Gaining experience after reaching level thirteen in Mirror Lake was significantly more difficult than at level twelve. Most of the Leviathans were either level eleven or twelve with only a handful pushing level thirteen. This meant that they only managed to take down six giant beasts that granted experience before they grew too tired to continue.

Or, well. Chilly grew too tired to continue. Chaeli was just as chipper as always, only requiring a couple essences of Azurite to sustain her. He wasn’t even able to eat the little glowing rocks. Chaeli crunched on them like candy, but he almost broke a tooth trying the same stunt. After getting frustrated, he swallowed one, and his stomach had vocally let him know just how bad of an idea that was. It was like eating a rock.

Patently unfair, but scarily efficient. She continued encouraging him to keep on fighting, but when he received a stack of Exhaustion, he put his foot down.

The beach was mostly safe and Chaeli promised to keep watch as he slept. So with aching limbs after a long day of excitement, Chilly found a mostly clean section of the beach and lay down.

Starfire Aegis sizzled comfortably on his back, as he rested his tired eyes.

“Hola!” a voice chirped.

Chilly cracked an eye open.

“Hello there, little one.” Chilly murmured, drawing a look from Chaeli which he ignored. “What can I do for you?”

Mr. Origami put a flipper to their beak thoughtfully, then perked up and transformed Realm Walker into a clipboard. Chilly leaned over and saw that the skill options were listed there.

“Ah,” Chilly propped himself up, “Sure we can do that now.”

After leveling to thirteen, he had shunted the window to the side to continue farming the Leviathans. Chaeli’s impatience was a consideration, but it was mostly to give the penguins a little time to come to a decision. There was the interdimensional lag between communications to consider, and since the Leviathans were relatively safe to farm, he had pushed the decision down the road.

Mr. Origami vanished in a puff rapidly dissipating black smoke with a smile, just as a bunch of other penguins appeared from the astral in a loose semicircle around him.

“Wonderful, now that we are all here, let's begin.” Chilly said. “How about those who are interested in Molten Sh— ahem. Shell of Caldera can go over on the left. Flame Wall supporters can be near the water, and those who like Smoldering Embers over on the right.”

The penguins began to mill around, but one penguin stepped forwards and stomped its foot, somehow causing a harsh crack despite the soft sand beneath its toes. The rest of the penguins paused and turned their attention to the new arrival.

“Thanks for the chapter.” Nobody stated firmly. Chilly, not entirely sure why, gulped.

“What build do you want?” the penguin continued,

“Uh,” Chilly said eloquently.

Nobody narrowed its eyes dangerously, then gestured to the rest of the penguins. “If we choose your path, how are you to be the one to walk it? How are we to enjoy your journey?”

“I want to live and get out of the dungeon.”

Mr. Nobody nodded encouragingly.

“And. I suppose. Getting home would be great, but I also want to explore this world. This dungeon’s a little grim but there is bound to be some epic things up on the surface.”

“Like Wario Land Fore.”

“Exactly,” Chilly pointed, then frowned. “Uh, no. I was thinking more vistas and huge cities where magic has seeped into the mundane until it is completely unrecognizable. I want to see magic. Real magic. Skills are great, but there are bound to be some skills out there that allow you to inscribe a skill into an item. Just imagine. With Incinerate I could sell stoves!”

Some of the penguins giggled, and Chilly smiled along.

“On the side, of course. After I got over the whole death and dismemberment thing, fighting monsters is actually pretty cool. Having high regeneration made the pain not last which really made me start enjoying the thrill of combat. There is this visceral freedom to the challenge, you know? Like soccer but more somehow. This feeling of me against them and only one of us is going to make it out alive.”

“And unlike back home, the rewards are built-in. The monsters drop loot, which can be used to get better gear and fight more monsters. Level ups are pretty cool too.”

The penguins nodded along, then Mr. Nobody repeated, “What build do you want?”

“What build...I don’t know. I want to be strong, but mostly just to get out of here. I miss the sun, you know? I hope there is a sun out there. Maybe even two or three.” Chilly laughed involuntarily. “Just imagine if there are like a couple suns and they are offset from each other so that it is perpetual day. Oof, I can’t tell if that is worse than being underground all the time.”

“We have nighttime,” Chaeli said quietly from the side. Chilly jerked, then remembered that she was there. A faint blush rose to his cheeks when he realized that she had heard his inane ramblings.

“What build do you want?” Nobody stressed, growing impatient.

“I...” Chilly twiddled his fingers, thinking.

Kobold Patrol shoved to the front of the penguin gathering and interjected impatiently. “Let your footprints be the bane of your enemies. Embers shall smolder around you until nothing but ash remains.”

“Smoldering embers does sound fun.” Chilly repeated lamely.

Kobold Patrol nodded, satisfied, “thanks for the chapter!”

Nobody stepped forwards and bonked Kobold Patrol on the head with Realm Walker. Then encouragingly gestured to Chilly.

Chilly opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn’t know. He really didn’t. He wanted something that worked. He could fight if necessary. Fighting was actually starting to grow on him. He was still scared of dying, but high regeneration made things more comfortable since it removed the pain from injuries.

Every time he had the choice of a new skill however, he looked over the options and wondered if there was a correct decision. If two of the three choices were distractors. Bum skills that if taken, would ruin his chances of being able to fight on even footing with the monsters in the future. The thing was, he had to make a choice or he couldn’t level further, and if he had to make a choice, then that meant he could make the wrong one. That terrified him.

His skill choices before the penguins arrived had seemed paltry. Like trying to plug a hole in a sinking ship. Incinerate felt inadequate with its many restrictions and limited viability while Vitality just seemed kinda lame. It provided a bunch of important stats, but it just seemed like another skill could do something similar while also doing more. It was only once he started getting the penguin’s advice that he had received Pious Path and Starfire Aegis. Both skills somehow turned the insurmountable odds in his favor.

The penguins knew what they were doing. They were old. Experienced. Clever. Chains of Subjugation hadn’t been set through its paces yet, but the fact that the penguins had chosen it indicated that one of the biggest challenges in the future would-be foes with obscene quantities of health. Bosses in other words. He had only fought one boss so far, and it had taken ages to take it down. He was working with Chaeli now, but for all he knew, bosses doubled their health for every additional party member. If that was the case, then Chains of Subjugation would allow him to carry his weight in any party.

Chilly put his head in his hands. Gritty sand scratching against his helmet.

The party dynamic changed things further. His primary goal was to get out, and relying on other people was a great way to do that. It was how civilization got out of the stone age. Specialization was good. It had problems, but in terms of pure efficiency, it was unbeatable. If that was the case then building more damage seemed like a poor choice. Chaeli was already around to deal damage. Stealing her role with skills like Smoldering Embers might leave their party with holes in their formation.

He needed to know what other party members would join to make the optimal choice, but he couldn’t do that until he met more people. Actually, he could probably get by with knowing the distribution of roles present in this dungeon. Then he could extrapolate and find a niche that is both needed and scarce. This would—

“I don’t know what your penguins are saying,” Chaeli said quietly from the side, “but I assume it's about choosing your next skill.”

Chilly turned to her, “it is, I...I don’t know what I should choose.”

“Are they giving you the talk?” Chaeli said with a shadow of a smile. “You know, about settling on a build and finding your way.”

Chilly frowned, “how did you know?”

Chaeli shrugged, drawing designs into the sand at her feet. “You are turning fifteen soon. It’s a big day, though none of the adults tell me what actually happens at that level. I think that is also why Gar-Khan only lets me fight Leviathans.”

She gestured out to the mirrored expanse. “Only level thirteen beasties out there. Can’t hit fifteen like that.”

“Oh,” Chilly said. They descended into a comfortable silence as they watched the unnatural stillness of the lake.

“Gar-Khan said that you should explore everything when you are a kid, then you clean up your build after turning fifteen, but everyone else says that you should already know what you want to be when you are a kid so...” Chaeli shrugged.

Chilly frowned deeply. Customs in this world likely differed, but he only now realized that Chaeli considered him a kid. Actually a kid. Not just an adult who happens to be low level. To her, the terms were synonymous. It was decidedly odd and kind of ridiculous all at the same time.

He had been a kid. For years. He vaguely remembered the awkward middle school years, and still tried to repress his drama-filled high school escapades. He had tried skipping school, feigning illness, or the like. He had run away from school a handful of times to hang out in town with friends. He had gotten good grades. Passed courses. Graduated. Gone through college. Lived with roommates.

Lived alone.

Chilly let out a full belly laugh as the ridiculousness of the situation truly hit him.

If there was one thing he had learned, going through the American education system, it was that only one aspect of a person truly mattered. Only one attribute counted for success. It wasn’t intelligence. That could be faked. It wasn’t creativity. That could be stolen. It was confidence. Willpower. Grit. The unshakable drive to keep going despite likely being wrong. Despite encountering insurmountable odds. Despite having a paper due tomorrow and it is 10 pm. Despite having to apply to a dozen colleges all while juggling advanced courses. Despite waking up at four in the morning to start your shift at Starbucks because you’re not smart enough to get a full scholarship.

Keep going. Don’t stop. Because there is no wrong. There is only different, and anything can be made to work with enough effort.

And if you can smile in the interim, they will name you a prodigy.

“Thank you Chaeli. You reminded me of something I can’t believe I forgot.” Chilly put on a lopsided grin. “I know what I’m going to be now.”

“Just like that?” Chaeli said, taken aback.

“Yes,” he said, turning to the penguins. “It's simple. I will choose Smoldering Embers, then in each future skill choice I’m going to choose something that increases my ability to affect a wide area, that preferably works off of ground effects like consecrated ground.”

“You cannot kill your enemy if you are dead,” the penguin pointed out.

“True, but I have a party now. There are bound to be tanks in Teluria that would be willing to join the party. Hey! Chaeli, are there any tanks in Teluria that you know of?”

“Y-yes.” she cleared her throat, “I mean, most people have skills to take a couple of hits.”

“See,” Chilly told the penguins. “Just imagine for a moment, a scenario where I am sitting in the back of an engagement with a great foe. Beside me are my party members. They are fighting for their lives, while I am just lazing about in the back.”

Chilly’s grin grew predatory.

“Beneath my feet, the ground is consecrated, burning, and any other types of effects that I collect along the way. My allies would regenerate, gain resistances, empower their damage while the enemies would take damage and grow weaker all while being completely unable to escape.”

“The fight grows desperate, but not for us. The great beast flags, outnumbered and weakened, it can’t help but fall when Chaeli here lops off its head with her swords.”

“What do you say? Can you make sure that I get such skills in my next level ups?”

The penguins looked amongst themselves. Some nodded, others seemed disappointed. Most however were thoughtful and vanished in puffs of smoke to consider his words.

Chilly brought up the interface, shoved aside the inkling of doubt eating at his mind then selected Smoldering Embers.

Smoldering Embers:

The fire you wield changes the very nature of spells you leave behind.

Ground effects you leave behind deal 7.8% of your maximum life per second to enemies as fire damage

78% increased duration of ground effects

78% increased area of ground effects

Embers began to rise and swirl among the shining crucifixes, dancing playfully among the more demure religious symbols. A pleasant warmth rose from the ground, at once peaceful and threatening. As if there was a sleeping power just waiting to be awoken.

Choose an Augment for Smoldering Embers. Costs 1 skill point.

Maximum 3 Augments.

The fire you wield changes the very nature of spells you leave behind.

Fan the Flames

Embers inherent to your magic grow vigorous and smolder brighter.

Ground effects you leave behind deal an additional 6% of your maximum life per second to enemies

Thermal Accumulator

Embers in the ground empower other ground effects with their strength.

24% increased effect of ground effects

Incendiary Expansion

Your embers guide your magic outwards and increase its tenacity

60% increased duration of ground effects

60% increased area of ground effects

Ember Proliferation

The nature of the flame is to spread

Ground effects spread at a rate of 1 m/s for 4 seconds upon creation

Adaptable Embers

Now your magic is no longer limited by the bounds of the earth.

Ground effects can be applied to air and water

Aura of Rekindling

In every ember lies the potential of a phoenix.

Ground effects grant 10% increased life to allies

Of all the augments, Thermal Accumulator would probably be the most immediately useful. By providing 24% increased effect of all ground effects then it would buff Pious Path and his and Chaeli’s regeneration. Fan the Flames was also likely pretty useful. Generic but useful.

Chilly dismissed the window and bid Chaeli good night. He lay down in the sand, enjoying the steady warmth of Starfire Aegis and Smoldering Embers as he let the exhaustion from the day wash over him. In moments he was out.

He awoke a couple of hours later to see the dungeon reset in action. The sand moved back to its pristine position and cleaned itself of the various stains that it had acquired the previous cycle.

Grumbling, Chilly retreated up the shore and promptly fell right back to sleep.

He was awoken sometime later to a disgruntled Chaeli taking on a Leviathan all on her own. Waves crashed into the shore, as the thunderous detonations of the Leviathan slamming its tentacles into the surf shook the air. Chaeli herself danced around it, unconcerned, but more energetically than usual.

She must have been so bored.

Chilly retreated further up the beach and silently watched her challenge the monster. She finished after a rather impressive display of acrobatics and moved up the beach with a look of chagrin on her face. Instead of being annoyed, Chilly just asked if she could cut him a piece of leviathan meat for breakfast before the other dwellers of the deep could drag their sibling down into the depths.

After the Leviathans had calmed, Chilly used his skills to cook the rubbery meat, and choked it down with some melted snow from Avalan Ravine. Disturbing Mirror Lake for a drink would also have worked, but it would require another round of waiting for the Leviathans to calm.

After his basic needs had been met and Chaeli’s comments on the superiority of Warforged had grown old, they returned to farming the Leviathans for experience. Shifting a few augments around with the last of his Regrets, Chilly changed up his build to create a massive circle of consecrated ground. With the base 78% increase in area from Smoldering Embers and Incendiary Expansion and Ember Proliferation, he managed to get a circle of consecrated ground that was nearly twenty meters in diameter. The addition of Adaptable Embers allowed the consecrated ground to spread into the water of Mirror Lake and not just extend along the seafloor.

The new combination of augments allowed them to kill the Leviathans without actually having to drag them onto land. By standing on the shore, Chilly’s area of influence extended well into the lake. Far enough that he did fire damage to the Leviathan that Chaeli was fighting. The result was that after Chaeli chopped at its tentacles, they would spontaneously disappear beneath the waves and Chilly would receive a kill notification.

In between each engagement they would retreat up into Avalan Ravine. Chaeli couldn’t survive on the surface of the water against several Leviathans at once, even if she was fighting on consecrated ground the entire time. That slowed them down, and the fact that most of the Leviathans were lower leveled than them meant that it still took most of the day to farm up all the way to level fourteen.

Chilly retreated up the shore upon reaching the level up milestone and called Chaeli to join him.

“I got it,” Chilly told her when she had finally made her way to dry land. A secondary, but no less pleasant, side effect of killing the Leviathans in the water was that the beach was still pristine. It made it easy to forget that there were monsters dwelling just beneath the surface of the lake.

“Cool,” Chaeli said, riffling through her pack. “I’m going to need to head back to Teluria and give a status report. Do you want to go on ahead and take care of the Hellbringer’s guardians?”

“That sounds good,” Chilly said. “Make sure to bring extra essences. If the guardians drop more gear then we can have another crafting session right before we take on the boss.”

Chaeli hesitated.

“You can make me look prettier?” Chilly hedged.

Chaeli snorted, “fine, but you owe me.”

Chilly nodded amiably. “Sure. You can keep all the essences that drop while I’m clearing the guardians. Though I would appreciate it if you could spare a few Regrets. I feel like I go through those like water.”

“Mhmm,” Chaeli threw her pack onto her back. “I’ll try to get some intel on the Hellbringer and its abilities. Meet up within a reset in Sooty’s Hell?”

Chilly nodded and they separated.