Chapter 29: But Why a Dungeon?

Chapter 29: But Why a Dungeon?

The Heirs spent the next day jogging over the desert-like terrain. They saw some evidence of the way that the villages here supported themselves - beyond quarrying clay or mining various ores, they herded livestock.

The goats that Nathan saw from a distance werent normal goats. They were even more demonic. Four horns, strange hourglass shaped eyes, and hair that looked like it could strangle a woodchipper.

Not hourglass shaped pupils,hourglass shaped eyes. Why. Who designed that? Given the history around here, probably some weird-ass mage from a thousand years ago who had a strange idea of aesthetics and too much capability with life magic.

Regardless, the Heirs were keeping their eyes peeled for threats. There wasnt much out here. There were scattered bushes and tough grasses spread across the hillsides, and the Heirs hadnt seen any of the predators that they knew to lurk out here.

I mean weve fought some of the scarier ones. Ashblood cobras are up there, and a Terrorghast is its own type of scary.

They could have detoured slightly and gone to the town of Cromer, but they were still fine on food, especially because Aarl had harvested a good deal of Ashblood cobra meat. It was pretty heat resistant, which made it hard to cook, But Stella could manage it, and it was very tasty. The Heirs were more likely to run out of vegetables than meat, but they decided that replenishing on fresh vegetables wasnt worth the delay or relatively minimal risk of making contact with Cromer.

After all, they had their destination, and a deadline to get there. At their current pace theyd get close to the dungeon by evening, and be able to challenge it as soon as the Guild announced the go-ahead in the morning. Once they got within sight of the dungeon they could plan out their approach - it would be hard without an eye on the terrain.

The Heirs were practiced at keeping themselves entertained while traveling, talking about builds and various strategies they could try in the future. Nathan lamented that [Slow Fall] wasnt ranking up as quickly as he wanted, and then was roundly mocked for being disappointed that hed ranked up a High-Tier Talent to 6 so quickly.

Nathan protested his treatment. Yeah, but its important! If I can Develop that Talent to Unique itll change everything!

Stellas tone was sarcastic. And I want to develop Mana Shaping to Unique, which will also change everything. But that Talent is so hard to rank up. Faster when I have more mana types. To hit every target on the range, can you give me any more?

Nathan furrowed his brow. Give me a minute to think.

The Heirs kept theorycrafting while Nathan jogged along, deep in thought.

Other than plasma, the obvious next steps would be particle theory - atoms and molecules, and the kinds of interactions between them. Im not entirely sure I want to go there yet. Its kind of a slippery slope to nuclear stuff, and I want to think it through a bit more beforehand. What else is there?

There are so many things I can teach Stella. Would I need to go through chemistry to get to biology? Probably. Well, maybe not. I could start with cells as the minimal unit and go from there? Bah, I feel like I would need to talk about proteins to get anywhere. But I might be able to get her life mana or something, and that would be cool. Maybe wood, like that mage Qinven back in Farfield who could control trees.

Nathan wasnt focusing on his surroundings, trying to plot out how hed lay out the basic concepts of biology if he couldnt describe what a protein was. He was startled out of his reverie by the crack of Sarahs rifle. His head snapped up, looking around for the threat. He saw the other Heirs cheering Sarah as she lowered the rifle and took a quick bow.

Nathan followed their gazes to the hill opposite, where a weird lizard thing was rolling down the slope, very much dead. It was about twenty-five feet long and three feet across, with eight stubby legs that were capable of propelling it at incredible speeds.

Oh, its a Pseudowyrm. Basically a long crocodile that lives in the desert. And it looks like Sarah nailed it on the run. Damn. Will I get a level from that?

Nathan waited for a moment, joining his friends in congratulating Sarah on the two-hundred-yard shot.

So he asked. Sarah, Did you level from that?

She shook her head. Nope, but ranked up [Steady Hand]. Itll take more than a distant pseudowyrm to give levels to a level 86 [Headshot Gunslinger]. Maybe if there were five of them, and I dropped them all before they got close.

And neither did I. I suppose it really wasnt much of a challenge or a threat. To her, much less to me. Well, at least the dungeon should push me over that line!

Stella sighed in an exaggerated fashion. Well, you won the bet. I will learn this lesson now, when the price is cheap. Now you get to ask Nathan questions about long-shooting.

Feels a little weird that theyre betting on who gets to ask me questions. Flattering.

So instead of having to teach Stella biology, Nathan and Stella helped Sarah work through some calculations she was hoping would help develop the [Far Shot] Talent. After some discussion of bullet drop, she seemed enamored with the idea of using it to shoot at targets outside of line of sight, using bullet drop to arc a shot. Nathan just shook his head at the idea - but Sarah insisted it would work with her build.

Nightfall saw them making camp in the lee of a pile of boulders that looked too even to be natural. Nathan made sure they also erected tripwires in that direction, not trusting some of the gaps between the rocks to not contain random nocturnal monsters.

The dungeon wasnt too far away, and theyd made good enough time to see it from afar before the sun had vanished from the sky. Theyd also had time to backtrack to find a good campsite that was well out of line of sight from the Edrani fortification.

Long distance travel speed - surprisingly important to an Adventurer. I still think dimensional bags are cheating.

Their target for tomorrow looked like a small keep atop a tall hill. The first clue that there was something up was that the wide valley around it was all churned earth. It wasnt a moonscape of craters but just - rough. Like the ground was turned over by a giant plow faster than wind and rain could flatten it out.

The dungeon itself really wasnt very big, basically four stubby towers about fifty feet tall sticking up from the crest of the hill, joined together by thirty-foot high walls. The stone was the same dusty tan as the ground, and almost looked like a continuation of the hill. There wasnt a trace of movement or indication that it was more than a little old castle.

At least, until night fell. Then Nathan saw the subtle glow of enchantments traced over the walls. More lights shone from inside the courtyard, painting the inner surfaces of the towers in shifting tones of blue, green and purple.

Whats the goal? Seems a thing to start with. Aarl was cooking over Stellas fire, and was starting off their discussion.

Stella gestured with her hands in the direction of the dungeon. There is dungeon. There should not be dungeon. When there is no dungeon, were done. Seems simple enough.

One more spell was incoming, but it had likely been fired while Nathan was still on the flat surface. He sighed and prepared to dodge again. Then three layers of force shield appeared overhead, interposing themselves between Nathan and the oncoming spell.

The orb elongated, becoming a spike that punched through the first layer of shield before detonating on the second. The first layer was gone and the second one was badly cracked, but the third seemed untouched. The barriers vanished as Stella dismissed them, frowning at the dungeon.

Well, Im glad to only serve as a target part-time.

Nathan watched for another orb, but didnt see anything come at him. He stepped forward just over the edge of the disturbed area, seeing another faint spark of light spring up from the castle. He took a few steps back as it arced towards him, once more detonating on a pair of shields. Nathan felt a tiny wave of pressure and mana from the blast, but nothing to seriously inconvenience him.

No more projectiles were incoming, so Nathan turned and hiked back up to the Heirs. Looks like the disturbed earth is the limit of the range, and itll only shoot at anybody inside. Should we test multiple targets?

Khachi nodded. I will follow. I wish to test my new defensive powers. Stella should come after me.

They proceeded to test the power, accuracy and limitations of the outpost. It did fire at Khachi as he followed Nathan out into the plain, but he was able to block the explosive spell with a shining dome of divine mana that barely rippled in the face of the explosions.

It didnt fire at Stella as she came out, instead continuing to barrage Nathan and Khachi. Maybe it could only hit two targets at once? Nathan stepped back out of the targeting zone, dodging his sixth explosion with yet another juke and roll. He really stretched out the roll and got most of the way out of the blast radius on this one.

Mid-tier Tumbling 7 achieved!

Khachi and Stella were both shelled, reinforcing the idea that it could only attack two targets. They backed out of the targeting area, and the attacks ceased.

Nathan looked around. Ive got a plan. Are we ready?

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 8

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 6

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 79

Stamina: 833/890

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 2

High-tier Earnestness 7

Mid-tier Sprinting 9

High-tier Spellsense 6

High-tier Notice 1

Mid-tier Identify 9

Mid-tier Dodging Footwork 9

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 7

Mid-tier Tumbling 7