Despite Michaels dismal expectations the maze was not altogether challenging, once they figured out the trick to it. The walls that made up the maze were magical barriers designed to let everything other than Ice aspected Mana pass. The reason the barriers were invisible was simply that they also let visible light pass through them. Once they discovered this the rest was easy, Michael and Jelly using Ice spells to map out the walls leaving Hazel and her immense bear strength to push the block around. The fact that it took over three hours and Jelly firing off a spell out of sheer boredom is inconsequential.

When they eventually got the block into the depression near the centre it settled in with a click. After a few seconds Michael opened his mouth to ask what now when the block suddenly cracked, fissures spreading throughout the block before suddenly shattering, the ice dispersing into glittering snowflakes. Where the block used to be there now stood a small ornately carved pedestal, a beautiful key resting on top. Michael was about to pick it up when he remembered the warnings of Indiana and Identified it first.

Glacial Key

One of five keys used to unlock the Vitr Heimr Inner Sanctum.

Michael felt a little silly but continued on undeterred and checked the pedestal for any signs of a pressure plate but found nothing. That didn't mean there wasn't one, Michael was humble enough to admit that his Indy skills may be lacking. He started checking once more before realising the trap might not even be physical, he had just solved an invisible maze puzzle made from magical barriers thanks to help from a magical fox-like creature and a bear that believes she's his daughter, at this point anything is possible. Michael had to forcibly drag his mind from that line of thinking before his paranoia got the best of him. He had to assume that there were no invisible/magical pressure plates just like he had to assume there were no invisible killer clowns waiting for him to relax his guard.

Which is why, as he grabbed the key and started sprinting towards the door, he swore to himself it was simply because he really hated this room and not because he was waiting for the place to start collapsing around him. As he leapt through the door in appropriate indy style Hazel and Jelly followed him, in a much more normal pace, each having serious doubts about the sanity of humans. Jelly was even wondering if he should try to move to a different continent, far away from these insane humans.

Outside the room Michael brushed himself off and did his best to act as if everything was normal, purposefully ignoring the looks from his companions and moving towards the next door. The two companions gave each other a look before giving the equivalent of a shrug and ambling off to follow the possibly crazy human they had bonded to.

The next room contained a Jötunn and an Ulf. The pairing was one that they had seen before and they were easy enough to take down, Michael focusing on the Giant while Hazel and Jelly took down the Ulf. Once they were done they decided to take a bit of a break as the kills had gotten Michael to level 13, earning another skill point and allowing him to finally see what the third layer of skills contained. Entering the skill space Michael drifted over to the first skill, the one unlocked through Power Shot.

Executioners Mark

Bow Magic Skill, Active, 150 Mana Cost, 10 Minute Cooldown

Mark a target for execution, increasing all damage the target receives for a short time

Michael grinned, he loved the skill since it not only increased his but everyone's damage, making it useful in all situations. Unfortunately he wouldn't get specifics until he actually took the skill but he doubted he'd regret taking it, though he might regret not taking something else instead. Speaking of, he moved on to the second skill unlocked through Power Shot.

Powerful Draw

Bow Magic Skill, Passive, -4 Mana Regen

Channel the power of your strength into your arrow, increasing the damage of your shot for every second it is held at full draw.

Michael frowned, despite the power of the skill he didn't like it. The skill was almost entirely situational, requiring him to hold one position for several seconds in order for it to have a decent effect. It was similar to Power Shot in its use but would likely require even more time to truly make a devastating shot. The two skills combined though, that sent shivers down his spine. That iea alone was enough to put it in the running, but it wasn't enough to clinch victory.

Moving on, Michael skipped past the two skills unlocked by Enhanced Bond, Blood Bond and Pack Leader, as neither of the skills even came close to matching the awesomeness of Soul Bond. Besides, with the skill choices continuing to split off there were more and more options but the same amount of points to spend. He needed to be more selective in his skill choices and Soul Bond made the companion skills essentially unnecessary.

Spell Infusion

Nature Magic Skill, Active, 200 Mana Cost, No Cooldown

Use Mana to infuse a Nature Magic Spell with a Potion, gaining effects based on the potion.

_____ Michael mentally swore, and then swore again at the silent thought echoing around his head. After a quick break to spare some choice words about a certain Planetary Consciousness he returned to salivating over the skill. Right away he could see various uses for the skill, from poisoned vines to overpowered Healing Sap. If he got his hands on some debuff poisons of straight up damaging potions and combined it with Poison Spores? Michaels mind drifted for a moment, thoughts of exploding poisonous mushroom spores filling his head, but he came to and moved on to the next skill.

Nature Warrior

Nature Magic Spell, Active, 350 Mana Cost, 1hr Cooldown

Using your connection to nature, spawn a Nature Elemental Warrior that will follow your commands for 10 minutes.

Michael was, in a word, unimpressed. After Infusion he had been hoping for something amazing, but Nature Warrior was a bit lackluster. Thinking on it for a bit Michael realised that his opinions would likely have been reversed if not for his situation. Having already gotten a perfect companion in Hazel and disposable companions thanks to his Amulet of the Wolf Pack he always had help. If it weren't for that then the Nature Warrior spell would be amazing. The same applied for Infusion, if he didn't have the Alchemy skill or a bunch of credits to spend on potions then the skill would be almost worthless.

Still, with the situation being what it was, Nature warrior was out. He move on to the last skills, the ones branching off Healing Sap.

Camouflage

Nature Magic Skill, Active, 5 Mana per Second, No Cooldown

Use Mana to blend in with your surroundings and fade into the background.

Power of Nature

Nature Magic Skill, Passive, -5 Mana Regen

Borrow from the power of nature to power your spells, increasing their strength beyond their limits when out in Nature.

Michael was seriously torn, with all the new skills to choose from he was conflicted over what he should choose. Infusion, Powerful Draw and Power of Nature were all somewhat situational, requiring potions, time and location respectively but they each offered power or versatility that likely more than made up for the requirements. Infusion in particular offered a level of versatility that nearly made Michael drool. Powerful Draw on the other hand was only good for one thing, killing. That being said, it gave the possibility of ending fights before they even began and taking out powerful enemies before they even knew he was there.

Speaking of being unseen, Camouflage was very much a contender. A good stealth skill was a must and Camouflage was likely the closest that the Ranger class was going to get. But camouflage was not invisibility and if it worked anything like normal camouflage then he'd be spotted the instant he made a move, and possibly even before that. Besides, until he got the Soul Bond skill to level twenty then Hazel wouldn't be able to use the skill and unless Michael was willing to abandon her the skill wasn't all that useful.

Power of Nature however, was a useful skill, enhancing all his spells across the board. The issue lay in the 'when out in Nature' part. What was considered 'Nature'? This Dungeon likely wasn't but would the desert be? What about a snowy tundra? Unfortunately he wouldn't know until he got the skill and since it likely wouldn't work in the dungeon then it was out, for now.

Executioners Mark was very much not a situational skill and would work wonders in the Dungeon, increasing the groups damage output without exception. The only issue was its long cooldown, it was likely a 'once a battle' skill. Worse, since it wasn't considered a spell he couldn't use Dupli-Cast on it, detracting a lot from its value. Still, it was definitely a contender, the skill could easily make the difference in a difficult fight.

Another contender was Multi-Shot, a skill he had previously passed up in favor of the Power Shot skill. Whilst he still preferred Power Shot he had to admit that Multi-Shot would work well with his bows passive effect, increasing the chance of stunning to near 100% through sheer numbers.

Michael deliberated for a while, his heart really wanted to take the Infusion skill just to see what he could do with it, but in the end he chose Executioners Mark. In the situation he was in it was the right choice, even if it wasn't a particularly interesting one.

Executioners Mark

150 Mana Cost, 250 Meter Range, Instant Cast, 10 Minute Cooldown

Mark a target for death, gaining an instinctive knowledge of their location as well as increasing all damage dealt to the target by 30% for 30 seconds. Cooldown decreased by 1 minute with every level .

Scratch the lack of interest, this was an awesome skill. The ability to track a target was perfect for dealing with stealthy enemies and at level 10 the skill could be used every minute, essentially increasing the groups single target damage by 15% overall. It might not be all that much but at the higher Tiers that would mean hundreds if not thousands of points of damage, for a mere 150 points of Mana. For a common quality Tier 2 skill it was surprisingly potent.

Once Michael had chosen his skill and finished drooling over his choice, they group moved on to the next room. Fortunately for Michael, who was starting to get all jittery to use his skill, the room only contained a single Giant. Unlike most of its predecessors this Giant was neither asleep nor paying attention to the decor and noticed Michaels entrance immediately. The Jötunn roared and started charging at the Ranger, an ice axe forming as it moved. Michael immediately started sprinting to the side, leading the Giant away from Hazel and Jelly who had yet to enter the room.

While he was moving Michael activated his new skill, a packet of Mana mixed with something unidentifiable leaving his body and moving over to the Giant. As it entered the Jötunns body Michael felt as if a new limb had awakened, one he couldn't control but he could nevertheless feel as it moved. Tuning himself to the new sensation Michael dodged to the left without looking as the Giant threw the axe it was holding at his back. By this point Hazel had entered the room and almost immediately issued a Buffeting Roar, the skill not being enough to knock the Giant back but more than enough to get its attention. Taking advantage of the brief pause as the Giant reacted to Hazels grand entrance Michael turned around and fired a Thunder Shot, the instinctual knowledge from the mark allowing him to aim with more than his eyes. As soon as his aim hit that perfect sweet spot he released, the arrow seeming to teleport through the air to pierce clean through the Jötunns head.

Michael was a bit sad, he had no idea if the mark increased his damage enough to get an insta-kill or if it would have happened anyways. He sighed, such are the problems of the overpowered, oh woe is he. After an obligatory minutes wait, to make sure the giant was really dead, Michael checked the kill notification.

Tier 3 Level 4 Vitr Jötunn Killed!

Participation: 93%

Modifier for Perks: 100%

Ranger Experience Gained: 1860

Bonus: Chilling Poison x1

Treasure Hunter Experience Gained: 1000

Michael was surprised, he had gotten a bottle of Chilling Poison before and figured it was a once off type of thing but this second bottle made him wonder if it was a common type of loot for the Dungeon. If so then he might have to visit the Dungeon more in future, the poison was a quite useful.

Chilling Poison

Tier 3, Normal Quality

Deal 100 Ice Damage over ten seconds, targets are slowed by 20% for 30 seconds with a chance of being frozen.

The poison would be extremely useful, especially for Boss battles. Michael didn't know how useful the poison would be against Ice-aspect Monsters but he was hopeful. At the very least, he knew what his next skill point would be spent on, assuming he go more poison. The group continued on.

They managed to get through another half-dozen rooms before things changed. Michael popped his head through the door, checking to make sure of the number an types of monsters, when he froze at the sight in front of him.

Beyond the door stood an indoor forest, snow laden trees filling Michaels sight as he looked around. He quickly retracted his head and looked around, making sure he hadn't somehow left the dungeon, before returning to the forest. Looking up he spotted what looked like a pane of frosted glass, a blurry sun appearing beyond. Surprisingly, the most shocking part of the whole scene wasn't the indoor forest, or the two headed rabbit foraging in the undergrowth at the base of one of the trees, but instead the appearance of a second sun, a few feet to the left of the first. Michael checked with Hazel but she could see the second sun as well, shooting down the idea that he was hallucinating.

The trio entered the greenhouse slowly, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious or puzzling. It could be that this was simply a different type of room, or that it contained one of the types of enemies they hadn't seen before. There was also the possibility that it was another puzzle room but Michael really hoped not. Despite the invisible walls the last puzzle was obvious, if there was a puzzle here then Michael had no idea what it was. Michael, Hazel and Jelly moved forward in a train, Hazel leading with Michael directly behind her keeping an eye on the sides and Jelly last, keeping an eye in case any enemies approached from behind.

When the arrow appeared from the depths of the trees Jelly was ready for it and a wall of ice appeared in its place with the kind of speed only possible by high level mages or powerful magical beasts. It was not enough.

The arrow pierced through the wall with ease, its speed barely slowing but its trajectory changed enough that it impacted Jellys shoulder rather her head. Michael and Hazel immediately turned to the arrows origin, Michael catching the barest glimpse of a large shadow disappearing in the trees. Michael loosed an arrow at the shadow but failed to hit anything other than a tree.

As Hazel focused on healing Jelly Michael focused on trying to find the attacker, straining his sense to catch a glimpse, a whisper or even a whiff of the archer. With his sense strained to the max he managed to just barely hear a soft twange of a bowstring before a sense of danger, of death, assaulted his senses. Acting on pure instinct he ducked, throwing his body at the ground like it owed him money. The arrow, made of magical ice and twice the size of Michaels arrows, just barely missed him as it sped overhead. Michael scrambled up and readied an arrow but the shadow was long gone. At this point Executioners Mrk would work wonders but he firt needed to actually see the target long enough for the skill to activate.

Michael grimaced, this room was a deathtrap but he had no idea how to get out of it. The door had locked behind them, exactly like all the others, and it wouldn't open until they had killed whatever was in here with them. He might be able to dodge the arrows but Hazel and Jelly certainly couldn't. Hazels shiels might stand up to the attacks but even if they did it would only work as long as Hazel had Mana. As soon as she ran out she'd be a sitting duck. For a second he wondered if this was where he would die.

With the pressure mounting Michael closed his eyes and quietened his mind, focusing on his hearing. For a while now he'd been feeling like he wasn't really using his Attributes. Every time he raised them he cold certainly see the difference but it still didn't feel like he was using their full potential, especially his perception. Now, in this moment of mortal danger, he focused on using his hearing at its true strength.

The sounds started to come in, his own breathing an heartbeat seeming to thunder in his ears. Focusing past that he heard Hazel and Jelly's breathing and, after a moment, their heartbeats. The surprise of hearing another beings heartbeat almost made Michaels focus slip but he held on, moving past the noise they were making and focusing on the forest around him. It was a lot easier than it would be in a real forest, the lack of wind removing a lot of the noise that would normally be present.

When the twang came, Michael was ready. Moving at a speed that surprised himself he spun around and fired an arrow at the source of the sound before the enemies bowstring even finished moving. The arrow flew threw the air and pierced the target, sheer luck letting the arrow cut through the enemies bowstring before penetrating the arm that held the bow.

Michael grinned, though a groan escaped his lips. He managed to hurt the enemy but he paid a price, a two meter long arrow as thick as his thumb was currently imbedded in his right shoulder. Scratch that, it was imbedded through his shoulder. Still, despite the pain, he kept on grinning. The level of danger hadn't really lessened but he was now sure of one thing; this was not the place he was going to die.