They arrived sometime in the middle of the night, and were ordered straight to their rooms, with orders to report back to sickbay whenever they woke up, to have their bodies checked for any lingering frost damage. Meanwhile, the injured were shipped off to sickbay, with Rel, Tuk and Mul expecting to be discharged by the afternoon of the following day, and Gad requiring some more intensive healing, but expected to make a full recovery within the next three to four days.

  Nar remained just conscious enough to take a quick, very hot shower, change into the new pajamas they had given him alongside with a new storage ring, and climb onto his bed.

  A sigh of bliss escaped his lips as his head hit the pillow, the mattress seemed to embrace him, and the blanket hugged him with the promise of safety.

  The Scimitar’s soft hum lulled him into an instant sleep, and he was home.

  *********

  He woke up late the next morning, and from the quiet in the room, he could tell that he was alone, as Kur must already be out and about, checking in on the others and getting checked himself.

  Aches and bruises made themselves known across his body, as he hadn’t been healed to perfection in the mad rush of the previous night, and Nar allowed himself to languish in bed.

  The dark. The quiet hum of the ship. His little bunk bed in its tiny corner of Creation…

  It was a balm to his very soul after the crazy couple of days he’d just had, and it was nice to finally feel rested, safe, and at peace. Besides, with the dungeon complete, for better or worse, they had finished the last of their three assessments, and Nar doubted anyone would look at what they had achieved in that corrupted dungeon ,and tell them anything other than “Well done! You’re in!”

  Well, you never know, Nar thought.

  A few minutes passed by in quiet comfort, and he almost dozed back into sleep.

  Ugh… I should get up, he told himself. And it’s probably time to check those gains. They better be the best thing I’ve ever seen…

  He reached for his UI, and as expected, now that he was outside the Church’s blanketing zone, he could access it again.

  His notifications icon flashed in its usual location, on the upper left corner of his UI, and with his heartbeat speeding up, Nar opened it. As expected, the gains notification awaited him, its subject line reading Gains from completion of FORD10-OR-1R-259877.

  Alright, let’s have a look.

  DING!

  Well… Would you look at this, he thought, his eyebrows rising in quiet, but shocked surprise.

  Five levels in one go, he read. All main combat attributes pushed up to the forties and fifties? Crystal… And big boosts to [Constitution] and [Stamina] as well?

  He had to re-read it twice to make sure he was reading it properly.

  All senses increased. [NPC]... 6 whole points in one go? Crystal Almighty… [Ego]’s gone even higher, too, and that thing’s never enough… And…

  He paused at the sight of the beastly number besides his aura, and for a few moments, he forgot how to breathe. Then he pulled himself up into a seated position and stared blankly at the window for several seconds, his head brushing against the low ceiling above him

  That can’t be right…

  He checked his status but there it was, a nearly empty gray bar that nonetheless indicated a grand total of 5440 points of aura.

  You’ve got to be kidding me… And the modifier’s also…

  He had been expecting, and greatly anticipating, his third modifier into his [Aura***]. However, now that it was here, that 2.4 bonus gave him reason to pause, especially given that the massive raise he had just witness was still due to his previous 1.8 modifier being applied to what he calculated was 90 points gained in his [Aura**].

  90 points… What in the Pile? He thought, frowning back at his gains window. Was that because of what I did to the sword? Or because of all that aura I used up all at once? Oh, wait! These are gains from the whole dungeon! Yeah, that makes a lot more sense then… Right?

  It was still a phenomenal number, but it seemed alright, and at last, a smile touched the corners of his mouth, before it grew into a grin and the grin burst apart into incredulous, wild laughter. This is what he wanted, right? A massive [Aura***] to power his insane, hybrid path?

  Well, we're committed to it now! Might as well see where this crazy path takes us! He thought, shaking his head. What else did we got? [Instinct]! Fuck, yeah! I don’t know what happened back there, but I’ll never say no to more [Instinct]... And we’re wrapping up with a big chunk of gains into [Endurance] and [Might] as well? Holy shit!

  He threw up his fists, drumming them against the low ceiling above his head, and laughed maniacally. Tys had been right about the bonuses from clearing a corrupted dungeon, and his gains were far, far better than he had dared hope for! They were so high in fact, they were too much for him to handle all at once and had to be phased across a period of 3 days? How insane was that!

  It makes almost dying nearly worth it! Nar thought, shaking his head in utter disbelief. But we still have that [???]... Oh, well! Who cares? This is all massive! And look at all my skill gains… Plus [Aura Blade]! Yes!

  To see [Aura Blade] listed amongst his gains was not a surprise, but it was a damn sight after everything he had gone through to unlock it! All that hard work, paid off and summed up into two, glorious words… It was magnificent!

  But what's this? [Combat Cycling]? He thought, frowning. What in the Pile is that about?

  Everything he had been taught thus far had always led him to believe that combat cycling was just something one did, not an actual skill, and yet…

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  Curious, he checked his two new skills.

  An epic skill…

  Nar could scarcely breathe.

  An epic skill?

  He read through the skill two more times, and then stared mutely at the rank of his new skill.

  By the Crystal, an epic skill! He thought, still reeling from the momentous discovery. And it gives me more out of [Mastery] and [Vigor]... So that I can use even more aura and stamina? Crystal Above All… This is… This is…

  He didn’t even have words for it. An epic skill… That was only one rank lower from freaking legendary!

  But that description… Did he enjoy combat? Was that what the skill was hitting at? But how could that be? He’d spent the entirety of the last while wondering if the life of a delver, a life of danger and death and everything else he’d seen, was for him! When had he enjoyed fighting? Ever?

  So where in the Pile is this coming from?

  He shook his head. The bonuses from [Combat Cycling] were tremendous, and that’s what he decided to focus on. The rest… He would figure it out eventually, if it ever mattered… Power was power, and as long as it propelled him towards his goals, he would take it.

  Wait! I should look at the rest of the skill upgrades as well!

  For several seconds, his brain tried and failed to comprehend the bonuses he was reading.

  The Path of the Champion is not an easy one to tread, but you continue to take the first steps towards building this path… That changed, Nar realized, in awe. And from 0.01 to 0.02 bonus points per aura point… With 544 points in [Aura***]?

  He gulped, and with his heartbeat drumming wild in his chest, he called upon his full status.

  Nar stared mutely at the tab in front of him. What is this…

  What kind of numbers were those before him?

  83 cumulative points in [Speed]? 90 in [Agility]? [Reflex] at almost double what it had previously been, and [Instinct] at 83 points?

  TING!

  Nar startled in his bed, and he blinked at the flashing notifications icon, with its small bubble indicating that he had 1 new and unread notification. Opening that tab, he found a new message from the Master of Blades, the subject reading Great gains! But…

  But? But what? Nar thought, opening the message. Look at them!

  They were more than great! They were phenomenal! They were miraculous even!

  Am I still weak? Nar thought, reading through the message and his brain struggling to match that quantifier to the numbers in his status. Even with all of these gains? Fucking Pile… Just what level are all these people at?

  Tys was at least level 150, which meant she was, at the minimum… A whole 115 levels above him?

  Okay, fine, Nar begrudgingly conceded the point. Anyways, he’s also surprised about [Combat Cycling], uh? That can only be a good thing, right?

  He shook his head at his own sarcasm. Surprises didn’t often tend to be pleasant, though only time would tell with his new skill. And thinking back to it, even his [Aura Infused Strikes] had not had much mileage in that dungeon, thanks to all the missing beasts and bosses, though he was pretty sure that at the end there, his [Lingering Aura] had triggered to ravage the illatrian’s insides…

  Oh, well, we’ll see… And consolidating, uh? I guess it makes sense, he thought. Though I’m not so sure I trust this reward of theirs…

  He was certain that the other apprentices would’ve also made tremendous gains from that corrupted cluster of dungeons, and unless he was very, incredibly, stupidly wrong, that probably meant they had all just jumped ahead of schedule. At the very least by a little bit! Which meant that Tsurmirel was definitely going to capitalize on that, and push them even harder in its goal to make elite combat delvers out of them as quickly as possible.

  Just how hard they would push? That remained to be seen, but he had no illusions as to the deadly nature of said reward.

  I guess I’ll just try to relax, for now, he thought, scanning through the last of his master's message. Oh, and don’t worry about your sword?

  He shook his head. I’m not worried. I just have no clue what in the Pile happened back there.

  Dismissing the message, he climbed out of his bed at last, and commanded the lights to turn on. Then, he summoned his sword.

  The blade looked the same as it had, when he had showed it to Tys and Kur, but now, in the quiet of his own room, and feeling a lot more alive, he examined it once more. He passed his finger along the uneven, burned and scarred blade, marveling as he always did at how smooth it felt despite its appearance, and his eyes fell upon the new modifications made to its appearance.

  The pathways now visible across the blades' two sides formed uneven zig zags, and they were almost not there, being so incredibly shallow and thin in the metal. Still, the lines managed to somehow look clean, and solid, and as his fingers reached the circular indentation that signaled the existence of the new aura core now residing within the sword, he let out a half-cry of surprise.

  It’s warm! Does that mean there’s some aura left inside of it? He wondered, as he lay his thumb across the small, three-inch wide circle, covering most of it, and marveled at his undeniable warmth.

  “What happened to you?” he whispered to the blade, pulling up its status.

  “Well… I’ll be damned,” Nar whispered. “You’ve come far, haven’t you?”

  Sure, the evolution of the sword into full Hunger was worrying, especially given the time he had almost abandoned Mul for his gains, but that Hunger had done him a lot of incredible good. It was easy to forget its continuous, passive healing effect in the midst of the chaos of battle, but it was a pretty significant effect, and one that was now even further boosted, which perfectly suited his hybrid path. And the sword had saved Jul before, in the confluence. Of that he was certain! And it had saved them all in that dungeon in a way that he still didn’t understand…

  But if that Hunger remained focused on his own growth, protecting his party, and saving his dad, then maybe, it would only continue to be an advantage in the long term. Something to lean on, rather than shy away from…

  “And we are hungry, aren’t we?” Nar thought, passing his fingers across the blade. “And with this… If I… We keep going the way we are… Maybe it’s not so impossible to go back down after all in time.”

  Sure, rest and relaxation were important, even needed, and he was definitely in need of it.

  But Nar had no intention of slowing down. Not now that he had tasted the first proper fruits of his efforts outside of the B-Nex., and not now that his path was starting to look like something that could truly be considered promising.

  No. He was far, far from done.

  “You and I,” he whispered to his blade. “We’re going to keep climbing, higher and higher, aren’t we?”

  When next they met, and they would meet, his dad would barely recognize the two of them, as gone would be the nervous, lost little boy that had wandered into the dark of the B-Nex, as well as the plain, underwhelming longsword he had taken along with him for his journey…