I put my staff away once I realized there was no threat. The light coming from the dungeon’s entrance wasn’t able to reach all parts of the tent, so I cast Glowing Orb to better illuminate the suddenly dark interior. People seemed to relax a little as the shadows were banished, and they turned their attention my way. It was distressing to see so many worried faces looking to me for answers, especially when most of them were much older than I was.

“Has the void energy spread here?” Brad asked, voice tight. He had personal experience with this kind of technological breakdown and made the logical connection. Steve was also looking around, all traces of his good cheer gone and hand hovering near his holster.

“No, it’s not that,” I reassured everyone, feeling bad that the looks of relief on their faces was going to be short-lived. “When I opened up the dungeon, some of the energy began leaking out. It seems like higher levels of mana also interfere with our tech.” Conversations sprung up immediately as everyone tried to work out the implications of that. I personally was thinking that it was looking more and more likely that technology was not going to be able to help us solve our problems.

“Is it only in this tent?” someone called out.

I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know.”

“Alright people! Let’s find out how far the effect goes,” Anita ordered, stepping up beside me. She looked around as she spoke so she could include everyone. “We’ll set up the equipment outside of its range, then you can try to do whatever research you can. Without going near the forest!” Her warning at the end had to be shouted as people were already moving.

“Your mana regeneration is being influenced by the dungeon’s concentrated mana even up here,” Cax let me know. “You could easily find out the range just by walking until it drops to normal.”

“That’s a bit of good news,” I told him, happy I could enjoy the benefit outside of the dungeon itself. “But I don’t want to have to do everything myself. They can do the same thing by walking with their phone in hand. Besides, having something to keep them busy right now will take their minds off worrying.”

What I was willing to do was light up the area so they could safely move things out. I kept the light floating where it was as they went about their business. Unfortunately, with such a short range on my Glowing Orb spell, I would have to stay up here until they finished.

“That spell is close to ranking up,” Cax helpfully pointed out. That perked me up. Maybe I wouldn’t have to be stuck here. If there were a way to evolve its range, I could head back down.

“Why does Glowing Orb rank up just by casting it, but Light Dart requires actual combat to rank up?” I asked Cax curiously as I dismissed the current orb and recast the spell immediately.

“Rules are rules,” he answered simply, not seeming bothered by the odd differences in requirements.

“Rules,” I muttered to myself. With so many rules, I really wish there was a manual I could study, I complained to myself.

“And when would you find the time to read it?” Cax asked, sounding amused as he responded to my thought.

“I wouldn’t,” I admitted. “I’d make you do it, then you could tell me the ones I needed to know.”

“I know you are joking and intend that as some kind of tedious task for me, but that actually sounds like a wonderful idea,” the studious ex-dungeon core replied, making me smile.

I got rid of the orb again and cast the spell one more time to reach rank 2, bringing up the notification to evolve it. I read over the three options quickly and was happy to see almost exactly what I was looking for included among them. The choices were between having up to four orbs active at once, anchoring the orb to something other than myself which would mean I could leave it somewhere, or having the option to explode it instead of just dismissing it, which would temporarily blind anyone nearby looking at it.

The combat application was appealing, but not what I needed right now. I selected the option to anchor it to something else, and then recast the improved spell. I set the orb to stay attached to the middle of the tent’s ceiling where it could cover the most area. The quick use of 40mp simply to cast the same light spell several times bothered me a little, until I realized that with my mana regeneration now being boosted by the dungeon, I’d gain it back in just five minutes.

Leaving everyone to their tasks, I went back down to the dungeon room. The boys were chatting and running their hands over the slightly warm walls and pounding on them to see how sturdy they were. After I joined them, it was a little tight with four of us in such a small room, but it was manageable. I filled them in on what the problem upstairs was, and they pulled their phones out, confirming they didn’t work either. To distract them from worrying about it, and because I knew I couldn’t put it off anymore, I nervously asked them how they were handling what I’d revealed about myself.

They hesitated before answering, looking at each other. My chest tightened in worry.

“It was not what we were expecting to hear, that’s for sure,” Josh finally said. He put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. “But it doesn’t change anything between us.” Jared and Tony quickly agreed.

I exhaled in relief and flashed them a grateful smile. “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.”

“Actually, it does change one thing,” Jared said suddenly. “That trick you pulled with the sandwiches. Do you think you can do that with a bottle of rum?”

Tony’s eyes lit up. “You’re right! We’ll never have to pay for booze again!”

Josh was on board. “If we can get our hands on a keg…”

I just laughed. I definitely wasn’t against the idea, but it struck me as funny that they focused on something like that instead of on one of the more important things I’d revealed.

“I’ll see what I can do. Now, check this out.” I demonstrated how I could control the lighting and temperature of the room with my mind, and they were suitably impressed. Suddenly, an idea came to me. I held back a smile so as not to make them suspicious.

“Look over here,” I said, walking to the wall opposite the entrance and touching a random spot on it. “I’m going to make it change, and I want you to tell me when you notice it.” They leaned in, staring at the wall as I began creating a skeleton defender behind them.

“Keep looking,” I encouraged them as the level 1 skeleton began taking shape. Less than a minute later, it was done. I mentally commanded it to touch Josh’s shoulder. He was slightly behind the other two, so he turned to see who it could be. His panicked yell was music to my ears. The other two quickly turned and started cursing and shouting at the sight of the skeleton standing there as they backed away from it. There was nowhere to go, though. I ended up squeezed against the wall as they tried to escape from the unmoving undead. I wasn’t sure if it was my improved constitution, my magical shirt, or the fact that I was laughing so hard, but I barely felt any discomfort at all from the press of bodies.

I sensed faint disapproval from Cax at my practical joke.

“I’m just trying to rank up my abilities,” I told him, trying to send an impression of innocence. “Like with Glowing Orb. I’ve got to get my defender count up.”

“Try that excuse with someone who can’t read your mind,” he replied, not buying it for a second.

The smile stayed on my face. Boy, did it feel good to laugh! Keeping everything secret had been weighing on me more than I’d noticed. Now that it was out in the open, I could freely use my magic and it felt fantastic. I was actually enjoying using my abilities and having fun with all this amazing stuff I could do.

I heard someone rushing down the stairs and soon saw Brad standing in the opening to the room, staring wide-eyed at the animated skeleton in front of him. He swiftly pulled his gun and pointed it at my dungeon defender.

“Woah, woah, woah!” I called out hastily, getting a hold of myself and pushing my way through my friends. “Relax! It’s mine, I made it.” Now that we knew the high mana levels basically blocked all our technology too, his gun wouldn’t even work around here. Probably. I didn’t want to test it in this small room. I mentally commanded the skeleton to go and sit down in the far corner to make it appear less threatening. Considering it was still within touching range, they probably didn’t feel any better. Brad followed it with his weapon, but otherwise didn’t move.

“What do you mean it’s yours?” Josh asked rapidly, still standing back as far as he could get.

The look on his face brought the smile back to mine. “I can make defenders for my dungeon,” I told them. “There are a bunch of different ones I can create.” I chuckled as I wiped a tear from my eye. “The looks on your faces. I actually cried!”

“You prick!” Tony exclaimed, punching me in the arm. With the way he grimaced and shook out his hand immediately after, it had hurt him more than me.

Brad holstered his gun, simply shaking his head and muttering something about ‘children’ before going back up. My friends were giving me death stares. I looked back at them, smiling, and clapped my hands together. “Alrighty. I should get to work. Can you send Ms. Anders down when you get up there?”

As they were leaving, Jared shot over his shoulder, ‘You may have magic, Deano, but there’s three of us. We’ll get you good.”

My smile simply got bigger. Can’t wait, I thought. I needed some light-hearted moments in my life right now. It seemed to be one problem after another. I was sure I would burn out sooner rather than later if that’s all I had.

I sat down with my back against the far wall from the entrance so I could see who was coming in. I got as comfortable as I could, stretching my legs out in front of me. I still had a slight smile on my face. I left the skeleton where he was in the corner next to me just in case. This dungeon room was small, so Cax assured me its aura shouldn’t be able to be sensed from very far away. But on the off chance that something was drawn in, I wanted the assistance. Also, it was another thing that everyone should probably know I could do, and it might keep people honest when they saw the kind of bodyguard I could make.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall, letting myself simply relax and enjoy the energizing atmosphere of the room for a moment. I didn’t have long to enjoy my break before Anita joined me. I opened my eyes and watched as she looked around in wonder, running her hands along the walls and even leaning in to smell them. “Nothing,” she whispered. “How’s that possible?” I was impressed when she also tentatively touched the skeleton, only hesitating a little. Brad or one of my friends must have told her about it.

I let her take her time soaking it all in. It wasn’t long before she joined me on the floor, sitting against the wall on my right with her legs crossed and back straight. She didn’t seem to care if her suit would get dirty, which kicked my opinion of her up a notch. I hadn’t thought to ask my friends, so I put the question to her instead. “Do you feel different in here?”

She tilted her head questioningly. “What do you mean?”

I struggled to think of a way to describe it. “There’s much more mana in here than outside. It makes me feel… refreshed, I guess.”

She considered that for a minute. “Now that you mention it, there is something. It’s sort of like the feeling just before a storm hits. Kind of like a heaviness to the air.”

Hmm. So regular people’s bodies aren’t able to benefit from the effect, but they are aware of it in some small way.

“Anyway, Officer Saunders filled me in on your interesting ability,” she said, glancing at the skeleton. “He also mentioned you had a bit of fun with it. I’m glad the recent setback hasn’t dampened your mood.” I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or reprimanding me for joking around while we were faced with so many problems.

I simply smiled in response. “It must have been hard for you, keeping all this from your friends and going through it all alone,” she half-questioned.

My smile faded. “It was,” I admitted. “I was just thinking earlier about how good it feels now that I don’t have to hide what I can do.” I watched her closely to gauge her reaction and asked, “You’re not going to make me regret going public, are you?”

“Don’t even joke about that!” she said sternly, not liking my choice of words. “The last thing we need is for the public to catch wind of what’s really going on here.” I nodded quickly, happening to completely agree with her. I would have absolutely no privacy if the entire world found out about me. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to you,” she went on to say. I relaxed when her words didn’t trigger Persuasion’s warning effect. She could still be lying, but I didn’t think so. “You are a valuable resource, even more so than those scientists up there, since there’s only one of you in the entire world. But keep in mind that I have bosses.” Her professional demeanor cracked for a second and I caught a glimpse of how overwhelmed she was. “I’m really not looking forward to convincing them that all this is real and that I haven’t gone crazy.”

Knowing exactly how difficult that conversation was, I felt for her. “I can always talk to them for you. Put on the same show I did up there.” I gestured up at the ceiling as I made my offer. Now that my Persuasion skill had an increased effect, it might even go better than the first time.

“Oh, don’t worry! They’ll definitely want to meet you!” she chuckled. “But let me handle it first. Before I talk to them, you and I need to go over some things.”

“Hold that thought,” I said, raising my hand. “Let me get construction started on the main dungeon room, and then we can talk more while it’s underway.” The reason I hadn’t begun yet was that I thought I should get her approval for where I wanted to place it.

I let her know what I was thinking. I wanted to build the room starting here where we were and extend it down further into the park. If I put the 20-meter side facing towards the forest, it would mean the dungeon’s sphere of influence would extend almost up to the main road and cover a fair amount of the park. Then, if we put some void blockers along the fence that ran parallel to the road, we’d be able to keep the void energy from spreading in those two directions.

For the next dungeon room, my idea was to prioritize the other side of the forest that butted up against the suburbs down near the pub. That would leave all the inhabited areas blocked off and protected. If the World Spirit couldn’t keep the void energy contained, it would only be free to spread deeper into the forest. With only animals to infect, it would have less of an impact compared to if it reached a populated area.

Anita listened intently, nodding along at various points. When I was done, she said, “I think that will work. My inclination is to present this to the team and get their input, but I’m afraid that by the time they agree on a course of action, things would have become worse. Anyway, you are the expert when it comes to all this,” she waved her hand to encompass the room we were in. “Go ahead and do it.”

I gave her a grateful nod, pleased at the trust she was putting in me, and pulled up the template for the large dungeon room. I lined it up so the back-right corner lay up against the room we were currently in. I wanted to keep this entrance when I got rid of the prep room. I would, of course, put another entrance in later on the side closest to the forest. The animals we were hoping to attract to the dungeon could get in through there. This entrance would let us get into the dungeon without needing to go into the forest first. But more importantly, it would be my way out of the dungeon if things went wrong. Considering the new room would go down further due to its higher ceiling, I’d have to tweak the staircase a little, but it shouldn’t be a problem.

The room extended out with the side facing the forest ending right under the tree line. With the dungeon’s aura able to push out 18 meters now due to the 15-meter base range and the extra 3 meters thanks to my level, it would cover a fair distance within the woods and almost up to the carpark. If we put a void blocker up there, it would seal up that area completely.

When I went to confirm the construction, I got a happy surprise.

Your existing dungeon room will add its power to the construction of adjacent rooms.

Construction costs decreased by 25% for any new room in close proximity.

I could feel Cax’s amazement, so I didn’t bother asking him if he’d known this might happen. Anita must have noticed my excitement. I told her that instead of an entire day, we were now looking at about 18 hours to complete the room.

“Professions! What I could have done if I’d had these advantages,” Cax said wistfully. I left him to his imaginings and confirmed the construction immediately, feeling the mana begin to flow from my center and into the wall I was leaning against. From there, it started to fill in the outline of the new room. Since it was connected to me, I could also faintly feel some energy flowing from the dungeon itself, lending its aid to the construction. Fantastic!

“I take it from your reaction that you weren’t expecting this?” she asked me. I shook my head. “I thought the thing inside you was able to tell you about this kind of stuff?”

“Firstly, please call him Cax. He doesn’t care, but I do.” I wanted to make everyone think of him as a person. If they just viewed him as a thing, it would be easier for them to rationalize conducting experiments on him. As the person they’d literally have to go through to do that, I really wanted to avoid that situation.

She apologized immediately. “No problem,” I told her, then moved on. “He knows a lot about many things.” From absorbing dead adventurers, but there was no way I was going to mention that! “However, our situation is unique. There’s no way to predict exactly how the abilities I got from him and the standard abilities all mana users get will be affected. We don’t always have the answers.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind. So, how do you start to make this new room?”

“It’s already begun.” I enjoyed her surprised look. “You won’t be able to tell anything is happening until the final stages. I just need to stay here and keep putting more of my energy in until enough has gathered together. Then it will convert the dirt into a room like this, only much bigger.”

She glanced around as though trying to spot something going on. I leaned forward, getting her attention. “Now, let’s talk.”

“Very well.” She got settled and then began. “I’ll start by telling you a little about our team. I work directly for the federal government. My main role is as a liaison. Most of the scientists on the team are just consultants the government calls on when something comes up. It’s my job to make sure they get what they need, and I take care of sorting out any issues that arise. Most of the younger people are my support staff, helping me accomplish this. Then, of course, it’s up to me to report our findings and progress to the top people in Canberra.

“Do you do this kind of thing often?” I asked curiously.

She laughed a little. “Dealing with visitors from other planets and trying to stop a rift from destroying the world? No, this is definitely a first for me.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I can see how it would be.”

“My usual work is much tamer than this,” she said almost longingly. “Basically, I work on anything that requires a certain level of coordination between different high-level groups. For example, I’ve worked with law enforcement agencies on cases that cross state borders. I’ve been involved with large-scale construction projects on government owned land, dealing with the companies and community groups involved. All pretty standard stuff. When this assignment came up, I guess my track record was good enough to get me the job. We don’t exactly have anyone with experience in global earthquakes and mysterious spots in the sky.” She sighed. “You’ll never get me to repeat this to anyone else, but I feel completely out of my depth here.”

I nodded knowingly. I knew it shouldn’t have made me feel better to hear her say that, but it really did. Since I was feeling exactly the same way, it made me feel more comfortable around her. It was good to know we had at least one thing in common.

“I’m going to do my best, though, and hope it’s enough.” She then spread her arms invitingly. “So, once I convince Canberra you are the real deal, what can I take to them? What is it you want in return for working for us?”

I was caught off guard by the question. “I haven’t thought about it, actually. And I’m not sure how I feel about the ‘for’ part. How about for now we say, ‘work with’, instead? Like you said the scientists are doing.”

“Like a consultant? I can take that to my superiors,” she agreed. “However, just so you know, they will probably push me to recruit you pretty hard. They will definitely want someone like you working for them and won’t want to let someone else take you away.”

“And I’ll listen,” I said, meaning it. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” I gestured around at the room we were in. When I saw she understood my point, I added, “The main thing is, I don’t want to have to run every little thing by someone before I can do anything. And also, I’m not sure I feel comfortable putting myself any more in the government’s control than I have to. No offense.”

“I’ll make sure they understand where you’re coming from,” she told me, not seeming bothered by my comment. “But back to the question. What do you want for your part in this?”

“Ok. Well, I don’t think I’m going to have much time to keep working at the pub.” My voice trailed off suggestively.

“Not a problem,” she said immediately. “You will, of course, be compensated. You won’t have to worry about money. Since you’re busy here, I’ll talk to your boss and tell him you won’t be coming in anymore.”

That was easy! “Hmm. Also, I want to tell my mum about everything. Can you get another agreement for her to sign?”

“They won’t like another person being brought in on this, but I can get it done and inform them afterwards. I’m already going to cop a fair bit of heat for allowing your friends to be present at the meeting, so what’s a little more?” She shook her head. “I never expected you to drop a bombshell like this when I agreed to let them join!” she said ruefully. Then, as if remembering, she asked, “Do I need to have a talk to your friend’s dad, too?”

“I don’t think so,” I answered slowly, considering the question. “No one has any reason to connect his recovery to me. They’re just happy that his injury didn’t seem to be as serious as everyone first thought.”

“Good to know. I’ll look into it discreetly to make sure. Anything else you’d like?”

“Books!” Cax said excitedly, recognizing an opportunity. Oh, yeah. I remembered his request for me to absorb more books. We hadn’t had the chance to get to a library yet. Maybe Anita could help us out. And with my Research ability, absorbing books would have a lot of benefit beyond simply making Cax happy.

“You saw how I could make sandwiches out of nothing, right? I can make copies of regular items, but I also have another ability that lets me design original items for me to make. The void blocker is actually the first thing I designed.” Her eyes lit up, probably thinking about the possibilities. “The ability can’t be used that often, unfortunately, so don’t get your hopes up,” I let her know. “Anyway, the more I know, the more possibilities I’ll have when designing things. If you could get me books on a range of different subjects, it would really help out.”

She agreed to see what she could do. Seeing an opportunity, I tried to get a bit extra. “Also, if you can get me a home theater system and maybe a keg, that would really help.”

That elicited a full, genuine laugh from her. “Nice try! Tell you what, if you can convince me that those things will help you save the planet, I’ll buy them for you myself. If not, use your own money. With the amount I think I can get the government to pay you, you’ll be able to afford it.”

I grinned at her. “Deal! I’m sure I can think of a good reason. I’ll get back to you on that.”

We went over a few more things as I kept emptying my mana pool into the construction, repeating the process after it regenerated to full. We finally worked out a tentative agreement between us. Pending approval by her bosses, I would become a special member of Anita’s team. I would have to report to her, but I would have the freedom to take whatever actions I thought necessary in dealing with the problems at hand without requiring approval. In return, I would receive generous compensation and the backing of the government so no other groups, namely the police, would get in my way.

Once we were both satisfied, she stood up. I quickly followed suit. “I’ll leave you to it and take this to my superiors,” she said, sticking out her hand. After a firm handshake to cement our new relationship, she said, “I’ll make sure your friends are taken care of. Once they get clean and given the all clear, they’ll be free to go home. And I’ll bring your mum out here tomorrow for you to talk to directly since you can’t go home until this is done.”

“Thank you,” I told her sincerely. “You have no idea how worried I was about bringing all this into the open, but you’ve made me think it was a good decision to do so.”

She smiled in return. “I’ll arrange for some food to be brought down as soon as possible. If there’s anything else you need, just talk to one of the people upstairs. We’ll get some shifts sorted out, so someone will always be available.”

I requested two identical portions of whatever she had sent to me. I explained that I wanted to absorb one of them to increase the variety of food I could create. With all our business taken care of, I couldn’t avoid the topic I’d been pushing to the back of my mind any longer. My smile disappeared as I hesitantly said, “Before you go, I have one more question. If you’ve called the search off, what’s going to happen with the missing guy?”

Her professional mask slipped again and the sad look that flashed across her face made me regret asking. “His name’s Tim,” she said, regaining her composure. “And he’s on his own, I’m afraid. With everything you told us, it’s too risky to send anyone in there to look for him. I’m just glad the police hadn’t already gone in. They were still trying to work out how to properly gear up since their devices won’t work in there. Tim will hopefully find his own way out, and if he does, I’ll be notified as soon as it happens.” I could tell from her tone that she didn’t think it a likely outcome.

“What were they even doing in there? Didn’t they know it was closed off?”

“Apparently, they thought the government was covering something up,” she said.

Well, they jumped the gun on that, but that’s exactly what’s happening now, isn’t it?

“The girl you saved said they just wanted to uncover the truth.” She shook her head sadly and gazed at the floor. “Instead, one of them was killed, another has likely met the same fate, and the only one that made it out is an emotional wreck.” Looking back at me, she said, “I’m not sure if this will make you feel any better, but the young man you found? His name was Ryan, by the way. The police have gone to inform his parents that he’s passed. Thanks to you, they’ll at least be able to put him to rest.” She sighed. “I’m afraid that soon, Tim’s family will be getting the same sad news. I only hope we’ll be able to retrieve his body, too.” She regarded me with pity. “I hope you never have to make a decision that leads to someone’s death, but if even half of what you told us is true, I’m not sure you’ll be able to avoid it.”

Leaving me with that depressing thought, she headed back up the stairs.