When they had left his dwelling, Shane wasn't surprised to find the hybrid's corpses missing. Taeshi must have taken care of them on her way out or kicked them into the stratosphere, he thought. Remembering how powerful her kick was and then thinking about the lion turning him into a space-bound rocket.

The group's pace was quick as Shane, and his companions traveled east alongside the edge of the big city of Krooth.

Excitement and tension plagued Shane's steps as he walked. He wanted to jog, or better yet, sprint to his first dungeon in Endless Veil. My first dungeon, he thought fondly. Growing up with other RPGs taught him that dungeons were devices for memorable environmental storytelling, atmosphere, danger, and the rewards such risks rewarded.

Yesterday's rain had been replaced overnight by a low-pressure system that brought cloudy skies and cooler-than-normal wind gusts. The weather system in Endless Veil was needlessly advanced, making it one of his favorite design decisions. The atmosphere from a well-developed audio and weather system was unmatched and equally appreciated from his point of view. Shane looked over his shoulder—where Sharlot was resting—toward Alabaster and Liz.

"Do either of you know anything about this particular dungeon? Anything we should be careful of? At least, outside of the obvious?" Shane asked as he held up the bounty with the illustration of his corrupted previous self.

Liz rotated herself left to right signifying a no from her. She then turned to Alabaster with curious eyes, bouncing slightly as they all walked. The tall vampire gave a slight smirk and failed to hide a quick rolling of the eyes before clearing his throat and assuming his neutral stoic look.

"I have heard mention of this particular place in my travels to and from Krooth. People I have overheard talking about it say the dungeon is cursed. That those who explore it for gain or curiosity end up ultimately dead or missing."

Alabaster's words left Shane feeling equal parts excited and nervous. This feeling in his past life would have been the equivalent of an eject button for his bowels.

"Well, if it is that dangerous, I'll see what I can do with my stats to make the going a little safer for us," Shane said as he brought the level-up notification window—having reached the required amount of experience.

-Congratulations, You Have Reached Level 8!-

You Have Received The Following:

5 Attribute Points! 2 Soul Points!

Shane then tabbed over to his character class screen and observed his stats as he considered where to place the attribute points.

Name: Shane Carther

Race: Human

Class: Sage

Level: 8

Exp: 648/2,164

HP: 180/180

Mana: 164/164

Fatigue: 05/143

Soul Points: 12

Attributes:

Strength: 30

Agility: 24

Vitality: 23

Endurance: 25

Intellect: 26

Wisdom: 26

Luck: 22

Physical Attack: 57 (36 Base)

Magical Attack: 0 (0 Base)

Physical Defense: 33

Magical Defense: 39

Aspects:

Way of The Barbarian

Shane planned on using his collection of soul points to upgrade his spells mostly. In that spirit, he quickly distributed the five available attribute points. This boosted his potential magical attack power from the three points into intellect and expanded his mana pools from the two points into wisdom. Now the fun part, he thought giddily as the city of Krooth edged away from the group as they stepped ever closer to the dungeon.

Shane brought up the first thing he wanted to upgrade and morph.

-Acute Senses-

(Uncommon Passive Feat)

Allows the user to sense a being's current combat aptitude through a line of sight.

Range: 5 Meters

Cost: None

Duration: N/A

Upgrade Using 2 Soul Points?

Accept/Cancel

Shane accepted without thinking twice.

-Upgrade Successful-

-Dynamic Senses-

(Rare Passive Feat)

Allows the user to sense more of a being's aura

The user can now sense a being's current and maximum overall aptitude for combat through a line of sight.

Range: 6 Meters

Cost: None

Duration: N/A

Morphing Is Available. Proceed?

Accept/Cancel

I can't believe how much more helpful this feat already is, Shane thought, delighted even more by what the morphs could offer. He accepted the prompt.

(Morph 1)

-Emotive Sensing-

(Rare Passive Feat)

Allows the user to sense a being's general feelings and feelings toward the user on top of their current combat aptitude

Range: 6 Meters

Cost: None

Duration: N/A

(Morph 2)

-Analyze-

(Rare Passive Feat)

Allows the user to observe a being's attributes, class, level, and abilities

Range: 6 Meters

Cost: None

Duration: N/A

The choice here was not as apparent as in some of his previous morphs. Shane walked nearly one hundred feet before choosing the first morph. He figured the ability to sense someone's emotions would be helpful in future encounters that weren't strictly rooted in battle.

While setting up the waypoint that would allow for more accessible travel, he realized the dungeon actually had a name—The Dungeon of Krooth. A dungeon he remembered well from his days in development as it was one of the few to have some element of manual design.

"Alabaster, the reason I asked if you knew details about our destination was to see if anything had changed," said Shane without looking at Alabaster.

"Changed?" asked the vampire, tilting his head as he sped up to walk at Shane's side.

Sharlot should be sleeping, and Liz already knows the whole story, so elaborating should be fine, Shane reasoned.

"I took advantage of multiple opportunities to participate in developing this particular dungeon. Since it is one of the few that wasn't randomly generated by the AI system I built," Shane explained. "This dungeon was meant to give new players their first dungeon-delving experience upon visiting Krooth for the first time."

Alabaster's eyebrows shot up as he side-eyed Shane. Still, beyond that, he gave no other reaction in his continued silence.

Shane continued, "Originally, this dungeon was home to a group of hybrid deserters that rebelled against the human tyranny that plagued this city."

"I remember those days well, "said Alabaster. His unfocused eyes showed how lost in thought he was.

The dungeon's icon in Shane's field of view was getting closer as the dirt road gave way to a thin, unkempt trail leading into the forest. As they continued walking, several gravestones lined the narrow trail's edges.

At first, Shane thought these might have been tasteful decorations.

Upon leaning down to read the writing, Shane realized they weren't just walking on a trail—it was a series of graves.