Chilly leaned against the far wall as he waited for the penguins to come to a decision. He wasn’t so much tired, as hungry and thirsty. The accruing degen of the two status ailments did not bother him all that much. In fact he could barely feel either effect but the nonstop pangs of hunger and thirst slowly ground away at his nerves. He was cut off from the first section of the dungeon by the Priest of Purity, no longer having access to the rank goblin or the fetid pools of water that he had been using as sustenance. Part of him definitely celebrated the lack of access.

Well, he could go back. It just seemed so silly to fight the boss for only a single point of experience.

The penguins discussed amongst themself; silence punctuated by abrupt and constant gesturing. Dozens of penguins vanished in clouds of rapidly dissipating smoke while additional ones manifested in the room. Eventually, however, they seemed to come to a consensus.

“Alright, peeps. Who thinks that, uh...Patience of the Hearth is the way to go?” Chilly called out into the crowd.

Several penguins raised their flippers then frowned in consternation at their fellows as if they couldn’t understand why so few chose this option.

“20%-ish? Less than I figured,” Chilly murmured, “What about the Chains of Vala’Kuur?”

Significantly more penguins raised their flippers. Almost twice as many as had picked Patience of the Hearth.

“...and Flame Dash?”

A similar number of flippers rose into the air as for Chains of Vala’Kuur. Chilly carefully counted and arrived at an amusing if frustrating conclusion.

“We’ve got a tie folks.” He said in chagrin.

“You cannot fix this world by chaining it down.” Poidude the penguin said. “You cannot fight your problems by dashing away.”

“Ahh, you voted for Patience of the Hearth. Well, I don’t think everyone thinks that way, and, uh. ‘Merica. As the kids say.” Chilly said, trying to make a joke of it. He didn’t want to disappoint the penguin.

Poidude shook its head mournfully, “Think of who you really are. One who knows intimately the comfy couch and warm hearth. Do not reject yourself, so when your demons come you'll stand true and unflinching, and face them with Flame!”

Chilly hesitated. The penguin had a valid point, but he had already decided to go with the majority. It seemed like a great way to choose his skills. The penguins were all knowing, or at least prescient beings who could probably give him better advice than any guesses about this dungeon that he could ever make. A loud minority did not invalidate the wisdom of the crowd.

Unfortunately, this time he had gotten a tie.

“Anyone else,” Chilly hedged the crowd.

“Blink and dash skills are necessary for every successful player.” The new penguin sent a disparaging glance at the other penguins. “It opens an entire new realm for combat strategy; proper positioning, evasive maneuvers, getting to hidden areas and so much more.”

“It would have helped massively in the Undead parish with those turrets and the gaps in the floor,” Chilly agreed thoughtfully. “What about the Chains? It seems like a valid skill, but I can only think of a single enemy that I’ve faced so far who would be especially weak to it. Two actually, the Priest of Purity and the Mrawll Warden.”

The penguins collected started gesturing emphatically.

“Ok, shush. What I mean is that those two are the only ones that I could probably chain cast the Chains to get the maximum benefit. For all the others, I would basically be casting the spell at my feet, but I would still be forced to face tank their damage because retreating would break the chains as the monster follows me.”

The penguins reluctantly agreed with his point, though several of those who had voted for Chains of Vala’Kuur stubbornly shook their heads.

There was another aspect to the Chains which he wasn’t super comfortable with. They were actually named after an entity. Vala’Kuur. Apparently an Arch Vampire. Who knew what taking a skill like that would mean. Would he be forced to servitude, or could certain vampires disable the skill? Not to mention that Pious Path was an explicitly holy aligned skill. Something that Vampires historically didn’t mesh well with.

A potentially dangerous unknown. Best to leave it be.

“Cool, I’m choosing Flame Dash.” Chilly said as he allocated the skill point.

He felt a rush as new knowledge flooded into him. A bright desire to explore and move. A flightful fancy of the ever curious flame. He reveled in the incredible sensation of becoming something more as he grasped the reins of the new skill. Willing it to life. It welled up inside him like a dam ready to burst.

Precisely one second later he felt the skill take hold. Every atom of his being was violently compressed down to a point and transmuted into a living flame that slid sideways through space to reform exactly four meters to the side. He felt his new flame body flare bright as sinew and bone materialized out of the magical fire.

It all happened in a fraction of a second. He giggled in bewilderment as his perspective rapidly shifted. He could teleport! At his feet the ground dully smoldered, gently cooking his feet in a weak degen, but unable to overcome his significant regeneration. A quick glance back revealed a perfect one meter wide path of cinders in a line leading to where he had stood earlier.

Excited, he pulled up the list of augments for Flame Dash.

Choose an Augment for Flame Dash. Costs 1 skill point.

Maximum 2 Augments.

Primal Familiarity

You become familiar with the process of transforming into a living spark.

Reduce the cast time of Flame Dash by 50%

Incendiary Resurgence

You grow resilient to the fatigue inherent to transforming your form.

Reduce the cooldown of Flame Dash by 50%

Arsonist

You are not satisfied by mere ignition. To be one with fire is to burn all

50% increased area of effect of fire skills

50% increased duration of fire skills

Fire Walker

Gain strength from standing among the flames

24% increased fire damage while standing on burning ground

You are unaffected by burning ground

Second Wind

If you have not used a movement skill in the last 4 seconds you may bypass the cast time and cooldown of Flame Dash.

Unchained Fire

Your flame resists containment.

150 slow resistance

Chilly managed to read one sentence before the penguins forced him to share. He laughed and plopped to the floor as he made the screen visible to them all.

His eyes were immediately drawn to Second Wind. The augment would allow him to respond to immediate threats. By bypassing the cooldown and cast time it would allow him to avoid damage in the blink of an eye. It was vastly superior to Primal Familiarity in that specific category though for traveling distance it was technically slower. For that, Incendiary resurgence would be best.

Arsonist was odd, and he wasn’t precisely sure how it would be beneficial since he didn’t currently have any skills which relied heavily on area or duration. It would be good if he ever needed an extra 2 or three meters on Incinerate or Starfire Aegis, but so far he had always practically jumped into melee range in battles.

The last option, Unchained Fire, was not something he would take now, but would be a good option to have in his back pocket in case he ever faced a monster with debilitating slow.

Fire Walker was interesting, and would be both an increase in damage and a slight boost in survivability since he would no longer be damaged by his own skill. Speaking of, Chilly pulled up the card for Flame Dash to see how it changed from going from level one to nine.

Flame Dash

Dissolve your very essence into flames, allowing you to blink to a location within line of sight while leaving behind a trail of fire that burns enemies who walk over it

4.6m maximum travel distance

2.7s cooldown

0.9s cast time

Burning ground does 44 fire damage per second

Nice. It looked like all the stats would improve as he leveled. The burning damage portion was also pretty nice. 40 damage wasn’t a whole heck of a lot, but it also wasn’t anything to scoff at either. Almost like an additional augment on Incinerate.

Well, not much for it. Second Wind was the best option by his estimation. He only had a single skill point remaining so he wouldn’t be able to allocate any other augments until he leveled up again. Of course he could always move an augment from another skill, but that didn’t seem necessary just yet.

Before committing, however, he wanted to test the ability some more. Chilly channeled intent into Flame Dash and patiently waited the one second for the power to manifest. It rose quickly, but Chilly knew that in the heat of combat, anything but instant was far too slow.

He vanished in a burst of fire and immediately materialized several meters to the side. He prodded the skill with his mind, feeling the undercurrents of resistance that prevented him from immediately activating it again. This was the first skill he had acquired with a cooldown and cast time and he was keen to realize the restrictions.

Impatiently, he waited for the timer within him to complete. It was a nebulous feeling, like a crossbow being slowly ratched back. Storing energy, for a powerful release. It reminded Chilly of the stressful flutterings before an exam. When the skill was ready, he felt a strum of intent burst forth from the hidden space the skill took up in his mind. The moment this happened, he reached into the wellspring of power and initiated the one second cast time of Flame Dash.

He vanished once more into a cloud of writhing flames, appearing several meters to the side and startling a group of penguins. The feeling was euphoric. Conceptualized freedom. The ability to be where he wanted when he wanted without having to traverse the intermediary distance. A feeling like no other.

Not perfect freedom. He was still chained by the cooldown and cast time of the skill. The augments wouldn't completely ameliorate the restriction, however Second Wind would vastly improve his initial reaction time.

Without further ado, he spent his last skill point on Second Wind. A rush of energy burst from inside him as Flame Dash absorbed the skill point. With a grin, he thought of using Flame Dash and before he knew it he was across the chamber leaving a burning trail along his path. He instantly called upon the ability once again but struggled against the invisible barrier of the abilities' cast time. After a torturous second, he blipped once more across the room again.

Chilly laughed gleefully as he turned to the penguins, “Isn’t this awesome?”

By then, the four seconds that Second Wind demanded were up. Chilly grin grew wider. He took two steps to gather momentum, then leapt as high as he possibly could into the air. At the apex of his jump he triggered the instant activation of Flame Dash. In a flash of bright fire, he vanished, only to reappear several meters directly above himself. Before gravity could really take hold, he immediately reactivated the ability. He felt himself slipping. Falling down due to gravity’s eternal insistence. Before he could fall too far however, Flame Dash reactivated, sending him careening into the ceiling, with an elated whoop.

He scrambled to grab at a melted stalactite, but failed miserably, laughing in exhilaration as he fell to the floor. He crashed beside a bubbling pool of lava and rolled several feet to the side before his momentum was stolen by the hard earth. He stared at the ceiling with a wide grin on his face. Then with but a thought, he vanished in a flare of bright fire, only to promptly fall flat onto his back.

He laughed once more, “I guess I can’t re-orient mid teleport.” he told the penguins nonchalantly.

No matter. The ability was still loads of fun and would no doubt prove to be an extraordinary asset for his future challenges.

Chilly propped himself up on one elbow, looked around the room and noticed the penguins impatiently waiting for him at the entrance to the far tunnel. He supposed he had played enough with his new ability. It was time to see how it fared in real combat.

Chilly got up and moved to the tunnels. He briefly considered the left one, since he hadn't gone down there yet. No doubt it led to some other foul hole, with its own horrific monstrosities and difficult challenges, that he would have to explore in due time. For now, however, he would go down the right hand tunnel. The penguins were standing there, and he had already explored it to some degree.

“Remember to point out any Wall Crawlers,” Chilly reminded the penguins. To which they only responded with impatient nodding of their heads, and gesturing towards the darkness beyond. Chilly laughed at their insistence and stepped into the dark tunnel.

As before, Wall Crawlers ambushed him at periodic intervals as he traversed the underground. The penguins however called out each of the assassin type enemies and allowed him to burn them down before they could get into melee range, where they’d eviscerate him with their utterly overpowered scythes. This made the encounters trivial to overcome. Still there was an element of danger that brought up Chilly's heart rate as he methodically cleared the tunnels.

All the Wall Crawlers were under level nine so he didn’t get any experience for the trouble. He did however take the time to burn the corpses down to ash so that he could collect the Essences that they dropped. Before too long, he was uncomfortably stuffing essences of regret and azurite into his breastplate and gauntlets wherever they would fit.

The penguins led him past various intersections, but always confidently marched down a specific path. Chilly was grateful for that because without them he would most definitely have gotten lost in the winding tunnels that all look the same. He trusted the penguins. They had not let him down so far, and he did not see any reason for them to lead him astray now. They knew of his quest. They knew what he needed to accomplish to assist Sooty.

Eventually he and the penguins stopped before an even darker tunnel. An abyss in the side of the wall where stygian darkness absorbed the meager glow that Pious Path emitted. Even the flickering flames of Starfire Aegis failed to pierce the oppressive gloom, as if there was an ever-present invisible fog eating up the photons in the air.

Chilly hesitantly looked in askance at the penguins. They seemed confident however, so he followed them into the dark.

Immediately he noticed that his range of vision had diminished. Before the combined light of both of his skills allowed him to see for at least a dozen paces around him. Now however, he could barely make out rocks before he tripped over them. It was unnerving, but not all that surprising. He had been dwelling in pseudo darkness ever since he arrived in the dungeon. In the Tubes, the enemies had been invisible regardless of the amount of light that his skills shed. It didn't matter that he couldn't see far in the Abyss because the only thing that really mattered was seeing enemies, and he couldn't see them even before.

A couple minutes of traveling later the penguins paused. They pointed out a blob of deeper darkness up ahead. An enemy. He squinted, trying to make it out through the gloom but was only partially successful. He vaguely discerned a darker bit of blackness with bits of dull red light struggling to make it through the murk. Regardless he threw an identification at the darkness, hoping for some system granted aid.

“Well would you look at that,” Chilly murmured, then turned to the penguins and asked, “is it alone do you think?”

A few penguins briefly scurried into the darkness, then returned and nodded at him in affirmation.

Chilly approached the monster. When he got within range, he unleashed Incinerate upon the beast and watched as both flames and plasma arced forwards and wrapped around it; illuminating what had been hidden.

A ball of pure darkness, so black that it consumed all light that touched it. None escaped. Not even enough light for contours and shadows to grant it shape. The black sphere looked almost flat. Two dimensional. As if it didn't truly exist in this plane.

From the central ball, dozens of black tendrils emanated outwards and latched onto the walls like the silk threads of a spider.

The fire reached the monster, and engulfed it in searing heat. A violent shiver ran down the length of each tendril. At least half of the dark tentacles detached from the walls, and whipped forward to wrap around Chilly.

Chilly grunted as a half dozen tentacles wrapped around his body, dragging his arms down and forcing his shields to dig painfully into his hip, and collarbone.

>

His life flickered as a half dozen minor damage notifications - mostly physical with some fire - blurred in his vision. More tentacles wrapped around him as the collective flexed, pulling him closer to the Voidling.

Spoiler :

>

More damage caused his life bar to fluctuate. His feet dragged against the hard black stone floor as the air around him turned to molasses. Every movement became a struggle as the Entangled status ailment cut off his ability to move. The tendrils, however, barely did enough damage to make his life flicker. He had survived worse than this. Far worse. Acknowledging the lack of danger, he continued channeling Incinerate at the void monster.

The last of the tentacles wrapped around him-

>

-and his movements froze completely. At 100% slow, He could not even twitch a finger. Oddly enough he could still breathe and move his eyes, which allowed him to watch as the main body of the Voidling slowly reeled itself closer.

A sense of fear at being restrained welled up inside of him. He abhorred the lack of control. Still he maintained Incinerate, confident that the ability would take down the monster before the 100% slow became a problem.

The Voidling screeched. An unearthly howl that grated harshly against his eardrums. All along the length of the black tentacles glowing red hot magma spikes erupted. Curved and cruel; they dug painfully into Chilly’s armor and ripping out chunks of his significant life pool.

Spoiler :

Chilly winced as an unbearable heat broke past his defenses and the smell of charred flesh rose into the air. His life began flickering as his life regeneration fought aggressively to overcome the varied damage of the Voidling. Starfire Aegis howled, the rapid blows allowing it to flare far hotter than it ever had before. Tendrils of plasma so thick that they obscured vast portions of the monsters coalesced and swirled around the beast. Still Chilly panicked. The main body of the Voidling was approaching, and he couldn’t move.

With a thought, he vanished in a flare of bright fire and appeared several meters back, facing the stygian monstrosity head on. A trail of fire left in his wake. Immediately he continued channeling Incinerate, as his life recovered and plasma joined the fray.

Movement suddenly became easier. The oppressive restriction vanished the moment he escaped the grasping tendrils, as if it had never been there in the first place.

The cocoon of black tentacles scrunched down. Their mighty constriction failed when their prey disappeared from within. The Voidling howled its alien rage, its various magma spikes grinding up and down the length of its appendages. A half-dozen tentacles lashed out and grabbed onto the walls. It seemed to know instinctively where Chilly had vanished to. It launched its main body and the rest of its tentacles directly at him. Chilly stood firm. Now, from a distance, he could tell that the monster was severely damaged. Burnt and scorched by the incessant flames that Chilly put out, despite not having access to the exact amount of life that the creature had remaining.

Once again Chilly was wrapped around with black tentacles, and Starfire Aegis roared to light. The plasma cape grew brighter and brighter with each passing second, as the lava spikes ripped into him and the tentacles crushed him from all sides. He gritted his teeth, and absorbed the abuse, as he withstood the monster’s death throes.

A second later the living darkness lost all cohesion and fell to the floor in a puff of shivering smoke. A single bright silver coin left behind in its wake. An Essence of Steel.

Chilly picked up the essence and stared at it in the light of Starfire Aegis. His eyes unfocused as he calmly breathed in and out, patiently waiting for his heartbeat to calm. The entire fight had barely lasted more than a couple seconds.

The penguins stepped into his small circle of light, cheerfully clapping at his victory.

“Well that was rough,” Chilly said, “Though I suppose I was never really in any danger. Honestly I think Starfire Aegis did more damage than Incinerate during that fight.”

Chilly grinned. Perhaps freeing Sooty would be easier than he thought.