Eric shook his head. “I’m not okay,” he muttered low enough to not be heard by Peter or Shannon. “I was thinking too much about working as a group. I need to focus my Classes and Loadout around being a solo act.” He looked up at her. “I don’t plan on splitting off or anything. But these solo encounters will keep coming.”
“Fair enough.” She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Just don’t die. We need you to help save the world.”
“What are you two talking about up there?” Peter asked with some suspicion. “No secrets, remember what you promised, Eric?”
Eric replied at his usual volume. “Just talking about that experience in the river. Trust me, I don’t want to die.”
Naomi called back to Peter, “None of us do.”
Eric continued, “I’ve got a long life ahead of me if all goes to plan. With some gorgeous women, I might add.”
“Women plural?” Shannon asked.
“Yes. I don’t mean polyamory or anything like that. I just mean that there were a few women I loved in my past timeline,” Eric admitted. “One was brief but left a lasting impact. I pined for her for the rest of my life, despite only knowing her for two weeks.”
Shannon cackled. “Seriously? Two weeks?” She barely contained a follow-up giggle. “You had a two-week fling and longed for her forever?”
Eric felt foolish hearing it being stated aloud to him by someone else. “I . . . she had comforted me during the first few weeks of the war. In those situations . . . war changes someone. She taught me what love really felt like.”
In his thoughts, he added, She was the only person who just loved me for me and didn’t expect anything in return.
Peter let out a snicker. Then, a second later, looked mortified. “Sorry, bro. Didn’t mean to laugh . . . but come on. You’ve got other options out there.”
“I know,” Eric replied. “Misty Baxter and Xeraphine d’Orveil are both very intriguing. And hell, Misty already saw me naked.”
Peter let out a little, gruff laugh. “Bro, she’s already seen the goods? Was she impressed?”
“No comment,” Eric replied. But he did let a little smile cross his face.
This elicited some laughs from the others, and Eric felt like him opening up in that way was a chance to deepen their bond. Despite his slight machinations and half-truths, they were starting to trust him once more.
“I think Misty is the more likely match, but I can’t count Xera out,” Eric continued. “Luciana has potential as well, especially given she is part of the Meritocracy that rules Bhlast. Getting with her would mean cementing a powerful alliance between Trok and Bhlast through more than just treaties. It would cost me some political power within Trok, and perhaps some at-home stability, but I’m not going to hold out hope she falls in love with me again.”
Naomi nodded sagely. “You have lots of options. Good for you.”
“Thank you,” Eric replied. “I hope I get to have my cake and eat it, too.”
Peter chuckled. “Didn’t know you were into that.”
Eric just rolled his eyes and kept walking, muttering, “Juvenile joke.”
“Don’t knock it ‘till you try it,” Peter countered.
The dirt road began to head down out of the plains and into large, rolling hills. The trail dipped into a dell and dead-ended at the oddest structure Eric had ever seen. It was a massive stone arch that led into the hill, lit with candles placed inside miniature cauldrons that hung from hooks like fairy lights in a suburban backyard.
“Pretty,” Naomi said. “This must be the next challenge.”
Peter cleared his throat. “Want me to take the lead again?”
“Go ahead,” Eric said, the memory of the river encounter flashing through his mind. Peter led the way down the tunnel, weapon at the ready, and Eric held a Blackflame Bolt hovering just above his palm.
A set of bead curtains hung in front of them like a tacky 1970’s room divider. Peter pushed through it, with Eric right behind him, and then the two ladies. The room they entered was wide, circular, and cozy. A perfect little cottage, with knick-knacks on the walls, a warm hearth roaring with a blaze, and an octagonal table with chairs. Nameplates were set aside near the doorway they had just emerged from, made from neat paper with intricate handwriting.
Everyone else’s eyes glazed over.
Ah, they got a message from The Paths.
Eric recalled his rote. This time, there was no reverse-sneeze feeling—it seemed his body was getting more and more familiar with sucking up his mana when not needed. Then, he checked his bracer.
[No feast without fellowship. Sit as neighbors sit at home.]
“It’s a puzzle,” Naomi said as her eyes snapped back to normal. “We have to figure out who sits next to whom.”
Shannon began walking around the room. “Eight chairs.”
Peter looped his hammer through the strap on his back and began reading off the titles on each note card: “Baker, Shepherd, Miller, Gardener, Butcher, Blacksmith, Leatherworker, Innkeeper.”
Naomi put her hand to her chin, contemplating. “We need to set the places at the table. Probably put people next to each other who make a fellowship.” She looked at the title placards. “Each of these are roles in a medieval village.”
“Think we can move them?” Peter asked.
“I would assume so,” Naomi replied. “Try picking some up.”
Peter grabbed the Baker and Miller cards. “These two would go together, since the Miller makes all of the flour for the Baker to use.”
“Put them together on the left side, then,” Naomi said. Peter brought the items over.
Shannon had finished her loop of the room. “Not seeing anything valuable in here. But at the far end of the room” —she pointed behind her— “there is a really weird . . . outline? On the wall. And on the ceiling, there are little vents, angled so you can’t see them from the front of the room where you all are.”
Eric looked up and walked over to where Shannon was standing. He could clearly spot the little vents carved into the stone. “Want to bet we get gassed if we get the puzzle wrong?”
Naomi joined them and looked up, her irises spinning in place as the Body Enhancement went to work and allowing her to see the inner workings and machinations. “Once we set up the table,” she said, “if we get the relationships wrong, the room will get colder. Until we eventually freeze to death.”
Shannon went to the bead curtain and tried to move it, but yanked her hand back. “Ouch!” she cried out, looking at her thumb. “It’s covered in something sharp!”
Eric went over and investigated, finding little barbs all along the beads. Just to test, he pulled out his knife and tried to move the beads away from one another, but they were stuck firm. Not just to each other, but to the walls as well. “Looks like we’re stuck in here until we solve it or die.”
Despite his pronouncement, everyone remained calm. He had expected someone to freak out, but Shannon just looked at Naomi.
Right. Everyone knows she is a genius this time around.
Peter had grabbed the next pair of nameplates. “I think Shepherd and Leatherworker go together, because Shepherds make leather and Leatherworkers need it for shoes.” He put them paired together on the right side.
Naomi nodded. “Good thinking. The Leatherworker should sit next to the Blacksmith, because leather goods are used for the connecting pieces between armor.” Peter set the mentioned placard in place.
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Eric spoke, “Now what do we do with the Innkeeper, Gardener, and Butcher?”
“Hmm. . .” Naomi once more put her hand to her chin. “The Innkeeper needs food to run his establishment, so put them next to the Baker. Then, the Butcher on the opposite side of the Innkeeper.”
Eric glanced at the table, then at his bracer. The Paths showed a readout with a simple line:
[→ Butcher → Innkeeper → Baker → Miller → _ → _ → Shepherd → Leatherworker → Blacksmith →.]
This is where having a dungeon guide would be useful. Our only other option would be hiring someone to come with us, but we don’t want our capabilities to be known, since everyone signs that damned contract to keep them from writing or talking about their experiences. But staying on our own is our only way to keep an edge over the Admiral and Steward when it’s time to make our moves against them. We have to keep our prowess hidden at all costs.
Peter put the Gardener next to the Miller, and the Butcher next to the Shepherd. “I think that’s the right way to do it.”
Immediately, the room got colder. Eric could see his breath fogging in the air. Instinctively, he used Blackflame Bolt and held it in front of him, the fire sending some warmth out to fight back the chill.
“Fuck. It’s wrong,” Shannon said as she wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “Must’ve been at least fifty degrees. If that’s the drop each time? We’re going to freeze to death in one more bad guess.” She moved close to Eric’s flame and huddled right next to it. “Why didn’t any of the nobles or anyone tell us what was coming in this place?”
“You think they know?” Eric replied, glancing at her. “The first-floor blind run is something that people in the lower- and middle-cities tackle. The upper-city nobles don’t do it. The number of people who have gone to the second floor is comparatively tiny. In a city of several hundred-thousand, maybe ten-thousand have done so. Most are in the dungeon organizations, and they’re sworn to silence to keep a monopoly on their industry.”
Naomi sighed. “We could’ve tried to bribe one of them or something. Get the information somehow without bringing them down here with us. Maybe get them drunk in a bar or something.”
Eric turned to her. “We shouldn’t, because then we would be revealing just how deep we are getting. If we ask questions about what is coming on each floor, then we are revealing how far down we’ve gone. Then, people can estimate how strong we have become.” He shook his head and vehemently continued, “Our best advantage against the people who are killing Trok from within is keeping them guessing at just how strong we are. The average person who went through the first floor, like those lines of people we saw getting kitted out, signed a Skill-empowered-contract to prevent them from conveying any information about their experience in the Twilight Depths. We couldn’t get anything out of them if we wanted to.”
“That makes sense,” Peter replied. “Why didn’t we have to sign a contract?”
Eric chuckled at that. “They’re going to try and make us, no doubt. But they won’t try and push it on us yet. The guy who runs the Twilight Depths Consortium, well one of the main owners, is Bortis Faltear. He’s the Chancellor on the small council. I know he wants us to join the Consortium as dungeon divers. He’s not going to scare us off with some contract, right after we arrive on Elyndor.”
Eric walked around the table and crossed his arms, standing next to Peter. “He’ll wait until we’re properly dive-crazy, or on the edge of it, then try to get us to join his organization. That’s a whole different level of Skill-empowered contract. But I can tell you that is why we weren’t forced to sign the contract, it’s because of our prestige-pull as Summoned—Seraphine would have told him we were too new to the world, and we shouldn’t be overwhelmed this early into our arrival.”
“Ah, okay. I get it,” Shannon replied.
“Makes sense,” Peter said, then gestured to the table. “Okay, back to the puzzle, then.”
Naomi put up a hand. “Let me think,” she said.
Eric looked at the readout on his bracer, trying to figure out the best way to group them together using the rationale his allies had provided, while also drawing on his experience living in Elyndian society.
We aren’t thinking literally enough. These are Classes. How would the Classes go together?
He began grabbing the placards and verbalized his rationale as he laid them out in a line. “We need to think about these in chains of who gives what to whom in Elyndor. Gathering leading to Refining, Refining leading to Artisan, Artisan leading to Merchant, and Service as the filler.” After a moment, he’d set up two lines, four Classes apiece. “Now, we just have to combine them into a single line and can put them around the octagonal table.”
[Shepherd → Butcher → Leatherworker → Blacksmith.]
[Gardener → Miller → Baker → Innkeeper.]
Naomi looked down and cursed under her breath. “Right. We’re not on Earth, so regular medieval-era rules wouldn’t apply. Elyndor literally has a classification system. At the same time, these are two separate tracks, and an Artisan Class doesn’t need to contribute to a Gathering Class.”
“Wait a second,” Peter said as he walked over to look down at the two lines. “The Innkeeper should link to the Shepherd, because the wools don’t need to be processed if they’re being used for covering up hay for a cheap bed.” He smiled. “Man, that throws me back. In Grandpa’s barn, a few furs thrown over some hay bales could make a basic bed. I had a nice white-tailed deer hide I’d use under the stars.”
“That leaves the Blacksmith next to the Gardener,” Shannon said. “What’s the connection?”
“Tools,” Naomi said with a smile. “Smiths make tools for all types of professions, but Gardeners? They go through a ton of them. My mom ran a community garden, and tools were the second-biggest purchase behind fertilizer.” She grabbed the name plates and set them out on the table.
[→ Shepherd → Butcher → Leatherworker → Blacksmith → Gardener → Miller → Baker → Innkeeper →.]
The room’s temperature immediately shot up to comfortable, the beads along the far wall shimmered, and behind the group a panel of the wall slid open, revealing another fairy-light trail leading down the corridor.
“We did it!” Shannon said with a fist pump. Her eyes then glazed over as her arm remained hanging in the air.
Eric glanced down at his bracer.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have 1 level-up to process.]
[Blackflame Mage 15.]
[Level 15 in Blackflame Mage reached! Gain access to a new Skill. You may equip your new Skill on your Loadout by spending one hour doing low-impact activities.]
[Level 15 in Blackflame Mage reached! Gain access to a new Trait. This will automatically fill your empty Trait slot.]
-----
New Skill:
Ashen Shell 1 - The user coats their body in ash, which functions like a light suit of armor. Lasts for 1 hour.
-----
New Trait:
Marking Spark 1 - When the user deals damage to a target, they leave a lingering spark, which persists for one hour. This spark allows the user to always know the location and distance to the target, if they remain within 1,000 feet.
-----
[Choose a Skill and Trait to increase.]
Another Rank into Blackflame Blaze, and one into Combustion.
Eric planned on using his next Ember to polymerize that Skill with Inferno Trigger, so that he would have a single Skill to detonate the damage-over-time effects and could keep it on his Loadout at all times. The perfect complement to his primary damage Rote.
[Confirmed.]
-----
Skills:
Combustion 4 - The area of effect increases in size. 20-foot radius centered on target.
-----
Traits:
[Dire] Blackflame Blaze E4 - Increase burning damage-over-time to 65%.
-----
Name: Eric Mercer
Classes: Blackflame Mage 15
Maximum Sigils: 5
Rotes: [Scorching] Blackflame Bolt, Ash Shroud
Equipped Skills: Flashstep 3, Cinderburst 3, Inferno Trigger 4, Combustion 4
Traits: [Dire] Blackflame Blaze E4, Revitalizing Heat 2, Marking Spark 1
Body Enhancements: Neversick Slime (T5), [Reactive] Mana Skin (T7)
-----
Loadout Slots: 6 (-2 from Body Enhancements)
Gear: Manatech Bracer [Comms, Map, HUD, Alarm, Index Interface], T1 Monster Harvest Mitts, T1 Harvester's Bag, T1 Tracking Gloves, T1 Deflection Matrix, T1 Silence Node, T1 Healing Potion (x1)
Parts & Components: 15x Mud Elemental Ashes,
Embers:
-----
Eric lowered his wrist and let the mana flow fade. As his allies’ vision cleared several seconds later, he tapped his bracer. “You all should tell the Index to move your notifications to these things.”
Naomi glanced down at hers. “Huh . . . why?”
“Let me guess,” Peter replied. “It’s because leveling up in the real world is dangerous, right?”
Eric nodded. “Exactly. You don’t want to get these notifications in the middle of a fight. It takes years of training to learn how to see past them during combat. Or, in my case, during surgery when I wasn't using magical healing via Rotes or Sigils.”
Peter smiled. “It would be like checking your wrist playbook on the football field as a QB. You don’t do that mid-play.”
Shannon nodded. “That makes sense. Definitely don’t want to zone out in the middle of a fight.”
Eric glanced at Naomi, and she had a deep-in-thought expression on her face. “What are you thinking?”
She looked back at him, then at Shannon and Peter. “I think that you have a good point . . . but I’m also trying to figure out something else.” She tapped her bracer. “Sure, changing the set up is all well and good, but the notifications are going to be different for everyone when we get out of here.”
“What do you mean?” Peter asked.
“What counts as milestones for you three?” Naomi asked.
Peter crossed his arms. “It has to do with fighting, for me.”
Shannon spoke next. “I need to be sneaky.”
Eric answered last. “I have to kill and burn things.”
Naomi frowned. “But we are all seemingly getting these milestones to level up at certain points during this mega dungeon, but all at the same time. When we get out of here, those will happen at different times.” She looked at Eric. “What’s that about? The Index isn’t telling me shit. Eric? Do you know anything?”
“All I know is that milestones for leveling up are unique to each class," Eric replied, "and that the people who level up the fastest are dungeon divers. I would make an educated guess that every few chambers in a dungeon or mega dungeon a person passes, they get a level up, regardless of their Class. Outside of dungeons? It depends on what your Class is good at.”
Shannon nodded sagely. “It explains why Naomi is so far ahead. She did a ton of crafting the past few days, and that fits her Class. If I was sneaking around all the time, or stealing, doing that white-hat thief type of deal to find security defects, I bet I would get levels as well.”
Peter looked at Eric. “Bro, you could just go and burn stuff, right?”
“Probably,” Eric replied. “But I don’t want to go starting forest fires just to get levels.”
Naomi nodded, seemingly satisfied with what everyone was saying. “We’ll have to test it. Shannon, when we’re out of here, you need to try and do some sneaky shit. Peter, you’ll have to get into a fight or two. Eric . . . maybe we find some place that actually needs burning. I know sometimes farmers want to raze their croplands, and you can control your flame’s spread. We can test this out.”
“Worth trying later,” Eric replied. The sentiment was echoed by his allies moments later. “Now, let’s set up your bracers with the right commands to push off the messages from your vision to it. . .”
We hit the 30 review threshold (31)! Woohoo! That means we are getting the Commissioned Artwork of a 'group portrait' of the Summoned from the fantastic ! She has done work for me before, which you can see , and .
We have another threshold to hit! 20 more Reviews / Advanced Reviews (50 total) and you can vote on the last of this 'set' of goals. I will have to think up more options if we do hit this massive threshold.
Threshold #3 - 50 Reviews = Poll to determine which 'soirée interaction' I commission. Either the dance with Misty Baxter, or the gambling scene with Xeraphine d'Orveil.
But, without further ado, here is the poll for which 'outfit set' the commission will be about!
Poll will close on March 12th, 2026.
Final results will be announced on March 13th, 2026, in the post-chapter author note.
What outfit should the Summoned 'Group Portrait' be in?