Date: 2021-12-02 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Magic
Description: A progression fantasy with litrpg elements. Duncan moves to the city of Lanport in the far South of the Arnite Empire to study at the famed Academy of Steel. Meanwhile, the otherworldly invaders make their opening gambits in their game of global conquest. Duncan must advance his Techniques and grow more powerful if he's to play a part in resisting the outworlders.

The Academy of Steel

Volume 2 of the Hero of the Valley

Gary Spechko

Copyright © 2021 Gary Spechko

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 9781234567890
ISBN-10: 1477123456

Cover design by: MiblArt
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America

For Annissa.

Chapter 1

Duncan sat in the common room of his inn in Chorley, talking with Pelleas and Zach from the Adventurers Guild.  “I’m going to try to arrive a few days early so that I get a chance to explore Lanport,” he said.  “I’ve never seen a big city, or the sea.”

Pelleas was an elf old enough to talk of things he witnessed a thousand years ago, but he appeared to be in the prime of his life.  “Warriors of your level are not an unusual sight in Lanport, with the Academy of Steel there.  You may be the most advanced student in the Academy, but there are many staff members at level seventy-five or beyond.  The Lanport Mage Academy and Lanport Healing Academy have high-level faculty and staff, as well.  Plus, there are many noble families with estates in the area, and it’s a busy port, so adventurers from all over the region will be passing through.  All that is to say that you will likely feel less like you stick out there.”

Zach passed Duncan a thin leather case. “This is your formal letter of introduction to the Academy.  They have already been informed that we are recommending you, and have tentatively admitted you based on that, but they will assess you themselves before making their final decision.  If you’re willing to share the details from your soulgem with them, that will be the easiest way to convince them.  However, it’s not unusual for people to refuse that, so they’ll be prepared to test your skills in other ways.”

Duncan thanked him and stored the case in his Personal Space Pocket, an extra-planar storage space he currently had attached to his belt buckle.  He stood and shook hands with the guild representatives.  “Thank you again for the recommendation.  I will look forward to seeing you again.  After all, I still have to beat the lower levels of the Endless Depths.”  The Endless Depths was the name of a twelve-floor dungeon in the area that grew progressively more difficult as you descended.  Duncan had reached the eighth floor, but had skipped threats as early as the fifth, so he had a long way to go.

“Safe travels,” said Zach. “There are plenty of communities as you approach the coast.  You’ll have no trouble getting directions.”  It would be a two-week flight for Duncan using his Flying Sword Technique.  It was only rank three, so he still had to deal with wind resistance and that would limit his speed.

“I will see you around, Duncan,” said Pelleas. “Be well.”

Duncan took his leave and flew to the South at his top rate of speed, standing on the flat of his sword.  Chorley was in the foothills of a large but old mountain range.  Flying about twenty meters above the treetops, he skirted the mountains, staying over the foothills.  It was bitterly cold, and he was grateful for the fur clothes he’d bought from the hunters and trappers around Clermont in the autumn.  He’d also bought several sets of clothes suitable for a well-to-do adventurer from a seamstress in Chorley.  No point in giving the rich kids another reason to snipe at the commoner.

The foothills receded to the East as he continued South, and the weather grew more pleasant.  The forest gave way to grasslands and marshes. Towns and villages became more common, and he was able to sleep at an inn the last few nights he traveled.  He corrected his bearing, turning Southeast toward his goal.

At last, he came to Lanport, and the sea.  The city was huge and sprawling, having long since outgrown its original defensive walls.  A low wooden wall surrounded the outer districts.  The sea… it spread out before him to the horizon, constantly moving, deep and mysterious.  It was enchanting.  He had made good time and had over a week before the year began at the Academy of Steel on the first day of Spring.  He spent an entire day splashing in the waves and flying out over the depths.  He saw fishing ships and large trading vessels and huge shadows moving below the surface that made him fly at a safer altitude.  The air was thick and fresh and smelled of salt.

Lanport smelled like a city, sadly. The docks smelled like fish and sewage, parts of the trades areas smelled of the chemicals used in dyes and in alchemy, and the smell of the tanneries made him think of Clermont.  There were even some pulp mills on the outskirts of the city adding to the odors.  And there was a distinctive scent to a city with so many people in it.

Chamber pots had runes to prevent smells getting out, and many residences had toilet systems that did the same thing.  Earth mages converted the nightsoil to fertilizer to use in the fields around the city, but in a city as big as Lanport there were always going to be problems with sanitation, especially in the poorer districts.

Duncan landed outside the city and walked in, having heard that local authorities everywhere frowned upon people flying in and avoiding paying the visitor toll.  There was a long line up at the gate he’d chosen, but that was the case at every gate; Lanport was a popular destination.  He had doffed his armor, storing it in his armband storage device – it allowed him to summon his armor directly onto his body in an instant, so he felt quite safe in doing so.  He wore a good quality doublet and pantaloons with knee-high boots and a wide-brimmed hat with a feather for decoration.  The seamstress had assured him he looked like a fine young gentleman.

He was a large man, thanks to his outstanding Body Affinity.  He stood two meters tall, a head taller than most men, and had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and well-defined musculature.  He had a plain, youthful face, with no beard or moustache, dark eyes, and black hair that he kept closely cropped so as not to get caught between his helmet and his gorget or cuirass. Thanks to years of martial training, and the aforementioned outstanding Body Affinity, he moved like a predator, and he had to suppress his aura lest it make inexperienced people uncomfortable or afraid.

When it was his turn to enter the city, the Level 24 Warrior on guard addressed him.  “Hail, Warrior.  Your reason for entering Lanport?”

“I’m with the Adventurers Guild,” Duncan said, showing his medallion.  Easier than explaining I’m here for the Academy.  “I’m checking in with the local branch.”

“Very well, two silver admittance fee; get your chit stamped wherever you’re staying,” the guard replied.  Two silver! Duncan paid the fee and entered the city with the chit the guard gave him stored in his storage device.

Duncan bought some questionable-looking meat on a stick from a street vendor and asked where the Academy of Steel was located.  It turned out to be outside the city proper, on a massive plot of land to the East.  The Adventurers Guild had a large building in the inner city on one of the main squares; it would take him an hour to walk there.  “I don’t see anyone flying.  Is there a rule against it?” he asked.

“Strictly forbidden,” the vendor said.  “Else we’d have nobles and adventurers blacking out the sky, begging your pardon.”

“Understood,” Duncan sighed, and handed the man a couple of extra copper bits before making his way through the crowds towards the guild hall.  Several people bumped into him as he walked, and he considered unleashing his aura to keep a distance clear around him but decided that would probably cause a scene.

A barefoot urchin spoke to him, “Hey mister, did someone steal your coin purse?”

“No,” he said, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, you look like a mark and you ain’t got one,” the kid said, snickering.  “You’re dressed like a rube, and you’re looking around like you’re lost.”

When even the street urchins think you look like a victim, your fashion may not be exactly what you’d intended.  “I see,” he said.  He held up a hand and a silver coin appeared in it.  “Can you lead me to a tailor who can make me look less like a mark?”

The urchin’s eyes bulged. “I sure can, mister! Follow me.”

“Just make sure you lead me to a tailor, not to some thugs whom I would doubtless kill for trying to rob me,” Duncan added.

The child nodded and led him into a crafting and trade district then pointed to a tailor shop.  “Old man Gerint’ll set you straight.  He dresses all the noble pricks.  Listen, mister, I’ll be done by the guards if they catch me in this district.”

Duncan tossed him the silver and the child ran off as though the guards were already chasing him.  Duncan entered the tailor shop and was greeted by a dour-looking man.  “What can we do for you, young Warrior?”

“I’m told I look like a rube.  I’m about to enroll in the Academy of Steel and I’d prefer not to give the young lords a reason to pick on the stranger in their midst,” said Duncan.

The Level 26 Tradesman snorted indelicately, “Those hellions don’t need a reason.  But I suspect your level would give them pause all on its own.  Still, we can certainly help you with clothes that will let you fit in better. How many sets will you be needing?  The academy provides uniforms, so you won’t need day to day wear.”

Nice of him to mention that.  “One immediately, and two others I can pick up later?” he suggested.

“There is a price premium on immediately, I’m afraid, but we can manage if that doesn’t deter you.  Do you have something particular in mind?” the shopkeeper asked.

“I’ll let you decide and will just mention your establishment should someone comment on the clothes.  I’m more at home in a dungeon than in social situations,” Duncan said.

“I see.  Well, then, three outfits, one immediately.  Four gold, and I’ll ensure no one has any cause to criticize the way you dress.  I will acquire the boots and hats as well.”

Duncan coughed. Fashion is pricey.  Then, with a shrug he produced four gold coins and handed them to the tailor.  I should probably try that haggling thing, but the price is essentially meaningless to me. “I don’t haggle.  I’m going to just assume your work will be worth the price.”

The tailor nodded emphatically.  “It will indeed, sir.”

It turned out that immediately meant three hours later, after a pair of assistants had measured him thoroughly and been sent out to acquire the hat and boots for the immediate outfit.  Still, in the end he wound up dressed in much finer clothes than he’d been wearing, in a similar style, though more restrained in terms of color.  He arranged to pick up the other two outfits in a week and continued on his way to the guild hall.

He had no trouble finding the guild hall, getting directions from another street vendor selling a slightly higher quality variety of meat on a stick.  Once there, he checked in, told them he’d likely be in the area for a while, and asked for directions to the Academy of Steel.  It was getting late, so he took a room at a nearby inn and spent the evening meditating.

Chapter 2

The Academy of Steel was impressive at first glance. It had its own walls, ten meters tall and clearly raised by an Earth or Stone Mage, surrounding a large estate, with two Level 60 Warriors acting as guards.  Through the gate, Duncan could see over a dozen buildings clustered in the center of the estate, including the tallest building he’d ever seen at perhaps forty meters tall, with a huge number of windows.  He presented his letter of introduction to the guard who addressed him, and was directed to wait inside the gate, while one of the administrative staff was summoned.

A few minutes later, a lean Level 40 Warrior in a snappy looking brown uniform ran up to the guardhouse from the main buildings and examined Duncan’s letter.  “All appears to be in order.  Please accompany me to the admissions office and we’ll go through some of the formalities.”  The admissions office was in the second largest building.  “This building has all the classrooms for the academic side.  We’re only the admissions office for a few weeks out of the year,” the administrator confided.  “The rest of the time, we’re student services.”

The man led Duncan into an office, and they sat down across a desk from each other.  “My name is Jacob Gallenhough.  Welcome to the Academy of Steel.  You are an interesting case - the guild warned us that you were exceptional and significantly more experienced than our normal students.  They appear to have been understating the case.  Consequently, the admissions board will interview you in person to ensure you’re a good fit for the academy.”

“It’s not that you’re not a noble – we have a dozen or more warriors and mages join each year who are commoners.  But you’re of a level with many of the staff, which could be problematic.  With so many exuberant youths, they often have to impose order.  If you’re as experienced as your level implies, that may be difficult for some of them.”

When Duncan didn’t say anything, Jacob continued, “The board will meet you at nine bells tomorrow. Meet me here after breakfast and I will escort you.  In the meantime, let’s get you settled in a guest room for the day.  I’ll give you a bit of a tour on the way.”

“This is the classroom building,” he said, waving at a utilitarian three story building made of grey stone.  “We teach a wide variety of academic subjects here, from history to foreign languages and geography, to philosophy and politics, to battle strategy and tactics.  As we exit, you can see several of the training fields.  We have our own stables as well, with a variety of mounts to train with.  The stables and their associated fields are on the other side of the classroom building from us.  Over there we have the staff quarters.  And this tall building is the student quarters.  Students are placed four to a room.  There are communal bathing rooms and toilets on each floor.  For many of our noble students, this is their first experience sharing quarters, and we feel it is necessary should they be called upon to lead men on a campaign.”

Duncan raised an eyebrow, “You’re suggesting the nobles won’t have private tents on campaign?”

“Only if they’re commander rank or up.  Nobles fill all the ranks from lieutenant up in most of the levies, and lieutenants sleep four to a tent.  Also, we find the close quarters enforces a camaraderie they may not have experienced before, and it helps expose some potential problems among the students before they can fester.  There are bigots and misogynists and predators in every community, and this helps us weed them out of ours.”

“Why are you telling me that, if I’m potentially a problem child?” asked Duncan.

“Our reasons are well-known among the potential students.  We don’t hide our methodologies.”

Ah, but by telling us, it seems you let your students hide their issues.

“The guest quarters are on the ground floor of the student building.  First year students occupy the top floors, second years the middle floors, and third years the bottom floors.  First years have to climb the most stairs, that way,” explained Jacob.

“Is there a rule against flying?” asked Duncan.

“No, but none of the windows open far enough to allow someone to pass through.”

Not a concern for me – I can Blink.  “Alright, thank you.”

“This will be your room for the night.  The adjacent building is the mess hall – meals are served around the clock.  If you need anything, come and find us at the admissions office.”  Jacob took his leave.

Duncan spent the day wandering the estate, looking at the various facilities, and found them impressive. The classrooms were bigger than he’d seen back in the valley, and the seating was tiered so that everyone had a clear view of the instructor and the huge slate at the front of each classroom that the instructor could write on. The food in the mess hall was adequate.  Probably not what the nobles are used to, though.  He spent the evening in meditation, moving his mana through his body and mentally prodding at the condensed ball of mana that Repdam had referred to as a dantian or core.

The following morning, Duncan arrived at the admissions office bright and early.  He waited for an hour before Jacob arrived.  “It’s not yet eight bells – you’ve another hour before you meet the board.”  As he spoke, a bell somewhere nearby chimed eight times.  Oh, they mark the hours by ringing the bell.  I wondered what that was about overnight.

Duncan meditated as he waited.  As nine bells approached, Jacob led him to a large room where five people sat behind a table.  The man at the center of the group said, “Welcome to the Academy, Duncan.  I’m Eric Dalgleish.  I am the head of the Academy.”  Eric was a Level 102 126 Warrior. He clearly had a strong Body Affinity, and had a prominent jaw, close-cropped black hair, and wide-set grey eyes over a broad nose. He’s hiding his true level and presenting a lower one.  Interesting!  “To my left are Janis Silverarm, and Stanislav Murdoch.”  Janis was a Level 84 Mage and Stanislav was a Level 82 Warrior.  “To my right are Ashleigh Rhodes and William Hughes.”  Ashleigh was a Level 93 Warrior and William was a Level 89 Mage.

Duncan nodded to the group, saying nothing.

Eric continued, “The Adventurers Guild has selected you as one of the five candidates they have been invited to recommend to us this year.  They told us you were a little higher level than our usual intake class, and also a little younger.  Students usually come to us between level twenty and thirty, most closer to the former than the latter.”  He looked at Duncan questioningly.

“To be fair, I was probably only level forty when they made the recommendation,” said Duncan.

“You mean to say that six months ago, you were level forty?  Preposterous,” spluttered William.  He was a handsome man in a fancy burgundy tunic.

“No sir, six months ago I was level twelve,” said Duncan.

Ashleigh Rhodes laughed merrily, her green eyes almost sparkling.  Duncan thought he saw a smirk on Eric’s face, too, for a moment.  “Perhaps you can tell us your story, young man. How old are you, and where are you from, and how did you rise to such heights in such a short time?” Eric said.

Here we go again.  “I believe I turned eighteen a few days ago sir.”

“Idiot,” said William. “Check your soulgem.”

Duncan accessed his soulgem and thought Age at it.  “It says I’m six months old.” That one doesn’t rate a sir.

This time several of the board members laughed.  “Go on with your story, please, Duncan,” said Eric.

“I’m from a valley in a distant land.  We don’t have soulgems there.  I trained to become a delver, that is, an adventurer, from age fourteen.  At seventeen, I was allowed to start delving.  About six months ago, I was knocked through a portal or gate or something in a dungeon and I ended up in the middle of nowhere.  The first village I came to was Axford.  They told me I had to use a soulgem, and provided one, so I did, and it told me I was level twelve.  I solo’d some dungeons, moving around for a while.  From level thirty to forty, I was soloing in the Eldritch Horror dungeon near Clermont.  For the past three months, I was soloing in the Endless Depths dungeon near Chorley.  I wanted to improve my weapon skills and my ability to fight in harness, so the guild suggested I come here.”

“Clearly you don’t have any Techniques involving storytelling,” said Janis, “but that’s an interesting tale, nonetheless.  To spend that much time alone fighting monsters, you must have an interesting set of Techniques.  Will you share your soulgem information with us?”

“I will not.  I will already receive a lot of attention being level seventy-five at age eighteen.  My affinities and build are unusual.  I don’t want that information getting out.  The guild tells me you expect to hear that and have other means of determining my suitability to join the Academy.”

“Very well.  So, your only motivation for attending the Academy is to increase your skills?” asked Eric. “You’re not looking to join a noble’s guard or retinue?  You’re not looking to make noble friends and gain influence?”

“I didn’t even know the Academy existed until the guild suggested I join,” said Duncan. “I have no interest in politics or nobles.  The guild said this was where I could get the best blademaster training, so I’m applying here.”

“You will be giving up adventuring for a while and spending a lot of gold to attend.  You’ll lose your solitude and privacy and be in a classroom environment.  Do you think you can handle that?” asked Stanislav.

“From age fourteen to seventeen I lived in a student barracks.  All I did for three years was train.  And I can recoup the gold cost in a couple of days’ delving in the Endless Depths.”

“Well, then.  Let’s see what you learned in those three years.”  He rang a bell and several warriors filed in.  All were around level seventy-five.  “These warriors will test your martial prowess.  We can provide unenchanted weapons for you,” said Eric.

“No active Techniques, I assume?” Duncan asked.

“Correct.  Let’s see your skill, not your Techniques,” Eric confirmed.

“I have a Blade Affinity passive Technique.  Do you want me to focus on disabling it when I use blades?”

“No,” the headmaster said, “but you will have to demonstrate sufficient control not to harm the testers.”   One of the testers snorted at that.

Duncan demonstrated his skills in longsword, broadsword, mace, axe, great axe, and boar spear in sparring matches for the better part of an hour, fighting each tester in turn, taking no breaks.  His stamina regen made recovery trivial.  By the end, all the testers showed him respect.  He lost most of his bouts, but not all, and demonstrated more skill than they seemed to have expected.

The testers equipped what seemed to be their personal gear.  “Now,” said Eric, “you’ll repeat the sparring, but with gear and Techniques.”

Duncan looked over the testers and turned to Eric, “No.  I’m sorry, but if I fight using my gear and Techniques, I will kill them.”

The tester who had snorted earlier did so again, loudly.  “You’re not bad, pup, but you won’t even scratch me.”  He was wearing heavy plate armor with an open-faced helmet and had a sword and shield in hand.  He was almost as big as Duncan and oozed confidence.

Eric pointed to a dignified-looking woman with steel grey hair in deep purple robes standing near the door.  “Lady Gillian is one of the most accomplished healers in the empire.  If you don’t kill instantly, she will be able to save anyone you face.” She was a Level 103 Healer.

Duncan shrugged, “I hope you’re right.”  He equipped his plate armor, sword and shield from his storage device in a heartbeat.  “I’m ready.”

“Holy shit, where did you get an advanced storage ring!?” asked Stanislav.

“Eighth floor of the Endless Depths,” Duncan replied.  “Are you sure you want me to do this?”

“Begin,” said Eric.

The tester roared at him, “Yield!”  Duncan stabbed through a fold in space, directly up between the tester’s legs, his blade penetrating half its length.  The three Blade Echoes that followed tore the man wide open.  Did that fool just try to oppress me?  He’s two levels higher than me and probably hasn’t fought anything more intimidating than a student in years.

The healer surrounded his opponent in a golden dome.  “He’s in stasis,” she said.  “I’ll have him back on his feet in a jiffy.”

Duncan turned to Eric.  “I could have landed that same shot under his chin.  I’m afraid I simply can’t fight your testers like this.”

“I see,” said Eric.  “This will be an object lesson for our testers and instructors then.  You will fight me.  I trust you don’t think you will harm me the same way?  You’ve seen my level?”

“Both of them,” replied Duncan, “I agree that you’re likely to be a lot sturdier than him.”   He ignored the strange looks the testers and other board members gave him.

Eric raised an eyebrow, but said only, “Summon all the faculty.  We are going to admit Duncan as a student, and I want everyone on staff to understand what that may entail.”  Like Duncan, he summoned his armor directly onto his body, and a massive two-handed axe into his hands.  That looks just like the axes the giants in the Endless Depths were trying to hit me with for the past month.  I bet he’s stronger and faster than them, though. Eric’s armor was heavy plate, as well.  Looks like a theme with these guys.

It took almost an hour to assemble the faculty to watch the fight.  Duncan meditated while he waited.  They ended up taking the entire group out to a basin arena at the edge of the property.  Eric addressed the faculty. “This is Duncan of the Valley.  He comes to us at the recommendation of the Adventurers Guild.  He is eighteen years old and delves dungeons alone.  We are admitting him because he has a passion for fighting and a desire to improve, and because I can see a fire burning inside him.  We are going to turn him into the best warrior in the empire.”

“You know that some of our more established students, and some of the new students from certain families will try to provoke him or get him involved in challenges because of his low social standing and high level.  You will squash those attempts.  You are here to witness the reason why.”

Eric turned to Duncan, “Don’t hold back.  Lady Gillian is present, and I am far sturdier than anyone you have ever faced.”  At Duncan’s nod, he said, “Begin!”

Duncan struck him with a Mind Spike, Blinked behind him, and hammered a cut into the back of his knee.  His sword ignored the metal armor protecting the joint, and tendons parted.  His cut was stopped barely half an inch into Eric’s dense flesh, but the three Blade Echoes that landed with it finished cutting the tendon and Eric’s knee buckled.

The headmaster spun even as his knee gave out, bringing the great axe around in a sweeping cut.  A wave of fire accompanied it.  Duncan blocked the axe with his shield, and it stopped dead, drained completely of the momentum the great swing had imparted it.  The flames washed over him, searing his flesh, but he used Destrin’s Restoration to heal himself and stabbed Eric in the exposed armpit.  Again, his blade penetrated only a little bit, but the Blade Echoes helped, and there’s a bundle of nerves in the armpit that react quite poorly to being struck.  Eric rolled away, his right arm limp, the great axe held only in his left hand.

Duncan struck him with another Mind Spike and Blinked in again, stabbing Eric in the kidney, right through his heavy plate armor.  The blow had little penetration, but excellent placement, and Duncan’s blows were adding up.

Eric exploded into a massive ball of fire.  Duncan was hurled backwards, flesh charred again.  Even as he landed awkwardly, he healed himself and Blinked away.  A ball of fire smashed the ground where he had landed and grew into a man-sized fire elemental.  It very much resembled Eric, actually.  Eric himself was surrounded in a sphere of flame.  Duncan Assessed Eric and found him to be badly wounded.  The fire elemental was at full health.

Duncan stored his Metal-Affinity sword and pulled out his Spirit Sword.  The fire elemental pointed at him, and he Blinked behind it as a wave of flames burst out to engulf the place where he’d been a moment earlier.  Duncan swept his spirit sword through the fire elemental and blade echoes followed.  The creature’s health dropped by a quarter in Duncan’s Assessment.  He struck it with a Mind Spike, and it seemed stunned, so he swept his blade through it again.  Barely over a quarter of its health left.  It turned into a tornado of fire and rushed at him.  He cut into it again, and it dissipated even as it seared his flesh again.  One more use of Destrin’s Restoration, and he turned to face Eric, only to find him already leaping through the air at Duncan, axe raised to smash.

Duncan raised his shield to intercept the blow, but with an incredible show of strength, Eric changed the path of the axe and lopped Duncan’s leg off at the knee.

Duncan Blinked away and regenerated the leg even as Eric threw a fireball at him.  He’s burning through my mana, literally, and he seems to have healed himself too.  Duncan Blinked past the fireball, appearing several meters to Eric’s right.  He stabbed through a fold in space, and his spirit blade sank into Eric’s torso along with its Blade Echoes.  Duncan followed up with a Mind Spike to stun him and swept another long cut through Eric’s body, then Blinked away before the stun wore off.  Eric appeared unharmed, but Duncan’s Assessment showed the Spirit Sword had done even more damage than his metal blade had done.  If I can avoid having to heal myself for a few more attacks, I can win this.

Eric began spinning in a circle.  Nope, we’re having none of that.  Duncan’s Mind Spike stunned Eric again and he fell awkwardly mid-spin.  Duncan Blinked forward and swept the Spirit sword through his body again and Blinked away once more.

Eric held up a hand, “Enough, lad. I yield.”  A confused murmur passed through the crowd.  Duncan put his sword and shield away and showed his empty hands to acknowledge the end of the bout.

Eric said, “Lady Gillian, if you would be so kind?”  A golden aura suffused him, and he smiled.  “Much better, thank you.”   He addressed the crowd.  “The start of the fight was fairly simple to follow, I think.  Duncan possesses a ranged stun, a blade that ignores my armor and can penetrate my skin, a Blade Echo Technique that multiplies the damage he does by a significant margin, a shield that can stop my most powerful attack, and an instant teleport.  He can regenerate himself almost instantly, including regenerating his limbs.”

“The second part of the fight was a little less clear to the casual viewer.  I used my Fires of Restoration Technique, and my fire elemental attacked Duncan while I was protected by my flame barrier.  Duncan switched to a Spirit sword to destroy my elemental.”  He turned to Duncan and added, “Damage to my elemental heals me.  Against a normal opponent, the elemental would inflict a lot of damage before being killed, given that it takes very little damage from physical attacks, and I would be fully healed at the end.”

He addressed the crowd again, “Duncan destroyed my elemental, and while I was fully healed, so was he.  I was low on mana, and I have to assume he was, too, but he didn’t show it.  He teleported past my fireball, and instead of appearing where I could hit him, he appeared just out of my reach and struck me with a ranged sword attack with the Spirit sword.  He stunned me again and hit me again with the spirit sword.  I may have appeared to be fine, but Spirit damage is insidious.  Had the fight continued another ten seconds, he would have killed me.”

“Yes, it’s possible I have an emergency ace up my figurative sleeve in my storage space or a Technique I didn’t show, but who is to say Duncan doesn’t have something similar?  And so, I yielded.  He is a fresh-faced youth, but he delves alone in dungeons where most of us would hesitate to go in a group.  If your students provoke him, well, you’ve seen what he can do.  Don’t let it go that far.”

“Faculty Dismissed.  Admissions board, we reconvene in twenty minutes.”

Duncan picked up his severed leg and stripped the armor off it.  He pressed the lower leg armor piece to the upper and fed it mana until it repaired itself.  Then he dismissed his armor and equipped the clothes he’d been wearing earlier.  He stored the leg in his storage space, too.  I’ll throw that away in the next dungeon I enter.

As he walked back to the classroom building with the admissions board, Eric asked in a low voice, “So, how was your mana doing at the end there?”

Duncan grinned.  “I was starting to worry.  My heal is expensive.  Fortunately, the rest of my Techniques are not.  Thank you for the bout.  That was exhilarating.”

Eric laughed.  “I love how you assume that someone of my level,” he gave Duncan a piercing look, “would be alright losing to someone of your level.  It never even crossed your mind that I might be plotting to have you executed for shaming me in front of my staff.”

Oops.  I guess that could be a concern.  Duncan shrugged, “This level system is bogus.  There are so many things it doesn’t take into consideration.  I spend every waking hour in dungeons fighting things that will kill me if I make a mistake.  Besides, I think you enjoyed most of it, too.”

“Well, not the parts where I got stabbed or cut, or the part where I lost.  But the rest of it was alright.  I learned that sitting behind a desk is going to kill me, too.  Thanks to you, all the faculty will be going dungeon delving during the end of year break.  Delving, I love that term.  Feels classy.”

Uh oh.  I hope no one holds that against me.

They returned to the room where he’d first met the board, and the board members took their seats behind the table again.  Duncan stood before them, waiting.

“Does anyone see any reason why we should deny Duncan of the Valley access to our training and expertise?” Eric asked.

“Other than the fact he can kill any of the other students and most of the faculty at will?” said Ashleigh. “How do you discipline him or maintain order?”

“We’ve already established that he just wants to train and improve.  Duncan, if you cause a problem, we’ll kick you out and not refund your two days’ delving worth of gold.  Understood?” replied Eric.

“Yes, sir.  You will find I’m not a troublemaker.  I will ignore verbal provocations,” said Duncan.

“Any other objections?” Eric asked.  “No?  Good.  Duncan, you are admitted into the Academy as a first-year student.  You will take academic classes with the first-years.  Your fighting skills put you beyond most of the students here so you will train with the third-years and we will arrange private training for you on top of that.  Some of our classes mix in students from the Mage and Healing Academies in the area.  I’m confident our instructors will keep an eye out for troublemakers.  You can pay Jacob your dues for the first year.  He will arrange for your uniforms and room.  Roommates are chosen by lot, so here’s hoping you get a good set.  We will doubtless see you around campus. Again, welcome to the Academy of Steel.  This meeting is adjourned.”

The board members stood and left the room.  Duncan turned to Jacob and said, “Right, then.  Lead on.”

Chapter 3

Duncan’s dorm room was on the very top floor of an immense twelve-story building.  The Academy of Steel took in two hundred students a year.  They were a military academy of sorts – the empire had a very small standing army, but all the noble families maintained their own forces on their lands that could be called up in the event of an international incident.  Those families often sent their children to one of a variety of academies around the empire that taught leadership qualities.  Most took students of all stripes – warriors, mages, rogues, healers, and non-combatants.  Some specialized, however, and the Academy of Steel specialized in the arts of war.  They had two warrior-class students for every mage-class student.

Duncan’s room was six meters by six meters square.  It contained four beds, four footlockers, and one large window that overlooked the mess hall. It could slide a few centimeters into the frame on one side to allow for some air flow. The floor was bare wood.  The interior walls were also wooden but had been plastered over in an attempt to reduce noise transmission between rooms.  He had arrived a few days early for the start of the year, and none of his assigned roommates had arrived yet.  A few of the other students on his floor were trickling in, though, and he could hear the murmur of conversation through the walls already.

He pondered the events of the day before.  I declined to show them my soulgem’s information, but they certainly managed to discover most of my active Techniques over the course of the fight with Eric.  I wonder how much of that was him playing with me to draw out those Techniques.  It felt real, but I expected more from someone of his real level.  Maybe he was limiting himself to his apparent level.  I think he really only used Fire Techniques.  He probably has another set of Techniques from another Affinity that he never showed.  Come to think of it, if his best Technique was fire, he would show as a mage, not a warrior, I think. I must acknowledge that my ‘win’ was no such thing.  Well, he made no secret that the purpose of the display was to warn the faculty not to let their students start something that I’ll have to finish.

He looked at the schedule of classes Jacob had given him.  Classes ran six days a week, two per morning, two per afternoon, on alternating days.  So there were 8 total classes possible, plus private lessons.  Mornings were for academic pursuits for first and third years, afternoons for physical training.  Second years had the opposite schedule.  Evenings were for individual training for all students.  He had a lot of choices available.  On the Academic side, I’m really only interested in geography and Elvish.  Oh, and the monster identification class would be useful.  Three is the minimum number of academic classes, so that’s settled.  The physical classes are more interesting, but all the weapon classes are taught at the same time, though at least there’s two class slots.  It looks like I’ll be able to take longsword and one-handed swords.  Although maybe I should take spear and mace in the class slots and do individual training in the evenings for swords.  As I progress, I need less sleep, and nothing here is going to tire me out.

That left him with two available slots, and a whole lot of classes he wasn’t interested in.  Battlefield maneuvers, small team tactics, horsemanship and cavalry tactics, managing a shield wall, woodland battles, managing an encampment, naval engagements, the list goes on.  Maybe I can take additional weapons training in those class slots.

Duncan’s musings were interrupted by the arrival of his first roommate.  A wiry man of nineteen or twenty with long red hair and a well-trimmed beard and mustache entered the room pulling a large chest behind him on a wheeled platform.  He was a Level 22 Mage.  He stopped abruptly in the doorway when he saw Duncan.  “Oh, er, hello,” he said.  “I’m David Taggart.  Are you Duncan of the Valley?”

“I am,” said Duncan.

“Oh good, I am in the right place.  For a moment, I thought you might be an instructor, with your level.”  David dragged his luggage into the room and sat on the bed opposite Duncan’s.  “The ladies haven’t arrived yet?”

“The ladies?” Duncan asked.

“Uh, the room assignments are posted in the admissions office.  Our roommates are Lady Cassandra York and Lady Amelia Dauntry.  The Yorks are an old and powerful family.  I hope that doesn’t mean that Lady Cassandra will lord it over us.”

“I take it the Taggarts aren’t an old and powerful family, then?” asked Duncan wryly.

“Heh.  We’re plenty old, but our holdings are an island off the North coast of the empire.  And my uncle is the Lord.  I’m the third son of a younger brother, noble only in name, really.”

“Well, I’m pleased to meet you, David.  I’m just an adventurer here to improve my skills.  I’ll leave you to unpack in peace.”  Duncan left in search of Jacob, wanting to confirm his schedule early.

Jacob looked a little harried when Duncan found him, but he was happy to help finalize Duncan’s schedule.  “It’s a nice break from dealing with people unhappy with their roommates,” he said.

Duncan was able to confirm the classes that he wanted, and to add extra weapons training in the afternoon slots he had available.  “We don’t normally have students focus that much on weapons training, but it’s certainly possible,” Jacob said.

Duncan’s schedule ended up looking like this:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Elvish

Elvish

Elvish

Rest Day

Geography

Monster ID

Geography

Monster ID

Geography

Monster ID

Lunch

Mace

Spear

Mace

Spear

Mace

Spear

Great Axe

1H Axe

Great Axe

1H Axe

Great Axe

1H Axe

Dinner

1H Swords

Longsword

1H Swords

Longsword

1H Swords

Longsword

He had to pay an additional ten gold for his longsword training and an additional ten gold for his one-handed sword training, but Jacob assured him he would have the most experienced instructors, since he was both one of the first to request private tutoring and the student the instructors were most interested in working with, thanks to his performance in his admission test.

Two days later, Duncan returned to his room in the evening to find his additional roommates had arrived.  Two young women were occupying the left side of the room.  The left window bed, where he’d been sleeping, now had a willowy blonde woman (a Level 28 Mage) with porcelain skin and blue eyes wearing an expensive-looking dress occupying it.  The bed on the left side closest to the door was occupied by a short, curvaceous woman with dark skin, black hair, and deep brown eyes (a Level 26 Warrior).  She wore a white doublet and green pantaloons.

David looked frazzled.  “Sorry, Duncan, I tried to tell them you had claimed that bed…”

“Shut up, Taggart.  The peasant can speak for himself.  And the bed was clearly unclaimed.  There’s no clothes in the footlocker or anything.  Or is that your only outfit, peasant?”  The tall blonde had a rich voice entirely at odds with her words.

Duncan shrugged and sat on the unclaimed bed by the door.  Here we go with the petty power plays.  “This is fine for me,” he told David.

“You will answer when I ask you a question, peasant!” the Blond snapped at him.

Duncan stopped suppressing his aura.  All three of his roommates flinched.  “Fuck off,” he said to the blonde, then suppressed his aura again.

“Astra’s dugs, Cassie, look at his level,” said the brunette in a breathy contralto voice.

“Clearly he gamed the system somehow.  No one earns that kind of level at our age.  He’s a freak.”

“Lady York,” David began.

“Shut. Up. Taggart,” the blonde said. “You’re a useless excuse for a noble.  At least the freak is potentially useful, if his dick matches the rest of him.”

The brunette burst out laughing.  “Gods, Cassie, stop it.  You’re going to really piss them off.”

“Fiiine,” the blonde rolled her eyes.  “Hi guys, I’m Cassie York, and this bitch who can’t keep a straight face until the joke is over is Amy Dauntry.”

“What she means to say,” said Amy, “is that she is Lady Cassandra York, daughter of the Duchess of York, and I am Lady Amelia Dauntry of Port Vale.  You can call me Amy, and her Cassie.  She’s used to people expecting her to be a bitch because of her rank, so she leans into the expectations a little too much in order to subvert them.  She’s actually pretty nice.”

“But I’m still keeping the window bed,” said Cassandra.  “Seriously, it looked unclaimed.”

Duncan shrugged, “I’m used to sleeping in a dungeon.  One bed is much like another.  You’ll want to change the sheets, though.”

Cassandra sighed as she started to strip the bed, “And so commences three years of roughing it.”

Chapter 4

Duncan woke after only a few hours of sleep, ready to start his day.  It’s nice that I need less sleep and food and so on as I advance, but the Academy’s schedule is designed for people who need more.  He rose quietly and left the room to visit the toilet and baths.  His morning ablutions taken care of, he spent an hour practicing sharp turns and sudden stops on his Flying Blade, taking more than a few tumbles in the process.  The pre-dawn light was no problem with his Shadow Sight passive.  Next came two hours of physical exertion in the Academy’s well-equipped training room.  There were half a dozen other early risers in the room, but they were all focused on their own training.

Duncan returned to the baths on his dorm floor to clean up before breakfast and classes began.  I don’t want to offend any sensibilities on the first day of classes, after all.  This time, the baths were quite busy.  It was easy to tell which of the students had no prior communal bathing experience.  There were lots of flushed faces and people bathing with their faces to the wall.  There were also leering looks and the occasional whispered remarks between some of the young men.  Duncan dismissed his clothes into his armband as he entered the baths and cleaned himself with the soap provided.

His classmates were generally fit, as he’d expected from people attending an academy with an emphasis on physical training.  Some of the bodies were more aesthetically pleasing than others, of course, but what surprised him was the lack of evidence of strong Body affinities.  While it was certainly possible to be a warrior without a strong Body affinity (there were melee and even bow Techniques for many affinities, after all), he’d have expected an elite academy to draw more folks with a strong Body affinity, since it was best suited to a warrior build.

He finished his bath quickly, toweled off, and equipped a clean uniform directly from his storage device. That is never going to get old.  He returned to his room, where only David remained.  “Are the baths still crowded?” David asked.

Duncan shrugged, “Not crowded, but if you’re shy, it might seem that way.  Just go and bathe and head to breakfast.  You don’t want to be late, and you’ll need to get used to it eventually.  Start now, while all the other nobles who’re used to privacy feel the same way you do.  It doesn’t take long to realize they’re just bodies.”  He Blinked out the window, summoned a sword from storage, and flew down to the mess hall.  David would take the advice, or he wouldn’t.

Ladies Cassandra and Amelia were already seated, eating their breakfasts.  To his surprise, they waved him over once he’d grabbed his own meal. “You were up early,” said Cassandra.  “Avoiding the bathing crowds?”

“I don’t need as much sleep as I used to,” Duncan replied.  “I trained for a few hours, then bathed before coming down to eat.  I don’t really need to eat as much as I used to, either, but it’s a hard habit to break.”  Although the mana density here isn’t really enough to sustain me without food for any length of time.

“How was the gauntlet?” asked Amelia.

“The gauntlet?” Duncan was confused.

“All the second and third years lining the stairs, whipping you with towels?” said Cassandra.

“Oh.  I flew down from our room.  I guess I missed that.  Probably a good thing, really.”

The girls laughed.  “It’s an annual hazing ritual.  Mostly harmless, and they took it easy on us because no one wants to upset the Yorks,” said Amelia.  “But yeah, it was probably good that you weren’t there.  Most first years can’t fight back, so everyone just runs through as fast as they can.  Wait, how did you get out of our room?  The window doesn’t open that far.”

“I can teleport,” replied Duncan.

“Interesting!” Amelia said, “Flying and teleportation. And a warrior class.  You must have an unusual affinity and technique mix.”  Seeing Duncan’s shrug, she continued, “Have you seen David?”

Duncan nodded.  “Last I saw, he was waiting for the baths to be less crowded.”

Cassandra cackled. “A shy one!  We can help him get over that.”  At Amelia’s raised eyebrow she said, “What?  It’s the least we can do after being mean to him last night for the joke.”

Amelia shook her head, “I am not sitting around naked to make him feel embarrassed.”

“It’s to help him get over his embarrassment.  Once he’s over us, the baths will be nothing!” Cassandra protested.  “Duncan can help too, in case it’s not women he’s worried about.”

These two are not what I expected from upper crust nobility.  “I will be gone long before the rest of you wake up each day,” he said, deciding that was the safest response.  He got up to return his plate before the discussion could continue, having inhaled his food.  Then it was off to his first class at the Academy.

Elvish was one of the classes that students from the other two academies in Lanport attended, presumably because it wasn’t popular enough to be taught at all three.  There were eleven students in the class, and only one other identified as a warrior.  The instructor was a short, slender elvish woman with a youthful complexion.  She was a Level 78 Mage, so Duncan presumed she was older than she looked.  He got a few odd looks from the other students, presumably because of his level, but the class went well.

Geography was fascinating.  They began with a quick overview of the world, represented as a big ball.  The Arnite Empire was a small corner of one continent. The first few months of the class would focus entirely on the empire – the map the instructor showed them of just the empire was huge, with hundreds of cities and towns marked.  Lanport was on the southern coast, and the empire extended a long way North and West and included a massive island and a series of smaller islands to the North, as well.  The world was huge, and Duncan resolved to see as much of it as he could.

Duncan’s first afternoon class was mace mastery, with the third-year students.  Most of them appeared to be in the late-thirties, level-wise, and early twenties, age-wise.  They’d all been training together for two years prior, so Duncan stuck out even more than he’d expected. There was a lot of staring and muttering amongst themselves from the other students, but Duncan ignored them and limbered up.  Once the entire class of twelve had assembled, the instructor spoke up, “Silence!  I’d like to introduce the new kid.  Everyone, this is Duncan of the Valley.  He comes to us from the Adventurers Guild, and he’s here to train, not to deal with your petty politics.  His level is legit – I’ve seen him fight and believe me when I say this:  If all of you attacked him at once, he would kill you all without breaking a sweat.”

The Level 82 Warrior ignored the rumble of discontent from the students.  “Duncan, I’m Iain McDoughal, and this ragtag group of heroes is the finest batch of young mace fighters the academy has produced in many a year.  I expect they’ll be excellent leaders of men when they leave here.”

“Thank you, sir.”  Duncan nodded at the other students, “I look forward to training with you all.”

One of the students, a handsome fellow not much smaller than Duncan, addressed the instructor, “Could you take him, sir?”

Iain snorted.  “Not on my best day, even if I took him by surprise from behind.  Fortunately, all I have to do is teach him to use a mace well.  Now let’s see what you’ve forgotten over the break.”

Next up for Duncan was great axe.  The instructor was a woman larger even than Duncan, a Level 81 Warrior.  This class seemed to have a higher proportion of people with a good Body affinity.  Again, the students were about five years older than him, and under half his level.  The instructor approached Duncan and shook his hand.  “Maebh Glencairn.  Welcome to the class.”  She raised her voice as she addressed the rest of the students. “We have a new addition this year.  This is Duncan.  He’s training to become a blademaster, so the only place you’ll likely see him is here on the training grounds.”  She looked over the group.  “Now I’m supposed to tell you not to fuck with him because the headmaster doesn’t want to have to tell your families you died due to your own stupidity.  But I’ve known you for a couple of years now, and none of you is that foolhardy.  So let’s just get to training.”

Dinner was the most harrowing part of the day for Duncan.  He sat with his roommates, but there was a constant stream of other students coming up to speak with Cassandra, to pay their respects to the scion of a powerful family.  Cassandra made a point of introducing each of them to her roommates.  Duncan wolfed his food down and left the table as early as he could.  She may handle those supplicants with aplomb, but they were really grating on my nerves.

Amelia sought him out after dinner, catching him on his way to his sword training.  “Why did you run away like that at dinner?” she asked.

“Too many people, and Cassandra kept introducing them all to me.”

“Cassie was doing you a favor, idiot.  As a commoner who stands out, you’re bound to be the target of some of the noble bullies.  By introducing you as her friend, she was telling the rest of the families not to fuck with you.”

Oops.  “I didn’t know.  I’ll apologize to her later.  All the instructors are telling my classmates not to fuck with me, too.  I don’t know if I should be concerned that everyone thinks I’ll go on a killing spree when some noble weakling squawks at me, or if I should be concerned that no one thinks I can take care of myself.”

Amelia sighed, “Look Duncan, I know you’re big and strong, but that doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable.  If you piss off the wrong people, they can make life miserable for you.”

“How?” asked Duncan.  “I have no family or friends they can target, no reputation they can harm, and the students here are too weak to hurt me physically.”  At her skeptical look, he said, “What’s your weapon of choice?”

“Longsword, why?” answered Amelia.

Convenient.  Duncan summoned a longsword from his storage device and passed it to her.  “Hit me like you’re trying to kill me.”

Eyes wide, Amelia shook her head. “Are you crazy? No way.”

“Fine, hit me like you’re trying to take off my arm.”

“What’s going on here?” a deep voice interjected.  A tall, bald, wiry man, a Level 88 Warrior, stood behind Duncan.  I never heard him approach.

“Master Guilford!” said Amelia. Oh, he’s the man I’m supposed to be taking my evening lesson from.  Awkward.

“Amelia is concerned for my health.  I’m trying to convince her that the students here are no threat to me,” Duncan explained.  “But she’s hesitant to hit me.”

“I have metal and poison affinities, Duncan.  I could kill you,” Amelia said.

Duncan sighed.  “Never mind.”  He turned to Master Guilford. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, sir.  We can begin my lesson right away.”

“Very well.  Young Lady Dauntry could benefit by watching today’s lesson, if you don’t object,” Master Guilford said.

Duncan turned to Amelia, “Do you not have a private lesson this evening?”

“I tried to engage Master Guilford’s services, but someone beat me to it,” she replied.  “I would like to see what I’m missing.”  Ouch.

“I’m sorry.  You’re welcome to watch.”  Duncan hurried after Master Guilford, and Amelia followed.

They reached the small training yard Duncan had reserved every evening for the entire term.  Master Guilford gestured to the center of the space and said, “Go through your normal warm up and sword forms while I observe.”

Duncan retrieved his longsword from Amelia and spent five minutes limbering up, then launched into the sword forms he’d been practicing since he was fourteen. After ten minutes, Master Guilford said, “halt.  You have the most traditional interpretation of the classical forms I have ever seen, although your movements are sloppier than I’d have expected.”

“Sorry sir,” Duncan said, “I’ve not used a longsword since I left home, so I’m out of practice.  I fight sword and shield in dungeons.”

“I’m sure it will come back.  Now, strip and go through the forms again.  We might as well put that Body Affinity to good use – if we can see the musculature, we can better see when you’re unbalanced or overreaching.”

Duncan stored his clothes in his storage device and went through the forms again.  And again, and again, as Master Guilford repeatedly stopped him to adjust his stance minutely or to have him change the distribution of his weight.  After an hour, the swordmaster said, “Alright, armor up.  We’re going to spar at half speed.  No active Techniques.”

And so they sparred, slowly.  As always when sparring at low speed, Duncan found it difficult not to adjust his movements to account for what he could see coming, to not speed up to get out of the bad spots he found himself in.  Master Guilford called a halt dozens of times to correct Duncan’s blade position, or to quiz him about why he made the choices he did in stance, guard, and attack.

Finally, Master Guilford called a halt for the night.  “It almost feels sacrilegious to adjust your form.  It’s so pure in its classical intent.  But I think we can work together going forward.  You understand the terminology I use, and you have a strong grasp of the basics.  Do you agree?”

“Yes, sir,” Duncan said.  “I feel I can learn a lot from you.”

“And you, Lady Dauntry – did you learn anything tonight?”  Master Guilford asked.  Oh, I completely forgot she was here.  I don’t think she’s made a noise in the past three hours.

“Yes, Master Guilford.  It was quite educational,” she replied.  “I think I sit my hips a little too far back in my stances, for one thing.  I shall need to practice on my own.”

“I can recommend you to Master Decidia – she rarely teaches any more, but we’ll see if I can talk her into it.  I was most impressed with your attention and stillness.”

“Thank you, sir.  That would be wonderful,” Amelia said.

“Very good.  You are both dismissed.  Duncan, I will see you the day after tomorrow.”  Master Guilford took his leave.

Duncan walked back to the student dorms with Amelia instead of flying back as he’d originally intended.  “He’s a very good instructor.  I’m a little sorry I stole him from you,” he said.

“He’s the best in the empire,” Amelia replied.  “But Master Decidia is also amazing.  If she’ll take me on as a student, that’ll be just as good.”

They chatted amiably for the rest of the walk and found Cassandra and David had beaten them back to their room and were already fast asleep.  “I need a bath,” Duncan whispered, stepping back out of the room.  Amelia hesitated a moment, then joined him.  She blushed prettily when she undressed; Duncan made sure to not give her any cause for further embarrassment.

Ablutions done, they retired to their room.  Duncan lay in bed, meditating on the day.  Classes went well.  Elvish is going to be a challenge.  Geography is wonderful so far.  The mace and great axe classes went surprisingly well, given the other students were older and could have been problematic.  Maybe the heavy-handed warnings from the instructors were helpful.  Longsword was far and away the best class, though.  I am going to learn a lot from Master Guilford.  I hope he’s able to talk Master Decidia into teaching Amelia – I feel a little guilty about taking the teacher she wanted.  She seems nice – I wasn’t sure about her and Cassandra after that supposed “joke” yesterday, but she genuinely seems to have no snobbishness.  And she’s quite attractive, too.

He felt a great surge of homesickness for a moment and pushed it down ruthlessly.  The Valley is out of reach.  I have no way of finding it – that gate could have moved me through time as well as space.  And it’s completely warded against divination by enchanters whose casual work is better than anything anyone in the empire has ever seen.  I need to grow stronger and find other good people to protect.

Chapter 5

The following morning, Duncan apologized to Cassandra before breakfast.  “Amelia told me you were introducing me to the students who approached you to let them know not to pick on the high-level commoner.  I appreciate the thought, and I’m sorry I left so abruptly.  I just don’t like talking with strangers, or small talk in general.”

“It’s fine,” said Cassandra. “Amy told me you think you’re invulnerable.”  When did they have time to talk?  “Sit with us at meals and talk with us, and it’ll have much the same effect even without introductions, I guess.  If nothing else, it’ll make Taggart feel more comfortable.  He feels the social pressures more keenly than you, because they matter to him.  His family is relatively poor, so he has to be wary of his social betters.  We may all just be weak individuals to you, but social power is still power, and it’s crucial to those of us who deal with the upper echelons of society.”

“It’s strange to me that wealth and family standing mean more than personal power, but government in general feels strange to me,” said Duncan.  “I’ll continue to join you for meals, and I appreciate you not involving me in conversation with strangers.  But what do you get out of it?  Why not spend your time with your social peers?”

Cassandra answered, “With Taggart, I get nothing out of it.  His family has nothing to offer mine.  But he’s my roommate and it doesn’t hurt me to be nice to him.  And I was a bit of a bitch to him when we first met.  As for you… well, you’re the strongest individual I’ve met at our age.  It never hurts to have powerful friends.  And you simply don’t care that I’m the heir to a great house.  You don’t care about any of us, about what we can do for you, or to you.  That’s refreshing.  And I kinda like tweaking the noses of the families that think you’re beneath them.”

Duncan chuckled. “I didn’t actually know you were the heir to your family.  But you’re right – it doesn’t matter to me.”  They reached the mess hall, and Duncan was relieved to eat without having to be introduced to everyone who showed up.

Monster Identification was another class that brought in students from the other academies in Lanport.  It was the largest class Duncan had experienced to date – twenty students filled the room.  The instructor was a stout Level 74 Mage from the Lanport Magic Academy who was able to produce illusions of most of the monsters they were to discuss.  The class would cover categories of monsters, with a focus on those that could be found in the wilds of the world rather than in dungeons, since dungeons had a huge variety of monsters that existed only there.  Still, given his desire to travel the whole world, the class would still be useful.

Duncan’s spear and one-handed axe classes were very similar to his mace and great axe classes from the day before.  He found it interesting that there was no overlap in students between the weapons classes.  It seemed they all chose one weapon and focused on that.  His instructors again warned the other students not to pick fights with him, and while he wasn’t accepted with open arms into the close-knit groups of students, there were no issues.  It wasn’t the same as training in the Valley, but it would do.

After dinner, he flew straight to his reserved training yard to begin his training with one-handed swords.  Master Guilford had been excellent, and came highly recommended, but Master deBouteville was apparently a legend.  He arrived half an hour early and spent the time practicing sword forms.

A woman on a flying sword dropped out of the sky in front of him.  The Level 104 Warrior stepped off the sword and it leapt into her hand.  “Hello, Duncan.  I’m Master deBouteville.  Eric Dagleish seems to think you’re something special.  He’s called in some favors to bring me here to see if I agree.  So, for the next three hours, you will try to convince me you’re worth teaching, yes?  We will begin with single sword forms, in your left and right hand, then move to sword and shield, then brace of swords.  Then we shall spar without Techniques, and finally with Techniques.  Is this amenable to you?”  Master deBouteville was tall, slender, and hard.  She wore a sleeveless jerkin that showed whipcord muscles in her shoulders and arms.  She had dark skin, curly black hair cropped close to her scalp, and startlingly green eyes.

“Yes sir,” Duncan said, simply.  And so began an evening of hard work.  He demonstrated sword forms with his normal dungeon sword in his left and right hand, and sword and shield forms, then switched to his amethyst swords to demonstrate brace of swords forms.

“On to sparring,” said Master deBouteville, giving no indication she’d been impressed or disappointed by his forms.  “No active Techniques to start.  We’ll do the same weapon sequence.  I’ll match your weapons to begin with, then switch to non-matching combinations.  Wear your armor, strike with full force, but no active Techniques.”  In a blink, she changed her armor to an inky black set of plate.  “I have engaged a competent healer in the event that we both make an error in judgement.”  She gestured up into the sky, and Duncan looked up to see a Level 104 Healer floating above the yard on transparent wings.  Huh.  I wonder how long she’s been there.

Duncan equipped his armor directly from his storage device, feeling better for the presence of the healer.  I do not want to kill a legendary teacher when we get to the active Techniques part.  He used an amethyst sword, not wanting to use his normal one because it ignored metal armor and would be more likely to wound the instructor.

They began to spar, and Duncan laughed to himself.  There was no way he was going to hurt Master deBouteville.  He couldn’t even get close to her.  Every attack he threw, she avoided with ease.  She only bothered to parry when she wanted to use his blade to take him off balance.  He was sure he was a little faster than her – her Body affinity wasn’t as good as his – but she was always a step ahead of him.

“Switch,” she said, and they moved to right-handed swords, which was even worse for Duncan.  “Switch.”  Sword and shield (a normal shield, he wanted to save the rose quartz shield for the active Techniques bout) was followed by two swords, with the same result.  He didn’t land a single touch.  This would be frustrating if it wasn’t so awe-inspiring.

“Halt.  We move to active Techniques now.”  She appeared fresh, giving no indication she’d been in a fight at all.  Duncan was similarly fresh, but that was thanks to a magnificent regeneration passive. “When will you need the healer to intervene?”  The healer floated lower to hear the conversation.

Duncan addressed the healer directly.  “Keep your eyes on Master deBouteville’s health.  I have good regeneration.”

Both of them looked at him incredulously.  “In three hours, you haven’t landed a single blow on me.  Yet you’re worried about my health?” said the master.

“You are magnificent with a blade.  But Techniques change everything,” Duncan explained.

“Well, you are certainly a confident young man,” she said.  She pulled two wicked-looking glass swords out of her storage device.  “I am ready when you are.”

Duncan withdrew a few paces and bowed.  He equipped his normal dungeon gear.  “I am ready.”

“Begin,” said the healer.

Mind Spike.  Blink behind.  Blade Echo to the back of the knee.  Metal armor ignored.  Ooh, she’s not as sturdy as Eric.  I hope that healer’s paying attention.  DeBouteville’s knee collapsed under his strike, but as she recovered from his stun, she whirled to her right and cut high with her right sword and followed low with the left.  Duncan blocked the first sword with his shield, and the sudden loss of momentum caused her a moment of confusion.  Duncan stepped left around his opponent and cut hard at her good leg.  Something blocked his attack and he Blinked away before she could counter.

deBouteville let loose a stream of swords at him from across the yard.  Duncan Blinked behind her again and used another Mind Spike, but it was resisted.  Did she pull a resistance item out of storage?  He cut at her head from behind, but his sword bounced off an invisible barrier.  She thrust a reverse strike at him, unsighted, and he blocked it with his shield.  He thrust through a fold in space, striking from inside whatever barrier she was using.  His sword ignored her armor, and his blade and its echoes took her in the kidney.  At the same time, a sword smashed into his own back.

Duncan Blinked away again and healed himself.  He felt a numbness spreading from where he’d been struck, despite the heal, and used Remove Affliction for the first time in a fight.  Master deBouteville was looking rather worse for wear – badly wounded, according to his assessment – but she hurled another stream of swords at him.  He Blinked sideways five meters, then used a much stronger Mind Spike, Blinked a couple of meters behind the master, and thrust again through a fold in space at the inside of her thigh.  Blood fountained, and the healer shouted “Halt!” trying and failing to oppress him.

Duncan stepped back, his sword pointed behind him.  White light surrounded deBouteville, and her wounds healed in seconds.

“Well,” said Master deBouteville, “that was… unexpected.  I haven’t lost a swordfight in a hundred years.  Your swordplay was adequate, very traditional in style, but nothing special.  I honestly wondered why Eric asked me to come here.  And then, when you were allowed to use your Techniques, you became a completely different opponent.  Overwhelming.”

Duncan didn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt.

The healer spoke up, “How did he hit you with a blade?  I thought…” she let her sentence trail off.

“Perhaps he’ll be willing to explain that as we go over the fight together.  But first… Duncan, swordplay can be taught.  But you have an innate sense for combat that cannot be taught.  It makes you… puissant.  Accordingly, I will teach you the swordplay you need to become a master.  But I will need more than three evenings a week of your time.  I don’t have years to spend on this project.”

“I am taking four weapon classes during the afternoons.  I’m sure that the Headmaster will allow me to train with you instead.  I can offer you six hours a day, every day, including rest days,” said Duncan.  “Will that suffice?  I’m taking longsword with Master Guilford three evenings a week, but I can spend the other evenings training with you, as well, since those hours were already reserved for this.  So, fifty-one hours a week.”

Master deBouteville laughed.  “There’s only so much training you can do before you stop absorbing the lessons.  I will train you six hours a day, six days week, replacing your afternoon classes.  You will need some time to relax.  Now, allow me to introduce my wife, Daphne.  I am Lena, though you will refer to me as Master deBouteville while we are in a training environment.”

Daphne said, “I suppose I can teach at the healing academy in the afternoons.  I suspect they’ll be happy for another experienced instructor.”

“I am very pleased to meet you both,” said Duncan.  “What recompense do you require for the extra hours?”

Lena snorted.  “What does this place cost?”

“A hundred gold a year, plus ten gold for the instructor for evening lessons.”

Daphne laughed heartily.  “You hear that, Lena?  You’re worth ten gold a year.”

“I will have a discussion with Eric about my fees.  For you, though, what do you say to a hundred gold?  Will that be too big a strain on your family coffers?” asked Lena.

“I’m paying my own way by delving dungeons.  And a hundred gold is fine.  I keep my money at the Adventurers Guild, so I’ll have to stop by there before I can pay you.”

“You’re not a noble, then?” Lena sounded surprised.

“No, sir.  The Adventurers Guild recommended me to the Academy.”

“Well, that will make things less awkward.  I hate having to deal with politics.”  Lena pulled two chairs out of her storage device, and she and Daphne sat down.  Why didn’t I think of that?  I have so much room.  “Now, let’s discuss what happened in the fight.  You opened with a stun from range?”

“Yes, a Mind Technique called Mind Spike.  It does mental damage and stuns the target.”

“And then you teleported behind me and hit me while I was stunned.  How did you do so much damage?”

“My sword ignores metal armor, and I used a Blade Echo Technique.”

“When I recovered from the stun, I engaged you with a spinning attack.  Your shield block scrambled the attack somehow…”

Duncan nodded. “My shield absorbs the momentum of any attack that hits it.  Then I tried to hit your other leg, and something blocked the attack.”

Lena grinned.  “Blade Ward Technique.  Blades cannot breach it.  Had you not opened with that stun, your first attack wouldn’t have landed, either.”

“Ah,” said Duncan.  “I Blinked away when I couldn’t hit you, and then you used a ranged Blade Technique.  So, I Blinked behind you again and used another Mind Spike, but you resisted the stun.  An item from your storage device?”

“Yes.  I thought it was worth a try.  It reduces mental damage by half, and evidently helped against the stun.”

Duncan continued, “Then I tried to hit you in the head, but your blade ward blocked my attack again.  I should have Blinked away again, but I was behind you and felt I had a little time.  I blocked your backwards thrust with my shield and used a Space Technique to bypass your ward.  But as I hit you, you somehow hit me in the back as well.”

“Another Blade Technique – I can attack with blades I’m not physically holding.  I pulled a third blade out of storage and used it.  How, exactly did you bypass my blade ward?  That shouldn’t be possible,” said Lena.

Duncan demonstrated his folded space Technique.  “It’s a Technique I developed myself.  It makes two places in space be a single place.  You’ve seen the offensive potential, but I can also use it to block attacks.”  He demonstrated a cut against a fold.  “Because it’s a spatial anomaly, no amount of force can move it or overcome it.”

Lena was impressed.  “That is… astonishing.”

“The sword you hit me with was poisoned or something.  I Blinked away and healed the damage, but it felt numb, even after I healed, so I removed the affliction, then had to Blink away to avoid another stream of swords.  I used a much bigger Mind Spike to try to overcome your mental resistance and bypassed your ward again to hit you in the leg.  That’s when Daphne called a halt.  In a real fight I’d have put the first sword thrust into the base of your skull or your neck instead of your back, of course.”

“Of course.  That Technique is ridiculous,” Lena said.

“So let me get this straight,” said Daphne.  “You use a sword that requires a Metal Affinity, a shield that requires a Gemstone Affinity, and in that fight, you demonstrated Blade Techniques, Mind Techniques, Body Techniques, Space Techniques, and Healing Techniques.”

Oops.  Duncan shrugged.  “When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound very likely,” he ventured.

“Oh!” she added, “and you resisted my Spiritual Oppression so easily that you barely noticed it.”

“I have unusual affinities.  I won’t share my soulgem information, and I would appreciate if you didn’t talk to other people about me.  I just want to improve my skills, advance my Techniques, and delve interesting dungeons.”

“You are unusually defensive about your affinities,” noted Lena.  “Why is that?”

She sounded genuinely curious as opposed to hostile, so Duncan answered, “Everyone who knows of my affinities has told me not to share.  I will be less concerned as I grow stronger, but I arrived in the empire less than a year ago at level twelve, and some of the first people I met tried to kill me for my armor.  Noble families are apparently competitive and potentially hostile.  I have no desire to get involved in politics or anything like that.  So, I guess maybe I’m a little paranoid.”

“That’s really fast progress for a year.  But honestly, I don’t see why any of the big families would take an interest in a single youth, no matter how unusual your affinities.  Sure, you’re very strong for your age, but there are tens of thousands of people stronger than you in the empire alone.  If you were the heir to a great family, hiding your affinities would be normal, but for most of us?  No one cares.  Still, I can understand a desire to not stand out, and we’ll honor your request not to talk about your affinities,” said Lena.

Maybe I am still being too paranoid?  It would be nice to worry less about people finding out stuff about me.  I mean, no one has really given me a reason to be secretive since I left the valley.  “Thank you.  Sorry if I come across as strange.”

They wrapped up the session, and Duncan returned to his dorm, excited about his training opportunities.  I’ll have to inform my other instructors that I can no longer take their afternoon classes.  Maybe I should talk to Jacob about that first.

Chapter 6

Duncan had no trouble changing his weapon classes to be all sword all the time.  His first week was everything he’d hoped training at the Academy would be.  At breakfast on sixthday, David asked him what he planned to do on his rest day.  “Nothing has tried to kill me for almost a month.  I need to find a dungeon to delve,” Duncan said.

“Really?” asked Amelia.  “Your first rest day here and you want to fight monsters.”

“I really do,” he said.  “I should go ask Jacob if the Academy has access to any decent dungeons and grab a map from the local Adventurers Guild.  There has to be something within a few hours of here.”  He had two hours before his monster identification class, so he took his leave and ran off to see Jacob.

“I’m sorry, Duncan.  The Lanford academies do share access to a dungeon, but it’s rated level thirty, and so we tend to send in groups of six to ten students at a time.  It’s surprisingly popular on rest days.  You would need to sign up weeks in advance,” Jacob explained, when Duncan asked him.

“Are there overnight slots?  I don’t actually need to sleep much.  I would need an entire timeslot to myself, though.  I can’t take a bunch of um, inexperienced delvers with me.” Level thirty is pretty useless, but if I get some overpowered rare spawns, it could be worthwhile.

“There’s no support staff overnight, so there are no slots then,” Jacob began.

“That sounds ideal!” Duncan interjected.  “Who do I need to talk to to gain night access?”

Jacob sighed.  “I will discuss it with the Headmaster and get back to you when I have an answer.”

“Thank you,” said Duncan.  “I’m heading to the Adventurers Guild to get a map of the other dungeons in the area.  Hopefully there’s a miserable dungeon nearby that no one else will risk.”  With a wave, he left a bemused Jacob shaking his head.

He flew to the city gates, then stood in line to get in.  His Academy student ID got him access without having to pay the entry fee, which was a nice perk.  “Is there any way to get permission to fly into the City?” he asked the gate guard hopefully.

The guard snorted.  “Sure, hit level one hundred and buy a flying pass for ten gold a year.”  Oh, that doesn’t seem so bad.

Duncan thanked the man and ran to the Adventurers Guild hall.  He only had an hour and a half before his class began, so he didn’t have time to dawdle.  The map of the area was the usual five silvers, but it was disappointing.  “Is this really it?” he asked the guild representative.  “Half a dozen low-level training dungeons?”

“Sorry, sir.  The ambient mana around Lanport isn’t sufficient to support a high-level dungeon.”

“Where’s the nearest nasty dungeon?  I’m interested in anything rated level sixty to ninety, the less popular the better.”

“Again, I’m sorry sir.  There’s simply nothing nearby at all.”  The attendant was not going to be helpful.  Duncan thanked him for his time and hurried back to the academy for class.

After his training session with Master deBouteville, he asked her if she knew of any worthwhile dungeons he could get to with only a few hours of travel time.

“What is your criteria for worthwhile?  And how fast can you travel?” she asked.

“My Flying Sword Technique is only rank three.  So not as fast as I’d like.  Worthwhile is unpopular with other people.  Anything up to about level eighty should be okay for me.  I prefer humanoid monsters for the better loot and more interesting fights, but I will take almost anything.  It’s been a month since I was in a dungeon, and I miss it.”

Lena sighed.  “I still have difficulty with the idea of solo running dungeons rated higher than your current level.  Do not waste my time here by getting yourself killed before I can turn you into a swordsman.  There is a small island not twenty kilometers from here, to the Southwest.  There’s a watery dungeon there that the Adventurers Guild ranks at level ninety.  If it were located elsewhere, it would probably only be rated level seventy or eighty, but the dungeon is claimed by the Sawiskin people.  They are aquatic lizardmen who live beneath the seas.  But they claim that dungeon and slay anyone they find on the island or in the dungeon. If you delve that dungeon, you have to deal with not only the dungeon denizens, but groups of Sawiskin.  And they have Mages, Warriors, and Healers, just as we do.”

“The Adventurers Guild doesn’t mention the dungeon, nor will anyone else around here.  This is because, when it was used, that dungeon claimed more high-level adventurers than any other in the region.  The Sawiskin keep the dungeon well in hand, and so the authorities here prefer to pretend it doesn’t exist.  To the best of my knowledge there are no other dungeons you would consider worthwhile within a hundred kilometers of Lanport.”

Duncan grinned.  That sounds exciting.  “Thank you, Master deBouteville.  I will explore it very carefully.” I wonder if my Cloak of the Unseen will work there.  What counts as ‘normal behavior’ in a dungeon?  The Cloak of the Unseen was a Mind Affinity item he’d found in the Endless Depths dungeon.  People didn’t notice him when he wore it unless he was acting abnormally.  Maybe I should look for an actual invisibility item in the Adventurers Guild item exchange.  Although, given they offered me a hundred gold for my cloak, it may be that true invisibility items are ridiculously expensive.  It’s something I’ll have to look into.

Duncan rose before dawn on his rest day and flew South from the Academy until he could skirt the edge of Lanport by flying West to the sea.  From there, he turned Southwest and began searching for the island Lena had told him about.  He spotted it to the North of where he’d expected it and flew a low pass over it to have a look.  The island was only a few hundred meters long, and half that wide.  The silver-grey disc that was the dungeon entrance hung only a dozen meters from the North shore.

He equipped his water-breathing ring.  Better to have it on before I enter than have to equip it while I’m being attacked.  The mana drain is insignificant.  Then he flew to the entrance and stepped through.

The entrance chamber had 5 Sawiskin in it.  Of course it does.  They were scaly humanoids a head shorter than Duncan, with frills on their faces and limbs.  Not at all like the mossfoot frog men from the Endless Depths.  Three were armed with tridents and shields, while the other two had only tridents.  None wore any armor. They seemed quite surprised by his arrival.

Duncan stabbed the nearest creature in the side.  His blade penetrated the scaly hide and the flesh beneath with only a little resistance.  My Tempered Blade Technique seems ample to deal with them.  Three blade echoes struck a moment later, and his assessment showed the creature to be ‘wounded’ as opposed to ‘badly wounded’ or ‘near death,’ as he’d been hoping for.

As the creature gave a hissing cry of pain, Duncan Blinked behind the most distant Sawiskin and repeated the attack.  It hissed and convulsed, and all five of the creatures covered themselves in a thick layer of water.  Duncan struck the Sawiskin again and found it much harder to penetrate this watery armor.  He Blinked back to his starting position, stored his steel sword with a thought, and summoned his Spirit Blade.

He struck his initial target again and the Spirit Sword and its echoes passed cleanly through the armor and body, leaving the creature badly wounded.  Two of the shieldbearers thrust their tridents at him, damaging his armor, but not piercing his hardened skin beneath it.  A ball of water appeared around his head as one of the others used a Technique to smother him.  I’ve seen that Technique before.  I can breathe water at the moment but no need to let them know that yet.  Duncan Blinked back to the other wounded creature to escape the ball of water and any other inbound attacks and struck it with his Spirit Blade.  It dropped soundlessly.

A high-pressure jet of water struck his chest and cut straight through both his truesteel armor and his Hardened Skin Technique.  He Blinked back across the room and healed himself, then hit the mage with a Mind Spike as it turned to face him.  That was incredibly strong.  And painful.  He followed up with an echoed slash from his Spirit Blade, then Blinked immediately to the one he’d hurt earlier to finish it off, only to find it almost fully healed.  One of these bastards is a healer, but I can’t tell which, damnit.  Gotta focus on one until it drops.  The mage goes down first, because that water jet is scary.

Duncan hit the mage with another Mind Spike, then Blinked to it again and slashed at it with Blade Echo Techniques until it dropped.  He took a couple of blows from tridents as he did, but they couldn’t hurt him much through his armor and Hardened Skin.  The Sawiskin he’d hurt before was fully healed now, but he’d seen which of the monsters was the healer.  You’re next…

A huge ball of water completely immersed him, but he Blinked out of it to the healer, slashed through its body, hit it with a Mind Spike, and slashed through its body again.  A trident managed to pierce the armor on the back of his leg, but he ignored the wound to strike at the healer again with his Spirit Blade, finally dropping it.  He Blinked behind another of the creatures and healed himself, then used Mind Spike on it.  A throbbing pain persisted after he healed himself, and his Assessment told him he was poisoned.  Fortunately, Remove Affliction took care of it.

With the healer and mage dead, he mopped up the warriors in short order.  The last one made a break for the exit, but Duncan was able to interpose himself between it and the portal.  I’d hate to step out of the dungeon and find an army of these things waiting for me if one got away to warn them.  He stored their weapons and gear in his ring and moved into the dungeon proper.

The dungeon was a series of partly flooded caves.  There were sandy sections, stony sections, and completely submerged sections.  There was a nice variety of monsters, as well.  Toothy fish and electric eels swam in most of the flooded areas.  A tribe of spear-wielding turtles that stood upright had roaming patrols.  They seemed to have a salt affinity; they tried to blind him with blasts of salt, and they poisoned his blood somehow.  But for their most unusual attack, they withdrew their head and limbs into their shells, then flew at him at high speeds, spinning madly.  His Spirit Sword countered their tough protective shells, and he could Blink out of the way of their spinning attacks or stop them short with his shield’s momentum-canceling effect.  But the poisoning and blindness needed Remove Affliction, which was mana-intensive at rank two, so he had to rest a little after each encounter with them.  I’m glad I got Remove Affliction; it’s been handy several times already.  And I’ll get it ranked up fast if I can come back here on a regular basis.

The depths also held some giant transparent crayfish that had a mental attack very similar to Mind Spike.  They used it to stun him then thrust their forelimbs at him, piercing his armor and Hardened Skin.  Fortunately, they only ever came in pairs, else he may have succumbed to their attacks.  They were relatively frail, but they did more damage to him than almost anything he’d encountered previously.  That stun and stab trick is mine, damnit.  Still, if I can come back, these will be great for my Tranquil Mind training.

The dungeon boss was a giant fire-breathing turtle.  When Duncan first approached it, it hit him with a concentrated jet of flames that melted a hole in his armor and incinerated a huge portion of his chest.  Duncan healed himself desperately, then Blinked onto its back and used his Spirit Sword to attack it through its shell.  It dove into the water in its lair to dislodge him.  Rather than face it in the water, Duncan Blinked back to land and used a Mind Spike on it.  He was unable to stun it, but its health did drop a tiny fraction in his Assessment’s view.

It turned to face him from underwater, and it breathed another jet of white-hot flame.  Water turned to steam and the beam incinerated Duncan’s arm as he flinched aside.  He restored his health as the monster came racing out the water, beak open to bite his torso off.  How does something that big move so fast?  He Blinked onto its shell again, but it was charging so fast he went right off the back end.  It dug its massive claws into the ground to come to a shuddering stop, and Duncan Blinked back onto its shell one more time.  He slashed his Spirit Blade through its neck, echoes following.  His Assessment Technique showed the creature was barely hurt.  I’m already down more than half of my mana from those two big heals.  I can’t keep this up.  If he hits me with another breath attack, I’ll have to flee.

The monster spun in place and Duncan kept slashing at its neck, taking very small chunks of its health with each cut.  The turtle dove back into the water and Duncan wedged his shield between the creature’s neck and its shell to try to maintain his place on its back, still cutting at its neck.  He held on for five or six swings, then was swept off by the force of the water.  He Blinked up almost to the cave’s ceiling and stood on a sword he summoned from his inventory.  He flew erratically around the cavern, landing Mind Spikes from time to time to try to lure the creature back out of the water.

He noticed that the creature’s health was creeping back up in his assessment’s view.  It’s regenerating down there.  I guess it’s time to take a risk.  He Blinked down into the water, onto the turtle’s shell, and started slashing through the shell with his Spirit Blade again.  For a good thirty seconds, the beast didn’t seem to notice him.  Then the water around it started heating up.  After ten more seconds, Duncan had to Blink out of the water to avoid being boiled in his armor.  He resummoned a sword to fly on and zipped around near the ceiling as the water below him boiled.

Suddenly, a massive waterspout erupted from the surface below him and slammed into the ceiling, splashing boiling water around the room.  Duncan was scalded, but not badly hurt.  The turtle charged back out of the water, looking for its tormentor.  He Blinked back down to its shell and resumed his attacks with his Spirit Blade.  He estimated it was still at half health.  This thing has to be the toughest thing I’ve ever encountered.  But as long as I don’t get breathed on again, I can keep this up almost indefinitely.

The fire-breathing turtle had no additional tricks.  It charged into the water, but Duncan Blinked back to its shell every time he was dislodged.  It superheated the water again, and he Blinked away until it cooled enough for him to resume his attacks.  He never stopped attacking long enough to allow it to regenerate faster than he was damaging it.  The fight took more than an hour, but in the end, Duncan prevailed.  He sat on the creature’s shell for a good five minutes after it died.  What a magnificent creature.  If I hadn’t been able to keep Blinking to its back it would have bitten my head off or clawed me to death or immolated me completely. And a physical weapon would never have penetrated that shell and maybe not even its hide.  It really does feel like my build is insanely strong at times like this.

Duncan checked the turtle for embedded Technique stones but found nothing.  He searched the cavern, thinking there was no way a creature this powerful didn’t have a treasure.  At the very bottom of the flooded part of the cavern, he found a massive chest.  It was too big to fit into his ring storage, but it fit just fine into his arm band.  I’ll look through that when I get back to the Academy.

He waited in the turtle’s cavern until its body disappeared, recovering health and mana.  Then he made his way back towards the entrance, vigilant lest another Sawiskin group have entered.  There’s no way that group I killed earlier could have challenged that boss. So it’s possible they just kill the patrols near the entrance.  On his way back to the entrance, he found the cave complex continued down a passage he hadn’t seen earlier.  Following it, he came to a village of the upright turtle creatures.  Oh.  Maybe the fire-breathing turtle was a rare spawn for me, and the chief of this village is the intended boss.

Duncan estimated there were at least fifty of the turtle people in the village.  He waited at the entrance to the village cavern until one of them saw him and raised the alarm.  About a dozen of the creatures rushed to attack him.  He Blinked into their midst and attacked with his spirit sword, sweeping it through multiple opponents, its echoes following.  He felt the blood poisoning take effect, and kept attacking until it made him nauseous, then removed the affliction and continued fighting.  I can’t keep removing that as soon as I feel it, or I’ll run out of mana.  But hells, that feels awful as it progresses.

He finished off the large group and looted them, then proceeded further into the village.  He Blinked on top of a hut to get a better look at the remaining creatures, lying down to remain unseen himself.  It appeared that they were organizing into three big groups.  One was staying close to the chief’s larger hut, and the other two were preparing to go out, probably to look for him.  There were about a dozen monsters in each group.  One of the two roaming groups headed straight for the passageway he’d arrived from, and the other started searching the village.

Duncan decided to give them a few minutes for the first group to go down the passageway and the second to move far enough away from the chief’s hut that he could ambush it without drawing the group guarding the chief.  He Blinked to another roof further from the chief’s hut and heard the sound of battle coming from the entrance passageway.  The monsters he’d been following heard it, too, and rushed to investigate.

Duncan summoned a sword and flew up to the ceiling, then advanced into the passage.  It was mayhem.  The first group of turtle men had run into a group of eight Sawiskin and had evidently been losing when the second dozen arrived.  The Sawiskin were blocking a narrow part of the tunnel with a line of three wielding tridents and shields.  The turtle men were pelting them with salt and poisoning their blood, Duncan assumed.  Others were trading spear thrusts with the front line of the Sawiskin.  Mages in the back lines of the Sawiskin were attacking with those water jets that had pierced Duncan’s armor when he fought them.  The shells over the turtles’ bellies fared no better, and several were already down.

The Sawiskin healers could evidently remove the poison, too, for none of their troops were falling.  Duncan started stunning Sawiskin with Mind Spikes – eight would be a real challenge for him, so he wanted to help the turtle men reduce the odds somewhat.  Two of the turtle men tucked their heads and limbs inside their shells and propelled themselves into the Sawiskin back lines, the sharp edges of their shells slicing up the Sawiskin casters but the effect was minimal as the watery armor the Sawiskin used blunted the attack.  The front line of the turtle men took advantage of the stunned Sawiskin to cut down one of the front shieldbearers.

It still looked to Duncan like the Sawiskin were going to wipe the turtle men out, so he Blinked behind the back line of the Sawiskin and attacked one of the two healers from behind.  His Spirit Sword and its echoes took the creature in the back, and it shuddered but didn’t turn, focused on the creatures ahead.  Spirit damage really is insidious. It doesn’t realize I’m hitting it.  He hit it twice more and it died without ever knowing he was there.

As it fell, the other healer let out a loud hiss, and several of the Sawiskin turned to look.  When they saw Duncan, there was a clear panic as they tried to get away from this strong new attacker but were hemmed in by the turtle men.  One of the casters gestured and a wall of water sprang up between Duncan and the Sawiskin.  He stabbed the remaining healer through a fold in space, his spirit sword and its echoes doing their subtle work.  Its health dropped by a third according to his Assessment.

The Sawiskin pushed hard at the turtle men, trying to break out of the trap.  They probably assume there’s a whole group of humans on this side.  Duncan continued to hit the healer with his spirit blade through a fold in space. Belatedly, it realized it was dying and healed itself.  Duncan hit it with a Mind Spike and another two sword attacks, and it dropped.

Without healers to remove the blood poison from the turtle men, the tide of the battle changed.  The Sawiskin moved away from the wall of water between them and Duncan, so he summoned a sword to fly on and Blinked through the wall, appearing near the ceiling of the tunnel.  The Sawiskin had broken through the turtle men line and pushed into the cavern itself, but they were not looking healthy.  All but one were staggering drunkenly under the effects of the blood poison.  There were still eight turtle men attacking them.

Two of the Sawiskin used their water jet Technique, and then there were six turtle men remaining.  Duncan dropped down behind a turtle man and struck it through its shell.  It slumped, and a second thrust finished it off.  The turtle men completely ignored Duncan, focusing entirely on the Sawiskin.  Maybe some sort of racial hatred?  I may as well not be here as far as they’re concerned.  He killed another, and the two Sawiskin mages took down two more.  Then Duncan Blinked behind the Sawiskin and killed one of the mages, weakened as it was by the blood poison.

The remaining Sawiskin attacked Duncan, but they were very weak by this point, and couldn’t hurt him.  He killed the remaining mage, and the turtle men finished the shieldbearers.  Duncan promptly killed them.  That was convenient, he thought as he looted them. Twenty-four turtle men and eight Sawiskin, and I was barely scratched.

That left the group of twelve guarding the chief’s hut, plus the chief and any bodyguards he had inside the hut.  If the chief and his guards didn’t come out to help the others, he should be able to handle them relatively easily.  So, after recovering his mana and health, he approached the remaining turtle men guards and Blinked into their midst.  The fight went as he’d expected, with him having to remove the blood poison three times over the course of the fight, but he was in no danger of running out of mana, and the turtle men fell to his spirit sword.

He moved to a shuttered window on the chief’s hut and peered inside.  He could see enough of the room to Blink in, so he did.  The turtle man chief and two bodyguards leapt to attack him.  They were bigger and stronger than the other turtle men had been, but they had no new Techniques to offer, and the battle felt a bit anticlimactic to Duncan.  There was a small treasure chest behind the chief’s throne, and Duncan stored that along with their weapons.

Duncan returned to the dungeon entrance with no further trouble.  He pulled out a flying sword, and went through the portal, then Blinked straight up three times in a row before mounting his sword.  Looking down, he saw no Sawiskin ambush, or indeed any Sawiskin at all.  So they won’t even know what killed their groups.

Chapter 7

Night had fallen, so he flew straight back to the Academy, skirting Lanport so as not to draw the ire of the guards by flying over the city.  He flew directly to the window of his room on the top floor of the student dormitory and Blinked in.  Cassandra and Amelia were sitting on Cassandra’s bed talking.  They screamed when he appeared covered in monster blood and fully armored.

He dismissed his armor and said “I’m sorry!  It’s just me.”

“Duncan!” hissed Amelia, “You bastard!  You scared the shit out of us.”  She was shaking.

“I wasn’t thinking,” he said.  “I thought I’d pop in and go to the bath without anyone noticing.  I should have realized that with classes tomorrow, people would be in the dorms by now.”

The door opened and David entered. “Oh, hi Duncan, how was your day?”

“It was great, but I just scared the ladies when I arrived.  I’m going to run to the baths to clean up.  I’m sorry, again, ladies.”  Duncan beat a hasty retreat out the door and to the baths where he cleaned up.  The baths were kept clean by a clever set of enchanted runes, which was fortunate since he was adding blood and gore to the mix.  When he was done, he took his armor and clothes to the laundry tub and cleaned them thoroughly.  He stored them in his armband and returned to his room, knocking lightly before entering.

“Oh, now he knocks,” said Cassandra.

“I am very sorry. I will knock on the window next time before I enter.”

“I thought you were joking when you said you could fly and teleport,” said Amelia.

Duncan shrugged, “You don’t believe you can’t hurt me, either.”

“Wait,” said David, “weren’t you level seventy-five this morning?”

Duncan checked his soulgem, “Oh I must have leveled in the dungeon today.”

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

76 (+1)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

222 (+3)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

202 (+2)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

205 (+3)

Endurance:

223 (+2)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

2

Health:

19660 (+240)

Health Regen:

10640/hour (+140)

Stamina:

2990 (+30)

Stam Regen:

26600/hour (+350)

Mana:

15627 (+174)

Mana Regen:

5700/hour (+40)

Mana Reserved:

401

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

weak

Fire

weak

Poison

negligible

Air

weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

weak

Ice

weak

Earth

moderate

Decay

weak

Stone

moderate

Soul

moderate

Lightning

weak

Corrosion

negligible

Gemstone

moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

weak

Shadow

moderate

Metal

moderate

Blood

negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Blade Echo

7

Tempered Blade

7

Fold Space

5

Regeneration

6

Blink

6 (+1)

Coagulation

4

Mind Spike

5

Hardened Skin

5

Destrin's Restoration

4

Tranquil Mind

3

Flying Sword

3

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

2

Personal Space Pocket

4

Remove Affliction

2

Ignore Pain

4

Shadow Sight

3

Assessment

3

Skills

Rank

1H swords

5

Plate armor

3

2H swords

4

Mail armor

1

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

3

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Oh, that’s neat.  I don’t have to see where I’m going when I Blink now.  I can Blink through doors and things if I assume there’s nothing on the other side.  I get pushed to the nearest empty space if I try to teleport into a solid object, with a large mana cost penalty.  And water’s treated the same as air.  It never occurred to me today that I couldn’t Blink underwater.  And the mana cost is down to twenty per Blink, and the range up to a hundred and sixty meters.  That’s awesome.

“You actually went to a dungeon on your rest day?” Cassandra asked.  “We thought you were just avoiding us.”

Duncan laughed.  “Do any of you believe anything I say?  I haven’t lied to any of you about anything.”

“You spout some premium horseshit though,” said Amelia.  “You say we can’t hurt you.  What do you mean, exactly?”

Duncan decided to open up a little bit.  “I have an outstanding Body affinity and an obscene regeneration rate.  And rank five Hardened Skin.  And, not to be rude, but you’re all weak.  I’m not sure you could push a blade through my flesh even without those things.”  He pulled a dagger out of a storage item.  “Go ahead and try.”

Amelia looked skeptical, but Cassandra grabbed the dagger and stabbed him in the belly.  It didn’t so much as break his skin.  “Enchanted shirt?” she asked.

Duncan stored his shirt. “Try again.”

All of them had a try, even using their own weapons in case his dagger was enchanted not to penetrate.  Amelia was able to break his skin, but not draw blood.  The others couldn’t even do that much.

“So,” Duncan said in the awkward silence that followed, “what did you guys do today?”

“We went shopping in the city,” sighed Amelia.

“I went out with some local fishermen to get back on a boat,” said David.

“Did you go to the Academy training dungeon?” asked Cassandra.  “I hear it’s hard to get a spot in a group on rest days because the third and second years get priority access.”

“I’ve not been to that one yet, no.  But I’ve asked if I can go while no one else is there.  I’m hoping to get some overnight slots.  But no, I went to a dungeon that I understand is something of a secret.  It’s rated level ninety and apparently has a high casualty rate, so they don’t tell anyone about it.”  If other folks ran into that fire-breathing turtle, I can understand the casualty rate.

“How did you find a group to take a level seventy-five warrior to a dungeon rated level ninety?” asked David.

Duncan grimaced, “I’m a solo delver.  I didn’t go with a group.”

“I know you’re considered some kind of freak by the staff,” said Cassandra, “but soloing a dungeon rated for four level ninety adventurers at level seventy-five sounds impossible.  What did you fight in there?”

“Monsters that looked like turtles that walked upright and used spears, had some weird poison Technique, and could retract their limbs into their shells and shoot themselves at me.  And some giant transparent crayfish with a mental attack and insanely strong piercing limbs.  Plus, some fish and eels and aquatic lizard men, and other stuff like that.”

“And what loot did you get?” asked David.

“A large pile of weapons and a couple of treasure chests. I haven’t actually looked at the treasure – it’s not wise to browse in the dungeon.”

“Well, whip it out, big boy, let’s see what you’ve got,” said Cassandra.

“Show us the treasure, Duncan,” added Amelia.

“We are still talking about the loot, right?” Duncan said.  He produced the small chest from the turtle men chieftain.  “This could be trapped.  You might want to step out of the room.”

“Stand in front of it and we’ll stand behind you so you can block anything that’d hit us,” directed Cassandra.

“Alright.”  Duncan blocked their view of the chest and flipped the lid open.  A putrid green gas filled the room in an instant.  “Shit!”  He stored the chest again, then stepped to the window and kicked it out of its frame.  He removed his affliction, then touched each of his roommates in turn, removing their afflictions as well.  They had all collapsed in the few seconds since they’d been exposed to the gas.  He tossed Amelia over his shoulder, then picked up David and Cassandra, kicked open their door and carried them to the baths.  His Assessment showed they were no longer afflicted, and they weren’t injured.  They were simply unconscious.

Fortunately, the baths were empty at this late hour, so he didn’t have to deal with anyone panicking about the three nobles he carried in.  After a few minutes during which Duncan began to question his Assessment Technique, Cassandra woke up, followed quickly by the other two.  “What happened?” she asked.

“Poison gas trap on the chest.  It knocked you out, but no harm done.  You can visit the healer if you like, though.  You probably should, for your own peace of mind.  I brought you all here while the room airs out.  I may have broken the window and the door, though, so I’ll go talk to student services about getting them repaired while you guys see the healer.”

“What was in the chest?” asked David.

“No idea; I stored it when the gas started pouring out.  I’ll open it somewhere safer.  I should never have opened it here at all.”

“My fault,” said Cassandra.  “I shouldn’t have asked to see the loot in the first place.”

“I appreciate the thought, but it’s on me.  I’ll see you folks when you get back from the healer – I’m going to see a man about a replacement door and window.”  We’re on the top floor, so if I Blink way up, I should be free and clear.  With a thought, he was over a hundred meters above the student building.  He pulled a sword out of his storage and flew down to Student Services to pay for a new door and window.

The next day at sword practice with Master deBouteville, she asked if he’d visited a dungeon on his rest day.  “I did,” Duncan replied.  “The Sawiskin dungeon feels very useful for training several of my Techniques.  I’m going to try to go back there as often as I can.”

“How long were you in, and how far did you get?  Did you run into any Sawiskin?”

“All day, and I cleared it.  The fire-breathing giant turtle was so much harder than the turtle man chieftain.  Yes, for Sawiskin, I ran into a group of five and a group of eight.”

She laughed.  “You cleared it on your first try.  Well, I guess that makes me feel less bad about losing to you.  What were you saying about a giant turtle?  I’ve never heard of a giant turtle in there.”

“I thought it was a rare spawn.  About twenty meters long, and it breathed a jet of white fire that hit harder than anything I’ve ever experienced.”

“That sounds like a flame turtle.  But I wouldn’t take a group of five level one hundreds against a flame turtle, given the choice.”

“I spent more than an hour on its back, whittling it down a little at a time.  It tried a few tricks to get me, and I almost died a couple of times, but Blink is a really useful Technique against a creature like that,” Duncan explained.

“How did you even hurt it through its shell?” Lena asked.

“Oh, I didn’t show all my tricks in our fight,” Duncan grinned, pulling out his Spirit Sword.  “This ignores all physical armor and does spiritual damage.  It’s hard to tell you’re being hurt.  Although it did notice.”

Lena shook her head, “Such a diverse build.  And so effective.  Alright, let’s get back to turning you into a swordsman to match your build…”

Master Guilford also noticed his advancement when Duncan arrived for his evening longsword class. “I see you are still working on your progression, even whilst in school.  That is admirable.  Now take your guard, we need to work on your halfswording.”

***

A day later, Duncan arrived at the Adventurers Guild to sell the loot he’d taken from the dungeon.  He had opened the two treasure chests on the roof of the student dorm.  The small chest from the chieftain contained fifty gold worth of mixed coins and a pair of Technique Stones.  The huge chest from the giant turtle contained almost five hundred gold, dozens of gemstones, several of which were enchanted and possibly Technique Stones, two rings, a necklace, half a dozen weapons including a gorgeous longsword, and some nice pieces of armor.  On top of that, he had all the weapons and gear from the turtle men and Sawiskin to sell.

The longsword had a shadow affinity and had a chance to blind whomever it struck depending on the relative strength of the wielder’s shadow affinity compared to the target’s.  The guild offered him seven gold for it, but he needed a good longsword, so he kept it (mostly for its appearance, if he was being honest with himself).

One of the rings conveyed fire resistance (the wearer would take reduced damage from fire attacks, depending on the strength of the attacker’s fire affinity.  It would reduce a moderate affinity attack by fifty percent, but an outstanding affinity attack by only ten percent).  Garbage.  He sold it for three gold. The second ring was a fifty-slot storage device, which he also kept.  I have four storage items plus my Technique now.  But I don’t need gold at all, and I can use them as high-value trade items.  The necklace was great, though.  It made his Healing Techniques more mana efficient.  The guild offered him fifty gold for it, and he declined.

He sold all but one of the Sawiskin tridents.  The one he kept had dagger blades instead of tines, which let him use his Blade Techniques with it, and it used its wielder’s metal affinity to add an ongoing damage effect to wounds it inflicted by shedding metal splinters that worked their way into the wounds.  The Sawiskin all had rings of air breathing, which confused the appraiser when Duncan presented thirteen of them.  He sold them for two gold total.

The gear and weapons from the turtle men weren’t worth anything to him or to the guild.  They gave him a single gold for the lot.

None of the Technique stones interested him, although he looked wistfully at the one that taught that water jet Technique that penetrated his armor so easily. He sold all of them for fourteen gold.

And none of the armor pieces were better than what he already had, because none of them had a self-repair enchantment.  One pair of gauntlets fascinated him, however.  They were identified as gauntlets of mace mastery, and they raised his mace skill by two ranks.  Are there sword versions of these gauntlets?  Because that feels like a big boost.  He kept the gauntlets in case he ever needed to switch to a mace for a fight.

He asked to see the item exchange list for a moment to look up sword mastery items.  There was a pair of leather gloves that he thought might fit under his gauntlets for twenty gold.  Or an actual pair of gauntlets of sword mastery for thirty gold.  He decided to hold off ordering anything until he’d had a chance to speak with his instructors about mastery items.

As he should have expected, the sword masters weren’t fond of items that artificially enhanced his sword skills.  “I can see the value in a dungeon, where you’re fighting monsters and need to never miss a parry, or something similar, but it just feels wrong to me,” said Master deBouteville. “You should focus more on sensing blades around you.  With your Blade affinity, you should always know exactly where your blade is, and where your opponent’s blade is.  I can sense every blade within ten meters of me when I’m fighting.  I rarely need my blade ward because I’m always moving away from where I sense your blade is going.”

Master Guilford felt much the same way, “Training with the sword is a lifelong journey.  It is the journey itself that matters more than the destination.  For me, I would feel cheated that I had missed out on part of the journey were I to use a shortcut item like that.  But I don’t deal with the sort of stresses you do in your unsupported dungeon runs.  I can understand the appeal for you, and as long as you don’t wear them whilst training, I won’t object to you using them in dungeons.”

Chapter 8

The next two months passed quickly for Duncan.  He was able to delve the Sawiskin dungeon sixteen more times, going overnight on random nights so that he wasn’t always going at a predictable time and day.  Even so, the Sawiskin had set up a guard station outside the dungeon entrance, suspecting that someone else was going in and killing their adventurers and looting their dungeon.  He had to sneak in by flying in from the back side of the entrance and ducking in from the top on several occasions.

He didn’t encounter the flame turtle again, but he did have several good fights with unusual monsters.  A massive crab that had an incredibly high resistance to spiritual damage and a ridiculously tough carapace took him two hours to kill, as he had to lop off its legs and chisel a hole in its shell while it continually belched poisonous gas at him.

A watery giant with a club bigger than Duncan shared the Sawiskin water affinity and techniques coupled with a massive reach and strong melee attacks.  Duncan’s momentum-absorbing shield and Blink served him really well in that fight, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

He had to flee from a hydra – it regenerated too fast for him to kill it alone, and it had too many attacks for him to avoid them all.  He ran through half his mana in under two minutes and the hydra was still unharmed, so he Blinked away until it stopped following him.

A giant octopus with a Mind attack and clouds of inky darkness tested his limits as well.  It grabbed him several times and stripped his sword away, forcing him to Blink to safety and pull replacements out of storage.  He ended that fight with a sliver of mana remaining and it took him an hour to find his missing swords in the muck at the bottom of the flooded cavern where the octopus lived.

His training with both his swordmasters progressed well.  With Master deBouteville consistently demonstrating her phenomenal Blade Sense for Duncan, he started to understand what she was doing and how she was doing it.  But he was astonished to see it appear as an eleventh passive Technique in his soul gem’s information display.  The guild said there was a hard cap of ten Active and ten Passive Techniques, and that the last few of each could only be learned by Technique Stone.  I remember Repdam being less definitive when he told me about the limits, though.  I really hope I haven’t cannibalized an active slot to gain this extra Passive slot.  Either way, I’m sure Blade Sense will really help against a lot of humanoid monsters, so I cannot complain.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

81 (+5)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

232 (+10)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

213 (+11)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

216 (+11)

Endurance:

234 (+11)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3 (+1)

Health:

20880 (+1220)

Health Regen:

11340/hour (+700)

Stamina:

3150 (+160)

Stam Regen:

28350/hour (+1750)

Mana:

16502 (+875)

Mana Regen:

5900/hour (+200)

Mana Reserved:

401

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Moderate

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Blade Echo

7

Tempered Blade

7

Fold Space

5

Regeneration

6

Blink

6

Coagulation

5 (+1)

Mind Spike

5

Hardened Skin

5

Destrin's Restoration

4

Tranquil Mind

4 (+1)

Flying Sword

4 (+1)

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

2

Personal Space Pocket

4

Remove Affliction

3 (+1)

Ignore Pain

4

Shadow Sight

3

Assessment

3

Blade Sense

1 (+1)

Skills

Rank

1H swords

7 (+2)

Plate armor

4 (+1)

2H swords

5 (+1)

Mail armor

1

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

3

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Three concurrent active techniques means I can use blade echo through a fold in space whilst flying. And my sword training is paying off.  With my Flying Sword Technique up to rank four, Master deBouteville wants to start including aerial combat.  Blinking while flying and attacking sounds wonderful.  The sword will stick to my feet now, but I don’t get the wind barrier for another rank yet.

***

“You’re coming into the city with us tomorrow, Duncan.  No excuses.” Amelia said.  Two months into the term, the only students whose names Duncan knew were his roommates.  Cassandra was still a social magnet at every meal, but the people who approached their table to talk to her knew by this point that Duncan wasn’t interested in them or what they had to say.  I really should be nicer to these three – they’ve made every effort to make me feel welcome here.

“Alright.  What are we doing?” he asked.

“We’ve been discussing it all week!” exclaimed Cassandra.  “Were you not listening at all?”

“I was listening, I just don’t remember any of it,” he said with a shrug.

“But he remembers every moment of his fight with that octopus,” laughed David.  “We are going to pick up Cassie’s new armor, and shop around the blacksmiths, then going for lunch at Beothuk’s, where we had to book a reservation weeks in advance, then we need to be fitted for new clothes for the midsummer ball.  Which is mandatory attendance for students, so that includes you, too.”

“Sounds great,” Duncan said.  Maybe I can work on my meditation.  Or practice my assessment.  “Say, I know you guys were looking at getting into the Academy dungeon sometime.  Do you have a slot yet?”

“You’re a bad influence, Duncan.  My parents are quite annoyed that I’m concerned about advancing my Techniques while I’m in school here.  So far only David’s managed to advance something from training,” said Cassandra.

“We haven’t gotten a slot yet,” said David.  “I don’t really have any gear suited to dungeons, so I haven’t really been trying very hard, honestly.  I’ve advanced mostly through patrolling the family lands with our guards, fighting monsters and outlaws.  I wear leather armor so I won’t immediately sink if I fall off the boat, and my sword’s an old cavalry saber.”

“Oh,” said Duncan.  “You should have said something.  I could equip you with gear I find in the dungeon.  I just dump it all on the Adventurers Guild.”  He looked at the women, “Do either of you need gear?”

“I can’t afford to buy gear from you,” David said, flushed with shame.  “My family can barely afford to send me here and dress me in acceptable clothes so I don’t shame them in front of other families.”

“I don’t know how to say this without sounding insensitive or braggadocious,” said Duncan, “so I’m just going to say it.  I have more gold than I know what to do with, and I get lots every time I delve a dungeon.  You three are the only people I know here, and you’ve always been good to me, in a slightly annoying social way.  I am happy to give you gear. Not sell, give.  And if you can find a decent healer, I will escort you through the Academy dungeon so you can advance your Techniques and get some spending money of your own.  You won’t advance fast with me there, but when I started delving, I had high-level escorts, and I did okay.”

“The Taggarts are an old family, a proud family.  They would disown me if they heard I was taking charity,” said David.

“Gods save me from the prideful,” sighed Duncan.  “How about this:  I will lend you some gear for some dungeon runs and you can buy it off me with the loot you take from your dungeon delves? Or you can return it and buy something else.”

“I, uh, I guess that would be okay,” said David.

“Right, I haven’t sold anything from the last few runs yet because it wastes hours traveling through town on foot to visit the Adventurers Guild and I have oodles of storage space.  So, you use a sword by preference?” asked Duncan.

“Yes.”

Duncan pulled three swords out of storage and tossed them on his bed. “Do you have a specific affinity you want to match?”

“Water?” David said.

“That’s convenient.  Most of the monsters in the dungeon are water affinity.  Oh, I can’t identify any of this stuff other than to see if it’s enchanted or not.  Do any of you know if there’s an appraiser on-site here?”

“There’s not,” said Amelia.

“Ok, then we go into the city a couple of hours early in the morning and you guys accompany me while I get all the loot identified at the guild,” said Duncan, storing the swords again.  “Do either of you ladies need anything?  Amelia, you’re a longsword user – I don’t suppose you have a shadow affinity?”

“No, why?” she replied.

Duncan summoned the longsword of the shadows from his storage device. “I mostly keep this because it’s so pretty, but it’s a good sword if you have a shadow affinity.  It can blind the people it hits.”

“Wow, that is a gorgeous sword!” Amelia gushed.  “Can I try it?”

“Sure,” Duncan shrugged, “but you can’t keep it unless you have a strong or outstanding shadow affinity.”

While Amelia drooled over the longsword, Duncan turned to Cassandra, “Anything you need?”

“I appreciate the thought,” she said, “But my family provides, as you’ll see when I pick up my new armor tomorrow.”

“Alright.  We leave at six bells for the Adventurers Guild.  All of you should get some sleep.”  He confiscated the longsword from Amelia and went to perform his evening ablutions.

***

At six bells, Duncan ushered his roommates out of the student dorm.  “I don’t suppose you guys have a movement Technique?” he asked.

“I can swim really fast,” David grinned.

Huge white wings appeared behind Cassandra’s shoulders.  “I can fly,” she said.

“Nice,” said Duncan.  He turned to Amelia, who shook her head.  “I can carry you both.”  He knelt and held his arms out.  “Each of you sit on my shoulder, and I’ll hold your legs.”

Amelia and David looked at him, aghast. “Don’t make me toss you over my shoulders – it’ll be way more comfortable if you sit,” he said.  Hesitantly, they did as he requested, and he gripped their legs, stood up, summoned a sword under his feet, and rose into the air.  Amelia shrieked a little.  David shrieked more than a little.  But they both settled down as he just hovered, holding them easily.

Cassandra flew up beside him, “Just how strong are you?”

“More than strong enough for this,” he said, flying at a relatively sedate pace towards the city.  No point in going slower than we could run, but no need to terrify the passengers either, not that I can fly all that much faster than I can run.  He landed out of view of the city gates, and they joined the early morning queue to enter the city, mostly farmers with carts of produce to sell.

Once inside, they hurried to the Adventurers Guild hall and Duncan led them down to the appraisal room.  The privacy seal in place, Duncan said, “I’d like to start by depositing some gold to my account.”  He summoned a thousand gold from his Pocket Space, making it appear in neat stacks on the counter.  David’s eyes bugged out.  The appraiser swept the coins into a guild storage device and credited Duncan’s account.

He followed up with hundreds of spears and dozens of tridents, getting just over a gold for the entire lot of them.  He shrugged at his roommates, “I know they’re not worth much, but it’s easier to store them all in case one is enchanted than to check each one while I’m in the dungeon.  I have a lot more storage space than I have spare time in there.”

Next, he pulled out the swords he’d shown them the night before.  The appraiser said, “Sword, metal affinity, additional damage for metal affinity wielders.  The guild can offer you two gold.  Sword, fire affinity, channel mana through it to produce a stream of fire.  Damage scales with mana channeled.  The guild can offer you twenty gold for it.  Sword, poison affinity.  Poisons the target with an ongoing low damage effect.  The guild can offer you five gold for it.”

Duncan turned to David, “Not a great selection.  Pick one and if I get something more suitable later, you can swap it out.”  David took the cheapest option.

Duncan dumped a pile of enchanted weapons on the counter.  The appraiser began, “Spear of the snake. Poison affinity.  Spear can strike around defenses and adds an ongoing damage effect to each attack.  The guild can offer you ten gold.  Dagger, Fire affinity. Adds fire damage to each attack, scales with affinity.  The guild can offer you two gold.  Rapier, air affinity.  Increases effective rank of wind blade attacks by two when wielded.  The guild can offer twenty gold for it.”

Cassandra coughed, “I can use that one.  I’ll buy it.”  Duncan passed it to her without comment.

“Crossbow, Stone affinity.  Generates stone ammunition.  The guild can offer five gold for it,” the appraiser continued.  “War axe, decay affinity. Adds a rotting ongoing damage effect to attacks, scaling with affinity.  The guild can offer five gold for it.”

David said, “That suits me better than this sword.”  Duncan slid the axe down the counter to him.

“Staff of flames. Fire affinity.  Adds fire damage to weapon attacks, increases the effective rank of fire spells by one.  The guild can offer twenty gold for it,” the appraiser continued.  “Battle Axe, Life affinity.  Increases wielder’s health by twenty percent.  The guild can offer twenty gold for it.  Dagger, Death affinity, damage scales with affinity.  The guild can offer two gold for it.  Maul, gravity affinity.  Weight of weapon can be modified instantly, scaling with affinity.  The guild can offer thirty gold for it.” Ooh that’s neat, you can swing a maul that weighs 2 kilograms and hit with a maul that weighs twenty kilograms.
“Dagger, Corrosion affinity.  Inserts acid into the wounds it creates for an ongoing damage effect.  Damage scales with affinity.  The guild can offer three gold for it.  Wind bow, Air affinity.  Dramatically increases range of missiles fired, increases missile damage.  Range and damage scale with affinity.  The guild can offer twenty gold for it.”

Cassandra said, “Damn it, that one’s for me, too.”  Duncan grinned as he handed it to her.

“Shield of Rescue, healing affinity.  Casts a heal on its bearer if the bearer falls unconscious, heal amount scales with affinity.  The guild can offer a hundred gold for it.”  Duncan whistled and set that one aside.  Probably not suitable for me, but that’s a literal lifesaver for a combat healer.  “Spear, nature affinity.  Additional damage scaling with affinity.  The guild can offer two gold.  Vampiric longsword, blood affinity.  Heals the wielder for a percentage of damage dealt.  Percentage scales with affinity.  The guild can offer eighty gold for it.”  Duncan glanced at Amelia, and she shook her head, so he left it in the pile to sell.

“That’s it for weapons.  Armor’s next.”  The appraiser swept up the weapons on the counter and Duncan added a small pile of armor to replace them.  David got a leather cap that increased his mental resistance and a pair of leather gauntlets that added five to his dexterity score.  Everything else went to the guild.

Duncan dumped a double handful of stones and gems on the counter.  “Technique stone: water jet.  Water affinity, fires a jet of water at a target.  Damage scales with rank and affinity.  Uncommon.  The guild can offer two gold for it.  Technique stone: water armor. Water affinity. Creates a suit of watery armor around the caster.  Effectiveness based on rank and affinity.  Uncommon. The guild can offer three gold for it.  Technique stone: Tranquil Mind.  Mind affinity.  Provides resistance to mental damage and effects. Uncommon.  The guild can offer four gold. Technique stone: water wings.  Water affinity. Allows for increased travel speed underwater. Uncommon.  The guild can offer two gold.  Technique stone: Salt leech.  Salt affinity. Removes salt from target’s body, rapidly weakening them and causing an ongoing damage effect.  Very rare.  The guild can offer one gold.  It’d be much more if Salt affinities weren’t incredibly rare.”  Aha, that’s the Sawiskin poison effect!  “Technique stone: Fireball.  Fire affinity. Shoots a ball of fire at a target. Damage and range scale with rank and affinity. Common.  The guild can offer fifty silver for it.  Technique Stone: Disrupt Armor.  Metal affinity. Creates a weak spot in the target’s metal armor.  Scales with rank and affinity.  Very rare.  The guild can offer ten gold for it.”  The list went on, with nothing else that appealed to anyone present.

“Do you want any or all of the water affinity Technique stones?” Duncan asked David.  He turned to Amelia, “And do you want the metal one?”

“I already have a water movement Technique,” David replied.  “The other two sound great, but I don’t know if I should add them.”

“Good point.”  Duncan tossed him the two Technique stones he was interested in.  “Consult your advisor, and if you don’t want them, give them back.”  He tossed the metal affinity one to Amelia, “Same with you – check with your advisor and if this is appropriate for your build, use it.”  He turned back to the appraiser, “I’ll sell the rest.”

Miscellaneous gear was next.  Duncan kept a cape that gave him fifty percent lightning resistance and a gourd that produced up to twenty liters of fresh water every day. The things I didn’t know I needed!

“Just add the proceeds from today to my account,” Duncan told the appraisal clerk.  He looked over his roommates.  Cassandra had stored her two weapons in her storage device and Amelia had only received a stone, but David had a weapon, two Technique stones, and two armor pieces to deal with.  Duncan handed David the fifty-slot storage ring he’d found on an earlier delve.  “Store your items in this.  You can give me the ring back when you get one of your own.”

“I can’t take this, Duncan.  Storage rings are rare and valuable,” David protested.

“They’re not rare in high-level dungeons,” Duncan replied.  “I’ve got four others, all bigger than that one.  I’ll never use it.  Sure, I could sell it to the guild for a bit more gold, but I’d rather see you put it to good use.”

“Take it, David,” Amelia said. “He’s just trying to be a good friend.”

David looked anxious. “I… thanks.  I’ll return it when I get a replacement.”

“Perfect!” said Duncan.  “Now let’s go terrorize some blacksmiths.”  He thanked the appraiser and led his roommates out onto the street.

Cassandra led them to a district with several smithies, tanneries, and alchemists. Noisy and smelly. Lovely.  She stopped at a relatively small smithy.  “Astrid is probably the best smith in the empire,” she said as she entered.

Duncan looked around, comparing the smithy to the one he knew from the Valley, and not seeing a lot of difference.  The Level 78 tradesman proprietor was a dwarven woman of indeterminate age wearing a thick leather apron over thick leather clothes.

“Young Cassie York!  I have a set of armor for ye as requested,” she said in a surprising soprano voice.  “One moment while I fetch it.”  She disappeared into a room in the back, returning a minute later with a set of mail armor which she placed on the counter.  “Mithril mail.  Lightweight, and enchanted for increased durability, as Her Grace your mother requested.”

Cassandra stored her clothes and equipped a padded gambeson from her storage, then put the armor on.  “It is very light, and it fits perfectly,” she said.  She dismissed it into her storage device and summoned it back onto her body.  “This will work very well.  Thank you.  I assume my mother has already sent payment?”

“That she did.  Is there anything else I help ye with?”

“Actually,” said Duncan, “I’ve been wearing the same set of armor since I first began delving dungeons and I would really like to replace it with something stronger.”

“I am capable of making some very good armor indeed.  What is your budget?” the smith asked.

“Two thousand gold, maybe?” Duncan said.  His roommates made various strangled noises and Astrid’s eyes widened in surprise.  “What?  Good armor is expensive.  I’m not going to get myself killed for lack of good armor just to hang on to some extra coin.”  He summoned his armor onto the counter.  “This is my current armor.  It’s served me well, but many of the monsters I fight are able to tear through it relatively easily these days.”

Astrid examined the armor carefully.  “Hardened Truesteel, with an enchantment to reduce the weight and another for self-repair.  The self-repair enchantment is like nothing I’ve ever seen.  Is it as effective as I suspect?”

“You can appraise? A flame turtle burned a couple of holes through it two months ago.  It was good as new half an hour later, but I did have to feed it a lot of mana.  That’s not an unusual occurrence, although most things don’t do as much damage to it as flame turtle fire,” Duncan confirmed.

“Of course I can appraise.  It’s a necessary Technique for a master crafter of any kind,” said the smith. “It’s like your armor knows the shape and condition it’s supposed to be in and uses the mana you provide to regrow itself.”

“I have a Healing Technique that works much the same way,” said Duncan.  “Can you make me better armor that will stand up to monsters in dungeons rated at level one hundred and above?  Weight is not a concern with my current level of advancement.”

Astrid stroked her chin, “I can make much stronger armor than Truesteel, given the materials.  It is the self-repair where I’ll fall short.  I’m a competent enchanter of metal, but I don’t know anyone who could replicate the enchantment you have, at least not without deconstructing your armor to learn it.”

“That’s an option I’ve not heard before,” said Duncan.  “It may come to that.  In the not-too-distant future, this armor’s not going to provide any meaningful protection against the monsters I fight, no matter how often I can repair it.”

“My master could, perhaps, solve the issue.  But it would cost far more than two thousand gold and would depend on your affinities.  He is one of the few smiths alive who can create living armor.  If you’re able to bond to it, you could heal it when you heal yourself.  But there are few people able to bond to living armor and heal it.  You would need an affinity for the material, an affinity that lets you build a bond, and a healing affinity to heal it,” Astrid said.

“Oh?” said Duncan.  “I have a lot of affinities but no strong affinities for what I’d consider armor materials.  And what affinities would work for bonding?”

“Armor can be made from rare earths, stone, gemstone, or metal.  You’d need a Blood, Mind, or Spirit affinity to bond with it, and the Healing affinity.  All those affinities contribute to your ability to heal the armor,” Astrid said.

Duncan nodded, “I’d definitely be interested in speaking with your master, in that case.”

“As I mentioned, the cost would be very high.  My master is Olsen Smith, and to see him, you’ll need to perform a great service for the dwarven people or provide some truly legendary material for him to craft with.  He will explain what else is needed, should you be able to speak with him.  I’m sorry I cannot be of more immediate help for you with armor.  It would have been nice to work with some of the more advanced metals again.”

Duncan sighed and stored his armor away.  What I have will have to do until I can find the Valley again, or another smith and enchanter as good as we have back home.  “Thank you for the information.  It’s more than I had yesterday.”

“Is there anything a wee bit less extravagant I can do for any of the rest of ye?” Astrid asked.  No one else needed anything further, so they took their leave.

“I need a sheathe for this new rapier,” said Cassandra once they were outside.  “And David will need a hanger for his new axe.  We should check a leatherworker while we’re in the area.  And Duncan, I will write to my mother to secure payment for you for the rapier and bow.”

“Only if you need to salve your noble pride,” Duncan replied.  “I’m happy to see the loot I find put to good use, and I really don’t need a few more coins.”

“Very well,” said Cassandra, “I accept your gifts, and will put the items to good use.”

Amelia poked David, “See how easy that was?”  David blushed and said nothing.  Wealth and charity were obviously touchy subjects for him.

Chapter 9

A quick stop at a leatherworker got Cassandra a sheathe and hanger for her rapier, which she immediately strapped to her side, and David a hanger for his new axe.  Then it was off to lunch at a fancy restaurant called Beothuk’s.  Apparently, it was all the rage with the high society people.  The food was good, but the portions small and expensive.  Duncan didn’t think he’d come back.  While they ate, Duncan quizzed his roommates about their dungeon preparedness. “So you all have adequate gear for a dungeon run of an appropriate level now?”  All three nodded.  “And you’ve got Techniques to carry you through?”

Cassandra and Amelia nodded confidently, but David looked despondent.  “My Techniques are aimed at campaigning with troops or sailors. I don’t have much in the way of specific combat Techniques.”  He shared his soulgem information with them.

Name:

David Taggart

Class:

Mage

Level:

23

Profession:

Str (Body):

42

Int (Static):

60

Dex (Body):

42

Wis (Mind, Spirit):

55

Agi (Body):

44

End (Body):

46

Concurrent Active Techniques:

1

Health:

2759

Health Regen:

144/hour

Stamina:

690

Stam Regen:

1438/hour

Mana:

5175

Mana Regen:

2013/hour

Affinities:

Body

Weak

Ice

Weak

Water

Strong

Decay

Moderate

Corrosion

Weak

Spirit

Weak

Mind

Moderate

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Water Wings

4

Water Sense

4

Touch of Rot

4

Ignore Pain

2

Purify Water

4

Whirlpool

2

Rainfall

2

Skills

Rank

1H swords

2

Riding

3

1H axes

2

Sailing

4

Leather Armor

2

Navigation

3

Swimming

4

Shields

1

Leadership

2

Tactics

2

“If I were you, I’d use the two Technique stones you’re holding,” said Duncan. “You’ve got no defensive power, and no ranged attack. Also, take the Regeneration passive.  Even with a weak affinity, you can get it to rank four, and that will really help your recovery after a fight.  And there’s a Decay Technique that summons a cloud of gas that decays everything in it. It’s quite strong.  That said, by all means wait for your advisor’s advice.”

He paused, then said, “Am I being too pushy in encouraging you guys to delve to gain strength?  I know the Academy is a finishing school for leaders rather than a school to produce adventurers.”

“It feels a bit weird after you’ve essentially avoided us for two months,” said Amelia. “And now you’re giving us gear and wanting to escort us through a dungeon.”

Duncan shrugged.  “That’s a valid viewpoint.  From my perspective, you’ve been trying to be nice to me, and I’ve been pretty indifferent, so I decided to try to be nice back.  You’ve taken me shopping, which is your idea of fun, maybe?  So I’m offering to take you delving, which is my idea of fun.”

“You are a strange man, Duncan of the Valley,” said Cassandra.  “We should go to our fittings now.”  What did I do to deserve this torture?

They paid for lunch and entered the carriage Cassandra had waiting for them outside the restaurant to take them to the tailor.  As they rattled down the street, Duncan tried to listen politely to the conversation the others were having.  The carriage came to a stop, and the driver jumped down to talk to Cassandra.  “I’m sorry, Countess, but I can’t proceed any further.  There seems to be a large commotion ahead.  The road’s completely blocked by people running towards us.”

Duncan stuck his head out and sure enough, there were hundreds of people in the road rushing towards them.  That’s not normal.  He stepped out of the carriage and equipped his armor and weapons.  As the crowd surged past, he could hear people screaming about monsters.  He stuck his head back into the carriage and said, “I’m going to investigate.  I suggest you prepare for trouble, or head back to the Academy.  There’s no way he’s turning the carriage around, though, so you’ll need to abandon it.”

The screaming from outside grew more intense.  “Take me with you,” said Amelia.  “I want to help if I can.”  Metal armor grew out of her skin and she summoned her sword from her storage.  Ok, that’s a neat armor Technique!

Cassandra nodded and equipped her armor and new rapier. “We can’t run away.”

David sighed, and said, “I’ll come but I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”  He pulled his new armor pieces and axe out of his new storage ring and equipped it all.

They stepped out into the press of people.  The runners were looking more ragged.  Several people had fallen and been trampled.  Duncan stepped onto a sword, grabbed David and Amelia by the waists and rose above the crowd, heading in the direction they were fleeing from.  Cassandra flew alongside him.  In only a few minutes they reached the trailing edge of the crowd.

Bells rang out ahead, and the alarm was picked up by more and more bells all over the city.  “What’s that for?” Duncan asked.

“It’s the emergency alarm, calling the militia and guards out and warning everyone else to take cover,” said Amelia. “Something big is happening.”

A few blocks later, they saw the cause of the alarm.  Hundreds of zombies were swarming down the streets.  Duncan cast a Bladestorm that completely blocked the road and chewed up dozens of the monsters.  “I’m going to look for the source,” he said.  “Do you want me to drop you here to fight these, or do you want to come along?”

“We’re with you,” said Cassandra.

They flew over the horde of zombies, then Amelia said, “It’s the graveyard!  They’re coming from the city’s graveyard.”  She pointed, and Duncan picked up speed.

“Wait!” shouted David.  “Over there, a guard post is being overrun.”  They could see several guards fighting to hold off more than a score of zombies led by some undead warriors and mages.  Duncan dropped a Bladestorm on the monsters and kept going.  It shredded the zombies and greater undead alike.

They came to the graveyard, and saw the entrance guarded by some more dangerous undead.  Zombies were running out in groups of a dozen or so, but there were two tall skeletons wielding halberds guarding the entrance.  “Let’s test these, see what we’re dealing with.  I’ll take the left, you three take the right?  I’ll help if it’s scarier than it looks.”

He dropped Amelia and David off ten meters from the entrance and Blinked to the skeleton guard on the left.  He smashed his sword into its leg and bone chips flew but the joint held.  It snapped its halberd down in a diagonal cut at his head, and he blocked with his shield and countered with a cut to its ribs, shattering one.  “They’re quite strong!” he shouted.  “Be careful.”  He stored his metal sword and summoned his spirit sword, idly blocking the monster’s next halberd attack with his shield – except it disengaged under his block and smashed the blade into his knee.  Shit, that was careless.  Am I showing off?  His knee buckled a bit under the blow, but his armor and hardened skin held.

The second skeleton smashed an overhead blow at Amelia, and she blocked with a hanging parry.  The halberd slid off her sword and shattered a paving stone.  Her counter blow to the skeleton’s arm barely chipped the bone.  David struck it with his axe, and a creepy green miasma radiated from where his blade impacted the skeleton.  Cassandra sent a Wind Blade through the zombies coming out of the gate, cutting several apart.

Duncan swept his Spirit Sword through the skeleton and was pleased to see its health drop noticeably in his assessment.  It was still in “barely wounded” territory though.  The skeleton tried to parry his sword, but its spirit blade passed through the weapon as easily as it did the bones.  I may not be able to parry with this sword, but I can’t be parried, either.

The second skeleton kicked David in the chest, knocking him back five meters and sending him tumbling. Shit, I hope that didn’t kill him!  He’s very fragile. Duncan Blinked to appear in front of the second skeleton and swept his sword through it.  I have no means of gaining or holding their attention; I’m not a protector.  This is why I delve alone.  Well, that and I have no one to delve with.

The skeleton swept its halberd with the blade at ankle height.  If Duncan leapt over it, it would hit Amelia, so he took the hit and countered with another slash through the monster’s ribcage.  His feet were swept out from under him – he might be strong, but so was the skeleton, and his strength didn’t translate to much extra weight.  As he fell, he Blinked behind the skeleton, re-orienting himself to land on his feet.  A third swing of his sword and the monster was wounded rather than barely wounded.  I could take these comfortably if I didn’t have to worry about them killing my companions.  The skeleton’s swing had continued after it swept Duncan’s feet from under him and had done the same to Amelia.  It appeared that her metal armor had withstood the impact, but she was knocked down in front of it.

The first skeleton had closed the distance between them and thrust at Duncan’s side as it approached.  He blocked the attack with his shield and could only watch as the second skeleton brought its halberd down on the prone form of Amelia.  She blocked frantically with her longsword and used some sort of Technique that helped her direct the halberd head offline, so it missed her by a few centimeters.  She scrambled back as Cassandra hit the monster with a Wind Blade.

Duncan stepped between the second skeleton and Amelia, hitting it again.  That put his sword side to the first skeleton, but it couldn’t be helped.  It swung at him, and he used a fold in space to block the attack.  At rank five, he could form the folds almost instantly near his body.  He pressured the second skeleton, using his shield to steal the momentum from every move the skeleton made with its weapon.  He used folds in space to block the attacks from the first skeleton but focused his attacks on the second.

Cassandra and Amelia also kept their focus on the second skeleton, and together they whittled it down.  The first skeleton continued to attack Duncan, and he threw an occasional attack at it when his positioning allowed. He also used his Bladestorm to wipe out groups of zombies from time to time as they made their way out of the gates.  David didn’t move from where he’d fallen, and Duncan feared the worst.  Once the second skeleton finally fell to pieces, they turned their attention to the remaining one and it was easily taken down as well with Duncan smothering its attacks.  These things are strong and sturdy, but they have no Techniques.

David was still lying where he’d fallen.  Cassandra checked him the moment the skeletons fell, and shouted, “He’s alive.  We’ve got to get him to a healer.”  For a moment, Duncan wished he had a healing Technique that wasn’t self-only.  But that would only make sense if I were regularly operating with a group, and I simply don’t do that often.  He scooped up David’s body, and said, “Where do I find a healer?”

“There are a few healing orders with facilities in the city, but they may be overwhelmed.  Getting him to the College of Healing is probably the best bet, and I know where that is,” said Cassandra.  “Follow me.”  She flew up and hovered as Duncan adjusted his hold on David to free up one hand for Amelia.  We’ve gotta get her a flying Technique.

“Two more ranks in my Manipulate Metal Technique and I’ll be able to lift myself by my armor,” Amelia said, almost as though she’d read his mind.

Duncan followed Cassandra through the air to the College of Healing.  No one’s complaining about us flying, at least.  They landed in the courtyard, and a young Level 18 Healer ran up to them.  He used a healing technique on David without having to be asked.

“You two stay with David and help guard the college.  I’m going to go clear out whatever’s occupying that graveyard.  Maybe that’ll stop the zombies,” Duncan said.  He didn’t wait for a reply; he flew back to the graveyard at top speed.  He flew over occasional pockets of fighting but didn’t stop as the zombies were decrepit and incredibly weak.  The guards should be able to take them easily.  Hells, a shopkeeper with a broom should be able to take them easily.

The graveyard was large, perhaps a full square kilometer.  It had probably been quite pretty before thousands of zombies clawed their way out of their graves and invaded the rest of the city.  Now it was fields of broken ground with several dozen mausoleums scattered throughout.  It’s like an open-air dungeon.  Do I fly straight to the boss in the big mausoleum in the middle or do I learn all about the lesser monsters first?  It makes more sense to learn what I can before diving right in, I think.  I’ll check out at least a couple of the smaller mausoleums first.

Duncan dropped to the ground in front of the nearest mausoleum and entered through the already-opened door.  Several steps led down into a chamber which contained perhaps fifty small drawers where presumably less-important family members had been interred.  Those were all broken open and empty.  There was also an additional set of stairs leading down into another chamber below.  Duncan took the stairs and found a much larger room with several dozen alcoves in it, each containing an open coffin.  Yet more stairs led down at the far end of the room.

The new set of stairs led to an even bigger chamber containing an ornate shrine and two large biers. The room was as empty as the others had been.  A small doorway in the far corner was the only other exit.  Duncan moved to the doorway and saw a tunnel leading off into the distance.  There was enough light for Duncan’s Shadow Sight technique to function well, as a dim enchanted light was embedded in the ceiling every twenty meters or so.  Catacombs?  This place really could be a dungeon.

He set out into the catacombs looking for any signs of activity or monsters.  It didn’t take him long to run into a guard – another one of the skeletons like the two outside the gate.  This one had a sword and shield instead of a halberd, which would doubtless have been awkward to wield in the cramped tunnels.  Without companions to protect, Duncan had no difficulty with it, blocking its attacks with his shield or folds in space, and sweeping his spirit sword right through its shield and into its body.  After it died, he stored its intact corpse in a storage device.  Maybe they’ll tell me what this is in Monster Identification class…

He encountered several more of what he was later told were bone guardians, storing their gear and bodies for later examination. He found another mausoleum and exit to the surface, but that wasn’t what he wanted, so he returned to the catacombs and kept exploring.  After an indeterminate length of time, he heard chanting from a chamber ahead.  Entering, he saw two skeletons in ornamented plate armor (bone knights, he’d later learn), and an undead with leathery flesh wielding a large staff, chanting over a pile of dead bodies in various stages of decay.  A deep red glow was rising from the pile, and the corpses were starting to move.

The two bone knights immediately rushed to attack Duncan while the undead animator (as he’d later learn it was called) continued to chant.  Duncan Blinked past the onrushing knights and swept his spirit sword through the animator.  The blade and its echoes did no visible damage, but Duncan’s Assessment Technique showed he’d done significant harm to the monster.  He had time to land two more swings before the bone knights recovered from their initial charge and engaged him.  They attacked in a coordinated fashion, flanking him, one swinging high on Duncan’s sword side, the other low to his shield side.

Duncan crouched to block the low attack with his shield, nullifying the blow’s momentum.  At the same time, he produced a fold in space to block the attack sword-side.  He took a fourth swing at the animator instead of countering either bone knight.  An intense red light rose from the pile of corpses, and they began clambering to their feet.

The bone knights attacked again, both moving more quickly than Duncan had expected.  He was able to block the shield-side attack but couldn’t generate a fold in space in time to prevent the other sword from clipping his helm.  His head was snapped to the side by the force of the blow, and his helm couldn’t protect him fully.  The blade made contact with his skull, and his head rang.  He didn’t bleed, thanks to his Coagulation Technique, and the bone didn’t crack.  But a black cloud began to encroach on the edge of his vision.

Duncan Blinked away and used his Bladestorm Technique to shred the pile of zombies.  The animator and bone knights were also struck, but the bone knights’ armor resisted the effects of the low-ranked Technique.  The animator, already badly wounded from Duncan’s earlier attacks, looked to be on the verge of death as it stumbled out of the area of effect.

Duncan’s Assessment Technique told him he was affected by an affliction called Impending Doom.  He took a moment to remove the affliction, then, as the bone knights reached him, he Blinked past them back to the animator and finished it off with another sweep of his spirit sword.  He stored the corpse and engaged the oncoming knights.

A Mind Spike injured and briefly stunned one of the knights, to Duncan’s surprise.  So they are thinking creatures, not just mindless undead.  Ghostly chains erupted around him, fastening him to the ground and sending an ominous chill through him as they drained his life.  He Blinked out of the chains, appearing behind the knight he’d briefly stunned, and cut through it with his spirit sword and its echoes.  It appeared slightly wounded to his assessment, and Duncan settled in for a battle of attrition.  The bone knights were very fast with their swords, and he was hard pressed to consistently block their attacks.  His new Blade Sense helped with understanding where he needed to place his folds in space to block attacks, but the bone knights were so fast that his new Technique struggled to keep up.

Still, he could remove the impending doom affliction, blink out of the draining chains, and heal the damage done by the attacks that got through his stout defense, and he wore the bone knights down.  He stored their gear and corpses and took a short rest to recover his mana fully.

The large room appeared to contain hundreds of burial nooks, doubtless where the corpses had come from.  There were three other exits, and Duncan chose the one at the opposite end from where he’d entered.  It was slightly wider than the rest of the catacomb tunnels had been, and soon opened into another burial chamber.  This one had already been emptied of its corpses, so he proceeded on, through several more empty chambers, until he came to an occupied room.  Two more Bone Knights stood protecting a doorway on the other side.

A quick repeat of the previous fight, and Duncan stored the corpses and moved on, until he came upon an enormous crypt.  In it, he saw six three-meter-tall bone monstrosities, each with four arms and four large weapons, plus eight bone knights and an undead mage seated on a bone throne addressing three undead animators.  The undead mage looked to be a dehydrated human, with an eerie green glow where its eyeballs should be.  Brittle shoulder length grey hair poked out from a hooded black velvet robe with intricate embroidery along the hems.

As soon as Duncan appeared in the doorway, two of the huge bone monstrosities rushed toward him along with two of the bone knights.  The mage on the throne gestured and an inky black beam spanned the distance between it and Duncan.  The pain was unbearable.  Duncan Blinked straight up as far as he could.  He appeared well above the graveyard, and promptly summoned a sword to fly on.  He checked his soulgem and saw that that single attack from the mage on the throne had taken three quarters of his health.  It did fifteen thousand damage to me with a single attack.  That is insane.

He used half his remaining mana to heal himself with Destrin’s Restoration, then flew back to the College of Healers where he’d left his roommates.  On the way, he stopped to help a small troop of city guards who were surrounded by a vast horde of zombies and a few undead warriors and mages.  He hovered directly above the guards and cast several Bladestorm techniques that utterly shredded the tightly packed undead.  “Do you have anyone in dire need of healing?  I’m flying to the College of Healers now and can carry a couple of people, if need be,” he called down to the guards.

“We’re ok,” shouted a grizzled guard. “They had us pinned down but couldn’t really do a lot to us.  Thanks for the assistance.  What’s your name, Warrior?”

“Duncan of the Valley.  I’m from the Academy of Steel.  The zombies seem to be coming from the graveyard, but there are some seriously nasty undead roaming around in there.”  Duncan waved at the troops and continued on toward the College of Healing.  He had to stop twice more to rescue civilians from smaller hordes of undead and arrived at the College carrying two wounded guardsmen who’d been part of a patrol overrun by a group of zombies with four undead mages.

There was a small tent city in the grassy courtyard at the center of the college that seemed to be a field hospital.  Duncan landed in an open space, and a healer immediately rushed over to stabilize his two passengers.  “I’m looking for Cassandra York and Amelia Daughtry.  I left them here a few hours ago to help out,” he said to the healer, who looked like he needed a rest.

“Check at the administration office,” the healer said, pointing to a tall section of the college to the East.

“Thanks!”  Duncan flew just over the height of the tents to get to the building, then stowed his sword and entered.  A frazzled young man said, “How can I help you, Warrior?”

“I left Cassandra York and Amelia Daughtry here a few hours ago along with a wounded man.  Do you know where I can find them?”

“Their ladyships are in the courtyard helping with the wounded.  I can’t be more specific than that.”

“Thanks!”  Duncan turned and left, then resummoned his sword and flew around over the tents until he saw Cassandra and Amelia at a tent with a short plump Level 61 Healer.  He landed nearby and approached.

“Duncan! You’re back!” said Amelia.

“How’s David?” he asked.

“He’s fine.  His pride’s still wounded, but that’s it.  We got here early enough that the healers had plenty of mana to heal him up.  Now, they’re just stabilizing the wounded; they’ll heal them fully once the emergency is over,” Amelia explained.

“Do either of you know how I can talk to someone in charge of the response?  I found the source of the zombies, but I am nowhere near strong enough to take out the undead mage in charge in there, and it had a lot of strong guards,” said Duncan.

“The Duke of Lanport will be directing the response from the Citadel,” said Cassandra.  “You won’t get in there alone, but I can get you in.”  She turned to the plump healer.  “With your permission, Lady Heatherstone, I’ll depart for a while.”

“Go on, girl,” the healer said, “It sounds like you can be more useful in the Citadel.”

Great white wings exploded from Cassandra’s back, and she leapt into the sky.  Duncan followed a moment later on a sword.  She led him towards the harbor and landed in front of a large stone castle that overlooked both the city and the harbor.  As Duncan landed beside her, she stored her bloodstained clothes and equipped a formal dress in her house colors and a coronet.  She kept the rapier Duncan had given her on a hanger from her belt.  “I have to ensure they’ll recognize me to grant us entry,” she explained.

Duncan nodded, leaving his armor equipped.  Cassandra stepped up to the door, and it swung open as she approached.  A liveried guard bowed to her, “Countess, how can we help you today?”

“I need to speak with his Grace at once regarding the source of the undead invasion,” she said.

“He’s in the war room.  Follow me, if you would.”  The guard turned and led the way into the citadel.  The building was ornately furnished and decorated with a lot of statues and paintings of stern looking men in military garb.  After a few minutes, they arrived at a pair of large wooden doors reinforced with metal bands.  Two guards in fine mail with halberds guarded the door.  They eyed Duncan warily, but he was clearly with Cassandra, and they thumped on the door twice, then opened it for her.

Inside, a distinguished looking man (a Level 104 Warrior) with a neatly trimmed beard and moustache was standing at the head of a large table.  Around it were several men and women in military uniforms, plus Eric Dalgleish (a Level 102 126 Warrior), head of the Academy of Steel, an imposing woman in deep purple robes (a Level 96 Mage), and a motherly looking woman (a Level 106 Healer).  On the table was a detailed map of the city and its immediate environs.  Tiny models of guard units and zombie hordes were depicted throughout the city.

“Cassandra, what brings you here on this most inauspicious of days?” the bearded man asked.

“Your Grace, my friend here has important information about the source of the undead.” Cassandra replied.

“Speak up then, Warrior.  Who are you and what information do you have for us?” the Duke said.

Duncan dismissed his helmet and replied, “I’m Duncan of the Valley, a student at the Academy of Steel.  The undead are based two hundred meters under the city graveyard, in the catacombs.  They have been raising all the dead in the graveyard and sending them into the city.  I fought my way to their leader but was driven off immediately.  It’s an immensely strong undead mage.”

“Pfft.  We cannot trust the word of a baby-faced youth, no matter how inflated his level may be,” said one of the military men, a Level 60 Warrior.

“Commander,” interjected Eric, “I know Duncan, and in a fight between him and anyone else in this room, my money would be on him.  He clears the Sawiskin dungeon on his own for relaxation.”

I didn’t know he knew that, Duncan thought.

“Go on, lad,” said the Duke.  “What else can you tell us?”

“The outer layer of guards are these things, roaming in pairs on the surface, and alone in the catacombs,” Duncan said, producing a corpse.

“Bone Guardians,” said the mage in purple. “Level eighty equivalent.”

“Beyond them, these things stand guard in pairs.”  Duncan produced another corpse, one of the armored skeletons.

“Bone Knight, level one hundred equivalent,” said the mage.

“These things,” Duncan produced an animator corpse, “are roaming around with bone knight protectors raising the dead in the catacombs and mausoleums.  Most of the dead seem to become weak zombies.”

“Undead Animator, level ninety equivalent.”

“In the central chamber, I saw eight bone knights, three undead animators, six three-meter-tall humanoid bone monstrosities with four arms each, and an undead mage sitting on a throne made of bone.  The mage hit me with a beam of darkness that did over fifteen thousand damage to me in an instant.  I fled immediately.  I am extremely hard to kill, but I suspect that thing could have managed it pretty easily.”

Eric whistled.  “I don’t know what we’ve got locally that can take out something like that.”

Duncan stored the corpses again.  “I killed a dozen or so bone guardians, four bone knights, and one animator, but I don’t know how many more are in the catacombs with that mage.”

“The evidence the boy produced is compelling,” said the mage in purple.  “The presence of undead animators explains the sudden appearance of so many zombies and lesser undead.  And there’s clearly at least one animator, since he showed us the corpse.  I don’t know what explains the appearance of the greater undead though.”

There was a knock at the door, and it opened to admit a Level 84 Mage.  “Ah,” said the Duke, “Michel.  So good of you to join us.”

“Apologies, your Grace.  The guild communication channels have been flooded with requests for help.  Every city in the empire, and all the nations we have contact with are reporting undead incursions.  There’s an army of a hundred thousand undead marching on Harrish, in addition to the incursion within the walls there,” the newcomer said.

Duncan knew from his Geography class that Harrish was the capital of the empire, a huge city to the North.  Pelleas said the undead stirring was related to the powerful beings who arrived from another world.  I guess this is their first big move.  I’m not ready to face them!

Everyone in the room stared at the newcomer in horror.  “What news from York?” Cassandra demanded.

“The same, my lady.  An undead incursion in the city.”

“Very well,” said the Duke. “No outside help is forthcoming.  We will have to take care of Lanport ourselves.  Michel, post a job to your job board. I am paying ten gold for each body of a greater undead your adventurers turn in.  Bone guardians and up.”  He turned to Duncan, “Would that whet your appetite, young adventurer?”

“I get all the gold I need from dungeons, your Grace,” said Duncan. “I will kill the undead because they need to be killed.  The gold is nice, but not motivation for me.  I understand that I’m a bit unusual, though.  Ordinary adventurers may leap at the offer. I don’t know.”

There was another knock at the door, and a page was admitted.  The youth said, “Sir, report from first precinct, sir.  There are high level undead roaming around raising all the corpses in the city.  They slew the patrols we sent to stop them and raised them as undead, sir.”

“Thank you, son.  Dismissed,” said the Duke, and the page left.

“By your leave, your Grace, I’ve provided the information I have.  I am capable of wiping out the animators and their escorts, and with your permission I’ll go start that now,” said Duncan.

“Thank you, Duncan.  Dismissed,” the Duke replied, and Duncan Blinked straight up, then activated his flying sword, and began patrolling the city, looking for undead animators and other high level undead.

Chapter 10

Three days later, Duncan could find no more undead to slay, and had learned the layout of the city much better.  He’d found and destroyed eight animators and their bone knight escorts, plus thousands of lesser undead.  Other teams of mid-level adventurers roamed the city killing the undead they came across, but he’d heard that several groups had been wiped out when they ran into Animators instead of zombies, undead warriors, and undead mages.  The Animators had then raised the adventurers as undead warriors and mages and set them to killing.

Most of the living residents of the city had gathered together in temples, guild halls, and other large buildings.  The Duke had opened the citadel to allow thousands to gather there in safety.  Guard patrols and adventurers, along with students from the Academy of Steel, the College of Healers, and the Lanport Mage Academy had helped scour the streets clear of undead, running away from Animators and sounding the alarm when they saw them, so that the city’s more puissant defenders could deal with them.

He’d returned to the Academy when he needed to rest, and Amelia had told him that Cassandra had returned to York to be with her family.  When he’d asked her if she planned to go home as well, she’d said, “I’m not strong enough to travel alone with the undead incursion and my father can’t spare any troops to escort me.  I’m better off here, training and getting stronger.”  David was in the same boat as Amelia and incensed that he was too weak to fight back against the incursion.  He’d used the two Technique stones Duncan had given him and was practicing diligently with the new Techniques.

Now, Duncan returned, and found a note sitting on his bed, asking him to see the headmaster.  So he flew down to the administration building, showed the letter to the staff there, and was soon ushered into Eric’s office.  The headmaster nodded at him.  “Thanks for coming.  And thank you for the initial identification of the undead leaders and their location.  We believe we have discovered where most of the high level undead came from.  The family mausoleums held the bodies of the leaders of their families, many of whom died at very high levels.  The undead seem to have a ritual that raises new undead at the same level as the corpse was in life.  So, by raising the illustrious elders of the wealthy families from the mausoleums, they were able to create the bone knights and bone guardians, and possibly some of the animators.”

“Acting on the information you provided, the Duke sent a large party of very high level people into the catacombs.  They were able to confirm what you told us about the undead down there.  The large four-armed creatures are greater bone golems.  I’m told they’re equivalent to level one hundred and thirty adventurers.  And the undead mage who almost killed you is a lich.  Liches vary in power, from the equivalent to level one hundred to well over level two hundred.  They cannot be truly killed unless you can find their phylactery - a vessel that contains their soul - and destroy it. The one in the catacombs is level one forty – weak for a lich, but, still strong.  The lich and its minions drove our forces back with significant losses.  Fortunately, our side were able to drag their dead out with them, so the lich didn’t gain any additional high-level and well-geared minions.”

“But this means we’re in something of a stalemate.  We’ve wiped out the lich’s forces in the city, and people will be able to return to their homes and their lives very soon.  But we can’t wipe the lich out in its lair with the forces we have, and we have no idea where its phylactery might be.  We believe it’s no longer willing to send out its remaining forces to get chewed up by the guards we have around the graveyard.  Given that many cities have been attacked this way, it seems likely the lich and its forces will retreat to someplace where the undead are doing better than here and will come after us again at a later date.”

“We are hoping that it will sneak out of the city the same way it arrived.  But there remains the possibility that it will try to kill and convert more locals.  In the event that it attacks the Academy, the staff will split up – some will fight the invaders, while others will escort the students to safety.  Given your combat prowess, we would like you to help escort the other students in the event of an emergency.  The likelihood of an attack here is low, given we’re outside the city proper and have our own walls and defenders, but it cannot be discounted.”

Duncan nodded, “I will help as best I can in any emergency.  I intend to delve the Sawiskin dungeon more frequently as things go back to normal.  I need to advance my Techniques if I’m to stand up to the greater undead and any similar threats.  Advancing my sword skills here at the Academy is useful, but I need more power.  I thought I had more time.  And how do you know the lich’s level?”

Eric responded, “You are a fine young warrior, and you could become one of our best if you don’t get yourself killed.  But you do have time.  The undead are not your responsibility.  There are many thousands of experienced adventurers capable of dealing with these undead, and almost as many specialist teams in the forces of the nobles.  Now that the initial surprise has faded, you will find that we are capable of dealing with the threat.  Train, grow stronger, but do not take the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“As to how we know its level, the adventurers identified it – some monsters, like liches, that were once human and had soulgems can maintain that soulgem connection after they become monsters.  Oh, and here’s a reward from the Duke – you’re permitted to fly inside Lanport now.”  Eric tossed a medallion to Duncan.  “Show that to any guard that questions you about flying.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Duncan.  “I will be careful.”

When he returned to his room, he found Amelia, David, and Cassandra there. “The roads are too dangerous to get to York,” said Cassandra.  “My escort turned back.”

“I’m glad to see you safe,” replied Duncan.  “But could you not have flown?”

“As the heir, I’m not allowed to travel without an escort.  As long as I remain at the Academy and in Lanport, I have a degree of freedom, but as soon as I stop being a student, I take up the mantle of heir, with the responsibilities that entails,” she explained.

“I’m sure your family is safe, and I hope York handles its undead incursion well.”  Gods, I’m terrible at small talk.  “The class schedule is back to normal here starting tomorrow.  All the undead are gone except for the lich and its strongest minions in the catacombs.  People are returning to their homes.  I’m going to delve more often overnight to advance my Techniques, so you may see me even less than normal.”

“I have a cousin in the Healing Academy.  If I can talk him into coming, will you come to the Academy dungeon with us?” asked Amelia.  “I need to get stronger, too.”  David nodded vigorously.

“Yes, but I need to warn you – I get a lot of very rare spawns in dungeons, monsters that are far too dangerous to normally appear there,” Duncan said.  “If we run into one of those, you will need to stay well away from the fight, because I don’t have the skillset to save people.  I’m good at surviving and killing.  You will be at less risk if you have a full group of people your own level with you.”

Amelia and David indicated their willingness to proceed regardless, and Cassandra said, “I will come, too.  I don’t think any of us have the luxury of coasting through school anymore.  The world feels more dangerous than it did a week ago.”

“Alright.  If you can find a healer, I will accompany you and intervene if you need it.  I will talk to the headmaster to see if we can go in the nighttime before rest days.”

***

Duncan had a lot of loot from the time he’d spent killing undead.  He suspected that several of the undead mages and undead warriors he’d killed had been adventurers the Animators had killed and raised as undead.  They had unusually good gear for low level monsters.  He turned in all the corpses of the greater undead he’d killed for the ten gold per corpse reward (No point in turning down free gold) and sold the majority of the loot he’d found.  He did keep two pieces of leather armor for David, along with half a dozen health and mana potions.  Being able to fly to the Adventurers Guild hall was a really nice perk.

After emptying his storage devices of loot, he flew to the Sawiskin dungeon and engaged the six guards outside the dungeon, making a point of not letting any of them get to the water to alert allies.  Seeing only one of him, they were happy to engage him at first, but when he killed their healer in about fifteen seconds, one of them made a break for the water. He stunned it with a strong Mind Spike and cut it down with a few strong swings of his spirit sword.  The other three broke and fled for the water, and lacking any control Techniques beyond his stun from Mind Spike, Duncan had to let two of them go.  He killed the third, looted their bodies, and entered the dungeon.  If they come in after me, I’ll fight.  If there’s too many, I’ll flee.  If they’re waiting outside, I’ll Blink up and fly away.  I’m not in the mood to sneak past them.

Duncan stormed through the dungeon more aggressively than he’d done before.  He knew the monsters in here, and there was something more pure about killing dungeon monsters than creatures out in the world, especially those that could well have been people not long before.

He arrived at the cavern where he’d so often found a rare spawn in this dungeon and saw a winged man with the face of a dragon sitting in the lotus position.  When Duncan entered the cavern, the creature stood and bowed to him.  This… is weird.  Duncan bowed back.  The creature equipped a set of scaly armor and a magnificent pair of swords, from what Duncan could only assume was a storage device.  With a flap of its wings, it launched itself into the air.

Duncan refrained from using his Flying Sword.  If his opponent used ranged attacks while airborne, he might have to fly up to meet it, but with those swords, he suspected it would close to fight him hand to hand.

The dragonman folded its wings and dove toward Duncan at speed.  When it closed to about ten meters it breathed a gout of flames at him.  Duncan Blinked behind it and, as it spun in the air to face him, he struck with a Mind Spike.  The dragonman crashed to the ground, stunned, and Duncan Blinked forward and struck with his sword at the creature’s wing.  The delicate-looking bones turned out to be very robust, and his blow, even with the blade echoes that accompanied it, failed to break them, though he did manage to tear a slit in one leathery wing.

The creature recovered from the stun and rolled to its feet with admirable grace.  It leapt to the attack, both blades whirling around it with tremendous speed and precision.  It’s only going to be surprised by this once, so I need to take advantage.  Duncan blocked an attack with his shield and the complete loss of momentum and sensory feedback from the sword froze the monster for a moment.  Duncan’s thrust behind his shield took it in the belly, tearing a very small hole in the armor.  The monster’s second sword struck him a moment later, and five echoes of the attack slammed home behind it, breaking his collarbone and cutting deep into his chest.

Duncan Blinked past the creature, re-orienting to face it, and healed himself.  Okay, I need more focus on defense.  This thing has an outstanding Blade affinity, too.  The monster spun to face Duncan, and he saw the hole in its belly armor had been repaired.  His assessment showed the monster as barely wounded.

It stalked forward, blades poised to strike, and Duncan stepped to meet it.  For a full thirty seconds they traded blows, Duncan using folds of space for additional blocks, and the monster learning to use them as fulcrums to turn its cuts into thrusts.  Duncan began thrusting through folds in space to strike the creature in the back, under the arms, in the crotch, wherever he thought the armor might be weaker.

A cage of blades appeared around Duncan and the monster took a step backwards to summon a potion and drink it.  Duncan Blinked behind it and attacked the back of its knee, severing a tendon.  The creature spun and breathed fire directly into his face.  With a choked cry, he Blinked sideways and healed himself again.  The monster spun, looking for him, then leapt to attack, using its wings to take the load off its wounded knee.

Duncan used a strong Mind Spike to stun it as it landed and thrust up under its chin as it came into his reach.  His blade tore a deep gash in its throat, and it slammed face first into the ground beside him.  He thrust through a fold in space into its neck again as it recovered from being stunned.  A red light surrounded the creature and it sped up dramatically as it recovered its footing and attacked ferociously.  Enrage Technique! Five additional swords appeared around it and they all attacked Duncan along with the monster.

The additional swords made it impossible to defend, and Duncan Blinked away frantically to heal as he suffered some serious cuts.  He used another strong Mind Spike, which did damage but failed to stun the dragonman, then stabbed through a fold in space to hit the monster in the throat again as it rushed to close the distance between them.  His assessment showed the creature was critically wounded, so he Blinked away again, and stabbed it through another fold in space.  He could hit things up to sixteen meters away with his sword now that his Fold Space Technique was up to rank five, and he needed the distance, as the dragonman was much faster than him with its Enrage Technique active, and the additional five swords still surrounded it like they were wielded by invisible arms.

One more repetition of Blink and stab from a distance was enough – the monster collapsed in a heap, and the additional swords clattered to the ground.  Oh! I thought they were manifestations of Blade-aspected mana.  They were real.  He was wielding seven swords.  Wow.  Space magic came to my rescue there – there’s no way I’d have won that fight without it.  I mean, I wouldn’t have lived without my Healing affinity, but I wouldn’t have won without the space magic.  I couldn’t face that many attacks at once in melee range.

Duncan looted the body, storing the armor (I really like this armor – I hope it’s something I can wear) and all the swords in a storage device.  The creature was wearing a heavy necklace under the armor, and Duncan was unable to store it.  Oh, this must be a storage device, too.  You can’t put a storage device in another storage device unless it’s empty.  The spatial fields don’t interact well.  He dismissed his armor for a moment and put the necklace on, then re-equipped his armor.  The necklace appeared to have quite a lot of stuff in it, so he’d have to spend some time going through it later.  In the meantime, there was half a dungeon still to clear.  I feel much better after this fight, though.

Duncan cleared the remainder of the dungeon with no additional rare encounters, and no sign of the Sawiskin he’d expected to come calling.  He returned to the entrance of the dungeon ready to see what they had waiting for him outside.  Stepping through the portal, he Blinked straight up three hundred meters, then Blinked out over the sea and summoned a sword to fly on.

There were a dozen Sawiskin outside the dungeon entrance, looking around frantically.  They’d seen him step through, but apparently hadn’t seen him Blink up or out across the sea.  With a chuckle, Duncan headed back to Lanport and the Adventurers Guild.  He had some loot to examine.

There was a line-up at the appraisal office, which was a bit of a surprise for him.  Maybe groups are turning in what they got from the undead.  He had to wait almost an hour for his turn and entertained himself by identifying the other adventurers waiting and trying to guess at their Techniques based on their gear.

Once it was his turn, he sold off all the loot from the regular dungeon monsters, then got to the good stuff.  “Dragonskin Cuirass.  Body affinity.  Self-repairing.  The guild can offer you five hundred gold.  Dragonskin helmet.  Body affinity.  Self-repairing.  The guild can offer you five hundred gold.  Dragonskin Pauldrons. Body affinity. Self-repairing.  The guild can offer you three hundred gold.  Dragonskin, damnit, son, you’ve got a full set of dragonskin armor here.  Its protection scales with your Body affinity, and it regenerates using your own mana.  It’s worth more than I’m allowed to offer you, and you’d be a fool to sell it, honestly, given your obvious body affinity.”

Duncan stored the armor in his armband, then equipped it.  It was lightweight, supple, and felt amazing.  I wonder if this counts as plate, mail, leather, or something else entirely.  He dismissed the armor again and grinned at the appraiser as he put the seven swords he’d taken from the dragonman on the counter.

“Dragontooth sword, Blade affinity. Increases the rank of all Blade Techniques by one.  The guild can offer you a thousand gold for it, and, of course, you’re keeping it.”  Duncan was so happy he almost danced in place.  “Dragonsbane sword, Blade affinity, doubles damage done to dragonkin.  The guild can offer you eight hundred gold for it.  Necrobane sword, Blade affinity, Life affinity. Doubles damage done to undead, reduces necrotic damage taken by fifty percent.  The guild can offer you a thousand gold for it.  What did you kill to get all this stuff?”  The appraiser shook his head.  “Beastbane sword. Blade Affinity.  Doubles damage done to all spirit beasts.  The guild can offer three hundred gold for it.  Horrorbane sword.  Blade affinity.  Doubles damage done to eldritch terrors. The guild can offer two hundred gold for it.  Sword of the Guardian, Blade and Spirit Affinities.  Continually taunts all hostile creatures within twenty meters.  The guild can offer two hundred gold for it.  Sword of Peace, Mind and Spirit affinities.  Does no damage at all, but the wielder is immune to all mental and spiritual influences.  The guild can offer a thousand gold for it.”

The appraiser looked at Duncan in astonishment.  “I have never seen such a treasure trove in all my days.  All of those swords are of unsurpassed quality.”

Duncan was flabbergasted as well. “Neither have I,” he said.  “Just a little more to go.”  He pulled out a case from his new storage necklace and put it on the counter.  The appraiser opened it to reveal four Technique stones.

“Technique Stone: Extract Resource.  No affinity needed, but compatible with earth, metal, stone, gemstone, nature, poison, life, lava, shadow, and blood.  Extracts valuable resources from a substance containing them.  Efficiency dependent on Technique Rank and associated affinity.”  He shook his head.  “Essentially, this lets you get materials for crafting and enchanting out of stone, ore, monster corpses, herbs, and so on.  The guild values it at over one thousand gold, and I can’t make you an immediate offer for it.”

“Technique Stone: Cage of Blades. Blade Affinity.  Creates a cage of blades around a target, immobilizing them.  Any attempt to push through the cage damages the target.  Duration, cost and damage dependent on rank and affinity. Rare.  The guild can offer you twenty gold for it.”

“Technique Stone: Understand Languages. Mind Affinity.  Passive.  Allows the user to understand and speak languages.  Similar languages are understood at lower ranks, dissimilar languages at higher ranks.  Very rare.  The guild can offer a hundred gold for it.”

“Technique Stone: Regenerate Other.  Healing Affinity.  Allows the caster to use his own regeneration to regenerate another person’s flesh.  Range is Touch only at lower ranks.  At very high rank, it has a very short range.  Very rare, but also considered useless compared to other healing Techniques.  The guild can offer two gold for it based purely on its rarity.”

That monster feels like a gift from the gods.  “Hey, Duncan, the war with the invaders has begun.  Here’s some stuff to help you out.  Now train your ass up so that you can actually fight, because those were all just minions.”

“I’m going to keep all of those.  I need to do some thinking about what to sell,” Duncan hedged.  He scooped everything into his armband.  “Oh, one more thing.” He removed the necklace he’d taken from the dragonman and put it on the counter.

“Advanced storage device, eight hundred slots.  The guild values this at over a thousand gold, and I cannot make an offer on it immediately,” the appraiser sighed.

“Thank you for your time,” Duncan said, and took his leave.

Back on campus, Duncan sat on the roof of the student dormitory and contemplated his new Technique options.  I already have eleven passive Techniques and eight active ones. Understand Languages feels like it’d be brilliant if I’m to travel the world, but that would take me to twelve passive Techniques, and the guild thinks ten is the limit.  Is the limit twenty total?  Or is the limit dependent on things like Mind and Spirit Affinities?  Or childhood trauma?

I should use regenerate other first.  The ability to use my boosted regeneration on someone else could be a lifesaver if I start delving or adventuring in a group.  If twenty Techniques is the limit, at least I’ll have that one available.

Duncan used the Regenerate Other technique stone and gained an understanding of how to force other people’s bodies to regenerate like his own.  It would cost him a lot of additional mana to make it happen, but that would lessen over time as he advanced the Technique.

Alright.  Now, the least valuable of the others is Cage of Blades.  If I can’t learn it and the stone is destroyed, it’s only a loss of a little gold. Duncan used the Cage of Blades technique stone and successfully learned the Technique.

Ok.  That’s twenty-one Techniques learned, and my level is... oh wow, I don’t know if fighting monsters outside dungeons is more rewarding than fighting those inside dungeons, or if a bunch of Techniques were right on the verge of advancing before the undead incursion, but that’s a big leap forward.  There’s no indication of a limit on Techniques in my soulgem information.  So, of the two remaining, Understand Languages is the lower value one, and it’s a passive, and I already have eleven passives.  I only have ten actives, and I know I can have eleven passives.  Maybe I should learn Extract Resources first?  Actives should match passives, right?

With a grimace, Duncan used the Extract Resources Technique, and was thoroughly relieved when he successfully learned it.  Still no indication, so here goes…  He used the last Technique Stone and checked his soulgem.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

98 (+17)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

268 (+36)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

248 (+35)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

250 (+34)

Endurance:

270 (+36)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

25000 (+4120)

Health Regen:

15680/hour (+4340)

Stamina:

3680 (+530)

Stam Regen:

39200/hour (+10850)

Mana:

19477 (+2975)

Mana Regen:

6560/hour (+660)

Mana Reserved:

401

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Moderate

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive (limit reached)

Rank

Blade Echo

8 (+1)

Tempered Blade

8 (+1)

Fold Space

6 (+1)

Regeneration

7 (+1)

Blink

6

Coagulation

5

Mind Spike

6 (+1)

Hardened Skin

5

Destrin's Restoration

5 (+1)

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

4

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

3 (+1)

Personal Space Pocket

5 (+1)

Remove Affliction

4 (+1)

Ignore Pain

5 (+1)

Regenerate Other

1 (+1)

Shadow Sight

4 (+1)

Cage of Blades

1 (+1)

Assessment

4 (+1)

Extract Resouces

1 (+1)

Blade Sense

2 (+1)

Understand Languages

1 (+1)

Skills

Rank

1H swords

7

Plate armor

4

2H swords

5

Mail armor

1

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

4 (+1)

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Limit reached on Passive Techniques!  So, twelve is my limit.  That’s wonderful.  And level ninety-eight.  My physical stats are very impressive.  My regeneration is… 4 health per second, without using an active Technique.  Destrin’s Restoration is three health restored per mana spent now.  That’s still my most expensive Technique, but it gets cheaper every time I rank Destrin’s Restoration or Regeneration.

Relieved that he hadn’t wasted any Technique Stones, he retired to get some sleep.  Classes resumed tomorrow, after all.

Interlude 4

The Greater lich Ezekiel, Scourge of Nemiseth, First of his Kind, Conqueror of Worlds, sat on his Throne of Bone and exulted in his victories.  None of the liches he’d created and bound to him over the past century had been slain, and many of them had wiped out the native life in the cities they’d infiltrated, converting the living to join his undead armies.  As opening gambits went, this one had been quite successful.

***

Batzorig, Khan of the Great Horde, was furious.  Undead creatures had boiled out of the ground in many of the cities he had conquered and were killing his citizens and converting them to more undead.  That damned Ezekiel had struck early and struck hard.  Batzorig would have to re-conquer his existing territory and implement a policy of burning the dead going forward.  This was a serious setback.

***

Amaraqjuaq, Overlord of the Green Death, was having a very bad day.  Undead creatures had burst out of nowhere in many of his holdings, sacking his villages and storage depots, assaulting his armies.  Ezekiel’s plan was masterful, and it would set Amaraqjuag’s plans back at least a century.  He tore the head off his favorite concubine in a fit of pique.

***

Yleanora, Queen of the Dragons, looked down upon the world and smirked to herself.  Ezekiel had made his play early.  His undead moved on the living all over the world, enjoying surprising success in many places.  The humans, in particular, were weak and vulnerable.  Yleanora bespoke her minions, the great dragons of this world, telling them to raze the cities where the undead had won, to kill as many undead as possible.  And to approach the leaders of the cities and nations still under siege, offering to help against the undead in return for tribute and fealty.

***

Zzyxxaxyzzyxx, primordial spawn of the Abyss, didn’t notice the undead assault on the living.  Somewhere on this forsaken planet, he would find someone willing and able to open a portal for Zzyxxaxyzzyxx’s minions to enter the world.  Somewhere.

***

Ragnar Ragnarsson, First among Beast Lords, raised his paw and allowed the defeated Bison King to return to its feet.  Soon enough, the spirit beasts of the world would drive the tool-users out of the wilds they had encroached upon.  Just a few hundred more Beast Lords to subjugate in this part of the world, and he could begin.

***

Dennis Michaels, anthropologist, saw the undead incursions as the trigger for step two of his plan to save the world.  Step one had been to clone himself and inveigle his way into the confidence of many leaders throughout the human world.  Step two was to use his influence to help those leaders overcome their hostility towards each other and unite in the face of a common threat.  Additionally, his data aggregation and analysis of the mortal population based on the interesting soul magic someone had developed in the distant past on Medim showed promise.  He had seven years of the finest ivy league university education money could buy, and thousands of years of practice.  Surely, this time, he could make the nations of the world set aside their differences.

Chapter 11

Apparently going up seventeen levels in a few days wasn’t normal, especially at his level.  He answered all the questions the same way: “Many of my Techniques were on the verge of advancing, I guess.  Fighting the undead must have pushed them all over at once.”   One of the students in his Elvish class had suggested that they’d also fought the undead and hadn’t seen gains like that.  Duncan had shrugged, and said, “You fought zombies.  I fought Bone Knights.”

His new Understand Languages passive Technique, even at rank one, was a significant boost to his comprehension of his Elvish lessons.  I must get some exposure to other languages.

He had to explain his advances in a little more detail to Master deBouteville.  “I fought my way through the catacombs to the lich but had to flee, then spent three days killing Bone Knights, Bone Guardians, and Undead Animators, plus thousands of lesser undead.  And then I delved the Sawiskin dungeon again to regain a sense of normalcy.  There was a rare monster inside that dropped an insane amount of gear, including a new Technique.”  He demonstrated his Cage of Blades Technique.  “I think it’ll help a lot when I’m facing more than one strong opponent at a time.”

He showed off his new Dragonskin armor, too.  “I don’t know if it counts as plate, mail, or leather, though.  I’m just going to train in it to get more comfortable with it.  It heals when I feed it mana, the same as my truesteel plate.”

Master deBouteville was duly impressed by the armor.  They tested it in combat and found it more effective than his truesteel plate against her sword blows.  It repaired itself faster than the truesteel when fed mana, as well.

“You’ll surpass me in levels within weeks, I suspect,” she told Duncan.  “Your skills aren’t keeping up with your Technique advancements, though.  I would really like to see you at rank eight in your sword, shield, and armor skills, and you should try to improve your non-combat skills as well.  You are progressing your Techniques so fast that your skills are falling behind, and that will bite you in the ass at some point.  I know you’re making an effort to train skills – it’s why you’re here, after all, why you’re working with me.  But if you’ll take some advice from an old master, slow down your leveling until your skills catch up.”

“Honestly, I’m not really trying to push my Techniques.  I’m just delving while I train.  Ok, I do feel a need to advance, with the undead attacking and a sense that there’s more danger to come.  My roommates are trying to get a spot in the Academy training dungeon, so I’ll escort them through it a few times – maybe that will be enough delving in the short term.  I still have some low-ranked Techniques that will probably level up when I practice them, but I will try to focus on skills for the rest of the school year,” Duncan replied.  With that, they went back to working on dual sword challenges.

“When fighting with two swords, one is typically offensive, and the other defensive.  You parry with the right and attack with the left.  Mastery dictates how well and how often you can switch the roles.  As you improve you will be able to switch each sword from offense to defense independent of the other.  This requires that you split your attention and is excellent training for being able to maintain multiple active Techniques at once.  Your Blade Sense helps tremendously with this.  Right now, your rudimentary Blade Sense tells you where my blades are.  My own Blade Sense knows where every blade within thirty meters is, and in a fight, I can taste the intention of your blades.  I know when your thrust is a feint, when your parry is an envelopment, and when you switch from defense to offense with each hand.  I know where your blades are, and where they are going.”

“What happens when two masters of Blade Sense fight, then?” Duncan asked.

“The one who is better at changing intent has an advantage.  Raw strength, dexterity and agility all play a role as well, as does your skill.  I may know what it is you intend, but if you have control of my blade, knowing that you’ll hit me doesn’t stop you from doing so.”

Master Guilford had much the same to say about Duncan’s advancement.  He was more philosophical, though, and focused more on the longsword training.  “I see you’ve passed me in levels.  Sadly, your skills are lagging far behind, and I can still beat you easily with a sword.  Stop lowering your tip when you step with your right foot.”

Classes returned to normal, and it was a week before Duncan received permission to take his roommates and their healer into the Academy dungeon, which was actually well outside the city.  It took them two hours to get there on foot.

Amelia’s cousin Paul was a Level 27 Healer in his final year at the College of Healing.  He was a slender man who wore mail armor and carried a mace and shield.  “I have a ranged single-target heal and a healing aura,” he told Duncan.  “And an assessment technique that will let me know who needs healing the most urgently.”

“Very good,” said Duncan.  “Everyone else, a brief explanation of your abilities, please, so everyone knows what everyone can do before we go in.  Cassandra?”

Cassandra said, “I’m a lightning and air mage.  I deal good damage from range and have an armor technique I can use for defense, but I can’t attack when channeling the armor.”

Amelia said, “I’m a longsword fighter.  I have metal armor I can produce – it’s an active Technique to summon it, but it remains until I dismiss it without requiring concentration, so I can use weapon Techniques to attack.”

David said, “I’m a water and decay mage.  I have a ranged water jet attack and a melee-based decay attack.  I have water armor, but I can’t attack when I’m channeling it.”

My turn.  “I’m a melee fighter with a sword focus.  I have a self-heal, so don’t waste any heals on me.  I have a teleport and an area effect attack.  I will only intervene in your fights if you seem to be getting overwhelmed, or if a powerful rare spawn shows up.  If I call you off, retreat and cover each other until the fight is over.”

They approached the dungeon, which had its own little compound surrounding it.  A wooden palisade surrounded a courtyard containing the dungeon entrance, a barracks and cookhouse, and a large bathhouse.  The guard at the gate said, “State your business.”

“We have special dispensation to run the dungeon overnight,” said Cassandra.  Duncan presented the permission slip he had received from the headmaster.

“This dungeon’s rated level thirty.  Most of you are too low for it.  We normally see groups of ten at your level.  Still, you have permission.  Just be aware there’s no duty healer on call overnight, nor any rescue team.  You’re on your own in there.”

“Thank you.” Duncan herded his companions to the dungeon entrance.  “Don’t worry about what he said.  I was soloing level thirty-five dungeons at twenty-two.  You can handle this just fine.  A group of ten would be getting in each other’s way.”

His companions were pulling out large rubber waders from their storage devices and pulling them on over their boots.  Amelia passed a jar of ointment around, and they all dabbed a little under their noses.  Duncan could smell it from two meters away.  “What are you doing?”

“You didn’t even research what kind of dungeon this is, did you?” Amelia laughed.

Duncan shrugged.  “It’s a training dungeon.  How hard could it be?”

Amelia gestured to the entrance. “After you, then, esteemed protector.”

Well, I can’t appear hesitant now.  Damnit, I should have researched the dungeon.  Duncan strode forward and entered the dungeon.  A pungent odor of sewage nearly overwhelmed him.  He was standing on a dais in a small room, with tunnels leading off in two directions.  The tunnels had a foul liquid slowly moving through them.

His companions appeared beside him, wrinkling their noses at the smell, but partly protected by the ointment they’d used.  “So, dungeon leader,” Amelia said, “What can you tell us about the dungeon we’re about to delve?”

Duncan winced. “I am sorry.  It’s been a long time since I had a group with me in a dungeon.  I totally forgot all the protocols.”

“Do you really just wander into dungeons willy-nilly?” asked Paul.

“I usually find out the name and what’s in them from the local adventurers guild, but if I happen across a dungeon entrance?  Yeah, I just go in,” said Duncan. “I’m pretty hard to kill.”

“Well, there’s a reason this dungeon is available for us to use as a training dungeon,” said Amelia.  “It smells like shit, you have to wade through shit, and the monsters are giant rats and insects.”  She tossed the light globe she was carrying over her head and it hovered there, providing light for everyone.

Duncan dropped a sword and stood on it. “I’ll be flying just behind you.  I can have three concurrent active Techniques, so I’ll still be able to fight if needed.”  He was wearing his Truesteel armor and changed his weapons to have his new Beastbane sword in his left hand and his Dragontooth sword in his right.  No need for my shield unless I fight something huge and need the momentum nullification.

The group advanced down the tunnel on the left, Amelia leading with David behind her, then Paul and Cassandra.  The sewage was about knee deep, and every step they took wafted unpleasant odors up to Duncan’s nostrils.  The tunnel opened into a small room, and Amelia halted at the entrance as she spied two rats rooting through the sewage.

“Two rats, holding two steps into the room,” she said.  As she entered, the rats looked up and charged.  They splashed through the sewage as the rest of the team entered the room behind Amelia.  Cassandra fired a Wind Blade enhanced by her rapier and it tore open a deep gash on the left rat. David’s Water Jet hit the rat on the right, doing less damage as it was a much lower rank Technique.

As the rats closed the distance, Amelia stepped forward and thrust her sword into the one Cassandra had struck.  The rat ran right up the blade as she impaled it to bite at her arms.  Her summoned armor withstood most of the attack, but she winced as the bite drew a little blood.  A green haze rose from the wound she’d inflicted as her Inflict Poison Technique took effect.  The second rat leapt at David, biting the arm he raised to protect himself.  His leather armor did little to blunt the attack, and he screamed as the rat tore at his forearm.

Everyone’s so very slow, Duncan thought.  Paul used his Healing Technique on David, but the rat was still biting his arm, so the heal couldn’t take full effect.

Amelia’s longsword was buried in the rat attacking her.  She stepped back, pulling her sword out of the body with a draw cut.  Blood gushed out of the wound and the rat lay still.  Cassandra stepped forward to get a clear line of sight to the rat attacking David and her Wind Blade opened a deep gash in its side.  It released David’s arm as it spun to get away from the new attack.  David cut down at it with his axe, inflicting a small wound, but infecting it with his Touch of Rot Technique, which synergized nicely with the rot effect the axe’s enchantment provided.  The flesh around the wound immediately looked inflamed and infected.

The rat struck at David again, but its wounds slowed it enough for him to step back and avoid the attack.  Amelia’s sword and Cassandra’s Wind Blade struck it simultaneously, and it died.  Paul healed David but left Amelia to regenerate on her own – her wound was negligible.  They looked around for additional threats, then relaxed.

Amelia glanced at Duncan, then moved to the far doorway when he said nothing.  The rest of the group followed her. “Nice work, everyone,” said Paul.

Duncan touched the corpses of the giant rats and used his new Extract Resources Technique and was not surprised to find they had nothing an alchemist or enchanter would find useful.  He was surprised that the Technique gave him their skins, removed with greater precision (although not much) than his own rank one skinning skill would have provided.  At least there was no extra mess.  He stored them in his necklace, to take advantage of the stasis effect it offered.  They wouldn’t rot or spoil while they were in there.

“What did you do?” asked David.

“New Technique, lets me harvest stuff,” said Duncan.  “That’s the first time I’ve used it.  I expect I can rank it up on low level monster corpses since it’s only rank one.”

“That seems like a strange Technique for someone as combat-focused as you,” said Amelia.

“Depending what he gets with it, it could be a good money maker,” said Paul.

“Meh, he’s already filthy rich,” said Cassandra.

“I am reliably informed that it will eventually help me acquire the rare materials for any number of enchantments,” said Duncan.  “The enchanters back home always said enchanting was easy, it was getting the material components that was the problem.  If everyone’s still good on mana, let’s move on.”

Amelia led the way down the passageway to the next room.  It had two more rats.  As did the next three rooms.  They got slightly better at killing the rats, with Cassandra and David focusing on the same rat each time and Amelia taking the unwounded one.  Amelia and David were both wounded several more times, and Cassandra once, but Paul was able to heal them all with no difficulty.  The guild considers this dungeon suited for four level thirty adventurers?  That’s just embarrassing.

Eventually they came to a room with no rats.  They entered, looking around, but seeing nothing.  “That’s weird,” said Cassandra, just as two giant centipedes dropped off the ceiling onto the group.  The centipedes had very strong pincers, and Paul, Amelia, and Cassandra were all wounded in the fight.  All three showed as poisoned to Duncan’s Assessment Technique.

“I can heal the damage from the poison, but not the poison itself,” wheezed Paul, grimacing with the pain from the poison.

“Let’s not waste your mana,” said Duncan.  He touched each one in turn, removing the affliction.

“Thanks,” said Amelia.  “You must have the strangest build ever.  Or was that an item?”

“No way to tell,” said Duncan with a shrug, ignoring her glower.

The centipedes yielded venom sacs to his Extract Resources Technique.  He stored them with the rat skins.

The next room had three rats, which increased the number and severity of wounds they took. Paul said, “Mana is going to become a concern soon if I have to keep healing this much – we may have to turn back.”

“I’ll limit the rats attacking you to two at a time, then,” said Duncan.

The next room had four rats.  Duncan encased one in his new Cage of Blades and decapitated another with a single swing of his sword.  Once the team had disposed of the first two rats, he released the captured one (a bit wounded from trying to get through his cage of blades) and they finished that one off, too.

The next room was empty and significantly bigger than the previous ones had been.  The group immediately checked the ceiling, but there were no centipedes hiding there, either.  Amelia gestured to the group to stay back and edged her way towards the center of the room.  Maybe I should investigate, Duncan thought, just in case there’s a nasty rare spawn in here.

Something rose out of the muck in the center of the room, sending Amelia flying across the room.  She crashed into a wall and fell to the floor in a heap.  Duncan’s Assessment showed she was critically wounded.  He Blinked to her and used his Regenerate Other and Destrin’s Recovery Techniques simultaneously.  Amelia regenerated to full health in an instant.  I am so glad that does what I thought it did.  It’s quite expensive in terms of mana per health recovered, though.

He Blinked back to the monster as it stood fully upright.  It looked like the golems he’d fought in the low-level golem dungeon so many months ago, but it was made out of… mud.  Let’s call it mud.  He cut at its knee with his dragontooth sword, and five echoes followed.  Oh I like that!  He dismissed his Beastbane sword and pulled out his spirit sword.  Let’s see if I can incorporate two completely different fighting styles.

The mud golem’s leg was severed at the knee by Duncan’s attack, and it lurched sideways.  It brought a massive fist down at him and he interposed a fold in space to block it.  His assessment showed he’d done significant damage to it by removing the lower leg, but it was already healing.  “Ranged attacks only, from the doorway, in case it has an area effect you need to duck out of,” he shouted as he cut at it again with both swords.  His dragontooth sword impacted the creature’s mud flesh with satisfying force and his spirit sword passed right through the creature with barely any resistance.  It was difficult to reconcile the two, and he kept expecting more resistance to his spirit sword’s passage.

The monster retaliated with heavy swings from its arms, which Duncan blocked with folds in space as he continued to attack, constantly cutting at its legs so it couldn’t move away from him toward his companions.  Occasional Wind Blades and Water Jets began to strike the creature as Cassandra and David joined in.

The mud golem vomited a huge amount of mud at Duncan, blinding him and encasing him in mud.  He Blinked out of it behind the golem, removed his blindness, and continued to hack away at it.  He was staying ahead of its regeneration rate, but not by a significant margin.  It was going to take a while to whittle it down.

After a minute or two, the spells from his companions petered out.  “No more mana,” called Cassandra.

“Use your bow,” Duncan replied as he continued to fight.  The monster suddenly exploded, sending mud everywhere.  It didn’t do much damage to Duncan, but the others were all wounded or worse in his Assessment.  “Or maybe wait in the tunnel,” he added.  Paul activated his healing aura as the four lower-level people stepped back into the passageway.

The monster reformed out of the muck on the floor and Duncan continued to cut it to pieces.  The creature only had its vomit and explosion to complement its melee attacks, and neither of those was a threat to Duncan.  As long as he was precise in his placement of folds in space and kept the pace of his attacks up, he’d win the battle of attrition.  It took him an additional twenty minutes, but he finished the creature.  It sank back into the ooze, leaving a gem floating on the surface.  Duncan stored it and called out to the group, “It’s dead.”

His companions entered the room.  “So that’s what a high-level fight looks like,” said David.  “I could barely follow your movements.”

“Sorry it was boring to watch,” said Duncan.  “It had a fast regeneration rate, so I was only just able to keep ahead of its healing.”

“Not boring,” said Amelia.  “Fascinating.  You never got tired, you never missed a block, you never missed a cut.  The concentration requirements…  And it hit so hard – that first strike almost killed me.  Didn’t you say you could only heal yourself?  You healed me from almost dead to full health in a second.”

“I picked up a Healing Technique that applies to others before this delve.  It’s only rank one, so it’s expensive mana-wise, and it’s touch-only,” Duncan said.  “I can’t do it too often and still be an effective fighter.  But I’ll have to do it more often to advance it.”

“You added a Healing Technique so you could heal us?”  Cassandra sounded surprised.

“Not just you.  It has occurred to me that I won’t always be delving solo, or fighting undead alone, and it’s pretty selfish to have a good healing affinity and not use it on anyone else,” said Duncan.  “My Technique build is unusual, and so are my affinities, so it made sense in my case to take what’s normally considered a weak healing Technique.  Once I rank it up, it’ll be very useful.  But that could take a long time.”

“Anyway, you’ve all had a nice rest while I killed that, so you should be good on mana for a little while yet.  Let’s keep going.  I got a Technique Stone - well, a gem that’s probably a Technique Stone - off that golem, so our loot total is now slightly above none.  Let’s see if we can’t find something else worthwhile in here.”

“Paul, if you want to handle the in-combat healing, I’ll try to top people off after the fights to help preserve your mana and maybe train my heal a little bit.”

They continued as they had, with Duncan restricting the number of creatures that could attack the rest of his group to two at a time, and the group continuing to improve their teamwork.

About an hour later, they reached what Paul told them was the final boss room.  “It’s a nest of rats.  Maybe twenty of them, with a bigger rat as the boss.”  They entered the room, and Paul said, “This isn’t normal.”  The room had a large dais raised out of the muck, and in the center of it was a throne.  The throne was occupied by some sort of humanoid rat in leather armor, and several other leather-clad members of the same species were scattered around the throne.

“Don’t engage unless I say so,” Duncan said, and Blinked to the throne.  Attacking the boss should get their attention so they don’t attack my group.  He used his Beastbane sword in one hand and his dragontooth sword in the other, attacking the boss with both weapons.  His first attack struck true, and his blade echoes ripped into the creature.  Duncan’s assessment showed the boss as “wounded.”

All the creatures leapt to attack him, and they were fast.  He blocked some attacks with his swords, another with a well-placed fold in space, and was struck by others.  His Truesteel plate parted like butter under their attacks, and he had to Blink to the other side of the throne and heal himself.  He took a moment to swap his Truesteel armor out for his Dragonskin armor, then re-engaged the monsters.

He Blinked behind one, struck it, Blinked behind another, struck the boss through a fold in space, and Blinked again.  One of the monsters looked like it was going to head towards the entrance he’d arrived from, so he dropped a Cage of Blades around it and kept Blinking and attacking.  The monsters adapted quickly to his strategy, guarding each other’s backs so that when he appeared behind one, others were ready to strike at him.

A green miasma rose from each of the monsters, and he felt queasy as he breathed it in.  His Assessment told him he was diseased, but it didn’t seem to be affecting his health or mana, so he didn’t remove the affliction right away.  They’ll just re-establish it the moment I cure it.  He parried, blocked with folds in space, Blinked, attacked, Blinked, attacked through a fold in space, healed from time to time, and cackled like a madman.  He removed the affliction, just in case it had a timed effect.

The rats started dropping, and with each one that died, the fight got just a little easier for Duncan.  Fewer blades to dodge, parry, or block meant more time to attack, and the monsters started to fall faster.  When the final one dropped, he felt almost disappointed.  That was the best fight ever.  He removed the disease affliction one last time and called out for his group to come over.

“I’m sorry I robbed you of a boss fight,” he said as they approached.

“That was amazing,” said Amelia. “I think my skills advanced just watching it.”

“It was too fast to understand,” complained David.

“It really was,” agreed Cassandra.

“I didn’t see your health drop almost at all,” said Paul.

Duncan grinned at them. “That may have been the most fun fight I’ve ever had.  They were fast and clever, and they hit hard enough to hurt me.  No room for errors in that fight.”

“You gonna loot them, or what?” asked Cassandra.

Duncan laughed.  “Check behind the throne.  There’s almost always a chest under or behind the throne.  But be careful of traps!”

David was already rushing toward the throne, but slowed down at that, remembering the gas trap that had gotten them when Duncan opened a chest in their room at the Academy.  “There’s a chest!” he confirmed.

Duncan looted the bodies, storing everything in his arm band, then approached the chest.  “You guys should probably stand back when I open this.”  When everyone had moved to the entrance of the room, he flipped open the lid – and felt a massive pain in his chest.  He Blinked backwards and healed himself, shocked at how much mana the heal took.

He looked at the big ball of black that had replaced the throne and chest.  A few seconds later it flickered and vanished, leaving the chest sitting innocuously on the floor.  There was no sign of the throne.  Or the front of his armor.  He switched to his truesteel plate – he’d have to repair the dragonskin armor when he had the mana to feed it.

His group rushed forward, “What the fuck was that?” asked Amelia.

“Void magic,” said Paul.  “One of the guys in the Mage Academy has it.  It just obliterates whatever it touches.  I’ve never seen a field that big before.  Justin generates marble-sized spheres.”  He looked at Duncan, “Your health dropped to under five percent.  Then you healed completely in under a second.”

Duncan shook his head, “I’m gonna have to find a better way to open chests.”  Maybe use a long staff through a fold in space. “My healing Technique boosts my Regeneration Technique.  At high ranks, it’s a very cost-effective self-heal.”  He scooped the contents of the chest into his storage device without looking at it.  “I’m really looking forward to using that bathhouse outside the dungeon.”

His companions laughed and agreed.  The dungeon stink was something you could learn to ignore after constant exposure, but no one was likely to get used to it.

They took a different path out of the dungeon, killing another dozen or more monsters on the way out.  Once outside, they headed straight to the bathhouse only to find it locked.  “Oh nooooo,” breathed Amelia.

Duncan just shoved harder on the handle and something in the lock snapped.  The door swung open.  “It was just stuck,” he said.  No one complained about the property damage – they just surged past him toward the baths.  He followed them in, stored his foul-smelling gear and got to work with the soap.  Once he was clean, he moved to a tub at the side and cleaned his armor.  Even after he’d cleaned it twice, he thought he could still smell sewage.  I really hope that’s just my imagination.

Once they were all as clean as they were going to get, Duncan re-equipped his dragonskin armor over a new set of clothes so that he could repair it on the way back, then they set out for the Academy, which was a little closer than the city.  Duncan would have flown, but he didn’t feel it’d be wise to let his low-level companions travel alone at night.  As they jogged back to the academy, he asked if they wanted to meet at the Adventurers Guild at first light to have their loot identified and split.

“Can it be a bit later than that?” asked Cassandra.  “Some of us need to sleep.  How about ten bells?”

“Okay, ten bells is fine with me.  I can meditate on the fights from tonight.”  They reached the academy without trouble and the low-level folks went to sleep, Paul taking a guest room.

Chapter 12

Duncan flew into Lanport, thinking he’d sit on the docks and watch the sunrise while meditating on the fights.  As he flew over the city, he heard a shrill scream from below.  He dropped down to the ground beside a girl who couldn’t have been more than eight years old.  Four young thugs, none older than fifteen, had trapped her in an alley, and were threatening her with knives.  The moment Duncan arrived, one of them yelled “Scarper!” and they fled.

Duncan didn’t follow; instead, he asked the young girl what was going on.  “They thought I was begging in their territory,” she said.

“Why are you out in the streets in the middle of the night?” Duncan asked.

“The dead men are attacking,” she said.

“Show me.” Duncan equipped his Necrobane sword and dragontooth sword.  He was already wearing his dragonskin armor.

The little girl led him a few blocks deeper into the neighborhood and pointed.  He saw an undead animator and at least two Bone Knights approaching a large building that looked like a boarding house or apartment building.  “Hide,” he whispered to the girl, and Blinked forward to attack the animator.  His Necrobane sword doubled his damage against undead, and it and its five echoes made a mess of the animator’s ribs.  The monster blasted him back with Necrotic energy, and the sword absorbed half of it.  His dragonskin armor offered him a fair bit of protection, too, and he ignored the bit of damage that got through.  He struck again and then Blinked away as the Bone Knights rushed to attack him.

One of the Bone Knights summoned a bone cage around him, and he Blinked out of it to attack the Animator again.  He killed the Animator, stored its corpse, and engaged both Bone Knights.  They were still fast, but he’d made significant gains on his physical stats since the last time he’d fought them (only a few days ago, heh) and his new sword did double damage to undead - it was no longer a contest.  He blocked with folds of space, parried as needed, and beat them with swordplay.  He was storing their corpses when another bolt of necrotic energy slammed into him.  He Blinked to the side and faced the direction he though the attack had come from.  Another Animator and two more Bone Knights were rushing him.  What could possibly be in this building that the lich is sending two Animators to get it, or to kill?

Duncan Blinked behind the Animator and stabbed it in the back then slashed it across the neck with his second sword.  The Animator hissed and the Bone Knights spun and came back towards him.  He shredded the Animator’s torso with a third attack, and it died without even being able to turn to face him.  He stored the corpse and demolished the two Bone Knights the same way he’d taken care of the previous pair.  With them dead and their corpses stored, he looked around for additional threats, but there was nothing apparent.

The little girl came out from her hiding place.  “What’s your name, little one, and where do you live?” Duncan asked.  She pointed at the building the undead had been approaching, then took his hand and tried to pull him into the building.  He stored his swords and let her lead him in.

Inside, a large woman met them at the door. “Bente!  Where have you been?  We were worried sick.” She engulfed the little girl in a hug.

“Dead men were coming,” said Bente. “But it’s ok now.  They’re gone.”

“Alright, you go up to your room and go to sleep,” the big woman said.  Bente gave Duncan a wave and ran up a nearby staircase.

“Thank you for bringing her home, Warrior,” the matron said. “Where did you find her?”

“She was a few blocks away; some youths had cornered her.  I scared them off and she led me here.  What is this place?”

The woman sighed.  “We’re an orphanage.  The undead attacks orphaned hundreds of children, so his Grace the Duke ordered several new orphanages be established.  We’ve only been open a few days, but we’ve got a hundred kids like Bente in here.”

What do the undead want with an orphanage?  And if they come back, what’s to stop them from getting it?  “Do you have any guards here?” he asked.

“We’re an orphanage, not a prison!” she replied, outraged.

“I meant to protect the children.  Bente wasn’t making things up about the undead.  I killed six very high level undead outside this building before we came in.  Do you have an evacuation plan?”

The woman appeared shaken.  “There are three of us on staff.  We live here with the kids, cook and clean for them.  There’s no money for guards.  The Duke established the orphanages and pays for food and our salaries, but unless we get a sponsor, they won’t even get an education. And with the state of the city, a sponsor for poor kids doesn’t seem likely.  No, there’s no evacuation plan.  Three of us can’t herd a hundred kids out the front door in five minutes, never mind an evacuation route.  If more undead show up, we’re all as good as dead.”

“What does it cost to sponsor an orphanage?  And who would I talk to if I wanted to sponsor this one?” asked Duncan.

The matron looked at him in surprise. “We’re the Dock Street orphanage.  Talk to the Duke’s seneschal or his staff.  To become the orphanage’s sponsor will cost fifty gold a year, as I understand it, but you’d need to hire extra staff yourself and pay for things like teachers and clothing for the children and so on.  You can expect that to cost you another fifty gold a year.”

So, for one day’s dungeon delving I can sponsor a hundred orphans for an entire year.  Those six undead I just killed are worth sixty gold on their own.  “I’ll stay here until the sun comes up in case more undead show up, then I’ll go talk to someone at the citadel,” he said.

“What’s your name, Warrior?” asked the matron.

“Duncan of the Valley,” he said, sitting on the front step.  “And you?”

“I’m Mrs. Shadburne.  Mr. Shadburne was killed by the undead, so I’m almost as lost as these kids,” she added forlornly.

“I’m sorry to hear that.  I hope caring for these kids helps with your pain.”  This is even worse than small talk.  I am not good with people. Please let some more undead attack now.

Mrs. Shadburne patted him on the shoulder and returned to the building while Duncan sat on the step until sunrise.

At ten bells, he met the group from the dungeon at the Adventurers Guild hall.  Behind the privacy ward, he pulled out the loot they’d gotten.  The rat hides sold for a silver total.  I’ll have to rank that harvesting Technique up some to get better results.  The ratmen had high quality leather armor but it wasn’t enchanted, and he’d cut it up pretty badly.  They got a gold for the lot, and another gold for their blades.  The boss ratman had enchanted swords with a Decay affinity similar to the axe Duncan had “loaned” David earlier.

The treasure chest contained thirty gold in loose coins, a metal affinity longsword that ignored metal armor, similar to one of Duncan’s one-handed swords, leather bracers that increased strength and agility by five each, a mind-affinity robe that made it appear the wearer was a meter to the left of where they actually were, and a pair of earth affinity boots that let the wearer hover or walk on air by repelling the ground underneath.  The Technique stone from the ‘mud’ golem offered an earth-affinity Technique to turn stone to mud.  It was common and only worth two gold.

The value of all the items came to just under forty gold, bringing the haul for the run to seventy gold, fourteen gold for each of them.  Amelia bought the longsword off the group for ten gold, David bought a decay sword for three gold (returning the axe he’d borrowed from Duncan), and the rest of the items went to the guild.

“Is the bounty on high level undead still in effect?” Duncan asked the appraiser, and when the guild man confirmed it was, Duncan produced the six corpses from his encounter earlier that morning and received sixty gold for the bodies, and an additional eight gold for the gear they’d carried.

“Where did those come from?” asked Cassandra.

“Found them sneaking through Lanport before dawn this morning,” Duncan replied.

“Have you reported the encounter?” she asked.

“To whom?  I found these next to an orphanage.  I’d like to ask the city watch to post someone nearby in case more come back, but I worry that anyone they post will just become a victim.”

“The watchmen carry flares they can use to alert others to the danger if they see undead roaming the city.  You should definitely report the encounter to them,” Cassandra said.

“I’ll do that.”  They thanked the appraiser for his time and left the office.  On the way out, Duncan asked Cassandra if she knew the process for sponsoring an orphanage.

“You’ll need a factor to manage your financial affairs if you’re going to do that sort of thing.” Cassandra told him.  “Adventurers can die young, so you’ll need to establish a trust to fund things like that.  My family uses Elliot Lainer to handle our legal and financial affairs in Lanport.  He’s a good man and may take you as a client.  I’ll ask him, if you like.  We have the rest of the day free, still.”

David was in a state of euphoria.  “I’ve never had this much gold in all my life,” he said.

Paul agreed. “This has to be the biggest haul ever to come out of that training dungeon,” he said. “On my previous run, I think I got five silver.  My branch of the family is relatively poor.  This is three years’ allowance for me.”

“I’m glad you’re all happy with the delve,” said Duncan.  “Don’t expect that sort of thing every time, though.  Dungeons tend to give me rare monsters to fight, but they’re not always as lucrative as that.”

“Are you sure you want to split the loot evenly?” Amelia asked, not for the first time.  “All the loot came from things you fought on your own.”

“It’s already done, and an even split is how it should be.  Enjoy your new sword,” said Duncan.

Duncan and Cassandra went to the City Watch station closest to the orphanage to report the undead sighting.  It was a good thing Cassandra was with him, as the Watch captain didn’t want to believe Duncan about killing the undead.  “I’d not have turned the corpses in yet, had I known he’d be so thick,” he grumbled.  “How can someone so weak be so condescending?”

“In most circles, level sixty isn’t considered weak, and his family has significant political power in the city,” Cassandra said.  “Anyway, he’s agreed to post a guardsman nearby in case more undead come by.  You’ve done your civic duty and reported the incident.  Let’s go drop in on Elliot so that I can introduce you, then I have to visit some family friends this afternoon.  Obligations of the heir.”

Elliot Lainer proved to be a pleasure to work with.  A minor nobleman of perhaps forty, he had good manners and a familiarity with high society, and he conveyed a sense of competence that Duncan immediately liked. He met them in a nice, comfortable office in a fine building not far from the Citadel.  Elliot confirmed that Duncan could sponsor an orphanage for a base cost of fifty gold a year, which covered the building rental and maintenance, furniture, food for the children and staff, and the staff’s salaries.  Teachers, educational supplies, more staff, and a guard or two would run another fifty gold a year, give or take.

For ten gold a year, Elliot would take care of the finances and paperwork. “But you’ll need a thousand gold to establish a trust to pay the ongoing costs.  That’s a lot of money even for most noble families to come up with.  If you wanted to help an orphanage with a lesser donation, that would still be most appreciated.”

Cassandra laughed.  “You don’t have to dance around money issues with Duncan, Elliot.  He has more available cash on hand than anyone I know.”

“I have a lot of gold on account with the Adventurers Guild,” said Duncan.  “Assuming the local branch has sufficient funds on hand, I can bring you the coin this afternoon.”

“Do you keep all your money with the Adventurers Guild?” Elliot asked.

“Well, no, I have a few hundred gold on me,” said Duncan.

Elliot and Cassandra both stared at him.  “So you have no money invested anywhere?” Elliot asked.

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Duncan.  “I earn lots of money from delving dungeons, and I don’t need it, so I leave most of it on account with the Adventurers Guild, because I can withdraw it from anywhere they have a branch.  That seems pretty convenient to me.”

“How much interest do you earn on that deposit?” said Elliot.

“Again, I don’t know what that means.” Duncan said.  I’m starting to feel stupid here.  It’s not a feeling I like.

“Duncan’s not from a noble family, Elliot.  He’s a very young adventurer who’s very, very good at running dungeons.  He doesn’t come from money – he’s entirely self-made,” Cassandra explained.

“I see. My apologies, Duncan,” Elliot said. “Normally, an institution that holds your money will pay you a small percentage of the amount they hold, because they get to use your money while they have it.  Typically, they might pay you one or two percent of the money you have stored with them each year.  They will use the money you’ve essentially loaned them to buy cheap products or land, or to lend to other people at a higher rate of interest.  They will earn more money by using your money in that way, so they pay you for the privilege of doing so.”

“Is it any more convenient or safer to have your money with the Adventurers Guild than to keep it in your own storage?” asked Cassandra.  No, I suppose it’s really not.

“Right now, there’s a lot of land and buildings selling very cheaply due to the predations of the undead.  In the short term, there’s not much prospect for property values to increase due to the sudden glut in supply and reduced demand.  But long term, people who can afford to buy now stand to make a lot of money,” said Elliot.

Duncan replied, “I don’t really care much about money.  I can get all I need from delving dungeons.  But it would be nice to be able to help more people like with this orphanage.  And if I don’t die in a dungeon, I’m effectively almost immortal.  My body no longer really ages.  So long term is fine with me.”

“I can put together a list of reputable managers for you to investigate.  You can choose whichever one you feel most comfortable with,” Elliot began.

“Isn’t that what you do?” Duncan interrupted.

“Well, yes, but I’m the one introducing you to the concept of money management.  I can’t ask you to trust my firm with your money – from your point of view, the whole thing could be a scam,” explained Elliot.

“Meh, Cassandra trusts you, and she hasn’t wronged me.  If it turns out you’re cheating me, I’ll just kill you and everyone you know.”

Cassandra laughed. “Horrifying threats aside – I’m one of the people he knows, Duncan – Duncan’s a good man, and would be a good client, Elliot.”

“You’re the one introducing me,” said Duncan.  “If he cheats me, you’ll be the first person I visit.”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing I’m an honest man working with a reputable firm.  Nobody’s getting cheated.  Why don’t you wait and see how the orphanage thing goes, and then consider investing your gold after that,” Elliot said.

“The Academy offers a class on financial management, Duncan.  You should see if you can take it, or at least take a few private lessons from the instructor,” suggested Cassandra.

It took an hour to get the paperwork for the orphanage ready.  Cassandra left to fulfil her social obligations.  Duncan returned to the Adventurers Guild and withdrew a thousand gold from his account.  The appraiser winced at the amount, but they had the funds on-hand, so he was able to complete the transaction with Elliot.

At sundown, Duncan returned to the orphanage to see if the undead would return.  Six undead had to be a significant investment of the lich’s forces this morning.  I don’t know if it’ll cut its losses or come harder tonight.  I guess it depends on how badly it wants whatever it’s looking for.

About two hours after sunset, Duncan heard screams from a few streets away.  Monsters coming, or a distraction?  Or were they after something else in the neighborhood?  With a curse, Duncan flew toward the disturbance.  He saw a red light rise up and burst thirty meters into the air and moved to investigate.  A watch patrol had encountered an Animator and its two Bone Knight companions and were being taken apart.

Duncan landed behind the Animator and hit it with first his left (necrobane) sword, and then his right (dragontooth) sword.  He followed up with a quick Mind Spike and two more sword blows, and it dropped before the Bone Knights even knew he was attacking.  He stored the corpse and attacked the first Bone Knight as it turned to face him.  The second Bone Knight turned from attacking the last few watchmen and joined the attack on Duncan.

Twenty seconds later, Duncan stored the Bone Knight corpses and told the remaining watchmen, “There’s more than just this group out here.  I’m going after the others.”  He summoned a sword under his feet and shot back up above the rooftops and headed back to the orphanage.

He saw another Animator and two… greater bone golems approaching the orphanage.  Is that the lich itself?  Duncan Blinked to the caster and attacked it from behind.  His sword cut a deep gash into its torso, and in the time between his first sword landing and his second sword landing, the lich (and it was the lich, not an animator) had spun completely to face him.

Duncan put a fold in space between himself and the lich to redirect the beam of darkness he expected.  It was only just in time – the beam formed, and struck the lich itself, as Duncan’s fold in space redirected the beam back the way it came.  Duncan’s Assessment passive showed the lich to be badly wounded.  Duncan Blinked back to where he’d been to avoid the golems he was expecting to hit him any second and he created another fold in space in front of him to redirect any forthcoming attack from the lich.

A blizzard of ice surrounded him, but he Blinked out of it before it could do any real damage through his dragonskin armor.  The moment he could see the lich, he hit it with a strong Mind Spike, Blinked behind it, and hammered it with another blow from his necrobane sword.  It was still stunned, so he struck it once more with his dragontooth sword and Blinked straight up thirty meters.

The bone golems were spinning in place looking for him.  The lich was critically wounded according to Duncan’s Assessment, so he struck it with the strongest Mind Spike he’d ever used, then Blinked back to it and cut it again with his necrobane sword.  The lich’s body turned to mist, and it let out a blast of spiritual force that made Duncan’s brain hurt.  If not for his Coagulation, his eyes and ears would have bled.  The cloud fled to the Northeast.

Duncan Blinked back up and used Destrin’s Restoration to heal himself fully.  The greater bone golems started attacking the orphanage’s wall, each of them wielding four large swords.  Ah hells, I was really hoping they’d flee to the lich and I could follow them to its phylactery.

He Blinked down to the golems and attacked one from behind, bone chips flying.  Both golems turned to attack him, each using four longswords one-handed.  Do these things count as undead?  I don’t know if I’m doing double damage to them and they’re just incredibly durable, or if I’m not doing double damage.  The bone golems used their swords independently.  It was like being attacked by eight strong monsters instead of two.

Duncan threw up folds in space to block and used both swords defensively as he twisted and dodged attacks.  He got clipped by a sword on his thigh, and his dragonskin armor parted under the force of the attack.  He Blinked back a few meters and healed himself to make sure he didn’t stumble from the wound.  The golems pressed their attack.

There was a commotion behind Duncan, and he Blinked straight up ten meters to have a look.  Half a dozen people in guard uniforms had entered the square.  Duncan was about to warn them to flee when one of them let loose with a lightning bolt and another threw a ball of fire.  Both struck the same golem.  I guess this is the guard’s reaction force…

Duncan Blinked back down to re-engage the golems, smashing more chips off the one he’d originally struck.  It spun around to re-engage him, but the second one went after the new arrivals.  I hope you folks know what you’re doing.  Duncan took advantage of the fact there were only four swords attacking him now to be more aggressive, Blinking behind his target to strike it, then repeating that as it spun to face him.  After two repetitions of that, the golem starting spinning like a top, with its weapons extended.

Duncan Blinked above it, standing on a sword he mentally pulled out of storage under his feet.  He stabbed through a fold in space at the monster’s head, staying just out of its reach as it flailed up at him.  It took more than a dozen attacks to kill it.  Well, that ended up being easy.  Just takes a minute to think of the correct tactics.

He stored the corpse and looked over to where the other golem was fighting the watch team.  One guard was down, clearly dead.  Another was down but moving, a shieldbearer standing over the fallen watchman. Duncan’s Assessment Technique showed the golem was only wounded.

He Blinked behind the remaining golem and attacked it with both swords, knowing it was likely to turn on him.  Instead, it went directly into the whirling top move, surrounded as it was.  Duncan Blinked above it and repeated his folded space thrusting attacks to the head strategy he’d used on the other one.  The watchmen took advantage of the moment to retreat to the edge of the square, dragging their wounded with them.

When the golem stopped spinning, Duncan Blinked down to the ground to continue to engage it, so that it wouldn’t turn on the watch again.  He slowly backed away from the watchmen, and the golem followed, attacking constantly.  Duncan took another wound and decided that was far enough.  He Blinked back over its head and used folds in space to let him batter its skull with thrusts, staying just out of its reach.  The watchmen attacked with occasional ranged attacks, but they were clearly worried about drawing its attention again.

The golem collapsed and Duncan stored the corpse and turned to the watchmen.  The fallen man was still down, breathing shallowly.  He had a deep gash in his torso, and if he hadn’t been a Level 103 Warrior, he’d have died from that wound.  “It killed our healer,” said one of the remaining watchmen.  All of them were over level one hundred and all were wounded to one degree or another.

Duncan knelt down beside the wounded warrior and touched him, triggering Regenerate Other and Destrin’s Restoration.  A flood of mana left him, and the man’s wounds disappeared entirely.  Duncan checked his soulgem and saw he was under three thousand mana.  “I’m sorry, I don’t have the mana to heal the rest of you.  My heal is only rank one, and it’s very inefficient.”

“We’ll live until we can get back to our barracks and our other healers.  Thank you for healing James; I’m not sure he’d have made it.  What’s your name, warrior?”  The watchman who spoke was a grizzled Level 106 Warrior.

“I’m Duncan of the Valley.  I’m a student at the Academy of Steel.  Yes, I know my level’s an anomaly,” Duncan said.

“You’re the one that found the lich in the first place!” said the watchman who’d been doing the talking for the group.  “These two were with it when we raided the catacombs.  Did you see it here?”

“Yeah, I killed it before you arrived.  It turned to mist and disappeared that way.”  Duncan pointed.  “I was hoping the golems would follow it home so I could follow them.”

The man whistled.  “Well done.  I’m Sergeant Gray.  I must get my men to a healer, and Amos there,” he gestured to the dead healer, “back to his family.”  The guardsmen picked up their fallen comrade and carried him off.

Deciding the lich was unlikely to return after having been ‘killed’, Duncan returned to the Academy, where he sat on the roof of the student building to meditate before getting some sleep.

I wish I knew what the lich wanted with the orphanage.  Is there something hidden in the building?  Is there someone there it wants, or wants to kill?  There’s too much I don’t know.  Oops, I leveled again.  I don’t even know if it was in the dungeon or fighting the undead.  I did have some lovely fights.  The ratmen were terrific opponents, and the mud golem and these bone golems were great as well.  I took the lich completely by surprise this time; I don’t think I’ll be quite so lucky next time.  That fight went far better for me than it had any right to.  Using a fold in space to redirect its death beam back at itself made all the difference there.

I need to hire a couple of guards for the orphanage and get Mrs. Shadburn to work on an evacuation plan.  And I guess I need to talk to Jacob about getting a crash course in personal finances from one of the instructors.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

100 (+2)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

272 (+4)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

251 (+3)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

253 (+3)

Endurance:

274 (+4)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

25480 (+480)

Health Regen:

16000/hour

Stamina:

3740 (+60)

Stam Regen:

40000/hour

Mana:

19827 (+350)

Mana Regen:

6660/hour

Mana Reserved:

401

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Moderate

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive (limit reached)

Rank

Blade Echo

8

Tempered Blade

8

Fold Space

6

Regeneration

7

Blink

6

Coagulation

6 (+1)

Mind Spike

6

Hardened Skin

6 (+1)

Destrin's Restoration

5

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

4

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

3

Personal Space Pocket

5

Remove Affliction

4

Ignore Pain

5

Regenerate Other

1

Shadow Sight

4

Cage of Blades

1

Assessment

4

Extract Resouces

1

Blade Sense

2

Understand Languages

1

Skills

Rank

1H swords

7

Plate armor

4

2H swords

5

Mail armor

1

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

4

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Chapter 13

Duncan’s next month at the Academy felt pretty mundane.  He was able to get some financial coaching from the mage who taught economics and realm planning to noble children and decided to invest his surplus gold as a result.  He left five hundred gold on account with the Adventurers Guild and put the rest of his money into the hands of Elliot’s firm to invest in property that would regain value in the years ahead and/or which could be used in the short term as orphanages.  He also asked them to keep an eye out for a place he could purchase near a high-level dungeon with humanoid monsters and not too many other people around.

He sat in on some language classes, hoping it would help his Understand Languages Technique advance.  He picked up a smattering of Dwarven, Mawmik (the language of the Lizard people, who were called Lipiti), Cunwa (the common tongue of the humans who lived far to the East), and even Draconic, which he was pretty sure a human throat wasn’t supposed to handle.

Mrs. Shadburn had arranged for a security guard for the orphanage – an experienced warrior who, for some reason she hadn’t explained, was no longer able to adventure or soldier.  Duncan met him at the orphanage when he went there to discuss the orphanage’s other needs with Mrs. Shadburn.  The guard was a robust fellow, a Level 53 Warrior who’d gone slightly to fat as he aged.  He was missing his right leg from the knee down, and had a wooden peg attached to the stump with some sort of harness.

“You the sponsor, then?” the guard had greeted Duncan on his arrival.

“I’m Duncan, yes,” Duncan replied.  “Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Hector.  Mrs. Shadburn says you wanted a good guard to keep the bairns safe.”

“I do.  I’ve killed half a dozen high-level undead around here in the past few days.  I’m going to have the doorways reinforced so you can keep them out, but I need to work out an evacuation plan with Mrs. Shadburn, too,” Duncan said.

“You’re awfully young to be sponsoring an orphanage.  Mrs. Shadburn says you’re not a noble’s get?  At your level, you could be a hundred though, with the slowdown in aging.  Dunno how anyone could reach a hundred looking that young…”

Duncan grinned at the man’s refreshing openness and the casual use of a hundred to refer to age and levels in consecutive sentences. “I’m just an adventurer with a lucky set of affinities and a good Technique build.  And I’m only eighteen.  While we’re asking probing questions, why did you never get your leg healed?”

“It is healed, as far as healing spells are concerned.  If I’d been able to get to a good healer when I first lost it, maybe they could have re-attached it or regrown it, but I was in a prisoner camp until it healed like this.  It’s been twenty years; I’ve grown used to it.  I can move fast enough to keep up with the bairns, if that’s your concern.”

“Do you mind if I try to heal it?” Duncan asked.  “I have a non-standard healing Technique.”

Hector shrugged.  “Won’t hurt me none for you to try.”  He sat on the step and unbuckled some straps, then removed the peg harness.  The stump was uneven and scarred.

Duncan touched the stump and activated his Regenerate Other and Destrin’s Restoration Techniques.  There was a weird sensation, like he was pushing against a barrier, then it yielded, and a flood of mana left him.  The leg was fully restored in an instant as Hector produced a yelp of pain.  Instantly regrowing a leg may not be painless.  Duncan checked his soulgem.  Woah, that heal took ten thousand mana.

“Gods!  I thought it was impossible.”   Tears began to roll down Hector’s face.  “Thank you, young Duncan.  You cannot know what this means to me.”

“I’m glad I could help.”  Duncan patted Hector on the shoulder awkwardly.  “I’m going in to see Mrs. Shadburn now.”

He spent an hour with Mrs. Shadburn going over the orphanage’s immediate needs.  He left her ten gold to pay for reinforced doors that could be barred from inside and for other necessities.  She would hire a dedicated cook and upgrade the food from gruel to something more palatable.

On the way out, Duncan saw Hector again.  “How did you heal this?  Every healer I’ve spoken to over the years has said it can’t be done.  I know dozens of amputees, and they’ve all been told the same thing,” Hector said.

“I use the Regenerate Other Technique.  I’m told it’s a terrible healing Technique and no one uses it.  It takes my own regeneration and applies it to the person I’m healing.  I have a second Technique that speeds up the process.  But it’s very mana intensive. It took ten thousand mana to restore your leg,” Duncan explained.

“I know a dozen men who’d give you their life savings to regenerate a limb,” said Hector.  “This… this is life-changing.  It feels like I have a future again.”

“I have no need for gold, and certainly not for anyone’s life savings,” said Duncan.  “I can only spend that much mana a couple of times a day, though.  If you want to arrange for your companions to meet me one at a time each morning at six bells, I will heal one a day.  Do you know of a convenient place for them to meet me?  I can fly in the city, so anywhere’s convenient for me.”

And so, he began visiting the disabled veterans club each morning, and on evenings when he wasn’t delving the Sawiskin dungeon, healing one person each visit, until his Regenerate Other Technique advanced, and he was able to heal two each visit.

He continued to delve the Sawiskin dungeon once or twice a week and delved the training dungeon with his roommates and Paul every week on the night before seventh day, which was their rest day at the academy.  He had planned to take it easy on advancing his Techniques but delving just felt good.  The more time he spent in high-level dungeons, the less food and sleep he needed – the dense ambient mana sustained him.  He ran into a few more rare monsters, but nothing stood out as special.  He didn’t advance any of what he considered his primary Techniques, but he did see some progress on his newest Techniques.

His roommates made slow but steady progress themselves.  David and Amelia advanced to level twenty-eight and Cassandra advanced to twenty-nine, as did Paul.

The lich went into hiding, or spent time recovering from its defeat – there were no sightings of high level undead anywhere in the city.  The three guards Duncan had on rotating shifts at the orphanage had no threats to deal with, to everyone’s relief.

The day before the Academy of Steel hosted its annual midsummer ball (delayed two weeks due to the undead attack), Duncan visited the orphanage after picking up the fancy clothes he was to wear from the tailor.  Little orphan Bente was waiting for him at the door, chatting with Hector.

“Hello, Bente,” said Duncan.  “Hector.”

“Morning, Duncan,” said Hector.

Bente took Duncan’s hand and led him into the building, where she sat him down in the parlor where guests waited, and said, “The dead wizard is coming back to hurt you.  He really doesn’t like you.”

“How do you know that, Bente?” Duncan asked.

“I just do,” she said. “I knew where to find you the first time.  I know he’s coming back.  He doesn’t like me, either.”

“Why doesn’t he like you? Everyone likes you,” said Duncan.

“Because I can see things.  The dead king told him to get me,” the little girl said. “But you stopped him from getting me, so now he’s getting you first.”

Duncan identified Bente.  She was a Level 6 Mage.  Is that normal?  Do children normally get Techniques?  I didn’t get my first one until I was seventeen.  “Do you know how to use your soulgem?  Can you look inside your soulspace and see a bunch of writing?”

“Yes, but I can’t read some of the words.  We just started learning.  I’m pretty good, Mrs. Higgins says.”  Mrs. Higgins was one of the teachers Mrs. Shadburn had hired for the orphanage.

“Can you show me what it says?  Just think about sharing it with me.”

Bente put on a face of fierce concentration, and Duncan could see her soulgem information.

Name:

Bente

Class:

Mage

Level:

6

Profession:

Strength:

11

Intelligence:

80

Dexterity:

30

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

24

Endurance:

20

Concurrent Active Techniques:

1

Health:

1000

Health Regen:

38

Stamina:

260

Stam Regen:

375

Mana:

3000

Mana Regen:

3040

Affinities:

Body

Weak

Air

Strong

Mind

Moderate

Fire

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Water

Moderate

Divine

Outstanding

Earth

Moderate

Healing

Strong

Lightning

Moderate

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Precognition

6

Skills

Rank

Woah, she’s like me, except with Divine.  I guess that precognition is how she knows what’s going to happen with the lich, and how to find help that could fight it.  So, step one – protect Bente from the lich.  Step two – see if she can help me find the lich’s phylactery.

“That’s great, Bente.  Now, only show that to people you trust and only if there’s a real need for them to see it.  Do you know when or where the dead wizard will attack me?”  Bente shook her head.  “Okay.  Will you be safe when he comes for me?”  Bente nodded solemnly.

“Right, then,” Duncan said.  “After he attacks me, I will try to find you someplace safer to stay, as well.”  And maybe some Technique Stones, since I know your affinities.  He made a mental note to talk to Elliot about buying a residence in Lanport where Bente could stay with a dedicated staff.  His delving over the month had produced another six hundred gold or so, and he felt confident that should get him something suitable.

In the meantime, he had a ball to attend the following day at the Academy and no way to avoid it.  Maybe I can delve the Sawiskin dungeon overnight, so I don’t worry about all the social interaction I’ll have to go through tomorrow.  My own progress has been pretty good, really.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

105 (+5)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

282 (+10)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

260 (+9)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

264 (+11)

Endurance:

283 (+9)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

26660 (+1180)

Health Regen:

16800/hour (+800)

Stamina:

3880 (+140)

Stam Regen:

42000/hour (+2000)

Mana:

20702 (+875)

Mana Regen:

6860/hour (+200)

Mana Reserved:

421

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Moderate

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive (limit reached)

Rank

Blade Echo

8

Tempered Blade

8

Fold Space

6

Regeneration

7

Blink

6

Coagulation

6

Mind Spike

6

Hardened Skin

6

Destrin's Restoration

5

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

4

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

3

Personal Space Pocket

5

Remove Affliction

4

Ignore Pain

5

Regenerate Other

2 (+1)

Shadow Sight

4

Cage of Blades

2 (+1)

Assessment

4

Extract Resources

2 (+1)

Blade Sense

3 (+1)

Understand Languages

2 (+1)

Skills

Rank

1H swords

7

Plate armor

4

2H swords

5

Mail armor

2

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

5

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Chapter 14

The day of the Midsummer’s Ball dawned bright and sunny.  It was an additional rest day for all the staff and students at the Academy.  Many of the students whose families lived within a few days’ travel would be giving tours of the facility to those families.  Those taking weapons classes would be demonstrating their prowess in sparring sessions that ran the whole day in the arena.  Visitors from Lanport and further away were given group tours – this was the one day a year when the Academy was open to the public.

Duncan missed all of this.  He entered the Sawiskin dungeon before dawn and spent most of the day practicing his Techniques and skills against the monsters within.  I might be obliged to attend the ball tonight, but I don’t have to waste the whole day. He exited the dungeon not long before sundown, having had to fight a Sawiskin adventuring party inside on his way out.  He left the dungeon, Blinked up and away at an angle to avoid the Sawiskin guards outside, and flew back to the Academy.

He Blinked into his room, stored his armor, and proceeded to the baths to clean up before the ball.  There were half a dozen other students already there doing the same thing, chatting amongst themselves.  Duncan ignored them and they ignored him, though he heard a couple of muttered comments about the smell when he cleaned his armor in the laundry tub.

Back in his room, he summoned his clothes for the ball.  They were made with silk, a ridiculously expensive fabric that apparently came from the far East.  He had to admit it felt and looked good, though.  Probably not worth the gold it cost, but gold isn’t really all that hard to come by for me.

Preparations complete, he sighed and made his way down to the grand ballroom where he checked in with the school staff, then entered the room, summoning his cloak of the unseen, which made him fade into the background in peoples’ minds.  He wasn’t invisible – he just wasn’t noticed, considered just another face in the crowd.

And there was definitely a crowd to be lost in.  Every noble family within a few days’ travel had a representative at the ball.  Rich merchants and guildmasters from all the trades were present.  It was one of the biggest social events of the year in the southern part of the empire, and the undead invasion had provided more reason to talk.

Duncan wandered around, catching snippets of many conversations.  It seemed most people saw the undead incursion as an opportunity, now that they’d survived it.  Apparently, some other cities that had been attacked hadn’t fared as well – a few cities had been entirely overrun, their populations wiped out and converted to undead.  Most of the conversations seemed to revolve around what that meant for trade routes, supply lines, and markets.  What about all the people who were killed?  What about the massive undead force created?  Where will those undead armies go next?

The ballroom was massive, and the balconies above it and the meeting rooms around it were swarming with people.  After a while, the headmaster stepped onto the stage.  A sound mage amplified his voice as he spoke to the crowd.  “Thank you all for coming to our annual midsummer ball. I trust that you’re enjoying yourselves and finding the conversation stimulating.  The dancing will commence shortly, but I do have some announcements to make in the public interest.”

“As you know, there was a widespread uprising of undead a short while ago.  Many of our friends and neighbors were lost, and we regret their passing.  Lanport was able to defeat the insurgence here thanks to the actions of many brave heroes.  Other cities were not as fortunate.  Eighteen cities in the empire were attacked, and two, Killarney and Braithwaite, were overrun.  Battles are still going on in several other cities, and several huge armies of undead have been sighted in the empire.”

“The undead in Killarney and Braithwaite were entirely wiped out by the dragon Gwynneddhothstein, which entirely demolished both cities, burning them to the ground.  We also know that the dragon has destroyed at least one undead army in the Empire.  Gwynneddhothstein hasn’t been seen in over a century, so her appearance now is troubling.  It’s fortunate that she seems to consider the undead her enemy.”

“Other cities in other nations were attacked, and we hear that other dragons have also risen from their slumber to destroy the undead.  I don’t know if the return of dragons is helpful or harmful in the long run, but for now, they are attacking only the undead, so we must be grateful.  No one has been able to determine why the undead have suddenly risen in such a coordinated fashion.”

“But tonight, we are together to celebrate the students here at the Academy of Steel, and those at the Lanport Mage and Healing colleges.  The latest representatives of the empire’s best and brightest have arrived to join their elder peers.  They are the future of the empire, and we invite you to get to know them.  The dancing will begin at eight bells; in the meantime, we invite you to continue to enjoy yourselves.”   The headmaster waved at the crowd’s polite applause and retired from the stage.  Conversations picked up again immediately, as people pondered what the arrival of dragons meant to the conflict.

Duncan had promised Amelia that he would dance with her and was regretting that promise now.  I should have practiced that.  Here’s hoping my strength and agility will translate to grace on the dance floor.  Fortunately, he wasn’t dancing the first dance, or any of the ones with significance beyond the dance itself.  He settled in a corner, anonymous in his concealing cloak, to watch the first few dances.  They seemed formal and choreographed, a significant change from the circle dancing and wild abandon of the dances of his youth in the Valley.  Uh oh.  I’m going to make a fool of myself if I have to know specific steps, he thought.

There was a commotion at the far end of the hall.  Some sort of scuffle?  Suddenly, screams rang out and the crowd surged into the hall, away from the entrance.  Duncan summoned a sword under his feet and rose up above the crowd, trying to get a look at the problem from his corner.  As he rose over the crowd, he saw a black beam of necrotic energy sweep across the crowd near the door, cutting dozens down.  Three meters from the door, the lich stood, a dark miasma rising off it.

Duncan dismissed his cloak and finery, replacing it with his dragonskin armor, necrobane sword, and dragontooth sword.  I have to get it outside the hall.  It’ll be a massacre in here.  Most of these people are so weak they’ll die if it so much as looks as them.  He Blinked behind the lich and slammed his Necrobane sword into its back, then followed up with his dragontooth blade.  Five blade echoes followed each attack, and the lich howled in agony.

Something crashed into Duncan’s side with overwhelming force.  His armor caved in, his ribs caved in, and his organs were pulped.  Blackness took him.

He opened his eyes to find Master deBouteville’s wife Daphne standing over him.  His chest was restored. “Get up quickly,” Daphne said. “We need you in the fight.”

Duncan got to his feet, grabbing his swords as he did.  The room was littered with bodies.  A dozen warriors were facing a giant undead monster that seemed to be made up of corpses.  At least half a dozen bodies formed its torso.  Each arm was another body, and five human arms grew out of the bodies that it used as arms, each one acting as a finger.  The monster’s head appeared to be the result of half a dozen or more human heads being jammed together, eyes looking in multiple directions.  It held a massive mace in one ‘hand.’  As Duncan watched, it swung the mace with insane speed, smashing one of its opponents right through his shield.  The unfortunate warrior was knocked ten meters to the side, ending in a crumpled heap on the floor.  Ah.  That’s what happened to me.  That thing is terrifying.

Across the room a second huge monstrosity was facing a single warrior in plate armor with a large shield and mace of his own.  The gargantuan undead smashed its mace into the warrior almost faster than Duncan could see.  Four strikes in under a second should have pulverized the warrior, but he took all four blows on his shield without yielding and struck back with his own mace, doing no noticeable damage to his massive opponent.  If I live through this, I’ve gotta see how he’s standing up to that.

The lich was still standing near the door, several ghostly creatures swooping and flying around it.  Eight or nine mages were flying about the room, sending ranged attacks at the lich and the abomination facing the larger group.  There seemed to be an agreement to leave the other monstrosity to the lone warrior.

Most of the remaining people in the room were clustered around the exit opposite the lich, a mage in a white robe projecting a hazy white barrier between the group and the lich as the group filed out through the door.

Alright, let’s try this again.  Duncan Blinked behind the lich and stabbed at it, only to find his blade blocked by a black sphere that appeared around the monster.  He immediately Blinked five meters up and summoned a sword to hover on.  The ghosts swirling around the lich began to pass through Duncan, and he felt the faint tug of spiritual damage. He swung at one with his Necrobane sword but the blade passed through it without doing any damage.

“Why do you not die?” the lich screeched below him.  Duncan Blinked away a moment before a thick bar of necrotic energy swept through the place he’d been hovering.  He Blinked twice more in random directions to avoid potential follow up attacks.  He swapped his dragontooth sword out for his spirit sword as the ghosts rushed at him and he flew erratically to meet them, still wary of the lich’s necrotic beam attack.

The battle around and below him continued to rage.  Mages on the ground, in the air, and on balconies sent a variety of elemental attacks against the lich, the huge undead monstrosities, and the ghosts.  Healers standing behind the white misty barrier healed the warriors fighting the monstrosities and any mage within range.  The ghosts attacked the flying humans and the huge undead continued to pummel the warriors in front of them.  The lich attacked Duncan repeatedly with its necrotic beam, clipping him once on the hip, forcing him to use Destrin’s Restoration immediately to recover.  Fortunately, his Necrobane sword halved the damage he took from necrotic attacks, and he wasn’t close to being killed outright by the attack.  Still, it was all he could do to dodge the attacks and occasionally take a swing at a nearby ghost.

Slowly, the number of guests in the ballroom dwindled as they escaped out the East door, behind the hazy white shield projected by the mage in the white robe.  Necrotic beams that struck the shield just dissipated.

Duncan Blinked above the lich and struck at it with his Necrobane sword through a fold in space to bypass the necrotic shield.  The lich hissed in pain and the shield exploded outwards, catching his legs as he tried to Blink away.  His feet rotted away in his armor, and he was forced to use Destrin’s Restoration again.  Mana’s going to become an issue if I keep letting this thing hit me.

Fortunately, when the shield exploded to hit him, it gave the mages in the room a moment to attack the lich freely, and several of them landed telling blows.  Lightning coursed over the lich and it was struck by Wind Blades and what appeared to be a high pressure jet of acid.  A new shield snapped into place around the lich after a couple of seconds, cutting off the attacks.

“Do that again!” a robust mage in a fancy robe shouted at Duncan.  Duncan, however, was dealing with the attention of the ghosts and renewed necrotic beam attacks from the lich and was back to dodging for the most part.

As the last of the non-combatants left the ballroom, the mage who’d been maintaining the misty white shield used a Technique that sent a beam of white light at the lich, shattering the black sphere around it.  Another wave of attacks from the remaining mages in the room slammed into the lich, causing significant damage before yet another black shield appeared around it.  The mage in white shattered the shield again with another beam of white light, and again the mages threw everything they had at the lich.  With a shriek that inflicted spiritual damage on everyone within hearing, it dissolved into a greenish cloud and vanished out the door at an astonishing pace.

The ghosts that had been plaguing Duncan and the flying mages vanished when the lich was discorporated.  The two corpse golems continued to attack, one futilely slamming away at the shield of the stoic warrior facing it down alone, the other swinging overhead at the flying mages who were all that remained of the living in the room other than the healers behind the hazy barrier.

Duncan hovered over the golem attacking the lone warrior, who turned out to be a Level 112 Warrior, which helped explain how he was single-handedly holding the monster at bay, and began stabbing it with his Necrobane sword through a fold in space, placing his blows against the back of the heads that had been mushed together to form the monster’s head.  He noted that the lone warrior had done a lot of damage to the creature already – his Assessment showed it to be badly wounded.  Without the Technique, he’d have had no way of knowing, as all the bodies that were jammed together to create the monster appeared to have been in very rough shape to begin with.

The second monster had begun hurling pieces of furniture and corpses at the flying mages, who took cover in the rafters and continued their bombardment from there.  After about ten minutes of constant damage, the monster the mages were attacking fell and the mages turned their attention to the one Duncan and the shield warrior were attacking.  It fell not long after.

Duncan flew out the door to check on the evacuated students and attendees.  He’d originally been tasked with escorting students to their bunker beneath the student housing, but with the lich attacking him, he’d felt compelled to stay in the hall.  And, if he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t actually remembered he was supposed to escort the students until the fight was over.

There were dozens of demolished Bone Knights and two more Corpse Golems scattered across the grounds, most badly charred.  The fight inside had apparently been only a small part of the attack.

The bunker was sealed shut when he arrived at the entrance, and his attempt to Blink inside got him nowhere, as the bunker was warded against teleportation.  So he returned to the great hall to see if he could help any wounded folks, only to find two dedicated healers had already healed the wounded.  The remaining people in the room were all over level ninety and were milling around in small groups.

Duncan landed beside the warrior who’d been able to fight alone against the corpse golem.  The man had already swapped his armor and weapons out for a formal robe and was standing with the mage who’d maintained the barrier to protect the evacuees and who’d been able to break the lich’s black wards.  It turned out the mage was actually a Level 104 Priest – the first time he’d seen someone identify as a priest to his soulgem.

“Well fought, sir.” Duncan said to the warrior.  “Your ability to go toe to toe with that thing was astonishing.  It almost killed me with a single blow when it arrived.”

“The warriors of the Church have an advantage against the undead and other such abominations,” the warrior replied.  “We train specifically to face them.”

“The Church?” asked Duncan.

The priest replied, “The gods may have long since departed Medim, but they still watch over us and protect us.  The Church is their representative in the world.  We are at times offered divine guidance, and we act as their fist against otherworldly forces.”

Oh neat, Duncan thought.  You lot are going to be busy with these invading powers.  “You must have been among those who faced the lich under the cemetery, then,” he said.

The priest winced.  “Ah, no.  We were in conclave in Rhum when the undead arose.  Representatives from all over the world gathered together, leaving our cities vulnerable.  The undead had suspiciously good timing for their uprising.  Several of our local brethren were among those lost to the lich under the cemetery while we were away.  We only arrived back in Lanport a week ago.”

“Well it’s a good thing for us that you did.  That lich has been producing some very scary minions.  Thank you for facing it today,” Duncan said, meaning it.  He didn’t think he’d have been able to take one of the corpse golems alone, and there’d have been a lot more casualties without that barrier the priest erected to protect the evacuating attendees.

“It was our honor to do so,” said the warrior.  Duncan bowed again and withdrew.  For some reason, he felt more awkward than usual when trying to converse with them.

There were perhaps fifty people who’d been killed in the brief battle.  Most had been slain by the lich in the initial confusion of the attack, but over a dozen had been smashed by the corpse golems as they tried to protect the escaping crowd.  If not for Daphne, I could have been one of them.  Maybe I’d have regenerated on my own, but that assumes the monsters would have left me to do so.

Feeling a little lost in the aftermath of the fight with nothing in particular to do, Duncan retreated to his dorm room and meditated for a while, thinking about the fight at the ball, but also his day in the dungeon.  Nothing in any dungeon I’ve delved has been as dangerous as the elite undead roaming around the world trying to wipe out civilization.  That corpse golem almost killed me with a single blow.  It’s a good reminder that being strong compared to the people here doesn’t mean being strong in absolute terms.  Am I approaching Pyotr’s level of power?  That church warrior today was able to absorb tremendous blows from the corpse golem thing.  Although my shield could allow something similar, though probably not that many blows that fast. Am I in the same class as him?  Whether I am or not, it feels like I need to grow much stronger.  So many of my Techniques are still low-ranked, so I have plenty of room to grow.  Raising my non-Technique skills still feels necessary.  I just wish it weren’t such a slow process.  I should add riding and swimming and wilderness survival back into the mix, and work on my armor skills.  So much to do before I can stand up to even the minions of these invading powers, assuming that’s what’s going on.

Chapter 15

A full week passed after the attack before life at the Academy returned to a sense of normalcy.  David, Amelia, and Cassandra were all unhurt and returned to their dorm room the morning after the attack, when the students were allowed out of the bunker they’d evacuated to. They told him that the instructors and staff had escorted them and a number of visitors to the bunker.  The headmaster had been everywhere, cutting the greater undead down like they were zombies with his flaming axe.  Damnit, I was supposed to help with that.  I knew he was holding back at my entrance trial!

A large number of students were removed from the Academy by their families, citing the attack and the overall increase in danger in the world.  I’d have thought that would be more reason for them to stay and train, but instead they’re retreating to their family strongholds.  Several of the instructors had to be replaced, too, either slain in the battle, or unwilling to risk staying around.

Duncan apologized to the headmaster for not escorting students, explaining he’d been badly hurt by the first Corpse Golem, then had been involved in fighting the lich after he’d been healed.  The headmaster waved off his apology, saying, “It all worked out in the end.  We got the other students to safety, and you helped defeat the lich.”

Duncan used the extra time off to have Elliot secure a small manor house and a governess for Bente and hired several guards to protect the place, and to evacuate Bente in the event of an attack.  He left specific instructions that they were to contact him if Bente said she needed to talk to him.  He delved the Sawiskin dungeon three times and took his roommates and Paul through the Academy training dungeon once.  He also spent several hours a day on his own training in various armors and with various weapon combinations.  Master deBouteville and Master Guilford continued their lessons without interruption.

Once the classroom-based classes resumed at the Academy, Duncan received a very pleasant surprise.  “Good morning, students.  My name is Pelleas Fenbalar, and I will be teaching the Elven language class for the remainder of the school term.”  The distinguished looking elf smiled warmly at the class, and Duncan grinned back.

After class, Duncan waited with several other students to speak with Pelleas.  When his turn came to talk, he arranged a private meeting in Pelleas’s office the following morning.

The rest of the day passed quite quickly, and Duncan was in a noticeably better mood than normal.  At dinner, his roommates commented on it.  “Did you kill a new monster in a dungeon overnight?” asked Amelia.  “Or meet someone and fall in love?” added Cassandra.  “You do look unusually happy,” said David.

Duncan shrugged, “The person who advises me on my Techniques is in town.  I’m happy to see him, and I’m looking forward to discussing my build some more.”

“Ooh.  He must be a miracle worker, to get a great lump like you to a hundred so young.  Do they consult with others?” asked Cassandra.

“Hey now.  He had a whole lot to work with, given my natural talents,” replied Duncan.  “I can ask him if he’ll consult with you guys if you want.  Technique builds are his primary focus, and he’s very knowledgeable.  I know you already have advisors, though.”

“Hah,” David laughed.  “My uncle advises me, and his advice has been to go with what I can learn from our soldiers rather than Technique stones.  I think I’d like a second opinion now that I’ve got a little spending money and a better understanding of what’s out there.”

The girls nodded.  “It never hurts to get a second opinion,” said Amelia.  “I assume your advisor is bonded, Duncan?”

“Bonded?  He’s under a geas not to discuss my Techniques or affinities or build with anyone.  He’s an adventurer’s guild appraiser and consultant.  Or at least, he was when last I saw him.  I’ll have to check how that works now.  I’m meeting him in the morning.”

“Let us know,” said Cassandra, getting up to speak with a student who’d been idling out of earshot waiting for her attention.

The following morning, Duncan met Pelleas in the elf’s new office on campus.  “It’s good to see you, sir,” he said.

“And you,” replied Pelleas.  “With the sudden surge in undead activity, there was some upheaval within the guild, and I took the opportunity to transfer to the Lanport branch for a while.  I’ll be on the appraisal desk during the overnight shift, and teaching here in the mornings, which gives me the afternoons and evenings to explore and attend to my studies.”

“I see you have continued to grow at a rapid pace, despite being in a low mana city with no good dungeons nearby, and further despite focusing on your non-Technique skills.  If you want to discuss your build, we should meet in a consultation room at the guild hall.  This building doesn’t have the privacy wards necessary for that sort of discussion.”

A subtle way of telling me that anything I say here may be overheard.  “I understand, sir, and I would like to do so.  Do you have an appointment available this evening before your shift starts?”

“I can accommodate you then, yes,” said Pelleas.  “In the meantime, tell me how you’re enjoying your studies here at the Academy.”

“It’s gone surprisingly well.  My sword studies under Masters deBouteville and Guilford are exactly what I was hoping for, and the classroom studies have been pretty good, too.  I haven’t noticed any overt hostility from other students.  I don’t know if that’s because the power gap is so overwhelming, or because the students are less shallow or less arrogant than I’d expected.  It also helps that one of my roommates is heir to the Duchy of York, and no one wants to get on the wrong side of her.”

Duncan continued, “I love being beside the sea.  It’s majestic and awe inspiring.  Lanport seems to be a pretty nice city, not that I have anything to compare it to.  It’s a shame there’s a dearth of worthwhile dungeons in the area, though.”

“The undead incursion was horrible.  I knew the average citizen was weak, but zombies overran so many people.  The greater undead were devastating.  I was in Lanport when the uprising happened, and I went to the cemetery early.  I killed a lot of greater undead there, and discovered the lich in a cavern underneath, but it hit me so very hard I had to flee.  Its death magic was overwhelming.”

“I’ve fought the lich twice since.  I was able to kill it when I ran across it in town, but of course, it didn’t stay dead.  Then it attacked the Academy, and one of its minions almost killed me with a single strike, so that was a reminder that I’m not as strong as I should be.”

They chatted about inconsequential things for a short while, then Duncan took his leave to attend a sword lesson with Master deBouteville, and it was some hours later that they were able to reconvene in a warded room in the Adventurers Guild hall.

“So,” said Pelleas, as soon as Duncan closed the door behind him.  “I assume you’ve picked up some additional skills.  That much advancement from the skills you had seems unlikely, even for you.”

“I did,” said Duncan.  “A number of them came from a surprisingly lucrative delve in the nearby Sawiskin dungeon.”  At Pelleas’s raised eyebrow, he continued, “It’s a dungeon on an island nearby.  The guild rates it as level ninety, but, other than the rare monsters I face, it’s probably closer to level seventy.  I don’t get a challenge from the regular inhabitants anymore.”

“I’m aware of the dungeon.  The guild included it in its briefing when I arrived, along with instructions to not tell anyone about it because it’s so dangerous,” said Pelleas.

“It’s not as dangerous as they say.  Which is probably why I get so many rare encounters when I’m in there.  I’ve fought a flame turtle and a hydra and some crabs, and all sorts.  But the suspiciously generous encounter came right after the undead uprising.  I fought a winged man with the head of a dragon.  It was a difficult fight, but he dropped so much loot.”  Duncan pulled his seven new swords and his dragonskin armor from storage so that Pelleas could appraise them.

“In addition to this, I got a box of Technique stones.  The whole thing felt like it was a gift from the gods, so I used the stones, and, well, I got a couple of surprises there, too.”

Pelleas was examining the swords and armor, admiration writ large on his face.  “These are amazingly good swords.  Each with a very specific use and a very specific class of enemy.  And the armor is breathtaking.  A couple of the dwarven masters can make living armor, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any dropping as loot in a dungeon.  And you got an entire set to go along with the swords.”

Duncan nodded, storing the loot once more.  “It felt like the gods were saying ‘Looks like shit is kicking off, and you’re not ready, so here’s a helping hand’ – it’s more than a little disturbing, honestly.”

“And here’s the result…” Duncan shared his soulgem’s assessment.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

105

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

282

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

260

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

264

Endurance:

283

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

26660

Health Regen:

16800/hour

Stamina:

3880

Stam Regen:

42000/hour

Mana:

20702

Mana Regen:

6860/hour

Mana Reserved:

401

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Moderate

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive (limit reached)

Rank

Blade Echo

8

Tempered Blade

8

Fold Space

6

Regeneration

7

Blink

6

Coagulation

6

Mind Spike

6

Hardened Skin

6

Destrin's Restoration

5

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

4

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

3

Personal Space Pocket

5

Remove Affliction

4

Ignore Pain

5

Regenerate Other

2

Shadow Sight

4

Cage of Blades

2

Assessment

4

Extract Resources

2

Blade Sense

3

Understand Languages

2

Skills

Rank

1H swords

7

Plate armor

4

2H swords

5

Mail armor

2

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

5

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Elven Language

1 (+1)

“You’re making good progress in your primary combat Techniques, both active and passive.  Wait – you have twelve passive Techniques and eleven active Techniques.  That shouldn’t be possible.  Ah, you are the most fascinating case study.  Do you know what your soulgem means by cultivation level?”

“No sir,” Duncan replied.  “Repdam said that cultivation was a thing from outside the Valley, along with quantifiers – that’d be people who use soul gems – and that cultivators focused on Body, Mind, and Spirit.”

“I see.  Which of your new Techniques came with your swords and armor?”

“Cage of Blades, Extract Resources, Understand Languages, and Regenerate Other,” said Duncan.  “I learned Blade Sense by training with Master deBouteville.  It was my eleventh passive, and I only tried to use the Techniques from the stones because I’d already broken the rule about ten and ten.  I wouldn’t have chosen Extract Resources or Understand Languages myself.  Well, really, I wouldn’t have chosen any of the four that came with the armor and swords, but the whole thing felt like instruction.”

“I can understand that sentiment,” agreed Pelleas.  “The new Techniques turn you into a bit more of a generalist, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I assume you can stack Regenerate Other and Destrin’s Restoration to instantly heal your target?”

“I can.  It’s very mana intensive with Regenerate Other being such a low rank, but it’s quite effective, and it can even restore long lost limbs.  I’ve been healing some of the amputees in Lanport to help advance the Technique, but it’s slow going,” said Duncan.

“Doubtless the lack of imminent danger causing that,” Pelleas mused.  “You should try healing your group in the training dungeon during fights.  Or maybe do a dungeon with more folks your own level so that there’s a real risk to you as you heal people.”

“Perhaps I’ll be invited the next time the Duke’s forces go after the lich,” said Duncan.  “There’s plenty of risk in that.”

“I expect so,” said Pelleas.  “For Cage of Blades, I suggest casting it during every fight in which you have more than a single opponent.  Most creatures that are a threat to you will break out of it, but they’ll take some damage in doing so, and you won’t advance it if you only cast it when you truly need it, and it won’t help when you truly need it if your target can break out of it because it’s low rank.”

“Extract Resources is a rare Technique, and potentially quite valuable.  The materials you can recover from dungeons and monsters may be very valuable both in terms of gold and utility as you rank it up.  But it’s going to rank up very slowly, because you’ll be using it out of combat.  Use it on every monster corpse and dungeon feature you come across.  You never know what you’ll get.  You could get a rare ore out of a random boulder.”

“Understand Languages has the same drawbacks – you’ll need a lot of exposure to foreign tongues to rank it up.”

“I’ve been sitting in on other language classes at the Academy,” Duncan interjected.  “It’ll rank up at whatever rate it ranks up.  I’ll be just as glad for my level not to shoot up further too quickly.  Draws too much attention at school.  I may just start showing a fake level to hide the fact I’m advancing.”

“Not a bad idea.  If you show a hundred and five for the rest of the year, that’s still a ridiculously impressive value.  For most people, it’s effectively as intimidating as whatever your true level would be,” agreed Pelleas.

“Something else I need to talk to you about,” said Duncan.  “I met a young orphan, maybe six or seven years old.  She has rank six precognition, and a very impressive set of affinities.”

“Precognition?!” Pelleas exclaimed.  “That’s one of the rarest Techniques.  And at such a young age.  I fear for the girl’s sanity.”

Duncan explained how he’d met Bente, and that the lich really seemed to want her captured or killed. “I have her staying in a manor house I bought,” he said.  “She has a governess and several guards to protect her or evacuate her.  The lich knows about her and has tried to kill her before.  The girl found me and brought me back to her orphanage to fight it.  She said the dead king told the lich about her.”

“Very troubling,” said Pelleas.  “Normally, Divine is an affinity that only manifests strongly in people sworn to the church.  The gods protect their own.  I assume her affinity is strong?”

“Outstanding Divine and Spirit, strong Healing,” Duncan confirmed.

“I wonder if the church has a strong presence in Lanport,” Pelleas said.  “They have experience in helping people with a Divine Affinity.  It may be that you’ll need to take her to a bigger center.  I will ask around about the church here in the meantime.”

Duncan said, “I saw two representatives of the church when the Academy was attacked.  One was a level one twelve warrior who went one on one against a corpse golem that almost killed me with a single swing.  The other was a one oh four priest who maintained a barrier the lich couldn’t penetrate with its Death magic and cast a bolt that shattered the lich’s own barrier.  They seemed puissant.  I spoke to them a little afterwards, but they felt standoffish, so I didn’t get to know them at all.  Not even any names.”

“I see.  I will make inquiries and see if I can meet them myself to get a feel for them,” offered Pelleas.  “In the meantime, you may want to build a warded room in that manor of yours – something where she can hide and nothing can sense her.”

“Thank you.  I’m trying to keep Bente – the orphan – as safe as I can, but I can’t be there to protect her myself,” Duncan said.  “Oh – one more thing.  My roommates have asked if you’d be willing to give them advice on their builds.  David is a penniless noble from the North who’s received some bad advice in the past, it sounds like, but the other two are Cassandra York, and Amelia Daughtry, who are apparently pretty important people, and have family advisors already.”

“I am always interested in hearing about people’s builds, so I’m happy to talk to all three of them.  If they don’t heed my advice, that’s fine; they’ll still have provided me with their builds and there’s value for my research in that.”

Chapter 16

Content that his build wasn’t off-track, Duncan returned to his routine.  He delved the Sawiskin dungeon at least twice a week, took his roommates and Paul through the training dungeon once a week, and practiced his martial skills diligently. His roommates all consulted with Pelleas and provided him with a list of Techniques and items that he shouldn’t sell to the guild if he came across them.  With their share of the loot from the training dungeon (thanks to the rare monsters that still showed up pretty consistently for Duncan), they would be able to buy them from him for the same price the guild offered him.

David seemed alternately upbeat and depressed as they spoke about their plans for personal strength.  “My affinities aren’t strong enough for fast progression even under the stress of dungeons.  It’s going to take me a very long time to max out my Techniques, even at rank four or six.  Fortunately, though, I should be able to use enough Technique stones to get a much higher level than my family ever expected.  It’s even possible that I might reach level one hundred at some point.”  He shook his head, “I don’t understand how you got to a hundred at age eighteen, Duncan.”

Duncan shrugged. “I’m fortunate to have some outstanding affinities.  I started training young and I accept greater risks in delving solo, so I progress faster.  I get good money out of dungeons, which lets me buy Techniques and gear that give me further advantages.  And I train my martial skills to the utmost.”

He continued, “I haven’t seen much of the empire, but it feels like most people don’t get much beyond level thirty.  Some good craftsmen and adventurers get to fifty, and the numbers seem to drop pretty quickly after that.  Talented guards and some nobles seem to reach eighty or more, probably by using as many Techniques that fit their affinities as they can, even if that results in a less than optimal build.  Just the increase in body density, health, and mana as a result can be very useful.”

“That’s what I’ll be doing,” said David.  “Pelleas gave me options that will help me in dungeons and when leading troops – and he agreed that the two Techniques you gave me are good choices for me, so thanks for that – but I’ll only be able to raise them to rank six or eight, and that will take years.”

“You need to stop comparing yourself to Duncan,” said Amelia.  “What level is your uncle, Lord Taggart?  What about the rest of your family, your cousins?  The officers in your guard?”

“My uncle’s level sixty-five, at age fifty-one.  I guess most of my cousins are not much over level thirty.  Our best soldiers are all under level fifty.”

“You’ve shared your soulgem information with us before,” said Duncan.  “Are you willing to do that again?”

“Sure,” said David, and they could all see his soulgem information.  “Pelleas showed me a trick to put Techniques I don’t have in there at rank 0, so I can track what it is I’m trying to get.”

Name:

David Taggart

Class:

Mage

Level:

28

Profession:

Str (Body):

44

Int (Static):

60

Dex (Body):

45

Wis (Mind, Spirit):

55

Agi (Body):

45

End (Body):

43

Concurrent Active Techniques:

1

Health:

4038

Health Regen:

175/hour

Stamina:

710

Stam Regen:

1750/hour

Mana:

5925

Mana Regen:

2138/hour

Affinities:

Body

Weak

Ice

Weak

Water

Strong

Decay

Moderate

Corrosion

Weak

Spirit

Weak

Mind

Moderate

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Water Wings

4

Water Sense

4

Touch of Rot

4

Ignore Pain

3

Purify Water

4

Water Breathing

0

Whirlpool

2

Tranquil Mind

0

Rainfall

2

Telepathy

0

Water Jet

3

Regeneration

0

Water Armor

2

Water Walking

0

Drowning Spheres

0

Cloud of Decay

0

Skills

Rank

1H swords

3

Riding

3

1H axes

2

Sailing

4

Leather Armor

3

Navigation

3

Swimming

4

Shields

1

Leadership

2

Tactics

2

“Alright,” said Duncan.  “So, if you max out the Techniques you’ve got available to you there – that showing rank 0 Techniques is nice; I didn’t know that was possible – you get to what, level one hundred and twelve?  And you’ve got room for another four Techniques on top of that.  People start aging more slowly at around level eighty, and the aging process virtually stops after level one hundred, according to Pelleas.  So you may not be leading your family, but you could be the wise old uncle to generations of Taggarts.  So stop sounding so down about your affinities.”

David blushed and nodded.  Duncan continued, “That said, you’re clearly not working hard enough on your Techniques outside the dungeon.  You should be depleting your mana pool every day you’re not delving by using your armor skill and trying to cast water jets while maintaining the armor.  I got two concurrent skills at about level thirty, I think, and that’s not dependent on a given affinity, so you should be able to match me there.  You should be creating whirlpools in the pond or in the sea to rank that Technique.  You have a strong water affinity, so you should be able to rank those Techniques to four pretty easily before progress really starts to slow down.  I won’t critique your skills – that’s what the Academy is here to do, push those forward.  You might consider adding meditation though – it will help with your mana regeneration and let you practice more.”

“Duncan the taskmaster!” laughed Cassandra. “No, I understand.  No one reaches your heights so young unless they’re driven.  And the undead invasions are definitely motivation for the rest of us to work on improving our personal power.  But delving the training dungeon weekly is a pretty big commitment for a typical student, and we’ve stepped up for that.  And you’re right that we should spend more time practicing our Techniques each day.  I’m not giving up my beauty sleep, but I’m sure I can find an hour a day to blast targets with lighting and wind blades, and I’ll have new Techniques to rank up soon, too.”

“I won’t press you,” said Duncan.  “If the lure of being strong and stopping the aging process while you’re young isn’t enough motivation, there’s nothing I can say that will help.  I am happy to keep going to the sewer dungeon with you to assist you in your progression, but I won’t nag you about training.”

“We appreciate it,” said Amelia.  “We’re probably the only first years advancing our Techniques at all.”

“My progress is slowing down, too,” Duncan said.  “Even the secret dungeon isn’t very rewarding any more – too much familiarity.  It’s really only good for the loot and occasional rare spawn these days.”

That night, Duncan was surprised to see no Sawiskin guards outside the dungeon.  Inside the dungeon, there was a huge ambush waiting for him.  He was immediately engulfed in a watery prison globe, from which he promptly Blinked straight up and summoned a sword to ride.  He dodged around the room as at least twenty Sawiskin tried to encase his head in a bubble of water, strike him with a high-pressured jet of water, or entrap him in another watery prison globe.  Duncan dodged as best he could, Blinked out of the bubbles that did hit him, and instantly regenerated the damage from the water jets that hit him.

He dropped a Bladestorm in the room, hitting more than half the Sawiskin, the area of effect having grown with each rank up.  At Rank three, it covered a square fifteen meters per side.  I really should have ranked that up more by now.  Duncan stored his flying blade and Blinked behind a caster outside the Bladestorm, striking it with his spirit blade, and using his rose quartz shield to deflect some of the water jets.  The water armor Technique the Sawiskin used was quite effective against physical weapons but was significantly less so against his spirit sword.

There were a lot of attackers; he worried about being overwhelmed and considered running for the gate or deeper into the dungeon.  Instead, he used a fold in space to redirect attacks that would hit his torso to instead hit a Sawiskin a few meters away.  Half a dozen of the jets were redirected, doing some significant damage to his target despite its water armor before the casters realized they were attacking one of their own.

He looked around the room trying to pinpoint the healers.  With a group of twenty plus, there could be four or even five healers.  He spotted three easily, spread out throughout the room, healing the damage from his Bladestorm and his melee attacks.  This isn’t going to work.  I can’t overwhelm multiple healers.  I simply don’t have enough burst damage.  If I can see three healers at a glance, chances are there are more, and even three is too many.  Duncan Blinked to the cavern exit that led deeper into the dungeon and cast another Bladestorm behind him, then summoned a blade to fly on and flew deeper into the dungeon, hoping to cause his pursuers to string out behind him so he could fight them in smaller groups.  I hope they think the rest of my party is coming in behind me…

The first few caverns in the dungeon tended to have little of note in them – occasional monsters foraging in the muddy areas or eels in the pools – so he passed through them quickly.  He stopped at the narrow entrance to the third cavern and listened for pursuit.  When he heard approaching footsteps, he created a fold in space about a meter off the ground, and a bit more than a meter square, with a very small deviation (the distance between the entrance and exit).  A Sawiskin warrior ran into the room, caught the bottom of the window in his belly and folded over it.  Duncan ended the Technique, and the warrior was neatly cut in half at the waist.  Is that cheating?  It feels like cheating.

He struck the next Sawiskin through the entrance with his spirit sword, sweeping it through the creature’s torso as it rushed past him into the room.  It slowed and turned to face him as two more Sawiskin entered, one a healer.  Duncan used his Mind Spike Technique on the healer, then hit it repeatedly while it was stunned, maneuvering to keep it between him and the other Sawiskin as much as possible.  When the stun wore off, he used another Mind Spike immediately and kept up the attack until it fell.  Then he Blinked across the room and used Destrin’s Restoration to heal himself before re-engaging.

Without a healer, the two remaining Sawiskin were unable to deal with the spiritual damage from Duncan’s sword or the mental damage from his Mind Spikes, and both succumbed to his attacks in short order.  Duncan looted all the bodies and then stored the corpses in his bracelet.  He would dump them in an out of the way place in the dungeon a little later – in the meantime, he didn’t want other Sawiskin stumbling across the bodies – he wanted them to think perhaps their friends were somewhere else in the dungeon, still looking for him.

Duncan headed deeper into the dungeon, hoping for rare monsters.  If the Sawiskin came across him, he’d likely still be able to Blink to safety and ambush them again.  If I ever run into something with a teleportation block stronger than my Blink, I’m going to be in a world of hurt.  He killed the usual inhabitants of the dungeon methodically and encountered another group of five Sawiskin that came looking for him.  They only had a single healer, and so he took them out with relative ease, too, using the same tactics to stun and kill the healer first.

Eventually, in what he’d come to think of as the ‘real’ boss room where he often found rare creatures more dangerous than the turtleman chieftain, he came across a number of human-sized shrimp-like creatures in the deep pond where he’d encountered the flame turtle.  They looked different from the shrimp he saw regularly in the dungeon.  He switched to his Beastbane sword plus his dragontooth sword and Blinked down to the bottom of the pool to do battle.

He hit the nearest shrimp with a Mind Spike, stunning it, then waited for it to attack him, rather than going after it into a crowd of monsters with unknown abilities.  Once the stun wore off, it scuttled towards him across the bottom of the pond, its claws advanced.  Just before it reached melee range, Duncan felt a burning sensation in his left arm, and his Beastbane sword, along with his hand and forearm, dropped to the floor.

Panicked, he Blinked up out of the water.  His amputated arm was cauterized by the attack that separated it.  His dragonskin armor had done nothing to impede the attack.  He had no idea what the shrimp had done – he’d never even seen the attack.

Fortunately, the shrimp made no effort to follow Duncan out of the water, instead settling down to… eat Duncan’s arm.  Argh.  He used Destrin’s Restoration and regrew his arm, then poured mana into his living armor to repair it too.  Then he meditated a short while to recover his mana and wait for the shrimp to move away from his lost sword so he could recover it.

He Blinked back down to the bottom of the pond and used Cage of Blades to trap the same shrimp, then hit it with a strong Mind Spike to both damage it and stun it.  He used a fold in space at its maximum divergence to stab the creature from below while it was stunned.  As soon as the shrimp recovered from the stun it tried to reach him, only to be damaged by the Cage of Blades.  One of the imprisoning blades simply disappeared as the shrimp attacked the cage.

Duncan repeated the Mind Spike and attacks to the underside through a fold in space several more times, until the shrimp died.  He examined the corpse but didn’t find anything that could tell him what the attack was.  Still, he had a reliable way of killing the shrimp without being dismembered, so he started in on the rest of them.  It was slow going compared to his normal fighting style because he needed to pause to regain mana after each fight.

After he’d killed half a dozen of the shrimp, a group of eight Sawiskin entered the room and attacked him while he was resting.  He dropped a Cage of Blades on one, Blinked behind one of the healers and attacked it with his Spirit sword, four Blade Echoes striking home with every thrust.  Swapping swords in and out of his pocket space had become second nature at this point.  He used Mind Spike to prevent it from healing and added a second strong Mind Spike to the second healer to give him additional time to hurt his primary target.

The rest of the Sawiskin were attacking with water jets or tridents.  Duncan tried a folded space window between him and the casters, redirecting their attacks at the healer he was attacking.  It only worked momentarily – as soon as they realized they were seeing their ally instead of Duncan they stopped casting.  That was almost as good as them attacking the healer with him, though – it still kept him from taking additional damage.  He used his shield to block incoming trident blows as best he could and continued to focus on the healer until it dropped.

He Blinked under water to get a brief respite to heal himself and the Sawiskin jumped in after him.  They were incredibly graceful under water, moving much faster than they did on land.  Duncan was forced to Blink again almost immediately – so he Blinked past a small group of shrimp, careful not to attract their attention.  The Sawiskin swarmed towards him, swimming over the shrimp.

Suddenly, there were pieces of Sawiskin dropping to the bottom of the pond and the group scattered as the shrimp tore into them.  Duncan was watching carefully to see what happened and still couldn’t see the attacks.  They seemed to either be long melee attacks or very short range ranged attacks, but there was no indication of what caused the damage.  The shrimp simply reached towards the Sawiskin, and limbs were severed.

Duncan took advantage of the confusion and panic among the Sawiskin to Mind Spike the healer.  At rank six, his Fold Space technique had a divergence of thirty-two meters, so he attacked it through a fold in space using his spirit sword and Blade Echoes while the monster drifted.  When the trident-wielding Sawiskin approached him, he Blinked to the other side of the shrimp and continued his ranged sword attacks on the healer, keeping it stunned with Mind Spike attacks.  It didn’t take long for it to die, and once it did, Duncan Blinked up out of the water to heal himself (the water jets were hard to see under water, and he’d been hit by several, even whilst hiding behind his shield).  Fighting the Sawiskin underwater seemed like a poor choice, even with the helping hand he’d gotten from the shrimp.  Better to face them on dry land where they weren’t nearly so mobile.

Duncan stunned the first Sawiskin to step out of the water with a Mind Spike and followed up with several swings from his spirit sword.  He Blinked away as more monsters came out of the water, but continued his attack on the same one, using a fold in space to continue hitting it with his sword and its echoes.  With no healers left, Duncan could whittle the mages down one at a time, keeping the trident-wielders at bay with Cages of Blades and well-timed Blinks across the cavern.

He was very low on mana when he finished off the last of the Sawiskin, having chosen to simply meet the last two sword and shield versus their tridents.  They seemed able to maintain their water armor indefinitely and being stunned didn’t cause it to drop – it seemed to be a strong Technique, and Duncan suspected the Sawiskin all had it ranked up very high.

After he’d rested a while to recover his mana, he went back into the water and spent another couple of hours finishing off the last of the shrimp from range.  First time the rare spawn has been twenty monsters.  It’s usually just one.  There was a chest in the deepest part of the pond which went directly into Duncan’s storage Technique. He used Extract Resources on the shrimp corpses and was rewarded with some shrimp meat, some sharp claws, and some hardened chitin, which he stored away. He dumped the bodies of all the Sawiskin at the bottom of the pond and moved back towards the entrance.  It had been a much longer dungeon delve than he’d expected.

He flew high through the caverns on the way back to the entrance, hoping that anything lying in wait for him wouldn’t spot him immediately up by the roof.  In the entrance chamber, there stood a single Sawiskin, head and shoulders taller than any Duncan had seen before.  It wore armor that looked to be made from fish scales and carried a trident which trailed a greenish steam when it moved.  And unlike the other Sawiskin he’d encountered, this one had an aura that suggested it was quite dangerous.

The Sawiskin noticed his arrival and said something in its native tongue.  Duncan’s Understand Languages Technique gave him no idea what it said – the Technique was too low-ranked and it was the first time he’d heard a Sawiskin speak beyond the commands they snapped at each other when they fought him in groups.  But the tone was angry and the body language belligerent, so Duncan assumed it was hostile.

It gestured with its trident and a green net materialized around him.  There was a rope attaching the net to the Sawiskin’s hand, and it used it to yank him down to it at a dizzying speed.  He was met by the tines of the trident, which punctured his armor at his hip – his shield was bound to his torso by the net, so he had a modicum of protection there.

Duncan Blinked away, escaping both the net and the Trident, but it cost him more mana than normal, and he left the sword he’d been flying on behind.  Maybe the net has an anti-teleportation enchantment I had to overcome?  His wound wasn’t serious, but a numbness was spreading from it, so he used Remove Affliction in case it was poisoned or something, and then Destrin’s Restoration to heal himself.  Remove Affliction was able to deal with the poison, if that’s what it was, to Duncan’s relief.

The Sawiskin teleported across the room, appearing in front of Duncan and thrusting again with the Trident.  Woah – a teleporting foe?  And a humanoid one at that.  This is special.  A reflexive block with the shield bought him a moment’s relief as the momentum-stopping power of the shield confused the Sawiskin.  Duncan used a Mind Spike, which stunned his opponent, and followed up with three swings of his spirit sword.  Four echoes followed each attack, and while the Sawiskin appeared unharmed, Duncan’s Assessment Technique showed he’d done some significant damage.

Suddenly everything went black.  Duncan couldn’t see a thing, even with his Shadow Sight Technique.  Remove Affliction did nothing.  Something hit him in the thighs, much of the force absorbed by his armor.  He Blinked ten meters forward and found himself able to see again.  Magical darkness in an area?

A high-powered jet of water struck him in the side, and he Blinked again, all the way across the entrance chamber to the far wall, where he appeared with his back to the wall and healed himself.  The Sawiskin fired another jet of water at him, and he blocked it with his shield, stabbing through a fold in space to stab the Sawiskin in the back with his spirit sword and its echoes.

The green net appeared around him again, and again he was yanked toward the big Sawiskin.  He Blinked backwards a few meters even as he was pulled and was able to avoid the thrust of the trident.  But the Sawiskin reacted quickly, teleporting to Duncan and stabbing at him with the trident once more.  Duncan stood his ground, defending with his shield and attacking with the spirit sword, which couldn’t be parried or blocked.

A moment later, darkness engulfed Duncan again, and with a lot less panic, he Blinked forward and to the side, appearing not far from the Sawiskin.  The creature leapt at Duncan, attacking with a furious flurry of blows.  Duncan defended desperately with his shield, unable to parry with the spirit sword, but the Sawiskin was very skillful and managed a thrust over Duncan’s shield after a clever deception.  The trident struck his face and penetrated his helmet.  Duncan Blinked forwards past his enemy and healed up.  It took a significant chunk of his mana to perform the heal.  That was entirely too close!

He used Cage of Blades on the Sawiskin and immediately Blinked ten meters to the side, expecting it to teleport out of the cage and attack.  It did as expected, teleporting to where he’d been a moment earlier.  Duncan hit it with a strong Mind Spike and followed up with several attacks through a fold in space, his spirit sword and its echoes wreaking havoc on the Sawiskin’s health.

The Sawiskin gestured broadly and was engulfed in a whirlpool of spinning water.  Duncan noticed its health rising rapidly as the Technique healed it, and used another Mind Spike to stun it, but while the attack did damage, the stun failed to take effect.  He attacked aggressively with the spirit sword through a fold in space, the weapon penetrating the swirling water without a problem.  Still all the damage he could do was barely enough to counter the healing.

After ten seconds or so the water faded, and the scowling face of the Sawiskin could be seen again.  Hah!  Thought you’d be fully healed, did ya?  Duncan used another Mind Spike and another series of attacks with the spirit sword to leave the Sawiskin badly wounded, though showing not so much as a scratch.

Another whirlpool surrounded the Sawiskin, but Duncan attacked through the effect, and his opponent ended up in much the same state he’d begun the Technique in.  One more Mind Spike and another flurry of spirit sword attacks dropped the Sawiskin, and Duncan breathed a sigh of relief.  That took almost all the mana I had.

Duncan stored the body and gear and flew deeper into the dungeon again.  Then he pulled the body out, stripped all the gear off it, and left it stuffed into a crevice in a dead-end passage.  I don’t want anyone finding the body before the dungeon takes it.  The less they know about what I can do, the safer I am.  That fellow was scary.  If he’d had friends with him, I’d have had to flee immediately.

He meditated for an hour to recover his mana.  The dungeon absorbed the body of the big Sawiskin, and Duncan breathed a sigh of relief.  He made his way back to the entrance, hoping he wouldn’t encounter an army of Sawiskin waiting for him.  The entrance chamber was empty, so he stepped through the portal and Blinked up at an angle as far as he could, then Blinked twice more in rapid succession to get away from the area before summoning a sword from his pocket space to fly on.

There were at least twenty Sawiskin on the island.  They’d seen him come out of the portal and disappear and were looking around frantically.  Duncan suspected their vision wasn’t great in air because none of them spotted him two hundred meters away.  He’d used this tactic a dozen times or more, and they’d never seen him after his initial Blink.

He flew off to Lanport, landing not far outside the walls, where he took the chest from the shrimp out and used the Sawiskin’s trident to flip the lid open.  There was no explosion, no poison gas, and no dart flew out, so he approached the chest with caution and looked inside.  There was a pile of coins and jewels in the chest, so he closed the lid, stored it in his pocket space, and headed for the Adventurers Guild hall.  Pelleas had the overnight shift, so he’d have him catalog the loot.

“A productive night in the dungeon?” Pelleas asked as he set the privacy ward.

“It was,” said Duncan. “I fought some shrimp creatures that had an attack I couldn’t see.  The first one amputated my arm despite my dragonskin armor, and I have no idea how it did it.  I ended up trapping them in a Cage of Blades and stabbing them through the belly from a long way away.  They were kind of terrifying.”

“Oh, there was a twenty person Sawiskin war party waiting for me inside the dungeon.  And when I was leaving the dungeon, there was a single bigger Sawiskin waiting for me in the entrance chamber.  He had real skill with his trident, and some strong Techniques as well.  I barely beat him – at the end I had almost no mana left at all.”  Duncan began piling his loot from the last few dungeon delves on the counter.  “This isn’t all from tonight’s run.  I have so much storage space now I could probably go six months without having to sell.”

He had over a thousand gold in coins, a couple dozen gems, and a pile of items both mundane and magical.  The big Sawiskin’s trident had water and poison affinities and dealt increased damage for water affinity users and left a nasty poison in the system with every strike.  The guild offered him twenty gold for it.  He thought about giving it to David, but David didn’t have a poison affinity, so he sold it in the end.  The fish scale armor was brilliant, though.  It was lightweight but very sturdy.  Not on the scale of Duncan’s dragonskin armor, but almost as good as his plate from the Valley.  And best of all, it didn’t have so much as a scratch on it, because Duncan had used his spirit sword to fight the Sawiskin.  He resolved to give the armor to David.  Its armor value scaled with the water affinity of the wearer.

He sold a dozen or so enchanted weapons and other items to the guild for another seventy gold total.  There were also nine Technique stones.  Duncan said, “Oh!  Thanks for helping David, Cassandra, and Amelia with their builds.  David shared his build and showed us that you can put placeholder rank zero Techniques in there.  How is that done?  Also, can you price out the Techniques he’s looking for for me?  I’m never going to be able to spend all the gold I’m finding now, so helping him out feels like a good idea.”

“I’m happy to help them.  I cannot discuss their affinities or techniques, of course, but if you give me a list of the technique stones you want to purchase, I am happy to do that.  As to showing rank zero Techniques, it’s not entirely dissimilar to showing a false level.  You see…”

Duncan sold eight of the nine Technique stones to the guild for another 57 gold.  The last one, Duncan just stared at chuckling.  “Leech Mana.  Spirit affinity.  Very rare.  Very much in demand.  At rank one, you gain one mana for every two hundred and fifty health damage you deal whilst the Technique is active.  At rank ten, you’d gain one mana for every fifty health damage you dealt.  The guild can offer you two hundred gold for it,” said Pelleas.

“I was just commenting on how I was almost out of mana in the fight against that big Sawiskin, and I had to meditate between fights with the shrimp to recover mana.  This will be a huge help for me.  Quite a coincidence, another Technique I can really use showing up like that.  I won’t be able to strike with Blade Echo through a fold in space whilst flying on my flying sword and Leech Mana, but I can have three concurrent active Techniques, and most of the time, I’m not using three concurrently unless I’m practicing fighting whilst flying.”  Duncan looked at Pelleas, “Do you see a downside in me using this and gaining the Technique?”

“I thought your build was complete at ten Techniques.  So any additions are a bonus.  Adding this will let you heal more and fight more with less downtime.  It’s a significant benefit.  Whether or not it’s the best choice for your last active slot, I cannot say.  But I can say I doubt you’ll regret having this Technique.”

Duncan grinned and used the Technique on the spot.  “Oh, one more thing.  The big Sawiskin I fought had a Technique where a whirlpool surrounded him (even though he was on land) for about ten or fifteen seconds, and it healed him a fair bit over that time.  I was able to do enough damage with my spirit sword while he was channeling the Technique that he didn’t come out too far ahead, but it seemed quite a strong Technique.  Do you know of it?  I think it might suit David very well.”

Pelleas thought for a moment.  “I think so.  Water and Healing affinity, though it can work with just water, with a lesser effect.  Let me search the list.  Whirlpool of Healing, maybe?  Yes, that sounds right.  Very rare, very expensive.  We have none available at all.  It’d probably sell for about five hundred gold if we did.  The same as the Leech Mana stone you just used so casually.”

“Ah well.  It was worth a look.  Let me order Cloud of Decay, Drowning Spheres, Water Breathing, Tranquil Mind, Telepathy, Regeneration, and Water Walking for David,” said Duncan.  “I know a couple of those are mostly filler just to boost his level, but they have some value.  Water Breathing and Water Walking in particular I’ve found on items, so I’d consider them a waste for someone like me, but given that he has so few good affinities, using them as filler for his levels seems like a viable plan.”

“I agree,” said Pelleas. “Most people use less than ideal Techniques for that purpose.  The additional robustness one gets from having the Techniques ranked is justification enough.  A typical warrior at level eighty may only have three or four truly useful Techniques, but he’s still a lot stronger and more durable than he’d be without the filler Techniques.”

“Now, we have quite a few of those in stock.  Someone - I can’t imagine who - has been delving a water-based dungeon for the past few months and selling us a lot of water-affinity Technique stones.  I can give you Water Walking, Water Breathing, Drowning Spheres, and Regeneration right now.  The rest will take a week or so to arrive.  It’ll cost you twenty-five gold for the ones you can take today, and another forty for the ones we’ll have to have shipped.  Telepathy is particularly expensive.”

“Perfect,” said Duncan, waving off the cost.  “That costs just a bit more than what I’m getting for the Technique stones I’m selling you today.  I still come out with extra gold in hand, given everything else I’ve sold you.  Actually, Cassandra and Amelia gave me a list of Technique stones to look out for.  Do you have Create Vacuum, Lightning Cage, Commune, Breathe Clean, and another Regeneration for Cassandra, and Sliver Storm, Shackle, Coagulation, Neutralize Poison, and Harden Skin for Amelia?”

Pelleas raised an eyebrow, “I have Lightning Cage, Regeneration, Neutralize Poison, Coagulation and Harden Skin.  The others are rare or expensive or both. For those five, it’ll be another forty-four gold.  Create Vacuum is twenty gold, Commune is sixty gold, Breathe Clean is twelve gold, Sliver Storm is forty gold, and Shackle is eighteen gold.”

With a shrug, Duncan handed a hundred and ninety-four gold over to Pelleas and said, “Easy come, easy go.”

Taking his leave, Duncan flew back to the Academy and meditated a while to process the fights in the dungeon.  Some scary fights today.  I wish I knew what the shrimp were doing to cause that much focused damage.  It snipped my arm right off, and they did the same to the Sawiskin.  Funny that the Sawiskin didn’t recognize the shrimp as a threat – they mustn’t be local monsters.  That Sawiskin chief or hero or whatever… he was a worthy opponent.  Great skills, strong Techniques, good strategy.  Almost killed me with that blow to the face.  And he could heal, though he had to stand still in that whirlpool for a while to do so.  I’m grateful to have survived and pleased with my progress the past few weeks.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

108 (+3)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

289 (+7)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

265 (+5)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

270 (+6)

Endurance:

290 (+7)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

27400 (+740)

Health Regen:

17280/hour (+480)

Stamina:

3980 (+100)

Stam Regen:

43200/hour (+1200)

Mana:

21228 (+526)

Mana Regen:

6980/hour (+120)

Mana Reserved:

401

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Moderate

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active (limit reached)

Rank

Passive (limit reached)

Rank

Blade Echo

8

Tempered Blade

8

Fold Space

6

Regeneration

7

Blink

6

Coagulation

6

Mind Spike

6

Hardened Skin

6

Destrin's Restoration

5

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

5 (+1)

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

3

Personal Space Pocket

5

Remove Affliction

4

Ignore Pain

5

Regenerate Other

2

Shadow Sight

4

Cage of Blades

3 (+1)

Assessment

4

Extract Resources

2

Blade Sense

3

Leech Mana

1 (+1)

Understand Languages

2

Skills

Rank

1H swords

7

Plate armor

4

2H swords

5

Mail armor

3

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

5

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Elven language

1

A few months ago, that much delving time and success would have gotten me a dozen levels.  Just three for that.  But Flying Sword is one, and at rank five, I gain the effect that cuts the wind resistance.  So I should be able to fly faster safely.  Wind resistance isn’t eliminated at rank five, but it’s reduced.  Maybe I can fly fast enough to get to a different dungeon overnight some nights.  Certainly on rest days, I hope!
Cage of Blades ranked up, as well.  It’s still not going to hold anything my level for more than a few seconds if its willing to take some damage to escape, but it’s improving.  Bladestorm is stubbornly refusing to advance.  I need to use it more often.  I keep forgetting to try to extract resources from things.  That needs to change.  Every damned rock I pass in a dungeon gets tested for ore or minerals or whatever.  Hmm, Blink and Mind Spike have to be close to advancing again.  I use them all the time, and in very perilous situations.  Maybe the stimulus from a new dungeon will help.  I’ll talk with Eric and Master deBouteville, and Pelleas too, to see what dungeons might be within range now that I can fly faster.

Interlude 5

Dennis Michaels, Ph.D. and demigod, held his head in his hands, elbows resting on the table in front of him.  The mortals who’d come up with this soulgem construct in the distant past had been brilliant.  It quantified one’s affinity to the various concepts that defined the universe, and the techniques one used to harness and express those affinities.  With it, one knew exactly where one stood on the wheel of life.

And that’s where everything went sideways.  Because the soulgem was lodged in a person’s soul, it was intricately entangled with their beliefs.  At least three different cultures had worked out cultivation systems that allowed individuals to advance their unity with the cosmos.  Those three systems fundamentally disagreed on what should have been self-evident truths.  And yet, all three systems worked, despite having contradictory tenets.

It got worse. A large part of the human population, possibly due to their shorter lifespans, had seen their cultivation system devolve into a focus on affinities and techniques to the exclusion of actual cultivation.  Whole nations were effectively crippled, their growth stunted by their belief system.  There was no way the mortal races could band together and defend themselves against the forces the other demigods were arraying against them if they remained like this.

And so, it fell to Dennis to rejig the system to allow people to advance again.  In the seventy years since he’d realized the extent of the problem, he’d been working with the soul mages who maintained the soulgem construct to improve it and remove the bottlenecks.

Yet, no one on Medim understood the way the universe interacted with the world.  It was commonly held that a person could have a maximum of ten active and ten passive techniques (untrue, and even the differentiation between the two was artificial), that affinities dictated the strength of their associated techniques (true, as far as it went, but incomplete), that those affinities were set in stone and not subject to change (untrue), and that mana was the way techniques were powered (true, but such a tiny fragment of the truth).

It was almost as if the god of knowledge and the goddess of magic had had a spat, and, as a result, much of what people knew of magic was wrong.  But that didn’t explain how the three contradictory schools of thought on cultivation that Dennis had so far discovered all worked.  The truth seemed to be mutable based on the strength of one’s belief – if a belief was strong enough and widespread enough, it became the truth, for the believers.

How was he going to reconcile all this into a soulgem construct that would let mortals defend themselves before they were overrun by undead or eldritch horrors, or crushed under the rule of the dragons or subjugated by one of the warlords assembling hordes?   None of this was covered in his extensive anthropological education.  He was working blind and with a tight deadline.

Chapter 17

Duncan presented David with the Technique stones he’d bought from the guild and noted that a few others would arrive shortly.  “How much do I owe you for these?” asked David.

“Ten gold,” said Duncan.  When David started to object, he continued, “Shut up.  I need you not to die if a monster I’m fighting gives you a dirty look.  I looted over a thousand gold this week.  This isn’t charity, this is me investing in you so that you become more useful in our dungeon delves.”

David sighed, and said, “Thank you Duncan.  I appreciate your kindness and will strive to be less fragile.”

“Good,” said Duncan. “This should help with that, too.”  He pulled the fish scale armor out of storage.  “Water affinity.  Really sturdy, and the protection scales with your water affinity.  So, for you, really sturdy.  Got this off a big fancy fish man I killed in a dungeon.”

“Gods above, Duncan, this is amazing!” exclaimed David.  “I’ve never seen the like!”

“Wear it on our dungeon runs, don’t show it off around the Academy.  Keep it in your storage device.  You don’t want some bastards deciding they can take it off you,” cautioned Duncan.  “I spent a while from level twelve to about level seventy-five thinking every adventurer I met was going to try to kill me for my armor.  In my defense, some of them did try.”

“That’s... sobering,” David said.  “I’ll be careful and not show it off to anyone.”

“Good,” Duncan replied.  “Because, seriously, that armor will make level eighty warriors jealous.  Keep your other armor, too, and wear that for normal stuff.  Only bring this out for dungeons when you’re with me.  If someone kills you and takes your stuff, I’ll kill them, but that won’t bring you back.”

“And it just went from sobering to scary,” said David.  “I’ll be careful, honest.”

“Okay.  Use those Technique stones before our delve this week.  The rest will hopefully be here before next week’s delve.”

Duncan passed the Technique stones he’d gotten for Cassandra and Amelia on to them, as well, with the same admonishment to use them before the dungeon delve and noted that it was possible some others would arrive the following week.

“Trying to get in my good books?” asked Amelia.

“Trying to bulk you up,” Duncan grinned.  “Seriously, if you’re ever to do a non-sewer dungeon, or fight more of the undead, you’ll need to be a bit stronger.  And I’m pulling an insane amount of loot out of my dungeon delves at the moment.  Helping out feels good.”

“Well, thank you,” Amelia replied.  “I’ll even forgive the bulking up comment, given how helpful you are.”

“What’s to forgive? Girls with muscles are sexy,” Duncan said.

Amelia rolled her eyes, though she did blush a little, too.  Wisely, Duncan said nothing further.

Cassandra was easier to deal with.  “Thank you, Duncan,” she said.  “These will help with my plan to conquer the empire.  Or to grow strong enough to wipe out the undead plaguing York.”

“How bad is it?” Duncan asked.

She frowned.  “York is a bigger city than Lanport, and much older.  Its graveyards and catacombs are extensive.  About half the population died in the initial uprising, and parts of the city are still too dangerous to walk around in if you’re alive. We have more people over level one hundred than Lanport but it’s not helping much. The undead are bunkered down in some of the larger mausoleums and more defensible buildings they’ve captured.  Mother writes that our specialist teams are running into fierce defenses when they attack the undead strongholds.  Even the church warrriors are struggling.”

“How far away is York?”

“Hundreds of kilometers.  If I were to take a ship here and sail around the peninsula to the West, it’d take about three weeks to reach Northport, and it’s a week’s ride from there to York.  Before the undead uprising, it’d be about two months by carriage if I chose that route.  Or a day by teleport network, if I wanted to spend the money.”

“How much does the teleport network cost?” asked Duncan.  “How does it work?”

“About twenty-five gold from here to York.  There’s a gate between here and the capital, and another between the capital and York.  That’s the fastest route.  There are gates to other cities from here, and lots of places have gates to York. But Harrish is the central hub – they have gates to every major city in the empire.  I hear Merryfield has a lot of gates, as well, but I’ve never been there.”

“That seems pretty affordable, at least for adventurers,” Duncan said.

Cassandra shook her head.  “You’re using yourself as a point of reference, and no one should do that.  A typical level thirty adventurer earns maybe fifteen gold a year.  A worker in Lanport earns maybe three gold a year.  You can buy an inn in most towns for a hundred gold.  York is a big Duchy, and my mother’s a wealthy woman.  But I’m here for three years – I don’t go home during the year end break, because paying twenty-five gold each way for me is too expensive.  I came here by boat, and I’ll go home the same way.”

Hmm, I wonder what makes teleportation gates so expensive, then, Duncan mused.  I’ll have to go look at the gates here in Lanport someday.  And if I can’t find a decent dungeon within flying distance of here, perhaps I can portal to a city that’s near a good dungeon and come back.  If it costs me fifty gold for a round trip, I’ll still likely come out ahead if I clear a high-level dungeon.

The next delve into the training dungeon was interesting.  David, Amelia and Cassandra all showed up with their new Techniques and their accompanying levels.  Paul looked at them, a quizzical expression on his face.  “Did you all gain a few levels this week?”

Amelia gave him a big grin. “Hard work pays off, cousin!”

Duncan said, “New Techniques.  If there are Technique stones you want, I can get you a good discount on many of them.  I find a lot of Technique stones when I delve alone.”

Paul nodded thoughtfully, “I’m getting good money out of these dungeon runs.  Perhaps I should invest in a couple of new Techniques.  I’ll have to think about what’s available to me.”

They entered the dungeon and began clearing monsters.  David was thrilled to find that Water Walking let him stand on the surface of the sewer water instead of having to wade through it, though the mana cost at rank one had him using it only when there was no solid ground to walk on.  He could only summon one drowning sphere at a time at rank one, but it served as both crowd control and damage over time.  He had to hold concentration to keep it up, so he couldn’t use any other Technique while it was in effect, but that would come with time and rank.

Cassandra used her new Lightning Cage Technique to good effect, as well, trapping an extra rat in almost every room. They eventually broke through, but hurt themselves in doing so, and she was able to finish them off with wind blades or lightning bolts.  Her lack of concurrent active Techniques prevented her from trapping one creature and attacking another, but she felt she was close to being able to use two concurrent Techniques and focused on trying that.

Amelia had no new active Techniques, so she was relegated to doing most of the work while David and Cassandra focused on their new control Techniques.

Duncan practiced his Regenerate Other Technique in combat, occasionally killing a creature without using any active Techniques whilst using Leech Mana to give himself an influx of mana.  It was a small influx but definitely noticeable.  His Blade Echo Technique cost twenty mana per use.  If he managed to deal a thousand damage with it (viable against a poorly armored foe), he’d recover a fifth of that, even with the Technique at rank one.  As he ranked it up, some of his cheaper Techniques would cost less mana than they returned through Leech Mana, though some monsters would be resistant to the drain, and some would be sturdy enough that he wouldn’t do enough damage to recover the cost completely.  But under normal circumstances, he’d have more mana than before for healing and Mind Spikes, his two most expensive Techniques.

Everyone seemed pleased with their new Techniques, and there was much laughter and commentary on them.  They’d been doing the dungeon often enough that it was familiar to them, and they weren’t as tense about it as they’d been at the start.  Even Paul seemed to have fun with the new Techniques, despite not having any of his own.

The only scary moment came when they ran into a group of slime monsters that wouldn’t normally spawn in the dungeon.  They rolled right through both Lightning Cage and Cage of Blades, and couldn’t be drowned, so they couldn’t be trapped, and Mind Spike had no effect whatsoever on them – they were completely mindless.  Amelia was struck by a pseudopod from the first one that reached the group, and it turned out the slimes were both acidic and very strong.  She was knocked flying even as her flesh dissolved.

Duncan Blinked to her and used Destrin’s Restoration to Regenerate Other, which cost him a significant portion of his mana.  Amelia’s torso re-formed instantly, and she took a shuddering breath.  Duncan cast a Bladestorm on the slimes and shouted at his group to take Amelia back to the cave entrance.  With Leech Mana active, he Blinked to the first monster and struck it with his spirit sword, too scared to use a physical blade on the slime.  In his off-hand he wielded his Blade of the Guardian for the first time in actual combat.  It was supposed to irritate every hostile creature within twenty meters of him to the point they focused their ire on him instead of anyone else who might be nearby.  These things are mindless or otherwise immune to Mind Spike, so I really hope this works.

Whether it was the sword’s effect or just the fact that no one else was in close proximity to them, the slimes focused all their attention on Duncan.  He also swapped out his healing efficiency necklace for his acid damage reduction necklace, expecting half damage from acid to be more of a mana savings than twenty percent less mana per heal.  Note to self, get resistance items in non-necklace form.  That slot should really be reserved for the healing efficiency necklace.  Or maybe I can get healing efficiency underwear or something.  How many enchanted items can I use at once, anyway?

The slimes turned out to be a horrendous fight.  He cast Bladestorm repeatedly, used Leech Mana constantly, and ended up having to stand on a rocky outcropping on the cave wall to attack the slimes through folds in space so as not to get his armor dissolved to nothing. It took him fifteen minutes to kill six slimes.

When the last slime fell, the rest of his party rejoined him.  “Sorry about that,” he said. “It was too dangerous for you to help with those.”

“We were happy to leave them to you,” said Cassandra.  “I’ve never seen anything as corrosive as that slime.  Poor Amelia almost died from a single blow.”

“Ooh, good point!”  Duncan used his Extract Resources Technique on the slimes and was rewarded with over a dozen vials of the acid.  He looked up to find his friends staring at him incredulously.  “What?”

“That was traumatizing, you insensitive asshole,” said Amelia.  “I was traumatized.  It ate through my armor, my flesh, and my bones.  The pain… the smell!”

“Ah,” said Duncan, chastised.  “Sorry.  I find it helpful to meditate when I get home from harrowing dungeon delves.  Think through what happened and what you learned from it, even if you only learned that you hate slimes.  Although, I think you’ll find you learned a lot more than that.”

The rest of the dungeon went smoothly, and soon they were in the bath house, cleaning the residue from the sewer dungeon from their bodies.

“Duncan,” said Cassandra as she scrubbed at her hair, “what’s your end goal with this?  You’re investing time, gold, and effort in helping us through the dungeon over and over again.  What do you get out of it?”

“Yeah, we get dungeon experience, gold, and time under stress to help advance our Techniques, but other than a couple of rare monsters each week, there’s nothing here for you,” added Paul.

“This…” said Duncan, his gesture encompassing the group. “I get to enjoy a dungeon delve with a group.  I can see you advancing, and it feels good to help.  At the end of the school term, I’ll be leaving the empire, and while I might return in a few years, or decades, chances are none of you will ever see me again.  I’m not going to show up in York and demand your firstborn child.  I just want to have some fun times in a dungeon with people whose company I enjoy.”

“Now, if I can get you strong enough to delve a dungeon that doesn’t smell like shit, that’d be even better.  But really, sitting around like this, after clearing out a dungeon together, it just feels good.” It makes me wish I had a team I could do challenging dungeons with, really.  Maybe I could get these guys to level one hundred, but they don’t have strong enough affinities to keep up.

“That’s, well, that’s actually nice,” said Amelia.  “It makes you seem more human.”  The look she gave him made his heart speed up a bit, for some reason.

Cassandra noticed, “I don’t know about that finding another dungeon talk, though.  We wouldn’t want to give up on these after delve baths in magically clean water surrounded by such fine adventurer bodies, eh, Amy?”

“Bah, we’d get plenty dirty and sweaty in a regular dungeon.  Besides, after-delve baths are clearly a tradition, now,” Amelia replied.  “I’m sure I’d enjoy the experience more without the lingering odor of the sewer… and without the smell of my dissolving flesh, either.”  She shuddered violently at the memory.

“Seriously,” Duncan said, “meditate when you get back to the Academy.”

As usual, the run back to the Academy went smoothly, and Duncan spent some time in meditation.  I hadn’t realized how much I enjoy delving with a group again until Cassandra brought it up.  If I can find someone capable of keeping up with me, I will have to give it a try, at the very least.  The delve was pretty ordinary other than the slimes, but the slimes were ridiculous.  I’m really glad fold space gives me enough range to attack things like that in relative safety now.  I’m also glad Regenerate Other synergizes so well with Destrin’s Restoration.  There’s no way Paul could have healed her in time – that instant heal was pretty much all that saved her.  I wonder if she knows how close she came to dying, and if that’s what affected her so much.

Chapter 18

The following day was a rest day at the Academy, so Duncan spent it in the Sawiskin dungeon.  He killed another group of Sawiskin delvers and cleared the dungeon in record time.  There were two rare monsters in the dungeon – a turret-like golem that threw an unending stream of spears at him, and a creature with a humanoid upper body sitting atop the lower body of an octopus.  It could generate clouds of ink and had a strong water affinity, using all the same Techniques as the Sawiskin, at a slightly stronger rank. Sadly, it presented little more challenge than a group of Sawiskin delvers.

Duncan left the dungeon feeling like he had taken all the gains he was likely to get from the place.

The day after, he ate breakfast with his roommates and was pleased to see they’d all advanced at least one Technique in the dungeon.  Amelia had advanced three.  “Were you able to meditate?” Duncan asked her.  “Did it help?”

“I did, and it did.  I feel a little better, although I still shudder when I think of that wound,” she replied.  “And I advanced more from that single delve than all the ones before it.”

“Part of it is you having new Techniques, part of it is that your older Techniques may have been on the verge of advancing, and part of it was definitely the added stimulus of a truly dangerous encounter,” said Duncan.  “I meditate after every delve, and my progress seems faster than normal, so it’s possible meditation helps with absorbing the lessons you’re learning in the dungeon.  It makes me feel better, too.  I’m glad it helped you.”

Later, he spoke with Master deBouteville about other dungeons in the area now that the Sawiskin dungeon had become so familiar for him.  “With your increased flying speed, there are a few possibilities up in the mountains to the Northeast,” she said.  “It’s pretty desolate up there.  More elves and dwarves than humans.  And that’s a potential problem.  There’s no fixed boundary between the Empire and the Elven lands.  Bands of elves wander through the forests, and they take care of most of the dungeons there.  I don’t know if they’d object to you delving in what they might consider their territory.  And the nearest one is probably a good six hours away at your top flying speed, to boot.”

“There are a couple of mid-level dungeons in the forest East of here.  They’d be a two- or three-day trip on foot, but you could probably get there in under two hours at your new speed.  The one I’m familiar with is called The Hidden Forest, and it presents just like the forest around it, except it’s full of harpies, wyverns, and some humanoid forest dwellers called weebles.  The harpies and weebles are both tool users, and the weebles wear armor and patrol the forest in groups.  The Adventurers Guild rates the place as level sixty, so it’s probably quite weak by your standards.”

“The other one is even weaker, rated at level fifty.  It’s an underground cave complex with spiders, worms, and slimes.  It has some valuable mineral deposits that make it popular, and the monsters are just animals, so many people find them easier to face.”

Duncan shook his head, “I much prefer monsters that wield weapons and fight with intelligence.  There’s very little gain in fighting animals.  I’ll consider the Hidden Forest one, but I was hoping for something above level ninety by Guild standards.  Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.”

After dinner, Duncan had his lesson with Master Guilford, and asked him if he had a favorite dungeon.  The old master smiled fondly and said, “Far to the West, there’s a mountain range that separates the Empire from the Zaragosan Kingdom.  Where that mountain range touches the great Ocean beyond, there’s a dungeon called the Scholastica Donostia.  It presents as a great martial academy.  You cannot take classes there, but you can enter their dueling arenas and a steady stream of their students will step in to challenge you, each stronger than the last.  You have a minute to step out of the arena between fights if you do not wish to continue.  They have arenas for pure melee, with no Techniques allowed, and for anything goes fights with all Techniques allowed.  One arena in each style for solo fighters, one for team.  It’s a magnificent learning experience. When you depart, should you be clever enough to do so before you are overwhelmed, you are awarded a prize determined by how many monster students you defeated in the arena. Sadly, you are only allowed to enter each arena once – if you go back a second time, no one will come to challenge you.”

“That sounds brilliant!” Duncan exclaimed.

“It is.  But there’s a years-long waiting list to gain access to the dungeon.  There’s a town nearby called San Sebastien, where would-be entrants hang around in case a gap opens in the schedule.  There’s a brief auction for the spot when that happens.  A lot of people are killed in San Sebastien.  It is a true nest of villainy.”  Master Guilford sounded oddly wistful.

Duncan made a mental note to visit that dungeon sometime.  The town sounded like it might be more dangerous than some dungeons, too, which could be fun.  Not long ago I was scared of other adventurers trying to kill me for my gear.  Now I’m thinking a town where that’s known to happen could be fun… am I becoming desensitized to death?

After his longsword lesson, he flew into Lanport to visit Pelleas.  He sold the guild his accumulated loot, making note of the small portion he had to split with his delving group from the training dungeon.  Not a productive delve this week in terms of loot.  Pelleas told him to take his vials of acid directly to the Enchanters Guild or Alchemist Guild in a bigger city.  “The guild can offer you three gold a vial for those.  I suspect the Enchanters or Alchemists Guild can offer you a fair bit more if they have a use for it.”

Duncan thanked Pelleas, then said, “The real reason I came to see you is to ask about dungeons.  I can fly a fair bit faster than I could only last week – I finally have some blade-aspected mana cutting the wind when I fly – so I’m looking for high level dungeons I can fly to the night before rest day, delve on the rest day, and fly back to the Academy that night.  Master deBouteville mentioned there may be some dungeons in the mountains to the Northeast, but said they’re often taken care of by bands of elves, and she didn’t know if I’d be welcome there.”

Pelleas pulled out a map of the area around Lanport.  “How fast can you fly?  Is three hundred kilometers too far?  That would put you well into Elven territory, and there are some high-level dungeons there.  I expect the closest one you’d like would be the Citadel of the Cloud Giants.  It’s about two hundred and fifty kilometers to the Northeast, and the guild would rank it at one hundred.  It’s actually fairly similar to the eighth floor of the Endless Depths, except the giants are stronger, with lightning, air, and water affinities.  Lots of giant eagles, too.  I would recommend resistance items if you choose to go there.”

“As to permission – elves don’t claim dungeons.  We do our part to keep them in check, but you wouldn’t get in trouble for simply being in a dungeon.  That said, I can give you a token which will mark you as a friend of my… order, I guess you’d call it.  The name would translate as Sky Watchers, perhaps.  We watch the activities of the greater powers in the world, and we are not without influence in the elven courts.  The token would grant you passage in elven lands and a degree of courtesy from the locals, assuming you don’t do anything to provoke hostilities.”

Duncan nodded.  “That dungeon does sound interesting.  So does your order.  Thank you for the kind offer, by the way – I’d be grateful to carry such a token.  I would like to hear more about your order, but before I get distracted by that, I have two more questions.  First, how many enchanted items can I carry and use at once?  Second, if I were to use the teleportation network to travel around, does that open any interesting dungeon opportunities?”

“Ah, good questions, both.  To answer the first one, your ability to use concurrent enchantments is limited by your Spirit Affinity and your mana pool.  Your various pieces of armor all share an enchantment, so they count as one.  Your storage devices count individually however, and they have a spiritual weight, so to speak, based on how much space they contain.  With your outstanding affinity, you should be able to wear your armor, carry a weapon in each hand, a ring on each hand, an armband on each arm, a cloak, a necklace, and perhaps an anklet or something.  The strength of the enchantments also matters.  And you cannot wear two necklaces, for instance – they would interfere with each other, just as wearing two rings on the same hand would do.  Mana flows through the body in specific patterns and loops, and you can only place so much strain on any one loop or pattern.”

“Someone with a weak spirit affinity might only be able to wear or wield four items total.  An armor set, two weapons, and a storage device, for example.  Someone with a weak spirit affinity may find they can’t wear piecemeal armor with different enchantments.”

“Also, every enchanted item you wear or wield reserves a portion of your total mana.  A soulgem reserves 1 mana – it’s quite an efficient design.  Storage devices tend to reserve a hundred or more each, and armor and weapon enchantments often reserve fifty or more.  Note that the stronger your Spirit Affinity, the less mana an enchantment typically reserves.  At your level, reserving a thousand mana for enchantments is both common and negligible, given your mana pool.”

“Now, to answer your second question, I suspect there are quite a few interesting dungeons you can get to if you’re willing to pay the cost.  Most of the high-level dungeons near a teleportation gate are quite popular, though, not because they’re near a gate, but because they’re near somewhere important enough to have a gate.  The convenience of access combined with the overall scarcity of high-level dungeons in the first place means that you’ll often find convenient high-level dungeons in the empire under the control of one faction or another.  Some of them restrict access to their own faction, some sell access, and some apply other criteria.  As long as the dungeons are kept in check, and the faction can enforce their control, no one does anything.”

“The Emperor’s Guard controls access to a high-level dungeon filled with shadow-affinity humanoids, for example.  They use it to train against assassination tactics and Techniques.  Give me a day and I’ll put together a list of dungeons that you may be able to access and that meet your criteria for difficulty and weapon-wielding inhabitants.”

“Thank you, Pelleas,” said Duncan. “I really appreciate your time and effort.”

“You are welcome,” the elf replied, “It’s a privilege to work with you.  I have hopes that you’ll do great things, if you survive the next century or two.”

Pelleas showed Duncan a pendant that depicted an eyeball with wings.  It was artistically designed, finely wrought, and looked to be made of expensive materials.  But still, it was an eyeball with wings.  “This token will identify you as an agent of the Sky Watchers.  It doesn’t confer any authority – it simply says that you are affiliated with us.  It carries an enchantment that will be recognized in many of the courts in the world, and where it is not recognized, it will still convey a sense that you’re acting on behalf of a reputable organization.  I will activate it with a drop of my blood, and you will bind it with a drop of your blood, and that will ensure it cannot be lost or stolen, and the enchantment will show your aura, proving that you are the agent the token indicates you are.”

“Before we proceed, if we proceed, I will explain who we are and what we do, and you can choose whether or not you want to be associated with us.”  Pelleas smiled.  “As with every organization, we have allies and enemies, and you would inherit both if you displayed this token.”

“Simply put, the Order of Sky Watchers keeps an eye on the activities of the greater powers in the world – the Dragons, Leviathans, Vampire Courts, Fae Royals, any demi-gods that arise, that sort of thing – and tries to keep the people of the world as safe as possible in their interactions with these powers.  So, when a dragon stirs, we warn the kingdoms in their area of influence.  When Mauphad the Sea Giant wanders near land, we warn the lands whose fishing fleets might irritate him.  Additionally, the great powers are often hostile to one another and getting out from between them is generally wise.”

“For this reason, we are generally viewed favorably by the Elven and Dwarven courts, and by the human and Lipiti nations we are able to convince.  We are, however, often viewed as meddlers by the great powers themselves, and they will often send agents to disrupt our activities or kill us if they see an opportunity to do so without inconveniencing themselves, just as you might swat a fly that buzzes in your face but wouldn’t chase it across the room.”

Duncan nodded. “Nothing there sounds like it would be a bad idea for me to associate with your order.  You’ve been more helpful to me than anyone I’ve met since I left the Valley.  I’d be pleased to carry your token.”

Pelleas produced a pin and pricked his finger, then applied the blood to the back of the pendant.  “Touch a drop of your blood to the front of the pendant, then,” he said.  Duncan did so, and the pendant took on a very soft glow.  “The pendant is bound to you now.  Keep it in your storage space, pull it out only when you need to use it to gain access to a dungeon or a court, or to convince an elf or dwarf that you’re friendly.  Beyond that, tell me if you run into any absurdly powerful creatures.”

“So, uh, how strong are the powers that you keep an eye on?  If one came after me for being your agent, could I fight it?” Duncan asked as he stored the pendant.

“It depends on which great power you mean.  Individual vampires can be as weak as level one hundred, but a vampire court could send a hundred level two-hundred equivalents after you if you really upset them.  The weakest dragons would be about level one thousand, maybe.  Twenty or thirty level one hundred adventurers would be annihilated by a typical dragon in seconds.  The stronger dragons could face a demi-god and fight to a standstill.”

“Wait,” said Duncan.  “You think people like me are supposed to be able to stand up to otherworldly invaders that could be stronger than dragons?  I had no idea dragons were so strong, and there are things stronger than that?  How could you possibly think that having some extra strong affinities would position people like me to fight beings like that?”

“Oh, we don’t expect you to fight them directly.  We think you’re a reaction from the Gods, but we have no idea what that means.  Maybe you’ll be able to fight their minions, or direct their ire at each other, or something. Or maybe you’ll grow unexpectedly.  Humans have become demi-gods before, you know, and I doubt it was a sudden leap from level two hundred to five thousand.  You yourself are proof that humans can reach above level two hundred – you have twenty-four Techniques at age eighteen!   Who knows how much further you’ll progress, or what that will look like?”

Pelleas became more animated as he spoke.  “How many incredibly powerful mortals are there out there right now working towards godhood without anyone knowing?  Maybe they’ve spent five hundred years in isolated dungeons where the mana density would smother us.  Maybe there’s something completely beyond Techniques and the levels we associate with them.  Maybe you’ll find out, and maybe I’ll get some answers when you do.”

Duncan laughed, “Or maybe I’ve been taking your talk of fighting these things too seriously, and I’ll kill myself trying for fast improvement.”  Then he shrugged, “It doesn’t really change anything.  I still want to delve hard dungeons, fight strange and wondrous monsters and grow strong enough to defend people from threats like the undead invasion.”

“A worthy goal.  Now you should be off; you’ve been in here with the privacy wards enabled for a long time.  There’s not usually a line up to get treasure appraised at this time of night, but still.  I will get you a list of viable dungeons in the Elven lands to the Northeast, and near teleportation gates.” Pelleas shooed Duncan out.

“Okay,” said Duncan as he left, “but I’m going to want to know what vampires and fae are.”

Duncan stopped at the main desk in the Adventurers Guild hall to ask if they could give him specific directions to the Hidden Forest dungeon to the East.  For three gold, the clerk sold him a wooden disk with an intricate symbol embedded on it.  “Hold it on your palm.  A light will appear on the edge of the disc if you’re within about fifty kilometers from the beacon stone we’ve placed outside the dungeon.  The light always points towards the dungeon, so just travel towards the light,” the clerk told him.  Huh, I wonder if that’s a thing for all dungeons, or just the hard-to-find ones, or just a few valuable ones.  It turned out, there was a beacon at most dungeons the guild knew about that weren’t under the control of another faction.

And just like that, Duncan had a new dungeon to explore.

Chapter 19

The following day, after his afternoon lesson with Master deBouteville, Duncan flew at his new top speed East towards the Hidden Forest dungeon.  The blade-aspected mana that cut the wind at the tip of his flying sword made a real difference – instead of being buffeted by the wind as he picked up speed, he was able to stand comfortably as the wind parted and passed by.  It wasn’t a perfect wind break, but it allowed him to go much faster than he’d flown before.

After about an hour’s travel, he pulled out the wooden disk that showed the direction to the beacon and laid it on his palm.  Sure enough, a small light appeared on the edge of the disk, about fifteen degrees to the right of straight ahead.  He adjusted his course so that the light was pointing out over the tip of his sword and continued on.  He checked the direction every five minutes or so and backtracked a bit when he found the light had switched to point behind him.  He flew lower and slower, looking for the distinctive silvery-grey dungeon entrance, but the tree cover was thick and he saw nothing until the light switched to point behind him again and he dropped down to the ground to search.

The entrance hung in the space between two massive trees.  There was nothing to indicate its location at all.  How did they find this in the first place?  The forest looks the same in every direction.  Grateful for the beacon, Duncan stepped into the dungeon.

Inside, he had to double check that he had actually entered a dungeon.  It looked exactly the same as the forest surrounding the entrance outside.  That’s uncanny.  How do I find my way back to here?  He checked his wooden token, but there was no light visible on it at all.  Guess it doesn’t work from inside the dungeon.  Oh! I wonder if the guild sells beacons… I could place one at the entrance in here and pick it up when I leave.

With no easy way to find the exit, Duncan resolved to stay fairly close on his first visit, and not get lost in the dungeon.  Being lost wasn’t really a problem for him, but he only had about nine hours before he had to be flying back to Lanport if he was to attend class on time.

He moved away from the exit in a straight line, using Extract Resources on random plants, and was rewarded with several pouches of herbs and vials of sap (or some other liquid) that may or may not have had any value.  He marked trees along his path with his sword, leaving visible scars on the trunks so he could hopefully find his way back to the exit.

After about five minutes’ travel, he was struck from behind by something.  He staggered forward a step, taken by surprise, and was struck again.  He Blinked forward about ten meters, changing his facing to see what was behind him.  The damage to his back seemed superficial – whatever had hit him hadn’t penetrated his armor.

Flying about five meters off the ground were two creatures which looked like eagles from the waist down, and like human women from the waist up, but with large wings instead of arms and a beak instead of a mouth and nose.  They were flying towards him, talons outstretched.

Duncan equipped his dragontooth sword and his rose quartz shield and leapt to meet them.  The first harpy’s talons slammed into his shield and the creature’s momentum stopped dead.  It flapped its wings madly as it tried to recover, and Duncan slammed a vicious cut into its side, five Blade Echoes biting deep. Duncan’s Assessment passive let him know the creature was badly wounded from just that one attack.  These are fairly weak, then.

The second harpy screeched, and Duncan’s ears felt like they were bursting.  There was a second element to the attack, too - mental or spiritual, perhaps – he couldn’t tell which.  The harpy followed its screech with a shard of ice that formed in front of it and shot towards Duncan.  The missile shattered on Duncan’s shield.  The wounded harpy folded its wings around itself and began radiating waves of cold.

Duncan Blinked forward ten meters and appeared facing the backs of the harpies.  He stabbed the wounded one in the back through a fold in space, and it fell, dead.  The other harpy looked around wildly for a moment before seeing him.  It launched a stream of icicles at him, and Duncan sheltered behind his shield.  This probably wouldn’t hurt me, but why pick up bad habits?

He hit the harpy with a Mind Spike, then thrust through a fold in space, making a mess of the harpy’s neck.  It fell to the ground, thrashed for a short while, and stopped.  His Leech Mana Technique returned maybe a hundred mana over the course of the fight, but that was definitely better than nothing, and would only improve over time.

Duncan used Extract Resources on the corpses and received a little box of something that he chose not to examine, simply storing it with the herbs he’d picked up earlier.  I didn’t even have to heal myself in that fight.  I wonder if this place is easy enough for the group.  I don’t think they could get here in a timely fashion, though.

He continued on, finding and killing several more pairs of harpies before finding what appeared to be a little harpy village – dozens of nests in adjacent trees produced probably forty harpies that attacked him en masse.  Duncan swept around on his flying sword, Blinking across the village from time to time when the mass of incoming icicles threatened to become dangerous.  He used Bladestorm repeatedly – it didn’t do a lot of damage, but it’d never advance if he didn’t use it in combat.  Similarly, he used Cage of Blades whenever an opportunity presented itself, and he kept Leech Mana active as much as he could.

The battle was lengthy due to the sheer number of harpies but Duncan never truly felt threatened.  Individually, the harpies could barely harm him, and even the accumulation of their attacks wasn’t dangerous.  Once he’d cleared the village, he used Extract Resources on the corpses and checked the nests for loot, finding none.

Moving on, Duncan kept an eye on the canopy above.  Master deBouteville had said this dungeon had harpies, wyverns, and weebles.  Of those, the wyverns sounded the most threatening.  So Duncan was taken completely by surprise when something smashed heavily into his back.  Great claws shredded his dragonskin armor and his flesh beneath it.  His ribs were gouged but not shattered, which likely saved his lungs.  A crushing pressure closed on the back of his neck as fangs pierced his armor there too.

Duncan Blinked forward and rotated his facing to see what was attacking him, using Destrin’s Restoration to fully heal in an instant.  Again, claws slammed into his back and fangs closed on his neck.  What is going on?  Duncan Blinked straight up eighty meters, stood on his flying sword, and healed himself again, flying swiftly so as not to be caught standing still again, even eighty meters in the air.

He flew down below the canopy, scanning the area to see what had attacked him.  There was nothing in sight, his Shadow Sight passive notwithstanding.  Something truly invisible then? Whatever it is, it hits really hard.  It shredded my armor like paper.  Still, I have a vertical escape route, so let’s try this again, shall we?

Duncan landed and promptly opened a fold in space with one side at his back and the other at his front.  As he did, a massive beast that had been trying to repeat its attack on his back partly fell through the fold – Duncan could see the back of its head and shoulders.  He ended the Technique, but instead of the animal being cut in half by the fold in space being removed, it flowed forward and turned to face him, a mighty black cat very similar to the first rare monster spawn he’d ever encountered, back in the Valley; the one that gave him his space affinity.  The fold in space snapped shut after the creature had passed completely through it.

The cat lashed at him with its claws and Duncan blocked with his shield and struck back with his dragontooth sword.  The blade and its five Echoes struck the cat’s chest but left only shallow wounds.  Duncan’s Assessment technique showed the cat was barely wounded.  That’s… not good.  I killed the last one by stabbing it in the mouth, but it had been taking damage from Pyotr and Mairi, too.

The cat Blinked away, out of Duncan’s sight.  Duncan opened a small fold in space that showed him what was behind him.  The cat seemed to be an ambush predator – he was sure it would appear behind him again.  It Blinked behind him and he hit it with a Mind Spike through the fold in space then spun and struck it twice with his dragontooth sword.  The moment the cat started to move, he hit it with another Mind Spike and switched to his spirit sword, striking it again.

The cat disappeared and claws ravaged Duncan’s back again, even as he Blinked up a few meters and summoned a sword from his Personal Space Pocket to stand on.  His Assessment showed that his spirit sword had been more effective than his dragontooth sword, even with one less Blade Echo.  Then the cat Blinked away, and Duncan could no longer see it.

The cat is sturdier than me and can essentially control whether or not we engage, and when.  I’m clearly missing a good perception Technique, and it may be too late to fix that.  On the other hand, I can escape because I can Blink up and fly away, and I can regenerate instantly, while it doesn’t appear to have a way to heal in combat.  And it’s a dungeon monster, so it’s going to keep attacking me until one of us is dead if I stay to fight.  My mana will determine the outcome of the fight – if I can keep healing long enough to whittle it down, I’ll defeat it.  It won’t be a glamorous fight, and my skill with a blade won’t really help much.  If I can’t whittle it down before I run low on mana, I will just fly away. Takes all the glory and some of the danger away – I mean, if it crushes my skull with one of those ambushes, I can still die.  But if I don’t make any stupid mistakes, I will win.  And that will have to be enough for now.

Duncan Blinked back to the ground, storing his flying sword.  He ducked low and spun, just as the cat Blinked to attack his back.  Duncan’s spirit sword passed through the cat’s body as its claws slammed into his momentum-eating shield.  The cat bore down on the shield – it cancelled momentum, not mass – and Duncan angled the shield so the monster’s paws slid off, using a Mind Spike to stun it and striking it twice more with his spirit sword.  It was starting to look somewhat dazed now, its reaction speed slowed by the accumulating spiritual damage.

Its claws were as fast as ever though, and it swept his feet out from under him with a cunning attack at his ankles.  Duncan tried to Blink away but something blocked the attempt.  The cat raked at his legs and groin, unable to reach his torso thanks to his shield.  Duncan hit it with a Mind Spike, then regenerated his wounds.  I am not thinking about what it just did to me.  I am NOT thinking about it ripping off my testicles.  I am not.

Duncan Blinked out from under the cat, whatever it was doing to block his Blinks interrupted by the stun.  The cat disappeared and Duncan Blinked three meters back, appearing right behind the cat which had appeared right behind where Duncan had been.  He swung at it, but it Blinked away again.  He ducked and spun, putting as much of his body as he could behind his shield as the cat appeared behind his new position and attacked.

Another Mind Spike and two more slashes with his spirit sword, and the cat collapsed.  Duncan hit it twice more with the spirit sword, just to be sure, then took a deep breath as he considered the fight.  Better than me with Space Techniques.  Its Blinks were faster and more accurate, and I don’t know where it disappeared to after some of them.  And it could suppress my Blink with its own Technique.  That was a little unnerving.  He checked his crotch.  He knew he was at full health, but the cat had shredded his groin, and high-level adventurer or not, he was still an eighteen-year-old man – he needed reassurance that he was intact.

An arrow struck his exposed genitals and he gagged in horror.  Half a dozen other arrows struck his torso a split second later, most rendered ineffective by his armor.  His back armor had been shredded but his chest armor was unscathed from the battle with the cat.  He Blinked beside a tree about twenty meters away and used Destrin’s Restoration.  His regenerating flesh pushed the arrows out, and he stood good as new.

He summoned his dragontooth sword and shield, looking to see what was attacking him.  A spear of wood shot out from the tree he was standing beside, impacting his armor, but not breaking through.  Roots grabbed at his ankles, seeking to hold him in place.  Several more arrows struck him, doing no damage.

His attackers were humanoids, wearing leather or hide armor, with vaguely feline features.  There were maybe eight of them, most using bows, but two wielding a brace of swords.  The archers all had swords sheathed at their sides.

Duncan cast a Bladestorm covering the group and Blinked to the edge of it, attacking one of the archers.  The weebles were no sturdier than the harpies – his attack left the creature badly wounded.  Duncan dropped it with a second attack, then Blinked across the group to attack another archer on the far side.  He repeated the strategy several times, whittling down the archers whilst avoiding the sword-wielders.  He ignored the roots that attempted to bind his feet, Blinking out of the entanglement every time he changed targets.

When it was just the two swordsmen left, Duncan swapped his shield for his sword of the guardian and stepped to meet the creatures head on.  They were skilled, but he was stronger than them, faster than them, and better than them, and he had Blade Sense on top of all that.  He circled to his left to keep the second from being able to reach him immediately, Blinking a few inches at a time to escape the grasping roots seeking to entangle his feet, and took the first one down with a single thrust through an eye.  Even as it was falling to the ground he stepped past it, parrying the second weeble’s outside sword across its body with his right-hand sword and taking its head clean off with a beautiful reverso.

He reattached his groin protection to his armor, then looted the corpses and used Extract Resources on the cat, which yielded its skin, claws, teeth, and an organ of some sort which he stored without examining too closely.  The loot appeared mostly underwhelming, but there was a stone on a collar on the cat, and he had high hopes that it would be valuable, given the last time he’d fought one of these, he’d received an affinity stone.  He spent an hour feeding mana into his living armor to repair it – the cat had almost destroyed the backplate entirely.  He spent another hour meditating to recover his mana, then moved deeper into the dungeon, deciding he still had time for a few more encounters.

He had just begun to move deeper into the dungeon when he heard something moving in the trees behind him.  A menacing aura swept over him.  He turned to see a massive ten-meter-long scaly lizard with a wide head and a mouth full of sharp teeth approaching.  If that thing is a wyvern, my monster identification class has been useless, and this dungeon is definitely not suitable for level sixty adventurers.  Some sort of dragon-kin perhaps?

Duncan equipped his dragontooth sword and his shield, then Blinked forward past the monster as the area around him was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of decay.  Tree trunks rotted and sagged dangerously under the corrosive effect.  Duncan was only in the cloud for a moment, but even after his Blink, he felt his body and gear decaying.  He used Remove Affliction and felt the strain it took to remove the decay.  That can’t be good for my mana supply.

He used a Mind Spike on the monster, which wasn’t stunned, and his Assessment showed it did very little damage.  The monster’s tail whipped at him almost faster than he could see.  It slammed into the edge of his shield, and if the shield hadn’t utterly negated the attack’s momentum, it would have knocked the shield aside and plunged a wicked-looking stinger into Duncan’s body.

Duncan stabbed the tail with his sword, and the blade just skittered off the scales, as did the Blade Echoes that followed.  Uh oh.

A cloud of decay burst out from the monster’s body, and Duncan had to Blink away, remove the affliction, and regenerate.  The trees around the creature dissolved in the cloud.  It’s clearing a space to fight.  He switched to his dragonsbane sword and stabbed the creature through a fold in space, hitting it behind a foreleg.  Again, the blade failed to penetrate the scaly hide.  His spirit sword did penetrate the hide, but did a tiny amount of damage, even with Blade Echoes.  Running out of options here.

He realized he didn’t have an enchanted mace of any kind.  Of all the idiotic things to do.  I kept a pair of gauntlets of mace mastery in case I run into something that is only vulnerable to blunt damage, but I don’t have a mace or a hammer or even a club in my huge storage spaces.  Alright, if I can’t exploit a potential vulnerability to blunt weapons, maybe I can exploit vulnerable places on its body.  Eyes, belly, groin, maybe?

Duncan kept out of range of the creature’s tail and jaws, flying low on his sword and trying to keep a few healthy trees between himself and the bulky monster.  He paused to open a fold in space, targeting a spot right over one of the dinner-plate-sized eyes, and thrust his dragontooth sword at the eye with all the power he could muster.  The creature’s eyelid slammed shut the moment the fold appeared, and Duncan’s blade struck skin instead of eyeball.  The skin was weaker there than the tail or torso, though, and the blade penetrated just a little.  The five Blade Echoes that followed did the same.  His Assessment showed he’d done an utterly negligible amount of damage to the monster.

His body suddenly started to decay.  There had been no indication of an attack from the monster, just the onset of decay.  Did that happen because I hurt it, or does it have a Technique that inflicts an affliction at range without a projectile or cloud?  Removing the affliction took a lot of effort.  My mana pool isn’t going to outlast this – I can barely scratch it, while it can inflict a scary amount of decay at range.

Reluctantly, Duncan decided to disengage.  He Blinked up above the canopy and flew back towards the exit portal, or, at least, in that general direction.  After a few minutes’ flight, he descended and began looking for signs of his earlier passage.  Eventually he found a tree he’d marked, and he followed the trail back to the exit.  Well, if the gods gave me those rare monsters to help me grow, I missed something with that one.  It felt like I had no way of winning that fight.

Chapter 20

The flight back to Lanport was uneventful, though he did go a little off-course and had to follow the coastline back.  The little disc’s light pointed towards the dungeon and keeping it behind him just meant he was moving directly away from it, in any direction.  There were no real landmarks in the forest, and he’d exited the dungeon a few hours before dawn, so he couldn’t even rely on the sun’s position for approximate directions.  He’d been lucky that his initial estimate of direction had been relatively good.

He arrived back at the Academy shortly before dawn and spent some time in the gardens meditating.  I need to find an item that will let me see invisible creatures.  I need to get a good blunt weapon.  And possibly an elemental weapon or two.  Meeting a creature that was almost impervious to blade damage was both unpleasant and enlightening. A group might have a variety of options in facing such a creature – individuals are more specialized, at least normally.  I’m fortunate that elemental, spirit, and mind swords exist, and that I can swap them in and out of my pocket space at will.

The cat – well, the fight went better than the first one, where Antoni and Mairi died, and Pyotr came close.  But it felt more workmanlike than inspiring.  I didn’t beat it because I was better at anything, I beat it because it had no answer to Mind Spikes and instant regeneration.  Its Space affinity techniques were better than mine, it was stronger and faster than me, and I couldn’t see it when it Blinked away.  Wait - am I upset that I’m winning fights by outlasting my opponents instead of defeating them with perfect attacks?  At the same time that I’m upset that I couldn’t outlast that huge lizard monster?  I should be rejoicing that I can face those things and live.  My instant healing and mobility are massive strengths.  I cannot afford to get in the mindset of needing to win every fight through clever swordplay.  Some monsters simply can’t be dealt with that way.  Perhaps most of them.  I was better at Mind magic and Healing than the cat.  It was better at Space magic than me, and was bigger and stronger, but I still won.  It shredded my back and cut my balls off, but I regenerated instantly.  I’m not sure why I’m focusing on that.  I’ve lost and regenerated limbs.  That should be more traumatic.  And yet.

Maybe I need a little break.  I should sit on the beach and watch the waves for a while.  But first, I have classes to attend and skills to improve.

During Monster Identification class, Duncan asked about the huge lizard.  “It was about ten meters long and had a tail with a stinger on the end.  I couldn’t hurt it with piercing, slashing, mind, or spirit attacks.  It had very good Decay affinity Techniques, at least three of them.  And it was tremendously strong.”

Before the instructor could answer, one of the students from the magic academy said, “You were probably just too weak.  That’s what happens when daddy gives you a pile of technique stones and some captured monsters to train on.”

“Enough, Pierre!” the instructor snapped.  “Sorry, Duncan, Pierre is a sheltered idiot,” she continued.  Argh, no, don’t insult the spoiled brat, it’ll rile him up.  “Pierre, that might be enough to get someone to level thirty, but I assure you no one gets to level one hundred without countless fights against incredibly dangerous monsters.  And I know that Duncan has fought more than most people many years older than him.”

Pierre glowered. “Idiot?  I’ll have you dismissed from your position for that.”

The instructor sneered at him, “You go do that, then.  Now.  Go on, get out of my classroom.”  Not helping!

Pierre gripped a pendant hanging around his neck.  A moment later the door burst open and two Level 80 Warriors entered the room, hands on their swords.  “Seize the instructor,” Pierre said.  “Take her to my father.”

Well, that escalated quickly.  Duncan released his aura, and everyone in the room felt the weight of it.  The guardsmen drew their swords and leapt to put themselves between Pierre and Duncan, though they didn’t appear very confident.  The instructor grew pale but stood her ground.  The other students in the room sat very still, or moved to the edge of the classroom, away from Duncan and the target of his ire.

“Stand down,” Duncan said to the boy’s retainers.  “If you attempt to approach Madame Leroux, I will disable you.”

“Kill him!  He’s attacking my mind!” shouted Pierre.  The guards raised their swords.

Duncan focused his killing intent on the three.  The guards blanched.  Pierre shat himself, a reflexive action prey animals used to make themselves unappealing to predators, then collapsed to the ground.  “Take him and leave,” Duncan said to the guards.  Trembling, they picked the boy up and left.

“Sorry about that,” Duncan said to the room, suppressing his aura once more.

The instructor laughed wryly, shaking her head.  “Back to your seats, everyone.  The excitement’s over.”

“What was that?” asked a young woman, a Level 22 Mage.  “You went from being a weird high-level student to the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.  And you didn’t even move or pull out a weapon.”

Duncan looked at the instructor, who said, “He stopped suppressing his aura.  As we grow more powerful and more dangerous, we develop an aura that lets other predators and monsters know not to mess with us.  At about level fifty, it starts to become uncomfortable for low level people to be in the presence of that aura, so we all are taught to suppress it.”

“I knew that, and I’ve felt high level auras before,” the student replied.  “But that was far beyond any aura I’ve felt.”

“Then Duncan is far more dangerous than anyone you’ve met,” said the instructor. “More than anyone I’ve met, for that matter.”

“Who was that boy, anyway?” asked Duncan.

“Pierre Chevrolet,” the instructor replied. “His family has a virtual monopoly on the wool trade in the mountains to the West.  Rich and sheltered. Spoiled, evidently.”

“Do any of the rest of you have high-level bodyguards stationed in the hall outside?” Duncan asked the rest of the room.  He was answered with snorts and laughter.

“They’re a status symbol.  His family is old nobility.  He’s a nephew of the current head of the Chevrolet clan.  Not important to the family, but the whole family is guarded like that.  Apparently, they have a lot of ancestral feuds with other families in the region,” explained the instructor.

“Can he make trouble for you?” asked Duncan.

“He can.  It’s unlikely he can get me removed from my position, but he can apply pressure in other ways.  My family may have to move if he’s serious about it.  But I think maybe he’ll focus on you.”

“Let’s hope so,” said Duncan.  “He can’t do anything to me.  I have no friends or family in the empire, no reputation to attack, and if he sends someone to kill me, I don’t fancy their chances.  I suspect it’d be counterproductive to notify his family that if anything happens to you or yours, I’ll go after them.  So, if they do come after you and you feel the need to relocate, I will pay your expenses and get you settled wherever you choose to go.  You antagonized him by trying to placate me, after all.”

“What happened at the end?” another student asked.  “Your aura was scary, but Pierre shat himself there at the end before he collapsed.  The guards looked like they thought you were going to kill them, even though you didn’t so much as twitch.”

“I spiritually oppressed them.  If releasing my aura is a passive way of threatening them, oppressing them spiritually is the active version.  The guards were just doing their job – I didn’t want to kill them or cripple them, so I made it clear to them just how dangerous I am.”

“And that’s enough on that topic,” said the instructor. “To answer your original question, I would venture a guess that the lizard you encountered was a greater forest drake.  They are distantly related to dragons, but far weaker, of course.  Still, they’re almost impervious to harm.  They move slowly and survive mostly on ambient mana, so they don’t eat their way through the world.  And so, when people encounter them, we just run away.  They rarely give chase.”

“Have they no weaknesses?” asked Duncan.

“Some say that each one has a weakness to a specific element, but that’s unsubstantiated rumor,” the instructor replied.  “Now, in the few minutes remaining in class, let’s get back to the original topic, if we can.”

Duncan wrote a note to the headmaster, explaining what had happened, and expressing his concern for the safety of the instructor.  He dropped it off at the administration building and went to his lesson with Master deBouteville.  As they warmed up, he gave her a quick description of his visit to the Hidden Forest dungeon.

“You do get some strange encounters!” she said.  “Did you get the cat parts appraised yet?  That should tell you what it was.”  Oh yeah, good idea.  Training went well; he felt like his Blade Sense was coming along nicely.

As his lesson ended, a staff member approached him with a message tube.  The parchment inside read “Bente needs to see you – urgent.”  Duncan Blinked into the sky, summoned a sword, and shot off into the city at his top speed.

He arrived at his manor house to find Bente waiting for him at the door, a bag at her side.  She hugged him and said, “The dead king sent more dead people to help the dead wizard.  They will be here soon, and if I’m here, they will…” she started to cry.

Duncan knelt down to look her in the eyes.  “No one is going to hurt you.  Where am I taking you?”  He had every confidence in her knowledge – she’d been right on every occasion she’d predicted something so far.

“A big temple,” she said.  During his days fighting undead in the city, Duncan had come across quite a few temples.  Many were small shrines to individual gods, but the entire pantheon was worshipped together in larger temples as well.  The largest temple wasn’t far from the keep, and Duncan decided that was a good place to start.

“Clear the property,” he said to the guard standing by.  “Everyone gets the evening off.  No one remains.”  The guard nodded and stepped inside.  Duncan picked Bente up and grabbed her bag. “Let’s get you someplace safe then.”

He flew across the city, guards looking up at him, but not pursuing or raising an alarm.  They had a list of all the permitted flyers, and he was becoming well-known among the guards for his actions against the undead.  Healing the wounded elite watchmen when the lich attacked the orphanage and rescuing several groups of rank-and-file guards during the initial uprising had earned him a lot of goodwill.

He landed on the steps of the temple, and the two decidedly non-ornamental guards (both Level 102 Warriors) stepped forward, spear tips not dropping to threaten, but no longer at parade rest.  “We need to talk to someone in charge,” said Duncan.

“Someone will escort you in momentarily,” the guard on the left said.  “Please wait here.”   Duncan nodded, setting Bente down.

A minute later, a small man, a Level 80 Priest arrived and said, “I will escort you to the Archdeacon now,” and gestured for them to enter.

The temple was both more majestic and less ostentatious than Duncan had expected.  They walked through a great hall with vaulted ceilings, and a dozen or more shrines set off to the sides.  The ceiling was covered in a great mural, and each shrine was dominated by a life-like marble statue of exquisite craftsmanship.  The seating was of plain wood, with brass handrails evident.  The lighting was magical – there was no source for it that he could see, but the entire area was well-lit.

The priest led them through the entire length of the hall, then through a small door in a corner.  They went down a long passage and came to a door at the end.  The priest knocked softly, then opened it and stood to the side.  Duncan led Bente into the room, where the same priest he’d seen at the Academy ball sat behind a rather plain desk.

The archdeacon stood as they entered, “The young man from the Academy whom the lich targeted so aggressively.  And a young lady whom I do not recognize,” he nodded to Bente.  “What brings you to my office at this hour?”

“The dead king is trying to hurt me again,” said Bente. “The dead wizard has failed him twice, so he sent someone scarier.”

The archdeacon raised an eyebrow at Duncan.  Duncan said, “I found Bente when I was flying over the city ten days after the initial undead attack.  I asked her what she was doing out and she said the dead men were attacking.  So I accompanied her back to her orphanage, and killed two undead animators and four bone knights that were skulking around.  The following night, I killed another animator and two more bone knights a block away, and then I found the lich and two bone golems attacking the orphanage itself.  I killed all three of them (though the lich didn’t stay dead, obviously).  The day before the attack at the Academy, Bente told me the Dead Wizard – the lich – was going to come after me because I was stopping it from getting at her.  She shared her soulgem information with me, so I bought a manor house here in town for her to stay in and hired guards who could evacuate her if the lich or its minions showed up.  Today, she contacted me to say that more undead were coming for her, and she needed to get out of the manor.  She told me to bring her here.”

“A fascinating story, and I will want to hear more of your own story soon, but for now…” He came around the desk and knelt before Bente.  “Hello, Bente.  My name is Josef.  Would you be willing to show me your soulgem information?”

Duncan opened his mouth to speak, but Bente squeezed his hand and said, “It’s okay Duncan, Josef is going to be a friend.”

A few moments later, Josef said, “And you are sure they’re coming after you tonight Bente?”  When she nodded, he said, “Both of you follow me, please,” and led them out into the hallway.  He waved to a guard at the end of the hall and projected, “Sound the alarm, Ingrid.  Imminent undead assault on the temple.”

Chapter 21

The guard, a Level 97 Warrior, placed her hand against a rune on the wall, and a moment later Duncan could hear a clanging sound from multiple sources in the Temple.

“Follow me, please,” said Josef.  “We have a warded room where Bente will be safe.”  He led them through a door and down a circular staircase, then into another passageway.  Suddenly the temperature dropped dramatically.  Josef said, “Ware!” and placed his hand on Bente’s shoulder.  A sphere of white light surrounded the priest and the girl.

Duncan equipped his dragonskin armor and his Necrobane sword, thinking for a split second before his spirit sword appeared in his off-hand.  He looked around, alert for marauding undead.

Two greyish ghostlike creatures flew into the hall through the ceiling.  They had beaked faces, fluttering cloaks, and a dagger in each hand.  They dove unerringly for Bente and bounced off the sphere of light.

Duncan swept his spirit sword through the closest monster, feeling more resistance than he usually did.  The ghost felt almost solid to his spirit sword.  It howled and slashed at him with its wicked black daggers.  He placed a fold in space in front of the first dagger, and it slammed into it, stopping dead.  Interesting!  Apparently even spiritual weapons or whatever those are can’t be in two places at once, so the fold stops them.

A bitter cold swept over him as the second spectral assassin (as he’d later discover they were called) slashed him with its daggers.  The attack completely ignored his armor and tore a line of cold through his belly.  His Assessment told him his health had dropped noticeably from the attack, though all he felt was the biting cold.  Something like a spiritual attack, then.

His necrobane sword passed through the monster, doing no damage.  Duncan hit the first one with a Mind Spike to see if he could stun it and if it would take mental damage.  It froze, and his Assessment showed the attack was very effective.  A Blade Echo with his spirit sword cost significantly less mana and did more damage, but the stun would be worthwhile.  He followed up the Mind Spike with two attacks from the spirit sword and took another blow in the back from the second assassin.

Duncan Blinked to the other side of the sphere protecting Josef and Bente, and regenerated his health, noticing that it cost far more of his mana than he expected.  Ouch.  Not sure I can win a battle of attrition here, even with Leech Mana constantly active.  The spectral assassins both swung at Bente through the sphere of light, and all their attacks bounced off.  Inside, Josef appeared calm, while Bente buried her face in his robe.

Duncan hit both assassins with Mind Spikes, then Blinked behind the one he’d already wounded and attacked with his spirit sword and Blade Echoes.  The moment they moved, he used Mind Spike again and continued his attacks.  I don’t know if the double damage against undead with the Necrobane sword applies to attacks with the spirit sword or Mind Spikes.  But I can’t really afford to experiment against these.

A few more repetitions of the stun and slash pattern turned the first assassin into a pile of dust and Duncan turned his attention to the second.  The guard who’d been in the hallway upstairs came through the door behind them and immediately rushed forward to help.  A white aura burst out from her and the assassin appeared more solid.

Duncan took a tentative swing with his Necrobane sword and was pleased to find it bit into the assassin.  He struck with another Mind Spike and then Blade Echo attacks from both swords.  Ingrid also struck with a glowing white sword.

The spectral assassin shot up towards the ceiling, looking to escape.  Duncan landed another Mind Spike to stop it, then he and Ingrid both attacked.  A white beam from Josef disintegrated the creature, and he said, “Let’s keep moving.  The warded room is not far.  Fourth door on the left.”

“We’re being pressed hard upstairs,” said Ingrid as they rushed down the hall. “Three liches, a dozen bone golems, some plague belchers and more of those spectral assassins.  A minute later with the warning, and we’d have been overrun.  As it is, we’re just trying to hold out until help arrives from the Duke’s forces.”

“They are here for the child,” said Josef.  “Once she is safely warded, we will join the battle upstairs.”  They reached the door to the warded room and Ingrid opened it.  Inside were four more spectral assassins.  Josef immediately used his Sphere of Light Technique again, and he and Bente were immobile in the hallway, surrounded by the protective Technique.

“We can’t activate the wards whilst the undead are in there,” said Ingrid.  Her white aura suffused the area again as she and Duncan leapt to meet the onrushing spectral assassins.  Ingrid bashed the first assassin with her shield and followed up with a cut from her sword.  Duncan hit his target with a Mind Spike and attacked with both his Necrobane sword and spirit sword, Blade Echoes smashing into the assassin behind each blade.  He Blinked further into the room, keeping his eyes on the assassins.

The spectral assassins ignored both of them to attack Bente, who remained safely ensconced in Josef’s Technique.  They circled the sphere, dragging their blades across it, and Josef began to look alarmed.  Duncan used another Mind Spike and continued to hammer his target. Nothing else I can do to these.  I just have to whittle them down as fast as I can, and hope we get them before they break that sphere.

Ingrid appeared to be in the same boat – her aura made the spectral monsters vulnerable to physical attacks, but she could only bash with her shield and cut with her glowing sword.  Still, they continued to hack away at their targets.  Duncan’s first target fell, and he moved on to the one Ingrid was working on, deciding that reducing the number of attackers on the sphere faster was the best course of action.  The second one dropped, and they switched to a third.  Inside the Sphere of Light, Josef looked calmer again.  Bente kept her face hidden.

The third and fourth spectral assassins were killed in the same way, neither deviating from their attempts to crack Josef’s shield to get at Bente.  The moment the last assassin burst into a cloud of dust, Josef dropped his sphere and ushered Bente into the room.  “Ingrid, will you stay with Bente, please?  Her safety is of paramount importance.”

“Of course, Archdeacon,” Ingrid replied.  Josef ushered Duncan out of the room and activated the wards.  A light blue haze filled the room.

“They will have to bring down the entire temple to take down those wards,” Josef said.  “Bente is as safe as we can make her for now.  We must eliminate the attackers immediately to ensure her continued safety.”  He led Duncan down the hall to another staircase up.  They ran up the stairs together and emerged into bedlam.

Three liches floated near the temple entrance, acting as artillery.  They looked very similar to each other – all looked like dehydrated men wearing fancy robes with magnificent embroidery, all with glowing green eyes.  The dehydrated skin stretched over their skulls made it hard to see facial features that would differentiate them.  Thick beams of necrotic energy crashed into the white shields and auras of the Church warriors.  In front of them, almost a dozen Bone Knights smashed their weapons into those same shields and auras and massive bloated corpses of some sort belched green gas into the air as they too attacked the defensive line of the Church warriors.  Even as Duncan and Josef arrived, the liches focused on a single target and overpowered his defensive aura.  The Church Warrior rotted where he stood, then collapsed.

“I should be able to cripple one, if they behave normally,” Duncan said, “See if you can blast the one I hurt.”  Without waiting for an answer, Duncan Blinked into the air above the Bone Knights, summoned a sword to fly on, and hung there just a moment.

“You!  DIE!” screamed one of the liches.  That’s the one I’ve fought before.  Duncan opened a fold in space in front of him, aiming the output at one of the liches he’d not seen before, in case his friend had learned to dodge after the last time he pulled this trick.  Three beams of necrotic energy flashed across the room and entered his fold in space, redirected to obliterate Duncan’s target.  Guess there’s no need for Josef to target that one.

Duncan Blinked down to the ground, putting a Plague Belcher between him and the liches.  He struck it with both swords, inflicting some serious wounds.  He Blinked away immediately, appearing beside another Plague Belcher, again keeping it between him and the liches.  As long as these continue to beat on the barrier the Church warriors are maintaining, I can wreak some havoc here.  He attacked his new target with both swords, then Blinked back to the previous one.

“Kill him!” shrieked the lich who’d faced Duncan before.  A third of the creatures turned towards Duncan.  Well, that’s good, too, I guess.  Less strain on the Church warriors.  Maybe they can attack a little now.

“Focus the barrier, you fool!” the other lich responded. It had a much deeper voice than the first one, and was a Level 164 Mage.  Duncan Blinked about ten meters directly above the head of the lich that wasn’t targeting him and attacked the back of its head through a fold in space, using each sword in turn.  Then he Blinked down behind the other lich and immediately Blinked away again, without attempting to hit it.  A ball of darkness burst from the lich as it tried to catch him attacking.  Duncan was barely able to Blink out in time; the second lich was caught in the blast.

A beam of white light struck the injured lich, and Duncan’s assessment showed it was badly wounded.  Unfortunately, he had three Bone Knights and two Plague Belchers bearing down on him, and he had to keep moving.  He Blinked back to the first Plague Belcher he’d attacked, which was still trying to break the barrier the Church Warriors were maintaining.  He stabbed it twice more but got caught in an ice storm cast by the lich targeting him.

He Blinked back above the more disciplined lich and opened a fold in space to attack it again.  The lich surrounded itself in a sphere of inky darkness, but Duncan’s fold in space had already opened up inside it and he was able to strike it once before Blinking away again.

The lich targeting him was firing bolt after bolt of necrotic energy his way, and he was forced to keep dodging.  While he did, Josef hit the other lich’s shield with a bolt of white energy, dispelling it.  Several of the Church warriors hurled ghostly hammers at the lich, hurting it.  It floated behind the one targeting Duncan and re-shielded itself.

Duncan continued to Blink randomly around the room, occasionally targeting one of the Plague Belchers attacking the barrier, keeping well away from the ones on foot chasing him and avoiding the necrotic bolts from the enraged lich attacking him.

Josef had begun targeting undead that were trying to beat the barrier down.  He would hit one with his beam of white light (holy energy, Duncan would later learn) and then several of the Church warriors would follow up with hammers made of mana.  Slowly, the tide began to turn in the favor of the defenders.

Duncan Blinked into a corner near the temple entrance and tried to strike the badly injured lich through a fold in space that bypassed the protective sphere around it.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t sense inside the sphere to place the second part of the fold.  He Blinked away again before the lich targeting him could land a beam of necrotic energy on him.  I don’t understand – I could bypass the other one’s necrotic shield at the Academy.  Ugh - mana’s starting to run low from all the Blinking.  Haven’t had to Mind Spike or heal yet, which is a relief, but all this Blinking is slowly eating away at my mana pool.

The undead targeting Duncan gave up the chase and returned to attacking the barrier.  Duncan immediately Blinked near the liches and attacked the unprotected one through a fold in space.  Josef struck the same one with a beam of holy energy, and it too summoned a shield of necrotic energy in reaction.  It fired a necrotic beam through its own shield and struck Duncan, who had expected the lich’s shield to block attacks both in and out.  Bollocks!  He spent entirely too much mana to regenerate himself, Blinked sideways and tried to strike the lich through a fold in space.  It worked, and Duncan’s swords struck deep into the lich’s body.  So this lich can attack out through its shield and I can bypass the shield with space magic.  The other is just turtled up, not attacking, and I can’t get through its shield at all.  Different Techniques?

The second lich dropped its shield and fired a necrotic beam at the barrier, breaking through and striking a Church warrior, who collapsed to the ground.  Josef put up the same large barrier Duncan had seen at the Academy in response.  The rest of the defending warriors sagged in relief, stepping back and dropping their own shields and auras for a moment.  Oh good!  It’s me, two liches, and a dozen high level undead on this side of the barrier!

Duncan turned his attention to the lich that had been turtled up because it had been critically injured.  His Assessment showed it was fully healed.  That’s… less good.  He used Mind Spike on the lich that had targeted him earlier, since it was still injured, then took the time while it was stunned to attack it twice with each sword.  The other lich attacked Josef’s barrier twice in the meantime, both of its attacks dissipating harmlessly.

The Church warriors behind Josef’s shield were focusing the undead down one at a time.  Apparently, the shield was permeable to Holy energy, so the ghostly hammers the warriors threw could pass through the barrier to strike the undead, whose attacks were stopped entirely by the barrier.  They all targeted a single undead until it died, then moved on to another en masse.

Duncan used Mind Spike again, and once more was able to strike freely at the lich while it was stunned.  It showed as critically injured to Duncan’s Assessment Technique.  Keeping the wounded lich between himself and the uninjured lich, he stunned it again the moment it recovered from his previous Mind Spike, then attacked again through a fold in space until the lich dissolved into a cloud with a shriek that hurt Duncan’s spirit and fled out of the temple.

One lich, seven bone knights, and one Plague Belcher to go.  I could probably solo this lot now, if I had a full mana pool.  C’mon Josef – show some aggression.  Duncan hit the remaining lich with a strong Mind Spike, then followed up with some sword strikes.  The lich recovered faster than Duncan expected and caught him with a necrotic beam.

Duncan Blinked away and regenerated.  Argh.  Down to a fifth of my mana after that.  This one feels stronger than the one I’ve been fighting.  Those extra twenty four levels are noticeable.  He Blinked back to the last remaining Plague Belcher and attacked it, keeping it between him and the lich.  It belched a poisonous cloud on him as he arrived. I’m off my game.  Should have seen that coming.  He hit the Belcher twice then Blinked to the far end of the attackers’ line and removed the affliction, cursing under his breath at the mana expenditure.

Behind the lich, a group of ten humans charged into the temple and attacked it.  A burst of necrotic energy flooded out from the lich, engulfing the attackers, and Duncan could hear some of them scream.  The attackers spread out around the lich, three of them staggering back behind their allies, where a healer could take care of them.  Josef dropped the large barrier and the Church warriors rushed forward to engage the Bone Knights and remaining Belcher.

Josef hit the lich with a beam of holy energy, and two other casters behind the Church front line added their own spells.  Duncan attacked the Bone Knight closest to him, trying to keep it between him and the lich.  He conserved his mana, attacking with Blade Echoes but not utilizing folds in space or Blinks, keeping Leech Mana active.

Working with the Church warriors to double team the Bone Knights, Duncan methodically killed four of the undead while the Church casters focused on the lich along with the Duke’s forces.  “You okay, Duncan?” he heard Josef call.

“Pretty much out of mana,” he replied.  One of the casters gestured in his direction, and he felt a small infusion of energy.  He continued to fight the Bone Knights conservatively, keeping an eye on the lich, which was faring much better than he’d expected.  Josef was hitting it with occasional holy beams, but nothing else that landed seemed to be affecting it much.  It was doing significant damage to the Duke’s men, as well – several of them had fallen.

Duncan’s mana continued to tick up, and with only two Bone Knights remaining, he decided to switch back to targeting the lich.  He pulled one of his few mana potions from his storage and drank it.  Oh, that tastes awful.  A rush of energy burst out of the liquid in his belly, and he imagined it being absorbed by his core/dantian thing.  Then he hit the lich with a Mind Spike, Blinked to about ten meters from it and attacked through a fold in space, thrusting at the top of its head with both his Necrobane sword and his spirit sword.  The Blade Echoes that followed did quadruple the damage of the initial strikes, and the lich’s health began to drop in Duncan’s Assessment.

One of the Duke’s men moved in front of Duncan with a tower shield, saving him from having to Blink constantly to avoid potential necrotic beams.  Josef added more holy beams, and Duncan chained Mind Spikes and Blade Echo attacks.  The lich used its protective sphere again, but Josef’s beam nullified it and the onslaught continued, the other two Church casters and several of the Duke’s men adding their spells.  After about twenty seconds, in which Duncan almost completely ran himself out of mana, the lich finally burst into a cloud and disappeared out the temple door.

The final Bone Knight fell as well, and the fight was over.

Chapter 22

In the aftermath of the fight, Josef told Duncan, “Bente and Ingrid are fine – nothing reached them to attack the wards. They will stay inside the wards until the cleanup is complete and we can allocate a dedicated guard for Bente.”  The priest seemed quite busy, so Duncan just nodded his thanks.

Duncan took a seat tucked away from the activity, near a shrine of some sort, and began to meditate.  He’d found meditation helped replenish his mana a little faster than normal, and he was absolutely convinced that meditating on his fights helped him learn from them and advance his Techniques faster.  So he focused on moving what little mana he had left through the whirls and loops that he could sense in his body and pondered his takeaways from the fight.

I spent too much mana early against the spectral assassins – I don’t know if the wounds they inflicted had a property that made them more expensive to heal, but I started the fight against the liches far too low on mana.  Baiting the lich was extremely helpful – being able to eliminate the first lich so early in the fight completely changed the balance of power.  It was strange that the final lich lasted so long – it really looked like most of the attackers couldn’t hurt it, even the ones at a higher level than me.  Josef is a lower level than me, and he was the most effective of all.

By the time the bodies were cleared away and the Duke’s representative had left with his report for the Duke, Duncan’s mana had fully recovered.  A tired-seeming Josef approached him and said, “Are you ready to discuss Bente’s future?”  Duncan nodded and followed Josef back to the priest’s office.

When they were seated, Josef said, “It is rare for someone with a divine affinity to appear outside the confines of the Church.  I’m told you are from a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.  Do you know anything of the Church at all?”

Duncan shook his head.  “Alright, then,” said Josef. “I’ll give a very brief overview and then move on to what this means for Bente.”  At Duncan’s nod, he continued, “Medim’s a relatively old world, but has a low ambient mana level compared to many others.  As such, our gods are unable to intervene directly here.  There are few great powers in the world – most of those who ascend to the level of demi-gods depart for mana-rich worlds.  And the great powers who remain – the dragons, for example – tend to spend most of the time sleeping in the most mana-rich corners of the world.  This is why the dungeons exist – to keep Medim safe for normal mortals by keeping the ambient mana low.”

“So, for the most part, the mortal races of the world are left to fend for themselves.  We know the gods watch over us, but we understand they cannot apply direct influence.  The Church is comprised of people who seek to uphold the work of the gods in their absence.”  Josef smiled.  “That sounds ripe for abuse, doesn’t it?  And so, the gods provided the Divine Affinity, so that they could communicate with the mortal races, and the Holy Affinity so that Church warriors could fight the enemies of the world – the undead, eldritch horrors, and otherworldly invaders.”

“The gods choose their representatives wisely, but mortals are only mortal, and can be corrupted.  The gods can revoke their gifts, preventing the use of Techniques that have Divine or Holy affinities.  There’s still room for corruption in the Church, of course – not every member of the Church has either of those Affinities or Techniques associated with them – most of our members serve in an administrative role.  So at least once a year, everyone sworn to the Church must enter a dungeon, where the gods can exert their influence far more actively.”

“A small dungeon has formed under nearly every large Church temple in the world.  They are generally empty, until someone enters who has become corrupted or who has betrayed the gods, in which case, there’s a monster waiting.  It’s proven surprisingly effective at keeping the Church on-track morally.”

“Which brings us back to Bente.  You see, most people who receive a Divine or Holy affinity do so by receiving an Affinity Stone in a temple dungeon.  To see someone outside the Church with an Outstanding Divine Affinity is unprecedented.  For it to be a mere child, doubly so.  Her other affinities make her even more special.”

“We could keep her safe here in the Temple, but we’d have to essentially confine her in a warded guest room.  And if the undead are able to further increase their forces here to try to capture her, I’m not sure the rest of the Temple or the city would be safe.  Having one lich in Lanport was difficult.  Having three may be unmanageable.  If they come with more than that, and other greater undead, it could be devastating.”

“So,” he continued, “I would like to send Bente to Tavoli, in the Villanovan Confederation, to the East.  The Church has a school there for the children of members with strong affinities.  The whole facility has protective wards and formations, and there are warded safe rooms in every building in case something breeches the perimeter defenses.  It’s the safest place I can think of for her, and it will give her the best future she can hope for.  The Church will pay all her expenses, and they have staff there who can help with her divine affinity and precognition.”

Duncan replied, “I will speak with Bente about it, and if she doesn’t object, neither will I.  But how will you send her there?  It seems like the liches can track her somehow – I told no one we were coming here, and indeed, I only decided to do so a few minutes before we arrived.  I don’t want her ambushed in transit.”

Josef nodded. “I will escort her myself.  We will take the teleportation gate to Harrish, then on to Mero, in the Villanovan Confederacy, and a third to Tavoli.  It will be expensive, but I believe Bente to be important.”

“Alright,” said Duncan.  “If she agrees to go, I will accompany you.  At my own expense,” he added, as Joseph was going to speak.  “Your protective sphere is very good, but you don’t seem to be able to do anything whilst you’re in it.  You’ll need someone to take care of whatever causes you to use it.”

“Very well,” Joseph agreed. “Let us go and speak with Bente, and get her into one of the warded guest rooms rather than the safe room she and Ingrid are still in.”   He led Duncan down to the safe room, where two guards flanked the door.

Josef knocked on the door, then pulled it open, revealing the wards within.  He deactivated the wards and Duncan saw Bente and Ingrid sitting on the floor, playing a game of some sort involving cards.  “Thank the gods you’re here,” said Ingrid.  “She’s won every hand.  Every single one.”  Bente grinned impishly.

“We’re moving her to the secure guest suite,” said Josef.  “We killed all the attackers, but the threat isn’t over.”   Ingrid swept the cards into her storage device and equipped her full armor and weapons.  Bente climbed to her feet and took Josef’s hand.  The entire group, including the guards, followed Josef to a gorgeous suite on the second floor with a view of the Keep.

The two guards took position outside the door, and Josef ushered the rest of them inside. Once they were all in, Josef activated the wards and motioned them towards chairs.  “Bente, you’ll be our guest here for a couple of days if that’s ok with you.” She nodded solemnly.  “Then, if you like, we’ll take you to a place where you can be safe, with other children and nice teachers.”

Bente beamed at him.  “I’m going to be friends with Halle and Mirko,” she said.  Duncan and Josef looked at each other.  Well, that was easy.  I hope her precognition helps her navigate school.

Once Bente was settled and sleeping, with her own attendant close at hand, Duncan accompanied Josef back to his office.  “So,” said Josef, “Let’s talk about you a little bit.”

“My favorite subject,” Duncan replied with a grimace.

Josef laughed.  “Let me tell you what I know, and what I have deduced, and you can tell me anything else you think I should know.  You clearly came to your strength young – you look to be under twenty.  It feels like you are almost as young as you appear.  You are naïve – your headmaster says you’re from some remote village with no contact with the outside world and arrived in the empire via a teleportation accident. But you have exquisite gear – better than any I’ve seen on someone of our level.  Gear that would take decades to assemble under normal circumstances.”

“You act fearlessly.  The way you fought the undead earlier appeared reckless but wasn’t.  As soon as you ran low on mana, you changed to a much more conservative approach, suggesting you were fighting within your limits when you were more aggressive earlier.  You have a well-developed sense for the fight, which again suggests long years of experience.  And you have absolutely no respect for authority.  You treat everyone the same way.  Eric told me you were chatting amiably with him after you sparred with him at the Academy.  You treat me like we’re both adventurers sitting in a tavern after we’ve cleared a dungeon.  It’s refreshing.  But not normal.”

Duncan shrugged. “There’s a lot to unpack there.  I’m eighteen years old.  I grew up in a little valley in the mountains somewhere.  We were self-sufficient – there were three dungeons in the valley, and it was sheltered from the outside world.  We didn’t have nobles or soulgems.  People were judged on what they did and how well they did it.  I guess I still judge people that way, and expect to be judged that way, although I admit I’ve fallen into a bad habit of using someone’s level as a gauge of their power since I’ve gotten used to a soulgem.”

“I attribute my strength to two factors:  first, I had extremely good training back home, and good equipment when I arrived in the empire.  At level twelve, I had gear that wouldn’t shame a level fifty adventurer here.  Second, I have good Affinities and good Techniques to go with them.  I didn’t have all my Techniques when I arrived, but I knew what I wanted, and I had enough knowledge and experience to choose wisely when it came to adding new Techniques.  Because of my Techniques and gear, I was able to delve dungeons rated far above my level on my own.  With greater risk comes greater reward.  My Techniques advance faster than typical adventurers, and I’ve been fortunate in the loot I’ve found in dungeons.”

Josef shook his head.  “Eighteen.  Remarkable.  And nothing you’ve said has been a lie.  It sounds like your valley must have been a great place to live.  Are you sorry you left?”

“Not really, no.  I miss some of the people there, but I’ve had a lot of interesting and exciting adventures in the empire.  I’ve met some people I like and delved some great dungeons.  It feels like I’ve got so much room to grow in the outside world,” Duncan answered.  “Actually, while we’re discussing my treatment of people, can you explain how the whole nobility thing is supposed to work?  Why do so many level sixty weaklings think I should kowtow to them because of their social standing?”

“Hah!” Josef snorted.  “Drink?” He pulled a couple of glasses and a bottle of something out of a cabinet.  “Well, originally, the nobles were just strong people who could protect the people around them.  In return for their protection, they demanded tribute from the people they protected.  The money they earned that way made them stronger, and their heirs stronger.  Eventually, it developed into something more formal.  The strongest families levied taxes on the lands they controlled and hired soldiers to protect and police it.  Governments evolved.  Alliances and conflicts between families led to the formation of kingdoms and empires, each ruled by the strongest family.  Over the years, the patterns became entrenched, and those same families are in charge because their ancestors were.  If anyone were to try to upset the apple cart, so to speak, all the other nobles in the same situation would help put down the troublemakers, lest the same thing happen to them.”

“And how does that entitle some weak idiot from a noble family to treat me like an inferior?  It sounds like it started out as might makes right, then devolved into bullies grouping up to put down challengers to their authority.  What stops someone stronger than any of them from wiping them out?” said Duncan.

“Sounds like it’s personal to you,” Josef noted.  “In reality, actual power does.  Those bullies really are the strongest folks around, collectively.  Every once in a while, one of them will usurp power and take over a kingdom or an empire or a duchy or something and hold it by force.  But it’s always one of them.  If a non-noble tried such a thing, they’d all unite to stomp their challenger into the mud.”

“As to how they can get away with treating someone stronger than them poorly, they fall back on the strength of their family and on people’s acceptance of rank.  What happened to make you so disdainful of the nobility?  I know you’ve met the Duke, and he’s a good man.”

Duncan sighed.  “When I arrived at the Academy, the headmaster had to tell all the instructors to warn their students not to pick on me lest I squash them like bugs and thereby cause problems for the Academy with their parents.  And to be fair, it worked – none of the Academy students messed with me.  I thought the whole show was silly – the students should know just by looking at me they’d be ill-advised to pick a fight.  But not long ago, some idiot in one of the mixed classes tried to provoke me.  The instructor intervened, perhaps a little too emphatically, and probably because of the headmaster’s instructions.  The student called his level eighty guards into the room and told them to take the instructor to his father.  I stopped them, of course, and now I’m worried he’ll go after the instructor, or he’ll go after me, and I’ll have to put him down.”

“How did you stop them?  I’m sure I’d have heard of bloodshed on campus.”

“I stopped suppressing my aura.  I think the guards got the idea right away, but the kid (I say kid, but he is older than me) screamed that I was attacking his mind and told his guards to kill me.  I spiritually oppressed them, and the kid passed out, so I told the guards to take him out of there, and they were happy for the excuse,” Duncan shrugged.  “Who has level eighty guards sitting in the hallway outside a classroom?”

“I shouldn’t laugh,” Josef grinned.  “But that’s funny.”

“Yeah, well it reinforces all the references I’ve heard to noble kids being idiots,” Duncan grumbled.  “I don’t understand the thought process that lead to him provoking someone four times his level in the first place.”

“That’s arrogance and stupidity, I’ll admit,” said Josef.  “He probably thought you’d equipped a full set of disciplines and they were all low rank and useless.”

Duncan smirked, “I mean, that’s not entirely wrong.  My build is complete and most of the Techniques are still low rank.  They’re not useless, but they’re low rank.  It’s why I run into mana problems in long fights.  But my main Techniques are effective enough.”

“Yes, I saw that.  You were able to harm the liches through their damage resistance – most of our forces couldn’t do that,” said Josef.

“You could, though,” Duncan noted.  “It felt like your beam and barrier are rank ten.”

“Some of the other guards have rank nine and ten Techniques, and their attacks weren’t as successful as yours,” Josef pointed out.

“That could come down to equipment,” Duncan said.  “My Necrobane sword doubles the damage I do to undead, and my spirit sword ignores armor.  Both are very high-quality items.  And my Techniques synergize well, and I know what I’m doing with a sword.”

“Would you stop suppressing your aura for a moment?  A number of the Church Elders are quite, um, elderly, and they share your disdain for levels as an indication of strength.  They may ask you to unveil, and what they mean by that is to stop suppressing your aura.”

Duncan shrugged.  “Are there guards in the hall you should warn in advance?  I don’t want to cause an incident.”

Josef raised an eyebrow.  “There should be no one within range.  Go ahead.”

Duncan released his aura and Josef’s eyes widened.  “Just your aura,” he said.  “Don’t try to oppress me.”

“This is just my aura,” Duncan said, relaxing back in his chair.

The priest whistled, “The gods must truly have given you some tests to have aura like that at eighteen.  The menace is palpable.”

“I’ve faced a lot of scary monsters, more than most,” Duncan agreed, as he suppressed his aura again.  “I’d demonstrate the oppression, but I don’t think I can do it without feeling legitimately hostile.”

“Practice on dungeon monsters,” suggested Josef.  Oh, good point.

Chapter 23

It would take Josef a couple of days to arrange for Church guards to meet them in Harrish, Mero, and Tavoli, so Duncan had a little time to arrange for a day’s absence from the Academy.  But first, he visited Pelleas.

There was no line at the appraisal office, as usual, so Duncan walked right in.  “Productive week?” Pelleas asked.

“Got kicked around a fair bit.  Killed three liches tonight, though, so that was nice,” Duncan said.

“Three!? What happened?”

“Remember that orphan with the precognition?  She told me the undead were coming for her, so I took her to the big temple near the keep.  Bente convinced the archdeacon there that the threat was real, so he sounded the alarm, and they were ready when the undead arrived a few minutes later.  Three liches, six spectral assassins, and a bunch of plague belchers and bone knights.  It was a good fight, but I ran out of mana near the end.  It’s the limiting factor for me in fights where I have to heal and Mind Spike a lot.  No loot from that fight, but I did go to the Hidden Forest dungeon overnight last night.”

Duncan put the cat parts on the counter, then the rest of the loot from the dungeon.  “Pelt, teeth, spleen, and claws from a Lesser Night Hunter,” said Pelleas.

“Lesser!” Duncan interjected.  “Meaning there’s a scarier version of that thing? Wow.  I really don’t think something like that should be called lesser.  Maybe great and greater instead of lesser and greater…”

“The guild can offer five gold for the cat parts, but I recommend you save them and sell them directly to a crafter,” Pelleas continued.  “The gem on the collar… is a Mind Affinity stone.  Of course it is.  The guild values it at over a thousand gold and I am not authorized to make you an offer on it.  That will bring you to Outstanding Body, Mind, and Spirit.  That feels momentous.  The armor and weapons are junk – the swords have an enchantment to keep them sharp – the guild can offer fifty silver for the lot.”

“Not a very productive dungeon – other than the Affinity stone, I mean,” said Duncan.  “I also ran into a giant lizard thing that may have been a greater forest drake.  I couldn’t hurt it, not more than a scratch, and it had several Decay Techniques that forced me to heal a lot.  I had to run away.”

“We elves occasionally run into those in the depths of the primordial forests of the world.  We leave them alone, too.  Their scales make even better armor than what you have, and they’re a gold mine of alchemical and enchanting materials, but they’re simply too hard to kill,” said Pelleas.

“Right.  Well, the cat fight showed me that I’m lacking a good perception Technique.  Blade sense will eventually let me know where people or monsters with bladed weapons are, but I have no way of detecting invisible cat monsters, for example.  So I guess I need an item that will let me detect invisible creatures.  And I’d like to get some good resistance items that don’t interfere with my healing efficiency necklace.”

“Very well.  Let’s take a look at the guild’s item list.”  Pelleas pulled out an enchanted scroll from under the desk. “Items that let you detect invisible creatures tend to be things you wear on your face or eyes.  You will likely have to swap out your helmet when you need to use the power.”

“Could I not remove only the faceplate of my truesteel helm if I were to find an eyeglass item?  Or wear a monocle under my dragonskin helm if there’s room?” asked Duncan.

“Possibly.  You would already have an item (the helm) using the mana that passes through your head.  You may have the metaphysical strength to have two items on the same spot – it will depend on the mana they reserve as well – their metaphysical weight, so to speak,” Pelleas explained.  “There are several monocles and spectacles listed.  They differentiate between physically present but invisible, and invisible because they’re not physically present – spirits, and such.  I don’t see anything that reveals everything invisible.  Further, they seem to be broken into Divination Affinity, Mind Affinity, Spirit Affinity, and Light Affinity.”

“So, detecting minds, detecting spirits, and actually seeing what’s physically present but hiding through light magic, then?  And Divination is everything.” said Duncan.

“Essentially, yes.  There’s a Crown of the Enlightened that shows you spirits within a range determined by your Spirit Affinity.  Three hundred gold.  Spectacles of Sight – no, they’re Light affinity.  Monocle of Revealing – Mind Affinity, two hundred and twenty-five gold, only reveals invisible creatures in your line of sight – the Crown will show you spirits anywhere in range whether you’re looking at them or not, so it’s a more powerful item.  Oh, this is neat.  Earring of Impending Doom.  Pinches your ear when you’re about to be attacked by an unseen assailant.  Divination and Soul Affinities.  How far in advance of the attack it warns you dictated by divination affinity.  If your Soul Affinity is used, you get warned when the attacker forms the intent to strike.”

“Things I didn’t know I needed!  How much is the earring?” said Duncan.  “I’ll take the Crown and the monocle – if I’m fighting spirits, a physical helmet won’t be as important, and the monocle might let me keep my helmet on.”

“The earring is a hundred and twelve gold.  Divination and Soul magic are both rare, and if you have Divination, you generally have better options than this.”

“I’ll take it, too,” said Duncan.  “I antagonized a noble earlier who seems to be the type to send an assassin after me, and it would be useful for resting in Dungeons, too.”  He pulled out six hundred and thirty-seven gold from his storage to pay for the items – he no longer kept all his gold on account with the guild, having invested most of it with Elliot Lainer, so he had to pay for items out of pocket now.  I suppose it makes me feel the cost more when I have to hand over the gold.

“All three items should be here next week,” Pelleas said, as he marked the scroll with the purchases.

“Thank you,” said Duncan.  “I’m escorting Bente and the archdeacon to the Villanovan Confederacy in a day or two, so I may not see you until then, depending how long the trip takes.  We’re using the teleportation gates, and I’m not sure how that works, if there’s a wait time, or whatever.  And I don’t know if I’ll have to talk to anyone at Tavoli, so I might be gone a couple of days.”

“Enjoy the trip!  Oh, before you go, the Technique stones you ordered for your friends arrived.”  Pelleas handed them over.  “And here’s that list of the high-level dungeons within an hour’s flight of a teleportation gate that I think you’d find useful.”

Duncan thanked Pelleas and returned to the Academy.  He decided to use the Mind Affinity Stone and then meditate the rest of the night.  The last time he’d absorbed an Affinity Stone, his mana had become agitated and had eventually formed a dense cloudlike core in his belly.  His mana still flowed normally through his body, so he wasn’t worried, exactly, but he wished he understood what was going on.

Sitting in the Academy garden, Duncan absorbed the stone.  For a moment, it felt like he was falling, then a burning sensation overtook his limbs.  He started meditating and trying to visualize his mana.  It felt like the mana was burning the pathways it took through his body.  From his core or dantian or whatever, burning strands of mana reached out to his heart, his lungs, kidneys, stomach, and liver.  Then his eyes and ears started burning, and his arms and legs, then even his brain felt like it was on fire.

The sensation continued for an indeterminate amount of time, then gradually settled.  Through it all Duncan focused on his breathing and pushing mana through his body.  Same as last time.  Just keep it moving.  Once everything had settled, Duncan took stock.  He felt good, though he was covered in grime again.  Not as bad as the first time I had a breakthrough at least!

It had been a while since he’d checked his soulgem, and he was pleased with what it displayed.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

116 (+8)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

305 (+16)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

280 (+15)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

296 (+16)

Endurance:

305 (+15)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

29300 (+1900)

Health Regen:

18560/hour (+1280)

Stamina:

4210 (+230)

Stam Regen:

46400/hour (+3200)

Mana:

25860 (+4632)

Mana Regen:

7300/hour (+320)

Mana Reserved:

501

Cultivation:

Late Earth +

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Outstanding +

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Strong +

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Blade Echo

8

Tempered Blade

8

Fold Space

6

Regeneration

7

Blink

6

Coagulation

6

Mind Spike

6

Hardened Skin

6

Destrin's Restoration

6 (+1)

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

6 (+1)

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

4 (+1)

Personal Space Pocket

6 (+1)

Remove Affliction

4

Ignore Pain

5

Regenerate Other

3 (+1)

Shadow Sight

4

Cage of Blades

3

Assessment

4

Extract Resources

2

Blade Sense

4 (+1)

Leech Mana

3 (+2)

Understand Languages

2

Skills

Rank

1H swords

8 (+1)

Plate armor

4

2H swords

6 (+1)

Mail armor

3

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

5

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

4 (+1)

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Elven language

2 (+1)

Knowledge: Monster

1 (+1)

Well.  Outstanding Mind Affinity now, and that’s improved my mana pool significantly.  Cultivation level has changed again.  I have no idea what that means.  Soul Affinity has changed.  Is that due to the cultivation change?  Or the Affinity stone?  Is the cultivation change due to the Affinity stone?  This soulgem isn’t as helpful as I’d like.  Destrin’s Restoration is up – that’s a mana efficiency gain.  How did Flying Sword advance again so soon?  I don’t understand that gain.  Personal Space Pocket advanced again – I’ll need to test that to see what’s changed.  Leech Mana gained two ranks.  I guess that makes sense – I use it in every fight as much as I can, and it was low rank and an outstanding affinity so rapid early gains are normal. Nice to see the skill advancements.  Hey, wait – the limit reached notification for my active and passive techniques is gone.  Does that mean I can add more techniques?  Is that what cultivation does?   That’s… awesome.  Level one sixteen.  I’m definitely continuing to show a hundred and five while I’m in Lanport.

Feeling a little overwhelmed even after meditating, Duncan bathed to remove the grime covering him and headed to bed for a few hours of sleep.

Chapter 24

At breakfast the next morning Duncan told his roommates he was going on a trip and might not be back in time to escort them through the training dungeon.  “But you should definitely go on your own.  The four of you can crush that place.  You won’t get any overpowered spawns without me there to provoke them.  Oh, these should help.” He slid a box to each of them.

“Thank you, Duncan,” said Cassandra.  “So, does this sudden trip have anything to do with you making Pierre Chevrolet shit himself and pass out yesterday?”

“What? No.” Duncan spluttered.  “Of course everyone knows about that already.  The gossip’s just going to make him send assassins after me, you know, and then I’ll have to wipe out his whole family to send a message.”

His roommates gave him horrified looks. “Power is the only thing bullies understand.  If they provoke me by trying to have me killed, I will have to respond with overwhelming force.  If his family is smart enough to drop it, there’ll be no issue,” he said.  “But no, the reason I’m leaving is that last night three liches and a couple dozen more greater undead attacked the temple by the keep.  We killed them all, but we expect them to come back even stronger.  So, I’m escorting the person they’re after to a safe place.”

“Wow,” Amelia said.  “Three liches and a small army of undead. Why haven’t we heard about it?  And what were you doing there?  Also, the Chevrolets are no joke.  They’ve feuded with all their neighbors for decades, or centuries – they’ve got some very strong duelists.”

“I was there because I was protecting someone they were after,” Duncan replied.  “I’m just a poor student with an unfortunate habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, who keeps getting involved in situations over his head.”  Amelia rolled her eyes and he continued, “Or I’m the chosen champion of the gods, training up to face unspeakable threats from beyond.  It could be either, really.”

“As to the Chevrolets, do you think they’ll stoop to challenging a poor student who’s not even a noble?  Or will they send thugs in the night?”  His roommates frowned as one.  “I have a manor in the city.  I’ll move there for the rest of the school year to ensure no one comes to our room looking for me.  I’m sure the headmaster will approve it.”

“Wait, why do you have a manor in Lanport? Or at all?” asked David.

“I needed someplace to keep the person the liches want.  Apparently, real estate is cheap in Lanport at the moment, so Elliot bought me a place.  I think he plans to sell it again once prices recover.”

“Let me get this straight.  You’ve had someone the Undead want, and you’ve been keeping them in a manor house in Lanport.  But last night you had them at the temple where the Church Militants gather, and the undead came for them.  You wiped the undead out with the help of the Church Militants and now you’re taking the object of their desire where, exactly?”  Cassandra sounded exasperated.

Duncan raised his hands defensively.  “I just happened upon the undead attacking the person and stopped them.  I didn’t know it was a Church matter until yesterday.  And I would say the Church wiped out the undead with a little help from me and a squad of the Duke’s men.  And the Church is taking care of it from here on.  I’m just escorting the Archdeacon on the trip.  I can’t say where.  I will say more when I get back, if you want to hear it.”

David grinned at him.  “It’s never dull with you around, Duncan.  Thank you for putting my schoolwork in perspective.”

His instructors were more understanding.  He simply told them he had to be away for a day or two on a mission for Archdeacon Josef, and they all just nodded.  He left another note for the headmaster requesting permission to stay in the city for the remainder of the term, lest he bring trouble down on his roommates.

Since he was leaving in the morning, he delved the Sawiskin dungeon again overnight.  His improved Leech Mana Technique made a noticeable difference, and his heals were a little less costly with Destrin’s Restoration ranking up. Combined with the new depths of his mana pool, he felt he’d taken a clear step forward.  His Mind Spikes felt a little more forceful for the same mana expenditure, which he attributed to the improved Mind Affinity.

The dungeon threw one rare monster at him – a flying fish that spat jets of high-pressured water at him and regenerated every time it dove back into the water.  It took some time and experimentation to find a method that worked to kill it.  His Cage of Blades and Mind Spike Techniques got a good workout, as did his Leech Mana and Fold Space Techniques.  It took several instances of opening a fold in space on the surface of the water as it dove, redirecting it to a dry part of the cavern, before he was able to wear it down.  Extract Resources recovered its scales, and a heavy chest at the bottom of the pond gave him a nice reward in gold coins.

At first light, he arrived at the temple to meet Josef, Bente, and the squadron of guards who’d assembled to escort them to the teleportation gate.  Bente waved happily at Duncan, holding Josef’s hand.  Josef was wearing armored robes, and the escort was a full dozen Church warriors with tower shields and maces.  Six walked ahead of Josef, Bente, and Duncan, and six followed behind.  Duncan wore his dragonskin armor and carried his dragontooth sword and rose quartz shield.  You’d have to be insane to attack this group.

And yet, a hundred meters out the door, Josef yelled “Ware!” and surrounded himself and Bente in his protective sphere.  Half a dozen spectral assassins, barely visible against the light, attacked the sphere frantically. Duncan swapped his shield out for his Necrobane sword and used Mind Spike on three of the assassins in a row to curtail the assault.  Several of the guards produced an aura that made the creatures more tangible, and half the Church warriors attacked the assassins while the other half formed an outward-facing circle around the group to watch for anything else that might approach.

There were a few anxious moments before the first spectral assassins were slain, reducing the strain on Josef’s shield.  Once the first two died, the rest soon followed, though, and the group moved on.  It was a short walk to the square where the teleportation gates stood.  There were a few people waiting in line at various gates, and the group drew a lot of stares.

Josef knew where he was going – the group made straight for a specific gate.  The Level 102 Mage in attendance said, “How many of you?”  When Josef indicated three, she continued, “Do any of you have weight tokens?”

Josef produced a black medallion, and the mage nodded.  She knelt in front of Bente and handed her a crystal rod and said, “Hold this for a moment, darling.”   The sphere on the end of the rod turned black when Bente held it, and the mage handed her a black medallion to match Josef’s.  The mage looked up at the group, and specifically Duncan, who was looming.  “I’m just going to bind it to her now.” She pressed the medallion into Bente’s hand and the little girl said “ouch!”

“All done now,” the mage said.  She turned to Duncan and offered him the crystal rod.  “This determines your metaphysical weight for the gate transfer.  I can transfer only so much at a time.”   Duncan took the rod and it glowed a bright white.  “That’s a nice surprise.  You’re essentially weightless for my purposes.  Outstanding Space Affinity, I assume?”  At Duncan’s nod, she produced a white medallion and said, “Put a drop of blood on the receptacle in the back to bind it to you.”  Duncan did so and the medallion glowed softly.

“There is a significant threat to everyone here, including you, while we are here,” said Josef to the gate mage.  “If you can expedite the transfer, that would be best for everyone.”

The mage nodded.  “Ten, ten, five,” she said, pointing to Josef, Bente and Duncan in turn.  Duncan produced five gold and handed it to her as Josef produced twenty and did the same.  “You three and these two,” she said, pointing to two men standing nearby, then she channeled a huge amount of mana into the housing of the gate.  A white light appeared in the center and flared up into a black curtain that, color aside, looked just like a Dungeon portal.

The two men she’d indicated stepped through immediately, followed by Josef leading Bente by the hand.  Duncan followed behind.

He emerged into a square similar to the one he’d left, only much larger, with many more gates visible.  Josef had warned him that having bared blades in Harrish was frowned upon, so his weapons were stowed in his storage space.  Josef was standing next to him with Bente, a white sphere surrounding them both.  They’d agreed that it would be safest to protect Bente when they stepped through until the local Church forces assembled, because they’d be most vulnerable then.  Bente appeared to take the teleportation in stride – she seemed to be quite a stoic little adventurer.

Fortunately, the local Church warriors were waiting for them. A dozen shield bearers led by someone in the same outfit as Josef approached.  “Archdeacon,” the leader addressed Josef.

“Archdeacon.”  Josef smiled.  “We were attacked by six spectral assassins on the way to the gate.  Let’s not assume a walk in the park here.”  Duncan made room for the second Archdeacon to stand on the other side of Bente and walked a couple of meters to the side of the group.

It was about five hundred meters to the gate to Mero – the international gates were in a different square from those that connected the various cities of the empire.  The group drew a lot of eyes as they moved in a tight formation between the squares, but everyone got out of their way.

A group of guards in impressive uniforms stood in the entrance between the squares.  They made way for the Church warriors but raised a hand to stop Duncan.  “He’s with us,” said Josef.  The guard cocked his head to the side but stepped back and waved Duncan through.  The group continued to the Mero gate without further interruption.

Duncan looked around to see what he could glimpse of Harrish before they went through the gate.  The square they were in had perhaps a dozen gates and high walls.  There was only the single entrance that led back towards the square with the local gates.  Beyond the walls, he could see a few towers in the distance, but little else.  Ah well, I can see the sights next time.

Josef spoke to the Level 112 Mage at the gate.  I wonder if they need higher level mages to power the gates that go further away.  “Three for Mero, please.”  He showed his black medallion and Bente did the same. Duncan showed his white one.

“Of course, Archdeacon,” the mage said.  “I was told to expect your party.  Twenty each for you and the child, five for the warrior.”  They paid up and the mage immediately opened the portal and they stepped through, Josef waving his thanks to the other Archdeacon.

Through the portal, the sun was shining brightly and the ground had a reddish tint to it.  Once again Josef shielded Bente until the local Church Warriors arrived.  Their leader said, “Alright Archdeacon?”

“Yes, thank you, Deacon,” Josef replied.  “We were attacked by spectral assassins on the first leg but the second was clear.  We are ready to proceed.”

“Understood, sir.  The Tavoli gate isn’t far.  We’ve had ongoing undead attacks from the catacombs so security is tight.  Follow us and we’ll get you through.”  The deacon led them through a portcullis into a covered walkway and through another portcullis into the city streets.  The buildings were mostly of a white clay, which Duncan hadn’t seen before.  It was a very pretty city from what he could see.  Bente commented on the heat, and Duncan agreed… Mero was significantly warmer than Harrish had been.

They proceeded down the street for two hundred meters or so and were approaching another portcullis when Josef shouted “Ware!” and shielded himself and Bente.  Duncan equipped his Necroblade and spirit sword, expecting more spectral assassins, but half a dozen bone knights burst out of a doorway on the right and piled into the Church warriors who formed a shield wall with good form and no sign of panic.

Duncan activated Leech Mana and Blinked behind the Bone Knight at the end of the line and opened with sword attacks enhanced with Blade Echo.  It completely ignored him, focused on the Church warrior in front of it.  Well, this is going to be easy.  Half a dozen more sword attacks, and the Bone Knight was down.  Duncan switched to the next one in line.

A beam of necrotic energy struck Josef’s shield.  A lich had appeared behind the group, coming out of another doorway closer to the international gateways.  Duncan hit it with a Mind Spike and Blinked to it.  “Lich!” screamed the Deacon.

Duncan hit the lich with two sword attacks, then opened a fold in space in front of his chest to catch the necrotic beam he expected and directed it at the lich’s own back.  The stun wore off and the lich immediately tried to hit him with the beam attack.  Its health dropped precipitously as the beam ravaged its back.  Duncan stunned it again, and hit it with two more sword attacks, then used another Mind Spike and two more attacks, and it dissolved.  Weakest lich I’ve seen yet. He hadn’t been able to identify it at all.

“I’ve got it,” he called to the Deacon, then Blinked back to the Bone Knights and continued to chop them down.  Ninety seconds later the fight was over and Duncan hadn’t had to heal even once.  Nice fight.  I love that the Church warriors have a Technique that keeps the attention of the bone knights.

Josef dropped his sphere and snapped, “Keep moving!” at the Deacon.  Within seconds the troop was hustling them down the street and through the portcullis.  Duncan stowed his weapons again.  The Deacon led them to a gateway arch, and Josef said “Three for Tavoli” to the mage, showing his medallion.  Bente and Duncan did the same.

“Ten, ten, five,” said the gateway mage.  They paid up and Josef said to the Deacon, “Random attack?”

“If it was, it’s the strongest random attack I’ve heard of.  It’s generally been undead mages, zombies, and occasional undead animators with a pair of bone knights.”

Josef nodded and said, “Thanks for your protection.”  Then they stepped through the gateway and were in Tavoli.

The air wasn’t as humid as it had been in Mero, but the sun beat down the same way.  Once again Josef shielded himself and Bente.  Duncan looked around.  Tavoli was a Church town.  The square he was in had perhaps a dozen gateway arches.  The walls and buildings he could see were all made of that same white clay.  There were low mountains in all directions but West.

Waiting for them was a dwarf in plate armor with a white tabard showing a device Duncan assumed to be the Church’s.  He had a huge wiry beard and piercing blue eyes under a pronounced brow and heavy eyebrows.  Behind him were a dozen Church warriors.  Josef dismissed his sphere and the dwarf said, “Report, Archdeacon.”

“Your eminence.  Six Spectral Assassins in Lanport, a lich and six bone knights in Mero.  No losses,” replied Josef.

“Your concerns were warranted,” the Dwarf nodded.  “Let’s get you behind some wards.”  He gestured and six of the warriors led the way out of the courtyard followed by the dwarf.  Josef, Bente and Duncan were next, with six more warriors following.

They were perhaps fifty meters from the gate to the Church School when a deep bell started tolling.  “RUN!” roared the dwarf, pumping his short legs as he sprinted for the gate.

Duncan scooped up Bente and Blinked to the gate, then knelt to shelter her with his body.

The Church forces arrived, and Josef scooped up Bente and carried her through the gate.  The dwarf yelled, “It’s diving!”

Duncan looked up and there was a dragon the size of a castle made entirely of bone flying at them.  Oh wow.  That thing is huge.  And beautiful.  And coming really fast.  Beside him the dwarf was using a Technique to throw a translucent hammer at the dragon.  Duncan threw up a fold in space at his maximum range, with a five-centimeter deviation, right in the path of the dragon.  Unstoppable force, meet immovable object!

The bone dragon slammed right into the fold in space, and it looked like it had struck an invisible wall.  Its head stopped dead and the rest of its body plowed into it.  Duncan’s Assessment showed the huge monster had lost more than a third of its health from that impact and was now ‘wounded.’  It crashed to the ground and stumbled to its feet even as Church warriors and casters attacked it from the walls.

The bone dragon leapt into the air and sped off at an incredible pace.

Duncan followed the dwarf through the gate of the school property.  The group reassembled and moved into a large building with several wings, each of which had an impressive domed roof.

A tall woman with pitch black hair and an olive skin tone wearing the robes Duncan had come to associate with Church officials approached them.  She addressed the dwarf first, “Your eminence, the board is assembling now in the small hall.”  She turned to Josef, Duncan and Bente, and said, “I’m sure they’ll want to hear from you once they’re done with the initial shouting.  In the meantime, can I offer you some refreshments after your long journey?”  Oh, I like this lady already.

The dwarf snorted and strode off, swapping his armor out for a fancy robe as he did.  The tall lady introduced herself as Giorgia and led them into a small waiting room where she served them a sweet yellow drink made from some sort of fruit.  It was absolutely delicious.  “What is this called?” Duncan asked.

“It’s granita.  Do you like it?” Giorgia smiled.

“It’s the best drink I’ve ever had,” Duncan said.  “I don’t actually need to eat or drink much these days, but I am definitely going to need more of this.”

Giorgia laughed.  “Let me introduce you to lemon gelato.”

An hour passed before they were called before the school board.  It was probably the best hour Duncan had ever spent.  There was something truly magical about lemon gelato.

Giorgia led them to the small hall where the board awaited them.  She knelt down beside Bente and said, “Don’t let them scare you.  They’re a bunch of old grumps, but they mean well.”

Bente hugged her and said, “I know what to do.”

Giorgia looked at Duncan’s Academy uniform and said, “I guess you’ll do,” and opened the door, gesturing them in.

Inside, seven people were seated behind a large table.  It reminded Duncan of his admission interview at the Academy of Steel.  The woman in the center spoke loudly, “Our first order of business is the admission of Bente, at the recommendation of Archdeacon Josef Blachet.  It appears clear that the undead, either in whole or in part, really didn’t want Bente to reach us.”

Bente shared her soulgem information with the entire room.

After a few moments of shocked silence, the woman said, “Welcome to the Tavoli Preparatory School, Bente.  I’m sure you’ll be happy here.  Giorgia will show you around and get you settled.  You’ll be able to see your friends here again before they leave.”

“Thank you, Lady Grace,” said Bente.

“Before you go, Bente, did you know the bone dragon would attack?”  Lady Grace asked.  Bente nodded.  “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Bente looked puzzled, “Duncan was already going to be there.”

“Ah.  Thank you, Bente.”

Chapter 25

After Giorgia had led Bente out of the room, Lady Grace said, “It’s clear we’ll have to upgrade the wards if we’re going to face things like that bone dragon in future.  We can discuss that later today.  For now, I’d like to hear her story as you know it, gentlemen.  Archdeacon, why don’t you begin.”

Josef explained everything that had happened from the moment Duncan brought Bente to the temple to the time they’d arrived at the school.  Then he had Duncan explain how he’d met Bente, and what had happened with her from that time until he’d taken her to meet Josef.

“Why didn’t you bring Bente to the Church earlier?” asked one of the men at the table.

“I didn’t know the Church existed until the Academy Ball,” Duncan said, suppressing a sigh.  “I’m from a remote village in the middle of nowhere, and I arrived in the Arnite Empire less than a year ago due to a teleport accident in a dungeon.”  He wasn’t looking forward to having to explain his history again.

“Why do you veil your strength?” asked the only elf at the table.

“Remelial, you know humans suppress their auras as a courtesy,” one of the others began.

“Not his aura, his strength,” the elf said.

“People were uncomfortable with my rate of advancement,” Duncan said. “I only began delving a year ago.  It became easier to let people think I was stagnating like them.  The Academy of Steel, where I’m training with the sword, well, the other students my age are almost all under level thirty.”

Remelial snorted. “Understandable.”

“You expect us to believe you reached a hundred and five in under a year?” a short man with a mop of red hair asked.

“I don’t expect anything.  It’s not about me.  I just came along to keep Bente safe on the journey.” Duncan said.

The man looked offended, and Remelial laughed.  “Unveil your aura, boy.  Show these lambs what a lion looks like.”

Duncan stopped suppressing his aura and it swept out to fill the room.  Remelial grinned, the dwarf who’d met them at the gateway nodded thoughtfully, and the reactions of the humans ranged from wide eyes to gasps.

Remelial and the dwarf released their auras too.  Duncan felt their strength and a definite aura of menace from both.  Belatedly, he identified Remelial as a Level 140 Mage and the Dwarf as a Level 137 Warrior.  Impressive.  He identified all the humans as being between level one hundred and one twenty.

“Alright, gentlemen, stop waving your dicks around,” said Giorgia from the doorway.  “You’re scaring the staff.”  Duncan identified her as a Level 125 Mage.  She’s higher level than some of the board members.  Interesting.  He suppressed his aura again and a moment later, the others did, too.

“Sorry Giorgia,” the dwarf said.

“Bah,” said Remelial, “It does the pups good to know there are wolves around, Grom.”

Grom just snorted.  “Duncan, what was it you used to hammer that bone dragon so hard?”

“A space magic construct – immovable - it acted like a barrier,” Duncan replied.  “I just placed it there, the monster crashed into it.”

“Let’s get back on topic,” said Lady Grace.  “Duncan, is there anything we can offer you as thanks for your service in escorting Bente here?”

“Do you have a high-level dungeon nearby I could delve?” he asked.  “If that’s too much, I’ll settle for Giorgia teaching me how to make granita and lemon gelato.”

“There are two dungeons nearby that could be considered high-level,” said Lady Grace. “I don’t know if we can find a team you’ll fit into on short notice, though.”

“I’m a solo delver,” Duncan replied.  “Anything over about level ninety by Adventurers Guild standards should be fine.”

“The Lost Oasis dungeon should be suitable,” Remelial said.  “It’s a desert biome with a number of isolated pools of water.  Sand elementals and sand skimmers in the wastes, scaly lizards roam the sands near the pools, and groups of humanoid monsters trek between the ponds.  The guild rates it at one-ten.”

“Fine.” Lady Grace didn’t sound pleased to be interrupted. “Giorgia will assign someone to show you the way.  Thank you for your service.  Now,” she turned to the rest of the group, “We need to adjust the budget for defensive formations.”

Duncan gave the group a short bow and retreated from the meeting.  Giorgia said, “That was less painful than expected.  If you’ll wait here a few minutes, I’ll have a local guide you to the dungeon entrance.  It’s not far.”

“Please make sure it’s someone who can fly,” Duncan interjected.  “I need to be back at the Academy soon, so I’d like to go fast.  I’ll come back here before I leave, to say goodbye to Bente, and I’d like to set up an allowance for her while she’s here.  I know the Church will provide for her needs, but I suspect her friends will have spending money, and I’d like her to have the same.  I’ll provide a hundred gold for the allowance.”

“That’s very kind of you,” said Giorgia.  “I’ll have the paperwork ready when you return.”

A few minutes later a Level 89 Mage approached Duncan.  “You the lad I’m supposed to guide to the Lost Oasis Dungeon?”  At Duncan’s nod, she said, “Right, this way.  It’s a short flight into the mountains to the North.”  A cloud formed beneath her feet and lifted her off the ground.

Duncan followed her to the dungeon, enjoying the lack of wind resistance his new rank in Flying Sword provided.  It was really quite fast now, though he suspected the mage still had to slow down a little to accommodate him.  The portal was on a ledge up what would have been a steep climb for a non-flyer.  “Here you are,” the mage said. “Hope it’s what you’re looking for.”

Duncan thanked her and stepped through the portal.  The dungeon spread out before him in all directions.  There was a pillar of light marking the entrance, which Duncan thought was a nice touch.  There was a reddish mountain visible in the distance to the North, and no other features visible.  The dungeon’s artificial sun bathed the area in heat and light.

Duncan summoned a sword from his storage space and flew directly away from the mountain in the distance, looking for monsters.  After a couple of minutes, he spotted an island of green in the ocean of sand and headed towards it.  From the air, he could see a group of tents on one edge of the pond, and some trees and bushes all around the edge of the water.  He dropped to ground level so as not to be an easily visible target as he approached.

Rather than slog through the sand, he flew just above the surface, changing his approach so that he arrived at the pool on the side of the water opposite where the tents were set up.  There were three tents, each fairly small, and between them, a humanoid figure tended to a spit over a small fire.  Those tents probably hold two people each, so this group shouldn’t be bigger than six.  Let’s see what you’re like.

Duncan activated Leech Mana, then stored his sword and used Mind Spike on the monster tending the fire, then Blinked to it and struck it from behind with his dragontooth sword.  Electing for safety over offense until he knew what they were capable of, he had his rose quartz shield equipped instead of a second sword.

The monster was wearing some sort of hide armor.  Duncan aimed for the creature’s exposed neck and his sword bit into it and drew blood.  His Blade Echoes followed up, doing what looked to be fairly extensive damage.  His Assessment Technique showed the monster as ‘wounded’.  He added a second attack while it was still stunned, then it exploded into action.

It snatched up a spear lying on the sand and dove over the fire, rolling to its feet to face him.  It had the features of a snake, with slitted eyes and a forked tongue and fangs that protruded from a snout.  It hissed loudly and gestured at Duncan even as he Blinked behind it.

Snakes made out of sand snapped at the place he’d been a moment earlier.  Duncan stabbed at the monster’s exposed neck again, but it hunched over and spun to face him, and he missed.  He turned the thrust into a draw cut but the creature’s hide armor protected it.

The snakeman thrust low and hard with its spear, and Duncan twisted to interpose his shield, then uncoiled with a thrust of his own.  The monster reacted faster than it should have given the shock of his shield absorbing the momentum of the spear and stepped back.  Duncan passed forward to continue his thrust and just managed to penetrate its armor above its hip, taking a draw cut from the spear across his back, which his armor dealt with.  He recovered from the lunge and regarded the monster warily.  This thing is superb with a spear.

Noises from behind warned him that more of the creatures were emerging from their tents.  He hit his target with a Mind Spike, Blinked behind it, and thrust at the back of its neck once more, wounding it severely.  He could see five more of the monsters now.

The ground beneath his feet turned to quicksand and he started to sink rapidly.  He Blinked up, summoned a sword to fly on, and attacked his target through a fold in space again, doing enough damage to its neck that it collapsed.  He had to abandon his Leech Mana Technique, though – with only three concurrent Techniques, he couldn’t fly, create folds in space, use Blade Echoes, and Leech Mana.

He was engulfed in a stinging storm of sand and Blinked forward out of it appearing behind the tents.  He immediately stabbed another snakeman in the neck through a fold in space while they all thought he was still in the sandstorm they’d created.  He was able to strike twice more in the confusion as they looked for him before one of them saw him and launched a spear of sand at him.  He blocked the spear with his shield and continued his assault on the necks of the snakemen through folds in space.  Flying removes the threat of the quicksand and the little sand snakes.  Seems they only have the spears and sandstorms that can hit me up here.

When there was only one left, he Blinked down to the ground and engaged it with two swords, trying to use only weapon skill to win.  He had to Blink out of a quicksand attack and discovered that the little sand snakes inflicted a nasty poison, so he had to spend more mana that he’d wanted on healing and Remove Affliction, but he thoroughly enjoyed the fight.  The snakemen were brilliant spearmen.  His armor was better than theirs, or their raw strength was less than his, but they were just as fast as him and used their spears well both at range and up close.

What warrants this place being rated one-ten?  Sure, the snakemen are fast and skilled and they have a few sand-related Techniques, but I don’t think they’re tougher than the eighth level of the endless depths, really.  Although I guess I’m a lot stronger than I was then.  It wasn’t all that long ago, either.  I’ve advanced really quickly.  A lot of that comes from adding additional Techniques that have room for fast growth, though.  I need to go back and try the endless depths again to get a real comparison…

He looted the corpses and checked the tents, but they contained little more than bedding and empty packs.  Then he explored the rest of the oasis.  The plant life extended only four or five meters from the edge of the water before the desert conditions took over.  The plants were mostly either very prickly or tall with no leaves within reach of grazing animals.  Extract Resources earned him a couple of vials of viscous clear liquid.  The water was still, the pool deep enough that he couldn’t see the bottom.

The surface of the water exploded as tentacles lashed out and grasped him as he peered in.  In a flash he was dragged under the surface and saw a tentacled horror with a mouth bigger than him.  That thing is as big as the entire pool!  Duncan equipped his water breathing ring from his storage space and switched to his Horrorbane sword and his rose quartz shield.  I don’t know if this is a beast or a horror, but it has tentacles, so I’m guessing horror.

He felt a crushing pressure in his mind, like something was squeezing his helmet.  He blacked out for a moment and discovered he was in the creature’s mouth, and its teeth were grinding against his armor.  He regenerated completely in a flash, then tried to Blink straight up, but the Technique failed.  So he activated Leech Mana and began lashing out at the creature as best he could whilst trapped in its mouth. He thrust his Horrorbane sword at what he assumed was the monster’s soft palate.  After several frantic strikes the monster opened its mouth and Duncan tried Blinking out again the moment he saw light.

He appeared at the edge of the pool with a massive drain on his mana.  Blinked into the ground and got shifted, maybe.  He Blinked straight up another thirty meters and regenerated, only for his head to feel like something was trying to pop it like a balloon.  He almost lost consciousness again but managed to Blink away from the pool as far as he could go.  At rank six, his maximum range on Blink was over five hundred meters and he used every meter of it.

He hovered about five meters above the sand and regenerated again, leaving himself quite low on mana.  That… was rough.  The mental attack, in particular.  Not being able to Blink when it was chewing on me was something of a shock, too.  He looked around for a safe place to land and meditate, but it was nothing but sand in every direction except the oasis with the horror lurking.

Eventually he chose to fly South as he waited for his mana to recover.  He’d have preferred to land somewhere and meditate for the increased mana regeneration rate, but the desert felt too exposed, and there was nothing else.  As he flew, he kept an eye out for the sand skimmers and sand elementals that apparently lived in the wasteland.

After a while, he saw two creatures that looked like flat fish flying above the surface of the desert. Those must be sand skimmers.  They saw him at about the same time and turned toward him.  He equipped his Beastbane sword and shield.  The monsters separated a little, then there were four of them, and then eight.  Uh oh.

Duncan hit the first one with a Mind Spike – and nothing happened. Something almost invisible struck him, cutting deep into his leg through his armor.  Moments later, several more hit him, lacerating both legs and stinging fiercely.  The monsters were using a Wind Blade Technique, but the blades were subtle, barely noticeable with the air distorted by the heat rising off the desert sand.

Duncan used his Bladestorm Technique and was gratified to see the monsters actually lose a little health from that.  But it was a low-ranked Technique, and they were high level monsters – the damage done was best described as negligible.  Still, blades could hurt them - he Blinked forward and cut at one of the skimmers.  His blade passed right through it and it dissipated for a moment then re-formed.  A phasing ability?  Or illusion?

A sandstorm formed around him, the sand grinding against his armor and digging into every gap to abrade his skin.  He Blinked forward, and the skimmers turned smoothly to re-engage him.  A barely noticeable glint in the air warned him of more incoming Wind Blades, and he Blinked away five hundred meters to the North, then flew back to the dungeon entrance as fast as he could.  So, a level one hundred and ten dungeon is too much for me.  Or at least, this one is.

Chapter 26

Duncan returned to the Church school at Tavoli to pay for Bente’s allowance and to say farewell.  Bente hugged him and said, “Thanks for bringing me here, Duncan.  I’ll see you again when I’m bigger!”  Then she ran off to play with her new friends.

Josef was also there – he was a little surprised Duncan had returned so soon from the dungeon, but they agreed to meet in two hours at the teleportation gate in Tavoli to return to Lanport together.  He spent an hour wheedling the recipe for granitas and lemon gelato out of Giorgia and resolved to acquire some lemons at his earliest convenience.  He did manage to store a large pitcher of granita in his armband storage device, where it would stay preserved until he took it out.

As he was about to leave, he saw Remelial waiting for him near the door.  When Duncan approached, the elf said, “Walk with me,” and led him outside.  “What did you think of the Hidden Oasis?”

Duncan grimaced.  “The snakemen were magnificent spearmen, and I really enjoyed fighting them.  But everything else I met was too strong for me.  I had to leave the dungeon before I got myself killed.”

Remelial nodded. “At least you were smart enough to know when you were outclassed.  Listen, you have advanced too quickly.  You have too many Techniques at ridiculously low rank, and while that’s helped you with your physical stats and you have a sturdy body, you are weak compared to someone who’s focused properly over many years.”

“You look at me and see a level one hundred and forty mage.  But I have five evolved Techniques.  I am far, far more powerful than my level suggests.  Soulgems are unintelligent tools - they count evolved Techniques as part of the basic Techniques they evolved from.  We are far enough from the school now.  Brace yourself.”  Remelial stopped suppressing his aura and the pressure of it almost staggered Duncan.  He felt like a child facing a monster out of legend.  His legs felt rubbery.  And then Remelial suppressed his aura again.

“What is an evolved Technique, sir?” Duncan managed to ask.  So strong.  That’s like me facing a level ten beginner.

“If you rank a Technique to ten and continue to improve, you may find a way to evolve the Technique into something stronger.  It becomes rank one again but at rank one it is significantly stronger than the old Technique at rank ten.”  He gestured at a boulder and a white-hot flame exploded from his hand, scorching and cracking it. “Rank ten Beam of Fire.”  Then he gestured again, and something leapt from his hand to the boulder.  There was an ear-damaging cracking noise and the boulder simply ceased to exist and a deep fissure appeared in the ground behind where it had been. “Rank ten Beam of True Fire.”

Duncan just stared.

“You have several outstanding Affinities.  That’s a very good start.  But it’s only a start.  Just as Techniques can evolve, an outstanding Affinity is not the pinnacle.  There are many paths to power.”  Remelial pointed at Duncan, who flinched.  “I don’t know where you’re from, and I don’t know how strong the people are there.  The Arnite Empire is a mana-deprived backwater full of weaklings and low-level dungeons; you are likely impressively strong compared to most of the people there.  But a few of them will be like me: wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Do not for a moment think you are truly strong.”

“You are presenting as one hundred and five.  In the Arnite Empire, that’s probably going to stand out, but not too much – you may appear to be someone who’s scrabbled to a hundred with any available Techniques for the increased lifespan - that’s pretty common.  You’d do better to present as seventy-five or eighty, though, until you can get some rank ten Techniques in both offense and defense.  You have entirely too many Techniques for your own good, which are inflating your level but not your power.”  Can he see my soulgem information, or read my abilities some other way?

“Stay in the Arnite Empire to rank up your Techniques.  Or perhaps the Zaragosan Kingdom or the Villanovan Confederacy – the civilized parts, at least.  Do not travel to the mountains of the far North or the jungles of the continent across the sea to the South until you have true power.  And try not to develop a reputation lest someone truly strong comes to challenge you.”

“Finally, dungeons rated over level one hundred tend to have monsters with more dangerous Techniques.  Strong regeneration, illusions, mana drains or even leeches, life leeches, invisibility, Technique suppression, elemental or physical immunities.  Dungeons rated over one fifty can have monsters with evolved Techniques.  Delve a wide variety of dungeons under level one hundred to challenge yourself and advance your low-ranked Techniques.  Find a team if you can – you are not the only outlier – you will do better with someone whose strengths make up for your weaknesses and vice versa.”

“I am telling you all this because you did the Church a bigger favor than you know by preserving Bente’s life and bringing her here.  Consider this lesson your reward and learn it well.”  He smiled, “Now, you should be heading back to your school.  Master your skills, become a true blademaster.  And perhaps you will survive long enough that we might meet again one day.”

Duncan bowed.  “Thank you, sir.  I appreciate your advice.”  I really do.  There’s a lot to consider.  The path forward just grew even longer, and it has some tricky bends.

Remelial returned to the school and Duncan wandered down to the teleportation gates to wait for Josef.  There was a single mage managing all the gates, same as there’d been at Lanport.  There weren’t a lot of travelers using them.

Duncan watched as the mage channeled mana into a gate arch.  He could almost feel what was happening with the space magic, but he had no formal education in the field, just the Affinity and practical experience with Blink and Fold Space.  The gate felt closer to the latter than the former, but he only had his intuition to work with.

Once the group had passed through the gate, the mage stopped channeling mana into the arch and a moment later, the gate disappeared soundlessly.  The mage approached Duncan and said, “What can I do for you?”

Duncan produced his white medallion.  “I’m just waiting for my traveling companion to arrive.  It’s a fascinating process, opening a gate.  Is it a specific Technique?”

“It is, and it’s a huge mana cost until you rank the Technique up high, which takes forever.  It’s costly to open the gate in the first place, and each person that passes through adds to the cost depending on their Space Affinity.” He gestured at Duncan’s medallion, “You’re easy to transport – you flow with the magic.  Someone with a black medallion is essentially a deadweight that I have to carry through with my mind.  Silver medallions are somewhere in between.”

“Ah, so it’s cheaper per person to send a group through because of the cost to open the gate, but you can only handle so many people because of the mana cost per person.  And you need to be able to estimate how much each person will cost you, hence the medallions…” said Duncan.

“That’s it, exactly,” the mage agreed.

When Josef arrived, he brought a surprise for Duncan.  “Here, this is the surcoat of a Knight Errant of the Church.  Wear it over your armor on the way home – it will look more natural for me to be traveling with a Knight Errant than some random adventurer.”

“What’s a Knight Errant?” Duncan asked.

“Someone who does the gods’ work without having a formal place in the hierarchy of the Church.  If you decide to stay on as a Knight Errant after our trip back to Lanport, you’ll be given another medallion to bind which will identify you as one of our agents.  You’ll be obliged to undertake tasks for the Church every once in a while – helping clear out undead near wherever you happen to be, for example - but you gain the benefit being able to access dungeons we reserve for ourselves, and the backing of the Church should you run into undead or horrors from another world that you can’t handle on your own,” Josef explained.

“Interesting,” Duncan mused.  “I’ll certainly wear it for now and will talk to an advisor and get back to you about making a more permanent arrangement.”  Josef nodded amiably.

The trip back to Lanport was entirely uneventful.  No one batted an eye at them in Mero or Harrish.  I guess I do fit right in with the level of the Church Warriors I’ve seen.

Once back in Lanport, Duncan returned the surcoat to Josef and said, “I’ll be in touch soon.”  They parted ways, and Duncan flew back to the Academy.  I just travelled to the Villanovan Confederation, got my ass kicked in a dungeon, and returned here, all in the same day.  It’s not even dark yet.  It was too early to catch Pelleas for a chat, and Duncan wanted some time to think over the events of the day, anyway, so he flew along the coast and settled down to meditate on a cliff ledge overlooking the water.

I always knew that one’s level was a poor way to judge the threat someone presented.  Knowing that evolved skills exist just reinforces that.  And now I know that rank ten isn’t the end of the path for a Technique, and apparently Outstanding isn’t the end of the path for Affinities.  That’s exciting.  And my cultivation level seems to provide growth possibilities through additional Technique slots.  At least the soulgem can show me my own progress.

I also have to wonder about my build.  It’s great having the Technique options I have, and they all push my Body stats up.  I probably have more health, strength, endurance, agility, and dexterity than anyone I know.  I move really well, and not just for a big guy.  But I do understand what Remelial meant.  I keep adding Techniques without mastering old ones, and I don’t have any strength in depth. Absolutely nothing that compares in power to his rank ten Beam of True Fire.  Nothing that even comes close.  And he has five evolved Techniques…

Well, I am taking the path of diversity when it comes to gaining power.  I need to lean into my versatility and, at least for now, my self-sufficiency.  I can see the need for a group in high level dungeons.  If something can regenerate as fast as I can hurt it, I can only run.  If something can leech my mana faster than I can leech theirs, I had best run, too.  But if I follow Remelial’s advice and rank up my Techniques in dungeons under level one hundred, I should be able to do so because the Techniques themselves are low rank.  I might be high level, but a low rank Technique used against a level 90 equivalent monster should still rank up quickly.  I need to ask Pelleas about that, I guess, but I should also experiment with it.

Do I need to worry about keeping my head down and not drawing challenges from people with evolved Techniques?  If the empire is a low-mana backwater, it doesn’t seem likely that there are many or that those who do exist would have heard of me.  Most of Lanport doesn’t even know who I am, and the only interesting things I’ve done have been here.  Once I’m done the school year here, I will go explore elsewhere in the empire, or maybe a neighboring kingdom, and I’ll present a lower level to public scrutiny at that point.

Feeling better about his build, Duncan returned to the Academy in time for dinner.  He didn’t need to eat, but he wanted to check in with his roommates and also see if the headmaster had responded to his request to live in the city for the rest of the term.

He found his roommates in their usual spot and joined them.  “Duncan!  You’re back already?  Or you didn’t go?” exclaimed David.

“It was a really short trip,” Duncan said. “Nothing happened at all, really.  I can’t say anything about the people I went with, but there’s nothing interesting there anyway.”

“Uh huh,” said Amelia.  “Well, the headmaster wants to see us all in his office whenever we can find you, so we should go there after dinner.”

It turned out the headmaster was still available when they dropped by the administration building, so after a short delay, they were ushered into his office.  The headmaster was there with another man, a Level 87 Mage.

“I understand you’re concerned about retaliation for a slight to young Lord Chevalier,” said the headmaster. “Well, you can’t go sleep in a manor house in the city, else half the student body would be demanding the same thing.  The Academy has wards to keep out intruders, and stronger ones on the student residences.  However, Wardmaster Quinn here will ward your room so that only the four of you may enter at all.  Any of you entertaining guests will have to do so somewhere else.  Any objections?  No? Good.  See yourselves out.  Wardmaster Quinn will accompany you to your room now to set the ward.”

He ushered the group out, and the wardmaster along with them.  Fortunately, it only took the wardmaster a few minutes to create the ward, keying it to their auras.  “All done,” he said.  “Anyone but you will be physically prevented from entering this room until I remove the ward at the end of the term.”  The wardmaster accepted their thanks and departed.

“I’m going to be late for my lesson with Master Decidia if I don’t leave now,” said Amelia as she left.  David and Cassandra also had things to do, and Duncan was left at loose ends.  Well, I guess I’ve got five hours or so before I can see Pelleas; I may as well visit the Sawiskin dungeon.

Six hours later, Duncan piled a bunch of spears and tridents on the table in front of Pelleas, selling the bunch for a gold.  The rest of his loot from the Hidden Oasis and Sawiskin dungeons got him another eight gold.  Rough day.  At least I got to focus on my lowest rank skills in the Sawiskin dungeon.

“So,” said Duncan, “while the privacy ward is up, what can you tell me about evolved Techniques?”

Pelleas raised an eyebrow.  “Met someone strong, did you?  And managed to charm them into talking?  I won’t ask who it was.  Well, once you’ve raised all your Techniques of a specific affinity to rank ten, one or more of them may evolve into a stronger Technique spontaneously, usually triggered by a high-stress event.  The new Techniques are ones we’ve never seen Technique stones for, so we assume they’re only available through evolving existing Techniques.”

“Why didn’t you mention them before?” Duncan asked.

“You were already rushing your advancement.  I don’t know anyone under a century old who’s evolved a Technique.  You need to truly master your existing Techniques before you can hope to evolve them,” Pelleas replied. “Overreaching is almost a certainty with you.”

Ouch.  “Alright, that may be true.  I can understand where that idea could have merit,” Duncan said.  “I was also told I have too many Techniques and not enough focus.  Thoughts on that?”

Pelleas shrugged.  “There are many paths to power.  Most of us don’t have access to additional Technique slots.  I’m quite sure anyone else in your position, with plenty of outstanding affinities and extra Technique slots would do the same thing you did.  Had I been around when you found your additional slots were available, I would probably have counselled patience and working on your existing Techniques.  However, you have grown at a remarkable pace.  You’ve been adventuring for not much more than a year, and already you have some rank eight Techniques.  You are not spread too thin – you are just going to struggle to raise some of the Techniques that you can’t use in typical fights, like Tranquil Mind, Spiritual Shield, and Understand Languages. And Extract Resources and Regenerate Other on the active side.”

“That said, you do lack the concentrated skills one normally sees at your level.  By the time a normal adventurer reaches one ten, they’ve gotten several of their Techniques to rank ten.  Of course, it’s usually taken them twenty years to reach that point.  Nevertheless, you don’t hit as hard as people of your level, and your defensive Techniques are weaker than one would expect, too.  Your healing and mobility are an unfathomable advantage for you, though.  Without those, you would be dead a hundred times over as a solo delver.  Without those, you’d be a solid member of a team progressing a lot more slowly, I expect.”

“But you have those Techniques, and they have allowed you to advance at a vastly accelerated rate, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.  All I can do is reiterate that you should raise your skills as well as your Techniques and take your time.  The undead have made their first move.  It was moderately successful, but nowhere has it been completely successful.  All over the world, people are fighting back.  Great powers don’t think in terms of years or decades, they think in terms of centuries or millenia.  This was no more than an opening gambit.”

“If, as I suspect, the gods have chosen you, with your unusual affinities, to oppose the machinations of the invaders, they have done so with a long timeframe in mind.  There is no reason to kill yourself rushing your advancement.”

Duncan nodded.  “That sounds fair.  So, then, I have another question:  Can I advance my lower-ranked Techniques in dungeons that are below my level, if I can visit a wide variety of dungeons and face new threats?  Or do I need to fight in dungeons at or above my level to progress?  Have I leveled myself into a corner?”

“You can absolutely advance your Techniques in dungeons under your level!” exclaimed Pelleas.  “Dungeons are rated for groups of four.  Four typical level ninety adventurers would be challenged by the Sawiskin dungeon.  They’d typically have rank eight or nine Techniques at that level.  Using your rank three and four, or even rank five or six Techniques against monsters in a dungeon rated at level sixty would see you progress at a normal or slightly faster than normal rate.  Using them in a level ninety dungeon will see them advance at a very fast rate.  You’ve just been utterly spoiled in terms of rate of advancement because you’ve been able to solo delve well above your level your entire delving career.”

“That’s a relief,” said Duncan.  “I tried a level one ten dungeon, and it was too tough for me.  I could only kill one of the monster types I found.  I couldn’t even hurt some of the others with my Techniques at their current rank.”

Pelleas nodded.  “Dungeons over a hundred tend to have more monsters with unusual and dangerous powers.  The Adventurers Guild doesn’t tell people what level those dungeons are actually suited for until the people are over a hundred and in a solid team.  The protectors have to withstand tremendous damage, and the strikers have to dish out tremendous damage to overcome the monster armor and regeneration.  Healers really need to be on their toes, too.  Those dungeons require excellent teamwork from folks with rank ten Techniques to overcome.  Fortunately, there are almost no dungeons ranked that high in the Empire – we’re fortunate here in that the mana density is naturally low, and the lower ranked dungeons we do have are sufficient to keep it that way.”

The elf snorted.  “Of course, I expect you’ll be soloing them as soon as you get enough of your Techniques to rank ten to mimic a whole team.”

Yes, yes I will.  “Oh, one more thing.  Archdeacon Josef has offered me the position of Knight Errant with the Church.  It feels like it would be worthwhile, but I wanted to check with you before accepting or refusing.”

“The Church and the Sky Watchers are not at odds with one another.  They seek to protect the world from external threats and to do the bidding of the gods.  We seek to protect the mortal races from the actions of the great powers.  The vast majority of the time, those two goals do not conflict.  You are loosely affiliated with the Sky Watchers.  I see no problem in you also being loosely affiliated with the Church,” Pelleas said.

Chapter 27

The following morning, at breakfast, a staff member delivered a message to Duncan.  It was from Elliot Lainer, who handled Duncan’s money and legal matters, and asked for Duncan to drop by at his convenience.

With almost two hours before his monster identification class, Duncan decided to fly into Lanport immediately.  He arrived at Elliot’s office and was ushered in to see him in short order.  “Duncan!” said Elliot. “Thanks for coming.  I hadn’t expected you so soon.”

“I have a little time before my class starts,” Duncan replied, “so I thought I’d run my errands in the city.”

Elliot nodded.  “I’ll try to make this brief.  Have you ever considered why adventurers such as yourself pulling vast amounts of gold and treasure out of dungeons doesn’t destabilize the economy and make gold worthless?”

Huh.  “No, I hadn’t, until now,” Duncan said.

“Well, the answer is simple: Dragons,” said Elliot.

Wait, what? “Not the answer I was expecting.”

“Dragons eat treasure – it’s one of the ways they grow.  The really big dragons like Gwynneddhothstein demand tribute from nations.  If a ruler wants to avoid having their cities and castles destroyed, they pay a large percentage of their wealth to the dragon, which then takes it away and eats it, and spends a couple hundred years absorbing it.”

“Fortunately, dragons are territorial, and so you generally only get extorted by one dragon, and it only happens once every few centuries.  But when they do demand tribute, rulers typically impose a dragon tax on their populace.  Banks and organizations like the Adventurers Guild that have large stores of wealth essentially have to give up half their gold.  They, of course, pass that cost along to the people who have deposited money with them. And with Gwynneddhothstein being active again, we can expect a demand for tribute soon.”

“Ah, so you’re telling me I’m losing half my gold I’ve invested,” said Duncan.

“Not quite.  When the undead invasion hit, a lot of people in a lot of cities died.  That left a lot of properties empty and some without owners.  Most property is owned by the landowner and rented to the tenants, and the nobles who actually own the land were largely unaffected by the undead except in those very few places where the undead completely overran cities (and even then, most of the nobles were able to escape).”

“But what I’m getting at is that property values dropped, and some properties were unexpectedly available for purchase.  We expected values to go back up as the population recovered, and so property became a good long term investment opportunity.  A dragon tax wasn’t on anyone’s mind.  In any case, most of the money I’m handling for you was used to buy property in the aftermath of the undead incursion.  You own four properties scattered across the empire.”

“The taxes on your buildings will likely increase, but that’s still a lower cost than losing half your gold.  That said, you will likely lose half of the gold you have that’s not invested long term in property, which is perhaps twenty percent of what you entrusted to us.”

Duncan nodded, “So I’m much better off than I would have been if I’d left my money on account with the Adventurers Guild, and better off than if you hadn’t invested my money buying property.”

“Yes, but I won’t be able to invest more funds in property going forward for a couple of years as people scramble to buy property, so their gold doesn’t get confiscated by the coming dragon tax.  Prices will increase dramatically because anyone who sells knows they’ll lose half the gold they get for selling it.”

Duncan shrugged. “Ok, well, I will keep a larger proportion of the gold I get in my storage item until the dragon tax has been levied, or maybe buy more gear, but I’ll keep providing you with some.”

“Thank you,” said Elliot. “Be aware that the Adventurers Guild will likely increase the cost of items and reduce the amount they offer for what you sell them as they’ll be losing a huge amount of gold to the dragon.”

“So be it.  It sounds like the dragon will make life more expensive for everyone,” Duncan sighed.  “The dragon taxes the rich, the rich tax the poor.  There’s nothing I can do about a dragon, so I’ll just carry on as before.  Thanks for looking after my interests, Elliot.”

Duncan’s next stop was to see Josef and let him know he’d accept the role of Knight Errant.  He didn’t follow a god in particular (or actually even know the names of many of them, he noted with a twinge of guilt), but the Church’s stated goals matched his own.  And if the gods did choose me to face outworld invaders, it makes sense to work with their followers.

And then it was back to school.  He needed to advance his skills as much as his Techniques, and he’d not been working as hard as he could have been on things like his armor skills – fighting in heavy plate was different enough from fighting in light leather armor that he needed to practice both.  His dragonskin armor was probably considered light – it was just so durable that it was better protection than his plate.  He’d been practicing swords without armor at all, and it struck him that, while that was traditional, and all well and good, he’d get more out of his training if he were also fighting in armor.  So, he would swap between heavy plate, medium chain, and light leather armors regularly, not entirely forgoing practicing without armor, but evening things up.

And so he began a more intensive phase of training.  He practiced swimming in a lake a short flight from the Academy and took riding lessons in the morning slot he had available in his schedule.  He took lessons in axe, mace, and spear in the evenings when he wasn’t working with Master Guilford.  And he delved dungeons with an intense focus on ranking up his lower-ranked Techniques.  The additional rank in Flying Sword meant that the Hidden Forest dungeon was only an hour away, and several other dungeons in the forty to seventy range became viable even without using the teleportation gates.

He picked up his new crown and monocle from the Adventurers Guild and tested them, but there were no invisible monsters in the dungeons he frequented, so he wasn’t sure how they’d work.  He could, at least, wear the monocle under his helm, though it gave him a little headache when he did so.

Pierre Chevrolet didn’t return to the Monster Identification class, and Duncan soon forgot all about him.  His roommates noticed the increased intensity in his training, too.  “You worked hard before,” said Amelia, “but lately you’ve taken it to a new level.  What happened?”

“I discovered I’m a lot lower on the power ladder than I had thought,” Duncan replied, honestly.  “I met someone who could have killed me with a flick of his finger.  And I entered a dungeon where I felt helpless against almost everything I met.”

“That’s… wow.  I don’t know what to say to that,” she replied.  “I’ve seen you fight and win against some terrifying things in the sewer dungeon and those undead.  We have some elite centurions back home, and I think you could beat any of them.  To hear you say you felt helpless…”

Duncan shrugged.  “It’s not a good feeling, and not one I’m used to.  I honestly thought I was among the very best, fighting above my level, outdoing more experienced people against the undead.  And then I met someone who’s actually strong.”  He chuckled.  “At least he showed me where I’m lacking and advised me on how to fix it.”

Interlude 6

Noxxi Frellach fumed.  He was the lich tasked with taking Lanport and the area around it.  Things had gone wrong almost from the beginning.  First, some adventurer invaded the catacombs on the day of the uprising and killed several of his elites.  Undead Animators and Bone Knights were not so common that he could afford to waste any.

Over the next few days, he lost far more of his elites than had been anticipated in a backwater like Lanport.  Then word came from the Great Lord Ezekiel himself: a pawn of the gods had been revealed, a mere child in an orphanage.  The Great Lord demanded her capture or death before she could threaten their plans.

His first attempt had been foiled, and so he had gone himself.  An adventurer, the same one who’d invaded his catacombs, had the audacity to attack him, and used some foul trick to turn Noxxi’s own Necrotic Beam against him.  For the first time since he’d achieved eternal unlife, he’d been defeated, reduced to mist, and forced to flee to his phylactery.

It took him ten days to reconstitute his body, and then he had to rebuild his forces.  The Great Lord was not happy, but he supplied four corpse golems to assist.  Noxxi chose to attack at the midsummer ball, at the gathering of Lanport’s elites.  With his own dark magic and the overpowering physical force of his corpse golems, he would reap a bloody harvest among the city’s finest and raise their dead bodies as new undead elites.  That adventurer would be there and would fall as well.  And then they’d go and take the orphan girl.

And yet, when the day came, the resistance from the humans was unreasonably strong.  That same adventurer showed up to annoy Noxxi but got smashed by a corpse golem.  And then things went wrong.  Some damned priest protected many of the vulnerable with a holy shield that absorbed his necrotic beams without difficulty.  And some Church Warrior was able to go one on one against a corpse golem, leaving only the other corpse golem to face a crowd of high-level humans.  And to make matters worse, the annoying adventurer survived and rejoined the fight. Even his forces outside the hall, set to wipe out anyone who escaped, were utterly destroyed.

The Great Lord was furious at Noxxi’s failure.  He sent two additional liches and two dozen additional undead elites for a last-ditch attempt to take the girl before she was moved to safety.  The girl was being moved to join up with the Church, so they made a final desperate attempt to overwhelm her defenders.  And they lost again.

Noxxi’s only saving grace was that the other two liches were also defeated, and so was the team in Mero and the bone dragon in Tavoli.  The Great Lord had to understand the strength of the opposition after all that.

But the Great Lord was not patient, nor understanding, nor forgiving.  Lanport was relatively unimportant in the greater scheme of things, but it was key to holding the Southern part of the Arnite Empire.  Noxxi’s new orders were simple.  Take Lanport, kill all the mortals, convert most of them to undead and sweep across the rest of the Southern part of the empire.  And do so with the resources he had left to him.  He understood that this was his last chance to succeed as a commander.  Failure would not be tolerated again.

Chapter 28

Duncan’s increased training regimen had the unexpected side effect of relaxing him somewhat.  He’d developed something of an elitist attitude since arriving at the Academy, looking down on people weaker than him because they were weaker than him.  Realizing that Remelial and those like him could demolish Duncan as easily as they could his classmates erased some of the differences he had perceived.  Yes, he was stronger than his classmates and instructors, but they were all just walking their own paths, and real strength was some distance ahead, still.

It would take some time for his intensive training to pay off, but he had time.  He began to give some thought to staying at the Academy for longer than just one year, to bring his axe, mace, and spear skills up to par with his sword skills, and to get his armor skills to the point where he was getting the most out of his armor.  He continued to visit the disabled veterans club to regenerate missing limbs, and in talking with the veterans, learned a little about other cultures and languages in the region around the Empire.  And he checked in with Mrs. Shadburn regularly, as well, to make sure the orphanage had everything it needed.

About three weeks into his new training regimen, he received a note asking him to see Archdeacon Josef about a task.  When he arrived at the temple, he found the man looking harried.  “Duncan, you have a healing affinity, as I recall.  Are you able to cure diseases at all?” he asked.

Upon hearing that Duncan had the Remove Affliction Technique, Josef was quite pleased.  “Excellent.  A sickness is sweeping through the poorer sections of the city.  It causes ever-worsening abdominal pain and uncontrollable loose bowels, which, as you can imagine, makes it spread quickly.  Divination tells us the cause is outside the city, and it’s a deliberate attack, but we’re still tracking down the cause.  I’m calling upon you as a Knight Errant to heal as many of the sick in the Riverside district as you can.  Your Technique is a good choice for this – it can cure almost anything, and the mana cost is based on how dangerous the affliction is compared to the rank of your Technique.  For something the same rank as the Technique, it costs five hundred mana to cure.  For each rank your Technique is above the threat of the affliction, the cost is halved.  Of course, for each rank your Technique is below the threat of the affliction, the cost is doubled.  Still, I’m pretty confident the mana cost to you per heal will be quite low.”

And so Duncan found himself in a repurposed warehouse in Riverside wearing his surcoat indicating his Church affiliation, healing sick people alongside healers from the healing academy and other organizations.  It turned out it cost a hundred and twenty-five mana to remove the sickness from someone, which meant he could do one person a minute and have his natural mana regeneration keep up with the expenditure.  Given he had to Assess his patients before and after every heal to ensure he’d gotten it, one patient per minute was a bit optimistic, and so he never ran low on mana despite days of constant healing.  There were tens of thousands of sick people to treat, and many of those who were cured were reinfected when they returned to their homes.

He was missing classes, but his instructors were understanding; Master deBouteville’s wife was also healing the sick in the city.

The cause of the sickness was identified – hundreds of zombie corpses had been dumped into the river that provided most of Lanport’s drinking water upstream of the city.  The corpses were removed, which would stop new cases from continually cropping up, but the condition was spread by the waste of the infected.  Water mages were assigned to clean the streets and homes all across the city.

During this time, reports of undead attacks in the city increased.  Entire families disappeared, or the inhabitants of a dozen or more residences at a time.  According to the few witnesses the guard had spoken with, the undead would rush through an area, killing everyone they encountered and taking the corpses, then disappear back to wherever they’d come from.

As the cases of the disease became more sporadic, Duncan was one of the healers assigned to walk through the neighborhood healing people in their homes.  Riverside was a densely populated section of the city, with the houses so close together one could often barely walk between them.  For every street wide enough for a cart, there were a dozen narrow enough for him to touch the walls on both sides at once.

On the second evening of his walks through Riverside, he was walking down a narrow street when his Earring of Impending Doom pinched his ear, hard.  He Blinked twenty meters straight up and summoned a sword to fly on.  Beneath him, he saw a cloaked figure in the street where he’d been, and two more on the roofs adjacent with crossbows.

The two on the roof identified as a Level 102 Warrior and a Level 104 Warrior.  Wait, those are not street thugs looking to mug a random passerby.  Summoning his dragontooth sword and rose quartz shield, he Blinked down to one of the crossbowmen, as all three assailants looked around in vain for him.

Duncan had no qualms about hitting the man from behind – there were three attackers, after all, and they were over level one hundred.  They were a potentially lethal threat.  His Blade Echo attack struck the crossbowman in the side of the neck, and blood spurted.  Duncan’s Assessment Technique showed the man as ‘wounded.’  Tough fellow, taking a cut like that to the neck.  He followed up with a Mind Spike and two more cuts to the neck, severing the head.

A crossbow bolt punched into his thigh and a chill spread from the wound.  Poison!  Duncan Blinked up into the air again, used Remove Affliction (2000 mana! Strong poison!) and Blinked back down to the second crossbowman who had already reloaded his crossbow.  Duncan appeared behind him and struck him in the neck as he’d done with the other crossbowman seconds earlier.  Another Mind Spike and two more Blade Echo attacks, and the attacker died.

Duncan’s Earring of Impending Doom pinched him again, and he Blinked up and to the side.  The initial assailant from the alley stood on the roof next to the body of the crossbowman, a dagger in each hand. He was a Level 110 Rogue.  Duncan used a Mind Spike to stun him, but the attack was resisted.  So Duncan followed up with a Blade Echo attack through a fold in space.  Only to find that his sword wouldn’t reach the attacker – it struck some sort of hard surface just before it would have hit the rogue.  Blade Ward, maybe?  He tried to open another fold in space closer to the target, but the rogue suddenly vanished.

Duncan equipped his Monocle of Revealing and spotted the rogue in the shadow of a nearby chimney.  Shadow affinity teleport?  Duncan Blinked behind the rogue again and tried another Blade Echo attack.  Once more, his sword wouldn’t reach the target – the rogue stumbled forward a bit as Duncan attacked, but his blade didn’t reach the target.

The rogue, realizing he’d been seen, spun and attacked Duncan with his daggers.  He was good; Duncan could block one dagger with his shield, but the rogue had the other available.  Still, Duncan could block with folds in space as well as with his shield, and he’d been practicing melee combat intensely against some insanely good instructors.  It helped that despite the rogue’s evident agility, Duncan was faster and more agile thanks to his outstanding Body Affinity.  The rogue’s glass daggers never touched Duncan.

A flash of insight struck Duncan – he’s using glass daggers, maybe he has an enchantment against the metal in my sword - and he switched out his dragontooth sword for an Amethyst sword and attacked again.  The rogue parried with a dagger and spat a stream of liquid into Duncan’s face, blinding him momentarily.  Duncan Blinked up but took a dagger wound to the side as he did.  He removed the blindness with Remove Affliction, then had to cast it a second time to take care of the poison from the dagger wound.

Below him, the rogue sank back into the shadows of the chimney, still clearly visible to Duncan’s eye due to the Monocle.  Duncan opened a fold in space and struck again with the amethyst sword, the Blade Echoes multiplying the damage dealt.  Before he could strike again, the rogue teleported.  Duncan checked all the nearby shadows and found the rogue drinking a potion in a shadow next to the chimney of a nearby building.

Duncan opened another fold in space and stabbed the rogue in the back of the neck with his amethyst sword, then withdrew the blade and slammed it back in.  The rogue fell to the ground and Duncan Blinked down to him and stabbed him several more times to make sure he was dead.

The battle won, Duncan regenerated his wounds, then stored the corpses and their gear in his storage space and continued his rounds.  The monocle had still given him a little bit of a headache when he had it equipped under his helmet, but it had worked.  When he returned to the operations center – an empty warehouse on the edge of the river – he reported the attack to the Archdeacon and the Duke’s representative.

The Duke’s man chuckled and said, “They attacked a knight errant?  Did they forget to identify you first?”

Duncan produced the bodies. “This one was level a hundred and ten, this one level one oh three, and this one level one oh two.  They seemed a little strong for common street thugs.”

The Ducal representative whistled.  “No, definitely not common thugs.  Can I take the bodies for a bit, see if I can get them identified?  I’ll return their equipment to you afterwards as the spoils of battle, of course.”

Duncan nodded.  “I’d appreciate that.”  Then he added, “The one with the glass daggers – I couldn’t hit him with my normal sword.  I had to use a gemstone sword to hit him.  And he was immune to my stun.  He could teleport to the shadows and spat a liquid that blinded me.  His daggers poisoned me.  The other two didn’t show any unique abilities but their crossbow bolts are poisoned.”

It was two days before he heard anything further.  Two days of wandering the slums of the Riverside district healing anyone he encountered who was sick, and two days without further incident.  He returned to the warehouse where the healing operation was headquartered and was told that he could go back to his normal life, and that the epidemic was under control at last.

The Duke’s representative was also there, and he returned the gear of the assailants Duncan had slain. “The chap with the two daggers, we think, was known as the Shadow of Harrish.  If it’s him, he is, or was, quite an expensive assassin.  You may have an enemy with deep pockets.”

Duncan shrugged. “Thank you for the warning.  I’ll be careful.”  Most of the time I’m pretty hard to ambush.  I fly everywhere, and I spend much of my time on campus at the Academy of Steel, which is warded against outsiders, though I’m not sure how good their warding formation is.  Still, if there’s an assassin out there with an evolved Technique or two, I could be in trouble.  I can’t be sure it was the Chevrolet clan that sent him after me, either, though I can’t think of anyone else I’ve upset enough to hire an assassin.  Really, I didn’t think I’d upset them that much – they must really like that idiot Pierre.  Maybe they’ll cut their losses now…

He took the gear from the assassin and his cronies to Pelleas for identification and sale.  “Venomous glass shadowdaggers.  Poison and Shadow Affinity.  Extra damage based on Shadow Affinity, ongoing  poison damage based on Poison Affinity. Rare.  The guild can offer ten gold for each.  Shadowy leather armor.  Shadow Affinity.  Allows the wearer to hide in shadows, effect scales with Shadow Affinity.  Rare.  The guild can offer ten gold.  Skullcap of the Stoic Watcher.  Shadow Affinity.  Hides the mind from mental attacks.  Effectiveness scales with Affinity. Very rare. The guild can offer twenty gold.”  The list went on – the ambushers had had decent gear.  Duncan kept the shadowy leather armor as a backup set.  His Shadow Affinity was only moderate, but that was enough for him to hide from creatures without a perception Technique.

The sickness crisis taken care of, Duncan returned to his studies and intensified training regimen.  He would shore up his weaker Techniques and push his stronger Techniques towards rank ten. He would advance his skills as best he could, too.  Hard work over time became his mantra.

Chapter 29

Duncan was vaguely aware of the raids the undead were conducting in Lanport, but that wasn’t something an extra person flying around could help with.  The Adventurers Guild had people with divination Techniques, so it seemed likely that the Duke would, too, or would make use of the guild’s people.  Likewise, the Church had Divine Affinity prognosticators, though those might have been focused on larger concerns than Lanport raids.  Regardless, there was nothing he could do to affect the situation, so he focused on his schoolwork and his training.

Masters deBouteville and Guilford approved of his new intensity and adjusted their training to match, working with him on training while in various types of armor and against varying weapon combinations.  It cost him extra gold, but opponents skilled with other weapons were brought in on a rotating basis to spar with him while his masters critiqued his form and offered specific pointers.  He advanced to fighting multiple opponents, and multiple opponents with a variety of weapons.  Fighting whilst flying on a Flying Sword became more of a focus when training with Master deBouteville, too.  Master Guilford was more of a traditionalist, and insisted they remain grounded during his training.

Amelia, Cassandra, David, and Paul had been making great gains of their own.  They delved the Academy training dungeon without him and discovered they could handle it with relative ease with the addition of their new Techniques, and having Duncan not present helped speed up their advancement.  David had reached level thirty-nine, Amelia thirty-eight, Cassandra thirty-seven, and Paul thirty-four.  The difference was due to the number of new Techniques each had added.  David was up to sixteen Techniques already, nine of them active, while Amelia and Cassandra had fourteen and thirteen, respectively.  They were a little leerier of filling up their Technique slots without permission from their families.  David knew he wasn’t getting any extra Techniques from his family, so he was happy to take the build Pelleas provided.

Duncan’s roommates were now the highest-level first year students at the Academy, not counting Duncan himself. They were higher level than most of the third-years, in fact. All of them could maintain two concurrent active Techniques, which helped David and Cassandra defensively, since they could keep their armor Techniques active whilst attacking, and helped Amelia be more versatile in her attacks.

If they’d had a faster mode of travel, perhaps they’d have moved to a dungeon rated for a higher level, but Lanport was in an area with a very low level of ambient mana, and the only dungeons in the region other than the Sawiskin one offshore were all rated under level thirty.  Still, it gave them the opportunity to rank up their new Techniques, just as Duncan was doing on his dungeon delves.

They had been asked to do some rest-day delves with the other Academy students and had agreed to do so.  Duncan got a really good chuckle as they talked about it at breakfast after the first delve with other students.  David was ranting about all the things the other students were doing wrong. “And Philippe is standing in the back of the room at the door screaming ‘Acid Arrow! Acid Arrow!’ as he shoots at the rats engaging the melee fighters.  Magda was just as bad, shouting ‘Flame Strike!’ every five seconds.”

Amelia nodded.  “That shouting out your Technique name is so stupid.  Every time Julio shouted ‘Hectorim’s DOOMhammer’ I wanted to accidentally stab him.”

“Eight people in a group is way too many for that dungeon,” Cassandra said.  “There’s no room to move; half the time I can’t see any targets because of the crowd of kids trying to get their hits in.  We’re supposed to be learning tactics and strategy here but put a group into the dungeon and that goes completely out the window.  I can’t believe they normally send in groups of ten.”

“Is that why you normally delve alone, Duncan?” asked David.  “Because everyone else is so damned stupid?”

Duncan took a moment, then said, “Actually, every group I’ve delved with has been quite good.  Back home, when I was just a novice, the guild put novice delvers in groups with a couple of intermediate delvers and an experienced leader to do what was essentially a training dungeon.  When they figured out that dungeons gave me a lot of rare monsters, I grouped with very experienced delvers who could handle the challenge.”

“And when I first came to the empire, I delved a level fifteen dungeon with a group of three level fifteen adventurers who were pretty good.  They worked as a team, and no one did anything stupid.  I might have stayed with them longer, but we fought some high-level monsters in that dungeon, and they got freaked out a bit.  I don’t blame them – I had the gear, Techniques and Affinities to deal with higher risks, but they didn’t.”

“That’s when I started delving solo – I couldn’t imagine a group of people my level who could survive what dungeons threw at me.  And then I advanced faster than everyone our age because of all the soloing in higher level dungeons, and by the time adventurers reach level thirty, most of them have an established team.  It just became easier to solo, and honestly, I really like the challenge of being self-sufficient.  My Techniques and gear are all optimized for solo delving now.  I could fill multiple roles in a team – protector, melee, even healer – but I wouldn’t be as good at any of them as a specialized team member.”

He shrugged, “I was nervous about taking you guys into the training dungeon, because of the high-level rare monsters I get.  But I’d just picked up a couple of things that would help – the instant heal, for example – and I wanted to help you get stronger.  And, I suppose, I wanted the camaraderie again.  I missed that from my early days delving at home.”

“And you guys did well.  Good communication, good cautious approach.  No shouting Technique names,” he grinned.  “And you’ve progressed really well in a short time.  You got some free levels from the new Techniques, but you’ve definitely gotten better, too.”

A month after the zombie-induced sickness in Lanport, Duncan received another summons from Josef.  When he arrived, the priest said, “We think we know where at least one lich is based.  It has some powerful guardians, so we’re taking a strong team after it.  The Church requests that you take part.”

Duncan agreed on the spot.  The raid would take place in only a few hours, so he accompanied Josef to meet the rest of the team.  They were meeting in a lounge in the Temple basement, so it wasn’t a long walk.  They were the first to arrive, so they sat and chatted amiably about what they’d been doing since Duncan’s stint as a healer in Riverside.  He was surprised to hear the undead had been running rampant, popping up, massacring people in groups of up to a hundred, and taking the bodies away.  He’d known they’d done it a few times, but Josef explained that they’d repeated the attack once or twice a day every single day for a month.

“How were they able to get away every time?” asked Duncan.  “You’d think that someone would know where they went before now.”

Josef looked exasperated.  “They killed everyone who saw them.  And they had some sort of fog that prevented scrying and tracking.  We had to bring a specialist tracker in from outside the empire to finally track them.”

The rest of the team started to file in.  First was a Bulwark of the Church, the Level 112 Warrior Duncan had seen facing a corpse golem one versus one at the Academy ball.  Josef introduced him as Jason Donahue.  “Nice to see you again, lad,” said Jason.

“Likewise,” said Duncan.

Next in were two of the Duke’s elites.  A woman in a tight red dress that matched her red hair entered first, with a stocky grey-haired man in a simple brown robe following.  The woman had intense green eyes and a ragged scar from the corner of her left eye that disappeared into her hairline over her ear.  She was a Level 115 Mage.  The stocky man was a Level 114 Mage.  The highest-level people I’ve seen in Lanport other than Eric and Pelleas.

Following the pair of mages, Eric Dalgleish and Lady Gillian entered.  Eric was the headmaster at the Academy of Steel, and Duncan was surprised to see him here for this.  He presented as a Level 102 Warrior but was actually a Level 126 Warrior.  Lady Gillian was a Level 103 Healer whom Duncan had met during his admission interview at the Academy.

Last to enter was a Lipiti woman in leather armor with delicate features and mottled green and brown skin.  She was a Level 144 Rogue.  The first Lipiti Duncan had seen up close, she was twenty centimeters shorter than him, and probably half his weight.  Her mouth and nose protruded on a short snout, and she had no visible ears.  Woah.  I think she’s the highest-level person I’ve identified.

“We are all here,” said Josef, “so let us introduce ourselves and then get rid of this undead menace.  My name is Josef – I am the Archdeacon of the Church Militants here in Lanport.  Holy Affinity.  I specialize in barriers against necrotic energy and Holy-aspected attacks.”  He turned to Jason.

“Jason Donahue, Body and Earth Affinity.  Bulwark of the Church.  I’m the group’s Protector.” The big man nodded to the group.

Josef turned to Duncan, who said, “Duncan.  Blade, Space, and Healing Affinities.  Knight Errant of the Church.  I’m a generalist.  I teleport and use swords.”

The woman in the red dress was next.  “Lexie Montrose.  Air and Decay.  Ranged damage.”

“Alain Montrose.  Earth and Metal.  Ranged control and damage,” said the man in the brown robe.

Next was the headmaster.  “Eric Dalgleish.  Flame Devastator.  Melee damage.”  Flame Devastator?  That’s a fancy name for a class.

“Gillian Therasworn. Healing and Spirit.  I will do my best to keep you all alive,” said Lady Gillian.

“Viridis Green. Shadow and Scent.  I am your tracker.”  The Lipiti woman’s voice was a fluty soprano.  “The undead have added tunnels to the storm drains beneath the city.  Their hideout is under the Clifftop district.”  The Clifftop district was where the wealthiest people in Lanport lived – the rich merchants and the city homes of nearby noble families.

A Scent Affinity.  Never heard of that… I wonder if it’s a Lipiti thing.

Josef took over, “The Duke has squads blocking the entrances to the storm drains across the city.  The Church has two teams of militants ready to reinforce any position that may be overwhelmed.  We will enter the storm drains from the spillway in the cliffs and proceed to the newly dug tunnels.  We will fight our way into the liches’ lair and kill them.  Hopefully they will have their phylacteries in the lair as well, and we can destroy them utterly this time.”

They all switched to their fighting gear (everyone had advanced storage devices, of course – they were nowhere near as rare as lower level adventurers thought they were), left the temple and ran past the Duke’s Keep to the edge of the city, overlooking the bay.  There, they flew down the cliff and East a little to the spillway Josef wanted.  Duncan was surprised that everyone could fly.  Eric had huge fixed wings granted by an item and used his flames to create updrafts under them to maneuver.  He was surprisingly agile in the air.

The spillway was unguarded and blocked by a large metal grate.  Alain used an Earth-Affinity Technique to have the tunnel essentially spit out the gate.  He jammed the gate sideways into the cliff face to store it, leaving the spillway open in case they needed to retreat.

They proceeded into the storm drain, Duncan marveling at the size of it.  He was over two meters tall and didn’t feel any need to duck.  There was a thin layer of debris and mud on the floor of the drain, but the drain was angled down slightly towards the cliff, so the buildup wasn’t extreme.  Jason led the way, his shield glowing with enough light for everyone to see.  Viridis followed immediately behind, indicating where they should go as more drains merged into the outlet drain they’d entered through.  Duncan brought up the rear, as he could act as a protector if need be, in the event they were attacked from behind.

It was only a few minutes later that they came to the spot the undead had connected their tunnel network to the storm drains.  The undead tunnels were just as big as the storm drains (with Corpse golems and bone golems moving through them, they had to be), but were just bare earth.  “Shaped by Earth Magic,” said Alain.  “Quite stable.”  The undead tunnel led up from the storm drain at first, then angled sharply downward for a while.

“Undead ahead,” Viridis said, sniffing the air. “Lots and lots of undead.”  They moved forward, anxious to engage the monsters.  The tunnel opened into a massive cavern that must have been three hundred meters across.  There were thousands of undead standing around.  Most appeared to be zombies, but there were probably several hundred undead warriors and undead mages, and dozens of greater undead.

A staircase led down from their tunnel entrance to the floor of the cavern, and, with his Shadow Sight, Duncan could see two other staircases located across the cavern, one on the North side (at least, he thought it was North) and the other on the South side.  A large dais occupied the center of the cavern, and there was a bone throne of impressive dimensions in the center of it, facing their tunnel.  The throne was unoccupied.

“Reap the whirlwind,” Lexie whispered, and a massive tornado swept down the stairs in front of them and into the crowd of undead, flinging them around and, in some cases, tearing them apart.

“Sunder!” Alain commanded, and a large chunk of the ceiling fell onto the milling horde below.

The staircase leading down into the cavern was only three meters wide.  Jason planted his shield, and a barrier grew from it that extended all the way across the stairs.  “We can hold this position forever against these.”

“I will watch the rear,” said Viridis as she vanished into the shadows.

A healing aura spread from Gillian, encompassing the entire group.  The zombies and undead warriors raced up the stairs towards them, whilst the undead mages cast spells that splattered against Jason’s barrier or conjured clouds of decay that Lexie disrupted with strong winds.  The greater undead, though, retreated towards the staircase on Duncan’s left.

The two mages continued to destroy swathes of the undead below, Alain dropping huge chunks of the ceiling onto them and Lexie steering her tornado around the cavern.  Josef pointed at the staircase to their left, “Let’s cut off the greater undead from that exit.”  He started flying towards the other staircase, followed by the rest of the group, Jason retrieving his shield as they moved.

Duncan simply Blinked to the top of the new staircase.  The first of the undead, a Bone Knight, was about twenty meters below him.  He saw the staircase to their entrance simply dissolve as Alain removed it with an Earth-Affinity Technique, dropping the charging undead back into the cavern below.  As the remainder of the group arrived at Duncan’s position, Alain sundered the staircase below them, and the approaching greater undead fell back into the cavern as well.  Well, that’s annoying.  I haven’t done anything yet.  Alain continued around the cavern and dropped the last staircase leading to an exit.

The greater undead began climbing the wall, punching new handholds into the earth as needed.  It was slow going for them, as they often tore chunks of earth out of the wall instead of making handholds.  But they were progressing.  Josef began using his beam of holy light on the ones that got close, knocking them off.  Alain and Lexie continued to devastate the undead in the cavern.

Eric shrugged at Duncan and Jason.  “The ranged folks get all the fun in situations like this.  We should check the top of the stairs to make sure there’s nothing coming at us from there.”  Jason had already been facing the top of the stairs, so he just advanced a little, Eric and Duncan trailing behind.  “We’re just checking our rear,” Eric called to Josef, who nodded as he blasted another Bone Knight off the wall below.

“Don’t go too far,” cautioned Gillian.  “My aura won’t cover you if you’re more than twenty meters from me.”

The three melee warriors went up the last few steps and into a tunnel big enough for them to stand three abreast.  As they stepped into the tunnel, two bone golems stirred and moved to intercept them, each wielding four greatswords.  “I have the left,” said Jason, and an aura of Holy-Affinity energy sprang up around him.

Duncan Blinked behind the other golem and struck it with his Necrobane sword.  The monster spun to face him and Eric exploded into flames, then leapt forward to attack it with a blow from his flaming axe.  The waves of heat rolling off him were intense.  The blow sheared one of the golem’s legs off and left a deep gouge in the second leg.  Woah, that’s way stronger than he presented against me.  I’ve gained forty levels since then, and, yeah…

As the golem fell sideways into the wall, it flailed at Duncan with two of its swords.  He blocked one with his shield and the other with a bar of folded space, then cut at a wrist.  His blade and its echoes slammed into the joint but failed to sever the hand.  Eric had already turned away and was cutting the second golem down to size.

A line of cold spread along Duncan’s back as a spectral assassin attacked him from behind.  Duncan Blinked to the other side of the bone golem, facing deeper into the tunnel.  He could see four spectral assassins in addition to the two bone golems, both of which had been crippled by Eric.  Jason’s aura forced the spectral assassins into a more corporeal form, which made it easier for everyone to hit them.  But the addition of the spectral assassins to the fight made it easier for the bone golems to recover and begin attacking again, although they were limited in mobility.

Duncan continued to attack the bone golem in front of him, as it would do far more damage to him if one of its greatsword attacks hit him than the spectral assassins were doing with their dagger attacks.  His Blade Echo attacks continued to add up and he was methodical in his defense – blocking every attack the bone golem threw at him with either his shield or a bar of folded space.

Eric killed two of the spectral assassins with two swings of his flaming axe, the heat warping the air around him.  Jason methodically chipped away at the other bone golem, blocking every incoming attack with his tower shield.

There was a huge boom behind Duncan, and he turned to see the rest of the group entering the hall.  “Ceiling came down entirely,” said Josef.  “We’ll have to find another way out.”  He gestured and a beam of Holy energy struck a spectral assassin, wounding it badly.  Duncan turned his attention back to the bone golem before he got pasted by one of the greatswords.

With the entire group present it didn’t take long to defeat the undead, and they moved up the passage and around several corners, having to fight some bone knights, undead animators, and additional spectral assassins as they did.  Eventually, the winding hallway opened into a large room with actual stone walls.  The room appeared to be some sort of burial chamber, perhaps, with what might have been a chapel in an alcove on the far side.

There was a lich in the center of the room, along with a corpse golem and a pair of plague belchers.  A nasty-smelling green cloud filled the room, obscuring the corners.  Josef shouted, “Go go go!” so Duncan Blinked beside the corpse golem, keeping it between himself and the lich, and attacked the huge flesh monstrosity with his Necrobane sword.  The lich sent a beam of necrotic energy at the group in the doorway but failed to hurt anyone as Jason caught it on his shield.  Duncan saw Eric leap into the room just before a descending hand almost as big as he was blocked his view.

He caught the blow on his shield, grateful again for the enchantment that nullified the momentum of anything that struck it.  That feeling turned to horror as the hand closed around the shield and lifted.  With a curse, Duncan released the shield and the monster hurled it against a wall, where it shattered.  Noooo!  I loved that shield.  Could I have held on?  I might be as strong as that thing, but it was strong enough to lift me, meaning I’d have been dangling from the shield and may also have been thrown against the wall.  There’s no way to apply strength against something lifting you up.  Why didn’t I Blink away with it?

In the moment it took for those thoughts to flash through his mind, Eric arrived and slammed his flaming axe into the golem, doing devastating damage to several of the corpses that comprised its torso.  The lich screamed as a volley of Wind Blades from Lexie ravaged it.  The two plague belchers charged the doorway, and Jason met them with his shield and mace, protecting the casters behind him.

The cloud of decay that permeated the room was eating away at Duncan’s flesh, but Gillian’s healing aura was sufficient to counteract it so far.  Duncan attacked the corpse golem again, summoning his spirit sword from his personal storage space to replace his lost shield.  I need to be perfect with my folds in space to block attacks now.

Josef’s Holy Beam Technique seared the lich just as the lich used some sort of Ice Storm Technique on the casters in the doorway, obscuring everyone’s vision.  Duncan attacked the lich through a fold in space, trusting that the edges of the fold would also work as a barrier should the corpse golem swing at him again.  His spirit sword swept through the lich with a Blade Echo attack.

Eric cut clean through the corpse golem’s left leg with his next attack and the monster tumbled down towards the lich, which backed away, blasting another beam of necrotic energy through the ice storm into the casters at the doorway.  I hope Jason was able to block that one.  Duncan struck the downed golem with Blade Echo attacks from both of his swords, then Blinked over to one of the Plague Belchers to attack it from behind.

Jason stepped out of the ice storm, his shield protecting him from the plague belcher between him and Duncan.  The second plague belcher struck him in the back, making him stumble.  Alain followed Jason out of the storm and used a Metal-Affinity Technique to shackle that plague belcher’s arms and legs together with chains that contracted, forcing the belcher to bend over and touch its wrists to its ankles.

Behind him, Lexie flew out of the ice storm, hovering just under the ceiling.  She sent another flurry of Wind Blades at the lich, which surrounded itself with a necrotic shield to block the attacks.  She was followed by Josef and Gillian, Josef projecting a Holy-affinity barrier in front of them.

Viridis stepped out of Duncan’s shadow and attacked the plague belcher beside him, shadowy claws forming around her hands.  She tore a large gash in the creature’s side, entrails spilling out accompanied by a truly foul stench.  Grimacing, Duncan stabbed his Necrobane sword into the wound, his Blade Echoes wreaking havoc on the monster’s guts.

The lich shouted from behind its necrotic shield, “Great Lord, preserve me!  I have been loyal, Great Lord!” Duncan paused for a moment, but nothing new happened.  Viridis finished off the plague belcher in front of them, Eric killed the corpse golem with another two sweeps of his flaming axe, and Alain and Lexie took apart the final plague belcher.  With the belchers dead, the aura of decay permeating the room subsided.

A pulse of necrotic energy spread from the lich, then another.  “Get behind me!” Josef shouted.  Duncan Blinked behind the priest, who was increasing the size of his barrier to block the entire width of the room as he’d done in the Academy fight.  Everyone else stepped behind the barrier as well, Eric the last to arrive.  The pulses grew more frequent, and larger, until suddenly, the whole room went pitch black for a moment.

The darkness receded to reveal a two-meter-tall, five-meter-wide inky-black spider standing beside the lich’s protective bubble.  It gave off a palpable aura of menace, more threatening than anything Duncan had encountered, even the greater forest drake.  Its legs and body were covered in hairs that looked like spikes, and its fangs dripped a toxin that caused the floor to bubble and hiss where the drops landed.

Jason, brave Bulwark of the Church, called out a challenge and advanced behind his tower shield to meet the spider.  The spider pounced, the ground under its feet cracking from the force used to leap forward.  Its fangs slammed into Jason’s shield, failing to penetrate the enhanced metal, but knocking Jason back into the people he was protecting.  Duncan was able to twist with the impact but was still knocked back.  With their weaker Body Affinities, Josef and Alain lacked the strength to resist and the agility to dodge and were knocked down as Jason was thrown through them to hit the wall beside the entrance.  Eric and Viridis were fortunate enough to be positioned off to the other side of the entrance and didn’t get clipped at all, nor did Lexie, flying above the fight.  He stood up to multiple strikes from a corpse golem without giving any ground.  How strong is that spider to overcome his defensive Technique?

Duncan Blinked past the spider to the far wall, and attacked the lich through a fold in space, carefully placing the fold so that the attack could bypass the necrotic shield it was using.  To his delight, it worked, and he thrust his Necrobane sword through the fold with a Blade Echo attack.  He repeated the attack several times, moving a little between attacks, placing the fold to attack from a different angle each time.

After his fourth attack, the necrotic shield burst outwards.  The edge of it swept over Duncan and his flesh started to rot from the attack.  He Blinked up towards the domed ceiling of the chamber and regenerated.  That feels awful, the sensation of flesh sloughing off.  He assessed the lich, and it appeared to be critically injured, so he hit it with a Mind Spike, then thrust at its neck twice through a fold in space.

With a wail that caused some considerable spiritual pain, the lich dissolved into a greenish cloud and fled… into the little alcove in the wall opposite the entrance.  Well, that’s convenient.  After we kill the spider, the phylactery should be easy to destroy.  Duncan turned to see how the fight against the spider was going.  Oh shit.  Maybe I should have ignored the lich and focused on the spider.

The spider was missing its left front leg, but Jason’s shield was a crumpled mess.  The Bulwark of the Church looked bedraggled, his armor almost as bad off as his shield.  Gillian seemed to have kept everyone healed so far, but Duncan Assessed the spider as being barely wounded.

The mages had moved to the side, staying within Gillian’s healing aura, but trying to avoid any splash from the spider’s attacks on Jason.  Josef was protecting Gillian with a barrier of Holy-affinity energy, and Duncan saw him use a Holy-affinity beam that struck the spider, to very little effect.  Eric stood on Jason’s left, trying not to be in the line of fire from the mages, attacking the spider’s remaining front leg.  The flaming axe swept through with tremendous force, splintering the chitin but failing to sever the leg.

The spider seemed to pulse and flung hundreds of its hairs out in a halo around itself.  Josef’s barrier flickered but protected himself and Gillian, but everyone else on the ground was struck by at least a few of the hairs, which punched deep into the bodies of both mage and the Bulwark.  Eric’s fire shield seemed to eat enough of the hairs for his armor to resist the part that got through.

From Duncan’s position up near the ceiling he opened a fold in space and struck the spider with a Blade Echo attack which skittered off the armor, doing nothing at all.  Wind Blades from Lexie struck the spider, dissipating without getting through the chitin.  Stone spikes burst out of the floor and shattered on the underside of the spider.

Jason dropped his shield and another one appeared in his hand.  Storage items are really wonderful.  Life savers.  The spider seemed to take offense at the shiny new shield, though – it smashed its fangs into the new shield, gashing it deeply.  At the same time, it speared Eric with the leg he’d been trying to chop off.  The blow made it through his fire shield and punctured his armor, drawing a gush of blood from his belly.

Duncan switched to his spirit sword and tried another thrust through a fold in space.  The blade plunged deep into the spider’s abdomen along with four Blade Echoes.  It did some damage, which was more than his Necrobane sword had done, but it felt like it was going to take hundreds of attacks to kill it, and he didn’t think Gillian’s mana would last that long.

The spider took another chunk out of Jason’s new shield and spat venom through the hole its fangs made.  I’m glad he has a Technique that keeps its attention on him - just the area attacks and occasional stabs out at Eric seem overwhelming.  I don’t think anyone else could survive its focused attention.

Duncan tried a Mind Spike and found that it did next to nothing.  No stun, negligible damage.  Certainly not worth the mana.  So he continued to hover on his sword in the center of the vaulted ceiling, striking with his spirit sword through a fold in space.  It was the best he could offer.  It seemed like the mage couple were in the same boat – their best attacks barely harmed the spider.  Lexi switched between Wind Blade attacks and lobbing little balls of focused decay at the spider.  Alain tried trapping the spider’s feet, metal blades, metal spears, metal balls he produced from storage and spun around himself a dozen times before flinging them at the spider, all to almost no effect.

Viridis had used her shadow claws, but the spider seemed entirely immune to Shadow-Affinity attacks, so she switched to a pair of punch-daggers that sometimes got through the spider’s chitin, but never penetrated more than a couple of centimeters into its body.  The entire group was getting quite frustrated.  Jason’s mace and Eric’s flaming axe seemed to be the most effective attacks the group had, and even they weren’t much more effective than Duncan’s spirit sword.

The spider suddenly sped up, blurring in Duncan’s vision as it attacked multiple times in the space of a second.  Jason collapsed, blood gushing from where his leg had been snipped off his body.  Gotta intervene!  Duncan immediately Blinked in front of the spider and opened a fold in space big enough for the spider to attack through, with a small divergence so it was barely noticeable.  He stabbed his spirit sword through it at the spider and the spider retaliated.

The spider’s attack was brought up short when it couldn’t fit all the way through the fold in space.  Its fangs and the narrowest part of its thorax made it through, but no more.  Duncan had miscalculated the placement just a little and the spider’s fangs pierced his dragonskin armor with ease and penetrated a few centimeters into his body.

As he felt the punctures, he canceled the Fold Space technique, and the fold vanished, leaving the front portion of the spider separated from the back portion by a few centimeters.  The front of the thorax and mandibles splattered across the floor while the spider staggered back a few steps, ichor pouring out of the front of it where its face had essentially been sheared off.  The spider’s venom spread out from the wound in Duncan’s belly, but Gillian was able to neutralize it with a Technique before it had fully registered with Duncan that he was afflicted.

Eric and Viridis attacked the exposed insides of the spider.  Eric’s flaming axe was a lot more effective without the chitin blocking the heat of the attack.  Flesh crisped and smoked wherever the axe struck.  Viridis’s punch daggers were still ineffectual, though – she lacked the strength to do damage without her Techniques, and all her Techniques appeared to be shadow-affinity.

Josef grabbed Jason’s leg and pressed it back to the stump so that Gillian could re-attach it with her healing magic.  That was much less mana-intensive than regrowing a limb. Lexie and Alain also targeted the spider’s exposed flesh, and their spells proved much more effective than when they’d been hitting chitin.

The spider had lost its offensive weapons, and quite possibly all or most of its brain.  It stumbled around, no longer attacking, until the accumulated damage overwhelmed it and it crashed to the ground, its legs twitching randomly for a while longer.

Chapter 30

With the massive spider dead, their protector recovering from having his leg reattached, and their healer low on mana, the group was justifiably cautious in exploring.  Duncan used his Extract Resources technique on the spider’s corpse, and was rewarded with fangs, leg tips, spiky hairs, and chitinous segments.  Four of the eyes appeared to be Technique Stones, as well, which Viridis identified as Aura of Shadow, Interdiction (a very rare Technique that could be used with a variety of affinities to create a barrier based on the associated affinity), Necrotic Storm, and Acid Golem.  Josef tried to store the entire corpse in his ring, but it was too big, so Duncan tried, and successfully stored it in his armband.

“What did you do to the spider, Duncan?” asked Alain.  “It was totally resistant to all our attacks until you peeled its face off.”

“I folded space a little and it attacked through the fold. When I ended the Technique, there was a gap between where the face was and where the rest of the spider was.”  Duncan shrugged.  “I’ve only ever seen one creature able to withstand that, and it had better space magic than I have.”

Once Gillian and Jason had recovered sufficiently, they examined the room more thoroughly.  The alcove on the far side had some sort of barrier blocking it off from the rest of the burial chamber.  The barrier was almost transparent, and through it they could see a jeweled goblet with a lid.  “The lich entered the alcove when it discorporated,” Duncan said.  “Do you think that could be its phylactery?”

“It’d be very arrogant of it to put its phylactery on display,” said Josef. “I expect that’s a trap of some sort and the phylactery is hidden out of sight.”

“The barrier appears to stop teleportation,” said Viridis.  “I can’t shadowstep inside the alcove.”

Duncan tried to Blink past it and ended up facing the barrier and down a significant amount of mana.  “Blink seems to consider it a solid – I get redirected outside it,” he said.

“Stand back,” said Eric. “I’m going to smash the barrier full force.”   Everyone stepped back several paces and Eric used the Technique that Duncan suspected was evolved.  The barrier rang like a bell and a bolt of lightning leapt from the surface of the barrier to Eric, knocking him over and leaving him twitching and smoking on the ground.  Gillian used a Technique Duncan had seen once before, putting Eric in a state of suspended animation while she healed him.

Josef tried his Holy-Affinity techniques against the barrier, to no avail.  Alain then tried his Earth Manipulation technique, and it too was blocked by the barrier.  Duncan said, “I can try to fold space to get at the goblet.  Do we want to snatch it or smash it, or something else?”

“If the pedestal is trapped, we should grab the chalice and end the fold in space – let the trap go off behind the barrier,” suggested Viridis.  “I’m probably best suited to make the grab.”

Duncan thought he probably had more Agility and Dexterity than Viridis, but she was thirty levels over what he was projecting with his soulgem, so he didn’t object.  “Okay, if no one objects, I’ll fold space like this,” he demonstrated, “and end the technique as soon as I see you have it out of the fold.  We should avoid standing in front of the fold in case something comes out of it before I can end the technique.”

When everyone was ready, Duncan created a fold in space connecting the air on his side of the space to just in front of the pedestal.  The moment it was open, Viridis’s hand flashed forward, grabbed the chalice and withdrew with it.  Once her hand was clear, Duncan dropped the Technique.  And just in time, too.  When the weight was removed from the top of the pedestal, a fireball ignited where the chalice had been and expanded rapidly.  A small burst of fire made it out through the fold in space before the Technique ended, but it was insufficient to do any harm to Viridis.

The fireball filled the alcove, cooking everything behind the barrier.  Once it had died down, they took a look at the Chalice.  “Huh,” Viridis said.  “It appraises as a phylactery.  Could the lich really have been that stupid and arrogant?”  The phylactery was passed around and everyone agreed that it was indeed a phylactery.  When it was passed to Duncan, he just passed it on without saying anything.  Am I the only person here without the Appraisal Technique?

“Let’s destroy it, then search the entire place for anything else that may be a phylactery,” said Josef. “After all this effort, we need to be sure that we’ve killed the lich for good.”  And so, they set the phylactery on the ground, and Eric smashed it to pieces with his flaming axe.  When he first struck it, it flared with a green light, but he kept striking it until it was reduced to a few scraps of gold and some gems, which they gathered into a pile so that Josef could blast it with Holy-Affinity attacks.

Once they were all assured it had been destroyed, they turned their attention back to the barrier blocking off the alcove.  It stubbornly remained, despite the fireball going off inside and the phylactery being removed and destroyed.  After some discussion, Duncan opened another fold in space, pushing the size and duration limits of his Technique, and the team jumped through the fold to end up inside the barrier.

They dismantled the pedestal to begin with and found a milky white gemstone under the base.  Smashing it dropped the barrier.  They found an urn in the corner of the alcove that contained ash.  “Probably the original occupant of the pedestal,” Eric suggested.

There being nothing else of note in the alcove, they searched the entire burial chamber where they’d fought the spider and then took the stairs up to see where they led.  They encountered several nasty traps on the way, triggering the first accidentally and engulfing the entire party in flames.  Healed up, they sent Eric ahead first, since he was mostly immune to fire.  He triggered the rest of the traps on his own, and Gillian healed him after each one, ignoring his increasingly vocal complaints about being used as the trapfinder.

At the top of the stairs, they entered a fine mansion, and found it deserted.  Dust had begun to build up on much of the furniture and flat surfaces.  “No one’s been here for a while.  We’ll have to step outside to see if anyone recognizes whose mansion this is,” said Josef.  “And we should check with the teams we left at the various storm drain entrances to see if any of them have encountered any undead.”

The Montrose couple recognized the mansion as belonging to Ser Bernard Dorm, a minor noble who hadn’t been seen since the initial undead uprising.  “I assumed he’d remained at his country estate,” said Alain.  “We’ll have to ask his Grace to send someone out there to check.  It’s unusual for the place to be without servants.”

“Probably turned into undead,” Lexie said.

They checked in with their various teams at storm drain entrances and found only a couple had encountered a few lesser undead.  No casualties, and no sign of the other two liches that had attacked the temple. “Is it possible they were brought in only to help assault our young friend?” Duncan asked Josef.

“It’s possible, given the encounters we had on our travels,” Josef replied.  “But I’ll feel better if a few months pass without any further sightings.  Until then, we must remain vigilant.”

The collapse of the ceiling in the cavern below had caused something of a sinkhole to appear in the clifftop district.  Several nearby mansions were badly damaged.  It would take an Earth-Affinity mage (or several) to repair the damage done to the ground.

They agreed to sell the little loot they’d found and split the proceeds.  The Technique Stones would prove valuable, at least.  Duncan asked to buy the Interdiction technique stone from the group for the same price the Adventurers Guild offered, and no one objected.  Not sure if I’ll use it, but I’d like the option to.  A barrier could be very useful.  If I can use different affinities with it, that would be even more valuable.  Maybe affinities will stack with it?

The group split up to return to whatever it was they did in their normal lives.  Duncan had time to return to the Academy for dinner and his lesson with Master Guilford.  It’s a strange life I lead.  Fighting undead invaders alongside the elite of the city and a couple of hours later, taking a lesson at the Academy like a normal student.

After his lesson, he flew back into Lanport to see Pelleas and discuss the Interdiction Technique.  “What, exactly, does it do?” Duncan asked.  “I mean, it can apparently be used with multiple Affinities.  How does that work?”

Pelleas replied, “I’ve never met anyone with the Technique, but over the years, I’ve heard it discussed several times.  It doesn’t necessarily create a physical barrier, though it could if used with an elemental Affinity.  The Technique prevents access or movement.  When used with your Mind Affinity it could create a strong aversion as a barrier, or if used with your Spirit Affinity, it could create an implacable fear of advancing.  With your Blade Affinity, it might create a literal wall of blades that would harm anyone who touched it.  In that sense, it’s a more versatile version of your Cage of Blades Technique.  It can be used to protect a location or person rather than to restrict a single person, and the choice of affinities would be nice for you, but I wouldn’t recommend it, even if you had an open active technique slot.  Perhaps your Cage of Blades will evolve into something more effective, given enough time.”

Oh, I haven’t mentioned that my soulgem no longer says limit reached on my Techniques.  “About that… it seems I might be able to add more Techniques again.  My soulgem doesn’t say ‘limit reached’ on my Techniques anymore.”

Pelleas just shook his head.  “Don’t add anything for now.  You’ve just discovered that there are a host of more dangerous threats out there, and that your existing Techniques can evolve.  I recommend you keep any available Technique slots open until you discover a need.  You’ve already mentioned you feel a lack of perception – I suspect that is a greater need than a fancy barrier Technique.”

Duncan nodded. That does make sense.  If I keep grabbing everything that looks shiny, I’ll end up unhappy, with an unbalanced build.

He pulled out the spider parts and said, “What about these?  The spider these are from was almost impossible to kill – I think Eric has an evolved attack Technique, and even he was barely hurting it.  We got lucky that it stuck its face through a fold in space and ending the Technique separated the face from the body.  I’ve never seen anything nearly so resilient – even the greater forest drake seemed weaker than this thing.”

Pelleas whistled.  “A greater gloomhunter.  You would normally expect to see greater gloomhunters in dungeons rated over a hundred and fifty.  They have terrific physical defenses, extremely strong attacks, and a venom that I suspect you couldn’t remove with your low rank Remove Affliction Technique.  The fangs and leg tips can be used to make shadow and necrotic affinity weapons – daggers and spears, I expect – and the chitin can be used to make some truly impressive armor.  The guild can offer you a hundred gold for the lot, but you’d do better taking it to a good crafter.  Although I’m not sure there’s anyone in the empire who could craft with it.  You have lots of storage space – maybe save it for when you’re in elven or dwarven lands, or one of the more advanced human lands.”

“Alright, thank you,” said Duncan.  “I’ll buy the materials off the group and hang on to them for now.  My shield was destroyed by a corpse golem, so I need to look for a replacement.”

“Ouch,” Pelleas commiserated.  “A shield that completely absorbs the momentum of an attack is so rare that we may not be able to replace it.  Yours required a gemstone affinity, if I recall correctly, else it would have been worth a small fortune.”  He pulled out the guild’s equipment scroll and looked at the list of shields.  After a few minutes, he sighed and passed the scroll to Duncan.  “Take a look and see if anything listed there appeals to you.”

There were several hundred shields listed, but most of them were entirely unappealing.  None had the ability to absorb all of an attack’s momentum.  There was an interesting feedback shield that damaged the attacker on every blocked attack, but it required a Sound affinity.  There were various barricade shields that extended protection to others, and a wide selection of shields that reflected or absorbed specific elemental damage, but he lacked the affinities to use those well.  The most appealing item on the list was a Spirit-Affinity shield that converted some of the force of the attacks it blocked into mana for its wielder.  But it was a tower shield, and Duncan preferred something smaller.

“Well, that’s disappointing,” he said.  “I have a rescue shield, but, really, all I used the shield for was the absolute stopping power it gave me.  I think I’m going to have to modify my fighting style a bit to incorporate more folds in space to block attacks.  I fight enough huge monsters that I’m going to be knocked all over the place if their blows connect without that shield.”

Duncan idly scrolled through the guild equipment list for a while, to see if anything leapt out at him.  At this point, I think most of the gear found in the empire is going to be too weak for me.  I’ve got good gear thanks to, essentially, the gods’ generosity with some of the rare monsters I’ve fought.  Maybe some specific resistance gear would help in specific instances, but in the main, I’m okay gear-wise, even without that wonderful shield.

Chapter 31

There were only a few months left in the school year, and the weather took a turn for the worse as winter set in.  Rain pelted Lanport daily, and the Academy grounds grew soft and spongy.  Water mages and earth mages worked daily to improve drainage and keep the fields from turning to mud. Duncan worked on his Elvish, and even began speaking it when he chatted with Pelleas.  In his geography class, they finally finished with the Arnite Empire and began detailing the lands around.  To the west, the Kingdom of Zaragosa was a peninsula that extended into the great ocean beyond.  To the North and East was the Empire of Tuton, even bigger than the Arnite Empire, and more cosmopolitan.  Directly East of the Arnite Empire were Elvish and Dwarven kingdoms… not the only ones, but some of the biggest and best known among humans.

North of Tuton were the Northern Tribelands – the Nordlanders fought amongst themselves constantly, but also found the time to raid the coasts of the Tuton and Arnite Empires.  South of the Arnite Empire across the sea were the Algar Tribelands.  The land was harsh and arid at best, with large regions of pure desert.  South of them the land turned to huge jungles, which were the home of the lizardmen, who were properly known as the Lipiti.  And East of Lanport, reachable by both land and sea was the Villanovan Confederacy – a collection of city states that were the center of culture and art on the continent.

Duncan absorbed all the information his teacher had to offer about the surrounding lands.  So many places I want to visit.  It’s really just a matter of which order I visit all these places in.  I’ve been warned to avoid the Nordlands and the Southern continent for now.  So maybe Zaragosa first?  Or the Northern part of the Arnite Empire. There’s a huge island there I’ve not seen, and all three of my roommates are from there.  If Pelleas is able to get me lessons with that Elven blademaster, I could go there, too.  Though after a year at the Academy, I might be happier with some exploration before I commit to another student position.

I came to the Academy looking for training, and I found it, and I’m happy I did.  But what I think I’ve really found is a desire to find other people the gods have chosen to face these invaders and see if I can find friends and companions among them.  I still like delving alone, and probably always will – people are annoying after a short while, really – but it’d be nice to be able to work in a competent group from time to time.

Their attack on the lich’s lair and destruction of its phylactery led to a complete cessation in undead attacks in Lanport.  The attacks had paused for a few weeks after each of the lich’s previous defeats as well, so Duncan didn’t assume the undead were gone from Lanport entirely.  But he was hopeful.  Lanport had been through a rough year, but other cities had suffered worse, and it seemed likely the undead forces would concentrate on cities where they were still holding their own or winning.

Duncan’s afternoons with Master deBouteville emphasized fighting with no active Techniques, and fighting with no active Techniques except Fold Space.  He focused on placing small folds to block blades, near the tip, at the strong of the blade, or at the hilt, and on using the folds to impair his opponent’s movement.  A little fold in space just above the foot could trip if the opponent was moving forward.  A fold behind a foot was very effective at tripping someone moving backwards, and folds placed at torso-height could impair movement significantly, since the folds were immovable.  Many high-level creatures were incredibly agile, so a trip wouldn’t often result in a fall, but the folds were very disruptive.  With no active Techniques allowed, Duncan still won an impressive zero percent of his fights against Master deBouteville.  When he used folds in space to block her weapon and body, his success rate rose to thirty percent, and when he could attack through folds in space as well, he won fully half the bouts.  Once she understood how his attacks through folds in space worked, she could better interpret what her Blade Sense was telling her and she could react to his attacks, so his initial high success rate with attacking through folds was soon reduced.

Master Guilford remained more classical in his approach.  There was no use of Techniques in his lessons. Only skill with the blade mattered under Master Guilford’s eye.  He never sparred with Duncan, though he did on occasion have other students do so while he critiqued both.  Duncan preferred Master deBouteville’s hands-on approach, but he did appreciate the instruction, and he was improving with the longsword.

Duncan’s training with other weapons in his spare evenings also showed some gains.  Because his training with the other weapons was more erratic, it was also more freeform.  He tried to incorporate his folded space blocks in his sparring with all his weapons training.  I need to make these blocks both instinctive and instant.

He continued delving the mid-level dungeons his new flying speed made reachable for him. His training at the Academy set him on the path towards a new style based on folds in space for both defense and offense, but he needed to practice it against a variety of dungeon monsters for it to really settle in.  He began to feel better about the loss of his shield. The ability to block whilst still having two swords in use was truly beneficial, and it felt stylish.  Enjoyable.  Right.

The dungeons did give him some unique and interesting fights, but no ‘gift from the gods’ scale windfalls.  Instead, the fights polished his new style and reassured him that he was on the right track.  He shored up his weak new Techniques as he learned to incorporate them with his established Techniques.  Still, some refused to advance, and he didn’t understand why.  He used Cage of Blades in almost every fight, yet it stubbornly remained at rank three.  Maybe because I’m using it for the sake of using it rather than because it’s necessary?

There was another attempt on his life one morning as he visited the disabled veterans club for his usual healing.  He was just stepping out of the club when his earring gave him a nasty pinch. He Blinked up immediately but felt a little prick on his neck as he did so.  He summoned a sword to fly on and remained high above the city.  Assessment showed he was poisoned, and he found a small dart embedded in his neck.  He removed the dart and stored it, then used Remove Affliction to cancel the poison.  It cost him eight thousand mana to counter the poison.  Wow, that’s insanely strong poison.

Wearing full armor, he flew down to see if he could spot who’d attacked him, but there was no one acting suspiciously in the area, and he didn’t see anyone of a high enough level to threaten him when he identified everyone he could see.  Belatedly, he equipped his monocle to spot invisible foes, but it revealed nothing.

Duncan began wearing his armor whenever he was out in public, and the attack wasn’t repeated.  Pelleas appraised the dart and was able to identify the toxin as obsidian baneling venom.  “I can ask around and see if anyone knows which dungeons obsidian banelings are found in,” he said.  “And maybe the guard knows if that’s a signature of a specific assassin or group.”  Good idea.

So Duncan reported the attack to the guard and handed over the poisoned dart.  The investigator said they’d get back to him if they came up with anything but didn’t sound optimistic.  I can guess who sent the assassin, so identifying them doesn’t make that much of a difference to me.  If this keeps up, I really am going to have to pay the Chevalier clan a visit.

As the end of the school year neared without any further undead sightings, Duncan began planning for what came next.  Master deBouteville wouldn’t be around to train him the following year – she’d only committed to one year, and she and Daphne had other things to do and other places to be.  “You’ve made good progress in only a year,” she told Duncan.  “A rank nine skill at your age is phenomenal.  Your Blade Sense is lagging, but that’s just a matter of time and practice.  It took me fifty years to get that to rank ten, so you’ve got plenty of time yet.  Get some experience under your belt – dungeons are fine if you can pick one with skilled monsters, but they can be hard to find.  In the far North of the empire, on a little island off the coast, there’s a dungeon full of highland warriors – they’re called wolvers – who are worthy foes.  The dungeon’s ranked at ninety by the guild – I ran it for a couple of months with a good group, and we found it challenging for four level ninety adventurers.  If you’re ever that far North, give it a try.  The nearest town is called Stormyway.”

Master Guilford was philosophical about Duncan’s plans to move on.  “You’re young and have much yet to learn.  You would do well to stay here for the full three years.  But I expected this decision.  You have such a fire in you – you’ve advanced your Techniques more in the single year you’ve been here than I have in a decade.  Immortality holds no allure for me, but you have inspired me to go along with some of the other instructors here to explore a dungeon or two in our month before the new school year begins.”

“Do try to visit the Scholastica Donostia if you get a chance on your travels,” he added.  “It is truly worth the trip.”

The headmaster was less stoic.  “I took a chance admitting you, Duncan.  And I said we’d turn you into the finest fighter in the empire.  I don’t think you’re there yet, despite your progress with Masters deBouteville and Guilford.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Duncan replied. “The lessons have been brilliant, and I’ve enjoyed my other classes too.  It’s been a good year for me.  But I don’t belong here.  My advancement makes me stand out too much, and I really don’t fit in.  And,” he grinned, “you’ve come close on the finest fighter thing.”

Eric snorted.  “You’re not even the best fighter in this room.”

“Hah!” said Duncan. “I knew you were holding back in our bout.  No fire shield, and you didn’t use your evolved attack.”

“How do you even know about evolved Techniques?” Eric asked.  “There’s an unspoken rule that we don’t talk about them with anyone who doesn’t have them.  And unless you’re a lot older than I think you are, you’re far too young to have any.”

Duncan nodded.  “I really am eighteen.  I don’t even have any rank ten Techniques yet.  Let’s just say I did a very big favor for an important organization and a very, very scary person explained a few things about how weak I am and how far I have to go.”

“Well, I won’t say anything further about evolutions,” said Eric.  “With your rapid advancement, you may get one of your own in fifty years or so.  If you’re still alive then, come back and we can have a chat.”

“Thank you again,” said Duncan.  “I really do appreciate you taking me in as a student.  If there’s anything the finest young fighter in the Empire can do for you, send word via the Adventurer’s Guild and I’ll be happy to help.  Although - could you answer a couple of quick questions?  You said your class is Flame Devastator – where did that come from?  And why do you present level one hundred and two instead of one-twenty-six?”

Eric sighed. “I’d hoped you’d missed that.  In some of the more advanced areas of the world, you can have your soulgem updated so that it shows more information about things.  It also recognizes some evolved Techniques and sometimes offers class names for them.  Melee fighters with evolved Fire-Affinity Techniques are called Flame Devastators, apparently.  I liked the name, so I started using it.  It’s probably not a good idea; it advertises that I have evolved Techniques to others in the know, and I’m not especially strong compared to many in that group.”

“I have an item enchanted to set my displayed level to one-oh-two.  I use it to keep my level in the same sort of range as the other notable people in Lanport.  It’s not strictly legal in the empire, so I’d appreciate you not mentioning it.  How is it that you can see it’s false, and my real level?”

Oh that’s interesting.  A specific enchantment to modify the soulgem display.  “A quirk of my Affinities, I think.  I can see both numbers when I identify you.  Where do you get your soulgem upgraded?  What extra information does it give?”

“It shows some hidden stats – perception, reaction, and charisma, for example,” Eric explained.  “And it knows about a lot of the monsters in dungeons and the world.  You can identify monsters and show their approximate level.  There’s a cost of course – it reserves more of your mana pool than a normal soulgem.  And the soulgem guild charges a hundred gold for the upgrade.  They may have a branch in Harrish.  I got mine upgraded in the Villanovan Confederacy.”  Oh!  That mage in the castle could identify the monsters I produced and their levels… she must have had an upgraded soulgem.  Or a lot of accumulated monster knowledge, which is what I assumed at the time…

Eric paused for a moment, then continued, “I don’t actually recommend upgrading, now that I’ve had it done.  I think the guild can read your soulgem information from the upgraded soulgems.  It’s where they get the information on monsters and evolved Techniques.  You’re supposed to visit their guildhalls whenever you can to get the latest updates, but I’m sure they get information from you at the same time.”

Huh.  I definitely don’t want some guild with unknown motivations and ties knowing all about me.  “Thank you, sir.  I appreciate you telling me.”

His meeting with Archdeacon Josef was easier.  “Where do you expect to go, and for how long?” the kindly priest asked.

“I’m going to visit some dungeons to shore up my weaker Techniques that I haven’t been able to advance here.  I don’t know how long it’ll take – I’m told the years shouldn’t matter to me anymore, and I’ve already spent months at a time inside a dungeon, so it could be I’ll be delving for a couple of years.  I worry about the undead activity, though, so I’ll check in with the Church as often as I can.”

“Do that,” Josef said.  “And perhaps try to visit some of the dungeons we manage – there are a couple of high-level ones in the empire, and quite a few more in parts of the world with higher mana densities.  Your status as Knight Errant will get you in.  Simply talk to someone of my rank or above to find out where the locals train if you’re visiting a Church elsewhere.”

Next on his list of meetings was Elliot Lainer.  I’ve made far more contacts than I expected here in Lanport.  Elliot had prepared some legal paperwork for maintenance of the orphanage and his properties.  “Please check in with the firm at least once a century,” he said.  “I may not be around that long, but the senior partners are high enough level to provide continuity.  Rest assured that the firm will take good care of your funds in your absence.”

Duncan assured Elliot he’d check in far more frequently than that.

Perhaps his most important meeting was with Pelleas.  The Elven blademaster Turchon still hadn’t replied to Pelleas’s missive about Duncan, but Pelleas promised to contact Duncan via the Adventurers Guild message system should he do so.  They discussed which dungeons Duncan would visit first and agreed that the Eldritch Horror dungeon near Clermont would be ideal to advance his Tranquil Mind and Spiritual Shield Techniques.  He’d not been able to delve very deep into it the last time he’d visited, but he was vastly more powerful now.  Then back to the Endless Depths to see how far he’d come.  And then… well, the world was his oyster.  Duncan thought maybe he’d try to explore Zaragosa and then the Northern part of the Arnite Empire to visit the dungeons Masters Guilford and deBouteville had recommended.

Duncan asked Pelleas about upgraded soulgems, but, for once, the old elf knew nothing about the topic.  “I will investigate, but in the meantime, I suggest you avoid the soulgem guild entirely,” he said.

Duncan then asked about other people with unusual affinities.  Pelleas was more forthcoming there. “I know of a dozen young elves and a similar number of dwarves and Lipiti who’ve shown such.  All of them are in training in their own families or clans.  It’s been less than a hundred years since we first noticed the phenomenon, and we are long-lived races.  It’s only now that most of those youngsters are venturing beyond the safety of their training environments.”

“I’ve informed the order that I’ve found a human with the same phenomenon, and, without naming you, have mentioned your incredibly fast rate of progression.  It’s possible that we’ll contact you again soon – that is, in the next few years – to have you meet some of them.”

Finally, Duncan met with his roommates at his mansion in the city.  He offered them the use of it while they were out of school before the new school year began.  Cassandra had to stay at her family’s townhouse with her guards when she wasn’t in school, so she declined.  And David explained he’d signed on to be crew on a local guard cutter for the month, running anti-piracy patrols.  But Amelia was happy to take him up on his offer.

Duncan bid his friends farewell and told them he’d try to check in on them should he ever be in their lands once they returned home.  “I expect all of you to reach level one hundred before you get too old to delve,” he told them, “so you’ll have no excuse not to be around when I show up.”

Once Cassandra and David had taken their leave, Amelia asked Duncan, “Why did you never try to take me to bed?  I know you’re interested.  I could see your interest in the post-delve baths.”  She stepped closer.  “Your interest is palpable.”

“We were roommates,” Duncan explained, a bit awkwardly. “And groupmates in a delving group.  The dynamics of both of those are complicated.  Relationships affect the whole group.”  She was awfully close, and he was awfully interested.

“Well,” she said, “you leave tomorrow for parts unknown.  And we’re no longer roommates or groupmates.  Surely that simplifies things.”  Yes.  Yes, it does.

The following morning, Duncan looked at Amelia’s sleeping form and smiled fondly.  She slept the sleep of the utterly exhausted.  A lovely finish to what has been a good year at the Academy of Steel.  He Blinked straight up three hundred meters, appearing far above his mansion in Lanport.  He summoned a sword to stand on, some clothes, and his armor.  And then he flew off to the North at high speed.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

127 (+11)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

325 (+20)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

302 (+22)

Wisdom:

61 (+1)

Agility:

322 (+26)

Endurance:

329 (+24)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

31980 (+2680)

Health Regen:

22860/hour (+4300)

Stamina:

4560 (+350)

Stam Regen:

57150/hour (+10750)

Mana:

28080 (+2220)

Mana Regen:

7760/hour (+460)

Mana Reserved:

456

Cultivation:

Late Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

Weak

Mind

Outstanding

Lava

Weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

Weak

Fire

Weak

Poison

Negligible

Air

Weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

Weak

Ice

Weak

Earth

Moderate

Decay

Weak

Stone

Moderate

Soul

Strong

Lightning

Weak

Corrosion

Negligible

Gemstone

Moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

Negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

Weak

Shadow

Moderate

Metal

Moderate

Blood

Negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Blade Echo

8

Tempered Blade

8

Fold Space

7 (+1)

Regeneration

8 (+1)

Blink

6

Coagulation

6

Mind Spike

7 (+1)

Hardened Skin

7 (+1)

Destrin's Restoration

6

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

6

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

5 (+1)

Personal Space Pocket

6

Remove Affliction

5 (+1)

Ignore Pain

6 (+1)

Regenerate Other

4 (+1)

Shadow Sight

4

Cage of Blades

3

Assessment

5 (+1)

Extract Resources

2

Blade Sense

5 (+1)

Leech Mana

3

Understand Languages

3 (+1)

Skills

Rank

1H swords

9 (+1)

Plate armor

5 (+1)

2H swords

7 (+1)

Mail armor

5 (+2)

1H axes

4 (+1)

Leather armor

5 (+2)

2H axes

4 (+1)

Anatomy

2

Shields

6 (+1)

Survival

2

Spears

5 (+1)

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

4

Bows

3

Swimming

2 (+1)

Tracking

1

Riding

2 (+1)

Elven language

3 (+1)

Knowledge: Monster

2 (+1)

Books In This Series

The Hero of the Valley

A progression fantasy with LitRPG elements.

Follow along as Duncan finds his way in an unfamiliar world, facing dungeons, demigods, and the rules of society.

The Hero of the Valley

Duncan grew up in an isolated valley, determined to become a hero of legend. Chosen by the Gods, he is thrust into a world he knows little about and must grow stronger to face powerful invaders from other worlds.

The Academy of Steel

Duncan moves to the city of Lanport in the far South of the Arnite Empire to study at the famed Academy of Steel. Meanwhile, the otherworldly invaders make their opening gambits in their game of global conquest. Duncan must advance his Techniques and grow more powerful if he's to play a part in resisting the outworlders.