James immediately modified his deck.

  James had almost expected the system to prevent him from applying Rarity Boost

  He didn’t think Cleanse

  Speaking of which, he checked the system time and found he only had twenty minutes to go on his Random Drake (Common) essence card from his Craft - Consume Essence

  He dropped out of Commander Space.

  The others were just returning now, chest carried by the handles.

  Ken saw that James was done and touched the main part of the chest.

  [Party chat:– Gold x 200

  – Ring (Unidentified)

  – Regalia piece (Common)

  The system was at it again. He just got ‘Identify’

  “I think that Ring is meant for me, seeing as I just got a basic Identify card.”

  Janine looked at Ken and James then said. “I’m not sure which of you is worse. I’ve never gotten loot that was perfectly suited to my needs.”

  Ken divided up the gold amongst the three of them again, letting James have the Ring, taking the Regalia piece for himself as usual.

  James pulled out the newly minted Identify card and identified the ring.

  Item:

  ? Effect: This ring will bind to anyone wearing it. All attempts, including dismemberment, will result in damage being redirected to another part of the wearer. -1 to all stats.Aspects: Curse.

  James immediately dropped the ring.

  “Cursed!”

  Nathan strode over. “Cursed items if handled carefully can be a boon when dealing with miscreants. What’s the curse?”

  James relayed the details out loud.

  “Permanent, and devastating low levels. Still, with the Guild there’s usually someone who can deal with this. It’s a Dungeon lesson. Don’t assume everything you get is good. Identify is far more common than curse removal, so when items are unidentified, teams will often pocket them for later. It should have been in your Bronze guide,” Janine finished up with.

  Note to self: Read the Bronze guide.

  James took out his backpack and pouch, inverted the pouch and carefully picked up the ring through the cloth. He then righted the pouch again, tightened the drawstring, put it back in the backpack and stored it away.

  “Why are you keeping it?” Edward asked.

  “The item has the aspect of ‘Curse’. I’ve just unlocked gear crafting. Who knows if I’ll be able to use it someday.”

  Janine frowned. “You should be more careful with sharing your level up unlocks. If word got around, some Noble may lock you away as a personal crafter.”

  No one looked at Nathan.

  “I need another minute.”

  With that he unsummoned Charlie and drew him into Commander’s Space with him.

  Squire popped in as well, likely curious.

  “Hey boy. I got something new and potentially powerful.”

  Charlie barked and his tail wagged enthusiastically.

  Squire chirped and gave a deeper growl, aspect showing through.

  “Squire! You are still going through the last time I picked you for an upgrade. Let Charlie have a turn.”

  She backed down but watched with curiosity.

  James gestured and Charlie’s card flew over.

  “This will increase the rarity of your summons. Are you ready to try it?”

  Charlie gave another bark of confirmation.

  With a deep breath James summoned Charlie.

  Play Card – Charlie (Common)

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  - Enhancement slot: +1 Rarity Boost

  - Trigger slot: On Attack → Balanced Boost

  - Commander Passive: +3 All Stats

  Effect: Charlie Summoned. Status: Rarity is temporarily Uncommon. Beast and Canine aspects increased by one rarity tier.

  Charlie’s bronze embroidered Common card unfolded slowly this time. Once it was full size the usual diamond film shimmered into existence. Next, the Gold film merged with the diamond, with golden tendrils weaving through the card itself, overwriting the bronze embroidery entirely while adding beautiful flourishes. ‘On-Attack’ trigger runes floated in that film, ready to attach to Charlie when he passed through.

  The upgraded frame finished its embellishments.

  Briefly James saw Charlie twice.

  One was the normal Charlie being scooped up by the new frame. The other was Charlie as seen through it. There was a transitional moment when the two met and his eyes as if the 3D image was out of focus, then the new and improved Charlie snapped into focus.

  Charlie (Dire Hound)

  Category: Rarity: Aspects: Slots Required: Abilities: Traits: Size: Weight: Level Requirement: Uses Remaining: Available Slots:

  Bond Passive granted to Commander James:

  While Summoned – “Aura of the Dire Hound”

  +2 Might

  +2 Endurance

  +2 Mind

  +2 Will

  Fear Resistance:

  Charlie was now the size of his Greyfang Alpha-Wolf, but with his tough hide and steel claws he would be devastating on the field. His snout was longer now, muscles bulged, and ridges of fur ran down his spine. Those claws looked nasty.

  He created a mirror for Charlie to look at. It was far harder than he expected, spikes of pain shooting up behind his eyes. He felt strain holding it together, but let it stay long enough for Charlie to see.

  Charlie stared at the reflection for a long moment before it seemed to click that he was looking at himself.

  He barked and it was a deeper, intimidating growl of a bark.

  Squire gave a roar back.

  James roared too. It felt good.

  They were ready.

  James dropped out of Commander’s Space, Bonds in tow.

  Everyone gasped in astonishment when Charlie came out.

  Shock turned to good natured petting.

  Squire, not to be left out, climbed into James’s hands for patting.

  James took out some meat and threw it to Charlie whose massive jaws tore it apart.

  Not to be outshone, Squire also demanded some meat, got it, and then ravaged it with much smaller, draconic like jaws. James thought he saw a small puff of smoke as well, but may have been imagining it.

  He took out some meat for Vern, but like always she needed to be commanded to eat it.

  The meat was fresh and apparently prepared, thanks to crafting, but he wished it were cooked.

  Not that he was particularly hungry.

  “If you are done…” Ken prompted.

  “Sorry, yes, let’s go.”

  It was only then that James noticed the other pieces of Ken’s Regalia.

  It was jewelry, a golden chain necklace and ring. When he looked close, he saw three tiny cards embedded into the ring.

  “Congratulations Ken! Looking forward to seeing what they do.”

  Ken gave him a moment's exasperated look before smiling.

  He still didn’t say what they did.

  They headed down to the next floor, this time Nathan and Janine had their weapons at the ready.

  Janine was the one to step into the room this time, warily. From her behaviour something was wrong.

  Nathan and the rest of us followed.

  There was not much to see. The roof raised upwards towards two massive embossed wooden doors. Two massive wrought iron ring pulls hung on each door at head height.

  James had spent some time playing Dungeons and Dragons and at the sight of the closed door, he knew they were in trouble.

  “Normally there’s metal soldiers, basically full sets of animated armour, at this door and it’s open.” Janine said. “This dungeon level has not been reset, so be on your guard. The soldiers obey the king who normally sits on his throne. The key is the crown that sits on the king's helm. Whoever wears it is considered the king.”

  Play Card - Dung Beetle

  - Enhancement Slot: Imprint (Thornhide)

  - Commander Passive: +3 All Stats

  Effect:

  “What are you doing?” Edward asked.

  The Dung beetle stunk still, so it was a fair question.

  “Give me a minute.”

  He mentally commanded the Dung Beetle to attack the door with spines.

  A wave of spines shot out and embedded themselves into the door. No reaction.

  He mentally commanded the Dung Beetle to push on the door.

  It wasn’t very fast but did as commanded and pushed on the door. When nothing happened James’s sense of despair deepened.

  He cancelled the command.

  “We may have to burn down the door.”

  Exasperated, Edward walked over and pulled on both of the wrought iron rings. It opened towards them. He didn’t even dodge to one side as it opened.

  James tensed, cards ready.

  The doors opened onto a large audience chamber, with a throne on the dais. James took it all in at once.

  Metal soldiers lined the wall, halberds in salute position. A cage with a dirty, blood matted, collared Samoyed dog was to the side of the dais. There was a throne in the middle of a raised dais.

  Sitting on the throne, crossbow leveled was someone wearing guild leathers.

  Janine shouted “It’s Marcus!”

  There was a click and twang as the crossbow bolt released.

  A moment later Edward fell to the floor, blood spraying from his neck.

  Ken’s staff glowed and two pulses of healing shot out to Edward.

  The bolt had passed right through his throat. Without near-instant healing Edward would have been dead in no time.

  “He has the crown. The soldiers…” Janine started.

  “Will obey me”, Marcus finished. “Attack!”

  James mentally commanded the Dung Beetle to attack.

  Spines flew out striking Marcus where he sat. Due to the armour they did practically nothing.

  Charlie let out a roar and made to spring forward in an attack. James called him back. Not yet.

  Metal soldiers moved towards them in a wave.

  Nathan and Janine met them, weapons clashing.

  Play Card:Greyfang Alpha-Wolf -

  Play Card:Iron-Hide Boar -

  Play Card:Giant Worker Bee

  He went to summon a crawler beetle but it had greyed out.

  He commanded the Iron-Hide Boar to charge the guards. Iron Charge

  Greyfang Alpha-Wolf followed up on one of the downed guards, pinning it and swiping at the helm.

  Charlie leapt into the air, landing on the other downed guard, steel claws penetrating through the armour and deep into where their chest would be.

  His Giant Worker Bee flew at Marcus, who dropped his crossbow and swiped at it with a pair of daggers.

  All of this he’d set up so that Squire could dash through the chaos at triple speed and attempt to knock the crown off Marcus’s head.

  Marcus wasn’t so easily defeated though. His daggers found their target, killing the Giant Worker Bee.

  System Notice – Giant Worker Bee Defeated. Card Lost.

  Squire was nearly on him when Marcus played a card that had an immediate effect, stopping Squire in her tracks.

  Squire, Charlie, Vern, and the Samoyed in the cage all fell down, yelping as if something was attacking them.

  James checked on Squire via Bonded Echo. She wasn’t using real words of course, but that’s how he would phrase the emotions that came through.

  “Marcus is using a sound-based attack” he called out.

  Janine and Nathan were fighting three guards each and slowly winning, but couldn’t immediately help.

  Marcus took a step towards the now immobilized form of Squire on the ground.

  His Death-marked summons were either unaffected or fighting through the pain.

  The Iron-Hide Boar, having turned fully around, came charging back in.

  Marcus saw it coming and dodged enough to only take a glancing blow. Still, it knocked him away.

  That’s when Ken entered the fray, staff raised very high.

  Two lightbolts flew over the heads of the armoured guards, angling down into Marcus. The damage couldn’t have been that much but the effect! Marcus’s whole body convulsed and he dropped to the ground.

  Suddenly all the animals were free from whatever spell was hurting them.

  Squire was the first to recover, zipping to Marcus and grabbing the crown off his head before he could recover.

  The guards stopped attacking the moment the crown was off. Three had their armour ripped apart showing nothing underneath.

  Charlie was pouncing a moment later. Steel claws came down on Marcus’s head and he was no more.

  Squire ran the crown over to James. He picked it up.

  Item:

  The armoured guards returned to their positions against the walls. Two moved to stand outside the entrance. The scattered armour didn’t re-animate.

  He handed the crown to Janine.

  “It’s unidentified and my Identify

  Janine took the crown, but also didn’t put it on. “There’s no need. Once the King is defeated this level is defeated. Marcus already defeated this level otherwise the system would be giving us notices.”

  Ken walked over to the cage.

  The Samoyed looked on with intelligent eyes.

  “This is Vern, the real Vern. I need to free her”

  Everyone stood back, letting Ken have this.

  The cage was locked. Ken searched Marcus for keys, found them, and unlocked the cage.

  Ken threw a double heal on the Samoyed.

  She still limped out and raised her head to Ken, showing the lock on the collar.

  Marcus’s key ring contained a tiny key that fit. Ken turned it and the collar fell off. The Samoyed walked over to Vern and touched her head to the leathery skin.

  There was a bright flash of light and Vern rose off her haunches, stretching.

  Quest: Free Vern - Completed.

  Bond progress - Vern - lost.

  A croaking sound came out of the Wyverns mouth. Another bright light flashed and the Wyvern was no longer there.

  Instead, a young looking girl of maybe sixteen stood. She was scaled from head to foot. Another flash and she was wearing a robe.

  “Oh, that’s much better. Thank you heroes for rescuing me. Do you have any water? I need to wash the taste of meat out of my mouth.” Her voice was almost harmonic, if a little scratchy.

  For once, James was completely lost for words.