Zelda had taken a bit more convincing before she accepted Alex’s tenuous offer of friendship. She seemed genuinely upset that her logical mind had been corrupted with Alex’s emotions. Alex found it ironic that she believed that he had infected her rather than the other way around. Realising that she was upset then made her more upset, because simply being upset was an example of an emotion corrupting her logic.

Alex let Zelda talk herself round in circles for a while until she seemed to have calmed down a little. When she had calmed down enough to hold a proper conversation Alex’s companions had still not roused from their meditative states. When he asked Zelda about it, she told him that the time taken to level up varied from person to person. This was their first time levelling up and so it would likely take them longer than future levels as they learnt the process.

Zelda guessed Mike would wake up first. As a basic human Mike had required less essence to level up than Ben and Mel. The levelling up process involved a person channelling that essence into the core of their character, and then directing it towards the aspect they wanted to improve. It made him think of yoga with his ex-girlfriend. Alex’s ex-girlfriend had been big into yoga and had brought him with her semi regularly to her classes as her plus one. He remembered the instructor closing each session with five to ten minutes of guided meditation. He had actually quite enjoyed the classes, though he had never returned to them after Jess broke up with him.

From what he had learned of the level up process, it sounded rather reminiscent of his post-yoga meditation. Zelda described it as a gradual shutting out of all distractions, until the soul could be felt, including the essence that was stored there. Constructs like Zelda helped to make the process more efficient by dulling the senses. Zelda pointed out again that as far as constructs went, she was on a different level to those the average human would possess. For the average person levelling up could take an entire day, or even longer. This was one of the many reasons that levelling up was treated as a momentous event. How simpler beasts like the maur could level up so quickly after hatching was a bit of a mystery. Maybe they work on a more instinctual level. Some animals are basically self-sufficient as soon as they are born.

Zelda was still quite volatile. She would go from refusing to talk one second, to talking a mile a minute the next. If Alex was being honest, it was starting to annoy him. Of course, Zelda could sense his annoyance, and that wound her up further. I really need to learn how to filter my thoughts a little. Alex knew it was possible, because Zelda seemed capable of keeping most of her thoughts to herself. Deciding he needed to do something to distract himself, Alex crouched down to look at the maur tunnel again. I’m fairly sure I could fit inside. If it becomes too narrow, I could just crawl back the way that I came… No, stay with the group. Splitting up is literally how every horror movie starts,

I am so bloody bored. Alex thought to himself. Judging the passing of time was difficult underground, but he had a decent idea of how much time had gone by. He had discovered that one of the many things Zelda was good at was keeping a precise track of time. At least so she claimed; Alex really had no way to check one way or another. Two hours had passed by her count, though to Alex those two hours felt a hell of a lot longer. Zelda had gradually become less erratic as she gradually regained her composure. She wasn’t exactly happy, but she was she was starting to view her emotional ‘defect’ more positively. She had even speculated that it was only because of her advanced complexity that she was capable of absorbing Alex’s emotions to begin with.

As far as Zelda’s extensive memory bank was concerned Zed was the most powerful psychic in the world, and she and her siblings were Zed’s most advanced creations. A lesser construct would have torn itself apart in the same circumstances as its logical core fought against its hosts emotions. She noted with an unsubtle smugness that the addition of emotions to her mind could be considered to make her more sophisticated even than the constructs inside Alex’s companions.

Alex was going a bit stir crazy. He was in a dark room lit by glowing mushrooms. Apart from Zelda his only companions were either meditating, or giant ant creatures. The maur couldn’t exactly hold a decent conversation. The giant insects busied themselves by dragging off the bodies of their fallen. The worker drones gnawed the legs off the larger warrior corpses, making them easier to pull into their honeycombed tunnels. They worked with an undeniable purpose, and Alex wasn’t sure if the behaviour was natural, or something they were compelled to do by Zed. The crunch of carapace and bone unsettled him, and it went on and on. Alex could just about deal with the boredom of being locked in the nest. What was making his teeth grit was the grinding mandibles of the maur.

He was also starting to become curious about the dungeon he found himself in. The maur that Ben had sent to get beer had returned holding a horn of something that tasted remarkably similar to honey mead. Alex knew this because, after the giant ant creature placed the drink in front of Ben, he had wasted no time in claiming it for himself. The warm buzz the alcohol gave him had definitely helped him tolerate the grating din. Alex suspected that his new body had a low alcohol tolerance, because the maur mead had gone straight to his head. As he paced the room, horn in hand, he wondered where the drink had come from.

So far all he had seen of Zed’s dungeon was the birthing room that he had been created in and the nest they had fought in. The two rooms were linked by the labyrinthine maur tunnels, big and small. Other than Zed they had only encountered the maur, and the maur didn’t come across as capable of brewing alcohol. Perhaps Zed enjoyed a good drink after a long day kidnapping people from other dimensions. Did she also enjoy mushroom gardening all over the maur tunnels? What about the scrolls in the birthing room? Alex suspected that he was holding a handful of pieces from a much larger jigsaw.

Perhaps that was why his thoughts kept going back to the Coedan sized maur tunnel. Alex slowly lowered himself to the ground. The tunnel was carved out of the rock. Alex was tempted to take Enhance Senses from the Observation tree to get a better look down the tunnel, but he doubted 150% would make much difference. The first meter or so was illuminated by the glowing mushrooms of the room he was in, deeper than that was pitch black. A flash of inspiration struck Alex, and he started gathering the glowing mushrooms in the room.

The mushrooms didn’t grow on the floor, they only grew from the hanging baskets affixed to the walls. The honeycombed room he was tall enough for Alex to test out his monkey climbing skills for the first time. He was pleased to find out just how easy it was. His six fingered hands gave him a strong grip on the walls, and his tail helped him balance. He also discovered that while he was certainly weak compared to a human, he was proportionately stronger. He was like an ant that could carry a leaf ten times its size back to its nest.

Rather than rip the mushrooms out of the hanging baskets, he tried to unhook a basket to carry it with him instead. They hung by twine from the metal brackets the were embedded in the walls. He was able to unhook it the basket with one hand before passing it to his tail on the climb down. With his new mushroom lantern in hand, or in tail in this case, Alex approached the tunnel once more. He held the lantern out in front of himself with his tail, he was really beginning to appreciate the extra appendage, though it was already getting tired. He would have to do some tail pull ups, or invest the essence needed to rank it up.

The calm blue light given off by the mushrooms only gave him another couple of meters of visibility down the dark shaft. After that it was still pitch black, and Alex still didn’t have any idea how long it went on for. He was at least reassured that, from what he could see at the moment, it didn’t seem to suddenly narrow. He didn’t even know if it would lead anywhere interesting, for all he knew it would go straight to the maur dung pit. Fuck it, I won’t know until I try.

His friends hadn’t moved since they had sat down to level up, Alex had tested the limits of their trance a little, but he hadn’t done anything too dramatic. He didn’t want to inadvertently impede their progression. He interrupted one of the workers gnawing away to order Ben a replacement beverage for when he finally woke up. Before he left Alex used some of the mushrooms from his basket to spell out the word ‘EXPLORING’ in front of his companions. He didn’t plan on going far, but if his friends did wake up, he didn’t want them to freak out.

Alex took a last look at his companions. Am I doing something potentially very stupid just because I’m bored? He asked himself. He knew the answer, but he was going to do it anyway. Alex decided to go face forwards into the hole. He passed the glowing basket to his left hand and held it in front of his face as he began to crawl. The smooth stone felt hard against his skin, but his dark fur kept him warm. He crept slowly forwards inch by inch. He used his free and to pull himself forwards together with his feet and tail to push from behind. The tunnel was tight enough that there was only room for the smallest movements to propel himself forwards. The light of the mushrooms protected Alex from total darkness, but it was a tenuous protection.

Alex found himself breathing faster as he crawled, as his heart started to thump against his chest. It was impossible to see how much further the tunnel went on, but it was also impossible to look backwards at the way he had come from. Alex was creeping forward with no references for how far he had come, or how far he had yet to go. Why am I doing this? What happened to finding a nice, boring, and safe job? How long does this fucking tunnel go on for?

“This is the problem with emotions Alex. They lead to irrational decisions.” Zelda helpfully added.

“It’s not that irrational. I am a scout; I’m going to do some scouting. This tunnel must go somewhere, I’ve seen the maur go in and out of it a dozen times while I was waiting around.” Alex retorted, a little irritated by her criticism.

“That itself might be a danger involved in this ill-considered plan. If you encounter a maur in this tunnel it may decide you are an intruder and attack you. Escape would be near impossible and in this narrow passage its mandibles would have the advantage over your dagger.” Zelda explained.

“I can handle a bug or two.” Alex replied. He had been born with a stubborn streak a mile long, and though the idea of facing a maur in this tunnel terrified him he pressed on. He had been seconds away from crawling back, but now his mind was set.

Zelda chose not to comment further on Alex’s decision, and so Alex was left alone with his own thoughts. He had been hoping that the tunnel would prove to be a short one, but it just kept on going. Luckily for Alex rather than narrow the tunnel had actually widened a little, lessening his stifling claustrophobia considerably. Less fortunate however, was the downward bend the tunnel had begun to take. Crawling forwards at a downward angle had pulled Alex’s blood to his head. Together with the effect the alcohol had on his system he was beginning to feel a bit queasy.

Alex was getting ready to swallow his pride and head back when he heard the chattering sound of maur mandibles. Alex froze in place. The sound only lasted a moment, but it had been unmistakable. There was a maur somewhere in front of him. The sound of his own laboured breathing filled the ensuing silence. It’s going to hear me. Panic filled Alex’s mind. Desperate to avoid detection he remembered his Muted Body skill. He found that he instinctively knew how to activate it and so he did so. It felt a little bit like his whole body was shivering but in reverse. He felt the drain on his Energy immediately.

Muted Body active: 150% Stealth.

Energy runs out in 12, 11, 10…

When Zelda spoke to him this time it wasn’t in the slow full sentences of conversation. Instead it was a direct, almost instantaneous communication of ideas rather than words, words seemed to slow things down. It was a rather eerie experience. The thoughts almost sounded like his own, and yet he knew they weren’t. It gave him a mild headache as his own mind reacted to the foreign thoughts, mustering a defence against the invasion before he told it to stand down. As Zelda counted down the time until his ability ran out Alex could actually hear the noise he made dampen down. With his Energy depleting rapidly, he used the time he had left to get his breathing under control.

3, 2, 1…

Energy depleted.

Energy Strain 1 active: 50% regeneration until full.

Alex took note of the new status affecting him. Ben hadn’t mentioned it, but near the end of their previous fight he did remember Ben’s mana regeneration becoming noticeably slower. His ears strained to pick up any noises ahead, but he couldn’t hear anything. His breathing was under control now, even without muted body active, as long as he didn’t move. With his Energy being depleted he felt exhausted. He could still move, but he wouldn’t be running anywhere, even if he wasn’t constrained by the tunnel.

“Perhaps you should invest in Enhance Senses if you want to listen ahead. Swift Burst would aid you in running away, which would be the course of action I advise. The emotions you have infected me with include a fear of death, so thanks for that.” Zelda sent to Alex, and he could taste the hint of fear underneath the sarcasm.

“Swift Burst competes with Muted Body for my Energy. Enhance Senses uses Will, so I could use it alongside Muted Body. I told you before, I can deal with the odd maur; I’m not running away. Is it safe to learn a skill now though? The others have been in that levelling trance for hours.” Alex replied.

“Learning skills only takes moments, the system is very effective.” Zelda answered.

“So why is levelling up so slow?” Alex asked, his curiosity piqued.

“No-one truly knows, the Atevani system is a remnant of an ancient civilisation. Those who created it have long since gone to dust.” Zelda replied. Her words carried with them an undercurrent of closure with them, so Alex knew that was all she had to say on the subject. The more he spoke with Zelda the more of this telepathic subtext he was beginning to pick up. So how do I learn this skill? Alex wondered. In answer to his unspoken question a new thought inserted itself in front of his consciousness.

Enhance Senses available to learn.

Gives 150% Perception at 5 Will / Second

Cost 300 Essence, do you wish to learn skill?

Like the last time he had thoughts injected straight into his mind the foreign voice brought with it a flash of pain.

“Ouch Zelda, it hurts when you do that. It was ok when I thought I was under attack but outside of combat can you avoid it?” Alex sent to her.

“The more I interject information directly into your mind the more you will get used to it. That wasn’t me though, that was me connecting you to the system. It is the most basic function of a construct; some creatures and people can even do it unaided.” She sent back.

“Is the system sentient then?” Alex asked in surprise.

“No-one truly knows, the Atevani system is…” Zelda sent.

“I get it, long dead civilisation, big mystery, no-one knows.” Alex replied, cutting her off.

Do you wish to learn skill?

Alex could still feel the lingering question hanging in his mind. Yes? Alex tentatively replied to the question. He immediately felt the essence rush out of his soul. It was similar to the vast majority of the time when he wasn’t paying attention to the blood pumping around his body he didn’t notice it, but when he cut himself on glass he was immediately aware of how quickly it was draining out of him. Then as the flow came to a stop, he felt the new ability come to his awareness, like a numb muscle waking up. Alex tested out this new muscle, feeling a new mental strain as his Will drained.

Alex’s senses sharpened, not only did he not hear the maur ahead chittering away, but he smelt the musty air of the tunnel around him more acutely. He switched off the ability after a few seconds, not wanting to deplete his Will needlessly. The lone maur didn’t seem to be moving at all, just standing in place. Alex took out a dagger in his right hand and prepared to activate his Muted Body. It was time for him to do some pest control.