by A F Kay
Ruwen tried to turn his himself around, but with both ankles trapped, he couldn’t move. He twisted his neck around to see how Sift was doing. The tree had caught fire, and he could feel the heat from it on his face. He immediately turned off Detect Temperature as it hurt to look at such a massive blaze with it on. With his normal vision returned, he gasped at how far the fire had spread. Almost the entire clearing behind him burned.
The Mage lay on the ground, a wand in each ear and in both eyes. His information was grey. A body hung from the branches, completely engulfed in flames. The fire made it impossible to read the Assassin’s stats, but since his whole body was on fire, Ruwen put him in the dead category as well.
Clapper still had one hundred and nineteen Health points but seemed more interested in getting out of the fire than fighting Sift. But Sift, most of his body on fire, kept Clapper under the tree. The Chief had lost his weapons and fought with his hands. Sift didn’t seem to mind that his opponent had four arms. Clapper spent fifteen seconds throwing everything he had at Sift, but the young man moved between the punches like water over a rock. Only once did Sift have to use his hand to redirect a blow.
Sift signaled to him. Done?
Surprised that Sift could talk while fighting, Ruwen signed back. Yes.
Sift stepped forward and snapped Clapper’s neck. The Chief Clapping Brawler went limp, and his information turned grey.
Sift signed. Remove. Wax.
Safe?
Sift gestured at the gigantic fire. Ruwen pulled the wax out of his ears and pulled the scarf off his nose and mouth.
Flames covered most of Sift’s body, and Ruwen had to squint to look at him.
“You could have helped me this entire time and didn’t?” Ruwen yelled.
“You have to significantly participate in the level to get any experience. Blapy doesn’t like power leveling, and killing Shriekers doesn’t count. When I saw the little Fighter was still alive, I couldn’t risk intervening. If I had, Blapy might have materialized something really dangerous in here to teach me a lesson. And in case you forgot, I don’t get a second chance.”
Ruwen hadn’t forgotten, and it made him feel bad for accusing Sift. It didn’t surprise him that Blapy didn’t like power leveling. Dungeons were supposed to be dangerous, and everyone needed to be at risk.
Ruwen opened his Void Band and then grabbed the sole remaining Floating Clasper Sucker by its edge and removed the grass. He dropped it in the Void Band, carefully added the Booming Egg, and then closed his Void Band.
A pair of underwear appeared on the ground between them, followed by a mound of gold coins, and then a spear with a black shaft and a tip that looked like glowing quartz.
“Great, your fire must have burned my clothes. How does she always know when I’m out of underwear?” Sift asked.
“You’re naked under those flames? You have a real problem.”
“Listen, I can’t be invisible with them on. What would you do if you saw a floating pair of underwear? That’s hard to ignore.”
Ruwen didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled a pair of underwear from his Void Band, balled them up, and threw them at Sift.
“Thanks!” Sift said, holding them away from his burning legs and chest.
“Wash those before you give them back.”
A leather bag appeared next to the gold mound of Sift’s treasure.
“Well, it looks like she thought you did enough,” Sift said. “Hey, did you complete that quest in time?”
The quest. Had he completed the quest? His stomach turned with anxiety as he opened his notifications.
Chapter 34
The first notification was for his staff skill increasing.
Shing!
You have advanced a skill!
Skill: Staff
Level: 4
Effect: Increase damage by 2.0%.
The next one was for his dagger skill.
Shing!
You have advanced a skill!
Skill: Dagger
Level: 2
Effect: Increase damage by 1.0%.
His anxiety growing, he opened the next one.
Ting!
You have completed the Black Pyramid Quest – Lend a Hand (Level 3).
You have received 15 Black Pyramid tokens
You have received 1,250 experience.
Relief flooded through him. With a grin, he opened the final notification.
Ding!
Uru’s Blessings, Worker! You have reached level 5.
You have gained +1 to Strength!
You have gained +1 to Stamina!
You have 2 unassigned points.
Uru’s Blessings, Root! You have reached level 5.
You have 2 unassigned points.
New Spells and Abilities are available to you. Choose wisely.
He’d done it. The fear of failure drained out of him, and his hands shook.
“Are you okay?” Sift asked as he knelt in front of the pit.
“I made it. I’m level five.”
“Gratz, my friend. You really know how to cut it close.”
“I don’t do it on purpose, believe me.”
“Let’s get you out of that trap.”
Ruwen held up two fingers. “Traps. There’s one on each ankle.”
Shift shook his head and started clearing the top of the trap away. Ruwen couldn’t help because it hurt to move, so he opened his log to see how much experience he’d gained.
The Exploding Burrowers were each worth around 79 experience. But he was only getting 17 of that because of Sift took 78% of it. Between the five hives though, he had killed 137 of them, and that added up. But he’d gotten the experience all at once, right after the last hive had been destroyed. Each Exploding Burrower death was in his log, but the experience said ‘Deferred’ and that the hives were part of a ‘Nest.’ In fact, it looked like if he hadn’t destroyed the last hive, he wouldn’t have gotten any experience at all. Thankfully, the fifth hive had granted him two thousand three hundred twenty-nine experience and put him at nine thousand eight hundred eighty-seven of ten thousand. The quest had added another one thousand two hundred fifty and leveled him.
The last part of the log had more of the deferred verbiage.
A Clapping Brawler, Fighter (Level 6) has died!
You have gained 175 (795*(22% level modifier)) experience!
< Clapping Brawler, Fighter (Level 6) is a member of a War Party (1 of 5)>
The Assassin and the Mage had similar entries. He found where he’d killed the Fighter.
You have killed a Clapping Brawler, Fighter (Level 4)!
You have gained 39 (176*(22% level modifier)) experience!
< Clapping Brawler, Fighter (Level 4) is a member of a War Party (4 of 5)>
A Clapping Brawler, Chief (Level 7) has died!
You have gained 234 (1,063*(22% level modifier)) experience!
< Clapping Brawler, Chief (Level 7) is a member of a War Party (5 of 5)>
A War Party has been destroyed!
You have gained 555 (2,524 *(22% level modifier)) deferred experience!
It appeared that the five Clapping Brawlers were part of a group, and you only got experience if you killed them all.
That disappointed him. He had thought about farming the Exploding Burrowers for the experience. Most people who came to fight in Blapy were high enough level that the two thousand three hundred experience on level three wasn’t worth the two hours. For him though, especially if he could do it himself and avoid the power-level penalty, that experience would catapult him in levels. But if the last hive was always above the Clappers, which he suspected would be the case, he couldn’t do it by himself.
It did explain why he hadn’t gotten experience from killing Naktos’s servant in the park in Deepwell. The Mage must have been part of the larger group trying to kill him. It didn’t explain why the deferred message didn’t appear in his log though. Maybe parties made from people d
iffered from those of monsters. He’d ask Ky about it.
Ruwen closed the log.
Sift had cleared the area around Ruwen, and he looked down at what had latched onto his feet. Sharpened branches from the trees around them had been fashioned into traps resembling open mouths, and he had stepped into two of them.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the traps?” Ruwen asked.
“They’re new and so was the Assassin. Blapy must have really wanted us dead. Or she is warning us about our level difference.”
“I’m going with dead.”
“That Assassin was especially nasty. This area is too big for me to sift well, and that Assassin would have ambushed me. I'm too relaxed in these early levels. Good job spotting him.”
Sift’s offhand praise made Ruwen feel good. He belonged in a library, not fighting dungeon monsters, and being barely helpful in these levels was hard for him. It also said a lot about Sift that he admitted to missing the Assassin’s presence.
Sift walked over and picked up the Staff of Chimes where it had landed when Ruwen fell into the trap. He spun the weapon in a fast circle, and the chimes sounded as if they were in a howling wind.
“You do understand weapons work better when you hold them,” Sift asked.
Ruwen glared at him.
Sift spun the staff behind his back. “Because you are either dropping them or purposefully missing enemies with them.”
“Hey! That was planned.”
Sift walked back to Ruwen. “Another thing. Your plans are terrible.”
“It worked!”
“My favorite part was when you caught your dagger.”
Ruwen’s cheeks grew warm. “Well, that part could have gone better.”
Sift smiled. “It was actually really clever. Except for stabbing yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“So were your bombs. Overkill to use the entire jar of Spitter snot, but I’m guessing you didn’t know how powerful it was.”
“And I didn’t have much time.”
Sift stabbed the staff down into the pit and triggered each of the remaining traps. Once they were all sprung, he jumped down and pried open the traps that held Ruwen.
Ruwen pulled himself out of the hole and rubbed his ankles. Sift handed him back his staff.
“Since you leveled, we’ll spend the rest of the day doing Step work,” Sift said.
Ruwen nodded, stood, and put the staff back in its harness. He walked over to the leather bag, knelt, and dumped it out. A ring, a green shirt, and a pair of green pants tumbled out. The ring’s silver band had tiny Exploding Burrowers surrounding it, each of their wings colored an iridescent pink. He picked it up and opened up the notification.
Tring!
The Black Pyramid has rewarded you…
Name: Ring of Exploding Regeneration
Quality: Fine
Durability: 18 of 18
Weight: 0.1 lbs.
Effect (Passive): +1 to Health, Mana, and Energy every second.
Description: The power of the hive has burrowed into your Regeneration pools. Don’t let your tiny pools keep you down. It’s not the size of your pools that matter, it’s how you use them.
His Rock Serpent Ring of Health was on his right hand, so he slipped this ring on his left next to the Jaga Wedding Band. Just like before, the ring shrunk until it fit snuggly on his finger.
He opened his Profile and looked at the Regeneration section.
Health Regen: 1.31
Mana Regen: 1.45
Energy Regen: 3.60
The +1 made a gigantic impact on his Regeneration rates. Even with the Health ring, his Health pool was the smallest of the three, and it received the largest benefit from this new ring. With a 3.60 per second Regen rate, he would go from empty to full in just under two minutes! Before it would have taken eight minutes. This benefit would taper off as he gained more levels, but right now, it made a huge difference.
He closed the Profile and looked down at the bright green long-sleeved shirt. It had four handprints, shaped like a flower, in the middle of the chest. The softness of the cloth surprised him.
Tring!
The Black Pyramid has rewarded you…
Name: Clapper Skin Undershirt
Armor Class: 25
Quality: Uncommon
Durability: 50 of 50
Weight: 2 lbs.
Effect (Passive): Repel Exploding Burrowers.
Effect (Triggered): Shirt will halve bleed effects up to 4 times per day.
Description: Will apply direct pressure on a bleeding wound. Perfect for those who could use a helping hand. You need four.
He whistled when he saw the AC of the shirt. Then he realized what he’d done and looked up at Sift. Sift glared at him.
“Sorry,” Ruwen said.
“What was so good?” Sift asked.
“The AC on this shirt is twenty-five. That’s a lot of protection for underwear. I scanned the Worker abilities, and it doesn’t look like they get any proficiencies in Armor. Not even leather.”
“What about your Observer ones?”
“There was a leather one there. But I’m supposed to be a Worker. I really can’t be seen wearing leather without causing suspicion.”
“That makes sense. Once you get some Cultivation training, you won’t need armor.”
Ruwen’s stomach turned at the mention of the mysterious power inside him. “Well, I don’t see that happening any time soon.”
He picked up the pants. They were called Clapper Skin Long Underwear and had the same bright green color as the shirt. They didn’t have the hand-flower imprint and lacked the triggered effect to halve bleeding. They still resisted Exploding Burrowers and had the same excellent AC of twenty-five.
The two items tripled his Armor Class, but that was mostly because he only had two pieces with AC to begin with. His boots had five and his cloak ten. This would provide some sorely needed protection.
“Do you think they’re really made from Clapper skin? That’s kind of gross,” Ruwen said.
Sift rubbed his hand over the shirt. “But softer than I’d imagined.”
“Yeah, it does feel comfortable.”
“Well, they wouldn’t think twice about wearing your hands as a necklace. Shade’s first rule: you die how you live.”
“So you’ll die naked,” Ruwen said as he stood.
Sift punched Ruwen in the shoulder. “It’s never my fault!”
They laughed as Sift led them to his charred clothing. He retrieved his Traveler’s Belt and removed Io. Io must have made fun of Sift’s lack of clothes because Sift explained again how it wasn’t his fault. The tree still burned, but the grass had already turned to ash, and they made it to the exit safely. When Ruwen entered the tunnel, his wrist turned cold just like before. He looked down to see the Black Pyramid mark with a three under it.
Ruwen touched his wrist to the rock wall. “Naked’s room.”
A smoky grey rectangle appeared.
Sift shook his head. “That is so dangerous. That portal could go anywhere.” Sift’s eyes widened. “What if you walked in on a naked Fluffy. Oh, I dare you to walk through it.”
Ruwen hadn’t thought a door would appear. He’d just been making a joke. The thought of a naked Fluffy terrified him.
Sift narrowed his eyes. “If you stand there much longer, you’re going to lay an egg.”
“Are you calling me a chicken?”
“Shade’s first rule –”
Ruwen held up his hands. “Stop!”
Ruwen took a deep breath and then another. Please for the love of Uru don’t let there be a naked Fluffy on the other side of this portal.
Sift put his hands in his armpits and flapped his arms.
Ruwen stepped through the portal.
Chapter 35
Ruwen stepped into the hallway in front of Sift’s room, and relief flooded him. A moment later, Sift appeared out of another portal and looked disappointed when he saw Ruwen.
Sift shook his head. “It’s never my fault.”
Laughing, they walked into their room.
Ruwen spent the next three hours alternating between cramping muscles and frustration. Sift was supposed to be teaching him Steps, but instead, Ruwen just squatted in place and did a simple block and punch over and over again. At first, he wondered if Sift was upset with Ruwen’s joking and was punishing him. But it only took a moment of thought to realize Sift wasn’t that type of person.
“Isn’t this called Step training?” Ruwen asked.
Sift squatted across from Ruwen, doing the same block and punch. “Infants must learn to crawl before they can take their first step.” Sift smiled. “And imagine how hard it will be for a fish.”
Ruwen narrowed his eyes. “Are you calling me a fish?”
“No, probably more like a snail. It matches your speed.”
“Hey!”
Sift laughed. “You’re doing fine. It took me –”
Sift suddenly stopped talking. A heartbeat later, Sift leaned forward while kicking backward with his right leg. Ky appeared out of thin air, stepped to the side, and grabbed Sift’s leg, twisting it. Sift turned his body to keep his leg from snapping and aimed his left foot at Ky’s head.
Ky let go of Sift’s leg and crouched, letting the kick go over her head. She punched at Sift’s exposed back, but the young man continued his twist and did a half cartwheel to end up on his feet.
“Glad you’re back, Mistress,” Sift said.
“You let me get too close,” Ky said.
“I know.”
Ky lashed out with a right jab to Sift’s chest. Sift trapped her hand against his chest and used his other hand to grab her elbow. Ky quickly stepped forward and swept Sift’s feet. Sift released Ky and used his free hands to break his fall and maneuver away from Ky.
Ruwen had been on the losing side of a few fights and watched many others. The fighters usually had their hands up to protect their face. Ky and Sift stood a few feet apart from each other with their arms at their sides. They both looked relaxed.