by Aaron Oster
Roy stared at the small vial in a new light, though something about this was bothering him.
“If these are so incredible, how come I’ve never heard of them?” Roy asked.
“Because they’re pretty much nonexistent on this continent,” Geon replied, in a tone that suggested that Roy should think before he speak.
“Still, I’m sure the stronger Martial Artists know about this,” Roy replied, ignoring the Core’s tone. “You’d think that a Sovereign would try and produce these for their clan.”
“With the amount of time, effort, and money that goes into making even a single one of these? Not a chance,” Geon said. “They might make a few for themselves if they could find the right ingredients and had the knowhow, but as far as I know, there isn’t a single Sovereign on this continent who does.”
“Then why is it showing up here?” Roy wondered, still turning the flask and watching the dancing blue motes of light swirling within.
“Don’t ask me,” Geon replied. “I might be a Dungeon Core, but I’m not the one running this place.”
“Wait…How do you know about these?” Roy wondered.
“Someone who had this knowledge died in my Dungeon,” Geon said. “I think something like that would be quite obvious, but it seems that no matter how strong you get, that brain never seems to improve.”
Roy sighed, seeing that his conversation with the Core was at an end. When Geon began throwing insults, it was a clear indicator that they were done.
He continued watching the vial, trying to feel at its contents with his Spirit Sense. The top was clearly sealed, and he didn’t want to break it without knowing what it would do first, for fear of it losing potency. When he couldn’t feel a thing, Roy just slid it back into the satchel, being very careful that it fit snugly into the lining before closing the top.
Another set of robes sat beneath, these ones dyed a deep red, with silvery lines crisscrossing over the chest and back. When Roy allowed them to unfold, he found two characters on the back, though his brows furrowed when he translated them.
Red and Legend?
It made no sense. Why would a set of robes tailored to fit him have those odd, nonsensical characters emblazoned on the back? Then again, he wasn’t always the best when it came to reading the old script, so he could be missing something here. They were nice robes, though, made of the same material as the previous set.
He placed them on his pile, then pulled out another set of robes, this one a light gray with shining white lines. On the back was another set of symbols, though these made even less sense than his own.
Moon and lake.
Roy shrugged to himself, folding the robes neatly and placing them on Aika’s pile. He dug deeper into the chest, feeling his fingers scraping the bottom, and removed one last set of items, a pair of pins.
Roy held them both up, noting that one was gold and the other was white. They were rounded at one end, tapering to a sharp point at the other, with a small cap to close it once the pin was put on.
He slowly turned the golden pin between his fingers, wondering what in the world it could be. He couldn’t feel anything special from it, though it was clearly meant for him. He debated asking Geon but remembered the Core was done talking and any questions would only garner insults.
“What are you looking at?”
Roy nearly jumped as Aika’s voice sounded from over his left shoulder. He turned, seeing that she was now dressed, her wet hair hanging loose around her face.
“No idea,” he replied, holding the pin out to her.
Aika took it, holding it up to the light and slowly turning it.
“There’s one for you as well,” Roy said, holding the white pin up for her.
“I can’t tell what they’re supposed to do, but they look pretty,” Aika said, taking hers while handing the golden one back.
“You’re just going to put it on?” Roy asked, a bit surprised as she pulled the small cap, revealing the needle-sharp tip.
“Why not?” Aika asked with a shrug. “I like it.”
“Well, if you like it so much, you might wanna change before putting it on,” Roy said, holding up the two sets of robes that were clearly hers.
“Woah!” Aika said, taking them with far more excitement than he’d expected. “These feel amazing! I’ve never felt fabric like this before, and not a single seam? Was this all made of a single piece…?”
Aika trailed off, then dashed away.
“I’m going to change! Feel free to bathe. I promise not to peek!”
Roy stared after her as she left, wondering at that last comment. What was up with her lately? She was acting so strange. Maybe the excitement of the day was just making her act that way? Roy wondered again as he headed over to the pool, staring up at the water cascading down.
He sighed, wishing that Hermit were here. Things always seemed to be so much easier when someone older and wiser was around. Here, they had no one to depend on other than themselves and each other, and knowledgeable as Aika was, he couldn’t exactly ask her why she was acting this way.
Roy soon banished those thoughts from his mind as he stripped out of the still-soaked robes and dove back into the water.
He spent several minutes vigorously scrubbing himself, then, out of curiosity, went to see if he could stand beneath the waterfall. There were stories he’d heard as a child, of master cultivators sitting beneath the crashing water without so much as flinching.
As soon as he stepped under, he was immediately driven down. The force of the water was far greater than it seemed, especially seeing as he’d grown so much stronger over the last year. He came to the surface, sputtering and gasping for air, still feeling the sting on his back where the water had struck.
He got out after that, drying himself as best he could, then donning the new robes. He left the red and silver ones off for now, instead choosing the purple ones, as he had no idea what the symbols meant and didn’t want to look like an idiot if they meant something strange or bad.
Aika returned several minutes later, emerging from the tunnel leading deeper into the Dungeon. She was now wearing the black and white robes, with her hair tied back in a ponytail. The white pin was stuck through one of the lapels – it seemed the pin was sharp enough to puncture the material – and she was practically skipping.
“You seem happy,” Roy said as she bounced up to him.
“Aren’t you?” she asked, giving him a wide grin. “We’re both clean for the first time in days. We have new clothes that will last, a safe place to sleep, and actual light shining through from outside! Not to mention we have all of these rewards to sift through!”
When Aika put it that way, it made sense, and Roy returned her smile. As always, her smile was infectious.
“Well,” she said, pointing to the closed box containing all of the Pills. “Let’s see if I can figure out what’s in there.”
35
Other than the gold and white ones, Aika wasn’t able to identify many of the Pills. There were Pills to help smooth their Paths to the next rank, strengthen their Cores, and help remove impurities from their channels. Just like him, she had no idea what to make of the glass flasks containing the Liquid Supplements. They decided to leave them until they could speak to someone who might be able to tell them.
“It’s amazing we got so much out of just the first level in this Dungeon,” Aika said, leaning back and sticking another piece of sizzling meat into her mouth.
Roy had gotten a small fire going by using some of the mushrooms and moss. Surprisingly, he’d found small bunches of dried twigs just sticking out of the walls in places, which highlighted that this wasn’t Buryoku. However strange their own world might be, Dungeons were a different thing entirely.
“Think about how hard it was to even make it here though,” Roy said, chewing slowly on a piece of meat as well. “We had to fight our way through here, without finding any food, water, or resources for nearly a week. Any sane person would have turne
d back on day two.”
“Are you calling me crazy?” Aika asked with a quirked brow.
“No crazier than I am,” Roy answered, popping the strip of meat into his mouth and savoring the flavor.
They’d had to do absolutely nothing to it. They had simply put it over the fire and ate it. He could feel a slight tingling running through him as he swallowed. The meat was rich in Essence, and as Geon had said, seemed to be having beneficial effects on both his body and cultivation base.
“So, I guess we should talk about our plans moving forward,” Roy said.
“Did you have to bring that up now?” Aika groaned. “I just wanna relax and not think about it.”
Roy tended to agree with her, but the longer they stayed here, the longer it would take them to return to Hermit. Plus, he didn’t know why, but he had a bad feeling that something was happening in the outside world and that the sooner they returned, the better.
“How about we take a day just to relax and recover?” Roy said.
“Two days,” Aika insisted. “I need to replenish my Core and make sure I have enough before moving to the next level. I didn’t like being so Essence-deprived, and I’ve barely made any progress at all since we got here.”
Roy’s eyes flicked to her waist, where her 1st Dan Blue-Belt shone softly. His own Belt, a solid Blue – with a purplish tint – would indicate that he was still below her in cultivation. But, after all they’d learned about his past, it was clear that Roy’s strength would soar once he regained his lost power. When that happened, Aika would fall far behind and wouldn’t like that.
“Two days,” Roy agreed.
The two of them spent what remained of the day lounging around, and when Roy went to sleep that night, he slept sounder than he had in weeks. Roy spent the next day mainly recovering, with only a small amount of time dedicated to cultivation.
Aika didn’t really talk much, using all of her time to cultivate, but when she did, Roy was glad to see that she was acting more like herself again. Neither of them broached the topic of how she’d acted when they’d first entered, though Roy was pretty sure this was only temporary. Once this whole Dungeon run was over with and they got their questions answered, he knew they’d have to talk.
But, regardless of how hard Aika worked, by the time they left the spacious cavern and headed into the tunnel, she seemed well-rested and ready to go. Her Core was brimming with Light Qi, and Roy could already feel her pushing the bounds of the next Dan. And, while he was well-rested as well, his own Core didn’t really seem to be doing anything differently.
The corrupted Qi wasn’t coming anymore, his Belt was no longer shifting color, and his capacity remained firmly locked. All he could do now was forge Chakra from his Qi for whenever the time came to advance.
The light slowly dimmed as the two of them entered the tunnel, but instead of finding a similar set of dark spaces, this tunnel stretched straight, sloping slightly downward.
As they walked, Roy began to notice a slight glow painting the ceiling of the tunnel. After only five minutes, they found themselves standing at the top of a staircase carved into the stone.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Aika said, peering over the edge and trying to see the bottom.
The glow intensified as the stairs descended, but their view was soon cut off by the stone ceiling as it sloped down along with it.
“Well, here’s to hoping that this level will suck slightly less than the last,” Roy jokingly said.
He had no idea how they were expected to clear this Dungeon, what with how powerful the Beasts were likely to be. It had been beyond challenging making it this far, but he suspected that as hard as that had been, it would be nothing compared to what they would face at the bottom of those stairs.
Roy stepped down, Aika following right behind as they began their descent. The walls and ceiling slowly began brightening over the next quarter-hour as they continued walking down. Roy was honestly surprised that the staircase was this long, but it was a Dungeon, so pretty much anything could happen.
It began growing noticeably warmer as well, the temperature slowly rising until it was over a hundred degrees. By the time they reached the bottom of the staircase and found yet another tunnel, Roy had to wonder just what this floor would look like, though judging by the abundance of Fire, Earth, and Light, he could already guess.
“I’m really starting to get sick and tired of these tunnels,” Aika said as the ceiling dropped once more and the walls seemed to close in.
Red lines traced the walls, glowing beneath the surface. Roy could feel the heat from those walls and was oddly fascinated by the molten stone traveling through them.
“You and me both,” Roy said, noting a small curve in the tunnel up ahead.
They both started tensing up as they reached the curve, but when they finally stepped through, the tunnel opened up.
“Well, that’s different,” Roy said, swiping an arm across his forehead.
“You can say that again,” Aika replied, looking around in wonder.
The ceiling rapidly sloped upward, topping out at nearly sixty feet overhead. The walls stretched out as well, giving them at least a few hundred feet to either side. But the most incredible part was how it just stretched on as far as either of them could see.
The area glowed red and orange, with pools of molten stone sitting in various spots around the room. It ran through the walls, lined the ceiling, and even spiraled around the dozens of pillars that flowed from top to bottom. A winding path ran through the pools of bubbling stone, showing them their way forward, and the heat was incredible.
Just this climate alone would be deadly to an ordinary human. The heat would kill them in just a few hours, the Fire Essence burning their skin until there was nothing left. He could see why Geon had rated this as a mid to high-level Purple Dungeon and doubted that they’d be seeing many Beasts at the Blue stage from here on out.
“How are we supposed to get through all of this?” he asked, looking around the room. “We might be stronger than we were, but I very much doubt in our ability to defeat Purple-level Beasts at our ranks.”
“Maybe we avoid them?” Aika asked. “There’s also no guarantee that we’ll need to face Purple-level Beasts. Maybe we’ll get lucky and run into Blues.”
Roy didn’t think that would happen, but it was nice to see someone be optimistic about their current situation. They had come in here with the knowledge of what they’d be facing, so Roy had no one to blame but himself.
“I guess we move forward then,” Roy said, eyeing the twisting path distrustfully.
Roy and Aika began moving again, slowly treading down the path and watching the walls, ceiling, and pools of magma for any signs of movement. The air was stiflingly hot, heavy, and lacked almost all Wind Essence. Sweat soon began pouring from Roy and Aika, drenching their robes and plastering their hair to their faces.
The winding path seemed to be endless, twisting through a maze of molten stone pillars, pools of magma, and ever-increasing heat.
Roy soon began to feel the strain in his lungs, his cycling rhythm becoming harder and harder to keep steady. They walked for hours, the heat slowly but surely increasing. Soon, they were both forced to use their Armorer techniques, simply to combat the raging Fire Essence that drifted through the air.
Not a single Beast appeared, which made the two of them worry even more. However, when Aika spotted a small pocket in the wall off the side of their path and pointed it out, something finally happened.
“Does that look like a safe zone to you?” Aika asked, pointing through the shimmering heat haze to where a small, dark hole sat in the far wall.
Roy squinted, blinking sweat from his eyes and trying to see where she was pointing. It was difficult due to the uncertain and shifting light, but after a few moments of searching, he finally saw what she was talking about.
“It might be,” Roy said, reaching into his pack and removing one of their canteens.
&n
bsp; Though they’d managed to replenish their water supply, their trek through this hellscape was quickly beginning to strain their resources. Down here, in the ever-increasing heat, they consumed their water at nearly four times the rate they had on the previous floor.
“Should we go check it out?” Aika asked.
“Couldn’t hurt,” Roy replied.
However, as soon as he took a single step off the path, the pools of magma began bubbling fiercely. Roy and Aika watched as long, scaly creatures with dark hides began pulling themselves from the pits, leaving puddles of hissing stone in their wake.
Roy jumped back with a yelp, and to his utter shock, the Beasts turned right back around and began returning to their pools.
“Well,” Aika said. “This is going to be a problem.”
“Can we just keep going?” Roy asked.
“Not if the heat keeps rising, and we have to keep drinking,” Aika said. “At this rate, we’ll be out of water in just two days. I’d say that that is a safe zone, and we’ll likely find some reprieve from the heat, as well as some water in there. But…”
“But if we want to make it there, we’re going to have to run,” Roy finished with a sigh.
Aika nodded, her eyes still fixed on the opposite tunnel.
“What are the odds that we can make it there before any of these creatures can attack?” Roy asked, watching the last of the lizard-like Beasts vanish back into the magma.
“No way to tell,” Aika said. “You only took a single step off the path, which I’m assuming is safe. The Beasts might react more quickly the further away we stray.”
Roy looked between the path and the far wall, trying to measure distance. It was hard, what with how much the heat was distorting the air and the constant drip of sweat in his eyes.
“What is that, maybe two hundred yards?” he asked, tilting his head this way and that to try and get a better angle.
There was no way for them to make a straight shot for the far side. Pools of magma, as well as the twisting columns of stone, would get in their way. This meant not only running for all they were worth with diminished air capacity but also taking a twisting, uncertain path to get there. And that was not to mention likely changes in direction, due to Beasts in their way.