Night had fallen, so he flew straight back to the Academy, skirting Lanport so as not to draw the ire of the guards by flying over the city. He flew directly to the window of his room on the top floor of the student dormitory and Blinked in. Cassandra and Amelia were sitting on Cassandra’s bed talking. They screamed when he appeared covered in monster blood and fully armored.

He dismissed his armor and said “I’m sorry! It’s just me.”

“Duncan!” hissed Amelia, “You bastard! You scared the shit out of us.” She was shaking.

“I wasn’t thinking,” he said. “I thought I’d pop in and go to the bath without anyone noticing. I should have realized that with classes tomorrow, people would be in the dorms by now.”

The door opened and David entered. “Oh, hi Duncan, how was your day?”

“It was great, but I just scared the ladies when I arrived. I’m going to run to the baths to clean up. I’m sorry, again, ladies.” Duncan beat a hasty retreat out the door and to the baths where he cleaned up. The baths were kept clean by a clever set of enchanted runes, which was fortunate since he was adding blood and gore to the mix. When he was done, he took his armor and clothes to the laundry tub and cleaned them thoroughly. He stored them in his armband and returned to his room, knocking lightly before entering.

“Oh, now he knocks,” said Cassandra.

“I am very sorry. I will knock on the window next time before I enter.”

“I thought you were joking when you said you could fly and teleport,” said Amelia.

Duncan shrugged, “You don’t believe you can’t hurt me, either.”

“Wait,” said David, “weren’t you level seventy-five this morning?”

Duncan checked his soulgem, “Oh I must have leveled in the dungeon today.”

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

76 (+1)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

222 (+3)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

202 (+2)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

205 (+3)

Endurance:

223 (+2)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

2

Health:

19660 (+240)

Health Regen:

10640/hour (+140)

Stamina:

2990 (+30)

Stam Regen:

26600/hour (+350)

Mana:

15627 (+174)

Mana Regen:

5700/hour (+40)

Mana Reserved:

401

Cultivation:

Mid Earth

Affinities:

Body

Outstanding

Death

weak

Mind

Strong

Lava

weak

Spirit

Outstanding

Gravity

weak

Fire

weak

Poison

negligible

Air

weak

Blade

Outstanding

Water

weak

Ice

weak

Earth

moderate

Decay

weak

Stone

moderate

Soul

moderate

Lightning

weak

Corrosion

negligible

Gemstone

moderate

Space

Outstanding

Nature

negligible

Healing

Outstanding

Life

weak

Shadow

moderate

Metal

moderate

Blood

negligible

Techniques

Active

Rank

Passive

Rank

Blade Echo

7

Tempered Blade

7

Fold Space

5

Regeneration

6

Blink

6 (+1)

Coagulation

4

Mind Spike

5

Hardened Skin

5

Destrin's Restoration

4

Tranquil Mind

3

Flying Sword

3

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

2

Personal Space Pocket

4

Remove Affliction

2

Ignore Pain

4

Shadow Sight

3

Assessment

3

Skills

Rank

1H swords

5

Plate armor

3

2H swords

4

Mail armor

1

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

3

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1

Oh, that’s neat. I don’t have to see where I’m going when I Blink now. I can Blink through doors and things if I assume there’s nothing on the other side. I get pushed to the nearest empty space if I try to teleport into a solid object, with a large mana cost penalty. And water’s treated the same as air. It never occurred to me today that I couldn’t Blink underwater. And the mana cost is down to twenty per Blink, and the range up to a hundred and sixty meters. That’s awesome.

“You actually went to a dungeon on your rest day?” Cassandra asked. “We thought you were just avoiding us.”

Duncan laughed. “Do any of you believe anything I say? I haven’t lied to any of you about anything.”

“You spout some premium horseshit though,” said Amelia. “You say we can’t hurt you. What do you mean, exactly?”

Duncan decided to open up a little bit. “I have an outstanding body affinity and an obscene regeneration rate. And rank five Hardened Skin. And, not to be rude, but you’re all weak. I’m not sure you could push a blade through my flesh even without those things.” He pulled a dagger out of a storage item. “Go ahead and try.”

Amelia looked skeptical, but Cassandra grabbed the dagger and stabbed him in the belly. It didn’t so much as break his skin. “Enchanted shirt?” she asked.

Duncan stored his shirt. “Try again.”

All of them had a try, even using their own weapons in case his dagger was enchanted not to penetrate. Amelia was able to break his skin, but not draw blood. The others couldn’t even do that much.

“So,” Duncan said in the awkward silence that followed, “what did you guys do today?”

“We went shopping in the city,” sighed Amelia.

“I went out with some local fishermen to get back on a boat,” said David.

“Did you go to the Academy training dungeon?” asked Cassandra. “I hear it’s hard to get a spot in a group on rest days because the third and second years get priority access.”

“I’ve not been to that one yet, no. But I’ve asked if I can go while no one else is there. I’m hoping to get some overnight slots. But no, I went to a dungeon that I understand is something of a secret. It’s rated level ninety and apparently has a high casualty rate, so they don’t tell anyone about it.” If other folks ran into that fire-breathing turtle, I can understand the casualty rate.

“How did you find a group to take a level seventy-five warrior to a dungeon rated level ninety?” asked David.

Duncan grimaced, “I’m a solo delver. I didn’t go with a group.”

“I know you’re considered some kind of freak by the staff,” said Cassandra, “but soloing a dungeon rated for four level ninety adventurers at level seventy-five sounds impossible. What did you fight in there?”

“Monsters that looked like turtles that walked upright and used spears, had some weird poison Technique, and could retract their limbs into their shells and shoot themselves at me. And some giant transparent crayfish with a mental attack and insanely strong piercing limbs. Plus, some fish and eels and aquatic lizard men, and other stuff like that.”

“And what loot did you get?” asked David.

“A large pile of weapons and a couple of treasure chests. I haven’t actually looked at the treasure – it’s not wise to browse in the dungeon.”

“Well, whip it out, big boy, let’s see what you’ve got,” said Cassandra.

“Show us the treasure, Duncan,” added Amelia.

“We are still talking about the loot, right?” Duncan said. He produced the small chest from the turtle men chieftain. “This could be trapped. You might want to step out of the room.”

“Stand in front of it and we’ll stand behind you so you can block anything that’d hit us,” directed Cassandra.

“Alright.” Duncan blocked their view of the chest and flipped the lid open. A putrid green gas filled the room in an instant. “Shit!” He stored the chest again, then stepped to the window and kicked it open. He removed his affliction, then touched each of his roommates in turn, removing their afflictions as well. They had all collapsed in the few seconds since they’d been exposed to the gas. He tossed Amelia over his shoulder, then picked up David and Cassandra, kicked open their door and carried them to the baths. His assessment showed they were no longer afflicted, and they weren’t injured. They were simply unconscious.

Fortunately, the baths were empty at this late hour, so he didn’t have to deal with anyone panicking about the three nobles he carried in. After a few minutes during which Duncan began to question his Assessment Technique, Cassandra woke up, followed quickly by the other two. “What happened?” she asked.

“Poison gas trap on the chest. It knocked you out, but no harm done. You can visit the healer if you like, though. You probably should, for your own peace of mind. I brought you all here while the room airs out. I may have broken the window and the door, though, so I’ll go talk to student services about getting them repaired while you guys see the healer.”

“What was in the chest?” asked David.

“No idea; I stored it when the gas started pouring out. I’ll open it somewhere safer. I should never have opened it here at all.”

“My fault,” said Cassandra. “I shouldn’t have asked to see the loot in the first place.”

“I appreciate the thought, but it’s on me. I’ll see you folks when you get back from the healer – I’m going to see a man about a replacement door and window.” We’re on the top floor, so if I Blink way up, I should be free and clear. With a thought, he was over a hundred meters above the student building. He pulled a sword out of his storage and flew down to Student Services to pay for a new door and window.

The next day at sword practice with Master deBouteville, she asked if he’d visited a dungeon on his rest day. “I did,” Duncan replied. “The Sawiskin dungeon feels very useful for training several of my Techniques. I’m going to try to go back there as often as I can.”

“How long were you in, and how far did you get? Did you run into any Sawiskin?”

“All day, and I cleared it. The fire-breathing giant turtle was so much harder than the turtle man chieftain. Yes, I ran into a group of five and a group of eight.”

She laughed. “You cleared it on your first try. Well, I guess that makes me feel less bad about losing to you. What were you saying about a giant turtle? I’ve never heard of a giant turtle in there.”

“I thought it was a rare spawn. About twenty meters long, and it breathed a jet of white fire that hit harder than anything I’ve ever experienced.”

“That sounds like a flame turtle. But I wouldn’t take a group of five level one hundreds against a flame turtle, given the choice.”

“I spent more than an hour on its back, whittling it down a little at a time. It tried a few tricks to get me, and I almost died a couple of times, but Blink is a really useful Technique against a creature like that,” Duncan explained.

“How did you even hurt it through its shell?” Lena asked.

“Oh, I didn’t show all my tricks in our fight,” Duncan grinned, pulling out his Spirit Sword. “This ignores all physical armor and does spiritual damage. It’s hard to tell you’re being hurt. Although it did notice.”

Lena shook her head, “Such a diverse build. And so effective. Alright, let’s get back to turning you into a swordsman to match your build…”

Master Guilford also noticed his advancement when Duncan arrived for his evening longsword class. “I see you are still working on your progression, even whilst in school. That is admirable. Now take your guard, we need to work on your halfswording.”

* * *

A day later, Duncan arrived at the Adventurers Guild to sell the loot he’d taken from the dungeon. He had opened the two treasure chests on the roof of the student dorm. The small chest from the chieftain contained fifty gold worth of mixed coins and a pair of Technique Stones. The huge chest from the giant turtle contained almost five hundred gold, dozens of gemstones, several of which were enchanted and possibly Technique Stones, two rings, a necklace, half a dozen weapons including a gorgeous longsword, and some nice pieces of armor. On top of that, he had all the weapons and gear from the turtle men and Sawiskin to sell.

The longsword had a shadow affinity and had a chance to blind whomever it struck depending on the relative strength of the wielder’s shadow affinity compared to the victim’s. The guild offered him seven gold for it, but he needed a good longsword, so he kept it (mostly for its appearance, if he was being honest with himself).

One of the rings conveyed fire resistance (the wearer would take reduced damage from fire attacks, depending on the strength of the attacker’s fire affinity. It would reduce a moderate affinity attack by fifty percent, but an outstanding affinity attack by only ten percent). Garbage. He sold it for three gold. The second ring was a fifty-slot storage device, which he also kept. I have four storage items plus my Technique now. But I don’t need gold at all, and I can use them as high-value trade items. The necklace was great, though. It made his Healing Techniques more mana efficient. The guild offered him fifty gold for it, and he declined.

He sold all but one of the Sawiskin tridents. The one he kept had dagger blades instead of tines, which let him use his Blade Techniques with it, and it used its wielder’s metal affinity to add an ongoing damage effect to wounds it inflicted by shedding metal splinters that worked their way into the wounds. The Sawiskin all had rings of air breathing, which confused the appraiser when Duncan presented thirteen of them. He sold them for two gold total.

The gear and weapons from the turtle men weren’t worth anything to him or to the guild. They gave him a single gold for the lot.

None of the Technique stones interested him, although he looked wistfully at the one that taught that water jet Technique that penetrated his armor so easily. He sold the lot for fourteen gold.

And none of the armor pieces were better than what he already had, because none of them had a self-repair enchantment. One pair of gauntlets fascinated him, however. They were identified as gauntlets of mace mastery, and they raised his mace skill by two ranks. Are there sword versions of these gauntlets? Because that feels like a big boost. He kept the gauntlets in case he ever needed to switch to a mace for a fight.

He asked to see the item exchange list for a moment to look up sword mastery items. There was a pair of leather gloves that he thought might fit under his gauntlets for twenty gold. Or an actual pair of gauntlets of sword mastery for thirty gold. He decided to hold off ordering anything until he’d had a chance to speak with his instructors about mastery items.

As he should have expected, the sword masters weren’t fond of items that artificially enhanced his sword skills. “I can see the value in a dungeon, where you’re fighting monsters and need to never miss a parry, or something similar, but it just feels wrong to me,” said Master deBouteville. “You should focus more on sensing blades around you. With your Blade affinity, you should always know exactly where your blade is, and where your opponent’s blade is. I can sense every blade within ten meters of me when I’m fighting. I rarely need my blade ward because I’m always moving away from where I sense your blade is going.”

Master Guilford felt much the same way, “Training with the sword is a lifelong journey. It is the journey itself that matters more than the destination. For me, I would feel cheated that I had missed out on part of the journey were I to use a shortcut item like that. But I don’t deal with the sort of stresses you do in your unsupported dungeon runs. I can understand the appeal for you, and as long as you don’t wear them whilst training, I won’t object to you using them in dungeons.”