Maiz stepped into the crumbling room with a bit of apprehension. Somehow this place, though it was really nothing more than an old building, felt infinitely more unsettling than any cave or underground tunnel could be. Of course, it didn’t help that he’d spent the half hour fighting gigantic bugs. It had been frankly disgusting, mostly because of the pure variety. There had been massive scarabs and tritantus bugs, as well as the more dangerous giant scorpions. The previous room had contained some sort of desert wasps, each the size of his head, that buzzed around angrily and tried to kill him.

Of course, none of these monsters had posed too much of a challenge for Maiz, but still. There was nothing he could do about the visceral fear he felt at seeing a sting dripping with poison that was almost as long as his forearm, or a mouth made of pincers with too many eyes to be natural. At least it seemed like this time, he wouldn’t have to worry about that.

“Hello.”

The voice was a dry rasp, and it didn’t match well with what Maiz saw before him. Oh come on.

“Would you please show your true form so we can get started?” He began casting Windblade, though he held back on finishing the spell. He’d found that he could do that after hours of practice.

The little girl, her hair ragged and limp, her face a picture of innocence, frowned at him. The expression seemed… off to Maiz, though. Everything was just a little rough, as if she didn’t quite have the minute facial control that came naturally to humans. Of course, Maiz wouldn’t have believed it even if she did. What was it then, a spirit or undead of some kind? That seemed a little off-theme for this Dungeon.

“Please, help--”

He let his mana flow in a rush as he pushed forward. When he’d first gotten his title, using his mana had felt like cold water trickling down his limbs. Now it was a torrent, so much so that he almost shivered out of pure reflex. His spell wove itself through its last few layers, a feat he still couldn’t quite accomplish on his own, and a soft breeze stirred the air.

He swung his staff in a tight arc, and cut into the little girl’s stomach. Even though he was completely certain that this wasn’t a little girl, he couldn’t quite bring himself to go for the neck. That reservation vanished when he saw the wound his staff inflicted. Instead of blood or gore or even shadows, bugs fell from the wound and onto the floor. They looked like ants of some kind, a little larger than any other type he’d ever seen.

Maiz felt goosebumps creep up his spine, and immediately began casting Flaming Strike. Best to end this quickly, before he ran out of mana. He guided his magic swiftly through the pattern even as he swung the other end of his staff into the creature’s head. It made no effort to dodge, and the blow sliced clean through, seperating a portion of the skull from the rest. As the flesh fell, it resolved into a mass of bugs which began swarming around the floor. Hells.

The ‘little girl’ stood for a moment, and Maiz dared not attack it. The portion of its head that he had cut… undulated, and new flesh grew to replace what ha been lost. Meanwhile, Maiz began dodging around the bugs now attempting to climb up his feet. Luckily, with Windblade active he only had to sweep his staff on the floor to kill dozens of them at a time. Still he had to keep another eye on the monster for when it--

The girl flowed forward, body shifting even though she didn’t move her legs, and suddenly a clawed hand--no, an actual claw--was swiping for Maiz’s stomach. He moved easily out of the way, the attack feeling sluggish to him. Flaming Strike snapped into place, and he took the opportunity to drive his windbladed staff into the creature’s center.

The resulting explosion splattered Maiz with unidentifiable bits of gray insect matter, and left the girl’s ‘body’ a dissolute mess of mostly dead insects. Mostly. It took a good fifteen minutes to kill the rest of the ants. They weren’t particularly fast, and his spells worked against them well enough, but there was a lot of them, and he kept running out of mana, forcing him to wait and recover while dodging. Eventually, it was over.

You have slain Reaven Ant Colony, Rank 12! +120 exp (60*2 knowledge modifier)

You have improved Windblade to ranks 18-19! +10 exp (960/1300 to next rank)

You have improved Fast Feet to rank 24! +5 exp (965/1300 to next rank)

Further improvement in Windblade is impossible at current rank and proficiency level.

He felt as though he was slowing down. In the past week, he’d sped through a full thirteen ranks, bringing him to 28 and solidly into the Apprentice realm. That growth had been fueled by the focused training in the Path, which had multiplied his experience gains many times over, but now he was down to only doubling them. No doubt in another week he wouldn’t even have that advantage. Hopefully the next section would contain Apprentice ranked Dungeons, as well as whatever hidden gift the ancient Chosen had left him.

Reaching Apprentice meant quite a few things--for one, he now gained an extra attribute per rank, and both his skills and spells felt just a little bit easier, more natural. Not enough. It also meant that he needed ridiculous amounts of experience to advance each rank. The only way he would even begin to fulfill those requirements was by making sure he was skilled enough to benefit from the knowledge modifier. At least it now felt much easier to increase that modifier, compared to when he’d been a Novice. Still, there was another area where he was lagging even more.

He tried casting Flaming Strike. The pattern was so familiar now he was almost sick of it, and he completed it flawlessly. But at the last moment, as he tried to both force mana into his staff and pull it out, the spell failed. This time, he’d left himself too open, and all of the mana had rushed into his hands too quickly. Godsdammit. An attempt at Windblade yielded a similar result. The issue was almost the same--he couldn’t quite get the mana to flow properly by himself. He could direct it through the pattern and, if he concentrated, even get it to the fine edge required for the spell to work, but he couldn’t get the mana to continuously move in the little loops necessary for the spell to function.

His Illusion Strike and Flicker Strike had managed to get into the Apprentice ranks, but now they were also stagnating. There just wasn’t enough time to practice his abilities, improve his fighting prowess, solve the Path’s challenges, and fight in these Dungeons. Already Maiz felt he was being lazy, just standing there and complaining about his situation. Letting out an angry snort of breath, he quickly located the transportation enchantment, carved indiscreetly on the back wall of the insect-corpse strewn room, and tapped it with a finger.

He moved through the next section of the path at a ridiculous speed. He’d invested quite heavily in Agility and Dexterity with his new attribute points, as well as Intelligence and Wisdom. He punched the portal rune, and hopped over the stone platforms of the next room without pause. In the one after that he ran through a slew of flying spears, using the Agility boost granted by the Apprentice ranks of Fast Feet to make the challenge almost trivial. Then he hopped over a rolling ball and under a swinging pendulum, tapping an inscribed plate and continuing forward. The room after that was full of swinging wooden posts, much like the test in the first section, but here he had to dodge and weave through the wooden arms instead of simply crawling under them. This challenge still occasionally got him, but this time he managed to make it through on his first try.

He persevered. Many of the challenges in this section simulated battles, either through mock attacks or requiring him to damage a target, and he welcomed the opportunity to hone his combat ability. Some of them even had room for error--one room where he had go through a prescribed series of steps across a narrow pathway would let him try three times before sending him to the beginning.

Fueled by his frustration, he made it all the way to end of the floor--a feat he’d only managed twice before. He didn’t feel the happiness he really should have, though. He knew what was coming next.

He ascended the stairs--unhampered by the mental enchantment he was sure was still there. Stepping through the doorway, he took a moment to check that his reserves were full, and took a staff from the small armory before him. He began casting Flaming Strike, completing it before he stepped through to the next doorway so that his mana had time to recover. As the flaming ribbons swirled around his weapon, he stepped through the next doorway.

The thing waiting for him was superficially similar to the golems of the previous section, but Instead of a light tan wood, this one was made of something dark. Sleek. As it animated, it was obvious that it wasn’t a sluggish automaton like its weaker cousins. Indeed, it moved with only a little less grace than Maiz himself.

Maiz cast Windblade as he stepped forward. Though it was a huge mana drain at its current rank, it did a enormous amount of cutting damage--twice as much as if he was just using the staff. The golem swung an arm at his face, moving fast enough that Maiz was glad he had kept Fast Feet engaged. He ducked under, then brought his staff up into one of the more... vulnerable points of the body.

The screeching of his Windblade hitting the wood combined with the sound of the explosion between the golem’s legs was enough to make him wince. The golem was blasted a few meters away, and Maiz quickly followed after it, delivering a swift pair of strikes to the neck, leaving long gashes in the wood and forcing the automaton into immobility.

Huh. Good start. The other two times this had been a tough fight, leaving him close to running dry in both mana and stamina. But then, he’d gained a rank since last making it this far. Perhaps that had something to do with it? Or maybe it was the few points he’d invested into Luck finally paying dividends. Either way, Maiz’s frustration faded a little as he considered the challenge before him. Perhaps this time, he could do it.

*************

I need to start putting points into Luck more often.

Maiz considered the three golems before him for a moment. A moment, because they were all moving to attack, and he couldn’t afford to stay still for long. The only reason he had the spare second was because they were forced to navigate around the body of their fallen brother. One down, three to go.

It was lucky that, unlike his other abilities, Fast Feet had steadily decreased in cost throughout the Novice ranks, or else he would have collapsed long ago. As it was, he came close to defeat as one golem swung a metal-clad arm at his chest, another swept at his leg, and a third swung straight down at the crown of his head. He dove on his own instinct, and felt his body contort slightly to avoid the golems’ limbs. If they touched him, unarmored as he was, he would be sent back immediately.

His mana pool felt full enough to go for another one. He began casting Flaming Strike as he danced madly around the incoming attacks, occasionally parrying a blow with his staff in order to keep up. At a miniscule, yet significant, rate, his stamina was dropping. He couldn’t keep it up forever.

He finished the spell, and cast Windblade, cursing between breaths as he was forced to fight without letting his staff touch anything. It would have been easier to cast this first, but he needed to conserve as much mana as possible. He ducked and weaved through swinging limbs, feeling like he was in another rendition of the wooden post room. Windblade completed, and he began looking for an opening--there.

The golems’ armor was quite well made, but it was articulated as a human’s would be--at the joints, it was weak enough that Maiz’s windbladed staff could pierce it, and let his Flaming Strike inflict its full damage. As he skipped past a golem’s attack and twisted around another, he attacked such a spot--the point where the neck met the shoulder. It was a clean hit, and his enchanted staff tore through the armor and exploded against the golem’s skin. Lacquer. Whatever it was called.

The thing collapsed, much to Maiz’s relief, because he was forced to immediately duck another blow. And another. And another. Were the other two golems getting… faster? And why were they glowing red instead of blue? Of course it couldn’t be that easy.

He was forced to dodge at an increased rate, and each attack took a noticeable, if small, chunk of stamina to avoid. How am I going to get out of this? He had already dismissed Windblade, but he didn’t have the mana to cast Flaming Strike again. It was too godsdamned expensive. Perhaps he could have done something if there was just one golem, but with the two of them there, he would always have to worry about the one at his back if he took too much time to focus on the other. Then I have to make one of them useless, at least for a bit.

After a few seconds of waiting while his mana regenerated at a torturously slow rate, he cast Windblade again, holding off on completing the spell for a moment. His stamina was dangerously close to drained now, and his heart was hammering hard in his chest. He moved around the two golems, forcing them to chase him in different directions, each trying to catch him as he dodged the other. Finally, he got them roughly into the position he’d wanted. He circled the golem he was facing as quickly as he could, and skipped to the side. The other golem moved towards him, but he ignored it for the moment. Instead, as the first automaton twisted, turning and stepping towards him at the same time, he darted back towards it, and entangled his staff with its legs. With a wrench that took all of his Strength, he tipped the golem over, and it smacked to the ground with a dull thunk.

Maiz turned, just in time hop out of range of the other golem’s attack. He finally completed the Windblade as he stepped back towards his standing opponent. He let the thing attack once more, stepping around the blow, and let loose a barrage of strikes.

He’d gotten better at aiming, much better. He’d also gotten faster, and as a result there was quickly a hole of shredded metal in the side of his enemy’s knee, and the thing collapsed, defeated.

Maiz was forced to dismiss his Windblade after that, but he had the time. Even though the final golem had gotten up swifter and more nimble than before, he could still afford to dodge around its blows long enough to make short work of it with Windblade and Flaming Strike combined.

He actually whooped, seeing the results of his work. He didn’t even consider what it meant, just gloried in the feeling of having accomplished a difficult task by the skin of his teeth. Then, he remembered that he’d been trying to reach the end of this section for a reason, and he smiled even more. What would be waiting for him, when he ascended those stairs and finally found the gift his predecessor had left him?

He wasted no time, bounded up the steps two at a time. He stepped through the doorway, not sure whether he expected to find a treasury filled with riches or a giant lewd statue. Both seemed equally likely, given what he knew of the ancient Nameless.

The curtained doorway opened into a small room, similar to the ones that the Jin had been in. Maiz almost instinctively fell into a half-bow, but he frowned. There was no heady smell of incense pervading the air, or the sense of ancient mystery that seemed to cling to the Jin he’d met thus far. Apprehensively, he looked up, just a little.

“Hello.”

It was… well, Maiz wouldn’t necessarily call her a young woman, but certainly compared to the Jin'Sa and the Jin’Tira she seemed positively girlish. Her long hair almost stretched to the floor, and her face had a striking beauty, with gray eyes, high cheekbones and a delicate jawline. Her face looked like it was on the verge of showing smile-lines, though at the moment she was regarding Maiz with a stony expression.

“Uh, hello?”

Suddenly, the woman smiled, and Maiz felt a wave of almost involuntary relief wash over him. “ I am sorry, but you looked rather funny there.” She let out a light chuckle before continuing. “I am the Jin’Telsin. I do not mean to rush you, but I do not believe I have seen you before. Do you have a piece of knowledge of your title that you are willing to contribute to the Library?“

Maiz stared at her for a moment. This woman was a Master, and she’d been acting aloof in order to watch him squirm? That was a little childish, wasn’t it?

Then, her other words registered, and he spoke without thinking. “Library?”

The woman let out another little laugh. “Yes, the Temple Library. You are welcome to look through it, if you contribute an ability guide or feat description. In preparation for the holy champion, we have spent millenia preparing the world’s greatest resource on an enormous variety of titles. Though you will not be able to benefit as much as the Chosen would, I am sure that you could find something of interest to you.”

Maiz was silent. The weight of the silence seemed to press down on him, and the entire room. The air was dead still, a result of being so deep in a stone building, and Maiz could hear the sound of his own heartbeat.

Then the Jin’Telsin spoke again, sounding a bit puzzled. “If you do not want to contribute, then I am afraid I must send you back to the beginning of the Path. This is necessary before you can advance, even if you do not wish to look through the Library. The information does not have to be unique, though uncollected abilities or feats will net certain benefits that could help later in the Path.”

Finally, Maiz found words. He had to fight to keep the rabid enthusiasm out of his voice as he responded in a strangled voice, “yes, I can contribute.”

“Excellent! Sit down then, and we can begin.”