by Dakota Krout
The energy ripped at his Core suddenly, taking in the Essence like a starving man eating cake. The pain came then, feeling like acid washing through his blood, destroying the tissue and knitting it together by grasping his flayed flesh and nailing it back down with salt covered spikes. Darker Essence flowed like blood from a ruptured artery into the Core, which was also growing muddy. Dale was gasping, on his knees as he watched this unfold inside himself. Eyes wild, he saw the last few wisps of Essence leave his center, emptying it completely. For a moment the pain subsided, Dale thinking it was over somehow.
The pain erupted again, in new and torturous ways. Like a hollow needle had entered his veins, sharp pain penetrated dozens of points on his body and pulled with a strong vacuuming force. Every bit of the corruption inside of him was being pulled to the Core, which was not being gentle. Dale’s nose began to bleed as his head shook violently, looking for any escape from the pain.
Craig grabbed his head to help control the seizure, “Almost time now, Dale. Focus! If you don’t cultivate, and we get the Core out of you, your life energy will attempt to fill the void, which will assuredly kill you. Feel the energy around you, and get ready to pull! Let nothing else matter!”
Dale’s mind shook. The world was wavy around him, his head spinning. He opened his eyes, revealing burst blood vessels and reached out for the energy of the heavens and the earth, preparing to pull it in as soon as Craig said…
“Now! Do it now!” Craig shouted. For a brief, shining moment, the pain abated again, as the gem looked for a new source of Essence to fill itself. Dale knew this relief was a lie, and began cultivating. Having never done it intentionally before, but knowing how, the energy stalled a bit but started to flow into him. The Core, which had almost latched onto its host's life energy, found a new and easily accessible meal. Returning the pull back to Dale’s center, where the Essence was beginning to accumulate, it was nearly drinking this fresh source when Dale’s body began to shudder from well-placed blows.
“Bleaeghght!” The huge amount of water ingested previously happily made a reappearance, cheerfully splattering across anyone who didn't move fast enough. Some well-digested jerky found a new home, and after a few waves finally a small gem appeared.
To those present, it was obvious that energy was trying to reach back into Dale from the gem, trying to re-establish the connection it had momentarily lost. Using the steel-shod end of a staff, one of the men crushed the gem, releasing a flash of brown light. Turning to look at Dale, the group waited as he scrambled to absorb Essence properly. Craig watched him carefully, nodding at the tiny spiral that was forming. He corrected Dale gently a few times, allowing the energy to be as pure as Dale could make it.
“This is as easy as it is going to get, Dale.” Craig promised him. “For some reason, the Essence in here has no affinity. You can pull the Essence from all around you, and it is nearly free of any taint. Personally I love it here, Mobs and all.” The other men nodded agreement, all settling in to cultivate. “We can only stay so long though, eventually the Essence in the air will lessen and we will need to leave in order for it to replenish. Once out of here, your spiral will be pure, but you will need to continue to cultivate. Make the threads as small as possible, and remember to purify it as much as possible before you absorb it.”
Dale was still pale, bruises showing and his body shaking. Never before had he been this tired, and he wanted to collapse. As he pulled more Essence into himself, he remembered how foul his center had been before, and vowed to have the purest Essence of any of his fellows.
Time passed as it always does, and the room's ambient Essence began to wane. Dale still pulled in more, until Craig gently made him stand and don his armor. “Remember to keep that spiral going. Soon it’ll continue even in your sleep, and become natural to you. Grab your weapon, we don’t know how many Mobs we are going to have to fight to get out of here.”
~Thirteen~
I was stunned at the actions of these men. Was this a normal occurrence? When they crushed the Beast Core, it released all of the man's accumulated Essence into me. I greedily took the gift, shunting the corruption into the stone around the room, making it stronger. Though the young man, who I now recognized as the one who had first escaped me, had taken off his armor, it never moved far enough away from the group to allow me to absorb it. Too bad, but what can you do?
The real shock came when the group sat and began to cultivate. I was carefully watching for any chance to attack them, when their auras allowed me to pass through for the first time ever! While they refined their Essence, I was able to direct some of it to myself. Not having to refine it on my own allowed me to add it directly to my own spiral. I was still considering the implications when the group stood and made their way to the entrance. In the last few hours, my spiral had significantly increased in size, which allowed it to spin much faster. When it spun faster, the fine threads also attached to my Chi spiral more rapidly. The stronger I became, the easier it was to gain Essence more quickly.
Also, as an added bonus there was a small pool of acid that I was able to study. It seemed like very strong acid, and as I absorbed it, it became apparent that the sulphuric acid could become a potent weapon if used properly. I also studied the broken Beast Core, and realized that it had a similar makeup to my own gem.
“Mm, kind of. Sorry, I thought we went over this earlier. You were originally a soul gem, which is a Beast Core that has undergone strong refinement. It is pretty rare because it takes at a minimum a Mage with infernal capabilities to produce, and I’ve never heard of them using it for human souls, before you.” Dani expressed thoughtfully. “Most infernal users have to go into hiding if they want to get stronger, as most places frown upon demon summoning and Necromancy.”
She perked up at this statement, “Seriously? Yeah that could come in really handy. You could use them to store excess Essence in, like really weak Mana accumulators, which could help you if you are getting too much at once to absorb.”
She gleefully continued, “Also, you could try and attach them to your Mobs. A Beast Core in a creature allows them to jump to the first level of sentience when they accumulate enough Essence, and have a Chi spiral. Then, your Mobs could become stronger than you, while you retain control of them. Since you gave it life, even if the Mob died, you would be able to re-absorb the energy contained in the Core, and re-make the Beast with the exact same ranking and spiral!”
“Well, we will just need to make stronger monsters then, won’t we?” She pronounced, full of determination.
I’m becoming better at subtle puns.
“That’s a great idea! How are you doing on energy right now?” Dani queried, I am fairly certain she didn’t catch the ‘dead end’ pun or I’m sure she would be laughing right now.
“I… think so? That is one of the reasons you let the air get dense with the extra unrefined Essence, instead of focusing it all on a task, I believe. We are approaching the e
nd of my knowledge of dungeon habits though. It should have taken you near fifty years to get to this point!” She stated almost accusingly.
“Ha! He called my bluff.” Dani chortled ruefully, “What do you want to do first? Make the Beast Cores, or should I say Essence accumulators? Or, would you like to rearrange first?”
“Hm. When you put it like that, it does seem like the obvious choice.” She mused. “I think that may be a good idea.”
I decided with her where to put them, luckily they were small enough that it didn’t take a lot of space. I made three to start with, equidistant from me and each other, in a triangle around me, but below the stone of the hill I had made. I didn’t want people getting greedy, after all - that was my job. I settled in for the quickly approaching night, respawning my Mobs and increasing my influence. I decided that I would not make the changes incrementally, I would do them in one quick event when I was ready. Soon, people would get complacent with my setup, and I hoped the transition would deliver some much needed power to me.
~Dale~
Dale took off his armor, carefully placing it in order, so he could figure out how to put it on in the morning. The men had been far more genial toward him, fighting together tended to form bonds. He continued to spiral his Chi as he had been taught, and when he was finished undressing, he looked at his battered body. Covered in welts and bruises, his poor body had hardly any skin on it that was the normal coloration. He began to shake, the trauma of the day finally finding a hold in his mind. Focusing on his Chi spiral to take his mind off the terror, he noticed that it was far harder to pull Essence from the earth than it was from the air in the dungeon. Working hard to keep the Essence as pure and fine as possible, he quickly fell asleep.
*Splash!*
“What the hell?!” Dale shouted, flailing his arms as he tried to fight off his unknown assailant.
“Good morning sunshine!” A grinning menace, Hans was the group member who had been wielding daggers the day before. He loomed above Dale, holding an empty bucket.
Dale wanted to fight back, but his body suddenly reminded him of the torture it had just gone through, and instead he groaned piteously. Hans pulled him to his feet, and made him put on his armor.
“Keepin’ that spiral goin’?” Hans’ grin got wider the more Dale grunted. “You’re a lucky one aren’t ya?”
“How so?” Dale muttered, pulling his chainmail over his head.
“You get to start that spiral pretty young. What are ye’, twenty-one?” Hans inquired.
“So? You’re in your thirties, is ten years that big of a difference?” He grumbled, annoyed at the now damp armor he had to put on.
“Hmm.” Hans chuckled. “Well, yes, it is. Also to join the Guild you have to go through the process you just had, or come in with a fairly pure spiral already goin’. Plus, this here be the first non-attribute dungeon I’ve ever heard-a. Usually you gotta travel a lot to get to one that has your element type, or risk stripping your center in the open, with no ready Essence, if you are desperate.”
His grin somehow widened, “And I’m glad I look so young! Well, I am the youngest in the group, just my mid-sixties after all.”
Dale looked up in shock, failing in an attempt to make a witty remark. “What? You are kidding me.”
“Frank told you that the lifespan of a Mage is calculated in hundreds of years, yea? Well, the life of a cultivator ain’t too shabby.” Hans danced around a bit, light on his feet. “We age slowly enough that we have the effective lifespan of three or four people. If we break into the Mage rank before we die, our body heals up the ravages of time even more.”
He stopped and looked at Dale, “Meeting Frank was the best thing that ever happened to you, and don’t you never forget it, boy-oh. People kill to get into the Guild, if we ask them to. You’ll notice pretty quick that you are about to become a whole helluva lot stronger, and harder to hurt. That’ll be your Essence toughening you up. There’s a whole slew-a benefits. Including that enchanted armor you’re wearing.”
Dale looked at the gear he was putting on, surprised. He hadn’t known anything but the shield was enchanted.
“Heh, about what I figured. You think it was hundreds of gold for poor equipment? That discount dropped it to about twenty percent of its market value.” Dale was nearly vomiting from this revelation. The full price would have been over five hundred gold?!
“Yeah, Frank musta figured you’d be able to pay it off pretty quick, or he’d have given ya only decent gear. That stuff will become light as a feather and let ya be as mobile as Craig in his blasted cloth, when ya learn how to cycle Essence through it o’course. Right now it’s a good muscle builder I bet.”
“I hurt everywhere, if that’s what you mean.”
“Yup, that’s what I mean.” Hans retorted flippantly. “Time for us to get some food. Don’t want what kills you in the dungeon to be hunger.”
They walked to the mess hall tent, and got in the line. Early enough that they got through fairly quick, they were just starting to eat when a chef walked over to them.
“WELL HELLO THERE!” Boomed the Chef, “Going into the dungeon are you?” He had stopped blasting his voice when he saw them wince. “Sorry, used to train soldiers, poor bastards. Listen, I hear there are pretty decent herbs down there. No one complains right now, but it’s hard to eat food that tastes of dirt.”
Handing a few sacks over, he continued, “Fill these up and I’ll make it worth your while. Different plant, different bag. Got it? Great!” He turned away, paused, then finished menacingly, “Don’t fill ‘em up, and I’ll make sure you get your... reward.”
Hans looked at the chef warily, and responded in a voice that was almost bereft of his previous accent, “Hmm. Dale, I’m gonna let you in on a secret to a long life. Never piss off your chef, your Boss, or your wife. I even rhymed it for you, that’ll help ya remember. Also, when you get famous never let someone make a song about you. Never ends well.” He advised sagely.
“Did someone make a song about you, Hans?” Dale looked at Hans, trying to figure out if his alternating accent was just for fun or if he had taken a blow to the head.
*Cough* “Well, I’m full! Don’t forget to bring your bags, it’s your first quest after all.” Hans hurried away… blushing?!
Dale followed him at the greatest speed he could manage, his armor creaking and groaning almost as much as Dale was, and they found the rest of their group waiting. Craig looked over at Dale and examined his Chi spiral. Pleased by his continued work, and the high quality of it, Craig gained a bit of respect for the young man. Stronger men than Dale had been broken by the destruction of their center.
“Good to see you up and about. I’m impressed you found the time to bathe.” Craig stated blandly, making the others laugh and Dale get a bit pink around the ears. “Today you are going to take a more active role. I want you near the front of the group killing Mobs. The best way to get good at fighting is to practice after all. Gotta build that muscle.” Dale nodded seriously, and they walked toward the entrance.
The goal today was to mimic what had been done yesterday, fight the Mobs and cultivate. They would also be stopping for all loot, so that the Guild could determine what they valued most. As they neared the center of the first room warily, they readied their weapons for the expected ambush attempt. Easily slaying the mushroom type Mobs, including a ranged type that Dale was able to practice blocking with, they were a bit confused when none of the rabbit types appeared.
“What is going on? Where are the Mobs?” Dale asked mistrustfully.
“How about instead of worrying, you just collect your herbs?” Hans countered. While Dale did so, the others exchanged dark looks and collected the dropped loot and mushrooms.
They made their way to the next room, and again only found mushrooms. This continued until they finally came to the Boss room. The Bloody Bane was awaiting their arrival, and they were glad to accept the challenge. A short fight ensued, the humans being the victors after only a brief struggle.
No holy symbol this time, but a fistful of copper coins and two right boots clattered to the ground, which were collected by the other members as Dale sat and began to strongly cultivate. While not as dense as the previous night, the Essence in the air was allowing him to cultivate far more than he would be able to in a week topside. The others joined him, and within an hour were moving back toward the entrance, done for the day.
~Cal~
“Tell me again why you aren’t attacking them?” Dani seemed frustrated that I was holding back my Mobs.
When she nodded, I continued,
“That is… actually brilliant.” She stated, eying me as though I had been replaced by someone else.
I pretended to be hurt,
She brutally ignored my pain. “Aaaanyway, why do you think this will work?”