It was the first time they had gone through the city without being under heavy escort, where people were milling about and the Summoned were not a central focus. This was the first time it felt like a city. It was living and breathing, with ebb and flow. King’s guards accompanying nobility from the upper levels wasn’t out of the ordinary, as those armored figures were the equivalent of the city guard in the middle and lower levels. The citizenry weren’t paying the Summoned any particular attention, they were just new people in a city of well over three hundred thousand.
To Eric, it felt like a homecoming.
Glancing back at his allies, he took note of their Body Enhancement choices. All had elected to use the Neversick Slime as Eric had suggested, but each had also chosen to use a second one as well. Two per person, which he reasoned was a good amount, as it left them four Skills on their Loadouts.
Naomi had different-colored eyes, with the irises no longer circles but hexagons. Something that, in her words, let her see structures and how objects connected and functioned. Crafter’s Eyedrops.
Shannon had chosen to go with an eye Body Enhancement as well, but hers looked like those of a cat. Catseye Elixir, which gave her not just dark vision, but also increased her visual acuity and how far she could see.
Peter’s muscles were slightly bulkier, and he kept running his hands along his forearms. Mana Muscles, which allowed for his mana channels to directly contribute to his muscle mass. The more he exercised one, the more the other would grow, and vice-versa.
Eric looked back to the front as they started their descent into the crevasse that would lead to The Consortium’s main lounge. “Index.”
[Ah, hello there. Enjoying your new Body Enhancements?]
Yes, he thought back, and the person who applied them. I could do without the pain, but I would’ve needed to go with a Healing Mage and not Misty to make that happen. It was worth it to see her again.
His chest pain had subsided that morning. His skin was the same hue as before, but small lines of Blackflame raced across the surface, almost like waves. Most of it remained hidden by his clothes, but Shannon had commented that when it happened across his face, it gave him a villainous appearance.
I wanted to know about Embers. Do I get one each time I go to a new floor of the mega dungeon?
[Nope. Just when you first enter a dungeon.]
But I’ll get them after each floor is cleared.
[That is correct.]
What can I use them for?
[Embers can be spent to evolve a Skill, Trait, Rote, or Body Enhancement.]
Can they be used to fuse Traits?
[I . . . do not know. You could try it. No one has tried it before. This is treading new ground. We will learn together as we go.]
I’ve got Vital Heat and Sapping Heat that both restore ten percent of my maximum health and mana, respectively. Since I’m already breaking some rules I thought were set in stone through Ember use, we might as well see what limits can be pushed.
[We could give it a whirl. You’re the first Blackflame wielder in Elyndor’s history, so I don’t know what will happen.]
Even though you made The Paths.
[Hey, I’m not some genius, okay? I don’t know all the permutations of everything. That’s a lot of information!]
He couldn’t help but note how Indedroma sounded flustered.
Okay, let’s try it. Use an Ember to merge Vital Heat and Sapping Heat.
[Okay, let’s hit this function, and this function, and this . . .]
[Confirmed. Polymerization of Traits initiated.]
[Parameter check: both Traits are of the same Rank? Yes.]
[Parameter check: both Traits are of the same Enhancement? Yes.]
[Applying . . .]
Eric felt that cool, familiar feeling in his right palm as a shard of reversed Blackflame—white flames with black borders—manifested and then dissipated.
-----
Trait:
Revitalizing Heat 1 - When a target dies within 1 minute of being harmed by the user, the user restores 10% of their health and mana.
-----
[Huh. Look at that. I can provide more information now. Polymerization allows you to combine two similar or aligned Skills, Traits, Rotes, or Body Enhancements. However, it requires them to be the same Rank and Enhancement if a Skill or Trait, or Tier if Body Enhancement. There’s something else here, but it’s REDACTED.]
Eric grinned. He had an open Trait slot now, and was only three levels away from acquiring yet another at level fifteen.
Embers are so useful. And they’re unique to me?
[Each primal force has their own variation. As do Empyrean Classes, hence why I knew they could be used to evolve Rotes, Skills, and Traits. Polymerization is wholly unique to primal forces though.]
Eric was familiar with the term Empyrean. It was the highest upgrade of a Class. When he reached level fifty with a Class, he could go to a Ley Line, use all his Sigils and mana, and then soak up the raw power. It would change the name of the Class while keeping the same identity and level, effectively promoting to the next category up: Elite Class.
Then, that process could be repeated. Level one-hundred it could be upgraded to Master, level two-hundred to Mythic, level four-hundred to Ascended, and level eight-hundred to Empyrean. That process could be done for each of the three Classes a person obtained over their lifetime, and the maximum level a person could achieve was one-thousand in each Class, for a total of three-thousand—though such lofty goals had never been achieved.
He had never reached the heights of Empyrean in his past life for any of his three Classes. This time, he was sure he could achieve that level of power for at least one of them.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Thanks, Index. Close.”
Naomi tapped his shoulder. “What’s that about?”
Eric looked at her. “Just dealing with some questions about how some Skills and Traits will interact,” he replied. It wasn’t a true lie, but he didn’t want her inquiring mind to think too much about Embers.
That answer seemed to satisfy her curiosity.
They reached the bottom of the chasm and began walking through the main avenue of shops, crafters, and refiners. They made a few pit stops at Eric’s insistence, using some of their large sum of coins to purchase standard adventuring kits: rope, pitons, climbing spikes, a grappling hook, a mess kit, torches, matches, food, and water canteens.
“I’m starting to really feel like I’m in a D&D campaign,” Naomi said as she shouldered her heavy pack.
Eric chuckled. “You’ll get used to the weight. It’ll be second nature.”
Shannon rejoined the group, as she’d been visiting another shop. “I got the bag you asked for!” She handed it to Eric.
[Gear Acquired: T1 Harvester’s Bag.]
It was a bag specially designed for storing Monster Parts and even had a little inner pouch for his Monster Harvest Mitts. The interior was larger than the exterior, which meant they would be able to harvest quite a bit before having to resort to the backup burlap sacks.
“Okay, I think that’s that. Does anyone need anything else?” Naomi asked.
After quickly conferring, the group went to purchase some healing items. Tier 1 Healing Potions. They wouldn’t make someone fully heal up, but could cure one significant injury or wound.
Eric had been taking note of how much coin he had spent, and also tried to guesstimate his allies’ amounts remaining.
We need to be a bit more judicious down the line, he thought, but this gear is needed. Especially the adventuring supplies. That’s an investment, more than anything. And without a designated Warden Class, we need the potions in case of emergency.
Sadly, the gear they had received from the various soirée attendees was not very useful in dungeon diving. They were more so quality-of-life items, like a magic item that would instantly clear fuzz and pet dander from clothing. Those were nice things to have: Eric especially enjoyed using the mouth-repairing paste the night prior, which fixed all of his cavities and crowns, giving him a perfect set of pearly whites without any pain or discomfort, minus spitting out the intruding, old dental work. But still, those bits of gear were luxury items, not meant for dungeon diving.
They found a place to purchase the Healing Potions, and after a little haggling, they came away with a decent supply: enough for each of them to have three of the Tier 1 quality. Eric did not think they would need anything more potent, given what he had heard about the first few floors of the Twilight Depths. Healing Potions effectively accelerated a person’s natural rate of healing by many, many degrees. Eric was sure it would be more than enough.
They headed to the Twilight Consortium lounge. There, they spoke to the front desk clerk, pressed their palms to the desk, the surface flared to life and showed their names to the clerk, and they were allowed into the rowdy, filled inner space. The king’s guards stayed at the front desk, as that was the only entrance or exit to the building.
“We’ll be waiting for you,” one of them said—a blunt reminder to The Summoned that they were always being monitored.
The dungeon descent was surrounded by people: divers who were preparing gear, checking their equipment, and conversing loudly as they extolled their victories. A group of young adults—in their mid-teens it looked like—were waiting in a line outside the equipment room, going in one at a time. Eric knew that they were being allowed in by the Twilight Depths Consortium. They’d come out with milestones and a Dungeon Core, but no Monster Parts. Such was the dungeon economy in Tenebria.
All the voices went quiet as the Summoned entered the room and their presence was recognized. They stood out immediately, as Eric knew word had spread: the middle- and lower-cities didn’t necessarily know who they were, but the Consortium knew, since the Summoned had done their blind run a few days before.
Faces turned and eyes looked over in silent judgement, so Eric put on his most smug grin possible. “Hey there. Great day for diving. Mind moving out of the way? We’re ready to go in.”
A large woman, covered in scars and outfitted in heavy-duty scale armor, walked over to him. She towered over Eric and gave a crooked smile. Crooked, because her teeth were bashed and beaten. “Y'all need to wait your turn.”
“Holy shit. Y’all say that too?” Peter shouted with excitement.
The woman glanced past Eric and blinked a few times, clearly confused. “Erm . . . yeah.” She looked back at Eric. “Delver’s Guild goes first today.”
“I don’t think that’s a rule,” Naomi muttered.
“It’s our rule,” the woman replied.
Eric let out an exaggerated sigh. “I just want to go down there and kill some monsters. It’s not like I’m going to be taking yours or anything.”
“It’s the principle of the matter.”
Peter stepped past Eric. He was easily a match to her height and bulk. His Texan twang came out in full force as he said, “Now look here, lady. We’re heading down, and we’re not waiting for all of y’all to get down there first. There’s what, forty of y’all in here? I’m not a fan of waiting while y’all jerk each other off before the big event to calm yer nerves. Now, my momma raised me right proper, but I’ll whoop yer ass if you don’t move those sweet cheeks.”
The room went still. The air had seemingly frozen in everyone’s lungs. Then, the woman laughed. A deep, belly laugh. “You’re a fucking riot.” She waved to her companions. “Let ‘em through ahead of us.”
Peter nodded in acknowledgement and waved his companions forward. He grabbed one of the ropes, descending into the purple entrance. Eric grabbed a thin chain and slid down, through the purple film and into an infinite, black void that extended in all directions. He kept descending the chain and watched the message from The Paths filter through his vision.
[Entering the Twilight Depths.]
[This is not your first time entering this mega dungeon. Please select a floor from the list available.]
[1, 2.]
“Two,” Eric said confidently. The black faded away, and he shimmied down the chain until his feet touched soft, partly packed dirt. He had landed in a flower garden, outside of a cottage, in an enormous countryside that expanded in all directions.
Peter had touched down first and was looking around with shock. “This place was supposed to be underground and shit.”
“It’s still in the Twilight Depths, even if it looks like we’re outdoors,” Eric replied. “It’s like a pocket dimension.” Eric looked up as Naomi and then Shannon both descended the ropes and landed. Both had the same impressed look Peter did. The quiet chirping of crickets filled the air, and a faint hooting of an owl echoed across the meadows.
“Good job being the Texan badass up there,” Naomi said as she gave Peter’s armored shoulder a little pat.
“All in a day’s work, ma’am,” he replied, once again laying the accent on thick.
Shannon pointed to a dirt road. “That looks like the way forward. Think this whole place has an outdoor country theme?”
“Probably,” Eric replied. “The entry chamber normally sets you up to know what the theme is. I’d bet we’ll be fighting stuff that would occur naturally out in the wilds, beyond the safety of walls and patrols.”
“Yeah, the Ghulara family was telling me about that,” Peter replied as he took the lead, hefting his purple-accented maul onto one shoulder. “Big mana beasts out there in out-of-the-way places. Unless there’s active patrols going on, or the area is really populated and there’s no place for wildlife to thrive, people live in walled cities for the most part.”
Naomi pulled her MAB out of her pocket and caused it to grow in size. “Everyone ready?”
“Not quite,” Eric said. His allies stopped their movement toward the dirt road. “We should use this time to practice.”
“Practice what?”
Eric gestured around them. “This is the perfect training ground. No one can see what we’re doing right now, since we’re in our own instance of the mega dungeon. That means we can practice tactics. Formations. How we will fight against different types of foes. We all have video-game experience, so we should at least come up with some game plans.” He looked at Peter. “You know, design a play, like what quarterbacks have on those little wrist-pad-things with the slips of paper.”
“Oh. Smart,” Peter replied.
Naomi flipped her rifle around and used the butt of the gun on the dirt below the hanging ropes and chains. “Okay, then, let’s get to theorizing, and then do a bit of roleplay practice . . .”
The group spent an hour drilling formations. No Rotes, no Skills, just practicing. Theory at first: how would they handle a single big foe. Then, pretending it was there and moving around, imagining that they were actually fighting it. Rinse and repeat for hordes of enemies, two enemies with shared health pools—all the different video-game-style mechanics for bosses they could think of.
At first it was a bit silly, and there were a few scattered, embarrassed laughs. But Eric kept his stern demeanor, and reminded them, “Practice like this can be the difference between life and death.”
He knew there was a risk to taking their time here. Too long spent in a mega dungeon, too much downtime, and the dungeon difficulty would increase. An hour or two wouldn’t hurt though. He doubted the floor would take that long to clear. And, worst-case scenario, they could leave and re-enter to reset it.
“Okay, I think we’re good,” Naomi said.
Eric double checked his Loadout, and then glanced at his Status Screens on his bracer by pushing a little bit of mana into it. “Alright, everyone, let’s go clear this floor.”
-----
Name: Eric Mercer
Classes: Blackflame Mage 12
Maximum Sigils: 5
Rotes: [Scorching] Blackflame Bolt, Ash Shroud
Equipped Skills: Flashstep 2, Cinderburst 3, Inferno Trigger 3, Combustion 3
Traits: [Dire] Blackflame Blaze E2, Revitalizing Heat 1
Body Enhancements: Neversick Slime (T5), Mana Skin (T7)
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Loadout Slots: 6 (-2 from Body Enhancements)
Gear: Manatech Bracer [Comms, Map, HUD, Alarm, Index Interface], T1 Monster Harvest Mitts, T1 Harvester's Bag, T1 Tracking Gloves, T1 Deflection Matrix, T1 Silence Node, T1 Healing Potion (x3)
Monster Parts:
Embers: 0
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