It was almost with relief that Jack proceeded with the final part of their mission, taking out whatever nest of horrors was responsible for the Harvesters and their infestation, whether it be boss monster or cluster.

"It's the central most room, it almost has to be," Veti said as they concluded their impromptu discussion, and Jack exchanged nods with everyone else. Now they all knew their ultimate goal, but were prudent enough no to move forward until they had cleared out any remaining pockets of resistance. Because as effective as they were at walling up, pinning down, and then blitzkrieging their enemies through slits in stone that hindered their enemies and gave themselves all the shelter and maneuverability they needed, all it took was a single foolish mistake to send their brilliant ascension crashing down into horrific tragedy and death.

It was with near paranoia that Jack slowly, methodically, divided the corridor just as he had in the depths of the endless swarming tunnels, glaring if anyone thought to rush them, but no one did. Not even Elva, whose expression seemed perpetually caught between wonder, fear, and bemused disbelief. Then finally gratitude when their careful quartering of the eerily gothic halls and chambers of black marbled stone netted not one but two encounters with either panicked or furious Harvesters and their Death Bear slaves, bound by silver cords of the mind that Jack alone could now so clearly see when the roaring monstrosities hammered at the impromptu walls pinning them so solidly and utterly with blood rune reinforced resilience, Jack knowing only that he should be grateful that none of his enemies thought in their brief final moments of panic, to slam through adjoining walls and try to circle around, forever attacking head on. But even as he consigned his foes to superheated deaths with final cries of "Ignis Ventus!" Or with a final yank of his mithril spool and a slicing cut of his spiritual sheers, he knew just how perilous a dance he dared, that if he didn't have the benefit of literally hundreds of boxed traps for luring, crippling, then eliminating their prey, and these insidiously deadly horrors experiencing a sudden barricade that formed slits only to deliver surprising death for but a singular encounter, who knows what counters his foe might have devised, if only they had an opportunity to study their foe, which Jack refused to give them.

Just one of the reasons why they were always so careful to single out and isolate them before going in for the kill.

"Now, Elva!"

And with those words it was Elva who performed the coup de grace with a massive ice spike shot forth from her modified gauntlet, moving with what was now umparalleled grace, her movements coordinated perfectly with the rest of theirs as her finishing move tore through the Mind Lords's brain in a spray of green blood and grey gore, and Jack tore free his due.

"And the final stray bastard is dead! Time for the main course!" Drake hooted.

All of them laughed in triumph with those words, Elva especially was grinning wide, cheeks flushed with an intensity of expression he normally ever saw in the sweetest moments he spent in Chu Hua's arms.

Jack gently squeezed her forearm as she closed her eyes and bit her lip.

"Do you remember what we spoke of last night?"

Almost guiltily, she looked up through sultry lashes, pinning her with a smile Jack almost though mischievous. But all she said was. "Of course I do, Jack. What you shared with me... the unlimited potential that would promise? If it actually works..." she shook her head, no longer looking up at him, momentarily lost in her own word. "The possibilities would be nothing short of incredible! No need to regret loss opportunity. Not if there is forever the chance to better ourselves, not if we can effectively adventure for, well, ever."

She gazed down at the silvery sheen Jack knew was just under her shimmering battle mesh, making Jack wince in remembrance for the look Chu Hua had given him. Though when he had tried to apologize, his girl had covered his lips with a soft fingertip, saying only. "You're a good man, Jack. And with the karmic debt she now owes us? She wouldn't last a single delve before folly absolutely destroyed her, if she dared to betray us. And I'd be very surprised if she didn't feel the weight of that commitment on her soul already."

And if the flush Jack could sense on Lady Cristova's cheeks had been anything to go by made it very clear that Elva was painfully aware of the excited oath she had given, particularly with how close he had sensed her coming to kissing him with those husky words, gasping despite herself when Jack had laid his most exquisitely designed rune yet across her solar plexus and naked breasts. Before Jack had cleared his throat and stepped back with the politest of smiles, his bowed head allowing her dignity as he dispensed the same advice he had given his friends. Fortunately, the gratitude and wonder he sensed flaring in his psyche from the connection of the mithril rune he had blessed her with far overshadowed any momentary confusion she might have momentarily felt. And her whispered oath of gratitude for Jack's mithril charm had been heartfelt, Jack having taken the time to explain a number of things to the adventurer now among their number when they chose to rest for a time to be absolutely ready for the perils to come. And the excitement in her voice when Jack explained exactly how it was that his party had achieved so much, so quickly, swearing oaths perhaps far more profound than she had realized... most especially the one to reveal absolutely nothing without their consent, were sudden weights Jack knew she felt only with the forging of his rune, and the sudden tightening of oaths now twined about her soul.

Soul Forger and Spiritual Tattoo perks are now in effect! Congratulations! You have opened the path of Pristine Core Restoration! Rank 3 Mastery modifiers are now in effect. Thanks to your pristinely symmetrical rune, your recipient has successfully saved versus Spiritual Implosion!

Jack had winced at the sudden look of horror Elva had worn at that moment, though he wasn't sure if it was for the message itself, or the mithril runic tattoo, shimmering a brilliant mercury and silver, that now covered near the entirety of her chest.

Greater Oathbinding is now in effect!

The strikingly beautiful federal agent had looked ready to faint when those words blared across his interface and, he supposed, hers as well.

"Don't worry," he had whispered. "I wouldn't have given you the greatest gift in my power to give, if I didn't think you could keep our secrets."

As to why he had risked and given so much to a near stranger, Jack couldn't shake the remembered horror he had felt, seeing her helpless and vulnerable before the guildmaster and horrors who had come so close to destroying her. The unexpected connection he had felt with her soul, so poignantly sensing her hopes, dreams, desperate hopes and poignant regrets, the faces of the children she ached to hold in the moments before her death. A fiery, beautiful woman with so much to live for who so deserved for her days to be filled with joy and happiness. So fragile in those moments her terrified gaze had first caught his own, so close to losing it all. To becoming another lost mother who would never see her little girls again. It was a torment no less visceral for its vicarious nature, feeling her poignant regrets and desperate desire to live to see the sunlight once more, to hold her children once more, as if it had been he on that slab, desperate for mercy, for succor, from any corner.

To give the gift he had had given him a sense of closure. The ultimate expression of being the hero he had perhaps always hoped to be.

To know that now, if she played her cards right and adventured carefully, prudently, with a team she could trust, since it seemed that parties were not locked in this realm... there was no telling how potent she could become. And with each level obtained, she would be that much stronger, that much more likely to survive, and to always be there for the children who loved and needed their mother to remain among the living.

And how grateful he was that Chu Hua had understood, seeing so much in his eyes with her piercing gaze and gentle smile. And for their latest adventuring companion even now in a confused daze, she had only the most understanding of smiles, even after he had come so perilously close to kissing the girl he had fought to save.

Before Chu Hua took sweetest revenge, showcasing her now superhuman strength and flexibility in ways that had left Jack a quivering pile of jelly after her ministrations, making it very clear to everyone that night that the man she had claimed was hers, and hers alone. Jack had his own cheeks flushing far more than he was used to when they took down their beast skin tents surrounded by double reinforced and warded walls, hours later.

And after all that trouble, he still hadn't gotten a lick of sleep.

Elva's voice immediately pulled him back into the moment, her voice one of wonder, even awe. "I've gained a full level already, Jack. A feat I feared would take years longer. Years!" Their slowly growing corridor rung with her throaty laughter, eyes twinkling with awe and wonder. "And yes, Jack. I used my points to patch up a medium fissure and two superficial ones. And Jack?"

"Yes?"

"It worked! It won't cost me any more potency to hit level 10 than it did to hit level eight!"

Jack couldn't help smiling at her excited shiver. "That's wonderful to hear."

She bowed her head, squeezing his hand, before looking back up at him with her sultry, steamy gaze. "I owe you, Jack, more than I'll ever be able to pay."

She then flashed Chu Hua a bemused, halfway teasing smile, even as she stepped away from him. "I owe all of you, more than I'll ever be able to pay. And a lady always pays her debts."

"Just make sure to finish patching up all your fissures," Aroust said with a bemused smile. "As someone who almost waited til it was too late... trust me. It's the best investment you can ever make."

Lady Cristova bowed solemnly with those words. "I will take your counsel to heart, Lord Aroust." She then stood upright, her battlemesh stretching tightly as she took a focusing breath, gazing locking with Chu Hua's once more. "So, battle leader. We have cleared the warrens and flushed out and cut down all the rats. What's say we take out the final nest?"

Chu Hua flashed the tiniest of smiles. "It would be best to strike with no enemies behind us, and minimal time for our foes to put any auxiliary plans into effect." Her strikingly beautiful eyes of ebony and mithril silver then latched onto Jack. "Are you ready?"

Swallowing, Jack quickly nodded, ignoring the pounding of his heart, surprised by the pressure behind his girl's gaze, her demeanor so different than it had been when she had clung tightly to his arms, just hours ago.

He tapped one of the three arched passageways leading right to the massive chamber he had mapped with the help of magesight, infravision, and his mapping interface, having cleared out all the adjoining chambers and hallways. "And here's our way in." He frowned thoughtfully. "Best we be careful. Because believe it or not, the surrounding walls are warded... by magics that aren't my own."

This earned a number of concerned looks. "Not your own?"

Jack solemnly shook his head. "It could be just because this is the bosses layer, the core room of the dungeon, or for some entirely different reason. Either way, I could plug up the entrances, but I can't breach the walls. We can only go through the entrances.

Intent eyes locked with Jack's own. "So we'd best be really, really careful with whatever we planned, or these bastards will have us at a serious disadvantage and we'll all be rightly screwed."

Elof snorted. "We've certainly spent enough time using our box traps and murder holes to take out our prey. Maybe it's time we see just how far we've come."

Su Li turned to her lover with a raised brow. "Really? You want our first encounter outside carefully controlled terrain to be with the boss of this nightmare pit? Have you grown so tired of me already, Elof?"

The boy's cheeks positively blazed. "All I'm saying is we have to ready and willing to fight, even without Jack perfectly boxing everyone in."

"Pride in our skills and a desire to grow are one thing, Elof," Aroust cautioned. "But to allow pride to goad us into giving our enemy any advantage that we don't have to is the mark of an adventurer doomed to fall."

The youth furrowed his brow. "Then how do we improve?"

Aroust flashed a bleak smile. "In terms of increasing our power? By doing exactly what we are doing right now. In terms of unit efficiency? By perfecting and polishing our tactics in White Zones... perhaps, at our present level, Green. Those are the training grounds we will use to design and perfect new configurations, abilities, and techniques. But anything more than that, say daring the Yellow, we instead proceed with the utmost caution and strike our foes with every advantage at our disposal. And this, Elof, is no Yellow tiered dungeon. It's worse than that. Filled with Death Bears and Mind Mages and the room before us is the beating heart of this whole nightmare."

Elof's cheeks positively blazed. "Alright, forget I said anything."

But Jack had already tuned them out, using his gift to gently shift his own rune-enhanced stone wall into a pair of slits he used to see the layout of the room beyond.

His guts clenched at a sight that sickened him to the quick, spotting dozens of bodies, flayed human torsos pinned down by webs of silk, their organs somehow interconnected by glistening intestinal tubing that connected beating hearts, livers, lungs, and numerous other organs his enhanced perception, infravision, and mage sight could make it in all too horrific detail. And all of them, every single one was writhing and groaning in pain beyond human reckoning, anything Jack could imagine.

Wide, bloodshot eyes gazing upon unimaginable horrors, lips locked in endless silent screams as their skull cases had been carefully removed, allowing the expansion of massively inflamed lobes of violet hue to pulsate strangely with dozens of etherial tubes piercing the lobes, connecting the tormented monstrosities to hideous octepedian horror at the center of it all as the slimy creature bobbed in his massive pool of bubbling green slime, along with the dozen victims it now possessed in ways unthinkable, unimaginable, their shrieks growing in volume and pitch as the horror opened one of its massive eyes, showcasing an hourglass pupil as it glanced Jack's way.

Submit!

Quickness check made! You break your gaze just in time!

Jack cried out and lurched back, and he swore to his horror that chips of stone actually flew from the eye holes he had carefully made as thick viscous tendrils that were the farthest thing from the etherial strands of compulsion he had fought to Snip and Spool from the Harvester drones he had dared face only after stunning and weakening them, oft times severely, with the help of his friends.

These viscous tendrils were so potent they seemed real. So utterly solid were the twin milky white strands of psionic energy questing for his scurrying form from the pair of holes in the stone wall he had made that they made the background black marble walls and cobblestone passageway seem ehterial in term. Even his friends alarmed voices seemed to fade away, such that the only thing real that was left in that dark nightmare of terror was a trembling Jack, desperately scrabbling back, and the pair of tendrils blindly questing forth.

Hungering for him, even as Jack broke line of sight with his foe.

yet somehow, they could sense him still... and the mind numbing horror this engendered left Jack feeling like a mouse caught in a tiger's gaze, so frozen with panic he had to choke back his own desperate cry, already knowing that the slightest caress of those hideous liquid mercury tendrils and he would be utterly consumed, body and soul.

In by inch, the questing, serpentine like silvery strand approached, its sinewy liquid form more perilous than any viper.

And all Jack could do in his shaking terror was jerk his panicked hand forward, profoundly shocked when his mithril sheer actually cut through.

You are now facing Greater Harvester Host!

You have failed to save versus crippling fear!

Mithril sheer has successfully struck 1 Exalted Tendril!

And the unholy howl now echoing through the cleared corridors from the massive chamber beyond would have been enough to lurch Jack off his feet and send his ears to painful ringing, if he weren't already a trembling wreck of terror hyperventilating at the sight of 3 inches of his foe's will writh and twist like a worm cut in twain, the rest of the massive tendril that had come so close to killing him, that would have killed him, had he not immediately lurched out of line of sight, just twitched and inched toward him, and never had Jack known such fear as to witness a tiny piece of his enemy's psyche, gain separate sentience and a will to match, two tiny slits of voidal blackness for eyes as it hissed like a serpent in truth, and sprung for Jack's soul.

"Ignis Sanguis!" Jack screamed. Daring to blast his foe with perhaps his earliest offensive spell, A firestream that would be laughable, had he not carefully, almost lovingly leveled up the flame blast to the point that it could now rival higher level spells for damage and, thanks to his unorthodox growth and perk advancement, it could phase right through most arcane defenses, even striking creatures that could phase in an out of reality, like the spiders that had inspired his remarkable breakthrough in the fisrt place. To say nothing of an astrally anchored fragment of a Greater Harevester’s Soul.

Deathpyre has successfully pierced astral defenses!

You have critically struck Greater Harvester Soul Spawn with Deathpyre!

Greater Harvester Soul Spawn has perished!

Firestream is now Elite Rank 2!

And it was the fierce jolt of potency flooding his soul more than even the frustrated howls of his monstrous enemy that had him lurch to his feet, understanding the horror that had consumed him, and he wasn't the only one, he realized, looking back at the stricken expressions of his friends as inhuman howls and cries filling the corridors even now.

Veti began to sob, curling into a ball. Even Su Li was whimpering, eyes wide with terror as she clung tightly to Elof who didn't look any better off.

"By all the gods, what is that?" Aroust hissed. Ah Lam, pale faced and clenching his hand, just shook her head.

"Our deaths, I fear," whispered the girl now trembling beside him.

And it sickened Jack to see the despair in even their tactician's gaze, as he used a panicked burst of will to close off even the eye slits he had dared to use at such peril.

Barlton, his face ashen with fear, still braved a smile, picking up his Veti and holding her in his massive arms like he would their future child. "There, there, luv. Tis all going to work out, you'll see. We'll be right in the end."

But much to their dismay, they were the farthest thing from all right, as they raced for the exit point they had noted with fierce murmurs of relief when clearing the lastmost corridor. For the wavering portal of liquid darkness that Aroust and Lady Cristova both assured with no small amount of relief was the exit, was now blocked by the wavering image of a furious bug-eyed squid who's flood of tendrils reached out for them even now.

"Ignis Sanguis!" Jack roared as he and his friends raced back, because whether it was illusion or no, they weren't taking any chances, and it was clear, painfully clear, that their nemesis, the last boss of this nightmare delve, had full control over the gate.

"You maggots dare to interfere with a lord of the deep? You dare to cut down my tools, to defile that which is mine? Blasphemy! You worms shall suffer endlessly for your transgresssions! Endlessly for butchering my drones! Endlessly for destroying my breeding pits! The sweet torments my tools feel at my psyche's caress is NOTHING compared to the endless nightmares that await you all!

And much to Jack's stunned horror, it appeared their foe just might be able to do just that, as nightmare words echoing through the chambers like the rupture of spleens and the dying gurgles of the disemboweled caressed their ears and clawed at their minds.

Assaulted as they were by whispers that tore into their psyche like howling winds, and Jack could all but sense the thousands of tiny microscopic filaments that, weak as they individually were, were trying to drill into their minds, burrow into their psyches even now.

"Retreat! We have to retreat back to the tunnels, now!" Screamed none other than Chu Hua, their tactician, instantly understanding their peril as Elva collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling in the back of her skull as blood began trickling out of her ears. The only one among them not wearing a skull cap made of the spiritual husks of their foes.

Drake didn't hesitate to dart forward to their newest companion's rescue, his reflexes and physique very much those of a warrior, determined to excel in attributes both mental and physical, he had confided to Jack once before, no matter how specialized as his handful of deadly shouts had now become.

None of them protested their tactician's orders as they raced for the stone fortification now stretching for miles, that they had made of the passageways that had been home to such horrors and their own stunning ascensions. And the whimpers of relief mingled with terror as the sensed of a thousand thousand microscopic astral worms burrowing for their souls soon faded as they lurched out the hole Jack had made beside the still rune covered door.

Pausing only long enough to scan for swarms of scorpion crawlers, calamari leeches, hooked horrors or deadly spiders before racing for the entrance to their sanctuary, desperate whimpers as his wide-eyed friends waited for Jack to unseal their sanctuary turned to sighs of heartfelt relief when the finally made their way inside.

But not until Jack took the lead, making sure that his fortification was free of trouble for a good hundred yards before he raised a defensive barrier just in case... before going back to meet his friends once more.

Drake couldn't help a rueful, bitter chuckle. "Unfucking believable! We were so close, Jack. So close to getting out of here!" Still effortlessly holding the trembling girl in his hands that Chu Hua and her sisters only now gripped with hands glowing with a healing light, Drake's attempt at black humor twisted into a grimace of such bitter desperation the others couldn't help but flinch and look away.

"We're never getting out of here, are we, Jack? The gods, I swear, they're laughing at us. Toying with us. Letting us get so close... before yet another horror from the deep or some queen of spiders or whatever monster will show up next forces us away from sanctuary. From salvation."

His laughter had a touch of madness. "We finally got our wish, mate. Leveling up our powers to the point we become legends, finding ourselves strong enough to adventure in the most perilous depths imaginable, with dread artifacts and an unbelievable fortune to our names! Only catch is, we can never get out! We really will be adventuring for the rest of our lives, short, black and bitter as that may be!"

"Drake! Enough!" Snapped Aroust, glaring at their friend, a protective arm around Ah Lam, the oldest of the three sisters who now looked just as anxious and uncertain and in need of a fierce protector as her sisters did. Aroust's angry glare turned to one of bitter sympathy. "Believe me, Drake. I know how you feel. Exactly how you feel. But we only lose, this nightmare of a delve only ends in tragedy, if we let it!" he all but roared.

"Think of it, boy! Never in our wildest dreams did any of us actually think we'd hit level fifteen! So what if we have to go further. So what if we have to delve deeper! We'll keep adventuring! We'll keep feasting on the potency of our foes until we get all the way up to level twenty! Beyond!"

Aroust's eyes flashed with sudden intensity as he pushed his face before Drake's own. "Until we get so damned powerful that not a single underworld boss has a hope of getting in our way, no matter how many cards he thinks to play against us! And that day, Drake, isn't just the day we escape this hell hole, but is the day we ascend to legend! So powerful none dare mock, denigrate, or belittle us, so potent all must respect us! And then, whether we dare the wiles of politics or hammer the story of our legends into the bedrock of fate, claiming fresh land and territory of our own, is when the start of our tale truly begins! A tale that might last centuries, if we're wise enough to tell it well!"

Drake stepped back with a frown, furrowing his brow, earlier bout of panicked madness now gone as if it had never been. "Wait. You mean like world conquest?"

Aroust flashed a cheeky smile. "Why the hell not? Particularly if the world we find ourselves in bears no relation to our own."

Drake had no answer, his gaze caught between horror and awe.

Jack just flashed a mad grin of his own. "You act like our turn is already over. That that slimy octopoedian bastard has already won this round."

Aroust flashed a bleak smile. "That's exactly what I... wait... Jack, you aren't thinking..."

Jack flashed a fierce grin suddenly mirrored by the friends who knew him best.

Veti paled. "Oh god, it was too close last time, Jack. Too close!"

Barlton just laughed. "Yer a right mad one, aren't ya Jacky boy!" His gaze turned serious. "Ya think ya can keep yer skull in one piece the whole time?"

To this Jack answered with a fierce smile. "Only one way to find out," he said, Leaving before Chu Hua or anyone else could say a word.

Racing right back into the madness, the sudden hot surge of fury he felt, being bombarded with that nightmare thing's mind worms once more, was enough to keep him focused, like a man drunk on terror deliberately squeezing tight a white hot bar of iron.

It was agony, but he kept his focus hot and sure. Needing time only to erect one wall at the end of the hallway between throne room and egg room before sealing off one one re-opened door way. Then to close off the hallway nearest to him and race back, closest to the entrance, where the sibillant threats of doom ringing in his ear, and the feel of slimy slugs burrowing in his mind was weekest, particularly when he deliberately tied a silken soul like a shroud about his head and neck, cutting out the vile sensations entirely.

"Time to end this, motherfucker!" Jack roared, the air now alive with the sounds of his second favorite spell as odd counterpoint to the whispers roars and threats that still hummed through the air.

"Sublimato!"

Before racing back to base camp and collapsing in a shuddering puke before his wide-eyed friends... before going back to perform the feat yet again.

Not stopping until several hundred cubic yards of rune-reinforced hallway was filled chest high with nothing but impossibly caustic slime.

Only then, glaring at pool of vicscous slime rising 4 feet above the ground, an entire corridor filled, did Jack execute the next stage of his plan.

"Formo." He whispered.

Already knowing he had no hope of dividing up, or even piercing the walls of the massive chamber just beyond.

But what he sure as hell could do is the dissolve the very door he put in place, allowing a pool's worth of universal solvent to flood the chamber beyond.

And how bright was the fierce smile of vindication he flashed for no one's pleasure save his own, when roars and threats were replaced with a dozen sibilant hisses of unexpected surprise... and then screams of pain.

Human screams, from the puppets the horror had so happily controlled.

And the sharp stab of pity he felt for the dozen or so tormented souls who had no hope of surviving more than minutes with their skull bones removed, their very souls flayed by unimaginable purple stained horrors was replaced by furious resolve, saving the best for last.

And the dim green light of the moss growing in the cracks upon the black marble walls was replaced by a brilliant beam of inconcievably hot plasma blasting into the rapidly draining pool, now unleashing an exothermic chain reaction beyond anything that Jack had ever dared before.

Grateful as the saints above that he had made his shot only when at the lip of the exit, needing only will the tiny foot diameter closed, slapping it with his stinging bloody palm while twisting around and fleeing for the sanctuary of his man made tunnel for all he was worth.

Even as the slithering murmurs that had been trying to infect his brain transformed to an inhuman cry of inconceivable pain.

"Run! Run down the tunnel! Do it now! Now!" Jack screamed with his mind even as he raced through the bolt hole he had left, desperately trying to seal it behind him.

Because it didn't matter that he had taken every precaution, making sure a good half mile of his tunnel was sealed and clear, with multiple blast walls to dart behind should worst come to worst, or that when it was time to finally hit the metaphoric red button, he had lined up his beam of plasma at the lip of his makeshift entrance, just feet away from the rune sealed iron door demarcating the line between the soul flayer's layer and the rest of the dungeon, where his enemy's psionic clawing was at it's weakest, and where sealing his deathtrap was only a single smear of blood and instantly stiffening stone away.

And somehow he knew, even before the world turned white with the blast of heat behind him, that it wouldn't be enough.

Not when he was catalyzing a ton of extremely volatile corrosive liquid, storing an inconceivable amount of potential energy both physical and magical, and what he didn't know about explosives in the world he had once called home could have filled a dozen text books. Add to that magically forged catalysts in high mana fields in worlds with forces and fields beyond what his minimal understanding of physics even accounted for, and he knew he was rolling a madman's dice.

And that he didn't really have any choice in the matter. Not if they were going to put that horror down, once and for all.

Because the helpless look of hideous awareness and inconceivable agony in the eyes of the twelve captive souls who's brains had pulsated like bloated purple hearts under the hideous caress of their ultimate squidian foe, their brains filled with the bile of a cephalopodean horror that would send shivers down even a Lovecraftian fan's spine, had to be destroyed at all costs.

It was a truth that had rung in his soul in time to the countless screams of the souls that had once dreamed of being heroes.

The idealistic souls of dreamers, who, save for dark twists of fortune and folly, could so easily have been his own.

Jack howled as his soul was flooded with potency beyond the pale as a certain Greater Harvester and its drone slaves and the entire complex it inhabited was transformed to superheated ash and a massive cloud of vapor so toxic it would have poisoned multiple city blocks, if not an entire city.

Pressure so great that the rune-sealed iron door his enemies had used to block off their layer from the dungeon at large gave with such force that a howling Jack had been slammed right into the opening of his tunnel, barely having the presence of mind to seal it back behind him, flooded as he was by inconcievable potency and pain now squeezing his soul in a vice of his ownmaking.

No matter the massive warren-like space between the Mind Lord’s layer and his own tunnels, it was only by dint of he and his friends once more being sealed off from the outside world with his Greater Familiar generating a positive pressure maelstrom of violent winds that kept them from asphyxiating nearly as quickly as the remaining enemies they had left behind.

And even as he felt his flesh searing off his face, even as he heard the cries of his friends, sprinting down the hall as he had ordered them too, he focused on the one thing that mattered. The only thing that allowed him to channel too potent a creature in a way that wouldn't lead to his absolute oblivion.

Visualizing so acutely, so viscerally, what it had meant to channel his Tier 3 boosted spell into a stream of plasma so energized and hot, it could have come from the corona of the sun.

And even as he felt the horrific heat pressure of A Tier 22 boss monster crushing his soul, he did his utmost to visualize channeling all that excess deadly potency away from him as a beam of superheated plasma that grew and grew in size and potency until finally the crushing waves crashing against the shore of his soul abated, and he was able to collapse into trembling exhaustion, with a fresh new series of messages now blaring inside his head.

Congratulations! For daring to challenge a Greater Harvester like a madman while resisting dozens of psychic commands to self-destruct, your Willpower has permanently increased by one point!

Willpower is now 19!

Now, when madness takes hold, nothing is going to talk you out of it or get in your way, save death itself!

Congratulations, Dissolution Orb is now Adept Rank 5.

Dissolution Orb has transcended to Elite Rank 1! Perk automatically chosen! Incendiary Orb. Thanks to your repeated experiments with the schools of Dissolution and Flame, you have found an Astral interface point where you may blend these schools at will! You may now trigger your orbs to erupt as if catalyzed by Windfire in the instant they strike any physical target! Additional cost = cost to catalyze Windfire for 0.1 seconds.(Less than 1 mana.)

Congratulations! Windfire is now Elite Rank 4!

______________________________________________________________________________________

Jack Evergreen Class Undecided Level 0

Primary Attributes

Strength 14 (Exceeds 90% of base population)

Vitality 15 (Exceeds 95% of base population)

Finesse 16 (Exceeds 98% of base populationd)

Quickness 15 (Exceeds 95% of base population)

Perception 16 (Exceeds 98% of base population

Scholarship 17 (Exceeds 99% of base population)

Willpower 19 (Exceeds 99.9% of base population)

Charisma 16 (Exceeds 98% of base population)

Insight. - Gold Tier

Health 10xVit+Str+(10xlevel) = 164 (+20 for Tier 2 Path of Balance) = 184 (-10?)

Stamina 10xVit+Str= 164 (+20 for Tier 2 Path of Balance) = 184

Mana = 170 (+20 for Tier 2 Path of Balance) = 190 (-40 Greater Air Elemental) +20 High Intensity Training 2 = 170

Base Appearance 13 (Exceeds 83% of base population.)

Virtues

Rapid Learner

Explosive Growth

Plane Walker

Flaws

Painful Healing (This perk has been mitigated as you transcend all previous limitations! You now have the Knowledgeable Healer Perk instead!)

Secret Identity (Mild) Half-elf. Mutated ears are hidden by thick hair & friendly air sprite. General appearance is otherwise within human norms.

Dark Secret (The blood of Elven Grey Witches flow through your veins. If any Mind Mage discovers this, your life will be imperiled.)

Nightmares! You will be sporadically waken up from the depths of sleep with memories of just how close you came to drowning in oblivion! Willpower check needed to avoid screaming. Good luck getting a goodnight's sleep outside of your lover's arms!

Perks Earned in Game

An Ear for gossip! Perhaps it's a gift of your Elven ancestry. Ears uniquely suited for catching sounds at the same frequency as humanoid conversations, combined with just enough of a psionicist's gift to embrace the path of the Soul Weaver, even if your mother's tribe abhores the Mentalist's path. - Or perhaps you're just nosy!

Either way, you have a knack for picking up even the slightest whispers of conversation pertaining to yourself or those close to you, or of anyone speaking with your image in mind, at completely unreasonable ranges! If you want to spot that quietly stalking predator, however, best boost your Perception stat!

Knowledgeable Healer: You may now use magic to heal internal injuries as readily as flesh wounds and bloodloss.

Rank 2 Diligent Arcanist. +30 to Mana pool. (Already factored in)

Rank 1 High intensity training. +10 to Mana pool. (Already Factored in)

Forged in Battle +1 to Perception & all physical stats.

Rank 1 Fire Affinity / Rank 1 Earth Affinity / Rank 1 Water Affinity / Rank 1 Blood affinity / Rank 3 Soul Weaver Affinity! - Spells associated with those schools are cast as if wielder has additional ranks in underlying arts = to affinity. (Each affinity rank in a given school grants 33.3% Potency bonus. All school rank bonuses are added before being multplied by any skill rank bonuses for any spell's final potency modifier.)

Elemental Resistances. - You are able to partially mitigate damage suffered from spells or effects belonging to any elemental sphere or spell school, depending on Ranks earned in any underlying school or elemental affinities you might have... or for every spell learned at Adept level or better.

(Base volley costs at level 1 are 3/volley. Conc. Damage spells level 1 are 2/sec)

Favorite Skills & Spells

Spell & Shield - Journeyman Rank 4

Sword & Shield - Journeyman Rank 1

Arcane Alteration - Apprentice Rank 2

Icy Blast - Adept Rank 4

Firestream (Blood Flame) - Elite Rank 1

Water Spout - Adept Rank 2. / Tier 2 Greater Water Spout - Apprentice Rank 3

Acid Spray (Tier 2) Apprentice Rank 2

Ice Shield (Blood Shield) - Adept Rank 5

Earth Armor (Crimson Armor) - Adept Rank 1

Stone Shot. Apprentice Rank 1

Wind Gust - Apprentice Rank 5

Acid Arrow - Elite Rank 1

Dissolution Orb - Elite Rank 1

Blood Bee - Apprentice Rank 5 - 10 Mana Reserved

Artisanal Manipulation - Elite Rank 2

Arcane Manipulation - Elite Rank 3

Rune Forging - Master Rank 4

Artificer (Arcane Forger) - Journeyman Rank 1

Lesser Healing - Adept Rank 4

Wind Ward - Adept Rank 2

Windfire - (Tier 3 Spell) - Elite Rank 3

Magesight - Adept Rank 1

Infravision - Adept Rank 2

Congratulations! Hex, Brittle Armaments, Weaken Bone, Sap Vitality, & Slow are now Apprentice Rank 1! (Tier 1, 1 Target versions.)

Hex

Brittle Armaments

Weaken Bone.

Sap Vitality

Slow.

Soul Weaver Arts:

Tier 1 Snip - Journeyman Rank 5 / Pinch - Journeyman Rank 5 / Spool - Adept Rank 1

Tier 2 Shear - Adept Rank 3 / Fabricate - Adept Rank 1

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