Much to my relief, we didn’t have to enter the Undercity through the sewers. The thought of my clothes getting dirty and stinky didn’t bother me at all. Hruk and I were in a major city, after all. The rich used alchemist-made soaps to make fabric as good as new and remove all unpleasant smells. Besides, going into the semi-abandoned Undercity would eventually dirty our clothes, anyway. Instead, I worried about walking through the waste from around the city barefoot.

The hill-folk race’s natural traits made boots redundant. My feet were hardier than any shoe. The elements didn’t bother them one bit either. However, my skin—sole included—didn’t lose their sense of touch. Walking through sewage would mean feeling every bit of it on under the soles of my feet and between the toes. The thought made me squirm and sent shivers down my spine.

Guards from the Hunters’ and Adventurers’ Guilds controlled the entrances to the Undercity. They provided guide services for people delving into the depths. We went for the lowest ranked escort—bronze.

“We bronzies go as far as the dungeon’s entrance and no further,” our guide told us as we passed the Undercity’s threshold.

She stood a couple inches short of five feet and her proportions were intriguing, to say the least. The young woman’s tights clung to meaty thighs and a shapely bottom. Her narrow waist served as an almost shocking contrast before her torso widened, giving her an hourglass figure. I couldn’t help but wonder whether Japan had a link to Arena Disk since their manga characters featured body shakes much like her. Her ears resembled isosceles triangles sticking out from the side of her curly ginger hair. Looking at them, I knew she wasn’t human straight away. Identify enlightened me further.

Half Dwarf

Dwarves rarely mate with people outside their race, making half dwarves exceptionally rare. Much like goblins, they have dominating characteristics which almost always show in mixed breed offspring: triangular ears, weighted lower halves, and minor resistance to magic. A dwarf can mate with the most magically gifted individual from Arena Disk’s most arcanically gifted race, yet their child will struggle to grow past the most basic of magic. However, they enjoy incredible Vitality and Dexterity bonuses, making them excellent artisans and warriors.

“In fact, if we encounter hostile beasties, the guild advises us to retreat with the party instead of getting involved in combat. The silvers, on the other hand, have had enough training to fight and go as deep as the first couple of dungeon floors.”

“That’s fine, Mina,” Hruk said. “We don’t expect you to fight. If something comes along, the beasts and I will take care of it. We just request you don’t share our secrets with anyone.”

“Of course!” Mina exclaimed. “It’s a part of the contract, isn’t it? Unless you die, I can’t share your personal details, tools, magic, or anything else with anyone, and that includes the guild. Otherwise, the system will make me pay.”

“Great.” Hruk smiled, activating his newest spell. A fist-sized, electric-blue sphere manifested, floating next to him. It added a pale glow to our surroundings as we left behind natural light and ventured into the darkness. It crackled occasionally when bugs got too close to it, striking them with tiny tendrils of lightning. As we walked, the sphere followed Hruk, floating an arm’s width from his torso.

When Hruk first showed me the spell, I had asked him why he didn’t design a ranged attack spell over a one that toed the line between defence and utility. In exchange, I had received a minor physics lesson and a refresher on Arena Disk’s magic.

“Getting lightning to consistently strike a target would require magic that’s far beyond me,” he told me. “It goes where it pleases and will arc towards the closest conductor, overriding most spell scripts. First of all, you’d need to contain it within an easy to control form. This would require the Shaping attunement. The guild was so impressed that I summoned Sphere Lightning using nothing but a Creation spell. They are going to take me straight to the silver rank once I finish this trial.” He paused, flashing me a proud smile. “Either way, my genius talent or the Shaping attunement isn’t enough. To create a ranged attack spell, you need propulsion.”

“Let me guess, you need Manipulation Mana for that?” I asked.

“Precisely. I need to find a second source of power that’ll grant me the Manipulation Attunement before I can shoot the lightning spheres at people. For now, they’ll follow the spell’s simple runescript and revolve around me.”

“That’s interesting. So, the new attunement won’t have a new focus?”

Hruk shook his head. “Once you have a focus, it’s locked forever. If I ever get Shaping or Manipulation, both will have lightning as a focus. Most find work arounds with artificed devices. Unfortunately, lightning is much too hard to control for that.”

“You could get a tinker to make you a wire launcher,” Mina added. “I’d put you in touch with my sister, but she’s in the process of leaving Eldar’s Port and starting afresh in Schwartzberg. I don’t know how she’ll do it. They don’t like half dwarves around there, but it’s her life.”

As we descended deeper into the Undercity, I learned more about its history and the concept of dungeons. Once upon a time, long ago, Eldar’s Port housed all the races. The fairer-folk and humans lived above ground. While goblins and dwarves resided below, digging and mining for the metals in the rock. They dug too deep and awakened an ancient beast deep underground. The creature rampaged, climbing towards the surface, and converting anyone that fell against it into a follower. The guilds lost several grandmasters, and the Cosmics sacrificed multiple champions when bringing the creature down.

The magical energy released from its death, transformed the depths and the creature’s powerful magic core came to life, creating a new organism: Eldar’s Dungeon. It was one of the reason mercenaries, hunters, and adventurers thrived in Eldar’s Port. Hruk later explained that all dungeons were born in such a manner or artificially created by powerful mages.

Hearing the explanations, I expected zombies and ghouls to haunt the ancient underground corridors and halls. Instead, we encountered monstrous mushrooms and dodged giant spiders’ nests. Apparently, the creatures in the dungeon were several times worse. The beasts outside were weaker entities that had slipped through the gaps in the magical barrier containing the living magical entity.

Once deep enough and other hunting parties got rarer, I released Satchel Monster, reverting Doctor Whoo to her original size. Mina almost jumped out of her skin at the transformation. However, she refrained from drawing her weapons, following my request.

“I thought it was a bear-cub wearing a mask!” She exclaimed.

“What is a bard doing with a shrike as a pet? I didn’t know they were tameable.”

“Bards have their ways,” I said, grinning. “I bet everything on the disk is tameable if you have enough Charisma and use the right approach—”

“Silence,” Mina said, raising a finger to her lips. Her eyebrows furrowed and triangular ears twitched. “I can hear them—the krawlers. That means they can hear us too. Are you sure you want to face them, Mage Hruk? They’re a nasty bunch and especially worse if a minor king or queen broke out of the dungeon with them.”

“That’s just what I need,” Hruk replied. “The sooner we get a matured krawler core, we can head back.”

“Fine.” Mina sighed, drawing a heavy barrelled ranged weapon. I had seen nothing of the king before and because of the wary positioning, I failed to use Identify on it.

Before long, several sets of clicking sounded far down the corridor ahead of us. Booger stiffened next to Hruk, but Doctor Whoo remained calm and composed. I retreated behind them and activated my cloak. Despite its recent damage, the Wand of Shaping sat in my right hand, and I prepared to put it to good use. Hopefully, the damage wouldn’t spread during use. I needed to stay extra careful with the weapon until we located a new scrimshaw.