, and soreness was spreading across his entire body making him slower.

If he invoked the spell in this ring now his fatigue would be cured, he could continue the fight and push deeper into the dungeon. But without Eana, all of his accrued wounds would remain. Who knew what fights he had waiting for him in the next chamber. Any additional injury would slow him further, make him more likely to make a mistake.

And with only one charge on the ring, he couldn’t use it to give himself the energy he might need to make his escape. Instead of pulling him out of a tight situation, he would be using the ring to put himself further into danger.

“Clever girl,” he said, waggling a finger at the caves around him. He remembered that Eana had called it a “she” and cringed slightly at the accidental association.

But Eana was in here, he was sure of it. If it was anybody else he would have resigned himself to their being dead, but there was something about Eana. Something about that skill she had used and her claims she was talking to the dungeon.

She was alive, he was sure of it. And he wouldn’t leave her to whatever it was the dungeon had in store for her.

And that meant he needed to get these wounds taken care of. Pull Gendra out of bed if he had to, and then get back here before the dungeon could get the chance to respawn the monsters he had killed and undo all of his progress.

Decision made, he made his way toward the exit.

Outside he was stunned to find the light of full dawn staring him in the face.

“No! No no no! How could I have been down there so long?” he said.

He felt like a street performer spinning a collection of plates, always adding one more and waiting till the last possible second to save the whole collection from crashing to the ground. Except he might have waited too long.

“OK, change of plans,” he said out loud, working the problem, “Get healed and get changed so Karno doesn’t suspect anything, beg off training somehow, get back and get Eana out.”

He invoked the spell in the ring.

Instantly his fatigue vanished. He truly felt as if he had had an incredibly restful night of sleep. But as he had suspected, the pain remained.

Well, that was what all the Toughness training was for. He set off at a run in the direction of Gendra’s hut.

Twenty minutes later and totally out of breath, he arrived. After hammering on the door for a full minute he got brave and decided to risk a peek through her windows.

She was gone. And she was supposed to be at the Seeker’s townhouse for his continued training.

“Damn damn damn!” Idris said, running off toward his own house. He would have to cover up these wounds, maybe they wouldn’t notice before training started and he could get it all healed anyway.

***

“What on Order’s path happened to you?” Karno asked.

Idris made a show of looking himself over, trying and failing to look as if he didn’t know what Karno was talking about. He was red faced and sweating like he had been running for the last hour straight - which of course he had been - and new clothes or not, he had done such a poor job bandaging his many small wounds and cuts that the blood had seeped through in places.

He expected he must look like an absolute wreck, and even he could hear the lie in his voice when he said, “Huh? What do you mean?”

“Young man,” Gendra said, “I expect that kind of evasion from your sister. She’s twelve.”

The plates Idris had been trying to spin all came crashing down. It was hopeless. The best he could hope for now was damage control.

“Funny you mention her,” Idris said, “But that’s sort of why I’m like this.”

Gendra rolled her eyes and gave a look to Karno, who shrugged.

Ah, so this kind of reaction was where Eana got her impressions of the woman.

“Why didn’t she heal you then?” Gendra continued.

“Why haven’t you healed me?” Idris asked, feeling defensive suddenly.

“Manners, Light Bringer,” Karno said.

Idris considered the two older adults a moment before deciding he didn’t have the energy to be clever, “Can I speak with you alone, Karno?”

Gendra put up her hands in mock defensiveness as she moved for the exit, “I’ll be outside.”

After the door closed behind her Karno motioned for Idris to stay standing when Idris tried to relax on a sofa, “Keep off, you’re a mess,” he said gruffly.

“Sorry,” Idris said.

“Let’s hear it then,” Karno said.

And so, having made up his mind, Idris told him.

About the questline, the dungeon, and his suspicions that Eana was in there and still OK. He told Karno about the voice that had spoken to them, but omitted what Eana had done to level the dungeon - that part seemed best to keep to himself if he could.

What surprised him was the look on Karno’s face. It grew from mild surprise to obvious eagerness as Idris described the dungeon.

“Who else knows about this?” Karno asked,

“You can see now why I wanted Gendra to step outside,” Idris said, “Its just us now. And Eana.”

“Right. We keep it that way. Get healed. Training’s canceled today. I’m going to grab a few things along with the others. Best to explore a dungeon with a team.”

“And get Eana back,” Idris said.

“Aye,” Karno said, “that too.”