I didn’t go out to meet Anita. I was actually a little worried about seeing her, so I was happy to put it off a little longer. I was curious about what she would do with the five officers now that they’d witnessed so much, but I wasn’t brave enough to intrude on the conversation to find out. When she finally entered the tent, I looked at her apprehensively.

“Based on your expression, you’re expecting me to be unhappy,” she surmised. “Relax. I’m not. Well, actually, I am, but not with you. To be honest, I’m surprised.” She looked at me appraisingly. “From what I’ve heard, you handled a difficult situation quite well. Based on my first impression of you, that’s unexpected.”

I laughed a little, relieved she wasn’t going to chew me out for using my abilities so openly. “Don’t get your hopes up too high. Everything happened so quickly. It was more reacting than planning.” I shook my head slowly, any mirth I was feeling disappearing. “It could have easily ended badly. It’s scary to think how close people came to dying.”

“You came through it and everyone is safe, and in the end, that’s what’s most important,” she assured me. “How are you holding up?”

I was about to give her a flippant response and brush off her question, but then I stopped and gave it some serious thought. How was I doing? “You know, considering everything that’s going on, not bad. A lot has happened recently, and I think that’s actually helping. I haven’t had time to really stop and process everything. I’m dreading when I finally have nothing to do to keep me occupied.” The images of Ryan’s lifeless body and Tim’s soulless dark eyes looming over me drifted to the front of my mind unbidden, and with a shudder I pushed them away, not ready to deal with them.

Anita noticed my reaction and frowned slightly. “If you need someone to talk to, I can arrange for a councilor. Just say the word.” I gave her a non-committal nod and I thought she was going to say something further on the matter, but she seemed to change her mind and didn’t push it. “This might give you some peace of mind. I’ve requested assistance from the federal police in the area, so we will have a larger security team here from now on. I don’t want you on the front lines again. We can’t afford to have anything happen to you.”

I appreciated her concern and was definitely on board with avoiding a similar situation. This meeting had already gone much better than I’d anticipated. Now that I wasn’t focused on my worries about how she would react to my public use of magic, I finally took note of her appearance. She looked exactly the same as earlier. She was dressed in the same black pantsuit and her dark hair was still pulled back. The only difference was how tired she looked. “You weren’t asleep? What is it, 3am now?” I couldn’t be bothered checking my interface.

“4:10, and no. I took a quick nap at my computer in the motel room, but there’s too much to do to get any proper sleep. Don’t worry, when you pull as many all-nighters as I have, you get used to it.”

“I might need you to teach me some of your tricks. Even with my advantages, I’m not sure I can keep going much longer.” I could feel a yawn coming, as though just thinking about how tired I was had released it.

Anita noticed me trying to suppress it. “Don’t worry. We’ll finish this quickly, and then you can try to get a bit of sleep.” I nodded gratefully. “I’ve heard about what happened from various people, but I’d like to hear your take on it.”

I filled her in on everything. I focused mainly on the information my interface had provided since I was the only one with those insights. I told her about the Void puppets, primarily how they were reanimated and that they could level up, and about the affliction they could impart through extended contact. She listened quietly throughout. I finished by asking her about Ryan. She looked worried. “I got your message about him and followed up immediately. Apparently, the ambulance transporting his body made a distress call and requested police backup. I’m still trying to get more information and tasked some federal officers to follow up urgently.”

We both sat there quietly for a minute, lost in our thoughts. Finally, Anita gestured at the dead animals laid out on the ground. “I got some complaints saying you wouldn’t let anyone take the bodies for study. What’s going on?”

I explained my concerns about them reanimating again and how it was probably safer to leave them here. She understood, but said, “It’s important we find out as much as possible about how this infection and energy works, so I’d like to have tests run on these animals as soon as possible. I’ll arrange for suitable containment just in case they do come back to life again.” Shaking her head, I heard her mutter to herself, “I can’t believe I actually just said those words.” Then, making a face, she said to me, “Plus, we can’t just leave them here. They’re starting to smell pretty bad.”

I chuckled tiredly. “They smelt bad from the beginning! Remember, this is the second time they’ve died. I’ve been breathing through my mouth since they first attacked us.”

“I’ll make arrangements to have them secured and moved immediately,” she told me, ending the matter. “Until then, I’ll leave someone to keep an eye on them so you can get back to your work. We’ll also be bringing in specialists to analyze the blood samples the others collected and to go over these animals. We were focused on the quakes and the anomaly in the sky, so our team isn’t as well-rounded as it turns out it needs to be.”

“This probably doesn’t mean much coming from someone like me, but you’re doing a great job,” I told her appreciatively. “I know you said you felt like you were in over your head when we talked before, but it doesn’t show.”

“This stuff is easy,” she said dismissively. “Organizing and logistics, that I can manage. The weird magic stuff, not so much. I’m relying on you for that.”

I already knew I was the only one with any insights and skill in magic, but her words still gave me a sense of pressure. “I’ll do my best, but this is all new for me too,” I warned her, holding my hand up, palm out, as though to stop her expectations in their tracks.

“I know,” she assured me. “Just do what you can, and we’ll have to hope it’s enough.”

Sensing our conversation was coming to an end, I made sure to ask if I could have the monitor lizard. I wanted to absorb it as a potential defender. Seeing how it had ripped through the officer’s gear made me think it could be a good addition to my dungeon in the future. I would have liked to absorb all the animals, but I understood they were more valuable as study subjects now. Anyway, I figured that once the dungeon was finished, it would draw in more animals. I’d probably be able to obtain their patterns at some stage. I had mixed feelings about using treasured Australian animals like the koala as a defender, but I thought it would be good to have their patterns just in case. I might find another use for them one day.

She quickly agreed, since the team would still have six bodies left to run tests on. I absorbed the giant lizard, and as my magic pulled its structure into my knowledge core and its physical form shimmered away, Anita shook her head in wonder. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing things like that.”

“It is pretty cool,” I agreed with a smile. “One last thing before you go. The news cameras were filming everything. I’m not sure how much they got.”

She waved away my concern. “Already taken care of. I had the footage confiscated. Obviously, they were not happy. To smooth things over, I offered some concessions. Exclusive interviews and things like that. The lawyers will still likely get involved, but it’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“Great. Well, you know where to find me,” I said, opening my arms in an expansive gesture.

After she left, I went down to my small dungeon room and added more mana to the construction. Then I decided it was time to get some sleep. The problem was how to make sure I didn’t sleep too long. If I went over an hour, the construction would fail. Alarm clocks wouldn’t work around here, so we had to get creative. Cax and I worked out that he was able to shout really loudly in my mind, and since he didn’t need to sleep, he would track the passing time and then wake me up by yelling. We weren’t sure it would work while I was asleep, though, so I went up top to arrange a backup plan.

Rick hadn’t returned, but there was already a new police officer in the tent. Anita sure doesn’t waste any time. I asked the officer to have someone come down and wake me up in an hour. He went off to sort it out and I returned underground. Lying down on the cot, I sent all the remaining mana contained in my center into the new room, and then paused the construction.

Closing my eyes, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep with all the thoughts running through my head. However, my fatigue quickly overcame my busy mind and the boost the dungeon was providing, and I drifted off. I was soon woken by Cax’s loud voice ringing throughout my head, proving our idea was successful. It was not a nice way to be woken up, making me sit up quickly and clutch the side of the cot as my heart raced, but it sure was effective.

Once I calmed down from the shock of the abrupt awakening, I quickly resumed the construction. I took stock and realized I was feeling surprisingly refreshed after such a short nap. “Sleeping in a mana-rich environment has an amazing restorative effect,” Cax informed me. “Your mana channels have more to work with, and with no skills or abilities drawing on your energy, your channels can focus on cycling it all throughout your body uninterrupted, saturating every part. Also, even just at level 4, you already require less sleep than you used to.”

The officer soon came down to wake me up, and then returned to his post once he saw there was no need. I went back to perusing the lists of Tier I spells I could unlock to help me pass the time. I didn’t have enough experience points to level up, but I had enough to learn two spells. I wanted to learn one each for my Life Affinity and Spatial Affinity, so that when I was done here, I could power level them and try to get those two magical affinities to the second Tier.

Although… “Do you think maybe I should level up instead?” I asked Cax, an idle thought entering my mind. “I only need a little more xp to have enough to hit level 5. I remember something about my Core Sentinel class improving my ability to retain information, so I’ll be able to learn another profession then, right?”

“That is correct. Your class improved your mental capacities. But if you level up now, you won’t have any experience points left to actually unlock a profession,” he pointed out. “Also, I can see what you’re thinking, and I’m afraid it won’t work.”

“Why not?!” I asked a little defensively. Getting an idea shot down that I had barely formulated to myself was jarring.

“Firstly, don’t be upset. Learning the Inscription profession in order to make spell scrolls and then learning spells from them is a very good idea. I’m impressed.” That mollified me a little bit. “You are correct in thinking it would save a lot of experience points if you could do that instead of having to unlock one spell at a time. If it worked. Which, I’m afraid, it won’t.”

“What am I missing?” I thought, a little frustrated at my inability to see the problem with my idea.

“Well, the most obvious issue is that making spell scrolls is an advanced technique of the profession. You won’t be able to create them immediately. You need more spells now. You don’t have the time it will take to get your profession up to the required Tier.

Also, I’m not even sure that it would work for you. Remember how you didn’t receive any experience points when you absorbed the staff you created? I am fairly certain that was because, in a way, it was simply your energy returning to you. I worry that the same thing will happen with any spell scroll you create. You wouldn’t gain the ability to cast the spell. Instead, it is likely that the knowledge would simply return to you, merging with the duplicate information that already exists in your core. If you receive a spell scroll as loot, there’s a chance you’ll be able to learn the spell since the energy signature that created it will be completely different. However, if you already have the knowledge of that spell locked away in your core, it still might not work.”

“Does that mean if I learn Alchemy and drink a potion I create, it won’t have any effect on me?” I was confused and trying to grasp the restrictions I was working under.

“That is different. Things like potions affect your body. They have a physical reaction, so they will work without any issues. Anything to do with pure knowledge affects your core. From everything we’ve seen so far, the only way for you to get permanent access to the knowledge in your core is to use the specialized energy of experience to retrieve and apply it.”

“Alright then,” I sighed in defeat. “Unless I get to a point where I’m swimming in experience points, it’s probably best not to take the risk. It would suck to waste all that xp and time only to find out you were right, and it doesn’t work for me.”

I’d thought I was onto a nice shortcut that would let me learn an unlimited number of spells easily. I wouldn’t have needed to be so careful about which spells to choose. Oh well. “Do you still think I should get a shield spell for Life?” I asked Cax, getting back to narrowing down my choices.

“Since your main goal is to get the spells to rank 2 quickly, perhaps not,” he said. “Any kind of shield spell would likely require it be used in a real fight to count towards ranking up, just as your dart spell does. You should definitely learn one as soon as possible,” he made sure to add, “but your ring should help keep you safe until you have more experience points to use.”

“Hmm, ‘the rules’. Thanks for reminding me. What do you suggest, then?”

“Let’s see. A spell that is easy to rank up…can’t go with most of the combat-oriented ones,” he said, thinking out loud while he presumably went through the same lists of spells I was looking at. “Of course, it needs to be useful for you now… Here. Have a look at these.”

Two screens appeared next to each other, replacing the list I’d been looking at. I focused on the first one and read over it.

Aura of Recovery

Amplify your aura with Life energy in order to emit a specialized field of effect around you.

Non-hostile lifeforms within range will receive a minor boost to their health and stamina recovery.

You will also benefit from this effect.

Cost: 50 mana

Duration: 15 minutes

Range: 10 meters

“That seems pretty good,” I said, pursing my lips as I thought it over. It had a high mana cost, but I really liked that I could just cast it and it would do its thing without my input. It seemed like a portable, lesser version of the boost the dungeon provided me with. “Will it affect regular people, though?” I asked curiously. “They don’t seem to get any benefit from the dungeon’s dense energy like I do.”

“The dungeon’s energy consists of high-concentrations of Life mana, along with all the other elements. However, it has no guidance or purpose,” he clarified. “Your mana channels harness this energy and direct it, which is how you are capable of benefiting from it. This is completely internal. This spell will instruct your aura on how to focus and direct the Life energy it provides outwards, in a way that will benefit anyone, even the unawakened,” he assured me. “I actually selected this spell due to Ms. Anders’ comments about not sleeping much. I thought it would be a nice boost for those around you. One thing to note with this spell, however, is that you need to let it run its course before casting it again. You cannot simply cast it ten times quickly to rank it up. Your aura needs to experience manipulating the added Life energy for the full duration in order to gain insight into how the spell works.”

“Got it. Still, that shouldn’t be too bad,” I said thoughtfully. “Two and a half hours to get it to the second rank if I cast it as soon as it runs out each time. Let me check the second one you picked out.”

Slumber

Influence the target’s aura to induce sleep.

Targets at the same or lower level have a small chance to resist this effect.

This chance increases for every level above yours the target has.

Hostile targets have a greater chance to resist this spell.

Duration of sleep dependent on target and environmental conditions.

Cost: 15 mana

Range: Touch

“I thought a non-lethal way to subdue someone could be useful,” Cax said. “Also, it will work on you. You had a little difficulty falling asleep earlier, so this might come in handy in the future.”

“Definitely! But it might be hard to rank it up quickly,” I pointed out. “I can’t keep knocking myself out, and people won’t be happy if I go around making them fall asleep. There’s probably a law against doing that, although that would have to do with drugs.” That got me wondering how they would go about prosecuting me in court if I broke the law through magical means. They wouldn’t bother, I thought grimly. They’d just try to lock me up without a trial. Or worse. I shook off the dark thoughts. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to do anything like that. I wasn’t a bad guy, and a bit of power wasn’t going to change that.

I still wasn’t going to take the spell, though. At least, not now. It would be useful in various situations, but the benefits the aura spell could provide were more useful with everything we needed to do. Something that could help us stay awake was better than something to help us sleep for the foreseeable future.

I applied twenty of my experience points to transfer the knowledge for the Aura of Recovery spell from my core to my mind, making it truly my own. As the new knowledge settled in, I turned my attention to a new spell for my Spatial affinity.

“What are your suggestions for this one, Cax?”

“This one is a little easier. As I told you before, this affinity is quite rare, so I was never able to accumulate a wide range of spells. The best Tier I spell for your criteria is called Domain. There’s a Life spell that does the same thing, but with fewer choices for this affinity, I thought it better to learn the Spatial version.”

I read over the information and approved of his choice. It was another aura-based spell that I could cast and forget about, as its effect would last for 15 minutes. By providing my aura with additional Spatial energy to manipulate, I would be able to sense when anything entered the field of effect, which was 10 meters around me. I noticed that this spell seemed to have the exact same specifications as the Aura of Recovery spell, but of course with a different effect.

“Most aura-type spells operate in a similar way,” Cax said, picking up on my thought. “You should know that, for now, you will only be able to have two such spells functioning simultaneously. After reaching a higher level, your aura will be strong enough to support additional ones.”

I went ahead and used up another 20xp to learn the Domain spell. This spell would give me a heads up when anything got close and was well worth the cost. No more surprises for me, I thought happily, remembering the shock at finding the large carpet snake within touching distance. Thinking of the snake made me wonder why no more regular animals had been drawn into the dungeon. As much as I didn’t want to kill any more innocent animals, I was feeling the pressure to grow stronger and to do that, I needed a source of xp. My experience points were sitting at 9 / 55 after learning the two spells, so I didn’t have enough left to do anything with.

“They were likely driven away by the presence of the Void animals. The dungeon’s pull is enticing, but until they enter, it’s not enough to override their self-preservation instincts. Even after the bodies are removed from around the entrance, their scent will likely linger. It may be a while before any animals are brave enough to come in.”

I was strangely relieved and upset at the same time. Before I had time to dwell on my disturbing disappointment at not being able to kill something, I heard my name being shouted urgently from up near the entrance of the dungeon. I wouldn’t exactly say I welcomed the distraction, since, judging from the tone of voice, it was undoubtedly nothing good. But I did appreciate having a good reason to avoid analyzing my feelings.

Summoning my staff with a thought, I quickly made my way up. When I saw what awaited me in the dimly lit tent, I immediately sent it back into my inventory. It wouldn’t do any good here. There were two paramedics and a police officer lying on the ground, bleeding from various wounds while three other officers frantically tried to keep pressure on them. The assisting officers didn’t seem to be injured, although they had a fair bit of blood on them. Probably from carrying them in here.

Anita was near the dungeon’s entrance, being yelled at by an older man in a perfectly clean police uniform. I was taken aback by how different she looked from just over an hour ago. There was no trace of her usual poise and calm. She looked shaken, and with her guard down, the lack of sleep was evident in the slump of her shoulders and worn expression. I only caught a bit of what the man was saying to her as I emerged, something about risking their lives by bringing them here instead of to a hospital. Her eyes lit up with hope when I appeared, and she grabbed my arm, holding it tightly. “Help them, please,” she begged, leading me over to the injured group and their desperate attendants, effectively cutting off the man’s angry tirade.

I really wanted to know what had happened, but those questions could wait. “Are you a doctor?” the man who had been yelling at Anita asked me angrily, clearly confused as I knelt down next to the closest injured person. Due to my age, his skepticism was warranted. I didn’t bother replying and instead laid my hands on the injured paramedic and cast Heal. Luckily, I’d been waiting for my mana pool to refill completely before again adding it to the construction, so I had enough to heal each of them.

As the woman’s wounds began to glow with the healing light, the officer applying pressure to them fell back with a surprised shout. That let me get a look at her injuries before they faded away under the magic’s ministrations. It looked like she had been bitten multiple times. Large chunks of flesh had been ripped out and were now being repaired, and she had several large bruises visible under her torn clothing that soon disappeared.

I quickly moved to the other two injured people and healed them, closing their injuries and getting them out of danger. I sat back on my heels and looked around the tent. Everyone was quiet and looking at me with various expressions, the main one being shock.

Seeing that they were going to be ok, Anita was able to pull herself together, but she still looked extremely tired. I had just enough mana left to try out my new spell. It should give her a boost and also help the recently injured people regain their missing health. I cast Aura of Recovery and observed everyone as the magic began to work on them. It was clear they felt something. They stood up a little straighter and seemed to relax a little. They didn’t seem to be concerned about what they were feeling, I noted. They’re probably too stunned to give it much thought. Or maybe they think it’s a natural reaction to seeing that their colleagues are out of danger. I wasn’t able to feel anything since I was still within range of the dungeon’s stronger effect.

“That, Superintendent, is why I ordered them to come here,” Anita said, still lacking her usual precise delivery but clearly feeling more confident now.

The previously vocal Superintendent had no reply, still staring at me. I wasn’t a stranger to that look by now, but I still felt uncomfortable with the attention. To distract everyone, I asked, “So, what happened?” Nobody seemed willing to answer, but perhaps fearing my reaction if they didn’t, the paramedics and the police slowly started to talk.

Apparently, Ryan had come back to life on the way back to the hospital. When the shocked female paramedic riding in the back had leant over to inspect him, he had latched onto her arm with his teeth and bitten her hard and wouldn’t let go. When I heard that, I analyzed her, but even though she was still missing some health, I was surprised to see she didn’t have the Drain affliction and its accompanying infection. Why hadn’t Ryan used his Void powers on her?

Hearing his colleague’s cries, the driver had stopped immediately and called for help before going to her assistance. He had tried injecting Ryan with a sedative, but it had no effect on him. That’s important information, I thought. I guess that since the puppets were powered by the Void and not biology, it made sense that chemical compounds wouldn’t work. The driver had then managed to pull Ryan off of his partner, and in the scuffle that ensued, both of them had been bitten and struck by the reanimated man several times.

They’d finally managed to escape out the back doors and held them shut despite their injuries until the police had arrived to assist them. They said that Ryan had just kept battering at the doors, relentlessly trying to escape the entire time. When the police opened the doors to try and subdue him, they hadn’t been fully prepared for how aggressive he was. He had leapt down onto the closest officer and torn into him with tooth and nail. The other officers had pulled him off and then been forced to shoot him when he wouldn’t stop coming at them.

They sounded disbelieving when they told me how many times they’d shot him before he finally stopped moving. They’d then called for assistance in securing the area and loaded up their cars with the injured and made for the hospital, only to suddenly receive orders to bring the wounded here for specialist medical assistance. It seemed Anita’s authority had worked again, but it hadn’t stopped the Superintendent from getting involved and letting her know what he thought about her putting his people at risk by ordering them not to go to the hospital.

When they were done recounting their frightening experience, I asked intently, “Can you describe how he looked? Was there anything strange about him?”

All those involved in the incident nodded, and one of them said, “He had these crazy black eyes. It was like they were full of smoke or something.”

“And his skin,” another said with a shudder. “He had black spots and lines all over him. Was he on something?”

I didn’t answer, and instead asked, “How about a black haze or something coming off his body?” They all looked at each other and then shook their heads in the negative. I frowned a little, deep in thought. I couldn’t think of why he would have been different from the others. “What do you think?”

Cax seemed thoughtful. “There’s not enough information to know for sure, so this is just a guess. I think the infection likely makes use of the organic material of the host to generate enough void energy to facilitate the reanimation. This would explain how Ryan was able to be brought back outside of the forest and the influence of the rift. But without a further source of energy at hand to fill him up, he was unable to make use of any Void abilities, such as the protective and regenerative haze and the Drain affliction. He was obviously still dangerous, but these people were lucky he was so constrained.”

I nodded to myself, ignoring the strange looks I was getting as I stood there seemingly staring off into space and reacting to nothing. As always, I found myself agreeing with Cax’s assessment. Whether it was due to his experience with things like this, or that he was simply smarter than me, he was good at putting the pieces together. Ignoring his comment about which of the two he thought it was, I made an announcement to everyone.

“He wasn’t on anything, but he was infected with something.” Those who had been attacked by Ryan cast worried looks at each other. Anita tried to stop me from saying anything else, but I looked at her and held up my hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t go into any details. They deserve to know if they’ve been infected, though.” She reluctantly backed down.

I addressed the six people in the room who had been involved in the incident. “Now, the process of healing your wounds would have automatically removed any infection, so you three are ok.” I indicated the ones who had been injured. Looking at the three who had been assisting, I said, “There’s a simple test I can do to check if you’re clean or not. Give me your hands.” One by one, I took their hands and made a show of inspecting them and their wrists while I cast Analyze on them. They probably wouldn’t believe me if I just told them they were fine, but if they thought I’d looked them over, they were more likely to accept it. Plus, it would give Anita one less thing to explain later.

Only one of them was infected, so I had to heal them once I got enough mana back. I let them know they were now all fine and enjoyed seeing everyone’s relieved expressions. It made me feel really good being able to help people like this. What made me feel even better was receiving a notification that Analyze had reached Rank 3. Rank 3?! I thought excitedly. Seeing actual proof that I was improving was extremely encouraging and motivating. I minimized it for now. I wanted to wait until I was alone and could go over the evolution options in peace.

I checked and saw that the Life spell affecting my aura was still at work. It had a couple of minutes left on the duration, so I decided to stay here until it ran out. Everyone was looking much more refreshed than when they’d first come in, and waiting a couple more minutes to help them out wouldn’t be a bad thing.

I moved over to Anita. “Are you going to be ok here without me? I should get back to it soon,” I said, gesturing at the entrance down with my head.

She gave me a grateful smile. “I’ll be fine, thank you. I’m getting very good at swearing people to secrecy about things they don’t understand.” She leaned in close and asked in a low voice, “Did you heal me, too? I feel really good all of a sudden.”

I was a little taken aback. No one had reacted to the Aura of Recovery spell, so I’d thought it was a subtle manipulation. “No, I didn’t. But there is another spell helping people feel better. I’m actually surprised you noticed.”

“I don’t think I would have if I didn’t know about magic. And that you can heal people,” she admitted. “I was just guessing. It kind of feels like I’ve just drunk a strong coffee, or just woken up from a nap.” She indicated the others. “I don’t think anyone else has any suspicions.” I nodded in agreement. It should be safe to use out in public without getting in trouble, meaning I could rank it up quickly.

“One more thing. Cax had a theory about Ryan.” I told her what he’d said. “Can you pass it on to your team? They might have some ideas too.”

“Will do,” she agreed.

“Oh, by the way. I’m on track to finish the room about 4pm,” I informed her, stopping on the top step. This distraction had been thankfully short, so it hadn’t set the construction back by too much.

“We’ll be ready to support you,” she promised.

“Thanks. Good luck with this,” I told her sincerely, gesturing at the tent’s occupants, and then I made my way down to the room that seemed to be my whole life at the moment.