by Ryan DeBruyn
He came down on his stomach, and all his held breath was forced out of him. He gingerly got to his feet and dusted himself off, muttering about, “ungrateful Dungeons,” under his breath. Then he climbed on to the raised, round dais in front of the shocked and confused but slowly growing crowd of forty infected.
He coughed into his hand to cover some of his embarrassment at what just happened. “Alright, everyone! Anyone who is currently doing nothing, I would like you all to gather around. I am going to try to teach you a skill that will make what just happened treatable. For anyone infected currently, I need you to pay extra attention and learn this now. We are going to start with Meditation.”
He sat down in a meditative posture and began explaining as best he could what the Samurai Training Scroll had taught him. He kept a calm and slow cadence to his speech, pulling from yoga and meditation videos he had listened to during his basketball career. He sat there for about half an hour until the very last of the infected raised a sweating hand joyously proclaiming that they had learned the Meditation skill.
Then he raised a hand and told them they were only halfway there and continued teaching them to sense their own Ether and how to begin circulating it through their bodies. It was frustrating work, mostly because of the unknown timer that hung over all of their heads. The first infected turned quickly, and Rocky had to surmise that it was because the rain was concentrated when compared to the bite.
As soon as people learned the skill, they were able to dump out their Ether. Rocky, who had since been hobbling around and helping each person individually with the exercises, tried desperately to explain the process over and over again, his mind in a fog. Unfortunately, time ran out for ten people, and when he saw them slump out of the meditative posture, he knew. With frustrated tears in his eyes, he decapitated each of the fallen so they couldn’t rise to attack their loved ones.
As soon as the last newly dead Zombie’s head hit the floor, Rocky fell to the ground like a stringless puppet and was asleep halfway to the floor.
Chapter Six
Rocky awoke after his first full eight hours of sleep in almost a week and wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. This was the first time in weeks he didn’t have to worry about the next monster attack or how to stay awake and scout. However, he had one of those headaches that spoke of oversleeping, and he knew he wouldn’t get back to bed. So, he stretched audibly and sat up.
A wolf skin blanket slipped off of his form, and he smiled, knowing he hadn’t had the cognitive process to pull it out the previous night. Sela must have come by and tucked him in. He quite literally was a few feet from his makeshift, pedestal stage. He must have passed out instantly upon completing the Meditation and Ether Manipulation training session.
He glanced up at his debuff bar and sighed with relief. Most of the debuffs had dropped off, and a few others had lost some stacks.
Debuffs
Skunk Shower
● You have been sprayed by an evolved monster, Peppy Le Skunk.
● Effects -50% Charisma.
● Lasts until treated.
Unclean x9
● You have not bathed or showered in over a week.
● Effects -30% Wisdom, -25% Charisma.
● +60% Chance of catching Disease.
● Lasts until showered or bathed.
Weakened Body
● Your body has been pushed beyond its current limits.
● -25% Recovery of Ether and Health.
Toxic Blood
● You have high PH levels in your blood due to high use of Alchemy Potions.
● -50% Effectiveness of Future Potions.
● Lasts 24 hours, will renew and increase every time a potion is used.
He had gained stacks of Unclean, which made him nervous, as the chance of disease had further increased, but in that same vein, he hadn’t really been given an opportunity to jump into a safe lake to bathe either. His Weakened Body had recovered slightly, and if he could go today without imbibing a potion, he would be free of toxic blood. The Skunk Shower probably required an Alchemy Potion to cleanse.
His Charisma stat being hampered by seventy-five percent wasn’t great and explained a lot of the strange looks he got. However, because of his Leadership class, his Charisma was far higher than it would have been anyway, so he took the reduction in stride.
He considered getting up and making breakfast, but before that, he should probably check his notifications. A quick thought brought up all the windows he’d skipped and minimized yesterday. He clicked recap to condense them.
For killing 1 Reptilian Creature: Level Master 25: Your group has been awarded 523,031 Etherience.
For killing 4 Mammalian Creatures: Level Journeyman 35-49: Your group has been awarded 322,200 Etherience.
For clearing an Arena Dungeon: Waves 1-15: Your group has been awarded 1,243,343 Etherience.
Your personal Etherience amounts to: 479,882 Etherience
For killing 1,043 Ether Warped Sapients: Level Apprentice 4-9: Your raid has been awarded 32,324,643 Etherience.
Your personal Etherience amounts to: 113,412.
51,809,737 Etherience remaining until level 23.
—
Congratulations! You have reached level 22! You have been awarded 1 Stat point and 1 Skill point.
51,809,737 Etherience remaining until level 23.
—
Congratulations! Your Soul Blade “Dark Tidings” has consumed enough souls to gain a level!
Dark Tidings – Soul Blade
Level 6
150/150 Ether Pool
The Strength of Arms VI
+12 Strength as long as the Blade has Ether from its pool to draw on. Unlock higher levels of your Soul Blade for more.
The Strength of Body VI
+6 Stamina as long as the Blade has Ether from its pool to draw on. Unlock higher levels of your Soul Blade for more.
* Dark Tidings refuses to absorb any more Golem Essence. Find it a new source of sustenance. *
* Dark Tidings has found its favorite sustenance. Sapient Essence will count double. *
—
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill!
Teaching
You have attempted to teach others and gained a skill for teaching. A good teacher forces a student to learn, a great teacher grows with them.
Weak – Each level increases the chance to impart the desired information to others.
Current rank Weak-Teacher Level 1
The first two Etherience gain summaries were from before the Dungeon, and he ran his tongue over his teeth. He’d managed to climb to level 22, which was good news and probably had done so before the bonus for the Dungeon completion.
He sobered from his momentary elation when he reached the final summary. Over a thousand people had died, and the system had just equated it to Etherience gains. The last notification mentioned that the Etherience had been split between the raid, and by his small portion, he assumed that everyone in the Dungeon had been somehow included.
Looking around the room, he realized that many of the remaining survivors looked slightly healthier, and he Analyzed a few just to check his hypothesis. The fact that they were all level 10 and above now confirmed it.
The first few kills had been shared between Sela, Zippo, Joe, Azoth, and himself. The rewards for killing Dungeon monsters and the Dungeon bonus had only been the four, not including Joe, but based off of the drastic increase in the remaining survivor’s levels, it would appear that the system had included everyone in the raid.
The Etherience being shared was similar to bailing water manually on the Titanic after it hit that iceberg, but it was something. The chocolate icing on top of the turd cake, so to speak. Rocky felt instant guilt at the thought that this was probably a better starting point for his Territory.
Maybe it's better to just hike the last leg and get into the Territory before eating breakfast? I mean, we have to be really close, and it would be mu
ch safer– Wait, what if that storm hit the valley?
He felt cold sweat break out all over his skin, and he shot to his feet, panic written across his face. Sela, who was nearby and was also just waking up, jumped. She stared at him with wide eyes, and after a moment of him standing stock-still, she asked, “What is it, Rockland?”
“That storm must have hit the Territory. What if we go back and all the people are–” Rocky’s throat closed at the horror of his realization.
Despite his panic, Sela yawned aggressively, smiled, and answered amusedly, “You are forgetting what I told you; Territories have Ether regulation in place, and the outer limits of the Territory would have warded off anything like that storm.” She stretched languidly before continuing in a serious tone, “However, those limits will erode in time if storms of that magnitude continue to strike.”
Rocky felt his shoulder drop away from his ears, and he sighed deeply as the fog of sleep cleared from his mind. He’d spent a grand total of perhaps a day in his Territory. He knew the Territory was one of his strongest assets because owning Algonquin Valley increased his stats gained per level from two to four. It also gave him the ability to promote its inhabitants to military ranks, which made their stats acquired per level rise from two to three. In essence, his Territory was going to make everyone in it stronger and safer by leagues.
He looked around again at the remaining survivors and grew gloomy, remembering his further failure to maintain his oath of the previous night.
It wasn’t like he would have been able to figure out that his Ether Manipulation skill had the potential it did without events playing out as they had, but that didn’t stop him from mourning the loss of so much life. He decided to start the day by trying to teach anyone who didn’t acquire the skill yesterday. Not only did this skill make it possible to cleanse the corruption from the Irradiated Ether, but it also increased the Ether gains per fight as well as lowered the personal Ether cost of skills. In summary, it was a great addition to anyone who was living in his Territory.
When he voiced his intention and asked for the military to gather everyone up and inform them of the session, Sela stood up and gave him a funny look. Then with shock and a little respect in her voice, she added, “I want you to know that in my day, you would be considered an idiot for sharing such a valuable skill and ability. This one skill would have set you apart from everyone in time, and you are just giving it away?”
Rocky took a deep breath, but Sela forestalled him with a raised finger; her eyes grew distant as she continued sadly, “I am not criticizing you! Truthfully, having this skill when I was alive would have probably saved my life.”
She paused to look up at the ceiling, and her voice grew angry, “Considering that many people within my guild were mighty, I doubt no one had discovered this skill. I can honestly say that I am conflicted because if that is true, my family let me die!”
Her head snapped down, and her eyes, filled with hurt, bored into Rocky. She continued after a moment, her voice filled with more emotion than Rocky could discern, “But I can’t help but think about ways to protect its secret from enemies…”
Rocky tilted his head, having not considered that this skill would be something that would make his enemies stronger if they learned it. Truthfully, he didn’t think he had any enemies. Right now, he was operating under the modus operandi of saving anyone he could and preventing the deaths of humans as a species. However, his most recent trip to Ottawa and Corsair’s evil spoke volumes about his innocent thoughts.
He opened his mouth, “How could you even protect something knowledge-based?”
Sela shook her head and forced a knowing smile. Her voice smoothed as she responded, “We should make forming a guild top priority. Then make this skill proprietary to the guild. If you do that, then anyone who leaves the organization would lose access to the skill and would be unable to teach it as well. Maybe have a chat with everyone this morning about the importance of not sharing it to bridge the gap?”
From Sela’s smile, Rocky could tell that she already had the last little speech planned before they had even started the conversation. He shook his head at her artful mastery of teaching in a way that allowed him to believe it had been him reaching a conclusion. In truth, she had reached the conclusion the previous day, and she knew Rocky was stubborn and had rightfully worried that telling him to be careful who he shared this with would make him obstinate. While he’d lost much of his naivety, he still operated on the belief that humans were one group, and they were all in this together.
After his speech and subsequent practice in Meditation, Ether Channels, and Ether Manipulation, Rocky walked to the entrance that everyone had entered through. The Dungeon had raised the door after the storm ended, but that didn’t mean that they could leave this way. A slowly draining pool of steaming, fluorescent blue water resided at the bottom of the entryway, and Rocky didn’t think swimming through Irradiated Ether would be safe, no matter how many people had learned the new skills.
Some people had still failed in the second session, and Rocky was beginning to see a correlation between people with a low Intelligence stat and failure to be able to sense the Ether inside or outside of themselves. They had all been able to learn Meditation, but a good thirty percent hadn’t been able to pick up the Ether Channels and Ether Manipulation skill yet.
Rocky assumed the group could wait out the evaporation and slow drain of the storm waters, but he also remembered the Dungeon mentioning a backdoor. So, he walked over to the repaired hole in the floor and asked, “Hey, Max, any chance you can open up the back door and let us leave?”
“I can… but since you owe me so much, I have a favor to ask you, Gladiator,” a bodiless voice spoke from everywhere in the cavern, which made all the survivors jump and look around. Rocky just recoiled and tilted his head, wondering where the Dungeon was going with this.
“You see… all of that corrupted Ether you brought in here, and the corrupted water in the entrance is slowly seeping into my constructed body. Now, I know how to cleanse my Ether already like you have shown everyone else. The problem is that I cleanse the Ether and the Irradiated Ether just seeps back into my body. This has also removed my ability to gather all of my Ether and move to a new location. So… I am hoping you can take my core and move me to a new area unaffected by that Ether Storm?”
Rocky easily heard the desperation in the Dungeon’s voice and inwardly smiled. Perhaps Maximus’ predicament was his fault, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use it to his advantage. Currently, Rocky was assuming that the nuclear meltdown in Chalk River was causing the Irradiated Ether as well as the storms. While he had no idea how he was going to stop it, he did know that he had to. First, his Territory was far too close to the site, and secondly, he had a quest because of Sela’s unique class!
Red Quest
Party Quest - Druid
Contain the Destruction
A location near your Territory has suffered an enormously destructive force which has warped the Ether. The outcome of this tragedy is yet unknown. Gaia wishes for you to examine or contain the potential threat this may pose.
Rewards:
Etherience
Crystallized Ether
Greater Territorial Perk
He looked over the quest again as he deliberated. The Dungeon interrupted him with a very helpful reminder, “Also, Gladiator, are you going to loot Monstar or are you just going to force me to look at his mutilated body until the elapsed time runs out and I can reabsorb him?” Rocky grimaced, having wholly forgotten the loot in the ensuing chaos.
I guess it was a little hectic after the win… The survivors rushed the court, so to speak!
His greed menagerie perked up excitedly as he walked over to the beach ball crushed corpse of the Spider. Wondering what type of loot the corpse held, Rocky touched it and mentally thought, “Loot.” A moment later, he was holding a silk robe of some kind and a gnarled staff. He used Analyze on them.
; Spider Silk Robe of the Arachnid
This robe was created from the silk webbing of Monstar the Spider, Arena Dungeon Stage 15 Boss Monster.
Quality: Great
Stats: Unknown
—
Staff of the Arachnid Eye
This staff uses an Eye of Monstar the Spider, Arena Dungeon Stage 15 Boss Monster, as its focus, with a carved staff of Elder Wood as its Ether pool component.
Quality: Great
Stats: Unknown
Once he read the names of both, he noticed that the staff had a round Spider eye clutched in a wooden carving of eight Spider legs. The robe was subtler, but it had a webbed pattern either woven or embossed on to it. They both made his skin crawl, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be getting them unlocked at the shop. If they were good items, perhaps Zippo could use them or some other caster in the Territory. Rocky stored them in his bag of holding.
Standing back up, Rocky dusted himself off and looked around the chamber, finding Azoth exploring the cave and many others looking at his group curiously. They could all hear one side of the conversation, but not his, so curiosity was natural.
“Don’t get used to that level of loot, Combatant. You were the first to clear my Dungeon, so I had to give you the good stuff,” Maximus the Dungeon huffily interrupted his thoughts as Rocky walked back in the direction of where his core was.
Boy, this guy sure is temperamental. It’s like he doesn’t trust us at all.
“Listen, Max, I can help you out, no problem, but the only safe place in the area is my Territory…” Rocky left the end of his sentence floating, hoping that the Dungeon would take the bait.