The Fool's Freedom

Now that the presumed boss was dead the web of threads shattered almost like glass. The pieces hit the ground and the jagged stone protruded from the walls, creating a rain of cacophony that sounded like a thousand windows being shattered at once. The sound was disturbing and lasted a while, but Alan was focused on the corpse. He tried to put the whole thing inside of his shadow space, but nothing happened, which was a first. He had assumed there were limits to it but didn’t know what they were yet. Perhaps now was the time to find out.

Alan cursed and took out [True Edge] while making sure no large rocks were falling toward him. The shaking of the cavern lessened significantly after a minute or so which was a good sign and meant he hadn’t destroyed the whole integrity of the dungeon. Getting buried in a magically constructed space was not how he envisioned this adventure to end.

However, the damage was done – the tunnel where he had come from had been quite affected as it had been directly in the way of the skill, leaving him with no choice but to trudge on and find another way out. Once he was done looting and recuperating that is. He was running low on both patience and mana and while the recovery was much greater than at any point before tiering up, it was not enough to fill his reserves quite as fast as he’d have liked.

Cutting apart the corpse now that the spider was dead turned into a trivial thing, which was welcome news. By the time Alan was done, the cavern had regained most of its stability and the rain of stone and ore had ceased. Most of the Jaderin ore had found its way to the ground, having fallen from the ceiling due to the cut, and even the earth and rock glistened from the shattered crystal threads. He had hoped to get some of them too, as the material seemed quite special, but it was probably a product of the spider’s alien biology and not something easily replicated.

Putting the pieces of the corpse in his inventory, Alan signed. There was nothing that had caught his attention during the grueling, but he still wanted to spend some time dissecting the strange creature and taking all the value out of it. There was certainly a core or something similar inside of it – something he planned to keep for himself.

It seems that despite it all Mr. Muge will be the greatest benefactor of my adventure. He chuckled and moved on to a large unbroken piece of Jaderin Ore which he carefully collected into his shadow inventory. He had been worried about space, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. Putting things that were too large seemed to be tough.

Just as a thought, Alan took out the demon cube and tried to form a connection with it, before almost dropping it in surprise. There was a new coating there – a strange layer that screamed danger to his mind. He had enough protections not to worry about it, but the change at least told him Xil was doing well. Perhaps the time in the void and all the strange happenings had helped him somewhat.

The first time Xil had said the prolonged stay in the shadow inventory had been enough to weaken his prisons. If the void had acted the same way… Maybe the demon would finally find a way out? The thought was both exciting and worrying. Alan remembered how much Xil had reveled in his violence, and unleashing something like that made the still human part of his mind fill with anxiety. However… Xil was one of the few he considered friends, despite their strange relationship.

With a final sigh of relief, Alan put the cube back in his shadow space and leaned on one of the rock walls. He closed his eyes and slowly and carefully tried to sense the flow of mana. The energy was certainly there, but it was chaotic and unwilling to cooperate. Each piece of Jaderin Ore seemed to interfere with his senses.

With nothing better to do, and afraid to continue as he was, Alan decided to check his System messages, before taking a break. There had been more than one level coming for some reason. Not that he was going to complain.

You have slain: Young Jaderin Weaver (273)

273 is young? That’s insane. Is that my limit then? Without the Tome and the skill it held, Alan wouldn’t have been able to do what he had done. It was a lifeline, one he still had two casts of. Of course, charging the tome with mana was always an option, but it was an arduous process that required time and concentration – something he didn’t have.

The slew of messages continued, however, before the level-up notifications came into view.

You have slain Jadari Warrior (143)

You have slain Jadari Warrior (161)

You have slain Jadari Warrior (175)

You have slain Jadari Miner (113)

You have slain Jadari Miner (116)

You have slain Jadari Miner (105)

You have slain Jadari Miner (111)

What the fuck…?

Level up!

You have reached level 104 in Tier Two [Shepherd of the Broken]

+5 Attribute Points

+5 to Mind, Will, Magic

Level up!

You have reached level 105 in Tier Two [Shepherd of the Broken]

+5 Attribute Points

+5 to Mind, Will, Magic

Level up!

You have reached level 106 in Tier Two [Shepherd of the Broken]

+5 Attribute Points

+5 to Mind, Will, Magic

You have received a new Dungeon Quest: Face the Monsters of the Jaderin Mines (Optional)

Once a powerful tribal nation of warriors, the Jadari lost themselves to the power of the unearthed alien ore. The greed of few led to the fall of many. The mines were closed off to the world, turning into a self-sustaining habitat still hosting some members of the formerly great tribe.

You have slain one of the great monsters that the mines have given birth to and lived to continue your journey. Find the others and test yourself. Help the Jadari see the light.

Reward: performance-based and received upon exit.

Alan grinned. A quest was a good thing. His staff still served him well, as the percentage bonus it gave and the boosts to his skills seemed irrelevant to level or tier. Considering the strength of this Dungeon’s dwellers, the rewards should’ve only become greater.

Three whole levels were a very welcome surprise, but his strike seemed to have killed more than the spider. Alan felt just a tiny pang of guilt. Collateral damage was something he never wanted to participate in, but alas sometimes fate seemed to have different plans.

It would’ve been great if there was another boss nearby… It was wishful thinking. There was one last system message. It made him frown, as its contents didn’t seem quite as simple.

You have received a new Dungeon Quest: Extinguish the Warrior’s Flame (Optional)

The Jadari of the mines are only a remnant of what they once were. Twisted by the dangers and the strange magic of the ore, they’re no longer sane enough to be allowed to persist. You have slain a great number of them already. Do the world a service, and rid the mines of their presence. Let what should’ve been lost fall into obscurity.

Reward: performance-based and received upon exit.

Shit. The whole idea of this quest went against his own belief and purpose. He dragged things out of obscurity and allowed them to follow him as shadows. He was a scion of forgotten people, despite never before having met one of them. He was the [Shepherd of the Broken].

Alan shook his head. This was delving too much into the philosophical side of things better left unexplored. If they were hostile, he would keep killing them. If there was another way to progress, then it would also be a welcome addition.

Quests and the promise of rewards certainly made things very interesting.

He gathered more of the ore – quite a bit more than he thought he would ever need, depending on its value of course, and moved to find a comfortable place. After a brief hesitation, Alan neared the wall where the thin line of the cut left by the [Hateful Mist Cut] was left. It was too narrow for him to see through or pass but seemed deep.

Alan could still feel some of the leftover hatred, and the power that had come after it. It was like the finger of an angry God had descended to split the underground cavern into two and rid him of his enemy. It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time, making him crave more of it.

Each time I become stronger I see something that makes me desire even more strength… He smiled and turned toward a tunnel opposite to the one he had come from. Stopping shortly next to it, Alan sat down and waited. Clearing his head and regaining his mana was a must before continuing. He had half a mind to leave the place, but the secrets it held were very tantalizing and the addition of quests and rewards only made things better. As he understood it, last time the Blood Fields had remained mostly unexplored. He hadn’t unearthed any secrets, only managing to kill two bosses. Now? Things were looking different. He had confidence, skills, and a lot of experience to build upon.

Alan covered himself with a blanket of shadows and tried to empty his mind and speed up his recovery.

It was time for the System to make up for being loot-stingy.

***

Alan moved through the darkness. His mana was almost full after a long rest. The underground world seemed to have undergone yet another drastic change during this time, but he couldn’t exactly place it. He knew the dungeon boss would be revived and given a second life… at least that was what the Doctor had spoken of. Perhaps it would happen only after a period of no one visiting the place. After all, things didn’t work like in games, where it was a different instance for everyone. This was a part of a real-world that had been taken and repurposed for the System’s enjoyment or whatever it sought.

If every Dungeon was a prison, then this one didn’t make sense though. Perhaps the Buried Blood Fields were a special place or the Doctor had deceived him. It was only natural for someone chasing their interest to use any tool at their disposal, be it deception or something worse. The Doctor had also been a special case in that matter. He had known too much for someone at his level.

Experiencing the Jaderin Mines seemed to be another lucky encounter for Alan. He hoped it would turn even better by the end. The thought of using another [Hateful Mist Cut] was painful to bear and the Tome seemed to have hibernated being used, undergoing its unspecified period of rest. If the other beasts still resisted his skills with the same success as the spider then the first quests would’ve become almost an impossibility.

This made Alan extra careful in his exploration. Without his biggest ace, the Dungeon’s depths held danger for him. The maze of cold stone and untouched Jaderin Ore didn’t tell him much, but if the next encounter was of the caliber of the spider or worse, then Alan would have to run.

The thought made even the shadows around him lash out in anger. They churned and flew, turning much more visible until they were black pieces of cloth carried by an invisible cyclone centered on Alan. It was a momentous change, but he too despised the thought of fleeing in the face of a challenge. All he had to do was advance his understanding and his skills, and a path would make itself known to him.

Alan wanted power and the freedom that came with it. He wanted to crush those who had tried to crush him. And for that, he needed to face each challenge and risk his life. This was the path he had chosen to take after feeling lost for so long.

His feet paused and he frowned. He was shadowless… a variant that was more of a mind and soul thing, rather than a bodily expressed racial characteristic, sans a few minor changes. The first couple of visions he had gotten back before becoming a scion of the race suddenly swam through his mind as if called out by an unknown force. He hadn’t thought of them since, but a small detail struck out to him just now, as he was walking the dark tunnels and awaiting to risk his life in combat.

He had accepted a lot of his darkness and his skills, which were somewhat on the sinister side, reflected that. His shadows, his curses, his whole presence.

However, accepting one's darkness was a given even without the whole ‘shadowless’ thing. Perhaps it was his random choices that had guided him toward such a fate more than anything else. He doubted he was the only one suffering internal dilemmas and struggling to find himself. The idea of acceptance has existed in various forms on Earth since the dawn of intelligent life.

However, the visions, and even the words of the sliver of will that lived inside of him, spoke of something else too. Alan suddenly felt some discomfort beneath his skin.

Where is my light?