All of them slept well that night, Jack earning more than one smile and nod as friends admired the priceless jewels reflecting in the sparkling crystal light overhead, bright enough to work comfortably under, yet muted enough to easily sleep under as if by the light of a double full moon. Their looks of relief, gratitude, and wonder made it clear that even if tearing free mithril proved to be utterly beyond the auspices of a Level 3 Miner, even a dwarf, that at least they still had retrieved a fortune worthy of the bards, if they were actually foolish enough to reveal to the world the windfall they had received.

"And we won't say a word on it to anyone, because it isn't their business," Aroust had quietly counseled while admiring the flawless ruby he held.

"Agreed," Barlton said. "No offense yer Grace, but I'm not exactly ken on sharin' our prizes with any outsiders that might inform a certain corrupt council to make up a jewel tax out o nowhere and smirk in our faces without any guild at our backs, and they thinkin' it worth assurin' the Guild never comes back if they can legally steel a king's ransom worth of jewels from us."

Drake grinned and winked. "I don't see any unclaimed mines that any puffed up baron can claim rights to down here, so why would I say a word? All I see right now is the prizes in our hands that we tore free of The Deeps, the same as any adventurer does. Prizes that are ours to keep, and mithril ore that begs to be freed from the bedrock of dream."

Aroust nodded. "And these prizes might be all we manage to claim, if that damned mithril proves any more difficult to mine than it is, even with Barlton's blessing flowing through our veins..."

"And the mithril ore itself!" Elof said excitedly, grinning near ear to ear as he admired his own inch wide sapphire. "I can feel it, guys. Even more than the potency I feel washing over me after we fight... I can feel the pressure of the ore and I almost think... well, for a second I almost thought I saw something like a message flashing across my mind's eye. I don't know. I do feel like I'm somehow getting stronger under the pressure, even if actually hammering free any of that ore is utterly beyond me. Maybe it's helping me?"

Jack frowned, peering closely at his friend.

Guiless brown eyes gazed back into his own.

"Jack, what's up?"

"I know this may sound like a strange question... but do you mind if I try to take a look at your interface?"

Elof blinked, gazing at him strangely. "You can do that?"

Drake whistled, flashing Jack an admiring smile as he played with his own sapphire. "Considering the tricks our friend Jack already has up his sleeve, somehow that wouldn't surprise me a bit." He smirked. "I'm lying, of course. Actually it would astound me. And make me wonder if he was a mentalist... a good mentalist obviously on our side, mind you, if I didn't already know better."

Jack smirked. "Honestly, Elof, my only interest is to see if I can get a sense of your character sheet at all." He gazed thoughtfully at the mithril ore for long moments before turning back to his friends.

"Because if Barlton's theory is right, and I have no reason to think that it isn't... well, it's just a theory, but maybe things aren't quite as hopeless for you as you fear?"

All conversation stopped with those words, everyone gazing intently at Jack.

He frowned, doing his best to tune out their stares, locking eyes only with Elof.

The young man's desperate gaze locked upon his own. "Do you really think it's possible... Jack?"

Jack shrugged and smiled. "Honestly, I have no idea. I'm just toying with a hunch. But if you're okay with it..."

Elof immediately nodded. "Please, Jack. If you can do anything..."

"I'm not saying I can. I'm just seeing what I can see," he said.

And what he saw nearly blew him away.

You have failed to interface with Party Member Elof Grey.

Elof Grey interface is damaged.

Do you wish to repair interface?

Cost: 100 Ex from: Jack Evergreen. (155 currently available.)

1000 Ex from: Elof Grey (1999 currently available: Mithril supersaturation detected.)

Even as the words whispered in the back of his mind, his inner gaze was overwhelmed by the shining tragedy of a broken soul... seeing shards that were so close to fusing into a complete whole. The simple fact that Elof had even managed to last long enough to touch the portal pedestal and lock in his existence was a miracle in and of itself.

But he saw more than a fractured core. He sensed as well the massive swirl of potency surrounding his core, the howling winds of potential, mithril energies already supersaturating Elof's body and mind sufficient to compress the cracked shards of his being tightly together such that he was almost complete... save for the cracks in his soul.

Cracks Jack somehow sensed in that moment could be healed, much like a shattered bone carefully splinted could eventually be mended.

But his friend didn't have years or decades to wait for his potential to finally mend itself and blossom in full. What he did have was all the power he needed to make the repairs, and a friend willing to open the channels of power needed, to do just that.

Just like using glue to mend a plate, or perhaps a sotter to join pieces of metal together, Jack didn't hesitate to follow the dictates of insight and Elite level in a favorite skill, finding it effortless to store away his friend's attire away with a gesture before placing his finger upon Elof's back and searing flesh, bone, and soul with a sigil that looked very much like a circle cut into 3 equal pieces joined as one.

"Jack, what are you doing?"

"Tell everyone to back off, Drake. I'm fixing him. Don't interrupt!"

Jack grit his teeth and bore the drain to his potency. Only 55 points left, according to his interface, even as Elof howled through the agony of over half his potential being stripped from his periphery and channeled right into his soul.

A soul that was now whole, even if scarred. A delver's soul, perhaps for the first time in Elof's existence. Assuming this wasn't his first incarnation, random potential and genetic drift the only reason why he was alive at all.

Only now, if Jack's guess was correct, his soul was far more than the fading flickers of finite potential.

His was now a template that might one day be reborn again.

A template Jack would do all he could to see maximize its potential, even as the youth, no older than Jack, screamed and begged for mercy and an end to his pain.

Before lurching up with a gasp, eyes wide with wonder, suddenly in no pain at all.

"I can see my interface," he whispered. "I can see my interface!"

Congratulations! You have forged your first transcendent rune without killing the host!

You have gained the perk: Soul Forger. You may now forge runes upon the souls of your allies! (Perk includes Tattoo Mastery. Runic Tattoos are always critical successes when forged by you.) Potency cost: High! This cost must be paid by forger and host.

Rune Forger is now Elite Rank 3!

"That's fantastic, Elof!" Aroust and Barlton commended with smiles and claps on the awed youth's shoulders. The fencer's gaze then hardened. "But before you give in to the excitement of the moment, you need to take a deep breath and focus. Alright? Before you make any decisions...walk us through the logic."

Elof quickly nodded. "Yes sir."

Aroust smirked. "I'm no 'sir', but that's neither here nor there. Now, do you see a class selection screen?

The youth paled and trembled, tears streaming freely from his eyes. "Yes. Heaven's grace, yes! Finally! I see it, Aroust. I finally see it!"

The jaded adventurer flashed a pleased grin. "Glad to hear it. Now, this is important. Don't pick anything yet! Tell us what class options are available to you and together we'll hash out what might be the best pick for you."

Elof beemed happily, quickly nodding. "I was planning on doing just that!" he said, before his feature's fell.

"What's wrong, boy?" Barlton asked, gazing down at the now slump-shouldered young man.

"I... I don't see a lot of options."

"Well, what options do you see?"

Elof winced. "Eternal Serf, Drone Slave, Broken Soul, and, well, Fighter."

Veti, who had been staring a bit too intently at an increasingly uncomfortable Jack, blinked and frowned at this. "Wait... why the hell did you get three awful class selections like that? I wouldn't have thought..."

"We're protected from a lot of bad choices by the Guild-fused portal gate, Veti," a solemn-faced Drake said. "But believe me when I say, those choices are available, and if there's a monster that can twist your arm and insist that you pick them, you can override the best options presented for you at the gate, and then one of those broken classes is what you will become."

Veti's eyes widened in outrage. "That's monstrous. Why would anyone—"

"The Hecklebarts were trying to forge Drone Slaves, Veti. We uncovered their scheme and ended it, and let's just leave it at that."

Veti swallowed and jerked a quick nod. "Fair enough, Drake. Thank the gods you put a stop to it, though."

"Now it goes without saying what class you should be picking, right Elof?" said Aroust with a gaze that implied he knew better than to take common sense for granted.

"He means ya should pick fighter, boy, if it weren't already obvious. Whot's say ya do that right now. There's a good lad," said Barlton.

Elof just gave a frustrated shake of his head. "Why the hell would there be three classes that are obviously so terrible? Is it a trick? Is there a secret to it? There has to be a reason..."

"No, actually, there doesn't," Jack quickly broke in. "This universe wasn't created by compassionate gods, Elof. It's an AI simulation infused into a host dimension catalyzed with all the latent energy of a universe exploding into nothingness... or infinite fresh universes, depending upon your interpretation."

Elof paled. "What the hell are you saying, Jack?"

"I'm saying that this reality was founded, in part, on universal constants that both echo Terran norms of an epoch before, giving us a baseline reality humans can comprehend, as well as following the guidelines of the most sophisticated MMORPG ever created, a game harnessing the processing power of several thousand artificial intelligences and several fusion plants worth of power." He smiled sadly. "What people thought of as the greatest game ever made was actually part of a last ditch effort to replicate our universe when scientists first discovered that the big rip due date was far, far closer than any scientist had dreamed before them."

Jack threw open his arms wide, taking in the cavern around him and the wide-eyed stares of his friends. "And against all odds, it was a success, the program replicating itself and countless worlds within this fractal multiverse, harnessing dark energy in ways only an AI now the size of reality itself could comprehend. But make no mistake. It's not a gentle loving god here to hold your hand. It just is, following the fundamental rules and principles now guiding existence itself, as we know it. And growth through conflict, as well as opportunities for endless spell variations and adventure, do happen to be several of the commands written by the original programmers the AI then rolled with, so that we could spend eternity growing and challenging ourselves in an existence we can only hope will be more stable than the one that came before."

He flashed a sad smile at his awestruck friends. "You can think of this existence as a trial, if you like. It sort of is. Because as much as you might think a peaceful heaven would be the ideal way to exist, the human soul templates from which we all sprung would go absolutely mad with no conflict, no opportunities for exploration or growth, no mystery or wonder, no further ways to grow and evolve."

Aroust's normally jaded expression was lightened with wonder. "How the hell do you know all this, Jack?" he softly asked.

Barlton chuckled softly. "We all knew our Jack was special. Turns out he's one of the originals as well. Not just twiceborn, are ya? It's more than that."

Jack flashed a sad smile. "Who can say?"

Veti's curious eyes peered into Jack's own. "One of these days I'd love to know what it was like, living in the time before. And did everyone understand as much as you do about what happened?"

Jack shrugged. "Actually, almost no one knew. Unless your family was involved with... never mind. All I'm saying is that, yes, the potential for discovery, wonder, and power in this reality is nearly endless. And Elof really could damn himself by picking a fool's class, if he wishes. Personally, I'd advise against it."

Barlton chuckled. "Fair enough, Jack." he then turned to Elof. "Ya understand what were sayin' laddie? Our friend Jack's revealin' cards in his deck it's probably best no one examined too closely, just so you don't play the fool with your class."

Elof was gazing at Jack with something close to awe. "So what you're saying, basically, is I'd be an idiot not to pick the Fighter class."

Jack smirked. "Pretty much, yes."

Elof closed his eyes and clenched his fists, before flashing a fierce smile.

"I did it, guys. I'm finally one of you!"

He gave a woop for joy, his friend's pounding his back.

"Good for ya, boy!" Barlton commended. "Now remember what we talked about before!"

Elof laughed. "Don't worry, defensive shield specialist it is. You and I will work on being the tanks of our crew, Barlton, and let the others worry about DPS."

"Pretty much," the dwarf allowed. "I may not have yer feats, boy, but I got my dwarven bulk, enchanted armor, and a pick that hungers for blood and mithril both! But slender as ya are, if ya invest yer points right and master yer armor and shield, you'll be a man any party would welcome as one of their own." He then gazed almost longingly at the glittering vein of ore that would spell their fortunes and possibly change the fate of a duchy, if only they could just pry it free.

"Now I think we've let our Jack hoard enough o' the glory for this adventure. Time we do our part, boys!"

And with those words, Barlton, Aroust, Drake, and a positively beaming Elof took up positions and began hammering at the ore once more, moving in harmonious synchronicity as the dwarf's mining song took ahold of them once more.

"Jack?"

Jack winced, really not wanting to be subject to whatever questions were behind Veti's too curious eyes that day. So instead he gazed up at his own elevated mining platform, determined to see if he could do something besides sit on his butt that day. "I have an idea. If I can actually get it to work? Well, maybe we won't be feeling so worthless in the days ahead," he said with a gentle smile. "So I'm going to hold off on spell practice today. But with our captive fish, now's a great time to master your Banes. Our lives might depend upon it in the weeks to come."

Veti frowned, before allowing the smallest of nods. "You have a point. But there's still the matter of... Jack?"

But Jack had already scaled the rungs he had made to his platform, his guilt at dodging Veti forgotten the instant he beheld the glittering silvery ore seeming almost to call out to him despite being trapped in stone. Ore he didn't hesitate to touch with his naked hand for the first time that morning.

His eyes widened in sudden awe and he took a sharp hitched breath as he felt a sudden current flowing through him.

A current rich and sweet as life itself.

As the potency he felt, every time he claimed his kills.

And for all that a part of his soul wailed in fear, recalling with sudden visceral intensity the nightmare sensation of being crushed by the Midnight Mantle... he refused to fear this power and its terrible promise.

Bracing himself for whatever trials awaited, he grit his teeth and smiled wide while opening fully the doors of his mind as the wave of current went from a trickle to a roar, welcoming whatever was to come.

Willpower check successful! Nightmare aversion successfully mastered.

You are successfully channeling Mithril Potency.

Potency has fully saturated experience pool reserves.

You are now experiencing Mithril Saturation.

Vitality check successful! Previous exposure to Midnight Mantel boosts all future potency survival checks.

For long moments, Jack strove only to meditate upon the ore his trembling fingers grasped, feeling the flow of its power, its essence swirling around the core of his being. It was almost as if he was sinking into the vast abyssal depths of the sea, the pressure seeming to increase with each inhale, each exhale, as he did his best to become one with the ore he touched, to learn its secrets even as it flooded his soul with potency he only hoped wouldn't destroy him.

Spell Boost has evolved into Arcane Manipulation.

Arcane Manipulation is now Apprentice Rank 1!

Only peripherally did he sense the flow of time, barely acknowledging the concerned surges sporadically pinging his interface, the physical contact he did his best to ignore, sending out the briefest of surges to his friend, the one truly linked to him, to just leave him be.

He was so close to understanding.

To being one with the ore all around him.

Even as it filled him to the quick, saturating his soul, he began to sense its secrets as well. The sheer inconceivable density of liquid magic that comprised mithril ore in a diamond-like matrix of potential. A matrix that would shrug off any magical attempts to manipulate it from outside sources as laughable. Because the only magics that could possibly affect it would be those that could coax the matrix itself. To admire and compel its incredible lustre and beauty as it was coaxed and teased free of Dreamstone, promising wonder, adventure, endless possibility that tasted like destiny, such that when the ore finally began to flow it wasn't a feat of impossible magic so much as sheer inevitability, like cold ice melting at last under the warm promise of endless possibility, the laws of thermodynamics itself all but guaranteeing it would flow free of its single trapped state to embrace the possibility of endless new states as the liquid rain of melting mithril defied all gravity but the promise of magic as it poured into Jack's hand.

And never had he felt so filled with awe and joy as he gazed into the pool of liquid silver possibility now coalescing in his palm before falling over in exhaustion, throat dry as sandpaper, as bone-deep weariness struck him all at once and it was all he could do just to lie there on his too narrow mining platform and desperately summon a trickle of water after carefully putting away his inconceivable prize.

"Jack, Jack! Are you awake? Guys! He's free of whatever spell bound him! Quick, get him some food and water!" Cried an alarmed Drake, apparently jolting awake during their resting hours with Jack's groan over their interface.

"I gotcha, Jack. Don't fight it, I'm bringing you down," said the Duelist who, not that long ago, had been aiming to run Jack through, yet was now treating him as gently as any injured nephew.

And as embarrassed as Jack felt, he couldn't deny his gratitude as Aroust expertly gathered him up from his elevated platform and brought him down to the group where he was fed broth of spider and some of Elof's rations all, mixed together in a surprisingly tasty stew.

He could only bare their worried glances and careful ministrations for so long before pulling back. "I'm okay guys... really." He said, before coughing and gasping.

"Okay? Jack, you were lost in trance, your hands locked upon that wall for two days!" Veti cried. "We thought... we had feared the worst." she swallowed, glaring at him. "And I was the one who had to watch you, hour by hour, wondering if you'd make it, as the boys hammered away at the rock." She flushed and shook her head. "You have no idea how that felt, Jack. I'm just glad that you're alive."

Jack flashed an apologetic smile. "So am I, Veti. And... thank you. Thank you for watching over me. All of you," he said, favoring them all with his warmest smile, swallowing the embarrassment he felt, knowing gratitude was all that he should be feeling.

Barlton snorted, shaking his head, albeit good-naturedly. "That's what comes when a wizard type tries to master the stone. I can understand your hunger, I surely can. But there are some things that..." he then froze, gazing at a smiling Jack with widening eyes, his gaze inexorably lifting up to the elevated ore sight Jack had spent two days communing with. "No..." the dwarf whispered. "I canna believe it!"

"Yes," Jack said with a grin, slowly pulling free a prize that had the whole team gazing at Jack with awe and disbelief.

It was a melted silvery glob that fit in the palm of Jack's hand.

A ball of pristine mithril Jack had managed to claim as his own.

For long moments, everyone just stared.

"How?" Veti whispered at last, Barlton too stunned even to speak.

Jack forced a tired smile. "By coaxing it free."

He smirked at their blinks of disbelief.

"The first step is just like it is with mining."

Aroust frowned. "What do you know about the mining?"

"I know that you're saturating your souls with Mithril's potency, and that it will somehow aid you in claiming it from the rock."

Drake nodded. "True enough. I'm still not quite sure how it works, Barlton can't seem to quite explain it, but I feel like the pressure is good for me, somehow."

Jack smiled. "I agree. Assuming you can survive it. I think it's subtly reforging us, just like being down here at all reforges us... after destroying all those with no hope of surviving at all."

For some reason, Veti paled. "That means..."

Here Barlton at last found his voice. "They're my team, Veti. No rock's gonna crush a dwarven miner's team with its presence. The insult would be too much to bare!"

Veti nodded. "So your class buffs are helping to protect them. Under you, the mithril saturates their souls, as opposed to crushing them out of existence."

Aroust nodded. "That's my hunch." He flashed a bemused smile. "And I'll never again criticize any team that has a miner among them!"

"As well you shouldn't," said a still scowling Barlton. "My question is how did our Jack survive? after all our warnings, I thought the young buck had finally rolled the dice one time too many."

Jack grinned. "Turns out I got a save modifier from surviving the Midnight Mantel earlier."

Barlton frowned thoughtfully as the others gazed at Jack with expressions too close to awe for his comfort. "That would do it," Barlton said at last, before flashing a hard smile of his own.

"And as much as I admire yer moxie, lad, yer not touchin' our own claim. For a number of reasons."

Jack solemnly bowed head. "Your vein is too deep. It would be too much for me. I sense that already."

A modified Barlton grinned. "Well, as long as ya can appreciate that, lad, I got nothin' but praise fer yer singular accomplishment!" He chuckled. "And I can tell ya that a number of dwarven elders would happily let ya marry their daughters for the secrets to that singular accomplishment... my father included!"

Jack chuckled at that, all the more so when his friend whipped out the oil painting of his admittedly pretty and exceedingly well-endowed sister once more. "Isn't she a beaut?"

"Indeed she is," Jack assured, smirking at the awed expression Elof was giving the picture. "Maybe she'd like a strong silent warrior type?"

Elof flushed and lowered his gaze before a thoughtful Barlton.

"Could be, lad. So long as our Elof here forges himself into a warrior worthy of Sophie's heart? Could be. Gods know we'll all be rich enough!" He said with a roar of laughter, clapping Elof on the back so hard he stumbled over. "Now put some more meat on yer frame, Elof. But hold off on the leveling. Remember what I taught ya!"

Elof immediately nodded like an eager recruit, earlier embarrassment forgotten. "don't try to grow off the mithril's essence. Let it saturate us as we embrace its pressure. Under you the pressure won't crush is, it will make us true."

The dwarf nodded. "Well, breakfast is over, and our Jack is back with us. Time to mine." He flashed Jack a nod between equals. "Get some sleep, miner. Plenty of small deposits all over these walls. By the time you draw them all up, me and the boys should be making our mark on this one!"

With a final laugh and wave, he picked up his pick as did the others, but Jack was already deep asleep, dreaming of uncovering vast treasures that would awe even emperors and kings, a dream he put to reality with the second mithril vein he tapped, just the next day.