One week later, Serena was warming up to Nero. No longer she flinched if he had to walk close to her, and she could make eye contact with him without shivering in fear. Nero decided it was time to have a serious conversation.

"Serena, can we talk for a bit?" He asked her.

She gave a timid nod. "Yes, what is it?"

Sensing the mood, Altia came and sat next to the nereid on the bench of their picnic table. Hugging the trembling girl, she reassured the princess everything was right.

"Look, we need to work on your fear of men. I know what we need to do, but as your friend, I can't let you suffer like this."

"I'm sorry," she hurriedly apologized. "I didn't mean to offend you. I've seen how angry you get every time my fear gets the better of me. I'm sorry."

He was angry right now, but she was misplacing his feelings. Nero took a deep breath. It was a hard subject to broach.

"Serena, look in my eyes. I am not and never was angry at you. Yes, I get angry every time you flinch but it is not at you. I am angry with the asshole that hurt you. He could be a god, he didn't have the right to hurt you, crown, tiara, scepter, or not!" Nero was shouting at the end. Tears rolled down Serena's face. "No. Don't cry. I didn't mean to shout."

Altia pulled the Nereid to cry on her bosom. "She knows, Nero. She is happy that you care for her this much. It is normal for a girl to cry because of any strong emotion," She too was shedding her tears.

Muffled by Altia's clothes, Serena's musical voice still was audible. "I am. I am happy. Your friendship is something I'll treasure forever, Nero. You and your lovely wife."

"Good. Now, let me tell you something my father taught me. A person never gets rid of their fears. Never. If you are afraid of snakes, you will always be afraid of snakes. You'll carry that fear to your grave."

"Nero!" Altia chided. "That's awful."

He shook his head. "Let me finish. Serena, a person cannot get rid of their fear, but they can become braver. Stronger. They can develop such courage that the fear becomes just a faint whisper in the middle of a roaring crowd.

"I want to help you develop that bravery. I want you to grow strong enough you can ignore your fear."

She raised her head from Altia's chest and looked at Nero with a plea in her eyes. "Can you do that?"

"No. I can't do that. I can only show you the way. I can encourage you to walk, but it is your own feet that will reach your goals. That's what my father told me."

She sniffled then chuckled. "Your father must be an amazing person. I must meet him someday."

Altia caressed Serena's head. "Yes, my father-in-law is amazing. You'll like Mr. Byron."

Serena jumped. "Byron? From the... you're hairless ape-kin. Right," she mumbled to herself. "Nero, is your father [Armsmaster] Byron? Your mother is [Magus] Rhynne?"

Nero knew his parents were big shots in the Adventurer community but never that they were that big. It filled him with pride.

"Right on both counts."

"I've met them when I was little. They cleared a Dungeon for my father," She said with a smile. "I would be honored to meet them again."

"We'll try," Nero replied.

Serena lifted her head and pouted right on Altia's face. "Altia! You should've told me! Nero is almost nobility!"

"Not now. Serena, we will begin our training now, okay? Small steps. I want you to put your hand on top of my wrist. Altia will hold my hand down so I can't grab you."

Nero put his hand on the table and Altia grabbed it from above, holding it. Serena timidly reached out and touched his wrist, right above the vein. She flinched.

"There, good job," Nero congratulated her. "That's all. Nothing bad happened, you are great. Serena is brave. Serena is strong. Serena has a shield spell and a ton of defenses for someone of her level."

Her eyes were flickering left to right as she tried to read him. Serena closed her eyes and took two deep breaths. Altia held her tighter.

"What he told you is true," She told the princess. "Repeat the words now, Serena. Say these words for yourself."

She tittered. "I feel silly."

"Yes!" Altia spoke softly. "You can feel silly. You can be afraid. There's no shame in that. Open up your heart. Repeat the words Nero said. Imagine it is just a game."

Serena breathed but with all the emotion, it became a staccato of tiny sobs. She clenched her fists. "Nothing bad happened. I am great. I am brave. I am strong. I have a shield spell and a ton of defenses for someone my level. I even gained an Accolade in Willpower last week."

Altia awkwardly clapped with the nereid between her arms. "There you go! Excellent job, Serena."

The princess blushed. "The fact I know you both are being sincere with your praise is unnerving."

Nero stood up and checked his gear. He walked away from the two women.

"Small steps," he declared. "I am going to cut a few more trees."

He was about to go away when Serena shouted. "Nero, wait!" He turned around. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Your Highness."

They kept training Serena with small steps. The words of encouragement and praise were overkill but they were meant to create a mindset of confidence.

Nero spent only two hours every "day" hunting, and mostly the trippers as he could rake kills and Essence faster than the moss shamblers and clear the way so the girls could harvest herbs for potion-making. The rest of the day, Nero worked as a lumberjack and carpenter. Serena followed him to the treeline and charmed a shambler, to help clear the wood and smooth the planks.

The fence for the walled-off area was finished two days later, with a door also made of woven twigs. There were holes large enough to see if one was close to the fence but nobody stayed close to it. Nero dug a latrine and the three of them were strong enough to lift the fence and move it around when the shallow hole was full.

Alia had an empty barrel Nero and a charmed shambler could take to the river and fill with water for general use, not for drinking. But with Nero's [Firebolt] warm water baths became a reality. The fence was converted from outhouse to bathing room by simply lifting it and moving away. Nero built a wooden tub small enough for a single person to crouch in.

Five days of "courage training" later, Serena was able to shake hands with Nero. If pinching two of his fingers, wobbling twice and retreating a few paces could be considered shaking. That day, after dinner, Nero finally was allowed to go take a bath after the women. When he returned, Serena had an object in front of her. A brass pyramid full of runes.

"What is that?" Nero asked, already guessing the answer.

"It is the device that makes the Dungeon ignore me," she answered. "You wanted to take a look at it. Please don't damage it or I'll be doomed."

Some fear and paranoia still lingered on her mind, Nero took note of that.

"Okay, let me switch Classes to [Gadgeteer]. And don't worry, I'm a sworn guild member."

Serena rolled her eyes and giggled. "Of course you'd be a [Gadgeteer] too. Did you make any mods to your Arbitrium already?"

"Uh, no? Is that a thing? The professors never told me that."

Altia came from the tent with her clean clothes and sat on the bench. "They probably didn't have time to teach you that."

"Right. With the assault on the Lyceum and everything," Nero said absentmindedly.

Serena perked up, "Assault?" Her eyes were full of fear again.

"Yes. Look, no Nereid was hurt. The professors protected them," Nero hurried with the conclusion to ease the princess' worries. "A bunch of students, most of them nobility, tried to assault the dorms. Then a fight happened between some teachers, other students, and this group. The attackers lost badly."

Serena retched. "Oh, gods!" She stood up, tossing the folding chair back and ran to the edge of the clearing. Altia went after her and grabbed Serena's hair right before the princess lost her dinner.

Nero crossed his fingers and rested his elbow on the table. If Serena had that strong a reaction, it means the nereids in the dorm were the same people that smuggled her out of the palace. He felt the fires of anger rising from his stomach again. Any guilt he had for the deaths of the students in the massacre or for looting them disappeared. They were rotten weeds that had to be plucked for the good of the country. Just like prince Tyre.

After a good amount of time, the women returned to the table. Serena had a handkerchief covering her mouth.

"I'm sorry for such an unsightly display," She curtsied.

"Don't worry. As I said, they were not harmed, and it happened yesterday... I mean, yesterday outside the Dungeon. The Lyceum is adamant in protecting them."

She put a hand on her chest. "I am so relieved. Please, you said you were going to change Classes?"

Nero took his yellow [Gadgeteer] card and equipped it. Serena saw the card's borders and congratulated him.

"A super-rare Class. Congratulations, Nero. The wonders never stop, it seems."

It was funny to listen to how people in Coriander called the cards' colors. Nero thought it was natural and easier to just say the colors. Everyone knew the colors and their rarity.

"Well, can I look at the device. I won't do anything to it."

Serena nodded. Altia picked up the pyramid and put it in front of Nero. He used [Essence Analysis] on it. Nero fiddled turned it around, looked behind it, opened the Essence crystal chamber, got blinded by the crystals inside, closed the top, recovered, studied it enough and then just nodded. He was making sounds like "hum", "amazing", "so that's how they did it", and "what does this button do?"

"The device needs calibration. I think the people that gave it to you didn't know how to use it beyond just triggering the device. It is set to a bigger area of effect than what's necessary for a single person."

Serena blinked. "Say that again?"

"No. Now I see. You can control the size of the field with this knob here," He pressed one of the sides near the base and a panel clicked open, swinging back. "It can widen or reduce the field, It is currently set for ten yards. But this is good. Imagine if you shorten it and the Dungeon resets with a monster right on your face. A shambler for example, and it then stomps the device."

"Okay, you got me convinced. I did have some close calls with monsters right after using the device. But ten yards of radius?"

"Yes, radius. We can fit a small... Oh, great!"

Nero finished cutting off the head of the Stomping Shambler and the giant monster fell forward. He took a deep breath, his lungs burning from exhaustion. Serena was right. The amount of energy in the Dungeon was respawning the monsters faster, including the sub-boss. Or lieutenant boss, as she was used to calling in her country. Nero leaned on a tree and waited. He spent all his Stamina in this heated fight. After a few minutes, he moved to where the monsters' body was and picked up the glowing Essence crystal and a card.

[Moss Shambler] - blue Combat Pet.

"I am no root!"

Effects: Summons a Moss Shambler. This monster has Attributes 20% stronger than normal.

"Daaamn," Nero shouted. "This Dungeon is a treasure trove. If the food situation stabilizes, I want to spend the whole three months in here."

During the last weeks, he got dozens of cards, most of them were Skills. The rate of green, blue, and even yellow grade cards was astonishing. He even got a purple Skill for Altia! The reason for this boon was the accumulated Essence of the Dungeon. It might be closer to evolution than most people expected.

If the sub-boss dropped such rare cards and respawned once per week, what could be said of Rafflesia? What would it drop?

He checked the crystal. One thousand, six hundred and ninety Essence. Level thirteen. No wonder this walking lichen was so strong. He looked up between the branches of the trees and decided it was time to return home. Or what passed for a home in this Dungeon. Now that Serena taught him how to orient himself in the forest, it was easy to return. He fought some other shamblers and breached back to the glade. Crossing the flower field was always a danger as the thorny trippers could hide among the colorful blossoms almost as well as the stone serpents in the sand.

Nero scanned the patches of flowers ahead of him. Patches in a sense, because you couldn't tell where one started and the other ended. It was a piece of idyllic heaven that instilled a wrong sense of wonder and caused Adventurers to become careless. It was too easy to be distracted by the multicolored flowers and become prey to a tripper. He was thankful he had his goggles. With enough focus and experience, he could tell the red emanations from the monsters' Essence. Not wanting to spend any extra Essence, he drew an ordinary sword from the scabbard and started to hack the tripper. With three swings it was dead and dropped a small Essence crystal.

He also took the time to tally his Accolades so far. He got Six. Charisma when they met Serena, Vigor when he was brutalized by a shambler when he was harvesting timber the first time, then six more after that. For three weeks in a Dungeon, it wasn't much, compared when he was solo in the Goblin's Den. He got two points of Strength, and one each on Endurance, Dexterity, Perception, and Willpower.

The point was, it wasn't enough. He had to step up his game and get stronger. To do that, he needed to find a monster he could kill with relative speed. The trippers were too spaced out. The shamblers had too much mass to cut through and they only died when they were badly damaged as they had no vital organs. The crag turtles had ranged attacks and a very armored-sounding name, although they should be almost immobile. If the Dungeon followed the same pattern of three zones, then after the turtles there should be a boss. But it didn't seem like it. Serena spoke of a fourth monster type, one that was underwater. A big chance he could reach them, it had not. Nereids could breathe underwater.a

He reached the middle of the enormous flower glade and was greeted by his wife. The potion on the alchemy set today was blue, mana. After three weeks of brewing only health potions, she was finally confident to move forward.

"Nero, do you want to test this batch?" She asked with a grin from ear-to-ear.

It was always like that. She would ask, he would test it and then give feedback that didn't please her. If he was honest, she would be angry. If he lied, she would find out and be sad. Nero took the potion and quaffed it at once. It smelled of roses and tasted like... what's the name? Ah, vanilla.

"Oh, wow!" Nero gasped. The aftertaste was like caramel. He turned the vial upside down and let the potion drip. "Awesome, Altia. Hum!" He moaned and then played with the last droplets in his mouth.

He had used [Mana Bolt] on the Stomping Shambler and emptied the tank. The feeling of his mana recharging was like drinking cold water in the heat of summer. Altia giggled, shouted and then threw her arms around him. She planted a half-dozen kisses on his cheek.

"Did you like it that much?" She purred in his ear.

"It's amazing. Did you taste it?"

She snorted and winked. "Of course not. I need my widdle guinea pig to do that for me. What if the potion tasted like mashed earthworms like the last time?"

It was the worst batch of healing potion she brewed, three days ago. She even punched him when he said that to her as if he had insulted her through the potion.

"Hey! Why did you hit me then?"

"Because I was mad at myself. And since my husband is part of me, I punished myself hitting you!" She cackled a bit.

"But it was I who was in pain!"

She kissed his lips briefly then parted with a wink. "Trust me, my love. It hurt me more than you."

Nero was about to reply 'I doubt it' but gave up.

"Where's Serena?" He asked.

"Gathering fruit. She'll come back soon."

"Okay, I'll work a bit more on the panels for the hut."

For the past two weeks, since they met Serena, Nero barely hunted monsters. Instead, he was working on his carpentry skills. He chopped trees in the forest, dragged them to their campsite, and with the help of one of Serena's charmed shamblers, they made planks that would become furniture, and in the last days, panels for a hut. They had food for five weeks, then they would leave the dungeon. Serena, however, would have to stay behind. Nero intended to give the princess whatever amenities they could.

The hut would be assembled away from the flower glade. There was a hill in the third zone past the forest, a rocky area crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers and streams that were inhabited by crag turtles. The turtles stayed by the shores of the river but the hill was far away from the streams on both sides and the turtles never climbed it. They did attack with shots of water that pushed the target away and did some small damage but it was safe for a hut.

He was nailing a panel together when the princess returned with a shambler in tow, the monster had a crudely woven basket attached around its neck.

"Welcome back, your Highness."

"Why, thank you, Lord Nero," She replied with sarcasm. "You have my royal permission to call me Serena."

Nero didn't answer. He just took another plank and hammered another set of nails in. Altiaarrived and helped the nereid to remove the basket from the Shambler.

"Did you get the food?" Altia shouted over the banging of the hammer.

"Yes, fruit, berries, nuts. The bounty of nature!" She giggled.

"Great. This will save our food cards."

Nero finished his work and stood up. "Serena, I have something for you."

"Oh, A gift? What is it?" Nero gave her the red-and-blue Pet card. "A pet? For me? More shamblers, a rare card? Nero, this is too valuable. You could easily get half a million for a pet this rare! Even more, if you auction it. There's nobody farming this Dungeon."

"Yes, I know. But you saw that I have no trouble farming large amounts of Essence. So, I want to know you'll have something to defend you. Use the card, summon the pet. He'll help you, and you have healing magic."

"I understand. But I can kill the shamblers with one point of mana anyway. Any mana used on healing is wasted."

Nero shook his head. It was the same pattern as those that didn't train with the harsh reality of a Dungeon. Efficiency mattered but so did speed.

"You will still use about one mana per kill, but you won't waste a lot of time. This is what you'll do. Charm a shambler just like you were doing. Then you send the charmed shambler into combat first. Once the charmed one has a lot of aggro, you send the pet to help finish the target faster. If the pet gets aggro, you tell it to back off, wait, then send it in again. And you saw it, the pet will be stronger.

"I would use it myself or give it to Altia. A combat pet is even rarer. But we want to leave you here and know you'll be okay. We'll return when we find a way to take you out safely."

Serena's eyes were watering again. Nero wondered if it was some nereid racial ability to make lots of water with the eyes.

"I'll treasure this boon forever..." She paused and put emphasis on her next words, "my friend."

She placed the card in a slot of her Arbitrium and pushed it inside. A red glow came from the bracer and she pointed at a large empty spot to the left of the campsite. A ray shot at the ground and a blob of green moss grew. And grew. And then grew a bit more. Until it was seven feet tall and almost eight wide. The lumbering form of a Stomping Shambler just stood there, like a long-forgotten statue in a moist temple.

"Gods, she is beautiful! It is a Stomping Shambler, for sure!" Serena cooked.

"Yes, she is very powerful. Congratulations, Serena. It is so good to see you appreciated the gift my husband gave you," Altia said, full of sarcasm, or something else. While staring at Nero.

"Hey, I gave you a purple Skill. And, how do you know it is a 'she'? It is a plant, they don't have genders!"

"Brute!" Serena scoffed. "Don't worry, Daisy! You are a pretty girl, don't be deceived by men!"

"Daisy?"

"Look at her head. On the left side. Can't you see the flower?"

Indeed there was a daisy on the shambler's head. Nero nodded. If they wanted to call the monster a girl, then it was a girl. The Universe had spoken.

Nero [0/0]

Strength: +9 (+12 clockwork blade, +10 clockwork shield)

Vigor +8 (+12 Brigandine[1], amulet[3])

Endurance +8 (+9 Muffler)

Agility +11 (+12 Elven Boots)

Dexterity +5 (+8 Amulet, +9 inside a Dungeon, Goggles)

Reason +8 (+12 Clock[1], Amulet[3])

Willpower +7 (+10 Amulet)

Perception +5 (+8 Amulet, +10 inside a Dungeon, Goggles)

Charisma +8

Class: [Jester]

- Special: Ignores tier I Class level requirement.

- Special: The Jester has no Skill Slots.

- Special: Allows the Jester to equip and unequip a tier I Class and Skills to bind to that particular Class. All Attribute bonuses are halved while the Class is equipped. A Class card is bound to the Jester upon activation.

- Special: No Class information will be displayed or shown.

Equipment: [Rending Clockwork Blade of Regrowth +1], [Self-Cleaning Brigandine of Regrowth], [Dungeon Goggles], [Elven Boots], [Hot Muffler], [Dungeon Clock], [Spiked Clockwork Shield of Regrowth +1], [Apprentice's Amulet +2]

Altia [Chemist 4/179]

Strength +6

Vigor +10

Endurance +5

Agility +9

Dexterity +11

Reason +4

Willpower +12

Perception +3

Charisma +10

Class: [Chemist]

- Special: All your beneficial combat consumables restore a little more of all resources.

- Special: You use 20% fewer ingredients with Alchemy.

- [Potion Toss] - Allows the use of beneficial combat consumables on others at a range of Dexterity / 2 yards.

- [Quickbrew] - The act of brewing alchemical concoctions or activating combat consumable cards requires 30% less time.

- [Empower Potion] - The effects of beneficial combat consumables and the speed of their effects is increased by 20%.

- [Cure Wounds] - Allows the user to heal wounds for 1 Mana. Healing based on Reason and Charisma.

- [Magic Arrow] - Allows the user to summon and shoot a physical arrow for 1 Mana, dealing damage based on Reason and Willpower. This spell does not ignore armor.

- [Double Tap] - When using a physical ranged Skill, 50% chance of duplicating the item thrown and triggering the Skill twice at no additional cost.

Equipment: [Self-Cleaning Brigandine of Regrowth], [Elven Boots], [Hot Muffler], [Dungeon Clock], [Iron Staff]