Elsewhere

Returning to the ready room was normally a tension-breaker. This particular trip came with a number of concerns and the group immediately gathered around the table to discuss.

“We have much to discuss.” Baslin said plainly making eye contact with the others.

“Indeed.” Grat responded. Elaine nodded, deep in her own thoughts.

“Did you all get that title as well?” Duke asked.

“Title? What title?” Baslin responded, intrigued.

Duke looked at the three and their confused but interested looks before proceeding. “I received a Title at the end of the level. It’s called Restorer of Souls. I haven’t looked into what it does but I gather that it is related to the more than 30,000 people we have – I don’t know how to phrase it. Saved? Resurrected? Freed from the dungeon?” Duke felt a surge from his PURPOSE when he spoke the last phrase – a sense of truth and righteousness.

“I saw something about the people being put into, what was it called? Suspended Animation? What does that mean?” Grat asked, concern clearly spreading across his face.

“It would have meant that they were held in stasis, unaware of and not affected by the world until released in my world. Same thing here, Baslin?”

“Essentially, yes. I have a spell that does the same thing. I have so many spells…” Baslin trailed off, deeper in thought.

“Are you alright, Baslin?” Elaine asked, poking the Archmage.

Baslin started at her poke. “Oh, yes, perfectly alright. I just need to adjust my Spells some. I have been in an academic mode for so long that I have forgotten most of my offensive spells. I fear we are going to need them for this next level, and I am going to have to spend most of our week’s prep time getting my Spells in order. If you truly need me, come get me. Otherwise, I will be in my room.” He got up from the table and waved as he headed off to his room.

“And then there were three.” Duke quipped. “I suppose we can all take a nap and assimilate all we have gone through.”

“You take a nap every time we get back here. Why is that?” Elaine asked.

“Old man needs his nap.” Grat jabbed.

“I only seem to get my increases when I sleep. I’m not sure how or why it works that way. It doesn’t work that way for you?” Duke responded, pointedly ignoring Grat’s jibe.

“Um, no.” Grat replied. “Did you go through that entire dungeon level without getting any of your increases?”

“Yeah. That’s how it always is unless I can find a place to nap.” Duke replied.

“So, I hit Tier Three before you did.” Elaine said with a wink. “Imagine that.”

“I’m going to bed.” Duke replied putting action to words and heading to his room to sleep. He pulled a single item out of his INVENTORY and examined it. It was the Gem of Attunement. He was certain that he was about to Tier up so he decided to use it.

He awoke to messages like he had never before.

***

We are suitably impressed. You have managed to do something that no one has ever seen before. You have changed the rules of this world to allow the dungeon-slain to return to life. The ramifications of this are so far beyond expectations that, frankly, we don’t have a reward for you. You will have to figure this out for yourself. Perhaps the more than thirty thousand people being reborn loyal to you is enough of a reward.

Your growth continues to be astounding. You have breached Tier Three and marched right back up to level 53. Where are you going to spend your 771 Characteristic Points? Where indeed?

Your Gem of Attunement has been consumed. This has enhanced your Tier Path significantly. For all purposes, your Tier multiplier will be calculated at one Tier higher. Every Tier from now on, you will receive a new Ability in addition to any Class Abilities your receive.

@$#%ERROR!!! No Class detected. You must choose a Class at this @$%#!^

We will have none of that! Tell you what, you can have two new Abilities at each Tier instead. None of us want you to be locked down to a single Class. That’s far too limiting.

Your Abilities continue to grow:

TELEPORTATION has increased to Adept 5

REGENERATION has increased to Practiced 74

TONGUES has increased to Initiate 18

LIGHTNING has increased to Initiate 19

OVERCHANNEL has increased to Initiate 39

MENTAL FORTITUDE has increased to Initiate 16

LIGHT has increased to Initiate 22

CLEANSE has increased to Initiate 8

RESTORE has increased to Master 15

REMOTE CASTING has increased to Novice 9

ARMOR SKIN has increased to Initiate 8

FLIGHT has increased to Initiate 16

Your Skills have increased as well:

Blades has increased to Novice 15

Brawling has increased to Initiate 22

Dodge has increased to Initiate 27

Aerial Maneuvering has increased to Initiate 8

You have been awarded the Title: Redeemer of Souls. This title has three effects. Firstly, once a week, you can resurrect a soul that has been deceased up to Psyche days. Secondly, you gain +10% to your Psyche. Finally, you gain the Ability Soul Sight which allows you to see in the Spirit Spectrum at will.

You gain a new Ability: MANA TRANSFER – You can now transfer Mana to or from another who is willing. As you rank this Ability up, the transfer will grow more efficient. You gain this Ability at Novice 10.

Your Ability, XENOGLOSSIA has been enhanced. You now can not only understand all languages, but all will understand you when you speak. This Ability has additionally been enhanced to allow you to understand non-verbal communication.

You have proven to be more than entertaining. We are well pleased and offer you this reward. Your reward is this – a choice. You will be given the choice to continue in this world or return to your own. Your choice does not come today, but should you survive long enough, it will come. Choose wisely for either way, there will be consequences. ***

Duke took his time filtering through that latest message. That’s too much. They’re just playing with me now. He took stock of his situation and decided to spend points while he was still lying down as this was going to be a massive change in his stats. He had enough points to put one hundred into everything and still have a ton left so that’s just what he did. The pain was enough to cause him to pass out.

He was not sure how much later he awoke but he was sure that everything hurt, and his mind was sluggish. He decided to hold off on adding any more points until he felt recovered. As it was, it took him several minutes to regain his balance and coordination. He could move much faster than anyone he had ever seen, and his strength could only be called superhuman. The boost in his stats was phenomenal. Bet I still can’t use a sword worth shit. Those things hate me. But I am sure that I could fly circles around any pilot ever. Not that I wasn’t the best before. He chuckled at his own internal joke. He decided to head out into the main room to see what everyone else was up to.

He found Grat and Elaine in the training area. Baslin, it seemed, was still locked away in his room preparing for the final dungeon level. Elaine was working on her Ursine Strength while Grat was busy morphing a vine through dozens of different configurations. Neither seemed to notice Duke’s approach so he simply observed them for a bit before speaking.

“Elaine, you’ve grown quite strong there. How much does that thing weigh?”

She tossed the torso-sized block of metal at Duke with a groan of effort, her face scrunched in strain. “About three thousand kilos.” Duke easily caught the block out of instinct and reaction speed. He found that it was indeed very dense in feel but didn’t seem to weigh nearly as much as she claimed. “Sorry, but this can’t possibly weigh that much. You had me going there for a minute.” He transferred the weight to one hand and tossed it back to her.

Elaine stepped back, not even attempting to catch the weight which smashed down to the floor, shaking the area. “It was no jest, Duke. I have indeed grown strong but you? You are not even remotely human. You are a monster and don’t know your own limits now, do you?”

Duke stared at the indent the weight had made in the floor as it slowly corrected itself. “It would seem not.” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Hey, Duke, what’s your Strength score anyway? It’s got to be insane with the rate you have been growing.

Duke checked. “310 right now. I might bump it up a bit more depending on how my FLIGHT training goes. I’m not sure if more Agility would be better.” He paused as he noticed the two gaping at him. “What?”

“You truly are a monster. Just how many Characteristic points do you get per level?” Grat asked.

“Now, that I’m Tier Three, I get twelve a level.” Duke answered plainly. “How many do you get?”

“Four, Duke. Just like all the rest of us normal people. Monster.” Grat shook his head as he walked off to resume his training.

Duke shrugged and got started with his own “training”. He’d had an idea of combining FLIGHT and TELEPORTATION, but he suspected that it wouldn’t work like he hoped. The thought was to approach a target flying at high speed and suddenly have a cloud of items appear while he TELEPORTED away. In theory it would work, but his Abilities seemed to be consistently working differently than he expected. He knew that his TELEPORTATION didn’t conserve any momentum which made it amazing at stopping falls. He wasn’t sure if the items he expelled from his INVENTORY would still maintain their flight path once he TELEPORTED away.

He figured there was nothing else to do but to try it out. He moved off to the newly expanded flight course and took a number of strafing runs at targets at various levels. By the fifth run he felt comfortable enough to try out the trick. He flew towards the target at about 1,000 kph. It was below Mach speed but plenty fast enough for testing. He released a cloud of random weapons he had picked up from the previous dungeon level from his INVENTORY and TELEPORTED back to his starting location.

The cloud of metal slammed into the target and surrounding area, nearly obliterating it. Duke nodded to himself. I have to either release closer or find a different way to keep the missiles bunched together. String? That might work. Let’s see how close I can get before TELEPORTING.

Duke continued to experiment and was amazed at how extreme his reflexes had grown. His reaction speed was well beyond human limits. He felt that he could react while flying at speeds only machines could in his world. He pushed it faster and faster, closer to impact every time until he finally hit his perception and reaction limit. He was not sure what his maximum speed truly was because he ran out of room too quickly. He did know that by CHANNELING enough Mana, he could easily get over Mach 12 before his ARMOR SKIN allowed the air friction to hurt him. He could go much faster, but that started to burn him pretty quickly. He figured 100 extra Mana to get over Mach 12 was just fine.

He tried several methods of missile delivery including tying the bundle together. What he found was that even tying the bundle together caused it to fly apart with the air resistance unless he held it together nearly right up until impact. He decided that what he really needed was a large mass with spikes sticking out of it and just use that.

Duke spent the next hour working with his FLAME DART trying to OVERCHANNEL it and use that heat up some steel to make his projectile from. After his REGENERATION was finished growing the skin back on his hands, he decided to give that particular approach a rest.

Time passed and he found himself restless. He spent some time watching Elaine tearing her way through armies of training dummies as Grat used monstrous vines to explode targets from the inside. If he wasn’t sure they were friends and allies, he would have worried. On the fourth day, all three looked at each other and nodded to each other – it was time to pull Baslin out of his room and get their loot out of the chest that had been sitting in the entrance room waiting for them.

“Baslin! Get out here!” Duke called out as he practically knocked his door off its hinges.

Moments later, the door opened and a rather frazzled Baslin looked at the three friends standing in the hall. “What is it? What happened?”

“Loot.” Elaine responded. “It’s time to go through our loot. If there’s something that we need to adapt to in there we only have a short time left. So, get out here and join the rest of us.”

“Alright, alright, alright. I’m coming.” Baslin groused as he tried to straighten out his robes. Duke activated CLEANSE to move things along.

The four of them gathered around the golden chest, anticipating what wonders would be waiting for them when they opened it. With a grumble, Grat threw the lid back, tired of waiting for everyone else to decide who was going to open it.

They were greeted with countless gems and fabulously cut jewels with some other items mixed in as well. Duke shrugged, lifted the chest, and dumped it out on the table. “It’s easier this way. Nobody has to bend down and sort through things and we can take an item each to investigate.” No one argued.

As the treasure spilled out onto the table, it overflowed, and several gems fell to the floor as well as a few items. Most notably was a golden sword that seemed to bounce specifically to land at Duke’s feet. He cursed. “A fucking sword. Really? For fuck’s sake.” He picked it up and IDENTIFIED it anyway.

*** You have found Aurelia’s Golden Blade. This is a sword of command. A properly attuned wielder can use this blade to rally up to 50,000 troops, providing a morale boost to all physical characteristics based on the wielder’s Psyche. This blade is attuned for a female wielder. ***

Duke chuckled as he handed the sword to Elaine. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to use this in general, but I really can’t use this.”

“Why is that?” Elaine asked.

“It’s sexist.” Duke replied as he picked up a necklace to IDENTIFY. She chuckled as she read the unlocked weapon’s information.

*** You have found the Gift for My Queen. This necklace is a nature-attuned treasure. It greatly enhances a woman’s fertility when worn. ***

Duke wordlessly handed the necklace to Elaine and picked up another item. She gasped and paused in indecision. After a long internal debate, she put the necklace away in her storage ring.

*** You have found Broken Vow. This bow is infused with the energy of a solemn vow that has been utterly violated. It imparts this energy into every arrow fired, causing additional cursed damage based on the wielder’s Psyche. ***

Duke continued to IDENTIFY other items, using his SENSE MAGIC to find them in the pile.

*** You have found Expanding Staff of Necromantic Power. This staff enables the wielder to raise lesser undead from the corpses of recently deceased living beings. The number of undead and the length of time a creature has been deceased that can be affected is determined by the Wielder’s Psyche score. With sufficient willpower, living beings can be converted as well. ***

“Holy fuck! Baslin, is there a way to destroy magic items because this is evil as fuck.!” Duke dropped the staff, shaking his hands like it burned him as a shudder ran through his entire body.

Baslin examined the staff and also shuddered. “This is evil indeed. To destroy an item of this power, its magic will need to be drained and then it should be burned in magical fire. I can supply the magical fire easily enough but draining its magic will take some work to set up.”

“Well, I can do that part.” Duke replied, picking up the staff and activating his MANA DRAIN ability with an extra 1,000 Mana.

“Don’t –“ Baslin tried to warn Duke not to use his Ability but he was too late.

The Magic drained from the staff into Duke, and he suddenly didn’t feel well at all. His limbs suddenly felt sluggish, and he could feel the necromantic energy starting to suffuse his body. He immediately poured 100,000 Mana into RESTORE in a panicked reflex. The necromantic energy fled his body as the wave of energy exploded outwards from him.

The wave instantaneously filled the room they were in, RESTORING all the items of treasure to prime condition. It further propagated throughout the sleeping and training areas, passing through, and beyond the walls of the entire dungeon area they were in. The massive influx of additional Mana was enough to fully cover a sphere five kilometers in radius.

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Dungeons are wonderous sentient and magical constructs that largely exist within their own pocket dimensions. They derive most of their power and growth potential from the expenditure of Mana within their confines and receive additional boosts when soul or spiritual energy is released upon the death of a sentient. Dungeons do also receive minimal energy from the ambient Mana that enters through their entrance portals but that is the least significant source and usually not more than is needed to maintain the barest of functions. Finally, they also receive power derived from the overflow of Mana from creatures that regenerate Mana within their confines – when a creature hits its maximum Mana, any additional Mana regeneration overflows and feeds the dungeon.

The Lake Front Dungeon had been subsisting on its energy stores and the barest trickle of external Mana for more than four thousand years. Its energy reserves were extremely low before Duke had found it. Now, it was gaining power steadily. This latest expenditure of power filled its core nearly to where it was two thousand years ago, before it had to start cannibalizing levels for power to sustain itself. Its core glowed with pleasure as it started to once again hum with power.

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