Theo stared at the three doors. Hours had already passed, and both Alice and Blake were sleeping fitfully near him. They’d rolled out sleeping pads from their dungeoneer’s kits and lit lanterns around them, but the flames flickered and made the carvings on the doors seem like they were moving.

Mermaid.

Crab.

Squid.

Theo knew all three of them were going to be difficult to fight. He didn’t know if the three carvings revealed exactly what was behind those doors, or if it was only approximation. He was pretty sure he could beat a literal crab in a fight. A giant, man-eating crab? Not so much.

As his mana replenished, he went over to Blake to heal more of his wounds. Soon, the vines and moss fell away, revealing patches of new skin beneath. The skin had a faint greenish tinge to it, like the skin of a leaf in summertime. But he wasn’t bleeding anymore, so that was something.

Theo couldn’t sleep, so he had offered to take the first watch. He took out the ‘rations’ from his dungeoneer’s kit, only to find it hardly edible. It seemed like mostly different kinds of jerky: deer jerky, fruit jerky, and something called hardtack, which, as far as he could tell, was basically bread jerky. It was all dry as hell, and his jaw was sore from chewing. But he needed the health energy, and the food slowly restored him, closing his wounds. He was careful not to eat too much; if they really were going to be in the dungeon for half a month, they would need to be careful about how much they ate.

While he stayed awake watching, he flipped open his menu and explored. His new Druidic Knowledge ability made the menu more detailed than ever before, and he learned new things about all the creatures and locations he encountered. Even the carvings on the wall yielded more information when he used identify on them.

Kal’ech, God-Priest of the Deep Ones, is a powerful sorcerer of the Finfolk race. Finfolk — alternatively called many names in many universes — are a race of aquatic beings resembling a cross between human beings and different species of fish. Kal’ech was a powerful wizard who fell under the influence of the Deep Ones, ancient god-beasts of the deep oceans. The Deep Ones lended him some of their power to do their bidding in Kal’ech’s universe. With their power, Kal’ech amassed many followers and a great amount of universal power, ultimately taking his temple into a pocket dimension and creating this dungeon. Kal’ech guards his dungeon fiercely, and uses the Deep One’s corrupt magic to create monstrosities that help protect his universal power.

Theo was surprised at just how detailed the identify skill was becoming. With Druidic Knowledge, he could learn much about not only the place was in, but how the multiverse worked at a larger scale. What did it mean for a god to loan power to someone? Was that what Bel, or DIETY UNKNOWN, had done to Theo? Could that power be taken back? And what did followers have to do with it? If a person had followers, would they grow more powerful?

He tried using the identify skill on the three doorways, but was met only with the message:

It appears to be a door of some kind. Enter? Y/N

Theo felt something else, too. Something obscuring his Druidic Knowledge. If this really was Kal’ech’s own pocket universe, then he probably had a lot of power within the dungeon. He could probably mess with Theo’s powers, or block them from working on his monsters. That was probably what happened when he tried to use Call of the Wild on those razorfins. The system had said they were under another magic user’s influence and could not be impacted by Theo’s magic. He had to imagine that magic user was Kal’ech, and that Kal’ech was the thing waiting for them at the end of the dungeon. Beat Kal’ech, and they would beat the dungeon and go free.

He pulled up his stat menu. Unfortunately, the fight the razorfins didn’t seem to move the needle much. How did the whole leveling system work, anyway? He wondered if it was exponential in nature, or if the levels were set at arbitrary amounts of universal power. That might be a question for Blake when he woke up, as Blake had a mind for math that Theo didn’t. It looked like his overall level was hovering in the low end of level three. The menu called his level 3.3, whereas before the fight with the razorfins it had been 3.1. He didn’t get any cool perks when he leveled up a decimal point, only when he hit a new level altogether. But he still felt the rush of power when he gained a decimal point. He switched his notification settings to alert him when he gained a sublevel, just so that he was reminded when he made progress. He wondered how the leveling would go moving forward, if each level grew harder and harder to reach.

When he couldn’t look at the menu any more, he got up to stretch. He scanned the carvings on the walls, paced the floor, stared down the long hallway they’d entered from. Then he moved towards the waterfall in the middle of the room to refill his canteen.

The waterfall — or tower of water, whatever you wanted to call it — was perfectly circular, a spout that dumped down from the ceiling. As he got closer, the mist sprayed him with cold, clear droplets. He figured it was safe to drink — underground water sources usually were, at least on Earth, because they’d percolated through the ground and been purified in the process. Of course, the mountain springs he’d drank out of in the past weren’t the lairs of corrupted priest-kings, but hey, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

As he neared, he finished the rest of his canteen and then extended his hand to fill it. He tied the strap around his wrist so that the monumental force of the torrent could rip it away, send it rushing through the hole in the floor.

That’s when he saw the chest.

It was obscured by the rushing water, standing on a stone pedestal in the center of the waterfall. It seemed that if he were to step through the falls, he’d be able to jump on the center platform and not be crushed by the flow. He hoped.

He looked over his shoulder at Alice, Blake, and Tiberius, sleeping peacefully. Then he slowly reached his hands through the waterfall, and felt the dry air inside. He was right — there was a hollow inside, but the force of the falling water might push him into the opening below. He did not want to die that death. Then he remembered the explorer’s kit. He went to his pack, pulled out the rope and grappling hook, and then attached it firmly to a rock. He’d been rock climbing many times in his life, so he knew the basic nots needed. He wrapped the rope around his waist and tied it tight — he wasn’t sure it save his life if he fell, but it was better than nothing.

He moved to the back wall, then unequipped his cloak so that it wouldn’t get soaked or catch on something. His cloak vanished in a swirl, sucked into his inventory. He’d realized pretty quickly that to put something into his inventory, he needed to be wearing it or at least touching it. Then he thought better of it, and unequipped the rest of his clothes, sucking them into his inventory. He stood in nothing but the Great Game’s version of underwear, which was a loincloth that almost resembled tightie whiteys. He was glad Alice and Blake were asleep.

He put his hands on the stone wall behind him like a track runner, then launched off, racing towards the waterfall. He leapt at the last possible moment, he leapt, hitting the icy water like it was a wall of concrete.

At first he was falling, the force of the waterfall too much for his meager jump. But then he broke through, sliding across the stone platform. He skidded to a stop as he collided with the chest, the force knocking the wind out of him.

He coughed, spitting up some water that had somehow gotten in his mouth. To his surprise, the rope connecting him to the outer chamber held, the waterfall splitting around it.

He turned to the chest. It looked different from the last one he’d seen. The last one had been small and wooden, with simple metal latches. This one was made entirely of stone, with the same carvings that coated the inside of the dungeon. He cast identify.

Chest (Uncommon): Some chests are naturally occurring caches that collect Universal Power. Others are created by beings to farm Universal Power from their surroundings, or to protect or charge magical objects. This type of chest is the latter. Open chest? Y/N

Hell yeah, Theo thought. Uncommon was a better ranking than the last chest they’d gotten. He reached down and pushed the stone lid off the chest, letting crash to the floor. Within were dusty clusters of objects. Most noticeable were the potions, due to their subtle glow. On the right side of the chest were at least five health potions of varying sizes. Next to them were a separate assortment of mana and stamina potions. Next to it was something golden-green, folded over like clothing. He identified it:

Armorfish Scale Mail: The scales of the magical Armorfish have been woven into this lightweight and flexible mail. As light at fish scales but as tough as steel. Unfortunately, this armor smells like fish. Increases your swimming speed and durability, but decreases your charisma. Includes leggings and gloves.

Theo frowned, reaching into the chest and pulling out the mail. It felt silky almost, except he could see the individual scales and feel them move beneath his fingers. He was surprised at how light it was. He brought it to his nose and took a deep whiff. Yep, it definitely smelled like fish.

What the hell, he thought, the Gamemaker doesn’t seem to think I’m very charismatic anyway.

He concentrated on the armor, then absorbed it into his inventory. It swept into him like it had been sucked into a vacuum, then vanished. He quickly felt it appear in his inventory — it was hard to describe what something in his inventory felt like, except he just knew it was there. It took up space inside him. He could check on his whole inventory by using his menu, but didn’t need to. Instead, he just drew out the Scale Mail and auto-equipped it.

The mail slowly spread over his body, like it was being dripped on. The scales coated his near-naked form like they were tailored to him. He watched the gold-green of them shimmer on his chest and arms, ending in scaled gloves that fit snugly to his fingertips. He flexed them, surprised to find that he could barely feel the scale mail there.

He looked down at his feet — the message hadn’t indicated footwear would be involved — and indeed saw that his feet were bare. Bare, and submerged in water.

He blinked.

What?

He looked around him and saw that half a foot of standing water had appeared on the platform. It had done so silently, and he’d been so focused on the loot that he didn’t even notice it. He looked around him. The thunder of the waterfall that had guarded the chest still raged, and he couldn’t see the rest of the room, where Blake and Alice slept. Where he was supposed to be watching them.

The water continued to rise.

Then he heard it. A grinding sound, like stone rubbing against stone. It shook the very foundation of the room, and the gap between the platform with the chest and rest of the room closed. Suddenly, the waterfall wasn’t vanishing into the floor. It was filling the room.

“Oh, fuck,” Theo said.