The suffering shrieks of the undead hardly lightened the mood. I had tried arranging the skeleton archers in the most inoffensive position possible, torso down, hollow eye sockets facing the ground.

  Despite my thoughtful accommodations, the elf stood frozen in the doorway, nerves getting the better of her.

  "I've already loosened their vertebrae. Otherwise their heads would be spinning around like the Exorcist. Come on, don't be shy. One good swing should do it."

  Viessa stepped inside and the literally disarmed skeleton archers raised their volume.

  "Hurry, unless you want us to lose our hearing."

  "I'm a scholar. Not a warrior. I've never trained with swords."

  "Yeah, and I'm not a plumber, but I've still plunged a toilet or two."

  Her sword whispered against the leather as she freed it from her sheath and approached the first skeleton in a line of six. Gripped with uncertainty, the blade trembled as she raised it, but refused to follow through.

  "I can't..."

  "You can and you will."

  I snatched the blade from her hands and strode toward the first skeleton, positioning myself like I was lining up a putt.

  "Swing it like a pendulum."

  I demonstrated the motion, clean and deliberate, without striking the screaming skeleton.

  I passed the blade back. "If you can't handle this, you'll remain dead weight until the term becomes literal. It's fine. No, really. Leave it up to me to save your world. I'm sure everything will turn out just fucking dandy."

  Viessa took a deep breath, yanked the blade from my hands and swung it through the back of the first skeleton's neck, silencing it as its skull crashed into its neighbor. Without missing a step, she moved down the line, slicing through one after another with methodical precision.

  When she reached the last skeleton, her blade rebounded off its neck.

  "Try again."

  It was the only monster who's neck I hadn't tampered with, interested to see how many strikes it'd take for a low level to slay it with their own effort.

  Viessa unleashed a second, third, and fourth strike. On the fifth, she shifted her weight into the strike, delivering a killing blow. Finally, the room went silent.

  "Nice."

  "Am I still only level two?"

  "I haven't checked," I said.

  "You never elaborated on the extent of your Soul Scry ability. Does it delve further than level and karma?" she asked.

  "Yes. In most cases it provides a few lines of randomized information. You'd think the system would pull forth relevant information, but most of the time it's completely useless."

  "What does it say?"

  I turned off Filter and scanned the elf.

  Target: Viessa

  Level: 4

  Karma Rating: +1205

  Additional Data: Age 42. Female. Graduated at the top of her class at Onadell's most prestigious academy, Sylvan Institute of Scholars. Specializes in research, history, and basic healing magic.

  Bonus Data: Y/N

  No.

  "It says you graduated with the highest marks from Sylvan. You gained two levels and your karma increased to 1205. Do you feel any different?"

  Viessa paced from one side of the room to the other then back. "My armor feels lighter and the mana flowing through my veins is more noticeable."

  "Shit, I don't have my pocket glass," I said, realizing I must've lost it somewhere between the challenge scenario and falling through the roof of Waystone's tavern.

  "We each have one in our raid packs," Viessa said as she dropped the hefty backpack off her shoulders and drew the strings of a side pocket open, pulling out a rectangular pocket glass. "I took inventory of our supplies last night while you slept."

  I stood over her shoulder, staring at the glass with her. But all I saw was my own status menu. Although I saw Viessa's status thanks to Karma's Gaze, I didn't see any sign of her mastery or skill points - - if they existed.

  I scrolled through my own system and stats and spotted an intuitive blip at the very bottom of the screen.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  When did this show up?

  I concentrated on the blip and a tiny box labeled Companions expanded. It showed Fayador's status, and a green bubble beside his name that read: active.

  There was no option to add Viessa as a companion or deep dive into Fayador's stats and abilities. I assumed the system had gained this menu during the Rockbound Quarry dungeon. I just hadn't noticed it till now.

  "What are you looking for?"

  "To see if you had any mastery or ability points hiding somewhere. This damn thing still gives me a headache. I swear I'm missing something obvious..."

  "Have you tried praying?"

  With a heavy sigh, I slid the pocket glass into my personal supply satchel which was still secure under my cloak. Viessa grabbed both of my hands with her heavy armored gauntlets.

  "Let's pray together."

  "I tried once before. It didn't work."

  "Were you sincere?"

  I pulled my hands free and turned my back, walking toward the exit.

  "If Justice can't be bothered to show her face because I didn't beg, then she and her realms can go to hell."

  "No, not Justice. We should pray to Galdir."

  I laughed and she stared at me, visor hiding her expression. "You're serious? I'd rather the world end than waste a moment begging that absent bastard for help."

  Nate and Lexington were waiting atop the ramp, sitting on the Abyssal Colossus's severed feet like it was a bench. I walked up the ramp and Viessa trailed behind, head tilted down.

  "Was the training successful?" Lexington asked.

  "Yes. Let's continue."

  The stone pillar loomed above us, its carved footholds spaced like ladder rungs climbing its flank. We ascended one by one, then stood shoulder to shoulder atop the circular platform. At its center lay a translucent crystal—quartered like a compass and embedded in the stone. Two segments shimmered green while the third and fourth glowed red.

  We stared at the crystal in silence, waiting for the last two segments to turn green, assuming each section represented a fourth of the split. Five minutes later, one of the red lights transitioned to green, confirming our unspoken theory.

  Then a half an hour of compass gazing passed with no change to the fourth quarter's dull red glow.

  "What if the last group is dead? Then we'll be trapped here for an eternity," Nate mumbled.

  "Not an eternity. We'll starve long before then. But not before hunger turns us against each other. You won't likely starve. Someone will cut your throat before then, and we'll be reduced to cannibals,” I said.

  "Aye, Cyprus are you trying to make the boy piss himself? The general rule is to never speak of ill outcomes during a raid. I can't even fathom the scenario you've described... Cannibalism, Cyprus?"

  "No, I'd hang myself long before then. My apprentice is the one with an appetite."

  "Sorry, for bringing it up." Nate gulped.

  Lexington slapped the boys back. "Fret not, Valor and Glory have survived more perilous dungeons than this. I shall recount one of our most epic raids and lighten the mood. It all started in the Gilded Boar..."

  I tuned him out, and took a seat with my legs hanging off the edge of the pillar.

  Void Seer.

  ***

  Jag'thar stood in front of his throne with his bony digits gripping his hips. His two Abyssal Enforcers remained knelt before him, vacant eyes locked onto his feet.

  "Tch... My neck's starting to cramp. I should've never manifested the sentinel's gaze so high."

  He tilted his head down and pointed a bony digit at one of his enforcers.

  "You, bring my throne closer."

  None of them moved.

  "You, on the end! Don't pretend you don't understand. Hurry up, it's getting good," Jag'thar bellowed.

  I had channeled my gaze through the boss chamber in record time. The dungeon's ample darkness allowed Void Seer's unimpeded travel, the ability's speed only limited by my own concentration.

  I checked the three oval-shaped mirages displaying slightly warped images of our raid parties. The first display revealed the problem: Naila, Wedgmund, and Pearl Banner's bench warmers were bogged down in a swamp.

  They waded hip deep through murky water as projectiles rained down from the sky and a horde of level six Skeletal Infantry circled them. Griffin, Nassir, and Westcott's raid party occupied the other two displays, standing on their pillars.

  "Stupid, listen to me when I speak,” Jag’thar shouted.

  "Naila took two arrows meant for me," Lexington said.

  I reeled my gaze back, focusing all of my concentration on keeping Void Seer's connection stable. Between Jag'thar yelling at his enforcers and Lexington's voice in the background, my vision flickered and I could feel my stomach doing flips.

  "Stupid fiend. Yes, you. Move my throne as I command." Jag'thar smacked the enforcer's iron helmet and the brute rose up and ran straight through the Abyssal Lich Lord's throne, smashing it to bits.

  A loose bone flung through my sight and I felt my body jolt from the intense 3D effect. Without interrupting the connection, I sank out of the boss chamber.

  Now where's Naila's group?

  I flew over the ancient city, listening to Lexington drone on, completely unaware his close friends were about to die. Held hostage by his terrible podcast, I scanned the hundreds of level six skeletons marching below. However, no discernible pattern emerged.

  "Blinded by my own blood, I saw the goblins reach for the lever..."

  How did you see anything if you were blind?

  "Trapped in an asymmetrical puzzle room, I began to panic until Wedgmund solved it for us."

  Symmetry...

  Shifting tactics, I re-routed my vision and swept over the tiered stone pyramids and causeways that stretched like veins between the different plazas. I glided in a line straight across from the elevator shaft I had come out of, soaring over the braziers flickering with neon green flames. After reaching the edge of the city, I spotted a shaft confirming my theory. Like the very first floor, the pillars were mirrored.

  Karma's Gazed pinged Westcott, Hendrix, and the rest of his party hundreds of feet beneath, waiting on their platform.

  Wrong chamber.

  I zipped my vision up-up and away, performing one final sweep, cataloguing the causeways, the pyramids, and everything in between until I found the shaft I was looking for in the corner of an alley.

  Bingo.

  "The moral of the story—there's never a point to worry until your last breath," Lexington said.

  "Yes, sir."

  I snapped my eyes open and staggered to my feet. My breakfast of fried eggs and gravy somersaulted through my stomach. I glanced up into the foggy darkness.

  "Are you exhausted from battle?" Lexington asked.

  "No. I was meditating. Clear the platform, I sense something coming."

  "From where?"

  Shadow Weave.

  I pointed up with my left hand, while my right hand constructed a shadow serpent around the shaft's lip.

  "I don't see anything," Lexington said.

  The pitch black serpent emerged from the fog, and Nate threw himself off the pillar. The elf took two steps aside, and Lexington swung his blade through it with no effect.

  "Help me, Lexington! What are you doing!?" I screamed as the shadow wrapped around my waist and pulled me up and way into the fog within the blink of an eye.

  "Cyprus!"

  He jumped after me reaching for my hand as I twisted upside down, barely missing his gauntlets by design.

  "Oh, no," I said and disappeared into the fog.