Nate leaned against the wall of the cave tiredly. He thought it must’ve been at least six days but it could’ve been eleven or twelve for all he knew. Keeping track of time in these ever-dark caves was impossible for him and the lack of sleep hadn’t helped. They’d been on the back foot, constantly performing a fighting retreat for the entirety of that first day in the Dungeon. The whole issue had been made worse by the plethora of mechanical traps they had encountered while fleeing, many of which had utilised what he now knew was enchanted bolts coated in poison. The Blessed Claw tribe of Kobolds apparently had an Enchanter and a Poisoner among their numbers. Well, no longer. They’d managed to kill those two individuals. Both had been Challenges.

It had been on the second day that they had finally found a good spot to make a stand. While Kiri and Frick had fought off the latest wave of Kobolds to throw themselves at them, Nate had gotten to work on building a fort. It had taken a couple of hours to complete his project and the last twenty minutes had been touch and go as Frick had sustained enough damage to get himself banished, leaving Kiri to fight alone. But he’d completed the mini-fort, covered in runic arrays which he had been powering with mana gems ever since.

The fort had everything. Powerful Earth runes to reinforce the dirt and stone of the fort to prevent the Kobold Shamans from tearing it down, or at least from tearing it down fast. Barriers for defence, for all the good they did against the enchanted bolts. It was a shame he didn’t have a Sigil for Detection so he could automate his Fire Projectile runes but instead he had installed ten of them, each linked to a mana gem so they could recharge between uses. That had made it possible for Nate to blow holes in the kobolds with Epic tier bolts of fire with a semi-decent frequency. Kiri had acknowledged on the third day…or at least he thought it was the third day, that they would have been overrun by now if it wasn’t for the Rune Fort, as Nate had started calling it.

Right now it was his turn to recover, mana gem in hand as he refilled his reserve for the fourth time that day. Or was it the fifth? He had no idea, and the poisons that were lingering in his system were inhibiting his already abysmal Mana Absorption. Frick was manning the Fire Projectile runes and Kiri was fighting the latest wave of ten or so kobolds. That was another thing about the Rune Fort and its surroundings. It stunk. It stunk so bad. When creatures died, they tended to piss and shit themselves. Hundreds of dead kobolds smelled so bad that he’d installed Powerful Wind runes to try and create some air circulation. It lowered the smell from unbearable to fucking awful. The silver lining of course was, killing somewhere in the vicinity of four hundred kobolds had pushed their levels considerably.

Nate glanced at his Status again.

Stats

Physical

Mental

Magic

Strength

12

Intellect

130

Magic Power

63 (20)

Dexterity

66

Charisma

17 (3)

Magic Control

34

Agility

23 (10)

Creativity

111

Channelling Speed

32

Endurance

48 (3)

Willpower

20

Mana Reserve

109

Constitution

30

Perception

107

Mana Absorption

34

Classes

Primary Class - Level 8 (28)

Secondary Class - Level 1

Tertiary Class

Wandering Runic Artist (M)

Wandering Realmwalker (L)

…

Skills

Runic Knowledge - Concepts (L) Lvl 23 - (+28% Intellect)

Conceptual Material (M) Lvl 25 - (-12.5% Mana Cost, -20% Time Required)

Eyes of the Runic Artist (M) Lvl 26 - (+60% Perception, +18% Creativity)

Imbue Intent (L) Lvl 27 - (16 Intents, 8 Imbued Intents, +13.5% Intellect)

Enhanced Magic Power (E) Lvl 19 - (+23% Magic Power)

Runic Creation (L) Lvl 25 - (-48% Mana Cost, +15% Creativity)

Empowered Runic Artistry (L) Lvl 23 - (-32% Mana Cost, +56 Magic Power for Runic Arrays)

No Steps Necessary (L) Lvl 18 - (180 metres teleport range)

From Me, To You (E) Lvl 20 - (100 metres teleport range)

Spatial Awareness (E) Lvl 25 - (125 metres Detection Range, 2.5 metres Sphere of Awareness)

Enhanced Mana Reserve (E) Lvl 5 - (+9% Mana Reserve)

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Spells

Minor Spatial Lock (R)

Status Effects

Divine Translation Spell (Permanent)

Familiar Contract (Permanent)

System Contract - Aisling Teigland & Deverell Courbet (Temporary)

Class Core Concealment Soul Engraving (Temporary, Legendary)

Mana Gathering Soul Engraving (+20% Mana Absorption) (Temporary, Legendary)

He’d made vast improvements and they’d even beaten three of the six Dungeon Challenges, netting him a Spell Tome and his first spell. Kiri had taken Wealth and Power for her two choices. It made sense. She didn’t have much in the way of wealth and the reward of some Rare tier gems that could be sold for crafting gave her the independence she wanted. The Orb she’d acquired had given her nine in Perception. That meant the next reward was his.

Continuing to go over his Status, it was easy to see how many of his Skills had all progressed. Runic Artistry had evolved into Empowered Runic Artistry which made his runic arrays start to truly pack a punch. With his Free Stats, he’d boosted his Intellect and Magic Power by five, then continuing to follow Frick’s advice, dumped fourteen into Mana Reserve. For a new Skill he’d chosen Enhanced Mana Reserve. He had two reasons for doing so. The first was doubling down on expanding the pool of mana he had to work with, but the second was a plan to see if he could synergise a number of the ‘enhanced’ magic stat Skills into a single one. Maybe even a Legendary variant if he could manage it.

Closing his eyes for a moment he tried to relax as the mana continued to slowly enter his reserve. It was made challenging due to the sounds of sibilant voices screaming bloody murder and the subsequent whistling sounds of firebolts hopefully slowly wearing them down. Pulling himself tiredly to his feet he stumbled to the earthen wall he’d erected to see how the fight was going. Kiri was on the front line, dancing among the remaining ten or so kobolds. He could see how tired she was, covered in small cuts that only seemed to vanish after a minute rather than the usual seconds. She was spending as much soul energy as she gained and the volume of her soul energy already looked closer to that of a normal person rather than usual more than double it had grown to. Thankfully her Soul Imbuement, an evolved form of her previous skill One Body, One Soul, which was constantly empowering her, had a smaller drain than her previous method for boosting herself.

Frick stood to the side of him, waiting for one of the fire runes to finish recharging. Nate wasn’t willing to wait like he was supposed to. He could see how tired Kiri was, how low she’d let her soul energy get. It didn’t sound like there were more kobolds coming and given that, it was time to try and give them both a rest. He knew it was a risk, but they were already running on the dregs. Flooding his mana into Runic Creation he created what amounted to a fire bomb rune, then, forcing the skill to expand, he duplicated the result while maintaining the original. Replication wasn’t new to the skill, but he’d never made it replicate a rune made purely of mana and the nature of it felt like he was duplicating the shape and design rather than replicating an existing rune. Forcing more mana into the skill he made it duplicate again, before flooding the three runes with almost all of his remaining mana. Nodding to Frick he waited as his Familiar flew down to warn Kiri. Finally ready he activated From Me, To You three times, sending forth the runes that exploded in plumes of fire that filled the other half of the cavern. The intense flames decimated the kobolds as Kiri vanished, appearing next to him with Soul Shift.

The rush of processed mana flowed over them and he collapsed onto the ground, leaning against the wall of the Rune Fort. Kiri tiredly returned to the battlefield to replenish her soul energy from the fallen. Watching her move among the dead and dying, he had to acknowledge the harsh realities of this world were changing him. Once, the sounds and smells of sapient beings dying would’ve left him vomiting. Now, whether it was the tiredness from days without sleep, anger from the poison flowing in his veins due to the little bastards, or just a slow acceptance that violence and death were commonplace in a System managed world, he just couldn’t bring himself to feel anything more than pity.

Pity for the dead, and for himself, that such loss was normal. It was ugly, and he still hated it, but railing against reality wasn’t going to get him anywhere. The best he could do was try and bring a bit of beauty to the world. Maybe even make a place that was safe, or at least safer, for some people. He was no ruler. No King or Emperor. But maybe he could make a place that was beautiful and keep the people who called it home safe. That was a long way away though, if their performance in this Dungeon was anything to go by.

Kiri returned, collapsing next to him and resting her head on his shoulder.

“Thanks, it was starting to get a bit rough there. I was so tired I didn’t see when one of the rogue’s snuck up on me. Took a knife in the back and another dose of the endurance sapping poison. It was a bad one. Drained a lot of soul energy to heal it,” she said with a tired sigh.

“I figured you or Frick would yell if you really needed me. I just couldn’t handle the waiting. Maybe it’s the poison or maybe I just don’t like not helping, but my nerves are fried. Sitting there hearing the fighting and not doing anything. I don’t know how soldiers do it,” he replied, his voice every bit as tired as hers.

“Probably the threat from their superiors,” Kiri ventured.

He just shrugged in response, which jostled Kiri’s head by accident causing her to grunt in annoyance. Maybe she was right about the soldiers, but he had no idea.

“Think that was all of them?” he asked.

“Definitely most of them. Only three Challenges though. That means there’s still four left, if we include the Bonus Challenge. Should we bother, or just leave?” she shot back at him, lifting her head off his shoulder to gauge his reaction.

He could see it in her eyes. She wanted to push on. To conquer the Dungeon. Aisling hadn’t thought they could manage it and Kiri wanted to prove their benefactor wrong. For the first time in a few weeks he looked into himself. What did he want? The first thing that came to mind was rest, but pushing past that he truly considered the question. With some contemplation he found he wanted the same as her, if for different reasons. He didn’t care about proving something to Aisling. For the first time he realised he didn’t want to continue the fight just to support his best friend either. He did want to help her, but more than that, he wanted to help himself.

A beautiful world couldn’t be created from a position of weakness. To grow and become the kind of person that could be a force for positive change, he needed to be strong. He had the tools. He had the foundation. Now he just needed to make the effort. To challenge himself. So far, this Dungeon had provided exactly that. But they weren’t done. They could push themselves further, dig deeper. The pun made him frown, even if it was unintended. This was just the preparation for the real challenge.

The Tournament was growing close and the Royal University loomed in the distance, filled with the wealthy and those of Noble birth. Though, weren’t those one and the same? The Tournament was the first step though. Top eight. That was the requirement for entrance. Aisling had been uncertain if they could manage it. Luc, well, slightly more confident, though that smug bastard probably had a better idea of what Nate could do than Aisling had. It all culminated in their ability to push their Skills just a bit further. They were both closing in on level thirty. They just needed to push themselves a little harder.

The feeling of the poison in his veins, and somehow his mana reserve was the only thing holding him back. There was a line between challenging yourself and committing suicide. The various poisons they were afflicted with seemed to be long lasting and even Kiri couldn’t afford the soul energy required to completely cleanse herself. They were definitely not fighting at their maximum capacity. However, when in life did you get to pick a fight where you were completely prepared and in perfect condition? No, that was just part of challenging themselves.

He finally nodded his agreement to Kiri who beamed back at him, a smug smile on her lips till he gave her a playful shove.

“Hey! Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have been so smug about it,” she said with a small laugh.

“Let’s rest up a bit first. Have a nap and recover a little more. See if more of the poison fades. Then we’ll go and find all the remaining Challenges and defeat them one by one. We’ve still got time,” he said. “First rest is yours. I’ll keep watch.”

Kiri stood with a grin, heading deeper into the mini-fort he’d created.

“Don’t think I have forgotten about that painting you did of Aisling,” she called, her voice echoing out of the building followed by another laugh. “Can’t believe she’s married. Guess you never had a shot after all!”

Nate rolled his eyes, “For the fiftieth time, I do not have a thing for older women!”

“Keep telling yourself…” a loud yawn rang out of the fort, “...that.”

Nate just snorted. He really didn’t have a thing for older women, did he?

*************

Xalvoloth crouched in the long grass, its Skills devouring its own presence as it hid itself behind an illusion made of the same Devouring Light. It had taken eight days to catch up to its quarry and the entire time it had been wondering why its prey had stopped running. Now it knew. A Dungeon. The prey had found a Dungeon and was even now hidden in the depths of such a blessing.

The two protectors of the prey stood near the hole into earth, unable to sense it beneath its layers of protection. It had always done best when ambushing its prey and it had been a surprise to find that the target could see it beneath its illusions. That was rare, especially at such a low level. But it had other ways to ‘surprise’ a target. Especially given the current circumstances.

Patiently waiting for one of the protectors to go to sleep it slipped forward under the cover of its illusion before dropping down the hole, devouring the sound it made as it did so and the gravity that impacted it, letting it land lightly, without a hint of noise at the bottom. Searching the darkness was easy with its vision and finding the sealed Dungeon entrance didn’t take too long. Being careful, it knew it would only get one chance at this. Slowly, it began to devour the spatial lock on the Dungeon entrance. Eating away at it carefully, it heard the scuffle from above as the other protector must’ve sensed something but it was too late. Sticking a finger into the tiny hole it felt the spatial tunnel suck it in, sealing behind it. Finally, it had its prey all alone. This Dungeon would suffice to make sure there would be no escape this time. The hunt was on and this time it would catch and devour its prey!