Chapter 218: A Lesson in Necromancy

Eternity bends to those who dare to claim it.

- Nevyn Eld, The Blind Lich.

Mato

Mato quietly set himself to the chore of tidying up camp after dinner, making sure everything was properly arranged without disturbing Ali’s studies. He set aside a bowl of stew for whenever she decided to rejoin them in the real world and then ventured a short way into the mossy trees to practice his Herb Gathering skill on several interesting plants he had spied growing there.

Despite the close call, he had quite enjoyed the fight against Kir’mogan. The troll warrior had been an incredibly powerful and skilled fighter and had challenged him to the limit of his abilities and beyond. The fact that he had had to rely on Ali and his automatically triggered Last Stand to save him in the end took nothing away from the experience and all he had learned. His fingers absently found the jagged edges of the gash torn through one of the bands of his sturdy plate armor.

It simply means I have good friends on my side, he thought. There had been a time when he had wanted to be strong enough to stand on his own, but that mindset was long gone, abandoned in the face of the many bosses and challenges they had faced together – challenges so great that no one person could face them alone.

And I still have so much room to grow. Is it time to think about better armor again? Hold on. What did I get from that fight? Too lazy to check earlier, he grumbled to himself, calling up the notifications. He had been far more interested in dinner.

Druidic Shapeshifter has reached level 70 (+5).
+50 attribute points.

Yes please! He stopped for a moment, letting the reality of five levels gained settle within him. Defeating Kir’mogan had left him with a profound sense of achievement, a productive and worthwhile day and one that would remain etched in his memory for a long time. He had fought a hard fight and, together with his friends, they had prevailed. They had saved a young troll from torture, and he had a powerful conviction of setting things right when he had witnessed Ali turning the horrid bone altar into motes of mana. Hopefully, their efforts would go some small way to righting the evil that had been wrought against the inhabitants of Aman Rak.

Level seventy. He was well past his father’s level now – and his entire family, for that matter. He took a deep breath and stored the curious lilac flower in his ring, turning his attention to his impressive haul of fifty attribute points. Considering just how hard Kir’mogan’s axe had hit, he immediately spent fifteen points on vitality. It would give him a bigger buffer to survive, and give Last Stand more to work with when he needed it. He spent seven points on endurance to shore up his combat resilience a bit and added ten points to strength – this time not thinking as much about hitting, but the attribute would increase the amount of damage he could block. For his remaining points, he decided to spend ten on perception – his most reliable lifesaver being Survival Instinct, and then added the last eight points to Wisdom to boost his mana, but also the contribution of attributes from Natural Prowess.

That ought to do it, he thought, nodding his head and moving on to his skill notifications.  

Swipe has reached level 42 (+3).
Brutal Restoration has reached level 41 (+2).
Bear Form has reached level 35.
Rampant Growth has reached level 13 (+3).
Bestial Combat has reached level 35 (+2).
Natural Prowess has reached level 29.
Survival Instinct has reached level 33 (+3).
Battle Trance has reached level 21.
Last Stand has reached level 11.

Identify has reached level 14.
Herb Gathering has reached level 12 (+2).

Now that they were finally fighting outside, his Rampant Growth skill was starting to bloom. He grinned briefly at his own internal pun. While the shamans with their free action totems were a significant hindrance, once they were dealt with, the skill he had learned from Lira had begun to show its true strength as a battlefield control tool.

Your actions have increased the reputation of your patron.

He hadn’t been quite so certain of taking Azryet as his patron, especially given how unreliable Devan had said the damage bonus was. However, having experienced it in battle, he was beginning to come around. Both times the blessing had triggered against Kir’mogan it had been in crucial moments – the void trigger at the start had really helped lock down the monsters, and the holy trigger had been exceptionally powerful against the undead, giving him a boost to his restoration that had undoubtedly saved his life.

Is chaos random? He had expected the trigger to be random, but the patronage listed Azryet’s traits as Chaos, rather than random or luck. He had no idea what that meant, but he was certain Calen would love to discuss it at length.

Oh, there’s more! Eagerly he read on.

Requirements met for skill advancement.

Deity: Azryet.
Swipe has reached at least level 40.
Survive an Overpower critical hit.
Strength has surpassed 350.

Swipe gains Brute Force.
(Stamina: Throw the full force of your mass and strength behind your next Swipe, knocking your enemies back. The knockback effect is proportional to how much your strength and weight exceeds that of your target. Recharge: 30 seconds.)

Swipe gains Deep Gash.
(Swipe has a chance to inflict a Bleed for your critical damage amount on hit. Bleed chance is proportional to how much your strength exceeds that of your target.)

Choose one advancement.

Brute Force? Deep Gash? This was the first advancement influenced by his patronage with Azryet, and he immediately understood why Lira had counseled taking on the dragon god’s influence to offset her own. She was such a peaceful being who loved nature and her forest; there was no way her mana could have helped him earn a skill like this.

But which one should I take? On the surface, Deep Gash seemed more effective, adding a new source of damage based on his strength. But… he didn’t want to pass up anything potentially strategic.

“Hey, Calen,” he called out, and his friend immediately perked up. “Take a look at this, which do you think is better?”

“Oh, those are good,” Calen said upon receiving his shared notification.

“I’m thinking Deep Gash – it’s useful all the time, not just every thirty seconds,” Mato said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Well, do you want damage or control?”

“Control? What do you mean?”

“That knockback is a control skill for melee,” Calen said. “Think about this last fight – maybe you wouldn’t have been able to use it on Kir’mogan, but all his minions and the undead would have been fair game. Your Swipe can hit multiple enemies, so you could have created room every thirty seconds where most of them were flying away from you.”

“I struggled to make space with my roots all fight,” Mato mused.

“Yup, I saw,” Calen said. “Those totems are effective.”

“I don’t get a lot of critical damage,” Mato added, considering the other offering. Also, if he found himself in a fight where he could use his roots, maybe he could knock enemies back and then hold them away from him whenever he needed. “I’m thinking that maybe this Brute Force knockback gives me more options?”

“I think so too,” Calen agreed. “And you’re going to continue investing in strength anyway.”

“Ok, that’s settled, then,” he said, choosing the knockback over the bleed. It didn’t quite live up to the devastating power of his second Battle Master advancement, but more battlefield control should be best for his tanking role.

Swipe – level 42
Stamina: A slashing attack that hits all enemies directly in front of you for weapon damage +399% [skill + strength].
Stamina: A master at battlefield control, you take advantage of your enemy’s distraction. Whenever you are in range of a creature and it attacks someone else or tries to leave your range, you can instantaneously retaliate for weapon damage +756% [skill + strength x 2]. +20% chance to deal critical damage. 100% chance to cast level 42 [skill] Grasping Roots on hit. Conditional Trigger.
Stamina: Throw the full force of your mass and strength behind your next Swipe, knocking your enemies back. The knockback only affects opponents lighter and weaker than you. Recharge: 30 seconds.
Physical, Melee, Area, Strength

It’s a useful tool. As he finished up, his chime sounded again. And another, let’s see now…

Requirements met for skill advancement.

Mentor: Lirasia.
Battle Trance has reached at least level 20.
Wisdom has reached 125.
Survive a fight against a boss that drains all your mana.

Battle Trance gains Rejuvenating Sap.
(+mana)

Battle Trance – level 21.
Every time you are hit, stamina and mana regeneration are increased by +165% [60 + skill x 5] %. Duration: 2 seconds.
Physical, Melee, Endurance

Accept this advancement?

He immediately recognized Lira’s influence in this advance. While it was a skill aimed at combat, it also fit with the theme of his tree and the regeneration of mana, something he was beginning to realize was a big part of who Lira truly was.

Even though it was a fairly straightforward advancement, he was much more excited about this one than the first. So many times, he had had to hold back his mana, saving it for crucial moments when he needed more healing. Having a consistent regeneration improvement in battle was going to help him out enormously – especially against monsters like the Mana Eater, or the Radiant Brawlers which destroyed or drained mana.

Against Kir’mogan, this skill had really kept him in the fight, the Bone Warriors’ attacks had come so fast that he had multiple regeneration boosts stacked simultaneously for most of the fight. He had spent most of the extra stamina on simply blocking as many attacks as he could to reduce the total incoming damage. And now it would be mana too, which would help his Rampant Growth, Arboreal Sanctuary, and Brutal Restoration.

Malika’s going to love this one, he thought as he accepted it. All in all, a good result after a brutal day’s work.

Malika

Malika sat near Ali and cleared her mind. Her friend was working hard, and on something only she could do. She watched for a while, noticing her distant gaze, her eyes flickering from location to location, looking at magic that, to Malika, was invisible. Her expression was one of total focus and concentration, and there were visible beads of sweat on her brow.

I hope she’s ok, Malika thought. Ali had been pushing herself hard since they encountered the Corrupted Fire Drake at the end of the mines, motivated by the lack of mana and the difficulties of protecting herself with dungeon bosses, and they really hadn’t taken a break in a long time. Today, Ali had leapt into the necromantic sacrifice magic emitted by the bone altar without hesitation, trying to save Gara. I’ll ask her about maybe taking a bit of a break after we finish this dungeon, she thought, turning her attention back to the item resting lightly in her lap.

Ancestral Bone Mask – level 65
+42 Wisdom
+33 Dexterity
+18 Vitality
+25% Evasion
Requirements: Dexterity 130, Wisdom 130
Quality: Uncommon
Value: 15 gold, 3 silver
Head – Mask

It was a delicate-seeming item crafted out of bone, but Malika had personally verified its toughness by punching it while it was still on the face of one of the troll shamans. It had black diagonal designs painted across the left eye, and red accents on the right edge, along with subtle and delicate etchings on the surface, giving it a textured look. She had no idea what the paint meant, just that the trolls’ ideas of battle paint were not what she would have picked. But she was willing to put her aesthetic sensibilities aside for this – the item had an extraordinarily good synergy with her class, and she was the only one in their group who could even attempt to wear it. She had just passed the level requirement to equip it, and with her class restrictions, she couldn’t afford to pass up any appropriate items. She brought the mask up, finding it magically attaching to her face, yet somehow not obscuring her vision in the slightest, not even at the periphery.

I just hope the others don’t laugh too much, she thought with a smile. We’re all going to look pretty silly at this rate.

Soul Monk has reached level 69 (+5).
+50 attribute points.

We all earned five levels, she thought, recalling some of the after-combat discussion. Except Ali. But the little Fae was still ahead of everyone. Malika smiled proudly – they were all doing incredibly well, and a fair distribution of rewards sat well with her. Everyone had contributed.

Time to focus on my core traits, she decided. Malika had been diligently spreading her points out, making sure that nothing fell too far behind, but now she felt she had a little leeway to indulge – especially with the substantial boost coming from the new mask. She spent twenty points on dexterity, feeling an electric tingle all over as her muscles reacted to the change. Then she split the rest, ten each into endurance, wisdom, and perception. Instantly, the view of her friends’ stamina clarified, the tiny wisps of energy coming into sharper focus in her Soul Sight.

This will work. She would be faster, sharper, and more accurate – perfect for whatever this dungeon threw at them. So, without wanting to sound greedy, anything more for me today?

Martial Artist has reached level 35 (+3).
Soul Strike has reached level 41.
Healing Mantra has reached level 41 (+3).
Perfect Body has reached level 26 (+2).
Soul Armor has reached level 31.
Enlightened Evasion has reached level 34 (+2).
Divine Step has reached level 35 (+2).
Second Wind has reached level 21.
Clarity has reached level 21 (+3).
Soul Sight has reached level 22 (+2).

Appraise has reached level 19.

As she reached the end of her skill notifications, Malika’s chime sounded again, signaling the advancement of a skill, and she caught her breath in her throat as she eagerly read on. Here we go!

Requirements met for skill advancement.

Mentor: Rezan Jin.
Has an awakened Ahn Khen Bloodline.
Clarity has reached level 20.
Wisdom has surpassed 550.
Endured the Desolation aura of a Death Knight.
Survived the Soul Terror of a Lich.
Survived mind magic, up to second-tier level.
Resisted a Taunt.
Resisted an Intimidating Shout.
Survived being knocked unconscious by a Sleep spell in battle.
Retained your wits under the influence of a Pit Lord’s corruption.

Clarity gains Adamant Mind.
(You gain + [40 + Bloodline + Skill + Wisdom] % increased Resistance to mind-altering effects).

Mentor: Rezan Jin.
Has an awakened Ahn Khen Bloodline.
Clarity has reached level 20.
Wisdom has surpassed 550.
Trained extensively under continuous magical damage.
Endured raid-level death, bone, blood, and fire magic.
Endured second-tier blood, hellfire, mind, and death magic.

Clarity gains Diamond Body.
(You gain + [(Bloodline + Skill) / 2] % increased Resistance).

Choose one advancement.

Her first bloodline skill had finally advanced. And it sure didn’t disappoint – against creatures at her level, she would gain a whopping thirty-three percent boost to resistance against magic. Ordinarily, she would have immediately taken the general resistance over the specific one, using the same logic she had employed when advancing Soul Armor to add Resistance, but her eyes stuck to Adamant Mind like glue, while the scene of them laughing and giggling like teenagers in the Abyssal Realm replayed in her mind.

What use is a bit more fire resistance in the face of that?

When she had first run into Mieriel’s magic, she had been forced to consider the implications of someone stealing her will. Without her knowledge or consent, she had not even known to fight back. Then, in the Abyssal Realm, it happened again. Mieriel’s feedback had been clear – it was far harder to fight back against a threat you didn’t even know about.

Adamant Mind would make her effectively immune to mind-altering effects. Fear, charm, mind control, intimidation, the list of skills and attributes that affected the mind was substantial – nearly all of which stripped a person of their ability to defend themselves. Certain death.

There were always ways to boost skills higher or penetrate resistances, but with an increase of over six hundred percent resistance, her Clarity was a passive skill that would provide extraordinarily robust protection for her mind. Even the requirements for the offered advance showed the breadth of mind-altering effects she had already endured; everything from the lich’s fear to what must have been Mieriel’s mind magic, and the mind magic of the demonic Sentinels. Even taunts and the Violet Dreamcloud mushroom spores that had put her to sleep fighting the Forest Guardian in the jungle were on the list – simple mind-altering effects that could have easily ended her and her friends.

“Hey, Calen? I’ve got an advancement choice. What do you think of these?”

“Adamant Mind,” Calen said, without an instant’s hesitation.

“Why?” she asked. She was strongly leaning that way herself, but she wanted to understand his reasoning.

“Mind effects are so catastrophic that failure is almost certainly going to result in death. If even one of us can reliably avoid losing their minds, they can save the rest,” he said. “It will hurt to lose thirty percent resistance, but you can heal more most of the time. Lose to a mind mage and you can’t even conceive of escaping.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Malika said.

“Also, doesn’t your Clarity skill buff the people you heal?”

“Oh, shit, you’re right,” Malika said. “Will it work like that?”

“I don’t see why not.”

And that’s why I consult with you, my friend! Malika selected Adamant Mind and felt something shift, a settling, like girding herself with armor – only inside her head. Quickly she checked her bloodline aptitude for any signs of problems, but everything seemed alright, so she inspected her skill.

Clarity – level 21
Your proficiency with meditation is enhanced by your Ahn Khen bloodline. Your mind has reached a permanent state of clarity, during which mana and stamina regeneration is increased by +355% [40 + skill x 15]. Bonus is doubled if you sit and focus.
Your mind remains focused and clear in the presence of danger. You gain +674% [40 + Bloodline + Skill + Wisdom] increased resistance to mind-altering effects.
Soul, Bloodline, Wisdom, Endurance

“Here goes,” she said, feeling a sudden prickle of anxiety. She retrieved a saved Essence of Fire and waited a moment for the pure flame to burn her skin before she healed herself.

You have gained Clarity.
The path to restoring your energy begins with a calm mind.
+355% to mana and stamina regeneration.
+674% to resistance against mind-altering effects.
Buff – Duration: 20.5 seconds.

She gasped. Incredibly, her new Adamant Mind was now also part of Healing Mantra’s buff. Instead of just boosting regeneration, she could use Healing Mantra to double the warding effect on her mind. If only she had had this when meeting the Death Knight, exploring the Abyssal Realm, or when overcome by the soporific violet dreamcloud mushrooms, those encounters would have turned out vastly differently.

“Does it work?” Calen asked, curiosity brimming in his eyes.

Wordlessly, Malika handed him the Essence of Fire and then healed him.

“Holy shit,” he whispered.

Aliandra

It was an unknown amount of time later when Ali returned to her body, having finally grasped at least some of the astounding structure of the barrier. Whoever had wrought this grand necromantic array was unbelievably skilled, able to weave the runes in ways Ali had not believed possible. She activated Inspiration to recover her mana as she considered what she had learned – knowing how something worked was half the battle when it came to dismantling it. And she had an idea.

As soon as she had mana to work with, she put her plan into action. She had seen Disruption magic twice now, and she had clear memories of the structure used by both the assassin who had tried to kill her by disrupting her magic, and Nathaniel Sunstrider’s version which had dispelled her barrier. Somehow, both of them had been able to create a formation that seemed to be the perfect antithesis to her magic, causing it to spontaneously unravel. She had Runic Script and Arcane Insight, and she was certain she could learn how to do something similar manually.

She set to work, channeling mana, and creating formations with her runic magic, trying to match the barrier’s structure with an inverse shape made from her own arcane and nature mana. But the proper form proved elusive, and try as she might, she couldn’t find a way to match her arcane runes to the death magic runes in the barrier. Nor did her nature magic bend easily to the soul magic. Then, there were still runes she was entirely unable to decipher, and so, she struggled, twisting the magic one way and then another, as if trying to force the wrong piece to fit in a puzzle. She drew on every scrap of knowledge she had about efficiency, mana manipulation, and understanding of the flow that created the formations but after two hours, she was frustrated and still hadn’t gotten it.

“Struggling?” Malika asked, sitting down beside her, and offering a freshly sliced apple.

“Argh! Yes,” Ali groaned, accepting a slice, and taking a moment to let the crisp crunch and the explosion of sweetness distract her from her frustration. “It’s like I’m trying to open a door, but the key just slips out of my grasp every time.”

“Mm. When I’m picking locks, I do it by feel,” Malika said, retrieving her lockpicks from her storage. “I can sense the shape of the lock, so I mold the shape of the pick to the lock first.” She illustrated her words by opening a prong from the kit and making it warp and reshape in the air. “Only when it is snug and tight do I give it a firm twist.” Malika poked the barrier, creating ripples in the middle of the air. “Not that magic works like that, I’m sure,” she said, glancing at her tools before putting them away.

“I never thought of it like that,” Ali said, wondering, her mind automatically trying to apply Malika’s perspective to the problem she had been facing.

“Not sure that helped.”

“Maybe,” Ali said. Could it be that simple? She summoned her mana again. This time, instead of trying to choose the perfect set of runes, she simply let the magic flow, filling the space in the barrier magic she now understood intimately. She let her magic seep through it, filling the cracks like Naia crawling through a small crevice. She filled every gap and crook in the surface of the formation. And then she gave it a firm tug.

Something snapped, and an explosion of golden sparks cascaded from a small tear in the surface of the almost invisible barrier before slowly closing.

“Well, that seemed to do something,” Malika said, excitedly.

“But it didn’t last,” Ali said, pressing her lips together. Although, she should be happy because that was the first time she had gotten any reaction from the strange barrier magic in the last several hours. Then her notification chime sounded, startling a small squeak out of her.

Malika arched an eyebrow at the sound.

Ali blushed furiously. She was quite sure serious magic-users did not make sounds like that. “One moment, notification.”

Requirements met for skill advancement.

Mentor: Clarence.
Arcane Insight has reached level 40.
Intelligence has surpassed 600.
Synergy: Runic Script has reached at least level 30.
You have used Magical Analysis on a grand formation.
You have analyzed Arcane Disruption magic.
You have studied advanced theories of magic.
You have successfully damaged a standing magical formation.

Arcane Insight gains Dismantle.
Arcane Insight gains the Knowledge and Intelligence traits.

Arcane Insight – level 40
You can see mana. 
Mana: Dismantle or dispel an existing magical construct, formation, or effect, provided you understand it.
Arcane, Knowledge, Perception, Intelligence

Accept this advancement?

“This might be just the thing…” Ali said, sharing the notification with Malika.

“Perfect for becoming a magical locksmith?” Malika grinned.

“Hey!”

The moment she accepted the offer, her view of the extraordinary construct of mana before her dramatically sharpened. Details she had barely been aware of suddenly popped out, crystal clear as her skill adjusted to the addition of a second attribute of scaling.

“Whoa, I can see…”

“Nice change?”

“Very,” Ali said, standing up and reaching toward the barrier. The moment her fingertips felt the smooth, slippery wall, she used her new Dismantle ability. Mana flowed through her into the barrier, much like she had done manually earlier, but the scale and speed of it were on another level. Arcane runes flickered and twisted in a rapid torrent, assembling a structure of complexity matched only by the barrier itself. The golden magic flowed outward, covering several meters of the surface of the barrier, seeping into it, until she intuitively understood it was ready.

She pulled.

The entire surface of the barrier structure quivered. A blinding surge of mana cascaded through the barrier and a single large rune detonated. The shockwave slammed point-blank into her chest, flinging her across the clearing like a boneless ragdoll. But before she had even hit the ground, she felt Malika’s hands cradling her body while her healing magic rushed through her, repairing her injuries.

“You ok?” Malika asked.

“Ugh, nasty,” she groaned, struggling to make her voice work again. A little more healing mana pulsed through her, and she sat up from the ground where Malika had placed her, looking over at the shimmering barrier slowly recovering from the jagged tear she had ripped through it, now over twenty meters away. “Yes, I think so,” she finally answered. “Thanks for catching me.”

“What happened?”

“I removed one of the runes, and it reacted to defend itself,” Ali said, her mind replaying that incredible surge of mana, lighting up hidden runes within the formation. “I don’t think that thing is a barrier,” she said.

She had assumed the construct was a barrier, but hampered by the sheer complexity of the structure, and the proliferation of the indecipherable runes, she hadn’t realized what it really was. In the instant of detonation, she had seen the powerful layered structure of the formation reacting defensively to her intrusive Dismantle and, in that moment of explosive inspiration, she had realized there was vastly more to this construct than she had thought. However, what exactly it was for completely eluded her.

And most of it is not even here, she realized. It was as if she was studying just a small part of a larger edifice of magic, and without the other pieces, there was no way for her to truly divine its full purpose. I wish I had brought my books. She felt a powerful need to consult with her mother’s magical insights, but she had left Clarence in the library under Ryn’s care because she couldn’t put him in her storage ring.

She got up, testing her newly healed limbs, and walked slowly back to the barrier, which was once again smooth, unblemished, and almost invisible.

“Be careful, Ali.”

“Oh, yes,” she murmured, deep in thought. “What is this thing?”

***

Ali’s awareness slowly expanded to include the ground, the trees, and the quiet little camp her friends had built. Darkness had fallen, and everyone was asleep – only Calen and her minions remained awake, keeping watch. She was finally done reanalyzing the powerful magical array before her, and what she had found was profoundly disturbing. She glanced down at her pages and pages of notes, recording every single rune and connection in perfect detail, the labor of several further hours of hard work.

She still did not have anything like a complete picture of what Nevyn Eld had wrought here, but there was no longer any doubt that it was his work. Having had her mental block of believing it was merely a complex barrier explosively removed, she had studied it with fresh eyes, an advanced Arcane Insight, and a curious mind. What she had found filled her with vague dread, and an uneasy premonition that what she studied was vastly more nefarious than the simple bone altar she had destroyed.

What horrors are possible with a grand array of necromancy? In a fresh dungeon.

The magic was hard-wired into the domain, drawing heavily from the dungeon itself to power the array. The barrier effect was almost an accident of its obscure main function, but she knew the twisted formation was related somehow to the souls of the dead. She just couldn’t figure out the precise connection, so much was still missing from her understanding.

“Is it as bad as you thought?” Calen asked, his voice soft and quiet so it didn’t carry far in the night.

“Much worse, I think,” Ali answered truthfully, massaging her temples for a moment. Her head felt as if someone had filled it with hot sand. “I still can’t tell what it’s for, but whatever it is, Nevyn Eld spent an enormous amount of time and energy on it.” She gestured toward the invisible wall. “This thing is proof that his final objective was not Aman Rak. The scope is too large – he is merely using this dungeon as a source of magic to power something much more extensive. Lyeneru was right, we need to learn more. The fate of the world – no, the entire realm – might be at stake.”

It was a shocking realization; Nevyn Eld had destroyed an entire troll kingdom to create a power source for his vast magical construct. She didn’t fear for the other troll kingdoms along the Dol Kerriadh mountains – she feared for everything. Is he trying to unleash another Breaking?

Calen just nodded, as if he was unsurprised. He had personally seen the Lich though, and talked extensively with the Pathfinders about this quest, so perhaps he had already come to a similar conclusion.

“When we’re done, we need to show this to Nathaniel Sunstrider,” Ali said, closing her notebook and putting it away. Her misgivings about the elf notwithstanding, the Council of Archmages needed to see this. “At least I think I can dismantle this piece safely now.”

She dropped her Inspiration and began to work, tracing the pathways until she found the key rune. It would take some time to unravel, and if she had understood the proper order – the proper sequence to dismantle it – it should all come undone without the mana feedback that had caused it to backfire so catastrophically the first time.

However, knowing she was right in theory, and standing before the barrier that had detonated in her face were not the same things. Her hand trembled a little, and she summoned a barrier of her own, protecting her face and chest.

“Maybe step back a little? Just in case?” she said. Calen’s body suddenly shimmered, growing indistinct and vanishing from her mana sight as he backed off a little way.

Ali took a deep breath and began. Her mana flowed outward, pouring onto the barrier, and crystallizing into a complex golden formation that sparkled in the darkness of the night. She kept a tight leash on her magic, restricting it to just the key rune she had identified, and nothing more, and when she was certain she had it shaped correctly, she locked it in and pulled.

Her heart raced as her magic punched through the key rune, sending a cascade of golden tendrils through the nearby structures, dissolving and dismantling connections in an instant. The necromantic barrier surged in response, wavering and shimmering, but to her intense relief, the ripples faded without feedback, and it settled down, stabilizing with a small hole – a gap in the formation about the size of her fist.

She released the breath she hadn’t known she was holding, and cracked her neck, releasing some of the tension she had been unconsciously holding, and then she started again, tracing the formation backward to the next key rune.

She had to pause to regenerate her mana several times over the next hour, but eventually, her magic pierced the final key rune, and the entire structure shivered, giving off an audible sound, not unlike a sigh. The entire barrier across the path collapsed in on itself, magic vaporizing in puffs of unbound mana, sparkling as it dissolved into the air. A smell, halfway between ozone and decaying flesh billowed out as the barrier unraveled in an accelerating cascade until nothing was left except the open path forward and the clouds of mana and smoke slowly drifting away on the soft breeze.

“It’s done,” she said.

“Mato left a little food for you, he thought you’d be hungry when you finished,” Calen said pointing to the pot kept warm near the cookfire coals.

At the mention of food, Ali realized that she was ravenous, and hopped over to the fire to fill a bowl with the divine-smelling stew Mato had made for dinner. Ever since he had learned to use dungeon-grown ingredients, his cooking had grown by leaps and bounds. She had seen him gathering plants in this dungeon already and, judging by the heavenly aroma, he had found something enticing.

I hope I can grow whatever this is, she thought, inhaling deeply, and then sampling the first bite.

She was just sitting down to tuck in when a familiar prickle of alertness thrummed through the back of her mind – a faraway pulse, strumming at her nerves like guitar strings. Her awareness instantly shifted to the small cave with the ventilation shaft leading down to the ruins of the ancient city of Dal’mohra and the Abyssal Stalker boss she had created to guard the area. Her remote senses filled with the smell of fresh blood, and the strangely augmented vision of the demonic spider that lurked in the darkness.

A veritable horde rushed into the cave, dark figures she couldn’t smell. Undead! Skeletons of wolves and Kobolds, zombie bats, in fact, a broad sampling of the monsters she had made throughout her dungeon poured in through the small opening. But it wasn’t just undead, behind the horde came the recognizable figures of Seth, Willow, Teagan, and Braden. And keeping himself back behind the combat adventurers, hiding against the rocky walls, Basil crouched, quickly decanting a glowing liquid essence into a vial charged with some black, bubbling tar.

Her Abyssal Stalker dropped from the ceiling, spraying demonic web across the invaders and unleashing an Ambush on Braden from behind. Blood sprayed into the air, but in an instant the room was lit by a glowing, shifting beam of green energy from Teagan’s hand – energy that healed Braden and bounced, cascading to Willow’s companion wolf. Braden downed a vial of something and shouted, spinning to attack.

Vampire Hornets burst from the Stalker like a storm cloud.

“Willow!” Basil called, raising the vial in an outstretched hand.

“Thanks,” she said tersely, grabbing the offering and lobbing it across the room with a swift overhand throw. The vial shattered on the stone, detonating in a blast of hellfire that ripped through the swarm of hornets.

Wow! Basil! That’s new, Ali thought, glancing at the unassuming plant-loving boy cowering in the corner, already decanting a new concoction.

An unfamiliar magic settled onto her Abyssal Stalker, coming from Seth, and then the entire horde of undead launched their offensive, each strike flickering with a recoil of magic rebounding from the stalker.

A new curse? Ali would have to ask him about it when she returned. It seemed to be healing everyone that hit the stalker, but she couldn’t quite make it out remotely through the senses of her monster. But it seemed like their group was well prepared to face her dangerous demonic guardian.

Ali reluctantly released her connection, leaving the adventurers to their fight so that her attention wouldn’t diminish their experience. They must be hoping to reach level thirty. A win here would gain them the privilege of silver rank at the guild and unlock a new skill slot.

As she sat and savored Mato’s creation, she found the hours of study beginning to catch up with her, and she found herself nodding off in the quiet of their camp, lit only by the glowing coals of the cookfire.

“Why don’t you get some sleep? You worked on that barrier for ages,” Calen said. “I’ll keep watch.”

“Yes, I think I might,” Ali said. She finished up quickly and turned in, falling asleep almost immediately.

Seth

Seth studied the delicate silvery runes traced out in the obsidian floor of the teleportation room down below the guild hall – they were quite spectacular in design, and Ali had reportedly crafted the entire thing from memory. On his finger was his shiny new silver guild ring – the reward for their successful defeat of the Abyssal Stalker.

Willow and Teagan had immediately departed to hunt down Weldin Thriftpenny to turn their loot into coin, but Seth was less interested in the outcome of that. They had discovered some interesting mushrooms in the cave and their haul had included a lot of that annoying demonic webbing the Stalker had used incessantly. But the biggest surprise had been the three slivers of Abyssal Bloodstone Willow had pried from the back wall – an obscure form of magicite, but it should still fetch a tidy sum when sold. Seth put it out of his mind; he trusted his teammates to be fair with his share.

His new ring was supposed to be his key to entering the library whenever he wanted. Not that the guild barred him from going whenever he asked, but it required Mieriel, the Guildmaster, or Ryn to transport him there unless Ali and her group were around.

But now he had his own key, and with that came a whole lot of freedom. Not only was the teleporter the gate to the library, and all the books within it, but it also had the teleportation circles Ali had made to Volle, Vertias, and Naia’s slime dungeon.

He stored the job slip and stepped into the teleportation circle.

Accept teleportation to the Dal’mohran Grand Library Arcana?

He accepted, and instantly he was in the library, silent now that it was the middle of the night, with the only movement coming from the slowly drifting wisps circling the massive tree and the nocturnal hunting of the golden dragonets searching for insects.

He searched the inlaid electrum circles till he found the one leading to Vertias. Somehow, Mieriel had figured out how to get job listings for the distant Torian city – presumably by using the teleport circle, just as he was doing. But it was a rather enormous boon for him, personally; he didn’t need much sleep anymore, and so he took night jobs to make a little more money and experience. Although tonight’s quest was a job from Lydia Avery – the tailor wanted someone to collect a rare kind of spider silk – the perfect job, no talking to any people required.

He appeared in an echoingly empty chamber with nothing but a teleportation locus inscribed on the ground and a sleepy Torian guard at a desk.

“Good evening,” he said, hoping that the night watch would not have the skills to identify his mana affinity.

“Evening,” the guard said, nodding.

Seth walked out into the darkness and quickly made his way out of the city, meeting almost nobody along the way. As soon as he was out of sight of the walls, he dropped several stored corpses on the ground and raised them as skeletons, and then set off to find the forest grove of the Shimmerweb Spiders.

I wonder if Ali would like some? They probably wouldn’t make good minions – his research had proven they posed little danger to a silver rank – but she seemed to like placing monsters that could be used by the town crafters for raw materials. He considered it for a while as he strolled through the darkness in the forest, and by the time he saw the sheets of shimmering web draped from the trees he had decided it wouldn’t hurt to save a few corpses for the dungeon, even if it meant the easy coin from this job dried up. Yes, she’d like a few of these.

There are always new jobs, he decided. He preferred variety anyway; experiencing new things was one of the reasons he was learning to appreciate his class.

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