Elsewhere

As Duke rose above the fray, he could see just how far the undead horde spread out – it was a mass kilometers-long and filled the entire valley ahead of them. The horde spilled out over the far end of the valley, beginning to fill the relatively open area containing the beacon. He rose higher to get a good look at the flow of things.

He heard the flap of wings a moment before he was attacked. The momentary warning was enough as Duke’s dogfighting instincts took over. He instantly dove and twisted around to see the winged beast slash through the area where he had been a second sooner. The creature had batlike, leathery wings and was vaguely human-shaped. The more he looked at it as it flapped away, it looked like some soft of man/bat cross of creatures.

The creature banked and started back towards Duke attempting to swipe at him again. Duke met it with a beam of LIGHT and an IDENTIFY.

*** You have encountered a Lesser Vampire. This is the minion of a Greater Vampire and does not have full control over its own actions. It is nonetheless a deadly opponent.

Level: 235

Health: 29,352

Mana: 8,210

***

The LIGHT beam struck the Lesser Vampire in the wing, burning a hole straight through. The creature shrieked in pain and turned its head to stare at Duke. Their eyes met and he felt something. He blinked and the feeling passed. Whatever it was, Duke did not like the sensation. He pumped more Mana into LIGHT and tried to hit the thing center-mass. He missed his target slightly high and burned clean through its neck. The head and body tumbled separately towards the ground.

As Duke watched the body tumble, he noticed something about the horde that he hadn’t noticed before. The skeletons and zombies seemed to be coming from separate locations and gathering together to attack. He spotted a dozen of each location scattered along the edges of the valley.

When he approached to land back with the group, he could see that they were starting to run low on soldiers to fight off the horde. He pushed himself back into the air and ringed the group with empowered RESTORES to refill their ranks. The half-giant saluted and remaining soldiers cheered as their ranks were filled back up.

“OK, here’s the situation. I counted about 12 undead generators on each side of the valley. Those are what are filling the horde. If we can take those out, I can convert the rest of the horde and we might just have a chance to finish this off in one go. Or we can retreat, lick our wounds, and train up to maybe take it in one go next time.” Duke laid the options before the team. He knew what he wanted to do but he was not sure what state the others were in currently.

Elaine, as was often the case, was the first to speak. “I am exhausted. Even the rest while the soldiers took over has not been enough to refresh me. I am loathe to say it, but I think we should go to the exit and come back here rested and stronger.”

Grat knew better than to counter his wife and simply nodded in agreement. Baslin nodded as well. “I still have plenty of Mana and spells left but exhaustion will set in before we reach the beacon. I expect we will run into much greater threats once we get out of this valley and I would have us all be fresh if we do so.”

Duke understood their exhaustion. Physically, he was ready to go, which he attributed to being a factor of his REGENERATION. Mentally, he was feeling the strain. He could continue for sure, but to do so would add additional risk to his friends. It was a risk he had taken in the past and was indeed willing to take this time. In the end, he did not want to overrule the entire group – he would never forgive himself if one were to fall from his arrogance.

“OK, let’s head back and go rest up. At least we now know what to expect and how to fight it best. I’m going to create a corridor of soldiers back to the exit. That should make it easier for us to get there.” With that, Duke took to the air and carved a path of empowered RESTORES all the way back to the exit. He created a second path on the way back to the team to make sure the way would stay clear.

“Path is clear. Let’s hightail it back.”

“High tail?” Grat asked.

All four responded in chorus with a smile, “Fucking idioms!” They laughed as they turned tail and ran back to the exit. The path largely remained clear for them. There were a few spots where the undead had overwhelmed the soldiers but a few quick RESTORES and the path opened back up for them. They reached the exit, and all filtered through.

*** You have left the fourth floor of the Lake Front Dungeon without completing it. Should you return, you will find its denizens stronger than previously. You have one week to return to the fourth floor before being forced to exit the dungeon and restart back at the first floor. ***

The group gathered in the common room around the table to discuss strategy for their next run and the training time they had this week. Baslin decided to sequester himself for the week in his room. When pressed he only said that he “had something to work on”. The remaining three decided to leave it alone and work together to solve the level.

They spent several hours discussing tactics and how best to use their abilities and resources in the upcoming conflict. The group kept coming back to a common theme – destroy the undead generators and convert as many undead to soldiers as they could. The heated debate came down to whether it made sense to destroy all but one of the generators and use the remaining one to convert countless soldiers into an army that could sweep the whole level. Duke loved the idea, but Grat said it felt like cheating and the dungeon would respond negatively in some way. Eventually, they had dinner and headed off to bed.

Duke was so eager to see his gains from the high-level undead that he just threw himself into his bed and closed his eyes. He did not know how long it took for him to fall asleep but judging by how fast his mind had been spinning, it had been quite a while. He did wake up to his system messages and they did not disappoint.

*** Congratulations. You have performed some remarkable feats, and you will be rewarded. We are well entertained by your exploits and smile upon you.

You accomplished a feat that few in the entire cosmos could claim. For defeating thousands of undead of various levels that far exceeded your own, you receive 3,740,814 experience points. This brings you up to level 86 and leaves you with 702 Characteristic Points to spend! You are gaining power at a rate far beyond that which we had predicted, and this is truly exciting!

You Abilities and Skills have likewise seen growth:

Brawling has jumped all the way to Initiate 20

Dodge has jumped to Initiate 25

Aerial Maneuvering had grown to Initiate 5

TELEPORTATION has increased to Practiced 79

REGENERATION has increased to Practiced 68

OVERCHANNEL has increased to Initiate 35

MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased to Initiate 12

LIGHT has increased to Initiate 17

CLEANSE has increased to Initiate 4

RESTORE has increased to Master 10

IDENTIFY has increased to Initiate 2

INVENTORY has increased to Initiate 12

ARMOR SKIN has increased to Initiate 5

FLIGHT has increased to Initiate 12

You have seen extraordinary growth, and we are truly pleased with the entertainment you have provided. It has been decided to grant you a boon. You may use your RESTORE Ability to return youth to your companion this one time. As we have said before, entertain us and we shall reward you. Take this as further proof. ***

Duke finished reading his messages and could not contain the whoop of joy at…well…everything! He immediately spent his Characteristic Points so he would not forget to do so like the distracted idiot he knew he was about to be. He allocated the points, bringing everything except Endurance and Reason up to at least 200. He clicked the confirmation and the realization of what he had done hit him a moment before the pain did.

When he resurfaced from the agony of his body and mind transforming, he discovered that his armor had been torn in several places. In fact, all his clothes had. He immediately activated RESTORE and CLEANSE before the smell of it all hit him. He rose to his feet and looked in the mirror and hardly recognized himself. He had been fit and strong before this infusion. Now he was three centimeters taller and layered with lean muscle. He flexed before the mirror and his jaw nearly dropped when his muscles bulged to more than double their original size. He also felt very different as he moved. The best term he could come up with is fluid. His movements were smooth and effortless. He could tell his flexibility was well beyond anything he had ever experienced. In an experiment, he reached down to touch his toes and smiled when he could place his palms on the floor without any feeling of stretch or strain.

He felt powerful beyond belief and looked at his stats just to marvel at them. What immediately shocked him was his Health had risen to over 100,000 and his Mana peaked over 125,000. These were numbers that were simply beyond his expectations, and he stared at the mirror beyond the numbers at his own face. Who are you? Who are you becoming? 78 levels in one outing? He had no answers to his own questions.

When he emerged from his room, he saw that Elaine and Grat were both sitting at the table eating. They looked up at him and stopped still, staring. He gave them both a knowing look and sat down.

“Yeah…pretty drastic changes, huh?” Duke chuckled.

“I think we all have had some drastic changes, except maybe Baslin. We both tiered up.” Grat smiled as he delivered the news.

“That’s outstanding! How are you feeling?”

“Energized. Almost young again.” Elaine responded. Grat’s expression soured for the briefest moment before she rested a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry, my love. I’ll be fine.” Grat’s smile returned at her touch, the look of love in his eyes clear.

Duke decided to just leap in. “Elaine, if you could regain your youth like Grat, would you do it?”

“Oh, that would be great. It’s a wonderful dream but that was a one-time thing. Special circumstances and all that. I’m perfectly happy to have my handsome young man back.”

Grat smiled and reached over to give her a hug. “And I am happy to have my Elaine. Regardless of anything else.”

Duke’s response was so quiet that they almost didn’t hear it. “I can make you young again.”

But they did hear it, and both stopped to look at Duke, the unspoken question full in their glassy eyes. Duke continued with a greater voice. “I can restore your youth, Elaine. Make you perfectly healthy just like I did with Grat. It’s a reward for our performance yesterday.” The mood in the room was a strange mix of trepidation, excitement, and bewilderment. Neither could believe what Duke was saying but both wanted to believe it with all their hearts.

“Truly?” Elaine asked quietly, tears forming in her eyes.

“Yes. Truly. Shall we?” Duke responded.

Elaine nodded, dabbing the tears from her eyes. She got up from her chair and took Grat’s hand in hers. Together they walked with Duke to their room where she lay down on the bed. Grat tightened his grip on her hand, and she squeezed in response. Their eyes locked and she finally spoke. “Yes, Duke. Please do it.”

Duke did not respond other than to activate his RESTORE Ability with the full intent of restoring her youth. The Ability activated and instantly drained 100,000 of Duke’s Mana. He nearly passed out from the sensation of it being pulled from his body, but his Mana channels were now far more efficient than when he had done so for Grat. Duke’s vision swam but he stayed on his feet as the Ability took effect.

Elaine screamed. Grat cried out as the squeeze of her fingers flashed into a hysterically-strong grip crushing his bones. Elaine’s scream cut off as she passed out, finally releasing Grat’s hand. He applied his healing spell and Duke could see the relief come across his face as his hand healed.

The pair watched as years melted off Elaine’s face. Duke grinned. Grat wept. Duke stepped out of the room to give them privacy.

Elaine reawakened and shot up in the bed. She looked at the mirror that Grat had moved next to the bed. She gasped in shock at her youthful appearance. Her hands traveled down from her face to her neck, feeling no wrinkles, no loose skin. She felt the rest of her body and stopped when she got to her lower abdomen. She began to weep. Grat pulled her closer. “What is it, my love? What is wrong?”

Elaine snuffled and spoke haltingly, trying to get words out between heaving gasps. “I…I am…I am whole again. Restored. We can have children.” The pair lapsed into joyful tears as years of longing and frustration were shattered in a single moment.

Duke’s Intuition had spiked so high that he found he could hear things that he never should have been able to. Because of this, he heard their entire tearful exchange. He returned to his room to recover, and wipe tears of his own.