While they continued walking across the sand-filled landscape Pandora pulled up her Personal Information and checked her Earned XP. She had 30 XP for the Hunter Scorpion from when she first arrived. 40 XP for the two worms she’d killed and 916 XP for the Sandworm Matriarch. Additionally, the sandworms that had been killed by the Orb before it attacked the Matriarch had each given her 5 XP. That all added up to 996 XP. she’d been a lot closer to level 2 than she’d thought.

  Pandora was startled from her thoughts when Robert, who was walking just ahead of her asked, “What ’cha thinking about Pandora?”

  “I was just reviewing my information to see how close to level 2 I am,” she said.

  “So how close are you? Pythias, who was walking behind her, asked.

  “I’m at 996 XP.”

  The whole party groaned. Asling, who was bringing up the rear commented, “That sucks,”

  “Why didn’t you get full XP from killing the Matriarch?” Callum asked.

  Pandora could have shied away from answering but every member of the party had worked to save her when she’d fallen. Also, the group had stopped and each of them was looking at her expectantly. She took a deep breath and started to explain, “You all know that I arrived here from somewhere else right?”

  Everyone nodded, though no one spoke up.

  Pandora continued, “While I was in transit the intrinsic rules of this place stripped away my levels and left me at level 1”

  “What level were you?” Cedrik asked.

  “I came into existence at level 671.”

  “Level 671, Pythias said, but, but how?”

  “I do not know how, though I know my mother was far above that level and my father, whom she never met, was even more powerful than her.”

  “Level 671 you say, that would have made your rank Rare”

  “I don’t know about all that, all I know is that when I arrived the journey had removed those levels.”

  “So why do you only get half XP? Callum asked.

  “When I journeyed through the corridor that brought me here something happened and those levels that were stripped from me remained by my side and formed a symbiotic relationship with me.”

  “You have a symbiote?” Pythias asked.

  “I do.”

  “What does it do for you?” Asling asked.

  “As far as I can tell ‘she’s’ tied to my nature and augments me,”

  “She? Callum asked, “How powerful is she?”

  “Her name is Caspa though I think she can only talk to me right now. Caspa absorbed all of my levels that were stripped away.”

  “Are you saying that your symbiote is level 671?” Pythias asked.

  “No, she’s level 670.”

  “And that is why you only get half XP because she is always helping you?” Robert asked.

  “Yes.”

  “But those worms almost tore us apart, if Caspa is level 671, she, I mean, you should have been able to take them apart.”

  “As far as she can tell, I’m just first level with a lot of attributes.

  Callum, looked around, “We should keep moving, everyone back into formation. Pandora, thanks for sharing. You probably have more hit points than all of us. Even so, you be careful when they run into things and use your orbs as much as possible..”

  As everyone made their way back into line Robert asked., “About the orbs, how can use all of them? Normally people can only use the eight Primary elemental orbs and maybe one or two others. You are controlling all of them?”

  “I believe it’s because of my intrinsic nature?”

  “Your intrinsic nature?” Robert asked.

  “Yeah. Each of you has abilities correct?”

  “Everyone can have abilities, yes. Not everyone does. Through my training, I learned that beings can start with up to two, though a majority here start with none. This being a dungeon world though makes it possible for everyone to earn abilities as they advance through their levels.”

  “Does everyone have abilities?” Pandor asked.

  “I have two,” Callum said

  “I have one” Asling said.

  “I have one,” Robert said

  “I have two,” Cedrick said with a smile

  “I have three,” Pythias said, though I only started with two. The third I gained when I chose to become a Cleric.

  “Can we share that knowledge or are they supposed to keep it to ourselves?” Pandora asked.

  “Normally, it’s private though teams usually learn what their other team members can do as they grow closer. Seeing as we survived an encounter and made gains that I have never heard an assessment party making before, I’m all for staying together when we pass the assessment?” Callum said.

  “Don’t you mean when?” Cedrick quipped back

  “I said what she mean,” Callum said as he looked at Cedrick with a steadfast stare.

  “Fine, as all of you helped to save me, I’ll go first, if you want to share you can. I’d appreciate it if you keep what I’m going to tell you private. Unless such knowledge is needed to save my life, please share it with no one.”

  The group looked back and forth up the line, and they all agreed.

  “Okay, as you know, I am from somewhere else. I don’t have a handle on all that yet so I’ll just say it that way. I was born and on that day was able to make out the scent of my father and met her mother.”

  Robert looked like he was about to ask a question before Pythias threw a rock at his back to get his attention as he said, “Let her talk, questions after.”

  “Fine,” Robert sighed reluctantly.

  “My mother imprinted a lot of knowledge into my mind and we were able to walk in a park before the world exploded around us. As the world exploded my mother transformed into her true form, A Shadow Dragon. She was so beautiful as she tucked her into her leathery arms to hold me to her as she wrapped her wings around me for protection. I even felt my father’s presence wrap around both of us as they both tried to protect me. The only emotion I felt at that moment was the love of my parents. A moment later she was ripped from her mother’s grasp,” Pandora said as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She reached up and brushed it away.

  The group had come to a stop and while Asling and Cedrik kept watch around them, they all listened.

  Pandora took a calming breath and continued, “After I arrived here the knowledge my mother implanted in me gave me some information I might need but not nearly as much as my father has. One of his abilities was something called “Perfect Memory” he had other abilities but my mother didn’t tell me about them. She told her about that ability because she warned me not to argue with my father, he never forgets anything. She was worried that because of my rapid growth, I’d be at odds with him because he wasn’t like her. My mother is a shadow dragon and my father was once human but my first ability makes it clear that he no longer is.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “A Shadow Dragon?” they all whispered in unison as they all looked at each other. Pythias was the first to recover from the information and asked, “What is your father now?”

  “I do not know what my father is but my first ability is something called ‘Creature of Chaos.’ The ability states that I am immune to changes that chaos can force on others. If there is a place of pure chaos, I can step into it unafraid. Master Soleran and I talked on the subject of how I came here and he believes that my ability, my nature, is the only thing that allowed me to survive the trip here. The second ability I already told you about, I have a ‘Chaos Symbiote.’”

  “You said you had a symbiote, not a symbiote made out of chaos,” Robert said. He looked thoughtful for a moment then continued, “Though that would make sense. If your nature is that of chaos and the symbiote you carry is also made of chaos then you wouldn’t be limited to any single orbs.”

  “Why would anyone that uses orbs be limited in the number they can use?” Pandora asked.

  “Most people have a magical affinity with up to four of the eight major spheres of magic. Sometimes they’ll have affinities with some of the higher magics but normally everyone just has an affinity with up to four and can use some of the higher magics,” Robert said.

  “What are the major spheres of magic, no one told me that yet.”

  “You haven’t started magical training yet?” Robert asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “You need to start training as a mage and possibly a cleric when they get done with the assessment,” Pythias said.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because your ability to use all 21 orbs proves that you have affinity in all magic types,” Robert said.

  “Including the Divine magics,” Pythias said.

  “That’s all well and good, but if you couldn’t tell by the look on Pandora’s face let me help you interpret it. What does that mean?” Cedrick said as Callum and Asling nodded in agreement that they’d like the answer too.

  “What does that mean?” Robert asked. “That means that unlike me, a mage with affinity in Fire, Light, and Air that takes penalties when utilizing Water, Dark, or Earth Spells, Pandora would be able to cast spells from any school with much less penalty if any.”

  “It also means that if she could cast spells from the realms of the Gods without fear of being annihilated by just for trying to,” Pythias said.

  “What are the magical spheres for the Gods?” Callum asked. “I’ve never heard of them before.

  “And you didn’t hear them from me either. They are Putrescent, Anti, Proper, and Absolute”

  “Did you say Anti?” Pandora asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “Because the orb that kept on attacking after she fell unconscious was the Anti Orb.”

  Pythias and Robert looked thoughtful until Robert spoke up, “That makes sense. The Gods, Demons, and creatures that utilize that energy seek to destroy everything else.”

  Callum looked around before he said, “Okay everyone we’ve been standing here for a bit, let’s get moving again”

  As everyone was getting back underway Cedrik asked, “So mom’s a Shadow Dragon, can you turn into one too?”

  “Nope. I have tried but nothing happens. Master Soleran thinks that if that is going to be something I can do I will have to level first.”

  “Makes sense,” Asling said.

  As they got back in line the others told her about their abilities. Callum had Analyze and Sword Proficiency. Analyze let him get information about enemies and Sword Proficiency gave him bonuses with swords. Asling had an ability called Eagle Eye which allowed her to zoom in on targets and made it easier for her to make called ranged shots, with any ranged weapons. Robert had Identify which allowed him to identify magical items. Cedrik had the looting ability he’d already told them about and he also had something called shadow step that allowed him to step into a shadow and come out of another one in a radius dependent on his skill with that ability. Pythias had three very interesting abilities. The first was Divine Conduit which allowed his god or his god’s agents to talk to him directly. He could also pray once a day for guidance though he was told not to abuse the gift or it might be taken away. It was only to be used in his times of greatest need. His second ability was Healer, which gave a 1% bonus to healing per skill level in the ability. He was already up to 10%. His last ability was due to his Half Celestial, Half Human Origin. He had wings. Unlike physical wings, these wings were magical and could be summoned and dismissed at will. As he leveled they’d become stronger. Right now, all he could do was glide, though if he dived for a bit he could pull up and gain altitude. It was nice to know that they’d all decided to share their information with her.

  They walked for another two hours until they came to an obvious campsite with a fire pit and a low wall around it. Cedrik scouted it out while Asling looked at the horizon around the location to see if anything was trying to sneak up on them. As they came up to the campsite Callum called a halt and said, “We’re a little behind because of discussions. We’re only going to stop long enough to eat and then be on our way.”

  They took a short break and then were on our way once again. For the next four hours, they walked through dirt and bush-covered landscape looking for any threats. At about 4 p.m. Asling noticed the first tower off to a right a bit and they redirected towards it. As they were coming over a hill a scent made its way into her nose that she felt she should know. she searched her memories and realized it wasn’t her memories that recognized the smell. she recognized the smell from her mother’s memories. Just as she took in a deep breath to call out Callum beat her to it, “Goblins!”

  They erupted from all around them, a horde of them. Three attacked Callum while everyone else was attacked by two more goblins. Callum had foiled their surprise attack so they weren’t caught flat-footed. Pandora set three orbs off for each team member. Two to help protect them and one to attack their target. The last three she used gave her a total of six. How did the orbs defend and attack? The Goblins that attacked found their thrown spears deflected as they glanced off an orb. Wrists holding daggers were smacked by orbs causing them to be dropped.

  While her orbs went to work defending the party, Pandora watched as Callum eviscerated two goblins with his sword while the third was distracted with the orbs she sent to help him. This gave him the distraction he needed and he made quick work of his third attacker as well.

  Asling might have had issues if the orbs hadn’t been there to impede the two that attacked her. This allowed her to step back and shot them point-blank. One shot, one kill. The orb that was helping her attack did hit the goblin after she shot it, but it was already dead by that point. Moments later she was looking for new targets.

  Robert’s Wand of Magic Missiles and her orb made short work of the two Goblins that attacked him. The spear thrusts had been close but the orbs had deflected both attacks. Robert looked around for more targets.

  The Goblins attacking Cedrick were devastated by the two venom daggers. He’d been able to duck and weave between his two attackers while her orbs protected him. Both Goblins had died with daggers jabbed through their throats.

  Pandora thought Pythias might have issues but, again, she was mistaken. Pythias was devastating with his staff. While his staff didn’t kill them, her orb following up his attack made it so the goblins would never be getting back up.

  Just as quickly as the attack had started, it was over.

  Cedrik walked around and looted all the bodies while everyone else looked around for more threats.

  Cedrick has shared loot from 15 Level 1 goblins with you.

  Your Share of the Loot is as follows: 3 copper pieces.

  You have received 107 XP from assisting your party in the killing of 15 Level 1 goblins. XP gained 107 = ((1,500/7)/2)

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 2. As a Creature of Chaos, you receive 8 Attributes which may be added to any of your attributes as you like.

  You have 7 days to allocate your attribute points. If you do not they will be allocated randomly for you.

  Pandora closed her prompts as everyone called out their congratulations quietly. she heard Callum whisper to Cedrik, “Cedrik, scout around quietly. That is a lot of goblins to spontaneously appear in the middle of the desert. Look for a tunnel or trap door entrance. Pandora, great work with the orbs, they helped out. Did anyone get hurt? If so, get over to Pythias to get healed up. I don’t think this is over yet.”

  Cedrick looked around and watched the ground as he walked to and fro until he raised a hand and pointed to the ground at his feet. Everyone made their way over to him until Callum whispered, “What did you find?”

  “There is a flap of some sort here. I think it rotates out of the ground. Could be a pit trap but I don’t think so, way too many footprints coming from right here,” he said pointing to the ground, which did have a lot of goblin-sided footprints in the sand. Callum positioned them around the side of the flap they believed the goblins came from. Asling with her bow drawn, Cedrik with his daggers, and Robert with his wand. Pandora stepped back and assigned 10 orbs to protect Callum and kept the other 11 near her. Their preparations were moot. Callum found the edge of the flap and lifted it up until it snapped into place creating a sand-colored overhang with steps leading down into the earth.

  “What is this?” Pythias asked quietly.

  “No idea,” Callum said

  “Should they check it out?” Asling asked.

  “Better question, is this part of our assessment?” Robert asked.

  “Why wouldn’t it be?” Cedrik asked.

  Callum concentrated for a moment then said, “You’re not going to believe this?”

  “It’s a brand new dungeon isn’t it?” Robert asked.

  “Damn it, Robert, thanks for ruining the suspense.”

  “Brand new dungeon?” she asked.

  “Yep, a brand new dungeon. Level 1 even,” Callum said.

  “Did you get that from your Identify ability?” Asling asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, so what do they do?” Pythias asked.

  “Technically, dungeons are not part of the Assessment. The guidelines say that if the adventurers run into a dungeon they can choose to continue the normal assessment or they can choose to go into the dungeon,” Robert said.

  “The first group to finish a dungeon gets extra XP and loot right?” Cedrik asked.

  “That’s what the manuals say,” Callum said.

  “I vote yes then,” Cedrick said.

  “Me too,” Pandora said.

  The others looked back and forth before they finally agreed.

  Callum looked to the others, “If we’re going to do this, we take our time and we go slow. Remember, we were taking the assessment so we could join parties to go out to find dungeons. We aren’t technically adventurers yet. I know you have all heard horror stories about those assessment teams that found a dungeon and failed. How about we go the other direction and be one of the teams that succeeded.”

  “We get it, Callum, be careful, can we go now?” Cedrick asked.

  Callum looked around the group then nodded to Cedrick, “Lead us in.”