Frank woke up after seven solid hours of sleep. According to his watch, there was still an hour left before he had said it would be time to move out. He busied himself with a meal while the others continued to sleep. None of them were the late-rising type, he’d found. That made getting up and going much easier.

He waited for half an hour, relaxing his mind, before waking the others. Bill, unsurprisingly, was completely refreshed. With twenty-one vitality, he probably needed two hours less sleep than before. Rina was fine too. Maria, though, had dark circles under her eyes. Frank surmised she’d practiced too long and missed out on some sleep. Once the three of them had eaten and woken up, he addressed them.

“Same as yesterday, we’ll try to get through as many floors as possible. Bill, you’ll lead. Maria, you’ll assist him. Rina, do what you were doing.” Frank explained.

Maria looked like she wanted to argue. Frank turned specifically to her. “You didn’t get enough sleep. Bill’s in better condition.”

That stopped her before she said anything. She frowned and nodded. Frank directed them out into the dungeon. Things proceeded smoothly, although more slowly. Frank watched as their coordination and teamwork began to solidify. Maria, especially, was decisive in her role. Every time she noticed an opportunity, she’d step in and attack. Yesterday both Bill and she had been more passive and reactionary. With Maria consistently acting when opportunities presented themselves, they were much stronger in combat. Frank decided he’d focus on letting Maria take an attacking role from here on out. That meant Bill would need a shield when one could be found, as he’d have to be able to defend himself and take the brunt of the enemy until an opening took shape. That was fine. That was what Frank was best at. Bill would be better off taking a shield if he was going to learn from Frank anyways.

The fourth and fifth floors progressed, Frank, acting rarely to help out, over the course of six hours. It was only on the sixth floor that progress stalled. The yetis began to appear in twos and sometimes threes. Individuals became stronger, and more dangerously, smarter. Soon Frank was stepping in on the majority of encounters. He soon stopped the group.

“You three have hit your limit. I’m going to take the lead from here.” Frank simply told them.

Bill was disappointed, while Maria looked both disappointed and relieved. Rina, it appeared, was just happy to be done.

“Rina, pass me your pouch. I’ll be using it from here on.” Frank told her.

She looked scared then until Frank reassured her. “You’ll get it back after we are done here.”

With Frank taking the lead, the pace sped up. Fights began and ended in moments, either due to a paralyzing stone or Frank’s skill with his weapon. The pouch let him act super aggressively. If there was one, they rarely got to even attempt to attack him, as he’d close in and whip out a stone into their chest when the yeti was too close to react. With multiples, he’d use the stones to fight them one at a time, disabling one and killing the other before it could recover.

The first half of the floor was two hours of struggle. The second half took thirty minutes. The boss fight was the only part that Frank didn’t hack his way through with ease. Bosses were generally immune to the effects of items like the pouch. Frank didn’t take a break either, rushing through the seventh floor with ease. That, however, meant that the group had been moving for close to eleven hours. In the starting room for the eighth floor, he called for another rest.

The loot from the previous four floors was minimal. A health potion had dropped off a yeti, meaning that Frank now had two. The bosses each had dropped one item as well. Another sword, mundane, was given to Rina. Not immediately useful was an unidentified ring and a box of protein bars. The final drop was a monocle.

Distinguished Monocle of a Discerning Gentleman

+1 KNO

The monocle of a distinguished butler, known for such a vast knowledge of sartorial matters he could identify the wealth and status of a guest simply by glancing at their clothes.

It was a genuine pain to wear, but perhaps it could be affixed to something so it stayed in place. For now, though, it went into Frank’s bag.

Frank didn’t start resting right away. First, he decided to do some teaching. He started with Rina, going over the basics of swordplay. She’d been paying attention to what he taught Bill, as he barely had to explain it. Mostly, he just had to correct little things. Then he worked with Bill for a bit. Finally, he taught Maria while the other two practiced with their swords. For now, and perhaps for a few weeks, he’d be able to just have her drill with her spear on basic thrusts and sweeps. But with the body control she had from her improved stats, she’d get the movements down quickly, and then it’d be up to her. He could teach her the basics of using a spear. He could teach her to fight. But he couldn’t teach her how to fight with a spear. Combining the two was going to be her own challenge.

That done, Frank sat down and tried to work on his treatise on combat. He wasn’t much of a writer, and putting his intuitions on combat into words was as supremely difficult now as it was last time he tried. Still, he made a small amount of progress before giving up and going to sleep.

When he woke, he didn’t immediately get ready to go. With only three floors left, it was probably going to be the final bit of time spent in the dungeon. Unfortunately, the difficulty had crept beyond what Bill, Rina, and Maria could handle. Any experience he could get them without slowing his journey above was a real asset. On the inverse, though, this meant that when he’d taken over for them and blazed the trail, they moved a lot faster. There were still plenty of supplies. Frank didn’t have to be in a rush.

Instead, he let everyone else continue to sleep until they woke up naturally. Once all three were up and awake, he laid out what was going to happen.

“Today we are going to clear the dungeon. I’ll take the lead like yesterday.”

That was it, there was no real need for a plan. He’d seen enough of the dungeon to know he could handle it. It would be hell for a new survivor, especially when the enemies started appearing in groups. For Frank, it was routine. The biggest risk was complacency. Frank had enough experience suffering the consequences of that.

It took hours, but Frank worked efficiently, and it wasn’t long before the final boss stood slain in front of him.

Yeti Ancestor(Level 6) defeated. Yeti Infested Chateau cleared. For being the first to clear the dungeon, awarded Conquerer deed. For clearing the dungeon for the first time, awarded one experience level. Awarded a dusty manuscript.

Frank looked at the floor at the book that had appeared. He’d never received one last time, now he had two already, in less than a week outside. That seemed off. He stowed it in his backpack. It was disappointing that he wasn’t able to share the level with his companions, but they weren’t ready for that kind of fight.

Yeti Infested Chateau has been cleared. The Dungeon will close in 5:00. All possessions left behind will disappear.

Frank took the five minutes he had to distribute his stats.

Frank HP 196/196 Level 14 Human (0/92160EXP) MP 0 Neophyte(2/5) SP 90/182 Strength 13 Knowledge 15 Agility 12(11) Intelligence 10 Constitution 14(10) Stability 10 Vitality 13(12) Wisdom 7(6)

He walked over and grabbed his pack, which he’d brought with him so it didn’t get lost, quickly pulled on suitable winter clothing, and then stood waiting for the last minute to countdown. Abruptly, he was standing back outside, in a snowstorm, next to his bike and trailer. The wind died off moments later. Frank looked around, spotting his companions. Bill had not managed to get his winter clothes on in time. He had snow pants around his ankles, and a jacket held in one hand.

“Get your gear on. I’m going to look for the guy who was on the first floor. You three wait here and keep an eye on our stuff.”

Frank turned and started circling the chateau. The snow finished falling, revealing a clear sky above, and granting Frank much better visibility. He trudged through the snow, still armed, keeping himself about as far away from the building as he was when he first entered the dungeon. A loop around revealed no one. Given the presence of a foot and a half of snow that would clearly reveal any travel, whoever the other person was was probably inside. Frank made it back around to Maria, Bill, and Rina.

“Whoever it was is probably inside the chateau. Let's take a look. Bring the bikes with you.” Frank told them, grabbing his own and dragging it forward.

Rina followed with a great deal of purpose. Maria and Bill appeared curious, but only that. The chateau itself was a wooden building, the hard angles and long overhang on one side screaming modern design. It felt like a bad pastiche of two incompatible styles. Frank walked up to the main door, a big wooden double with large windows on each panel. A tug on its handle demonstrated that it was locked. Frank pondered what to do about this, before eventually settling on knocking.

The dull rap of his gloved hand on wood sounded out. There was no response. Frank waited for a minute, and then knocked again. This time, he heard movement on the other side. The scraping of furniture being slid out of the way, incoherent muttering. He took a ready stance, just in case, stepping back from the door.

It cracked open, and a haggard-looking face peered out. A man, who’s age Frank couldn’t tell through an unruly mop of hair and beard, with tears running down his face, broke down completely when his mind registered what he saw. He threw the door open and fell to his hands and knees, sobbing. Frank looked him over. He was filthy, wearing the tattered remains of long destroyed clothing over his gaunt frame.

While the man sat there sobbing, Frank just stood awkwardly, waiting for him to stop. Rina eventually approached him and began to pat him on the back. He started crying even harder. Eventually, his sobbing subsided, and he put his head to the ground and began muttering. At first, Frank couldn’t understand him at all. He wondered if he was speaking Spanish or something. After a short while, Frank realized that it was actually English, just completely garbled.

“…allowed buh the nem; the engdo com; The well buh dan on erf esetes en hev’n…” he muttered, his voice low, but audible.

“That sounds like the ‘Our Father’,” Maria said, after a moment. “He’s praying.”

Frank watched him carefully, not fully relaxing. Even though the man’s actions so far were harmless, caution was warranted. When he finished his prayer, he slowly lifted his head and looked over at Frank, Bill, and Maria, standing across from him.

“Wis t yu oo dvered me from thes ell?”

“We cleared the dungeon, yes,” Frank said.

“Tink yu. God bles yu,” he said. He frowned. “Ts bin su lung e cane tok. Ead gven op ope.”

Tears started welling in his eyes once more as he looked past Frank. “Skee. E nver tot e dee see et agin.”

Frank looked at him appraisingly. He seemed, surprisingly, sane. Perhaps he’d managed to get enough points in stability. Either way, Frank was curious how he’d survived for so long. Dungeons generally didn’t have any source of food.

Rina was the first to pose him a question, out of concern. “Are you hungry?”

The man swung his head towards her immediately. “Yuv food?” He asked seriously.

Rina was taken aback by the intensity of his stare but still smiled and nodded. She took a step away from him, then rifled through her pack, pulling out a protein bar. The man’s hands trembled as he received it.

“It has been so long.” He said, brokenly. Frank was starting to understand him better after he realized some of the errors in his pronunciation were consistent.

The man shakily tried to open the wrapper but used too much strength. The protein bar was smushed where his hands were, and the wrapper split, oozing out the chocolate coating on to his fingers. He tore the rest of the wrapper off and devoured the bar in two bites, before licking his hands clean. Then he started crying again. Frank just watched, until the man regained his composure. He was about to ask him some questions when Rina beat him to the punch.

“I’m Rina. This is Frank, Bill, and Maria,” she said, pointing to each in turn.

“I’m Felix,” the man responded.

“Pleased to meet you, Felix,” Rina replied warmly. She made small talk with him for a short while until he seemed to be at ease. Then Frank cut in.

“How did you survive for so long in there?” Frank asked.

Felix looked Frank straight in the eye. “The grace of God.”

Frank furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

Felix thought for a moment. “He knew you would be here, and gave me succour to persist until then. He spoke to me, as he had before. Filled me with His grace.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Frank asked, again.

“I can’t understand a thing he’s saying,” Bill interjected. “How can you tell?”

Frank shrugged. “I’ll tell you later.” He looked back at Felix.

“I’ll show you,” Felix said.

He stood up and walked several feet to the side, into the snow. He faced perpendicular to Frank, and then raised his hand out in front of him. A baleful aura seemed to envelope the air around Frank. The other three did not appear to notice. Gradually, ice began to condense around Felix’s hand, slowly taking the form of a blade.

“He gave me this,” Felix said, and then the blade melted all at once, falling onto the snow as water. The feeling Frank had left him, but a new feeling appeared, this one internal. He’d found magic.

For the first time since he’d returned, Frank felt excitement. It welled up like it’d been waiting to burst out at the slightest opportunity. He felt his heartbeat accelerate until it was uncomfortable. His hands began to sweat spontaneously. His concern about whether Felix was dangerous faded. His budding reservation about the religious fervor apparent in Felix’s speech was shunted to the side. This was magic. It hadn’t yet been a week, and he’d already found someone.

The same part of him that had considered Bill’s theory, that had noted the books, that had recoiled when the system had tried to communicate with him, noted that this was yet another convenient coincidence. But that just filed away in the back of Frank’s mind. For the moment, he was struck dumb. This wasn’t a mage, someone who could merely channel their life force through magical objects. Felix was a genuine wizard. In ten years, Frank had only known Anna, and briefly that psychic who’d detected the skinwalkers.

“That’s so fucking cool!” Bill shouted, breaking Frank out of his daze. “Can you show me how?”

Felix startled at the outburst, then eventually responded. “I don’t know.”

Frank, now thinking furiously about what to do next, eventually turned to Rina.

“Can you get him an actual meal?” He asked her.

For the moment he’d just try and make the man comfortable. Felix would probably tell his story eventually anyways. Frank wanted desperately to know now, but he also knew he needed to know, and so avoided pressing the man on the off chance that soured things. What would he even do if Felix wasn’t willing to share. The though of forcing it out of him flit through his mind, and he immediately got a sick feeling in his stomach. That wasn’t something he thought he could do to someone who hadn’t done anything to him.

Felix, meanwhile, was staring fixated at Rina as she brought out one of the MREs Frank had taken from Hugo’s store. She followed the instructions to get it heating, and then set it down to warm up on its own. Saliva dripped from his mouth into his beard. Frank handed him his folding knife.

“You should shave,” he told Felix. “That beard is probably beyond salvaging.”

Felix looked at him. “Later. After I eat.”

Frank shrugged and let him be. Rina started chatting with him again.

“Where are you from?” She asked.

“Uh, Vancouver, the American one,” Felix responded, after thinking for a few seconds. Rina seemed to understand him just fine as well.

“Me and Maria are from Redstone.” Rina responded, chatting with him. “Frank is from Canada, and Bill is from out East.”

Felix nodded. He seemed to just be happy to be talking to someone else. Even now, he looked like he was on the verge of crying.

“Why were you up here at the ski lodge? It usually doesn’t open for another month.” Apparently Rina was familiar with the location.

“I worked here. With Jorge and George.” Felix said.

“Jorge and George?” Rina asked.

Felix had a faraway look. “I haven’t seen them in I don’t know how long. George died. Jorge said he was going to try and find the way out.”

Rina frowned. “George died?”

“The yetis. They got him. Jorge and I ran.” Felix lapsed into silence. No one said anything until the food for him was ready. That perked him back up, and he devoured it with aplomb. Matching his starved and filthy appearance, he ate with desperation.

“What’s your constitution?” Frank asked, suddenly.

Felix continued to shovel the food in his mouth, not answering Frank’s question until the heated portion had been devoured.

“Twelve,” he stated, as he ripped the packaging off the dessert bar that came in the bag.

“Nice,” he said to himself as he took a huge bite out of it.

Franked nodded to himself. Once constitution got high enough, a lot of mundane things stopped being problems. Allergies disappeared, poisons became less effective, and importantly for Felix, the body handled starvation better. Frank had remembered hearing Peter tell him about it. He’d found a starving band hiding in a ruined village, fed them a full meal, and then they just died. That didn’t apply when you had superhuman attributes.

Felix finished eating in short order. He looked at the trailer from which Rina had pulled the ration with obvious desire, but didn’t ask for more.

“How long has it been?” he questioned, half to himself.

“Six and a half days.” Frank answered promptly.

“Six and a half days? Since what?” Felix asked, confused.

“Since the system started.” Frank said.

“That is not true,” Felix said, speaking slowly and focusing on his enunciation. “I don’t know how long, but longer than that.”

“Time doesn’t pass the same in dungeons. I don’t know how long you spent in there, but outside, six and a half days.” Frank said.

Felix looked like he didn’t believe him at all. Frank dropped the subject to avoid antagonizing him. From there, Felix carefully began to remove his beard. Frank’s knife was sharp enough to get through it, and after many minutes of struggle, he’d gotten most of it off. His face was patchy with little bits of short stubble dotting it unevenly, but that was a vast improvement on the tangled nest that had been there. He was surprisingly young. Frank pegged him at no more than his early twenties. He had probably still been a teenager when he got trapped.

Bill watched as Felix shaved himself, and had a sudden realization. He rubbed his stubble. “Fuck. No one is going to make any more razors.” Rina and Maria both had a dismayed look on their face at that statement.

Frank got everyone’s attention. “We should get a move on, at least past the snow. We still need to get to Seattle.” He addressed Felix directly. “You are welcome to come along.”

That spurred everyone into action. Bill, Maria, and Frank got their stuff ready and prepared to continue dragging their bikes through the snow. Felix took the initiative to pull Rina’s for her, his borderline skeletal frame still possessing enough strength to easily keep up with the others. It took about half an hour, but eventually the snow stopped in an abrupt line, just like on the other side. By that time, the temperature had warmed back up to something reasonable for mid-fall, and the winter outerwear was becoming intolerable. Once out of the snow, the first thing Frank did was strip it off and stow it away. Maria, Rina, and Bill followed suit.

Out of the snow, Frank stopped the party once more.

“Felix,” Frank said, suddenly. “Would you like to come with us to Seattle?”

Felix nodded immediately. Frank nodded in response. “Okay.”

The prospect of convincing him to come with them was averted, to Frank’s relief. He thought for a moment on what to do then. The fact that Felix would come along was a given. Magic was too important to be left behind. How that would occur though, was worth considering.

“What are your agility and strength?” Frank asked Felix.

Felix looked at him confused for a moment, but answered freely. “Seventeen and thirteen.”

“Well, you’ll need to jog then, at least until we hit the next town and find you a bike,” Frank told him. The man’s physical stats were the highest here. He’d be able to run the fastest, most likely.

“Why can’t we drive?” Felix asked.

“Cars don’t work.” Frank said. “Guns too, electronics, all dead. Bikes are the best way to move right now.”

Felix again had a face of disbelief. Frank didn’t bother to argue or justify; it would all be proven over the next few days when the man experienced it himself.

“Can I have something else to eat?” Felix changed the subject.

“Yes,” Frank replied immediately. He fetched him another protein bar. “Since you are coming along with us, let's just get a move on in a few minutes. Set a pace you think you can keep for the day and I’ll match it. We are just going to follow the highway into the city. Can you ride a bike?” Frank asked him.

“I learned how. It’s been so long though.” Felix said while he opened up the protein bar. He took a normal-sized bite this time.

Frank looked at his bare feet. “What size shoes do you wear?”

Felix thought for a moment. “I don’t remember. Haven’t had shoes for a long time.”

“Are you fine barefoot?”

“Yes.”

Frank nodded and then walked over to the other three. He did not try and leave Felix’s earshot, wary of appearing to be plotting something.

“It’ll be an extra day to Seattle, most likely. I think it’s worth slowing down for Felix though.” Frank said.

“He knows fucking magic, of course it's worth slowing down!” Bill said in response. “I saw the way you were staring at him when he did it. That shit’s gotta be important in addition to being cool as hell.”

Rina was on board as well, out of personal concern for Felix’s wellbeing, mostly. Maria, though, had reservations.

“He’s not okay,” she said softly, taking the conversation to a volume too low to be overheard.

“What do you mean? Were you expecting him to be normal after however long he was in that dungeon?” Bill asked.

“Do you notice how calm he is? How quickly he’s adjusted? It doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t react like a person does. He was overcome with emotion for like ten minutes, and now he’s fine.” Maria replied.

Frank interjected. “It’s what stability does. He’s probably in the high teens. Means he’s more psychologically stable and resilient than any human could be.”

“Stability does that?” Rina asked. Maria looked surprised too.

“I’ve said that before, haven’t I?” Frank responded.

“But, that? It’s like he doesn’t feel emotions as strongly.” Maria said.

“Basically, yes,” Frank said.

“That’s horrifying,” Rina said. “I’m never increasing my stability again.”

Frank didn’t have a good argument to dissuade her then and there. He would rather she did up her stability; he’d rather they all did. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it personally, so who was he to criticize?

“Did everyone have high stability in the future?” asked Bill.

“As far as I know, yea. Not really an easy situation to cope with.” Frank responded.

“So everyone was emotionally stunted…” Maria trailed off.

Frank didn’t respond to that. Instead, he got ready to move. After Frank got everyone ready to go, Felix started loping along at an intense pace. He was easily running elite marathon speeds. Frank reevaluated his time estimate. They would get to Seattle by evening if he could keep that up. With twelve constitution, he might even be able to.

In the first town they encountered, Felix was furnished with a bicycle. It wasn’t a nice one like the others had, but it made it much easier, and the whole group sped up significantly as they moved through the outskirts of King County. There was something ominous in the air though, and it grew thicker and more prominent as the miles passed by. Eventually, Frank could taste it. Smoke.

It hadn’t been there this morning, nor into the early afternoon, but gradually, the sky started turning red as they got closer and the smoke got thicker. Soon it was visible, a veritable tower of grey smog rising. A few minutes later, where one might expect to see the first decent view of Seattle in the distance, instead there was a towering inferno blocking any sight of the downtown proper. The city was burning.