It was well past sunset when Mathew saw Leo and Zack walk up to him. Both of the men looked fine. Leo had his arm in a sling, while Zack had a few bandages on his neck and arms. Compared to how he returned after fighting the wolf den, they seemed to have gone for a stroll along the beach.

“I take it that either the Dungeon was a pushover for you all, or you didn’t even attempt it.” Mathew said, looking them over for any clue as to what the answer was.

Zack broke into a giant grin. “Oh it was a pushover all right. We came, we kicked ass, and we came out victorious! We all claimed two titles! One is a basic one that improves as you clear more dungeons, the other is for being the first to clear the dungeon over all!”

Mathew kept his feelings hidden. He was heavily jealous. Why couldn’t he have joined them, and then grow even stronger! Payne will pay for this.

Leo nodded, “Henderson is level fourteen now as well. Myself and Zack here are close behind her at thirteen. Damien and Brown didn't’ level up, but are close to thirteen themselves. Let’s head inside, we need to talk about what we learned.” His tone turned serious at the end. Zack still had a giant grin, but even Mathew could tell he was slightly serious as well.

Mathew opened the door for them to follow him into his room. He already had a pot of tea waiting, and poured them both a cup.

“Let me ask the biggest question, was it difficult?” Mathew asked.

Zack answered first, “Honestly? Yes. If we slacked off or didn’t take it seriously, we could have absolutely died. It was a goddamn Goblin dungeon.”

Even Mathew had an idea of what a Goblin was, but wanted to know why Zack thought it was a bad thing. Weren’t Goblins supposed to be easy fodder? “You make it sound like it’s a bad thing.”

Leo sighed and looked down at his sling. “Zack is right, those things were annoying. Goblins are apparently really stupid, but also so aggressive they fought till they died. We were nearly swarmed. I wished you were with us Mathew. Maybe we could have done it without any injuries.”

“Henderson got the worst of it.” Zack said with a dark face. “Her scalp is all fucked up. Having hair long enough to grab was a mistake for her, but one we couldn’t have expected. Plus her left leg was chewed up. Thankful Brown and Leo working together ensured no lasting damage. Long story short, we won. Now what happened after we won is important information.”

Mathew leaned forward, interested in the information.

“When we killed, what I assumed was either a Goblin King, or some sort of Goblin-like creature but smarter and the obvious leader, a prompt showed up. We all saw it, but only Damien could make a choice, as he dealt the killing blow. He had the choice to claim the Dungeon, or leave it.

We didn’t know what either one did, but I won over with my logic. What happened after claiming was more so obvious. The goblins would go away, and we get some rewards, titles, or something for doing so. I imagine a power up to the person who claims it, or something similar to what a Hearth Crystal owner gets.”

“However, my logic for leaving it was that the Goblins would come back. We could turn it into a farm for gaining levels, items, and training. A true repeatable dungeon that just spewed out Goblins for us to kill. The votes were lopsided. Myself, Damian, and Brown agreed to leave it. Henderson and Leo wanted to claim it. Damian made the decision while we all argued and were instantly teleported outside the portal.”

Leo scowled slightly and spoke up, “Next thing we knew, a familiar countdown started. Instead of 45 days, it started to count from 5 days. We have no clue why so few days, but to say the least, I expect others to go there. Henderson and Damien are filling General Payne, we came by to fill you in.”

Mathew nodded, “Thanks. How was it on the inside? Bigger? Same size as where the portal lined up? What about levels? It’s a novice Dungeon, so it should all be less than Level 10 creatures right?”

Zack nodded, “You are right. The final boss monster was only Level 10, but it was far harder to fight than any wolf. Add in the sheer army of Goblins, and I doubt anyone could do that alone. The little guys were all Level 1-3. A few bigger ones around level 5-7. We thought the levels would make it too easy, but they had numbers on us. Nothing compared to the swarm of Imps, but still more than anything any one of us alone could handle.”

Something Zack said tickled his brain. “But I could. I can summon creatures to help me. I can turn a solo run into a four man run if I can figure out how to control the wolf.”

Leo nodded confirming what Zack said. “It was a slaughter. The portal was angled along a hill. We saw a few of the little guys running around outside. The Dungeon itself was a dirty cave. Torches along the walls, and the Goblins roamed in groups of five to ten. The stronger ones in smaller groups, or had a few of the weaker goblins with them.”

“What about rewards?” Mathew asked, thinking about the rewards he was given for killing the Alpha Pack Leader. “Surely something decent?”

Zack’s grin grew winder, while Leo also had a slight grin grow. “When we entered the Dungeon,” Leo said, “we were given a straightforward quest. Clear out the dungeon, and we would get a reward related to our profession, along with some UC. We received bonus rewards for being the first to complete it. I got an amulet related to my God that increases my healing regeneration. Additionally, I received some more ammo. It’s the best quality stuff I’ve seen. Even better than what Di had.”

Zack reached into his pocket and pulled out a golf ball sized red crystal. “I received a better shield, along with two of these. This one is for you, Mr. Ritualist.”

Mathew was confused as to what it could be, but then realized it. “A mana core?” He held his hands out carefully, ever so tempted to snatch it out from Zack’s hand.”

He nodded. “In total, we have five. I have two, and Damien has three. I plan to take one to The Workshop and have someone [Analyze] it. Figure out what it can do. Other than being used in a ritual of course.”

Mathew blinked and smiled. “Or, I can do you one better. You two want to see a ritual at work? I have one that might put The Workshop out of business.”

Both Leo and Zack had confused faces. Mathew never told them the exact details of every ritual he could perform, and even less so as to the full ingredient list. He reached into his bag to pull the book he bought from Di several days ago.

He flipped to a marked page and started to read aloud, “Ritual of Identification. A ritual used to identify any item placed in the center. Limited to items of the same rank as ritual. This one time use ritual is a staple of any ritualist, and often seen used by merchants to determine the value of items.” Mathew looked down at the ingredient list, along with the drawing required. He had everything now, the mana core was the last needed item.

“Out of the few in this book, this is one of the simplest, since it’s a one time use. There is another one time ritual that cleans items, including clothes. However, it's one item at a time and seems extremely wasteful of the materials needed to cast. Add in drawing the circles over and over, it just seems wasted. There is another ritual that can clean things that has the ritual remain permanently until it’s removed or deactivated.”

Mathew started to pull items out of his bag. Looking around, Mathew realized he couldn’t do it in his room and frowned. “We need a larger space, preferably somewhere flat.”

Zack pointed toward Mathew’s door. “Well, we can use the street, the basketball court, or a slew of other places outside. The Workshop has some open space as well.”

Mathew thought it over, “I’m tempted to keep it secret. I don’t want people knowing I can do rituals just yet. However, if I can show off what mana cores can do, people would start getting creative with them once we can find more.”

“I say do it publicly. You said it yourself, you want to make others like you for your future plans. Keeping too many secrets could backfire.” Leo said.

Mathew nodded, “I was leaning more toward that. Lead the way Zack. I don’t want a large crowd, those who are there get to see it. I feel like the rumors will spread quickly.”

The three men headed toward The Workshop. The repurposed air hanger had plenty of space. Mathew pulled out chalk and found a spot out of the way of everyone else. It was the evening time, so the place only had a dozen people. Most of which started to watch him. All curious as to what he was up to.

Zack waved at them, being a common face when he had time to learn from the blacksmiths.

“Let’s see. The ritual is only about four feet,” Mathew started to draw a circle, however in four parts the curved line turned to sharp right angles inward, turning it into a weird shaped plus sign. At each corner he placed an item including the mana core. A few more symbols were drawn near the center leaving an open spot for where an item was to be placed.

“Zack, if you could please sir.” Mathew gestured toward the empty spot.

He pulled out the mana core and placed it in the middle. This one seemed to be slightly larger than the one Mathew was using to fuel the ritual. Mathew made a mental note to try and see the three Damien had.

Mathew placed his hands just outside the edge of the ritual and closed his eyes to focus for a moment. He internally knew what to do, and pushed a pulse of his own mana through the ritual. He knew this was a valuable moment, and heavily focused on every aspect of the ritual. As he opened his eyes it started.

The ritual circle started to glow a dull red as the mana core used to power it visually started to shrink. It shrank till nothing of it remained and the chalk glowed more. The other items either glowed as well or were absorbed by the chalk.

It was weird seeing a magnifying glass seemingly erode away. Mathew then noted a subtle change to the symbols. A few shimmered on the ground, as if it was the body of a snake.

The glow brought by a couple more observers and one shriek of panic. Mathew kept his focus but nothing else seemed to happen. The mana core in the center floated in the air and a blue screen appeared next to it.

Mana Core

Novice Rank

A crystalline form of mana used to power Hearth Crystals, Magical items, Dungeon Cores, Rituals, Spells, and more.

“That’s it?” Mathew said aloud. The very simplistic summary threw him off.

“What’s it?” Leo asked. “What’s it say?”

Mathew read it aloud, and dismissed the screen. The mana core landed softly on the ground. The chalk had dissolved away now that the ritual was completed. All the other items remained perfectly fine other than .

With a quick hunch, Mathew opened his menu and saw his [Rituals] skill had gone up single level. “Oh, this is going to take forever to rank up. It better be worth it!”

Zack had a face that showed he was heavily thinking. Leo on the other hand looked confused. “So it’s a battery? That seems underwhelming.”

Mathew nodded in agreement. “For how hard it was to get one, I agree. Even a small one like this, why couldn’t Di sell them?”

“So that’s what I’ve been missing.” An old man said from behind Zack.

Mathew looked around Zack to look at the source of the voice. The man seemed to be in his late fifties, maybe early sixties. “My [Forge] skill is Beginner 0, has been stuck there for weeks now. I have an ability to charge magic items with mana cores as well. An upgrade I picked when I hit Beginner rank. I now realize those little crystals are what is needed. My shopkeeper wasn’t Di.”

“It was a...thing I called Bob, because I absolutely could not figure out it’s name. Anyways, I was asking for mana cores every day I was in that shop. The creature kept ignoring me, or saying something like ‘not now’ or ‘wouldn’t you like one old man’. Made me mad, that thing did.”

Mathew smiled at the man. “Well, thanks to these two, we know where to get them.”

“And where’s that?” The man asked.

“Dungeons.” Mathew said, greed in his eyes.