Soul of the Warrior

Reivyn walked out of the Dungeon feeling good about the situation. The familiar Notification popped up as soon as he stepped across the threshold.  

Exiting Dungeon Calculating... First Floor: Complete Combat Experience: Exp +0 Boss Defeated: Exp +0 First Floor Completion Bonus: Exp +500 Calculating... Second Floor: Complete Combat Experience: Exp +0 Boss Defeated: Exp +0 Second Floor Completion Bonus: Exp +5,000 Calculating... Third Floor: Complete Combat Experience: Exp +22,000 Boss: N/A Third Floor Completion Bonus: Exp +15,000 Dungeon: Complete Dungeon Completion Bonus: Exp +30,000 Hard Mode: 1/2 Total Experience: Exp +72,500

I didn't get any experience from the first two floors because I just let the Adventurers smash through it as fast as possible, Reivyn mused. Looks like I got close to 90% of the Experience from the third floor.   I wonder what the second Hard Mode is? I can't think of anything that could be considered "Hard" for the first floor, and the third floor doesn't even have a boss. Reivyn threw the thought to the back of his mind. He was going to clear the Dungeon solo the next week. Maybe he would learn something new then.   "It was a pleasure," the leader of the "Adventurer" Party said, clapping Reivyn on the shoulder. "Always glad to have the leader of the Frostfire Thorns join us."   Reivyn gave the smiling man a skeptical look before he realized what he was doing. Putting up a pretense for all of the observers, and giving my group a bit of face while doing so.   The entrance to the Dungeon was always extremely busy, and people were constantly coming and going. If the city ordinance didn't prohibit it, Reivyn was sure there would be hawkers setting up shop right here instead of the central market area. Some of the passersby noticed the exchange, but it wasn't really of all that import to Reivyn.   He's probably trying to get my Party name talked about a bit for the guide in the Adventurer's Guild, he thought. Speaking of, we haven't checked the balance in a while. I should go pull some money out for living expenses.   Reivyn nodded and waved to the group. They quickly faded into the background, still doing their job of shadowing their charge, as Reivyn strolled over to the Adventurer's Guild Branch.   They had been withdrawing a little bit of funds each month while in school, and Reivyn had insisted that Melissa, Larissa, and Erik take a share as well. They didn't withdraw all of it, though, as the Adventurer's Guild basically functioned as a bank for its members. There was no reason to take it out of the Adventurer's Guild to either just carry it all around or deposit it in another institution.   The funds from the guide hadn't taken off until several months after the Dungeon Break, as not many people had returned to running the Dungeon for a time while the town was rebuilt. The income had steadily increased after that, though, and they had accumulated almost 20% of the total profits seen from selling the Experience Crystals, which was more than Reivyn had expected.   Reivyn quickly made the trip and grabbed some pocket money. He went ahead and grabbed enough to distribute to everyone in the original Party so they wouldn't have to make another trip for themselves.   I might as well head over to Prince Galwit's manor and see if he's available to talk since I'm out, Reivyn thought.   He secured the money in a pouch he kept in his inner breast pocket. He kept the money split up, so even though it was worth over a gold, it was split six ways in silver and copper. He wasn't used to carrying so much around, even when in The Capital. He could feel the weight and feel the jingle as the coins clinked against each other.   Reivyn made his way to the manor, and it looked exactly the same as it had half a week before. It looks like everyone's here, he thought. The Dungeon resets the same day of the week for everyone, but that doesn't mean everyone is going to rush to get their run done the first day.   "Is the prince available to meet right now?" Reivyn addressed the same guard as last time.   The man eyed Reivyn for a second before indicating for him to wait a moment. Reivyn stood outside the gate, contemplating how he was going to bring up the discovery to Galwit. He only had to wait a moment before the guard returned and jerked his head to motion for Reivyn to follow him.   The guard led Reivyn to the same study, and Prince Galwit once more greeted him with an enthusiastic smile.   "What's this? Back already?" Galwit asked. "Did you already think about my proposition? That was pretty quick."   "No, actually," Reivyn said as he took a seat. "I haven't really had the chance to consider it further. I'm going to wait to speak to my parents about the issue. I don't keep any secrets from them, ever, for any reason. I might forget to bring something up from time to time, but it's never deliberate.   "No, I came today because I cleared the third floor with a higher Level Party earlier today." Prince Galwit's eyebrows rose, and he nodded in appreciation. "I don't know if you know anything about the third floor, but it should be a playground for you and your people. The Abyss Mana is dominant down there, and it suppresses this Realm's Mana."   "Yeah, we've peeked into it once, but we weren't confident we had enough Stamina and Mana to last through the horde. I guess over-Leveling it is an option."   "Yeah, most problems can be solved by overwhelming might, I've seen," Reivyn chuckled. "But I'm not here to talk about the fight on the third floor.   "We explored the cavern and found something. There's a giant, metal gate in the deepest part of the Dungeon, and the Abyss Mana is seeping into the Dungeon through that gate. When I saw the gate, I felt a pulse in my very being, telling me there was something important for me on the other side.   "There's no obvious way to open the gate physically, though, and I wasn't about to channel Abyss Mana in front of someone else to try and open it that way. Do you know anything about something like this?"   Prince Galwit stared off into space, idly tapping the top of his desk with a serious look on his face. His facial expressions fluctuated as he went through different thoughts in his head before he had an "Ah-ha!" moment.   "Let me first ask you, do you know how infinitely instanced Dungeons work?" He asked.   "I don't know the fundamental theory behind them if that's what you're asking." Reivyn frowned.   "Yes, that's what I was talking about. Well, you can think of the Realm as a bubble floating in a vast sea. There are countless bubbles, and they're all independent of each other. Sometimes, another much smaller bubble is formed from within the Realm bubbles, and they sit on the surface, reflecting what's in the Realm.   "This is how infinitely instanced Dungeons are formed. They sit outside of the Realm, attached to it, and it reflects a snapshot in time from when the first hints of the Dungeon formed. This Dungeon here probably had the first seeds of splitting off a couple of hundred years ago, otherwise, the denizens of the Dungeon wouldn't be undead.   "Now, that's not when the Dungeon formed, that was only recently. That was just when the snapshot was taken.   "Okay, that's a little lesson just to get to the main point: Sometimes these extra bubbles sitting on the surface of the Realm bubbles will attach to more than one Realm bubble at a time. It sounds like that's what's going on here."   "So you're saying that the other side of that gate is the Abyss Realm?" Reivyn asked, horrified.   "No, not quite," Galwit denied, shaking his head. "The other side of that gate could lead directly to the Abyss Realm, but that's extremely unlikely. It's far more likely that it leads to another, separate Dungeon that's technically an infinitely instanced Dungeon of the Abyss Realm. It could also lead to somewhere else that leads to another Dungeon or the Abyss Realm, we don't know.   "The point is, it's likely a passageway that ultimately leads to the Abyss Realm as an endpoint."   "And what makes you so sure of that?" Reivyn asked.   "The history lessons I told you about before," Galwit said, and Reivyn nodded that he was following along, "there's a short snippet of how the invasion was facilitated. It took me a moment to remember it because it's just mentioned briefly, but apparently, the armies traveled through connections inside Dungeons. It sounds like this could have been one of the ancient connections."   "And it's still around? Wasn't that war, like, hundreds of thousands of years ago?" Reivyn was shocked.   "Eh, in the grand scheme of things, considering Realms in their totality, a hundred thousand years is nothing. It's been a relative blip in history."   "Well, when you put it like that, it makes sense."   "But you said you felt something calling to you from beyond the gate?" Galwit prodded.   "Yeah, it was from the core of my very self," Reivyn nodded. "It's most likely something to do with my Abyss Affinity. Who knows, it might help out your goal, too."   "Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Galwit stood up and headed to the door.   "Wait, you want to go now?" Reivyn asked, also standing up.   "Sure," Galwit said. "It doesn't matter to me if I lose a week's Dungeon run, and you said you cleared all of the monsters. It should just be a stroll to the bottom to check it out. I'll bring one of my men along, not Ren, just in case."   "Are you sure another person should know that I can use Abyss Mana?" Reivyn asked.   "It'll be fine," Galwit placated. "All of my followers can use it, too, and if they outed you, they'd be outing themselves. Your secret is safe with me and mine."   "Ok~ay," Reivyn said, walking out of the study room behind the prince. "Well, let me send a message back to the manor to let my friends know that I've gone back in. They'll be expecting me soon, and I don't want them to worry."   "Sure, I'll have Guard Stillin send a note on our way out."   Reivyn walked with the prince as he beckoned to the first follower they crossed. It was a Magic Academy student, Reivyn could tell by the robe, but Reivyn didn't recognize him. The man didn't ask any questions and simply got in position behind the prince. Reivyn created a new System Party and invited the two of them to join.     ---     "Wow, it's magnificent," Galwit said, clearly in awe at the giant gate. The other follower who had accompanied them also had an appropriately bedazzled expression. Reivyn had noticed that the other Magic Academy student had suffered considerably less distress from entering the bottom-most part of the Dungeon.   "Really?" Reivyn asked skeptically. "It seems pretty creepy to me."   "I'm not talking about the murals carved on it," Galwit rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about it as a whole." He took a deep breath right in front of the twin doors of the gate, and Reivyn could see motes of the dark Mana get absorbed into his body. "I've never felt more refreshed in my life. I didn't realize how stifling the local Mana was to my family and me until this very moment."   "Makes sense," Reivyn replied. "Everyone else feels suppressed when they come down here, so it's no surprise you would feel the opposite. You're probably just acclimated to the feeling since you've lived here your entire life, and nobody else in your family realizes it, either."   "If we can get System recognition for our use of Abyss Mana, it could change so much more than just how others look at us," Galwit said, fervor in his voice.   "Do you think we can open it?" Reivyn asked.   "I think so," Galwit said. "We're on this side of the gate, and it leads to the Abyss. I imagine it would require a blending of the two types of Mana in order to unlock and open it." Galwit glanced at his follower. "It's a good thing we brought Lenerd along, as we'll probably need all three of us acting together to open it."   "So what do we need to do?"   "Well, if my guess is correct, I need to channel pure Abyss Mana, Lenerd needs to channel pure Veridical Mana, and you need to channel a blend of the two. We combine it all together, and push it into the gate, and... it opens? I don't know. Like I said, I'm guessing."   "Won't hurt to try," Reivyn said.   The three men took up position. Reivyn stood in the center with Galwit to his left and Lenerd to his right. He could feel the intensity of the calling increase as they began to channel their own pure mana. Lenerd had the hardest time of it. Even though he didn't suffer nearly as much as the other people Reivyn had come down here with, that only applied because of the Abyss Mana he had somehow been infused with. Channeling Veridical Mana down here was still a chore.   Galwit and Lenerd didn't have the Realm Affinities, so the Mana they were channeling was simply just the base Mana of the two realms. Reivyn, though, infused his pure mana with the actual Affinities. He formed an orb of Veridical Mana in his right hand and one of Abyss in his left.   None of the three were sure how much they were going to need, so they simply pumped as much of their Mana into their orbs as they could. The pulse within Reivyn continued to intensify as more mana was pushed out, and after a certain amount was channeled into the palms of his hands, he felt a click.   The mana orbs from Galwit and Lenerd were sucked into Reivyn's orbs like a magnet, and then those two orbs combined all on their own, forming a sphere perfectly halved by the two types of Mana. Energy built up and then exploded toward the gate, like an empowered Beam Spell.   Ripples of alternating white and black lines spread out from the impact of the Mana on the center of the gate, and a loud groaning sound echoed throughout the cavern as the gate began to move.   The very air in the cavern was sucked into the maw of the opening doorway like a vacuum, and the three young men stumbled forward before maintaining their balance. An equilibrium was quickly reached, and Abyss Mana began to pour into the Dungeon from the now open gate.   Reivyn peered into the darkness, but he couldn't see anything. It was like a wall of black separated the Dungeon from whatever was on the other side of the gate.   "Well..." Galwit said, clearly a little unnerved by the sight, "no reason to hesitate now. Lenerd, you stay here. We're just going to peek inside real quick. I'll let you know if we need you in a moment."   "Yes, my lord," Lenerd said, a little out of breath. He stumbled over to the side and took a seat to recover from the Mana expenditure. Reivyn checked his own Status and saw that it had taken 1,200 Mana points to open the gate.   I was doing Dual Casting, though, so looks like it cost him 600 Mana. I don't know how much Mana he has, but I do notice that Galwit seems to be perfectly fine after supposedly spending the same amount. Galwit returned a knowing look when he caught Reivyn inspecting him in thought.   "Ready when you are," Galwit said.   Reivyn nodded and drew his sword and shield. No reason to not be cautious. We have no idea what's on the other side. Galwit followed suit by pulling out a gnarled wand from within his inner breast. Anticipation thrummed in unison with the pulsing of the call.   Reivyn walked through the partition of blackness on high alert. He took deliberate steps, weapon at the ready and Mana on the cusp of being called. A chill ran through his entire person as he stepped through the portal.   He took a couple of steps inside before stopping to goggle at the sight before him, Galwit turning into a statue next to him.   Before the two young men was a long, rocky bridge spanning over an infinite abyss. Behind the two was an orb shining with a light that gave off the comfortable feeling of Veridical Mana, and on the other side of the bridge was a similar orb giving off the feelings of the Abyss. The orbs were the size of a large house, but when Reivyn gazed into the orb, he felt as though he was viewing the entire infinite expanse contained within the confines of the orb.   There were thousands of strands connecting the two orbs, and upon closer inspection, they were similar bridges to the ones Reivyn and Galwit found themselves on. They appeared to be tiny strings, but focusing on one gave a similar impression as the orbs themselves. Reivyn instinctively understood that each bridge was actually identical in size and scope to the one he was standing on.   There were millions of orbs similar to the Veridical and Abyss orbs floating in space all around: above, below, in front, and behind. There was no source of light, the orbs shined unto themselves without seeming to illuminate anything around them, but his vision was crystal clear.   Surrounding the Realms were an uncountable number of flickering lights. They were incredibly tiny, like sparks from an open fire. They were all traveling in the same general direction, but huge tides of the sparks were attracted to the various orbs like gravity. At the same time, an almost equal number of the sparks were expelled from the orbs to join the others in their journey to some other, unknown destination.   "Wha...?" Reivyn choked. "What is all of this?"   "I have no idea," Galwit said, gazing into the vast expanse. "It's beautiful though."   "What's that?" Reivyn pointed. Attached to the millions of Realm orbs was a similar thread to the ones attaching the Veridical and Abyss Realms. These threads, though, had a sort of golden shine surrounding them. Every orb had one, and they stretched upwards into infinity, all appearing to lead to the same place.   All of the orbs had one, except for two.   "Our Realms don't seem to have one," Reivyn said.   "No, they do," Galwit pointed. Reivyn followed his indication, and he could see that the threads with a golden sheen did exist for each orb, but they didn't lead up into infinity. They were severed and floating around aimlessly.   "What does that mean?" Reivyn and Galwit shared a look.   "Do you feel the call?" Galwit asked, bringing their attention back to the main topic at hand. Reivyn nodded toward the center of the bridge.   "Whatever it is, it's not coming from the actual Abyss Realm," he replied. "It's coming from the center of the bridge, but I don't see anything from here."   "Well," Galwit rolled his shoulders, "let's go see if we can't find anything over there."   Reivyn sheathed his sword and holstered his shield on his back. There were no monsters of any kind, so he felt no reason to keep the weapons at the ready. The two of them strode across the bridge, the pulsing within his core continued to intensify as they got closer and closer to the center of the bridge.   Reivyn took a step beyond the center of the bridge, and the pulsing suddenly stopped. He paused and looked around in bewilderment.   "Excellent," a deep voice came from behind them. The sound vibrated in Reivyn's chest, and he and Galwit spun around, weapons coming back out at the ready. "The Gateway has been opened right on time."   Reivyn held his sword at the ready, shield up, as he saw the person who was speaking. A masked man in dark robes like the cultists took easy strides across the bridge toward the two of them. Reivyn felt his hairs stand up on end, and his stomach plummeted. The man's white mask was completely blank except for the two eye holes. Reivyn could feel, as well as see, the red irises of the man as he stared at Reivyn.   He walked up to just out of reach of Reivyn before stopping to consider the two youths. Reivyn's Sense Danger was completely silent as the man stood there, but his Sense Threat Skill had exploded. It was practically off the charts, and his knees threatened to buckle at the pressure the masked man gave off. His Sense Threat Skill was telling him only one thing.   Instant death.   This man is stronger than dad, Reivyn gulped. A lot stronger.   "You have done well, young Galwit," the man said, his voice still vibrating Reivyn's body with each syllable. Reivyn glanced at Galwit, a feeling of betrayal welling up, but he saw only a look of confusion on the other young man's face.   "Do I know you, your excellency?" Galwit asked with a frown. The masked man chuckled at the question.   "No, but I know you," he responded. "A creature of the Abyss, floundering in a world that rejects him. I know exactly what you're going through. About your struggle to find a place for you and your kind.   "A naive wish.   "You will find no acceptance. Not from the people. Not from the System.   "But rejoice! If you can't find accommodation, you can simply force it upon them. Now that the gate is once more open, the War can continue, and this time, we will end the conflict and absorb the other Realm, stripping it of its power for ourselves."   Reivyn's eyes widened in alarm as the gravity of the situation dawned on him. He realized that the situation was exponentially more dire than a simple run-in with a powerful cultist.   What have I done?