The PSI Ball had mixed results. Launching the ball into the webs resulted in half a dozen spiders being knocked loose, but they didn't fall far before getting caught in their webs. Only two spiders went down the drain. However, the Spider Queen reacted quickly by launching several Web Bolts back at him. The first one missed him, but the second caught both legs and pinned him in place. With more than a score of spiders heading his way, James used Shadow Step and moved back to the previous intersection. There he had the time to nock an arrow.

James started casting PSI Ball on repeat from the rear of the tunnel. A ball screamed down the tunnel every four seconds and knocked half a dozen or more spiders off the wall or ceiling. It wasn't perfect, and it didn't always hit where he wanted it to, but it was still devastating. He could fire an arrow between castings and knock down a spider or focus on a spider that fell on the walkway. In the end, more than ten spiders still made it within melee range. James used his bow like a shield to knock aside any spiders which got too close. With his sword in the other hand, he killed several spiders by knocking them into the water.

James noticed the flashing notifications when the battle was finished while getting ready to move forward and kill the spider queen.

Congratulations! You have completed the Kill Quest - Spiders 50/50

Reward: 250 experience (+25 for Dungeon Friend)

Congratulation! You have reached level 11

James used the time to check his Status Screen quickly.

Name: James Gleason Race: Glrick Class: Shadow Knight Specialization: Level: 11 XP to next level: 1277/2000 Armour Rating: 36 Age: 42 Rank: 751 Health: 370 Unarmed Damage: 15 Stamina: 130 Glrick Sword: 37-42 Mana: 300 Bow of Piercing 36-46 PSI: 500 PSI Regen/Min 8.33 ATTRIBUTES Unspent Attribute Pts: 21 Strength 22 [17] Agility 22 Dexterity 16 Endurance 15 Willpower 19 Intelligence 31 [26] Charm 15 Luck 12 SKILLS Unspent Skill Pts: 10 Analyze 11 Armour – Medium 10 Astral Navigation 7 Back Attack 5 Crit Strike – Sword 5 Evasion (M) 9 Info Gathering 4 Inspect 10 Meditation 7 Melee – Glrick (M) 6 Melee – Knife 1 Melee – Sword 4 Melee – Unarmed 3 Negotiation 1 PSI – Targeted 9 Ranged – Short Bow 2 Perception (M) 8 Res – Mental 1 Res – Debuff 2 Res – Pain 7 Res – Poison 6 Shield 11 Stealth 10 Swimming 2 Unspent Advantage Pts 20

James noticed a couple of things right away. The first was that he gained 20 Free Advantage points at level 11, and the second was that it kept a total experience instead of resetting at level 11. The last was that completing the Kill Quest earned him 275 experience.

Rocko agreed, "Yes, Dungeon Quests are worth a lot of experience. That is what makes them worth exploring."

James sat down at the intersection, facing the Spider Queen's lair. Although he had no intention of Meditating, he still needed to recover his PSI and Mana. He was starting his routine of dropping Powers and then activating them when his PSI maxed out. This would allow him to regain his PSI the fastest. He also noticed that he didn't have a lot of arrows left. That would play a factor when fighting the Spider Queen. He had two arrows left in his quiver and pulled out the ten he had in his Bag of Holding. Twelve arrows would have to do. Fortunately, he only had the Spider Queen and three rats left to kill: unless there was a Rat King. There was also the possibility that there was another level to the Dungeon. He would have to figure out a way to carry more arrows. Maybe a second quiver would help.

Turning to Rocko, James asked pointedly, "So, now that I am getting twice as many Advantage points, what do you have in mind that you begrudge me spending a few?"

Rocko thought about the answer for a few moments before replying, "Shadow Lord is a hard Specialization to achieve. You require two Attributes at level 30 and the rest at level 20. You require 10 Skills at level 20 and 10 Skills at level 10. You require five Abilities which are Shadow based, not including the one you got from Shadow Knight."

"Why wouldn't it be included?" James asked.

Rocko rolled his eyes, "Okay, it is included. Now you need six Shadow-based abilities."

"Whatever, where are the Advantage Points going?"

"Shadow bind is a single target Tier 2 Power. Shadow Form is a Tier 3 Power, and Animate Shadow is a Tier 4 Power. That is a total of 90 Advantage points, double due to your Magic Resistance."

"You almost make it sound like having Magical Resistance is bad."

"In this case, it is, but in the long run, it won't be. It is making the best of two large advantages. If there were a PSI Lord Specialization that would do the things for you that we hoped, then I would have recommended that course of action."

"There isn't?"

"Not that we know of. We are planning for what we know, not what we are hoping."

"Makes sense. But it is still 180 points. What about the rest?"

"There are three Abilities that you need to have in order to qualify for the Shadow Lord Specialization. The first is Mana Sense, which is only 20 Advantage points. That Ability should help you locate sources of Mana, detect Enchanted Items and identify who has a large Mana Pool."

"Meaning they are a mage of some type," James added.

Rocko nodded, "Exactly, Knights do very well against Mages. The next Ability is called Domain. We think it creates a mini dungeon for you. It allows you to control the rules for a specific location. The key is that it prevents others from using any teleportation powers within your Domain. And it costs 40 Advantage points."

"Ouch!" James groaned.

Rocko sighed, "The last Advantage you need to have is called Shadow Squire. We don't have a lot of information on this Advantage, but we think you need to name someone your Squire. But we don't know the prerequisites. We hope that when you get the 60 Advantage points, we can looked at it."

James frowned, "Didn't you check it out when I had the available Free Advantage points?"

Rocko nodded again, "Yes, but all the Advantage said was that you converted a willing subject into your Shadow Squire. That was all."

"It sounds like this magic resistance is a huge problem. It will cost me an extra 150 Free Advantage points when all is said and done. How is this a help?"

"Because the Glrick is the only Race that gives you PSI Powers and Astral Travel. The extra cost on Shadow-based Abilities is minor in comparison."

"I am not convinced. You could easily have duplicated my PSI Powers with Spell-based ones, and you could have used another race that teleported, used Astral Space or just used a Spell to duplicate it."

"No, James, the PSI Powers is your Golden Ticket. Magic Resistance or Spells can't block PSI Powers. You will be able to attack other Champions without them being able to resist your Powers. In return, you will be able to resist their Magic by up to 75%. That is a perfect trade-off."

"Then I am going to need more Free Advantage points." James agreed.

"Which means you need to clear more Dungeons." Rocko confirmed.

James equipped his shield and drew his wand, "Well, let's not keep the Queen waiting any longer."

James decided to use Augment Skill to give him a +5 Skill bonus to PSI - Targetting and Augment Attribute to provide him with a +5 Attribute bonus to Intelligence. He wanted to swap his Ring of Strength +5 for another Ring of Intelligence +5, but Rocko said that he could only have one bonus to an Attribute or Skill at a time. Between all the changes, he hoped it improved his chances.

The Spider Queen was waiting for him. He couldn't see it right away, so he used Shadow Sense to shift his perception to be at the room's far end. Once he did that, he spotted the Spider Queen quickly enough, hiding behind a control room wall on the left-hand side of the webs. Interestingly, a giant spider cocoon was hanging from the middle of the ceiling. It looked almost like a decoy. James realized that the first thing he would have to do was remove the webs from the room. They blocked his line of sight and gave the Spider Queen the advantage.

Using the Wand of Flame Bolt, James fired at the decoy. Then, before the Spider Queen could counter-attack, he moved back a few paces. The bolt destroyed a path through the webs, and when it struck the decoy, it went up in flames. James was sure that most people would think it was a direct hit on the Queen based on its shape. Fortunately, James knew it was a decoy.

Watching the left side of the chamber, James waited for the Spider Queen to reveal herself. It was a game of cat and mouse. He would need to wait and see who moved first. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait that long. His training had taught him exercises that would allow him to stay still for long periods and how to make sure that his muscles didn't cramp or become numb.

It was almost an hour later, but the Spider Queen was the first to act. She stuck her head out from behind the control room and peered down the tunnel James was hiding in. Due to this Shadow Meld power, he was confident she couldn't see him. Still, he got ready to evade it if it became necessary. The Spider Queen crept out of her hiding spot and continued to look around. James wanted to wait until it was fully exposed before attacking. Hopefully, she would have less time to react and get behind cover.

James saw his window of opportunity when the Spider Queen moved to examine the decoy. She didn't approach it directly but moved around it on the backside of the chamber. James was only able to get minor glimpses of it. He tried to triangulate the creature's location using Shadow Sense again and launched a Flame Bolt. The second spell tore through the webs and even lit some of them on fire. In a dazzling display, the Spider Queen Dodged to one side and then hurried to the far side of the control room. James fired off a PSI Bolt along with the last charge in the wand at the rear section of the control room. He hoped it might catch the webs aflame and draw the Spider Queen out.

The Flame Bolt struck the outside wall of the control room. The rooms' webs caught fire and burned quickly, revealing the concrete structure and metal walkway leading up to it. The Spider Queen had retreated quickly enough to avoid the Flame Bolt, but James was sure it got a little charred in the fire.

'She is hiding,' James sent to Rocko.

"Of course she is. She is using hard-cover. Wouldn't you?"

James used his Shadow Sense for the third time and tried to see if any of the Spider Queen was exposed. She was well covered. She was a bit squeezed, using the room as a barrier. Moving back to his own body, James used his new Power and focused just past the bottom of the control room. Using PSI Ball, he activated the Power and saw the ball explode outward at the target point. It was handy that he didn't need a target. The damage was minimal but also bypassed AR. The best part was that it caught the Spider Queen by surprise, and it was something she could hide from.

For the next several minutes, James launched PSI Balls at all three sides of the room adjacent to where the Spider Queen was hiding. James had the most luck launching an attack below and then following up with an attack above. After a few minutes, the creature learned, and his attacks failed. He also ran out of PSI points fourteen shots later. He was recovering some PSI during that time, but not very quickly. He now regenerated at more than 8 PSI per minute and used 7 per minute to maintain his two Augment Powers and Harden Skill Power. That meant he had enough PSI power to fire off A PSI Ball every 20 minutes.

'Do we know if the monsters regenerate their health?' James asked Rocko.

Rocko shrugged, "Unlikely. Mind you; you have to do damage to them for them to regenerate it."

'Harr Dee Harr Harr.'

James wasn't thrilled about getting into melee range with a creature that had a poison bite attack, but if it continued to hide, he would never be able to extricate it from its hiding place. However, James finally had an idea.