(James)

Callum and May had already found their way back to the entrance and were lying on the floor on top of some warm looking coats. Or rather, May was lying down. Callum was sitting on his coats in a meditation pose. As soon as he noticed the others were back, his eyes shot open and he smiled with relief.

"Thank God you made it. That maze is a bitch, huh?"

James laid Dana down gently against a wall and threw the key towards Callum. It slid on the floor until Callum stopped it with his hand, then analysed it.

"We cleared the maze. We killed the boss. We got the key. Where are there more coats?"

Callum fully saw the state the three were in, exhausted and coated in soot.

"There's a load more in the cupboards by the front door. Are you planning on sleeping here?"

James shrugged and pulled out handfuls of coats from the cupboard. He found more torches too and put a couple in his bag. There was no way he was spending another hour seeing of only fire or mana sight.

"Where else can we rest. We're all worn out, and it's almost night anyway. What happened to May by the way? And also what happened to your hand?"

Callum quickly recounted the events he had witnessed. Not long after he managed to kill the lesser sprite, he had found the door back to the entrance, and once there, had laid down May so she could recover more comfortably. He had passed the time focusing on bis meditating. It was relatively easy to level up and apparently gave bonuses to regeneration at levels 5 and 10.

"Ok, then lets stop for now. I don't know whats in this place, and frankly, I don't want to be taken by surprise. There's no sun in here, so let's just do this by hours. Set alarms on your phones if you need to. We will stay for nine hours. Guards watch in pairs. Each pair watches for three hours."

James interrupted Dom by clearing his throat loudly.

"Dom. There's only five of us."

Dom looked lost for a second, and his bottom lip quivered as if he was still trying to talk, but unable. James hated to do it, but it wasn't healthy to live in denial.

Callum took over.

"Then everyone watches on their own. We each do an hour and a half. I'll take first watch, then Dana, then May, then you, then Dom."

James nodded.

He turned on his phone which was on an annoyingly low percentage.

"Need a goddamn watch."

Callum chuckled a little as he felt much the same frustration.

"We need a lot of stuff. We can go shopping when we clear the dungeon."

With that pleasant thought in everyone's mind, they prepared themselves to sleep. James almost felt bad that he was ruining these clothes with his filthy coat of grime, but Dom was not showing any sort of reservation, and Dana was still unconscious, so he just went ahead and got comfortable. He made sure he was laying next to the bed he had laid Dana on and held her hand. He would be ready to comfort her when she woke up.

James was woken up by a gentle shaking of his shoulder. He clearly opened his eyes and in the low light of a torch, he saw May smiling at him.

"Get up sleepy head. Your watch."

James' alarm hadn't gone off to alert him to this, and when he checked it, it was dead.

"Ugh."

"I know how you feel man, and you look like shit. What happened to you all?"

Finally awake, James rolled over and sat up. He noticed Dana was still asleep next to him, but she had already done her shift, so she was probably too exhausted to do anything fun. He could always grind his skills in the next hour and a half. Then he could wake Dom and sleep for another hour and a half.

James was already looking forward to getting back to sleep but saw May was still looking at him expectantly.

"Oh. Um. We fought a giant face of fire. Almost suffocated and got burned. It was wild, to be honest. Got a key and a coin."

May made a face as she laid down where Callum had put her hours before.

"One coin? Seems pretty shit. It was at least a gold one right?"

James remembered the white shine of the coin and took it from his pocket.

"No. It was a white one."

He shone a torch at It, but couldn't see a crest on it, like the other coins. It didn't even feel metallic.

Analyse

White ivory token

(Valued at 10 gold coins)

"I'm starting to think gold isn't as valuable as we initially thought."

But May didn't reply. She was already asleep.

James smiled and shook his head. He wasn't sure what she had been doing while on watch, but it must have exhausted her. He was keen to try harder with meditation. He needed the increased regeneration rates for his health and mana.

But it was a waste to not use his regeneration while he could. And he was still expecting to get some skills related to regeneration. He had gotten one for health on the first day, so he just had to use more mana and stamina until something happened.

Maybe he should meditate on it.

James sat cross-legged on the hard floor and rested his open hands palm up on his knees. He took a deep breath in and slowly let it out.

James consciously blocked out the sensation of breathing. The sounds of everyone sleeping around him. The feeling of the floor beneath him.

Skill Learnt: Meditation (B)

James was glad to have learnt it easily enough, but he understood that the fundamental key to meditation was to keep his mind clear. He could do more.

He sought out the smallest sensations within him. The memory of damage in his fingers. The feeling of his clothes on his body. The slightly sticky and dusty feeling of the grime on him. He removed them from his mind. He needed to become numb.

Meditation has levelled up: Meditation is now level 2.

Meditation has levelled up: Meditation is now level 3.

Meditation has levelled up: Meditation is now level 4.

That was good. The meditation skill was likely making it easier to keep his sensation out of his mind. But he had reached a block. Now that he felt like his mind was free, he could just focus on something and keep that image in his head as an anchor of sorts.

Immediately, his thoughts switched to Dana. She was the most important part of his life right now, so surely he should think only of her. Right?

But surrounding her was the distraction. As soon as he thought of her, he felt emotions swimming around her image. Love, dedication, arousal. He shook the image from his mind before he lost focus and imagined a large white canvas.

On this canvas, he projected his image of himself. He also put his status screen next to it. He imagined sprawling and sketching the effects of his skills. Spells. Features. It was incomplete, as he couldn't place The two spiritual skills he held. It didn't matter though. The canvas in his mind was filled, and it was an image that sickened him. He had some things to thank the system for. He was certainly glad that he could get truly close to some people, especially Dana. But he was furious that he had been reduced to a mere statistic.

The system had ruined his image of himself. If everything he saw on this imaginary canvas was him in his entirety, then what the hell was the point?

Spiritual skill gained: Reason

James was just about to lose it at gaining a third useless skill when another notification greeted him.

You have unlocked three reasons for your spirit. You must now choose your legacy from your own reasons.

• 1: He Who Loves.

• 2: He Who Avenges.

• 3: He Who Questions.

James took no time to think of an alternative. He only had one true reason to fight. She was his only reason. He selected the first option.

James Lander. He Who Loves.

Spiritual skill unlocked: Lovers Lock (S)

James checked his status screen and saw that under the spiritual skills tab, there were two skills. One simply said: He Who Loves, and the other was the lovers lock he had just unlocked.

He couldn't press the first for more information, but he could for the second.

Lovers Lock (S):

The lovers spirit yearns for another. Lock your spirit with another who has obtained the same skill to secure your futures together, for better or for worse.

It was an ominous skill, but he was sure that he could do it with Dana. The chance of someone else not only choosing the lovers spirit, but also agreeing to do this nearly guaranteed it having some powerful assets. He knew Dana had at least one spiritual reasons, he just had to help her find a third one.

As James sat in the near-darkness, his eyes shut, a small smile curled across his face as he imagined a future with Dana, their fates combined. The image filled his being, and he sat comfortably for the entirety of his watch.

A low jingling tune broke his trance, and he realised almost a dozen notifications for his meditation skill had scrolled in front of him without him even noticing.

He would deal with them all in the morning, so he dismissed the lot of them. He made sure Dom knew what he was to do, and Dom just nodded sullenly. James tried to lighten his mood a little by suggesting he try meditation, but Dom looked at him blankly and his knife appeared in his hand with no warning.

James knew Dom was just telling him his plans to pass the time, but James couldn't help but jump at the sudden appearance. He laughed quietly and nervously, then uttered a low "uh-huh. Night then."

He lay down again next to Dana and all thoughts of Dom left his mind. He would spend the next hour and a half of sleep dreaming of her. He was sure of it.