There was a lot to be said for the grand dungeon.

It had scale.

It had power.

It had grandeur.

It did not, however, have subtlety.

The party, with the addition of Mitchel, left at dawn for the Tundra with little more than some enchanted bread in their bellies, a few pieces of new clothing in their inventories, and the power of Stoneskin in their flesh.

Traveling east for the first leg of their journey, the group didn’t need to consult the map too often. It was supposedly a clear shot from Runner’s Plaza through the forest, and it was made all the easier by the evenly spaced destruction along the way. Myles grimaced as every freshly made clearing reminded him of his failure to his friends and party. Ashra left a trail of destruction in her wake that could have been followed by the blind with just a little effort and luck. Trees were felled from impacts well above their trunks and small, humanoid-sized craters seemed to form at even intervals for the length of the forest. Except for a single trent creeping off in the distance away from the group, the forest was quiet from all manner of bird song and beastly bray.

“This is a bit creepy,” Mitchel commented as he kept a close eye on point. “The forest wasn’t ever this quiet. Usually, there are at least birds.”

The [Berserker] scoffed as she rebalanced her war hammer on her other shoulder.

“Wouldn’t you shut your mouth if you saw an apex predator tear through your home last night?” Kendra asked pointedly. “I doubt they’ll do more when we come back with her.”

Myles took her words for what they were, but he said little, still not feeling himself.

Without Ashra or Squishy, he was relying on his [Succulent Magician] Skills, something he’d been neglecting up to this point compared to his [Monster Tamer] Class. Taking a note from his original interaction with the dungeon, he didn’t want to be without a mage’s weapon, so Myles tried something.

Myles stole an idea from the [Doughsmith] Class.

Using some imagination and the Skills he had, Myles began crafting himself a staff of dough he’d infused with the crust enchantment for stability. It wasn’t so much a staff as it was more like a long-style loaf with an unopened bread bowl on top, but it was the best he could do before the group left. Surprisingly in that hour during breakfast, the attempt had triggered a new Trait for his class, and Myles was going to take full advantage of it.

Baked Arsenal - Mage

Trait - Succulent Magician

Cost: 20 SE

Description: Using baked goods as weapons? Why not, indeed! As a Succulent Magician, it is your right to turn delicious treats into deadly weapons. Sculpting your treats into the shape of weaponry and infusing your intent in the form of Soul energy will result in either a wand, a focus, or a staff equal in quality to the ingredients put into it. As long as the weapons are within your aura, they will not decay except as their non-baked counterparts may.

Item Crafting Attempt Successful!

Item Crafted - Bread Staff

The Bread Staff

Value: Delicious

Weapon - Bread Staff (Iron)

Description: A staff crafted from bread

Detail: As delicious as it is useful. This leavened staff can be used to focus spells, crack skulls and walnuts alike, and deflect attacks until it leaves your aura for an extended period. At this point, it loses the embodiment of your will and simply becomes a tasty treat.

Primary Effect 1: Increase mana focus for Succulent Magician Skills by 10%.

Primary Effect 2: Glutenmancy mana drain is reduced by 20% while being channeled.

The weapon was impressive for something he’d just cooked up, but compared to what he could have gotten for a bit of gold, it wasn’t much. Still, if he was going into a fight against Monsterkin like Ashra, Myles needed every advantage he could get. He was fully expecting a fight with the Ambush Rabbitkin, even if he had promised Ashra not to hurt them unless he had to. He held onto hope this would be easy, but his old teacher experience told him to prepare for the worst.

Even if they got there in one piece, Ashra was the princess of the royal family, and he doubted anyone would let him far without a test of his skill.

Even then…

Even then…

“Myles.” Kendra brought him out of his spiral with a few snaps. He groaned, having let his mind wander for the fifth time at least that morning. Her voice held no anger though, only a reminder of their purpose. “We need you to focus. Your eyes aren’t what they were, but you’re still the best of us when it comes to lookout. So, lead.”

Metaphorically brushing himself off, Myles took a breath. “Yeah.”

She nodded and took a few steps to move closer to Mitchel at the front of the line. As she left, Myles brought up the second problem yesterday caused:

Active Title: Leader (Rising Star)

Trust: 46/80

Active Title Synergy abilities: Empathic Link, Shared Moment

The group as a whole had lost some of their trust in him, or maybe he’d lost it in himself. Either way, without trust, his abilities as a leader were starting to affect his team.

I won’t let anyone else down. Not again.

The further they walked, the colder it got, so at least they were going in the right direction. It didn’t hurt to check the map again though, so Myles opened and examine what there was to see. They were still off to the left of the map, but the pictures seemed larger this time, if only just. Confident in their direction, the party continued to move into the denser parts of the forest, still following the path Ashra left for them. Even that was getting harder the deeper in they went. Trees were felled less often now, and there were fewer unnatural divots in the ground, broken branches, and a few tracks here and there before vanishing again only to reappear a few feet forward. By Myles reckoning, that should line up with what he knew about Ashra’s abilities. By this point in her travels, Ashra was probably low on Soul Energy from using her High jump and whatever other Skill she’d been using to cover such a large distance in a single jump.

But with that fusion, he had no idea what her Skills had become.

Nearby, a tree limb snapped like a twig and, on distilled instinct, Myles's mind sharpened. The fog of self-doubt melted like the fog against the morning sun and his senses turned towards the source of the noise. In a less practiced motion, his staff raised, and a glob of dough appeared at the end.

For a moment, all was silent as the group formed up towards where Myles was pointing his staff. For a few moments, that was all there was.

Did I imagine…

The sounds of shattering wood dispelled the thought before he could form it, and Myles twisted, turning almost fully around before the cracking grew louder and louder at whatever it was approaching with all the subtly of a drunken hydra.

“To the right!”

“Yes, sir!”

Mitchel was quick to act, rushing to the right and holding his shield high. As it reached the position, the thick sheet of metal shimmered and began to grow, taking up five times its space as Mitchel jerked back suddenly. Beyond his shield, the transparent expansions showed a massive, earthen fist slamming helplessly into the bulwark and falling slightly towards the ground.

Just a fist.

Where was the rest of it?

Monster Lore Unlocked!

Stoneforce Elemental information obtained!

Stoneforce Elemental

Dungeon Creature - Elemental: Amalgam (Earth/Force)

Rank C+ Threat Level

Best trait - Strength

Preferred Method of Attack - Range

Special Attack: Kinetic Fist

Breeding Groups: Elemental

Special Ability: Steady Feet, Kinetic Dispersal

Known Drops: Unknown

Elementals are formed from excess energy released into an already aetherically charged area such as a dungeon or near an elemental lay-line. A stoneforce elemental is specifically formed when an excessive amount of earth and force magic are used within a region. Like all their kin, they are a bit dense but are not to be underestimated unless one wants to be six feet under it.

Continue combat against the stoneforce elemental to increase your knowledge.

Sket.

The attack had been a faint.

“Ears open and eyes up!” Myles called once he realized the ploy. “It’s a faint!”

The group spread apart at Myles’s call and the fist pulled back into the forest, left of where it began as another fist flew into the center of the group.

“Dodge!” Myles screamed as he ducked to the right of the flying fist. “Tail, throw to the left!”

Inclined to keep a head on their shoulders, Tail followed Myles’s lead and let the chain fly out into the wood. There was a resounding clang as the knife collided with something before flying back towards them at a speed nearing the supernatural.

Tail dodged again, and Lyna threw herself at the ground before the chain knife ripped through the air and impaled a tree behind them, sinking past the blade and to the chain. A curse carried on the wind as they moved to the tree nearby and began to pull to no avail.

The second fist never came back, but the sound of breaking wood echoed in the silence of the forest.

“We’ll get it later, keep us covered,” Myles promised the [Lunar Illusionist] then turned to Mitchel. “Can you keep that up?”

“Yes, sir,” Mitchel replied instantly, keeping their backs covered and limiting the area of attack. “I can keep this up all day.”

That was good enough for Myles, but he felt a simmer of irritation within the party before turning to Kendra and Lyna, but he stopped without saying a word. Thinking fast, Myles turned to Will. "The fist is a projectile, right?”

Will’s eyes widened just a bit as if picking up on the same idea Myles had and smiled, running a hand through his grayed hair. “That it is.”

Myles grinned as the familiar role began to take hold once more. “Can you stop something that big?”

“It’s no bigger than Kendra here unless that barrier distorts the other side.”

Mitchel called out without missing a beat. “What you saw is what it’s got.”

“Then consider it stopped.”

The woods echoed with breaking wood accompanied by the feel of gently trembling earth, and the group moved closer together. There was no way they could overpower the creature once it decided to attack full force, but the probing attacks gave Myles an idea. In a matter of moments, Myles explained the plan, much to the amusement of Silpha.

“You’re mad,” Lyna grinned from beneath her helmet. “I love it.”

“I approve, Master Myles.”

Myles didn’t have the mind to argue as the woods grew silent again. They still hadn’t seen the bulk of the beast, but he knew it was watching them. It was planning.

Dense, my ass.

Staff up, Myles began a familiar breathing pattern as he kept his mana cycling properly, listening for the next movement, watching for…

Timbers began snapping again, sending an early warning as a fist crashed through the forest again. Myles grinned. Hopefully, his plan would set properly.

“Will!” Myles called.

The wizened man didn’t have to move much because of the party’s organization. He just raised his hand in the direction of the fist and chanted quietly. The air seemed to scream as the fist broke cover right as a field of magic flashed into existence, and the monstrous fist crashed into the spell form. For a moment, it kept coming and the fist pushed against its new bondage, bringing the glittering edges to the point of cracking before Silpha acted.

A torrent of water rushed from the ground under the fist as a newly formed geyser, drenching it and weakening the compressed earth that made up its form. Silpha didn’t relent, pouring her mana into the spell until the fist lost all form and function, slopping to the ground in a formless heap of mud and rock.

A roar from the forest told Myles and company all they needed to know about the effectiveness of their tactic, and the crashing wake became a prelude to what was coming. A shadow lumbered deeper in the darkness of the trees, becoming more detailed the closer it came. Two glowing green eyes were its herald as the beast’s arms knocked trees aside with ease.

Just as Myles had hoped it would.

Once the creature, minus a hand, knocked down the nearest bunch of foliage, the party did what it did best — initiate the chaos of combat.

“Take it down!”

For the first time, Myles initiated combat by firing a glob of sticky dough into the elemental’s head. In a combination of dexterity, Gultenmancy, and luck, the blob collided with a wet thud of victory and spread all across the face of the creature, blocking the pair of shimmering eyes and plunging the beast into darkness.

Tail vanished into the background, the chain vanishing with them as it disconnected from the throwing knife still trapped within the tree.

Will took a place next to Myles and prepared another spell for when the other fist came.

Kendra’s eyes began to bleed as she rushed it.

Silpha pulled in water from the air around her and formed a globe around the creature’s other hand and prepared another attack.

Lyna threw a hammer at it before drawing a pair of maces and leaping into battle alongside the [Berserker].

Mitchel just laughed, moving to cover the two magic users.

“Is this really how you do things?”

Myles smiled, summoning another point of dough and aiming to blind the monster once more as its water-laden free hand worked to rip the dough off while trying to fend off the other attackers. “You should have seen things before we got used to each other.”

“Eyes!” Myles heard at barely a whisper in the wind.

“Got it!” Myles called back, launching the projectile.

“Fist!” Lyna called next as it ignored its lost sight in favor of the three weaker party members.

“Got it!” Mitchel called.

The shield wall rose again as the fist collided with the barrier. Will raised his spell form behind the fist this time, removing the momentum and trapping it as Silpha released her next attack, quickly baking another mud pie from the back of the fist. The intact hand fell against the wall unmoving as its link back was severed.

“He’s disarmed!” Lyna called, pulling back as Kendra went to work. Laughing as the creature wiggled its stumps in an attempt to free its eyes and attack the group.

It was then Myles saw the creature fall forward, just missing Kendra as Tail’s chain finished sawing through the elemental’s right kneecap.

“And dis-legged,” Mitchel laughed, seeming genuinely amused by the groups’ tactics. “Pantheon above, are you just lucky or that in sync?”

Active Title: Leader (Rising Star)

Trust: 70/80

Active Title Synergy abilities: Empathic Link, Shared Moment

Myles smiled. “Little of both.”

Myles felt more like himself in that moment and watched as Kendra’s war hammer came crashing down onto the creature’s stony skull. It was strange to watch the display as it attempted to roll over to fight back. Myles watched as every other strike seemed to be diverted, doing no damage and simply making the weapon bounce off without a visible effect. At one point, he swore he saw Kendra’s shoulder dislodge itself before sickly popping back into place as she struck again. Maybe that was its kinetic dispersal? It seemed more like how Squishy had redirected the force than dispersed it...

He could use that.

Before he could call Kendra off to attempt to tame the elemental, the creature’s head shattered like rock candy against a stone floor, becoming an explosion of countless, dancing fireflies in the dust, the rest of the body soon following.

Myles sighed. It was for the best probably. The creature would likely have died with the plan he had for it, and he didn’t need more instances of Soul Shivered, no matter how short it would be.

Mitchel just stared for a moment before he started laughing. “That was hilarious! Pantheon above, how are you all still alive with tactics like that?”

Lyna joined in the laughed and reached up to pat Myles on the shoulder. “Don’t ask us, he makes it work.”

Myles tried to smile, but he felt it was more of a weak sneer. Will shook his head, but Kendra… Kendra turned burning red eyes towards the tank and spat. Before Myles could explain the situation, Tail materialized next to him, holding something in their clasped hands.

“I think you should have this.”

Myles held out his hand to accept whatever his friend brought, and Tail dropped a small object into it. His ability didn’t hesitate to identify the strange, curving object.

Mitchel’s eyes widened, recognizing it before Myles’s ability even had a chance. “You’re joking.”

Elemental Core (Enhanced)

Value: 800

Elemental Alignment- Earth/Energy

Weapon Accessory - Slot: Binary Star Helix (Elemental - Earth/Energy)

Description: The core of an above-average or unique elemental.

Detail: Elemental cores are the compressed elemental energy of an elemental. Similar to a golem core or a slime core, an elemental core holds the power to reconstruct an elemental when left alone in the proper environment. An enhanced core can reconstruct the elemental with either type of energy.

When properly slotted into a weapon, the weapon will gain an elemental alignment towards the original types of the core, adding twenty percent damage of each energy type to the attack or the projectile it creates.

Do not eat an elemental core.

Myles sighed, then began to laugh.

Stupid identification ability.

He couldn’t deny the smile that grew on his face at the ridiculous, familiar line or the power of the item. Slots were something even simple tools had when they were of high enough quality. The more complex the enhancement, the more complex and difficult the slot was to make. His father had spatulas for dealing with every kind of pastry known to man, and several only known to Beastkin and Dwarf. Knives could be slotted with fire-aligned stones to toast the bread as they cut it or with ice-aligned items to chill cakes. Those were simple spheres or square cuts though. This enhancement was shaped like a twisted pair of star-tipped spheres bending back in on themselves, curved and waved in such a way that the slot had to be a masterwork.

It only made sense that they’d get one eventually, but why would Tail give it to him.

Then it hit him.

Myles looked at his staff and suddenly felt very, very stupid for even questioning his ally’s intent.

His weapon wasn’t metal. It just acted that way inside his aura. He didn’t need to be a master artisan to craft his sockets. He could just bake it into the weapon itself!

Within a matter of a few moments, he tossed his current staff over to Tail and smiled as he held up a hand to signal to the party.

“We’re taking a break,” Myles stated as he summoned five units of dough and began the effort of shaping it.

“Dibs on the top of the staff,” Lyna called. “It looks delicious.”

Mitchel just snickered and shook his head as he kept an eye out on the edges of their area. “How did you all make it past the first night?”

***

The Twisted Bread Stick

Value: Delicious

Weapon - Socketed Bread Wand (Iron)

Description: A staff crafted from bread

Detail: As delicious as it is useful. This leavened staff can be used to focus spells, crack skulls and walnuts alike, and deflect attacks until it leaves your aura for an extended period. At this point, it loses the embodiment of your will and simply becomes a tasty treat.

This staff has been imbued with a socket - Binary Helix (Elemental - Earth/Energy).

the weapon will gain an elemental alignment towards the original energy types, adding twenty percent damage of each type to the attack or the projectile it creates.

Effect 1: Increase mana focus for Succulent Magician Skills by 10%.

Effect 2: Glutenmancy mana drain is reduced by 20%.

Effect 3: Add 20% Earth and Kinetic damage to all attacks and spells focused through this weapon.

When the Phantom Oven vanished back into the aether, the staff spent the next few minutes floating in midair thanks to a well times use of Glutenmancy. Lyna, Silpha, and the rest had already taken to devouring his old weapon but stopped to watch the new spectacle as the weapon began floating towards its new master. Despite his crafting intent, the weapon had taken on its own appearance during the cooking process.

Myles crafted the staff to be almost like a walking stick in height, a long, thin loaf like he had made the first time with a strong ball on the top to focus on, but the magic of the focus seemed to have other ideas and gave the item a more alien appearance. The loaf shrunk, more a long wand than a full staff, and the bread bowl Myles had intended for the focal point twisted artistically back in on itself, forming something like a cross between a flower and a deconstructed cinnamon roll. Dead center of that was the elemental core, gleaming in all its magical glory.

Mitchel eyed the item approvingly. “Didn’t know you were a [Sculptor] too.”

“Only when it comes to bread,” Myles pointed out as he hefted the half-staff, mentally making notes of the item’s weight and how it had come to be for later. Magic seemed to always alter the final product to fit itself better…

“What does it do?” Tail asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Myles took his attention from weighing the weapon and explained the effects to his party. This seemed to be to the surprise of none considering what it had come from. Lyna seemed to pout as her helmet fell slightly, but he paid it no mind. Facing away from the group, Myles’s smile grew.

“Give me some space.”

Testing a new recipe was always his favorite part when he knew the parts were good.

Holding the weapon forward, Myles focused on sending his intent through the wand and in turn the focus to summon a unit of dough. Without fail, the resource appeared, shimmering and wobbling with more instability than Myles was comfortable with as an aura of green and silver flickered around it, making the item more energetic or solid where the energy touched.

Remembering his lessons, Myles didn’t lose focus and brought the resource back into line with his mana. It was harder to focus through the weapon, but he managed well enough to be satisfied with the stability of his projectile. With another exertion of his will and mana, he launched the dough with a set intent to become a bola and entrap a tree branch nearby.

He felt the mana of his intent drain and infuse the sphere of dough as it launched forward towards its intended target. The dough flew through the air in exactly the way it shouldn't before it collided with the unfortunately targeted tree limb a second later. The branch shook violently with a solid crack before the dough bola extended and caught on the branch behind and beside it, wrapping cleanly around the limb before seeming to crust over.

Myles carefully lowered the weapon and roared with internal approval.

I can do this!

“Not bad,” Will said, a hint of pride in his tone. “Seems like you’ve got a knack for it.”

“Well, he had to have something,” Kendra joked.

“Dibs on the slot when he gets another one,” Lyna called.

Tail looked on, and Myles could feel the Korgan’s satisfaction at the turn of events despite his hesitation at using the link at the moment. Silpha was just as smug, seemingly proud of his accomplishment.

All the while, the [Armored Wall] still couldn’t fathom how this party had survived as long as it had without someone like him.

***

The party reached the edge of the forest two hours later— two hours of careful tracking, stopping for breaks, and looting the occasional treasure chest. All in all, the group was a few gold richer, a few items stronger, and…

“By the ancestors, it’s cold!” Lyna complained.

A lot colder.

The group hadn’t broken the tree line, but the snow had already found its way into the branches of the nearby trees and the ground was sapping warmth as if the chill had moved in for the early days of Frostfall. The ground grew less forgiving with every step, going from the soft earth of the forest floor to stone in a matter of minutes.

“She did warn you,” Tail pointed out from beneath what seemed like two extra layers of wraps.

“I’m sorry that armor doesn’t keep heat well,” Lyna replied, “and I have extra layers on under it, thanks.”

While Lyna complained, the rest of the party donned the coats Tail had purchased in the early morning hours in the time between breakfast and leaving. When Myles asked about them, it did indeed seem that the monsters in extreme regions dropped appropriate gear. Something he’d theorized from the first few days of the Run.

By the time they were out of the densest parts of the forest and bordering the tundra proper, every one of them stood out like a sore thumb against the growing bleakness of browns, whites, and grays. Myles didn’t think his coat was all that bad. There were worse colors than being painted in shades of sky blue with a puffy white hood. Tail was a deep midnight blue, Lyna a glimmering silver, Mitchel wore a thick, white jacket with what looked like runes etched on the sleeves— something he’d picked up from Sindra no doubt, and the others…

Well…

Kendra and Will wore the bloodiest shade of crimson that could have been achieved without actually dying the coat in fresh blood. Kendra didn’t mind it, saying it would hide any blood she did spill, while Will was a bit more skeptical about why Tail had gone with that color. That was simple enough.

“I was all they had in your sizes.”

The smallest jacket, one in bright banana yellow, was offered to Silpha, who denied the garment and simply seemed to ignore the harsh reality of the world at large.

Seemed being the key word of that statement.

“How do you people live in places like this? Your blood would freeze overnight! I know a core doesn’t control your environment, but that’s no reason to leave your perfectly fine temperate zone for something like this.”

Myles ignored the obvious complaints but did respond to the curiosity in the question.

Because some people like the cold.

“Well, those people need to learn you weren’t built for it. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you should live there. Leave it to the Beastkin and monsters made for it.”

It was almost funny how much she complained about having a body sometimes.

“Ashra, it’s not…”

Myles froze in thought. For just a moment, the world, the link, the emotions all felt wrong. He wasn’t talking to Ashra. A wash of regret tried to drown him again, but Silpha sent him a lifeline of reassurance in her words and emotions.

“Soon, Myles.”

No one seemed to notice as the group keep looking out over the open world before them. It seemed that no one want to be the first to break from the cover of the forest and travel into the snow-drift-covered wasteland that was the tundra.

Myles took a breath and was the first.

As he examined the surroundings, there wasn’t much to look at. There were gray rocks among the spread snowbanks, places where the stilted, brownish grass peaked out in waves with a few bushes missing their leaves here and there, and a few desiccated trees decorating the scrubland. The dungeon did an excellent job of painting a picture almost as desolate as Myles felt just a few moments before.

“We’ll find her soon.”

Turning back to his party, Myles put on his best merchant smile, the one reserved for new customers that wasn’t too inviting nor too off-putting, and waved them on. “Come on, we’re not getting any closer waiting around. Right?”

They had a job to do, after all.