Dave quickly made his way towards the public baths. As he entered the familiar establishment, the antlered attendant raised an eyebrow at his disheveled appearance but said nothing as she waved him in upon noticing his bath token. Dave quickly shed his robes, walked inside, and stepped into the warm, soothing waters.

Aesthetician Corallis spotted him and swam over, her iridescent tail cutting gracefully through the water.

"Good afternoon, Sir Dave," she said with a soft smile as she circled him in the water, scanning him with her aquamarine-tinted Kitlix. "Oh my, what happened to you? Did you happen to take on a dungeon by yourself?”

“Yes.” Dave nodded.

“What, really?” The mermaid blinked.

"Yeah, I took on a Void dungeon," he admitted.

“Alone?! That's incredibly dangerous! You're lucky to be alive,” she chided him.

"Things got a bit out of hand. I wasn’t alone at first…” Dave sighed.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I… lost a friend and almost died,” he said.

“Your friend died in the dungeon?”

“No,” Dave shook his head. “She didn’t die… not exactly. To be honest… I’m feeling mentally unbalanced, like I’m losing myself.”

"I can see that. My little Quarii is detecting severe Auric and deep tissue damage. This is going to take a lot of healing. You should absolutely visit Healers Hall after this as I can only do the Auric realignment and outer layer damage," Corallis replied, her tone sympathetic. "Anything you'd like to get off your chest? Talking helps with the healing process as emotional release makes the Aura fluctuate, reveals more of it to me."

Dave closed his eyes, feeling the gentle currents of the pool swirl around him. "I just... I don't know who to trust anymore. It feels like everyone has some hidden agenda, you know?"

The mermaid nodded sagely. "Ah, the classic 'everyone's out to get me'. A common ailment in Shandria, I'm afraid. Comes with the territory of living in a city of her Divine Shadow. Submerge everything except for your head while we chat please.”

“Ugh,” Dave sunk a bit deeper into the water. “It’s like I can never catch a break. It honestly feels like Arx is out to murder me, like there’s this invisible noose around my neck that’s constantly tightening.”

“That’s because it is,” Corallis said.

“What? I'm cursed or something?”

“Many of us believe that Arxtruria is alive, and she’s always testing us, pushing us to our limits."

“Why?”

"Think of Arxi as a giant living organism. The dungeons, the monsters, even the stats-based magic that permeates everything which the Banking bracelets tap into to provide us with numeric information and skill lists, they're all part of her immune system. And we, the sentient beings that inhabit this world, are like... well, like bacteria living in her gut feeding on what she swallows."

"Charming analogy," Dave muttered.

Corallis chuckled. "I never said it was pretty. Arxi is digesting all of us, forcing us to adapt or perish.”

Dave frowned.

“Don’t take it personally. Everyone’s going through this,” she said. “There’s a positive side to it.”

“Which is?”

“In the city of shadows there is a light that breaks through the darkness–its people, who remain free in many ways compared to other God-Emperor domains. My point is that you don’t have to face it alone. Do you have any other reliable friends here in Shandria? People you can trust?"

Dave thought for a moment, his mind drifting to the trio of apprentice Healers. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ve friends from Healer’s Hall.”

“There you go,” the mermaid smiled. “Maybe they can give you deep tissue healing outside of their work hours at a discount or even for a favor. Talk to them.”

Dave nodded. "Yeah… I will. Thanks, Corallis."

“Also, I see that you don’t have a Voicecast ring or bracelet,” she said. “Consider getting one. It’s tough to keep in contact with friends without it.”

“A... Voicecast ring?” Dave asked.

The mermaid lifted her left hand. What Dave had assumed was a dark, crystalline bracelet suddenly unfolded into another small, dark Kitlix sprinkled with silver and violet sparks.

“Nuntix Kitlix,” she said. “They’re born from Voicecast rings and bracelets. You can use them to keep in touch with anyone or even call up shops. You can buy a starter ring or bracelet for relatively cheap from one of the Voicecast Guild shops.”

“I don’t have much cash on me,” Dave said.

“That’s fine,” Corallis said. “Voicecast Guilds offer delayed payment contracts. You can get a used ring that’ll fit about ten Voicecast crystals in and be able to call ten friends. It won’t have Guildnet though, but you can sign up for that once you’ve made more silver slayin’ dungeon monsters or what have you.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What’s Guildnet?" Dave asked.

"Guildnet is generally used by Astral Divers. Once your Nuntix reaches a certain level, it can Astral project you into the Guildnet," Corallis explained, her tail swishing lazily in the water. "It's like a vast, invisible web of information and communication that spans all of the nine cities of her Shadow Empire and even places far beyond it."

“Sounds like a magical… internet with full-dive VR?” Dave stared at the mermaid.

Corallis tilted her head. "I'm not familiar with those terms, but if you mean a way to access information and chat across great distances, then yes. The Guildnet allows Astral Divers to project their consciousness into various shared Astral spaces hosted by mage towers, where divers can interact with each other, find clients, access libraries of knowledge, order things from other cities, buy or even steal information.”

"Dang," Dave mused, suddenly feeling excited about the prospect of a magical internet. "So, who controls this Guildnet?"

“Local Guildnet is divided among several competing Guilds, each owned by one of the Shandrian High Lords. Hosting an Astral space is expensive and requires lots of mana crystals and a big mage tower - the taller, the better.”

Dave frowned, reminded of the monopolistic telecommunications corporations back on Earth. "Let me guess, the Voicecast Guilds don't play nice with each other?"

"You catch on quick,” the mermaid nodded. “Each Guild jealously guards its own portion of Guildnet, offering different services and charging different rates. Personally, I recommend one of the Rubix Voicecast Guild shops owned by Lord Rubius for getting your first voicecast ring. They won’t screw you over too badly.”

“Thanks,” Dave said.

“Anytime love,” Corallis smiled. “I’m done with the damage evaluation. Your Aura is still corrupted pretty badly by Metal and now lots of Void too. Dive, so I can start to clear these up.”

----------------------------------------

As the sun began to move past the shimmering corona of the black hole painting Shandria's winding streets in orange tones of evening, Dave found himself once again at the entrance of the Nightingale tavern. The familiar warmth and cacophony of voices washed over him as he pushed open the heavy wooden door.

There was no musician on the dim stage today on the account that he had devoured Stellaris.

His eyes scanned the crowded room until they landed on a familiar group seated at a corner table. Dumpich, his violet-tinted curled horns gleaming in the tavern's Kitlix lanterns, was enthusiastically describing something to Terri and Leon while waving his arms.

“Look who decided to grace us with his presence," Terri commented, spotting Dave first.

Dave slid into an empty chair, offering a weak smile to his friends. "Hey, everyone.”

"Eyyy Dave-o! So, how'd it go with your lady friend? You two lovebirds have a nice time?" Dumpich instantaneously invaded his personal space, squeezing his shoulder.

“No,” Dave said simply.

“Huh, but I thought that you two were an item and….” Dumpich began, the wide smile sliding off his face.

“Sadly, no,” Dave sighed. “She tried to collar me into servitude.”

“Collar you?!” Terri’s green eyes went wide. “Wait… right in front of us?! That was an illegal soul-binding collar?! That bitch! We have to tell the Watch and…”

“A binding collar?” Dumpich choked. “How did you even get out of it?”

“I handled it,” Dave shook his head. “Also, I’d prefer it if you didn’t summon the Watch, Terri. I... I handled it personally. She won't be a problem anymore."

"Handled it how, exactly?" Leon asked.

Dave met the Healer's eyes. "Let's just say she won't be putting collars on anyone else."

A heavy silence fell over the table. Dumpich broke it with a low whistle. "Blimey, Dave. You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

"You have no idea," Dave muttered. “Could we… talk in private?”

“Uh, yeah, totally,” Dumpich nodded. “I’ll go reserve a private booth.”

He stood up, intercepted a catgirl barmaid and in short order the ex-programmer and three Healers ended up sitting in a hidden alcove featuring a plush couch. A shimmering, magic curtain separated their voices from the rest of the pub.

“You… you killed Lady Stellaris?” Terri asked, looking at Dave’s trembling hands.

“No. She was never exactly alive to begin with,” Dave said.

“What?” Terri asked.

“She wasn’t a person,” Dave clarified. “She was basically… shadow magic bound with crystals.”

“You’re not messing with us?” Dumpich sputtered.

“I’m not,” Dave shook his head.

“You’re hurt,” Terri commented. “Hang on, I’m gonna scan you.”

“Yeah,” Dave nodded. “I… need your help.”

“With?” Dumpich asked, leaning forward.

“Oh,” Terri’s face paled as her Kitlix jumped onto Dave’s shoulder, rushing up and down his body. “Oh, no. Oh, this is very bad.”

“What?” Dumpich looked at the concerned and pale antlered girl.

“Vexirium,” she said.

“Vexirium?!” Dumpich sputtered. “But he’s not ninety years old!”

Leon’s Kitlix also jumped onto Dave, running all over him like a green-tinted dark squirrel climbing a tree.

“Dave,” Dumpich sent his own Kitlix to examine the ex-programmer. “What in the Abyss did you do?”

“What’s Vexirium?” Dave asked, his heartbeat accelerating.

“Skill Psychosis,” Leon leaned forward, his expression grave. "Vexirium is a condition usually seen in very old or mid-high level mages who've pushed their skills too far by casting or absorbing too much magic. It's a kind of... magical incompatibility of body and crystalline heart core, if you will. The heart core swells too much and releases too much magic for the body to support it, tearing internal tissues, crystallizing bones and eventually leading to memory loss and gradual fragmentation of self.”

“Yeah, I see it too,” Dumpich frowned. “Your heart core is burning you from within, mate. It’s pretty bad.”

“Have you been hallucinating things, feeling not like yourself, feeling like your personality is shattering, decaying away?” Terri asked.

“Forgetting things?” Leon added. “Muscles twitching as if you’re being puppeteered by something?”

“Yes,” Dave nodded. “Uh, what… what should I do about this?”

“There’s no simple cure,” Terri bit her lip. “This sort of thing normally happens to old, wealthy Archmagi or Highborns… The sort of people who enjoy magic-infused steaks their entire life, and also someone who can afford a personal healer. Depending on the quality of their personal Healer, they get to live a decade or more until their stomach bursts at around the 100-year mark.”

“Yeah, but this is a rare case. Dave's core isn’t massive, so there aren't too many tissue tears,” Leon pointed out. “It’s just ridiculously bright. Almost blindingly so from what I can see through Lisst. It’s going to lead to tissue decay and necrosis and a whole set of other problems unless it’s constantly monitored and handled. It’s almost like you went up twenty levels overnight or maybe even more… but that’s just not possible.”

Dave swallowed.

“Mate, what in the Abyss have you done to yourself?” Dumpich asked.

“I… defeated a dungeon,” Dave said. “And absorbed the magic from the core and all of the monsters.”

“Which dungeon?” Dumpich demanded.

Dave pulled his bag onto the table and opened it, revealing an entire compartment packed with Void lotuses.

“By her Shadow,” Leon’s blue eyes went wide. “You… you’ve conquered the Whispering Depths?!”