Chapter 1307

“Master...”

“Is this too much?”

“I’m exhausted...”

“I have been drilling you hard.”

“And dizzy.”

“I’m sorry, I just got a bit excited and just shoved it right in.”

“It was so hard, I thought I might break.”

We were long past the lava, and were now in a space of dark black rock, working our way down into the darkness below. Alysia had worked as long as she could, but she had needed a break. Thankfully, I had a pleasant location of the soul world to retreat to. The Map’s ability to handle 3d got a little wonky when you introduced underground passages. It could do floors easy enough, but a pathway straight down, I wasn’t confident if I left it, I’d be able to come back.

As for whether we were on course or not, I had no clue. We’d keep going on for a week, then I might have to start rethinking my strategy. I felt like a week was more than enough time though. It was hard to tell just how fast we were moving, but we had to have traveled at least a few kilometers.

“Pait, I was thinking, if the Deep is a dungeon, does it have levels like a dungeon? Is there a progression from easy to difficult?”

The reason I had grabbed Pait was exactly to ask these kinds of questions. He was a smart guy, and other than Garnet, he was the closest I had to the dwarves. And from the sound of Garnet’s imager, it might not have even known the Deep was a giant dungeon, although I only saw a handful of her exchanges with Terra. Even though the Esmore didn’t like to travel down into the mountains, they had to hear things from the dwarves, especially a dignitary like Pait, who was the most well-traveled individual I knew.

He frowned thoughtfully as he nibbled on a kabob that I had made. The only way I had managed to calm him down after borrowing him was to make food. I was the best cook he knew, and within my soul world was current a garden of all of the best foods from Earth. I had naturally brought tons of revisions before leaving Chalm, so I was good to feed myself for likely years if I had to, just by growing crops.

“That’s hard to say... I only said it’s a theory that the Deep was once a dungeon. In truth, so much time has passed that the breakdown between levels would be great. I think you should be cautious anywhere in the Deep either way.”

I nodded thoughtfully. If it was a dungeon, I was wondering if there might still be safe rooms and a clear progression. It seemed like such a thing no longer existed.