There was dirt, moisture, and there were rocks. He honed in on the moisture and gave it all of his focus. Breck felt the wet ground as if he still had his appendages. He tried separating the water from the earth, attempting to focus only on the liquid. When he thought he had it, he imagined breaking it down into essence, remembering how he felt when floating through space a few weeks prior.
Nothing happened at first and he thought he was doing something wrong but then it happened. The water he was seeing turned into a sparkling blue light, right in front of him. The light brightened as the water dried up. He successfully converted it into water essence.
Breck wasted no time and pulled the newly formed energy toward him. The water essence crashed into his opal and he allowed it to seep in through his cracks. Because of his tiny size, he was full almost instantly, so he compressed the new energy the best he could. Something clicked in his mind and he instinctively knew the essence was now part of him, part of his personal essence pool. He still had the issue of filling up so he flowed the essence out of himself to increase his field of vision and presence.
Converting moisture to water essence, pulling it into himself, compressing it, and converting it to personal essence went on for some time. Breck continued to expand his influence until the moisture was gone. When all was said and done, he could now see for a foot in all directions.
“Hey! That was amazing! I could actually taste the water essence. It was like the most crisp and freshest water I’ve ever had. Nothing back on Earth even came close to how good that tasted.” Breck was excited. He wasn’t used to much more than the government issued nutrient rich food back on Earth, except for a single cookie he ate before dying. If all the essence I absorb tastes like this, I’m going to eat everything!
“Fabulous job, Sir.” Jeeves complimented. “And you ranked up! You're now a beginner one Dungeon Core. Congratulations.”
That shocked Breck. “Wait. I ranked up? How can you tell?”
“If you look inside yourself, you should be able to see your rank. The same is true for any living thing.” As Jeeves was speaking, a spider was crawling across the ground within Breck’s area of influence. “Why don’t you try it on that spider. Just focus on it and imagine viewing its rank.”
Breck stared at the spider crawling across the ground. He gave it all of his attention as he tried thinking about what rank it was and, out of nowhere, he just knew. “The spider is beginner zero. Haha, take that spider! I’m a higher rank than you.” Breck turned his attention to his surroundings, looking for more things to test his new rank checking trick with when he noticed something odd. “Hey Jeeves. Why is all the grass around us dead?”
Jeeves moved his focus to the grass and examined it before responding. “It appears it's starving, Sir. You must have absorbed all the water around it and cut it off from any means of hydration.”
Hmm… Breck just got an idea. If I absorbed all the water, and the grass is now dead, does that mean I can absorb it? He turned his focus toward the browning grass and willed it to break down into essence. To his amazement, the grass converted into earth essence! As he pulled the new energy into him, he made note of something. There’s more than just earth essence here. I can sense trace amounts of water, light and life essence. And it feels GREAT! “Mmmmm.” He let out a moan of pleasure. “Jeeves. It tastes and feels amazing!”
“What does, Sir?” Jeeves questioned.
Breck just continued to pull in the essence, oblivious to any response he was receiving. He quickly filled his opal and began compressing and releasing it all. When he finished, his area of influence increased to almost two feet.
“Sir? Is everything ok?” Jeeves was getting worried. He’d never heard his master make such noises and thought Breck might be hurt.
“Everything is fine. Better than fine. Everything is great.” Breck looked around for any changes. His latest absorption session caused the surrounding grass to vanish into him. All that was left was cracked hard dirt. “I managed to absorb all the grass around us after draining it of water.” Breck focused inward to see if his rank had changed. It delighted him to see that his rank was now beginner two. “I’ll be back home in no time if I keep ranking up like this.”
“Unfortunately, the ranks get steadily harder to achieve, Sir.” Jeeves attempted to control Breck’s excitement.
Breck imagined a frowning face and mentally sent the image to Jeeves. He knew it worked because Jeeves exhaled in defeat. “What’s next? Should I just keep absorbing things?”
“No, Sir. As you absorb things, you should be gaining the knowledge of those things. Think about the water or grass, do you better understand them now?”
Breck thought about the water he absorbed. He remembered the feeling of the cool liquid as it broke down into essence. The chemical makeup of the liquid then flashed in his head. I think I already knew that. Maybe if I push a bit harder. He intensified his focus and made a breakthrough. The knowledge of condensation, the formation of rain clouds, the flow of rivers and the ocean’s tides, just to name a few, were present in his mind. He didn’t know everything about the clear liquid but he now knew much more than he knew before. There were still holes in his new knowledge, but he hoped after absorbing more that he could fill in the blanks. Focusing on the grass brought similar new knowledge to his brain and by understanding both water and grass, he now understood how grass broke down water to survive. “I get it now. The more I absorb, the more I learn.” He paused and Jeeves took over the conversation.
“The more you learn, the more you will rank up. Better yet Sir, the more you know, the more you can create.”
“Create?” Breck immediately asked.
“Yes, Sir. If you understand how something works, you should be able to recreate it using your personal essence. Creation is one of the key roles of a Dungeon Core. Do you want me to tell you how?”
Breck sent the image of a wide grin and a pair of hands rubbing together. “Jeeves. Tell me everything!”
CHAPTER FOUR
Enter the Hero
>>ALERT<< >>ALERT<< >>ALERT<< A BURST OF MAGICAL ENERGY HAS BEEN DETECTED. A large map hanging on the wall was speaking in a computerized voice. The map covered a large area of Acarian. At the top was a sign that read ‘Solaris Adventurer’s Guild’.
“Hmm…” A man wearing a long blue robe was reviewing the large map. He lifted his hands, and blue arcane circles encompassed them. The circles moved with his hands as he manipulated the display in front of him. Turning his left hand caused everything to zoom in and moving his right caused the view to shift around. After a moment he had honed in on a blinking red dot. Before he could examine it, the wooden door to the room opened and a man wearing a knight's armor walked in.
“What is it, Isaak?” The knight spoke as he examined the map for himself.
Isaak zoomed out so they could see more of the surrounding area before he spoke. “Hello Master Alcot. The system has detected an anomaly nearby. There appears to have been a large burst of magical energy. I’m still assessing the amount of energy detected, but it was brief and faded quickly.” He moved a few fingers on his left hand and the arcane circle surrounding it turned white. Turning that hand now caused transparent windows to appear that overlaid the map. The windows were composed of pure energy and all of the information contained within them appeared to be on fire slightly.
Alcot stroked his long black beard as he reviewed the new information being displayed. “Could it have been a glitch in the system?” he asked skeptically.
Isaak scoffed. “The system us map mages designed is without fault. How dare you insinuate otherwise.” There was a slight venom to his voice. Then he realized who he was talking to and cowered slightly before adding in a sheepish voice, “I’m sorry, Sir. I meant nothing by that. There was a lot of time, research, and mana invested in the system. If it detected a burst of magic, it wasn’t wrong.”
The knight looked disapprovingly at Isaak but swallowed his anger. “Thank you
for the clarification. Come to my office when you have analyzed the information and have a location. It appears to have happened within our territory, so I will gather a party to investigate.” Alcot walked to the door.
“Yes, sir. Right away, sir. It won’t take me long.” Isaak’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
Before Alcot left the room, he looked back at the map mage and added, “And Isaak.” Isaak turned to face him. “If you ever speak to me like that again, I won’t hesitate to remove you from your position and expel you from the guild. You know what happens to guild rejects, don’t you?” Sweat and tears were streaming down from Isaak’s apologetic looking face. “Good.” With that, Alcot left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Alcot sighed as he walked down a cobblestone hallway illuminated by glowing stones resting inside iron lanterns hung from the ceiling. It was a short walk for him to reach a set of double doors with armed guards on either side. Each guard was wearing a full set of chain mail armor sporting a halberd. When he got close to the doors, the guards opened each closest to them.
The doors opened to reveal a large rectangular room with the wall farthest from the door being a half circle covered by windows. There was an ornate red carpet with gold trim leading from the doorway to a large dark wooden desk. On one side of the desk was a set of four carved chairs, each angled so the occupants could see each other and whoever sat behind the massive piece of office furniture. On the side closest to the windows, there was another carved chair, but this one had red padding covering it. The stuffed heads of conquered monsters and foes covered each wall. In the center of the room there was a large coffee table with long couches on two of its sides.
As Alcot walked in, a man wearing a white linen shirt and brown pants ran up to him. He was holding the medieval equivalent of a clipboard, basically a sanded down thin board that contained an inkwell. “Is there anything you need, sir?”
Alcot looked at the man and nodded. “Yes. I have a quest to issue, Willard.” Willard began writing on a piece of parchment attached to his clipboard. “The quest is open to any rank of adventurer, it will be limited to a single party and list it as an exploration quest.”
“Very good, sir,” Willard began. “What is the quest’s title and description?”
“Title it, information gathering and for the description, write that the party who accepts the quest will receive further instructions from me personally.” Expecting Willard’s follow up question, Alcot added, “It will pay four gold and twenty guild points.” Willard quickly added this to the parchment. “Oh, I almost forgot. List it as an urgent quest. I want a party in my office before nightfall.”
Willard finished writing and looked up at Alcot. When he spoke, it was with a hint of fear. “I don’t mean to offend or question your wisdom, but don’t you think four gold is a bit high? Four gold is enough for a full party to live comfortably for a month.”
Alcot sighed. This was the second time today that someone spoke back at him or questioned his judgement and it was barely midday. He decided not to explode at Willard. The young page had been with him for the past few years and he had grown fond of the boy. Instead, he took a deep breath to quench his anger before responding. “I have my reasons, Willard. Please go post and announce the quest downstairs.”
Willard nodded his head furiously before bowing and departing. Alcot walked to, and sat behind, his desk, grabbing the first sheet of paper from the towering pile located in a small bin. He started reviewing the document as he let out another long sigh and muttered, “I hate paperwork” under his breath.
People gave Willard a wide berth as he ran down the hallway and various staircases. They all knew whose page he was and didn’t want to cross the head of the adventurer’s guild. The exit from the last staircase led him to the large meeting hall, where he hunched over out of breath. He looked around the grand room full of tables, chairs, and people. One side of the room held a large hearth with a counter near it that served as a bar. Another wall hosted a massive quest board at least fifteen feet wide and full of various requests. Two women wearing clothing similar to hotel staff sat behind a small counter. The staircase that Willard used connected to that particular counter, cutting its access off to the general public. A pair of guards stood at attention at the bottom of the stairs providing an added layer of security.
He walked down the last few steps until he was behind the small counter. He showed the two women his quest paperwork repeating what Alcot had told him. He was to announce the quest immediately and request that someone take the quest before nightfall. One woman sifted through a drawer and pulled out a small yellow orb that she handed to him. The orb had a swirling milky substance in the center, and Willard threw it in his mouth. As he chomped down on the marble sized orb, his entire body glowed yellow for a moment before fading. He coughed a few times to clear his voice and then spoke. His voice was now being enhanced by the orb and could easily be heard throughout the room.
“Hello, adventurers! I have a new and urgent quest from the mighty Alcot himself! This will be an exploration quest and the rewards are incredible, especially since it's open to all ranks!” He spoke the last two words slowly to emphasize them. “This is a first come, first served quest and is only open to a single party of adventurers. There aren’t too many details on the request, as Alcot will be speaking with the awarded party immediately. Since this is urgent, the guild master requests that the quest be taken before nightfall as time is of the essence. Do you have what it takes? I wish you all good luck!” He swung his arms open in a welcoming gesture before slapping the quest paper on the counter and meandering back up the stairs.
An eerie silence settled over the room as everyone contemplated what Willard said. They shattered the silence when everyone rushed to the counter to snatch the quest. Regardless of what it was, an audience with the guild master was unheard of and every adventurer in the room would be stupid for not jumping at the opportunity. No one saw or spoke to Alcot unless they were master rank or higher. He simply didn’t have the time or patience to deal with the lower ranks and left those tasks to his subordinates.
A young man was walking down the street and could hear the commotion coming from inside the guild hall. Judging by his appearance, the man was in his mid-twenties and had short, shaggy dark hair. He was wearing a beat up and torn leather chest piece that was a size or two too large for him. He had a short sword in a holster on his belt but the holster had a few patches on it where it had been previously repaired. A small copper coin with a hole in its center hung from the man's neck and it had the adventurer’s guild crest on it. The crest was a pair of dragons breathing fire, sitting back to back with an exaggerated sword running down the middle. The man continued to walk toward the source of the noise and strode into the guild hall when he arrived.
Why is everyone always fighting… the man thought as he walked to the guild board. Everyone in the room was crowding the guild counter slinging magic and clashing weapons. Best not to get involved and just grab a quick couple quests. Hopefully, I can complete them this time and earn some guild points and coins. I’m sick of eating just bread for every meal. I want some meaaaaaaaaat! He looked over the available quests that were posted with nails onto the board. Nothing was grabbing his interest, so he wanted to query one of the guild receptionists. He quickly discarded that idea after noticing the scuffle hadn’t stopped. Sighing, he sat at the closest table and sniffed a nearly full glass sitting in front of him. Recognizing the smell as a cheap guild ale, he drank away his disappointment, deciding to wait out the brawl so he could get to the counter.
Men and women were piling on top of each other as they ripped the quest sheet from each other's hands, none of them holding it long enough to accept it and bond it to themselves with essence. The people not close enough to get their paws on the actual quest were attacking and incapacitating the ones who could. A particularly large and muscular man got his grip on the paper and jumped from the counter into the air. H
e was soaring across the room before a cascade of magic and arrows crashed into him. The man fell and hit the table and bench hard. The young adventurer he had been biding his time with was sent flying across the room. He collided with a wall and fell to the floor. Everyone in the room pursued their assault on the bulky man, pushing each other aside to get to the precious sheet of paper.
Owww… That really hurt. He rubbed his head in pain before getting to a sitting position. When he was sitting cross-legged he noticed a piece of paper on the floor in front of him. Picking it up, he read it and his jaw dropped at the four gold payment listed for a simple exploration quest. He pushed a bit of his essence into the paper and his name appeared out of nowhere at the bottom of the paper one letter at a time. Pushing the coin that was around his neck against the square box at the bottom of the sheet confirmed his acceptance. The guild crest appeared in the square as he pulled his coin away and the line underneath read ‘ACCEPTED’.
It wasn’t long after that when the rest of the room noticed that the bulky man no longer had the quest paperwork and they panicked until one of them saw the young man across the room. The man who noticed him pointed and shouted, “There! The quest!” They all rushed over but their speed slowed when they noticed the quest sheet now held the guild crest, designating that the man had accepted it. Some contemplated killing him but violence against fellow guild members was strictly prohibited and if anyone found out, they would receive a severe punishment.
A woman wearing a white robe and holding a long gnarled staff stepped forward. “Zach! The beginner Zach got Alcot’s quest!?”
Zach looked up at her and cocked his head. “Uh… I guess…” He started sweating, not realizing this was a personal quest handed down by Alcot himself. Crap! I just saw four gold and that the quest was open to any rank. What the hell did I just sign up for?
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