The Guild Incident

Dungeon on Earth: Book Two

Author: D. L. Harrison

Copyright 2022.  This is a work of fiction.  Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.  All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Cora

Chapter Two

Jia

Chapter Three

Caldin

Chapter Four

Cora

Chapter Five

Jia

Chapter Six

Caldin

Chapter Seven

Cora

Chapter Eight

Jia

Chapter Nine

Caldin

Chapter Ten

Cora

Chapter Eleven

Jia

Chapter Twelve

Caldin

Silvia

Chapter Thirteen

Cora

Chapter Fourteen

Jia

Chapter Fifteen

Caldin

Chapter Sixteen

Cora

Chapter Seventeen

Jia

Chapter Eighteen

Silvia

Chapter Nineteen

Cora

Chapter Twenty

Jia

Chapter Twenty-One

Silvia

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cora

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jia

Silvia

Epilogue

Tenenbaum

Afterword:

About the Author

Other books by D. L. Harrison:

Book Description

Prologue

Silvia took a deep breath, and she meditated a moment to shed her growing anxiety.  She opened her eyes calmly, and then started to go over the glyph circle one last time.  If she’d gotten any of it wrong, a single mistake in the vast array of magical spells, then she would cease to exist, be utterly destroyed.  She’d have preferred to wait until near the end of her lifespan as a Magi to take such a risk, but circumstances had demanded she risk it all early.

But if it paid off, she would be powerful beyond the imagination of most on this world, and she’d already have a godly mentor in Cleo.  One that could lead her to the next stage of existence and even greater power.

Her and her people had been stuck on this Earth for twenty years, and it was also the only way she could open the way back home.

The ascension was a true shedding of her mortal existence as an elf.  Unlike all the other advancements, she would no longer retain her original body.  It required extensive research and study for the last two centuries of her life to get this point.  The point was that she couldn’t ascend to Ethereal using her own mind, internally, as she had for the six ascensions that had made her a Magi.

The only way to ascend to Ethereal was to design and plan out her new existence, and to use premade enchantments that she would power and activate.  The enchantments would run serially, each one performing a step of her ascension before the next one automatically kicked off.  Once that happened, she’d be at the mercy of her design.

Once activated, there was no way to stop its course.  It would preserve her consciousness, her memories, her soul, as it destroyed her mortal body and built a new multi-dimensional body made purely of organized mana.  Or it would do all of that, if she hadn’t made a mistake in the making of the glyph circle, and if her research wasn’t flawed.  If the new body was out of balance in any way, it would simply unravel, and she would cease to exist.

Ironically, it wasn’t unlike the goals of some of the humans from this world, who believed they could live forever by becoming digital gods of sorts.  Immortal, through technology.

Of course, that wasn’t true power.  Such a being living on a computer as a simulation of life would be at the mercy of the electrical grid, and they would have no power out in the real world.  Their power would be a generated illusion and ultimately empty, without consequence or true purpose.

While her immortal existence would be powered by the magic that existed in all of creation via ley lines of mana, and she would be a being that could act on the world as she saw fit.  Vulnerable only to the gods above her in power, and other Ethereals, but no longer bound to the whims or needs of any mortal being.

It wasn’t that simple of course.  She would still have duty and responsibility, at least for four more centuries until she’d completed her end of the deal with Cleo, but she would be truly immortal save destruction, and quite a bit more powerful.  Science was nothing next to the power of magic and mastering universal forces and truths.  That was a true ascension.

She was positive the glyph circle was flawless at that point, assuming her conclusions and research were without flaw.  She was as ready as she’d ever be.  She’d even made contingencies in her will, leaving some final orders for Caldin here in Colorado, Kaylie who took care of the guild town outside Moscow, and Neda who ran the town in China near Lanzhou.

Even if she failed, it wasn’t the last chance for their people to get home, but it’d be over two hundred and fifty years before any others could attempt this step.  At least fifty years for a few of them to reach magi, and another two hundred before they could reasonably make the attempt that she was making tonight.

Magi were rare, and Ethereals even rarer, ones that weren’t corrupted to the point of insanity by such great power were the rarest of all.  Most retired, or died, before they could achieve that lofty status.  For one reason or other, most simply weren’t suited to it, and the sacrifices and discipline required.  Some even simply tired of this life, and immortality became an unbearable idea to them.  Most mortals weren’t suited for immortality.

With Cleo’s help providing the new dungeons, things had gone pretty much to plan the last twenty years.  The world had entered a new arms race of sorts, one of magic and personal power, rather than technology.  There’d still been problems, and tensions were still a problem, that was simply the human condition.  Elves were the same way, all sentient races were in the end.

It really would take another ten to twenty generation before the cultures of earth accepted a permanent balance of power, government against guild, and even then there would be problems and dangers in the future.  It was a delicate balance to tread.

There’d been threats the last twenty years, but nothing that she couldn’t handle, and thanks to the new dungeons they’d been few and far between.  Russia and China had not wanted to compromise at all. To agree to honor their soldier’s oaths to the guild by treaty, but in the end it truly had been their only choice.  They’d been forced to take the best path possible so they could remain powerful players on the Earth.  It was either that, or destroy the world in nuclear fire, no other path would’ve taken her off the board.  Possibly not even that, if she had even a second’s advance warning.

After today, if she survived, even that second’s warning wouldn’t be required for her to survive even the center of a nuclear explosion.  The part of her multidimensional body on the mortal plane simply wouldn’t be all that important to her survival or existence, save communicating and interacting with mortals.  If it was destroyed, it could be easily remade.  The important parts of her new body would simply be beyond the reach of the mortal world, and was where most of her thoughts, conscience, and power would reside.

She’d delayed more than enough, and she pushed away the last of her anxiety as she stepped into the circle and knelt on the floor.  She placed a hand on the central glyph, took her last deep breath as a mortal being, one way or another, and then channeled pure mana into it, as well as magic of void and light.

It was a balance.  The spell needed mana to preserve her mind and soul, but it also needed the magic of creation and destruction to carry out those tasks.  She had to send in a perfectly balanced amount of each to power her spells and have the mana to create her new body.  She spent all of her power on it, it would be needed.  One by one all the glyphs powered from the central glyph, and when the last one was powered, the first one activated.

There was no going back now.

The spells destroyed her body as it extracted and preserved her mind, her conscious, and all the rest that made her who she was.  She floated in a state of isolation, cut off from all physical senses and the world around her.  Alive only virtue of the spells that supported her.  If they failed to make her a multidimensional body of mana organized to such a purpose, then her consciousness would simply fade away when the spells ran their course and were no longer there to support her existence.

She hated the feeling of helplessness, but there was nothing she could do but wait to see if she’d gotten it all right.  It was difficult to be sure.  Not only was information on becoming Ethereal rare to find, it was also a different process from person to person, and had to be tailored to her.

Specifically related to affinities.  She wielded the powers of creation and destruction.  The process would be significantly different for a person with the affinity for elements and death, for instance.  Much of it, she’d had to rediscover on her own through experimentation.

Which meant she’d had to be discerning on which parts of information she’d found, which ones to adopt, which ones to modify, and which ones to reject.

Despite all that, she was reasonably confident in her work.  She wouldn’t be making the attempt, and gambling her life, if she wasn’t.  Of course, slightly more than three out of four that tried failed this ascension, and she was sure all of those failures had been as confident as she was.  Twenty five percent wasn’t great odds, but then she’d been more than an average magi in her opinion.  Natural ability would skew those odds quite a bit.

She pushed away the doubts, and her waffling thoughts. Whatever happened, happened.  She started to meditate on the future instead.  She was fairly sure the council wouldn’t give her trouble when she went home, but it wouldn’t hurt to further develop the contingencies she’d been working on, just in case.  And it would keep her mind occupied and distracted.

The sudden sensation and awareness of the world around her derailed her thoughts for a moment.  Her senses expanded in ways and directions they never had before.  Thoughts and abstract concepts that had been difficult for her to conceptualize in the past suddenly became obviously self-evident.  Like a human noticing the sky was blue.

She’d succeeded, and felt like herself, mostly.  She thought and felt the same, but it was also odd that her body didn’t flush with success, and her heart didn’t start to beat faster.  Nor did she have to breath, eat, or void, ever again.

Her new body didn’t have or do such things, though mortals would still perceive her as a normal elf, nothing could be further from the truth.  It would take her time to grow accustomed to it, as well as cultivating mana straight from the ley lines, instead of cultivating essence, and then refining and condensing it back into the denser mana from the dungeon as she had to do as a Magi.

It was different, and she could already detect the greater amount of essence around her, as if that cultivation was feeding it, much like a dungeon.  Raising the ambient essence in the area.  She didn’t want adventurers to start cultivating near her instead of in a dungeon.  It also wasn’t much, not in comparison to the mana she was directly cultivating, but it also felt like a waste.

With a small amount of concentration, she started to cultivate the essence being released from her mana cultivation.  Refining it and condensing it into mana just like when she was a magi.  It made less than a one percent difference, but to her old life it was a significant amount.  Nothing to sneeze at.  It also kept the ambient mana from radiating more than a foot or two past her body, which took care of that problem as well.

Her mind’s capabilities had also obviously expanded, because it took virtually no effort, and only a modicum of focus, for her to maintain two different styles of cultivation at the same time.

A few seconds later with a small effort, both cultivations became a single unified concept, and it was humming along with no real effort.

She could already sense her new body didn’t have a mana limit.  Her power ultimately would depend on how much mana she absorbed, there was no mortal body to burn out by taking too much.  Her mana body would simply… expand, multidimensionally, to accommodate it.  Her physical body on this world, or mana construct, was like the tip of an iceberg.  It would never change unless she wished it, but underneath where no mortal could see her body would grow without limit.  The only thing that would slow her growth would be to expend that gathered mana in spells, and the small constant amount consumed to maintain her existence.

Which was amazing, but also filled her with caution.  The guild council made up of three Ethereal beings had existed for uncounted centuries, double digit millennia.  They’d been cultivating mana and their bodies for a long time.  It made her Ethereal existence the most powerful on this world save the gods, but back home she’d be just a baby compared to those three.

She had been under the impression she would be their equal, but apparently not.  Not even close.

Still, it wasn’t a bad thing to only have to worry about three beings there.  The many Magi on that world were no longer a threat to her, in any way.  There was always someone bigger.

It was also a good reality check, lest her power and ambition fill her with foolish notions.  She felt indestructible and powerful, but that was just an illusion with a small element of truth to it.  True as it related to her old life and mortal threats, patently false as it related to her own kind and those above her.

Another insight was that Ethereal was the ultimate ascension related to mana and essence cultivation.  It was the ultimate because there were no limits on her with gathering the power, and she was immortal.  That along with the fact she hadn’t been able to detect Cleo’s use of power, told her that to seek godhood was to start a new path as a fledgling immortal.  No matter how powerful she became, she could never challenge even the weakest god.  Their power was something new, likely something only accessible to a multi-dimensional being.

Which meant she was at the top and bottom of two different scales at the same time.  Not that she had any idea yet what that power would be, where to find it or how to manipulate it.  In time, she would find out with Cleo as her mentor.  But that was for the future, she needed to focus on the now.

She took her first breath since ascending, and she cleared her throat.  That felt weird, but her senses of touch and vision were exactly the same as they always were, but also more at the same time.  Point being, she didn’t have to sacrifice all the sensations and pleasures of a mortal body, mostly she’d just discarded the unpleasant or unneeded aspects.

She needed to adapt, but at the same time there was enough of her old life and mortal existence present to keep her mentally grounded and stable.  She’d still be able to feel the breeze on her skin, or the sun warming her, and even the touch of a lover.

As for her new reality, what she could sense and explore around her…  Well, she knew mortal senses and their sense of reality were flawed. That much of the universe was hidden from their perceptions.  But she hadn’t realized just how much that was true.

She didn’t have any new knowledge as a result of her ascension, but she did have a lot of new insight.

Creating that world gate would be child’s play for her now, at least it would with the anchoring bond connecting their worlds, from ley line to dungeon.

It was time to get back to work, and to pay her debts to Cleo.

Chapter One

Cora

The dungeon was full of the sounds of battle, surging magic, and powerful spells that day.  It was full of humans and a few elves and dark elves that increased my growth rate.

Just how I liked it.

The last twenty years had changed a lot of things for me, but I still had no magi path.  To support the growing town of Nelendra I’d added an additional three tiers, for five in total.  Five paths for each of the five levels.

I’d also added a little variety, the paths no longer duplicates.  They afforded the same level of challenge consistently, but with more choices on what they would face.  On the old world, it wasn’t unknown for adventuring groups to tour a group of dungeons, to keep things fresh and help maintain their vigilance.  To not get into a daily rut.

Given my dungeon was the only dungeon for the United States and its allies, it seemed to me like I’d needed to become more than I was.  And of course, I slightly changed up all twenty-five paths nightly, moving traps around, sometimes building new ones entirely, to further challenge their level of vigilance.

Just as an example, I now had an elemental driven golem path for all five levels.  Of course, they were completely different, as to what they were made of, how big and tough they were, and the power of the elementals driving them.  I still kept one of the tiers as the original five levels of course.  E-class for instance had golems made of flesh and hide.

I’d just felt like it’d been up to me to supply the diversity, so I’d tried to become five dungeons in one.

The town itself was hardly recognizable.  They’d built a power station a quarter mile out, as well as put in sewers and a water tower.  They no longer had to bring in water by potable truck or magic.  It was still relatively small for this new world as far as towns go, but there were hundreds of people there now.  All the prefabs had been replaced with permanent housing similar to what exists on bases for officers with families.

The existence of the alien town and my dungeon was no longer a secret from the general population.  I only knew that because the whole town had been talking about it around sixteen years ago.  After the President’s helicopter had been shot down by terrorists in full view of the press, and the president along with his secret service adventurer protector and pilot had walked out of the flaming wreck without a scratch, their bodies glowing with a magical shield.  Well, the dragon had been seen out of the aerie so to speak, and they’d had a lot of explaining to do.

I wasn’t actually sure if the population knew where I was though. My dungeon and the town were still surrounded by government-controlled land, and only the military, FBI, or other federal agents could become adventurers.  Those that visited Colorado Springs for a night on the town never left with weapons and armor, so it wouldn’t be outed that way, but I could be wrong.  It wasn’t like I had access to television, and I couldn’t see all the way to the barricades, much less past it where crowds of citizens would be lurking if they did know.

I itched to create that magi level challenge, but in truth I knew I didn’t really need it yet.  It would take another forty years or so before the most advanced A-class group reached that exalted perch.  I had been fooling around with a few multidimensional puzzles and traps in my experimental area, which was good, but I still needed a monster threat that would stand a chance.  Something this world simply couldn’t provide.

I bet I could do it with some dinosaur DNA, but what was the chances of me finding that?  Regardless, I had plenty of time to figure it out.

As for threats there’d only been a handful the last twenty years thanks to the two new dungeons across the world.  Thanks to Silvia none of those assassination attempts had gotten even close to me, but I had taken precautions regardless.

The rules of my dungeon existence said I needed to be accessible to adventurers if they ran the gauntlet of threats.  And I was, for anyone walking into my dungeon core room.  But it didn’t say I had to have my core room in the same dimensional space that the rest of it inhabited.  So that final tunnel shifted dimension slightly to reach my physical crystal inside the core room.

Which all added up to the fact the only way another nuke could get me, was if it was exploded in my core room.  Which would be overkill, since at that point a simple sword would do the job of cracking my crystal body.  If the safe room went up, then I’d lose most of the dungeon, but my core room would be safe from such a tactic.  Chances were that it wouldn’t happen again, but I felt a lot better about it now anyway.

No, if the enemy humans wanted me destroyed, they’d have to defeat my dungeon, which was the way it should be.

Unfortunately, I knew Silvia was leaving soon, at least for a brief time before returning.  I’d have had to be blind and dumb to miss her ascension to Ethereal status late last night, which meant she’d likely be building a world gate soon.  She was supposed to come back in a week or two per her plan, but honestly, I was a little nervous about the idea of being protected by this world’s A-class adventurers in the meantime.  It was also obvious to me that her plan wasn’t entirely in her hands, but I wouldn’t underestimate her.

On the good side, I doubted that anyone on this world but Silvia could reach my core room successfully.  My last two rooms were quite… formidable.  A-class threats, but very close to overdone and overwhelming.  Not quite impossible, because that was against the rules as well.

Amethyst asked, “What are you plotting, Cora?  You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“World domination?”

Amethyst giggled, “Better not be.”

“Of course not,” I said in an exaggerated faux innocent mind voice that made her giggle again.

Amethyst said, “Worried about the next week or two?”

“Yes, that.  While the dragon’s away, the wyrms will play.”

Amethyst hummed, “I guess I forgot to fully explain the intricacies of the guild since your memory loss.  It’s likely the guild will send an evaluator immediately upon receiving the reports, even before they start the debrief process.  So we should have another Magi present within a day of her leaving, temporarily, until Silvia returns.”

I frowned, “Why?”

Amethyst shrugged, “Internal guild checks and balances.  You know most Magi are more arrogant and demanding than Silvia.  As a rule, power corrupts, and most adventurers that strong have been corrupted to one extent or another.  So the guild’s policy is to trust but verify, because they’ll want to be sure when Caldin debriefs that he hasn’t been pressured by Silvia to leave things out, or to change a few things around.  Magi can be very intimidating after all.  The politics of the guild can get thick at guild town ruler levels and above.”

“Oh, that’s good news, I guess.”

Amethyst tilted her head, “You guess?”

“I trust Silvia.  I don’t know this evaluator.”

Amethyst giggled, “I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

Oh, she had to say it.  Famous last words.

I’d obviously picked up some human idiom on this world from the town, as well as a solid belief in Murphy’s law.

“Maybe she’ll come back with some magical monsters.”

Amethyst snorted a laugh and patted my crystal, “The guild doesn’t feed their dungeons.”

I mentally sighed long sufferingly, “Leave me to my illusions and false hopes.  I need a way to get to magi level threats somehow.”

Amethyst shook her head, “You’re in a mood.”

I kind of was, nervous, and a little high strung.  I really didn’t like change, I’d almost rather no evaluator show up.  No doubt whoever it was would invade my inner sanctum, and I hated that vulnerable feeling when it happened.  I’d just kind of gotten used to Silvia doing so to check the anchor and link to our old world.

Being reconnected to the old world, and the guild, meant everything was likely to change.

Or maybe I was just worried for nothing.  Silvia would come back, and all would be right in my little world.

I needed a distraction, and Caldin’s group was just about to enter the second room in the A-class tunnel.  Their group had ascended to A-class almost seventeen years ago now.  I focused my attention there, while Amethyst touched my crystal in an attempt to calm me which did help.  I think I’d almost rather the evaluator not come, even if it would be more protection, my non-existent gut told me it’d also be a bigger potential threat.

The problem with picking up idioms from the new world humans was that a lot of them referenced body parts and processes that I just didn’t have as an animate crystal hosting a multi-dimensional magical energy lifeform.

The second room held the twenty-five-foot tall and long monstrosity that was the result of crossing dragon and Rhino DNA, and the application of a whole lot of elemental magic to make it tougher.  There were also two lion-dragon hybrids in the room, that were incredibly fast with high damage potential, but far less armor and protection magic than their larger friend.  Still, even the smaller threats were three quarters of a ton in weight, just short of twice the mass of a full-grown lion in the wild on the planet, and they were armored with small and slightly supple dragon scales.

As soon as Caldin’s group reached the room, the two lions fanned out to the sides.  The group didn’t speak, they’d faced this threat a great number of times already, and already had a plan.

Caldin and Lathan roared a war cry as they charged the heavily armored behemoth.  Which predictably enough made the rhino-dragon roar in outrage and charge them too as it lowered its head to present its main weapon, a wickedly pointed horn.  The two large-scaled cats moved up too on the flanks, their spiked tails whipping in anticipation of battle.  They moved faster than anything else in the room, but there was still an unhurried predatory grace to their movements.

Sienna and Arielle stepped inside the room and fired their bows.  The latter a split second ahead with a powerful void spell attached.  The arrow struck the charging rhino’s leg.  The arrow broke on contact, but the focused void spell ate into the scales.  A split-second later Sienna’s arrow hit the same exact spot, and a powerful light spell exploded into the leg and sent out a thin plane of kinetic damage in all directions.

The huge Rhino was already tripping due to its severed leg, when Caldin and Lathan broke left and right, suddenly lunging for the cats instead.  The cats dodged, swiping their claws and then their tails, but the warriors anticipated the reaction and dodged, while striking with their weapons.  Lathan two-handed war hammer crushed the side of the creature and sent it flying against the stone wall.  An A-class warrior hit hard, and three quarters of a ton or not, the thing went flying.

Caldin’s whipping sword cut through the air, even as his shield blocked the spiked tail, the attack dug deeply into the cat’s scales and into its body.  It’s roar of pain rivaled that of the rhino’s, and it bunched and twisted its body, then lunged.

Its jaws yawed open, its obvious intention to bite Caldin’s head off.

Which was Caldin’s plan.  His shield rose smoothly to protect his head, while his sword swung low and up, impaling the cat through its chest and into its heart.  Caldin’s group had long since learned to use the cat’s greater speed and fighting instincts against it, by predicting and manipulating its attacks.  Through learning and testing its battle instincts over and over through the years.

At the same time, Lathan’s follow up swing with the Warhammer missed the cat’s head as it dodged, but it still impacted the cat’s shoulder in a crushing blow.  A second later, Sienna’s second arrow hit the great cat and the light spell turned it into paste by crushing it against the wall.

Simultaneously, Arielle’s second arrow hit the Rhino, the only threat still living, and it was surrounded by a less concentrated void spell, which started to eat at its protections as it struggled back to its feet on the three it had left.

The rhino started to charge forward in an awkward gait toward the ladies, which was the green light for both Lathan and Caldin to turn from their vanquished foes, and they attacked the rhino’s flanks.  Neither sword or war hammer was able to break through the scales, but Lathan’s attack was accompanied by a death spell that aged the scales, and Caldin’s attack delivered a shaped fire spell that ate at the monster’s powerful magical protections.

The rhino ignored those attacks determined to follow through on its own, and lowered its head, the large horn aimed for Arielle this time.  She leapt up and over, and the rhino lifted its head to impale her on her way over.

But Sienna was right there too, and the rhino’s focus on Arielle was its undoing, as Sienna’s sword struck at its suddenly exposed neck, the tip of her sword bright with a light magic spell.  The sword sunk into flesh, and straight up to the monster’s brain.

The rhino’s attack also struck, but Arielle’s shield hadn’t been touched up until then, and all it did was send her flying back into the wall above the entrance.  She dropped gracefully down to her feet.

Arielle said, “Not bad.”

Caldin chuckled, “We’ve done better, you actually got hit.”

Arielle shrugged, “That was my job as bait.”

Lathan grinned, “Nice not to be the bait sometimes.”

Sienna rolled her eyes, but there was a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

Caldin said, “Let’s move on.”

They quickly picked up the fifteen gold coins and a vial of dragon’s blood, which was left when I’d reabsorbed the dead monsters into the dungeon.

Amethyst asked, “Feeling better?”

I replied, “Much.  They are rather good, aren’t they?”

I’d been experimenting lately with puzzles.  Nothing instantly deadly, but the third room was variable based on their success of completing the puzzle at the end of the tunnel before the currently blocked opening.  It not only varied what they would fight, but also their reward after the kills.  It kind of reversed things too, the worse they did the more dangerous the fight, and the least rewards.  If they solved the puzzle, they’d fight one monster only, and get enhanced rewards.

To solve it took several correct steps in a row, and they only got two failures.  So if they fail in the first part twice in a row, they’d get the toughest room, if they made it through all six without making a mistake, they’d get an easy fight.

Puzzles were a different kind of challenge.  It wasn’t about pushing the edges of their physical and magical capabilities. It was about expanding their minds, critical thinking and thinking outside the box as the humans on Earth say.  Tactics and flexible fast thinking would be an edge out in a real-world combat situation, where things weren’t quite as predictable as it was inside my dungeon.

The problem with puzzles though, was that I’d have to change them every time one was successfully solved.  Adventurers gossiped over ale worse than tweens at a sleepover, so I was sure there’d never be a lot of them in my dungeon.  This one had been up for two days now, and none of the groups that ran this A-class path had solved it yet.  Still, it kept me busy, and was a different kind of challenge.

Lathan sighed, “This looks… complicated.”

Sienna said, “Focus, the hourglass is already running.”

Lathan opened his mouth to reply, but Caldin held up his hand as he studied the glyphs and writing on the walls.  Below that was six pegs and six holes.  There was writing around the holes as well as glyphs on the end of the pegs.  The puzzle of course, was to fit the pegs into the correct holes.  Arielle looked just as absorbed.

“This is gibberish.”

It really was, a made-up language that the translation magic wouldn’t translate.  The key was obvious, the glyphs matched up with the writing on the walls.  There was enough information on the wall to get it right on the first try, but barely enough time to figure it out.  Of course, Caldin wouldn’t recognize a light glyph, he didn’t have that affinity, so they all had to work together to figure it out.

Caldin said, “We don’t have time to discuss a solution, so everyone figure out where the glyphs you recognize should go.  Whoever screws up buys the ale tonight.”

Lathan snickered.

Sienna acted first, grabbing the light and life glyph pegs, and shoving them into two holes.  After a split second, the wall clicked twice indicating it’d accepted them. 

Lathan grabbed an air glyph and stuck it in a hole, and Arielle said, “No, I think its after opposing…” and trailed off as the peg was ejected.

Arielle caught it, and shoved it in a different hole, which clicked.  Then Caldin grabbed a fire and water glyph and put them in.  Both clicked.

Arielle took care of earth and succeeded.

Lathan grabbed the death glyph, then looked at the team in question.

Sienna said, “Only one hole left, genius.”

He shook his head with a chuckle, then asked, “Do we really want a cake fight?  We’re all rich enough to retire in luxury a thousand times over, even if our lifespans are another seven hundred years.  Seventeen hundred in Arielle’s case.  I’m satisfied we beat the puzzle, we don’t have to win.”

Caldin laughed, “Good point, let’s wait it out.  I could use a crazy fight,” and the ladies nodded instantly in agreement.

Amethyst said, “Adventurers are crazy.”

I replied, “Can’t really argue with that.  Except they got five out of six, so the fight’s going to be pretty easy anyway, if not the easiest.  With a really good reward.”

The hourglass timer ran down as the last particle of sand fell, and the sound of stone grinding filled the tunnel as the door opened.

Chapter Two

Jia

The sun warmed Jia’s skin that mid-morning, and it had to be almost eighty already.  A beautiful summer day with clear skies.  The uninitiated may have believed she was taking the morning off, the way she was sunning in her backyard in a bikini, but for her it was just multitasking.  In reality she was mentally reviewing all of her spells and iterations of spells with a focused discipline most adventurers would find envy with. 

The last twenty years had seen her rise to A-class, for almost five years now.  She still had fifty to go to reach Magi though, which was something she tried not to think of too much.  Focusing on the day to day challenges was enough to get her through, focusing on fifty more years of the daily grind would be far too depressing.

She knew twelve spells, which didn’t seem like much, until the multiple iterations of each spell were considered.  Eight to twelve spells were the standard spread of spells for someone at A-class, but she’d barely started her rise in that class at five years in.  She was hoping to get to twenty by the end of it, but it took daily review to keep her mind well-trained.

Mornings were her group’s normal study time, after a dawn workout.  They delved around noon, and then focused on cultivation, practical spell review, and anything else that came up.

She’d never been a vain person, but she also didn’t mind the fact she looked younger by a year or two than she had twenty years ago.  Instead of her late forties, she had the face and body of someone in their mid-twenties.  That was pretty much true of all adventurers.  A nice bonus, but not at all while she did it, though it was related to their extended lifespan which was a part of things for her.

It was hard work, a constant daily grind that was both somehow comforting but that required discipline with her eyes on the prize.  Some mornings, just like anyone else, she wanted to stay in bed.  It took discipline to do it day after day, and year after year.

She’d also mastered several martial arts, not just the two she’d known twenty years ago.  She still preferred the staff, but she was also an expert with a dagger and short sword if the situation called for it.  It was a simple mental command to trade the weapons in her hand using her ring of holding.

She was no longer a spy, not officially anyway.  Her term of service lasted for twenty years, and seven of that had already been paid to her duty before the dungeon and town came to their world.  So she’d retired seven years ago now.  She still had loyalty to her people though, and she did throw them a bone on occasion, just to remind them she was still alive.  But… she no longer had dual loyalties as far as duty.

Cybele was still her group leader, and Bobby who’d retired from the military was still around as well.  A-class and as motivated as her to reach Magi class.  There had been a change though, Nate had retired from both military service and delving at the same time. 

Liam was their new fourth, one of her majesty’s marines over in England before he’d retired from service.  There’d been several people retiring in the C and B class range, and some groups had been split to spread out and fill in the missing in others.  Like Nate, he had an affinity to both life and death magic, which was one of the main reasons he was chosen to fill the gap. 

Maybe she’d slow down a little at Magi class.  At that point she’d live another fourteen hundred years, and it’d only take about two centuries of constant work to prepare for her attempt to rise to Ethereal.  At the very least, it’d be time to take a short vacation.  As it was, they were taking one day off a month, but today wasn’t one of them.  She could also focus on diversifying her magic at that point, and delve two or three times a week to keep her physical edge.  Her human body would be as powerful as it would ever get at that point, so pushing for better wouldn’t be a thing either.

She smirked, only fifty years to go, and tried not to snort.

Bobby interrupted her thoughts, “You call this constant vigilance?”

She didn’t bother answering, not with words anyway, as she gave her sentries a mental nudge.  The sounds of cats hissing from every direction made the man startle, and with a second thought and focus on a creation glyph, she was suddenly wearing full body armor and glowing with the powerful light of a magic shield.  She no longer wore leather armor, her armor now was a full-bodied composite from neck to toe that was better than steel, even better than the steel alloys the dungeon liked to give out.

It was a little conforming.  Okay, a lot conforming, but she didn’t mind Bobby seeing the shape of her body, and she wore tactical gear over it when delving so no one else would get a show.

Some adventurers, even high-level ones, stuck with the normal armor types, leather or steel.  But there was a place for high technology at times in her opinion, and the suit was better than the best on the human market in twenty-forty-one.  Also, a lot lighter which made her wickedly fast.

He laughed, “I take it back.  How many is that now?”

She shrugged, “Six.”

One of her light magic spells was animal life creation, and one of her iterations of that was a simple house cat.  Learning to create a cat had almost been easy, at least in comparison to figuring out how to cement loyalties and create a mental link to share senses and pass commands.  It’d taken her a while to master creating a telepathic bond with her creatures, the non-biological part of it had taken more work for her.  A light affinity could only create what they fully understood, after all, and she’d been a bio-geneticist, not a paranormal researcher.

They also made excellent spies for her.  What could she say? Old habits die hard, and she liked to keep an eye on the goings on in the town.

“So, why are you interrupting my sunning time?” she asked.

Her study time really, but she didn’t want to be rude.

He replied, “Silvia wants to see you.  I was in the library and handy I guess.”

She laughed, “I don’t suppose you know why?”

He snorted, “Sure, I questioned her closely, and got every scrap of information available.”

She giggled at the sarcasm.  Of course, that didn’t happen, no one sane ever asked Silvia anything.

She shrugged as she stood, “I just thought she might’ve told you, spontaneously I mean.  I should probably get moving.”

No one sane kept Silvia waiting, either.  Not that their town ruler was cruel or anything, it was just her sense of presence and the power rolling off of her that was overwhelming to everyone else.  It was also guild culture, everyone was just extremely respectful around her.  She didn’t think Silvia would kill someone for being rude, but she could banish them from the guild and deny access to the dungeon.  Which for an adventurer was a death sentence, just a very slow one.

Silvia was also just plain intimidating, though she’d never feared the guild ruler she’d had a healthy respect for her from their first meeting.

She jogged lightly out of the backyard and down the street toward the guild’s main building, which housed the guild offices downstairs and Silvia’s place upstairs.  The town was looking more and more like a town from this world over the last twenty years.  Fences, grass yards, streets.  It was getting big, about half the town was for support personnel.  They even had their own grocery and general store, though it was a military PX and commissary that were run by the government.

Which was convenient.  Trips to Colorado Springs were generally just about getting a night out and decompressing.  If she needed something, it was local now for the most part.

The adventurers from the other world still had stone houses, but they’d long since gotten plumbing, water and electricity hookups, for central air and heat as well as conveniences.  Like running water by turning a tap instead of a water pump or magic.

She wondered if they’d be bringing those modern conveniences back to their world when they left.

It was hard to say, it wasn’t like adventurers opened up businesses.  Hell, she made between thirty to forty gold coins per dungeon run as an A-class.  Even after the guild cut and taxes, that came out to something like fifty grand a day on average.  Three hundred and fifty grand a week, which was just over eighteen million a year.  She’d long since joined the ranks of multi-millionaires.  Weapons and enchantments could be expensive, but not that expensive.

Ironically, that kind of thing wasn’t at all important, not as a motivating factor for risking her life day after day in vigilance.  It was the personal power and lifespan that got her up in the mornings, the goal of immortality in the future and the ability to protect herself from the world’s majority of threats.

She entered the building and headed for the stairs.  The various support personnel working on paperwork and the guild bureaucracy ignored her.  Likely because as she’d indicated before, no one sane would bother Silvia without being summoned.  Their jobs didn’t include barring adventurers.

She was close enough now to feel Silvia’s aura, and she was in her quarters.  She paused at the door and knocked.

“Come,” Silvia’s voice came through the door.

She opened it and went in.  Silvia was in the living room, a place she’d only been once before in the last twenty years.  Silvia was an elf, and she had fairly simple tastes.  The living room had an open feel to it, not cluttered with knickknacks or things.  There were flowers and plants, as well as a couch and a few chairs, with some art on the walls.  It was minimalist and tasteful, for the woman that could have anything.

She stopped ten feet away from Silvia, and didn’t quite stand at attention, but it was close.  She hadn’t been invited to sit yet, and guild culture didn’t allow such liberties in a superior’s home without invite.

Silvia waved, “Sit if you wish.”

She took a seat in one of the chairs.

“Thanks.”

Silvia said, “Tomorrow, the guild members of my world will go home.  I’ll be going with them and gone a week or two, no more than a month at most.  With Caldin, Kaylie, and Neda leaving along with their groups, I need to appoint a new town administrator from among the A-class adventurers on this world to the three dungeon towns here.  Not just for my absence, but when I’m back as well.”

The elf paused for a moment, then said, “I’d like you to run this town.”

She tilted her head, “Cybele is our group leader, and she plans to stay here with us three until we reach Magi.  Then she’ll return home.”

Silvia smiled, “Cybele is a wonderful group leader.  Upbeat and motivational, with a knack for planning.  She’s the perfect leader for a group of four adventurers, that are family and on the same page.  The administrator of a town trying to herd multiple adventurer groups however, needs to be… shall we say, a little more on the cynical side to keep things flowing smoothly.  Cybele would be miserable in that position, and not very good at it.  She’ll make a good guild officer though, I’d suggest you appoint her to the position Arielle currently holds, for onboarding new adventurers and the introduction to magic briefing.

“You’ve shown loyalty to the guild over the years and have earned my trust, but you’re also trained as a spy and already keep an eye on the town.  Don’t think I haven’t noticed your cats prowling around at night.  The qualities you possess are perfect for the position, a rare mix of loyalty and cynicism.  I also believe your personality is compatible with the duties, and you won’t find it onerous.

“The standard benefit of being a guild officer is a reduced percentage of your loot owed to the guild, as well as a salary, which I know isn’t one of your motivating factors.  I’m prepared however, to share my personal library relating to light and void magic if you accept and promise to stay in the post until you ascend to Magi status.  Fifty years of service, for the rare and valuable knowledge I offer you access to.  I know that benefit will be of extreme interest to you, as you know the guild approved library is… limited.  The teleport and create light elemental spells alone are highly coveted and zealously hoarded on my world, and that’s just the start of what you could learn from my library.

“Just to let you know, you are not to share that knowledge with others.  The ascension to Magi is well documented in the guild library, but my library also holds a few unique tidbits that will help ensure your success there when the time comes.”

Appealing to her greed in magic was hardly fair.  Her first thought was reluctance to accept, but after hearing Silvia’s reasons for choosing her, she was forced to agree.  She could not only handle the job, but she was forced to admit she was probably the best qualified A-class adventurer from her world to take the job.  Just her loyalty to the guild and their charter was a big part of that, she would feel no pressure to share rare spell knowledge or guild secrets with the United States for instance, like most of their soldiers would.

Nor would she share them with her country.  She still passed them tidbits, but always on what America was getting up to, or their latest scientific data that the researchers here compiled.  Never about the guild.

The library was mighty tempting, the true payment for her efforts in her eyes.  It would make her more formidable as a fighter, and a light elemental could spy without fear of being seen, unlike her cat menagerie.  That kind of appealed to her too, in truth.

Not just that, but she could spy around the world with a light elemental.

It would interfere with her advancement to a certain extent, but the job wasn’t that heavy on daily effort.  It would slow down her group’s advancement by a year or two most likely, but the added knowledge and power would make that trade worth it.

“I think yes, but I need to discuss it with my group.  They’d become guild officers under my command as far as the guild duties, I don’t want to assume their agreement.”

She suspected Cybele would jump on it, the elf would make a good person to introduce magic.  Jia could onboard adventurers, open their first chakras, and teach them to cultivate as well as increase their magic circulation, convert to their affinity, and route it out of their hands.  Much like Caldin had done for her and the others twenty years ago.

The men would still be officers though, and she needed to get their agreement to take on that responsibility and follow her orders at times.

Silvia said, “Caldin’s group all followed his lead, but that is not always how it works.  You can join the guild as an officer and administrator of the town, and recruit others to assist you in it if your group isn’t up to following you there.  But… your duties would interfere with your studies and delving at times, and that would affect them regardless.  So, by all means, go speak to them first.  I don’t have a lot of time before I leave to find another, so I expect your answer one way or another by noon.”

She took that as a dismissal and got up to take care of it.  She also got the sense Silvia was disappointed in her somehow, as if she’d expected her to accept on the spot.  Perhaps she should have.

Loyalty to the group was important, they were in a lot of ways closer than family.  She wanted to stay in the same group with the same people to Magi.  But adventurers in the end were all extremely independent, and the opportunity for rare knowledge as well as responsibility had been offered to her.  Personally.

The last thing she wanted was to break up the group, but she also decided in that moment that she’d be accepting.  It was right to talk to her group before doing that, but if they declined to follow her and be officers too, then she’d do it anyway.  If they wanted her out of the group because it’d slow them down too, then… so be it.  She couldn’t pass up the opportunity for those two spells, much less all the others Silvia hadn’t named.

It felt a little selfish, but at the same time her ambition was self-improvement, it was why she was there.  If her group would deny her that then it was time to move on.  It wasn’t all about her, she wanted her group to succeed, all of them.  But in the end, she wouldn’t be there at all if it wasn’t for her ambition for power and long life, the ability to defend herself and others.

That all said, she didn’t believe for a minute that would actually happen.  She was sure they would support her, and she was just as sure they’d have been angry if she didn’t consult them first.  So they could make a choice without pressure, even if it amounted to the same thing, since she’d do it anyway.  It was a balance she had to tread, to do right by her group which was closer to her than family.

The more she considered it, the more being a guild officer appealed.  She wouldn’t mind helping others on the way to success, and she wouldn’t mind keeping the town safe, not if she didn’t have to sacrifice her ambitions to do so.  She’d already risked her life for the dungeon and town, twenty years ago she’d almost died in nuclear fire.  It was in her nature, Silvia had been right about that.

Yet, she was cynical enough to run a tight ship, and not be taken advantage of.  She only helped those dedicated to working for it, the rest… weren’t her problem.  Those that caused trouble weren’t her problem either.  She wouldn’t be held responsible for anyone else’s success in her mind or emotions, just responsible for giving them the opportunity to excel on their own.  If they chose to throw it out, or couldn’t hack it, she wouldn’t lose any sleep.

It was something she could take pride in as well.  Preserving the guild and dungeon, so those with personal ambition similar to hers could attain their goals along with her.  It would also not so incidentally, put her more in control of her own path, and ensuring that path remained clear for her to get where she wanted to be.

On the more practical side, she’d have virtually no learning curve to pick it up and run.  She knew the guild laws and charter inside out, and she’d been paying attention and watching.  She knew what Caldin got up to as far as guild officer duties, it truly wasn’t onerous in nature.  Just… critically important.

It didn’t take her until noon to give Silvia her answer.

It was less than a half an hour later, after her team agreed to follow her as guild officers, that she returned to give Silvia her answer.  An answer that really, hadn’t been in doubt, not once she’d thought it through.

Silvia nodded, “Good.  I’ll try to be back as soon as I can, but there are political realities even I have to tread carefully back home.  While I’m gone, you’ll need to hold things together here.  I don’t expect the government to try anything, but I’ve been their main fear since the dungeon’s accidental arrival here.  So stay alert.  If I could, I’d conceal the fact I was leaving, but with every adventurer from my world leaving, and all the built-in spies of adventurers in service to the United States here, that would be impossible.

“I also can’t stay now.  I have to make the appointments at the other dungeon towns, near Moscow and Lanzhou.”

Silvia waved, and Jia turned her head in that direction to see a stack of books on a side table, which she could swear wasn’t there a second ago.

When she turned back, Silvia said, “That is your copy of my library, put it in your ring when you leave, and don’t pull the books out unless you’re assured of privacy.”

“I understand.  Thank you.”

Silvia smiled thinly, “Try not to let it distract you too much.  Each of the nine books are a single spell, with tens of iterations fully explained.  Seven light glyph spells, and two void spells.”

They would take a couple of decades to master, but it’d be a hell of a head start when she reached magi.  She hoped she wouldn’t have too much trouble deciding what to study first.  It’d probably take a year or two to master each spell.  It could be overwhelming at times, constantly putting in the effort for distant rewards, but it was a skill she’d learned over the last twenty years.

She just had to decide which spell would be most useful to her now, and then start with that one.

Silvia said, “One more thing.  The guild will no doubt send an evaluator to check up on the dungeon and town while I’m gone, who will also no doubt take the position of interim ruler until I return.  It’s standard procedure, checks and balances in the guild to prevent town rulers from building private fiefdoms, among other things.  Corruption is a real concern for those at my level.  Some of the evaluators aren’t nearly as pleasant and easy going as I am, so keep that in mind and be respectful.  Also, don’t reveal the private deal I made with you with them, for any reason.  It isn’t against guild law, but nor is it standard procedure.”

She wanted to ask why Silvia had made it then but living with the mystery seemed like a safer course than asking her such a personal question.  She suspected such deals would be looked down on, because it would create a sense of loyalty toward the ruler personally, instead of the guild.  She knew that hadn’t been Silvia’s intent, however.  Whatever Silvia’s reason for being so generous, it wasn’t to subvert her loyalty, and that was good enough for Jia.

“I’ll do my best, Magi.”

Then she stood up and left, wondering how much trouble the next week or two would be.  She could deal with it though, and things would calm down again once Silvia returned, she was sure.  Still, she’d have to keep an eye on America, the adventurers not part of the guild, as well as a guild evaluator.  That was three different places to look for trouble, she hoped she wouldn’t find any.

There was over an hour left before lunch and delving, so she took the time to thumb through the nine books.  In the end she decided the light elemental creation spell was the first one she’d learn.  It was just too useful not to, and extremely rare, though it’d be a long time before she could cast it, that was true of all the spells.  It’d take her a good two years to master the spell and iterations.

The spell would help her as an administrator, in keeping an eye out, but it would also help her in the dungeon.  So it seemed like a no brainer to choose to learn it first, since it’d help her with all aspects of her duties and ambitions.  The other spells were more focused on one thing or the other, either helping with being a guild officer and keeping abreast of things, or only in a fight, not both.

But none of that would help her keep things going now.  She considered the idea of creating some more cat spies, but she dismissed it.  Six cats would make a few people chuckle, but not suspect the real reason she’d created them, to spy.  A whole platoon of cats would make them question their conclusions.  Not even her group knew her six cats were spies, or that she’d been a spy, they thought the cats were just her paranoid way of looking out for personal threats.  Nothing but sentries to keep an eye on the house, or on her safety when she was unarmored and lying in the sun while engrossed in a magical study.

As far as she knew, only Silvia had been that discerning.

She’d have to come up with something else more subtle, that wouldn’t be connected to her at all.  Perhaps a mix of small birds and small rodents, one for a literal bird’s eye view of the whole town, and a squirrel to get close and listen if she saw something that looked suspicious.

It’d been a day for surprises, and not at all in a bad way. 

Chapter Three

Caldin

It was late morning the next day, the sun almost directly overhead but hidden behind clouds.  It was a little overcast, but he didn’t think rain would fall that day.

The archway for the world gate was a little off the path halfway up the mountain slope between the town and the dungeon.  Silvia had yet to open it, but it wouldn’t be long now.  The act of opening it would create a duplicated archway on the target side that would be permanently linked together.  As far as he knew it wasn’t strictly necessary to have them, but it’d be a second link between the two worlds and allow others with the power to activate it make the journey.

A second reason was that to create them probably did take an Ethereal, or they wouldn’t have been stuck there.  But a Magi or perhaps even an A-class would have enough power to open the gateway once it was firmly established.  Something that wasn’t possible without the arches defining where the magic energy went.  In a way, the arches were enchantments, if wickedly complicated ones.

Of the sixty-five adventurers who’d gotten stranded on this world twenty years ago, only fifty-nine were returning home to their world.  Cybele, as well as the blacksmith, enchanter, and alchemist were staying.  The other two of course, had died within a day of arrival, to the helicopter attack.

Arielle asked, “Are you sure you don’t need us?”

He shook his head, “Me, Silvia, Kaylie, and Neda will be enough different viewpoints to satisfy the guild.  The ruler and three administrators of the three towns will be enough to debrief thoroughly.  I wouldn’t be going if I didn’t have to, the guild island is not a relaxing place.  I’ll meet you all at Karnish as soon as we’re released, and we can get back to training.”

It’d give the guild the multiple viewpoints they’d want on the new world, and in addition from three separate dungeon towns and dungeons living in wildly different types of countries. 

The small guild island itself had no dungeons.  But it was unclaimed land outside of any of the kingdoms on the planet, in the middle of the ocean and isolated.  So the three Ethereals that ruled the entire guild had claimed it as theirs and made it headquarters eons ago.  Being the most powerful beings on the planet, no one had argued.  It was also probably the most dangerous place on the planet.  Filled with three Ethereals, several arrogant Magi that carried out their will and evaluations, along with servants and staff to keep it all running and collect and collate information.

He’d miss them, but he didn’t want his group anywhere near the place. 

Karnish was a city in the kingdom of Graymark, and when he met up with his group, there was a dungeon not far from there that was old and established.  The group had been A-class for eighteen years now, and they had about thirty-two years left of work before they perfected their human bodies to their full potential and could ascend to Magi themselves.  It was his intention to retire as a guild officer after the briefing, their twenty-year stint on this world had exceeded his term of service, so he didn’t think they’d complain.  He was looking forward to being just another adventurer.

It’d be good to be home, but he could admit he’d miss a few of the modern conveniences on this world.  At least, until he’d duplicated them wherever they ended up.

The three of them would be carrying vast amounts of reports and gold as well, something only possible because of their rings of holding.  The guild cut for twenty years without contact was quite large.

He was also sure their arrival would be a surprise.  An evaluator must’ve been sent to the dungeon and town that had disappeared off the world, and they had to have come to the conclusion that they were all dead in some cataclysm related to that fool magi’s attempt to use the dungeon as a template for an Ethereal body.  Otherwise, one of the Ethereals back home could’ve done what Silvia was doing now and established a bridge between worlds.

They’d been written off when they should’ve been rescued long ago.

To be fair, it was probably a lot easier to see the grounded anchor link Silvia had set from this side.  It was linked into the dungeon crystal somehow.  While on the other side it was anchored into the ley line itself, which would probably make it undetectable even to a Magi. 

It would be like trying to find a candle flame on the surface of the sun from that side.

Only an Ethereal would’ve been able to discern its existence from the old-world side, and the guild leaders never left the island.  At least, not to investigate, that’s what their Magi evaluators were for.

The politics of the island was also fairly straight forward.  All those Magi served the Ethereals faithfully for scraps of information so they could have the knowledge to ascend when the time came.  Except, the percentage of successful ascensions was no better on the island than for those like Silvia, who were more independent and not sycophantic toward the Ethereals. 

He also suspected for the few successes, those new Ethereals were chased off the world, told to explore other dimensions and worlds to pursue knowledge of ascending to godhood.  He thought that was really just about removing the competition for the three ancient Ethereals that ruled the guild, chase them away before they gathered enough power to be a threat.

They were jealous of their power, and he only knew even that little because Silvia had talked about them a few times over the last twenty years.

So, Silvia showing up as an Ethereal would be a surprise for them as well.

Hopefully, they’d give their debriefs and be let go, him to move on with his group and Silvia to return here to oversee this world on the guild’s behalf.  He suspected they might go for it, if only to get Silvia off the world they claimed for themselves. 

It was complicated, and he didn’t understand all the angles.  But he should be fine, as long as he didn’t ruffle any feathers during debrief.  He was more worried about Silvia than himself for the coming days.

“Still here?” a warm teasing voice asked behind him.

He chuckled as he turned to take in Jia, who’d replaced him.  He thought Silvia had made a good choice there.  She was formidable warrior, but more than that she was one of the smartest people he’d ever met.

“Good luck.”

Jia laughed, “I’m going to need it, thanks.  Good luck yourself.”

He snorted, and her and her team continued on toward the dungeon, no doubt for their daily delve.  She was going to need a little luck.  If the governments were going to go back on their word, now would be the time, while Silvia was gone.  He thought A-class could handle anything they could throw at the towns, but not quite as easily as a Magi could at a thousand times more powerful and with a deeper understanding of magic.

There was also the matter of the evaluator she’d have to deal with, not to mention keeping the adventurers in order.  Well, it wasn’t his problem anymore, and he had his own risks to deal with.

He would miss this world, but he was far more excited about going home.  It’d been a long twenty years, and the Earth’s governments were a bigger pain in the backside then the kingdoms back home.  Something he’d have declared impossible, before he’d come to this world.

The powerful and sustained surge of magic that left Silvia to activate the gateway made him reconsider his thoughts.  A-class simply didn’t have that much power, but a Magi would be able to activate it.  The large archway filled with eddies and swirls of light that grew brighter and more uniform, then the gate snapped open, and he could see a mountain on the other side.  A mountain that was missing a large chunk out of it.

It was time to go.

Silvia nodded, and everyone started to move through.  Him, Kaylie, Neda, and Silvia would be the last ones through, but it didn’t take long for fifty-nine people to walk through the arch. 

He took a deep breath as he reached the other side.  It was a moment he wasn’t entirely sure would ever come.

The adventurers didn’t stick around, immediately leaving the area for their various destinations and plans.  It was just Silvia and her three ex-administrators including himself in a very short time.  Some of them headed for the border, others headed deeper into Graymark, per their personal plans.

Silvia said, “I’ll take us directly to the edge of the island in a minute.  It’s more prudent to walk the mile inland to the guild city than to take them by surprise.  I advise you all to stick to the truth at all costs, even if the one doing the debriefing asks for your opinion of my decisions and you happen to believe I made a mistake.  They will do so to ensure your loyalty lies with the guild and not me after such a long separation with me the sole authority, so don’t hesitate to throw me under the bus when it happens.

“I’d also advise you three to stick together.  The less you mingle with the Magi on the island the better.  They are not the enemy, but they can be very touchy, and you don’t want to make a political enemy at guild island headquarters for the rest of your adventuring career.”

He translated that to be that they were arrogant gits, and he tried to hide an inappropriate smile.  Magi were already well known to be arrogant, people to hold their heads down around, so the fact she felt she had to warn them at all was a bit alarming.  He was also a little amused at her using a colloquialism from Earth in her little speech.  Hearing a powerful Ethereal being utter the words, ‘throw me under the bus,” was kind of startling.

Kaylie smiled, “We’ll behave, all business.”

He and Neda nodded in agreement.

Silvia said, “Also assume everything said anywhere on the island is being overheard.  Do not speak freely from this point forward, even among yourselves.”

That apparently was the last warning, because a flash of light followed her words, and when his eyesight cleared, they were standing on a sandy beach.  Not an empty beach either, though the only ones present were non-adventurers.  Likely the families of the support staff, enjoying a day at the beach.  The view of the clear blue ocean was breathtaking, and the wilderness past the beach was full of palm trees.

There was a wide and clear path leading inland, and they all headed that way.

Silvia said, “Steer clear of the warehouses.  That district has proscribed access.  It’s where they keep the guild’s riches as well as the armor and weapons the guild’s armorers and blacksmiths crank out that are given to newbie’s paying the initial signup fee.  The rest of the city should be open to you if nothing has changed in the last twenty years during our absence.  The keep is restricted to adventurers save the paid servants maintaining it, but for a night out drinking, carousing, or entertainment you’ll only find that out in the city where the non-adventurer’s live and work in support of the guild and to maintain the city’s and island’s infrastructure.”

He got immediately this briefing wasn’t for them.  Not really.  It was a briefing designed to be overheard, and probably some required thing given to any and all adventurers visiting the island.  Given her private warnings earlier, getting drunk and playing around at night between debriefings during the day was a horrible idea.  In short, she was just covering her backside by giving it, and it was a show of sorts, even while being true.

It was also probably expected, so they would go out one night, they just wouldn’t drink enough to compromise themselves enough to misstep.  They didn’t want to stand out either, or to come off as closed off.

He kind of got it. The Ethereals weren’t the only ones jealous of their power.  An A-class that didn’t toe the guild line correctly, would probably be prevented from becoming a Magi.  Any sign of discontent in guild leadership or setup would be multiplied when reaching that level of power and corruption snuck in.  But it was also an opportunity for Magi to weed out those they simply didn’t like.  There were reasons Magi were rare, and it wasn’t just death in a dungeon, lack of ambition, lack of ability, or voluntary retirement that accounted for that.  A cynical view perhaps, but that didn’t make it untrue.

He’d be heartily glad once it was finished, and he could get back to what he really wanted to do.  Delve and improve far away from the political landscape.

Of course, caution would only work to keep them out of political trouble and prevent making personal enemies if they were lucky.  If he’d had any issues with the guild, that would come out during the debriefing, caution or not, and end his career as an adventurer.  Fortunately, that wouldn’t be an issue at all, not for him.  The guild was a good place overall, and he truly believed that.

They did the best they could, given the faults of sentients and gathering so much power under one council authority.  Of course there were problems and shortfalls, but it could be a lot worse.  Even with all that power and potential corruption, the guild had been a stable force in this world for uncounted millennia, and mainly responsible for keeping the peace between kingdoms, whether they liked it or not.  They could easily rule the world, that they didn’t was testimony that they were doing something right.  It wasn’t perfect, but what was?

Nothing of course, and that wasn’t a fault with the guild system.  It was simply because humans, elves, dark elves, and dwarfs were flawed beings.  Even perfect systems, if one existed, would be corrupted by the ones running them.  Any other viewpoint was just Pollyanna wishful thinking, to his way of thinking.

Silvia continued, “You’ll be assigned a guide, so when in doubt ask questions.  They’ll also be the ones responsible for getting you to and from your debrief sessions, so powerless or not you need to listen closely to everything they say.  The process is likely to take at least a week or two given we have almost twenty years to cover.  Any questions?”

Then she subtly shook her head, just in case one of them was dumb enough to say yes.

“No, Ethereal.  We understand.”

Neda and Kaylie just shook their heads no.

Silvia picked up the pace, and it wasn’t long before the city came into view.  It was surrounded by farms, and open.  No walls, there was no need.  Any kingdom crazy enough to invade would be destroyed before they could land the ships.  Still, a city without walls on their world looked a little odd to him.  There were a few soldiers on patrol, to keep the peace, but none looking outward for dangers, which was also unique.

The city itself hosted a couple of thousand families at a guess, and it didn’t quite look right.  There was a market district, and only one housing district which was uniform.  No richer housing district like there would be found in kingdom cities, for the more affluent merchants and minor nobles.  The entertainment district was modest, with just a couple of inns, a theatre, and a park.  The warehouse district was walled, no doubt to keep the citizenry out of it save those with access.  He suspected it was highly enchanted as well, to discourage thoughts of thievery.  The warehouses themselves were domed buildings of solid stone, obvious creations of light affinity adventurers, and not built by hand.

It would be impossible to accidentally wander into it, which was a good thing.

In the center of the city was a large keep, or a small castle not unlike what a duke of a kingdom might enjoy.  Given there was only need to house three rulers, a dozen or so Magi, occasional guests, and servants, it was more than big enough.

He suppressed a frown as they got nearer.  Silvia felt like a powerhouse next to him with her new aura, but when he detected the three auras of the guild council there was simply no comparison.  The dozen or so Magi auras of magic inside felt anemic in comparison, which was saying something.

He took a deep breath as they approached the keep’s outer entrance to the bailey. He was very glad his group was far away from this place, and he hoped it would all go well.  Time would tell.

Chapter Four

Cora

The surge of the great gate outside my dungeon grabbed my attention.  I had to admit it made me very nervous.  I knew the guild was supposed to protect me, but I also knew Silvia had been unique from all the talk over the years.  I also knew Silvia wasn’t thrilled with or all that trusting toward the upper ranks of the guild.

“Someone is coming.”

Amethyst replied, “It’ll be fine.”

“Uh-huh.  So much for my plans for world domination.”

The guild evaluator’s aura proceeded the actual person, roiling out of the gate in waves of elemental and death magic a split second before he followed.  I was taken back for a moment, as the four-foot squat and wide being walked through.  He had a beard down to the bottom of his chest, and enough hair on his face to keep a family of five warm through the winter.  It was all a snowy white as well.  I had no idea what his expression was in total, but he was already frowning up at the amphitheater just another fifty feet up the slope of the mountain.

“Huh.  A dwarf.”

A potent surge of power left him and was transmuted to elemental magic.  I mentally drew back as the mountain was suddenly surrounded both in the air and under the ground, by air and earth elementals respectively.  A sphere of elementals, and I was totally surrounded.

“This can’t be good.”

Amethyst closed her eyes and tilted her head back, glowing a little brighter for a moment.

She smiled weakly, “I’m sure it’s fine, nothing to worry about.  He must want to verify you’re not rogue right under Silvia’s nose.  Since you’re not, it isn’t a problem.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”

With one more scowl back at my dungeon, the short and extremely powerful dwarven magi headed down the mountain toward town.  He started to mutter darkly under his breath after a few steps.

“Stupid place for a damn permanent portal, what the hell was she thinking?  No guards, not secured in a structure, and a damned mile from the damned town.”

He continued to mutter darkly under his breath, but so low I couldn’t even pick it up.

“Umm, does that mean he’s… not quite right in the head?”

She bit her lip pensively, “I’m sure it’s fine.”

I snorted, “Can you say anything else?”

She nodded, “It’s totally… fine.  I’m sure.”

I laughed mentally.

“Well at least I can keep an eye on him, elemental magic can’t block my senses.  My power yes, not my senses.”

Light magic could do it, but he had death and elemental affinities.

Amethyst grinned, “All joking aside, dwarves tend to be grumpy from birth, and he looks a thousand years old and is a magi.  I’d be surprised if he wasn’t muttering darkly.  So… yeah, I think we’re okay.”

I sighed, “He didn’t bring me a present.  The problem with magi-class is I need an intelligent monster, and this world has no monsters, and it’s smartest animal isn’t close to being smart enough.”

I watched with concern as he reached the town and went straight to the guild hall.

He looked around for a bit, then started to go over the reports starting with the first one after they arrived on this world, while a non-stop monologue left his lips about being surrounded by incompetents.  He also seemed upset there was no one there to greet him.  Oh, there were non-enhanced humans of this world who did all the paperwork, tracking, and such for the guild, and he had them running around bringing him things.  I was fairly sure he meant the guild officers weren’t there to greet him.

Which made me feel sorry for Jia, even as I switched my focus to her.  It was too disturbing watching him, as if waiting for him to throw up his hands in disgust, destroy me, and then head home.  I was really nervous about being surrounded.  My influence had always been limited to the dungeon, but I’d never felt so fenced in before.  It was like he was trying to bait me into going rogue, which was probably just my imagination.

Jia was currently on the fourth A-class path, which was an improved set of three improvised golems using elementals.  Much like I’d made for my original B-class path, or at least the one I remember, the first made on this world.  Of course, it was a lot different past the basic fact of being metal beasts inhabited by elementals.

The elementals were correspondingly stronger, and not at all a tanklike behemoth supported by tiny underground swarm attackers and flying support golems.  Not that it was hugely original, in fact I’d gotten my inspiration from the teamwork of the adventurers delving in my dungeon, you could say.

All three golem types were humanoid, a little bigger than the humans and elves in my dungeon, but not by much.  Around eight feet in height.  They all had earth elementals in them, making them able to move smoothly, while also making them a lot tougher to break down and destroy.  Also, a modicum of magic resistance.

They all had air elementals as well, which was like putting two cats in a sack and getting them to play nice together.  Air and Earth elementals didn’t really get along, which was a serious understatement, but I managed it after hours of pulling my non-existent hair out of my non-existent head.  Mostly by putting the air elementals just below the head, and the Earth elemental at the bottom of the torso, with the third elemental they all had between them in the center of the chest, to act as a buffer.  Not unlike throwing catnip into the theoretical sack.  More on that in a moment.

The air elementals of course, were all about the shielding, as well as raising magic resistance.  They also made the things move ridiculously fast for their weight, and as a result of the elemental combination, they were as tough and fast as an A-class adventurer’s body.  They were also smarter, more power in an elemental equals more intelligence, so they could and did evolve their tactics.

It took a little extra work on my part, but the experience from previous fights was now automatically integrated into the newly created elementals when they respawned in the dungeon.  They were after all, extensions of my mind and will, so I was literally just sharing my own past experiences with myself, in the end, it was just two different parts of it more or less.  So they could discard tactics when they failed, and they had running memories of each group, often one tactic was more successful with one group, and never used on another that could defeat it quickly.

Fire and water didn’t get along either, but they both made a perfect buffer and got along with both air and earth.  So, two of the golems got a fire elemental in the center chest, and the third got a water elemental.

The two fire elemental golems were the offense, water was support.  The first fire had a number of enchantments on the suit, for both a flame shield and flaming weapons, both the sword in the right hand, and the mace in the other.  It could also breathe fire.

The second fire golem’s enchantments were all about distance attacks, fire blasts and explosions.  If forced to melee it could still fight with weapons, but not enhanced by magic.

The water golem was geared toward crowd control and additional protection, both water shields and ice wall enchantments, and they could also ice the ground.  The metal feet of a golem had no problems on ice, with small spikes on the bottom of their feet, but delvers wearing leather boots tended to be less than graceful on ice.

Jia’s delving group was just about to enter the third room, which had two golems of each type, six in total, with lots of half wall cover across the room that were technically active traps.  The cover would sink into the floor or rise at random times.  There was also a couple of spring traps for the unwary, if they stepped into the wrong place a kinetic light spell would slam into them from above and crush them into the floor.  A floor which would then punch up spikes.

The golems were already under cover and unnoticeable from the entrance, for an ambush scenario.

Bobby said, “Tell me again why we wanted to fight golems?”

Jia smiled with an edge of mischief, “Because it’s the toughest path of the five, a lot of fun, and we need something to keep us vigilant for the next fifty years of doing this every day.”

Liam nodded with a casual chuckle, “Darn right, love.”

They weren’t lovers or anything, it was an English thing I think, Liam had a strange accent.

Jia grinned, “Besides, Cybele said so, and she’s the boss.”

Cybele giggled, “This room won’t kick its own backside, let’s get to it.  I’ll watch Bobby’s back this time.”

Bobby sighed, brandished his war hammer and shield, then took point.  The man was better with a sword, but golems really needed smashing, there was no slicing them up like a flesh and blood monster.  Technically it was a two-handed war hammer, but A-class adventurers would barely even notice the weight.

Did I mention their alloy was quite a bit better than the one used for the B-class golems?  Stronger even before the magic was introduced.

Liam was wielding a large mace and shield.  Jia and Cybele both had war staffs and bows over their shoulders.  They didn’t really use the bows for this path much.

The four of them walked in, Bobby pointing out the trap by the door as he stepped over it carefully.  The room was sixty by sixty, by twenty, the last small room in the path.  There were three waist high walls as cover straight ahead, which they could go over or around either side.  There were also two angled cover walls on the far side, and behind them to either side.

Bobby cut left, Liam cut right, and Jia and Cybele were slightly behind them and to the side.  It was a decent tactic, split up the attackers, and the easier group would be taken out fast so they could rejoin the others to put down the harder fight.  But it was a tactic that they’d employed one too many times in this room.

The water golem made the first move, and rose up and slammed a wall of ice between them, which cut off the two groups from supporting each other for the moment.

Then from behind the right back shield wall, the two melee fire golems leaped over the wall at Liam and Jia, while on the far angled shield wall on the other side, the two distance fire golems leapt to their feet and launched fire blasts.

Jia and Liam disappeared in fire, their shields holding for the first shot, as they raised their weapons and parried the first attacks of the golems flaming weapons.

Jia did something I didn’t expect, and threw up a light dome shield around her, Liam, and the two fire melee golems.  Essentially trapping the golems in there with them, but also cutting off the fire support golems on the other side of the room for the moment.  It was a clever idea, allowing them to fight the ambush one part at a time.  It would also prevent the water golem from giving the fire golems a shield enhancement.

Both Cybele and Bobby realized what was happening, that the golems had turned the tactic against them, splitting them up instead, so started to attack the ice wall with their weapons to break through.  They’d only swung once though, before the water golem’s second attack was to ice the floor.  The next hit of their weapons made them lose their footing, and they slid back with force.

Cybele went with it, and instead of rushing the wall again just blasted out a huge fireball to melt the ice wall and the floor.  Bobby also went for the water golem with blast of light, a kinetic spell which slammed it across the room so fast the fire support golems in that corner were barely able to dodge.

The fire support golems started to fire at the dome shield, but I knew it would hold for a long time.  Light shields were the best after all, countering the elemental fire magic, kinetic, heat, flames, and compression forces individually.

Liam was standing toe to toe with his golem, blocking the sword and mace attacks with his shield and slamming his mace into the golem as hard as possible.  He was also casting a death spell with each strike.  Death magic really didn’t do much at all against the metal alloy of the golem, but it would impact the elementals, weakening them even as it ate away at the protections.

Jia on the other hand never stood still, and she dodged and slipped past more attacks than she parried or blocked, as she slammed her staff into it over and over again like a whirling dervish.  She wasn’t faster than the elemental, simply… better.  Her martial arts were impressive to start with, and they’d only gotten better in the twenty years she’d been fighting in my dungeon.  The first few magical attacks were void with each strike, to eat away at the air shield and weaken the metal.

The golem was fast, and did manage to hit her, but never very hard.  She moved to counter the strength of them, and her personal light shield took the rest.

It was only a few seconds later that she changed her attacks from void to light.  Each hit devastating on the weakened protections.  She hit with tons of force on her own, adding in kinetic light attacks she smashed the arm weapons right off the golem, then removed the head a split second before kicking the torso sending it to the ground.

Visually, Liam’s golem didn’t look hurt at all, but with his next strike it simply fell to the floor with a clatter, the elementals finally succumbing to his death magic.

She looked at him critically, and then cast a light spell to take the dents out of his shield.

Neither Cybele nor Bobby had been idle while that had been going on.  Instead of attacking the wall they’d both started a distance spellcasting battle with the other three golems from corner to corner.  Bobby using mainly light magic, while Cybele used her elemental affinity.

Jia dropped the dome shield, and she shot a glowing white ball of light across the dungeon.  It stopped dead in the center of them all, then expanded with sparkling white motes.  Suddenly, all three of the golems who were already pretty beat up, were slammed together in the center of the gravity globe.  The golems ground together, their shields fighting each other for a moment, and the sound of straining metal filled the room as they fell.

Liam just laughed, as Cybele and Bobby finished them off with a fire blast and kinetic strike.

Cybele sighed, “These guys learn fast, but we recovered well.  Anyone hurt?”

Jia said, “That was… bracing.  We’re fine.”

They all recast their shields and recharged their enchantments as they looted the room and moved on.

Chapter Five

Jia

The small hawk flew high up near the ceiling in the vast fourth room, while Jia shared its senses.  The fourth room in this path was a huge cavern with pits, walls, nooks, and six raised platform towers with cover that were about thirty feet high.

She had twelve spells all with multiple iterations.  Her create animal spell had three, as she was able to create cats, hawks, or polar bears for battle.  It wouldn’t take her long to learn another iteration, maybe a couple of days, it was the root spells that were the hardest and took time.  Creating squirrels would let her watch the town better, without giving away she was doing it at all.

She had one void spell, that ate from the outside in.  Shields, then armor, then hides or scale.  She’d include iterations to completely devour when she reached magi, when her magic was multiplied by a thousand, but even at A-class the amount of essence and magic required to complete destroy anything was far too high.

The rest of her light spells included four forces, all with various iterations to fit different scenarios in battle and even some without.  Kinetic, gravity, magnetic, and electrostatic forces.

The remaining six were create food and drink, create object, personal shield, dome shield, restore object (such as Liam’s shield), and enchantment.  Obviously, one of the iterations of create object was her highly advanced armor.

She was really looking forward to learning the seven light spells and two void spells given to her by Silvia.  Creating light elementals, teleportation, gates, summoning object, summon creature, remote viewing, and encapsulation, which weren’t available in the guild library.  Most of them save the first light spell in that list were worthless in the dungeon or in a fight, but the rest would be extremely useful in travel and managing a guild town, not to mention keeping an eye on all the players across the world.  On the bad side it’d take her fourteen years to master them, but on the good side that would be thirty-five years before she reached magi which would give her a leg up in a huge way.

The two void spells were in the library but flipping through Silvia’s book earlier she noted the iterations were not, and Silvia’s iterations were extremely esoteric in nature.  Nothing she’d have even conceived of, at least not at her level of knowledge and experience.

She nodded and got her head back where it belonged, when she was sure she’d found them all, “The four closest towers have a fire support golem, the two farthest ones a water golem.  There are two pairs of melee fire fighters.  One is in a ditch on the left side about a third of the way through, the second pair behind the wall across from it.”

Cybele said, “Let’s head right and get to that wall.  We’ll use it for cover to cut the pie and take down a tower at a time while the rest won’t have line of sight.  I suspect at some point that will frustrate and force the melee ones on the left side of the cavern to abandon their ambush positions and come after us.  Once we wipe them out, we’ll finish of whatever towers we have left.”

“Works for me.”

Cybele grinned, “What doesn’t?  You and Bobby take the lead, I’ll back you up, Liam with Bobby.”

“In my defense, your plans are more or less good all the time.  A stupid plan wouldn’t work for me at all,” Jia said teasingly.

Cybele snickered, and then her and Bobby led the way into the room and cut right.

The plan went well, for the most part.  Being able to scout these cavern sized dungeon rooms out usually led to a plan where they could split up the enemies and chew them up in manageable pieces.  She imagined it would only get harder.  One of her main advantages was her level of martial art skills, since they were as strong and fast, but the elementals driving the body had very basic fighting skills.

The problem, or not depending on the point of view, was they were getting better at fighting skills every day.  It was already far from easy, but at some point, they’d have to depend on their magic skills to make up the difference, when the golems truly were an equal martial opponent.  Well, kind of like Liam already was, actually.

For now, as long as they were vigilant, the fights went if not quickly, predictably.

With all five chakras open cultivating was both extremely complex, but also easy enough to get done after doing it the last decade and more.  A single whirlpool obviously just wasn’t going to cut it, to feed five major chakras at once.  Five separate whirlpools of the same size would work, but it’d be entirely too slow.  That would only be taking in five times the amount of essence, when an A-class was in truth ten thousand times more powerful than an E-class.

At only five times the intake, it would take a whole lot longer than just an hour to fill up.  A whopping two thousand hours all things being equal, in fact.  So cultivation got more and more difficult with every class change.  She could hardly imagine what it would take when she was a Magi, and a thousand times more powerful than she was now.

The bottom line was it would take five areas in volume and processing potential each two thousand percent bigger than that relatively small E-class whirlpool she’d created at the beginning to refine essence and fill her essence pool in an hour.  On the good side, creating a larger essence construct was fairly easy for an A-class adventurer, once all the disparate parts grew into a single unified concept to focus on.

The body improved daily, and that included the mind.  Allowing control of a larger area, and to attract more essence quicker as well as refine it quicker.  That two thousand percent increase wasn’t all just in area volume, it was in speed of essence refining and cultivation as well.

It was those two things combined which allowed it to happen.  Cultivating about a hundred times faster, twenty-five times faster per class jump, also meant the cultivation area in total only needed to be a hundred times bigger from that first simple E-class whirlpool, which was far more manageable.

The cultivation technique for A-class was variable in the sense there was more than one complex approach.  The one she’d eventually gone with was a spiral based on life, that was apparent in DNA.  As a geneticist, it just made the most sense to her.

The visualization was simply a quintuple helix running down her torso, connecting to her major chakras as it ran through, each one a different of the five joined spirals.  DNA of course, was only a double helix, but it wasn’t difficult to add in a fancy of imagination as part of it.

She knew without a doubt a DNA strand was extremely long, so to scale it was easy to imagine it long enough to exit her head straight up to the edge of the dungeon’s influence, as well as running below her to the bottom of it.  The entire strand attracted and concentrated essence, which her five chakras took in equal amounts until full. 

The essence at the top of the strand and bottom was rather diffuse, if the thick essence in the dungeon being attracted could be described as diffuse.  But as it traveled down from the top and up from the bottom of the strand it got thicker and thicker, since everywhere it passed on its way to feed the chakras was also absorbing more essence constantly, until the part of the strand in her body was fully saturated, and fully refined for absorption into her body.

That was pretty much her visualization, with a few subtle concepts to round it out.

The gifts of the other four chakras, might just be based on the idea of spirit and the four elements.  The air chakra had been unlocked at D-class, which gave her stability in motion.  Speed was fine and all but moving too quickly could make it hard to stop or change direction.  This gift countered that, so she didn’t slide all over the place, or lose traction when going full speed.

Her fire chakra at C-class gave her virtually endless stamina.  She really didn’t get worn down by sustained effort any longer.  The growing strength and speed of her body was nothing, if she couldn’t use it when she needed it the most.

The B-class or water chakra had given her a preternatural grace, and it became much easier to maintain her center of balance as well as maximize the economy and flow of movement, which enhanced her already impressive martial arts to new levels.

The last Chakra, or earth, allowed her to ground herself.  Her strength had grown beyond recognition, to the ability to lift tons in the double digits.  Being able to ground herself gave her preternatural leverage to use that strength, that defied basic physics.  Without leverage, the strength to push a ten-ton boulder would just result in her pushing her much lighter body back instead.

Otherwise, hitting with tons of force, or being hit with tons of force, would have her flying across the room.  Something that happened far too often to her in B-class, which was no longer an issue at all.  If one of those B-class four legged gargantuan golems hit her now, she wouldn’t move a bit, if she chose not to, simply taking that force on her weapon or redirecting it.

She wasn’t sure if she believed in the elemental interpretation of humans from this world on chakras, but she had to admit that the gifts granted from opening them kind of lined up with the characteristics of those elements.  They… fit, and in the end it probably didn’t matter.  The guild didn’t call it that though, just the five major chakras and associated gifts.

Once she felt the discomfort, with her essence pools full, she slowed down to work on improving her body.  The slight discomfort and tingling was an old friend by then, and it no longer bothered her at all.  She knew in about fifty years it would hurt badly doing that from the start, when her body was truly at its maximum potential, and she could pursue the next step, and become a magi.

It was just as well she had fifty years to go on that.

She wasn’t even entirely sure why her mind was going over past victories and reached goals, along with reviewing the future ones.  Maybe because of the new job, guild officer and town administrator.  She had to do a good job, but at the same time maybe she was just reminding herself what her true goals were.

Because the new job would be a fun challenge for her, just as Silvia had suggested.  It fit her personality and skills, as a spy if not as a geneticist.  The intro stuff was easy, it was keeping an eye on the town’s safety, inside and out, that would be a challenge.

Magi were mortal, but it was still a major step and nowhere near as simple as just opening a chakra.  Converting from essence to mana using a magi cultivation technique wouldn’t be simple, and that was just a small part of it from what she’d researched so far.  Even with a perfected body, if she didn’t modify the essence channels that ran through her body and connected all her major and minor chakras correctly, she’d burn out her body if it failed to contain the mana which was a thousand times more powerful than essence pound for pound.

That direct body modification to withstand mana was accomplished with a multi-glyph spell that would take about a decade to master, and it was different from person to person based on what affinities they had.  If the spells weren’t done perfectly the adventurer would die during the conversion from essence to mana, if they didn’t catch it and fix it before proceeding to the conversion process.

On the other hand, some fouled up the spell so badly that their channels would no longer hold essence correctly either, and those died rather spectacularly and immediately as all their essence flooded their body instantly, without the time to review and fix the issue.  So, it was really best to put the time and work in, and to get it right the first time.

Cultivation and refining as a magi was also a lot more dangerous.  A simple loss of focus could result in death, either of the cultivator or anyone too close to them.  Mana wasn’t stable outside the body or a ley line, which is why essence existed in the first place.  Cultivation however, required the magi to refine essence into mana before taking it into their body, and thus necessitated holding it stable with their mind.

On the good side, she hadn’t lost focus on a cultivation since D-class, even now when woolgathering about the past and future, but it was an added risk.  Especially since the cultivation method was a lot more demanding as a magi.

Jia felt the essence start to really hurt and stopped cultivating.  Then looked around.  It didn’t take more than another minute for the boys to finish, Cybele had already been done when she stopped.

They got up and headed out.

The sky was a bit cloudy, but no rain, as they headed down the mountain back to town.

“Oops.”

They all looked at her, Liam with bemusement.

Jia shrugged, “So much for knocking out the new job and impressing the bosses.  I ignore my cat’s senses when I’m in the dungeon, to avoid distraction.  While we were on our run a dwarven magi showed up, the guild evaluator.  He has all the guild employees running for cover, and I think he’s annoyed we didn’t come running the moment his feet hit our side of the portal.”

Cybele sighed, “So much for a good first impression.  I didn’t think of putting an elemental on the gateway either, to tell me if anyone comes through.  I do have an elemental looking out for violence though, so we’d have known immediately if anyone attacked the town or started a fight.”

“I’ll do that from now on, bring one of my cats to guard the portal while we do our daily delving.”

She sent the hawk she’d created spiraling up into the sky and toward the town, at least she had her overhead look of the town and could track things a little.  She really needed to get on those squirrels though, then she could work on the create light elemental spell.  She couldn’t wait two years for decent coverage that way, so an interim solution was necessary.

They broke into an easy run, then slowed as they got into town.  Cybele took a moment to clean them up from the delve with magic, so they’d at least look presentable.

The guild was still in the large stone building Silvia had raised twenty years ago on her arrival, but it had electricity, water, and environmental controls now.  They even had a phone system installed after the dungeon and town had been outed to the world, though she thought it’d be foolish to expect that system to be private in any way.

The atmosphere in the room was tense, and there were no side conversations at all as they walked in.  The muttering voice in the records room wasn’t hard to track back, and they quickly dropped off the guild percentage for the delve on the way past the counter.

The records room had two four-person round tables in the front, and the rest of the room were stone shelves not unlike a library that held the records for each adventurer, as well as each of the twenty-six dungeon paths, including the path from the safe room to the dungeon core’s room.  There were also inventory lists, accounting ledgers for the money intake, and lastly ruler and guild officer reports for any notable changes or fights in the town.

The four of them stood at attention, even if she’d rather be practicing her channeling and reviewing the day of training in her mind.  She’d signed up for this though, for knowledge.

The dwarf looked up, “I am Magi Weston, an evaluator from the guild.  I assume you are the four incompetents left in charge of this place?”

“Yes, Magi.  I’m administrator Jia, and these are officers Cybele, Bobby, and Liam.”

Cybele opened her mouth to speak, no doubt to defend them, but Jia shook her head subtly which got her to close it.

She’d met arrogant and grumpy people in the military before, not to mention her old handler during her spy days, any excuses offered would just make it worse.  They had screwed up, not in a way that would endanger the town, but in not setting things up to inform them of a VIPs arrival.  It wasn’t something Caldin ever did, but then they were stranded on Earth for twenty years and didn’t need to make such arrangements.  She should’ve thought of it anyway, that she hadn’t been expecting the evaluator quite so fast wasn’t a good excuse.

Weston grunted, “I will be here until such a time that the guild sees fit to send a permanent ruler and Silvia’s replacement.  That length of time is variable, based on how long it takes the guild to extract Silvia’s incompetence during her debriefings.  As such, I need to finish my task as quickly as possible, so my reports are ready no matter when that happens.  You see my problem?”

There was so much information in that paragraph, openly rude to subtle, that she wasn’t sure where to start.  The most obvious thing she picked up was that magi were such divas that they couldn’t bear to be together in the same place for very long.  It was also disturbingly clear that Weston didn’t believe Silvia would ever be coming back, which would probably make her regret accepting the appointment. 

“Working under an unknown deadline is never pleasant, Magi.”

He snorted, “You don’t see it at all, then.  Normally that isn’t that big of an issue, but evaluations are done on a yearly basis.  I have twenty years to get through in this pile of dragon dung and I’ll be expected back to guild island with my reports as soon as the replacement comes in, sixty if we include the other two dungeon towns on this world.  On top of that, I have to rule this place while doing sixty times the work and breaking in you four incompetents to make decent guild officers all at the same time.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that at all.  But she was fairly sure their training was about to be interrupted for a week or two.  She couldn’t like that, but it was what she’d signed up for, responsibility and interruptions to her ambitions and goals in life.  It wasn’t a great thing though, because Silvia had been the type of boss to set a list of goals to achieve, and let her people take care of the details to get it done.  It was becoming clear that for Weston, there’d be a right way, wrong way, and guild way, to get things done, and that he was a bit of a micromanager.

He also wasn’t wrong about it being a lot of work, and she wondered why they hadn’t sent three evaluators, one for each town, but she wasn’t stupid enough to ask.

“How can we help, Magi?”

He grunted, “Get a guard on the gateway, a physical one.  Elementals watching the borders and gateway for trouble or VIPs works for you, but visitors from the guild world will need to see someone that can guide them.  I also need you to arrange a meeting for me late tomorrow afternoon, with someone in authority in this kingdom, or country as the locals call it.  Lastly, get the hell out of here so I can focus and get through all these reports.  Now that we’ve met, I’ll summon you if I need anything else, or if I feel you need instruction.  Go.”

They all bowed, “Magi,” then got the hell out of there, even as her mind wondered why the hell he wanted a meeting with the United States.  Of course, she was smart enough not to ask, she just hoped the idiot wouldn’t start a war.  That he clearly thought Silvia had mismanaged the whole situation, didn’t exactly give her confidence in that direction.

Bobby said, “I’ll handle assigning the guards… police.”

She grinned, “Thanks.  I’ll give General Blake a call, I bet he’ll love to talk with Weston.”

Liam said, “Careful.”

She shook her head, “I wasn’t being facetious or rude, the guy is a Tolkien fan.  Hopefully he won’t act like a fangirl in front of our temporary dwarven leader.”

Bobby snorted.

Cybele asked, “Training?”

She sighed, “We’ll skip it tomorrow, and then play it by ear.  He didn’t exactly lay out his plans, but I can make a few guesses.  He scheduled the meeting for tomorrow afternoon.  That suggests he thinks he’ll be done reading the reports by then.  Likely he’ll be spending two days at each town for the first week to get up to speed, then he’ll probably be here for the remainder of the time while he writes his own reports.”

The gateway was here, and it was the original guild town.  It was too much to hope for that he’d be off to the other two towns a whole lot after his data gathering was finished.

“So we’ll be able to train those four days,” Liam suggested.

“That’s what I was thinking, but he might also leave us a list of things to accomplish while he’s gone.  So I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll get some training opportunities in this week.  If not, taking a couple of weeks off from delving won’t kill us, we can still study and practice magic, as well as cultivate to improve our bodies, we’ll only be missing the testing of our new limits part of things which is not great but acceptable.  It’s not like we’ll improve markedly enough in the next two weeks that it throws us off next time we fight.”

Bobby asked, “Wait.  How are we going to cultivate?”

She shrugged, “We’re full of essence.  If we don’t do too much spell work, we should be able to cultivate off of our essence gem stash without exhausting it.  Just enough to improve our bodies daily, so we don’t get slowed down that way.  We can refill what we use quickly on our next delve.”

Bobby nodded, “Understood, but we should be cautious with that.”

Then he left, presumably to get the cops assigned to guarding the gateway.  He wasn’t wrong, the essence gems were their emergency stash, should they ever run out of essence in the middle of a dungeon run they’d use those to replenish enough magic to finish the run.  That’d only happened three times in the last twenty years though, and she’d never had to use more than a quarter of her stash.  It was a managed and reasonable risk, to use part of it, anyway.

Taking one of the easier of the five A-class paths would also help with that, she thought.

Beyond that, she had a whole lot, she wasn’t sure if the others had hoarded their share found in the dungeon, but she’d never sold any of them and must have hundreds of the things in her ring of holding after the last twenty years.  Not cultivating was the only thing that would really slow down finishing up A-class, though not studying meant it would take longer to be ready to ascend to Magi.

Cybele said, “I’ll update my elemental’s orders to watch for gateway activations, see you back at the house.”

She nodded, and she waved at them both as she headed over to the phone, to set up that meeting between Weston and Blake.  She’d already sent one of her six cats to keep an eye on the gateway as well.  So only five would be prowling the town tonight, while her hawk was sleeping.

At least one thing went right, General Blake was obviously jazzed by the idea of meeting a dwarf.  She really did wonder what Weston’s game was that way though, why did he need to speak to America at all?  No doubt he’d also be talking to China and Russia when at the other towns.  She didn’t really get it, since the evaluator job to her at least, seemed internal to the guild.  Sure, he was also a temporary ruler there, but she’d have assumed that was for emergencies only.  He’d only be there for a week or two, a month at most, so why take the time to stamp himself onto the place with changes?

Unless he was just going to ask the host country their impressions on the guild and Silvia in particular?

Maybe, but ultimately that would be worthless in her opinion, since there was no measuring stick of history between the countries of this world and the guild for America to weigh their opinions on.  How could they give an opinion on Silvia’s management if there was nothing else to measure it against?  It was just asking for trouble if that was the idea, but she worried it wasn’t that simple, and that Weston was up to something else entirely.

She smiled.  Because of course, that was her inner spook talking, but that didn’t make her suspicions about it all wrong.

Chapter Six

Caldin

The three-room suite was palatial, and Caldin felt a little closed in and tried to relax.  It wasn’t that things were going badly. On the contrary, things hadn’t been going at all.  He’d been cooling his heels the last thirty-six hours or so since they’d arrived, save for the servants that brought him his meals and drinks.

He hadn’t seen Silvia which he’d expected, but he also hadn’t been in contact with Kaylie and Neda.  The three of them had been greeted, led to their suites, and had politely been told to not go anywhere or wander around until after they’d been debriefed.  The isolation no doubt meant to prevent the three of them from comparing notes.

Which was just as well, anything said out loud was probably heard, and he wouldn’t put the idea of reading minds past the Magi and three Ethereal rulers of the guild.  Still, it was disconcerting to be waiting so long without anyone to spend the time with.

He even kind of got it, they probably wanted to fully debrief Silvia so they could assemble a good list of questions for him, Kaylie, and Neda.  He wondered again just how long that would take.  He’d be so much happier when this was done with, and he could join Arielle, Sienna, and Lathan to get back to delving.  They could get on an A-class dungeon circuit and schedule, and finally put the twenty years stuck on another world behind them.

It hadn’t been that difficult, but he’d chafed under the restrictions of staying in the town.  The one time he’d gone into the city after being cleared to do so by the U.S., he’d regretted it.  The humans on that world just weren’t at all the same as back home.  They had a lot of strange ideas, mostly because they were all so incredibly rich and spoiled.  Even their so-called poverty stricken had better lives than some nobles he’d met on his world.

It hadn’t been all bad though, there’d been good things on that world.  Those people that had chosen the adventurer life of self-improvement hadn’t been any different than the rest of them, but he was heartily glad to be home.  Now all he had to do was navigate this den of serpents, retire from guild service, and it’d all work out.

All he had to do, like it’d be easy.  He wasn’t really worried he’d be killed or anything, they only did that to traitors for the most part.  But they could revoke his guild membership for almost any reason, if one of the Magi here took a dislike to him.  He wasn’t too worried about the Ethereal council of three however, they wouldn’t be questioning him in person, that’s what their Magi sycophants were for.  Only Silvia would have to personally deal with those three.

He snorted, then poured himself a drink while he wondered how the rest of his group was getting along.  Lathan and Sienna were no doubt sniping at each other in a way bordering on flirting, while Arielle calmly kept the peace and ensured they didn’t get too out of hand.

He was about to take a sip when there was a knock at the door.  He placed the drink back down on the table, then went to answer it with alacrity, since he sensed a Magi’s aura on the other side of the door.  It was truly hard to sense anything while drowning under the ocean sized auras of the three Ethereals on the guild’s ruling council, but it was possible as long as he was close enough.  Anything past twenty feet or so was just washed out, not strong enough to reach his arcane senses through the more powerful auras.

The elven woman at his door was quite attractive, exotically so, and had light blonde hair and purple eyes.  She had on highly enchanted and conforming leather armor.  He took note of it as quickly as he dismissed it, he was old enough to be inured to the exotic beauty of an elf, especially when they were Magi.

“Good afternoon, Magi.  Would you like to enter?”

The elf’s stern face cracked with a slight smile, “How thoughtful, but no, Caldin.  I’m Magi Nicola, here to debrief you.  Follow me.”

She sounded… pleasant, friendly even, which perversely set him further on guard.  Probably just her interrogation style, or something.  Or like a cat, maybe she preferred to play with her food first.  He firmly reminded himself the Magi were not evil, just extremely powerful and arrogant.  The overly mercurial and cruel would be dealt with by the Ethereals.  A show of respect should prevent making an enemy here, if all else was equal.

So maybe she was just trying to put him at his ease, so he’d be more open and freer with his opinions.  So, all he needed to do was remember she wasn’t his friend, and to be honest.  He could handle that.

He nodded respectfully, and closed the door as he stepped out, and walked to her right and slightly behind as she led them down the hallway.

“So, you’ve been on another world, with strange customs, traditions, and even governments?  Did they really kill all their nobles?”

He replied, “Yes, magi.  Some few were kept as figureheads and rulers over tradition in a few of the countries.  Over a hundred years ago now as they measure it, and the country that hosted us never even had royalty or nobility.  They had some strange ideas over there, but the government was even more controlling than most nobles, so we didn’t have to deal with them overly, not directly.”

She nodded, “And Silvia allowed them to bar the commoners from the dungeon and town?”

He replied, “She did.”

They made it to a small room with cozy chairs and a low table, where there was already snacks and drinks prepared.  She waved for him to sit and took a seat across from him.

“Did you agree with that decision?”

He frowned, “I agree with guild law, and I don’t think there was any way to change it without breaking it.  It was probably for the best, anyway.”

She tilted her head, “Explain.”

He said, “Guild law means we can’t interfere with governments.  That the kingdoms on our world would never bar even a serf from trying to join the guild and be an adventurer, isn’t guild law.  It’s tradition, and a nod of respect to the guild from the kings and queens on our world.

“They can’t by guild law bar adventurers from moving freely between dungeon towns, but there was only one dungeon on that continent so that was a moot point even if they restricted access.  As for being for the best, the population is too high there, over three hundred million.  There’s no way we could’ve accommodated all their people with the potential to succeed in a single dungeon, much less the citizens of their allies, so it was just as well they only sent soldiers to join the guild.

“It’s a different world, and while different from how things work here, I don’t think we violated guild law.”

She nodded, “Did she even try?”

He replied, “Yes.  The negotiations to have them respect guild law took quite a while, and we did urge them to be more open than they were.  But they’re stubborn, paranoid, and they don’t trust their own people.  It’s… strange.  Even when we did get them to agree to the bare minimum, what was specified in guild law, they really didn’t like the idea of soldiers who chose to serve their country, being free of duty and returning to the town to pursue even greater strength as individuals.  I know it’s strange, but they absolutely refused to trust their people to earn such power independently of their control, even though we assured them by guild law and oath they couldn’t turn on them.  So yes, we tried, but it was hard enough getting them to adopt and respect guild law, never mind the tradition.”

She smiled, “You said that already.  What are your intentions after this?”

He replied, “I stayed on as administrator of Nelendra because of the situation we were in, being cut off from the guild here, but my twenty years of service were up a few years ago.  I’m looking forward to retiring as an administrator and getting back to training as a simple adventurer.  The rest of my group is waiting for me in Graymark.”

She nodded thoughtfully.

She asked, “As individuals?”

He shrugged, “They aligned with expectations, as far as percentages retiring at each advancement stage, as well as deaths in the dungeon, about two a month.”

She paused, then asked, “How do you feel about Silvia appointing a known spy to replace you?  Can she be trusted do you think?”

He nodded slowly, “I do.  She’s retired, and she was never there to spy on us, but our host country.  She proved herself a long while back, saving the dungeon from certain destruction almost twenty years ago, while we were focused on another line of attack.  It’s all in the reports.  She’s loyal to the guild, yet cynical enough to do a thorough job.  She also understands her world better.”

She asked, “Would you have done anything differently?”

He sighed, “Back in the beginning, yes.  I wouldn’t have bailed Jia out of her dual loyalties the one time they came into conflict, while setting a trap for those plotting against us.  In hindsight however, I’d have been wrong.  The dungeon would’ve been destroyed, and I would never have gotten home.  Of course, Silvia had a lot more information than I did on everything that was going on. 

“In the end we managed to keep ourselves safe, honored the guild laws, and grew the guild, all on a planet that didn’t want us there at all.  If that led to some decisions that were rather pragmatic and out of line with custom, well we did what we had to while stranded on a strange world.”

She asked, “You admire Silvia?”

He cleared his throat, “I do.  My loyalty lies with the guild, but she led us through a pretty difficult situation, and it took a long time to get home.  I guess what I’m trying to say is I wouldn’t admire her, if she’d played loose with the rules and it wasn’t her position to rule.  She was professional, and despite the countries on that world being… insistently annoying, she never lost her temper.”

She titled her head, “Why don’t you join me in town tonight?”

Was she flirting with him?  No, that didn’t make sense.  He only hesitated for the briefest of moments, and not long enough to offend, he didn’t think.  The last thing he wanted to do was go out on the town, he wanted to keep his head down until this was all over.  On the other hand, he had missed the atmosphere, entertainment, and custom and society of his home world.  She knew that, so rejecting her would be rejecting her specifically, since of course he’d want to go out and unwind after feeling trapped for twenty years.

Bottom line, if he rejected her then he’d definitely earn an enemy, which he didn’t need to do.  So, he really had no choice, and just had to hope he wouldn’t say or do anything stupid.  He really hated the political games, but it was a price they all paid at his power and above.

“That would be welcome, it’s been an age.”

She smiled, “Great, we can chat a little more informally.  I’ll stop by your room tonight.  Please don’t wander around without me, not until the debrief is done.  There might be a few more things to discuss tonight and tomorrow morning.”

He nodded, “Understood, and can’t wait.”

She stood up, and he did as well as she escorted him back to the room.  It was apparent he wouldn’t have to debrief in full detail, they had Silvia and the reports for that.  Which was both good and bad, because all that left was him having to field political landmines and sticky questions.

The tavern was boisterous to say the least, and the commoners didn’t seem to be nervous at all with a Magi and him in the crowd.  The atmosphere was celebratory and homey at the same time.  He supposed it was normal for them, living in the shadow of the council’s castle, and working to support it.  They wouldn’t have to be concerned with politics like members of the guild would be.  There were a few other adventurers here as well, all presumably visiting or working for the council directly.

The common room was large, with a large four open side fireplace in the middle of the room big enough to hold a bonfire.  The fires weren’t lit however, the weather mild and warm that time of year.  There were four barmaids and two bartenders, and a stage in the far corner from the door with a performing bard. 

The tavern itself was in the market district, and although the food stalls in the open market were closed, most of the building stores were still open.  At least when they’d arrived, they had been.

He was almost convinced Nicola was attempting to get him drunk so his lips would wag freely.  The evidence was clear enough, as she kept plying him with mugs of ale, and urging him to drink if he took too long with his current one.  It seemed like a really bad idea, on the other hand he really didn’t seem to have a choice in it.

He was positive she had no romantic motives in getting him to loosen up, despite her elfin beauty and warm smiles.  Well, almost positive, the doubts in that direction increased with the bottom of every mug, which just went to show he was an idiot.

Except, she hadn’t asked him one question yet that related to Silvia or his time on Earth.  Maybe she was just bored, and that she wanted a night out with someone of no real importance where she had to watch every word spoken.  It occurred to him that Nicola had politics to worry about as well, and he was maybe just handy for her to let her hair down.

Or maybe he was just an idiot.

She asked, “So where did you come from?”

“My father was a sailor, mother the daughter of a merchant before they got together.  The ocean and I didn’t get along, but I was always good in a scrap so took a chance on the guild.  It’s been years since I’ve seen them.  You?”

Now of course, his mother kept the home and raised his younger siblings, he was sure she’d get that without him spelling it out.

Her lips twitched, “Son of a sailor that gets seasick?”

He laughed, “Something like that.”

She waved, “I was the third daughter, fifth among five siblings.  My father owns a winery, but there was no way I’d inherit.  My prospects weren’t exactly horrible, but my aunt was an adventurer and always full of stories.  I decided to give it a shot and left before my father could marry me off.”

He laughed and took a long swig at her pointed look.

She asked, “The dungeon.  You suspected it had gone rogue and was prepared to destroy it.”

He nodded, “That was before we determined the dungeon had just lost its ability to control the monsters during the magi’s attack.”

She smiled, “Yes, but if it had gone rogue, you’d have destroyed it to safeguard the new world you found yourself on?  Even if it stranded you there with no way to advance your ambitions for personal power and perfection further?”

Oh, crap.

He nodded reluctantly, “Yes, fortunately that didn’t happen.  Silvia suggested we couldn’t be sure the dungeon had truly gone rogue.  Considering it had to rebuild its A, B, and C-class pathways it was clear the dungeon hadn’t gone rogue, and there were no other incidents.  It was less than an hour after that, when Jia escaped the dungeon, that the dungeon closed up and started to fix itself.”

She tilted her head, “So Silvia would’ve ordered the destruction and followed guild law, should it have proved necessary, and stranded over sixty adventurers and retired adventurers on that world.”

Damnit.

“No.”

As he feared, when he said that, she didn’t look at all surprised.  Well, Silvia had told him to throw her under the bus if he had to.  He still felt guilty about it, maybe he was more loyal to Silvia directly than he’d wanted to admit to himself.  Twenty years was a long time.

She raised an eyebrow, “No?”

He shook his head, “She indicated we might have to control the dungeon, guard it, so as not to cut ourselves off from our old world.  I’d actually forgotten about that, until now, since the point seemed to be moot less than an hour later.”

She asked, “Do you still admire her?”

He frowned, “One wrong decision in twenty years, and one she didn’t actually make, just suggested in the heat of the moment, when we were surrounded by our dead and wounded.  Does that negate all the rest?  I admire a lot of adventurers, and she wasn’t the only ruler I’ve served and learned a great deal from.  Yes, her orders back then did make me feel uncertain, but only that once, and she didn’t actually violate the law.”

She tilted her head, “Perhaps she never meant it, and it was merely a tactic to cement everyone’s loyalty.  You know, make it look like she’d break the law and sacrifice herself, for the good of the rest of you, to get you home.  Did it work?”

He was honestly confused, “No?  It didn’t make me feel personal loyalty toward her.  It was actually the first time I ever doubted her, it’s also not her style.  She ruled from a remote, powerfully and without doubts that we could discern, and in a calm manner.  She never let emotions guide her that I could tell.  She was not the type to ingratiate herself to her subordinates, in any way, but rather to inspire confidence in her implacable competence at every turn.”

Yeah, it was only then when he realized in his defense of her, it had actually been him throwing the bus into reverse, and then rolling back over her a second time.  He’d pretty much just said she’d meant to break the law, and only a gift of fate had averted it.  Still, the guild didn’t punish people for a might of been, no more than Jia had been killed for the potential of mixed loyalties.

On the other hand, it would be all they needed to force her retirement as a guild town ruler.

The law to kill rogue dungeons was there for a good reason.  They destroyed whole kingdoms in the past, and if let go on long enough it was possible a rogue dungeon could destroy the entire world.

She seemed pleased by his answer, and he felt a little sick to his stomach as he finished off the ale.  She ordered him another one.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Seven

Cora

“Fascinating.”

Amethyst asked, “What is, Cora?”

I grinned mentally, “I never realized a magi could be stupid before.  Listen to this crazy.”

I shared my senses with Amethyst over our bond, the ones pointed at the leader’s quarters on the second floor of the large guild building.  I’d been eavesdropping for a couple of minutes already, and they were talking about the secured and limited access to the dungeon and Nelendra.

Weston said, “General Blake, I really don’t think you understand.  The more adventurers you have in your country, part of your military or not, means the safer your country is from invasion.  All adventurers are of a type, the successful ones anyway, and if un-enhanced humans of another country invade, they will be crushed quickly.  I truly don’t understand why you would deny your commoners access to the guild, they would be your people’s protectors, or at the very worst bystanders.  Not a danger, because of the oath.”

Blake replied, “Citizens, not commoners, and it’s our job as a military to protect them from outside threats, not the other way around.”

Weston snorted, “You don’t keep people safe by keeping them weak, general.”

Blake shook his head, “With all due respect to your wisdom, which I suspect is well taken on your world, it’s you that don’t understand.  Our world is different, we don’t think the same, and our technology is much more advanced.  People need adversity, and often on our world which is softer than yours and far safer, that adversity tends to be… surprisingly daft and made up.  It’s a real danger.  Some small percentage of humans can’t live without it, and our country is a damned safe place to live.

“If we removed our cordon and opened the town up to all, it wouldn’t just be people that want to be adventurers that showed up.  There are movements and groups of individuals out there that hate you, and they will give you trouble if we allow it.  The nuts with a religious bent are calling your powers and magic of the devil, and unnatural.  A thing to be reviled and stamped out.  The dungeon itself has both been called the anti-Christ and son of the devil, something that must be destroyed.   Other groups simply think you’re aliens, and plan to take over the world.

“Another group sees the dungeon as god, and they want to come and worship it.  Offer themselves, their lives, and their wealth to it.”

“Hmm,” I said softly.

Amethyst glared at my crystal, “Don’t even go there.”

I laughed, “Just kidding, isn’t this a riot?”

Blake continued, “They believe adventurers are its angels, and hold you all in awe.  If we were to step aside, those groups that want to worship or destroy you would descend on mass.  Think of it like the town crazy, I’m sure you have those, well we do too.  Except our town crazies can all get together on the internet, work each other up, and even meet.  They are often the loudest of us as well, which makes the problems we have seem a lot bigger than they truly are.

“Still, the point remains.  Tiny percent of the population or not, a tiny percentage of three hundred million people adds up quickly.  You don’t want to deal with them, and you don’t want to deal with a few hundred thousand people showing up when you’d have to turn most of them away anyway.  We have plenty of military to send you, ours and our allies.  If you want more, say the word, and we’ll send them.  But I was under the impression the dungeon is already at full capacity.”

Weston frowned, “We could handle it.”

Blake snorted, “Of that I have no doubt, Magi Weston.  The thing is, they’re our crazies, and they’re crazy enough to attack you.  We’d rather them not all die when you act in self-defense.  It’s a problem best avoided, we know how to contain it and we’re already doing so.”

Weston grunted, “Fine, I see that we will not agree.  However, this dungeon seems more intelligent and responsive than most.”

“More intelligent than certain Magi perhaps?” I asked innocently.

Amethyst snickered.

Weston continued, “Point being, I believe if we slowly ramp up the intake the dungeon will respond with growth to counter the slight overcrowded number of groups trying to make a run once a day.  Add just enough that building one more level down is justified, and we’ll be adding one of each path at a time.”

“Well, he’s not wrong about that.  The only reason I haven’t built more levels is there aren’t enough adventurers to more than constantly fill twenty-five paths.”

Having more adventurers in the dungeon was worth building more, but only if they saturated it.  Otherwise extra paths would just be a burden, with no payoff, and would slow my growth.  I’d love to have a hundred levels, and be hosting five hundred groups at all times, over two thousand adventurers in my dungeon at the same time.  That’d be… awesome, and there was really no reason I couldn’t do it, a little at a time.

Amethyst winked, “Not so dumb now?”

I snickered, “Nope, still as dumb as a rock, but even idiots get something right, on occasion.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes, but also started to giggle, so I was taking that as a win.

I added, “No being could judge this world and make decisions, in under three days.  Letting experience guide him in a world so different from where he gained it… and jumping to conclusions, is just…”

Amethyst finished, “Dumb, got it.  But he has you figured out.”

“What’s to figure out?  More adventurers, more mana intake, more growth.  It’s pretty simple.  Why am I different, aren’t all dungeons smart enough to see that obvious truth?”

Amethyst shrugged, “Yes, but it’s situational.  Back home dungeons are in competition, with the population much smaller, and the much smaller pool of adventurers often travel from dungeon to dungeon for a change of pace.  You on the other hand, can clearly see the demand is there, so offering the supply is just obvious.  Back home, they’re more conservative, they have to be.  On top of all that, you naturally gain mana twenty times faster with that ley line anchor, so you don’t begrudge spending every bit of mana.”

I supposed that made sense.  Maybe I wasn’t different at all, maybe it was just my circumstances that were different?  I wasn’t sure.

Blake finally replied, “I will run that up the flagpole.  I think I can make that work, but we’ll have to involve our allies.  Do you have numbers in mind?”

Weston said, “Conservatively, we could add six groups at a time, per month.  That’s about how many the dungeon could support with one more E-class path.  The dungeon will be able to figure out when to up the other path amounts as those new numbers start to ascend the classes.  That’s twenty-four adventurers a month, after a single year that’s an additional two hundred and eighty-eight.  I think it’s safe to say we could add twenty-four group houses a year as well.

“We also shouldn’t stop, until the dungeon stops responding.”

Idiot or not, I was starting to like Weston.  At least I was sure the government would ignore his horrible idea of opening up the dungeon town to all citizens.  I was starting to think a hundred levels wouldn’t be enough, and my greedy side was doing cartwheels.

It did make me wonder though if I had a limit.  Just how many paths could my semi-autonomous mind and will support?  The whole spawning monsters and rewards part.  Just how big could I get?

I suddenly felt the urge to find out, even if it would take time.  Perhaps years and years.

“How big can I get, do you know?”

Amethyst shrugged, “I don’t think there’s a limit.  The more adventurers the more mana, the more growth to support it.  If there is an upper limit, I suspect we’ll find it together.”

I mentally froze as a crazy idea came to me.  Magi path idea.  Stemming from a mental joke more or less, as I considered the idea of using a computer to help me keep track of anything when I was past my full potential as a dungeon.  Which was ridiculous, but…

Elementals did get smarter with more power, but in the end trying to make an elemental a thousand times more powerful than the A-class elemental threats… wouldn’t work.  Despite being magi level myself, there was just no way I could control such a powerful entity if I was dumb enough to make one, or worse summon one.

But what if I made ten at a tenth of that power, and then orchestrated them to work together.  That would be full of problems and challenges, assuming I could even do it, and whoever I put in charge wouldn’t be as quick mentally, nor as diverse.  But instead of putting one of the elementals in charge, supposed I just used the ten as magical batteries, and left the arcane battle to an adaptive computer program running on a supercomputer.

Some kind of artificial intelligence, not sentient, but able to detect a threat and form a counterresponse to meet it in less than a second.  Not only form a response, but dynamically form a spell enchantment to fit those circumstances, for the elementals to power and cast as one.

The idea seemed more than a little crazy, melding elementals with computers to make a magi level threat, but I had very little to entertain me, and it was worth a shot.  The physical part of things was already there, physically speaking a Magi and fully matured A-class were exactly the same.  It was the point where an adventurers magic instantly and completely outstripped the physical side of the equation.  A Magi was a magical threat, not a huge physical one, so I could just use my A-class golem designs for that part of things, while redoing the magic part.

I just needed the correct hardware.  The servers in the server farm weren’t up to that kind of task.

Some kind of logic tree approach, with an added dimension block on that section of the dungeon, so a magi against a magi monster threat wouldn’t blow up my entire dungeon.  Like my core room being on a slightly different dimension, to counter the nuke threat.

It was crazy of course, and it would never work.  But why not try?  The hardest part of course was figuring out how to make computer hardware cast a spell.  Or at least inform the elementals to do it using the spell iteration it formed for them.  Elementals already had an instinctive understanding of the magical language, so that part would be easy.  It was getting them to cooperate and take orders from a machine I wasn’t so sure about.

Maybe just displaying the shape would be enough to make them cast it.  I’d have to experiment, but I needed the computer first.

I’d have to play with it, and it wasn’t like I had any other ideas.  I’d been looking for a Magi level monster for twenty years.  Animals were too stupid, and my monsters too weak.

“I have a crazy idea, but I need help with it.”

Amethyst looked wary. Like I’d ever put her in danger before?

“With what?”

I replied, “Magi level threat.  But I kind of need you to borrow something, then bring it back there before they notice it’s gone.”

Amethyst frowned, “Did you forget we’re surrounded?”

I shrugged, “They can’t detect you.  Anyway, I need a supercomputer, a powerful mainframe.  Blame Weston, he totally forgot to bring me a magi level monster threat as a gift.”

Amethyst sighed, “Won’t they notice when it stops working?”

I replied, “Not one being used, one being stored and waiting for sale.  You teleport it here, I absorb it, pop out two new ones, one including the packaging, then you bring one back.  No one will ever know.”

Amethyst looked pained, “Right, no one at all.  Okay, do you have any idea where this supercomputer in a box on a shelf is located?  Or do I need to find it?”

My crystal blushed, “Umm, that second one.”

Amethyst snickered, “Of course it is.  No promises, but if I can find one, I’ll bring it back.  It’s against the rules to steal you know.  I can scavenge for you from the forest, but…” she trailed off.

“Borrow, didn’t I say borrow?”

Amethyst snorted, “Not amusing.”

I replied, “Borrow without permission?  We are bringing it back.  Well, it’s this or nothing.  Unless you’d like to pop back to our world and grab me an elder dragon, or perhaps a cockatrice, basilisk, or sphinx?”

Amethyst replied sourly, “Sure, I keep those with my unicorn herd.”

My crystal shivered, “No unicorns.”

Amethyst giggled.

Unicorns were no joke.   They could slaughter and eat an elder dragon for… well for a year.  Elder dragons were kind of big, but the point was unicorns were terrifying beasts of great power.  They were bloodthirsty things too, and like an ethereal they were literally made of magic, not just magical with a biological body.

Wait…  Unless Amethyst had just been messing with me when she told me that story a few years back about the unicorn destroying a full aerie of dragons all by itself.

Nah.  She wouldn’t do that to me, would she?

“Anyway, be careful, and keep an eye out for security cameras.”

Amethyst said, “They can’t see me.”

I replied, “No, but they could see a computer disappear off the shelf, if one is pointed that way.”

Amethyst waved, and then she disappeared in an explosion of bright white motes.

I rubbed my nonexistent hands together in excitement.  I’d also need traps, and maybe a puzzle or two.  The longer I could hold a magi in the path, the more mana I’d get from it.

It was going to be a lot of work, and it’d hopefully wind up being worth it.

Chapter Eight

Jia

The sun was just above the western horizon outside Jia’s bedroom window.  She was studying the create light elemental spell.  She’d taken Silvia’s warnings to heart, and currently had a shield around the room that would block anyone trying to see in via magic or sight.  If anyone knocked or came in she could shift the book back into her ring of holding immediately.

The privacy shield was a simple iteration of her dome spell, but instead of blocking dangerous magic or physical threats, it blocked senses, magical or otherwise.

It was really her first opportunity to study it.  She’d wanted to start immediately after getting it, but it’d be two years before she could realistically master the spell.  She’d needed to learn the iteration of the squirrel create animal spell first, so she’d have something to work with in the meantime.

Weston was a fool, but for now he was out of her hair and had gone to Russia right after his meeting with Blake.  She’d had a cat outside the window, and she had managed to hear the conversation.  His second idea wasn’t horrible at least, and had merit, but it would also make her job harder.  In just ten years she’d have an additional twenty-eight hundred and eighty adventurers to keep track of and administer.  Add in unenhanced support, and it’d be closer to five thousand in growth for the town.

Over twenty thousand people in growth, in forty years, and she’d promised Silvia fifty years in the position for the knowledge she’d offered.  She’d deal, if it came to it then she’d just have to recruit more officers to help with the intake and three training sessions to get them started on cultivation, casting, and learning the magical language.

She didn’t want to be selfish, and it was a good idea.  That said, she didn’t know everything involved, and in hindsight it seemed almost obvious now that she’d heard it.  Which made her wonder why Silvia hadn’t been doing that already the last twenty years, surely the elf had considered the idea and then rejected it, even if the idea had never occurred to Jia.

Until she knew the answer as to why Silvia didn’t do it, she would reserve her opinion.  Maybe his second idea had been just as bad as the first, just not as obviously bad at first blush.  She’d give it some thought.

She frowned at her ring of holding, then willed her cellphone into her hand.  When they’d started to allow phones, she’d paid the enchanter to link her cell phone to the ring of holding in a way that would allow her to just know when it was ringing, or when she got a text.  It’d cost her, but was worth every penny, and all the grief avoided from constantly breaking and needing a replacement because of the dungeon runs.

Given the forces involved, even at D-class never mind A-class, it would’ve happened a lot if she’d dared to carry her phone on her directly.

The frown was merely because who the heck could be calling her?  The only people she could think of would be using far more secure means to contact her, than a cellphone monitored by the NSA.  The rest of her group was also in the house studying, so they’d have just knocked on her door.

When she checked the caller ID she saw that it was Natalya, and frowned again.  When Silvia had given her the job, and Natalya the administrator job in Russia, they’d exchanged numbers.  Same for Huang in China.  She just hadn’t imagined they’d ever actually call each other.

She answered it.

“Hello, Jia speaking.”

Natalya spoke good English, but her Russian accent was heavy.

“Jia, glad I reached you.  So, I’m not sure how good an idea this is, but thought I should let you know.  The higher ups here in Russia want to start an exchange program of sorts, so the adventurers gain more experience over all going to the different dungeons.”

She cleared her throat, “Despite the guild oaths, that seems like a really bad idea.”

Suspicious as hell, came to mind.  She still remembered what the last Russian spy tried to do, willing to sacrifice themselves to destroy the dungeon and become an oath breaker.  She had in fact, had nightmares about it on and off for the last twenty years, though the worst of that was the year after it happened.

She might not have given it a second thought if it was suggested by someone in the guild, though she’d still keep a sharp eye out for trouble, but the idea coming from those high up in Russian command… was a huge flag for her.

Lastly of course, was the timing of the whole thing.  They’d waited for Silvia to be gone before making this move, so how could it not be suspicious.  Sure, it was possible they just knew she’d say no, and had wanted to do it for years now, in a show of unity, puppies, and rainbows.

She snorted.  But she wasn’t about to bet her life, or anyone else’s, to prove that ridiculous theory.  Silvia had called her a cynic, but in truth she was just a realist.  As a spy she knew the darkness that existed in all men and women of power.  Some did better at fighting it than others, but… she shook her head and cut off that line of thought.

Natalya laughed richly, “I feel the same, though I can’t really say why.  The reasoning is valid, perhaps that is the problem, reasonable isn’t a description I’d use for anyone in the government.  Anyway, they should be talking to the Americans about it.”

“Weston?”

Natalya made a noise in her throat, “He was here when it was suggested, and thinks it a grand idea, and wonders why we weren’t already doing it like they do on his world.”

She rolled her eyes, “Alright.  Thanks for the heads up.  It’s not really up to us, so we just get left holding the bag if anything goes wrong.”

It was true enough.  They were there to enforce the rules and help adventurers get started.  Not make their own rules, or bar people from the dungeon based on their country of origin.  Which… was really annoying, but it was the job.

She just hoped Weston didn’t get them all killed in his ignorance.

It was just another bad idea, and integration between the three large countries at odds, never mind all their allies all around, was just asking for trouble.

Caldin had told her stories, about infiltrators and dungeon killing teams back on his home world.  Teams that were granted, independent of the guild.  Some countries did hire them to destroy another country’s dungeon.  Kingdoms even, over there.  But the point was it was different, they had dungeons all over the place, couldn’t walk a mile without tripping over one.  The Earth had three, and they couldn’t afford to take risks with any of them that way, losing them to petty politics would lead to World War three.

It was better not to take a chance, and clearly Silvia agreed, or she’d have started an exchange program long ago. 

But it wasn’t up to her, she just got to deal with the fallout, and was forced to make the stupidity of others work somehow.  Weston really was going to get them all killed if he kept making decisions without first learning the situations on the ground as they existed on this world.

Why did she want this job again?  Oh yeah, the knowledge.

Well, at least it wouldn’t be boring.  Still, she hoped Silvia was back soon.  She had a lot more confidence in her decisions.

Natalya said, “He’s calling for me, got my people hopping.  Can you give Huang a heads up, so she’s not blindsided by it when the orders come down?”

Yes, and to give her time to make preparations for possible trouble, instead of playing panicked catchup.  But of course, Natalya couldn’t say that out loud with both governments probably listening in, but clearly that was really what her Russian counterpart was aiming for.  Which, she really appreciated.  Not that she trusted Natalya, but she was willing to entertain the idea while the woman proved herself loyal to the guild.  Trust was earned, and she hadn’t worked with her enough yet for that, but this first time was a good indicator.

She replied, “I’ll take care of it.”

Natalya said, “Thanks, good luck.”

Yeah, she’d need it.

They hung up, and she got on the line with Huang.  The conversation they shared was extremely similar, and Huang seemed clever enough to hear what wasn’t said.  They’d all be ready for betrayal of the guild, whether it was Russia, China, or the U.S. behind it.

She got back to the precious spell book, finally.  Late evening for studying was odd, since that was usually a morning thing, but with their schedules thrown out of whack with Weston’s arrival and demands, they’d do it when they could.

Tomorrow would hopefully be a normal day.

The next morning her and the others were all eating breakfast.

“Okay, scenario.  Russian and Chinese groups join us here, and plan to betray the guild and destroy our dungeon, possibly while taking out as many adventurers as possible to weaken America’s defenses.  What kind of contingencies can we make to minimize the risks?”

Bobby said, “You’re joking?”

She shook her head, “Afraid not.  Sure, it could just be all the warm feelings and fuzzies between the U.S. and Russia and China.  Maybe they’re just here to make friends?  It’s possible it is just about the training and challenging themselves with a different dungeon.  But we have to assume the worst while hoping for the best, and that means making plans.”

Liam asked, “Whose idea was it?”

She said, “Russia suggested it, but we can’t depend on that.  The U.S. or China could’ve dropped some hints and made them think they came up with the idea.  So we can’t focus on the Russians, we have to watch the Chinese too when they get here.”

Bobby raised an eyebrow, “The U.S.?”

She giggled, “I wish, then it would be Natalya’s and Huang’s problem, and we could take a vacation.”

Bobby didn’t look amused, but her jest had both Liam and Cybele cracking up.

She stuck out her tongue, “To get us started, I’m going to watch them, send my cats out.  Nothing too invasive, but when they get together in large groups if they do.”

No, the invasive stuff would be with her squirrels, which she was keeping a secret.  She trusted her people with her life, and with anything.  She just didn’t trust everyone they trusted, or that they wouldn’t be overheard when speaking amongst themselves, and she knew if word spread of her spies there would be complaints and backlash.  Plus, her training was hard to beat, spy work shouldn’t be shared, with anyone.

Cybele said, “Do you really think it’s a danger?”

She shrugged, “They’ve been looking at the past with hindsight for twenty years.  Russia almost blew up the dungeon, and they did manage to trick Silvia.  It was us that stopped it.  They’re terrified of Silvia, and she has their number ever since, but Weston is new on the gameboard and is completely dismissive of high technology threats.  Weston could stop anything he saw coming, just like Silvia, but the keyword there is what he sees coming.

“Yes, it’s a threat.  It’s only been a generation, and we all know some in the governments are not at all happy with the new status quo.  I don’t like it, but we’re the guild’s officers, and Weston can’t be at three places at once.  We need to have a plan, before they get together and make it happen, and we have a whole bunch of guest adventurers.  Trust me, I’d rather be focusing on my advancement, and backing up you three, but it’s the job.”

Bobby blew out a breath, “Alright.  Can we just have Liam ask them if they’re loyal the guild and protecting all the dungeons?”

Liam had the life affinity, so he could discern and even compel the truth from another.

She smiled, “Yes, as long as we don’t mind starting an international incident, destroying guild morale, and generate suspicion between guildmates.”

Cybele snorted, “She’s not wrong.  We can’t question them without cause.  I think we four just need to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”

She nodded, “And planning responses, to various scenarios.  Cybele’s right that we can’t actively investigate our guests, but we can make response plans, so we’re not caught standing around clueless in a crisis.  Like knowing where our A-class groups are at all times, their daily schedules and routines, so we can rally them faster.  Hopefully I’m just tilting windmills, but I don’t think so.”

Liam shook his head, “Worst case scenario?”

She sighed, “Back then we stopped him because they were new and had less resources, he was also a Russian spy embedded with a German ally of the U.S.  We caught him because he stood out, with a backpack nuke on his back and going into the dungeon alone which caught my attention.

“But consider a full Russian group, all with rings of holding.  They could smuggle in multiple nukes in the rings without a problem, and only pull it out when reaching the saferoom.  Our only hope in that scenario is someone in the safe room notices before they can activate the weapon, which is why I plan to arrange the delve schedule accordingly, so we always have an equal or more powerful group in the safe room when they are there.

“But let’s move on, keeping watch is all we can do for now as far as active measures.  Let’s discuss some other scenarios.  Fighting other adventurers will be different than fighting monsters in the dungeon.”

They got to work.  The truth was she already had several spell iterations designed to fight other adventurers, while she was outnumbered even, since she tended to plan for the worst.  It wasn’t something she wanted, but she figured it would inevitably happen given her projected lifespan, so not planning for it would be a really poor strategy to stay alive long enough to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

She planned to lead her group in that direction as well, as well as discussing tactics.  After fighting together for twenty years, they knew exactly what they would all do in almost any situation in the dungeon.  But fighting adventurers would be different, different enough that they just might misread each other’s intentions and responses.  Another reason to plan out those scenarios and tactics.

If she failed the dungeon and the guild, it wouldn’t be out of a lack of effort.

Chapter Nine

Caldin

The morning sun burned his eyes and his head felt like it might explode, until he managed to focus enough to cast a healing spell.  Having the life affinity meant not having to live with hangovers.  The night before was a little hazy, but he remembered most of it, including the bad parts.  It was also frustrating, being caught between a rock and a hard place.

His mouth tasted like something had crawled in and died, so he headed for the bathroom and got into the bath to clean up.  He also took the time to meditate and cultivate.  There was no dungeon there on the island, but the thick aura and essence surrounding the council was as strong as being in a dungeon, if not stronger while inside the castle itself.

He felt like a traitor as he picked at the breakfast the servants brought him, but he knew he really wasn’t that.  He owed his loyalty to the guild.  But did that really mean throwing a leader that was no longer his leader to the wolves?  Wasn’t that disloyalty to the guild by extension, to turn on his mentor and guide in that way?  Not that he’d really turned on her, just told the truth helped along by a whole lot of alcohol.  It had disallowed him couching his responses with care.

He'd been left with no choices, not without insulting Nicola or otherwise harming his standing and future.

He hated the politics.  His own plans when he made it to magi were modeled after Silvia’s example. He wouldn’t become a politician and move to the island in the hopes for scraps of information leading to the final ascension to Ethereal as a mortal being.  Or a non-god, was perhaps the better way to put it, since Ethereals were immortal.

But first he had to survive this place with his guild standing intact.

He felt like his normal self after the cultivation and breakfast, save that nagging and perhaps misplaced guilt, when the knock came on his door.  Once again, he hadn’t felt Nicola approaching, right outside his door was just close enough that he could pick her out in the overwhelming aura of the council of three.

He nodded respectfully to Nicola as he answered it.

“Good morning, Magi.”

Nicola smiled, “Follow me.”

He nodded again, and then followed her down the hall to the interrogation… debriefing room.

Nicola asked, “Good night?”

He chuckled, “Slept like the dead, Magi.  It was good to get out last night.”

Save the questions, it really had been.  He’d missed this world and the people.  It hadn’t quite been as perfect as he remembered there, there was something to be said for advanced sciences when it came to sanitation and cleanliness.

She grinned, “Glad you enjoyed it, so did I.”

She gestured at the chair, and they both sat.

“We’ve spent most of our time discussing the first week or two of your presence on the new world.  What stands out as important to you for us to know.”

He pondered that for a moment.

“Once three of the major powers on that world were cowed, and the other two dungeons found, things quieted down.  The other first world powers took their lead from one of the three of them, and we weren’t attacked any longer. 

“After that the countries involved focused on containment and spying on each other.  A kind of… the humans there call it a cold war, or an arms race.  They race to get ahead, even while desiring a balance of power that no other country outpaces them.  It’s a little hard to explain because nothing similar has happened here. 

“The non-enhanced there have weapons that could literally destroy all life on the planet, so they’re all in a kind of equal no win-scenario for that level of war.  As a result, there are no shifting borders or conquering being done to completely annex new territory.  Most of the aggression is on other levels, spying, sabotage, and undermining their opponents’ economies.

“I believe the guild is a steadying presence to further make war unattractive, at least with the three dungeons intact.  The governments haven’t really grown to appreciate that steadying influence on the world yet.”

She nodded, “The other dungeons, can you tell me about that?  There was little in the reports to explain where they came from.”

He shook his head, “I don’t know.  Silvia didn’t tell me where they came from, only that she’d located them.  Perhaps they were always there?”

Nicola snorted, “That doesn’t seem very likely.”

Which wasn’t good, it meant Silvia was hiding information from the guild.  Not that it was a problem hiding it from him, as her junior that was fairly standard.  He’d always suspected she knew far more than she’d ever talked about.  In the end though, that didn’t matter at all.  Just him not knowing where they came from was damning enough to Silvia if she hadn’t passed on the information to the guild leadership.

“No, but I don’t have a guess as to what led to it.  I mean, the humans there definitely didn’t believe in magic, despite having a powerful ley line network throughout their world.  They’d never even heard of a dungeon or cultivation, until our accidental arrival with our own.”

She nodded thoughtfully, “Were there any other incidents of note after the Russians failed to destroy the dungeon, and the Chinese as well, all at the same time?”

He shook his head, “No.  I suspect Jia wouldn’t have survived thirteen more years of dual loyalties if there had been.  They all backed off, and the United States had already been our reluctant partner by then.  The appearance of the other two dungeons had a lot to do with that, as I said earlier.  It had China and Russia adjusting to take advantage of them to train their own people, and to maintain a balance of power.

“I honestly think Silvia scared the hell out of China, and it was likely Russia decided not to rock the boat further with the other two countries firmly in line.

“There were various spies, but we just kept an eye on them, and I believe the lack of the soldier adventurers moving between dungeons also attributed to the wary peace that exists.”

She frowned, “I don’t get that at all.  They’re all guild.”

He sighed, “They are, but even the commoners are different on that world, not just the governments and lack of kings and queens.  The common people are far more invested in the beliefs and way of life their country represents.  Where here, a serf or commoner doesn't invest the emotion, energy, or anything else into their kingdom, which is steered by their nobility.  They have no say in their government, so there’s very little loyalty to their nobles.  War means hardships and dying for their lord here on our world, where there it means fighting over conflicting ideals, for everyone.

“If nothing else, they’d have been fighting with words, and distrust of each other would’ve harmed guild cohesion.  Fortunately, the countries themselves were against it for much the same reasons.  If nothing else, they didn’t want foreign soldiers with enhanced abilities to be travelling on their soil.  I know, the oath, but the humans there don’t let little things like facts get in the way of their fears.”

Nicola snickered, “I’d have said you were pulling my leg, if I couldn’t hear the truth of it in your words.  So, if one of the countries were to request it?”

He snorted, “Then they’re up to something.  Silvia suggested and I agreed, that it’d be at least ten to fifteen generations before the guild was fully accepted as a part of the world there, and likely twice that before they agreed the guild having the power and influence of peace over the planet was a good thing.  We only have the time to make that happen because their technology while powerful can’t really top the power of a magi.”

Nicola looked disturbed by his certainty, for just a brief moment before her face cleared, and he wondered if that had actually happened.  It wasn’t exactly a secret that Silvia had left, and it’d only been a single generation since their accidental arrival on that world.  Perhaps someone had been waiting for an opportunity to try again.

Well, it wasn’t his problem any longer, but he’d give his honest advice if it’d help.  But Nicola didn’t follow up on it, she merely changed the subject.  Of course she did, it would be hubris to believe the magi here truly valued his insights on anything when it came to ruling.  Which was kind of a relief to be honest, he didn’t want that responsibility.

Nicola asked, “There were thirty-two different incidents of fighting in the reports, which included a guild member.”

He nodded, “In each case they were fined, in three they dismissed from the guild.  A greater number than would happen here, but not by much.  The guard there did a fairly good job of policing the support personnel, once they took over security of the town.”

Nicola sighed, “It’s hard to imagine that world, and your picked up idiom makes some of your answers unclear.”

He frowned, “The guard were made up of military police, specialized soldiers.  All of our village support was in the military, or what they call a military contractor, which is a civilian… a commoner, that has been vetted by the government.  Does that help?”

Nicola nodded, “It does, thank you.  I’m famished, let’s continue this over an early lunch.”

He really wanted to get out of there, but just nodded in agreement, “That sounds good, magi.”

They got up and left.

Chapter Ten

Cora

It was late evening.  The line of jeeps and deuce and a halfs that rumbled into town had me nervous and feeling vulnerable.  I’d overheard Jia’s conversations of course, with her equals in Russia and China, but I’d had no idea it would happen so fast.  It was just… a really bad idea, I didn’t want them in my dungeon.

I knew it was paranoid, but every foreign adventurer with a ring of holding would be freaking me out every second they were in my domain.  I really wish I hadn’t overheard that part of Jia’s conversation with her group, and her other scenarios were only slightly less alarming.

China had sent three groups of each from E-class to A-class, fifteen in total, while the Russians had sent a top-heavier combination.  Two groups of each class, save A-class which they’d sent six of.  Their excuse had even been valid, their newer dungeon hadn’t built a really solid A-class path, much less five different ones of a varying nature.  But I didn’t like it, not even a little.

I was fairly sure I was safe with my core room in what amounted to another dimension, unless they managed to deploy a bomb in my core room I mean, but the idea of rebuilding my dungeon after a nuke went off in it had me feeling tired.  Not to mention the mana expense.  Worse, what good was rebuilding my dungeon when the adventurers were all dead too, they’d have to start over with E-class groups, which meant most of my dungeon wouldn’t be utilized at all for close to a decade.

On the good side only two groups of each class had left the town.  I could only conclude that the U.S. was mainly sending active military groups in the exchange, and not the ones that were on their six months a year of training.  They’d need at least twice that, four more groups of each class at a minimum, to send a corresponding number of exchanges to both Russia and China.

“Inconsiderate.”

Amethyst flashed a smile, “What is?”

“I need at least another five days, before I can open up another level.  From a raw number perspective, with only two of each group from here for the U.S., we have seven more A-class groups, and three more groups of the rest of the classes than we did yesterday.  That’s twenty-two groups and daily delves I need to accommodate.  They could’ve given me more of a lead time.”

That seemed far more reasonable a complaint, than the paranoid fears that were going through me in the moment.  Fears that I needed to defend myself against, just in case.  Fortunately, fears that didn’t press me into going rogue, it was all internal to the dungeon.

I mean, it was all too convenient, the timing as Jia had noted.  The countries never did anything this fast, which meant it was a longstanding plan of sorts.  One they chose to enact the moment Silvia left, and they had to hurry before she got back.

There was really only one thing to do, and I hated the idea of it.  It would cost a lot of mana, but on the good side at least not continuously.  Once it was done, it would be done for good.  I immediately started to do what I did with my core room, to every other room in my dungeon.

Twenty-five paths, a hundred and fifty rooms, plus the safe room, and the two-room path to my core room, which was a hundred and fifty-three rooms in total since the core room was already done.  Not to mention the new level, which was another thirty rooms.

By slightly shifting dimensions in every room, I’d essentially be countering the nuclear threat for the entire dungeon.  I’d only ever lose the room it went off in, and the dimensional shifting would prevent the explosion from spreading past that point.  Which would also save the town, unless they were planning to nuke that too, but not my problem.

More than that, it would also protect me from outside threats, like bunker busters.

Amethyst asked, “What are you doing?”

“Feeding my paranoia.”

She giggled, “No, really.”

I explained the plan.

She tilted her head, “Perhaps a bit overboard, but I won’t argue.  No dungeon has ever done it before, but then most dungeons only face adventurer threats.  Not weapons of mass destruction.  You certainly have the mana to spend.”

I said, “It will also help with the expansion.  I can only dig so deep before it will be a problem, but phasing dimensions means I’ll be able to lay more paths down directly over each other.  The dimensional phasing will prevent them from interacting on the matter, magic, or energy levels save with myself.  It just makes sense, if I’m going to spend all that mana anyway, I might as well save some by not needing to dig out rooms.

“I could have twenty levels all on the same level, to reach that hundred level mark, without digging any further.  I can set up the doorways to phase between them each time a group walks in, so a single doorway for twenty duplicate paths.  So the levels will be unique, but the duplicates on each level will be identical.  That way the adventurers will still be able to choose their challenge from day to day.”

“You sound excited,” she bounced on her toes.

Eh.

“More finding the silver lining in the crap sandwich of wasting all that mana to counter an attack which might never occur.  I suppose I kind of am though, I was starting to think I couldn’t build out much deeper anyway.  This will solve that issue. I can even stack safe rooms in the same place, rather than making it even bigger.  That room is already too big.”

I’d have to wait of course, until later that night when the delvers left my dungeon.  I couldn’t make such a fundamental change to the dungeon while it was occupied.  I’d have to close up to add extradimensional aspects to all the rooms.  Fortunately, it was an easy and fast thing to do, so I could get it all done in a single night.  Just… expensive mana wise to create.

Needing to wait wasn’t ideal, but on the good side none of the groups in that convoy would be scheduled to delve today.  It was too late, and no doubt the plan was for them to settle in.  The foreign adventurers wouldn’t get inside my dungeon before I could finish it up.

It would have to do for my protection, until I’d managed to create that magi level threat.  As long as it wasn’t one of the A-class groups, they had no chance at all to get past my final rooms and into the core room where I resided.  I didn’t enjoy that caveat, but the magi level threat was still a work in progress.  It’d only been two-days and a single night since Amethyst had snagged me a supercomputer, after all.

Hopefully, soon enough, I’d be adding the magi path and upgrading the final two rooms to a magi level threat.  Then I’d really be safe, unless a magi level threat conspired to destroy me or if I went rogue.  Both of those risks seemed remote, however.

I mean, even the crazy humans, none of them would invest seventy years of growth and effort, just to commit suicide in order to take me out.  The idea was ridiculous.  In fact, I was kind of hoping it would turn out to be one of the E or D-class groups that turned out to be the ones sent to destroy me.  They wouldn’t have a chance to get it done, not unless I’d missed something.

Had I missed something?  Oh… I needed to chill.  My paranoia needed to be based in some facts, or at least in what was possible.

As far as the magi level, what was taking the most time was the programming.  Science, not magic, so there were no shortcuts.  I couldn’t just toss in some magic and make it happen, and since that programming didn’t exist, I couldn’t just absorb it and recreate it.  That meant a part of me at the moment was inhabiting a specialized humanoid golem and learning how to code on a mainframe.

It was harder than I expected.  If I thought I could get it by the guild, I’d have hired a programmer with some gold over the internet to do it.  Unfortunately, that would be considered going rogue, just like sending monsters outside my dungeon.  Which was really unreasonable, but I’d live with it.  I didn’t have a choice but to accept it.

I mean, normally dungeons had no way at all to communicate with the humanoids, but the internet made it a really easy option for me, if not for the idea I’d be going rogue to do it.

Fortunately, with the loosening of the communication rules for the town, I did manage to get internet access.  Which was helping me learn how to code, and I could get away with downloading modules for it.

The rest of it I could throw together quickly the normal way.  Magi were kind of the same as a matured A-class as far as physical power, just a thousand times more powerful in magic, with a larger number of spells and spell iterations at their fingertips. 

So I already had that part worked out, a humanoid golem with an A-class level elemental driving it.  Also, a weak air elemental to power the mainframe with electricity.  Then ten extremely powerful elementals to cast the spells the mainframe tells them to.  From offense to defense.

It could work… maybe.  If I could figure out that last part.

But unfortunately, it wouldn’t happen that day.

The point was though, once that was done, only magi guild rulers would have a chance at taking me out for decades to come.  And even that was in doubt, if they came in alone without a full group to support them.  No more casually dropping in on me, like Silvia was wont to do on occasion.

Or so I told myself.

Of course, Silvia was an Ethereal now, so at least she would be able to just waltz in after I had the magi level threat up.  But I kind of trusted that elf, she wouldn’t kill me without cause, and I wouldn’t give her cause.

“So, can I interest you in a programming position?”

Amethyst snorted, “Hope springs eternal.”

I giggled, “It was worth a shot.”

Now that I had a plan, I started to obsess about the sentients in my dungeon.  They couldn’t leave fast enough to please me.  I didn’t think I’d be happy until it was done, no matter how unlikely an attack coming before tomorrow was.  I kept picturing my poor dungeon blowing up, while I was left with nothing but my core room.

It would take me months to rebuild it all, if that happened.

My attention was suddenly drawn to the C-class group in the third room.  It was my newest level, the fifth, and made up of monsters developed from a rhino, ape, and anaconda, all enhanced with drake and dragon DNA, as well as fire and earth magic.

Lenny, Carter, Jared, and Greg.  With the exit of the original guild people from the other world, the groups were mostly a sausage fest, at least that’s what Jia called it.  Most of the adventurers from this world were male, recruited out of special forces, navy seals, and the like, which had no to extremely few women in it for some reason. 

Jia was rare that way, getting in because of obvious reasons, being here when it all started, and of course Cybele had stayed for the group, and would only go home after reaching magi class.  It seemed kind of dumb to me, but I didn’t think it was on purpose.

Most of the women in town were in the support category, working the jobs and such.

Back to the point, the fifty-foot anaconda with bright green scales had just swallowed Jared.  The man wasn’t dead yet, or I’d have felt the surge of essence and absorbed it.  It was a rare thing, most deaths in the dungeon taking place in the E-class and D-class levels, which were also rare.

Greg had already been knocked out as well, likely due to not being cautious enough in trying to rescue Jared.  He’d been smashed into the wall by the fifteen-foot-tall ape with blue scales and the ability to shoot lightning, who was also wielding a ten-foot-long stone club.

At the moment both Lenny and Carter were facing off with the ten-ton rhino with glittering red scales and wickedly sharp horns, not to mention the six-inch razor-sharp claws on its feet and its fire breath.  If they didn’t pull it together, all four of them would die.

Lenny lunged forward, dodging the anaconda’s overhead attack, most of its body was behind the rhino so he’d have to take it down first.  He swung the two-handed war hammer over his head as he leapt up and forward.  I thought he was screwed as the rhino swiped his claws at him, but Lenny kicked down at the claw and merely gave himself more momentum, as the head of the hammer came down on the rhino’s head.

At contact he released a void spell, sending an inky ball into the head even as it was smashed downward toward the ground.  Which allowed Lenny to land on the rhino’s back.

He raised the war hammer for another strike, but suddenly had more to deal with as the anaconda rose up and tried to bite him off the rhino’s back.

At the same time Carter was trying to distract and put down the ape, to keep it from finishing off the unconscious and now unshielded Greg.  Carter’s sword was doing very little damage to the iridescent blue scales as he dodged the swinging club, but his earth spell enchantment was ringing the monstrous ape’s bell.  Carter also had a life affinity, but he couldn’t afford to try to heal Greg until the ape was handled.

I was kind of rooting for them, but in the end their deaths wouldn’t have alarmed me.

Lenny screamed a war cry as he slammed the hammer down on the rhino’s head again, and that time the cracking of scales filled the room.  A dagger appeared in his left hand as he held the war hammer with just his right, and he slammed it down into the rhino’s brain channeling a cast spell of death which instantly leached the life from the rhino’s brain.  He jump flipped off in the same smooth movement, leaving the dagger behind for the moment, but the anaconda’s tail came whipping around and slammed into him just before his feet reached the ground.

By design of the anaconda, or perhaps merely a large dose of bad luck, Lenny’s flying form slammed into Carter, and they both bounced against the wall and fell to the ground next to the unconscious Greg.  I almost had to guess it was an accident, snakes were stupid after all, and struck out of instinct not planning.

Carter didn’t even hesitate, as the ape’s club started to descend onto them.  A rod appeared in his hand and a glimmering shield of air magic appeared just in time to deflect the club.

Lenny said, “Shit.  Heal Greg under this shield, I’ll hold this bastard off.”

Lenny gripped his hammer and lunged up out of the emergency dome shield, swinging for all that he was worth.  The end of the hammer struck the ape’s elbow, and a loud crack filled the room. 

The ape bellowed in outraged pain as his hand involuntarily opened and dropped the club, even as his left hand blurred forward and wrapped around Lenny’s head.  Lightning coruscated around Lenny’s head and shield, and I could hear muffled cursing as he struggled to get out of the ape’s grip before his shield fell.

The ape roared angrily when he didn’t die fast enough, and it tossed him up into the air in the direction of the anaconda, who snatched him out of the air with a lightning-fast snap of its jaws.

Damn, two adventurers in the snake now.

While that had gone on, Carter had healed Greg.

Greg grabbed his staff and swung it around, and a surge of essence converted to light magic was pushed through the staff.  The enchantment fired off a kinetic blast at point blank range, which caused both the ape’s knees to crack and bend the wrong way.  Mostly successful thanks to Carter’s earlier effort in chipping away at its scales and magical protections.

The ape fell forward with its broken legs knocked out from under it, while Carter lunged up with his sword tip leading.  The sword slipped into the open mouth and up into the brain pan.  Well, that would teach the thing to scream mouth wide open in the middle of the fight.  Carter grunted loudly, as he pushed the ape to the side with his shield and pulled out his sword.

Carter and Greg immediately went in opposite directions, circling around the large serpent.  They were clearly unwilling to use their weapons on the body, lest they hurt their dying comrades inside.

Carter and Greg both started firing spells instead, at the head.  Carter’s fire blasts and void strikes ate away at the green scales, and Greg simple but powerful light spells hitting with great amounts of kinetic force.

The dumb snake didn’t seem to know which one of them to strike, and its head was being battered from side to side.

That’s about when the center of the snake exploded outward in all directions, with a powerful ill wind that carried its blood and viscera.

“Gross!” screamed Jared, who not only seemed okay, but had managed to destroy it with air elemental spells from the inside out.

The snake wasn’t quite dead yet however, as it collapsed to the floor.  Carter lunged forward before it could recover, and he ran it through the eye and into the brain.  It wasn’t quite needed, but he also released a fire spell, which cooked the rest of the snake’s head from the inside out.

Carter shook his head, “That was a cluster.  Let’s not ever do that again.  Jared, what the hell were you thinking?”

Jared shrugged, “I still say it was a good plan.  I just didn’t think it would take so long to break out from the inside.”

That took me by surprise, he’d wanted the anaconda to swallow him.  Probably to get past the magical protections of the scales.  That was… crazy.

Greg snorted, “Idiot.”

It took a minute to clean up, part of Jared’s armor was eaten away and needed to be repaired, not to mention getting the digestive acids off both him, Lenny, and their equipment.  To my surprise, that was accomplished with a void spell from Lenny that directly targeted the digestive acid, then Greg restored all their equipment using a restore object spell enchantment.

They took another minute to collect the loot.  Fifteen gold slivers and a rod of lightning, which was an air based elemental spell enchantment.

Carter and Jared both had the elemental affinity, so quickly played two out of three on rock, paper, and scissors, and Carter got the rod.

They moved on to the fourth room, and I lost interest in tracking them consciously any further. 

Amethyst shook her head, “Boredom kills.  It’s the number one reason for C-class or above deaths.  By then they’ve proven themselves careful enough, but doing the same thing over and over for months and even years…”

Yeah, they’d seen stranger things the last twenty years, that as for sure.

That night, once all the humans were out of my dungeon, I did the upgrade as planned.  It left me feeling a lot safer, and better about tomorrow.

Chapter Eleven

Jia

Jia focused through the tumult in her mind as she updated her orders the next morning.  It wasn’t that the original orders were bad exactly, she just hadn’t accounted for being telepathically connected to hundreds of squirrels that were now all over town, outside every house and building, wherever there was a tree really where they could hide and blend in.  She’d created them all last night, when everyone in the house was asleep.

She’d made them all last night, using a small portion of her essence gems so she wouldn’t exhaust her personal pools of magic.  She’d need those later today, during her dungeon run.  Small portion by percentage, but still a whole lot of magic.  She had a few hundred of the things, after all.  It’d take her months to refill the used ones, unless she wanted to spend a whole day doing nothing but cultivation.  Which she couldn’t do, because it would stand out.  But an extra fifteen minutes to a half hour a day, she could justify, and no one would think twice about it.

Regardless, it was a veritable avalanche of sensory data that started the moment people across the town started to wake up and prepare for the coming day.  She didn’t need all that information, just the suspicious things, which was hard to quantify for a squirrel’s limited intelligence.  Light elementals would make much better spies for her, not just because they could hide virtually anywhere and not be seen, but because they were a lot more intelligent.  But that was two years off, so did her no good at the moment.

She had to couch her orders on stuff to report to her in a way that got her the information she needed, without overwhelming her mind with meaningless stuff.  In the end, that meant a whole list of specific orders, like when the squirrels saw groupings greater than four, or when they were drunk.

Drunk people made mistakes after all, even trained spies could slip up when under the influence, and say the wrong thing.  The avalanche of information slowed to a trickle that she could process without being or appearing distracted, so she called it good enough.

Ironically, her cats who people thought were nothing but her guards, were that now in truth.  She wouldn’t use them to spy any longer.  They’d watch out for danger while her mind was engrossed with studies, and she was vulnerable to surprise attack.  Of course, she’d still use the cats, or one of them, to watch for gateway activations.  Otherwise, the others would wonder how she was keeping track.

She started to read the light elemental spell.  The tomb was thick, and there were a lot of concepts that were rather vague and required a whole lot of explanation.  She figured it’d take her a week just to read through it for the first time, and to gain a basic overall understanding of the effort it would take to master.  She’d already read that there were twenty-nine distinct foci concepts involved in casting the spell, one of the most difficult spells that way that she’d attempted to learn so far. 

That’s what took so long, she’d have to master all the concepts one at a time.  Creating a subconscious habit took around three weeks.  So once she understood them enough consciously, to start to learn them subconsciously, just that part would take eighty seven weeks.  A year and eight months or so just for that stage.

Then she could begin combining them, one at a time, slowly expanding the unified concept until she had it all combined and could bring it to mind even amidst the chaos of battle.  At the same time, she’d be associating the concept with the part of the glyph that represented it.  Literally and slowly building the glyph in her mind, piece by piece.

Power was not easy, or free.  That part would go faster, and it would probably take three to four days to add in a new concept to the whole picture of the total spell, the unified concept of holding it all in her head all at once and instantly.

That part would take another three to four months, making up the two years required to learn the spell.

Magic was a lot easier in the fiction books.

Creating iterations of the spell would be much easier once she’d learned the base.  Just slightly modifying the glyph would allow the unified concept to slightly change as well, and would only take a few days to a week for each one.

So one create light elemental spell could create the perfect invisible spies, while another could create a fierce and visible creature of light magic, that could cause havoc among her monster enemies.  Another could be a messenger spell, and the creature could be made to appear to be completely human.  Color and shape was just light in the end, so almost any kind of illusion was possible that way.

Of course, the spell would only take two years to learn if she managed to work on it every morning without fail.  If it weren’t for interruptions and life getting in the way.  So it might take another month or two longer in reality.

She sighed, as the squirrel near the inn got her attention, there was a fight going on.

All their visitors had been settled in last night, their homes going up in an hour or two using both creation and elemental magic.  But they hadn’t had time to fill the houses with edibles and such, so all the Russian groups and Chinese groups were eating breakfast as the inn that morning.

It’d been less than twenty-four hours, and the trouble was already starting.  She rolled her eyes.  Weston was an idiot.  Not stupid, she was sure he was very intelligent, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t an idiot for agreeing to this while being completely in the dark on Earth’s societies compared to his own.

“We have to get to the inn,” she said loudly enough to be heard.  Hopefully her group wouldn’t kill her, for getting them involved as guild officers.  She knew it wouldn’t be like this all the time, but things were a little crazy just at the moment.  Hopefully she could get this figured out fast enough they could return to their studies before their time to delve that day arrived.  Well, she could always study tonight, after doing her cultivation and channeling practice.

She armored herself on the run with her create object spell, and raised a personal shield, but didn’t bother summoning her war-staff yet.  It could stay in the ring, since she likely wouldn’t need it unless her visitors went to war over this.  Which seemed unlikely, but not by enough to completely rule it out.

A loud crash and the sound of splintering wood reached her ears, as she headed inside with her group behind her.

“Enough!” she shouted it before she even took stock of the room, which happened a split second after.  To their credit, it did work to halt the fight, so they did have some discipline.  Just not enough.

There were several men knocked out, seven of them at a quick count, not adventurers.  Town workers.  Based on the auras, there was a group of Chinese D-class up and facing off against a similar group of hers that should know better.  They’d no doubt… she shook her head, no assumptions.   The only thing she could be sure of was no weapons or spells had been used, this had been strictly a fist fight.

“Liam, wake one of them up and find out what happened.  If they lie, compel them to tell the truth.”

One of hers scowled and opened his mouth, but he didn’t speak when she held up a hand.

“You’ll all get a chance to tell your side, Hank.  As will a few of the witnesses smart enough not to get involved in this stupidity.”

Now she knew why this kind of thing had annoyed Caldin so much.  It was a damned waste of time by men who should know better, and it was messing up her own studies and advancement.

One of the knocked-out men woke, she didn’t know his name.  She knew them all by name in the guild, but not the support population.

Liam said, “Name, and what happened here?”

The man said, “Luke.  Branson.  We were just getting breakfast before work.  We umm, farmhands on the supporting farms, we get together here once a week for breakfast to trade information.  Anyway, these guys,” he waved at the Chinese D-class group, “Came in all ornery like.”

Liam cleared his throat, “Would you like to rephrase that?  Don’t waste our time, if you lie again then I will compel you to tell the truth.”

Luke blushed, “Yessir.  They didn’t look happy to be here, and we got the impression of being looked down on.”

He paused, as if waiting for approval, and when Liam nodded, he continued his account of things.

“Well, that didn’t sit right, so Leroy,” he waved at one of the unconscious ones, “asked them what their problem was.  He wasn’t exactly polite about it, but nor was he obnoxious about it.

“One of them replied that we were soft and corrupt in the west, and that’s when I stood up and objected rather firmly.  I’m not entirely sure what happened then.  We ain’t soft, but we ain’t adventurers neither. They took us down pretty hard, didn’t even see it coming.”

She frowned, “They threw the first punch?”

He nodded, “But Leroy was acting aggressive, and the rest of us had stood up too and I don’t imagine we looked happy with them at the time.”

She waved to Hank, “That how it happened?  They fought over their socioeconomical differences?”

Hank snorted, “Yes.  Leroy was acting threatening, and his mates were backing him up for the most part.  But that shouldn’t have threatened one of us,” he waved at the Chinese group, “They can’t have felt threatened at D-class, not by a normal, not enough to escalate even a heated argument to fisticuffs.  We took exception to them knocking out a bunch of unenhanced, and we were in a fistfight until you showed up.”

She shook her head, then waved at the Chinese group, “How do you explain that lax in discipline?”

One of them pointed at the bar, where it met the floor, and she spotted the six shooter.

“Speak.”

He said, “One of them went for a gun, that one.  In hindsight, I believe he was just scared, but it was enough of a threat to even us that we had to act.  After we carefully knocked them out without killing, Hank and his group jumped in before we could explain.  I guess they missed the gun?”

Hank scowled, and blushed.

She sighed, “Very well.  I’m fining both your groups for lack of judgement.  You should’ve noticed the gun Hank, or come to get me, or demanded answers before jumping straight to fists.  You four should be better guests.  It’s not acceptable to start a fight over our differences, or to walk around with a chip on your shoulders, we are all guild here and no one is beneath you.  If we can’t agree on something, then we all need to not talk about it in mixed company.

“Do something like this again, and I’ll send you all home and ban you from all dungeons.  Am I clear?”

They all nodded.

She scowled, “As for you seven, you’ll all be questioned by the police.  At least two of you will be banished, I can’t tolerate having someone drawing a weapon every time a harsh word is said, and when it’s your own mates displaying the physical aggression to start with.  Use your heads, by guild law and oath they were incapable of attacking you physically until it was self-defense.

“I also can’t have idiots starting fist fights with adventurers.  The rest of you will probably get off with a warning, unless there’s evidence that I haven’t heard yet?”

They all shook their heads.

“Cybele?”

Cybele pulled her cell, and she called the police.  It all got cleared up pretty fast after that, after turning over those idiots, so she only lost about twenty minutes of study time, which would be easy to make up for in the evening.

On balance, the rest of day went well.  She did have to justify her punishments to Weston. He stopped by briefly after finishing Russia and on the way to China to go through the reports of the third and final town.  He was as abrupt and grumpy as usual, but she didn’t get the impression he was specifically displeased with her choices of punishments.  It was just him doing his job as interim ruler.

If anyone noticed the sudden increase in the squirrel population, they didn’t say anything about it.  Likely they didn’t of course, no one paid attention to squirrels in trees, which is why she’d chosen that animal for her interim spy population. 

If anyone noticed the implication of her new delving schedule, they didn’t mention it either, so overall things were going well with her plans to keep the Russians and Chinese covered with equal groups of power nearby that were loyal to her and America, just in case.  It wasn’t perfect.  It’d be better if she could tell them all to keep aware, but she knew in the end that would cause more problems than it would solve.

Outside of the earlier stupidity, there were also no other problems, never mind indications of a conspiracy to take down the town or the dungeon.  Of course, she knew there wouldn’t be, not until they were ready to move, so it didn’t prove anything one way or another.  But that first day went quietly, for the most part.

Her team had even gotten to delve, cultivate, and refill some of their emptied essence crystals that day.  Hopefully they got another two days of the same, while Weston was in China.  She had no doubt the dwarven magi would be a trial for her the rest of the time he was there and most likely underfoot.

Chapter Twelve

Caldin

The unreasonably bright morning sun woke him, and he managed to get off a heal spell with his eyes closed.  It was the second day in a row he’d have had a hangover if it wasn’t for his life affinity.  They’d gone out yesterday for lunch and started to drink, and they hadn’t gotten back to the palace until after midnight.  He remembered most of it, a few parts were fuzzy, but he didn’t think he did anything too stupid.

He was sure the rest of the questions hadn’t put Silvia in a bad light at least.  No, all that damage had been done the day before.  He got in the bath and cleaned up for the day, and he tried to clear his head as he ate breakfast and took care of his cultivation.  He just knew he didn’t want to see another mug of ale for a while.

The late morning knock on the door wasn’t much of a surprise this time, and he moved over and opened it with a respectful nod in Nicola’s direction.

Nicola said, “Good morning.  I have your retirement paper here.  You just need to sign it, had the guild scribe fill it out.”

He said confusedly, “Thanks.”

It was honestly a little confusing, and not her responsibility at all.  It was a clerk level thing, and most magi would feel it was below them.  It kind of was, to his way of thinking, but his debriefer kept surprising him the last few days.

She said, “I think we’re finished, as are the others, so feel free to wander the halls and make contact with Kaylie and Neda.  You’re officially released.  There is a ship that will take you to the mainland, leaves tomorrow morning, but that takes two to three weeks depending on the wind.  You might get there faster if you stick around until one of us magi need to head out near Graymark.  We make it a habit of taking anyone needing to go with us when that happens.  Which could be in an hour, or perhaps a week, but no longer.”

No doubt taking the boat and getting out of there while the getting was good, would be safer.  If also an insult.  He didn’t weigh that for too long though, just a couple of seconds, since it might also be considered an insult.

“That sounds good.  The avoiding two to three weeks at sea option.  Thank you, magi.”

She nodded, “I have to get to my duties.  Your friends are in the next wing, any servant will be able to get you there.  Good luck.”

He just nodded in respect, not wanting to repeat himself and thank her yet again.  He wasn’t sure what to think of her, except possibly that he’d been masterfully played the last couple of days, as the beautiful elf turned and walked away.

He shook his head.  He supposed that was better than dealing with someone unbalanced and touchy, but at least in that case he wouldn’t be feeling… confused.  He honestly had no idea what she really thought of him, for all he knew he had made an enemy, just one that wouldn’t show until the dagger was sticking out of his back.  He didn’t think so though, and he was probably just being paranoid.

Maybe.

He signed the paperwork and put it in his ring of holding, he’d turn it back in later.  Then he headed over to the next wing.  It would’ve been a lot easier to find them anywhere else in the world, he’d have just felt for their unique aura, but drowning in the auras of the council it wasn’t so easy.  Still, getting a servant to point out the rooms wasn’t exactly difficult either.

No one answered at Neda’s door, so he wasn’t at all surprised to see the both of them when Kaylie answered hers and waved him inside.

Kaylie smiled, “There you are, we wondered if you’d forgotten us.”

He shook his head, “They wouldn’t let me talk to you until the debrief was finished.”

Neda tilted her head, “Us too, but we were done by lunchtime yesterday.”

He cleared his throat, “Right.  I was just cleared this morning.  You two going to wait to tag on for a teleport, or the boat?”

Neda said, “Teleport.  We’ll just look around, shop, and try to stay out of trouble.”

Kaylie nodded with a bright smile, then started to scratch her ear.

He nodded in agreement.  There was no doubt they were being monitored, and their watchers likely hoped they’d talk about the debriefs, compare notes, and maybe even complain.  That wasn’t going to happen.  He’d planned to completely avoid business talk the rest of his time on the island, and it seemed the two ladies were on the same page.

“Sounds good, no time like the present.  We can take a look around, and grab lunch?”

They both nodded.

Silvia

What an absolute waste of mana, though she thought it was probably an effective ploy for keeping their magi bootlickers in line and afraid of the council throughout the endless centuries.  It would stop a lot of the magi from becoming overly ambitious and prevent them from even considering a coup and conspiracy. 

Still, it was obnoxious.  It wasn’t really natural either.  An Ethereal’s aura was naturally about fifteen to twenty times stronger than a magi’s aura, which led her to those previous thoughts.  A stupid yet ambition magi might believe if they got enough people on board, they could overwhelm an ethereal with fifteen to twenty of them.  Which just wasn’t true.

The reason it was fifteen to twenty times, was their entire bodies were their mana pool, instead of the just around six to seven percent of a magi with mana pools and magical channels.  But the truth was this visible body on the main dimensional plane was just a small portion of their body, the smallest portion.  In truth there was more of a power difference between a magi and ethereal than there was between A-class and Magi, from the start.  And time only made them stronger, larger, and more powerful.

Unnatural, because they were flooding this dimension with the rest of their aura, which would normally not be felt at all.  It was a waste of mana to do so, and it was hard to understand why they feared to be overthrown so much.

It was possible she could catch up, given their wastefulness, but it’d probably take fifty thousand years.  Her true fear in that was that it showed how unbalanced the three of the council truly were, after living for endless eons.  That they ejected every ethereal from this world immediately, showed… paranoid cowardice, given they could flatten her with a thought.

Fortunately, she had no intentions to stay on this world.

She smiled lightly as she entered the council chambers.  It was as vast and richly appointed as any throne room she’d ever seen.  The huge lines of pillars split the room into thirds.  Instead of a throne however, there was a gold and silver inlaid curved desk on a dais, with three richly jeweled and elaborate chairs behind it, where the council sat.  From the entrance, that dais was about two thirds back in the vast room and was still about fifty yards from the entrance.  The domed ceiling rose to over a hundred feet in the air.

She paused just twenty feet from the dais, and then waited, patiently relaxed.  Not that the three beings didn’t make her a little nervous, but she wouldn’t show it.  It also wouldn’t do to talk without invitation, even if she had just been summoned at their pleasure.  Lluvia, Tenenbaum, and Risiverie gave her a weighing look, and pettily let that moment drag on far too long.

Risiverie said, “There are some irregularities, but we have decided not to pursue them.  You did well enough given the severity of the situation you found yourself in, and managed to safeguard most of the lives under your care.  You even managed to open another world to us and the guild.  You will neither be commended for these facts, nor brought to task for your failures in upholding guild law.”

Tenenbaum nodded, “My sister is correct, we are satisfied with the way things turned out, and we also congratulate you on your successful ascension to true power.  There would be no point in pursuing the matter further, since you are now beyond the guild.”

She asked carefully, “Beyond the guild?”

Lluvia said, “What our brother means to say, is there is nothing at all the guild can teach you.  The guild exists for two reasons.  One, to maintain order.  Two, to assist and support adventurers in seeking personal enlightenment and power.  We have accomplished that in your case, there is nothing more the guild can do for you in that way.  So it is time for you to move on.  Find your own place or attempt to rise above even our exalted existence.  Either way, your time on our world is finished.”

She nodded in understanding.  While not entirely wrong, that line of reasoning was really about getting the competition off their planet.  She was no threat to them now, but they were looking toward the dim reaches of the future, when one day she might well be.  They wanted her gone now.

If she started to shift to other realities and worlds, there was no real way she’d be able to find her way back to this world.  The multiverse was infinite.  She suspected gods would be better at keeping their place, but that didn’t help her.

That really didn’t work for her though, since she’d made a deal with a god, and she had to be careful not to challenge them with her chosen words.  Perhaps use their own paranoia, but in a way that would fulfill her own plans.

“I have a suggestion, a temporary arrangement.”

Risiverie said, “What is it?”

She collected her thoughts, “The guild is no longer on a single world.  We all know you can keep a close eye on all the dungeons and towns, oversee your rulers, from those thrones.  This will be hard, if not impossible to do on the new world.  You’ll have to depend solely on your rulers and the evaluators.

“I plan to pursue godhood, but I have to do it from somewhere.  I could be your arm on that new world for the next millennium, while I prepare myself and attempt to learn what I must.  Taking a gamble on that universe’s gods is as good a one as anywhere else, if fraught with danger.  While I do so, I could oversee the three towns in your name, and send back detailed reports once a year.”

It was a gamble.  But not much of one, she wouldn’t be nearly powerful enough in a thousand years to even contemplate challenging the three beings before her.  Not that she wanted to, but she was seeing it from their side of things.  An ethereal couldn’t reach across universes, so they couldn’t look in on things personally there.

So that was her gambit.  That their paranoia of her as a future threat would be less than the threat of having all those adventurers that could plot freely against them without fear of being overheard.

Lluvia smiled, “Your offer of continued service is very generous, but we have to reject it.  The checks and balances will suffice, and the guild is our labor of choice.  It is time for you to move on to those greater things, and to find your own place in the universes.”

That was… startingly polite, but she supposed they were reading the truth of her words.  Dissembling wasn’t possible, not in this room and before them.

She’d also been afraid of that answer.  They feared she might come back one day and attempt to usurp them.  The Earth was connected to this world, and perhaps was the one world in the multiverse she could grow her power unobserved by the guild and be able to return to this world when she was done.

It was also unfortunate, because now she had to go to plan B.  She had no doubt Cleo could find her, no matter where she attempted to hide or run to in the multiverse.  Besides that, her own honor was on the line, she wouldn’t betray her promise, not to mention doing so would mean Cleo wouldn’t be mentoring her.  She’d be insane to give that up, even if she could bring herself to break her word, which she couldn’t.

So, plan B was necessary, for a number of reasons, and it was her own fault for getting herself in this position in the first place.  She’d come up with plan B after the deal was made, which had placed her in dual loyalties which one day might conflict.

Ironically, the answer to her dilemma had been obvious when she thought it through.  It was the council that would solve it by the very action she feared they’d take.  By kicking her out of the guild they had in essence, released her from her oaths and the loyalties that would come into conflict.  She still wasn’t entirely comfortable with what was now necessary, a large part of her believed in and even loved the guild despite its problems at the top, but it had been the council to set this course for her.  She also thought it was worth it, Cleo’s offer to become her mentor for four to five hundred years of running Earth’s dungeons was beyond measuring its worth.

More than that, she’d made certain preparations before leaving Earth.  She couldn’t find a planet again, once she’d moved out into the infinite universe.  At least, not without a marker, a magical homing device of sorts.  One she’d built over the last twenty years just in case plan B was necessary, and she had integrated it into the gateway on the Earth side.  Because on that side, the council ethereals would never sense its existence, nor would one of their pet magi since it existed in a sub-dimension.

Which meant the council would see her shift to another random universe when she left this world, but they wouldn’t see her immediately go back to Earth a moment later.  Without their eyes there, her plan B should succeed.

She bowed, “I understand.  May I take leave of my companions, and visit with my family?  As you know, I was forced to ascend far earlier than most take the risk, early on in my life as a magi, because of the situation.  My siblings and parents should still be alive.  I would take my leave of them, so they know I am well and why I won’t be returning to the elven forest of Arkia ever again.”

Tenenbaum waved, “We will allow this, but you have one month to make your arrangements and say goodbye.  Do not push our goodwill, you will not enjoy it if we find you still here on this world when the allowed time expires.”

That was plain enough, and the kind of language and threats she’d been expecting all along.

“I will be gone long before then, and I thank you.”

Lluvia nodded, “Dismissed.”

She bowed, turned, and left the room, her confidence growing with every step.  Facing the council had been the highest risk. If they’d suspected she had designs that may interfere with their own, she had no doubt they’d have destroyed her on the spot.  The rest of her plans should hopefully be far more manageable, if in part, regrettable.

Chapter Thirteen

Cora

Twenty years of knocking my non-existent head against the wall about a magi path, and now that I had one there was no one on it.  I’d kind of expected that, but it was still like an itch I couldn’t scratch.

Worth it however, since the two rooms leading to my core room from the saferoom was also magi level.  That meant I was fairly safe from all but magi and ethereals.  Even if the Russians or Chinese had brought nuclear weapons with them, there was no way at all they were ever going to get one in my core room.  I was mostly sure about that.

I was still tweaking the code, adding spell possibilities and such.  But I’d decided it was good enough now for the sledgehammer approach, and it took the worry of my destruction off the table for now.

Ironically perhaps, my new state of safety made the idea of stretching my legs outside my dungeon a little more tempting.  There was a part of me that thought I was safe enough now, and what could they even do about it if I sent out a few monsters just to take a look around.

The impulse wasn’t that hard to resist, since even if Weston couldn’t get through on his own Silvia could as soon as she got back, but I hadn’t been expecting that instinct and impulse to grow at all.  At the time, I’d just wanted to be safe from the murderous haters.  Point being, I knew my newfound sense of invulnerability was a lie, but I just couldn’t help but be tempted to do whatever I wanted now.

It wasn’t even like I felt the need to kill or rule anyone out there.  I just… wanted to take a look around.  Honestly!

Another thing that helped was I knew I was close to ascending to a full-grown dungeon, ethereal status.  For a dungeon that was a natural thing, a part of our natural lifespan development.  Not something imposed, like it was for the sentient races.  I was already a multidimensional and extradimensional lifeform at birth, after all.  Becoming ethereal meant different things for a dungeon, a lifeform without a body, that would always be anchored to existence by my dungeon crystal.  Nothing would change that, and if it was destroyed, then I’d unravel.

Point being, it would bring two changes to my existence, reaching my full potential.  The first one would also solve my current desires.  At ethereal my senses would be freed to a large extent.  Enough that I could move my gaze across the world, not just a mile or two outside of my dungeon’s influence.  That growth would also allow me to contact and speak with other dungeons, although only fully matured ones would be able to speak back.

So, I just needed to be a little patient, and I could look around without going rogue at all.

The second thing a full-grown dungeon was capable of, of course, was procreation.  Asexual, obviously, since I was an energy being living in a stone of crystallized mana.  At ethereal or full growth, I could make new dungeons, place my child anywhere I wanted within this world, if I was willing to spend the mana to do so.

It was the true power of a fully matured dungeon, spawning new ones.

From what I understood, most fully grown dungeons created a new dungeon about once every twenty years, if they husbanded their mana prudently, but since I absorbed mana twenty times faster via the ley line I was anchored too, I’d be able to do it once a year if I chose.

I was close to being able to do it, I felt it instinctively, but not quite yet.  The mana I had stored was just short of the goal.  It’d be a little longer, before I could ascend to ethereal class.

It occurred to me that how close I was to it, also contributed to my desire to explore the world with my senses.  The temptation grew almost unbearable for a moment, would the humans really notice if there were a few extra birds in the sky?

I needed a distraction.

“So, do you think more dungeon fairies will come.  I’m getting close to ascension.”

Amethyst grinned, “Count on it.  How much longer?”

“Not really sure.  Days, a week at the most.”

She smiled, “Any idea where you’ll put your first child?”

“I’m not sure, I’ll have to look around after I ascend.  It should be a good spot, mountainous, with fresh water and game for the humans and to wander into the dungeon.  Any thoughts?”

She shrugged, “Maybe South America somewhere.  A lot of those countries aren’t able to get people into one of the three dungeons we have on this world so far.  There’s also southern Africa to consider, or maybe Australia.”

I guess that made sense, get one on each continent before we started to double up, or before we switch our focus to getting one in each country, then two in each country.  That would take a really long time though.  But it was a good strategy to keep us relatively safe.  No country would want to destroy their only dungeon, so they could stay in the game of having enhanced humans defend their territory.

At that point, I might even stop making children altogether, to prevent the culling that went on in the old world.  Not that it wouldn’t happen anyway, if a dungeon went rogue, but if I had enough mana stored up that meant I could immediately replace those.  That was far in the future, I pushed it out of my head since I just didn’t know.

At full growth, it could be my instincts would be too strong to resist making more children whenever I had enough extra mana to do it.  The point remained though, that I’d take Amethyst’s advice, and look to those three continents first.  It was probably safe enough leaving out Antarctica, only the other six were a good place with human populations.

My focus switched to the golem A-class path as Jia arrived.  The woman was up to something again, hiding some of her precautions even from her own group.  I didn’t think she wanted to do anything but protect me and the town though, it was probably just her spy training and government cultivated paranoia that made her keep those secrets.  I was just glad she saw the danger as I did, and that she was doing something about it.

I mean, I was fairly sure I was safe, but if all the humans died it would be a serious inconvenience, cutting off a large chunk of my mana supply until they got more adventurers in.

The first room was sixty by sixty by twenty, and it was empty save the fire golems, one melee in the center, and one fire support in the far corner.  It was the intro to the challenge room, so there was no water golem in the room, and the only trap was near the fire support golem.

They didn’t even speak or make a plan, of course they’d done this a bunch before and didn’t need to.

Jia flowed into the room at a dead run, straight for the melee golem.  She dodged the fire blast the support golem got off, but then she was fighting with the melee golem, keeping it between her and the support golem.

She was without a doubt the best melee fighter in the group, and among the best overall in the town.  She exchanged an initial flurry of blows with the golem, her staff whirling and deflecting the golems arms which ended in a sword and war hammer, and simultaneously cast a void spell that started to eat at the golem’s shields.

It was obvious she was controlling the encounter, merely captivating the melee golem’s attention and keeping it busy.  A tactic to reserve most of her strength and magic for the later rooms which were much harder.  It was both smart and a statement of confidence, since her staff weapon would eventually wear the golem down and strike it down.  As long as she could counter its attacks that is.

As that happened, Bobby, Liam, and Cybele entered the room at a slower pace, and shot spells at the support golem along with arrows.  Cybele’s and Bobby’s spells were both of water, the opposing element, and caused frost to appear and gather around the golem in great quantiles, which would quickly suppress the fire elemental.  Of course, the air shield had deflected the arrows, and also lessened the impact of the ice.

Liam’s spell was death, targeting all the elementals inside, earth for movement and strength, air for shielding and faster movement, and fire for the offensive spell enchantments.  His first volley did little as well, but all three together had a devastating effect on the air shield, and it did hurt the elementals superficially.

Bobby’s next arrow glowed with the power of light magic, a kinetic spell that would finish off the shield and send the golem into the wall, but it never hit.  The golem now focused on them and not distracted by Jia, dodged and spun which shattered the ice, and sent a fire blast at the trio which exploded in their midst.  Their shields glowed brightly in the quickly passing firestorm.

Cybele’s and Liam’s second arrows hit a split second later, their death spells breaking through the shield and attacking the earth and fire elemental directly, weakening its attacks, movement, and strength.

Bobby didn’t bother with the bow and shot the spell directly, light being much harder if not impossible to dodge.  The golem was ripped apart in the explosion of kinetic energy, the legs and torso being pushed in wildly different directions.

Liam quipped, “Aren’t you done yet?” as his bow disappeared, and he pulled a war hammer out of his ring of holding and headed that way.

Bobby snickered, he too switching weapons, while Cybele brought out her staff while also moving that way shaking her head.

Jia replied, “They’re getting good enough to block and parry me consistently, even if they still can’t get through my guard.  I imagine in a couple of months they’ll be at the point we can’t conserve magic even in the first two rooms.”

Jia launched an offensive combination that had the golem backing up and furiously blocking her with both weapons to keep up, just in time for Bobby and Liam to step in on either side, with pretty much a free shot.  Their war hammers whistled through the air and pounded into the golem’s shoulders, crushing the joints of both arms, while their opposing forces basically kept it in the same place.

Jia’s next whip-fast attack knocked the head off its shoulders, then with a wave released a minor spell of kinetic force.  Dead and unpowered, that was more than enough to send the thing flying across the room, so it was clear of them as it exploded.

I absorbed the golems and two gold each dropped, in addition to a platinum ring with a sapphire.

Cybele said, “That’s pretty.”

It would also make a good ring for a powerful spell enchantment.  The stronger the spells the better quality the ring, rod, or weapon needed to be.  The crystalline structure of gems also made a huge difference that way, in how much power could be focused and channeled through it.

“We’ll dice for it later,” Bobby said.

They recast their shields as they moved to the second room, which had one of each golem, as well as more cover options.  There were also a few traps in the sixty by sixty by twenty-foot room.  The melee golem was in the middle again, the fire support golem in the far-left corner and the water support golem in the far right.

Jia giggled evilly, “I’m going to try something new, take out the water one.”

Jia lunged into the room straight for the melee golem, but then cut left suddenly as she released a light spell at the ceiling of the room above the melee golem.  I wasn’t expecting it, when the gravity globe formed and pulled the melee golem to the ceiling while she ran around it and straight at the fire support golem.

She shot a second gravity globe at waist height which activated right in front of the support golem.  That made the support fire golem stumble two steps forward, and right onto the trap trigger on the floor.  Lightning shot out of the ceiling and coruscated around its air shields. As Jia finished closing, she cast a third spell, which used electrostatic forces to increase the power of the trap’s electricity a hundred-fold.

Three very weak spells, that hardly cost her any essence, and she’d temporarily taken the melee golem out of play, and totally destroyed the fire support golem.  The lightning trap became so powerful with her boost to it, that the golem exploded into shards of melting metal.

She circled back with a wild laugh as the first gravity globe failed, and she got in three solid hits as the golem fell to the ground.  It quickly rolled up to its feet, and she started to beat down its shields, while casually avoiding every return attack the golem could make.

While that went on, the others all focused on the water golem.  Bobby and Cybele in concert with fire spells that had it on the defensive, using its water magic to enhance its air shield.  Which allowed Liam the opportunity to run across the room unencumbered.  I thought for a moment he didn’t see the trap, but at the last second he leaped at an angle toward the wall, kicked off it to jump over the trap and also to add momentum to his war hammer as it struck out at the water golem.

The water golem iced the ground, but Liam had been ready for that, and slid to the side so that the shield wall was to his back.  With that leverage, even his hardest swings couldn’t send him tumbling back.

The water golem retreated farther into the corner, while the earth elemental in it did its best to defend and counterattack with its weaponized but unenchanted arms.  All that did was open it up to another volley of fire blasts from Cybele and Bobby, as Liam abandoned that position to help Jia, and it was quickly overcome.

Jia had already had the melee golem worn down, so once Liam arrived the two of them worked in perfect concert, and they took my golem apart.

Jia grinned, “That was fun.”

They collected the six gold and a diamond tipped rod already enchanted with a void spell that specifically targeted elemental water magic.  By default, it would go to Jia if she wanted it, since she was the only one in the group with the void affinity.

“Sell it.”

Cybele asked, “Are you sure?”

She nodded, “It might come in useful on the water golems, but only after we took down its air shield.  That spell wouldn’t even damage the air shield, and it would just immediately fizzle.  Besides, once the shield is down it’d take a lot less essence to kill a water elemental with elemental fire, death, or light magic.”

She wasn’t entirely wrong, void magic was better used to weaken things, not kill them.  But that wasn’t why I’d designed that reward, to kill water elementals.  Fortunately, Cybele realized the truth.

Cybele asked, “But not all that much magic to take down an ice wall, or an iced floor.”

Jia sighed, “I didn’t think of that.  Alright, I’ll take it.  I guess.”

Liam snickered.

They recast their shields for the third room.  That was the room with all the cover, and the three golems hidden behind cover and their locations not obvious from the door.  I won’t detail that encounter, but it went much better than last time when they were tricked and split up.

The fourth room of course, was the first large cavern.  The one with lots of cover, and more golems.  Six thirty-foot-high columns, randomly in the room, with the closest four having fire support golems, and the farthest two having water support golems.

There were also four melee golems throughout the room.

Jia finished her scouting with the hawk.

“The pillars and support golems are the same as last time.  The melee golems are split into pairs, one pair behind the wall to the left, and the second pair behind the middle cover wall second from the exit.”

Cybele said, “Alright, dome shield the ones to the left, and the four of us will take them apart fast.  You and Liam take one, me and Bobby the other.  Then we’ll use the wall cover to clear the pillars, then take down the last two melee on the other side of the cavern.”

The rest of the group nodded.

It wasn’t a bad plan, the dome shield would prevent the water golems from enhancing the melee golems’ shielding in the first melee fight, not to mention avoiding taking fire blasts while doing so.  Before the second melee fight, they’ll have taken out all my support golems, so won’t have to worry about it for that fight either.

I’d have to think of a way to avoid that kind of thing, otherwise the support golems would be worthless.  Although, it would at least make Jia expend a lot of power, keeping the support golem’s magic at bay for the first melee battle.  I didn’t want to make it impossible either, and they still had two rooms to go after this, which were arguably harder.

They ran into the room, taking a few fire blasts in the short distance on their personal shields, but once close enough to the melee golems Jia raised the dome shield around the six of them.  Her staff also grew balls of void magic on the ends, where metal spiked balls were attached to her war staff. 

Liam spelled his Warhammer with death magic, and Cybele and Bobby with water magic as they launched an offensive.  The melee golems wouldn’t last long at two to one odds, as they beat down the shields with physical force and magic both.

But every second had four fire blasts and two elemental water enhancements trying to break through the dome shield.  Jia had made it strong, but not strong enough to last forever.  But it lasted long enough for them to take down the fire golems, with only a few hits on their personal shields.

They immediately took cover behind the wall, and Jia dropped the dome shield.

Cybele said, “Earth enhanced arrows, and light magic kinetic force, we’ll hit them hard enough to send them flying off the towers.  They should be easier to deal with on the ground.  Liam, take a breather while we knock them off the towers, then weakened and on the ground, start hitting them with death magic while we hunt them and move to melee range.

“Be careful, use the towers and walls for cover, there should be more than enough with them all on the ground.  Also look out for traps.”

Cybele, Bobby, and Jia took turns ducking out from the side of the wall and knocking one of the golems off and getting a start on degrading their shields.  All while dodging the return fire blasts.  The water elemental golems gave them a little more trouble, as they put up ice walls on the towers as a defense.  Finally, Jia just created weak gravity globes, to pull them off the tower higher than the ice walls at a slight angle, and then cut off the spell dropping them the thirty feet to the floor when the spell effects faded.

Jia sighed, “The water golems are retreating, no doubt to set up to support the remaining two melee golems.”

Cybele shrugged, “Our plans always go wrong in the complicated rooms, but it’s good to know.  We’ll adapt.  You and Liam lead, Bobby and I will hang back and support with spells and bows.”

Just because I could, and to make it more challenging, I took direct control of the four fire-support golems, and I positioned them so they’d have line of sight with at least two of the others.  That should give them something to think about when they closed into melee range, but they’d only be facing support fire from two directions on the first one.  The rest will only have a single golem with supporting fire until the last.

Amethyst said, “That’s sneaky.”

Maybe, but it didn’t make much difference.  At four on one, the fire support golems went down fast.  They all took some hits from the other support golems, but not enough to break their shields down.

“Plan?” Jia asked.

Cybele said, “This time Bobby can raise a dome shield, to prevent the repositioned water golems from helping.  We’ll take out the melee golems together, same plan, then clean up the water golems.”

They all nodded, and ran in.  They didn’t get very far before they lost their traction, as both water golems iced the floor up.  It was almost comical, as they just went with it, and slid on the ice while trying to maintain their balance.  When they were close enough Bobby threw up the shield, and as soon as it was up Jia used her new void enchantment to take out the icy floor.

The raising dome shield also cut off the enhanced water shields as the supporting stream of magic was cut off by the dome.

The melee battle was on, Jia and Liam taking on one, while Bobby and Cybele took down the other.  Perhaps they should’ve recast their personal shields after taking so many fire blasts in this room.  It wasn’t all that much of a surprise to me as first Cybele’s shield went down to a hammer hit, and Liam lost his personal shield to a sword strike.

Neither took a serious wound, and they backed off immediately to recast them as Bobby and Jia kept the golems occupied, so they couldn’t capitalize on their temporary vulnerability.  They both fell a moment later.  Bobby dropped the light dome, and they finished off the water golems from afar, using light, fire, and death magic.  Which really, just made sense.  Using weapons to conserve mana did too, but water golems were a pain that way, icing up the floor the way they did.

Chapter Fourteen

Jia

In a real way Jia thought the fourth room was the hardest, or at least the biggest pain in the backside for this A-class path.  The fifth room was a large cavern, and it had more fights, but was closer to a far more predictable grind.  There were four sets of two melee, one fire support, and one water support golem in each group they faced.  Sixteen golems in total compared to the ten in the last room, but easier as it was four distinct and extremely similar fights merely designed to wear them down.  Those four fights were split up by twisting corridors, and half walls providing cover for the support golems.

The sixth room of the A-class golem path was one of the few paths that actually ended in a boss fight.  The vast cavern was completely open.  The humanoid form was a giant, had water and air shields by default, and both flaming weapons and distant attacks.  In short, a deadly combination of all three of the golems at the same time.  If that wasn’t enough, there were alcove balconies about forty feet up the walls, four on each side of the cavern, which had fire support golems in them to make fighting the boss even more interesting.

Ironically perhaps, it was also the easiest fight since they usually conserved as much magic as possible in the first five rooms.  With the safe room and cultivation just down the hallway, they could safely blow the rest of their magic in a dazzling display of power.  Relatively easy, anyway.

At the moment they were cultivating, and she was also filling up a few more of her essence stones. 

Her spying efforts had been possibly, a little too successful.  She knew far too much about her fellow adventurers that she’d really rather not know, like who was dating who and that kind of thing.  On the good and bad side, she hadn’t heard even a single whisper of a threat against the town or dungeon from the newcomers, yet.

Sure, that was good news on the face of it, but it just felt like a delay to her.  She kind of wanted to get it over with.  The idea that no one was planning anything from Russia or China… Well, she just couldn’t give that idea any credence at all.  It was coming, sooner or later.  On the good side it wouldn’t be much longer, she didn’t think they’d risk waiting too long, not with all of them expecting Silvia to come back.  They wouldn’t want to give her the opportunity to stop it, but they were also obviously waiting for something before they moved.

Maybe for her to lower her guard?  Like that would happen.  Maybe they were just getting the lay of the land so to speak, planning exfiltration and specific targets, timing.  That she could believe.  What was frustrating, the problem with squirrels, was that she could only get ears on everyone.  Her eyes were all outside, so unless they did something at a window then she couldn’t really see anything going on inside.

For all she knew, the conspirators were passing notes as they refined the plan, but she’d never know it or be able to find that out.  Not for sure, except it’s what she would be doing in their position.

With the recent upgrade to magi paths, she thought the dungeon was probably relatively safe, though she didn’t want to discount the ability for humans to be creative.  Still, it was one positive thing that happened, and she could focus most of her efforts on her people and the town.  It’d be fifty years before any A-class adventurers from their world could reach magi and conceivably reach the core room of the dungeon. 

“What the hell is the dungeon up to?” Weston grumbled behind her.

She frowned.  She was distracted by her thoughts, all while she had perfect focus on her quintuple helix for cultivating, but she was still annoyed the grumpy old dwarf had managed to sneak up on her like that.  Granted, even a magi aura was somewhat washed out in the thick aura and essence in the dungeon, but she still should’ve noticed.

“Up to?  The new magi path?”

He grunted in annoyance, “We’ll have to bring in a magi group to assess it, but no.  I’m talking about what it’s done with all the rooms.  You probably can’t feel it, so never mind.  I can only do so through my elementals.”

Right.

“You’re back?  We’re almost done cultivating, but if you need us…”

He grumbled, “No.  I need to get back to the reports, won’t be done until tomorrow night.  I’ve only came to try and figure out what the dungeon is up to.  They can all do it, but most don’t bother if they don’t have to, and never to all the rooms.  It’s damned odd, and I don’t like odd things.”

Yeah, that statement cleared it all up for her, not.  But she wasn’t so curious that it overrode her sense of survival, it was a bad idea to question a magi, after all.  The best she could do was listen to what he did say, and to pick up as much as he was willing to reveal, on purpose or accidentally.

He shook his head, “You, Natalya, and Huang need to converse more.  I don’t like artificial lines, we’re all one guild.  Not… three separate factions.”

He wasn’t entirely wrong, but she believed it was a little more complicated than that.  Even if the three of them got along, which was possible given their recent conversations, that didn’t mean they’d all get along and play with puppies under a rainbow filled sky.  It wasn’t about the guild. It was about the members of the guild being from three host countries and allied nations that were virtually and diametrically opposed.

“Yes, magi.”

She’d talk to them more, it wouldn’t get any better if they didn’t make any effort at all, after all.

She also imagined she’d have an easier time relating to Huang, for obvious reasons, but that whole line of thought was dangerous.  She wasn’t a spy for China anymore, but the U.S. would not be happy if they learned she used to be.  Their conversations would no doubt be monitored, so she’d have to be careful not to say anything that would raise red flags, or even just prompt curiosity.

Old habits die hard that way.

Weston left, and she got back to cultivating lightly.  She was already full of magic again, now she was going for that tingling discomfort, as the essence spilled into her body and slowly enhanced it even as it damaged it. 

She wondered what the hell he’d meant about the dungeon rooms, but she supposed she’d live in ignorance on that one.  He hadn’t given her enough context to make sense of it.

Later on that afternoon Jia was making a couple of new enchantments.  A larger gravity globe at four Gs, and an electro-magnetic field formation in one.  Enchanting was a complex multi-glyph spell in itself, starting with the enchantment spell itself.  Once activated, the spell would take the next glyph and unified concept in the enchanter’s mind and embed it into the object, then the enchantment spell would dissipate.  That was the simplest of enchantments, and it could fail if any stray thoughts entered the mind during the process.

Things like the ring of holding took multiple spells, and that all had to be apportioned to the enchantment spells.  One of the enchanting spell concepts and parts of the glyph for instance, was how many glyph spells would be enchanted, which allowed for enchanting the more complicated multi-glyph spells.

Her advanced enchantment was only two spells as one complex one, but it was still good practice.  She still had fifty years to go, but she was determined to perfect the process before she could ascend to magi, which would require a six-glyph spell that would be cast upon herself.

Plus, this new enchantment might just come in handy if the worst happened.  Complexity of a spell mattered just as much as the power put into it when it came to reversing it with a void spell.  The more complex a spell, the longer it took and more power the void spell would need to eliminate it.  If her new spell lasted even seconds it would have devastating effects on even a huge group of enemies.

The reverse was also true, but not in a practical way.  A complex void spell would tear apart a complex spell of another affinity faster even with less power applied, but only if targeting the spell more precisely.  Which wasn’t really an option in battle.  That kind of thing only came into play when the chance to study the spell first came into play, such as a cursed item.  Even then, it would take the person a day or two to learn a new iteration of the void spell to take advantage of it.  More often than not, it made a lot more sense to just throw more power at it.

So for someone to have a complex counter against her new spell, meant that they’d first have to envision a spell like that existing, then take the trouble to learn and study a new iteration of the void spell.  It just wasn’t likely, at all.  Even her in her paranoia didn’t bother with that level of things.

One of her squirrels got her attention.  It took her a moment to realize this wasn’t what she feared might come of the exchange program.  But it did stick out as odd, even in a squirrel’s mind.  One of the delivery drivers for the commissary had been standing in the woods alone with a messenger bag over his shoulders, shifting nervously.  The squirrels could sense his nervousness, not with his body language like she could easily pick out through their eyes, but with their noses.

He was joined shortly by one of the cashiers at the PX who she recognized as checking her out several times when picking up hygiene items or new clothes.  She shook her head in bemusement, as the man pulled out two brick sized plastic wrapped packages, and the PX guy pulled out a fat envelope of cash.

Drug dealers, in her town.  No doubt selling to the non-enhanced, and perhaps even out of his place of work. 

It was annoying and she wanted to go bust them, but hesitated.  It was somewhat of a conundrum for her, in truth.

In the past while spying for China, she'd have taken note of it and probably included it in her report.  It was different now though, she was in charge, the town’s administrator for the guild.  In a real way.  It was her duty to see the laws of the guild and the laws of her host country were followed.  More for the adventurers, but the support personnel were part of it as well.

The conundrum part of things came from the idea that if she started busting every shady operation she found with her squirrels, people would figure out she was spying on them.  The MPs for instance, would want to know how she knew.  That could cause morale issues, as well as complaints to the military reps involved in the town.  She doubted the guild ruler of the town would care, they’d probably approve of the measure, if silently.

She frowned, and she decided she’d have to handle this subtly, to preserve the secrecy of her intelligence measures.  Anything she found through spying, as opposed to by report or being summoned to the scene of a crime, would need to be handled secretly.

The other thing that disturbed her was she was fairly sure Silvia would’ve caught something like this.  Had she not cared since none of the guild people were involved?  Perhaps she’d just left it to the military police to figure out, which was somewhat in line with her own plan.

She took a moment to grab a pen and paper, and she wrote down the tip using forgery skills so it wouldn’t match her normal handwriting.  Then used a simple iteration of the kinetic spell to deliver it where it needed to go.  She’d also keep an eye on it, to make sure the military police took it seriously and looked into it.  If they didn’t, she could figure something else out.

She got back to her enchanting then.  The second enchantment was simpler, just a single glyph of her lightning spell.  It was something easily cast, but she wanted to be able to cast it while casting something else, just in case.

Her afternoon practice done, she headed for the kitchen to start on dinner for the group.  It was her turn that night to cook.

Chapter Fifteen

Caldin

The cold ale felt good sliding down his throat as he took a sip.  That day he was nursing it, and not really drinking more than a mug an hour which his body could keep up with, without a certain magi pushing libation on him.  It was more to fit in with the crowd than anything else, as he, Neda, and Kaylie picked up dinner after a day in the town.

Shopping wasn’t his favorite thing in the world, but almost anything was better than marking time in that castle, with the strangling aura of the council around him.  It was still powerful out in the town, but not so much he felt completely blinded by it.  He’d already turned in his retirement papers on the way out that morning, so he was no longer a guild officer.  Just another adventuring shlub, which was exactly what he wanted.

Of course, it’d helped that they’d been window shopping at the weapons, armor, and enchantment shops for the most part.

He looked up, and then nudged both Neda and Kaylie with his feet under the table.  They looked up at him, then over at the door.

Silvia made a come here gesture, then stepped back outside.

The three of them exchanged glances, and he stayed sober faced even if he was feeling relief, and perhaps a little excitement.  He suspected they were finally getting out of there, which couldn’t come soon enough in his book.  The town was an okay place, the commoners respectful and in good enough spirits, but he’d be happy if it was at least another century or two before he had to see the place again.

He dropped two silver on the table to cover the drinks and food, as well as a generous tip, and the three of them got up and headed for the door.

Kaylie said, “Thanks for dinner, I didn’t get you anything at all.”

He chuckled, “Worth it, for the company alone.”

Neda snickered, then said faux graciously, “You’re welcome.”

He laughed harder as he stepped out of the tavern, then sobered as he nodded respectfully.  He didn’t fear Silvia at all, which was a bit surprising.  For her, it was all respect.

“Ethereal.”

Silvia said, “I came to take my leave of you, and I’m glad to see you well.  I also noticed you three were down on the trip list, are you ready to go?”

They were of course, everything they owned packed up in their rings of holding.  He’d been ready to leave their whole time here, living out of the ring and not unpacking anything.  Just using it and putting it back.

He nodded.

Kaylie said, “Yes, we’re ready.  Thanks.”

Neda nodded, “Can’t say it was fun being stranded, but I’m glad it was you that had our backs.”

He and Kaylie nodded in agreement.

Silvia replied, “I’m grateful as well.  Of the three of you, only Caldin chose to serve, you both… stepped up, as the Earthers say.”

Neda grinned.

Silvia said, “The alley, it’d be impolite to teleport here in the doorway, and blind half the patrons.”

That was true enough, teleport took a lot of power, and that was reflected in the brightness of the light as well as a blinding flash at the end.  Nothing that would faze an adventurer more than a second or two, but non-enhanced could go flash blind for a few hours if they were unfortunate enough to be looking directly at it.  Especially in a dim common room and darkness at dusk when the irises were so wide open.

They moved into the alley, and he’d barely stopped walking when the bright flash came.  His ears ached slightly at the new elevation on the edge of the mountains.  It didn’t really hurt, and it was a small price to pay to avoid weeks on a ship at sea as he swallowed to pop them.

He looked around, and they were on the edge of Perrin, in Graymark.  The closest small village to where Nelendra used to be, but what was now nothing but a huge gouge in a mountainside.  It’d only take him about a day and a half to get to where his group was in Karnish.  Faster, if he could pick up a horse here in Perrin.

She said, “I wanted to thank you all for your service,” and pulled three small bound books from her ring, and gave one to all of them, “Just a small token.  Since I’m leaving this world shortly, to never return, I feel it’s safe enough for you to accept it.  Just a few insights of mine before you ascend to magi.  You’ve all earned it.”

“Thank you,” they all said in almost perfect unison.

He understood what she meant as well.  Such a gift would tweak the guild council, if it smacked of trying to buy their loyalty, a bribe of sorts to put her above their loyalty to the guild.  But with her leaving the world behind, there’d be no impact to such a thing, and no risk for the council to worry about.  Of course, he knew she didn’t mean it that way anyway, but the concern was about the perception of others, not what they four knew to be the truth.

He may have hated politics, but he understood that what things looked like to others trumped the truth of them every single time in this life.

Still, he knew it was given in friendship, no more and no less.

Her lips twitched, “I wish you luck.  I must be going.”

She disappeared in a flash of light, and he blinked his eyes.

Kaylie said, “Well, why don’t we go into Perrin, and do some real drinking to celebrate.  We can all head our own ways in the morning.  Unless either of your groups went to Karnish as well?”

He chuckled, “I’d welcome the company on the road.”

Neda nodded, “My group too, it was the closest dungeon to Nelendra and just made sense to make that our first stop.”

So much for not drinking hard for a long time.

At least it was over, and he was back home where he belonged.  There were some things he’d miss from Earth, most of all the people he’d gotten to know.  But damn, was it good to be home.

He could put the last twenty years behind him, and with Neda and Kaylie they’d be doing it in style.

Chapter Sixteen

Cora

I wondered what it felt like to stretch out, like the humans seemed to do so often.  Crystallized mana didn’t stretch though, so I’d never know.

It was the next morning, and no one was more surprised than I was when Weston went to the gate and opened it.  Then stepped through.  The dwarven magi was leaving, no doubt he had read through all the reports, and would compile his report and opinion of them back on the other world.  He didn’t even bother to tell anyone, much less say goodbye.

That wasn’t his only duty though.  He was supposedly the temporary ruler of the towns until a permanent one was sent.  A question which was answered a moment later, as before the gate closed three adventurers walked through to our side.

A female elf magi, and a human male and female A-class.  At a guess, the guild was putting in three rulers, if only one of the dungeon towns were getting a magi.  A magi who would no doubt be available to kick backside in all three places, if necessary.

The posted guard bowed at the three of them, then started to lead them down the mountain while answering questions.  It didn’t take long to figure out the elf magi was Nia, and the humans Vera and Carver.  Nia explained she was the new leader here, Vera was going to Russia, and Carver to China.

“Oh crap.  I don’t think Silvia is coming back.  This is bad.”

Amethyst shrugged, “At least she didn’t box you in with elementals.  It’ll be fine,” she touched my crystal, and a wave of calmness went through me, short circuiting the panic attack that had been coming on.

I snorted, but my heart was no longer in it, “Jia and the others are heading toward the guild building at a dead run.  I really don’t like surprises, I thought Weston would be here for weeks, and what the hell happened to Silvia?”

Amethyst replied, “Are you worried about her?”

I replied, “Of course not, I’m worried about me.  She’s mine.  I don’t know this Nia person.”

Amethyst giggled.  “I see.  It’ll be fine.”

My dungeon faery said that an awful lot.  It was clearly not fine.

Amethyst said, “I can ask around.  I have a lot of family on that world, one of them might know.”

I pondered that, “Don’t bother.  If she’s not coming back, then I’ll have to get over it.  What if this one is even worse than Weston?  That dwarf is lucky, and Nia is unlucky.”

Amethyst shook her head, “You lost me, why?”

“Weston’s stupid decisions are going to fall on Nia’s head.”

Amethyst laughed, “Okay, that makes sense now.  You’re right, if something happens.  So far the newcomers have been just fine, except that one fight, and that wasn’t their fault.  Don’t let Jia’s paranoia make you jump at shadows.”

That was easy for her to say, she could run and hide in the testing room if something went south.  Though I did feel pretty safe with my dungeon changes, so maybe I was a little worried about Silvia.  At least, I missed her presence, she’d been here the last twenty years, which was the extent of my memories.  As far as that went, it was all I knew, her protecting me was literally the first thing I could remember about my past.

Realistically, I was almost safer if she didn’t come back.  Nia couldn’t get to my core room, not by herself, and she was the only magi on the planet, while Silvia was powerful enough as an Ethereal to stroll in still.

“I could totally take over the world, if I took out the gateway first to prevent a full magi team getting here.”

Amethyst frowned.

“That would bring the Ethereals, and we do not want the council here.  Ever.”

I sighed mentally, “Fine.”

I was mostly playing with her.  I wouldn’t really do that, but at the same time I kind of wanted to.  It was in my nature, but thankfully so was self-preservation.  I wondered if the humans would mind if I just ruled a single city.  I mean, Colorado Springs wasn’t even really that big, was it?  They might not even notice.

I snickered at my own absurd thoughts, and then focused on the guild building and shared those senses with Amethyst so she could follow along.  Still, I bet I could run it better than the humans.  A few wandering wolf packs would put an end to all crime, really fast.  A few drakes in the sky would make the humans really polite, like walking on glass all the time.

What could be better than that?

Jia bowed, “Welcome, magi…” then trailed off in question as she looked at the others, obviously not sure how to address an equal in power who had also earned the title of ruler.  E-class through A-class weren’t addressed by class as a title, after all, just Magi and Ethereal.  I was a little curious myself.

Vera said, “Carver and Vera are fine, as long as you show respect in your tone of voice that’s due to a ruler.”

Nia interjected, “Just so.  I’m also admittedly a young magi, and this is my first post as ruler after taking a post ascension break.  I’ve reviewed all the reports, and I think we’re going to get along just fine.”

There was a lot to unpack in those short simple statements, and I was a little surprised she’d admit her relative youth in her power.  Magi were usually far too arrogant for that.  It probably meant her spell repertoire wasn’t much larger than a mature A-class’s. The magi grow in breadth of power as they add spells and iterations over a thousand years, before either trying to rise to ethereal or choosing to live out their life and move on in death.  Of course, young magi or not, she was still a thousand times more potent in magic potential than an A-class.

Simple didn’t mean ineffective.

That it was her first post, and she was relatively new, told me that getting permanently posted for a tour of duty on the other world wasn’t something most magi would want.  The older magi awaiting a post would’ve gotten first choice at it, which told me that every other magi in the guild had passed the opportunity over.  The fact the other two rulers were retired A-class individuals, well that just further solidified that idea.  They could only find one Magi willing to relocate to another world for a twenty-year stint.

Lastly, she seemed nice enough given the words, and stable.  But then, most magi started to go around the bend after several centuries of life, not after just accomplishing their ascension.  So I wasn’t sure it was fair to attribute some significance to that.  Elves usually did better at it anyway, their lifespans were already much longer than a human one, after all.  They adapted to doubling their lifespan far better than humans did to multiplying it by fifteen to sixteen times.

It took a truly rare human, to adapt to a life that long.

Nia waved lightly, “We will speak tomorrow night, or the next morning, and get to know each other then. You can go back to your training for today and tomorrow, as your standard guild duties allow.  I’m just going to unpack, then get Vera settled in Russia and Carver settled in China.”

Jia looked a bit uneasy by that, and I suspected she wanted to share her fears about Weston’s decisions, but also realized it would be unwise to do so.  Speaking so negatively of another magi that had just left, when all he’d really done is support the long traditions of the guild, would be foolish.  Better to let Nia settle in, and become accustomed to the new world, countries, and the political realities on the ground first.  Once Nia understood this world, Jia’s argument against tradition would hold far more weight.

Of course, by then it’d likely already be too late.  I could see it on Jia’s face, that she expected the attack to happen any moment after Nia left.  The guild couldn’t have handed a better opportunity to their enemies if they’d tried. A single Magi so new the paint hadn’t dried yet, and she was actually planning to leave the town for the first day and a half to two days after her arrival.

Leaving Nelendra extremely vulnerable to attack.

Maybe Jia wasn’t thinking that at all, but given we were both paranoid types, I wouldn’t bet against it.  Still, Jia couldn’t make the argument, not yet.  It would only fall on deaf ears and hurt her standing.

It was absurd of course, that these sentient beings put political considerations before tactical sense, but I at least understood that Jia would lose all credibility if she tried to convince Nia of the precarious danger they were in, in that moment.  So, it was just as well she’d held her tongue.

Well, it wasn’t my problem, and my dungeon and my crystal were safe enough for the moment.

Jia and her group bowed, said their farewells, and left.

I let my main focus return to the dungeon, as the three of them went upstairs so Nia could unpack.

“So what do you think?”

Amethyst sighed, “I think the humans are in for hard time.  Nia seems nice, if a little oblivious, they’d have done better with a tiger.”

“Maybe she’s just excited by getting her first command.”

Amethyst snickered.

“What?”

Amethyst said, “Jared just got swallowed again, on purpose I think.”

I moved my focus to the right room, just in time to see the large anaconda’s middle explode, separating the giant forty-foot snake in half as an expanding ring of fire and concussion blew away from it.  Carter lunged in as the head collapsed to the ground, the snake losing its balance with the loss of half its body, and the sword lunged through the eye socket.

“He’s gotten better at breaking out of them too, used to take him a lot longer.”

Amethyst nodded, “That spell was both fire and air.  Clever, but a bit crazy.  If the scales had held and contained the explosion, his air shield might not have taken the backlash of the spell.”

The group took down the giant ape monster and the rhino quickly after that, at two on one.

After looting, the group moved on to the fifth room, which was a giant cavern.  The cavern was riddled with large holes in the ground, for the two giant snakes in the room to quickly move around in out of sight.  There were also a lot of stalagmites and stalactites around the room, many of them trapped, as well as a few fungi potion ingredients growing around the edge of a murky pond in the center.

There were also two monster apes and just one rhino-dragon around the lake shore.

Carter said, “Snakes first, if we can.”

It only made sense.  The room was designed to make it difficult but not impossible for the rhino and apes to easily get around.  They could, and they would if the adventurers decided to bypass the fight, but otherwise they couldn’t easily be drawn out.

The two snakes could move quickly around the room, via the tunnels which also served as cover.  If the group just went and attacked the three monsters by the lake in the open center, they could count on being ambushed from behind or on their flanks by the snakes in a surprise attack.

So, trying to kill the snakes first just made sense to split the room encounter into two fights instead of one large one.  It was also easier said than done to draw the snakes out.  I was confident they’d fail.

Oh, damn, didn’t think of that.  It was a clever strategy, if a little expensive in essence use.

Carter used fire spells to generate smoke in the tunnel system, while Jared started to collapse all the entrances with an earth spell.   They must’ve planned this at home because they didn’t even talk about it.  It was kind of brilliant, as the snakes were smoked out and also in a panic, because most of their exit holes were being blocked at the same time.

Which herded them both to the exit the four adventurers were standing around.  Clearly, I needed to make adjustments to the room, to prevent this from working so well next time.

The ambush was quite effective for a first strike, as the snake lunged out it didn’t even see the hits coming from the sides, as two swords and two war hammers slammed into its iridescent green scales.  At the same time, they released their spells with the hits, two fiery explosions, a void spell targeting its scales, and a light spell that slammed it hard into a nearby stalagmite. 

They repeated the same maneuver as the second one shot out in a similar panic, unheeding of the dangerous ambush that awaited it, then split into two teams.  Jared and Greg took on one snake, while Carter and Lenny faced off with the other.

Both snakes were already damaged, and their protections worn down. 

Jared of course, purposefully baited the snake into swallowing him, while Greg moved to position himself near where the head would fall to the floor when it lost the lower half of its body.  Sometimes I wondered if Jared was suicidal, since such crazy tactics usually ended in death long before an adventurer made it to C-class.

Carter and Lenny used a saner tactic to take down their snake. 

Carter took the head, and he used his shield to fend off the snake’s lightning-fast strikes as poison dripped from its fangs.  Mostly by just constantly holding it over his head, as he crouched down.  His sword scored a minor hit on the head each time the snake struck his shield he lunged up in return before the snake’s head could pull back out of reach again. 

Lenny had a two-handed war hammer, and he went to work on its lower body with powerful swings, releasing either a void or death spell with each hit of his hammer.  The former attacking its protections, and the latter slowing the snake down a little more with each hit as the death spells became more effective.

The monstrous anaconda’s tail lashed often, trying to knock Lenny away, just as the head of the snake was busy trying to poison and eat Carter, who was having none of it.

Jared’s fire exploded out of the snake and bisected it in half, and a moment later Greg almost casually lunged in and ran it through the eye socket.  The light spell exploding in the snake’s head finished it definitively, and the two turned to the others.

Jared said, “See, my way is much faster.”

Carter growled, “Shut up and help!”

Jared snickered, then released a hail of air bolts at the snake’s head, two of which managed to strike the eyes, while the rest were deflected by the green scales.

A split-second later Greg’s light spell slammed kinetic force down on the writhing snake’s head, literally slamming it into the ground and holding it there.  The spell wouldn’t last long, but it lasted long enough for Carter to capitalize on it, and he ran the snake’s head through with his sword.

Carter said, “Thanks.”

Jared grinned, but he kept any further comments about tactics to himself.

Lenny said, “That worked really well.”

Carter said, “Agreed, let’s hope part two works as well.  Let’s go.”

To my surprise, the team started to work their way around the cavern along the wall.  The two apes tracked their progress and seemed to get more and more worked up the closer they came to the halfway point to the exit.  Where it would be clear they were trying to bypass the fight.

Of course, I was smart enough to realize that was just a ruse, they wanted to lure them out and split them up.

The two apes roared in outrage, and that set the red scaled rhino off, who proceeded to charge straight at the group.  The stalagmites in the way just burst into rubble, as it powered through, with the two blue scaled apes on its trail.

That’s when the group acted.  Carter screamed and rushed the rhino, locking its attention firmly on him, while Lenny backtracked and Jared continued toward the exit in a run.

Predictably enough, that made the stone club wielding apes split up, one for Lenny, and one for Jared.  When those two turned and roared back, and had the apes’ complete attention, Greg who’d just stood there acted.

Greg pulled out his bow, knocked an arrow, and fired.  Not at any of the monsters, but at the ceiling.   Then all four of them dove into cover, into the closest tunnel hole.

The arrow hit the ceiling, and a blast wave of kinetic energy razor thin in an expanding circle cut through the bases of the stalactites like they weren’t even there.  Then every stalactite in the cavern dropped, like two-ton missiles.

The entire cavern was lost in cloud of dust.  The only thing I knew for sure was my monsters were still alive since the connection to them was still active.  They were all hurt though, the apes worse than the rhino.

“Wow.”

Amethyst giggled, “I didn’t see that coming either.  I think Jared must be rubbing off on Carter if they went with this plan.”

I giggled.

The smoke cleared just in time to see carter casting an elemental spell through an enchanted rod.  The spell was a combination of water and air.  Fierce winds and moisture blew around the cavern like a whirlwind, centered on the rhino.  All the dust in the air was congealed into mud and the rhino was buried in it, only for it to heat up, dry out, and harden back into stone.

I wasn’t sure if it could escape it, but at the moment it was definitely suffocating.  In any case, it was temporarily out of the fight.  Perhaps long enough for the delvers to take out the apes first, so they could all concentrate on the rhino at once.

Carter and Jared ran at one ape, casting fire blasts, while Greg and Lenny rushed and cast void and light spells at the other.  One wearing down its protections, while the second used precision hits to break its arms and disarm it.

Both Carter and Greg took a blast of lightning, but they powered through it with their shields.  The apes were still dangerous, even without their ton stone clubs.   Carter lunged forward and down, shield bashing the giant ape’s knees which cracked loudly, while Jared leapt up in the air, and smashed his hammer toward the head.  The ape managed to block, but got a broken arm for its trouble, even as it started to collapse to the ground with both its knees blown out.

The second ape must’ve been damaged worse in the cave in, their scales and protections already very degraded, because Greg’s next light spell blew into its chest, and it completely destroyed its heart and exited the back in a spray of blood and viscera.  Their ape died.

Jared took out the other arm with his war hammer, and the ape was helpless to stop it as Carter’s sword came screaming down at its neck, with an earth spell enhancing the strength and sharpness of the cut.  The ape’s head separated from its shoulders.

They were all breathing hard, with smiles on their faces, as they turned to the rhino as one.

Then they just waited for it to either suffocate or escape.

I absorbed the monsters when the rhino died, and they got twenty slivers of gold, as well as an essence stone and ring of invisibility.

The ring immediately went to Greg, being the only one with a light affinity, and the second one went in the pool to be divvied up later.

Jared said, “Admit it, that was…”

Carter snorted violently, then his scowl slowly morphed into a wide smile, “An awesome plan.  But don’t get any ideas we’ll be following your ideas often.  Most of them are beyond insane.”

Greg snickered.

They moved for the exit, and to the last room.

That’s when my attention was brought back to the guild.  It couldn’t have been fifteen minutes since Nia left with the other two newly arrived rulers.  All six Russian A-class groups were descending on the guild hall in mass.  That couldn’t be a good sign.

Chapter Seventeen

Jia

That just couldn’t be a good sign.

Her squirrels picked up all the Russian A-class groups headed for guild headquarters.  She on the other hand was headed to the inn nearest to it, to collect two more A-class groups.  With hers, they’d be outnumbered two to one if her worst fears were taking place, but she couldn’t imagine they weren’t.  She couldn’t think of a valid reason they’d all be going to the guild hall at the same time.

This time of the day was the worst, a lot of their A-class groups were all over the place, and she didn’t have time for more than one stop if she hoped to contain them at the guild.

Two to one odds were really bad, so she hoped her spells would work as well as she thought they would.  It was a similar concept to her martial arts philosophy.  The Yin style, to use the enemy’s strengths against them and not resist.  Merely float among the chaos.  It was really why she’d been able to conceive of and create those spell iterations, it was how she approached battle and life.  So, why not magic too.

Her fighting style had evolved slightly to include Yang at times, which just made sense.  She was no longer limited to the strength of a five foot five petitely curvy woman, when she could lift tons by herself.  Of course, her magic similarly hit hard at times, but that wasn’t what was called for when outnumbered so badly.  If she beat herself against them one enemy at a time, it was her that would break.

She’d even used one of those spells in the dungeon, when greatly outnumbered, she just hoped it worked as well outside the dungeon, especially her newer and enhanced version.  It was sneaky, clever, and underhanded, which made it just about perfect in her book.  If it worked.

Chances were that it would, the only question was how well it would work.  Their six groups could have up to twelve wielders of the void, after all.  That many counter spells would break her spell fast, complicated or not.

Bobby said, “Are you sure they plan to act against us?  Why would they go there before starting their trouble?  Maybe…” he trailed off.

She replied, “I honestly don’t know, but I’m sure it’ll be clear why they went there first in hindsight.  Liam, we need as many captured as possible, to question when Nia comes back.”

Liam grunted, “I can keep a few unconscious once they’re already there.  Even if their protections go down, if their conscious they’ll be able to fight my spell long enough to counter it.  At that point we should be able to drain them of essence and bind them with magic.”

She nodded, which meant knocking some out without killing them.  Which wasn’t easy at the best of times, never mind when faced with two to one odds.  But they’d need some alive to question.  Draining their essence would prevent them from breaking free with magic, and despite their great strength magic enhanced cuffs should be able to hold them physically.

“Crap, what are the chances they’re only making a move here?” she pulled out her phone and called Huang.  She waved at Bobby when they stopped outside the inn, and he moved inside to declare an emergency and grab the two A-class groups.

Of course, if Bobby was right, she fully expected Nia would tear her a new backside, and likely fire her from the administrator position.  If she declared an emergency and ordered other adventurers around, when there wasn’t one, there would be an accounting.

But she was sure, they were here to cause trouble, and they were making their move now.  It was just circumstantial, but two of their A-class groups should be delving right now, according to her schedule.  The fact they weren’t was an added flag in her mind.

Huang answered on the second ring, “What is it?”

“The Russians are moving here, be ready.  Is Nia still there?”

Huang said, “No, she dropped off Carver and just left with Vera a few minutes ago.  I’m expecting her back tomorrow.”

She grimaced, “I think that was the signal to go, Nia being in Russia, so they could act freely in both places.  Our Russians are headed for the guild hall, already there actually.  Check on yours.”

Huang said, “Thanks for the call,” then hung up.

Alarm went through her mind as Bobby and the other two groups came out, because all six A-class groups from Russia were handing in separation papers.  They basically said that none of them were a part of the guild anymore.  It was extremely rare, most people that were out of the guild were kicked out for misconduct, not leaving voluntarily.  It meant they couldn’t delve anymore or use guild resources like the magic library.

It also meant they were no longer bound by their oaths to protect the dungeon, protect the town, or follow her or any guild representative’s orders.  That shouldn’t be enough to free them to attack though.  The vow to only use their power for defensive purposes, and not for attack, was a lifetime one.  And should still preclude them from attacking anyone that didn’t attack them first.  She didn’t understand it yet, but she knew the Russians wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t have a way around that limitation.

They’d had twenty years, to come up with a way.  A loophole that would prevent the magic of the oath from extracting the price of their perfidy with their lives.

She explained all that as they ran to the guild building, then added a quick plan.

“I’m going in alone.  The rest of you will surround the outside.  They outnumber us, but they should be fleeing the building extremely weakened, and you will ambush them hard and fast.  I’m certain now, they’re all done turning in the papers, and now their slaughtering the guild workers.  The gloves are off, and you have orders to capture or kill every single one of the bastards.  Is that clear?”

Cybele frowned, “You can’t go in alone.  That’s suicide.”

She smiled viciously, “Not if they don’t see me.”

To clarify her statement, she cast a personal shield iteration that made her completely disappear.  It would also not so incidentally, cut off any further argument against her plan, they had no time to argue.  As soon as the Russians got done entertaining themselves with the murder of the non-enhanced guild staff, they’d split up and attack the town.  If her plan was going to work, she needed all twenty-four of them to be relatively close together at the start of the battle.

She had no proof, but they probably had orders to kill as many U.S. adventurers as possible on the way out of town, and to destroy as much of it as they could as well.  Then they could eventually make their way back home.  Likely to just turn around again, and join a real invasion force, as they made a play for the world with the only adventurers capable of being on the offensive on the planet.

She also suspected at least one of their weaker groups was involved, and that those were going after the dungeon right at the moment.  But… one thing at a time.  If they moved before she could get there, then she had to count on the measures she’d taken, and that the U.S. military adventurers she’d handpicked for the saferoom at this time, would be alert for trouble.

She’d never used the spell in front of others before, and she was pleased it worked.  She could tell they couldn’t see her or sense her aura at all, mostly from the looks of confused consternation on her group’s faces.  She moved toward the guild house as the other eleven of them started to surround the front from head on and at two forty-five-degree angles of attack.

She moved into the front room, and they were laughing in an unhinged way as they tortured the workers to death.  Not in a seriously twisted way, but they were still taking their time with it.  The looks on their faces was one of righteous wrath, outraged anger, and wicked satisfaction, as if it had been the guild that had trespassed against the Russian adventurers.

Which… was a good clue to how they got around the last oath, as well as disturbing enough that she had to swallow the bile that rose in the back of her throat.  She took out two enchanted rods, one the gravity and magnetic spell, the other the lightning spell.  She moved silently to the back right corner of the room, behind the heavy steal cabinets, and just out of range of her new enchantment.

Which of course is why she had to go in alone, if her people had been here, they’d be caught in the spell as well.

She activated the gravity and magnetic spell.  The gravity spell would do no harm to their protections, not directly.  It would however, make their protections work against each other.  So in essence, her spell would be degrading the protections of all twenty four at once, using the strength of their protections against them.  Against each other.

The four-G sphere of twinkling motes with a star in the center, almost filled the whole room, ending just inches from her face.  They all fell in toward the center, no leverage to prevent it, even as all the iron and steel they had on them became magnetic at the same time.  The magnetism and gravity pulled them together tightly in a ball of flesh, armor, and weapons, forcing their shields to fight one another’s.

That’s when she turned on the lightning, the electricity travelling and coruscating around them all, between the shields and degrading them further.  It only lasted for a split second before several shot out the inky void energies and broke her spell.  They all fell to the ground in a jumbled clatter, and she cast it again, so they immediately fell back up to the center of the room.  Then she hit them with lightning again.

A couple of them on the edges launched fire blasts, inky voids, and death spells in her direction.  She knew her idea wouldn’t last long, but it did do damage before they figured out where she was.  Tracing the sense of the spells back.

That’s when she let off a void spell that ate a two-foot-wide circle into the concrete wall at her back, turned, and dove through to the outside.  Then just because, she launched one more gravity and magnetic spell into the room, to get them all a third time, before running to her group while laughing as loudly as she could, with obviously and painfully mocking derision.

Just to get them even more worked up. 

Hopefully, that’d make them charge out of the building with blood and death on their minds, and not much else, like a plan or any sense of caution at all.  If she was really lucky, they wouldn’t have realized the true cost of her spells, or even think through their rage long enough to recast their personal protections before seeking her blood.

Only to run into three whole groups instead, while they were ripe to be finished off, they all had fresh shields and protections.  That should make enough of a difference to balance the odds and then some.

But if her plan fell apart, well then, they were likely about to die.  Her plan already had fell apart, she’d been hoping for more than just three A-class groups on her side.  Hopefully the rest of it would go well.

“Get ready.  I may have annoyed them a bit.”

Liam snickered.

The first one out that door was the recipient of a tightly packed and specifically aimed kinetic light spell.  The spell slammed into the guy’s face.  His body kept coming, while his head went flying back the other way.  Well, he hadn’t fixed his shields.

Several more light attacks, fire blasts, death spells, lightning bolts, air blades, and inky voids shot toward the door as they came pouring out, only to be quickly overwhelmed by the fire and die within steps of the door, which was a fantastic choke point.  They got almost half the Russians that way, in their unreasoning rush of anger and hatred, before one of them took the first volley.  They’d caught on, and refreshed their shields, but now the fight was even.  Twelve on twelve.

She’d take it, could’ve been worse, and they still needed prisoners to question.  She also suspected the only reason her ploy had worked so well, was because of how they’d overcome that final and supposedly absolute magic oath.  It had made them ripe to be riled up past reason, and to act foolishly in anger instead of with deliberation, as she would expect from any A-class warrior.

She yelled and lunged forward, as she summoned her war staff out of her ring and to her hands. She moved deliberately and flowingly into the enemy and beat at their shields, small void spells only to assist her in wearing them down.  The fast part of the fight was over, it would take a long time to wear down an A-class.  They had a lot of magic after all, and could keep regenerating their spells, unlike the monsters in a dungeon.

Unless she took them by surprise, and just bashed through their shield at an unexpected time.  But those kinds of risks were unnecessary to take at that point.  Her opponent wasn’t even close to as good with their weapon, and hadn’t yet hit her even once, as she continually hit his torso, head, weapon, and legs with her fast-moving weapon.

At least, until she heard the death cry, on her side.  One of the others, from the other two groups, died in a powerful strike.  And now another one from that group was facing two enemies.  If she didn’t turn that initial tide back fast, the Russians would win out of pure momentum and regaining a number advantage.

The next hit she poured more magic into the void attack, and she smashed through his shield much earlier than he’d expected.  Her staff lunged up and hit his jaw even as she moved slightly to the side to dodge his sword, which cracked as he was knocked to the ground.  She decided she couldn’t take chances he’d recover, he still had over half his magic, so when her staff spun around, she let most of it slide through her hands.  She gripped it tightly at one end as the metal bulbous tip covered with spikes came down and cracked his head open like an egg.

She hit two others with cheap shots to the back, on her way to aid the sorely pressed one who was facing two enemies.  The numbers were even again, but that changed quickly as a fourth A-class group showed up.  She was shocked to see it was a Chinese group, but she wasn’t going to turn down the help.  Four fights were two on one at that point, and then ended quickly.  Then the last seven fights were two on one, with others on standby.  Those seven were taken down alive at her orders, worn down and judiciously knocked out.

She ordered, “Strip them and secure them.  Make sure to take their rings of holding, they probably have essence gems in them, and we don’t want them to cultivate it to aid their escape.”

They could also have nukes, but she decided not to mention that part.

She turned to her group, “We’re not done yet, they can sort this out.  There should be two Russian groups in the safe room right now cultivating, a B and C.  There’s also a D and E doing their dungeon run according to the schedule.  I want them all questioned.  Cybele and Bobby will run through E, and secure that group on the way to the saferoom.  Liam and I will take D, and secure that group on the way.  Once we’re in the saferoom, we get all the Russians together, and put up a dome shield.

“The only way out for them is to answer our questions on loyalty and intent with Liam verifying the answers, or dead.  It’s possible the A-class groups were the only ones involved, but we can’t count on that, and no one will blame us for the suspicion after this,” she waved at the carnage.

She looked at the Chinese group, “The second set of B through E class groups for the Russians should either be at the library or their group homes.  Would you mind verifying they’re innocent in this, I assume one of you has the life affinity?”

They all nodded, and then took off for the library, while her and her group ran for the dungeon.  Leaving the other two A-class groups there, minus the dead one, to watch their prisoners and clean up the mess.

Bobby asked, “Shouldn’t you call Nia now?”

She sighed, “She doesn’t have a phone yet.  I could call Natalya, but I honestly can’t be sure we can trust her.  What if she’s in on it, and she’s awaiting word.  If she is, then she could send orders to go to plan B, some kind of scorched ground approach with nukes.  I want all the Russians under our control or cleared of wrongdoing before I reach out.  I suspect Nia won’t like that, but I think she’ll understand it.”

Cybele said, “Sylvia picked her, I don’t think she’d pick someone capable of this betrayal.”

She tilted her head, “You’re probably right.  On the other hand, she also said she’d be back to resume command of the town.  No one is perfect, and it’s better not to take chances when a possible nuclear threat is present.”

Bobby said, “That’s a guess too.”

She shrugged, “They had the A-class groups, the strongest ones, go after the town and adventurers.  If they left removing the dungeon to the weaker groups, I can’t think of a way they could destroy the dungeon without overwhelmingly powerful technological weapons.  I can’t imagine they’d not try to destroy the dungeon, so America can’t rebuild or continue to build whatever was left of their adventurer level protectors against war.”

Liam snorted, “And if they’re about to let it off right now, as we’re about to run in.”

Jia grinned, “Chicken?  I suspect they’re either waiting for a text to initiate their part of the plan, or they’re on a timer to start much later than the town attack.  They’ll want to wait long enough to be sure the A-class teams are clear of the town, so would’ve made that part of their plan.  The Russians won’t want to sacrifice twenty years of training on their side, for twenty-four men and women in their military.  It also makes sense to sacrifice their weaker groups, they’ll only lose a couple of year of training in the exchange.”

She grinned wider, “And if all that logic is wrong, then I suppose we die.”

Liam rolled his eyes, “I’m going to vote for your suspicions being their plans, if you don’t mind.”

She laughed, “I’m betting all our lives on it, and it does make sense.  Otherwise, it would already have been done, when they launched the attack at the guild fifteen minutes ago.  Look on the bright side, if I’m wrong then we won’t have to justify ourselves to Nia and fill out all those reports.  Not to mention hire and train new guild staff.”

Cybele giggled.

Bobby said, “Ironically this little move of theirs is only going to weaken them in the end.”

That was true enough, hopefully.  Assuming Huang was as successful in staving off the attack there.  And they weren’t done yet, no point counting chickens until it was all said and done.

They split up in the amphitheater and raced into the paths.  She totally ignored the monsters.  The D-class threats weren’t a threat to her, even had she chosen to nap.  She didn’t even need shields, and just bowled over the drake that stupidly got in her way, and made its head explode with a casual swipe of her staff.  Then they were in the next room, and the next.  It was in the fifth’s room maze that they found the D-class group, who looked a little shocked at seeing them there.

“Liam?” she asked, deciding not to take them into custody and ruin their delve, if she didn’t have to.  Plus, it’d be safer this way, less Russians to coral and question when they got to the safe room.

Liam asked if they were loyal to the guild, and if they knew of any plans to attack the town.  They didn’t, which made them sacrificial lambs to the slaughter in their superior’s plans.

“Continue on, we’ll try not to kill too many of the monsters.”

Her and Liam took off.  The sixth room was the open one, where twelve flying drakes attacked from a distance. They just ignored the attacks, and ran straight through to the exit, only slightly going off course to avoid the two traps in the room.  They were incredibly obvious, with her much sharper eyesight than when she’d been D-class.

Despite stopping to question them, they still beat the others there by a few seconds, since they hadn’t had to escort their group to the saferoom, they’d made up the time.

She looked around and spotted the B and C class groups over by the corner, and she signaled the others to follow as she and Liam headed that way.  She considered ordering everyone else out, but she was afraid if she did that if anyone here really was in on the plan might just set off a nuke before almost a whole quarter of their adventurers could escape the saferoom.

The others arrived right behind her with the E-class group, and she put up a dome shield.

“Attention please.  Some of your comrades attacked the…” and that’s about as far as she got before one of the C-class Russians acted.  A nuclear device appearing in his lap, which he immediately started to type on the keypad.  Presumably to set it off.

This time the void spell she released was much better for her purpose.  Not luck like last time.  She’d built an iteration of the spell to consume plutonium, so it ignored the rest of the bomb and merely ate the fissionable matter, destroyed them.  With a casual wave a second dome shield appeared.  It was perhaps unfortunate it covered the entire D-class team, but it was the smallest dome spell she could cast out of all her iterations.

Unfortunate, because she wouldn’t get to question them, but at least she had seven prisoners back at the guild.

The C-4 in the bomb still exploded when the idiot got done typing on the keypad.  Which completely obliterated him, and turned the other three into charred corpses, as her dome shield contained the powerful firestorm and concussive blast.

She let that hang there a moment, then said, “As I was saying, we were attacked by some of your groups.  We need to clear you two.  I know it’s not pleasant to be suspected when you’re innocent, but I trust you understand the necessity under the circumstances.”

The B and E class groups quickly agreed, and one at a time answered Liam’s questions.  The rest were innocent, so it looked like it was just one C-class group, and all six of the A-class groups in on it.  The other seven groups were simply dupes, to make the exchange effort look real.

That assumption played out, as the Chinese group verified the other four Russian groups were clear of wrongdoing. 

It was only then, back at guild headquarters with the crisis behind them, that she called Natalya.

It was an hour later, and they’d just gotten done walking Nia through all that had happened.  The Elf was not happy at all, but she believed that Nia’s anger was directed to the people behind it all.  That once questioned, a lot of other people in Russia were going to end up dead.

Nia said, “I need to get to China.  They were successful in defending the town as well as the dungeon, but from what Huong told me right before we spoke, the death count on the guild side was higher as well.  You did… well.  You handled it on your own with your groups aid and some help.  I’m not pleased you didn’t call me sooner so I could help defend my town, but I understand why you did not.  You should also be commended on thinking beyond your responsibility and warning Huang.  It would’ve gone much worse for them if you hadn’t.  Did I understand right that you have a theory on how they got around their oaths?”

She nodded, “I think so.  The oath, the magic, works on the intent of the one that gave it, is that not true?”

Nia nodded.

She sighed, “On this planet, the science of the mind, psychology, is very advanced.  It wouldn’t be hard to brain wash, psychologically program, or use operant conditioning to make them believe they were acting to protect Russia.  All that would have to happen was to convince them that the guild was an enemy of Russia, and an imminent threat.  That would make their actions self-defense, in their own eyes.  I saw it in their eyes, they really believed we were evil and were convinced we were a danger when they tried to kill us.

“Despite the break in logic, since we can’t be a threat without being attacked, it would work.  All it would require is brainwashing the soldiers to believe it.  If they believed it, true or not, that would be enough to fool the magic that their oath to only pursue self-defense and defense of others hasn’t been broached.

“It wouldn’t work for the guild specific oaths however, to obey guild reps, and to protect the town and dungeon if it comes under attack.  Which is why they had to start their mission by resigning from the guild.”

Nia shook her head, “That’s… terrifying.  If that could work to attack us, then they could do the same to freely attack other countries.  Something we’ve sworn to as being impossible, to the countries we have a treaty with.”

She nodded, “I have a simple solution, perhaps?  If we make a rule that anyone pursuing to break all ties with the guild, that their resignation will not be accepted until they were questioned by someone with the life affinity.  They could still be brainwashed later, so it isn’t perfect, but chances are they wouldn’t want to be out of the guild if they weren’t already brainwashed in the first place.  If someone in their country ordered them to resign their guild membership, then we can also investigate that angle and find out why.”

Nia slowly nodded, “That sounds like a reasonable counter.  I’ll consider it and look for loopholes before I pass on the suggestion to the council.  I don’t have the authority to add new laws to our rolls.  I suspect part of their plan, the A-class, would’ve been to destroy the gateway, and usurp the guild completely.  Take control of our resources and bypass the need for anymore oaths that inconveniences their desire for conquest.”

There was a short pause.  She thought Nia was probably right, she’d had that very thought, but it would be soon enough to find out when they questioned the seven survivors on their orders and plans.  They’d already met the challenge and removed it, so there was no need to depend on speculation any longer.

Nia said, “I’ll be back sometime tomorrow.  Once I have China worked out, we’ll question the prisoners and bring the architects of this affront to swift justice.”

Nia stood, and a tight whirlwind of thick air swirled around Nia.  Then she was just gone.

It was somewhat fascinating to see for Jia.  There were only two affinities that offered a teleportation spell.  The elemental air spells weren’t quite true teleportation, not like the light spells were which were instantaneous.  But practically speaking there was very little difference between instant and less than three seconds to reach the other side of the world.

Gateways could only be created by a light affinity, but they could be used by anyone.  The spell glyphs so numerous and tied together, that one of the spells itself could convert incoming essence to light magic, so other affinities merely channeled the raw essence or mana magic into it, without conversion.

She supposed that meant technically any spell could be made into a spell enchantment that could be used by anyone, if the essence conversion was built in.  But such multi-glyph spells were so expensive and hard to make, that it wasn’t worth it.  For most things, it was just fine as all the affinities had equal use and potential.  She loved her light affinity, and the kinetic attack she used most often, but they could be duplicated to a large extent by an earth spell.

There were ways and ways, so it really wouldn’t be worth it.  Though, she might spend the money for a healing device that could use essence or mana.

Chapter Eighteen

Silvia

The elven forest Arkia was ancient and vast, elven paths and buildings filled the boughs of the trees.  They were a part of the trees themselves, for as far as she could see from her father’s balcony.  They were a couple of hundred feet up in the towering trees, the sounds of animals in the forest below muted.  The rustle of the leaves in the late-night wind was like an old friend returned to her, for a moment.  The forest was beautiful at night being bathed in the moon’s light.

It was both good to be there, and disturbing, because she didn’t feel like she belonged anymore.  The otherworld incident had hurried her time to advance, and she’d lost much because of it.  It wasn’t a bitter thought, more one of acceptance.  She’d gotten the people under her protection and command back home where they all belonged, and that was the important thing.  She’d also gained much, her successful rise to Ethereal was quite an accomplishment.

When she’d reached this point in her ambitions in her original plans, the rest of her family would’ve passed by then, and it would be easier to move on from this world permanently.  But move on she must, she still had ambitions and promises to keep.  This last ascension and reaching immortality was just the start of her new journey.

The first step, watching over the guild in the new world for five centuries, was as long as all that had come before.  But time no longer had a hold over her. It would take as long as it took.  Time was no longer the enemy, just a constant friend and ally.  Her ambition would keep her on the path, but a finite existence no longer bade her to hurry.

She felt her mother’s touch on her shoulder as Tiriana came out to join her.

“Will you spend the night?”

She shook her head slowly, “This new body doesn’t require sleep, mother.  I’ve enjoyed this last day with the family.  I’m thankful for the opportunity to say my farewells, but I fear I’ll never want to leave if I stay too long.  Yearning for a past that is beyond my reach.  But I am well, and I will be well, always.  You need not worry for me.”

Tiriana squeezed her shoulder, “It’s what mother’s do, but I suppose my daughter being immortal does take the sting out of it a little.”

She turned and gave her mother a hug.  It was the last one ever, so she made it count, clinging perhaps a little too tightly and a little too long.  She almost wished she could take them with her.  She could but it would be selfish.  She couldn’t take them from their home, and her siblings would find no elven life companions on the other world.

She moved inside and hugged her father as well.  She’d already said goodbye to her siblings, who were at the moment already asleep.

They said their goodbyes, and she left the house and walked for a way on the platform paths, vast winding tree branches.  A final self-indulgence, as she said goodbye to the world of her birth.  Then she took a deep breath and transported to another world, shifted to a new universe.  She was almost amused, as she started to plummet to the desert floor.   She slightly bent her knees and absorbed the two-hundred-foot fall, then took a quick look around that strange new world, before returning to Earth.

The place was a barren waste, at least the part of the world that matched to her elven forest on hers.  There was no one and nothing in sight, but endless dunes of sand.  There was life somewhere on this world however, the rich oxygen atmosphere was proof of that.

The beacon she created called to her, and only to her.

She cast the spell again and shifted to the Earth, and she immediately cast a personal shield spell that both turned her invisible and contained her aura.  It took her a moment to realize she was somewhere in California.  She touched the large oak tree, and she sat down against it.

Then she reached out to her light elementals, her spy network.  She’d been unable to contact them across the boundaries between universes, and now that she was back, they had a lot to share with her.  She saw the last week unfold before her eyes.

There was a lot of information, and she was also getting angry.  She’d been gone one week, and those idiots Weston and Nia had almost lost control of the guild on this world.  Recklessly changing her policies, which existed for a reason.  There was a reason she’d held the three towns apart, and it was to prevent something like what just happened.  That a goddess had told her it was the right policy, just firmed that in her mind, that this world wasn’t ready for that.  Not yet.

More Weston’s mistake than Nia’s, but Nia should’ve been warier and less foolish.  Treating it like a grand adventure, her first assignment as a magi, and acting as if she were invulnerable, acting as if the guild were inviolate and didn’t need to be zealously protected.  The magi could’ve released elementals for instance, or better yet stayed at her dungeon town first, and reviewed the ones that she was to support second.

If Nia had done that last, she could’ve helped in the response.  Nia might’ve even uncovered the conspiracy if the magi had done her duty.  It was only Nia’s absence that had triggered the attack.  An opportunity so good, that the Russians had pushed it up despite their plans not being fully crystallized.

The only reason the guild hadn’t fallen to the Russians, if only temporarily, was her leaving Jia in charge.  The cynical yet loyal woman had performed beyond her expectations.  Her spells and tactics were quite extraordinary too, for an A-class.  Nothing that a magi need fear, never mind an ethereal, but she was among the best of the A-class already.  Other A-class, even mature ones, would have trouble with her.

It was perhaps an extremely immodest thought of hers, but Jia had a deep and promising potential rarely seen in even adventurers, and the young human reminded her of herself when she was that young.

Of course, if the Russian mind-control techniques hadn’t affected their warriors’ judgement, Jia’s plan might not have worked nearly as well.  But the human had done her best while dealing with obstructionist rulers unknowingly bent on self-sabotage.  And that best had been enough.

Such exchanges of adventurers between dungeon towns were normal on her world, and she did have plans to make it happen here as well.  But not for at least ten human generations, two hundred years, when the guild would be accepted and no longer fought.  A permanent fixture on this world and indelibly etched on the international politics of this world.

Twenty years had been too ridiculously soon, and beyond foolish.  It was just as well Weston was back on her home world, or she’d have been tempted to destroy him.

A part of her anger was also because it nearly derailed her own plans.  If those idiots had succeeded in destroying the gateway before she returned to this world, she would not have been able to find it again.  No doubt, Cleo would’ve hunted her down and ended her existence.  It was maddening how incompetent the guild was in their arrogant surety.

She was also becoming heartily tired of modern science.  That the Russians had figured out how to mess with someone’s mind, to get around a magical oath, was unthinkable.  Of course, she suspected that had only been possible because the adventurers there were ridiculously loyal and had submitted to the procedure, even if in ignorance.  Adventurers were independent, and it was hard to imagine them submitting to orders to surrender their very minds and thoughts to their government’s control.

It truly boggled the mind, and it was something she’d need to address.  Jia’s clever solution to question anyone leaving the guild before accepting resignation was only half the answer, she’d also have to create a guild law forbidding such mind tampering.  The countries had to respect guild law, and if they attempted to repeat it anyway, then she’d be justified in destroying their operations.

And it would be justified, save an attack against the guild there was no other reason to modify the minds of her people.  It was in itself, an attack on the guild, not just a preparatory step for one.

She wanted to punish them now, but she wasn’t ready to move yet and needed to watch for a while longer.  Not long, but a little while.  She’d leave the initial punishment of Russia to Nia, once the magi got her bearings, she was sure she’d take care of it.  More lives had been lost in China than Jia had been told, including their new A-class ruler, Carver.  Once she was ready, she’d be sure to punish anyone Nia missed, which was likely to happen.

Regardless, she trusted her plans to oust the guild, and to replace it with her own, would be far more successful than Russia’s attempts. But it wouldn’t be without certain… complications.  It was her plan B of course, she’d made promises to a goddess, and the guild council of Ethereals had pushed her into a corner.  She had no choice.

The only oath she was still bound by was the self-defense oath.  That following the council would mean certain death, committing suicide, meant she could act against them.  Ironically, to form an identical guild with all the same rules and laws.  She was fairly sure even the oaths would transfer if she did it correctly.  It would still be the guild, just under new management here on Earth.

On the good side, she was sure after what she’d just learned, that she was exactly what the Earth needed.  She had the flexibility of mind to compromise on guild tradition, and work toward guild ends.  She also took comfort in the idea Cleo agreed, or the goddess never would’ve made the deal with her on behalf of this world.  That she was the right person to get the job done in the first few centuries of dungeons on Earth.  Point being, she didn’t believe it was merely hubris, that she thought herself not just better but needed to get the job done.  She also had a goddess’s vote of confidence in the matter.

Chapter Nineteen

Cora

The Russians had a pretty good plan.  I’d been watching in on the interrogations earlier that morning.  They had planned to destroy me, and also kill as many adventurers as possible.  One of their primary objectives had also been to destroy the gateway to prevent the guild from sending reinforcements.

They believed with the dungeons in the U.S. and China taken out, and most of the adventurers dead in those and their allied countries, that they could then take over the dungeon town in their country and prepare an army to conquer the world.

Their attempts to kill me would’ve failed, but they still would’ve killed everyone in the safe room, along with themselves in the attempt.  So it was just as well Jia arrived in time to stop it, I’d have missed the mana generated from all those beings on a daily basis, after all.

The only other major hole in the plan besides nukes not working on me, was Nia of course.  How they expected to rule anything with a magi running around killing them all in the aftermath was beyond me.  Perhaps they believed they could overwhelm her with pure numbers, or they’d hoped to take her out with a nuke too.

The soldiers hadn’t known much outside of their orders and the false belief the guild was evil and out to destroy Russia, but they gave up a few names under a life spell to compel the truth.  I was sure they could be used to get deeper into the conspiracy. 

Nia was apoplectic at the end of the interrogation, and she executed the seven survivors of the plan, then immediately left for Russia.  No doubt to bring people to justice for their crimes, to administer proper chastisement, but I didn’t have the sensory range to watch that happen. 

Not yet, anyway.

That would change soon enough.  I knew as soon as I had enough stored mana to ascend to a fully grown dungeon, ethereal class as the humans called it.  All I needed to do was wait the day out, close my dungeon, and then start the upgrade.

Technically, I could do it now.  My autonomic responses to respawn monsters and give out rewards would still function as I ascended, but after what happened on my ascension to magi it just made sense to me to close my dungeon first.  Just in case, and so I wouldn’t wake up in another nightmare of unraveling existence.  Call me paranoid, but that’s just how I felt about it.

I was fairly sure I was safe, but I would be vulnerable in the sense I wouldn’t be able to see, sense, or process anything outside of myself during that time.  Not with my conscious awareness, anyway.  I’d be disconnected from the dungeon on that level, blind and unable to keep an eye on things.  I was afraid I might go insane in that isolated vulnerability, constantly fearing I might be attacked at any moment.

Closing up the dungeon would help assuage that irrational fear.  I knew it was irrational, but a part of me insisted if it could happen once, then it could happen twice.  I could go under, and then a quad of magi could show up from the other world with nefarious intentions.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for my strong drive to take a look around the world, maybe contact other dungeons, and make my own child dungeon core, I’d have considered skipping the whole thing.  I really didn’t want to be unaware and stuck in a conscious limbo ever again.  But it was just one last time, and I could do it for the sake of my instinctual ambition.

It was natural, and if I told myself that enough times then I might believe it. 

On the other hand, I had no real fear of failure, save another Magi attacking me that is.  It was a natural progression for a dungeon, there was no chance of failure or that I’d cease to exist.  There were no spells involved, to build me a new body, like the humans, elves, dark elves, and dwarves needed.  It was just… growing up and reaching adulthood.  I had zero fears on that score, it was as easy as a human reaching full growth in their late teen years.

Unlike a human however, it was my conscious choice as soon as I had the potential of mana for it.  The last step in my long childhood.

I know, who exactly was I trying to convince?

The thing was… a lot of my existence had unraveled in that attack twenty years ago that had sent me to this new world.  I was almost positive the damage there had been limited to my knowledge of the dungeon and Amethyst.  How to create objects and monsters, all information I’d figured out once more.  I was almost positive my core being including my advancement had been successfully preserved and fully intact in the aftermath of that horrible day.

But… a small part of me worried that wasn’t true.  What if some small instinct or key guidance had been stripped away, and when I tried to advance to Ethereal, that one lack to guide me just might kill me after all.  Sure, it was a natural process for my kind, but without all my instincts to guide it intact, what would happen to me?

Nothing good, I imagined.

I was almost positive that simply wasn’t the case, and I’d be fine.  It was however, the almost part that gave me concern.  I really didn’t want to die.

Amethyst said, “You’re jumpy.”

“Who, me?”

Amethyst giggled, “No, the other dungeon.”

I snickered, “I’m not jumpy, my crystal core doesn’t move at all.”

Amethyst winked, “You’ll be fine, amazing even.  You should stop torturing yourself, and just get it over with now.  Just think, seven billion humans out there to spy on, and dungeons to be contacted and created.”

“You’re not helping.”

Amethyst shook her head with a bright smile, “You’re fine, I would know if something was wrong.”

There was that word again, fine.

But I did trust her.

“Alright.  Shouldn’t I wait for tonight?”

Amethyst said, “Nope, I’ll keep an eye on things.  You’re safe, Nia is busy getting vengeance on the other side of the world, and she’s the only viable threat to you on the planet.  A slight one at that.”

“That you know of.”

Amethyst giggled, “If that was true, being awake wouldn’t help you.”

I sighed, “Fine.  Umm, I really, umm…”

Amethyst laughed, “I love you too, now get it done.”

Yeah, that.  She was like family, and I’d have gone insane long ago if not for her being with me.  But that was just the start of it, what bound us together in this life.

I sighed and looked inward, and I was whole and complete.  The damage done long ago erased, though the knowledge had been lost forever my being had rebuilt.  This last ascension would happen in the extra-dimensional space, not on the part of me grounded to the crystal or this mortal plane, which wouldn’t change at all.

That was why it would greatly expand my senses to encompass the world, but it wouldn’t extend my dungeon influence to act on the world directly.  Except when it came to other multidimensional entities, where my extradimensional part of my body could touch.  It was that which gave me the ability to contact other dungeons, and to create new ones.

Because a dungeon crystal, crystallized mana, were multidimensional as well, so that one substance I could build anywhere on the planet.  And of course, my child’s core being when formed would be multi-dimensional as well, which would allow me to spawn its existence on multiple dimensions through a single one on which we were connected, while anchoring that existence to the new dungeon crystal.

Which was also the key to interacting with the ley lines, which gave the physical races the opportunity to rise above themselves.

All the previous ascensions had involved using mana to grow the crystal, as well as growing all parts of my body on every dimension I inhabited.

I proverbially shook my non-existent head, now I was just wasting time with my mental wandering as I looked for a flaw in my existence that simply wasn’t there, or that flaw was so small I couldn’t perceive it anyway.  It was time to pull on my big girl panties and get it done.

The mana reserves stored in my body for my use, most of it would become a part of my body, which would literally grow large enough to blanket the world.  Most of me would still be small enough to fit in my crystal, but on that one extra-dimension the world would be my oyster.  There was no room for anything else, as I spent my entire focus on it and my awareness of the world around me faded to nothing. 

My noncorporeal body knew what to do, as I channeled the mana that I was storing into my very being, and I started to grow.  The mana organizing, becoming a part of me instead of a separate resource to be used.  The growth was steady and constant, like the weaving of a rug.  Having enough mana to finish was extremely important, or like that rug without being tied off and finished, it would just unravel far too easily.

But I had more than enough to get it done.  My instincts would have ensured it, not just enough to do the job, but to still have a healthy reserve of mana for the dungeon when I was finished.  I might even have enough mana leftover to be able to spawn my first child.

It was a hard concept to get across, that my body wouldn’t be the size of the planet.  Not really, not in the mortal plane, but the extradimensional part of me that grew would overlap the entire world in that sub-dimension which was a lot smaller. 

I also obviously wouldn’t be able to watch everything at once, no more than my primary focus could even watch the entire dungeon all at the same time.  But I would be able to move my senses where I willed when it was finished.

I could also instruct my autonomic process to alert me, if something happened that I was looking out for, out in the world.  So, I just couldn’t consciously watch it all.  I suspected most of the time I’d be watching my dungeon, that was my nature, but it would be nice to be able to check in with the other two dungeons on occasion, and also see the planet’s features and different places.

Spying on humans wasn’t something I was truly interested in, not really.  Not past seeing how and where they lived in a general way.  Not unless they were plotting against me.  I only had so much time in a day, and I had to keep the dungeon running.  The world was far too vast to keep an eye on all of it, after all.

I started to calm as it appeared everything would be fine after all, but I had quite a way to go, as I fed a steady stream of mana which grew and unfurled my new ethereal existence, as an adult dungeon.  It would take a few hours of real time, but subjectively in my internal focus I would be in this mental limbo experientially for close to three days.

I knew it wasn’t really taking that long, that I wouldn’t miss more than a few hours back on the world, but it would feel like days for me.  It was a long time to be alone with my thoughts, as I focused on feeding the change with a steady stream of mana. 

At least I wasn’t afraid anymore.

Amethyst’s smile and tiny hand on my crystal greeted me as I finished my ascension into adulthood.  The sun was just starting its descent to the west and was bright over the mountain.  There was a mental disconnect there, it felt like days had passed, not just the latter half of a single morning.

“Now that I’m an adult, I can finally get started on those plans of world domination.”

Amethyst snorted, “I’m not buying what you’re selling, not this time.”

I mentally grinned, “Spoilsport.  I guess the teasing joke got old?”

Amethyst giggled, “Ancient.”

“I guess you were right, no problems at all.”

My mind started to rove through the dungeon, and once I saw everything was as it should be, I started to mentally scan the planet, with a deeper focus on South America, Africa, and Australia.  Mostly because I did have enough mana to spawn a new dungeon, and those three continents were where one was needed the most.

It was somewhat surprising to note that I was already in one of the most beautiful areas on the planet, even if had been overhunted badly. Although the jungles were so full of life they held a certain appeal to my eyes.  I bet if we’d been moved there instead of here, I’d have had a much greater number of wild animals wandering into my domain.

The human cities were both fascinating and ugly to me being so devoid of any life but the humans and their pets.  It was fine enough for them I supposed, but I wouldn’t want to live in a concrete jungle.

“I’m thinking South America for my first child.  In the mountains of Argentina, just outside of San Juan.  A deep cavern near a mountain lake and waterfall with no current cave openings.  It’s remote enough she’ll have time to grow before she opens up and is found, but not so remote some camper or hiker won’t find her when she’s ready.  It’s also directly above a ley line.”

That last bit was probably the most important, a dungeon couldn’t grow if its initial aura didn’t intersect with a ley line deep beneath the surface.  Without that interaction the more powerful and concentrated essence we gave off would be impossible.

Amethyst grinned, “I’ll go get a volunteer to show her the ropes and watch out for her in the beginning,” then exploded into light motes as she teleported away.  No doubt she was also excited about having a fourth dungeon faery on this world.

Just in the beginning, because there was no guarantee my daughter and the volunteer dungeon fairy would enter into an agreement and choose to bond.  That was up to them to figure out and decide together.  I hoped it would happen of course, a dungeon that rejected their fairy wasn’t long for the world.  They’d go rogue and be killed by the guild when found.

I focused on my own task.  I bent my will on channeling mana to and crystallizing mana in a cave several thousand miles away.  That task, my daughter’s home and what would ground her existence, was what took most of the mana required.  Next to that the mana needed to form a nascent non-corporeal being was very little.  Just enough mana to form her core and instincts to grow.  She would learn the rest as she went, either through discovery or through the teaching of her dungeon faery companion.

It was another task that took most of my focus, willpower, and awareness.  Although I wasn’t completely isolated in it, there was a dim awareness of what was going on in my dungeon the whole time I formed my first child.  Which took about two hours.

There was a feeling of deep satisfaction as my first daughter was created, and it was with a sense of almost regret as I pulled myself back.  It was the nature of things, she’d either make it or she wouldn’t, on her own.  I could watch over her, but not keep her safe with my concern, and she couldn’t sense me or even speak back to me until she’d reached adulthood, which would likely take a century or two.

Sure, I was only about forty years old, but my final ascension would’ve taken two hundred years, not twenty, if I hadn’t been grounded to a ley line and been gathering mana at an astonishing rate twenty times the usual amount.

Amethyst appeared in a burst of motes of light.

“Pearl is on her way.”

“Thanks, I’m sure they’ll be good for each other.”

Now that my immediate needs were taken care of, I took a look at the Chinese dungeon and guild town.  The guild building and several others around it had been leveled, and reconstruction was in progress.  On the good side, the dungeon was clearly an interdimensional maze like mine, so the attackers hadn’t been able to destroy it.  I was looking forward to being able to speak with her in the future, but as I said earlier it’d be at least a couple of hundred years before the dungeon could speak back.

Sure, I could introduce myself, but I didn’t see the point.  No one wanted to be talked at like that, and it would just frustrate my sister not being able to talk back.  I’d have considered doing it anyway, if she hadn’t had all her dungeon rooms protected with dimensional walls, to prevent being nuked.  Perhaps she’d even gotten the idea from my example, if indirectly through the advice of her dungeon fairy.  I was sure Amethyst gossiped about me with her kind all the time, though I’d never asked.

Nia had been busy in Russia, and not in a pleasant way.  That guild town was a bit of amess in places as well.  Several of the group houses had been burned down, and some few even had corpses impaled on the stakes among the ashes.  The vast amount didn’t, and I assumed the eight groups that were killed here, and the ones killed in China, had been the guild traitors that had owned those particular homes.

Nia wasn’t in any of the dungeon towns, and I assumed she was still tracing down all the guild’s enemies in the Russian government and military that had taken a part in this attempted coup.

I wished her luck.

Chapter Twenty

Jia

It was a damned mess as far as she could tell, though the initial danger had passed.

It was late that evening and Jia had just gotten done practicing all her spells and iterations.  At least the ones she hadn’t used already that day, during her dungeon run.  Any skill not practiced was lost, and that didn’t just apply to her martial arts, it applied to everything in life, including magic.  It was simply part of the human condition. You got better or maintained perfection with practice, or your skills degenerated when ignored.  There was no staying the same or coasting along, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.  It kept her sharp.

She’d learned that Carver died defending his town, on his very first day as its ruler.  Which just went to verify her earlier thoughts, vigilance was required, no matter how high in life you reached, a fall could be just a step away if you weren’t prepared.

Huang had survived, as had Natalya survived Nia’s purge of the Russian guild members.  She should’ve known Natalya wasn’t involved in it, Silvia wouldn’t have chosen a potential traitor, but not contacting her for help from Nia had worked out.  At least, it had in the town she was responsible for administering.

The attack on the Chinese dungeon had failed, but the A-class guild traitors from Russia had a lot more luck in China.  A lot of the guild’s E-class through B-class had been killed, devastated by the stronger A-class warriors who went through the town like a plague.  Huang had eventually stopped it, but it’d taken her time to gather a force large enough to succeed.

In comparison, the United States had come out the best thanks to her paranoia and actions.  The Russians had also paid heavily for their perfidy.  She had no spies capable of following Nia around, but she did have the news sites on the internet, and several had posted video of Nia’s actions in Moscow.

Entire buildings in the government district had been razed, and according to some journalists Nia had been seen entering the presidential home and hadn’t come out yet.  She wasn’t sure if the magi was threatening him, explaining her actions, or questioning him on his culpability.  That whole thing hadn’t played out yet, but the stories about the guild were not good.

The citizens and press had no access to the dungeon towns, so as far as they were concerned they had no idea why Nia was going on a rampage against the Russian government and military.  Not that it overly mattered, the other governments would know what happened, and did.  So chances are they wouldn’t be getting in line to be next by doing something stupid in Russia’s defense against the guild.

She sighed, and then picked up her phone.  The damage to Nelendra in the U.S. had been light, but not non-existent.  She made a call.

Blake said, “Blake, go.”

“General, this is Jia.  You’ve heard about the attack?”

Blake sighed, “Yes, what’s the damage?”

“We were the best off out of the three, only lost one adventurer because I was expecting trouble to come.”

Blake said, “Understood, the whole exchange idea was idiotic, but they played us as well as the dwarf.”

Played the president, but she got he wasn’t about to throw his boss under the bus.  Not to her.  Nor was she about to throw the guild under the bus to him, so she wasn’t about to mention the perfect opportunity her leadership gave the Russians to launch the attack that they helped facilitate with bad decisions in the first place.  Nor was she going to share how the Russian groups got around the oaths, that was up to Nia.  It was Jia’s job to keep the town and dungeon runs moving smoothly, and to protect it, not to interact with the outside world.  That was the ruler’s place.

“Yes, we kept the casualties to a minimum, but it started at the guild building and we lost some people.  It’s been repaired already, but the entire guild staff was killed by the Russian groups.  I hate to ask, but we need replacements.  We can cover for a bit, but it will slow down the intake on any of the new soldiers you send in for adventurer training.”

Blake replied, “I’ll see what I can do, Jia.  Six people with office work experience, and an accountant?”

“That’d be great, general.”

Blake replied, “It’ll be a few days to pick them, push through the paperwork, and get them over there.  A week at most. All I can promise is that by end of business tomorrow I’ll have the list of seven people and cut the orders.”

“Understood, sir.”

Blake asked, “What are you going to do about the innocent Russians and the Chinese you have, will this kill the exchange program?”

“That’s up to Nia, but I will say it’s likely everyone will be sent back to the guild towns in their countries of origin.  We’re not ready for integration.”

Well, the guild was, but she didn’t want to say the countries and guild members weren’t specifically.  That would seem like she was telling them all to grow up.  That would go over like a led balloon, and she’d be working with Blake for years yet, most likely.  No need to burn bridges.

Blake blew out a breath, “That sounds about right.  I won’t ask you the obvious question, let’s let the politicians and diplomats hammer out that one.”

“I appreciate it, general.”

They hung up and she took a deep breath.  That really was going to be the major issue.  The countries never really trusted the guild’s assurances about the magical oaths, and this attack by the Russians had just verified they were right to distrust it.

Ironically, it would be easy to guard against a recurrence, so this didn’t happen again or to a country instead, but that deepened mistrust would linger for a long time.  Generations even.

On the good side, they still had the whole fear thing on their side.  The countries weren’t suicidal, and they knew they were no match for a magi.  Especially now that they wouldn’t be able to subvert their guild members anymore, no matter that members love and blind trust of country.  Unless their fears led them to further stupidity, which she had to hope wouldn’t happen, because it would end badly for them.

Well, it was Nia’s problem, and Vera’s, not hers.  Still, it was her job to keep the town safe, and if the governments did do something stupid, she needed to be ready for it.

She left her room and found Cybele in the living room.

“You have air elementals watching the air, right?  Just in case some idiot decides this incident proves we can’t be trusted, and tries to hit us with missiles or something?”

Cybele nodded, “I do.  I’ll let you know if I detect incoming threats, or planes flying above our airspace.”

She smiled, “I’ve got a couple of hawks, but they can’t really guard against a C-130 gunship coming in at sixty thousand feet.  My ground coverage is much better, no one will come within two miles of the town without being spotted.”

Cybele tilted her head, “Do you think they’ll attack again?”

She shrugged, “Logically it would be insane to attack the guild towns, after seeing what Nia is doing in Russia to those behind this incident.  But humans do stupid things based on fear all the time, and twenty years is a long time, they may have forgotten the lesson Silvia gave them.  But no, I don’t actually think it will happen, but we have to be ready if it does.  Especially when Nia is off somewhere, we can’t dome shield the entire town, so have no choice but to take out the threat in the air.”

There wasn’t much else to be done.  She already had iterations of spells to seek out and destroy explosives or plutonium, and then she could blast it out of the air with light magic to stop even a pure kinetic strike from a disarmed missile doing damage to the town.

Cybele and the others would help of course, and they should even be able to hold out long enough against a sustained barrage meant to overwhelm them, for Nia to return and raise shields over the town.

That was really the goal, hold out long enough for the magi to take over, because it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that they could be overwhelmed by enough fire.  They’ve been watching the progress of their soldier adventurers for twenty years, and they understood now that magic wasn’t endless.  So where a missile might fail, a hundred missiles meant one of them might get through if it exhausted them.

Still, fear was truly their best shield that way.  She just hoped they’d be as scared of Nia as they had been of Silvia when they sat down to discuss options and make decisions.

Cybele waved at the television, “She left the presidential mansion standing, and the Russian president is alive.  So I guess he wasn’t in on it.”

She nodded, “Probably a general involved in covert ops, and tired of being restrained from war by the guild’s influence.  Or something similar, maybe the head of one of their spy agencies, given the brain washing aspect of things.”

She sat back and tried to relax.  It’d been a crazy thirty-six hours since the attack yesterday morning.  The only positive indication she could see so far was that all the other countries were far angrier with Russia than they were at the guild.  At least, in the public view, she was sure the whole oath debacle was being seriously considered behind closed doors.

All she could do was wait and see though, which was something she usually excelled at.  Patience, she’d always been good at it, as a spy, and so that the fifty years ahead of her of fighting, study, and practice to reach magi didn’t become overwhelming.

But this was different, who knew what the guild incident would lead to.

Chapter Twenty-One

Silvia

The cool breeze felt good on her skin, as Silvia waited for night to fall, right outside of Nelendra still hidden from view and detection under her personal shield.  Nia had gotten back in town a short time ago, and she wanted to give her time to settle in.  Her plan would start with Nia, the magi would either be her ally or become a banished enemy.  Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to wait for the traffic between the dungeon and town to die down.

It also gave her time to review her plans again.  The complications with her plan B had grown by leaps and bounds, thanks to the incompetence of that fool Weston.  Now she not only needed to take over the guild, which would’ve been an internal matter only, she also had to calm the fears of world leaders who were starting to wonder if adventurers with vast powers were really safe if left unmolested after all.

She pushed that out of her head.  She wasn’t usually so easily annoyed, problems were what made life so interesting, after all.  Overcoming them.  She was now convinced it was the right thing though, not just for her future, and not just for the adventurers on this world either, but for the whole world and every creature upon the face of the Earth.

There was a certain amount of arrogance on her own part, she could admit, but clearly most of the guild wouldn’t be adaptable enough for this world.  They would keep messing up in their assumptions of superiority and unassailable status, until they’d pounded this new world into a mirror image of the old one.  Here on Earth the guild wasn’t ancient, and it was not revered.

She accepted that, even embraced it. 

That didn’t mean their laws had to be changed, on the contrary their old laws were just as fitting on this world as the other.  It was what would keep the peace, but change took time and therein lied the method of doing so.  It was their traditions, customs, and assumptions that needed to be adjusted.

Which she’d already done, for herself and for her rule while she’d been in charge.

A part of her mockingly wondered what made her so special, while at the same time she acknowledged she was.  She was different, calmer, unlikely to react in anger to perceived slights, and she hadn’t lost her vigilance either.

Part of that was owed to her unique ascension to magi. She hadn’t blindly followed the script to magi that the guild outlined in their texts.  Instead, she’d studied the faults of the magi all around her, and then worked to come up with a fix for it.

What resulted from that were the same insights and path that she’d advised Jia to take into consideration in her personal notes on ascending Magi, and she hoped Jia took that path.  It would help her survive the years ahead, when so many grew tired of life after centuries of it.  Would keep her balanced, as she herself continued to be.

The other part of that was simply her unique personality.  There were many different personality types, and hers was distinctly suited for this life.

Lastly, it wasn’t ambition that drove her to this act, not directly anyway.  Directly it was only her promise to a goddess that had her here to usurp the guild council’s hold on this new world.  Her ambition was to leave this mortal existence behind completely, to become a goddess.  That didn’t mean she didn’t care about people, on the contrary she did.  But her ruling a guild for eternity as an ethereal was not her goal, she just needed to build it, steady it on this world and ride out the waves during the first handful of centuries, then turn it over to someone that was suited for such an eternity.

After all, some personalities would want to stay down in the dirt, and directly affect the mortal world around them.  That wasn’t even a bad thing, but it wasn’t her ambition.

No, she was just doing this for the opportunity to have Cleo as her mentor, to teach her what was necessary for her to ascend once again, and truly become a goddess.

No longer a creator of spells and a master of magic, but a source of magic and the creator of whole worlds.

That was her true ambition, this was merely a steppingstone on that path.  A worthy one that she could take pride in, leaving a powerful legacy that was good and just behind, and one she was well suited for.

She stood slowly as the sun faded and disappeared over the horizon, and then walked over to the gateway.  She released a powerful shielding spell, that would prevent the gateway from being activated by either side, save by a being more powerful than her.

She judged the three Ethereals on the council too stuck in their ways.  Too lazy, they were too used to just ordering others around to their bidding.  They would never leave the island to activate the gateway themselves.  Not until they’d exhausted all other options, and by the time that happened her chosen course would be finished, and the gateway would be destroyed.  But it wasn’t yet time to destroy it, so she simply blocked it off.

It was a risk, but actually less of one than destroying it now would be.  Because that would stir the ethereals back home to action, which would end in her death most likely.

She walked down toward the town and seeing no reason to wait gave the orders to finish Russia’s punishment.

Nia had actually done well in tracking down most of those involved.  Far better than she’d expected in fact, given her showing on the first day on this world.  Maybe the magi wasn’t the waste of space that she’d feared.

But, Nia had missed a second general that had been involved, as well as a research psychologist who had a lab performing illegal experiments.  There were also ten other Russian adventurers, who had allowed themselves to be brain washed, but weren’t included in the plan.  Held back as reserves, or a first strike in the war to conquer the world they’d hoped to start next.

All twelve of them died instantly.  The ten A-class soldiers may have been able to put up a fight against her powerful light elementals, but none of them had shields or protections up at the time, so didn’t even see the death that they’d earned coming.  Some might say those soldiers had been victims as much as China’s and America’s branch of the guild, but she didn’t subscribe to such an interpretation.  They had given up their independence, and voluntarily allowed their government to hijack their minds and program their beliefs and thoughts.

That surrender of self was a betrayal of self, as well as a betrayal of the guild, and they paid the price for it.  There was little satisfaction in it, save removing enemies of the guild, it was just something that had to be done.

Nia’s shields and elementals were well done, but not even the elementals could detect her with her invisible and her aura contained.  They didn’t react at all, as she slipped into the guild building and up the stairs.  Nia did see her door open however, so she dropped the shield and released her aura.

Nia jumped up, then knelt in a confused way.

“Get up, Nia.  You have a decision to make.”

Nia got up, and then took a seat, as she waved at the chair. 

She could tell the magi wanted to ask what the hell she was doing back on Earth, but she refrained from doing so since it’d been drummed into her to never challenge an ethereal being.

“You have two choices.  Well, three really, but if you attack me, I will kill you, and it will be nothing but suicide.  So let’s just discuss the other two options, shall we?”

Nia frowned, “I’m listening.”

She waved to encompass the town, “I am no threat to the guild, not a typical one anyway.  Here’s what’s going to happen, I am going to rule the guild on this world.  The laws and procedures, our beliefs, will not be changed, but this part of the guild will be separated from our home world.  I will be in charge of it, as the council is in charge back on our world of birth.

“It’s a step I’d hoped to avoid, but I have no choice due to the fear driven decisions of the guild council.  It’s also practical, I don’t think ruling the guild across worlds is very… smart.  I’m sure you’ve seen the gap between the two worlds quite clearly over the last two days, we are not dealing with the same politics or kingdoms here as we are in the other world, and they will never accept the decisions we have to make to put off tradition for common sense reasons.  At least, for a while, the exchange program is stupid, and will only make our jobs harder if not impossible.”

Nia asked in disbelief, “You’re suggesting a coup is not a threat to the guild?”

She shrugged, “What is the guild?  Our rules, we support and protect adventurers, we work as a single entity when threatened from without.  Me ruling the guild on this world, won’t change any of that.  So what is the guild to you?  If it is the council, three ethereal beings that wear out their asses on thrones and collect gold, if that is the guild, then yes.  My coup is a danger to their future on this world.”

Silvia waved again expansively, indicating Nelendra, “But if its them, the adventurers, you and me, what we stand for, what we believe in, then no.  My coup is not a threat, it will be protecting the guild on this world, from the stupid orders and assumptions based on a socio-political landscape back home that doesn’t work in this world.  We will restore the traditions, eventually, but not until this world’s governments are ready for them.”

Nia blew out a breath, “The guild is not the council, they just rule it.  I’m not sure they would agree with my assessment, however.  I also can’t argue that the exchange program was foolhardy at this time, I hadn’t yet learned enough to know that, however.  You mentioned two choices?”

“The guild here is three dungeons and towns.  It doesn’t need a ruling city, like the one on the other planet.  Not yet, anyway.  For now, I plan on ruling over all three towns as the head of the guild on this world, but I will also rule this town specifically, as a town ruler at the same time.

“I want you to go to China, and to replace Carver as their town ruler.  We will work together, if a threat comes that Vera can’t handle on her own.  The guild will remain the same, so save acknowledging me the ruler, no further oaths should be required.  There will be two laws immediately instated, however.  The first is no can resign from the guild without being questioned by a life affinity guild officer first.  The second law to prevent a recurrence of what just happened will be to forbid any guild member from allowing their government to psychologically condition them in any way.  That should do it.

“I’ll also be destroying the gateway and severing the anchor between our old world and the dungeon, so that it can’t be recreated.  Our old world will be as lost to us, as we will be to the guild council.”

Nia frowned, “But that means I can never go home.”

“It won’t work otherwise.  I can’t possibly take on the council, not even one of them.  They are as far beyond me as I am beyond you.  So that is your choice, stay here and serve me and help me build a guild that lasts and has a positive and peaceful effect on this world, or go home.”

Nia sighed, “What am I missing, because the choice seems obvious, yet you seem to think I’ll be staying.”

“Yes, it isn’t easy to give up our home forest forever, or to lose all hope of seeing our family again.  I just recently went through that myself, but unlike you I had no choice. The council would never have allowed me to stay, not now that I’m ethereal as well.

“But consider it from the other aspect of things.  If you go home, you’ll go home banished from your post, and directly after a major failure which cost many lives in the guild, both adventurers and the twelve non-enhanced guild staff.  Weston will take some of that too, but between that and abandoning your post, your guild career will be over if you even live over it, and they’ll never give you even a single clue on how to ascend.  No matter how hard you try to redeem yourself, they will never forget and will forever associate you with losing influence on this world, as well as a new source of taxes.”

Silvia paused there, waiting for Nia to absorb the truth of her statements.  It was blunt, but also the pure truth.  The council didn’t reward success most of the time, never mind failure.  If Nia went home, she’d have her family, but that’s all she’d have.  The magi’s ambitions would be ashes, and she’d never ascend any further in power.

“On the other hand, we will have a close working relationship if you stay.  I also understand this failure was not yours, but on your training and the short amount of time you were present.  What I saw in the aftermath tells me you have a lot of potential.  So, stay here, serve the guild under me, and I will give you those hints that the council will surely keep hidden from you.

“I can’t guarantee success, of course. The ascension is risky, and the spells involved are intricate beyond belief, even with my advice and insights you may fail.  But… I’d give much better odds than one out of four to your success with my advice. The council back home was obstructionist to the competition, banishing even those few successes from the planet they see as theirs.  It’s why I passed on serving on the island and sought out other sources, rather than depend on their scraps giving out false hope and the mere sliver of a chance to succeed.

“So, think about it.  You have until tomorrow at noon to decide.”

If Nia had the same affinities, she could almost guarantee her success, save the possibility of Nia making an error in focus while enchanting the advanced serial-based spell multi-glyph spells.  But all she could share was all her data.  Some of which she’d adapted from an elemental’s affinity to hers, but other clues she’d found had been light and void affinity, and Nia would have to work out how to adopt them or power them with pure essence.

Still, if Nia put in the work, studied, and perfected the spells, she would be an Ethereal and achieve immortality.

Nia asked, “What will you do until then?”

Silvia said, “I’ll be giving the same choice to the others from our world.  Vera, Cybele, the enchanter, and the two dwarven blacksmiths.  They agreed to stay for a time, for varied reasons, but that was with the understanding they could eventually return home.  Before I destroy the gateway, they need to be given the option to return home.”

She stood up.

Nia said, “Wait.  I’ll stay.  It hurts to say it, but I’ve already spent a century with my family and people after reaching magi.  I even raised three children of my own.  A reward, and vacation of sorts, before reapplying myself to fulfill my personal goals and ambition.  It’s likely I wouldn’t see them very often at all anyway, and if I went back my ambition to rise to ethereal and explore the universe as I consider those new options, would go up in flames.  So I choose to stay, for the opportunity to learn from you, and also to build it with you.”

Silvia nodded, “Welcome to the new guild then, it’s just like the old one, but nicer.”

Nia snickered.

She shook her head, “In that case, will you present the options to Vera?  Then take your place in China and let everyone know about the change.  Just let me know what Vera decides before noon tomorrow.”

Nia nodded, “I will.  Just give me thirty to pack.”

She smiled, “Easily arranged,” then left the room to handle Cybele and the others.

Fortunately, a retired C-class had apprenticed themselves to the dwarves almost ten years ago now, which meant they were likely master smiths in their own right.  So they wouldn’t be losing much that way.  Someone had to make the newbie gear and weapons.  The enchanter would be a loss if he went, but she could create most of what he had for sale, if she had to until someone else filled the breach.  She could just hire someone to handle sales and the desk and stop by once a week to replenish stock.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be necessary, she knew the enchanter was dating one of the non-enhanced in the town.  At least, he had been as of a week ago.

So far things were going well, she got the idea that filling in the human countries on her little coup might make things even more strained for the guild, for a while.  A change in management on top of the failure of the magical oath, wouldn’t make it any easier for them to swallow things.  Even if she was fixing both issues, what was the chances they’d believe that?

Their leaders never took personal responsibility, so it was no doubt beyond them to believe that she would do so, and back up her word.

She really didn’t want to have to teach them all again how foolish it’d be to challenge the guild, especially now that she was so much more powerful than she used to be.

But if she had to, she would.  Anything less would be insane, and suicide.

None of them had made her wait for her deadline, and her assumptions had borne out.

It was early the next morning in the bright sunshine.  Almost the entire town had turned out to hear her speak, as well as say their farewells.  Cybele was leaving, as were the two dwarven smiths.  The enchanter was staying, and so was Vera.  The latter two were both human, so that had a lot to do with it. They could find mates and settle down here, if they so chose.

She was sure the opportunity here to start on the top had also been why Vera chose to stay.  Back home she’d have just been one more magi when she ascended.  Here, Vera would be the second magi, and high up in Silvia’s guild.  The A-class on this world had almost fifty years before the first of them would ascend, and Vera was a lot closer than that to perfecting her body with magic.

Vera had technically retired, but there was nothing stopping her from going after the new rich opportunity.  Time would tell on that, and in the end she didn’t care.  It was possible she’d just live out the few hundred years remaining to her from her previous ascensions, and just watch as the locals passed her by.  Whatever her reason for staying, in the end it was Vera’s own.

The last time she’d held a town wide meeting of sorts, the town had been a lot smaller.  There were several thousand people there on the mountainside, only about a quarter of them adventurers. 

“Good morning.  Shortly I’ll be opening the gateway for three of us to go back to their own world.  Then I will be severing all ties with that world.  The guild will continue as it is, and we will support all of you.  You adventurers will still be bound by your oaths, but instead of being ordered around by a council on a distant world who couldn’t hope to understand this world, I will be your leader instead.

“All policy changes made in the past two weeks are to be reversed, immediately.  I will be sending the Russians and Chinese home back to their guild town, while retrieving the Americans, immediately after freeing our world from my old one.  But make no mistake, we are one guild under my rule, united in the ideals of independence, self-defense, self-reliance, and the protection of our own in emergencies.

“One day our guild members will travel freely between dungeons and towns, to show the truth that we are already are one guild now.  But that day will come when your host countries catch up and accept that reality, and they stop plotting and trying to destroy us from within and from without.  Those that keep the peace, by strength of our own power and will, under oaths of self-defense.

“Besides that, there are two more laws to be added to our roles.  Guild members will be questioned before retirement is accepted, to ensure their minds are their own, and they aren’t being stolen from us by evil men and women who would take their free will.  The second law is that any kind of mental conditioning no matter what it’s called or what its means, if it takes away free will and causes a person to believe in false beliefs, is now forbidden.  No member of our guild will allow their country to subvert their will and beliefs.  From this moment on, violation of this law will be a violation of your oaths.  I added them to the rolls this morning, which you are free to peruse at the guild hall.

“Any country that tries such a tactic again, will be taken to task for it long before it ends in a guild-on-guild battle.  Any country that would complain of our added laws, should be ashamed of themselves.”

When she stopped speaking, several cheered, and she stepped off the path to remove her lock and open the gateway.  When they passed through, she closed the gateway with a surge of a spell, that would destroy the gateway devices on both sides.

Then she moved into the dungeon.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cora

“That’s just not fair at all.”

I’d been heartily glad to see Silvia, the ethereal had even let me listen to her talk with Nia.  Usually she blocked me out of her private conversations with a spell.  It was good to have her back, and I was confident she’d fix everything that Weston had screwed up.

Of course, at the moment she was absolutely wrecking my magi path.  It looked like she was having fun too, releasing energies that would put a nuclear weapon to shame, only being in a dimensionally blocked off space prevented those energies from harming anyone else, or destroying the dungeon, as she took down my magi level golem threats, elementals married with computers.

They seemed to be working, they were just amazingly outclassed.

Okay, forget destroying the dungeon, her last attack would’ve cracked the mountain apart.

She was pretty much ignoring all the attacks, her shields soaking up anything my monsters could throw at her.  But at Ethereal that was no different than a D-class adventurer walking through an E-class path.  Except the power differentials were a lot higher, more a ten thousand to one, rather than ten to one.

I knew why she was coming, since she’d just announced it.  She had to sever my anchor to the ley line, otherwise the lazy Ethereal council would eventually stir itself, and use that link to establish another gateway, then all sorts of things would go very wrong for everyone on this world, not just Silvia.

The thing was, I really didn’t want her to do it.  I was looking forward to making a new child every year, instead of every twenty.  And if my link went down, I’d have to conserve mana and dole it out carefully, like a miser.  She was still kind of my favorite, but I really didn’t want to have to give up my advantage over all the other dungeons in the multiverse.

I knew it was for the best, but I couldn’t help but hold on tight as Silvia walked into my core room and approached the crystal.

Her magic reached out, and caressed the outside of my being, not overly intrusive, just enough to find the anchor line she’d put there herself.  Then I felt a surge of void magic, that immediately tried to sever it.

Except, it didn’t sever, and I cackled in my mind.  There was no ethereal threats in a dungeon, no point to having them.  They didn’t need dungeons anymore, not even to cultivate.  No equal to an Ethereal like Silvia, except of course, me.

I was ethereal now too.  She could destroy me easily, by cracking my crystal, but when it came to mana manipulation I was her equal.  Of course, it occurred to me that if she couldn’t sever the line, she might just decide I had to die.  If I died, so would my link.

I also felt a little selfish, I knew it was in everyone’s best interest, including my own, save of course for the fact I’d be losing all that extra mana absorption potential.

Silvia frowned, “This isn’t good.”

Damn it.  Fine.

I let it go, before she had to choose between the political complications of destroying the U.S. dungeon or risking everyone on the council’s wrath if they ever found the link intact.

Silvia’s eyes widened, “Okay, that was… thank you?”

“You’re welcome.”

Clearly despite being multi-dimensional, Silvia didn’t hear my reply.

Silvia sighed, and took a seat, “I should warn you against not trying to duplicate the anchor, in one of this world’s ley lines.  It would not end well for you if you tried, the mana surge would tear you apart, and detonate your crystal.  It was only the boundaries between the universes that muted the connection which allowed you to survive the connection, and only have a slight increase in mana intake.”

“That’s interesting. I never even thought of risking that, but I’ll be sure to take her advice.”

Amethyst replied softly, “I don’t think she’s done, and I don’t think you’re going to like the rest of what she has to say.”

Amethyst looked taken aback, and a little sad.  It made me wonder what I was missing.

Come to think of it, Silvia looked rather reserved, and a little guilty around the eyes.

Silvia said, “I need to try to explain, so please consider my words carefully before reacting.  It was my intention in the past not to ever let you gain this knowledge, out of fear you would go rogue in your rage.  The information I just imparted however, will lead you to figure it out shortly, so I feel I must try to explain it, and impart the truth to you myself.

“I had no choice in this, since I believed you reaching for a ley line for more power here, was a greater danger to the town than you going rogue would be.  It would also of course, destroy you, so I felt honor bound to tell you the full truth, to protect you.

“Enough lead up.  It was back twenty years ago, during the incident.  The world, dimensions, our perceptions, were all being bombarded and twisted.  I knew what it was, figured it out, and somehow managed to reach your core room through the dungeon, while barely being able to understand what I felt and saw.

“Your existence was unraveling, and when it did the magi’s spell would break and the rest of us would be flung into permanent chaos, perhaps destroyed.  You see, I thought you were already dead, that you had no chance of survival at all.  I was wrong.”

Oh, dragon dung.  I knew what was coming, but I desperately wanted to be wrong.

Silvia said, “But that false knowledge caused me to act desperately.  You see, when I linked you to our ley line, I assumed it would blow you and the spell out of existence, and I could use it as a guide to move me and the rest of the people under my care that still lived back to our world.

“Of course, instead of that it grounded us in another reality instead, and I was amazed that the pulse tempered by the boundary between universes still managed to punch the spell out, and that you managed to stop unraveling. That… you healed, instead of dying.  I was also grateful for it, but that hadn’t been my intent at all, to save you.  On the contrary, I did that desperate act full knowing it should have killed you, instantly.

“I haven’t shared that truth with anyone, but given what I just told you, it wouldn’t be long until you realized I’d meant to doom you with my act, to save my own life, and the lives of others under my responsibility.  I am not perfect, a flawed being, and in this one case, you must believe me, I take joy in your continued existence, and I am your protector, and ever will be.  But only if you can accept this, and if you don’t go rogue.”

She’d tried to kill me.  It repeated over and over in my mind as my rage built, like a mantra I couldn’t get out of my head that was building in volume with every recurrence.  She hadn’t been rescuing me at all that day, as I’d believed these last twenty years.  She’d been trying to save her own skin, and the other adventurers, by killing me and the attacking magi, and using our deaths as a guide back to safety for her and the others.

We must’ve been unanchored from reality enough inside that magi’s spell, that when the pulse of power hit me from the ley line, instead of killing me it jolted me into another reality in which I anchored us all to Earth.

Amethyst soothed, “It’ll be fine, Cora.  She thought you were already dead, and she’s done nothing but protect you otherwise.”

Fine, how could this be fine?  How could anything be fine ever again?

Amethyst continued, “Can’t you see the regret on her face?  She made a mistake, no more.  That mistake was probably what saved everyone, you know.  If she thought you had a chance to recover, she might’ve hesitated to anchor you to the ley line, and then everyone would’ve died.  You, me, Silvia, and the whole town full of adventurers, all dying along with that idiot magi that attacked you out of greed and desperation.”

Her words weren’t helping, nor was the regret on Silvia’s face.  If anything, it made it worse.  I could accept it if Silvia had been my enemy, but in my mind the last twenty years she’d been my savior.

Can you imagine?  She’d tried to kill me, and I’d thought her my savior.  The one who ran to save the poor dungeon from a crazy person.  The one I’ve trusted, a trust that was never earned.  I felt… betrayed, set adrift, how could I ever trust her again?

Did I have a choice?  It was either accept it, or this rage would overwhelm me, destroy me as I went rogue, and Silvia killed me for a second time.  It was true enough, even if the first time didn’t take.

But I couldn’t accept it, even if I knew I should.  It was too much.  I couldn’t trust her, I couldn’t stop her either, and that sense of helplessness just made everything spiral out of control.

So I lashed out, in the only way I could, with the only power I really had as a dungeon spirit.  My strength of arms was in the dungeon, in the core room all I had was my mind and one power.

The power to make links.  I didn’t even want a link with Silvia, I just wanted her gone, I wanted to hurt her, and it was my only real power as a dungeon.  To make links, it was how I controlled the monsters, and all that.  It was how I was connected to Amethyst as well.

Amethyst screamed in horror, “NO!”

Stunned at what I’d done in my anger, I just waited to die.  I’d just gone rogue, tried to take over Silvia’s mind, and I doubt she’d barely noticed, given how hard she’d slapped it down.  A normal unpowered human could resist, that’s why dungeons controlled monsters and animals, sentients could resist without coming to a deal or agreement first.  An Ethereal could resist a million times easier.

Even the rage fled, as I was dumbstruck and regretful of my act immediately.  I’d just committed suicide in my rage.  I knew it would have no chance of working, but in my rage I couldn’t stop myself from striking out.

Silvia said, “You have a child.”

Her calm words were what I imagined a slap to the face and a bucket of ice water being thrown on a human must feel like.

She continued, “I can see the link to it, whisper thin,” she tilted her head, “Near San Juan, good choice.  Are you under control now, will you let me guard her, as I guard you, from humans on this world that would destroy you both?”

That should’ve made it worse, the thought of her being anywhere near my child.  But instead, it made me see sense and broke me out of the shock.  To understand the choice she made, given what she’d believed at the time, and how desperate the whole situation had been. 

I wasn’t exactly calm by a long shot, but I was dealing.

I wasn’t sure that I’d ever fully trust her again, but I did trust she wanted to make the guild a success.  The guild couldn’t be a success, not without having a mutually beneficial relationship between the dungeons and the guild.  She couldn’t succeed without me, or at least without dungeons like me, and for some reason she’d spared me.  At least, long enough to see if I could regain control of myself.

“Umm, did that just happen?”

Amethyst breathed out a long shuddering breath, “I think it did.”

Silvia stood up, “I’m going to assume the fact that you stopped trying to bond me means it shocked you back into sanity or control.  I’ll call that good enough, but I am watching you.  I don’t want to end this with a threat, especially given what I had to tell you, but understand I can’t tolerate a rogue dungeon. 

“I can forgive a momentary lapse against me, given the subject of my confession.  But don’t mistake that for weakness.  It will be a pain in the backside, and a political nightmare, but if I have to, I can move your daughter here and send the Americans to China for the higher-class paths until she matures.

“I wouldn’t like it, but I’ll do it.  I’d much prefer to add one of your children to the guild every twenty years or so.”

Business partners.

I couldn’t live with her as an enemy, but nor could I be her friend any longer.

But maybe I could live with her being a business partner, to our mutual understanding and to both our advantage.  I needed her adventurers, and she needed my monsters.

Silvia turned and left.

Amethyst shrieked, “What were you thinking!”

Oh, this was going to suck…

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jia

The room was simply and elegantly decorated as she walked into Silvia’s home.  Much like it had been had nine days ago.  There were several plants and flowers to give the place life and color, but no clutter.  She wasn’t sure what Silvia wanted, but she had no doubt she’d been summoned as she moved into the living room.

Silvia said, “Take a seat.”

Silvia’s magic spread out and surrounded the upper floor.  She wasn’t positive, but she suspected there was now no way to spy on or overhear anything said between them.

Jia sat down on a chair across from where Silvia sat, then she waited patiently for Silvia to speak.

Silvia said, “You’ve exceeded my expectations these last ten days.  Things got a little more complicated than I liked, but they seemed to have worked out.  I’ll have my work cut out for me calming down the countries involved, but that’s not your problem.  My first choice would’ve been to work with the old guild, but that became impossible during my time back on my world of birth.

“I just wanted to, as the humans say here, touch base.  Make sure you’re okay with the change, and that I can still depend on your loyalty, intelligence, and cynicism.”

Jia nodded slowly, “Yes, Ethereal.  From my perspective not much has changed at all, you’ve been my ruler these last twenty years.  In a real way, you have always been the guild to us here on this world, the council far away and out of touch.  Little more than a story in a book.  The old guild was better than nothing while you were gone a week, but they made mistakes that you wouldn’t have.  I’m… glad you’re back, and I don’t doubt your intentions.  I will respect our deal, and I won’t start stinting on my responsibilities.”

Silvia asked, “Cybele?”

She sighed, “She will be missed, but I understand why she had to leave.  One of my best friends in this life to date, but as far as our training goes no one is irreplaceable.  We’ve already decided to continue to delve as three until that happens, we’ll just be tackling one of the easier A-class paths, instead of the hardest, to make up the difference.  We still have all of the spheres covered.  Still worth it to have you back.”

Silvia asked, “Do you have any questions?  Feel free to ask them, but only when we are alone and behind my magic.  Caldin and I spoke freely behind shields at least once a month, call it a perk of the position to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

She understood that to mean about policies, plans, and the town.  Perhaps magic too, but it wasn’t an invitation to dig into Silvia’s personal business.  Despite her curiosity about what happened to her on the old guild world, she knew better than to ask about that.

“I know I have fifty years to go, but I did have a question about your insights into the magi ascension.  The additional changes you made to your body, on top of firming up your channels and chakras to support the more powerful mana over essence.  Specifically, the changes to the brain.  It sounds good on paper, but I wonder if I’d lose who I am in the change.  Would I even be the same person?”

Silvia shook her head, “You’ll be just as you are now, in your judgement and how you see and interact with others, with friends, enemies, and fools.  You are a patient person by nature, recognizing the fools and the foolish around you, without it overly influencing or frustrating you.  If anything, it will solidify who you are now, so as the centuries start to drag on your mind it will guard against it changing you and preserve your sanity.  You’re right that the change would effect some wrong, but this one was practically designed for your personality, as I was much the same at your age.

“The second change will merely enhance your ability to retain your magical and martial skills, as well as your combat reflex and vigilance, without constant practice.  As the years pass, and you learn more and more spells into the twenties and thirties, and hundreds of iterations of those spells, you’ll hit a natural limit otherwise.  There are only so many hours in the day to practice in order to retain, but with this change that will become unnecessary, as your skills and spells won’t atrophy, and you can focus on learning new things with far less time invested.  An hour or two a day to cultivate and learn.

“I was actually a fairly young magi when I ascended to ethereal, just shy of two hundred years when we arrived on this world, yet very few of even the oldest magi on my world of birth could match my breadth of spells because of those changes.  It will also not so incidentally, increase your chances at successfully learning and successfully ascending to Ethereal, due to being able to remember flawlessly and easily the complicated spell needed and using a great many glyphs.  Around a hundred glyphs and unified concepts, over two thousand separate concepts within them to define your new body and existence.  Get even one wrong, and you will fail.

“All good things, but in the end merely beneficial side effects of the true intent behind the changes and why I discovered them.  Both changes above the basic ones required for magi are designed to avoid the mental instability due to simply living longer than we are meant to as mortal beings, which is why most magi never attain ethereal status, even more so than politics and competition.  I believe you can already see it, at A-class.  Some simply lose the will to retain their ambition, as the years of effort drag on, with miniscule rewards slowly building up, as they lose friends to time, death, and battle.”

She kind of did, and she wondered if it wasn’t already starting with her, just a little bit, as she neared her fifth decade of life.  She’d be close to a hundred when she perfected her body and could ascend to magi.  But already, she wondered, because of her anger at the recent foolishness, her usual patience failing her in that one instance.  Perhaps time would dull her usual patience with fools and foolishness, to accept that most people weren’t like her at all and… just accept things she couldn’t change in others.

She could see how that could unbalance a mind and make people arrogant and snappish.  While Silvia was just… Zen, about almost everything and everyone.  Without compromising her ability to act out against true threats and enemies.  That didn’t mean life’s hardships and tragedies wouldn’t impact Silvia either, just that her natural ability to accept it and bounce back from it wasn’t dulled by time.  It wouldn’t make life easy or Pollyanna, but it would prevent it from becoming unbearable.

She decided then, that she’d be following in Silvia’s footsteps, to preserve her nature against the ravages of time, not to change it to something else.  Seen from that angle, it wasn’t so much changing her nature, as bolstering it by upgrading the body that housed it.  She’d still be herself.  Plus, the other benefits, she’d be far more powerful in time than she would if she didn’t, which lined up with her ambitions.

Silvia waved, “In the end it’s up to you. I’ll only ever offer advice and my insights, but it is your ambition and responsibility in the end.  No one can do it for you or make the decision in your stead.”

She smiled, “I understand.  Thank you, Ethereal.  If I might ask one more question tonight, our enemies?”

Silvia nodded, “Nia did a good job rooting them out.  It would’ve set them back for years, but now that threat is gone for good, unless someone else picks up the same idea and weapon.  Or tries to.  I’m less worried about that than the aftermath and the perceptions of the governments of this world, and what foolishness that might lead to.  This incident will follow us for a while, but in the end, it will only set my plans back a generation, maybe two, before we’re accepted as a permanent part of the landscape.”

She asked, “Anything else for me?”

Silvia shook her head, “You’re doing well, don’t change a thing.”

Silvia dropped the magic, and she took that as a sign their conversation was over and as a dismissal.

She stood slowly, and headed home, both thoughtful and feeling positive.  What she’d learned did make a difference, all she had to do was endure the next fifty years.  After the changes at her magi ascension, she wouldn’t have to wonder if she’d lose her nerve or ambition ever again.

Silvia

“I wondered when you’d drop by,” Silvia smiled, then rose high enough off the chair to kneel.

Cleo smiled back, “A bit bumpy, but you handled that well enough.  Try to enjoy the next five centuries, keep learning and exploring your new existence.  As for your first lesson as my mentee, me standing here before you should be sufficient.”

Silvia tilted her head, and decided it was an invitation of sorts.  She reached out and studied the goddess with all her senses, both the mortal ones she’d preserved in her new existence as well as the new ones she held as a being of mana and energy.

At Magi she hadn’t been able to feel anything from the goddess, but she picked up quite a bit from Cleo in her new multi-dimensional lifeform.  She could sense her power, and where it sprung from, but she didn’t understand it at all.  Still, it was a clue, and a place to start, studying that power and the source of it even as she advanced her own current mana driven existence would now be her ambition.

Power… was the best she could do to describe it.  It wasn’t mana, magic, or even anything she’d consider to be energy.  It was… a force perhaps, but not that either.  Whatever it was, it wasn’t a part of science or magic, it wasn’t something inherent in the multiverse at all.  It was separate from it, above it.

She could touch that place now that she understood it was there, but she couldn’t really interact with it at all.  As for the goddess’s body, if it wasn’t for her godly aura then she’d have sworn that Cleo was human.  Flesh and blood, if perfected and invulnerable, even more incorruptible than a magi’s body which had been perfected by magic.

It was a start.  Her first step on a new path, even as she would continue to pursue full understanding of the old. 

That fact wasn’t frustrating at all.  She had all the time in the universe to figure it out.  She wouldn’t tarry, but neither would she grow impatient, even if it took tens of millennia, she would one day ascend.

She was sure of it.

Epilogue

Tenenbaum

He raged, and Silvia would pay for her duplicity, and Nia and Vera would heartily regret taking that traitor’s side and remaining on the new world.  It’d been two weeks since the four had returned and all connections to the new world had been severed by that traitor.

Except of course, the one that he’d put in place.  He hadn’t left the castle in millennia, there was no point, as his mind and power could go anywhere on the planet whenever he wished.  But he had sent an elemental through the gate with Nia, Vera, and that dead fool Carver.  An elemental that he could find on any world, in any universe.  He suspected the traitor had used a similar trick to find the new world once again, for he knew she hadn’t left any beacons in his world.  He'd have felt it if she had.

It’d taken two weeks to prepare for his assault, though his sisters would stay behind and argued against it, he couldn’t let the slight go.  She would be torn apart for her crimes, slowly, and she was far too weak to challenge or threaten him.  There was no danger to his reckoning.

Creating the gateway and enchanting the glyph spells had been the least of his preparations, and the effort of mere moments for a being of is power, but he’d also needed to find another magi willing to take over there under the guild’s authority and at his behest.  Two other rulers as well, at A-class.  He’d been angry, and tempted to force it, but given the independence the magi would enjoy from close supervision, he’d bit his tongue and exercised some patience, waited for a volunteer to step up.

Then there’d been paperwork delays, and even he in his vaunted powers was helpless against the guild’s red tape at times.

But now everything was prepared, and he forcefully slammed mana into the gateway, and the shimmering field of white appeared inside the archway, then cleared to show a field beyond.

“Go,” he ordered, shortly.

The magi and two A-class walked through, and he followed them.  He could practically taste Silvia’s screams already, as he tore her body apart in his mind.  Soon, it would be happening for real, and he would savor the moment.

Then his existence froze, and a woman stood before him.  She was young and quite fetching, but he was enraged and struck out.

Except, nothing happened, nothing at all.  It wasn’t that his power had no effect, his power hadn’t answered his call to action at all.

He started to feel fear for the first time in millennia, as he realized his mistake in his arrogance.  Gods were dangerous, and while the ones of his world were fine with the council’s rule of it as long as they didn’t seek ascension, many gods were insane and could be vindictive.

The goddess before him however, didn’t look insane or unbalanced, just really angry.

The magi and two A-class were frozen as well, statues.

“Fool,” she said softly, “have you forgotten, that the multiverse is a dangerous place.  I mean, that’s why you banish all the other Ethereals, right?  Because chances are they’ll meet a sticky end if they picked the wrong universe to move to.  I chose Silvia to lead the guild in this place, on my world.  The world I love, the world that I created under the auspices of the creator of this universe.  I cannot interfere with these mortals,” she waved her hand at the others, “But you are an immortal creature, and there are no such rules to protect your free will.  You should’ve stayed home, and been content with your own world, where you lived under the sufferance of other gods.”

Then, his world ended.  The magic that supported his existence, that was his existence, simply ceased to exist.  Unimaginable power to destroy whole worlds, gone in an instant, and without effort.  That was the power of the gods, and the greatest risk to an Ethereal’s existence.  On being on both the top of the mortal food chain, and on the bottom of the gods.

Or… not ended.  His world merely changed since he was still aware.  He wasn’t quite sure whether he was angrier about his life being taken, or happy that the goddess had spared his soul’s destruction, as he was pulled away to the next phase of existence.

Cleo sighed.  Idiots.  She disappeared quickly, as she sensed Silvia coming, who had no doubt felt the activation of this gateway.  She might not be able to do anything to the guild magi and two A-class, but she had great confidence Silvia knew exactly what to do with both them and the gateway.  The next time Silvia closed the path between the two worlds, it would stay closed.

Maybe it would all turn out how she intended from the beginning, after all…

Afterword:

I hope you enjoyed this story, if you did, please leave a review.  Reviews are the lifeblood of independent authors, and I would greatly appreciate any constructive feedback or opinions.

This was the second book of a trilogy.  There’s more to come for Cora, Jia, and the others, perhaps their greatest challenge yet.

This series is something that’s been cooking in my head for a long time.  I’ve written stories about someone from our world going to a magical one, and the idea is a pretty cemented one in literature now, so much so it is an accepted subgenre.  It’s also one of my favorite kind of stories to write.  For a couple of years, I’ve been wanting to write a series that flipped that concept upside down, someone from a magical world coming to our mundane non-magical world.  The only problem with that is the idea only works for a fish out of water comedy, or maybe an anti-hero that governments the world over hunt, which has been done endlessly in other ways and isn’t my style anyway.  In the past I’ve just dismissed the inclination, none of the plots I’d come up with to support that base concept seemed worthy to write.

That’s when I came up with the idea of a dungeon and its town being transported here instead of a single individual with magic.  Instead of the newcomers having to adjust to a life on our Earth, it suddenly became about our Earth adjusting to the presence of the invader too powerful to control or destroy.

I’m pretty satisfied with how things are going so far.  I hope all of you are too.

About the Author:  If you have any comments or suggestions you can send me an email at dlharrisonauthor@gmail.com  If you like my work, or even if you don’t, please consider leaving a review of this book.  I can also be found at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7456808.D_L_Harrison

Other books by D. L. Harrison:

http://www.amazon.com/author/dlharrison

The Formerly Dark Mage, by D. L. Harrison – This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Silvia and takes place in a world unique and separate to our own. 

Silvia is a dark mage. Unfortunately, she finds herself about to be sacrificed. Someone must have told her evil master about her plans to kill him and take over.  After that, things just seem to go downhill. She has no choice but to escape the kingdom of Zual, something that to her knowledge has never been done before. She will need to deal with many issues she never had to face before.

Among those issues, the white mages, and her conscience.

The Rise of a Dark Mage - This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Cassandra, it takes place in the same world as The Formerly Dark Mage, but happens three hundred years later, long after Silvia is gone and some shocking changes have taken place in the world.

Cassandra is a dark mage in the kingdom of Zual, she’s also a mage prodigy.

She hates both her kingdom, and her master.  She wants him dead, not to take his place, but so she can leave and explore the world.  Her ambition will drive her to rediscover the secrets of the strongest of magic.

She is determined to succeed, or she’ll die trying.

Celia Winters Novel Series

Witch’s Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 1

Celia Winters was raised by her single mother, and her earliest memories are of the store her mother owns and the nearby coven, who have always been her family’s close allies and friends.

She grew up believing her magic was weak, but she was satisfied with her life, and happy.  She was a midwife, healer, and supplier of surrounding covens. 

Then her mother died, and she’s about to discover she isn’t who, or what, she believes herself to be, not completely.  She will learn that her entire life up until now was a lie.  She’ll need to figure out her place, who she is when she no longer recognizes herself, and try to hold on to her closest friends as she gathers enemies for the simple crime of her existence.

She’s stronger than she believes, but will it be enough?

Power of Air Series:

Just a Psychic: The Power of Air Book One starts off this series.

Ben has grown up with missing memories of his early childhood.

He has known he was a psychic since his earliest memories, seeing the future and gaining knowledge with his gifts.

Is it possible he isn't just a psychic?

Ben's world is about to be turned upside down as he turns twenty-one, all is not as it seems.

Alicia Jones novels is a series that follows a bright young inventor and scientist named Alicia Jones.  It is a space opera and light science fiction.

The first book is titled First Contact:

Alicia Jones is a genius, and a little odd.  At just twenty-three years of age, she is close to finishing her doctoral dissertation.  But when she tests her latest theory in the lab to generate a strong EM field, it has very unanticipated results.  Results that lead to faster than light travel, and first contact with another race.

Her life just gets more complicated after that, when she finds out who she really is, and that the universe may not be as nice a place as she’d been told.  Her determination to help keep Earth safe takes her to places more dangerous and strange than she’d ever envisioned.

Spirit Sorceress series, by D. L. Harrison is a new urban fantasy series.  Miku is a spirit sorceress who spent the last one hundred years growing up and learning about her power in the forests near Seattle Washington.  She’s about to make her debut in the big city, but not in a way she ever expected.

The first book is titled Spirit Sorceress:

Miku is a spirit sorceress who spent her unusually long childhood in the forest away from the city with her mother and father.  After tragedy strikes, she finds herself alone and on her own.  She knows that one day she’ll need to move to Seattle, and fully accept her birthright, and if necessary finish her training on her own.

But before she’s ready, and still in grieving, a rogue vampire and his band come along and change everything.  She’ll need to learn her new place in the world, and find some allies quick if she’s to survive.

Katrina Baker Novels, by D. L. Harrison is a new series about a super named Katrina Baker.  Problem is, she gets caught up in her mother’s plan, who is a mad scientist and supervillain, and gets herself transported to another world in the multi-verse.  A world where mages, witches, clerics, and the gods are real.  Not to mention the monsters…

The first book is titled Banished:

Katrina baker is a super.  She has mental abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, and others.  Her parents are supervillains, and she isn’t all that sure she’s cut out for that line of work.  Her empathy with others through her power makes it hard to be uncaring, much less mean or evil to people.  Problem is, the last thing she wants to do is disappoint mom and dad.

Katrina gets caught up in her mother’s supervillain plot to get rid the world of the indestructible hero Omega, and that’s when it all goes really wrong, and she finds herself on another world. 

Banished.

Will she be able to find her way back home, or even understand this new world of gods and magic, or will she die trying?

Rise of the Empyrean Empire – This series is space opera / science fiction.  Space, technology, other worlds, aggressive and far more powerful aliens, artificial intelligence, evolution, and advances to the point humanity doesn’t have to work to maintain infrastructure. 

The first book is titled: Scout Ship

Michael Williams followed in his father’s footsteps, and joined the UEDF, the United Earth Defense Force, when he turned eighteen.  Due to heroism and long distinguished service he’s elevated to the rank of Lt. Commander when most of his peers have just attained senior lieutenant.  His career appears to be going very well.

The year is 2263, and the UEDF is in several star systems in a twenty-light year radius from earth, but are expanding even further.  He’s assigned to a one year exploratory mission to become accustomed to his new rank, one that will finally culminate in reaching a new star system, 61-Virginis is just short of twenty-eight light years away, and he’s excited to be one of the first humans in a new solar system as they finish the race across the void between stars in the scout ship Columbus.

There will be challenges he never imagined though, especially not on a simple survey mission.  Because mankind always thought they were alone in the stars.  They’re about to find out they’re wrong, very wrong…

Book Description

It’s been twenty years since Cora arrived on a new world with no memories.  She’s had to work hard to rebuild her dungeon, with Amethyst’s help, but she’s about to face some serious challenges.  Threats, betrayals, and of course the pain of simply growing up to be a full-grown dungeon.  An ethereal dungeon.

Jia was a genetics researcher, among other things, but now she’s an A-class adventurer with twenty years of experience.  Life is about to give her another of those unique opportunities, as the older adventurers return to their old world, and Silvia is gone for a while, it might just be up to her as the new town administrator to make sure everything they’ve accomplished and fought for doesn’t get torn down.

The magi the guild sends as a temporary ruler won’t be making that job any easier.

Caldin is ready to go home, retire as a guild officer, and just get back to adventuring on his world of birth which is his only ambition.  He’ll just need to navigate the dangers of guild island first, and the politics and backbiting of the arrogant magi.  Not an easy task, as he does his best not to earn enemies.

Silvia’s promised word to a goddess is about to bite her in the backside, and she isn’t nearly the match she’d believed she’d be to the council, when she ascends to Ethereal herself.  It was going to take subtlety, sneakiness, and underhandedness if she was going to navigate the dangers and survive to return to the Earth.

Author’s note:  The dungeon is written in first person, while all others are in third person limited POV.  Jia and Caldin have large parts in the book, as it’s written from their three points of view for the most part, but there are a few other small parts for diverse others.  This is the second book of a trilogy.