Levi initially planned to stay away from any new dungeons on the locals’ radar, as he didn’t want to either contribute to the Essence problems or deal with one and risk losing people in the process. But they did have another dungeon that had already been de-Essenced, and should be safe and normal for several weeks even with the most egregious leveling practices.

The scarab-heavy level 2 Destruction dungeon was hardly changed at all since the first time they’d run through it, with the exception of the boss being a normal one and not a Destruction Essence lurking on the ceiling. Instead it was another goblin (Destruction dungeons had a very limited repertoire at this level it seemed) surrounded by nests of unhatched scarabs, which would pop open periodically to fill the room with one of Levi’s least favourite things about Destruction dungeons.

He insisted on holding onto Plus for this, not trusting the fragile shadevine to survive the onslaught, and Frosty grudgingly acceded the point, but quickly forgot any ire as she gleefully ran around on the ceiling and walls, spitting webs to knock whole groups of scarabs out of the air, where they were quickly slashed apart by the centipedes.

Becca has reached level 4!

Becca has 1 stat point available.

Still, even with their clear advantage, the battle wasn’t a clean and seamless victory.

They finished the goblin off quickly enough, but as he fell every single remaining scarab hive hatched open and swarmed out at once. It was all Levi could do to keep himself and Plus out of the line of fire, but the gradual buildup of slowing venom from every nick or bite by any of the countless scarabs made it ever harder to stay ahead of the swarm.

“I really need an area attack, I hate these things!” Levi slashed about wildly, vaguely noting that Frosty had retreated into one of the now-empty scarab nests and curled up very small, sealing herself in with webbing, her health dangerously low. Centoo had worn himself out charging through the swarm first in one direction, then another, clearing out huge swaths in the process, but now his stamina was depleted and he fought sluggishly from the many nicks on his back.

Cen was faring the best, curled up comfortably and sparkling violently, lashing out with his many legs if anything got past his stunning and into reach. Becca ran around him in a circle, gleefully crunching on mouthfuls of stunned scarabs that got too close to the dazzling centipede.

Still, even as the team flagged, the swarm was growing smaller and smaller. As long as no one died in the next couple minutes, they’d pull through alright.

Levi moved himself to guard the cocooned Frosty, swiping away anything that got close, Plus lying placidly against his chest. “Centoo! Get behind Cen and bunker up!”

Centoo did as instructed, nudging his brother aside to form a two-centipede coil, with Centoo in the middle and Cen on the outside, a sparkling wall of stone and slashing bladed legs.

Congratulations, Levi Morrison!

You have 1 level available.

Applying to default class. Tamer level increased to 8.

+6 health, +6 mana, +6 stamina

The battle didn’t last much longer after that.

They’d already cleared two-thirds of it, and the remaining third weren’t sufficient to break through. Even after Cen ran out of mana for his Dazzle ability, the doubled up centipedes were more than capable of slicing anything to shreds that got too close. Becca started prancing around the room, swatting the stragglers out of the air and either crushing them beneath her paws or, more often, crunching them in her mouth, occasionally teleporting into the air to reach if they were flying too high for her.

Once the hubbub died down and the last of the scarabs were disappearing, Frosty carefully emerged, then crawled up to sit on Becca’s back again, looking up at Levi as if to ask if she’d done it right.

He couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, good job.”

Between the two treasure rooms in this dungeon, they obtained four health elixirs, two mana, four stamina, a tube of the acidic catalyst used to draw tracings, a monocle which Levi could probably integrate his lens into more properly, and an armored shirt. He'd be giving that to Gordon as soon as he could come up with an excuse for why he had it. Maybe he could 'find' it tucked away in the corner of the trunk, or under the seat?

The sun was starting to come up as they emerged triumphant, thankfully without encountering anyone else, and Levi ran a bit faster than he normally would have, trusting his minions to catch up. Becca was left behind, but teleported after them in quick hops. Frosty squealed as her mount disappeared out from under her, but spat a web at Cen to slow him down enough for her to run up and hop on. The centipedes had no problem keeping up with Levi’s pace, though they lagged just far enough behind that if he went any faster they’d be left in the dust.

He steadily drained his stamina, leaving him a little out of breath as they neared the motel. Then Levi froze.

Gordon was already waiting. He was pacing beside the car with his phone held to his ear, and when his eyes met Levi's his brow tightened.

"Where were you! You scared me half to death. I thought I was going to have to explain to Irene how I managed to misplace her husband from his own bed."

"I couldn't sleep. Wanted to get some leveling done." Levi shrugged. "No big deal."

"We made an agreement; you stay with me, not go running off on your own!"

"Well, I'm back, no harm done."

"No harm done? What about me? I've been worrying for an hour. Much longer and I'd have started driving around asking for the crazy man running around with a pack of monsters."

"Then I'll leave a note next time."

"No! You'll wake me up and we'll go together next time. I told you, I'm not letting you out of my sight again!"

Levi gestured helplessly. "But you need to sleep, you keep saying as much. Why would I wake you up when I know you need sleep and you know I need levels."

"I thought we were a team now? Or am I just an accessory? Something convenient you pick up when you need it and stash in your filing cabinet until you want it again?"

"I was trying to be considerate, and not override your life with my own!"

"Well, you've already utterly failed at that so you may as well stop trying now. I'm here for you, Levi, whether you want it or not. My life is officially on hold until you are safely returned to Irene, and you are not getting rid of me that easily!"

Levi spun and walked away, then paced back with his temper unabated. "I'm not like you! I can't just sleep all night like there's not a war coming. I have to move, do something."

"And working on the internet stuff isn’t good enough? Getting word out to the whole world doesn't count?"

"I can't do that right now."

"Why not?"

Levi looked away, shrugging. "It's too passive. I need to be doing something real." He wasn't sure why he couldn't bring himself to admit that he was growing too strong too quickly, but just thinking about having that conversation exhausted him.

Gordon exhaled slowly. "I know you're having a hard time adjusting, but that's no excuse to cut your friends and family out of your life. If you need to run a dungeon at midnight, then we'll do it. Together. Not you running off and getting yourself killed. How many times have you told people it's stupid to go delving alone?"

"This is different. I have minions, and years of experience. I'm not in any danger."

"Then you shouldn't have any problem bringing me along, if it's so safe." Gordon's arms were crossed, and he gave no signs of relenting. "So where are we going today?" His emphasis on the 'we' wasn't subtle at all.

Until he got the third Seed Fragment and could move on, there wasn’t that much else here worth fussing with. "Anywhere, I don't care."

“How do we do this?” Gordon looked at Levi and Becca, who’d padded out to stand beside him. “I don’t suppose you have any convenient pocket dimension you can put her in to transport easily?”

“No, nothing like that.” Levi turned to look at Becca. Though she could move fast, the rift cat was consistently slower than when he sprinted, and Levi wasn’t faster than a car yet. Her rift jump ability only let her move a short distance, enough to catch up with a running man, but not chase down a car.

“If you two go by foot, can you text me the directions?” Gordon suggested.

“No. You should learn Mana Ping for yourself, then you wouldn’t need to rely on me.”

“Sure, I’ll just learn a spell. How do I do that?”

“Push mana out from yourself, and wait for the echoes.”

“Sure. How do I push mana out?”

“Same way you power a sword.”

“I don’t know how to do that either.” Gordon held out his sword with a shrug. It didn’t have a power stone.

“Huh. Why didn’t you mention you were still using a blank sword? I’ve got a couple different types of power stones now, take your pick.”

Gordon looked over them and shrugged. “How am I supposed to decide?”

Levi slid the Destruction stone across the top of the car toward him. “Here. A good safe choice if you’re not sure of your style.” Then he frowned. “Or would you rather put it on the bow? Which weapon do you prefer these days?” With all the minions to direct and oversee, he’d lost track of Gordon’s progress.

Gordon flicked the stone back and forth between his hands, shaking his head. “I’m not really sure how to use the bow, to be honest. It confuses me. Where’s the string? It worked fine until I started to think about it, and now I can’t for the life of me get it to make sense.”

“If you need a string, you’ll make one. It’s a manabow, so it’s the same as any other mana weapon. The framework is only there to support the purpose of its use.”

“You realize that doesn’t clear up anything at all.”

“Just take the power stone, put it in whichever weapon you plan to use, and we’ll go from there. And I guess there's no point in hiding this. I did promise you equipment…” He rummaged in his backpack and tossed Gordon the shirt from the midnight Destruction dungeon. “Now you can stop complaining about blood on your fancy shirt collars”

“I haven’t complained once.”

“You have in your soul. I can feel it.”

Gordon glowered, but he put on the new shirt anyway.