Elsewhere

He woke as he had every time in this world to messages related to the previous day’s activities.

*** Well, Duke, that was a fun day. Did you really not know you were bonding those two to you? I suppose not since you are still woefully ignorant about this world and how it works. Then again, the rules of this world don’t really apply to you, do they? One of these days, you might want to get around to exploring that little aspect of your existence. You might be surprised at what you find.

Once again, you made strong use of a quite a few of your Abilities and they have seen gains. Do you really want to see them all? Too bad. I don’t feel like sharing them. If you really want to know, you can go look at your status. I’m not going to bother showing you.

You did kill more than two dozen Twilight Stalkers as well as their Chieftain. I’ll throw 11,500 experience points your way for that. Surprisingly, that is enough to push you to level 12. Congratulations! Now you have 6 free Characteristic points to spend. Don’t spend them all in the same place. Or do. It’s your body, right?

Keep the entertainment coming. It was especially amusing when you snuck up on the Stalkers and they then snuck up on you. The look on your face was priceless. You might want to get better at observation. Just a thought. And take a look at the log to see just how much that headband saved of your noggin. Anyway, keep the laughs coming and maybe we’ll have a treat or two for you. Then again, just wait until you see what happens today. I know I can’t. ***

Duke groaned as he read the message, not particularly amused with the ending jibe. He crawled out of the tent and used a few quick CLEANSE and REPAIR Abilities to get himself and his clothes back to rights. Man, that cleanse ability is better than a shower. It even got the dirt out from under my fingernails. Duke was distracted from his musings by the scent of bacon cooking, or at least something that smelled like it.

“Good morning, Duke. You’re up early.” Elaine greeted him, holding a pan of sizzling meat over the renewed fire. “Pull up a stump and let’s have a chat.” Where did she get a pan?

Duke rolled the largest part of a shattered log over to the fire and joined her. “What is it you want to chat about?” He dreaded asking but knew there was no other way to go.

"First off, I want to thank you again for saving us. Few could have fought that tribe of Twilight Stalkers, let alone, kill them all.”

“I was just looking for experience and they jumped me first. I kind of had no choice but to fight.”

“Nice try. You could have TELEPORTED away anytime you wanted to. But, instead, you stuck around to push your limits again. You are a remarkable man, Duke. For someone of such a low level, you are frighteningly powerful.”

Duke tried to interrupt but was silenced by a hand and a look. “Let me finish. Grat and I are bound to your destiny now. That will mean some changes for us but that is OK. We have spent the last decade patrolling the forests for the Council and handling minor problems. You have injected yourself into some major kingdom politics that you probably have no insight into yet.” She nodded to allow Duke to speak.

“I told you that I would release you and there is still time for that but,” He paused to wave off her interruption. “But I understand that you don’t want me to do so. That leaves us in a position I had not anticipated at all. I am responsible for you both now.” Again, he stopped her interruption. “I know you two can take care of yourselves. But maybe you don’t really know what I’m doing here.”

Grat sat down next to Elaine, startling Duke who had not heard or seen him coming. “Yes, please tell us what you are doing here. We are waiting for the stars to fall.”

“Stars to fall?”

“It’s an expression. Please continue.”

“Starfall. Hmm. I once read a book by that name. Anyway, it’s been a strange ride ever since I arrived in this world. Through an odd series of events, I wound up as a convicted criminal in the capital city’s arena, fighting for my life. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t just, and it wasn’t remotely pleasant. It did, however, reveal to me what my PURPOSE is in this world. My PURPOSE is to fight for freedom for myself and others. Do you see why I have such a hard time with the bond now?”

“Oh, I see. You still think of it as a bond of servitude, don’t you?” Grat asked.

“Isn’t it?” Duke asked back.

Elaine smiled broadly, finally feeling like she could explain things and move past this point. “Duke, we joined you in your PURPOSE. That is the nature of the bond. Our goals and deep-down motivations are now aligned. We are not your servants. You are not our master. We are more than just allies, but if you want to think of it that way, you can.”

Understanding finally washed over Duke and he returned her smile. “I get it now. So, when I head out to remove King Chopie, you will come along not out of obligation, but out of need to fulfill the same PURPOSE.”

“I think he finally does get it, Elaine.”

“I do believe he does. Now, let’s eat some bacon and figure out how we are going to pull this off because the king is extremely well-protected and not without his own allies and considerable powers.”

After hours of discussion and planning, they collectively came to a single conclusion – completing Baslin’s “Apprentice Quest” was the most likely path to removing the king without starting a full civil war. All he had to do was level up his Spells to “graduate”. Even though Duke was sharing most of his information with the pair, the Abilities over Spells aspect of himself wasn’t a piece he was ready to share just yet.

The light had filled the clearing and the three broke camp which consisted of Grat pulling his energy from the trees to retract the tents and a simple burial of the campfire. In a matter of minutes, all evidence of their presence had been removed. Duke was impressed and said so.

“This is nothing. You should see what it looks like when the Council has a full meeting and the clean-up afterwards. But let us take a full look at the gate site in the fresh light of the day. I have my suspicions but would like to take a closer look.”

The investigation took a few more hours and Grat came to the same conclusion he had the previous day. The gate was not a naturally-occurring breach that happened from time to time in the world. This had been intentionally set in place. Grat urged Duke to bring the pieces of the gate to Baslin for the Archmage to analyze. Duke agreed and placed the pieces into the ring of rooms and suddenly collapsed to his knees in pain as the ring was absorbed into his finger.

***Oh boy, this is fun. You put something really dangerous into the ring and triggered your Ability to absorb magic even earlier than I had predicted. I know I’m thrilled to watch this!

You have absorbed the Ring of Rooms. This was a magical item of significant power and you have developed an ability similar to its effects.

New Ability: INVENTORY

You have access to a personal storage space that can only be accessed by yourself. You can place objects in and remove them at a thought within 1 meter per rank level. The size of the storage space is a cube rank meters squared plus rank level per side with some modification based on level within rank. Objects placed in your Inventory are placed in a timeless state such that time does not pass for the object until it is removed again. Placing a living creature within your Inventory will kill it. At higher ranks, you may be able to split your Inventory space to create a space that can accommodate living beings.

Due to the strength of the item absorbed, your Ability starts at the Initiate rank. Good luck! ***

Duke struggled back to his feet to confused and worried looks from his companions.

“Are you alright, Duke?” Elaine asked, her voice filled with motherly concern.

Duke nodded. “I suppose I am. Just more strange things that seem to happen to me from time to time. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine now. Let’s get on with finding something to feed our experience.”

Elaine stepped away from the tree she had been touching and remarked. “If you say so. There is little in the forest that would be a challenge for us that is anywhere near. Most have been chased away by the Umbral Gate’s presence. That leaves the caves you rescued us from. What do you think, Grat?”

"I agree. Unfortunately, many of our abilities will be stunted in that environment.”

”Perhaps it would be better for me to proceed into the depth on my own then. I don’t want to risk you both so far out of your element in a dangerous area. Maybe it would be best if you go to the Council and report what was found out here and we can reconnect afterwards.”

“That is…reasonable but I don’t want you to feel like we are not able to carry our weight.” Grat responded introspectively.

“Not at all.” Duke smiled. “You would be out of your element where I am going, and I can get there much faster by myself than with you both. Let’s meet back at Baslin’s tower. I should not be gone long. In fact, I may get back to the tower faster than you since you have to travel all the way to the Council first. I’ll see you soon.” Duke did not wait for a response and TELEPORTED back towards the cave entrance.

It only took him a few long-range TELEPORTS before he was at the cave entrance. He smiled as he proceeded inside, past the remains of the Stalker’s camp. As he delved deeper into the cave, it began to narrow and it was not long before he realized a singular problem – it was dark in the cave and he had no source of light. Great planning skills there, Duke. I knew I was going into a cave too. Sheesh. Maybe I can improvise something.

Duke ran down his Ability list for anything that might help, pausing on one Ability in particular. Either this is going to be spelunking by strobe light, or this will work like I’m hoping. Duke focused on his LIGHT BOLT Ability and focused on channeling the spell into his left hand. He did not release the spell, but instead, tried to hold it there, focused on the palm of his hand. To his delight, his palm started glowing brightly, filling the cave with light. With some practice, he found that he could focus the light differently through different configurations of his fingers from a tight, flashlight-like beam, to a wider open floodlight.

After a few minutes of experimenting, he found that the mana drain was negligible enough that his 10 point per second Mana regeneration was enough to keep up. It was awkward to walk with his one hand forward, but at least he could see where he was going now. He was sure that he was setting himself up for an ambush, but he figured he had enough defense to handle it. He proceeded deeper into the cave.

The walls of the cave still dripped with water and as the cave proceeded downward, a small stream was forming, wending its way through the stalagmites as it trickled downwards. Duke momentarily considered drinking from the stream before his nearly forgotten SEER training kicked in and he realized how much this water would be laden with minerals that would probably be harmful. Still, he paused and debated testing his REGENERATION against it. Caution won out in the end but not by much.

He proceeded for another two hours deeper and deeper, occasionally coming upon areas where the stream became a waterfall and he had to carefully climb down the slick stone surface. He ignored countless other passages of various sizes, instead sticking to the flow of water. Eventually, he came to what could only be called a hole in the floor. The stream, and a number of others, poured down the hole from multiple angles but there were still relatively dry areas for him to lean over and aim his light down.

His light revealed nothing at first. It took significant intensifying of the beam to get enough light to see down into the hole. The hole continued for about five meters before it opened up into some sort of cavern. Duke could hear the sound of the cascading water falling into some pool of water. He could not tell the depth of the water from his light, but he could tell that the surface was about thirty meters below the hole. He shrugged and dropped into the hole, confident in his ability to survive such a fall at this point.

Duke hit the water hard with his feet, jarring his bones and making his teeth slam together. He touched bottom and sprung up back to the surface, sputtering water. Quickly, he spun around, shining his bright light around the cavern. His light revealed an island in the underwater lake which he quickly swam towards. Climbing up onto the rocky shore, he used CLEANSE and REPAIR on himself to clean the water and whatever else may have gotten on him. He really loved those two Abilities.

Exploring the small island was a short process. The only thing of note was a circle of stones roughly four meters tall and about the same distance across. He had not set foot in the circle because, well, he’d read a book or two. After exploring every other inch of the island with nothing noticeable, he decided to finally investigate the standing stones. He placed his hand on one to feel the texture and the world stopped with a message.

***You have activated a Dungeon Portal! You may choose to enter or flee this Dungeon. Dungeon Information:

Dungeon Name: Lake Front Dungeon

Dungeon Vintage:

Unentered for 4,320 years, 62 days, 12 hours, 18 minutes, 7 seconds

Uncompleted for 15,288 years, 218 days, 14 hours, 6 minutes, 12 seconds.

Dungeon Ranking: Adept

Maximum Party Size: 12

Minimum Party Size: 1

Dungeon Type: Singular

Dungeon Style: ?????

Would like to Enter or Flee the Lake Front Dungeon? ***

Now would be a great time to check in with Baslin. I have no real idea what all of this means. I really wish I still had the Headband! Wait a minute, idiot. Just go ask him in person. I have to do better at remembering what all I can do.

Duke took his hand off of the standing stone and the message disappeared. He put his hand on it again and the message returned. He smiled and stepped back. Several TELEPORTS later, he was standing in front of Baslin’s Tower. He proceeded inside.