After the first trap room, the next few rooms were much simpler. The biggest problem was the shadevine. It wasn't numerous enough to actually kill anyone, but the steady drain against anyone that came in contact with it was a serious problem for Skarm and the centipedes who used parts of their bodies as weapons.

It got to the point where Levi ordered the minions to stay back while he went ahead and stomped on the slippery little vines himself. With his boots and leggings he was the best protected of any of them, and with the advantage of his lens he could stab anything that got close on the ceiling or walls to jump at him.

The fifth room gave him a strong sense of place. There was only a single creature in it, sitting at the center like a miniboss, but he felt the slick texture of tiles beneath his foot the moment he stepped forward, and he knew this was the hiding place of the special treasure he'd come for.

The creature waiting for him was one he hadn't seen before, but he recognized the shape. Thick, square, feline, and crouched down ready to pounce.

Level 1+

(Rift Cat)

Health 100%

Well, that was interesting. He'd never met a plus creature outside of a boss fight since his return to the past.

It was also very disappointing. The moment he saw the Rift Cat, he knew he wanted it. They were fast and sturdy, and had a short-range teleportation ability that made them incredibly frustrating opponents.

"You're close to level five, right Gordon?" Levi called back.

"Maybe. Is there a progress bar somewhere I should check?"

"No, it's not anything so precise. Just a feeling."

The Rift Cat waited, watching, but for the moment Levi was far enough away it didn't want to give away its position. It clearly didn't realize he could see it clearly.

"I really, really want this Rift Cat."

"Then take it, I won't fight you for it."

"It's a plus. We need Dismay if we're to have any chance of taking it."

"Ahhh." Gordon considered. "Can we tie it up and come back after beating the main boss? That should be enough to level me. Right?"

"It can teleport. Hard to pin down something that can teleport."

"Will it follow us from room to room, if we rush past it?"

"Up to a point." They could hope there was a treasure room, or sprint past everything until they reached the boss room. "But if we rush into the boss fight, we'll have no time to prepare."

"Worst case scenario?"

Levi shook his head. "Very bad. We could rush into another trap room. We could rush into a room with more shadevine than the minions can survive contact with. We could find a Dark Essence. We could find another Rift Cat."

"So, backtrack?"

Levi wasn't sure if he could find the way back through the trap hall. His last jump had been enough to take them out of the room altogether, but repeating the feat and landing safely on the two tiles that wouldn't trigger whatever diabolical trap it had ready would be much more difficult.

"How badly do you want this Rift Cat?" Gordon asked when Levi didn't answer.

"Very much. I don't plan to spend any more time in Dark dungeons than necessary, and I believe it'll be even more powerful than the centipedes even before adding the plus modifier."

Then Gordon smacked himself on the forehead. "I'll send Flomper to scout. Can you give her your... hat thingy?"

Levi backed out of the Rift Cat's room, its eyes never leaving him, not moving from its ready crouch, and very reluctantly handed over the lens to Flomper. "Do you know how to--"

Before he'd even finished asking, the lens emitted the faint glow of mana, and Flomper bared her big flat teeth at him, her furry face puffing in a smug grin. Once she was sure she'd made her point, she immediately dove into the floor.

She returned after several minutes, and Gordon picked her up. They seemed to be playing patty-cake for a while in some code they'd apparently devised for communication, then Gordon spoke.

"The boss room is full of shadevine, but she didn't see any sign of an Essence. There are no more trap rooms. A lot of the shadow pixie things though. They almost got her with their darkness blobs, but she managed to escape very heroically. And another group of shadevine in the second room, but off to the side. We could go around it."

He handed the lens headband back to Levi. "Looks like we have a clear run to the boss room, if you want to try it."

"How much shadevine is 'full of'?"

Flomper waved her paws in every direction wildly.

"A lot." Levi considered. "I don't like it. An individual shadevine can be killed in one blow, maybe two if it's particularly sturdy, but it drains one or two of each pool in the process, even assuming the only contact is the killing blow. Judging by how much the smaller nests of shadevine hurt the minions, a boss room full of it could probably drain them all completely."

"Should we go to town and see if we can buy hazmat suits or something?" Gordon asked.

"They would slow us down and wouldn't hold up in normal combat. False security is more dangerous than known vulnerability. If you have a tear and a shadevine gets inside, it could kill you before you knew what was happening."

Levi sighed, then handed the lens back to Flomper, then took off his gloves and handed them to her. She looked a bit confused, stuffing her paws into the thumbs of the gloves, and looked at Levi as though he'd lost his mind.

"I think it's time we found out exactly what we're up against. I need you to bring me back a shadevine."

Flomper nodded in sudden understanding and dove back into the floor. It took her several minutes longer this time, then she returned with a wriggling purple vine held tight between her paws. It was stretching and elongating, sprouting more and more tendrils as it tried to grab onto anything to escape her grip.

"Go ahead and drop it." Levi trapped it beneath his foot, then retrieved his lens and gloves from Flomper before picking it up.

Level 2

(Shadevine)

Health 40%

He very carefully tore off one of its sprouting vine tendrils, watching its health as he did.

Level 2

(Shadevine)

Health 20%

Levi frowned. That tiny amount of damage had dropped it by 20%? How little health did it have?

He grabbed another of its flailing tendrils, then very slowly began to tear it free, ready to stop the moment its health dropped again.

Level 2

(Shadevine)

Health 0%

He barely had time to register the change before it disintegrated in his hands.

"Five health? Shadevines have five health?" No wonder they were so easy to kill. But it would make taming one all but impossible. It would have to have at least 20 in order for him to successfully bring it below the 5% threshold. Otherwise... 1 health left would still be 20%, and he couldn't tame that.

Not that he particularly wanted to keep one, if they were so incredibly weak, but he did want to know their stat spread for his records. They did have a powerful draining ability. He wondered if there were a way to evolve them into something more dangerous, and somewhat relished the challenge.

"Can you find a stronger one, or are they all that easy to kill?" Levi asked Flomper.

She huffed, then held out her paws for the equipment and dove back into the floor yet again.

This time it took nearly twenty minutes for her to return, and she was looking much the worse for wear. But she triumphantly held out a wriggling shadevine, which Levi trapped beneath his foot to examine.

Level 2

(Shadevine)

Health 12%

"That's progress." He pressed down with his foot, watching.

Level 2

(Shadevine)

Health 8%

Promising! A little more...

Level 2

(Shadevine)

Health 4%

"Yes! Good job, Flomper!" Levi leaned down and activated Tame.

Success! You have tamed a Shadevine.

Would you like to name ‘Shadevine’ at this time?

"No, leave it unnamed."

Then he brought up its stats.

Shadevine: Level 2 Shadevine

Strength: 1

Health: 25/25

(+3/min)

Psyche: 1

Mana: 110/110

(+3/min)

Spirit: 0

Stamina: 40/40

(+1/min)

And checked its leveling rates.

Strength: +20 Health, +2 H-Regen Psyche: +25 Mana, +2 M-Regen Spirit: +1 Stamina, +0.5 S-Regen

Levi raised an eyebrow at that. So far, there had tended to be a correlation between starting stats and stat gains. Gremlins had no mana, they gained very little mana per psyche point. Stone Centipedes had high starting health, they gained a lot of health per strength point. The shadevine had higher gains for health than stamina, while its initial stats for those two were reversed.

Whatever governed the stats of dungeon creatures, it was more complicated than Levi had at first assumed.