Edward put a hand on James’s shoulder.

  “It’s okay James. We got lucky.”

  “What! She made off with the contents of a Legendary Chest!”

  “Yes, she did. Twill, the party killer, daughter of Mara the Dragon Queen has finally finished her quest and will leave us alone.”

  What!

  “We’ve had peace for some time now, and apparently owed Marcus and Darneath for it. I have no idea how they managed it. There’s a related quest that was taken down after Twill disappeared. I’m sure the guild will honour it. Should be all the guild reputation I need too!”

  It still felt like a hollow consolation prize.

  Ken donned a look of amazement.

  “My seer’s quest is completed,” he said robotically.

  James got to his feet again, shaking off his feelings. “Congratulations!”

  “There’s more,” Ken said, again robotically.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “I… I got this.” Ken pulled out an Orange rimmed book. “It’s a legendary growth item”.

  Edward gasped in astonishment.

  Ken looked at James. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you about the Regalia set but I wasn’t revealing anything that I didn’t have to in front of Twill.”

  “That’s okay Ken, I understand. I wish you had been able to warn me in some way though. Maybe via private message?”

  “Couldn’t risk it. Who knows what would set off someone like Twill. She’s said to have done some very gory things for very little reason in the past.”

  “What about Janine and Nathan though?”

  Edward piped up on that. “Janine did an assessment, like we did. Abandoning the party, now that Twill was free and back to full power, may have meant any number of deaths. If she was upset enough, she may have even called on her family. Any number of innocent lives would have been lost.”

  The silence stretched, until Ken interrupted it.

  “This book… does so much. The least of which is that it counts as a set piece for all sets.” Ken started. “Every day I can read the book and either keep the same spell, or swap it out for a new one. There’s more to unlock too. If you ever get a seers quest, do it!”

  “And your sister is able to give them out?”

  “Maybe. It doesn’t really work like that or she would be hounded. I’m her first. So I don’t know, maybe.” Ken said, though he was clearly distracted, reading through system prompts.

  “Do you think we could complete level 9 without Twill?”

  “I have no idea. I doubt that there’s a restaurant and place we can rest for the night though. She just needed to get to this point,” Edward said, with a bit of anger in his voice.

  “What’s stopping us from starting again and doing this with others, getting the legendary reward?”

  “I’m guessing it’s also the first clear bonus thing. Or maybe if you know about it beforehand you can’t, and Twill had some sort of way to prevent that from counting for her. Given her mother, I wouldn't be surprised.” Edward suggested.

  “Do you know what’s next in the Dungeon?”

  “No James. Clearing it is a requirement for the competition, so it’s considered bad form to share that information. It may actually be related to the chest we just missed out on too.”

  “Why didn’t Ken get to choose who got what from the chest?”

  “I got a system notice indicating that the ‘Thief of Fate’ card had been used," Ken said, coming out of his trance.

  “Oh, never heard of it? Well…” Ken gestured at the spot the chest had been.

  James sat on the steps.

  “What do we do then? Can we at least go to the next floor, claim the Epic random reward and leave? How do we leave by the way?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m not leaving.” Edward said, confidence returning to his voice. “We will just have to be more careful. We don’t know if we can even start the normal dungeon again now that you’ve converted it… sorry, the system converted it due to your presence.”

  “Well, I have two cloaks that I'm crafting right now that will help. It will take about three hours though, and these stairs aren’t going to be the best place to rest.”

  James looked back into the room they’d come from. “We could go back in there and rest?”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “No, for all we know that’s how we give up and leave the dungeon.” Edward said.

  James looked at the stairs again. They were not wide enough to lie down on. You could likely sit and nod off, but sleep, not likely. The nook the chest had been in wasn’t quite big enough either.

  He had had a look at his inventory.

  There was a lot of horse meat, but little else. He’d really put a lot into crafting. He may have been able to stack the leather if he hadn’t.

  “Can you give me a few minutes?”

  They nodded.

  James sat, and leant against Charlie slightly. He understood and stayed where he was, even though it was a bit awkward.

  He dropped into his Commander’s Space with its comforting white noise and proceeded to prepare his deck.

  He felt almost sick seeing nothing else he could enhance, then his eyes glanced at his first card ever. Tiny Spider… Okay then.

  James was banking on the chance of the poison effect being stronger than anything else.

  He dropped back out again.

  Okay, let’s get as comfortable as we can then.

  Ken looked happy about that as he got out his book and started reading through it.

  Edward decided that this would be a good chance to show James how to fight on stairs.

  Three hours later James was much better at fighting on stairs with a sword. Unfortunately that was not saying much. Oh, compared to before the system he was amazing. That was the benefit of stats though.

  System Notice - Item: Silken Cloak of the Wilds (Uncommon) completed.

  James pulled the cloaks out.

  The cloak was light, flexible, and matte in texture, woven from reinforced spider silk. Crocodile leather panels reinforced the shoulders and back, giving it a subtle scale-like pattern without adding weight. A deep green lining helped it blend into low light and foliage. Despite its softness, the fabric felt durable, made for quiet movement and survival outdoors.

  He handed one over to Edward.

  Ken didn’t even look up.

  He then clasped the other one around his shoulders. The stat boost felt better this time, perhaps due to crafting it himself.

  He inspected it and found a small crafter's bonus.

  Item: Silken Cloak of the Wilds (Uncommon)

  Category:Aspects:

  Effects:

  

• Silent Movement (Uncommon):
• Camouflage (Forest/Neutral):
• Temperature Dampening:

  Traits:

  

• Croc-Reinforced Weave (Uncommon):slashingpiercing

  Stat Bonuses:

  

• Might:
• Agility:
• Endurance:
• Mind:
• Perception:
• Will:
• Presence:

  Crafter:Crafter Bonus Effect:

  Level Requirement:

  James checked his stat increase totals.

  

• Might:
• Agility:
• Endurance:
• Mind:
• Perception:
• Will:
• Presence:

  The numbers showed what he already knew. He was no longer a pawn.

  James took his sword belt and pinned it in place. He took out his bone shield and strapped it to his upper arm. It was time he got his hands dirty.

  Edward attached the cloak and gave him a grin, hefting his warhammer.

  Ken pulled a card out of the book before attaching it to his waist on a golden chain. “I’ve chosen the fireball spellcard for now.”

  “Oh wow!” James and Edward spoke at the same time.

  “By the way what is your set bonus,” James asked, no longer caring about etiquette.

  “My set bonus empowers my damaging spells with shock damage. There’s a chance, relative to my level discrepancy, to stun an opponent for 3 seconds. It also interrupts any active abilities.”

  “So that’s how you stopped Marcus!”

  Ken nodded smugly. It was a good look on him.

  They moved down the stairs and this time James took the lead, Charlie beside him, Squire on his shoulder.

  As soon as his foot hit the stone floor a wave of sounds, heat, and smells assaulted his senses.

  Cheering like from a large crowd arose, but in the background, muffled by stone walls. There was a short passage to ahead that opened out to rows of seating, facing away from where he was now. They seemed to descend out of sight.

  He moved out of the way so everyone was in the passage and then the notification triggered.

  Quest 8: Reach Dungeon Level 9 - Completed.

  Reward: 300 gold.

  Random Epic reward available. Option to pass on reward for a better one next level.

  Do you want to pass or collect a reward?

  Trait Activated – Wait—NO!

  Effect:

  This time the Wait—NO! Prompt appeared so fast he didn’t have a chance to say yes.

  He had to admit to himself though that the prompt wasn’t taking away his choice, it was just choosing based on what he desired. His mind was essentially not allowed to get in the way.

  It seemed he wasn’t alone though as none of the others had a shiny new Epic reward.

  They walked cautiously out of the passage and was greeted by a short haired waitress, given the tray with drinks in her hand.

  “Hi there! From the look of bewilderment you must be fresh adventurers? First time at the Arena of Prax?”

  Edward and Ken both grinned.

  Edward responded “Yes, but I’ve heard all about it from my family. The sod’s never told me it was part of this Dungeon trial.”

  “James, you can relax. It would seem Twill actually told the truth. We can enjoy a meal, watch a fight, and sleep here for the night, though maybe not in that order.” Edward seemed to be in a fantastic mood.

  “That’s correct!,” The waitress announced. “And the first drink is always free”. With that she held the tray out and they all took Steins of mead.

  There’s also a tournament about to start, likely due to your arrival if you said you got here as part of a Dungeon run.

  “If you want to get to level ten, you will need to enter, singly, or as a team, your choice. Sign up is tomorrow. Tonight, enjoy yourselves.”