Richter is dying, hardly able to breathe and writhing on the floor. I knew this would happen and I allowed the events to unfold. It spreads to a few of the others, affecting Victoria the most, but you can see it just as badly on Rachel's visage. Dawn shakes her head, barely able to hide her face with her hands, not wanting me to see he lapse in resilience. I take it all in, soaking in the situation and reveling in it. Their unrestrained laughter sustains me. It may have taken me the rest of the trip to craft the perfect set up and punchline for the phrase "hurtful white bush" and I unleashed it at the most opportune moment, like an AoE Spell on a crowd of mobs. Their amusement is bittersweet, however, as the cause was nearly fatal to me. But, if you can't laugh at yourself…

"Well, I'm glad me almost getting killed by an albino shrub entertains you so." My sarcasm belies the fact that I am, indeed, pleased with how well my joke went, but our journey is only half finished and I do want to get the rest of it underway. We reached the edge of the valley and the location to the most efficient way down, the one Faye scouted days before.

It takes a while for everyone to pull themselves together and we meet outside in a clearing large enough for three wagons, a vardo, a dozen people, and a large, flying, psychic cat boss. Alima purrs loudly as she consumes our gift of Lupalion bits. She may be eating her favorite food, but simultaneously her dilated eyes dart from person to person and her perked up ears twitch towards each conversation being held. I actually made sure to place the other players and Sonny close by to entice her curiosity. She's currently a neutral party to Linqs, but if we can bring her closer to us, then maybe we can eventually count her as a powerful new citizen.

Lavina bounds into our company, heading straight for Dawn and asking her a deluge of questions regarding the Wraithsteel.

"Haven't you just been working on--"

Lavina interrupts her with a forced laugh, "No, silly! I want to make a weapon like your Thunderstruck!" Perplexed beyond belief, especially knowing how the Faunus feels about weapons, Dawn begins her tentative instruction with growing energy.

Unable to restrain herself any longer, Alima abandons her meal and strides silenty over to the two. The clever little Lupine girl shoots me a quick wink and the three involve themselves in a discussion about Blacksmithing and Dawn's weapon in particular. When she draws it out, Alima's face darts forward almost booping it with her nose. She purrs out an elongated, "Fascinating," while her tail swishes lazily in the air. Proud of how well our little act went, I find Victoria to see what the plan is for tonight.

Kona joins me and my squad this time on our exploratory mission, positioned in the center of our single line formation. Having grown far too accustomed to flying around, her ears droop forward and often corrects her slumping shoulders into an upright posture to appear less agitated, but having the opposite effect. Kona grumbles to herself about having to beat feet with the rest of us, though I'm sure the volume of her griping is intended for me to hear it. The Kobolds ignore her easily enough, but my eyes are tired from rolling so much at every complaint.

"Why did you decide to join us again?"

She lets out a sound of disgust, "First of all, you know Dawn ordered me to go with you. Second, can you please tell me what your Feat says about the ambient mana?"

I sigh and roll my eyes one more time. I think I might have sprained them on this one, a pulse of discomfort throbs for a couple seconds and I realize it wasn't from my occular display of annoyance. "Very high." My response comes out rather petulant, since I see where she's going.

"And what does that mean?" she asks like a parent coaxing an answer from a child who knows that they were doing something wrong.

"It means my MP regenerates at double, but my HP regen shuts down." Shit. Just that little statement reminds me of my conflicting feelings for the Aberration fight. They all probably had the same Feat, so it doesn't matter which one might have given it to me, I was probably going to get it eventually. It feels like I acquired some magical sexually transmitted infection at an orgy and I don't know who to send the hospital bill. Subconsciously, I scratch below my belly button.

"So," she drags out the O as if leading me further down her train of thought, "That means you need a dedicated healer and--"

"And you couldn't come up with an excuse in time…" I interject, but she continues regardless.

"--And everyone else was busy. So I volunteered to tag along." She shrugs and tosses her hands up in resignation. She lets out a shallow sigh and drops her shoulders, aiming a smug smile at me and expecting my retort.

"I appreciate it, Kona. Thank you." The sincerity in my voice and sudden shift in tone startles her. She looks away blushing and her ears drop flat. I didn't know she volunteered to help me. Whether she exaggerated that statement or not, she really is here with me now. Our party roles swapped, it's now her duty to keep ME alive on our mission. Each of the three special teams are to navigate different routes, taking note of flora, fauna, hostiles, and possible resource sites all the way to the dungeon entrance.

The end plan is to either clear the dungeon and create a temporary settlement inside or to settle nearby and use the dungeon as an XP and resource farm if its level is high enough. Dawn tweaked the plan utilized by Mordecai, the Oathbreaker asshat who kidnapped and tortured Arceans. The big difference between the two plans being we're NOT using the NPC's as bait and decoys for dungeon monsters. Instead, we would run through it in teams, kill creatures, farm resources, and somehow trap the boss inside if we could. If not, then we still gain control of the dungeon and its core.

A loud gasp snaps me back to the moment with my Mana Shield, heart rate, and hackles all up. "What is it?" I whisper shouted at the Faunus who made the noise. I don't have to check on the Kobolds, they're already sweeping the forest with their crossbows. A furry hand grasps my coat at the shoulder and jerks me in a direction to the east. Through the thinning vegetation I can make out movement. Colorful movement. Lots of colorful movement. Whatever it is, it isn't hostile according to my sniffer.

"Ardacen. This place… There's something going on with this place…" Her cryptic words aren't as unnerving as the trembling of her hand, pointy nails digging deeper into my shoulder.

"What is it, Kona? Ghosts?"

"What? Ghosts? What the hells are you talking about? We just killed a Wraith. Why would I be afraid of ghosts?" She snaps out of her daze and almost takes off without us. She motions for us to follow and the Kobolds stare at me for permission. With a shrug and a nod, we move briskly in a loose formation.

The clearing is about the half the size of a football field. The tips of the tall grass brushes the middle of my shins and whatever trees once stood proud here have been roughly hewn down to jagged stumps. Or eaten down to stumps? The cuts don't look clean enough to be made by blades, more like something had chewed them starting at the top and worked its way down, stopping a couple feet from the ground.

That, however, is the least remarkable feature of this particular scene. The dozens, if not hundreds, of fist-sized, jellyfish like creatures floating and bumping around takes my breath away. Stubby, opaque tentancles; perfectly plump, silken bells rapidly undulating to move through the air; and a bold color palette of burgandy, navy blue, chartreuse, bubble gum pink, and an eggplant purple. They weren't evenly distributed in color either, mostly being dark red and blue, but the other colors seem to pop out against them.

"Ardy. These are called Ethromorphia Jellaprima, or Dimitria Bulbs. Or just Bulbs for short. They went extinct over eight hundred years ago." With everyone frozen to their spots in awe, myself included, she hops onto one of the stumps and moves closer to the cloud of Bulbs.

"They are supposed to be the predecessor of the common Slimes of today." Kona stretches out her hand and I ready a Fey Touch Spell, my hand glowing blue. She chants a Spell word as well and a line of the Bulbs form and encircle her glowing hand. Several of them must have noticed me and I soon have a string of them floating around my own outstretched appendage. "They're beautiful, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but aren't they going to sting us at some point?" I glance at my Kobolds and they're already in a defensive formation with their melee weapons drawn.

"No silly." Kona's voice rings with giddiness now and she leads the Bulbs in an aerial dance with her hand. "These things were completely harmless. Harmless, and supposedly delicious. They were somehow hunted to extinction, never to be Mana Born anywhere else in Arc again. But here they are…"

Dila is about to chomp down on one, but Milli taps her snout. Haro and Tamu shake their heads at her and she sheepishly grins back at them.

I dismiss my Spell and the Bulbs flutter away. Curious, I take off my hat and reveal my blue flames. It has no affect, except for attracting a single Bulb with a unique, but familiar color pattern. Shimmering in a subtle rainbow of colors the Varient Bulb hovers within reach and I get the notification.

[Discovered: Variant Dimitria Bulb

[Capture or Dispatch for bonus Reward]

I ask Kona what she thinks I should do, even conferring with the Kobolds about the implications of killing a rare creature that was once thought to be hunted into extinction. Kona, using her glowing staff charged with a Spell to dance with a swarm of them, is the first to reply.

"It's a brainless creature whose only purpose was to be eaten, Ardy. I think it's incredible that there are some floating around here at all, but it's not like I have any attachments to them. Do what you think is right." Her speech makes total sense yet doesn't help me make my decision. I only need one more to level up Variant Hunter and we never did get around to creating a way to capture them.

>Scan[1/1HP, 999/999MP, 9/9SP]

I don't bother reading the lore, my decision might be harder to make if I do. The Bulb floats closer to my face as if asking, "What's it gonna be?" It blocks my vision of the others, its shimmering, lava lamp like movement in the air eases some of my tension. The rippling motion of its plump form is almost hypnotic, like it's giving me an excuse to do what I've chosen to do. I move my hands up to make sure it doesn't escape and I close my eyes.

The first bite sprays a kind of juice across my face, hitting my closed eyes and droplets running down to my jaw. I have nothing to compare the taste to, but the intensity of it stings my cheeks and I wince until it passes over me like a wave. I can feel more liquid running down my sleeve and hitting the grassy ground with wet "plat" sounds as the deflating body of the Bulb limply lands in my palm. It takes two more quick mouthfuls to finish and my cheeks still hurt with how much flavor hits me out of the blue. It was more of a sensation than a real flavor, like how someone would describe umami. The concept of the essence of flavor. I use my other, dry forearm to wipe away my eyes so I can open them and two things await my notice.

[Congratulations!

[Upgraded Feat: Variant Hunter II

[Received: 25XP, 1*Journeyman Ring of the Steadfast

[Upgrade Bonus: 3000XP, 1*Box of Assorted Variant Material]

[Journeyman Ring of the Steadfast. Journeyman Accessory. Ring

[+10Armor, +5%MaxHP]

[Variant Hunter II: (Slain 3/10) Increase luck by 20%.]

The other thing is a stunned Faunus. Kona is no longer dancing with the Bulbs. She's actually staring at me. With an eyebrow raised, eyes squinting, and mouth parted and frowning in disgust, "What in the seven hells were you thinking, Ardy?"

"You told me they were edible and I didn't want to just kill the damn thing just for the Feat!" I growl back in confusion. "I… I didn't want its life to go to waste." I try to use Control Water on the fluids, but it fails. Kona comes over, shaking her head, and uses her Prestidigitation Spell. One of its aspects allows the caster to clean a small patch of clothing and she uses it to great effect. It takes her a few casts, but she cleans off all the juice, even the stuff that I didn't notice dribbling down my front.

"What I meant was people used to cook them and then eat them, usually on other foods like some kind of seasoning. Goddesses, you are such a odd one." As outwardly annoyed as she is with me, a wry smile still tugs at the corner of her lips, "Wait until I tell the others that your first instinct when confronted with a living Dimitria Bulb was to eat it. Alive!"

She shouts the last word with a wide smile and I respond by tickling her aggressively. She escapes my grasp and bounds into the swarm, pushing them aside like lazy balloons. I catch up and lift her up from behind with a squeezy hug while she giggles and kicks in protest. With her feet back on the ground, I continue the embrace and her hands find mine.

"Seriously. Thanks for coming, Kona." She purrs, spins around, and hugs me back. I wait for her grip to slacken first before we both disengage. "What are we going to do about these things?"

We look around at the surrounding Bulbs for a moment. My squad of Kobolds finds us and awaits further orders, Milli poking at the floating creatures and letting out squeaky fits of laughter.

"They're not going anywhere, but mark your map just in case. You know, so we can find them again later. Gorm, Malica, and maybe even Mika might be interested. Besides, you might get hungry on the way back!"

I ruffle her hair for a moment before she leaps out of my reach, giggling all the way. I motion for the Kobolds to follow. There's still a bit of forest to explore between us and the dungeon entrance.

The nearby waterfall is barely audible, yet visible from our vantage point, much like the river that my squad and I were forced to cross over. Milli rose with Kona on her broom, while I used a shared Body of Smoke so the rest of us could float over. Our brief reunion at our objective point with the other reconnaissance squads by the dungeon's entrance yields tales of similar encounters with either creatures that were classified as extinct at some point or completely unheard of in the modern world. Conner's group had encountered more patches of the albino plants and a Green Drake, a sort of wingless dragon with four legs, that some scholars believe is the true predecessor to the Kobolds, as well as the smaller Giant Lizards we find today. They believe that with less mana in some areas, the Drakes didn't grow as large and continued to stay that size or shrink just to continue living in those areas. Or so Kona explained.

Elsbeth's group barely survived being ambushed by their creature. With the head like a shark's, the body of a pale, emaciated Grey Troll, and a long, whip-like tail covered in boney appendages, the creature used an Undetectable Ability that made it partially invisible as well as mask the sounds it made. The only reason they had any kind of warning at all was because one of the crossbows misfired, grazing the beast and dimissing the Skill. It didn't have a name so El called it a Falpadyte after the Elvish word 'falpa' which means "to flog," since it used its ridiculously long tail to attack them for most of the battle.

Kona told them about the Bulbs, omitting the part where I went crazy and chewed the face off of one. I was grateful, yet wary that she might be saving as ammo for later. It doesn't matter, I hit a jackpot with that little, level one guy.

The entryway is more like the remnants of a large explosion, boulders and rubble lay about the area as if blasted outward from the large hole in the side of the mountain. Scorch marks rise up from the top of the entrance, probably from an intense fire that raged until something put it out or it died down. As part of the plan, I fire a Long Range Arcane Bolt into the sky to signal our arrival. It doesn't take Alima long to arrive, several braids tied in her mane.

"Children are amazing! I've never seen so many. Have you seen their level of artistry before?" She juts out her chest, accentuating the area of her mane where most of the bows and braids are. The Kobolds make noises of wonder and approval.

"I'm glad you like them, Alima. We'll be here for a while so don't rush learning everything about us. Anyway, can you tell us what we can expect from this dungeon? It looks like it burst open at some point." I ask, stepping carefully over and around the rocks to get closer to the entrance. She leaps over, finds the closest, large boulder and perches herself on top of it.

"I've seen the Tlancalli attempt this dungeon only once." She licks at her paws and her velvety, psychic voice melts into my mind as a blurry memory bubbles to the surface. "A group of them snuck in at night, thinking I was asleep on my rock on the falls." With each word, it's as if I remember the events myself through her own eyes.

"Is this… an Ability of yours?" I stop moving, but continue to dart my eyes all over the place. Her eyes glance up at me with an eerie blue glow and she resumes grooming.

"Thirteen of them went in, each equipped with their clan's best armor and weapons. I was tempted to hunt them myself, but by then they were already inside. I don't like underground places, I need room to stretch my wings." Alima spreads them as if to give me the proper imagery. "So, I waited for them to come back out. I didn't even wait that long, actually. Maybe an hour or so. Maybe four…"

However long she waited, her mental image didn't move from her perch by even an inch. At one point in the memory, a flock of strange looking Harpies flew by and she didn't even twitch in their direction, though I made a note of them so we could keep an eye out for them on the way back. And for the duration. And for the rest of the beta test. Damn, do I hate those things. But, they do taste fantastic fried the way Gorm cooks them.

Her memories interrupt my culinary daydream, "When the lone Tlancalli emerged from the dungeon battered, broken, and burned I swooped in and crushed it under my paws. I had intended to play with the creature a little more, but its HP was already too low and I ended its life prematurely. Still…"

Memory Alima's vision moved in a blur and when it returned, the scorpion man's head was gone and the rest soon pixelated. "I couldn't let it go to waste. Aiside from the knowledge of Tlancalli social customs and several colorful new words in their language, I learned little information regarding the creatures he fought inside, except one should not base expectations solely on their appearance."

Her memories cut abruptly and I'm back in the present. I look around at Conner, Elsbeth, and Kona walking towards me. Conner motions a thumb in the Kobolds' direction, "Sorry, sir, but we have to start heading back."

Before I can turn back around, Alima's psychic voice soothes me, "I am feeling rather generous." She gives a little shake, careful not to tamper with her new accessories. "The knowledge I have gained today has earned you an escort back here tomorrow morning. Most of the creatures in the valley seem to be wary of me. After I ate a few of them, of course. Just don't expect me to do this again."

"Unless we've got something worth learning, right?" I ask while walking back to my team. I can feel the wind from her taking off and hear the slow flapping of wings.

Her voice is a whisper in my head, "We shall see, Traveler Ardacen. So far, I've already learned a lot about you."

The next few days went by like clockwork, a far departure from the journey here. I almost felt cheated, but then again, not every day can be a life threatening one, even in Arc. We used a quick, makeshift bridge to cross the stream and took it down for safety and security reason. We'll make a permanent one later on when we're a little bit more established.

All of the regular citizens and military reserves had learned mostly everyday Utility Abilities with their Decastat points, including the increasingly essential Ground Shift. Much like my Manipulate Water Spell, it allows the casters to control dirt and rock in a non-combative way.

Essentially, each caster became a living excavator, bulldozer, and paver. They could affect up to a five foot cubed area of earth and slide it across the ground to another area. It only moved at a subdued walking speed so they couldn't use it in a fight, like slamming a cube of rock into a target, nor could the pile they're moving leave contact with the ground. For now, we simply used the Spell to level the ground, move large rocks, and create a fifteen foot tall, earthen barrier against the forest. We created a flat space about a hundred yards or so squared, enough for the vardo, several of the cabanas, a simple watchtower, and a landing area for Alima to visit. The felled trees were divided by anyone with decent Strength and an axe. I joined them with my claws while I alternated between Blue and Ghost. My Dire Wolf helped haul timber to where they were needed while hitched to one of the wagons and my Stalker assisted me in the cutting. Sometimes, I would have her play with Coaster and the kids while they got some outside time. The horses we rescued got some much needed attention, food, and, most of all, rest.

The rest of the work was easily handled by volunteers and some Arcane Servents, a kind of summoning Ritual Spell that creates a purple, ghostly humanoid that can perform mundane tasks, but is otherwise useless in combat. Kona and Serenity each had one when they learned the tiered Spell, Basic Conjuration, and reached the appropriate level. The Kobolds also pitched in with basic labor, since they couldn't earn Artisan Classes and we got our temporary base of operations running.

Dawn was hesitant to say that this would actually only be a temporary, just like the bridge. Until we actually give the dungeon a run, we won't know if we can utilize it or not. Either way, she didn't want to waste the effort of building anything yet, but we were already a whole day off schedule. In order to get back on track, I volunteered to be the guinea pig who takes the first step into the mouth of the dungeon and was greeted by a forboding notification.

[Major Quest Received: Patching a Leak in the Basement

[Beneath the valley lies a leyline tributary. Instead of joining its major river, something has redirected its course, creating a cesspool of stagnating ether at the bottom of this dungeon. Reach the lowest level and find out what that means for the valley.

[Lowest level reached: 0/5

[Reward: ???

[Failure: ???]