The Ice dungeon differed from the standard Destruction ones from the very outset, proclaiming its presence with a chill mist drifting in the air rather than the glint of oily light, looking particularly out of place in the hot July sunlight.

“The best way to defeat an Ice dungeon is with lightning, much like how the best way to defeat a stone dungeon is fire,” Levi explained as they neared their destination. Ice creatures were oddly vulnerable to electric attacks.

Unfortunately, Levi's current team happened to have exactly zero lightning-aligned items with them.

Fortunately, the dungeon was only level 2.

"Ice and stone are the hardest to brute strength, due to their heavy defence focus, but we should be able to do it anyway. We'll move slow and methodical, clear everything, rest, and keep moving."

"Do you think this dungeon will have an Essence too?" Gordon asked, trepidation in his voice. Good. Better for him to be concerned than to be too eager to go.

"It might, but I don't think it's likely. Finding two in a row was already enough of a fluke. A properly prepared team should be better able to handle an Ice boss than anything else. They tend to be slow, comparatively, and easy to control with good teamwork."

Ice dungeons had a small but notable statistical probability of survivability, enough so that they took priority any time there was a choice of which dungeon to visit. Frost Spiders could move quick, but they were still slow compared to Glitterlings or Rust Scarabs.

The opening room looked like a frozen cavern, with icicles running down the wall and into those beneath them growing up, giving the edges a strangely ridged look. The light was bright, dazzling, with crystal ice glinting in faceted growths in the corners and rainbow light glinting across the frost-feathered floor.

It was beautiful, but beautiful in the way of something that would kill you in an instant. At higher levels, entering an Ice dungeon would be like entering a super freezer, the cold enough to take your breath away and impose a dangerous chill. Here, it was only mildly uncomfortable.

"Spiders, you said?" Gordon asked, as he looked around. "I don't see anything."

"They'll be along." Levi started off down the first hall, confident he'd run into a trap web sooner or later. "Just be ready to fight."

The first hall was empty, the second room was empty, and the third room was also empty.

"Did someone already clear it today?" Gordon wondered.

"Possibly." There were scratches on the ice, wisps of destroyed web, that made that more likely than the other alternative. "But it might also be a trap."

"How would an empty room be a trap?"

"Sometimes a dungeon will put all its resources into overpowering a single boss, rather than spreading everything out. It's very rare, but it can be devastating when used properly." Levi remembered the Control dungeon's unexpected tactic, quite vividly.

"I see." Gordon looked around uneasily, as Levi continued to check each room for the more mundane physical kind of traps.

Nothing presented itself, so he left it and moved on to the next room.

A single frost spider leapt out at them, its body roughly the size of Levi's head, with long crystalline legs. Levi caught it in midair, flipped it over onto the floor, and held it down beneath one foot. It squirmed and hissed out its frosty breath, legs thrashing against him, but couldn't escape.

"Cen, can you hold this guy down for me? If we can't find anything better, we may want him later."

The next room was empty, as was the treasure room beyond.

"That settles it," Levi said, running a hand across the empty block of ice that would ordinarily contain items. "It's been cleared."

"Would it be worth holding out for a crab, or should I take the spider?" Gordon asked.

"Either has advantages and disadvantages. The spider is faster, and has that frost breath. The crab would be slower but more resistant to damage. If you're looking for something that can take damage, I'd hold out for the crab. But we do have Cen and Centoo, and they should be reaching threshold soon, so as long as we keep working as a unit you don't need to worry overly about protection."

"What was it you wanted me to get when I 'threshold'?"

"Dismay. I'm not entirely certain if it'll make it possible to tame bosses, but even the chance is worth investigating."

Gordon nodded. "That'll be a while though."

"Yes."

They moved more quickly through the remaining rooms, but found only another straggler Frost Spider, no sign of the Crystal Crabs they'd come in search of.

"Want to go for the spider, or wait?"

Gordon frowned in consideration. "I think I'll take it."

"Be my guest." Levi stood back as Gordon carefully brought the spider's health down to within taming range, then added it to his minion roster. Levi was disappointed at his inability to examine allies' creatures with as much detail as he could his own, but he had Gordon right here to ask. "What are its upgrade numbers, and base stats?"

"Frost Spider, Level 1, 70 health, 35 mana, 20 stamina. Where do I find the upgrade numbers again?"

Levi walked him through the process, which was unnecessarily convoluted thanks to the alien system connection patterns, and he read them out. Levi committed them to memory.

Strength: +5 Health, +1 H-Regen Psyche: +5 Mana, +1 M-Regen Spirit: +3 Stamina, +0.5 S-Regen

"Is his initial point in Psyche?"

"Yes. How'd you know?"

"I've yet to see any minion with a base amount not divisible by ten."

Levi tugged at his notes within the system, wrestling them together into a mental chart. Getting it to store and allow access to custom information wasn't easy, but it was an essential skill he'd mastered a long time ago.

Species Health per Strength point Mana per Psyche point Stamina per Spirit point Initial Health Initial Mana Initial Stamina Horned Gremlin 5 3 10 50 0 50 Cynomis Burrower 8 8 5 20 30 20 Stone Centipede 15 5 5 70 30 70 Frost Spider 5 5 3 70 30 20

Comparing the numbers, it was clear that Cen and Centoo were better in almost every respect. Flomper had more balanced gains at levelup compared to Skarm or the spider, and would theoretically make a better mage if spec'd into Psyche, but Levi didn't know if it was possible to teach a minion spells. Another thing he'd need to test.

Even a basic gremlin with the right abilities could outperform any human class at higher levels. The additional potential of having six stat points per level outweighed the disparate amounts by a lot. He could easily imagine Skarm being able to fight a demon warrior head to head one day, based on his stats and given the proper upgrades. All the bonuses for the gremlin species abilities stacked so nicely. Leap added power to ambushes, Sneaky added damage to ambushes, Sharpened Claws added power to all unarmed attacks...

What kind of stats would the bosses have, once he was able to capture them? He couldn't wait to find out.

But in the meantime, he really wanted to improve his revive ability. Going for so long without Two was making him feel guilty, and the inefficiency of leaving a slot tied up with a dead minion only exacerbated his impatience. He wanted to try some different things with Two, test various gremlin builds to see what worked best. Plus with that knife Two had a very different attack style from Skarm.

For a moment Levi considered the second Frost Spider, to decide whether he should capture it or leave his slot open for something better in the future. Its stats were entirely unexceptional, from what Gordon had said, so he didn’t feel bad about squishing it instead.

He needed more information. More creatures to compare. There had to be a pattern here, the numbers were too similar, but all different at the same time. Level 1 dungeons tended to only have the weaker creatures, level 2 dungeons could also have the stronger ones.

It made him wonder what stats a Rust Scarab would have. They only appeared in level 2 dungeons. Would they be more like a gremlin, or a stone centipede? He'd initially dismissed the swarm creatures as too weak to be worth the effort, but what if they were hiding untapped potential?

"We need to get to a level 2 Destruction dungeon."

Levi turned to leave, then stopped.

Something felt off. He felt odd about leaving, unfinished.

He frowned and turned slowly, testing out the feeling. "We missed something," he realized, gradually recognizing the mental tug toward remaining. "I think there's a hidden treasure in this dungeon."