Chapter 40. Into the Dungeon

Gamers poured through the entrance, making their way toward the main building.

I followed, Janica fluttering over my shoulder, a stoic look on her face. The warrior in her was ready for battle.

Ghosts and Wraiths floated about the grounds, and groups of adventurers attacked them. They were level 20-22. But now they were all elites.

“Are we going to be able to kill these things with just the two of us?” I whispered to Janica.

“We’ll have to be careful,” she said.

Gamers threw open the double doors to the main building and everyone poured in. The inside looked different than it did before, yet the architecture was identical. Glow Vines ran up and down walls, providing a soft blue glowing light. Friendly Ghostlike NPCs stood around the large entry hall, and adventurers were gathered around them. I saw a quartermaster in one corner and a set of target dummies in an opposite corner. Ahead of me was the Headmaster. I walked up to him first.

He looked far different from before. No longer a Banshee but a distinguished elderly man with glasses and a bowtie. Still ghostly white.

The Headmaster wasn’t so much having conversations as greeting people and handing out brochures. “Welcome to Edreru University,” he said over and over.

“I’m gonna go check out the place,” Janica said.

The Headmaster handed me a pamphlet, but stopped when he saw me.

I began to sweat. He clearly recognized me. I helped kill him yesterday. Would he drop the friendly disposition and attack?

Instead he reached out and shook my hand with both hands, a huge grin on his face. “Warren,” he said. “Welcome back. Thank you for freeing me of my… illness. As a reward, I have granted 1000 University Reputation to you and your group. You’ll see on the brochure that you’re already able to purchase items from our quartermaster.”

People began looking at me and whispering to one another.

I didn’t love that and pulled away from the crowd to peruse the brochure.

Generally, in video games, reputation rewards were listed by a quartermaster. There would be a price and a minimum level of reputation needed to buy each item. While that all existed, the brochure looked more like a University recruiting pamphlet. Like they were trying to get people to enroll by bragging about the amenities. There were large, colorful pictures of the University grounds and a bio of the final boss.

Meet Clarity the Hexer

Loves: Laughter and turning others into chickens

Dislikes: Adventurers that talk back

Favorite food: Children

This was probably the AI that had taken Henry. Hidden in plain sight. On marketing material.

I found the list of items for sale.

University Stew

Cost: 10 Silver for a stack of 5

Restores 50 health and 50 mana over 20 seconds.

Required Reputation: 1000

Edreru’s Undergraduate Ring

Cost: 100 Silver

+2 to all stats

Required Reputation: 3000

Edreru’s Graduate Ring

Cost: 250 Silver

+4 to all stats

Required Reputation: 7000

Edreru’s Tenured Ring

Cost: 600 Silver

+4 to all stats

+5% damage with all skills and attacks

Required Reputation: 16000

I nearly started drooling over the tenured ring. I opened up my reputation interface. I started with 1000 reputation. Not bad. That meant I was a little bit ahead of everyone else. The realization that I needed 15,000 more for the Tenured Ring made me want to get into the dungeon. Immediately. But the price point scared me. Six-hundred dollars for the best ring. Ouch.

I found Janica, and we headed to the down staircase, which served as the entrance to the dungeon.

We stepped through a swirling portal. I expected a cut scene or perhaps a loading screen, but nothing. Just a prompt.

You entered Edreru University. This is an instanced event. Only your party will be visible to you while you are inside. Good luck!

“Are you ready for this?” I asked.

Janica smiled. “I am. But you’re not. Make sure you’re in the Mystic Job until you buy every Skill that you can. That will open up a new Job for you.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I wasn’t able to tell you that before. You’re still allowed to switch back to Instructor before you level-up.”

“I have 342 Mystic JP. I only need another 160 to be able to buy all the Skills.” I changed my Job to Mystic, then adjusted my Loadout so that I had all my best combat skills. I chose Rhythm and Spiritual Embodiment as my passives. I chose Tempo, Lightning Strike, and Rejuvenate as my active skills.

We descended the stone steps into a wide hallway. The basement wasn’t very basementlike. It felt more like a study. The floors were made of dark hardwood. Shelves lined the bottom-half of the walls with old dusty books of all sizes stacked from end to end. Atop the bookshelves, trinkets and artifacts were displayed like they might be in a museum. Oil paintings were arranged, periodically. But the place was darker than a study. Glow vines ran along the ceiling and between paintings emitting a soft blue bioluminescence. Packs of mobs stood before us in two’s and three’s, all of them Wraiths and Madmen between levels ten and twelve. Elites. With one addition. They had mana.

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Wraith

Level 10, Elite

HP 105/105

Stamina 170/170

Mana 100/100

My eyes grew wide at the sight of a full mana bar. I looked at my own. Three mana out of a possible seventy-three. I pumped my fist and pushed the worry from my mind that I wouldn’t be able to cast spells. It was go time. I looked at the two Level 10 Elite Wraiths that we were about to attack.

“Janica, are we about to die?” I whispered.

“Only one way to find out,” she said. “When your mana is full, I’m pulling. Try to keep me alive. If I die, I won’t respawn.”

Wow. No pressure, huh.

She pulled the two-handed mace off her back and charged into the first group. Her body flew forward faster than I had ever seen her. She crashed into the two mobs.

They both staggered, dazed from the charge. Each had a new debuff.

Stunned for 3 seconds.

I immediately took out my drum and started pounding out the beat to “Hungry Like the Wolf”, activating both Rhythm and Tempo. Frankly, I wasn’t pleased with my song selection. Duran Duran was an English pop band that had mediocre hair cuts, at best. Had Rowan been in our group, she definitely would have judged me for my song choice. And she would have been right. But when Janica dove in, I had to make a split second decision and this song popped into my head.

My mana had filled up from 0 to my maximum of 73 in the few moments since we entered the dungeon. That was a good sign. It meant that I would be able to empty my mana bar after every combat if I needed to. However, I was nervous about Janica dying, so I decided not to cast anything until I needed to. I didn’t want to go out of mana in the middle of our first fight and be the cause of her death.

Janica took two big swings at the Wraiths, her mace able to cleave both of them with each hit. Smartly, after whopping them a couple times, Janica started moving backwards toward the entrance so they wouldn’t pull other packs.

The stuns wore off and the Wraiths simultaneously lifted their mouths to the air and screamed in rage. Buffs appeared on their portraits.

Enraged. Damage increased by 15% for 30 seconds.

They came at Janica in a fury, swinging at her with sharp, bony fingers.

She blocked some of their attacks with the handle of her mace, but the damage poured in. Her health dipped to 90%, then to 85% in a matter of seconds.

“That Enrage is really nasty,” I called out. “Can you interrupt the next one?”

“Can’t,” she called back, slamming her hammer down on the head of one of the mobs. “Charge is the only stun I have right now, and there has to be space between me and the enemy for me to charge. I’m going to focus one down at a time instead of trying to cleave them.”

I opened up my Spell Book, laid my hand on Rejuvenate, and thought “activate” while focusing my attention on Janica. Watery tendrils, lined with gold, enveloped her. She gained a buff.

29 health restored over over 8 seconds.

Even more exciting, green numbers began ticking over her head, floating up into nothingness. +3… +4… +3… +4… Her health ticked from 85% up to 89%, then a Wraith hit her with a critical strike and her health dropped. While the spell had only cost me ten mana out of my seventy-three, it was not keeping up with the damage.

I opened up my Spell Book again, casting Rejuvenate a second time. In the three or four seconds it took me to open up the Spell Book and cast the spell, Janica’s health bobbed up and down, but fell all the way to 64%.

Rejuvenate landed. But instead of doubling the effectiveness of the spell, it simply refreshed the duration from four seconds up to eight seconds. What a waste. I needed to wait until Rejuvenate was about to expire before reapplying it. Every little bit of mana mattered. My mana was down to 54/73; apparently, some was regenerating while in combat, just not as much as when I was out of combat. I’d need to test that to figure out exactly how much.

Janica had one Wraith down to below half health, the other still at 85%. Her own health was falling. At this rate, we would have to run out of the dungeon. I needed to try something different.

I opened up my Spell Book to Lightning Strike and waited. Enrage ticked down. 4… 3… 2...

I activated Lightning Strike for the first time. An energy welled up in me; it felt like I had chugged three cups of coffee. I practically jittered. My hair stood on end, pushing against the inside of my helmet. A blue circle, three yards wide, appeared on the floor in front of me. The target area. I moved it with my hand until the outer edge of the circle touched the two Wraiths. Janica was out of the blast zone. I activated the spell.

Both ghosts lifted their heads to the sky, preparing to cast Enrage again, but my timing was perfect. A bright yellow lightning bolt shot down from above, stunning both of them and sending electrical energy zipping between them and all through the circular area. White numbers floated up above each of their heads: fifteen and eighteen. I had taken about 15% of their damage with that hit. Each. And stunned them.

Janica strafed back while they were stunned, then charged them right as the stun ended. She stunned the mobs right at the end of my stun. Gamers called that chained-crowd-control. She swung her giant mace in a wide, overhead circular motion like a railroad worker hammering in a nail. It slammed down on the head of the Wraith with the lowest life. Its 20% health disappeared in one hit. “Critical strike!” she called out.

The other Wraith broke out of its stun and came directly for me. It still had most of its health. I pulled up my buckler over my head, trying to mitigate the damage. The Wraith pounded me. It hit me for thirteen, then twelve, then fifteen. I blocked a hit. My health dipped from full to almost half in a matter of seconds. I wanted to cast Rejuvenate on myself, but that would require bringing out my Spell Book. I needed to keep my shield up.

“I got you!” Janica said, swinging at the mob, then slamming it in a little combo.

The mob’s health dipped to 30%. It turned toward Janica, lifted its head and enraged.

I retreated as far as I could, giving myself as much space as I could. I casted Rejuvenate on Janica, then on myself. Green numbers ticked over our heads.

By the time I had finished my casts, both Wraiths were dead.

You defeated Wraith x2.

You earned 360 experience points.

You earned 360 reputation with Edreru University.

You earned 70 JP with the Mystic Job.

I backed up to the wall, then let out a long, slow sigh. That had been the very first fight in the dungeon. Probably the easiest we would ever face. And I had nearly been clobbered by a single Wraith. For Janica, death was permanent. For me, it would set my Mystic Job back to level one. I would lose tons of stat points, and get locked out of the game for hours. If I couldn’t progress in the dungeon, I had no hope of convincing Rowan and Cassandra to rejoin me. Or of helping Henry. Or of ever finding out if Botcorp was really controlling the Witch. I needed to be more careful.

But at least two piles of bones sparkled on the ground. My first dungeon loot.