"We'll go back to the Dark dungeon," Levi decided. "You know how to find that one, right?"

"I thought you hated that place."

"I do, but it's the place that makes the most sense."

He had unlocked a new minion slot during the night, and would rather get another Rift Cat than a lava snake or kobold.

Second, the Dark dungeon was the known location of a special secret item, and therefore had a chance to respawn with his upgraded title. Even if it didn't give him a second ultra-rare, it would be worth the chance.

And, third, he couldn't think of a way to direct Gordon to the Fire dungeon without revealing his own lack of a working phone. As with so much lately, he wasn't entirely sure why he was avoiding the issue. But he did know that thinking about it was painful and confronting it would be uncomfortable and he'd just rather not.

As he and Becca ran toward the dungeon, he went over his recent level. He decided to put the point in Strength to help with health regen, since he'd been neglecting that. Stamina was essential, but health regen couldn't be ignored either.

Levi Morrison, Secret Seeker + Unassigned Levels: 0 Primary Class: Tamer Tamer Level: 8 Subclass: None Minions: 5/6 Stat Points: 0 Strength: 2 Psyche: 2 Spirit: 4 Health

163/163 Mana

73/73 Stamina

133/133 Health Regen

3 /minute Mana Regen

3 /minute Stamina Regen

5 /minute

By the time they arrived at the Dark dungeon, Gordon was already waiting, of course.

"One of these days, I'll beat you," Levi promised, and Gordon only smiled.

They made their way through dungeon slowly, carefully, clearing any Night Wisps or Shadevine they came across - which seemed in much smaller proportion now than last time. The floor tile puzzle trap room slowed them down as Levi had to painstakingly recreate their path across, though the centipedes were able to cross on the wall and Becca simply rift-jumped across with her teleportation ability.

But, when they reached what had been Becca's room the first time, it was occupied by only a disappointing nest of Night Wisps, who didn't even have a plus designation.

The rest of the dungeon played out similarly. As they entered the boss room, which had a single oversized Shadevine backed up by even more Night Wisps, Levi realized that this was the first time he'd re-run a dungeon he'd claimed a secret treasure from. When a dungeon gained the plus, it increased more than just having something hidden in it. It must also increase the quality and quantity of available monsters.

"Do you want this guy?" Gordon asked, as they brought the Shadevine boss down to its last few points of health.

Levi considered. It wasn't like he had an abundance of available options to fill his minion slot at the moment. And he'd personally witnessed Plus's effectiveness at draining enemies. "Sure." He could always unbind it later if it didn't live up to its potential.

Gordon cast Dismay, then Levi hit it with Tame.

Tame: Success!

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

"Why couldn't it have been Becca who tamed on the first try?" Levi lamented. Becca rumbled a deep purr as she rubbed up against his back with enough force that he had to take a step to avoid falling. "Yes, you're proud and strong, I get it."

He declined the offer and draped Shadevine over his shoulder. It obligingly twisted to get a better grip, then lay there relaxed and untroubled by the world.

"Anyone level from this trip?" Levi asked, looking around.

"Hmm... Frosty is level 4 and Plus reached level 3 somehow." He narrowed his eyes at Levi. "I wonder why they leveled so quickly." Frosty bounced back and forth with her middle legs waving, Plus nestled around her midsection like a shadowy belt.

Flomper glowered down at the pair with clear disapproval.

"I won't do it again," Levi grumbled. "You don't need to keep bringing it up."

Gordon smiled in a way that made Levi certain he'd never hear the end of it, but for the moment he moved on smoothly as though he weren't holding an eternal grudge at all. "So I can put one to Spirit for everyone to make it even, then--"

"No," Levi interrupted. "Shadevines don't gain much from Spirit at all. Put it in Strength or Psyche." He glanced over Becca's sheet, frowning. "Dark creatures in general are low stamina, it seems."

Destruction were low mana, Earth were low stamina, though Dark was even lower. Levi wondered why no one had mentioned the specialties of the various dungeons before. Shouldn't someone have catalogued their strengths and weaknesses before?

Well, in fairness, a monster running out of stamina or mana would be less obvious from the outside than for someone who could see its stats fully. He had an unfair advantage.

The thought of stats reminded him of the wiki, and reminded him that he was effectively cut off from the internet now. Unless he went through a lower-level intermediary, he'd be the death of any phone or computer he tried to use.

To stave off the feelings of inadequacy at not having better utilized the resource while he had it available, he turned his attention to the recent levels they'd obtained.

Becca's fourth level he put into Psyche, to increase her mana and recovery. She'd never be able to keep up with him in a stamina drag if she'd only gain a single stamina per Spirit point, but if she could teleport enough times in quick succession and recover mana fast enough, it would make travel more reasonable.

Cen and Centoo were still unadvanced, though he hoped they'd hit level 6 in the next dungeon or two. The revive cooldown still had a couple hours to go before he could recover one of the gremlins, and for a long time he stared at their greyed-out names.

They were being surpassed by the newcomers, and by a lot.

Skarm: Level 5 Horned Gremlin

Strength: 2

Health: 0/60

(+4/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 0/0

(+2/min)

Spirit: 3

Stamina: 0/80

(+5/min) Gremlin Two: Level 4 Horned Gremlin

Strength: 2

Health: 0/60

(+3/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 0/0

(+1/min)

Spirit: 2

Stamina: 0/70

(+3/min) Cen: Level 5 Stone Centipede

Strength: 4

Health: 130/130

(+6/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 30/30

(+2/min)

Spirit: 1

Stamina: 75/75

(+3/min) Centoo: Level 5 Stone Centipede

Strength: 3

Health: 115/115

(+5/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 30/30

(+2/min)

Spirit: 2

Stamina: 80/80

(+4/min) Becca: Level 4 Rift Cat +

Strength: 2

Health: 370/370

(+9/min)

Psyche: 2

Mana: 160/160

(+5/min)

Spirit: 0

Stamina: 70/70

(+1/min) Shadevine: Level 2 Shadevine +

Strength: 2

Health: 45/45

(+9/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 85/85

(+5/min)

Spirit: 0

Stamina: 40/40

(+5/min)

"Did you level?" he asked Gordon.

"Yeah. I put the point in Psyche like you wanted."

"So you can cast Revive now?"

Gordon nodded, and Levi brought Skarm out. A minute passed while the spell worked, then the gremlin jumped up and glanced about, claws bared.

Centoo charged him, ducking his head as he neared. Skarm had just enough time to grab one of Centoo's antennae to swing himself up before the centipede charged past. Skarm squealed happily. Cen waited until Centoo turned and caught sight of him, then began sparkling aggressively.

"Hey, what have I said about bickering in dungeons?" Levi asked, but Centoo seemed entirely unbothered by the dazzle effect this time. He increased his speed, charging Cen with head lowered, even as the other centipede increased his sparkling to a near-blinding crescendo.

"Huh." Levi watched as Cen was toppled over by the force of his brother's rush, sending the two into a playfully grappling pile while Skarm held on tight to Cen's back with his legs, hands in the air. Frosty bobbed back and forth eagerly as she watched.

"You really are an anarchist, aren't you?" Levi chuckled. "Oy, break it up. We need to do more testing."

Cen disentangled himself with an air of professional detachment, that didn't hold up when Centoo skittered backwards, snatched Plus from Frosty's back, and lobbed the shadevine at his brother. The limp shadow vine hit Cen square in the face and grabbed on, blocking his vision.

Cen started sparkling again.

Centoo skittered aside, but again he remained non-stunned.

"This is promising. Now do that ten more times."

By the time they finished testing to Levi's satisfaction, his revive timer had ended. He gratefully revived Gremlin Two, who looked very uncomfortable at all the changes since he'd last been around. He poked Levi anxiously, gesturing at Frosty and Becca by turns, face turned up in concern.

"They're perfectly friendly. Much more so than Flomper, in fact."

Flomper scowled at him, then dove off Gordon's shoulder and into the floor. Two squealed in shock as the stone under his feet liquefied, tripping him and making him stumble, then Flomper reappeared looking smug.

"Don't sink to their level," Gordon admonished, picking up his furry minion. "Be the better prairie dog. You're above this kind of bickering. Right?"

Flomper shrugged and sat down to groom herself. Frosty continued to cheer on the chaos.

"So, now the whole team's back together, and we know the mental resistance debuff from Dismay is temporary, what next?"

"I haven't sensed any secrets in this dungeon and it has to be getting on to afternoon. Time we head back to the motel to clean up and get ready for our interview with the Doom Raiders."