Aki claimed the shadow snare ability for himself and they decided to call it a night, despite still having another monster core. Aki put up quite a fuss, telling Rhen he should use it to increase his anima capacity, but Rhen argued it wouldn’t be enough to get him another ability. Not to mention that they’d need to uncover more of the dungeon and activate more nodes to unlock additional abilities. Rhen didn’t particularly want Out For Blood at the moment, since his boots were just about totaled and his passive anima regeneration couldn’t take the hit.

They got back to the tiny camp well past sunset, and—as promised—Aki went to collect dinner. In a few short minutes he returned with several fish. Rhen started a fire the easy way, flame breath, and sat back as Aki cleaned and skewered the fish for him.

Rhen smiled. What a perfect day.

“What amuses you about my process?”

“Huh? Oh, no. I was just thinking it’d been a good day. Sure we haven’t discovered any ecosystems in the dungeon yet, and cave fighting is pretty boring, but it was our cave.”

“Your cave.”

“Ah, yeah. You still want to work for me, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, good.”

“Why did you doubt?”

“Well, I mean the fight wasn’t as sloppy as some that I’ve had, but we definitely haven’t found our mojo. Some people don’t have the grit to stick it out and make it work.”

“I am invested in making it work.”

When the roasted fish was done, Rhen ate greedily. Before he realized, he’d eaten all but half of one. “Did you get enough?” he asked, knowing that Aki hadn’t had any at all.

“I ate at the river.”

“Raw?” Rhen’s face wrinkled at the thought.

“It is the way we eat.”

“Oh, right. That makes sense. Your world is just ocean, right?”

“Ninety-four percent ocean, and my people have dominated the majority of it.”

“Sorry, I don’t know much about Prelia.”

“Most outsiders stay on the outside. We let few delvers into our realm.”

Rhen picked up the last of the fish. “So, you don’t want this, right?”

“Correct.”

He finished off the last of the meat and reminded himself that they’d need to buy salt when they went to town next—which needed to be soon. He couldn’t keep letting Aki into the dungeon without registering that he’d hired help. If the D.O.G. found out he’d hired help without paying appropriate dues and whatever other dumb stuff he needed to wave the rights to, they could take his dungeon away, and ban him for life.

Stupid D.O.G. rules.

Rhen yawned.

“You can sleep. I will intermittently keep watch and prepare for the delve tomorrow morning.”

“What’s to prepare?”

“Rope ladder for the entrance, water deposits for pressure drilling, clearing the perimeter to begin your settlement, removing the defiler corpse, and whatever else presents itself.”

“I don’t think this dungeon will ever need a settlement. It’s so small.”

Aki hummed. “I do not like being idle.”

Rhen yawned again. “Alright. Do what makes you happy. I won’t make it another minute.”

He kicked off his boots before entering the tent and collapsed onto his bed roll. Within seconds, he was asleep. A blink more, the sounds of the living forest roused him from slumber. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, casting soft pink hues over the canvas above him.

“Hello,” Aki said softly.

Rhen rubbed his eyes. “Hello… how did you—” he yawned and stretched.

“I detected the change in your heart rate. I apologize if that was intrusive.”

“S’fine, no problem. I’m used to banging pots and shouts for my morning wake-up, so birds and a hello was just fine. Though, if you want to be more appropriate in this realm, we say “Good morning” instead of hello.”

“What if the morning is not good?”

Rhen slipped on his boots and emerged from the tent. “It’s always a good morning for someone, I suppose.”

“Is it a good morning for you?” Aki was a sickly yellow color, his fins flapping vigorously.

Rhen nodded. “It is so far. How about you?”

“I ran out of tasks two hours ago.”

“And that made you… anxious? I can’t tell what this color means.”

“I am not comfortable. It is not a good morning. I have wasted time.”

Rhen took a deep breath and blew out his cheeks. “We need to teach you how to relax.”

Aki went pale.

“But not right now. We have dungeon delving to do.”

The Prelusk’s color returned to a bright green. “I am ready.”

There was a skewer of fish Aki had roasted over the embers of the fire that served as Rhen’s breakfast, along with a stale roll from the day before. He used the new rope ladder to get down to the dungeon entrance. It still had defiler bloodstains on it, but Rhen wasn’t complaining. Aki had already put in far more effort than Rhen would’ve.

They went to the mastery node first, checking the walls for ore deposits. When they found one, Rhen would first give the rock a few good pulses with the hand drill. Then Aki came in with his water and pushed a small jetstream through the rock, blasting the softer stuff away from the metals.

In a matter of hours, they had several ounces of the dull orange mid-tier crafting ore, Lafite, and a few minor gemstones. Though the gems were small, they could be attuned at a special crafters table to enhance syntial powers and increase body strength. Celinom, a sparkly purple-hued gem, could be used in light armor to increase anima spend efficiency as well as passive uptake—much like the gems that were in the heels of Rhen’s boots. Perhaps it was time to not only fix the growing holes in the toe region but upgrade the gems in the heels too.

Rhen had to be careful in not using all the materials they collected. They needed the money to pay their D.O.G. dues and buy better tools for delving as well as building up a more suitable housing situation. He and Aki spent a few minutes dividing up the piles of ore and gems, easily agreeing on how they would be allocated. Then, they got back to work.

Four more hours of drilling into the walls earned them a good pocket of Lafite, which would surely be enough to do everything they needed on their first visit to town, and a few more materials like Hakir, a yellow tinged salt that dissolved to create a basic restoration potion. They had to be careful not to get it wet—they had destroyed a good half pound of it with Aki’s drilling before Rhen realized what it was.

When they were both satisfied with their haul, they returned to the camp so Rhen could sleep. He was eager to get back to town to sell their loot, get Aki registered, fix his boots, and a hundred other things, but he knew he couldn’t make the trek through the forest without some rest.

He rose just before the sun and was met with another roasted fish breakfast. He sprinkled a bit of the Hakir salt on the fish, discovering it seasoned it quite well—though it was incredibly expensive. The well-seasoned fish eased the aching all over his body, giving Rhen the strength he needed to hack and slash his way through the forest back to Yu village.

The return journey was a little faster since the path had been trodden once before, and they made it into town by mid-morning. The smell of fresh bread made Rhen’s mouth water, and so the first stop was at the bakery.

It was a squat, stone building with several tall smokestacks rising from the back. The smoke had calmed in the mid-day, but Rhen imagined that before dawn, all the ovens were going full speed.

A broad-shouldered woman with bronzed skin and dark curly hair approached the counter from the kitchen. “What can I getcha?”

“What’s your cheapest roll?”

“Cheap!” she exclaimed, offended. “I do not make cheap food here. If that’s what you’re wanting, move along—though you’ll have quite a ways to go to find another baker.”

Aki pulled Rhen aside. “We will soon have the funds to make bigger purchases. Perhaps it would be best not to offend the only baker in town.”

Rhen nodded at his companion. Half the work of owning a dungeon was making connections. He approached the counter again with a more professional demeanor.

“My apologies. I’m Rhen Zephitz, the new dungeon owner just out past the meeting tree. I’ve been a delver for many years—”

“That explains your manners,” she interrupted, muscular arms crossed.

“Yes, we delvers certainly are at the bottom of society, especially in how we’re treated.”

The baker’s face puckered. After a few breaths, her expression softened. “I’m Fennica Wheatle, your apology is not necessary. You come from Desedra City?”

Rhen nodded.

“That explains it. We don’t treat delvers that way here. You do some of the hardest work that makes our little town thrive. We appreciate that.”

“Tell me more about your establishment.”

Fennica gestured to a portrait of a man by an old-style clay oven that seemed out of commission. “My mother’s father helped found this town, becoming the first baker and providing for the delvers. It thrived under his care, and the village grew, but it’s been an age since we’ve seen any more real profit or growth. I carry on the old recipes, just me. The last of the Wheatles.”

“Perhaps you would have use of this.” Aki approached the counter and set down the leather satchel of Hakir.

Fennica opened the pouch and peered inside. “Ah, Healer’s Salt. Can I sample?”

“Please do,” Rhen said, taking a step back from the counter.

Fennica pinched a tiny bit between her fingers and placed it on her tongue. She took a drink from a bottle below the counter, then swished her mouth around. She squinted, scowled, swallowed, then nodded.

“High quality, fresh, no oxidation yet. Going rate is twenty-five marks an ounce and I’ve got use for an ounce or two.”

Rhen balked. He knew the market price in Desedra was ninety dra an ounce, which was closer to fifty marks. But, it could’ve been more common in the dungeons around Yu, and the price discrepancy may have been warranted. Rhen didn’t want to offend Fennica any further, so he conceded with a small barter. “How about twenty-five marks an ounce, and four shelf stable rolls?”

Fennica stroked her chin. “Deal. Where do ya plan on selling the rest of it?”

“We’ll find a spot.” Rhen turned to Aki. “Or season the fish.”

“Best of luck to ya then, and a word of advice… introduce yourself first, talk of your dungeon ownership and let people know who you are. You’re not just a delver”—her face puckered—“ though you smell like one. You’re a dungeon owner. That commands more respect to summa the others.”

Fennica pulled four fresh rolls from a warming oven in the back and packaged them up. They exchanged the goods, and coin, then Rhen tipped his head. “Thank you for the advice, Ms. Wheatle. I’m sure we’ll be seeing you again soon.”

She weighed the bag of Hakir between her hands. “Be sure that you do. You find any Father’s Fennel in your dungeon, be sure to bring it to me first, ya hear?”

“Father’s Fennel?” Rhen asked.

“It’s a blue-green moss that grows under the bulbous lumps of padreote ore. You’ll know it by its pungent fennel smell.”

“Can do.”

Rhen and Aki moved out to the dusty street, Rhen already digging into the first roll. It was still warm, with a buttery sweetness. Finally, something other than seared fish on a stick.

“Alright, next stop is the dungeon worker registry business. See a D.O.G. building anywhere?” Rhen asked through a mouthful of roll.

He and Aki turned in circles, looking over the sparse buildings of the tiny village.

“I see nothing of the sort.”

Rhen sighed. “That’s what I feared. We’ll have to go back to Desedra.”

“Or, perhaps we could forego that formality?”

Rhen cocked an eyebrow. “If they found out, they’d blacklist me from the D.O.G.”

“The risk is greater than the inconvenience of returning to the city?”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself. Plus, we still have more Hakir to sell,” Rhen lowered his voice, “which goes for a lot more than twenty-five marks an ounce in Desedra.”

“We should like to sell most of our yield at Desedra, then?”

“I think for now, yes. Until Yu can support a real trade market, we’ll be better off going back to Desedra when we feel we have enough to sell.”

Rhen and Aki waited a half-hour for a train to arrive, and then spent the two-and-a-half-hour ride to Desedra discussing where to sell their materials. Rhen had circulated among the merchants enough to know which vendors would want what ores and gems, so when they arrived, they made quick work of getting the biggest profits.

With dra coin in hand, they went to the D.O.G. to verify Aki’s employment with Rhen. It cost fifteen dra to register him to the dungeon, and of course Rhen had to pay some dues, but when they were all finished, they had four hundred dra and a little over two hundred imperial marks. That was what Rhen made in five weeks of work—good weeks—at Desedra. Their delver wages were completely criminal.

It was nearly sundown, but Rhen found a cobbler willing to do a rush order on his boots and give him a loaned pair until the next day. Rhen found himself giddily heading toward the Down-N-Out when he realized he and Aki had enough money to stay somewhere nice.

Hmm, but that money could be put toward better tools, or a new jerkin. Maybe he should save the money in case of emergency, or to purchase some… thing… Rhen found himself making excuses as to why he needed to stay at the Down-N-Out, but when he saw her flowery braided crown of bright red hair and golden flecked skin, he knew the real reason his feet wouldn’t stop carrying him toward the delver’s inn.

Jakira brightened at the sight of him. “You’re back!”