But for a Slime

Chapter One Hundred Seven

Joe woke once again with Gwenvaire by his side, a soothing calm radiating through him and he found himself becoming ever calmer, his stress and worry quickly evaporating and Joe joyfully fell into it. He was in a strange place, he knew it, but found that the peace was deep and meaningful and to be frank, he enjoyed it. He still wasn’t certain what he was going to do with Gwenvaire, the relationship newer and even less explored than with Kilniara. He hadn’t even really done more than speak with her, and now she was sleeping by his side almost every morning, it seemed. They did nothing, just as he’d done nothing with Kilinara, although Gwenvaire seemed much more willing to just allow the relationship to flow as it would. He was conflicted, his initial stance was rejection, then to put the whole thing on hiatus while he struggled to figure out what to do with Gwenvaire, hoping to resolve the situation to release Gwenvaire in some way.

He wasn’t going to lie to himself. The thought of both was tantalizing; intoxicating, even. But he also was deeply uncomfortable and wasn’t going to pursue his relationship with Gwenvaire. He’d hoped that there would be a way, with time, to free her from whatever this was. However, with Kilniara’s moving on, he found himself in an odd place. His intentions had been to reject Gwevnair when possible. His words had been to give her a chance to live while pretending to accept her. He’d hoped to find a reasonable solution and now making different decisions in the moment would be… incredibly unwise. It’d be really dumb to make a kneejerk reaction in this… but… Joe sighed once again, leaning into the calm and peace he felt in the moment. He knew it was dumb. He knew making a decision like this while he was in pain really wasn’t conducive towards wisdom. This made him much more leery of the whole situation, growing more cautious. That said, he felt much more comfortable about this for reasons he couldn’t understand. Something was telling him it was all good.

He lay like this for a time before turning to his mana practice, emptying his mana out several times over the next couple hours before carefully extracting an arm and slithering out of the bed. Sliding down the stairs as quietly as he could with the darkness still heavy on the land, he made it out to the back yard and the glow of the massive gas giant proved more than enough to offer a bright glow and easy visibility in the dark of the morning.

However, even as he stood and began preparing for the day, washing his face and brushing his teeth at the wash basin before throwing on a shirt and heading out the door, nervous agitation returned with a rush, and he felt his heart palpitate rapidly even as his breath juddered chaotically in reaction to his shuddering heart. So he turned to where he’d always found peace: his various combat forms.

He did his forms without thought, mindless movement that began and continued vigorously until he’d emptied all his SP and HP. The HP had proved more difficult, of course, but by now he’d gotten down an easy pattern to empty it rather quickly. Of course, that changed if he had high HP jobs equipped or not, but in the end it was a couple stabs to a kidney, another couple to the gut, and a few to the liver. Then he would cautiously begin shaving it off bit by bit until his HP bottomed out by poking at forearms or fingertips.

Today, after his typical session to wipe out his HP, he paused to look at what his HP would be, expecting it to be in the low hundreds, possibly even in the tens. He found himself staring at his data sheet in shock. Not even… half… wait! How! Joe almost paused to try to figure out how his HP had increased by almost three times from just over three thousand the last time he diligently checked to now well over seven thousand HP. His HP ticked up another couple HP and Joe froze, grimacing. Right… not now!

He repeated his process, watching his HP carefully as it dropped after each stab. He found himself growing ever more flabbergasted that he could take six or seven stabs to the torso in critical organs and both feel nothing but momentary pain and be perfectly fine. Now, he could take almost double that, which Joe found quite interesting considering his HP had almost tripled. So…not exactly a one to one increase but… Joe grinned, laughing to himself. It certainly freed up many concerns about being harmed in a fight. And in that moment, his heart calmed and he found some small measure of peace for a time, now able to focus on his progresss.

He put aside his musings on HP and turned other practical areas while absent mindedly pulling a hand from a pocket holding a plastic card before quickly returning to emptying his pools, even adding in his mana pool figuring he could at least practice emitting his own personal mana while he fought. If there was a time to use mana in desperate situations, it was going to be in a fight, and Garnedell’s death… His mind shuddered, coming to a halt. Pain welled up within him and he began to struggle, tears forming in his eye as his heart began wildly beating and his breath returned to juddering chaos until suddenly, an equal swell of calm immediately replied, rising like a mighty wave and swamping it to wash it away, leaving him calm and quite comfortable and simultaneously quite freaked out. What… was that!? Joe found panic rising then dying down once again as he calmed. Just… maybe getting over it, right? But deep in the recesses of Joe’s mind, a small kernel of thought began to coalesce although it rapidly retreated to the unconscious even as he calmed and turned back to his exercise. It’s… it’s OK. All good. Just… I can focus. Can’t let the pools recharge. Focus… get the work done.

He fell back into his exercise and was once again grinning as the struggle of exercise and the deep burn of work returned. Nice… nice to have it back! Mana spewed out rather indiscriminately but his combat katas flowed with a smoothness that Joe found exhilarating and suddenly, wildly new. His mind captured his movements so much more clearly and the small subtle mistakes that his masters back on Earth would regularly catch and correct suddenly became blindingly clear to him. Almost without thought, his arm raised, a fist extended, a knee turned, an ankle bent, or a wrist straightened, his form perfecting more rapidly than he’d ever experienced before. He had fallen into a the depths of flow and he reveled in it, his each movement and action completed too perfection with the absolute knowledge that this next punch would go exactly where he aimed, the next kick was perfectly on target, the next spin would have him perfectly balanced to continue the kata, not even the slightest of lost balance to be found.

He dove avidly into the experience, recognizing the unique blessing of this moment and pushed himself fully into it. Time flew by, noises rose with the sun as the brightness returned to the land. Shortly after, he felt the presence of a few people around him, watching him avidly but speaking in rather low hushed tones. He ignored them, fascinated by this new sense, for it really seemed like a new sense, to so easily catch the flows of his body, to so easily correct each movement.

Suddenly, an odd twinge caught his attention, one of the strangest twinges he’d known in quite some time, as it was not one of pain, but one of new awareness. Deep within his core, just behind his heart, he could feel with utter certainty, just as he could feel how his arm was bent wrong, or his foot was not quite properly placed. However, this seemed to be the correction of a child’s poor actions rather than the subtle touches that hinted at a correction so small that only a master of their craft could understand or demand the change. There was an obvious lurching in his core and suddenly his mana flew from him in a much more easily controlled torrent. Not only that, his typical full body effort to squeeze the mana out was suddenly much lessened, and he felt a relief shudder throughout his torso as he found he could release mana with much more ease.

OK… very interesting… but… He pushed off the sudden epiphany of the mana, knowing that while it was a much greater change than his subtle epiphanies of his martial arts, the chances that he could gain another moment like this in his martial arts paled in comparison to his chances of finding this mana epiphany once again. He didn’t dismiss it. He was actually torn, the idea of magic calling for him, but he turned his thoughts adamantly back to his physical forms, only taking a small moment to make a mental image of what his mana was doing to make sure he could come back to it.

His movements flowed and he rapidly continued his katas, preferring to stay in each martial art through all major forms before turning to the next martial art. His awe at his current moment of epiphany only grew as each moment and each kata offered several, sometimes dozens, of minor shifts and changes that increased his effectiveness marginally. And he understood their ramifications easily, each change rapidly captured by his thoughts, dissected, and rapidly understood. He went through each kata of each martial art he knew rapidly, twice. But he was still learning new subtle differences, now moving into the realm of variations instead of perfection. The third time through still offered some few shifts towards a better form, but it began to stutter, slowing in the epiphanies Joe was gaining and the variations began to be less certain and more options for Joe to explore. He continued into a fourth cycle and explore those variations that had been offered, finding many to be average, but possibly useful in incredibly specific situations and only finding a couple quite profound. He cycled through a fifth time, and found the well rapidly running dry, the only katas offering increasingly uncertain options were the last of the forms that had grown more perfect.

He continued, through a sixth and seventh cycle until there were no more epiphanies offered. He pushed into an eighth, regardless, and grew certain that all he could gain for today had been offered. He did, however, notice a subtle shadow of possibility just out of his sight, whatever sense he was using. He couldn’t grasp what he was really feeling or sensing, but just out of reach, hidden behind a veil, possibilities of future growth hovered, like shifting images portraying various forms and options that would drive him ever higher in his quest for prowess. However, they were blurred so completely that they were as useful as a picture of water for a thirsty man. He knew it was there and that he desperately craved it; even needed it. But the effort was meaningless and utterly useless. To continue to stare would only waste time, possibly even cripple him as he began fantasizing impossibilities instead of actual progress and he pulled away with a sigh, frowning slightly.

With that return, his epiphany of mana usage seemed to return to him full power, and he grinned, grateful to have not lost at least what may be left of his mana practice. He immediately turned to his mana practice by sitting in the middle of the yard and closing his eyes in thought. It was a poor action, he knew. It was vital that he cool down, but he didn’t want to lose this chance as he’d already put it off. He was still young and in excellent shape. He could only hope that his stiffness wouldn’t be too bad and he would simply be a bit more cautious in fighting today.

He breathed deeply and dove straight into his mana, now placing his full focus on what he was sensing. Almost immediately, it became obvious to him what the subtle hint was suggesting, but unlike his epiphanies into his forms, he couldn’t understand why at all. There were no obvious ramifications or any outcomes that he could foresee. He could only trust the suggestion. The previous suggestion had worked out well, and he began emitting mana again as he’d learn before, having stopped sometime in the middle of his wild rush of perfecting his katas.

The mana came out effortlessly, and Joe only had to flex slightly before the flow began, sweeping outward with ease. He grinned, and relaxed, then smiled more as his mana continued to flow outward easily. He did this a few times, then frowned, remembering that his endurance with mana wasn’t quite what his physical endurance was, and quickly shifted to the next suggestion in the epiphany suggestion box.

He implemented the change blindly, unknowing of what it would do, but the mana stream immediately settled, coming out in a much smoother laminar flow; something he could easily see. It also seemed to take much less effort from him, both in physical exertion and in… something he couldn’t quite define. It’s… easier… but… easier how… not my physical body… not … kinda sorta mentally? But not quite… something… Another suggestion popped up and Joe quickly tabled the previous thoughts, knowing he could swiftly and easily duplicate this one now that he’d experienced it.

This continued for some time, suggestion after suggestion coming, with Joe not able to understand why such suggestions were offered, but easily noticing the increases after each change. The benefits slowly grew smaller, but were still much greater gains than what his physical combat suggestions were. He also noticed that he was slowly gaining some understanding of the principles behind what these changes caused. He began to make guesses, and soon found that he was able to make some decent guesses at how these changes would affect this mana usage.

Suddenly, Joe grunted and felt his mana flow shudder. System mana gone! He grimaced but returned to his efforts, continuing to use all the suggestions that had been given, but noticed they seemed much harder to implement. Joe paused at that, grimacing. Which… what should I do? Try to learn something new? Or solidify what I know… wait…

Joe picked a correction, one of the harder ones that had been offered to him to increase his mana capabilities. He began attempting to manually do it upon his own personal mana and found he could do so relatively easily after only a few times practice. Joe grinned. Right… I know it well enough… hope I remember it all… lets go for the next.

Decision made, he began exclusively focusing on trying each new subtle change or difference to his mana skills. They became ever more subtle, and much less as effective as the first few, but he only grew happier each time a new one came and he was able to enact it.

Another epiphany came, and he latched on to it eagerly then groaned as his stomach cramped. He bent over and grimaced. One more… come on... He tried to push just enough mana out to practice the next suggestion offered but found that he only grew more and more pained before he finally collapsed over to his side and gasped. Right… be happy with what I got… Gotta write these down… the martial arts ones… easy enough to remember… got them now… but the mana ones… too new … oOooh!

Joe rolled over on his back and slapped his arms out, resting. He opened his eyes up to see Gwenvaire staring down at him with a smirk and behind her the other three also watching, although Stephliquen seemed bored. Joe snorted.

“Sorry… was in the middle of something there.”

Gwenvaire smiled, “We saw.”

“A Dao revelation, eccentric?” Xylarnae asked politely.

Joe grinned, “Yeah… definitely that.” Huh… yeah… exactly like that… lot of my Chinese martial masters … yeah… pretty much how they described it… sorta… a lot less specific though… more fluid and uncertain… but… yeah… kinda like this. So… maybe not exactly… it was close… huh…

Joe tried to sit back up then flopped back down with a grown, “Ow… that’s… ow.”

Gwenvaire smiled, “You were … quite vigorous.”

“It was amazing. I don’t know where it came from, but I want it again!”

Gwenvaire nodded, “All desire Dao revelations.”

Xylarnae chuckled, “They are not so easily obtained.”

Joe nodded, “First time for me.”

Gwenvaire nodded at that and Joe fell silent for a bit. Xylarnae and Gwenvaire began chatting with one another easily. Huh… Xylarnae’s got decent intelligence… so… just the other two.

Joe continued on his back for a time, then heard the fae snort, a soft mocking gasp, “You think Dao is so easily obtained?”

Joe turned to look at Kalia and raised an eyebrow, “I got it just now?”

He turned away from her, rolled over, and powered through the pain in his core to stand, “Did you want to practice some, Gwenvaire?”

“Would you be willing?”

Joe smiled, “I can’t do much but just point and talk. I’ll sit over there in the corner. But, I want to take some notes of what I learned first, if that’s ok?”

Gwenvaire’s eyebrows knit, “You desire your… book? Yes?”

Joe nodded, “Yeah. Give me a second. I’ll be right back.”

Gwenvaire shook her head, “No. I can get it much faster. You’ll be too slow.”

She turned and dashed from the courtyard and Joe didn’t even have time to open his mouth. He chuckled and stumbled over to the corner before kind of melting into it, his entire body sore. Worth it!

Xylarnae came to stand before him, staring down at him with an avid curiosity that Joe found a bit unnerving. He stared back for a bit, wondering what she wanted, but she said nothing, simply staring. Joe decided to end the discomfort.

“Hello?”

Xylarnae jumped in surprise, staring down at Joe, “Oh. Uh… sorry. I’m just… your fate is so fascinating! How…” she grew quite, barely speaking, “Where… how did you become untethered?”

“Untethered?”

Xylarnae seemed excited, then grew despondent, “You… do not know.”

Joe married a frown with an odd smile, “No. Sorry. What is untethered?”

“You are not tethered. Everyone is tethered. But you are not.”

“Ah. What does that mean?”

“I… well… I … am uncertain? It is Guarded.”

“Guarded? How is it guarded? How am I guarded? Hmm… that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Speaking of it is Guarded.”

“Oh… taboo? Well, you can talk about it with me all you want. I’m not that concerned about taboo topics.”

She goggled at him, struggling to figure out how to correct him but Gwenvaire ran into the courtyard at that moment and stopped by his side. That ended the conversation with Xylarnae and Gwenvaire handed his notebook to him.

“Thanks… a life saver. My whole body is sore.”

“Is this what happened to my mother, as well?”

Joe smirked, “Yes. I was an idiot, too!”

Gwenvaire’s smile was more fragile, “Maybe. You can still move!”

“Ha! True… so still less of an idiot.”

Gwenvaire’s real smile showed through at that, “You claim my mother is a greater idiot that you?”

Joe looked at her, smirking, “You just said your mother was an idiot…”

Gwenvaire stared at him, anger and shock washing across her face before humorous outrage replaced it all, “You… you…”

“Me… what?”

Gwenvaire grimaced, but it was ruined by a soft smirk and Joe chuckled. Gwenvaire replied in kind but then the humor quickly evaporated and Joe’s smile faded as well.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Gwenvaire replied, staring back at him with buried hope.

Joe noticed it and hid is worry, firming his, “I will do something.”

Her hope grew, and she nodded, “Thank you, Joe.”

Joe smiled with a bit of sadness before nodding, “I’m not sure what I’m going to be able to do, but … yeah.”

Her smile faded at that, then turned grim, “I am happy with just the effort, Joe.”

Joe grinned, “That… means a lot. Thanks!”

“Then I will begin my practice, if you are willing?”

“Sure… let me rest just a bit, though. Pretty wiped out. Give me a moment?”

Gwenvaire nodded and stepped back, turning back to the middle of the courtyard before doing her stretches. She did well, and Joe smiled, happy to see he was … feel like I’m helping… at least?

Joe sighed and let his head thump back as he put his thoughts towards what next steps might be. He tackled the hardest stuff first, then grimaced as he realized he just didn’t have the emotional reserves to do so, deciding to put trying to figure out operation ‘screw Gunlan’ on hold. It was pretty high up there now, but he just wanted to rest… at least for a day. His mind was still running a hundred miles a minute and he couldn’t figure out what was driving it but he did recognize that he was still ‘in the moment’ but couldn’t really use it. He flipped open his status and saw that his system mana had returned a tiny bit, so he once again went through the several things he’d learned really quickly, but the mana evaporated almost as quickly and his stomach muscles clenched up in desperate pain when he dipped into personal mana once again and he heaved a shuddering breath in an effort to release the cramps from his stomach.

A breath or two had relaxed again and he sighed at being handicapped from continuing. I pretty much did everything with my martial arts… guess I really need to work on my stamina for magic work as well… not that it’s surprising… I’m pretty much less than a year old, technically, when it comes to mana usage. But… His mind drifted with that thought and he found himself zoning, his thoughts shifting without consideration through everything that had happened in the last couple days before it finally began slowly swirling around the drain of the resurrection spell, his thoughts unwillingly and indefatigably pulled towards it. His mind drifted, and he didn’t fight it, but he didn’t put effort into it, hoping he would simply stop thinking about it. His handed drifted down to a pocket and slipped in, holding a small card, caressing it with his fingers even as he held it. But despite his hope it would pass, an idea began to take hold, insistently. An itch that played at the back of his mind, itching without end with an insistency that drove him to focus.

Joe sat up, his eyebrows narrowing as his thoughts turned to something much more deliberate. I’ve missed something. I’ve… something! His earlier dismissal evaporated before the certainty that there was something important Joe was missing. He turned to Gwenvair as she practiced.

“Hey, Gwenvair.”

Gwenvair stopped and faced him and Joe waved his hand, “Keep doing whatever you want… just want to borrow your brain a bit. Have some questions.”

Mana swelled and the explanation came on a wave which had Gwenvair giggling a bit before she returned to her physical practice while laughing in reply, “Sure… ‘borrow’ my brain as you will!”

Joe smiled but didn’t indulge further in the humor, too focused, “What does a dungeon do with a body and soul?”

Gwenvair paused again and turned to Joe with concern, “Joe. You can’t let thi…”

“No. No. Really. I’m fine. I know I was a bit out of it yesterday, but right now… no. I’m fine. I just need … there’s something bothering me.”

Gwenvair stared at him for a time, even seeming to peer into his soul, somehow, before nodding and returning to her training, “OK. Then. The body and soul are taken to fuel the dungeon. It takes the mana from both to fuel it. It prefers to use the body as fuel, except for some aberrations or abomination dungeons. What they do with souls… I am uncertain.”

“And any rumors?”

Gwenvair smiled then shook her head in humor, “You and rumors. Hmm… I do not know that there are any rumors, only theories… and, wait! I will tell you them. Some believe they are used as a source of knowledge, the souls used to fuel the skills and capabilities of dungeon monsters or beings. Others say they are used as fuel as well, much like the body. Some believe they are simply destroyed. But, I know little of this, so cannot offer any expertise.”

“Hm. So the soul and body are taken by the dungeon.”

“That… yes.”

“How certain is this?”

“Very. Any who die outside a dungeon are easily resurrected without much cost or concern. They return with all memories and… they are … who they are. They even remember their own deaths and if the resurrection is fast enough, many have reported seeing their friends gathering around their bodies and watching as they are resuscitated. But… that is only if they are immediately brought back… within a few tens of minutes… maybe an hour.”

“And if in a dungeon?”

“Any resurrection from a dungeon requires the soul to be captured in some form of soul trap and the body extricated from the dungeon. If both are taken and protected, then they can be returned. If a soul trap is not used, then… what returns is not them. It… it is a horror.”

Joe felt his heart rate swell, even as his breathing subtly increased and Gwenvair stopped her practice to look at him, serious concern glowing in her eyes.

“Joe. You cannot think … you cannot hope for Garnedell.”

Joe’s face twitched even as his heart skipped a beat. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before returning his focus to Gwenvair.

“I don’t have hope for Garnedell,” yet… Joe replied with as firm and placating tone he could offer Gwenvair before rapidly twisting his thoughts to find a way to turn the conversation to acceptable purpose for Gwenvair, “But, I… hmm… If I want to be careful in the future, I need to understand.”

Gwenvair narrowed her eyes, frowning slightly before sighing and nodding her head, “That is not… unwise.”

“Thank you. So then the dungeon has Garnedell’s soul and already ‘eaten’ his body,” Joe continued, grimacing at remembering the body being evaporated in his lap even as he held it in the temple of one of the Gods.

“Yeah. It has both.”

Joe nodded, then took a quick rabbit trail, “Then how do you protect the body from being taken?”

Gwenvair nodded, seemingly happier with where Joe was going with the line of questioning, “A simple charm is enough, but often just the efforts of another are enough to keep it from being consumed by the dungeon.”

Joe frowned, then opened his eyes in horror. Gwenvair quickly stepped forward and settled a hand on his shoulder, offering comfort to him. Peace swelled through him, offering him clarity of thought to understand exactly what had happened even as he was much more willing to accept what had happened. Of course… not really my fault. Couldn’t have known at all! I didn’t know about any resurrection spell or how it all worked. I was only hoping… dreaming… but the moment I realized he was gone… I gave up hope… and the body was gone.

Gwenvair stared at him in concern for a time, her hand on his shoulder even as he stood and came to accept what had happened, as well as his own part in it. After a bit, she stepped back, still staring with concern until Joe nodded and she went back to her practice. He closed his eyes when she did, sighing deeply. Maybe… I should have at least…

The thoughts were interrupted with another soft comforting pat of Gwenvair’s hand on his shoulder and he opened his eyes with a smile, nodding. Peace settled in his heart and he sighed deeply. Gwenvair stared for a time before nodding and stepping back to her practice once again. Joe nodded. Got to think on… gotta focus… worrying about the past is pointless… especially if… I’m running out of time!

“Gwenvair?”

“Hmm?”

“What does it mean to ‘capture’ a dungeon?” Joe asked, an inkling of a thought driving him on even as he hoped he could find something. Anything!

Gwenvair looked over at him, frowning, then smiling, then frowning again before continuing, “Joe. Your people do not have dungeons?”

Kalia snorted at that and Gwenvair glanced over, “Kalia?”

The woman shook her head before continuing, “You have three,” Gwenvair’s quick shake of her head had Kalia raise an eyebrow.

“Four?”

“Yes. The clan’s private dungeon as well.”

“Four?! Such wealth! I am lucky if I have one on each of my planes!”

“They are so rare… for your… for others?”

Kalia snorted and then sighed, “It is very unusual and closely guarded. Dungeons are a never ending treasury, if managed well.”

Gwenvair nodded in agreement, thoughtful for a time but not responding before turning back to Joe, “Hmm… then, a dungeon capture is, well, it is essentially a way to transport or move a dungeon.”

“Move? How?”

Gwenvair smiled, “The dungeon collapses to its core, but to do so takes a very long time; months or years. Once it is ready to collapse, it falls rapidly and everyone must flee before it collapses and the space returns to natural reality. Then… you just carry it.”

Joe felt his excitement swell with that, even as he considered Gwenvair’s words carefully One question he dismissed outright, as he already had the answer, remembering the dungeon screen that had formed the last time he was there. Time shouldn’t be an issue, if I remember what they said, so… But… what about…

“But… if the dungeon needs to power itself, how… what happens to power during its… what, transport? Uh… collapsed form?”

Gwenvair nodded, smiling brighter, “Just so. Most do not consider this. Yes. The dungeon needs power, but within its collapsed form, its power needs are significantly reduced, almost to nothing. But if a dungeon is left collapsed for too long, it will die, the core becoming inert; a dead core.”

Joe considered that, then frowned, “Wait. Then how, uh… what happens when you put it back down?”

“Stand back? Hope you haven’t drained it too much cause it will need power to reform and if it runs out… well, maybe it will be enough to return some of its floors, but… it will degrade, then… yeah. Moving dungeons are a risk and most people believe it is foolish to do so.”

Joe’s breathing grew deep and unsteady even as his heart spiked hard, and Gwenvair once again stopped, turning to come to his side once again but Joe quickly waved her off, “Don’t worry. I’m OK. Wait here. I’ll be right back!”

“Joe, please wai…”

* * *

Gwenvair woke with a start when she felt their connection shudder, pain swelling in a massive wave across the family connection and she woke, dazed and a bit out of it. Joe? She stared around, finding him gone and then quickly delved towards Joe, easily feeling the direction of the pain. What is… oh. Joe wallowed in Garnedell’s death once again, pain over remembering what it had once been, and Gwenvair reached for him. She was no mind mage to offer proper help in his pain, nor did she have any way to manipulate him, even if she had the desire to do so. All she could offer was her own observation and a dulling of the pain, a peace that would give him some time to slowly come to terms with his difficulties, and so she pushed forth her love and acceptance liberally reinforced with the knowledge he’d done nothing wrong. The effort had her curled fetally around her knees as she gasped in exhausted pain, but she could feel him calming in comfort. She breathed for some moments before quickly rising. She had little else to offer him if she didn’t immediately arrive at his side, so she quickly roused all to head down.

Grumpy cries of sleepy rejection echoed through the room but she cared little for it, simply calling all to rise before returning to her room to dress properly. She kept a careful eye on Joe’s progress, nodding with relief to see him calm and return to his focus, something she couldn’t quite grasp but given the time, she knew he should be exercising down in the small courtyard. She slowed when she felt his calm, calming as well in turn, and focused on preparing for her day. Looks like I do have some time… can take my time preparing.

She didn’t need much, seeing as she would soon be a sweaty mess from exercise; a disturbing thing she’d learned in binding herself to Joe’s rising star. Still, if it gained her strength, she would see only to press herself on into it. When she came back out to the larger room, she found the other three already up and ready, even if Kalia was bleary eyed and upset. Xylarnae proved poised while Stephliquen had dived back into her status, exploring it with a deep excitement.

“Shall we go?”

Xylarnae immediately agreed while Kalia took her time but immediately followed after just as Stephliquen did, understanding by action even before the words were comprehended. The silently clambered down the stairs and followed Gwenvair out into the courtyard where they found Joe deep in practice, his body whirling in controlled and practiced violence. Gwenvair smiled to see it, excited joy suffusing through her. My husband! My King.

Joe continued in his Daoist epiphany and she felt her pride only grow in joy. She watched on, gloating before the others even as they watched him develop his strength before shifting into mana expression, her own awe growing with her joy as he continued to reveal his strength. That joy grew to concern when he began asking after resurrection and dungeons, and she struggled to know what to do. She was no mind mage to offer healing, but she didn’t want to exacerbate his despair, so sought to educate fairly in hopes he would calm, but when she felt the spike of hope, she quickly turned towards him in deep concern. Even as she opened her mouth to speak, Joe was already gone and she was unable to follow.

“… Tarry here. I will return shortly!”

“Joe, please delay a moment, you canno…”

He was already gone, and she stared after him, frustrated but unable to follow. He command I stay… But even as she considered the command, her limbs and body frozen by the slave collar, she realized he would have no intention of such, the certainty of this knowledge glowing through their connection and she felt the stiff constraint fall away from her. Even as it did so, she knew that his meaning was to remain in the area, and relief swelled through her even as she grimaced in frustration.

“Well, we can return to the room. He will be awhile,” she offered with a grumble, now no longer desiring to continue her training.

At least he is still kind.

* * *

How many days has it been? Not too long, right? Maybe… I hope? If I can, then… Then just… feed it … how much mana does it need … hundreds of mana a day? I should be able to do that… hundreds of points. Joe’s face soured at that thought. I hope not, but… What if… is there time magic? Should be… I’ve got space… something… ooh! Could I put it into one of the spatial things? I think…

Joe did not stop his mad, if struggling, dash through the streets, carrying everything with him, his thoughts just as rapid in agitation as his sprint. OK… still tired, but… focus… So… what jobs… Joe panted as he he flipped open his status and willed it to the available jobs page before focusing in on the grouping jobs. All the spatial things were there, right? But… oh… I got some new mage jobs! He shifted his focus to go down the new mage jobs. Maybe something… time? Probably… or … gotta hope on the space group jobs… or… the mana cost is low? Low… definitely the easiest… most likely way to solve things!

He shifted down the list of mage jobs and dismissed almost all of them, although he did find two very useful ones: regen and healing mage. The others seemed to be a mix of typical fantasy and rather strange options for magic: wind, water, earth, fire, ice, gravity, magnetic, light, kinetic, space, sound, lightning, and monster summoner. He almost was willing to be distracted enough to explore them all, but quickly turned away from them. Not really useful… and no time… but space? Is that … space from space time? Or… a different kind of space? And why can I see space but not time? Or…

Joe quickly disciplined his mind and returned his thoughts to looking at which jobs had spatial jobs and shifted to his next hope: the classic stasis within a spatial storage device. He flipped open his available skills tab and looked at the grouping jobs that had spatial options. Three different spatial things… so… oh! Only two jobs. Huh! Two of the spatial things are both in transporter… and leader’s coin pouch… nice but… well… might as well test… so!

Joe flipped to his current jobs tab and swapped out two jobs for transporter and leader. He reached in a grabbed three coins, since he needed it for the leader jobs coin pouch skill and the other two didn’t care, and proceeded to toss a coin into the coin pouch and magic bag. He’d raced about half a block in this time of exploring both his magic job gains and trying to find the spatial jobs amongst all the group jobs so hadn’t really stopped to think or plan. Just as he was about to open up the magic space skill, he paused his thoughts and even slowed a bit in his run. Right… just space door to nowhere in the middle of the street… bad idea. Wait for the dungeon?

He sped back up taking a corner rapidly then slowed again. Oh! OK. Good idea. He stopped and grabbed two fruits and two freshly cook skewers before speeding back up. He immediate tossed both fruits and both skewers into the magic bag, hoping that both going in would keep some form of legitimate testing since both were subjected to identical situations and environments.

Once that was done, he considered things then frowned. Right… can’t do it with transporter yet… might lose my testing materials. But… I can test with leader. Joe looked at the coin in its spot before taking a deep breath. A nickel… no big deal, so… let’s do this. Change leader job to… uh… wind mage! Joe simply picked a random job and lost his leader job. So… is the coin still going to be there?

Joe turned his focus to sprinting onwards to the advanced dungeon. Can let that coin simmer for a while. See what happens. Joe found himself still a good couple blocks away from the dungeon so turned his thoughts to his job options, considering his next three job options.

Maybe should start swapping out the priest job as well… can’t get any stats any more with that… sooo… use a ‘char:’ skill to swap jobs now? But… gotta waste a lot of time on oooh! Wait! The free char skill! Awesome… don’t need to use priest anymore… could I drop that? The erudite title free job change at the end of day to get my priest job back! So… that… should be good!

Joe paused and checked his Loki pope job to be certain. He found himself possibly reconsidering then stuck to his guns since while it was great for stats, especially for learning, with thirty grand just in learning for the pope, he figured the ability to raise four jobs simultaneously trumped raising three a bit faster. The amount of learning he had now was a bit insane. Not much use from it, right? Just ‘char:’ the job change skill? Or take advantage of my erudite skill? Although… I need to change my jobs three or four times a day, now… so… Hmm.

He then decided to check his available skills to look at what the Loki pope job offered for skills again then paused, once again deeply reconsidering. That’s… well… I forgot about that! Resurrect kinda distracted me… Sorrow came back over him, a hand dipping into a pocket to caress its contents quickly as he frowned, then grimaced, dismissing it quickly when a wash of comfort came over him. I got this! That’s what I’m doing now… I … I can… yeah! Unbidden, his thoughts turned to Gwenvaire, a soft smile coming to his lips as he renewed his efforts and sprinted on. Right… so let’s figure this out!

So… a learning bonus AND a double experience bonus… donno what the learning five times + does, but … this… Joe played with some numbers, swapping to a priest job without any learning bonuses and evaluated the data. He began to frown quite heavily as he flipped back and forth a few times. Well… that’s just… insane!

Without the Loki pope job, he would take three days to hit forty five, but if he had it equipped, his jobs could hit forty five in half a day. Joe frowned. Half a day for three jobs to forty five, or … His grimace grew even more as he realized the insane curve. Half a day for four jobs to forty… not really that big of a deal… so… forty more levels of stats from a new job or fifteen new levels of stats from the extra five levels in three jobs… That’s… not even really a good comparison… that forty levels is… huge. But then he sighed… but the level forty five skill… could be some… incredible skills!

His mind swirled with possibilities and he ground his teeth with some uncertainty. He was leaning towards dumping the pope job and going for four jobs at once. Don’t even need it anymore… got my change job skill over one now, so… His mind chewed on it, for a time, then grew enamored with the idea as he was certain it would be quite useful. So… then… maybe use the pope job when I want to pump up one or two really important jobs otherwise… I really don’t need to keep my Loki jobs up anymore!

He was happy with that last idea which offered excellent versatility, he still considered it carefully by cautiously running the numbers once again although shifted to possibly just ‘char:-ing’ the skills. He tested his newest idea and began to frown, then finally grunted. That… sucks! Loki pope’s massive six hundred learning per level was so potent that even if he ‘char:-ed’ the pope’s skills, he still only got three jobs in quarter of a day up to forty. Oh… but then… if I swap out half way through the day… I can get six to forty instead of three to forty five… actually… if I stopped at forty with the pope job still equipped… probably could… yup… fifteen jobs to level forty… so… mass leveling of jobs, or focus on a few to higher level… or really get one job up hard and fast…

Joe’s thoughts whirled and he finally sighed and set it aside, although noted that it was likely going to be one of those two. Right… so… one slot done… possibly pope… work on gaining a few high level jobs, or a lot of slightly lower level ones… hmm… Joe ended his thoughts and moved on to the next, stuck too long considering this.

Then… next… want the partier up… get everyone grouped up… there’s… five of us now... at least until the other three can think decently enough. But in any case, definitely gonna have to do it myself now… unlock a larger party and get us all in. Navigator is all up and good to go if I ever need to swap it out… then… Leader would be real …ooh! Leader can create temporary groups… but… that leaves me locked with leader as a job as well… can’t let it go without the group dissolving, so… Joe sighed… Don’t wanna waste a job spot on that… and, well… might as well use this partier slot with the transporter… for now, check out the carrying capabilities for now.

OK… maybe the second is transporter… at least for today, but swap to partier when I don’t need to keep transporter equipped? That… that would be a good idea! Well… just or now… But… I really … healer… gotta do healer… sorry! He flipped open his available jobs again and grinned, relief flowing through him when he saw the two healing jobs. He frowned a bit at seeing two, but figured he had two slots left, and he wasn’t going to skimp. If I’d had healer before… There was a healing mage and a regen mage. He wasn’t sure what the difference was. Maybe I’m even wrong… maybe regen mage has nothing to do with healing… just a buff… maybe to the pool stats? Or… something? But… Got two spots left so… I can do it…

Joe frowned. Nothing left for a combat line job… hmmm? Joe looked through his list of skills, his frown growing as he went down it and then closed it in disgust. The combat lines were worthless, his own training trumped everything they had, and everything else was beyond worthless, for the most part. The only thing that really called were the skills that enhanced his learning. The enhancements to other stats, while intriguing, were meaningless at this point as he hadn’t naturalized yet. But… I really shouldn’t disregard the combat lines… or… another mage job? That would be fun!? Yeah, maybe. Right. Yeah. Let’s do that. Probably a really good idea to do spatial mage. Might be helpful! That settled, Joe immediately swapped out his main job for theorist. Perfect… spatial mage!

Joe sprinted along down the street at a faster pace, now happy with his choices: partier or transporter, regen mage, healer mage, and spatial mage. Although… Loki pope? He dithered for a time before deciding he didn’t need the priest jobs anymore and chose to focus on getting both healer jobs up to a decent level. His status flicked shut after he made his choice, the glow vanishing on the three jobs chosen: transporter, regen mage, healer mage, and theorist as the main job. Transporter for now… can’t risk losing both skewers and fruits yet…

Turning another corner, Joe came in sight of the advanced dungeon and frowned, seeing the long line and came to a halt in front of it. He stood in line but grew ever more agitated until he almost pushed on through to the front when a rush of warmth and calm settled upon him, and he breathed deep. Right… no need to rush. No need to rush.

He settled in for the wait, which didn’t prove to be that long but long enough for testig purpose so turned his thoughts to studying the spatial skills he had. It’s been long enough for a quick test, right? He swapped out the other the healer job for leader and then grinned to see the coin still there. Right… that’s… kind a huge! So… he almost took the coin out but then stopped, realizing that he was in crowd decided to let things wait. Right… let’s… change job leader back to regen mage!

About ten or fifteen minutes passed, and Joe finally found himself at the front of the line and bounced anxiously to be allowed in. As soon as he was, he took off down the spiral stairs not quite at a sprint do to the stairs. When he made it to the bottom, he didn’t have to dodge the one spark blocking the main access to the next floor, it already under attack by another group, and he slid to the side down one of the corridors.

He wasn’t able to go down too far, a spark floating in the middle of the hallway blocked him, but he turned to look back and found no one behind him. Probably good enough here, right? And the coin is still in the coin pouch, so… He opened up his magic bag, five items resting inside glowed from the display. He pulled out one fruit and skewer, leaving the other fruit, skewer and coin in their respective spots. But as the skewer came into his grasp, he winced slightly. Man… still really hot! Even after fifteen minutes to get here? Huh… Joe pulled out the other skewer and grinned through his second grimace. Still hot! He returned the skewer back to the magic bag. Right… a good sign!

He then opened up magic space, a large door opening up in front of him and he quickly stepped through before dumping the three things upon the floor of his space: the fruit, skewer, and the last coin he’d held in his hand this whole time. Right… that’s… not going to eat the skewer then! Ha! Maybe need to get some shelves or furniture in here? For some things? Maybe a magic fridge? Freezer? Hmm…

He stepped back out and closed the magic space and then looked at the interfaces for the two skills, both showing their contents in slightly different ways and both showing a fruit, a skewer, and a coin. Right… so… the coin pouch at least continues holding the materials even if I don’t have the job equipped… which is huge! But not too important… just for holding money. Useful, but… Joe had higher hopes, now, for the magic bag and space, hoping it would also hold his things even if he didn’t keep it equipped. With some trepidation, he swapped out transporter for healer mage once again, and now had all the jobs he wanted except for partier which would be swapped out for transporter soon once he began his testing. So… test… how long? At least a day or two but for now just an hour test? So… I can keep partier until the hour is done, then swap back transporter to make sure when I need to test.

Joe pondered for a bit but since he needed to keep his transporter job unequipped, he decided to put in his partier job, hoping to get it leveled enough to fully include as many as possible. Only ten or twenty minutes for the fruit and skewer… just to test some things… just run through this quick, so…

Joe then returned back to the main corridor to the second floor and came around the corner into the main corridor in a sprint. The group behind him were still wearing down their spark but Joe couldn’t care less, and continued on down the corridor. He came to a spark floating in the middle of the corridor and he slowed before sprinting ahead full boar and leaping past the spark, scraping the wall to stay as far from the spark as possible. He grimaced when a single lance of lightning zagged towards him, tensing his body for a moment before he was past and once again sprinting down the corridor without even looking back.

He repeated the trick twice more before he made it to the staircase and he slowed, then came to a stop with some concern. Wait… what if…

Joe stepped into the stair well and looked back to see the sparks drifting down the corridor towards him, the first still a distance down the hallway and he frowned. Don’t… really want to wait. He almost continued on, but then realized the closest one was just a few feet from him now and he stepped further into the stair well to see what would happen. They can all come up… can they come down after me? Don’t want to have a train of mobs behind me!

He waited another few moments until the spark came to the plane of the door leading to the stairwell and he felt his eyebrows rise up forehead. Wait, what? The spark continued towards him, but disappeared exactly at the plane of the doorway until it was all gone. Joe grinned. OK, sweet! That’s not so bad! I can sprint through the dungeon then! Let’s go!

Joe then turned and left everything behind, scrambling down the stairs with a bit too much abandon until he made it to the bottom floor and then paused. Right… a maze, do I remem… Oh, yeah. He made the turn to the next floor, easily remembering now where he needed to go and sprinted down the path the third floor. However, unlike the first floor, he found the bugbears too fast and aggressive, and he had to come to a halt, fighting against the first bugbear he’d tried to sprint past. The fight went on for some time, and Joe grew ever more frustrated. Too long! Why … gotta do this…

Joe growled, cursing himself before he shifted his fighting style. Idiot… infusion! He immediately sent a point into his spear and growled again when the bugbear retreated in concern. Right. He sighed and removed the point and returned to the fight almost immediately when the bugbear’s irrational aggression returned. So… how can I do this… if I put something in, they notice… hmm…

He continued his fight while he went through his options. So… stab then put a point in? Joe followed through immediately, his spear plunging into the creature before he told his point to go directly into the spear head. However, the relative positions of the spearhead and the point he was attempting to send into the point placed the point such that it attempted to pass through the bugbear’s back to get to the spearhead. As soon as his point hit the skin of the bugbear, it stopped, bouncing off, and Joe found his eyebrows leaping upwards. Huh… that’s… it can’t go into another creature? When did I not notice… why …

His mana point bounced up and down upon the skin, slithering back and forth as the bugbear raged wildly against the spear in its shoulder. Well… easy enough option. Joe pulled the point back and had it go into the shaft outside the bugbears torso before rushing down into the spearhead. However, before the point could even move down the spear shaft and into the shaft and spearhead buried in the bugbear’s flesh, the bugbear spasmed as a soft muffled whump sounded out and the bugbear’s chest expanded slightly and then collapsed immediately, dead. Secondly, an arc of powerful electricity slammed into his back and had him jerking in wild spasms of his own and Joe turned around in wild concern as soon as the sparking lightning ended.

Behind him, Joe found a spark almost directly upon him and he leapt back in concern, even as he almost received another arcing strike of electricity. His leap back saved him, and the spark veered wildly to spike against the wall beside him. Reflexively, he thrust out a strike with his spear then widened his eyes with some fear and quickly let go of the spear, allowing it to sail on through the spark’s body, not seeming to do any real damage. Joe growled to see himself disarmed and considered his options. He wanted his tonfa, but it would take him way too close to the spark, but then quickly remembered his secondary wooden spear he’d gained as a reward from the beginner dungeon. OK. Infusion… do it now… and go back and kill the other two sparks… guess they can travel to the next floor just fine then… although the stair wells seem to be safe zones, so…

He leapt forward, another mana point right next to his spear even as he thrust the spear into the dense sphere of erratic electrical sparks before slamming his mana point into the spear. Just like the bugbear, a whump rang out, although this time much louder, even as the spark spasmed a few times before the electrical body vanished and drifting dust falling to the floor was all that remained. Huh… the mana point is… what… exploding the core? Or…

He almost stopped to explore the phenomena but then quickly returned his thoughts on his goal. Nope… I can do it as I go down, but not going to waste time otherwise, so… He picked up his metal spear, returning it back to its place on his pack before he sprinted around the corner and found the two other sparks drifting after him, and Joe leapt towards them in a sprint. Right… kill and run. Fast!

He repeated his work once again, the wooden spear thrusting into the spark before his mana point buried into it. This time, however, nothing happened, and Joe frowned. Learning? Immune? What… He leapt back and pulled the mana point towards him then raised an eyebrow in surprise. Empty! Wow… that’s… He pushed it to the side and pulled in another point and repeated the maneuver, grinning to see a similar result, the spark immediately dead.

This time, instead of running on towards the last spark, he pulled up the point to look at it and noticed at it was essentially empty, barely a small amount of mana left. Maybe… that was just the amount it refilled in the time I could look at it? The thing is pretty much empty! Joe looked up that the spark, seeing it a good dozen or so feet, four or five paces, down the corridor. Got time… Joe turned to considering his options, frowning. One point per kill… I don’t have the amount of points needed for that… so… mana tornados… like I did for the arrows? But… He considered his options and stalked up on the last spark, sending a mana tornado into his spearhead and closed with the spark. It seemed to hesitate and Joe grew concerned. Can’t have running away if…

He thrust towards the spark, and the thing dodged! Joe boggled, his eyes wide in shock. It had been about the center of the corridor, but as soon as his spear thrust towards it, a massive bolt of lightning sparked off from the core, away from him towards one of the walls. The thing screeched in electrical agony as it got too close to the wall and grounded, but it was able to direct its dodging bolt slightly away and then reform, the ball lightning of the spark just barely brushing against the wall. The electric screech continued as it struggled hard to pull itself from being grounded through the wall, and Joe took his chance, leaping forward before it could free itself and Joe’s spear buried into the body of the spark where it shuddered in spasming agony before a much softer whump echoed out, accompanied by a tinkling crack. The electrical body vanished and a massively cracked spark core fell to the ground, barely held together.

Huh… gonna have to figure out how to infuse if these things always dodge with a little bit of infusion. So… He stepped forward, slamming a foot down on the core before grinding it into dust. Right… lets go!

He turned and fled back down the corridor towards the third floor. He had to stop and fight, but began refining his infusion tactics, uncaring for anything but speed. As he came upon each new monster, he refined his infusion techniques, finding working with points to be the easiest by simple expedience of the fact that points could not enter an enemy’s body. He simply placed the mana point at the point of the spear and when he thrust into a corporeal body of a monster, the point would not be able to enter and be forced into the spear head which then punched into the creature, instantly shattering its core.

It was really expensive, however, and cost a point per thrust or monster, essentially, and with only several dozen points, he only had enough to make it through two or three floors before he began running out of full mana points, even those that had recovered some mana. Despite that, he used the time to practice how he could use his mana tornados, a much more economical use of his mana points as each point could form five or six dozen mana tornados each and even allowed him to use his own personal mana as well.

By the time he made it to the fourth floor, he found his memory starting to get fuzzy, no longer remembering is passage, so he would flip over to his navigator job to look at the map before returning the slot to one of his healer jobs once he figured out the path. He didn’t really consider nor realize that he only needed to check the map once a floor. His focus was almost entirely on trying to get to the bottom as soon as possible and to device a useful infusion strategy.

The first ten floors were simple, and he found himself racing through the first three or four of them in a matter of minutes, taking maybe two or three minutes per floor until he ran out of full mana points, and then the time spiked, reaching up to fifteen minutes per floor, much to his frustration. He then devoted efforts to trying to infuse in the same way but with his mana tornados but there was little he could do. He attempted the same as his mana points, having it resting on his spear head, but outside the spear head, but the mana tornado seemed to dissipate in a massive explosion of mana as soon as it left the confines of his body.

However, if he put it into the spear, the creatures would go wild, escaping from the danger in desperate gambles, fleeing from him. An even greater struggle was attempting to form mana tornados while he was fighting, the struggle to focus on both is mana and striking difficult, despite the almost automatic nature of his strikes. He had a breakthrough, finally, on the fourteenth floor, where he formed the mana tornado and had it rest inside his hand, between the forehand and palm. It was still a struggle to keep it going as he thrust the spear, but after a half a dozen times, he found it relatively easy, striking and burying the spear into the monster’s flesh anywhere, then pushing the mana tornado into the spear. Like the mana points, it didn’t seem to matter where the mana was in the spear. If the spear was buried into the flesh of a foe mana entered it, it seemed to be sucked directly into the body of the creature, almost as if some massive mana suction was in effect, pulling the mana towards the creature.

The creature would then die immediately, the soft whump and the slight expansion of the creature’s chest evidence of what seemed to be something like a core explosion. With this, his speed ratched up again, to only a couple minutes for each floor and he sped through them again until he arrived around the twentieth floor and a single mana tornado was enough to kill the creature, requiring a second infused strike. The infusion, however, seemed to really do a number on any creature he attacked, leaving them massively disoriented and unable to respond, so he would simply leave the spear embedded in the creature and send another mana tornado into the spear and finish off the monster.

Things continued smoothly after that, and he rapidly sped through the floors until he reached the boss’s door, staring up at it once again, although he did make one more improvement around the twenty third or fourth floor. Instead of forming a mana tornado in his chest and guiding it down to the palm of us right hand, he began forming tornados directly in the palm of his right hand. And I could maybe make two? One in each hand? Might be a good idea!

But when he stepped into the boss’s room, his thoughts and strategy on how he could increase his fusion capabilities fell to the back of his mind and he looked for the fastest way to end the fight. With this in mind, he looked at his mana points, and found many of them full once again, with the rest at about half filled or better. Right… this is going to be over fast. Don’t care about any cores or anything like that. In. Dead. And done.

He decided to take a bit of time before continuing, resting against the door and staring down the short corridor he had before it bent around the corner deeper into the room. He was surprised he’d gotten through the entire dungeon in a couple of hours or so, expecting things to take much longer. But since he already had a map of every floor and was no longer attempting suicide by monster, he was able to burn through each floor rather quickly, fighting only ten or so monsters per floor on some of the longer winding passages.

He dropped his head back against the door and waited, recovering, still agitated but now quite worried. What if it doesn’t work? Maybe… it’s pointless. Or… maybe he’s already gone… eaten up. I’m gonna draw a lot of heat for this… probably… I think?

Just before he rose, ready to head into the boss room, he paused. Oh… yeah. He swapped out his jobs once again, swapping in transporter. Time to look at the results of my experiment! Joe looked in at the items in his inventory and grinned. Nice… nice nice nice… so… Now.

He’d spent almost four hours on his descent, and felt that amount of time would be enough to see any differences in the short term. He opened his space first, the large door opening up and allowing him in where he found the coin, skewer, and fruit sitting on the floor rather mundanely. Yes! Yes! Ha! He reached down and picked up the coin and slipped it into his bag before taking a look at the skewer and the fruit. The fruit seemed fine, although he didn’t really notice much by way of any meaningful change. He set it back down on the ground. Let’s see in a couple weeks.

His skewer, however, was downright cold to the touch, and he frowned. OK. That… sucks. But, yeah… time passes in here… guess that… might be useful? Still… Maybe bring in some hour glasses and test? See if there is any time dilation at all? He stepped back out holding the skewer before tossing it onto the ground with a grimace. Hope you like meat skewers, dungeon.

He closed the door to his space and then turned to his magic bag, still seeing the coin, skewer, and fruit. An awesome sign! He pulled out the coin before dumping it into the coin pouch he had in his backpack and turned to the fruit. Like the magic space, the fruit from the magic bag offered no insights, and seemed remarkably the same. He frowned but dumped it back into a slot in his magic bag before turning to the skewer and retrieving it.

When it came out, he growled a pained cry with an elated smile. It’s hot! Still hot! Ha! Still… ha! Joe almost raised the skewer to his lips then paused. Hmm… still hot, but still don’t know if it’s a stasis or just slowed time. He stared down at the skewer with some sadness and then dumped it back into his bag slot. OK. So… Then… a little longer… and more hour glasses… maybe?

Joe looked back at his bag, then looked to the inventory display of his magic space and considered before finally frowning and deciding against trusting the entirety of his belongings to the magic space. Just… test a bit more, alright? Couple days… maybe a week first? He also considered putting each weapon in a magic bag slot and was much more enticed to do exactly that, simply because with the magic bag, he could have the items in the magic bag instantly appear in his hands and didn’t need to walk into a spatial dimension version of a warehouse. Having all his weapons on hand, exactly when he needed it, including several of his tools such as the rope and anti-spark asterisk weaponry, was a powerful incentive. Even if I’m tied up… having a dagger in here and it just pops into my hand! That would be…

That thought actually gave him significant pause, and he finally decided that he would put at least one of his small daggers in a slot permanently. Even if I lose it… worth it, but maybe get some crappy daggers for this later. After all, changing jobs only required thought. Once he had this job equipped, he could pull out anything he needed, and a dagger to cut bindings would be incredibly useful. He only used one of the throwing knives, unwilling to lose one of his better daggers. But… just one of the throwing knives...

He put a throwing dagger into the slot next to the skewer and closed the whole thing before shifting all his jobs to ones he wanted to level up. Right… I’m ready! He stood and turned to the door, and as soon as he did so, showing intention to move on, the massive hand slid down and presented itself on the right side, at the perfect height to press with his right hand. Joe did so, and then stepped back, ready to enter. Huh… wonder if it’s a left hand if the person is left handed… what if they are just… like… an Acokzau in Acokzau form? Is there a giant chicken foot on the door?

His thoughts wandered as he waited until the door opened, and then he stepped in, passing through the blackness with less concern, now certain of what he would find on the other side. Hope the boss respawned… or… maybe not? Can I just go to the core if it isn’t respawned? Huh… Wonder what… Hope it’s not here! That would be awesome! Just to the core and… but… it’s been two days, right? Hmm…

Joe’s hopes were dashed when he walked in and looked up to see the massive ugly roof slug and he sighed, which proved to be a bad idea because it immediately began unfurling and questing around the room. Joe clenched his teach, cutting off a curse and controlled his breathing before setting down his bag and items very carefully. Right… just… insta-kill this thing.

After he had all his belongings lined up against the wall, Joe stepped back from his belongings carefully and prepped his spear, aiming it directly at the slug boss while also bringing every one of his mana points into play. He lined them all up along the shaft, just behind his right rear hand. He also, with some effort, formed up two mana tornados, one in each palm, but then when he prepared for the fight, lost control of one of them and he decided another tornado just wasn’t going to matter. He stared up at the creature and watched and waited, each sniffing searches spiraling around the wall of the cylindrical room.

He’d been very silently and as motionlessly as possible shifting backwards away from the oncoming slug tendril until he was ready. Now that he was, he stopped his slow retreat and awaited the arrival of the slug tentacle. It came closer and closer until it was almost touching his spear, and he instantly took his strike, plunging the spear deep into the slug’s body while also simultaneously pumping his mana points and the one mana tornado into the spear shaft.

The creature, the same as before, immediately struck at him, impaling itself on his spear, but unlike before, it began wildly seeking escape as soon as the first point entered his spear. Any attempt on the part of the slug proved moot, however, as all the points entered the spear and immediately were sucked dry, along with the mana tornado.

As soon as the tornado was in the spear shaft, Joe let go of the spear, hoping the mana points and tornado would continue to do their work and not wanting to have the creature rip the spear out of its body in retreat and having the mana points and tornado unable to dump their dangerous mana load into its core and kill it.

Joe’s worry proved unfounded, as the creature spazzed liked a creature paralyzed by electrical shock, unable to move at all. Then a massive explosion erupted from the ceiling and the creature simple exploded in gore and guts. Joe stood, bathed in slime and blood of a giant slug and sighed. OK.. that…really sucked, but… its done. Joe remained where he was, unwilling to really move, and waited for a short time until the dungeon finally cleaned up the corpse of the boss, leaving him clean yet somehow still deeply sullied in a way Joe found unpleasant. He breathed deep, then struggled against the desire to vomit, then breathed again and finally got himself under control. That… this is a horrible dungeon. Really sucks!

Joe went over to his belongings and grabbed them before heading to the loot, opening the box with some excitement, hoping for something similar to what he’d received last time, although he wasn’t quite sure of what he needed at the moment. That said, he was too focused on other things so spent less than a minute on picking something. Because of that, he ended up deciding he would simply sell it or use as some kind of gift. He then quickly turned back to the dungeon and came to a stop, readying himself. OK… this… this is for all the marbles! I… really hope that this works!

With a deep sigh, he reached a hand out and touched the core which rested before him, but didn’t actually do much else, only willing the dungeon display to pop up before him before closing his eyes for a moment to pause in preparation. When he opened them again, he felt some semblance of being ready and began to more diligently consider the dungeon screen he’d seen before. He hadn’t really cared or put any effort into understanding what he had been looking at before, so now that he was here again, he found himself confronted by a variety of options and choices that were quite a bit more extensive than the small display initially revealed.

So, a lot to go through, but gonna want to … need to… gotta shut it down, but not kill it. But how am I going to do that? And how much power does it have or need. Wish there… OK. Focus. Let’s go over what we know. With that, he began going over each individual option that was on the screen and found that there were drop down boxes with options he’d never considered but grew quite excited by.

First off, he noticed that the odd strange symbols at the bottom of the screen seemed to have receded some. A better display? More certainty? A reduction in corruption? Hmm… He dismissed it, but made note of it, jotting down the details just to remember it before he when over the rest of the details. Let’s do this one at a time. In order? Or… He immediately changed his mind and instead took a look at the tax rate first, fiddling and throwing in numbers to find the range possible before feeling his eyebrows start rising when he found tax rates that went from negative 100% to positive 200%.

Anything from zero to a hundred percent made sense. The dungeon took everything from the user that the user gained, from nothing to everything. Makes sense… but where is it getting more from if it’s giving more? Going over a hundred percent … does the dungeon double or add to what the user finds in the drops? Guess the dungeon is already creating monsters, the cores, and any loot, but… that’s… How does the dungeon keep energized? Does it kill … guess it would really have to kill a lot more people, right? Maybe?

But that doesn’t even explain the negative percentages! What is it taking from… if the positive is giving loot to the player, then… negative would be taking from the user, right? What is it taking? That seems… what… is it stealing loot from a players bag? Or leeching from the player… somehow? Vitality… health… mana… that… a vampire dungeon… that’s kinda terrifying! I guess… leaching from the pools wouldn’t be that big a deal, but oth… ooh! That… can be cool and terrifying at the same time! Leech mana or stamina or HP so that it can never recover… you only have what you come in with… that would be… tricky. But I can only do one at a time? Or…

Despite some of the cool ideas he could think of, Joe was feeling rather more concerned at what it could mean that the dungeon could have a negative tax rate, so turned to look at what could be taxed, and his concern spiked. OK. This… could be much worse than I though. Unless… the tax rate differs depending on what it is taxing? I was looking at tax rates for cash…. Let me check for these others, too… but first…

He clicked the dropdown box and looked through the list of options to be taxed. He felt his concern growing quite alarmingly. Cash… make sense, but experience, epiphany, Dao, knowledge, all the stats… and the resistances… including HP, stamina and mana… not too big a deal on those, but… that’s just… He sighed deeply and grimaced at seeing it and while seeing wealth and material goods on the list as taxable, and thus targets for what would essentially be theft, Joe found theft of material goods the least concerning. This… wow…

Joe put aside those details with a frown and turned to look at the rest. The dungeon type was intriguing, as well as the tier information, but without a scale or comparison, left him uncertain what he would find. Although I can start checking with the other dungeons…

The bottom half of the panel was more informational, not offering much in options except the three obvious: capture the dungeon, escape, or choose the time to completion of a capture. Since his last time, the dungeon seemed to already have filled the capture bar bay almost twenty percent, although given Gwenvair’s claim of months and years, he wondered if that was for caution or if capture times slowed the further on the list. Looking at the slide bar which revealed the time to capture certain essences of the dungeon, he could understand how things would slow down quite a bit to save and prepare for transport the larger or more detailed components of the dungeon. Although… wonder what specials mean? Not the time, though…

So… if I’m reading this right… I’ve already got it on its way to being captured … about twenty percent… or so? Seems like it’s a day or two just to capture the core but looks like if that’s done, then all you get is the core… does that include current power requirements and … man, wish this thing had a list of how much power and other…

He smiled, not quite as surprised this time when the dungeon screen shifted slightly and added a couple of gauges up in the top panel between the two columns showing the tax details and dungeon type details. The two gauges lay horizontal, one labeled power and the other storage with power registering at about seventy five or eighty percent and storage was only at around fifty percent. Power Joe was able to guess about, but storage was odd to him, so he sought out details. Help? What does storage mean?

Topic Error: Unknown target or reference topic: “storage” – Please clarify your topic.

Joe frowned at that, thoughtful and began again. What does the storage gauge on the dungeon display mean?

Topic Error: Unknown target or reference topic: “storage gauge,” unknown reference topic: “dungeon display” – Please clarify your topic.

Do you wish to ask about Dungeons?

Joe frowned at that, and found himself at a loss on how to continue. It doesn’t know about storage gauges or the dungeon display? But… didn’t it offer me the display only a day or two ago? Joe spent the next several minutes wrestling with the help system, attempting to clarify the questions and get at the information but what he found was essentially that the help system didn’t seem to know about the dungeon display or anything dealing with it.

Details about the dungeons and information regarding them seemed copious so he spent some time trying to come to understand what ‘storage’ was from just exploring what a dungeon was, but what he did learn didn’t seem to be very clear. The best he could get from it was that it was storing materials of some kind. Which made a kind of sense, but had him wondering. He turned to dig deeper into the help on it but then quickly brought his curiosity to heel. Nope… let’s get this done ASAP… lets see if we can speed up the capture rate… and maybe empower the dungeon that last little bit? And figure out storage…. Maybe fill it if I can? At least to keep its size… don’t want to lose any floors like Gwenvair warned.

Joe focused on the captured gauge and focused, pressing his hand on the core gem a bit more firmly even as he began a kind of internal mantra or chant simply repeating his desire to make the dungeon capture speed up a bit. Donno what I’m doing, needs power… and I’ve got power… so… Power to speed up capture. Speed up capture. Mana to speed up capture. Here’s mana… it’ll help you get the job done. Take it… do the… thing, faster.

Joe focused on this thought, not quite sending any mana down his body into the dungeon core quite yet, but simply focused on the attempt for a few moments before finally letting a trickle of mana flow down his arm towards the core and then flow out of his hand into the core as slowly and controlled as possible. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but the core did have any meaningful reaction except to sit there. Joe watched for some time then began to slowly increase the amount of mana that was going out of his hand into the core. Soon, wisps of mana squirted out from the sides of his palm and out between his fingers and Joe slowed down, not wishing to waste any mana. His eyes, except for quick glances to his hand when the wisps of mana started squirting out the edges of his hand, remained glued to the capture gauge much like he’d watched the download bar fill up. There was no change for a time until a miniscule line flicked forward on the gauge and Joe smiled. Working? Maybe? Or… just… His gaze remained avid on the gauge and just when he thought to give up, he saw it tick up again, and he grinned. It’s gotta be working… doing something, right?

He watched on, and this time when it ticked up again, he began counting at a slow steady close to his heartbeat. The next tick didn’t get any reaction from him, but he counted a change at about thirty or thirty five. The next two or three progress updates were also between thirty and thirty five before he finally took his hand away, his mana quite a bit lower now. Test and refill mana… decent idea… He thought even as he continued counting. He watched on for a time and began grinning when he hit forty five. The next tick didn’t come until well over a hundred, about a hundred twenty. He wasn’t too sure as he’d felt like his excitement had pushed him to count a bit faster towards the end, but regardless, it seemed like his pushing mana in was making a difference, and he quickly settled in. Going to be a while… how’s my HP… gotta be careful of the poison air. He pulled up his status, seeing his mana rapidly climbing back to full even as he saw his health tick down a couple points. Still over ninety five percent… got some time… Wow… must have not been too much time, yet! Nice!

He grinned and settled in, spending another six or eight rounds of empowering the dungeon core until it finally ticked past the size tick by at least a couple lines, just to be sure. One interesting he noticed, however, is that when he did so, the storage gauge took a deep dive towards zero, ending at about ten percent while the power gauge lost about twenty percent. Joe sighed upon seeing this, but dug in to continue. If I can do that… I should be able to help power up storage and power, right? Let’s get power first… that’s really easy… give more mana!

He emptied his power into the dungeon core, now quite certain of how much mana to send in, and watched as nothing happened. He frowned. What… I would think… come on… fill up your power gauge… Joe blinked with surprise then realized he’d not changed the focus of what he was attempting to do, which both brought a profound thought to how mana worked, and what he needed to do. Intent… right? That… hmm. He kept his intent focused on refilling the power gauge and soon grew weary of it when he was on his twentieth or so refill attempt and had barely regained five or so percent of the dungeon’s power gauge. Man… I need to mana… where…

Joe’s eyes flicked to his points floating beside him and he felt his eyebrows rise slightly. Wait… He grinned and brought a mana point to hover around the dungeon core for a time, waiting for his personal mana to run out. No point to do it now. If it can’t take my max outflow, then adding in more mana from a mana point is probably a bad idea… probably? Joe considered it, then shrugged his shoulders. Won’t know until we try.

He brought the mana point to the core, resting it against its surface before also restarting his internal monologue about his desire to refill the dungeon’s power. He then released the mana into the core, about the same speed he was doing so from his hand, and immediately noticed wisps of mana gassing out rapidly around his hand and in a massive tornado of outgassing from the mana point. Joe nodded, expecting exactly this if not truly happy with it. He sighed and pulled the mana point, then frowned when it wouldn’t remove itself from the surface of the core. His eyebrows narrowed in a frown as he ‘pulled’ harder on the point, and this time, it ripped off much like a sticker or tape, snapping free easily enough.

He kept his hand on the core, still feeding it the last of his mana even as he turned his focus to the mana point, looking over it carefully but finding it pretty much unscathed from the experience. Huh… so… OK? Maybe? Doesn’t seem like anything hurt it? But… still…

Joe flinched when he switched from the system mana to his own, his pain and exhaustion hitting him and he paused. No need for that… now that I know I can use the mana points. He swooped a mana point down upon the core and began releasing mana from it directly into the core. The mana point lasted a good time longer than his personal mana, going for almost ten or fifteen times longer than what his system mana could do. He made a mental note of that, but really didn’t care. He wanted this done as soon as possible.

In this fashion, he continued recharging the core’s power, swapping between system mana and mana point mana but soon found his mind wandering, the work now mind numbingly simple. His thoughts quickly turned to trying to understand how he was going to help the dungeon refill it’s ‘storage’ but had little to offer. Everything in his bag was rather important to him, except for possibly some of the left over wooden arrows and his cloaks while the spark killer giant caltrops were still in the inn. He spent some time searching his bag for any other options but really didn’t find anything else. He finally sighed and pulled out a cloak, their purpose now no longer of importance and tossed it on the dungeon floor.

He positioned himself such that he could watch the cloak out of his peripheral vision, in the background of his focus upon the dungeon storage gauge. It took a bit of time, but when the cloak was ‘eaten,’ he quickly focused on the storage gauge and frowned, seeing it barely tick upwards at all. He tried again with arrows. Joe frowned as he dug back into his bag, both hands free for now as a mana point chugged away at emptying mana into the core for the dungeon’s power, but didn’t find anything else of use except his pile of cores. Oh… huh. He looked at the two bags, one full of the broken cores he made for every day use and one full of perfect cores. He snorted, laughing softly then pulled out a perfect core. Let’s see what this does.

He tossed one down on the floor and then focused on the gauge. He was a bit surprised to find the dungeon’s response quite a bit ore reactive, as the core was taken in only a few seconds. Huh… seems to really like them… that was fast! Joe stared at the spot where the core disappeared before looking back at the dungeon screen and felt his eyebrows rise when he noticed the power gauge. That… went up a lot, right? That was a lot… or am I just imagining…

Even as he thought this, he tossed another core on the dungeon floor and ignored it, keeping his gaze upon the power gauge before almost gasping when it increased by almost five percent. OK… well… this is just dumb! Joe thought as he pulled his mana point back and tossed out another three cores. That should fill it up.

A few seconds later, the display showed the dungeons power at just shy of a hundred so he tossed another core on the ground and smiled when it disappeared, the power filling completely before glowing dully. Nice… so how am I going to do the stora… His thoughts trailed off and he blinked in surprise when half the power gauge vanished and the storage gauge refilled by about ten percent. Joe grinned, then laughed. HA! Too easy! He tossed another forty or fifty on the floor, watching closely as the dungeon quickly ate ten of them easily before pausing on the twelfth. Again, the power gauge glowed, cut in half, and the storage gauge increased by a decent amount.

The dungeon repeated this another ten or so times, quickly refilling the storage gauge to just over sixty or seventy percent or so. Joe nodded and tossed out another thirty, watched everything recover and then started tossing out ten at a time just to be cautious. Wonder what would happen if its full and there are still left overs… will it control itself? Or… Joe’s thoughts wandered until he had the storage pool completely full and the power pool well above ninety percent, but still not quite full. He then attached his mana point to it and watched as the dungeon core refilled to completely full and Joe sighed deeply. Well… I can only hope… now… really hope!

He raised a hand to press the capture dungeon button and then paused when worry coiled through his thoughts. He clenched his hands, then reached forward. Right… do or die. We can do this!

Joe pressed the button and another pop up appeared before him, and Joe then grinned. OK. That… solves one problem! That’s… really nice! Before him, the pop up asked for how long of a delay before the collapse, with options ranging out to weeks or even a month. When he did so, however, he felt a phantom pain hit him and wondered at what it could mean, only deeply concerned by the heart clenching fear that seemed to wind through him, his worry and fear quickly draining any certainty he had while anxious terror rose wildly.

He quickly pulled his finger back, and the terror immediately receded. OK… that was a bad idea… whatever that was! He thought on it for a bit, but whenever his hand went to accept his choice, terror flooded through him and Joe finally stopped trying, instead turning back to his options and choosing against a month’s delay. Dropping it to half a month helped a lot, but didn’t remove the terror, only muting it. When he tried a week, all was calm and Joe finally grinned with a relief, pulling his hand back once again. I can work with this… alright… this… yeah.

He accepted the final decision and then grinned as the core rose into the air and dropped into his hand. His grinned dropped when he saw a timer form in his top right hand corner, worry returning. Huh… can everyone see that? That… would seem like a dead giveaway?

The timer didn’t hold his attention long as he saw his mana point showering out a twisting wave of wasted mana against the surface of the core and Joe frowned, then quickly grinned! Less mana! Awesome… then…

He went back to refilling by hand and used his system mana to empower the core, but quickly found he didn’t even need half of what he was using before. If his numbers were right, he only needed about two to three percent of what he’d need while the dungeon was active, and Joe smiled. OK… this… I can support this! So easy… especially if... He pulled the mana point back, then frowned and brought another full one, snapping it to the core and having it feed the dungeon at about the same speed he’d done by hand. It turned out pretty easy to judge how much he needed by just upping the output until outgassing occurred, then he backed it just slightly until only the tiniest of wisps of outgassing remained. That way I know for sure it’s getting at least what it needs or more!

A subtle rainbow glimmer of oil on water shone off a surface just out of his focus in the periphery, and pulled his attention away. But when he looked, he found nothing and frowned. He considered for a bit but then turned his attention back to his current predicament. Alright… time to get out… without getting caught! This… right. I should be able to do this!

He swapped back to his transporter job, and prepared to drop the core into his magic bag. It popped in, and then Joe wondered in horror as he realized he’d left his mana point attached. Uh… that… uh oh!

He quickly pulled it back out and looked at the core carefully before turning his attention to the mana point before sighing with some relief. Still there… good… about three quarters full? Yeah? A little under maybe… let’s see … Huh… I’ll be able to check how time flows in there with this, right? If I check… so… a full mana point! It was full when I put it in, so … remember… it was full… full! He chanted to himself as he put the core and mana point back into his bag storage then turned back to the door. Right… the long way out… probably dumb to teleport out… especially if they can tell someones got this… but I should get out fast!

This time, his exist was quicker, and he didn’t try to worry too much about what jobs were equipped. He wanted to keep transporter on, just to be safe, so shoved his everything including his bag into the magic space to make it easy to run. He only kept the spear and shield out. He also kept navigator permanently equipped so he could have a map and sprinted out of the room after these two jobs were equipped keeping only healer mage and a fourth job for leveling. Fourth one should be the regen mage, right? He was concerned, and almost checked to see if it was the regen mage before deciding that obviously, it would be regen mage and he dismissed his concern. Gotta run and get out!

The return to the surface was fast; much faster than even this current delve. When he made it to the first floor, he stepped to the side in a dead in corridor to pull his backpack out of his magic space before continuing. The move proved prescient as getting past the guards was much more difficult as the entire place was in a frenzy although none of the guards were willing to reveal anything, and Joe finally was allowed to leave only after they checked his bag thoroughly. He offered a friendly goodbye and kept his composure until he was well gone, only smiling when he was half way to the bath house. Hope they’re still open in the middle of the night… hope Gwenvair isn’t too pissed either!

Joe rested against the bathtub and just soaked for a time before finally pulling out his pad and pencil to note any new details. There wasn’t much to say about his jobs, all of them hardly leveling since most of his dungeon dive today was spent sprinting to the end and not really fighting a massive amount of monsters. That said, he did flip over to the other pages and took a look at things, not expecting really anything too interesting but found a significant surprise on his blessings and titles page. So many new titles? How… wow!

Overkill (Greater Title): You have killed a monster with exceedingly more mana than necessary, painting yourself in the blood of your enemies.

Gain notoriety, causing a small fear in those who would attack you.

Synergistic Gain - Overachiever Overkill - Enhance the fear effect.

Synergistic Gain - Instakill - Increased chance of causing a near mortal wound to become a mortal one.

Synergistic Gain - Overachiever Instakill -Increased chance of causing a near mortal wound to become a mortal one.

Overachiever Overkill (Superior Title): You have killed a boss with exceedingly more mana than necessary, painting yourself in the blood of your enemies.

Gain great notoriety, causing a small fear in any boss or large creatures who would attack you.

Synergistic Gain - Overkill - Enhance the fear effect against boss or large creatures.

Synergistic Gain - Instakill - Increased chance of causing a near mortal wound to become a mortal one.

Synergistic Gain - Overachiever Instakill - Increased chance of causing a near mortal wound to become a mortal one.

Instakill (Greater Title): You have killed a monster in a single strike! Any mortal wound

has a chance to cause almost instant death.

Synergistic Gain - Overkill - Enhanced chance for instant death.

Synergistic Gain - Overachiever Overkill - Enhanced chance for instant death.

Synergistic Gain - Overachiever Instakill - Increased chance of causing a near mortal wound to become a mortal one.

Overachiever Instakill (Superior Title): You have killed a monster in a single strike! Any wound on a limb has a very small chance of incapaciting or amputating the limb.

Synergistic Gain - Overkill - Enhanced chance for paralysis or amputation.

Synergistic Gain - Overachiever Overkill - Enhanced chance for paralysis or amputation.

Synergistic Gain - Instakill - Any wound anywhere has an miniscule chance of paralysis.

Title Finder (Title): You have acquired over a hundred titles, although many of them are duplicates. Such simple pursuit of the identical is not superior method but does point to effort and hard work.

Your hard work is recognized. You will find slightly more gain for your efforts in self development of any kind.

Synergistic Gain - Titular Master

Synergistic Gain - Titular Terror

Title finder will add a single point per stat per titular title listed above.

Titular titles will increase the effectiveness of title finder's gains in self development.

(New Synergy Found) Titular Master (Title): Acquiring so many unique titles and blessings has turned you into a veritable nightmare for any marshal, herald, butler, or majordomo who might have to announce your presence.

Gain one stat point for each stat per title or blessing you acquire.

Synergistic Gain - Title Finder - A miniscule chance to recognize a chance to gain another title.

(New Synergy Found) Titular Terror (Title): Acquiring so many unique titles and blessings has turned you into a veritable nightmare for any marshal, herald, butler, or majordomo who might have to announce your presence. In pity, you are now able to hide or reveal any title from those with skills to announce your presence.

Gain two stat points for each stat per title or blessing you acquire.

Synergistic Gain - Title Finder - Your ability to hide or reveal titles now also allows you to control if any title's effects will apply or not.

Dungeon Walker (Title): You have defeated an smaller than average dungeon then chose to walk out instead of Escape it.

Dungeon environmental effects are much less effective for traversal purposes.

Dungeon Collapser (Title): You have captured and collapsed a dungeon. The process will be slightly faster and easier.

Synergistic Gain - Dungeon Thief - Gain a wider range of optimal conditions.

Dungeon Thief (Title): You have taken a dungeon under the nominal control of another. Gain slight bonuses to dungeon capture in less than optimal conditions.

Synergistic Gain - Dungeon Collapser - Increased speed in dungeon capture.

Dungeon Friend (Greater Title): You have helped a dungeon. Dungeons notice your friendly intention with greater ease.

Synergistic Gain - Dungeon Empowerer - Dungeons are much more willing to accept or trust your help.

Dungeon Empowerer (Superior Title): You have helped a dungeon by offering your power freely to it. Dungeons will seek to repay your good will and are more willing to entertain requests.

Synergistic Gain - Dungeon Friend - Increased consideration of your requests.

Clicking on all of them, he quickly settled in to enjoying his new benefits. He added in some of the new synergistic gains he got from the old titular titles and was pretty happy with what he’d gained, especially being able to turn off the more dangerous titles if he was going to be training the others, which is what he immediately did when he noticed that. However, he found his relief at conquering the advanced dungeon quickly outweighing his joy and he drifted quickly to sleep. He didn’t know how long he stayed like that, but it was quite dark by the time he struggled from his bath and went home, everyone already asleep by the time he slipped into his bed.

* * *