Instead of mining, Dawn spent her time clearing out debris while wearing the Diadem, all the while singing the evil witch's tune from The Wizard of Oz. The wire thin, red metal tiara sits over her forehead. The frame is shaped into intricate feathers while a small, cloudy white gem is held in the center by black talons. She chased and shouted at the giggling Kobolds, "Heh heh heh, I'll get you my pretties!" After getting her fill of playing "twister" with the lizards and organizing the pile of kindling near the entrance, she stowed the Diadem and switched gears completely.

With several blueprint screens lined up before her and seated at a newly crafted bone table she commissioned from me, Dawn clarifies a few things. "So, it took you eight Blink Steps to get from the wall to the center of the hole in the ceiling? Okay. With a range of fifty feet and the ceiling at about seventy feet…" She looks up at Faye who is keeping a watch just beyond the aperture in case more Harpies decide to come back. "This place has a radius of about four hundred feet. That's… a little over five hundred thousand square feet in surface area and twenty million cubed feet in volume from the stemwall. Not bad!"

"Gods, did you do all that in your head?" She flashes me grin, shows me her calculations, and proceeds to blow my mind with the formula breakdown. As impressive as it is, it's still like listening to someone speak in a foreign language and I feign interest before being released to my assigned task. It may have been fairly straightforward in theory, but combining Goblin Modulation with Minor Survival Craft to exchange materials in construction ended being a much more daunting task. MSC isn't meant for buildings, no matter what I tried to do. So, I had to settle on making more tools and prepping raw items into workable materials. We may have picked some up from Kes Solomas, but not knowing when we'll be able to go on another shopping spree like that, Dawn wants us to stretch all of our resources out as much as possible.

Dilla and Tamu keep their eyes peeled at the entryway while Milli and Haro scouted more of the paths that snaked through the mountain. I lend Milli the Whisper Cuff I was using so that the squad leader can relay pertinent information back to Dawn while we continue to prepare the dome. After an hour without an attack, Dawn risks the loss of our aerial watchman so I can summon Ghost. Able to return back to Kes Mud on his own without an escort, he can lead the others up to the dome himself. It may have taken us a few winding hours to hike the path, making it feel much more distant for someone to reach another ear cuff, but the we are still out of the two mile range.

"I can't believe how cold it's getting," Dawn muses out loud and I pass her the new cloak we won from the battle that the system put in my inventory. The outward facing side resembles red silk with a feather pattern sewn all over it with a lighter red thread. The inner lining is covered in black down that sprinkles out tiny black feathers when the cloak is jostled. Each one disappearing in mid air before they hit the ground.

"What's really on your mind?" I ask as I finish turning another small pile of branches into five foot dowels. After smoothing most of it out, it simply turned into the new item, sometimes gaining or losing a few inches in the process. The system does funny things when it comes to crafting, but seeing it like this is still jarring and strangely amusing. I would have shaved down the entire mountain of sticks if the weather wasn't actually getting colder and we would soon be in need of the firewood. I turn at the startled Infernus and give her a grin. After many years behind the bar, I could spot a toe dip into a conversation pool from a mile away.

With a heavy sigh, she pushes aside her screens and fully turns to me, "Straight to the point? Well, I guess I shouldn't dance around the issue… What are you gonna do, Ardy?" Her vague question trips me up, literally, and I flail my arms trying to keep myself from eating dirt. She lets out a restrained laugh and covers her mouth to keep more from pouring out, "Sorry. What I meant to ask is, 'What do you plan on doing while we develop Linqs into a city?' I don't think you'll be able to reach the milestones as quickly as you'd like stuck here in the valley. Even with the leyline dungeon and a possible story arc with the neighboring Tlancalli, would you even come close to level fifty here?"

I stop in my tracks, eyes searching the ground for an answer to her question. I can't believe I didn't think about that. I was just so happy to be around people, being needed and having fun on adventures, that the possibility of such a bottle neck in XP didn't occur to me. I guess I've been taking my current ranking for granted. The answer appears at the edge of my fingertips, but I'm afraid to grasp it. Afraid of what it'll mean and how lonely that road will be. Afraid that my past self was right all along and this kind of moment is what I've been trying to avoid.

"I want to stay until then. Wasn't really planning on winning the first few milestones anyway. Just wanted enough to pay for Mom's medical bills, you know? Did you think it would actually take a year to reach the level cap, too?" Slowly, I resume working, wondering if I miscalculated somewhere and how I can fix it.

"The milestones were never my goal, you know that. I didn't even have an endgame in mind, just an image of me and my castle. When I stumbled across Vic and the rest of Linqs, the image changed into a town. A city. A city founded by a player."

She leans away in her chair and arches her back, hands lacing behind her head as she stares up at the ceiling. Not wanting to be caught off guard we kept our armor on and her dark set catches the light with a polished shine. "Maybe then I can finally retire from cosplaying. It's fun, sure, and everyone's been great, but it stemmed from gaming and that's what I want to get back into. Arc is my chance, as slight as it is, to create a better financial situation. A stable one."

She slaps both hands at her chest plate, the metal ringing echoes in the dome, "One that doesn't rely on my tits and ass. Not that there's anything wrong with them. Besides, imagine creating our own Helm's Deep here!"

She stands without warning. Her sudden movement knocks over the table and chair and our Kobold sentries peak in on us. I give them a thumbs up and they return to their posts. As she straightens out the furniture, Dawn acknowledges a transmission in her ear for a moment and sighs. "They'll be here soon. Look, Ard, you don't have to come up with anything solid now. And I don't want you to think we don't want you around, you know it's not like that. But, I do have to have some kind of contingency plan if Linqs is going to lose its spearhead."

I nod to her, "I get ya. I'm just not used to this kind of situation. If there's any way for me to stay, you know I would."

"I know."

And just like that, our conversation dies and we simply continue on with our tasks. I don't know what I was supposed to say to her. Hopefully my inability to answer right away was answer enough for now. I want to stay. I want to help Linqs grow, help it's people grow. I want to be with Victoria. But, I have a goal, a promise, that I still have every intention to keep. I would need to reach the next four milestones first, level thirty included. That's thirty levels before I can come back and coast for the rest of the game. It took us a few months in game to get to this point, so I would have to expect more than double a time frame especially with the exponential growth of the amount of XP each level needs to advance. Otherwise, I would have to focus all of my attention on getting the level seventy spot. But then, all of this is just to cover the money we owe now. Maybe if my sponsor turns out well enough that can supplement some of the expenses too. Or maybe I can work it in somehow that they'll cover her expenses instead of paying me?

A part of my thoughts kept a grip on the thread regarding Linqs and how I would eventually have to venture out to seek higher XP farms. Wasn't there something in other games that enabled traveling between towns? We never bothered to find out if the major cities we visited had anything like that, but if this is like any other open world game there should be, right? There was also that Spell I could have learned with my Decastat point that could transport a bunch of people about five hundred feet. Really, it would only get us halfway across the dome, but it meant there are higher level Spells that could have the range I desire.

That line of thinking relieved more stress than the worry created over where I would find such an option and I feel my breathing relax. A sharp exhale and head shake later, I return to my work, thinking about the moments prior to our little chat.

We gave each one of the participating Kobolds a Pawn Chesst from the Quest and it brewed up a maelstrom of excitement. Most likely they heard from Dola about the wonders of the chests and were eager to start unboxing. Their prizes were nothing exciting for me and Dawn, but since it was their first times they were squealing with delight. Tamu and Dilla donated the materials they pulled, happy to contribute to the development efforts. But seriously, what are they going to do with 100*Basalt Rock or 200*Palm Fronds? Hells, what are we going to do with them? Still, we happily collected the materials from them, Milli waving a couple of the fronds up and down, pretending to be the Harpy Matriarch as Dilla pantomimes shooting her down.

Haro pulled another Power Ring, a tier lower than the one he already had, but the two rings gave him enough Strength to heft a heater shield without straining himself. Smaller than a kite shield, they work well in hand-to-hand combat for regular sized fighters, but for the Kobolds the shield is large enough to cover most of his body. The way he has to hold it, however, makes reloading his repeater quite cumbersome. They would have to practice with this new tactical element for a bit. Outside, I can see him waving it around on his arm and inspecting the motions with a pleased expression, his forked tongue poking out of his toothy smile.

The curio that Milli pulled is similar in purpose to the item Richter got in Higo after the Aristeo Quest. The item looks like the wooden equivalent of a suppressor that attached to the end of her crossbow. Cylindrical, four inches long, and made of a polished dark wood, the item has thin white lines etched into it that form intricate, pinstripe spider web designs. After she equipped it and shared the description, I couldn't help but wonder which of the two ranged weapon modifiers I would choose if I had to. Richter's arcane bowstring, or Milli's new toy.

[Huntsman Spider Barrel. Advanced Journeyman Material.

[Requirement: Must Equip to a Crossbow or Gun type weapon.

[Gives weapon 3 charges. Refills 1charge every thirty minutes. 1charge, trails a non-sticky line of reinforced Huntsman Spider silk until the ammunition strikes a solid surface. The line will stick to that surface and have a working load of 700lbs. The line lasts 30minutes and will dissolve when the time elapses. 2charges, turns the ammunition into a net of strong, sticky thread with a 7foot radius. Net lasts 3 hours/ dismissed/ destroyed. Highly flammable. Durability: 150]

That's always the case, isn't it? Extra damage or utility? Of course, now each member of Electrum can specialize and focus on different, tactical aspects. I picture them wearing the black wetsuits of a Navy SEAL or rough and ready in forest camos, an eyepatch over one of their eyes. The mental image makes me smile and I finish making the tenth Roycroft Backpack frame. Everyone may have storage rings, but some still have reservations about shoving miscellaneous items inside them willy nilly.

********************

[Congratulations! You have earned a new title: Boss Tier 3! On your next round of sleep, you will be awarded the appropriate stat boosts and bonuses!]

The Halfling smiles a wicked smile. The Traveler's burnt and smoldering body continues to steam as he dusts off his pale white cloak and leather armor the color of bleached bones. It's the notification he has been waiting for since seeing the first one in that cave months ago. Had he been able to kill the rest of that Saurean's party he may have been able to achieve it sooner. But, that Winters fellow had been there to thwart him. Many times, in fact. In Higo, the Necromancer thought that the man had followed him, hunted him down to finish what he had started, but after Dez Driftwood gave him the slip he realized something.

He wasn't looking for him. It was destiny.

It was destiny that brought them together all those times. Through no fault nor effort of either man, their paths had crossed and would continue to do so until one was finally killed. There was almost another chance meeting in Kes Solomas, but with so much going on, what with the botched summoning Ritual and the massive celebration some time afterwards there was no way for them to confront each other on fair terms. Well, fair in the way that would be optimal for Dez to walk away the victor without having to raze the whole city to the ground. He liked that city, they could certainly knew how to throw a party!

Dez's grin softens into a warm smile as he thinks about his only living friend, Angus Elder, who ate the skewered and roasted meats, stick and all. It was funny the first time, and it was funny the eighth time. The muffled crack of the slivers of wood followed by their crunch in the Bard's mouth as he chewed them up without showing the slightest hint of displeasure or discomfort, was comedy gold. Of course, now those days of chatting endlessly to the grunting man while he munched on potatoes straight from the dirt are gone due, once again, to the interfering Winters and his oddly pleasent flaming skull for a head. And, unclear on how this could have happened, he managed to kill a part of Angus and change the man's personality into a grousing clown that is as different to the man he once knew as night is to day.

The smile leaves Dez's face, melting into a slight scowl, as the thought fully sets in. Even the screaming, agonizing deaths of two more Travelers didn't lift his spirits. He couldn't even say that, physically, his only friend is technically still around. The changes were so dramatic, so jarring, that he had to reacquainte himself with the Bard. Still, Angus wasn't hesitant at all to wade into battle and slaughter anyone to achieve their new goal. Become strong enough to smear Ardacen Winters' entrails across the face of Arc and have him watch as everyone he ever cared about is slowly tortured to death and added to their growing skeleton army. Then, he'll have those particular skeletons beat and rend his flesh as someone heals him for all eternity. A toothy grin crept back across his face at the thought.

His hand unconsciously slips over the book at his side, feeling the thick, weathered leather and the holster he keeps it in. With it and some new Feats earned with his second level boss tier, his army had grown in number and power. He could now create Calcified Skeletons, a tougher varient with more HP, more Armor, and a starting gladius made of sharpened bone. They evene became coordinated enough to work simple bows. Combined with a tribe of Hobgoblins and a handful of Travelers willing to cling to his coat tails, the day of Ardacen's reckoning fast approaches. Dez shivered at the glorious thought of pushing that fiery, black skull into the dirt under his boot heel.

"Soon," he growls under his breath as he watches a Fizzet Mage finishing off a Dwarven Fighter with a funnel of flames from a spindly, outstretched claw. William had done well since he had surrendered to the Hobs. His stronger willed companions, a pair of Half-Orc Giants, chose to go down in opposition. Dez chuckles to himself as he recalls their colorful, dying shouts and curses that came out towards their traitorous comrade. Dez couldn't wait to use the phrase "cowardly shit waffle," not that he knew what a waffle was. Angus said it was a kind of breakfast food and that pancakes are far better. The odd explanation just made him hungry.

So, with the bad guys dead and their Life Crystals and items looted, Dez gives his army of skeletons the order to return to the tower. By the time they cross the woods, the Hob Scouts should be there at the same time with news concerning the raiding party that was supposed to be back days ago. William the rat scurries a few steps behind him as Dez walks and casts his eyes about for Angus.

"Billy, my boy? How many Artisan Classes do you have?" The question came out so casually among the carnage and undead that William mistepped and crashed to the ground. He mutters under his breath as he picks the pebbles from out of his palms.

"J-j-just two, Mister Driftwood, sir? Alchemist and Jeweler. I was really hoping to--"

"Fantastic!" Dez's exclamation shrinks the other mage inside his own chest, shoulders popping up to protect him. When the attack doesn't come, William pokes his nose out to look back at the Halfling. "I would very much like to try pancakes and you're going to learn how to make them!"

***************

"Alright everyone, moving forward this area shall be referred to as The Keep until we come up with a better name and we will be using it much like the keep of a castle. We're going to fortify it as well as mine out all the electrum, while we continue to delve deeper into the dungeon to see if we can clear it out. The three Kobold squads will expand our map of the area with their continued reconnaissance while also marking available resources. Victoria, Boulder, and Plisk will accompany the foraging team as they do what they do best. Anyone capable of constructing buildings will accompany myself and Elsbeth as we lay the foundations for our first few buildings."

Everyone continues to shuffle about and form groups as Dawn gives out instructions to the equipment crafters: Blacksmiths, Leatherworkers, Tinkerers, Tailors, Alchemists, and Richter, our only Scribe and one of two with the Farmer Class. She addresses them all by name, something I am embarrassed to say that I still cannot do, and mentions all of the projects they have been working on for the past month or so. I may have been able to churn out improvised stuff at a fast pace, but the good stuff takes time, as it always does. Both my previous jobs and my RPG grinding days valued speed and consistency over quality and personalization. So far, it's something I still want to work on, but much like my Artisan Classes, I have other things taking priority for the moment. How Dawn can divide her attention so many ways and still remain focused on the big picture is nothing short of amazing to me.

"Sorry, Ard, you know the drill. I want you and Rachel to form a party with a few people as you grind out the first floor of the dungeon. Malica just earned the Butcher Class and Corvina will play heal bot. Sarnus Dunwitty will also be joining you, he has the Miner Class and I'd like you to see if he can do anything with the iron on the switchback walls."

"Aye, Commander." By now, we're the only group left gathered around her, everyone else dismissed to their tasks. I'm a little reluctant to take on someone without battle experience, but I'm relieved to spot him dressed in the reserve's uniform. I now briefly recall seeing this man during many of the battles, if only because of his distinct appearance.

Tall and lean, like a gymnast, he has the long, pointed up ears of an elf, but they're speckled in patches of sea foam green scales that still stand out against his pale skin. The rest of his exposed skin is the same, except for his right hand, which was once lost, but now returned to him in the form of an Umbramium prosthetic. His eyes are pale blue, but shaped in the diamond slits of a Saurean. His regular claw holds a crossbow while the other rests a pickaxe made from the Lucidium on his shoulder, its gleaming white metal stands out against the turquoise and grey of his leathers and tunic.

His voice comes out like a hoarse whisper, like he's constantly leaking air, "It's good to be working with you again, sir. The last time was rather stressful what with the Wraith and all." Right away I catch the lack of the typical hiss in his speech and wonder how that would be possible. He must have been through the wringer growing up and forced it into his current accent just to add a little distance from his heritage. Must have been tough being of mixed races, especially when both are visibly prevalent and neither are looked kindly upon in a city like Kes Rentas.

I mumble a few consonants, trying to mask my prolonged observations, but he just nods and smiles tight lipped at me in understanding, "Sorry. Yeah, Sarnus, a cave full of crystal crabs beats an eldritch horror any day."

"Clearly, sir, you didn't spend a lot of time in the Kes Rentas red alley. A hole full of crabs is a typical encounter." Malica does a spit take and Corvina shoots him a withering stare after glancing about for any children within earshot.

Dawn and I burst out laughing, "I'll take your word for it. For now, let's all get stocked and prepped."

It takes us longer to traverse the path than for us to get through the first floor of the dungeon. We used one of the wagons and a couple horses to save us some energy in getting there and so we can bring back more materials instead of relying on our storage devices. When we got there, I found that they left the earthen walls and towers up to use as a nearby base of operations. While Dawn and I were scouting The Keep, the others also created actual buildings made of earth and stone and Kes Mud looks more like an adobe hamlet than the fortified ditch that it was in the beginning. We kept the horses and wagon in one of the buildings to keep them safe from possible roaming critters as we farmed the dungeon.

With a better understanding of the way Crystaceans behave and their elemental weakness, our party was able to grind them out with minimal effort. I would pull a train with Distracting Footwork, while the others cast weak fire Spells or performed bludgeoning attacks. The hard strikes weren't especially effective, but the creatures did resist piercing and slashing attacks, so everyone did what they could. Except for Sarnus, his pickaxe, and a Skill called Rock Splitter. It's a special Class exclusive Skill for Miners that allows them to ignore all defenses and resistances and triples their damage as long as they use a piercing weapon. I would have loved to learn the Skill from him, but I wasn't a Miner and I already had my three Artisan Classes filled.

"Besides, sir, it only works on Durability. I'm not hurting the crabs more. It's just that once their shells shatter the rest of their bodies sort of fall apart. It must be keeping them together as well as protecting them. For people and armor it won't have the same effect. This Skill is really supposed to be for digging out tough ore, like Mythril or Ironwood. Even though everyone knows, Ironwood requires both Miner and a wood based Artisan Class to harvest."

He uses the bottom half of his tunic to wipe his face as continues to explain the difference between the two materials, as well as similar or opposing materials. As informative as his monologue is, I'm more fascinated by the man's passion. Where did he pick all this information? During one of his face wiping breaks some time after the eighth chamber, but right before the second mini boss, I had to know and ask him.

"Growing up in Rentas, nobody really wanted anything to do with a split skin like me," he says, gazing down at the ground as if reading lines from a rock, "And when I got older, Bertrand made people like me a taboo. So, off in the corner, I would listen to everyone talking like I was just a fly on the wall. You hear lots of interesting thing this way, like how an Elven man and a Saurean woman were killed in broad daylight for holding hands while their son was in school. How that boy would become a burden to the bloated orphanage filled with children from similar backgrounds."

We all take a moment to listen to Sarnus and I send Ghost on patrol to make sure nothing sneaks up on us. We make ourselves comfortable, sitting on a close formation of short rocks as he continues his story.

"Anyway… One day, I overheard someone talking about a mine opening up and how they would hire anyone with two hands and a heartbeat. Well, sir, growing up the way I did, a pocketful of my own coin that I earned through my own sweat seemed a dream come true. Never did take to thieving or selling cracked ether like some of the other kids. Never seemed… fair."

The idea of magical drug use aside, I ask if it really was a dream come true and he snorts a quick laugh, nodding his head with a weak grin, "Sure was, sir. I was great at it! Darkvision, enough Strength and SP to work hard, long hours, and an eagerness for labor only youth can bring."

His grin quickly disolves into melancholy, "But seeing a happy split skin didn't please too many people."

"I hate to interrupt, but what is a split skin? You've used that phrase twice and I've never heard anyone else use it."

Corvina places her hands atop Sarnus' shoulders, rubs his back, and answers my question for him.

"It's a derogatory term for people with half beast race ancestry. Whether Saurean, Fizzit, or the all encompassing term Faunus. They say it's because it looks like our skin is splitting apart, revealing the monster underneath." Her voice trails off at the end of the sentence as we watch Sarnus for a reaction. It did strike me as odd that some beastial races had a specific term, but most didn't and I ask as much from them. This time, Sarnus answers, nodding his head in gratitude towards our Cleric.

"I heard that some races can trace back thousands of years of their history and that is why they have proper titles. Others, through lack of record keeping, no written language, or something along those lines prevents them from sharing historical knowledge, thus allowing the people doing the land conquering to call them whatever they like. I think it was one of the Heroes who just got lazy and started calling every beast race he saw a 'Faunus' and, of course, it caught on fairly quickly."

The more I hear about the Heroes, the less like their title they appear. If they were still around they most likely would have turned into the big, evil guys trying to take over everything or at the very least destroy everything in the process.

"Well, times have certainly changed thanks to you, sir, and the others." He raises his pickaxe with both hands as if offering it to me. I give him a curt bow of my head in reply.

"Never thought a life like this would be possible for a--" He cuts himself off, shooting a glance at Corvina who shakes her head disapprovingly. "--a person such as myself. You have my thanks, many times over."

"And thank you for all of your hard work. Reserve unit, Miner, and I'm pretty sure I remember seeing you helping put the castle playground together so you must have Carpenter, too." He stands first and we make our way slowly to the last chamber and second mini boss.

"Yeah, Miss Ramona, gods rest her, and Miss Elsbeth were the ones who took me in after my hand was… well… after I lost my original hand. They taught me a bit of work that I could do with a single hand and a stump, but I missed being a Miner. Miss Ramona would tell me stories about her times in Dwarven mines before coming to Kes Rentas. When she spoke… I didn't feel so strange, being half Lunar Elf and preferring to be underground. I sure do miss her, sir, and I hope we can avenge her someday."

"We will, Sarnus. We will…"