Rune Seeker

Time Remaining – 0:03

Dynamic Quest Complete

The Prince of the Swamp has been slain.

Congratulations. Achievement unlocked – Sleepy Heads

You prevented a terrible power from reawakening (for 3 hours).

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

Hiral dropped straight down to sit on the ground, the RHCs falling out of his hands as the drain of solar energy from the totem finally ended. In front of him, the bloody and torn body of the Princeof the Swamp lay unmoving. All three heads had been severed from the necks by Left, Yanily, and Seena, while Right and Vix had thrown everything they had into the far side of the body. Hiral, on the other hand, had done what he could on his side, which basically amounted to drilling a narrow hole right for the Prince’sheart.

“We did it… We actually did it,” he whispered to himself, ignoring the notification and looking at his current solar energy capacity. One percent. A few seconds longer wouldn’t have just seen the resurrection of the Prince to full power; it also would’ve left him without any resources to continue the fight.

Still needing a minute to recover—not just his solar energy, but also emotionally—he swiped aside the quest notification, only for another to immediately take its place.

New Record

Time: 1:12:12

Congratulations. Achievement Unlocked – Lizards, Snakes, and… Hydras? Oh, my!

You have conquered the horrors of The Mire and prevented a terrible awakening.

Please access a Dungeon Interface to unlock class-specific reward.

Time until The Mire instance closure: 59:43

“Hiral, you still alive?” Right called out, jogging over with Left beside him.

“The fact you’re still around to ask that…” Hiral started, but just shook his head at the grin on his double’s face. “Do I really smirk like that?” he asked Left.

“Absolutely do,” Left said.

“All three of you do,” Seena said, rounding a corner and coming to join the trio. “But Left only does it when he thinks nobody’s looking. Yeah, I saw you.” She gave the double a friendly punch in the shoulder.

“I’ll have to be more careful in the future,” Left said, his voice far too serious.

“You okay?” Hiral asked Seena before taking a breath and pushing himself up to his feet.

“Almost had at least five heart attacks during that fight there,” Seena said while Hiral picked up his RHCs and sheathed them on his thighs.

“Don’t think I can heal heart attacks,” Wule said, the rest of the party coming over to join them.

Each of them had blood flowing freely from wounds, while Nivian looked like he’d had a fight with a barbeque and lost, practically dragging his left leg behind him with each step.

“We barely pulled that one out,” Nivian said. “Hiral, how’d you figure out the totems?”

“Honestly? Luck,” Hiral said. “Figured that thing was too tough to fight head on—er, heads on?— so I started looking for something else. Like Seena said before, a trick to the fight.”

“Everybody remember where they found the totems?” Seena asked. “As soon as we get out of here, we’re drawing up a map for my sister’s group, and for our next run. I don’t want any of us trying to take that thing straight up again.”

“Yanily? Do you remember where your totem was?” Vix asked, cradling his left elbow like his arm was giving him trouble.

“Uh…” Yanily said, turning to look at the Prince’s body, which was dissolving into inky black smoke even as they watched. “Is that normal?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Seena said, but her eyes were on the body that had already reduced to less than half its original size. “Do you know where your totem is?”

“Over… there?” Yanily said, pointing beyond the Prince with this spear. He then looked a little and shifted more to the left. “Or, over there? Maybe.”

“I know where they all are,” Left said. “I’ll take care of the map.”

“Thank you, Left. I’m glad somebody was thinking ahead,” Seena said, glaring at the spearman.

“I was thinking ahead,” Yanily said. “Thinking about getting to the dungeon interface to evolve.”

“Speaking of which, where is the interface?” Wule asked.

“I think you’re about to find out,” Hiral said, pointing at the last few dregs of the Prince’slarge frame finally dissolving into nothingness. The interface stood where the body had been.

“Alright, let’s do it,” Yanily said, immediately starting for the interface, the rest of the party following quickly despite their injuries.

“I’ll heal while we sort through the mess of notifications I know we’re about to get,” Wule said. “Left, could you do your Banner of Courage at the same time to help out?”

“Certainly,” Left said.

“Who gets to do the honors?” Yanily asked, eying the pedestal, while Left placed the banner. The dome of light enveloped the party.

“Chests with loot will be first, right?” Nivian asked.

“Hiral, you spotted the totems,” Seena said. “You do it.”

“Sure,” Hiral said, walking up to the pedestal then waving his hand over the inset crystal.

All at once, inky night burst from the briar patch, plunging the entire dungeon into absolute darkness, subduing even the banner’sglowing dome. A few heartbeats later, the darkness eased, shrouding the party in foggy shadows. The ruins and everything beyond were hidden from sight—except for the six chests surrounding the party, and the large one in the center beside the pedestal.

“No torches this time,” Nivian said while his brother worked on healing the tank’s extensive burns. “How do we know who gets which chest?”

“The chests have gems on them,” Seena said, looking at an ornate square chest. “Hiral, I think this one is yours. Yellow.”

“This one is mine,” Yanily said, standing in front of chest similarly shaped to Hiral’s, but without the same trim. “Definitely not a spear this time.”

“Maybe it’s a really short one,” Vix said, finding his own chest, not much larger than a breadbox. “Or a fishing rod. A collapsible one.”

“Better not be,” Yanily said, looking at his chest, then over at Hiral’s, and back once more. “Hey, Hiral, how come yours is… fancier?”

“Fancier?” Hiral asked.

He took a closer look at the differences between the two boxes. While Yanily’s chest was simple, a lot like a heavy trunk, Hiral’s had filigree inscribed in the surfaces, a raised and curved lid, and some kind of golden metal around the edges. It really was a treasure chest. And it was the only one.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Seena asked him. “Open it up.”

Hiral shrugged and crouched down in front of his chest, hands coming up to run along the edges of the box. Was it his imagination, or was the box itself warm? Just what was inside?

Only one way to find out.

Hooking his fingers under the corners of the lid, Hiral lifted it up and flipped it back, then looked into the large chest. He blinked and looked again.

No way…

Hiral reached in and wrapped his fingers around the sword hilt—a good foot and a half long—and hefted the weapon out of the chest. The sword was heavy,really heavy, and made of solid crystal, its blade almost as wide as the hilt was long, two inches thick, and sharp on both edges. The crosspiece took the shape of spread wings, though it barely extended a few inches past the massively wide blade, and script similar to Hiral’s double helix lined both sides. There looked to be runes embedded just above the winged crosspiece, but the most striking part about the whole thing was…

“It’s broken?” Nivian asked, coming over to stand by Hiral with a small disc in his hand. “They gave you a broken sword?”

Hiral didn’t respond immediately, laying the flat of the half-a-blade across his lap where he crouched, then ran his hand along it. True, just like Nivian said, there was only about two and a half feet of blade. Everything beyond the jagged break was completely missing, but there was no mistaking it. This was it.

The Emperor’s Greatsword – Broken – S-Rank

Effects: Unknown

Dynamic Quest: Unfathomable Power

You’ve discovered a rare—yet broken—S-Rank item. Find a way to restore it to its original state.

“Is that what I think it is?” Left asked, and Right gave a low whistle.

“I don’t get it,” Nivian said. “Why do you look like you’re happy about getting a broken sword?”

“This… this…” Hiral tried speaking, his voice getting stuck in his throat. “This is the Emperor’s Greatsword. I’m sure of it. The original.”

“And that’s… what… exactly?” Yanily asked, coming over to join them, what looked like a suit of leather armor in his hands.

“A legendary S-Rank weapon,” Hiral said. “Obviously broken, but it doesn’t matter. And it gave me a quest to fix it.”

“If it’s that big broken, how long was it before?” Seena asked, a familiar-looking tome in her hands.

“Just over six feet, if you include the hilt,” Hiral said. “Only two people in history are said to have wielded the weapon… and then it went missing. The Emperor and the Little Queen. I can’t believe it.” Hiral forced his eyes from the weapon to look back in the chest. Like his RHCs, there was a square of crystal, likely the equivalent of a sheath. It would have to go on his back—it wouldn’t fit anywhere else. “What about you guys? What did you get?”

“The Scholar’s tome,” Seena said, holding up the book.

“Armor,” Yanily said. “Made out of… hydra scales. What’s a hydra?”

“I think the Prince was a hydra,” Hiral said. “Didn’t you read the dungeon’s complete notification?”

“Uh…” Yanily said, one hand coming up to scratch his nose while his spear leaned in the crook of his elbow.

“Vix, how about you?” Seena asked.

“Goggles,” Vix said. “They show weak points and give a critical hit damage bonus.”

“Nice,” Seena said. “And, Nivian, what’ve you got there?”

“Orbital Shield?” Nivian said, holding the disc up. “I’ve got a prompt to bond with it by giving it some solar energy.”

“So, what are you waiting for?” Yanily asked.

Nivian shrugged, and a small streamer of energy wafted off his hand like glowing smoke, then into the disc. One second of this, two, three, and the disc pulsed and then hovered out of Nivian’s hand. From there, it moved about three feet away from him, at about chest height, then slowly rotated completely around him, and around, and around…

“And what does that do?” Yanily asked.

Nivian’s eyes moved side to side like he was reading, then he nodded. The disc shot out toward Yanily, and a dome of energy erupted out of the sides to form a barrier in front of him. The shield lasted for three seconds, then the disc shot back to resume its orbit around Nivian.

“A remote shield?” Seena asked. “Cooldown?”

“Only six seconds,” Nivian said. “Requires a constant flow of solar energy, but it’s not much, and I’ll need to test how much punishment it can take.”

“That’ll be amazing when you need to be in two places at the same time,” Seena said. “Wule, you’re the last one—what’s that you’ve got?”

Wule smirked as he lifted a simple-looking iron band up, then placed it on his head like a crown. As soon as the headpiece settled into place, three balls of energy formed and began to circle the crown of his head—a rolling ball of fire, a coiled ball of lightning, and a glowing ball combining the two.

“Each ball confers a buff,” Wule said, the ball of fire darting away to circle around Nivian’s head, where a red aura surrounded the tank’s body. “Fire, lightning, and the combination of the two. They’re mainly defensive—give resistances—but they also offer a small damage bonus.”

“Hey, my new armor gives resistances to those too!” Yanily said. “Hah, I got the hydra’s skin, and you got its balls. Pretty sure I know which is more badass.”

Wule scowled at the spearman, but the ball of fire zipped back from his brother’s head, and he held his tongue. With the three elemental balls from the crown, and the two glowing lanterns from an earlier achievement, the healer was practically a walking light show.

“Good haul,” Seena said, looking again at Hiral. “Even if that is broken, the rest of us got items that’ll definitely help the next time.”

“Isn’t it kind of odd?” Hiral asked, looking at the items in everybody’s hands. “Seena, weren’t you saying you wanted a floating book like that? And Wule said something about buffs to protect from fire. Nivian talked about a second shield… and this.” He gestured at the sword. “We were just talking about S-Rank items before we came in.”

“It’s like the dungeon knew what we needed… or wanted, I guess,” Seena said, nodding. “How do you think that works?”

“Something to ask Dr. Benza?” Hiral said.

“Speaking of which, let’s see what’s in the big box in the middle, get our achievements, and get out to tell my sister what’s going on.”

“I’m sure she’s worried by now,” Nivian said.

“Probably,” Seena agreed, then shivered. “She gets angry when she gets worried.”

“Well, we’ll come bearing gifts,” Vix said, throwing back the lid of the big central box, though he gave a slight wince and looked at his arm. “Nobody complains when you bring food.”

“Except… where is the food?” Yanily asked, leaning over the chest and pulling a pack out. “This is… empty? Only two packs… and… yeah, both empty. What’s going on?”

“Only two packs in there?” Seena asked, walking over to join them, and Hiral followed behind, the heavy sword in one hand and the backpiece in the other. “Nothing else?”

“There’s a crate of something…” Nivian said, reaching into the chest, moving something around, and lifting out a board of solid crystal. “Same material as Hiral’s sword?”

“Looks like it,” Hiral said. Noticing both of his hands were full, he pushed a touch of solar energy into the backpiece, and pushed it against the sword. The two objects bonded immediately, and Hiral lifted it over his shoulder and pressed it against the center of his back. Like the thigh plates, it stuck comfortably, and despite the weight of the sword, he hardly noticed it. “Can I see that?” he asked Nivian, pointing at the crystal.

“Sure,” Nivian said, handing over the piece.

Hiral took the piece of crystal and closely inspected it, running his fingers across the surface and peering at it from different angles. Despite the hard edges, something about it felt… malleable… and he easily bent it in his hands. Almost immediately, he got a flashing notification in the corner of his eyes.

Runic Artificer: Class Ability Unlocked – Mold Crystal

Mold Crystal – Shape and form crystal as needed for crafting.

“Huh. Unlocked a class skill without needing a dungeon interface,” Hiral said, molding the crystal into a ball, pulling it apart into two pieces, and finally combining it back together and flattening it out. A circle of his thumb on the surface created a slot to put a runic slide—like in his RHCs—and he even had ideas popping into his head on what he could do with all of it.

Does the class skill even include basic schematics?

“How… how are you doing that?” Nivian asked, another piece of crystal in his hands as he obviously tried to bend it.

“I think I can make equipment with this stuff. I’ve even got a few ideas what I can do. I’ll get to work on it as soon as we get out of here.”

“Can you fix the sword with it?” Seena asked.

Hiral thought about it for a second but immediately shook his head. “No, this crystal isn’t high enough quality. The sword is something special.”

“Too bad. Load it up into the packs?” Seena suggested, and they did just that. Interestingly, the packs held way more than they looked like they would.

“That’s everything from the big chest,” Nivian said. “Time for achievements?”

“And evolutions!” Yanily said. “I’ve been very patient, but… it’s finally time, right?”

“Almost,” Seena said. “I was thinking. You all remember that stretch of road after the King and Queen? The Lizardmen that kept coming?”

“What about it?” Wule asked.

“We should farm it a bit,” Seena said. “Come into the dungeon, kill the royalty, then just sit on the road and kill Lizardmen until the dungeon kicks us out. We’re all getting closer to D-Rank, and those warriors were decent experience without being too challenging. If we can all get to D before going to the final dungeon…”

“I’m up for it,” Nivian said. “We’ll get bonus experience for completing the dungeon the third time too, won’t we? We should keep that in mind. How many times do you think we’ll need to run it?”

“A few times, at least. We’ll see what Seeyela has to say about it,” Seena said.

“Balyo will want to do it,” Vix said. “She can’t stand Yanily getting ahead of her, and this’ll let her catch up.”

“Means we delay getting to the Asylum, though,” Wule pointed out. “Is it worth it?”

“Means we’re stronger for the journey too,” Hiral said. “If we run into more snakes, or groups of Troblins, or…”

“Or the Enemy,” Seena said. “As soon as we leave the dungeon entrance, we’re putting ourselves at risk. Might as well be a little stronger for it, right?”

Wule nodded. “Don’t get me wrong. I agree with you. Just giving the other side of it.”

“Speaking of a little bit stronger, could we please get our achievements?” Yanily asked.

“Yes, it’s about that time,” Seena said. “Hiral?”

“Sure,” Hiral said, returning to the interface and swiping his hand across the crystal again.

Time Records

Achievement Rewards

Rank Evolution

Exit Dungeon