“Hey! Baldy! Stop being dramatic and check out the treasure!” Cal crouched over my sore and tired body, prodding me in the side a few times. “You’ve been laying there for almost ten minutes now. Getta move on.”

Easy for her to say. She hadn’t just been hit with a tidal wave after losing over a third of her stats. Thankfully, a few minutes after combat ended, the shave debuff had worn off, but I was still feeling pretty beat up.

“Sheesh, fine, I’ll heal you.” A moment later, a gold light surrounded my body before rushing into me, soothing my aching muscles. Just like that, all my fatigue was swept away.

See, that was how you woke someone up. Much better than being knifed.

“All right, all right, I’m getting up. Let’s go.” I picked myself off the ground and turned to Cal, noticing that her face was now sporting a new addition. “Is that- Are you wearing a nose ring?” Adorning her nose was a dark blue, raindrop-shaped stud that most certainly hadn’t been there before.

“Yeah, check it out. Barb just helped me pierce it.” She pushed me the item description, causing it to immediately pop up in front of me.

Showertime Stud of Mending

+3 Charisma

+5% to all healing spells

Keeps the wearer’s face well moisturized

I chuckled on learning that some things were a constant between our two worlds. Not even one week after leaving home and she’d gotten a piercing. I wondered what her father would think.

“Now come on! You have loot too!” She beckoned to me and started off, jumping from pillar to pillar, and I followed behind her. It looked like the treasure, as well as the portal home, were waiting for us at the column we’d started at.

As I ran, I absorbed the notifications I’d received after the fight.

Congratulations! You have cleared the hidden room!

+10 Prestige

+1000xp

+500 Contribution Points

Trauma Suppression has reached level 9!

With the massive influx of experience I’d just gained, I had another notification waiting for me as well.

Congratulations! You have reached level 7!

+1 Constitution

+1 Intelligence

+2 Wisdom

+1 Strength

+4 Endurance

+1 Dexterity

+1 Charisma

Even having gone through it once already, my eyes went wide at the sight of the lengthy list of stat increases. Because of the point of Intelligence I’d just gained, I also had two final notifications to review.

Congratulations! You have hit 25 Intelligence and reached the first Intelligence threshold.

Mental processing speed greatly increased

Spatial reasoning greatly increased

+10% to Mental Resistance

Skill acquisition and leveling speed increased by 20%

All spell strengths increased by 10%

The boosts were welcome, although after hitting 25 in Perception, they actually felt kind of… underwhelming? I thought I could maybe feel my thoughts running a bit faster, but compared to the sensory explosion I’d undergone for my Perception threshold, little ended up changing.

“Cal, I just hit 25 in Intelligence. I was kind of expecting some major spellcasting boost, but the casting effects honestly seem kind of minor. You know what’s up with that?”

The roguish princess muttered something under her breath about unfair Protagonists before responding in earnest. “The Intelligence threshold is less about making your existing spells stronger, and more about being able to learn new ones. Higher tiered spells take a lot more concentration and thought, and usually aren’t castable by anyone but prodigies and those with at least 25 Intelligence. Take that huge ice lance that Brecker almost hit you with: No way he could cast that sort of thing without 25 Intelligence.”

Huh. So it was useful, but not that useful until I got access to some more serious spells. Still, the increased skill growth was exciting, and it looked like hitting 25 in Intelligence gave me one extra skill as well.

For reaching the first threshold in Intelligence and Perception, you have unlocked a new aspect of God’s Mind.

Gained ability: Watch and Learn

Allows the user to slowly learn new skills by watching others perform them.

How useful that new skill would be would depend just how “slowly” we were talking, but potentially, it could be a game changer! I was also itching to play with my spells for a while to see if I could detect a difference now that they’d been boosted a bit.

Notifications taken care of, I continued to run across the stone columns until Cal and I reached the pillar with the others. The three of them stood around a large gold-gilded treasure chest, a portal to its rear. As I hopped onto their column, Barb waved to me, a brand new pair of giant scissors in his hand.

“New scissors Barb?” It looked like the dungeon was once again tailoring its rewards to us.

“Indeed, indeed! They have the special ability to cut through rock! Apparently, that even finished a class quest for me: ‘Champion of Rock, Paper, Scissors,’ whatever that means.” He grinned affectionately at his new weapon as my brows furrowed. It was a rather strange quest title. Was that a game they had on this planet too?

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sight of Jason, immediately stunned to see what the dungeon had given him. “Jason. That’s your reward?” Atop the man’s scaled head was a pointy, polka-dotted party hat, looking entirely ridiculous alongside his tanktop and shorts.

“Sure is! Pretty great, huh? Here, check it out.” He sent me the description as my eyes struggled to take in what they were seeing.

Stoneskin Partyhat

From throwing rocks to throwing parties, you’ll never be out of style in this festive hat.

+2 Charisma

Grants the wearer Stoneskin, hardening their body

Well, that definitely was something, all right.

I looked to Kex next, not seeing any obvious signs of what she’d received. “Kex? Anything good?”

“Mm. Look.” Unexpectedly, she opened her mouth and pointed to one of her back teeth which was fully brown. At the same time, she pushed me an item description.

Mud Seasoning Tooth

+5% effect to all mud spells

Can create a ball of mud in the wearer’s mouth

Allows the wearer to change the flavor of mud

Suppressing the urge to shudder, I smiled at the mud-chewing woman. As long as she liked her gift, that was all that mattered, I supposed.

Barb caught my attention and pointed over to the chest. “Yours are still within. Along with, ah, a gift from me.”

A gift? Well, I’d see whatever it was in a moment. I walked over to the chest, eager to discover what I’d won for enduring the hellish fight.

Bending over the chest, I found four things. Some coins, a pendant, a piece of parchment, and a flask.

“This is all for me?” Honestly, I’d just been expecting a piece of gear.

Barb nodded. “If you recall, we agreed to give you an extra cut for anything found as a result of your Perception. I believe this qualifies.”

Huh. Well, I certainly wasn’t going to say no. I pocketed the coins and examined the necklace. While slightly more intricately cut, it looked a good deal like a regular shower gem on a silver chain. Reading its description, I found I wasn’t far off.

Cleansing Shower Gem Pendant

+2 Wisdom

+5% to all water spells and enhancements

On activation, casts Cleansing Shower, freeing the wearer from any movement-impairing debuffs. Additionally, leaves the wearer clean and well-hydrated (One hour cooldown)

Holy shit! Never mind the stat increases, I had a shower on a necklace! Better yet, I wouldn’t have to remember to drink water anymore! Considering I didn’t bring a good water bottle with me from Earth, this was the dream.

I picked up the vial next.

Hair Regrowth Tonic

On imbibing, instantly grows the drinker’s hair out

The type of hair grown will be: Wavy, Auburn

Presumably, this was Barb’s gift to me after chopping my hair off, and I turned back to him with a questioning look. “Wavy, auburn hair?”

He shot me an apologetic smile. “Afraid that’s all I have left. Ah, unless you’d like the elixir I have for naga hair! You’ll grow strands of kelp out of your head! Truly a fascinating race.”

I’d have to take a pass on that one. I briefly considered staying bald and going with the shaved head look, but truthfully, I didn’t think I could pull it off. Slightly too edgy for me.

Well, new world, new hair, I guess. I unstoppered the bottle and drained it with a wince. It tasted like cherry cough syrup.

True to the description, my hair started to regrow at an amazing pace, coming to rest a few inches past my shoulders only moments later. At some point, I’d really have to spend some time in front of a mirror. It had been ages since I’d properly studied myself.

Despite the fact that it was he who’d chopped it off in the first place, I thanked Barb for restoring my hair and moved on to the last item in the chest. It was a thin parchment, covered in blue ink depicting some sort of architectural design.

Stone Bathhouse Blueprints

Contains the blueprints needed to build a bathhouse.

Stone Bathhouse

Greatly improves hygiene and morale of surrounding settlement.

Neat! I’d have to see if the builders from Ftheran could use this. Considering Emer’Thalis was a pretty gloomy place right now, the added boost to morale would be a welcome bonus.

Seeing I was done collecting my loot, Barb made for the portal. “I believe it’s time for us to head back then! Truly, I cannot thank you two enough. What say you? We do it all again in two days?”

I checked my Contribution Points total, finding that I was nearly to 4000 points. Considering that Cal likely had about the same, one more dive would easily push us over our required 10,000 total. “Why not?"

On leaving the dungeon, we walked back into the city with our new party members before heading our separate ways. Unlike was true for the class space, time passed normally in the dungeon, and it was already late afternoon when we exited.

From there, time passed quickly. No longer cash strapped or hell bent on training, I took the next day to relax, woodwork, and explore. Cal came with, showing me a few of the spots she’d found on her own outings, and we shared a drink at a cocktail bar run by elves.

At the end of the day, I revisited my class space and spent my new point, deciding to increase the rank of Arcane Armory. Some extra defense never hurt anyone, after all.

The day after, the two of us joined up with Barb and the others one more time. It wasn’t identical to our first, the dungeon switching up what it threw at us, but a good deal of the rooms were pretty similar. While I did end up finding a few hidden treasure stashes and leveling up my Detect Secret, we didn’t find anything nearly as big as on our first run.

Gear wise, the only thing I got was a minor Dexterity ring. Either my Luck had run out, or the dungeon offered lesser rewards for beating the same floor multiple times.

And then, just like that, Cal and I collectively had over 10,000 points. Our seemingly impossible quest was over in a heartbeat.

Though we were close to being able to leave, there were still two people I needed to speak with: Hartha and the mayor. Intent on talking with the first, presently I was standing in the middle of the forest outside the city, one particularly magical branch in my hands. I recalled the description that Hartha had given me earlier.

Mouth of the Forest

If standing near a tree, the holder of this branch may contact the holder of its twin. Breaking this branch and planting the halves will allow the item to be duplicated.

In truth, I probably should have done this earlier. Unless I’d wanted to chat with Hartha in the middle of the park back in Ftheran, however, my options had been a bit more limited. Now, I had my pick of the trees in the woods, and I readily activated the branch.

Much like it had for Elphaea, the bark on the tree before me rippled like water. It continued to do so a number of times in even intervals, reminding me of the ringing of a telephone, until eventually it settled. Forming from the wood of the tree’s trunk, a familiar face emerged.

“Tess! Hi! Good to see you! How’s it going? Oh — and some long-bearded guy from Ftheran contacted me around two weeks ago. Nice job!”

I chuckled, happy to see that Hartha was clearly lively and well. “Good to see you too, Harth. It’s been a couple of weeks — let me tell you — but I think I’m doing okay. Just wanted to let you know that I might be wrapping things up in Drawgin pretty soon. How are things looking over there? Are the builders there yet? Should I try to meet everyone in Emer’Thalis?”

Despite technically owning the city, it was something of a blind spot for me. I had no idea what was happening on that front, and I’d been leaving it all to Amak and the other shadows.

“No! Don’t come! I mean, we’re not ready for you yet. I’m uh- We’re working on things! In any case, the builders are still a good two weeks out anyway, so you’d just be sitting in this gloomy city for nothing.”

I blinked, unsure what to make of her odd tone. On the plus side, two weeks was far faster than I’d been expecting. The king was either incredibly efficient, or, if what Cal had told me was true, he was really just that afraid of pissing me off. Poor guy. If only he knew I was a level 7.

Something about Hartha’s words struck me as peculiar, though, even more so than her tone.

“Harth, you said ‘this city.’ Are you in Emer’Thalis right now? I thought this skill needed a tree to work.” Last I’d checked, the area hadn’t been known for its arable soil.

A poorly concealed shifty expression crossed her wooden face as her eyes darted to the sides. “Oh! Wow! You know what? It’s getting kind of late isn’t it? Anyway, great chatting with you! Hope to see you soon! But not soon-soon! Like, two weeks soon? Bye!”

And just like that, the bark returned to its natural state, ending the call.

“Odd,” I decided. “Notably odd.”

Even more than before, now, I was ready to leave. What new oddities awaited me back in Emer’Thalis?

A few days later — our tenth day in the city — we met with the mayor once more. At least, it was once more for me: It was Cal’s first time seeing the imposing green figure, and even she was awed by the woman’s presence.

Thankfully, we were inside this time, in a cozy office space with stone block walls and dark wooden furniture. The mayor offered us two seats, and we took them, though having been designed with her in mind, they practically swallowed us. We sat behind a paper-laden desk, and while there was another chair on the opposite side, the mayor opted to stand and pace about the room. We informed her that we’d completed her quest, and she laughed heartily.

“Ha! Under two weeks, and you’re here with all the points you need. And after winning an arena match and defeating a hidden boss, too! I like it! You two have the true spirit of warriors!” She stopped pacing and squinted at us, as if running some mental calculations. “Fifty days. That’s the absolute fastest I can likely get you the people you need. About forty to find the people willing to go and give them time to prepare, and ten to travel. You just need some warm bodies to increase the population count and get you some settlement energy, right? Do you know exactly how many?”

“Not completely sure, but I’ll put you in touch with the shadows to confirm!” The Elder would know more than I did about settlements at least. Combined with the handful of builders we had, I was hopeful that the people we got from Drawgin would give us what we needed. And if they didn’t, well, one way or another, we’d just get some more.

On hearing this, the mayor started up her pacing again. “Mm, a lot of preparations to take care of then. Will you two be traveling with us, or do you want me to send you back early? I can spare enough settlement energy to teleport the two of you.”

I thought back to Hartha’s words, urging me to stay put for a few more weeks. “I think we’re staying put for another two weeks, but if the offer still stands then, a teleport would be appreciated.” I turned to Cal to make sure she was in agreement, and she nodded back.

Agath clapped, a veritable shockwave emanating from her hands. “Good! We’ll do that. Are you two going to keep dungeon diving, or have you figured out something else to do?”

I considered my options before realizing that I had a murky idea at best of what they were.

The dungeon had been enjoyable, but I was done with it for now. It was one thing when it was my only way to finish my quest, but I had little desire to risk death just to pass the time. I was still too low a level, and there were much safer ways of fixing that than nearly dying from a tidal wave.

Other than that… What exactly was there to do?

“I think we’re done with the dungeon, but I don’t really know,” I admitted. “You have any recommendations?”

The mayor fixed us with a wide grin, a glint appearing in her eyes. “Training,” she stated. “Lots and lots of training.”