Nicomedes shut the door to the temporary chambers the Guild had provided for him and sank into a chair with a sigh. It was late in the afternoon the day after he'd arrived, and he'd only now managed to get some time for himself. At first he'd felt a bit annoyed at the delay, but he'd quashed that reaction as soon as he noticed it. The vigil of a fully defeated Challenger party wasn't something he could ignore as a Bishop of the Order, regardless of his personal plans. Thankfully for him it seemed that the Guilders weren't aware of the shard as of yet, so he wasn't in a desperate rush to get ahead of anyone tying it to his people. Especially since they hadn't even started the Challenges on the second Floor, where the shard was most likely to be, yet. And given that it was seeming more and more likely his Justiciars would get to be the first ones to enter with how his conversations with the local Hallmaster had gone.

They wouldn't all be made aware of the shard either, of course. That was too much of a risk. But Boltar was loyal to a fault, and him knowing what to look out for should be enough to make sure that the shard was never found by someone who shouldn't see it. If it was still there in the first place, which Nicomedes wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. With their inbuilt trust in the system Dungeons tended to have a stronger instinctual rejection of the Aberrant compared to the sapient races, one that took months if not years of talking to help them get over. Nicomedes couldn't blame them too much though when it came to Shards; there was a reason most humans thought badly of Necromancers after all. Still if a Dungeon could be convinced to look past its instincts and see the bigger picture it would become some of the most useful allies a researcher like him could have, since their influence over the System through their Edicts mirrored the Aberrant's own System manipulation.

He scoffed. Not that the System saw it that way of course, otherwise most high Tier Dungeons would all be labeled as Aberrant. No that label was left to the people of the sapient races who tried to reach beyond what their cap was supposed to be. The people like him who wanted to grasp more than what the System had deemed to limit them to.

He shook his head. He shouldn't get lost in his own thoughts, not when he had so much work to do. Even with his main fear assuaged and the shard still not found, there seemed to be much more to this Dungeon than what he'd first assumed, and he wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with before the big meeting later tonight. He reached into his robe and pulled out several sealed letters from his contact among the Guild [Clerks], ripped the first seal, and started reading. He knew a bit of what to expect from what he’d seen while escorting Lenore, but what he read still surprised him. He'd expected that half of the changes he’d heard about to be the usual exaggerated Adventurer gossip, but as he read through he found that the reports mostly matched up with what people had been saying.

A Named floor 1 Guardian, capable of contending against a full party alone. Now that one he could believe, considering how annoying of a fight it had been even for level 20’s. He was still surprised it could talk, though.

Then there was the massive change to the layout, as well as the changing death traps. Those were rarer in his opinion, especially considering that many of the traps were triggered through a clever use of mana that made them almost impossible to spot with mundane means, and tricky to find even using Skills. That kind of sophistication when using mana usually signified an older Dungeon, as it wasn’t something that could just be brute forced through System help. Then there was the fact that a months-old Dungeon already had an Edict!

That was so rare it was practically unheard of, but it was still within the possible things he knew a Dungeon could do, so even that wasn’t the most shocking thing. That would be the note and the talisman, though he wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the only ones still alive who would still remember who archmage Karun was or the old symbol for the Blood Clan. Apart from some of the older vampires themselves, of course. Though they mostly kept to themselves, several thousand miles to the east at that, so it wasn't that strange that people from here wouldn't recognize the symbol.

Nicomedes spent a long time reading through the reports from the Dungeon Scholars about it, and could only come to one conclusion. It was a genuine Blood Clan talisman, and though it looked brand new it was a symbol they hadn't used in over 500 years.

How had the Dungeon learned of this? Nicomedes shook of his head in bewilderment. Oh what he wouldn't give to be able to go down there and ask these questions directly. The things he might learn... He sighed. No, that was a bad idea. Even if the Dungeon hadn't had a bad image of him from 'interfering' with Lenore's Challenge, he couldn't risk going into a Dungeon while around so many Guilders. It would see through his fake Status in an instant, and the risk that it would share that information was too large.

No, he couldn't go inside. He had to theorize the best he could while out here.

A half hour later Nicomedes was tapping frustratedly on the top of his desk. No matter how he thought only two possibilities had come to mind, and he didn't like either. The first and least dislikable possibility was that the Dungeon had found some old artifacts during its expansion and used them as a basis to create this... whatever this was supposed to be. That would be strange, but otherwise have very little to do with him personally. The second possibility he thought of however was that the System had given the Dungeon the information about the history of the Aberrant War, and it had for some reason decided to use that to change its floors.

If it was that second possibility the cause had to be the shard. It was Aberrant, and Karun was archmage during the Aberrant War, so there was a connection there. And that wasn't even mentioning the connection between the Aberrant and the old Blood Clan. Though he had to admit it was a long shot at best, hence the 'unlikely' part of the second scenario. He frowned and tapped a finger on his desk. Neither of the options were good enough for him to say they were anything remotely close to a 'likely' explanation. Suddenly finding artifacts from half a millennium ago relating to specifically the Aberrant War that took place on the other end of the continent... It just didn't seem plausible. And the second possibility that was even less likely. He hadn't ever heard of the System doing anything like giving out information like this before. Ever. And he'd talked with several Dungeons at length about that particular relationship. Still, he couldn't dismiss the notion out of hand, considering how doting the System was towards Dungeons. Especially new ones. And who knows what adding something Aberrant to them that early could cause. He paused. That might be something that might be worth experimenting with further in the future. He made a mental note so he wouldn't forget it once he was done here. For now though he thought he should focus his attention on the more immediate future. Making sure the shard was never found, and finding out whatever else this new Dungeon knew about the Aberrants. Now that he had gotten the chance to read through the reports, he was even more eager to learn what the Dungeon, and the Guild, were hiding. In order to make sure he, and the Order, got what they wanted, he had to prepare properly for the meeting. He put the Scholars's reports to the side and took out a blank piece of parchment. There he began to write down a list of everything he knew about the meeting and the Guild's situation.

Firstly, he'd only been invited as an afterthought. Or rather, it seemed Katherine invited him because she'd felt after the vigil that she couldn't afford not to. Which meant she hadn't originally wanted him to be there.

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

That wasn't that surprising. She was a Guilder after all, and they weren't big fans of people from the Order coming in and judging them for their decisions. Nor do they want the Order to infringe on their leadership. So it could just be a standard unwillingness coming from the politics of the two organizations. Or it could also be because she knew what they were discussing would be an issue for him as a Bishop of the Order. And considering who the other participants were going to be he was pretty sure it was the second option.

If he had to guess they were going to discuss using higher Tiered members to carry people through the Floors, making damned sure no more Guilders died during their attempt to Tier Up. Maybe they wouldn't try something that drastic, but something to that effect anyway. Which was certainly something he as a Bishop would have to object to. Not to mention considering how the Dungeon had reacted to his own 'outside interference' probably wouldn't go that well regardless. He thought for a moment, trying to come up with the best way he could use that to his advantage. The obvious idea was to outwardly object, but not actually do it with enough strength to stop the Guilders from what they were planning to do. Then he could just wait for the inevitable fallout that would come from the Dungeon evoking its Edict against the 'cheaters', and use that as leverage for getting what he really wanted. It was a simple plan, that was almost sure to work, but one Nicomedes rejected out of principle.

While he wouldn't lose sleep that a group of Guilders he didn't know had died, he didn't like the idea of intentionally letting some children die unnecessarily just for some small advantage in future negotiations. He wasn't unskilled enough to need to stoop down to that level. He was plenty capable of getting what he wanted through other means. He just had to think deeper than the first thing that popped into his head.

***

The meeting of leaders took place in the largest room the Guild had available, which was to say it was in a converted dining room in one of the few actual buildings the Guild had finished so far. The many small tables had been moved and a large meeting table stood in their place in the middle of the room, with five chairs on either side, as well as one large one on the short side facing the door. Katherine stood in behind that chair as the only one currently in the room. She signaled for him to take the seat to her immediate left, so Nicomedes made his way over to it with a gracious nod. As the highest Tier here, even with his faked status, it was only right for him to arrive first. Apart from the meetings organizer of course. A part of him felt annoyed at the pretentious officialness of it all, but he was experienced enough with these kinds of things that he knew it came with the territory. Especially now that he was here. With a Bishop from the Order present, there was no way the Guild was going to be anything less than proper. He wished it didn't have to be so, but some of his compatriots were real sticklers for protocol and ceremony, so the Guild had learned to play it safe.

One by one the other members filed into the room. There was Yerin of course, Katherine's right-hand woman and assistant. She took the seat on Katherine's other side. Then came a pair of men who despite their young looks gave of an aged air who had to be the resident Dungeon Scholars. Nicomedes hadn't had a chance to meet either of them yet, as they hadn't left their rooms once since he arrived even for the vigil. But he'd been around their ilk long enough to recognize them at a glance. They sat next to Nicomedes and Yerin. After them came a pair Nicomedes didn't recognize, though with them being in Tier 3 and 4 respectively he guessed they were the Master Clerk and Scoutmaster of the camp. After them came the final three participants; representatives of each of the three Tiers of Guilder parties that were currently in the camp. His eyes were drawn to the Tier 1 representative, one Noracin Lark. Something about him seemed familiar to Nicomedes, but he couldn't put a finger on what until the man noticed his gaze and bowed while mouthing the traditional Order greeting. Ah so he used to be a member. That could be useful. He nodded back to the man with a smile.

Katherine cleared her throat, then took her seat, signaling for the others to do so. Nicomedes and the others did so in the order they entered, and once they were all seated Katherine declared the inter-organizational meeting officially begun.

"Welcome one and all." Katherine began. "This is important, so I'll get right into it. The Dungeon is too lethal. We are here today to discuss and decide on what we are to do about that. The goal of this meeting is to have a plan in place for keeping more of our Challengers alive, and hopefully even a Tier higher, after they undertake their Challenge. The floor is open, any ideas?"

**

So far the meeting had been proceeding pretty much as Nicomedes had predicted. The Guilders had presented several outlandish ideas for how to best deal with this Dungeons high difficulty, yet so far they had all been shot down as not being feasible or requiring too much outside interference. They hadn't yet suggested the idea of having higher Tiered people carry the Challengers through the Floor, and it seemed that even they thought that idea was too much. In fact many of their ideas were in his opinion quite conservative in how much it would actually help the Challengers. Perhaps his presence alone was enough to dissuade them, as he hadn't even had to protest once so far.

What was frustrating though was that they didn't seem to be making any progress. One of them would come up with some idea, which would then be shut down by someone else shortly after, who would then present their own idea, and the cycle would repeat.

It took a lot of mental effort to keep his face neutral, but Nicomedes was experienced in that regard. It wasn't time yet. If he just came out and suggested an idea, someone would just shoot it down. They needed to step too far first, so he had some reason to object. And going by how frustrated some of the participants, particularly the Dungeon Scholars, were getting, he was sure he wouldn't need to wait much longer.

He was right.

"If you want to do that we could just as well have some high Tiered buffers give the Challengers buffs before they walk in?" One of the Scholar's, Florian, said angrily.

"Are you crazy!?" Korbin, the other Scholar, exclaimed.

"It's not crazier than your idea." Florian scoffed.

"How are buffs the same as information?!" Korbin said. "With my idea the Challenge is still there. Your idea trivializes it completely."

"What 'Challenge'? if you have high Tiers go in first and trigger all the traps?"

"At least with what I'm saying..."

"Gentlemen, please." Nicomedes said. The room went silent instantly. A perk of speaking rarely was that people tended to listen when you did. "I can see you are upset, but spouting ideas you know are improper won't get us anywhere." He turned to Florian. "Don't you agree?"

Florian grimaced, but managed to calm himself after a few moments and took a deep breath. "You're right, of course. I let emotions get the better of me. Apologies, Bishop."

"No need for apologies." Nicomedes said. "This is a difficult question for you, I'm sure."

"Do you have a suggestion?" Florian asked. Nicomedes smiled internally, but kept his face neutral.

"I must admit to not having given this much thought. As I'm sure you're aware we in the Order follow the Teachings, so this would never come up in our discussions."

"Of course." Katherine said, trying to interject, but Nicomedes held up a hand to forestall her.

"I have however had some time to think during this discussion, and I think there is a way I can help."

He turned to Katherine. "We had a previous discussion about my Justiciars. Now they would not normally concern themselves with taking notes or the like, but I think they could be persuaded to do so if it is to help the Guild. As long as it isn't spread around of course. That way at least the information isn't gathered by those higher Tier than what is appropriate."

"And you would want what in return?" Katherine asked. She looked annoyed, but he could see thoughtful faces on the other people in the room.

"We wouldn't need anything. The opportunity to Challenge the Dungeon itself is reward enough. But before we decide, there is one thing I feel is important to mention. One person whose opinion we can not decide without."

"Who's?" Florian asked. Nicomedes turned to face him.

"Why the Dungeon's of course." He said. "What was its name? Veos, right?" Noracin nodded absently, and Nicomedes pressed on.

"Now I'm aware that this isn't typically how it's done in the Guild, but If you're going to attempt to cheapen its Challenge, it's sure to have some kind of opinion on that. Perhaps a good move would be to make sure whatever you're planning won't make it dislike you too much. Who knows what it might decide to do then?"