Primer for the Apocalypse

Henlen Kairos sat next to his old friend Heph as they watched holographic screens depicting their respective disciples challenging the Sixth Floor Trial.

Between them was a masterwork table, heavily laden with foods and drinks from across the Alliance. The plates were enchanted to maintain everything perfectly, ensuring each bite was just as excellent as the previous one.

Both Patriarchs had taken the opportunity to reconnect and relax while their disciples fought and challenged themselves for what most would consider priceless rewards. Even the two old Mages had moments of jealousy when thinking about the potential rewards the youths would likely earn.

“To think, affinity mastery skills were available through the dungeon all this time,” Heph said with a sigh when his descendent defeated the Magma Bears she was fighting.

“I’m certain their existence is not unknown to the other leading sects,” Henlen replied. “You know as well as I that such skills are valuable enough to kill for. Being able to access the skill at the intermediate level without the pain of training for centuries?” The young-looking Patriarch chuckled mirthlessly.

“Yeah,” Heph said, drawing out the word as he scratched his thick beard. “I’d wager not many would be willing to share such information.”

Henlen glanced at the display showing his friend’s progeny. The young half-dwarf was impressive, especially considering many of her early advantages were taken away when the challenges grew more difficult.

The paths began with a single Tier Seven opponent serving as the boss, but by the fifth challenge, that changed. Tier Seven creatures began appearing randomly at dead ends, which wasn’t much of an issue at first. By the tenth challenge, the higher-tiered creatures blocked the necessary pathways to reach the end of the ever-growing mazes.

Heph’s descendant was a couple of floors behind Emie, but that was only because she was progressing more cautiously. Such an approach made sense considering she didn’t have the same flexibility with Enchanting.

Henlen was actually quite surprised to see the girl was still using enchantment copy and transfer spells, though it did make it much faster for her to complete weapons between paths.

The girl was amazing with Force already. He couldn’t wait to see how much of a monster she became with it once she gained access to Force Magic Mastery at the intermediate level.

‘What a cheat that was,’ he grumbled silently.

He was almost tempted to enter the dungeon himself just to challenge the Tenth Floor Trial. Maybe when Emie got there…

“Have you given any thought to reentering the dungeon and catching up to me?” the Time Mage asked his oldest friend jokingly, though there was a touch of genuineness in his inquiry.

Neither had reentered the dungeon since they left, so they were both technically capable of returning.

The old dwarf laughed heartily. “Oh, no. I’m far too old for such things,” he said before grabbing a perfectly crafted morsel from the nearest plate. “I’ll leave that to the younger generation,” he added resolutely before popping the item in his mouth.

Heph looked at Henlen knowingly as he chewed the small appetizer. “I know your deadline’s approaching, but you’ll have to make the leap without me, I’m afraid,” he said with a sigh. “I still have a couple of millennia before I have to worry about the reach of Time. More, if you fix me up before you go.”

Henlen Kairos’s eyes returned to the holographic display depicting his disciple without response. It was the same answer he’d gotten every other time he’d asked his friend something similar.

The Time Mage imagined his disciple would feel similar when she exited the dungeon. However, there was always the chance that her time away from family would dull their importance or create a rift that felt irreconcilable.

If either of those things happened, she’d probably be eager to leave the lower realms to start anew.

Being separated from loved ones for an extended period was hard, especially when you perceived a significantly longer time passing than they did.

He would know.

Overall, he felt that Emie was doing well in the dungeon. She was progressing swiftly – more swiftly than he expected – though it was obvious she’d grown deeply reliant on manatech weapons.

From the reports he’d received, Henlen knew that Emie had continued her martial training within the dungeon, both virtually and via trainers in the various cities. However, she showed little of that training or prowess as she challenged the Trial.

He’d only arrived a week or so before she and Heph’s great-great-granddaughter entered the Trial, so he couldn’t say much about what her fighting style was like normally. It had been a while since he’d come to Sira to observe, after all.

While reports were helpful, there was only so much that could be communicated without witnessing things for oneself.

Aside from the difficulty involved with fighting up a tier, dealing with different affinities also posed its own sort of challenge.

He’d noticed her ongoing avoidance of a few different elements, and he understood her aversion. Some affinities were more difficult than others to guard against, especially when they often bypassed barriers and resistances.

Unless she crafted her [Barriers] specifically to counter hostile uses of such mana types – or modified her Barriers manually – it was likely she’d struggle against them.

Henlen watched proudly as Emie defeated the final boss of the Poison path. She hadn’t modified her talisman to exclude Poison, though in this case, it wasn’t strictly necessary. Instead, Emie had manifested a modified Space Barrier designed specifically to block anything containing the hostile mana.

It was a good use of Spell Modification, even if it did take quite a bit of mana to sustain.

He watched as she eyed her next set of choices. Life or Sound. Either would pose the same problem, though with her obvious ability to control her Barrier spell manifestation, he doubted either would be much of an issue for her.

Really, the same could be said for any challenger, regardless of their affinity.

Even a Fire Mage could modify their Barrier to specifically exclude certain types of mana if they were trained properly. It was just that so few Core Four or uncommon elemental affinity Mages bothered learning such techniques.

Any mana type could create a barrier against other mana types. It really wasn’t that difficult of a concept to grasp.

Of course, modifying a barrier to have such restrictions often weakened it against things like physical damage, but there were always going to be tradeoffs.

“Which do you think she’ll choose this time?” Heph asked.

The Time Mage considered the girl’s choices for a moment. “Life,” he guessed. “She’ll have more uses for the materials gained on that path than she would Sound.”

The old Smith nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. I’ll not bet against you on this one,” he said with a hint of a smirk.

They’d been placing bets intermittently on which path each of the disciples would take, and so far, the Smith was ahead.

Henlen wasn’t concerned in the slightest about his losses. As far as he was concerned, it was simply the cost of entertainment. Besides, he’d always been a firm believer that one should never bet something they were not prepared to lose.

Time passed as the two Patriarchs continued to enjoy each other’s company while they observed their disciples. Neither was concerned about the safety of their proteges since the Trial itself ensured their safety. The only way to finish the Trial was to effectively die, though automatic restoration talismans like the ones Emie liked to use wouldn’t be taken into account.

Zavira was the first one to be defeated, taken out by an ambush of hidden Shadow panthers that hid from her senses by remaining perfectly still as she passed.

The Tier Seven creatures easily cut through her barriers when they pounced since the obstacles were much too weak to withstand a three-fold strike by higher-tiered opponents.

A flash of Time mana from a manually triggered talisman attempted to provide recovery for the young Smith, but her opponents struck again before the Force Mage could strike back.

She was quickly transported to a plain room with no defining features, causing both of her watchers to slightly deflate.

“Well, she’ll be a might disappointed at that,” her ancestor commented. “Hopefully, she’s done enough to get her reward.”

Henlen nodded. “I agree. Your girl will be devastated if she has to wait another tier to try again.”

They watched as the half-dwarf expressed her frustration at her defeat before her eyes shifted to something unseen by observers.

She’d completed fifteen paths, which was excellent by all but the strictest standards.

“The cats must have been shrouded. Otherwise, her senses should have picked up the minute movements of their bodies. A heartbeat has been enough to give up the presence of an opponent for you before,” Henlen commented.

“That’s what I was thinking as well,” Heph said as he watched his disciple and descendent closely.

They both let out a relieved sigh when the girl’s face broke into a huge grin.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!” the young Smith said as she jumped back and forth excitedly on the display. “Force Magic Mastery,” she whispered before watching reverently as a mauve colored crystal manifested in her hands.

“That’s good,” the Time Mage said as the girl stared wonderingly at the item.

“It is,” his friend agreed. “She’ll have many advantages thanks to the boon from this Trial.”

“She deserves it,” Henlen said, though his eyes had already returned to Emie.

It took another two days for Emie to be defeated.

In the end, she fell against a group of Death/Decay creatures that simply overwhelmed her barriers by mixing physical attacks with the equivalent of Death Bolts until her life-saving talismans and mana Barriers were exhausted.

Henlen thought that five Tier Seven creatures against one Tier Six person was a bit unfair, but it was ultimately a good learning experience for Emie.

“Nineteen is good,” Heph said with an impressed nod.

Henlen couldn’t help but agree. It was very good, especially considering a significant portion of the girl’s arsenal had been removed upon entering the Trial.

“So, are you going to try to take her with you when you go?” the Smith asked knowingly as he eyed the platinum-haired man.

Henlen looked at his friend tiredly. “I’ll make the offer – I’ve technically already made the offer,” he corrected himself, “but I won’t force her to leave. She can always take my place at the sect instead.”

“You’d really give control to someone with almost no experience?” Heph asked with wide eyes.

“We didn’t have experience when we started, either,” the Epikairos Patriarch reminded his friend.

“That was different,” Heph insisted. “We were starting something new. You’re talking about handing over centuries of work to a relative newcomer.”

“I’ll decide that when the time comes. If Emie is unsuited to the role, I’ll just make her an Elder and let her craft instead,” Henlen said before adding, “Or, she can go and do whatever she wants. The sect’s cut of the sales from her MealMaker is already more than what has been invested into her. As far as I’m concerned, she owes the sect nothing that she doesn’t feel like contributing.”

The Time Mage’s eyes were glued to the display, showing his disciple as her face lit up in a smile. His expression unconsciously shifted to match it.

He told himself there was plenty of time to make the big decisions. And if he stayed here on Sira, he’d have even more time.

It was something worth considering, he thought as he watched his disciple slowly absorb a shimmering crystal the size of a large jaba nut.

Even if he didn’t stay permanently, it would be good for him to observe his disciple’s progress more directly for a while. Regardless of what the future held, he needed to have a firm understanding of her capabilities.