The following day was a rest day at the Academy, so Duncan spent it in the Sawiskin dungeon. He killed another group of Sawiskin delvers and cleared the dungeon in record time. There were two rare monsters in the dungeon – a turret-like golem that threw an unending stream of spears at him, and a creature with a humanoid upper body sitting atop the lower body of an octopus. It could generate clouds of ink and had a strong water affinity, using all the same Techniques as the Sawiskin, at a slightly stronger rank. Sadly, it presented little more challenge than a group of Sawiskin delvers.

Duncan left the dungeon feeling like he had taken all the gains he was likely to get from the place.

The day after, he ate breakfast with his roommates and was pleased to see they’d all advanced at least one Technique in the dungeon. Amelia had advanced three. “Were you able to meditate?” Duncan asked her. “Did it help?”

“I did, and it did. I feel a little better, although I still shudder when I think of that wound,” she replied. “And I advanced more from that single delve than all the ones before it.”

“Part of it is you having new Techniques, part of it is that your older Techniques may have been on the verge of advancing, and part of it was definitely the added stimulus of a truly dangerous encounter,” said Duncan. “I meditate after every delve, and my progress seems faster than normal, so it’s possible meditation helps with absorbing the lessons you’re learning in the dungeon. It makes me feel better, too. I’m glad it helped you.”

Later, he spoke with Master deBouteville about other dungeons in the area now that the Sawiskin dungeon had become so familiar for him. “With your increased flying speed, there are a few possibilities up in the mountains to the Northeast,” she said. “It’s pretty desolate up there. More elves and dwarves than humans. And that’s a potential problem. There’s no fixed boundary between the Empire and the Elven lands. Bands of elves wander through the forests, and they take care of most of the dungeons there. I don’t know if they’d object to you delving in what they might consider their territory. And the nearest one is probably a good six hours away at your top flying speed, to boot.”

“There are a couple of mid-level dungeons in the forest East of here. They’d be a two- or three-day trip on foot, but you could probably get there in under two hours at your new speed. The one I’m familiar with is called The Hidden Forest, and it presents just like the forest around it, except it’s full of harpies, wyverns, and some humanoid forest dwellers called weebles. The harpies and weebles are both tool users, and the weebles wear armor and patrol the forest in groups. The Adventurers Guild rates the place as level sixty, so it’s probably quite weak by your standards.”

“The other one is even weaker, rated at level fifty. It’s an underground cave complex with spiders, worms, and slimes. It has some valuable mineral deposits that make it popular, and the monsters are just animals, so many people find them easier to face.”

Duncan shook his head, “I much prefer monsters that wield weapons and fight with intelligence. There’s very little gain in fighting animals. I’ll consider the Hidden Forest one, but I was hoping for something above level ninety by Guild standards. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.”

After dinner, Duncan had his lesson with Master Guilford, and asked him if he had a favorite dungeon. The old master smiled fondly and said, “Far to the West, there’s a mountain range that separates the Empire from the Zaragosan Kingdom. Where that mountain range touches the great Ocean beyond, there’s a dungeon called the Scholastica Donostia. It presents as a great martial academy. You cannot take classes there, but you can enter their dueling arenas and a steady stream of their students will step in to challenge you, each stronger than the last. You have a minute to step out of the arena between fights if you do not wish to continue. They have arenas for pure melee, with no Techniques allowed, and for anything goes fights with all Techniques allowed. One arena in each style for solo fighters, one for team. It’s a magnificent learning experience. When you depart, should you be clever enough to do so before you are overwhelmed, you are awarded a prize determined by how many monster students you defeated in the arena. Sadly, you are only allowed to enter each arena once – if you go back a second time, no one will come to challenge you.”

“That sounds brilliant!” Duncan exclaimed.

“It is. But there’s a years-long waiting list to gain access to the dungeon. There’s a town nearby called San Sebastien, where would-be entrants hang around in case a gap opens in the schedule. There’s a brief auction for the spot when that happens. A lot of people are killed in San Sebastien. It is a true nest of villainy.” Master Guilford sounded oddly wistful.

Duncan made a mental note to visit that dungeon sometime. The town sounded like it might be more dangerous than some dungeons, too, which could be fun. Not long ago I was scared of other adventurers trying to kill me for my gear. Now I’m thinking a town where that’s known to happen could be fun… am I becoming desensitized to death?

After his longsword lesson, he flew into Lanport to visit Pelleas. He sold the guild his accumulated loot, making note of the small portion he had to split with his delving group from the training dungeon. Not a productive delve this week in terms of loot. Pelleas told him to take his vials of acid directly to the Enchanters Guild or Alchemist Guild in a bigger city. “The guild can offer you three gold a vial for those. I suspect the Enchanters or Alchemists Guild can offer you a fair bit more if they have a use for it.”

Duncan thanked Pelleas, then said, “The real reason I came to see you is to ask about dungeons. I can fly a fair bit faster than I could only last week – I finally have some blade-aspected mana cutting the wind when I fly – so I’m looking for high level dungeons I can fly to the night before rest day, delve on the rest day, and fly back to the Academy that night. Master deBouteville mentioned there may be some dungeons in the mountains to the Northeast, but said they’re often taken care of by bands of elves, and she didn’t know if I’d be welcome there.”

Pelleas pulled out a map of the area around Lanport. “How fast can you fly? Is three hundred kilometers too far? That would put you well into Elven territory, and there are some high-level dungeons there. I expect the closest one you’d like would be the Citadel of the Cloud Giants. It’s about two hundred and fifty kilometers to the Northeast, and the guild would rank it at one hundred. It’s actually fairly similar to the eighth floor of the Endless Depths, except the giants are stronger, with lightning, air, and water affinities. Lots of giant eagles, too. I would recommend resistance items if you choose to go there.”

“As to permission – elves don’t claim dungeons. We do our part to keep them in check, but you wouldn’t get in trouble for simply being in a dungeon. That said, I can give you a token which will mark you as a friend of my… order, I guess you’d call it. The name would translate as Sky Watchers, perhaps. We watch the activities of the greater powers in the world, and we are not without influence in the elven courts. The token would grant you passage in elven lands and a degree of courtesy from the locals, assuming you don’t do anything to provoke hostilities.”

Duncan nodded. “That dungeon does sound interesting. So does your order. Thank you for the kind offer, by the way – I’d be grateful to carry such a token. I would like to hear more about your order, but before I get distracted by that, I have two more questions. First, how many enchanted items can I carry and use at once? Second, if I were to use the teleportation network to travel around, does that open any interesting dungeon opportunities?”

“Ah, good questions, both. To answer the first one, your ability to use concurrent enchantments is limited by your Spirit Affinity and your mana pool. Your various pieces of armor all share an enchantment, so they count as one. Your storage devices count individually however, and they have a spiritual weight, so to speak, based on how much space they contain. With your outstanding affinity, you should be able to wear your armor, carry a weapon in each hand, a ring on each hand, an armband on each arm, a cloak, a necklace, and perhaps an anklet or something. The strength of the enchantments also matters. And you cannot wear two necklaces, for instance – they would interfere with each other, just as wearing two rings on the same hand would do. Mana flows through the body in specific patterns and loops, and you can only place so much strain on any one loop or pattern.”

“Someone with a weak spirit affinity might only be able to wear or wield four items total. An armor set, two weapons, and a storage device, for example. Someone with a weak spirit affinity may find they can’t wear piecemeal armor with different enchantments.”

“Also, every enchanted item you wear or wield reserves a portion of your total mana. A soulgem reserves 1 mana – it’s quite an efficient design. Storage devices tend to reserve a hundred or more each, and armor and weapon enchantments often reserve fifty or more. Note that the stronger your Spirit Affinity, the less mana an enchantment typically reserves. At your level, reserving a thousand mana for enchantments is both common and negligible, given your mana pool.”

“Now, to answer your second question, I suspect there are quite a few interesting dungeons you can get to if you’re willing to pay the cost. Most of the high-level dungeons near a teleportation gate are quite popular, though, not because they’re near a gate, but because they’re near somewhere important enough to have a gate. The convenience of access combined with the overall scarcity of high-level dungeons in the first place means that you’ll often find convenient high-level dungeons in the empire under the control of one faction or another. Some of them restrict access to their own faction, some sell access, and some apply other criteria. As long as the dungeons are kept in check, and the faction can enforce their control, no one does anything.”

“The Emperor’s Guard controls access to a high-level dungeon filled with shadow-affinity humanoids, for example. They use it to train against assassination tactics and Techniques. Give me a day and I’ll put together a list of dungeons that you may be able to access and that meet your criteria for difficulty and weapon-wielding inhabitants.”

“Thank you, Pelleas,” said Duncan. “I really appreciate your time and effort.”

“You are welcome,” the elf replied, “It’s a privilege to work with you. I have hopes that you’ll do great things, if you survive the next century or two.”

Pelleas showed Duncan a pendant that depicted an eyeball with wings. It was artistically designed, finely wrought, and looked to be made of expensive materials. But still, it was an eyeball with wings. “This token will identify you as an agent of the Sky Watchers. It doesn’t confer any authority – it simply says that you are affiliated with us. It carries an enchantment that will be recognized in many of the courts in the world, and where it is not recognized, it will still convey a sense that you’re acting on behalf of a reputable organization. I will activate it with a drop of my blood, and you will bind it with a drop of your blood, and that will ensure it cannot be lost or stolen, and the enchantment will show your aura, proving that you are the agent the token indicates you are.”

“Before we proceed, if we proceed, I will explain who we are and what we do, and you can choose whether or not you want to be associated with us.” Pelleas smiled. “As with every organization, we have allies and enemies, and you would inherit both if you displayed this token.”

“Simply put, the Order of Sky Watchers keeps an eye on the activities of the greater powers in the world – the Dragons, Leviathans, Vampire Courts, Fae Royals, any demi-gods that arise, that sort of thing – and tries to keep the people of the world as safe as possible in their interactions with these powers. So, when a dragon stirs, we warn the kingdoms in their area of influence. When Mauphad the Sea Giant wanders near land, we warn the lands whose fishing fleets might irritate him. Additionally, the great powers are often hostile to one another and getting out from between them is generally wise.”

“For this reason, we are generally viewed favorably by the Elven and Dwarven courts, and by the human and Lipiti nations we are able to convince. We are, however, often viewed as meddlers by the great powers themselves, and they will often send agents to disrupt our activities or kill us if they see an opportunity to do so without inconveniencing themselves, just as you might swat a fly that buzzes in your face but wouldn’t chase it across the room.”

Duncan nodded. “Nothing there sounds like it would be a bad idea for me to associate with your order. You’ve been more helpful to me than anyone I’ve met since I left the Valley. I’d be pleased to carry your token.”

Pelleas produced a pin and pricked his finger, then applied the blood to the back of the pendant. “Touch a drop of your blood to the front of the pendant, then,” he said. Duncan did so, and the pendant took on a very soft glow. “The pendant is bound to you now. Keep it in your storage space, pull it out only when you need to use it to gain access to a dungeon or a court, or to convince an elf or dwarf that you’re friendly. Beyond that, tell me if you run into any absurdly powerful creatures.”

“So, uh, how strong are the powers that you keep an eye on? If one came after me for being your agent, could I fight it?” Duncan asked as he stored the pendant.

“It depends on which great power you mean. Individual vampires can be as weak as level one hundred, but a vampire court could send a hundred level two-hundred equivalents after you if you really upset them. The weakest dragons would be about level one thousand, maybe. Twenty or thirty level one hundred adventurers would be annihilated by a typical dragon in seconds. The stronger dragons could face a demi-god and fight to a standstill.”

“Wait,” said Duncan. “You think people like me are supposed to be able to stand up to otherworldly invaders that could be stronger than dragons? I had no idea dragons were so strong, and there are things stronger than that? How could you possibly think that having some extra strong affinities would position people like me to fight beings like that?”

“Oh, we don’t expect you to fight them directly. We think you’re a reaction from the Gods, but we have no idea what that means. Maybe you’ll be able to fight their minions, or direct their ire at each other, or something. Or maybe you’ll grow unexpectedly. Humans have become demi-gods before, you know, and I doubt it was a sudden leap from level two hundred to five thousand. You yourself are proof that humans can reach above level two hundred – you have twenty-four Techniques at age eighteen! Who knows how much further you’ll progress, or what that will look like?”

Pelleas became more animated as he spoke. “How many incredibly powerful mortals are there out there right now working towards godhood without anyone knowing? Maybe they’ve spent five hundred years in isolated dungeons where the mana density would smother us. Maybe there’s something completely beyond Techniques and the levels we associate with them. Maybe you’ll find out, and maybe I’ll get some answers when you do.”

Duncan laughed, “Or maybe I’ve been taking your talk of fighting these things too seriously, and I’ll kill myself trying for fast improvement.” Then he shrugged, “It doesn’t really change anything. I still want to delve hard dungeons, fight strange and wondrous monsters and grow strong enough to defend people from threats like the undead invasion.”

“A worthy goal. Now you should be off; you’ve been in here with the privacy wards enabled for a long time. There’s not usually a line up to get treasure appraised at this time of night, but still. I will get you a list of viable dungeons in the Elven lands to the Northeast, and near teleportation gates.” Pelleas shooed Duncan out.

“Okay,” said Duncan as he left, “but I’m going to want to know what vampires and fae are.”

Duncan stopped at the main desk in the Adventurers Guild hall to ask if they could give him specific directions to the Hidden Forest dungeon to the East. For three gold, the clerk sold him a wooden disk with an intricate symbol embedded on it. “Hold it on your palm. A light will appear on the edge of the disc if you’re within about fifty kilometers from the beacon stone we’ve placed outside the dungeon. The light always points towards the dungeon, so just travel towards the light,” the clerk told him. Huh, I wonder if that’s a thing for all dungeons, or just the hard-to-find ones, or just a few valuable ones. It turned out, there was a beacon at most dungeons the guild knew about that weren’t under the control of another faction.

And just like that, Duncan had a new dungeon to explore.