The presence of the Third House of the Aurdvari Dominion was not wholly appreciated by the residents of Klatakos. East Klatakos was a small part of the island that was connected to the larger and more populated West Klatakos by a thin strip of land. It was also much more dangerous due to the presence of a Dungeon and the land was not nearly as arable.

People still lived on that part of the island, however, and their home was sold off by Lord Zupel to the foreign power without their say in the matter. Some residents of West Klatakos were also wary of a possible invasion from their doorstep. The news of foreign conquerors from the rest of the archipelago had not gone unheard even in this far-off island.

Zekie was someone who had to frequent both parts of the island. Her home was in the east, but it was starved of opportunities for a young person like her. The brewery in the west was where she had made her living prior to Lahally’s arrival. Now, though, she was directly employed by the giants from across the ocean and seldom left East Klatakos.

It was an exciting change of pace for her but she was still impressionable. Her community instilled a fear in her regarding the long-term presence of these potential invaders, and now they were somewhat proven with the arrival of yet another ship. The dangerous job that she got from Lady Anne hadn’t helped, either. Something was going to happen to them sooner or later, she thought. They didn’t have the strength to resist, and neither did Zupel. Optimists amongst them already took it as an achievement that they hadn’t antagonised the giants and maintained a bit of trade. But they knew all that was temporary and circumstantial.

Veles and Triss walked behind the girl’s slow footsteps. Veles’ stride made it a bit of a chore for him to walk as slow, so he used the opportunity to gauge Triss a bit better.

“Do you speak Lower Dealic?” He asked.

Triss was thrown off by the sudden question. He didn’t figure Veles for someone to make idle chatter. He was also sufficiently scared of him, so he didn’t take it as jovially as he would the same question from someone like Sarva.

“I understand it, but I don’t have practice speaking it. My writing is bad as well, someone tore up the only book in our library a few years back,” Triss answered mechanically.

“That is manageable,” Veles muttered before pondering something that Triss couldn’t make out. “Calm the girl down, she’s scared of going to the Dungeon,” he ordered.

“...We’re going to a Dungeon?” Triss asked with a surprised intonation.

“It has already been inspected by the Aurdvari. The ambient mana is supposedly lower there than it is locally around the Lightguard Academy,” Veles said.

What does that even mean? Triss thought. He decided to ask a bit more to be safe. He couldn’t calm someone else down when he wasn’t calm himself.

“Does that mean it isn’t dangerous?”

“Not for you nor I. Even your infantry training should suffice for monsters as pathetic as those are,” Veles said. “A single Firebrood grunt could tear down half the place,” he added.

Triss felt relieved hearing that and nodded. Wait does that mean I could tear down half the place? I’ve beaten a few of those, he thought before getting himself back to the topic at hand.

“We will be safe,” he told Zekie in Lower Dealic.

Zekie turned around and gave Triss a look. “Okay,” she responded in surprise with the same language.

Her accent was completely different from how Triss would say it, though. It had just occurred to him that they were extremely far away from South Deas, and found it surprising that the Khea population spoke the same language even this far away.

They looked absolutely nothing like each other, however, apart from their statures. Her hair and eyes were cerulean blue like all the other residents of this island and the rest of the archipelago. Unlike his eyes though, hers carried a deep fierceness that was typical of their race.

Triss stared at her black horns for a second before scratching his head. They had grown long and straight from a bit above her forehead, somewhat like a gazelle’s. Triss’ own had started growing but he was quite conscious of it since the tiny protrusions emanated from above his ears instead. Everyone he had seen, including his sister, had horns like Zekie’s.

At the same time, Zekie was visibly slack-jawed by Triss’ sudden use of her native language. The boy’s face looked nothing like her people’s, so she assumed he was just the accompanying giant’s child.

She was somewhat relieved though, for a number of reasons. Mainly that he wasn’t much younger than her, and that meant that High Humans didn’t grow up bathing in blood from a young age. Bloodstained white leather wasn’t an ideal of fashion anywhere in the world, after all.

It also meant that she didn’t have to speak Elvish like she had to with Lady Anne. Her command over the language was terrible as it hadn’t been long since she started learning.

Why does he live with the giants? She wondered as they approached the grove near the Dungeon. She would’ve liked to travel with them to distant places, but she was already scared of approaching the Dungeon near her home. Triss speaking her language gave her some comfort, but she didn’t believe for a second that it would be safe for any of them.

“What kind of monsters… find here?” Triss asked her, again in Lower Dealic. He still needed a lot of practice.

Zekie responded with words that sounded like ‘wolf’ and ‘lizard’. Triss communicated that to Veles immediately after. “She said wolves and lizards, I think.”

“No, wolf-lizard,” she corrected him in Elvish, having understood that. “Also, tree-lizard.”

Triss perked up his eyebrows. Better than two-headed wyrms or sea serpents, he thought.

“How big?” Veles asked, who was probably having the same thought.

Zekie responded by gesturing with her hands and indicated their sizes. Not that comfortable with the language, then.

“Not much bigger than a regular wolf, then. It is odd for Dungeons to fuse the flora and fauna, though. Interesting,” Veles commented.

“Fuse?” Triss asked, lost at the word.

“Merge,” Veles said. “Dungeons spawn monsters just like the Threat does.”

That was startling to hear for Triss. It finally made sense to him why the girl was so scared, since it meant the Dungeon would just reuse her body to spawn new monsters if she died.

“Does that mean the Threat is…?” Triss trailed off. Can any Dungeon become that dangerous?

“Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. Only the concept is the same,” Veles ended that line of thought.

“Dungeons are sometimes even thought to be the progenitors of life, the cause for all our existences, in some circles. That said, they can’t produce sentient life and that usually puts those ideas to rest,” Veles added. “They’re also extremely useful resources as well, depending on the materials that a Dungeon might need. Food, minerals, lumber—they can be endless recycling pits to sustain civilisation. They are not nearly as sinister as you might think.”

Veles suddenly stopped after his explanation. Zekie and Triss did as well, not knowing why until Veles pointed at the branches of one the trees near them.

“It looks like we have a runaway,” Veles said as all three of them stared at the massive lizard with bark for skin. The camouflage was almost near perfect. They weren’t at the Dungeon yet, but it looked like some of its monsters were content with leaving it.

“Be quick with it. You’ll be killing monsters for the entire day,” Veles told Triss. “Do not use magic.”

Triss affirmed with a nod. The monster in question did not look particularly strong nor intelligent. It had not realised their notice of it, and it certainly was not an oversized magma-ridden werewolf like some of the Firebrood grunts.

Triss unsheathed a steel shortsword from his waist, having equipped it for the hunt earlier in the day after they had arrived. He was more comfortable with swords than daggers, and he couldn’t get the momentum right with the light weight of the glass dagger. He kicked the tree the monster was under, after which it had erupted in a screech. A cacophony of the same erupted in sequence from further inside the forest.

The lizard jumped down on him without half a thought. That’s so stupid, Triss thought as he just kept up his sword and impaled the beast as it had fallen straight on his extended sword. It had died near instantly.

He dropped the skewered beast onto the ground and pushed it off the sword with his leg. He felt something odd as it had died but did not think much of it, as it felt little different from the usual surge of adrenaline.

There was a green-like grease on the sword. Blood sap? He thought and looked around. He wasn’t sure of the point of coming to this Dungeon, but he was told to hunt, and he certainly didn’t want to disappoint Veles. He positioned himself in the open and waited for more of them to show up. He couldn’t find them with their camouflage, so he’d just wait for them.

“You can go back,” Veles told Zekie as he was waiting.

“N-not alone,” she responded sheepishly.

“Fine,” Veles said and took out a binded book from beneath his robes to read. There was not much for either of them to do.

The monsters slowly approached Triss one by one. There was one every fifteen or so minutes, and the bark-covered lizards would always try to aim at him from above. The wolfish lizards weren’t nearly as silent and they often ran at him directly. They were also a bit bigger and unsettling to look at, with a lizard’s snout and a dog’s ears, scales and hair, but they were just as weak.

All the monsters almost always died from the first slash or stab, but a few would attempt to dodge and somehow survive. A kick usually ended them at that point, however. They were quite fragile.

After an hour or so of cutting with and wiping the blade, Veles told Triss to stop and move further in. All the runaways had died. Triss was not sure how Veles knew that, maybe some detection magic. He didn’t perceive Veles using magic, though.

The trio didn’t encounter any more of the beasts after that until they walked past a brook and they had entered the dungeon. It was clear when they had because of the increased pressure from the ambient mana, even though the area itself looked no different and the space was open. Triss felt more at home while Zekie shivered. Veles showed no reaction at all.

The onslaught of the lizards became a bit harder to keep up with after they entered the Dungeon proper. They often went for Veles and Zekie, and Triss had to juggle multiple of them at the same time. A few of them managed to bite his armour as well. He could kill them before they reached his company, but the running around had started to tire him out.

He noticed that the corpses and even the blood left behind would disappear after a while. They would become a black ash and seep into the earth. The corpses outside the Dungeon remained as they were, though.

Around two hours after, it became much more infrequent to encounter the monsters. Triss kicked the last wolf-like lizard on the head and pushed his sword down on its collapsed body before using the sword as a support to take some time to breathe.

“Enough, you’re getting inefficient and the numbers will take a while to replenish,” Veles said, looking at Triss’ condition. Triss could easily keep going on for a while longer, but Veles had deemed it pointless to continue.

“Take out the dagger,” Veles told Triss. “Infuse your mana into it.”

Triss tried to use the mana stored in the bracelet but it didn’t work. My mana? He tried to do the same thing with his own mana after that and it started to glow with the same pink light he had seen during his awakening.

“Do you have an idea of how awakenings happen?” Veles asked.

“Sarva told me that a mage circulates mana through the unawakened, but some people can forcibly alter the process and the Class obtained,” Triss replied as the glow of the dagger grew brighter.

Veles shook his head. “Incorrect, but that understanding should be sufficient. That is essentially what happens without a nearby ley line, anyway. Do you know why the Lightguard does not allow its light infantry to get a Class?”

“Because they’re obnoxious about light magic?” Triss asked. He just regurgitated what Sarva had told him. He didn’t think it was otherwise though.

“Anyone with the training they offer would awaken a light-based personal Class. That reason is a false rumour, but one they willingly propagate. It’s because a dead mage results in an exponentially stronger Firebrood once the Threat begins the process. Their magic—the remnant of their Will—serves to amplify the Threat’s own magic,” Veles stated. “No different from what you’ve been doing today.”

“What?” Triss asked blankly as one of the Dungeon’s monsters attempted to attack him. He reflexively stabbed the beast’s torso with the dagger while his magic was infused.

The creature erupted in a shrill cry but this time, the entire forest seemed to come alive. It was like every monster in the forest had felt the same pain as the one that Triss had just killed. Triss felt a much stronger sensation from that kill compared to the previous ones—he could finally ascertain that the feeling was his Class growing stronger.

“Do you understand? The records left behind by a dead Will serve to empower the Will responsible for its death,” Veles said.

“Why was this one so different?” Triss asked, referring to the last monster that he killed. He inwardly tensed up, thinking of the implications. If the Threat can grow stronger by just killing people with magic…

“I estimate six deaths with that last strike,” Veles replied nonchalantly. “This section of the Dungeon is now devoid of monsters. We can start working on your Class with relative quiet now.”

“Six? What do—” Triss was cut off mid-question.

“Six dead by your hand at that instant, my count is accurate,” Veles said. “The previous bodies had withered.”

Triss stared at Veles’ expressionless mask with narrow eyes.

“Do you not even understand the magic you used?” Veles asked with an exasperated sigh.

Triss shook his head. “I was told it’d come to me instinctually… but that’s not happening. Is it because it’s not a personal Class?” He asked.

“I suppose that is the cost of forcing an unknown Class onto you, yes. Quite disappointing,” Veles muttered.

Triss stared at him blankly. That wasn’t even his fault. “Can I make it like one, then?” He asked.

”A personal Class is designed around a person’s Will. And a Will can be molded in a number of ways. Your education in the Lightguard, for example. Knowledge of the elements, personal feelings, talent and aptitude, all these things are factored in when it comes to a personal Class,” Veles explained. “With a forced awakening, those are relevant factors but the Class is passed on and designed by the person responsible for awakening you. It can even be rejected if the person is not suitable. So, no, I don’t believe you can without introspection and study.”

“And I was suitable for this Class?” Triss asked.

Veles coughed. “No, I believe you would have died if you hadn’t strengthened your Will having fought the Firebrood. The knowledge of light also helps.”

What did he just say? Died? Triss decided to ignore that part of his answer. “How does having fought Firebrood help if I didn’t have my Class then?”

“It strengthens your Will, regardless. And the strength of your Will affects your Class. The Threat is not excluded from the rule. Why do you think Luminaries grow powerful so quickly? I reckon fighting the Firebrood is by far one of the most efficient ways to reach the limit,” Veles said. “It’s painstakingly slow to grow through control and practice.”

“How does the knowledge of light help? And what’s a limit?” Triss asked. He had stopped infusing the dagger with mana.

“The Class you have is based on light, in an abstract capacity. The dagger is an ancient magical focus that relies on the same laws that your Class is based on. Using it in tandem with your Class exponentially multiplies the strength of your magic—magic that attacks the Will directly,” Veles answered, ignoring the second question.

Veles threw the book in his hand to Triss who fumbled as he caught it. “This contains the information on what I theorise to be the fundamentals of your Class, and some routes to develop it. You will be working on that for the duration of our stay on this island,” he explained.

“I believe you attacked the Will of the Dungeon itself, when you used your magic. The agony of one monster dying, amplified and transmitted to each one nearby, it’s quite terrifying in potential. What if you attacked the Will of the Threat? You might do much more damage than those Luminaries adept at blasting rocks. If you become strong enough, anyway. That is all potential, and you are useless right now. Work on it,” Veles said somewhat encouragingly before adding, “magic alone, you would barely be able to kill two or three at a time. That blade has more utility than just being sharp, you’d best remember.”

Triss’ expression brightened up hearing that. But it was wrong to say that it attacked the Will, and there was no chance a single person could ever make a difference against the Threat itself. Veles had just said what he wanted to hear to motivate him. His own motivations weren’t nearly as benign as Triss would have thought, though.

Those old bastards will have it coming, Veles smiled behind his mask.

“Your light is a mirage that can fool the World,” Veles said before waving a tambourine that seemingly came out of nowhere.

He waved it a few more times but the noise suddenly stopped. Triss finally perceived Veles’ magic, as if he were allowed to do so. He couldn’t even hear his own breathing anymore, he would have thought he’d gone deaf if he didn’t know better. The noise suddenly came back and Veles threw the tambourine onto the forest floor.

“But I don’t believe you can fool more than just sight as you are.” Veles stated as if prompting a challenge.