Dusk’s head bobbled out in front of me and his tail wound down part of my toga, ruffling it. It would take me weeks to get used to this larger form. Thankfully he’d chosen the covered shoulder to ride on. Those claws would hurt like hell on bare skin.
“You’re going to need to fly instead. You’re too big to keep climbing me,” I muttered.
Dusk snorted a small ring of smoke and looked around. The window above his head indicated a search for food. Even a bad-tasting monster carcass couldn’t keep his appetite at bay.
“How about sausages?”
He shook his head.
“Fine, cupcakes, but we’ve got to beat this dungeon tonight. I’m tired of being here, and Xin’s waiting for me out there,” I whispered in his ear. “And I’ve got a present for her. Something shiny and pretty.”
“Yeah. Good luck with that,” Knight Middleton said and snorted. I wondered how he’d heard me. Middleton must have exceptional hearing.
The [Messenger’s Pet] perked up, and a serious smile crossed its face. I rubbed between his ears slowly, feeling the trail of scales that went all the way down his back. Patting them directly irked the creature, but rubbing along the bumps and ridges always gained a happy response. Paying attention to him was far more comforting than the knight’s disdain and general hatred.
“Let’s go, little guy.”
Wyl glared at me, but his expression was a little less harsh than it had been. I shrugged and tucked back one cheek. William Carver’s [Legacy Wish] and [NPC Conspiracy] gave me a reason to care about this world, but now wasn’t the time or place to keep trying to break through the former guard captain’s skepticism. If I had come back up here more often, then perhaps we would be farther along, but running around for hours on end in a multiple-floor labyrinth was hard. [Sight of Mercari] didn’t come with a map of walls, and my journal entry filled in details gradually.
Dusk and I should make decent progress together. Afterward, Wyl could suffer my demands for information for days until the next dungeon or until Xin’s breakout plan went into action. Or I could work. Maybe Xin would call me outside the game again.
My playing for the past few days had primarily focused on getting used to these new boots and letting my summon skill come back up. When a [Messenger’s Pet] died or left Continue Online’s world, I apparently had to wait eight days to bring him back. The cooldown on this ability was suspiciously long. Maybe the Voice of Balance had changed the rules, or maybe there were a few more factors at play with the AI witch hunt back in reality.
I traveled down the first few floors of the giant spiraling staircase and prepared my weapons. Three days of sneaking, looting, and avoiding other players had helped get me back in the groove. As long as I avoided Android Seven, the player who had shot a hole through me, then we would be fine.
“I hate the darkness in this game. I hate it the most, I think,” I muttered. Having Dusk around prevented me from feeling utterly crazy.
The blackness where all those Voices lived was a little different. It was like… absence or an empty backdrop.
Here, the darkness felt oppressive. The ARC had picked up on an unquantifiable emotion that made me twitch the longer this place went on. Breathing was a little harder, but the impact sneaked up on me. The monsters were easy to disregard as minor creatures and yet disturbing as the lore stacked up. According to my system text, these humanoid creatures and small lab rats were part of an attempt at recreating a divine being. Those that failed were originally locked up but had somehow escaped and kept reproducing from fallen bodies across this dungeon and the one above it. In essence, tossing prisoners like myself into this dungeon was doing more harm than good. Players like my niece, Beth, were theoretically contributing to the pile and probably didn’t know.
Such boring thoughts kept me from going insane. Dusk and I scrambled through a few stray legless monsters as we made it to the next staircase.
“Don’t eat those.”
My warning resulted in Dusk making a grossed out face at the dead monster. Neither of us had enjoyed that mess. He had carried on barfing into my hot tub program, which somehow found itself activated. I’d disabled it and started fresh.
“I’d rather you get fat breaking into a bakery than barfing again.”
He looked at me and his eyes focused slowly. A box appeared.
Rank 3 Unlock – Blessing from [Messenger’s Pet] – [Companion, Exotic]. Unlock available! Please review additional details.
Rank 4 Unlock – Growth of [Messenger’s Pet] – [Companion, Exotic]. All stats will increase, including appetite.
“Wait, is this why you got bigger?” I asked.
Dusk nodded, then hopped up and down on my shoulder. He was impatient for baked goods and to see what this Blessing would be.
I looked around and pinged the area. There weren’t any players nearby. Most of them were dead except Big O’s group, Android Seven, and Viper. We had a few seconds to spare before diving into the heart of this twisted blacklit dungeon. My eyes focused on the “additional details” option floating in front of me, and a new box popped up.
System Help!
Blessings are given by a few beings in the world. They may be bestowed by Voices, Legendary creatures, Exotic animals, Rituals, or items. These changes come with benefits and detractions. Most alter the Traveler’s appearance. Choose carefully. Once applied, they are impossible to remove.
Balance Dictates: You should have seen what these people wanted to put in here. I’ll have none of it despite what Mother says. You have a plethora of gifts as it is. The rewards are being reduced accordingly.
My lips pursed. Balance had struck again, but her complaints sounded justified. Based on the survival rating of other players down here, in the war before, and during my travels, my abilities were already high enough. These Blessings were neat and explained more than a few people in the game.
I clicked through Balance’s disclaimer, and three choices came up: [Wings of the Messenger], [Belly of a Beast], and [Breath of Flame]. The idea of having black Dusk-like wings was kind of interesting, but I had no desire to try to navigate using them. Being able to eat anything in-game and resist poisons and diseases might be helpful. At least, I assumed that was what the ability did since my attempts at getting additional details failed.
“Neat, but where were these a month ago?” I asked the creature while looking at the options.
Cupcakes popped into being above Dusk’s head.
“You mean you’re just making up rewards based on how much I feed you?” I was dumbfounded. How had that not occurred to me forever ago? Or at least when seeing that it had reached rank four upon returning to Continue Online. Maybe I had focused on the wrong things. Like being in player jail, tossed in front of a king, paired with a player who felt useless. The list went on.
Dusk nodded rapidly, then shook his head.
“Right, Balance.”
But I was on the right track. The fact that I had three possible blessings was interesting and confusing. Could Dusk give me all three? Maybe if I spent another thousand dollars on cupcakes, he might cave in. We could discuss it later.
He nodded again and then shrugged.
I selected [Breath of Flame], because growing wings or having my virtual innards transform into a garbage disposal seemed neat, but not my style. I touched my chosen Blessing, and the system message shattered into a barely visible black and gold.
Heat built around me. A sharp twinge of pain caused me to breathe in air that felt like liquid fire. Each additional gasp brought another round of smoke and flame. Dusk made an indistinguishable noise. My pulse pounded as the suffocation grew worse.
This was only a game, right? The feeling of dying in a fire was all in my head, right? I curled into a ball and felt cold ground scrape against me. One leg jerked while air failed to fill my lungs. Rawness refused to let go of my throat as my eyes watered.
Then it was over, and I was left gasping with a pop-up box.
Skill Learned: [Breath of Flame]
Type: Rare
Rank: 1
Details: This skill allows a Traveler to generate a ball of fire. This ball of fire can be cast at a target or held as a torch light. Duration and strength are based on [Endurance], [Depth], and possible fire affinity modifiers. Heavy exercise immediately following generation of the flame will suffer a minor penalty dependent upon the Traveler’s [Endurance] and [Breathing] levels.
Causes permanent state of [Altered Aura], [Minor Scales]
System Notice!
[Altered Aura] has an increased effect due to [Messenger of the Voices] title. You are too near to those beings known as Voices and will forever be set apart from Travelers and Locals alike, never truly being treated as either. Even those without the ability to perceive an [Aura] will feel something is off about you.
“Is that good or bad?” I wondered. It was like a summary of my life since this game came around. Part of me didn’t care—it sounded like an easier way to get to Xin. Even if my body now had scales and a prison tattoo.
Dusk didn’t have a response. His eyes were heavy-lidded, and thoughts of food floated across his head.
“Let’s go, before this dungeon gives me a piercing and an eye patch.” I said. Already my eyes felt a little weird around the edges, as if the skin crinkled where it had once been smooth.
The [Messenger’s Pet] snorted a ring of smoke, but it didn’t bother me. I tried to activate the new ability multiple times, but it didn’t trigger correctly. Barfing up fireballs to hold would probably take time to get used to, like any other ability in this game.
We walked farther. I moved slowly due to the aftermath of my lungs being reworked. Dusk attacked most of the spiders while I quietly cheered him on. Getting to the center staircase required traveling a different path. The main spiral into the dungeon wen through each floor and branched out into a series of dead end paths. Following them far enough would lead to the second series of stairs down. Monsters of all stages lay on each floor, and those nasty tiny spiders had webbed up chunks of it.
I took glee in pausing my [Blink] just to put a small bit of fire, using my minor [Lithium] spell, under their webbing. The resulting screams and rapid smashing of bugs had made the last three days enjoyable.
Dusk kept us on course, mostly. We arrived at the staircase after thirty minutes of twisting and turning. Both of us glanced down the stairs.
“We’ve got to move fast; we’ll go straight for Viper first. Down here is the fastest way, and I can Blink through a lot,” I said.
Dusk closed his eyes briefly in response, then looked at one of the shambling monsters below.
“All those cupcakes didn’t make you sluggish, did they?”
The dragon turned and snorted a ring of smoke in my face. I wanted to send one back, but his skill Ranks were probably a dozen levels above mine. We had cleared the smaller monsters nearby but left their corpses alone. Eventually some [Heavenly Body Clone]s would find their way up here to feast.
Dusk leapt down first. I followed quickly, giving up stealth for speed. My feet pounded loudly enough to stir various monsters. The [Messenger’s Pet] took great pleasure in blasting creatures in the face with small balls of fire. I marveled at what level his skill must be at to generate so many.
We made it three flights down before running into real trouble. Six shambling monsters sat in our path, trying to climb up a floor. Too bad [Blink] was insanely broken for dungeon crawling, especially at the Rank I had. Dusk didn’t care half the time anyway.
There were no party members nearby. Boss monsters didn’t litter this inner staircase. I had scouted most of these paths over the last three days, staying away from glowing barrels of liquid starlight. We kept going until we reached the floor with Viper. Dusk and I kept going, fighting smaller creatures but leaving behind their carcasses. Skinning bodies or digging for ear bits wasn’t worth it at this stage. Plus I didn’t have a crystal to store energy like some of the other convicts did. Dusk sped past me, like a vicious cat tearing around corners with unending energy. Above his head floated a small smiley face with turned up eyes denoting happiness.
Thirty minutes, that was how long it took us to sprint through this dungeon with a complete disregard for safety and the monsters chasing us. Dusk huffed a bit as we came to a halt. We stood in front of a large door that looked almost like a vault door. One metal wheel sat in the middle, clearly for spinning or a pressurized lock. That was pointless since a large hole had been torn near one of the hinges. I closed my eyes and pinged the area with [Sight of Mercari]. Viper was just inside, still unmoving.
My [Messenger’s Pet] wasted no time on unsatisfied curiosity. I took a few deep breaths and followed Dusk inside. The room was darker than most of the dungeon. Part of our success at moving so fast had been due to light which permeated the upper levels and the central stairs down. But this room only had a few pools of light. I tried coughing up another fireball, this time succeeding.
I stared at the glowing ball. It felt pleasantly warm in my hand. Dusk looked back at me before moving on to inspect the room. I held up the ball to get a higher angle of the light.
The place looked to be a weird sort of laboratory. There were tubes against the walls and barrels filled with starlight. I avoided them, not keen on being chased by all the [Heavenly Body Clone]s that might be roaming nearby. Once set off, they were like guided missiles of zombie hatred.
Scorch marks and disturbed ashes littered the pieces of equipment. A few charred pieces of parchment sat on a table in the room’s center. This place was maybe a thousand square feet at most. The walls here were clearly unnatural. All the right angles betrayed intelligent design, unlike so much of this dungeon.
On the far wall stood a dimly backlit pane of ice. I held the light ball even higher to try to get a better view. There was a body inside the ice.
Dusk and I walked across a grated flooring. Chilled air traced a coiled path as I moved. There didn’t seem to be much under my feet, and Dusk walked without a care. That meant nothing large or angry was nearby. My non-fireball-wielding hand sat ready to grab [Morrigu’s Gift] in case things turned angry.
We came to a railing, and below it was a drop-off that looked to be without end. In the middle of the pit was an upright tub of sorts. The cold made each ball of fire sputter out. Inside the tub was Viper’s unmoving body, his eyes closed as if asleep. Apparently the reason his dot hadn’t moved was because Viper sat in suspended animation.
“He’s survived down here with all those bits of loot for eight days. That’s pretty impressive,” I said to Dusk.
The [Messenger’s Pet] laid back an ear and sniffed the frozen pool.
Even Android Seven had died once—against the boss, from what I could tell. Knowing that such a powerful player had died in this place helped me feel better. Technically we were even on the failure front. Viper’s continued survival, frozen though he was, had helped us. He got points for living, and I didn’t lose them from his death. His contribution value would probably be low. Players were only worth what they did, and this funny suspended animation helped no one.
I looked around for an obvious release. Continue Online’s answers to problems ranged from insanely complex to absurdly simple. Once I had been stuck at a tower door that required a long mathematical algorithm to solve, one I hadn’t applied since doing statistics classes.
A small panel with two buttons, green and red, stood against one wall. One likely would release Viper from his safe but useless prison. There were a few skeletons around, and one lay near the panel. It was clear that this deceased person, staged NPC or Traveler remains, had been trying to press the red button. Probably because they’d released something scary.
I looked around again. This place felt like a ground zero for the dungeon. Not a final boss room or habitat jungle, but where some foolish person had released dangerous monster clones. Everything here looked devoid of any actual meat, and some of the bones showed marks from b
eing gnawed. I picked up one of the skulls and held it between Viper’s frozen form and myself.
“To thaw, or not to thaw, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of asshole teammates, or solo the boss despite the troubles. And by opposing end it? To die, and respawn once more.” I tossed the skull to the ground and sighed. Reciting my makeshift Shakespeare resulted in a pop-up box but didn’t solve the impending problem. Still, I felt lighter.
Act: Theatrical learned!
Dusk sniffed around, letting out echoing chirps that indicated interest. He did his thing, and I gave up on deciding which way to go. Viper might help me or hinder me, and that depended on the other player’s perceptions. Either way, I had a good way to solve dilemmas that had served me since it first showed up.
[Wild Bill] came off my head, and I turned it brim down. One hand went to the empty spot, and a familiar weight appeared in my fingers. I lifted away the hat, and there was a small golden coin. These were good for only one flip and afterward faded away.
“Technically I don’t have money right now, so this isn’t a bet, just a tie breaker,” I said to Ray, the Voice of Gambling. He and the other Voices were probably listening in. There was no use in letting him take this the wrong way or I might end up with a debuff like [Deaf], [Punchy Drunk], or [Dysmorphic]. “Heads, we press the green one. Tails, the red one.”
Dusk spun around as the coin rang. I caught it out of the air and slapped the coin into my hand. Tiny clawed feet scuttled up the panel’s side and looked under the hand I hesitated to lift. My face turned up in a wince as I too peered at the results.
“Green?” I asked Dusk.
The larger dragon shrugged, then slammed a paw on the button without hesitation.
Session Seventy-Five — Larger than Unlife
Steam hissed. Dusk watched without a care. I saw the frozen material around Viper start dripping instantly. The first layer slid off into the pit below, followed by more chunks. I let it happen. The button was pressed, and part of me wanted to see how Viper’s autopilot functioned.
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