THIRTY: UNDERSTANDING

  Even with the death of Titus hanging its grim pallor over their party, they slaughtered their way through the remnants inside of the manors with ease. Valeria and Cassius worked together, controlling rooms with their wide shields and long spears while Leto and Vira held the flanks with ease. It became more of a chore than a challenge as they fought their way through the side street, collecting the missing watches that Vira insisted were needed.

  When Cassius mentioned he hadn’t finished clearing his own manor, they went back and did it. There were few of the beasts in the upper levels and nothing of note either, but Vira insisted that nothing should remain to press against their backs before they moved forward with the next part of their plot.

  When they had finished their slaughter, Vira had led them back to the final manor at the lane, climbing fences with not practiced ease. They settled inside of the destroyed kitchen, eating the last of their rations and drinking through their water. Cassius wondered if Titus’s corpse still held his mostly full waterskins, or if they had been punctured by the blades that had hacked the nobleman apart.

  “I need sleep,” Leto said through chattering teeth, looking as if he was wrapped in death’s mantle. Staggering away he slid to the ground with a crash, asleep before his armor had settled. Raspy snores emerged from him instantly, eyes fluttering behind his eyelids once more.

  “Something is wrong with him, I care not if he insists he is fine,” Valeria said, eyes hard as she looked over the man.

  “Let him rest. It could just be illness,” Vira said, but there was no conviction in her words. Cassius kept his own opinion to himself, looking over Leto to see if there was any wound that could be weakening the man, but Leto’s armor was soiled so badly by their fights it was hard to tell if any of the gore was the man’s or if it belonged to the undead they’d been slaughtering.

  “Take out the watches and I shall explain,” Vira ordered, wiping at her face, smearing more of the dirt and dried blood across her sharp cheeks.

  Cassius deposited the watches on the table, knocking away delicate plates that held dried remnants of food, nothing more than splotches of hardened residue. Their shattering didn’t stir Leto who continued to rasp away in a fitful slumber.

  “My house holds few of the old relics, but I have seen enough of them and we guard the knowledge we do hold, passing it from mother to daughter. These are the old numerals,” Vira explained, pointing at the clock. She explained how each of the symbols represented a number and how the ancestors had told time in units of twelve and five with a whole unit of twenty-four.

  Vira finished writing down the times she translated from the watches on the table with a piece of charcoal she pulled from her own pack, frowning as she looked at them. Cassius took a glance at them and couldn’t tell what they meant, but thought that without having the other watches from the other side of the street, it was pointless.

  “This is all well and good, but can we not speak of what you told us. That dungeons are meant to cross the tier marking?” Valeria asked. She had walked to a corner of the room, wedged herself in it with her shield resting in front of her to cover everything but her face as she looked at the noblewoman.

  “I would ask for your word that you will not wag your tongues about this. It is not a state secret, but one that we do not promote easily,” Vira said, stuffing all four watches back in her pack along with her charcoal.

  “I will not go out of my way to spill this secret,” Cassius said. Valeria merely nodded, but Vira took that as enough of assent to launch herself into her explanation.

  “How much do you know of class stones?” Vira started, looking over the two of them. Valeria stayed silent causing Vira to look at Cassius with brilliant green eyes.

  “They are crafted by the gods and gifted to the strata to oversee,” Cassius said, repeating verbatim what he’d been taught in the orphanage. He didn’t truly believe it, but he had not true answer to it.

  “That is the official statement we offer to all. It is espoused in public frequently, but the truth is not so. Class stones are dungeon hearts. When you conquer a dungeon you have the choice of a True Conquering. This will break the false reality we are in, leaving the stone open to bless people with the class that the conquerors have chosen based upon the skills exhibited by the dungeon. Or there is the False Conquering, we slay all the challenges, collect the rewards from around the dungeon, and then leave by pressing our hand to the dungeon heart.”

  Valeria coughed once. Cassius just felt frozen as he stared at the noblewoman. Everything they’d been taught in the orphanages had been a complete lie, rather than the simple bending of truth he’d thought it was. Vira felt their swirling emotions and pressed on before either legionnaire could settle on anger.

  “As the republic expanded and brought the barbarians to heel, we expanded further. The first strata were military governors who were assigned to oversee the dungeons and class stones. It was only over time that we realized the web of the stones and how some were stronger than others, they could hold more classes than the single ones.”

  “Why are there so many [Farmer] or [Smith] stones then?” Valeria asked. Cassius blinked slowly, trying to think on what this meant.

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  “The first True Conqueror can form the class the stone will hold. Most did not understand that, or they wished to not break the dungeon. It is better to harvest the skill shards or any other resource rather than the class stone,” Vira explained.

  “During the unification, we broke their dungeons then. What they relied upon for goods or tools and made classes that couldn’t fight against us,” Cassius said. It wasn’t a hard leap of logic based upon what he knew of how the legions were formed and how paranoid the senate was of their power.

  “It was the First Consul’s policy. Any fighting classes were to be kept under supervision by the Old Guard in Aurum, or by the First Strata. All others were to be broken and turned into non-combat classes. It helps that most dungeons have skill shards that can easily be turned into non-combat classes,” Vira explained.

  “The gods did not grant you the right to rule, but steel and mana,” Valeria said with a scoff, shaking her head. Cassius couldn’t help but agree, but held his tongue.

  “It has led to peace and prosperity for generations. The entirety of the peninsula from the Shifting Wall to the Wailing Sea is united under one banner. Our only foe was monsters from the Wilds,” Vira said plainly.

  “Until now,” Cassius cut in, trying to refocus the conversation. Vira stopped and nodded in agreement while Valeria simmered with barely constrained anger.

  “What was it that you said about the dungeons being able to break through to the next tier?” Cassius said, pushing the direction of the explanation. The true history of the republic was interesting, but he needed to live to think about it.

  “Class stones only work on the first class, the base. That is what will forever set you on your path. It is why the strata and senate keep some dungeons functional. Skill harvesting. If you claim the same skills and work your way through the dungeon with enough experience, the dungeon heart will allow you to ascend to the next tier,” Vira said.

  “That is how all of your kind has the same classes. I had thought that there would be a greater stone, one that would give you the next class,” Valeria said, mumbling as she rubbed at her chin.

  “No, but the higher your tier, the more powerful the dungeon needs to be. It is one of the reasons there are so few third tier people in the republic. That and the senate levies massive fees to move from the first tier to the second, and the third tier can only be done in a few places. Which the senate and Old Guard protect religiously. Only the head of a family, the reigning Senate President, or a Consul.”

  “It seems the strata outrank the senate then,” Cassius said.

  “Few families can afford it, even when pressing down on the branch families to pay for it. My family does not have a third tier nor does the other borderland family. That and it matters not.” Vira shook her head at the thought of the strata being more powerful than the senate.

  “Do not leave us on a cliff, tell us why the strata being more powerful than the senate matters not?” Cassius said.

  “The Old Guard. There is no confirmation about it, but it is rumored they are the fourth tier. They are the true power in the republic, when they are bothered to emerge from their seclusion,” Vira said. Cassius froze at that, thinking of how powerful the creature he’d fought had been. Not when he had slewn it, but when they had been enraged and had attacked at full power.

  “The devil we killed, the one that slew so many. That was a second tier beast,” Cassius said. Vira nodded.

  “And a weak one at that. I have begun to fear that the summoner and his guards are all second tier creatures. They are powerful monsters,” Vira said.

  “I should not be alive then. It should have killed me with ease inside of the summoning stone room. The guards may simply be at the pinnacle of the first tier,” Cassius pushed back. Vira nodded in acceptance of that.

  “It is possible that could be it. Regardless, we have an opportunity here to push ourselves into the next tier. At least Leto and I do,” Vira said.

  “Why just you two?” Cassius said instantly before Valeria could open her mouth and vent her rage at that sentence.

  “I have finished filling my empty skill slots out,” Vira said, not rising to either of the legionnaires obvious anger.

  “You said that these dungeons have skills to be harvested? I have seen nothing of the sort here,” Valeria said.

  “Those creatures in the road. They have skills, I have no doubt about it,” Vira said.

  “That does us little good,” Valeria snarled, anger evident.

  “It may do me good,” Cassius said. Eyes turned to look at him and he rubbed at his chin as he reached into his pack, shuffling through the gear that they were forced to carry.

  “The skill shard stays inside of the body and just needs to be harvested, correct? If all of eight of those creatures have skills inside of them then all we need to do is drag the body of the one I killed over to us,” Cassius said as he pulled out a coil of rope that was kept at the bottom of his pack.

  “You think that will work?” Valeria said, snorting as she watched him.

  “I think it will if you all distract them while I do,” Cassius said.

  “What are you planning?” Vira asked.

  “You distract them while I hook the corpse and bring it to the gate and cut out the skill,” Cassius said as he found the small hook in the pack. It was meant for grappling walls, something Cassius had nearly thrown out of his pack when they left for their expedition.

  “And what of me?” Valeria asked.

  “There are seven more of the creatures. Once we have pushed past the tier, we kill the creatures you and you gather the skills and push through to the next tier,” Cassius said with a shrug as he knotted the rope around the bottom eye-hole in the hook.

  “They should hold multiple skills?” Valeria said, asking Vira.

  “I believe this a truly martial dungeon. Each of those creatures should have a skill that relate to warfare. With eight of them, then there should be two or three skills spread out between them.”

  That was enough to settle Valeria as she left her corner to come and began to plan out their plan.