~~~Stanley~~~
Stanley frowned at the blindingly bright snow outside his windshield as he put on his sunglasses. He always hated this part of winter even more than the blizzards. At least, it felt like he always had... Give him gray skies every day, and he would be a happy man.
The pug in the passenger seat, however, was a total sun lover. Caffeine lay in the sunshine streaming through the windshield, his eyes half-closed in pleasure as he lazily licked his front paws. His black coat soaked up the heat and was toasty warm under Stanley's hand when he reached over to pet the pup.
Stanley glanced at his phone as he sat back, his hand passing close, hesitating, and then pulled back. He'd called. That was enough. Lee had chosen not to answer.
Instead, Stanley focused on the truck rumbling around him. He sent his attention below his feet, under the floor, down to the steel frame that ran through the entire vehicle. He focused in what was by now a practiced effort and 'Pushed' against the truck with his thoughts.
The entire forty-ton semi rocked against its brakes.
Caffeine didn't get up from his sunbath, but he opened his eyes to watch Stanley. The pug was somewhat used to this by now, which meant that his gaze started jumping from Stanley to the dashboard, or rather, what was on it.
Stanley released the brakes, and this time, when he mentally pushed on the frame, the truck moved. He could feel all that weight yielding under his will, all eighty-thousand pounds, or near enough that. It rolled forward, and Stanley steered his way out to the road.
He missed the nice roar of the engine doing things this way, but the fuel economy was top-notch, something that would definitely become a problem with the tax man at some point, but Stanley had a feeling it wouldn't matter by the time they caught on.
The freeway ramp loomed, and he pushed harder, accelerating near silently while also faster than any truck actually could. Not without the power he had.
It had been a few months since that day in the mountains. Months that started real bad. Waking up in the snow, a shattered forest all around him, Caffeine shivering in his arms, and his own memories as broken as the trees. He hadn't remembered Caffeine... but knew that was his name... it was weird. Stanley hadn't remembered his own name, either. But knew he had a brother... one whose name he also didn't know.
He'd found the truck, still idling on the side of the road, and climbed in more out of muscle memory than any knowledge that it was his. There he'd found his wallet, and id. His name. Then the phone that unlocked from his fingerprint. A name in his contacts that stood out. He called Lee, and his brother had filled in some gaps, but they were still missing a lot, with little more than flashes of... something.
Now here he was.
Stanley got comfortable in the flow of traffic and reached for what Caffeine had been eyeing since they started moving; the stack of burritos.
The power he wielded, the power gained somehow on that day in the mountains; it had a price. Namely, hunger. Stanley took a big bite and glanced at Caffeine, who was now sitting up attentively. "Don't worry," he said, after swallowing, "you'll get some too." There was still a half dozen left on the dash and more in the fridge behind him.
Stanley didn't know why he had this power or why Lee didn't, but he could guess why it left him starving the more he used it. Energy had to come from somewhere... though he didn't think burritos were really what gave him the energy. There was something else happening. Hunger also wasn't enough reason to stop what he was doing, neither were the headaches. Those already came less and less lately, and he was still getting stronger.
It had started small, moving a pen across the table, but it had grown quickly, and now the power was enough for him to push eighty-thousand pounds down the road.
Stanley threw the wrapper into the trash and grabbed another burrito. He let up his efforts on the truck, letting it coast, then used that same power to rip off the top half of the burrito for Caffeine.
The resulting mess when he squeezed way too hard was... no big deal. Caffeine went to work cleaning up every drop and crumb he could find while Stanley ate the rest. Stanley was strong, extremely so, but his fine control was... lacking.
It was something to work on, but he wasn't feeling the urgency for that. What he felt a need for right now was strength and as much of it as he could get. As for why exactly he needed it... Stanley didn't know. He just knew he did.
Lee didn't understand. He didn't feel the itch... feel the craving... didn't feel the... NEED. Now Lee had abandoned him, left him alone with Caffeine.
They had spent so much time together after that day. Three months! Now Lee suddenly wanted to settle down in some random apartment... and he got mad when Stanley refused to settle down with him.
There was only so long they'd been able to stop working after having their lives... well, basically erased. Everything costs money, especially the doctors they visited, trying to understand what happened and why they had so many holes in their memories.
Of course, once Stanley started moving things with his mind, they'd ditched the doctors. They both preferred not to find out if silent helicopters and men in black were real. It was an easy enough choice, considering the doctors had been completely useless already. Talk about a total waste of money.
Stanley went back to his truck while his new power grew, and Lee came with him. They'd had a good thing going. Until Lee left.
He grabbed another burrito as the truck hit ninety and yelled through the windshield. "Get the fuck out of the way, grandma!"
You'd think people would drive like they actually had somewhere to be instead of like old farts that couldn't see where they were going!
Caffeine was eyeing him nervously after the shouting... that, or the burrito in his hand.
Stanley eased up on his speed; he had a long way to go and needed to conserve his strength. Also, the cops really didn't like trucks going this fast...
~~~Lee~~~
"Damn it, Stanley!" Lee cursed as the box slipped from his fingers and crashed to the floor. "You could have waited a few days... this would all have been a fucking joke for you to carry!"
Lee hated moving, always had... hadn't he? Probably. It felt like something he would hate. More importantly, where did all this shit come from? Why did he even own this much crap? He sighed and went back down for the next box.
Carting everything up three floors was exhausting. Granted, there was an elevator, but still. It was a long walk back and forth to the elevator...
He finally took a break after hours of work and sat down on one of the plastic bins that were full of stuff he was certain was important, although he couldn’t remember why anymore.
His phone still showed the missed call from his brother. Lee left it. Stanley's selfish obsession with power could wait. Besides, he didn't have cell service in here. He hadn't expected to either.
The leasing agent hadn't been shy in suggesting he choose a different apartment. Because, as he'd explained, there was something wrong with this one. No cell phone ever worked inside. Wi-Fi would glitch and crash constantly. Electronics had a habit of breaking far too often. The guy thought it was cursed and almost refused to let him have it, but Lee insisted.
He looked towards the center of the room, where he couldn’t see anything but could feel... It. The reason he had picked this place. Lee closed his eyes and let the feeling wash over him. Stanley couldn't feel it, and he hadn't believed Lee.
But Lee knew it was real, and he knew what it felt like.
It felt like power. Pure power that he didn’t know how to grasp yet. It felt good, very good. It reminded him of something he had felt on that day when he and his brother had almost died. A few half-remembered glimpses of pain, power, and endless possibilities.
Stanley had been there as well but remembered even less than he did, and for some reason, Stanley had gained power, and Lee had not. It was so frustrating for so long...
Now this. Lee had found what he was looking for here in this apartment. The power hovering in front of him pushed against his mind and body, and with his eyes closed, he felt like he could almost see something flowing past him.
Lee reached his hand out towards what felt like the origin and touched it. Only nothing happened and he touched only air. It was there; he knew it was, but it felt like something was blocking him. Like it was just out of reach behind a pane of glass... or around the corner...
He kept his hand steady, looking for a way past whatever was blocking the power. The wisps pushing against him were nothing more than that; wisps. The dregs of something... more.
Hunger got to him before he made any progress, and Lee gave up... for now. He sat under what he knew was there even though he couldn't see it and ate a can of beans. It wasn't the best meal... but he couldn't bring himself to leave for a more substantial option. He was going to figure this out.
As he ate, something changed. It was slow at first, barely noticeable, but Lee was paying close attention. So he finally noticed that the power was only flowing past him. As in, it wasn't going around, and it wasn't going through him either; it was going into him... and staying there.
That slow accumulation was what he noticed first; a tiny drop of something new, a drop of power, and it was inside him. An infinitesimal drop, but it was there all the same.
He waited as long as he could for more to gather, but he'd never had a real chance of that. Lee wanted to use it and use it now.
He thought back to how his brother described using his power. "A matter of will and focus," Stanley always said.
Nothing to lose in trying, Lee thought and held his hand up to point palm out at a cardboard box, trying to picture the energy flowing out of it and pushing the box across the floor. Come on. Do it!
His hand was eventually trembling from the strain of holding it up, but nothing happened. He closed his eyes and tried to focus inside on the tiny drop of power.
Lee tried to grab it with a mental hand, tried to scoop it up from where it sat, but it spilled through his fingers like he was trying to grab a drop of water.
Yet it had an effect! The power actually stirred under his efforts. It didn’t go anywhere, but at least it did something!
I'm on the right track! There was a way he just had to figure it out. He stood there in his new living room with his arm outstretched and shaking as he drove his mind against the energy inside him.
Then all at once, it moved, zipping faster than he could perceive up and out... There was a roaring crash, and something threw him backward.
Lee opened his eyes on the floor, sat up, and saw a cone of destruction before him. Plastic bins and cardboard boxes were thrown across the room by whatever he’d done, and it had even ripped away a patch of carpet, exposing the concrete underneath.
Lee looked at his hand and then at the destruction. So much for my deposit, he thought, smiling. That was... awesome! Someone pounded on the wall next door; Lee ignored it.
His arm tingled in the aftermath and had gone numb as if it had fallen asleep. Lee shook the limb and wiggled his fingers. They still worked. I'm sure it's fine.
He held off on more experiments until his arm felt normal again. Not because he was patient, but because it took so long to gather another drop.
While he waited, Lee worked on gathering the power faster.
First, he tried standing with his body completely covering the origin, which gave weird results. It was like the singular point he could feel wasn't actually where he thought it was. Or maybe the power flowing from it wasn't coming directly from there... it was weird, and it didn't work.
Then he tried to influence the power outside of himself. If he could control it at all, then why not pull in all the wisps going by?
It worked! Slightly, and only on the nearest bits. Which meant it wasn't all that much faster... Still, it was progress.
Lee held onto enough rationality to stop his efforts while the new drop was smaller than the last. The numbness in his arm might be a warning of worse to come. Not that he would let that stop him, but a little caution was okay.
He also went outside to avoid destroying more of this new apartment. The deposit was the least of his worries, but he still had to live here. Of course, he didn't go all the way downstairs. He had a balcony for that.
It still took him a minute to make anything happen, but this time, he braced himself with the metal railing before blasting the tiny drop of power out into the sky.
The visual effect wasn't much in the bright midday sunlight, just a flash of light, but the booming crack in the air was extremely satisfying. The car alarm going off on the street below was less pleasant and followed by someone yelling about the noise.
Lee retreated inside before anyone figured out who was making all the racket. Meanwhile, his mind was racing as he considered his new reality.
His arm was less numb this time, which was good, but he wasn't sure how much more he would get away with before someone came to investigate the disturbance. He really didn't want to deal with the cops. He also really didn't want to stop.
...
Sometime later, he was sitting on the floor, his whole body twitching and trembling. Lee held his shaking hand up against an undestroyed box and focused.
The box shook and then slid across the carpet for a few feet before stopping. Lee grinned. "It’s not so hard," he said to himself. Sweat dripped into his eye, and he blinked. "Maybe time for a break, though." He was getting hungry. That can of beans was not enough after the day he'd had.
His apartment was also a mess. Nothing was unpacked yet, and his experiments had destroyed a lot of the boxes. Lee didn't care.
He considered what his efforts had accomplished as he struggled shakily back to his feet. The tiniest droplets of power were enough to push stuff around, any more and it got explosive. He also couldn't yet control how much he used. It was all or nothing. Something to work on.
In his experiments, Lee had discovered a system of veins or channels inside his body that the energy seemed to prefer to move through on the way out of his center. And right now, those channels felt burnt and raw. He switched arms when his right started hurting, then switched to using his legs after that...
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Might have overdone it, Lee admitted to himself, but I couldn’t resist! All this time, he'd been stuck watching his twin do awesome shit and been unable to do anything himself. I can’t wait to tell him about this!
On that thought, Lee found his phone and tapped the screen to wake it up. Nothing happened. Shit.
Lee was still smiling despite the setback and dug out a charger from the mess of his apartment. Plugging it in had no effect, and Lee tried a light switch just in case it was more than his phone.
Nothing. In fact, none of the lights were working...
He walked back to the porch and looked outside into the twilight. There were some city lights visible, but he felt like there should be more. This was San Diego, after all. The apartment complex seemed pretty dark as well, no street lights anywhere. I hope it wasn't my experiments...
Lee leaned out over the rail and looked south towards Mexico. He could see the glittering lights of Tijuana easily visible in the oncoming night. He blinked once and could have sworn a patch of those lights winked out. His eyes felt gritty, and Lee rubbed them right as his stomach started growling.
"Damn it! I forgot to go shopping!" He trudged over to the small kitchen and opened the fridge, hoping that maybe he had gone shopping and just forgot.
It was dark and empty.
"Well, if there’s no power, maybe it's good I didn’t go…" He started going through the boxes strewn around as best he could in the dim apartment.
He considered going down to the rental truck to go shopping or just grab some fast food, but he was so tired. Tomorrow.
After some mostly blind searching, he found what he was looking for. Another can of beans, with jalapenos this time. He peeled off the lid and settled onto his small couch. "Ahh, a dinner of champions!" Lee brandished his spoon and then dug into the cold beans.
Despite the lackluster dinner, Lee couldn’t help but grin. He could still feel the power flowing around him from the… whatever it was. Hell, he was pulling in the wisps even now as he ate.
Lee watched the flowing energy and practiced pulling it in and pushing it back out in tiny breezes, mesmerized until his spoon scraped the bottom of the can. He set it down and considered grabbing another, but he was so tired. It had been quite a day, and whatever he was doing here was definitely draining. So instead, Lee lay back on the couch and watched the pretty lights in his head as his eyelids slowly drifted shut.
[World Quest Failed]
Lee jolted upright and reached for his phone to turn off the alarm.
His hand waved about in futility for a moment before he peeled his eyes open and saw that he was on the couch. Then he finally noticed the glowing words floating in his vision.
[World Quest Failed]
As he focused on the words, they shifted, and a new message appeared with the words echoing in his head as if spoken directly into his thoughts.
The (Human) Species has failed the Quest: [A Civilized World].
Failure Conditions:
[Mana Capacitors at Maximum Capacity]
[Achieve >90% Unity] [Failed]
Failure Penalty:
Consideration to join the [Civilized System] Denied.
The Species (Human) Designation as [Civilized(Sapient)] Denied.
The Species (Human) Designation is [Monster(Sapient)].
The World (Earth) Designation [Dungeon(F Grade)].
Mana Saturation of (Earth) has begun.
Due to (Sapient) Species on (Earth) Initializing Dungeon System.
What the… Lee thought, Humans are monsters? I mean, I guess that makes sense. The lights in the apartment flickered to life. Lee jumped a bit in surprise and finally noticed the shouting from somewhere else in the building. A lot of shouting, in fact, and a lot of dogs barking.
He was distracted from all that when something even more exciting appeared. The point of power that he'd been experimenting with all day was now visible! More than that, he could feel the power coming off it in heavy waves that washed over and through him.
What had been a laborious trial to gather the smallest wisps was now a torrent that flooded into him with no effort. In fact, Lee wasn't sure he could stop it if he wanted to... Not that he did. It felt... right. This power felt like something he had been missing his whole life, and now it was filling him up.
No more microscopic drops. Now Lee had a lake inside him, and it was still growing...
He jumped again when the new message appeared in his vision and mind.
Dungeon System Initialized.
As a (Sapient) you may choose your own Class.
As a (Human) your Racial Trait: [Adaptable] unlocks all Class Restrictions.
Warning! If a Class is Not Chosen Before the Dungeon Opens, you will be Assigned the Class with the Highest Affinity.
Dungeon Opening in… [58:35...58:34...58:33]
A timer appeared in the corner of his vision and started ticking down. Simultaneously, a new screen popped up.
Class Selection:...
Lee didn't look at the list, he was instead reaching his hand toward the power in his living room.
You have found an Unclaimed Liquid Mana Well.
Claim Y/N
Hell yes!
Liquid Mana Well Claimed. You have bound this Well to yourself and no others may access it without your permission so long as you live.
Turned out he was playing with mana all this time, and the instant he claimed the Well, the mana rushed into him in a torrent beyond anything he'd felt before.
The message about his potential death was ominous, but Lee focused on the flood of mana that now filled him. He felt full, but not unpleasantly so. It felt good... and powerful.
He didn't know if it resulted from claiming the Well or simply what having full mana felt like. Though, Lee wondered just how valuable the Well might be that it mentioned killing to claim it...
The upside of his claim was that the thick waves of power emanating from the Well died down to a much less noticeable effect, and the glowing point of light dimmed. It wasn't gone, not completely, and it felt more akin to before the messages had started, but Lee hoped it was enough that he wouldn't draw attention.
There was still a message in his mind, though, and Lee finally focused on it.
Class Selection:
Runic (Legendary) 100% Affinity
Enchanter (Uncommon) 50% Affinity
Magic Engineer (Rare) 45% Affinity
Electric Manipulator (Rare) 40% Affinity
…
The list of class choices scrolled down with just a thought, and after a long list of various elemental classes, there followed more esoteric names like Gravity Manipulator and Time Changer. Lee paused at those, but the Affinity was super low, and he had a feeling that was important. He passed by random classes like Engineer, Librarian, Farmer, and more. As he scrolled down, the Affinity reduced further into the single digits.
Eventually, the Affinity reached 0.9%, but the list continued, seemingly endlessly, as he scrolled faster and faster until he stopped the scrolling blur and looked at the list.
Alreic Beather (Common) 0.001% Affinity
Alreic Beatrie (Uncommon) 0.001% Affinity
It’s just gibberish at this point, he thought. Lee didn’t want to try selecting anything, just in case it stuck him with some random option.
He glanced at the timer ticking down in the corner of his vision.
[51:34...51:33]
I shouldn’t be wasting time.
A thought brought him back to the beginning of the list, and Lee looked more closely at the first choice. As he thought about what it might mean, a new screen appeared.
Runic (Legendary) 100% Affinity
Bind everything in power.
A Legendary class created by Unknown on the Dungeon World Akash. The Runed Fortress, created by the Progenitor of this class, stood untouched for millennia until a pantheon of fallen gods destroyed Akash itself.
Despite the destruction of their world, rumors abound that the Runed Fortress yet stands, and even now, roams the void, undefeated and in search of revenge.
The rune script of Akash is one of the original written languages; A language of power. The runes that make up this ancient language are versatile and personal to the individual that creates them.
This is due to the Runic utilizing their own soul as a stabilizing medium for the extremely volatile and dense Liquid Mana that is required to empower each Rune.
That same volatility requires extremely durable Mana Core and Channels capable of containing the Liquid Mana without destroying the user. The (Azal) are the only species who have successfully wielded Liquid Mana without the aid of external tools.
Class Level Effects (Novice)
+5% Effective Mind Attributes
+5% Liquid Mana Pool Capacity
Class Requirements:
Liquid Mana Core/Channels [Requirement Met][N/A](Adaptable)
Minimum 10 (Hidden Attribute: Soul)[N/A](Adaptable)
It required Liquid Mana... which, it seemed, Lee already had if he was reading it right. The mana filling him up, in what he guessed was his core, felt somewhat liquid to Lee. The channels bit seemed self-explanatory.
The class talked about Soul. Did that mean souls were a real thing? And gods? Life after death?
Lee shook away those thoughts. Focus.
The class was legendary, which sounded good... Though, it also mentioned that only one species had ever used the class... but if it was so hard, then why was his affinity maxed out?
Lee wasn't sure what to think, so he looked at the next option.
Enchanter (Uncommon) 50% Affinity
Keep magic where it belongs; neat and tidy inside the lines.
An Uncommon class specializing in inscribing enchantments into a variety of items and materials. Considered a non-combat support class.
Class Level Effects (Novice)
+2% Effective Mind Attributes
+2% Mana Pool Capacity
Class Requirements:
Mana Core/Channels [N/A](Adaptable)
The level effects were noticeably worse than the first option, but it also had another glaring difference. Non-combat...
Lee knew it was going to be a thing. Combat. Fighting. It was all but said in the message about humans being the monsters, which implied they would be hunted like said monsters... He knew he should be freaking out more about this whole thing... but he wasn't.
It didn't feel as strange as his rational mind told him it should. The world had just changed on a fundamental level, and here he was, trying to decide which magical class was better...
Deep down, he'd known this was coming... at least, that was the feeling he had now. Between Stanley's fantastical powers and whatever had really happened on the mountain, this was not unexpected.
Regardless, he was wasting time. Lee focused on the class choices again.
Enchanter. One thing stood out to him. This class mentioned Mana and seemed to imply that he would need to adapt to it. Yet, he already had Mana. He could literally feel it inside him. Did it require non-liquid mana? Was liquid mana better or worse? Also, the description was way less colorful than the first option. Maybe because it was only Uncommon versus Legendary... Honestly, it made the first one look much better in comparison.
He checked the next option.
[Magic Engineer](Rare) 45% Affinity
Magic is for the machines.
Many worlds have developed their own primitive technology pre-integration into the System. This class allows the user to integrate their knowledge of technology alongside the new influx of mana.
Users can craft a variety of devices, from power supplies to small machines. Considered a mix of non-combat support and combat class.
[Class Level Effects](Novice)
+3% Effective Mind Attributes
+3% Mana Pool Capacity
[Class Requirements]
Mana Core/Channels [N/A](Adaptable)
This one was rare and gave more effective mind attributes, whatever that meant, but again with the non-liquid mana... was that why his affinity was lower?
Something had happened to them when Stanley got his power. The things they had seen but couldn't quite remember. They had chosen something... changed something. If we knew this was coming... Had they adapted before? What class is Stanley going to get...
Stanley!
Lee couldn't believe he'd forgotten his brother, even if this was all rather distracting. Violence was coming for them. Danger and the threat of death would likely be a major part of their lives going forward... and Stanley had left him here alone.
Or I left him alone...
But Stanley was powerful. Hell, he was probably the most powerful human on earth right now.
He'll be fine.
Regardless, there was nothing to be done about it now, and Lee needed to make a choice. He looked at the next option, more out of curiosity than a belief that he would actually choose it.
[Electric Manipulator](Rare) 40% Affinity
Stand up and take charge.
Electricity is a common element in the multiverse. Users of this class gain the ability to manipulate that element in a variety of ways. Considered a combat class specializing in offense but lacking in defense.
[Class Level Effects](Novice)
+3% Effective Mind Attributes
+3% Mana Pool Capacity
[Class Requirements]
Mana Core/Channels [N/A](Adaptable)
Electric Attuned Mana [N/A](Adaptable)
Throwing lightning bolts around sounded great. Hell, it sounded awesome, but Lee had a nagging feeling that kept dragging his eyes back to the top of the list. That 100% Affinity had to mean something... unfortunately, he couldn't get any information to come up about what exactly it meant, no matter how hard he tried. The fact that his brand new Mana Well was labeled as a Liquid Mana Well wasn't lost on him, either.
Another thing was that the Runic class said nothing about combat or non-combat. It still had the most detailed description, but failed to mention exactly what the class was for. There was some flavor text about a fortress that sounded like it was defensive, and... Lee's gaze landed on the Liquid Mana Well in his living room.
That it was here and that he'd felt so drawn to this place... now a class that used liquid mana. Was this something they had seen coming? Was he meant to be exactly where he was?
Then why was Stanley not here? Why couldn't he have just fucking stayed!?
Or... was Stanley not meant to be here... Lee didn't like the little feeling in the back of his mind telling him he was right. He really didn't like it.
Fuck!
It couldn't be a coincidence. Not after what happened to them. Did Stanley even have a choice when he left? Lee glanced away from the Well and at his dead phone.
I should have called...
Now it was too late. He knew it on an instinctual level. That he could take a class designed to merge magic and technology gave a hint that cell phones might make a comeback. It also told him they most likely wouldn't work until someone did just that.
It was tempting to go that route, to rebuild what he knew was now lost, but it was not for him. Lee had ended up here for a reason, and he was pretty sure it was his and Stanley's choice. No gods had put them on this path. It wasn't the whims of fate. It was their own choice... now, if only he could remember why... or how.
The timer kept ticking down while Lee scrolled back down the list, looking at his other options. It didn't matter if time ran out because it would stick him with the Runic class, and Lee was feeling more and more like he had to take that option.
He tried to take a rational approach to the problem. Stanley was powerful. Lee didn't need to worry about him. His brother would probably fly home in less than a day... but then why did he get a sick feeling in his stomach whenever he thought about seeing Stanley again?
The Runic class was legendary. It gave the best bonuses. It mentioned an undefeated fortress. Lee could build a haven here, and could wait for Stanley to get back. That made sense... didn't it?
Fuck. Lee made his choice. I hope this is the right one...
Class Chosen: Runic
Adapting... No Adaptation Required.
Unlocking Hidden Attribute: Soul...
Unique Soul Detected. Identical Unique Soul Detected... Classifying... Twin-Soul.
Twin-Soul has been Soul-Bonded by Caff Caffeine.
Analyzing Twin-Soul Value... Unknown. Further Analysis Required.
You receive (Novice Runic Dictionary)
You receive Class Skill: Rune Scribe (Uncommon)
Fire seared through his head after the last message, and with it came knowledge. The knowledge of how to use his new skill, new connections, concepts, and theories that only made sense in a way completely foreign to everything he'd known before. And atop all that came an entirely new language.
It hurt!
Lee fought through the pain battering his mind, enduring it even as he reveled in the information burning its way inside. His vision tunneled, and darkness threatened to pull him under, but Lee held on to consciousness through sheer stubbornness and the desire for the very power that battered his mind.
In the far distance, he felt something echoing back to him and knew with absolute certainty that it was his brother. Lee knew this, thanks in large part to his newly gained knowledge, but also on a deeper, more instinctive level.
It was their soul... their Twin-Soul.
Not that he knew what that meant... not exactly, but he knew Stanley was alive and awake. He even felt like he could pinpoint his current location. A very far away location...
Lee held out against the pain right until it finally and abruptly stopped.
The sudden relief proved his undoing, and Lee relaxed, inadvertently succumbing to the darkness with one final thought, What was that about Caffeine...
...
The Dungeon is Open.
The ominous message in his brain woke Lee. That, or the floor shaking underneath him. Or maybe it was the screams from outside...