In the anteroom of the trial chamber, the pool was bubbling wildly. The Keeper was nowhere to be found, and a low rumble filled the chamber. Nicholas helped Elijah to sit down and then moved over to the pool. As he approached, the bubbling increased.
Rose > Elijah! Finally, you’re back. It’s said you were offline for the last half hour. Wherever you are, you need to run! The Reapers are on the move; they’re on their way to you!
Elijah > It’s okay, we guessed. We have a plan.
When Nicholas finally reached the edge of the pool, the water stilled. Even the ripples that had been ever present since they first arrived had vanished, leaving behind a pool of calm, crystal-clear water. He stopped, standing motionless before the water. After several seconds, a loud grinding sound echoed through the cavern, and the water’s surface churned again. From beneath the depths of the water, a platform emerged. On the center of the platform, kneeled a stone statue of a dryad holding a long white spear. It appeared to be made of the same material as the Mother’s skin.
[Item]
Tree Mother’s Bone
Rank: Celestial
Condition: 100/100
Damage: 80-95
Class Requirement: Heartwood Sovereign
Enchantments:
- Growing: This item ranks up with the user.
- Striking: +40 to damage range.
- Locked: Hidden.
- Locked: Hidden
- Locked: Hidden
This was a truly powerful weapon. If Elijah guessed correctly, the striking enchantment on it was Legendary-tier. And it still had three more enchantments to unlock as Nicholas leveled up. With a weapon that powerful, Nicholas would be a force to be reckoned with. Greed bubbled up in Elijah’s gut as their team leader took hold of the haft of the spear.
He should be happy for his friends; both Sasha and Nicholas had earned incredibly powerful weapons during their time in this dungeon. Yet, he was still stuck with a basic unenchanted dagger to fight with. He knew he was being greedy. He had not one but two unique classes, and a rare class in the form of his Dungeon Core Guardian class. No other player that he’d ever heard of could multiclass like he did.
He tried to put his greed aside as Nicholas returned to the group. The dungeon had changed him. Not just emotionally as it had done with the rest of the party but physically as well. Bark-like protrusions covered his skin where it peeked out from under his armor. But that wasn’t the only change; his eyes now glowed with the same white light that the Mother had radiated.
“Are you feeling okay?” Sasha’s voice was worried as she looked him over. Her hands gently touched the protrusions, keeping a close eye on his reaction for any hint of pain.
Nicholas nodded slowly, his hand reaching up to touch hers on his neck. “Barely even notice it’s there, Sasha. Don’t know if it’s the game dulling my senses, or helping me to cope, but it feels like just another part of my body now.”
Bo cleared his throat. “As heartwarming as this all is, are you two forgetting we are sort of on the clock here?”
Grunting his acknowledgment, Nicholas turned his back to the party and lifted the spear. “I, the Heartwood Sovereign, claim this dungeon in the name of the Mother Dryad and Goddess Fate!” He rammed the tip of the weapon into the ground.
To Elijah’s senses, nothing seemed to change within the dungeon, but he trusted his friend knew what he was doing. After a few moments, Nicholas turned back towards the party. “Okay, it’s done. The glade is now considered the home base, and under the protection of, Sasha’s Babysitting Service.”
Sasha groaned and rolled her eyes at Elijah. He halfway expected her to smack him again, but there was the faintest hint of a smile curling the edges of her lips. Maybe the name was growing on her?
“Okay, we won’t have much time until the army gets here. Let’s get to work.” Nicholas commanded.
The first order of business, before anything else, was finally assigning the stat points for his several level ups. The Dryad Mother’s Glade wasn’t necessarily a safe zone; player versus player actions could still take place, but it qualified as enough of one for that much.
Elijah didn’t have to think too hard about how he was going to split his available points.
[CHARACTER STATS]
Name: Elijah
Class: Reality Warper
Level: 17 (2898 / 3115 XP)
Health: 100 / 100
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Mana: 80 / 80
Strength: 10 (Apprentice)
Intelligence: 16 (Apprentice)
Dexterity: 14 (Apprentice)
Constitution: 20 (Journeyman)
Skills:
- Reality Warp - 14
- Summon Familiar - 8
- Mass Warp - 2
- Dragontooth Swarm - 4
- Dragontooth Teleport - 7
-Dragontooth Scout - 5
- Core Breaker - 8
He’d finally gotten back to near where he had been when he had his specially enchanted gear. It made him feel good to know that these numbers were his now. They wouldn’t drop just because he got killed and lost his gear.
Once he finally had the time to resupply and re-gear, he’d be even stronger. As long as they survived what was coming for them. They all had their parts to play, and Elijah was no exception.
He stood at the edge of the pool, staring down into its now murky depths. He could feel his target calling to him from beneath the water.
The Dungeon Core.
When Nicholas had told him what his part in the plan would be, he’d worried that Bo had secretly spilled the beans on what happened in the Reaper’s lair, but so far the rogue had kept the secret. Nicholas only knew that Elijah had done something to the core in the dev room, and Nicholas was going to take any advantages he could get.
Elijah waded into the shallows of the pool, looking down into the water. He could sense it was down there, but couldn’t see it. He had to keep reminding himself that this was a game. The water wasn’t real, and even if he died, it wouldn’t be like dying in real life. Surely they hadn’t made drowning in-game as bad as drowning in the real world.
He dived into the deep water at the center of the pool. As he swam deeper, he began to lose his vision as each stroke took him further from the surface. Too quickly the gloom set in, leaving Elijah swimming through pitch black. He knew which way was forward only by the singing he heard from the dungeon core.
His lungs burned with every kick and sweep of his hands. Finally, he hit the bottom; the impact forcing air from his lungs. Air he couldn’t afford to lose, but he finally found what he was after. The Core was near now. He pressed his hands against the bottom and called to the Core. It responded, and a blinding blue light filled his sight.
He kicked off the bottom but found there was something blocking his ability to swim back to the surface.
Panic flooded his body; memories of the day his parents had taken him to see the ocean in Washington State flashed in his mind. Grays Harbor held no interest for him, nor did the people his parents introduced him to. The logical part of his brain knew he should be interested in meeting this part of his family, his mother’s siblings and his cousins, but he had nothing in common. He rarely had anything in common with anyone he met.
The ocean had been interesting for the first few minutes. The sheer power of the waves crashing against the rocks nearby shook the world around him, but even that had lost his attention after a few minutes. All he remembered was being cold. It wasn’t as cold as northern Ohio, but November in the Pacific Northwest still had a bite to it.
In his boredom, he’d broken the first rule of being near the ocean: Never turn your back on it.
A strong wave came in, barely high enough to reach his knees, but powerful. It had knocked him over, and then, as if nothing had happened, receded from the shore, pulling Elijah along with it. He was disoriented from being knocked over, and didn’t know how to swim regardless. The icy chill of the water snatched his breath as he struggled and fought against the water.
Stupid. He’d been so stupid. Growing up on the shores of Lake Erie, he knew that water was dangerous, but not even the worst waves of the lake could compete with the power of the ocean.
His fists pounded at the force that was preventing him from surfacing beneath the pool. There would be no uncle and father to pull him to safety this time. No ‘deus ex machina’ to rescue him from the phobia that had tormented his life since early childhood. The water felt like it would crush him.
And then his head broke free into the air. Cold, crisp, and humid air. He could tell by the light of the dungeon core he was still beneath the surface of the pool. Above him, water hung heavy as if magically suspended, and the cave he was in was still damp. The Core had created an air bubble for him, even if it had taken its sweet time doing so.
Elijah collapsed onto the ground, pulling his knees in close to his chest and trying to breathe deeply. He’d wanted a realistic experience, but the panic attack he was feeling right now was too real. He worked on slowing his breathing while counting the fingers on his hands over and over. One through ten and then repeat.
He’d been down inside the pool for several minutes by the time he finally got to his feet. His party was probably worried about him. Even with enhanced endurance, a player shouldn’t be able to hold their breath this long, and he had no way of knowing if he was within the fifty-foot range of Sasha’s enhanced detection.
Elijah > There’s an air pocket down here. The Core probably isn’t supposed to come all the way to the surface, so I’ll have to change it from down here.
He sent the message to the group chat, then closed the interface. His hand neared the Core, and he felt a twinge of something dark enter his mind. He’d gained 8 levels in his Core Breaker skill the last time he’d been this close. If he could get that skill up to the Apprentice-tier there was no telling what special abilities it would unlock.
Maybe something that would be useful against Arturus?
He tried pushing those thoughts away, remembering the sentience he’d felt from the Reaper Lair Core. It had wanted to be ended, but this one hadn’t been through the pain and suffering that one had endured. It would be the same as taking an innocent life.
Wouldn’t it?
[Core Interface]
Core: The Dryad Glade
Options:
1. Defenses
2. Monsters
3. Traps
4. Bosses
5. Spawn Points
6. Core Playback
(Status:
Allies Present: 5
Enemies Present: 0
Neutrals Present: 0
Monsters Present: 0
Core Stability: 100%
)
Curiously, the Core didn’t give any options within its first four menus. It was as if the dryads had never existed according to the core. He wondered if that had something to do with Nicholas taking the dungeon over. That didn’t matter though; killing the Reapers wasn’t the purpose of coming down here to find the Core. Instead, they had plans to utilize it to end the Reaper threat once and for all.
He made the adjustments that he needed to and then sent off another message to the party letting them know he was moving on to phase two. His hand pressed down on the top of the Core.
“I don’t know if you understand me, but I’m sorry. We didn’t have time for you to enter the ‘Sleep of Changing’ this time, but no one should ever be able to mess with you again.” He spoke quietly and reverently to the Core, seeing that its stability had dropped to eighty percent. He pushed it back down into the ground, returning it to its resting place.
Bats sprang up from the damp ground. Without the light of the core, the bubble he was in was pitch black, so Elijah couldn’t see them, but he could hear them. He wondered where they came from in this situation where he didn’t have a shadow. He selected his target and grinned. There was no way his target would know he was coming as the bats’ magic carried him away from the glade. Their reaction should be quite a treat.
