Advent – Chapter 48: New Layer, New Discovery

GamingWolf

You have defeated 'Incarnation of Oil Level: 280 (72)'

Experience could not be awarded: Cannot distribute from source to source.

Aperio squinted at the window she had brought back in front of her. So it gained levels when it got angry? Did not really make it more of a challenge, though. She mentally dismissed the window and returned her focus to the stairs leading downwards. Before she got to test their durability against her current self, another tug at her mind caught her attention.

Grabbing hold of the feeling resulted in another System notification appearing in front of her.

Feature restored.

Enable feature 'Combat Summary'?

The winged Goddess tilted her head at the words. Did she want to do that? It seemed like a good idea; people would get to see what they killed and what they received as a reward. There was just this tiny bit of doubt in her mind that this would lead to other things she was not quite ready for. Can I turn it on without letting everyone know?

'Combat Summary' enabled. Notification suppressed.

I want a manual. It was true that she did want to turn it on without sending a notification to everyone on Verenier – Perhaps even on other worlds – but she would have liked the System to provide a bit more feedback; maybe tell her a bit more about the feature she was about to restore. However that works.

A most peculiar shift in the mana in her well interrupted her thoughts and caused Aperio to stop and slightly tilt her head. A closer inspection revealed her mana to flow through some unseen passage towards the runes that made up the System. How exactly her well and the space that held the System were connected was not something she knew. The knowledge was absent from her mind, without even a hint of an answer to be found.

The runes shifted and changed, forming new connections that only furthered its complexity. Maybe I should not enable more 'features' until I better understand how the System works. Perhaps regaining a bit of her memory would help. If their plan even worked, which was something she wasn't entirely certain about.

"Something wrong, mother?" Ferio asked.

"Not exactly," Aperio replied. "Another part of the System restored itself and watching it come into effect… It was a most peculiar experience."

"No notification this time?"

The winged Goddess lightly shook her head in reply. "No, I thought it best not to announce it to everyone when I do not know how the information might be used by Vigil or Inanis. From what I picked up outside the dungeon, they seem to have no problem letting the people believe they restored the System."

"Most people think they made it or are at least in charge of it, anyway," her daughter replied with a shrug. "I gave up trying to correct the masses long ago. When enough other deities tell them that I am wrong, the people don't exactly go out of their way to accept a truth that, in the end, has no impact on their life.

"No matter who runs the System, it works for everyone. For some it is something that bears investigation, but for most the knowledge that it will work is enough. Even my own followers are hesitant to believe there is someone above the pantheon that made all of this." Her last words were accompanied by a sweeping gesture that seemed to indicate everything that surrounded them.

"So am I," Aperio said quietly, as she began to make her way deeper into the dungeon once more.

She could sense her daughter's shoulders slump at her words, the need for her to say something so clear on her face that she had no trouble seeing it. But, in the end, Ferio remained quiet, giving her mother the space and time she had said she would need.

Once the pair had reached the bottom of the stairs, Aperio turned and did what she had wanted to do before the System had interrupted her. As she had expected, the previously unbreakable marble surface of the stairs showed cracks after she had given it a light kick. Her bare feet on the other hand showed no signs of damage. Didn't even hurt.

How she was able to feel more than she had ever before by touch and at the same time not experience pain was not something she understood or could even begin to make sense of for that matter. Not that the why is all that important.

"You have a dislike for doors and stairs now, mother?" Ferio asked with a barely hidden smile on her face.

"In the dungeon I returned to there were similar stairs. Pristine. No cracks or other imperfections. Even back then, the stone broke readily when I added force to my blows, but the stairs did not seem to react. I wanted to see if they were still as solid to my feet."

"I would say the answer is a resounding no. It didn't look like you even put much force behind the kick."

"I did not, but then, I also only have the barest of grasps on my own strength. Breaking things is easier than not." She had expected to feel at least a little disgust at her words, but admitting that she was too strong was apparently an acceptable thing to do. Why does nothing make sense?

"Sadly, I do not know a way to help you there," Ferio said. "I don't really think about how much strength is required for any one action. We can only hope that regaining your memories will help with this too."

Aperio only gave a subdued sigh and returned her attention to the floor they had just entered. It only took her a moment to find the next flight of stairs further down, guarded by yet another member of the guild in their white and blue uniform. What she did not find was anyone currently fighting the floor guardian or even anyone getting close to it.

The monsters on the second floor were seemingly just an iteration of what she found on the first. There were slightly bigger versions of green-skinned monsters that also had a wider variety of weapons, with some even holding what was unmistakably a mages' staff. A quick identification revealed them to be Goblins, around level fifty – a monster she thought she knew. Weren't they grey before? She pushed the thought from her mind; what colour they were mattered little when they still wanted to kill and rape everything they saw.

Not that they can now.

That she could defend herself was still welcome, even if it meant she had to pay the utmost attention when interacting with anything – or anyone – she did not wish to break. The line of thought did bring a question to her mind, one that she could answer herself but would rather hear it from the person it pertained to. There was only one problem Aperio faced; she did not know how to ask. She knew her daughter to be weaker than her own self, that much was clear. But asking exactly how strong she was? It did not sit right with her. Neither did an unprompted inspection, even if she was certain that Ferio would not mind the query much, if at all. I should probably not inspect every person I see either.

As she lacked the words to properly voice her thoughts, Aperio tried to convey them with a touch of magic, a gesture that was rapidly becoming second nature. Despite attempting to be as gentle as she could, the winged Goddess still saw her daughter wince ever so slightly at her request. Another, almost nonexistent, question confirmed that it was not the content but the delivery of her first request caused the reaction.

Ferio answered her nonetheless, a small reply that gave her permission to perform her inspection and an inquiry about what exactly that was. The question gave Aperio pause as she had assumed her daughter would know what it was if a mortal could do it.

She relayed her intent with great care as she pulled on the Systems' functions to perform the task she herself knew not how to. She did not expect the ease with which she could focus on both tasks simultaneously, but it was welcomed nonetheless. It was a confirmation of sorts of her intuition which claimed that she could do both at once.

Ferio | [Goddess of Life] | Level: System entity outside of feature’s scope

Aperio could only tilt her head at the window, as it was most certainly not what she had expected. Shouldn't she have more than one title? Her daughter's reply was a bit more insightful; she knew what the Dwarven guild master had done, but according to her it was not the inspection Aperio knew but a skill called [Threat Perception]. Apparently using it on her only resulted in a blank reply which the Dwarf had seemingly interpreted as non-threatening.

Not entirely wrong. She had indeed had no intention of hurting the man, but the idea of herself not being a threat was very wrong. Something she wanted to prove, but the group of Goblins that rounded the corner in front of the pair of Goddesses was not exactly what Aperio would consider a challenge. One immediately lost its head to the rapid swing of her sword while the other two were simultaneously engulfed in a blue flame.

Ferio raised an eyebrow at the charred corpses while Aperio herself could not help but frown. She had wanted to see how much she could do with a sword, but instead she had resorted to a magic she already knew she could use. The reaction had been instinctual, had happened before she could consciously think.

She disliked that she had lost control.

That was what had happened. She had lost control, something that brought a feeling of disgust only second to admitting that she did not know something she somehow felt she should. Before she descended into an endless spiral of being angered at her loss of control which in and of itself would also be a loss of control, Aperio gave a tiny flex of her mental muscles to remove the bits of gore from her blade and continued on her way deeper into the dungeon.

Aperio made no real effort to seek out monsters on her way towards the next guardian; they did not give her enough of a challenge to actually see how much she could still do with a sword. The ones that did cross their way proved her assumption to be correct — a single swing was all that she needed.

After she had disposed of a few more groups of the green-skinned Goblins, something changed and they started to avoid her. They were clearly choosing paths that lead away from her, even turning around just before they would come around a corner to meet her. Did they always know where I was? It has to be the dungeon doing that, right?

Her interest piqued, she tried to ask the monster a question in the same manner as she did with Ferio. It was the only way she could think that the dungeon itself would use to communicate with — and control — its monsters.

A thought later, a robed Goblin staggered briefly before falling to the floor, dead. Aperio could see blood leaking from its ears, nose, and even eyes through her aura. The fact that she had just killed something by essentially thinking in its direction was quite unnerving to her. What would have happened if I had tried to answer Laelia's prayer in this way? She was fairly certain that she did not want to know the answer to that particular question.

Ferio had been right: a normal mortal would probably die if she tried this with them. That is, if levels between monsters and people are the same. She was pretty sure there wasn't much of a distinction between the two anyway, as people could, with astonishing alacrity, become monsters themselves. The tiny feeling at the back of her mind hinting at the System's indifference only furthered that thought. But then, does a higher level make one's brain… tougher?

A higher level usually meant higher strength, but that was just their overall power. At least Aperio assumed so, anything else would make little sense. So maybe a mortal could survive, if they somehow trained their mind… However one would do that. A mage, perhaps?

For her, magic was a mental exercise, though one that did not really bring improvement when she compared to the changes she underwent by simply existing. But, perhaps, for a mortal it was a good way to train their mind. She relayed her line of thought to her daughter, this time trying to miss the glowing beacon that she knew to be her daughter's mind just a little. Maybe that will help?

The reply she received was a little disheartening. Apparently a mage could train their mental fortitude, but most chose to simply focus on more physical means of defense and even those that tried to gain proficiency in the art of mental defense would not be able to offer much resistance to her intrusion. That was another thing she had to figure out how to avoid.

According to her daughter, she was not offering a bit of magic that could be read. No, what Aperio was seemingly doing was implanting her reply directly into the mind of the one she wanted to talk to. The realisation almost caused her to abandon any ideas of ever trying any form of mental communication again. If this is how she conveyed her thoughts it was only a little bit further before she accidentally willed someone to do something they did not want.

The only thing keeping her from actually doing so was the last bit of Ferio's reply that told her how she now sounded a bit more distant and the reply did not just appear in her mind. It still forced its way in, but less so then before; closer to what she actually wanted.

With a sigh, Aperio turned her attention back towards the guardian of the second floor. It was a Goblin, but a two-headed version, one that was slightly taller and a bit more muscular than its brethren, wielding a club made from a dark metal she could not identify. Item appraisal would be nice. Armour was not something the Goblins seemed to have figured out, as even the strongest one on the floor wore little more than thin cloth. But, despite its intimidating weapon and rather nice attire, she doubted it would pose more of a challenge than the Incarnation of Oil had. Its name is fancy though.

Will of the Gobs | [Second Layer Guardian] | Level 113

After only a couple more minutes, the pair of mother and daughter stepped through the door into the arena of the guardian. For a moment Aperio considered removing this door as well, just to make her point, but quickly decided against it. It's just a door. If Ferio wants to think it's special, she can.

Much like the first guardian she saw, this one too started to scream as soon as it laid eyes on her and began to change. Its skin turned a bright red as its muscles bulged, ripping the thin fabric it wore apart. A third head sprouted between the two old ones, quickly followed by two additional arms, one of which pulled another club out of thin air. The Human that guarded the entry to the next floor raised an eyebrow at the Goblin’s transformation, but otherwise remained impassive.

Will of the Gobs | [Second Layer Guardian] | Level 445 (113)

The Goblin guardian swung its club with reckless abandon as soon as Aperio stepped closer. She simply swatted it aside, sending it flying out of the monster’s hand which broke with a wet crack, before she grabbed the hand that held the reaming club and squeezed. Her strategy caused the guild member to lightly shake his head, probably thinking her to be another muscle-head.

Instead of using her sword to simply pierce the crystal she could sense in its chest, Aperio tried to touch the creature's mind. She felt something break as soon as her magic had reached its target. Curiously, it was not the mind of the monster that broke — If I could even feel that — but the crystal in its chest. The Human's expression changed to what Aperio would interpret as fear when the guardian fell to the ground, and a quickly-growing puddle of blood formed under its head.

So even a monster above level four hundred dies immediately. How am I supposed to ever use this with a regular person? She already used as little power as she could, only the tiniest fraction of her mana ever leaving to deliver the message she wanted to send.

A touch of magic was all she needed to clean off the blood that had splattered on her clothes and face. This is so much easier than scrubbing it off. Stepping around the corpse, she retrieved her token from her Void and placed it in front of the guild staff quickly followed by Ferio doing the same.

The Human briefly looked at the two metal cards before nodding and returning them. Aperio was about to ask if he was fine, as she did not think a Human should be this pale, but when she felt a tiny nudge from her daughter's magic telling her not to scare the poor man anymore, she decided against asking.

With another silent sigh, she stepped past the booth and headed down towards the next, probably equally disappointing, layer.

GamingWolf

Dungeon is a push-over.

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