Duncan flew into Lanport, thinking he’d sit on the docks and watch the sunrise while meditating on the fights. As he flew over the city, he heard a shrill scream from below. He dropped down to the ground beside a girl who couldn’t have been more than eight years old. Four young thugs, none older than fifteen, had trapped her in an alley, and were threatening her with knives. The moment Duncan arrived, one of them yelled “Scarper!” and they fled.

Duncan didn’t follow; instead, he asked the young girl what was going on. “They thought I was begging in their territory,” she said.

“Why are you out in the streets in the middle of the night?” Duncan asked.

“The dead men are attacking,” she said.

“Show me.” Duncan equipped his Necrobane sword and dragontooth sword. He was already wearing his dragonskin armor.

The little girl led him a few blocks deeper into the neighborhood and pointed. He saw an undead animator and at least two Bone Knights approaching a large building that looked like a boarding house or apartment building. “Hide,” he whispered to the girl, and Blinked forward to attack the animator. His Necrobane sword doubled his damage against undead, and it and its five echoes made a mess of the animator’s ribs. The monster blasted him back with Necrotic energy, and the sword absorbed half of it. His dragonskin armor offered him a fair bit of protection, too, and he ignored the bit of damage that got through. He struck again and then Blinked away as the Bone Knights rushed to attack him.

One of the Bone Knights summoned a bone cage around him, and he Blinked out of it to attack the Animator again. He killed the Animator, stored its corpse, and engaged both Bone Knights. They were still fast, but he’d made significant gains on his physical stats since the last time he’d fought them (only a few days ago, heh) and his new sword did double damage to undead - it was no longer a contest. He blocked with folds of space, parried as needed, and beat them with swordplay. He was storing their corpses when another bolt of necrotic energy slammed into him. He Blinked to the side and faced the direction he though the attack had come from. Another Animator and two more Bone Knights were rushing him. What could possibly be in this building that the Lich is sending two Animators to get it, or to kill?

Duncan Blinked behind the Animator and stabbed it in the back then slashed it across the neck with his second sword. The Animator hissed and the Bone Knights spun and came back towards him. He shredded the Animator’s torso with a third attack, and it died without even being able to turn to face him. He stored the corpse and demolished the two Bone Knights the same way he’d taken care of the previous pair. With them dead and their corpses stored, he looked around for additional threats, but there was nothing apparent.

The little girl came out from her hiding place. “What’s your name, little one, and where do you live?” Duncan asked. She pointed at the building the undead had been approaching, then took his hand and tried to pull him into the building. He stored his swords and let her lead him in.

Inside, a large woman met them at the door. “Bente! Where have you been? We were worried sick.” She engulfed the little girl in a hug.

“Dead men were coming,” said Bente. “But it’s ok now. They’re gone.”

“Alright, you go up to your room and go to sleep,” the big woman said. Bente gave Duncan a wave and ran up a nearby staircase.

“Thank you for bringing her home, Warrior,” the matron said. “Where did you find her?”

“She was a few blocks away; some youths had cornered her. I scared them off and she led me here. What is this place?”

The woman sighed. “We’re an orphanage. The undead attacks orphaned hundreds of children, so his Grace the Duke ordered several new orphanages be established. We’ve only been open a few days, but we’ve got a hundred kids like Bente in here.”

What do the undead want with an orphanage? And if they come back, what’s to stop them from getting it? “Do you have any guards here?” he asked.

“We’re an orphanage, not a prison!” she replied, outraged.

“I meant to protect the children. Bente wasn’t making things up about the undead. I killed six very high level undead outside this building before we came in. Do you have an evacuation plan?”

The woman appeared shaken. “There are three of us on staff. We live here with the kids, cook and clean for them. There’s no money for guards. The Duke established the orphanages and pays for food and our salaries, but unless we get a sponsor, they won’t even get an education. And with the state of the city, a sponsor for poor kids doesn’t seem likely. No, there’s no evacuation plan. Three of us can’t herd a hundred kids out the front door in five minutes, never mind an evacuation route. If more undead show up, we’re all as good as dead.”

“What does it cost to sponsor an orphanage? And who would I talk to if I wanted to sponsor this one?” asked Duncan.

The matron looked at him in surprise. “We’re the Dock Street orphanage. Talk to the Duke’s seneschal or his staff. To become the orphanage’s sponsor will cost fifty gold a year, as I understand it, but you’d need to hire extra staff yourself and pay for things like teachers and clothing for the children and so on. You can expect that to cost you another fifty gold a year.”

So, for one day’s dungeon delving I can sponsor a hundred orphans for an entire year. Those six undead I just killed are worth sixty gold on their own. “I’ll stay here until the sun comes up in case more undead show up, then I’ll go talk to someone at the citadel,” he said.

“What’s your name, Warrior?” asked the matron.

“Duncan of the Valley,” he said, sitting on the front step. “And you?”

“I’m Mrs. Shadburne. Mr. Shadburne was killed by the undead, so I’m almost as lost as these kids,” she added forlornly.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope caring for these kids helps with your pain.” This is even worse than small talk. I am not good with people. Please let some more undead attack now.

Mrs. Shadburne patted him on the shoulder and returned to the building while Duncan sat on the step until sunrise.

At ten bells, he met the group from the dungeon at the Adventurers Guild hall. Behind the privacy ward, he pulled out the loot they’d gotten. The rat hides sold for a silver total. I’ll have to rank that harvesting Technique up some to get better results. The ratmen had high quality leather armor but it wasn’t enchanted, and he’d cut it up pretty badly. They got a gold for the lot, and another gold for their blades. The boss ratman had enchanted swords with a Decay affinity similar to the axe Duncan had “loaned” David earlier.

The treasure chest contained thirty gold in loose coins, a metal affinity longsword that ignored metal armor, similar to one of Duncan’s one-handed swords, leather bracers that increased strength and agility by five each, a mind-affinity robe that made it appear the wearer was a meter to the left of where they actually were, and a pair of earth affinity boots that let the wearer hover or walk on air by repelling the ground underneath. The Technique stone from the ‘mud’ golem offered an earth-affinity Technique to turn stone to mud. It was common and only worth two gold.

The value of all the items came to just under forty gold, bringing the haul for the run to seventy gold, fourteen gold for each of them. Amelia bought the longsword off the group for ten gold, David bought a decay sword for three gold (returning the axe he’d borrowed from Duncan), and the rest of the items went to the guild.

“Is the bounty on high level undead still in effect?” Duncan asked the appraiser, and when the guild man confirmed it was, Duncan produced the six corpses from his encounter earlier that morning and received sixty gold for the bodies, and an additional eight gold for the gear they’d carried.

“Where did those come from?” asked Cassandra.

“Found them sneaking through Lanport before dawn this morning,” Duncan replied.

“Have you reported the encounter?” she asked.

“To whom? I found these next to an orphanage. I’d like to ask the city watch to post someone nearby in case more come back, but I worry that anyone they post will just become a victim.”

“The watchmen carry flares they can use to alert others to the danger if they see undead roaming the city. You should definitely report the encounter to them,” Cassandra said.

“I’ll do that.” They thanked the appraiser for his time and left the office. On the way out, Duncan asked Cassandra if she knew the process for sponsoring an orphanage.

“You’ll need a factor to manage your financial affairs if you’re going to do that sort of thing.” Cassandra told him. “Adventurers can die young, so you’ll need to establish a trust to fund things like that. My family uses Elliot Lainer to handle our legal and financial affairs in Lanport. He’s a good man and may take you as a client. I’ll ask him, if you like. We have the rest of the day free, still.”

David was in a state of euphoria. “I’ve never had this much gold in all my life,” he said.

Paul agreed. “This has to be the biggest haul ever to come out of that training dungeon,” he said. “On my previous run, I think I got five silver. My branch of the family is relatively poor. This is three years’ allowance for me.”

“I’m glad you’re all happy with the delve,” said Duncan. “Don’t expect that sort of thing every time, though. Dungeons tend to give me rare monsters to fight, but they’re not always as lucrative as that.”

“Are you sure you want to split the loot evenly?” Amelia asked, not for the first time. “All the loot came from things you fought on your own.”

“It’s already done, and an even split is how it should be. Enjoy your new sword,” said Duncan.

Duncan and Cassandra went to the City Watch station closest to the orphanage to report the undead sighting. It was a good thing Cassandra was with him, as the Watch captain didn’t want to believe Duncan about killing the undead. “I’d not have turned the corpses in yet, had I known he’d be so thick,” he grumbled. “How can someone so weak be so condescending?”

“In most circles, level sixty isn’t considered weak, and his family has significant political power in the city,” Cassandra said. “Anyway, he’s agreed to post a guardsman nearby in case more undead come by. You’ve done your civic duty and reported the incident. Let’s go drop in on Elliot so that I can introduce you, then I have to visit some family friends this afternoon. Obligations of the heir.”

Elliot Lainer proved to be a pleasure to work with. A minor nobleman of perhaps forty, he had good manners and a familiarity with high society, and he conveyed a sense of competence that Duncan immediately liked. He met them in a nice, comfortable office in a fine building not far from the Citadel. Elliot confirmed that Duncan could sponsor an orphanage for a base cost of fifty gold a year, which covered the building rental and maintenance, furniture, food for the children and staff, and the staff’s salaries. Teachers, educational supplies, more staff, and a guard or two would run another fifty gold a year, give or take.

For ten gold a year, Elliot would take care of the finances and paperwork. “But you’ll need a thousand gold to establish a trust to pay the ongoing costs. That’s a lot of money even for most noble families to come up with. If you wanted to help an orphanage with a lesser donation, that would still be most appreciated.”

Cassandra laughed. “You don’t have to dance around money issues with Duncan, Elliot. He has more available cash on hand than anyone I know.”

“I have a lot of gold on account with the Adventurers Guild,” said Duncan. “Assuming the local branch has sufficient funds on hand, I can bring you the coin this afternoon.”

“Do you keep all your money with the Adventurers Guild?” Elliot asked.

“Well, no, I have a few hundred gold on me,” said Duncan.

Elliot and Cassandra both stared at him. “So you have no money invested anywhere?” Elliot asked.

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Duncan. “I earn lots of money from delving dungeons, and I don’t need it, so I leave most of it on account with the Adventurers Guild, because I can withdraw it from anywhere they have a branch. That seems pretty convenient to me.”

“How much interest do you earn on that deposit?” said Elliot.

“Again, I don’t know what that means.” Duncan said. I’m starting to feel stupid here. It’s not a feeling I like.

“Duncan’s not from a noble family, Elliot. He’s a very young adventurer who’s very very good at running dungeons. He doesn’t come from money – he’s entirely self-made,” Cassandra explained.

“I see. My apologies, Duncan,” Elliot said. “Normally, an institution that holds your money will pay you a small percentage of the amount they hold, because they get to use your money while they have it. Typically, they might pay you one or two percent of the money you have stored with them each year. They will use the money you’ve essentially loaned them to buy cheap products or land, or to lend to other people at a higher rate of interest. They will earn more money by using your money in that way, so they pay you for the privilege of doing so.”

“Is it any more convenient or safer to have your money with the Adventurers Guild than to keep it in your own storage?” asked Cassandra. No, I suppose it’s really not.

“Right now, there’s a lot of land and buildings selling very cheaply due to the predations of the undead. In the short term, there’s not much prospect for property values to increase due to the sudden glut in supply and reduced demand. But long term, people who can afford to buy now stand to make a lot of money,” said Elliot.

Duncan replied, “I don’t really care much about money. I can get all I need from delving dungeons. But it would be nice to be able to help more people like with this orphanage. And if I don’t die in a dungeon, I’m effectively immortal. My body no longer really ages. So long term is fine with me.”

“I can put together a list of reputable managers for you to investigate. You can choose whichever one you feel most comfortable with,” Elliot began.

“Isn’t that what you do?” Duncan interrupted.

“Well, yes, but I’m the one introducing you to the concept of money management. I can’t ask you to trust my firm with your money – from your point of view, the whole thing could be a scam,” explained Elliot.

“Meh, Cassandra trusts you, and she hasn’t wronged me. If it turns out you’re cheating me, I’ll just kill you and everyone you know.”

Cassandra laughed. “Horrifying threats aside – I’m one of the people he knows, Duncan – Duncan’s a good man, and would be a good client, Elliot.”

“You’re the one introducing me,” said Duncan. “If he cheats me, you’ll be the first person I visit.”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing I’m an honest man working with a reputable firm. Nobody’s getting cheated. Why don’t you wait and see how the orphanage thing goes, and then consider investing your gold after that,” Elliot said.

“The Academy offers a class on financial management, Duncan. You should see if you can take it, or at least take a few private lessons from the instructor,” suggested Cassandra.

It took an hour to get the paperwork for the orphanage ready. Cassandra left to fulfil her social obligations. Duncan returned to the Adventurers Guild and withdrew a thousand gold from his account. The appraiser winced at the amount, but they had the funds on-hand, so he was able to complete the transaction with Elliot.

At sundown, Duncan returned to the orphanage to see if the undead would return. Six undead had to be a significant investment of the Lich’s forces this morning. I don’t know if it’ll cut its losses or come harder tonight. I guess it depends on how badly it wants whatever it’s looking for.

About two hours after sunset, Duncan heard screams from a few streets away. Monsters coming, or a distraction? Or were they after something else in the neighborhood? With a curse, Duncan flew toward the disturbance. He saw a red light rise up and burst thirty meters into the air and moved to investigate. A watch patrol had encountered an Animator and its two Bone Knight companions and were being taken apart.

Duncan landed behind the Animator and hit it with first his left (necrobane) sword, and then his right (dragontooth) sword. He followed up with a quick Mind Spike and two more sword blows, and it dropped before the Bone Knights even knew he was attacking. He stored the corpse and attacked the first Bone Knight as it turned to face him. The second Bone Knight turned from attacking the last few watchmen and joined the attack on Duncan.

Twenty seconds later, Duncan stored the Bone Knight corpses and told the remaining watchmen, “There’s more than just this group out here. I’m going after the others.” He summoned a sword under his feet and shot back up above the rooftops and headed back to the orphanage.

He saw another Animator and two… greater bone golems approaching the orphanage. Is that the Lich itself? Duncan Blinked to the caster and attacked it from behind. His sword cut a deep gash into its torso, and in the time between his first sword landing and his second sword landing, the Lich (and it was the Lich, not an animator) had spun completely to face him.

Duncan put a fold in space between himself and the Lich to redirect the beam of darkness he expected. It was only just in time – the beam formed, and struck the Lich itself, as Duncan’s fold in space redirected the beam back the way it came. Duncan’s Assessment passive showed the Lich to be badly wounded. Duncan Blinked back to where he’d been to avoid the golems he was expecting to hit him any second and he created another fold in space in front of him to redirect any forthcoming attack from the lich.

A blizzard of ice surrounded him, but he Blinked out of it before it could do any real damage through his dragonskin armor. The moment he could see the Lich, he hit it with a strong Mind Spike, Blinked behind it, and hammered it with another blow from his necrobane sword. It was still stunned, so he struck it once more with his dragontooth sword and Blinked straight up thirty meters.

The bone golems were spinning in place looking for him. The Lich was critically wounded according to Duncan’s Assessment, so he unloaded on it with the strongest Mind Spike he’d ever used, then Blinked back to it and cut it again with his necrobane sword. The Lich’s body turned to mist, and it let out a blast of spiritual force that made Duncan’s brain hurt. If not for his Coagulation, his eyes and ears would have bled. The cloud fled to the Northeast.

Duncan Blinked back up and used Destrin’s Restoration to heal himself fully. The greater bone golems started attacking the orphanage’s wall, each of them wielding four large swords. Ah hells, I was really hoping they’d flee to the Lich and I could follow them to its phylactery.

He Blinked down to the golems and attacked one from behind, bone chips flying. Both golems turned to attack him, each using four longswords one-handed. Do these things count as undead? I don’t know if I’m doing double damage to them and they’re just incredibly durable, or if I’m not doing double damage. The bone golems used their swords independently. It was like being attacked by eight strong monsters instead of two.

Duncan threw up folds in space to block and used both swords defensively as he twisted and dodged attacks. He got clipped by a sword on his thigh, and his dragonskin armor parted under the force of the attack. He Blinked back a few meters and healed himself to make sure he didn’t stumble from the wound. The golems pressed their attack.

There was a commotion behind Duncan, and he Blinked straight up ten meters to have a look. Half a dozen people in guard uniforms had entered the square. Duncan was about to warn them to flee when one of them let loose with a lightning bolt and another threw a ball of fire. Both struck the same golem. I guess this is the guard’s reaction force…

Duncan Blinked back down to re-engage the golems, smashing more chips off the one he’d originally struck. It spun around to re-engage him, but the second one went after the new arrivals. I hope you folks know what you’re doing. Duncan took advantage of the fact there were only four swords attacking him now to be more aggressive, Blinking behind his target to strike it, then repeating that as it spun to face him. After two repetitions of that, the golem starting spinning like a top, with its weapons extended.

Duncan Blinked above it, standing on a sword he mentally pulled out of storage under his feet. He stabbed through a fold in space at the monster’s head, staying just out of its reach as it flailed up at him. It took more than a dozen attacks to kill it. Well, that ended up being easy. Just takes a minute to think of the correct tactics.

He stored the corpse and looked over to where the other golem was fighting the watch team. One guard was down, clearly dead. Another was down but moving, a shieldbearer standing over the fallen watchman. Duncan’s Assessment Technique showed the golem was only wounded.

He Blinked behind the remaining golem and attacked it with both swords, knowing it was likely to turn on him. Instead, it went directly into the whirling top move, surrounded as it was. Duncan Blinked above it and repeated his folded space thrusting attacks to the head strategy he’d used on the other one. The watchmen took advantage of the moment to retreat to the edge of the square, dragging their wounded with them.

When the golem stopped spinning, Duncan Blinked down to the ground to continue to engage it, so that it wouldn’t turn on the watch again. He slowly backed away from the watchmen, and the golem followed, attacking constantly. Duncan took another wound and decided that was far enough. He Blinked back over its head and used folds in space to let him batter its skull with thrusts, staying just out of its reach. The watchmen attacked with occasional ranged attacks, but they were clearly worried about drawing its attention again.

The golem collapsed and Duncan stored the corpse and turned to the watchmen. The fallen man was still down, breathing shallowly. He had a deep gash in his torso, and if he hadn’t been a Level 103 Warrior, he’d have died from that wound. “It killed our healer,” said one of the remaining watchmen. All of them were over level one hundred and all were wounded to one degree or another.

Duncan knelt down beside the wounded warrior and touched him, triggering Regenerate Other and Destrin’s Restoration. A flood of mana left him, and the man’s wounds disappeared entirely. Duncan checked his soulgem and saw he was under three thousand mana. “I’m sorry, I don’t have the mana to heal the rest of you. My heal is only rank one, and it’s very inefficient.”

“We’ll live until we can get back to our barracks and our other healers. Thank you for healing James; I’m not sure he’d have made it. What’s your name, warrior?” The watchman who spoke was a grizzled Level 106 Warrior.

“I’m Duncan of the Valley. I’m a student at the Academy of Steel. Yes, I know my level’s an anomaly,” Duncan said.

“You’re the one that found the Lich in the first place!” said the watchman who’d been doing the talking for the group. “These two were with it when we raided the catacombs. Did you see it here?”

“Yeah, I killed it before you arrived. It turned to mist and disappeared that way.” Duncan pointed. “I was hoping the golems would follow it home so I could follow them.”

The man whistled. “Well done. I’m Sergeant Gray. I must get my men to a healer, and Amos there,” he gestured to the dead healer, “back to his family.” The guardsmen picked up their fallen comrade and carried him off.

Deciding the Lich was unlikely to return after having been ‘killed’, Duncan returned to the Academy, where he sat on the roof of the student building to meditate before getting some sleep.

I wish I knew what the Lich wanted with the orphanage. Is there something hidden in the building? Is there someone there it wants, or wants to kill? There’s too much I don’t know. Oops, I leveled again. I don’t even know if it was in the dungeon or fighting the undead. I did have some lovely fights. The ratmen were terrific opponents, and the mud golem and these bone golems were great as well. I took the Lich completely by surprise this time; I don’t think I’ll be quite so lucky next time. That fight went far better for me than it had any right to. Using a fold in space to redirect its death beam back at itself made all the difference there.

I need to hire a couple of guards for the orphanage and get Mrs. Shadburn to work on an evacuation plan. And I guess I need to talk to Jacob about getting a crash course in personal finances from one of the instructors.

Name:

Duncan

Class:

Warrior

Level:

100 (+2)

Profession:

Adventurer

Strength:

272 (+4)

Intelligence:

73

Dexterity:

251 (+3)

Wisdom:

60

Agility:

253 (+3)

Endurance:

274 (+4)

Concurrent Active Techniques:

3

Health:

25480 (+480)

Health Regen:

16000/hour

Stamina:

3740 (+60)

Stam Regen:

40000/hour

Mana:

19827 (+350)

Mana Regen:

6660/hour

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 (limit reached)

Rank

Blade Echo

8

Tempered Blade

8

Fold Space

6

Regeneration

7

Blink

6

Coagulation

6 (+1)

Mind Spike

6

Hardened Skin

6 (+1)

Destrin's Restoration

5

Tranquil Mind

4

Flying Sword

4

Spiritual Shield

3

Bladestorm

3

Personal Space Pocket

5

Remove Affliction

4

Ignore Pain

5

Regenerate Other

1

Shadow Sight

4

Cage of Blades

1

Assessment

4

Extract Resouces

1

Blade Sense

2

Understand Languages

1

Skills

Rank

1H swords

7

Plate armor

4

2H swords

5

Mail armor

1

1H axes

3

Leather armor

3

2H axes

3

Anatomy

2

Shields

4

Survival

2

Spears

4

Skinning

1

Daggers

3

Meditation

3

Bows

3

Swimming

1

Tracking

1

Riding

1