Shipment One prepared. Await retrieval from Sea’s Wing in one month’s time. Ship expected in Port Fleiss in one month’s time. Additional Resource contained in secondary container.

“I hope you aren’t planning anything stupid Kai. I saw that look in your eyes when you told Djimon he couldn’t go off on his own.”

Kai and Norah had taken the middle two shifts for the night. It was their usual pattern when they wanted to talk without the younger members of the team overhearing. They needed to be confident. Unshakeable. Especially right now, with all of the unexpected stress and danger from changes to the dungeon’s usual script.

Norah was sure at least some of their own nerves were coming through. It was hard not to show any signs of panic. She was equally sure that none of them knew the full depth of worry that she and Kai had about these changes.

“What if I have gotten them all killed Norah,” He asked quietly. “You know as well as I do that this could be catastrophic. I did not even begin to suspect the dungeon might block our route back out. I should have! That is not an uncommon tactic for D rank dungeons.”

“But it is incredibly rare in E rank dungeons. Which this is supposed to be!”

“But with all the changes…what if it advanced? What if it is D rank now? It has been sitting on the edge for so long…”

“All we knew is that there appeared to be a Rogue Dungeon Monster that had made its way out of the mountain. Nobody has cleared the Labyrinth recently, so it could have had an easy solution. The mid boss was unchanged, exactly like the guidebooks described. There was no reason to suspect something like that.”

“But there is now. Unless the basilisks have killed everything, which we both know is not incredibly likely, there should be plenty of weaker mobs populating this area. If the issue was that nobody had cleared the dungeon, I would be expecting hordes of the things shortly after we entered.”

The big fire mage sighed, putting his head in his hands and rubbing his eyes. He hadn’t been getting enough sleep recently, staying up long into the night trying to find some explanation in his notebook. He needed a break, and she planned to force him into his bedroll one way or another after they were finished talking.

“And then there is the fact the basilisks are this far out,” he continued. “It is a pattern. Something has changed in the dungeon and now all the monster territories have shifted. That is a good indication that the dungeon has introduced a new monster, which could easily be enough to shift the dungeon’s rank.”

“A new elite mob would be a problem,” Norah acknowledged, putting a hand on his back for comfort. “Monsters are always their most dangerous when you don’t know anything about them. Still, I have confidence we could at least escape. Don’t go giving up hope so soon.”

He looked at her through his fingers, glowing red eyes taking her in. She noted the scruffiness of his face. The poor man had never had much luck growing facial hair, and the rugged five o’clock shadow look was something he had never been able to achieve. She’d need to remind him to shave it all off before Emiko gave him grief for it again.

“Besides, if it is only one or two new monsters, we should have a pretty good chance of avoiding them. And we didn’t see any of the weaker mountain monsters outside the mountain.” She continued, “They could be avoiding this area because of the basilisk nest.”

“True. We just do not know enough. It makes me uncomfortable. All these new variables mean the old plan is in shambles, and I am not sure how much I can recover.”

“No plan is perfect Kai, you know that. Besides, the plan you made isn’t as useless as you make it out to be. I haven’t noticed any changed walls or passages yet, so the map you made should still be fairly accurate. And I haven’t heard any of the walls shifting, so the interior maze should still be pretty constant.”

“I’m still kicking myself for not transcribing more of the map. It was just so large…I mapped out the area around the Shieldsmen’s Door. Enough to get to the boss room and avoid any particularly troublesome creatures. I should have at least found a route to one of the other doors.”

“It took you two weeks to create that map. You had to go through almost twenty different accounts of the dungeon and cross reference four different maps before you were confident in it. And we still aren’t one hundred percent sure it was accurate. Doing that for the entire mountain would have taken you years.”

She gave him a moment after that. He was cycling through self-recriminations, but with the arguments she’d made he was too logical to let them overly affect him. Kai was always so quick to blame himself. The failures just weren’t usually big enough that he needed her help getting through them. It was inspiring, how often he let even perceived failures serve as a lesson for greater improvement. Sometimes though, when that perceived failure was great enough, he would destroy himself without someone there to intervene.

When he finally spoke his voice was like stone, “We might have to do something drastic. You know that right?”

Norah was quiet for a long moment at that. Terrible options appeared in her head. Plans that they had made once, a long time ago, for if the absolute worst was to happen. Changes Kai might have made to those plans over the years. Sacrifices he might be willing to make for the rest of the team.

“I know Kai. We’re in a bad situation, and only have so many resources. I think we can make it through, but I’ll be honest. Every bone in my body is screaming that we’re in danger here. The most danger we’ve ever faced. Not much we can do about it though.”

He nodded, “Wandering Horizons is a second family to me Norah. Just like it is to you, Emiko, and everyone else. I will do anything to keep this family safe.”

He stared down the hallway, losing himself in the darkness. Something passed across his face. A grim look that Norah didn’t like, but that she had seen repeatedly since they entered the mountain. It made her oldest, most trusted friend and partner look far too grim.

“We are trapped here Norah. Cows in a pen waiting to be slaughtered. Sustenance for this dungeon. I plan to make sure the damn thing knows that this bull has horns.”

He gave her another burning look. A fire she rarely saw in the rules and protocols bound man. Something much like she imagined his raider ancestors wore while riding out to conquer nations. She loved to see that in him. It usually meant things were about to get dangerous, but it also signified he was finally putting down the generations of duty his family had instilled in him.

Not to say she didn’t like him when he was all caught up in family and duty. That part of him had its draws. The wildness he let show when he set it aside though…It was a kindred spirit in her mind. She was constantly in awe of the iron cage he kept that wild spirit in, and when he let it out she loved the feeling of a fellowship.

It looked like things were about to get a bit more wild.

“I’m done with planning Norah,” He said, a savage look of determination on his face. “I don’t have the variables I need to make a good one. We’re doing things your way now. I trust you to make the right call.”

Usually, Kai took the lead. He was a temperance on the teams otherwise impulsive nature and had a talent for bureaucracy and planning none of them could rival. He and she were technically listed as co-leaders on every document, but she was content to let him do the heavy lifting. When he decided things had become too chaotic for plans though…

“I’ll get us through this Kai. You got us this far. A truly impressive accomplishment. I’ll get us through the last step.”

#

When Li woke, something had felt different. A change in the camps energy. It started small. Kai not being awake and tending the fire. A seeming morning ritual for the man, and one Li had never seen him miss. Even when Li had the final watch, Kai would usually wake long before the rest of the team and ensure everything was prepared for the morning meal.

Like a manager setting his team up for success, ensuring everyone had the resources they needed.

Instead, he clearly heard the sounds of rather aggressive snoring coming from the older man’s tent. Instead, Norah was at the fire. None of the ingredients were out and organized, but she was sending Ananya and Emiko searching through the supply bags, bringing everything she needed as she did the cooking.

Breakfast had been delicious, but again that changed air had intruded. Norah had become a bit more commanding, handing out the instructions for the day that Kai was usually in charge of. She remained more friendly and energetic than the stoic Orc, but she had taken on the same demeaner he saw when she trained him. Iron beneath the softness.

They took their time disassembling the camp, giving Kai as much time as possible to sleep. Norah was insistent that they relax, prepare for a day that was likely to end in combat. She wanted to clear out basilisk, and wanted everyone in the best possible shape for the confrontation.

“I talked with Kai last night, and we believe we should aim for culling eight or nine in ten of the basilisk. Then we will need to shatter the nest and scatter the survivors.”

“Why aren’t we wiping them out entirely,” Ananya demanded. “The dungeon will make more eventually, and there should be far less risk to anyone who follows behind us in the meantime.”

“Kai believes it is just as likely that wiping them out entirely could result in this part of the dungeon becoming more dangerous. The presence of the Basilisks keeps a Garja’lu or Golem Champion from taking over the region. They should also keep the population of lesser monsters low. A swarm of Stone Burrowers can be an incredibly deadly threat. Besides, Kai wants to avoid unbalancing the dungeon’s ecosystem more than it already is.”

Ananya nodded at that, seemingly mollified. Obviously, the woman would prefer if there was nothing in the area to threaten them. It was her job to keep everyone alive and protected after all, and she took that seriously. Still, she recognized that there was a need to not put their own safety over the safety of others that might come after them.

Seeing a pause in the conversations, Li raised his hand to get everyone’s attention. Once they were focused on him, he began to speak.

“I know the Basilisks weren’t what you were expected, but what monsters were you anticipating? I haven’t gotten as much time to review Kai’s notebook, so a refresher would be useful in case we come across something besides the Basilisks. Most of that was focused on the biggest threats too. I remember the Garja’lu, obviously, and the Golem Champion is just a bigger, meaner version of the Golem Warlord. What are the most common of the weaker creatures?”

Norah took a moment to sigh, “It really is unfortunate we couldn’t drum all this information into you properly. You should do your best to get as much information as possible before challenging a dungeon. Nothing is more dangerous than an unknown monster. Still, you’ve come along way with the time you had. Emiko, why don’t you start. It can be a refresher, name one common mob inside this mountain.”

“The Lapitari, obviously. An easy answer, but one that shouldn’t be overlooked. Every time a Garja’lu kills something, one of them will be formed. There should be hordes of them running through the halls. Some controlled by Garja’lu, but most simply mindless destroyers. They aren’t as durable as they look however. Rapid changes in temperature, blunt strikes, or other attacks that can take advantage of their brittleness can cause one to break into pieces”

“Good. Also keep in mind that if they are under control by a Garja’lu, they’ll usully display more coordination and intelligence. They also have some rudimentary ability to communicate with their creator, so be careful to not be surprised by one of the big cats. Djimon, you next.”

The rogue shifted slightly, uncomfortable with being put on the spot. Any answer he might have had seemed to fade from his mind, and he thought for a moment before responding.

“Well, there’s the Half Golems…”

Li couldn’t remember reading about those. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he could easily be thinking of any one of the several dozen varieties of golems that could be found in Archimedes’ Labyrinth.

Thankfully, Djimon quickly began to expand on the creature, “They’re a kind of parasite. Or maybe scavenger would be more accurate. If a golem is destroyed, but large chunks are still intact, one of these things will claim the discarded parts. They’ll hollow out an area inside the golem, usually the base of a limb for smaller ones and the torso for bigger ones, and climb inside. Kind of like a hermit crab.

“The creature itself is a type of slime though, and more closely resembles a slug. It hides its core and various organs inside the golem pieces. The organs are quite fragile on their own, but provide various benefits to the creature including greater intelligence, better senses, and more powerful digestive enzymes.

“Most importantly, it will seep the slime throughout the remains of the golem and then use it to puppet the body. The golem itself is more than just a protective shell, it’s a weapon. With the advanced perception from the organs, they’ll often hide entirely within the golem body and attack when you’re least expecting it.”

“Those things are disgusting,” Ananya spoke up. “Makes me shiver just thinking about them.”

“Yeah, but their slime is valuable,” Emiko was quick to respond.

Ananya’s reply was muttered just loud enough for Li to hear, “Having to harvest the slime just makes them even more vile…”

“I’ll go next,” Norah said, “I mentioned them already, but stone burrowers are a common and often underestimate threat. They’re tiny, barely six inches long, but have some pretty powerful magic. Appearance wise, they’re pretty similar to a garter snake, but have a topaz growing out of their forehead.

“No poison, pitiful physical abilities, and not too hard to kill if you can hit one. The problem comes from the fact that they can move through stone as easily as I can through water. Even more importantly, they can reshape the stone as they go. Their range is only a foot or two, but they like to build pitfalls and use columns or arcs of stone to trap you. Once you are helpless, they eat their way into your stomach.

Right. Li remembered reading about those. He couldn’t help but shudder. There had been diagrams in Kai’s notebook and they had not been pleasant to look at. Thankfully the notes had also mentioned that they were generally the least aggressive of the dungeon inhabitants this far in. Most adventurers were a little too large to be the creature’s ideal prey. They preferred eating the rats, birds, and squirrels that found their way into the dungeon. They’d protect themselves if provoked though.

Apparently getting into the activity, Emiko spoke up again without prompting, “Sand Serpents too. They look a lot like the Archimedes Basilisk but less…thick. They almost twice as long too. Still way less dangerous though.”

“Oh right,” Li spoke up. “They’re mimics right? They look a lot like the basilisks, but their poison is way less powerful and their defenses are way weaker right?”

Emiko snorted, “They don’t even have any poison. They’re a constrictor. Not really much of a threat unless one manages to get around your throat. You’re right about the lack of magical protection too, but their scales are really hard. Hard to hurt the things physically.”

“Why are they called sand serpents anyway?” Li asked.

“Their scales can shift color.” Ananya jumped in, “Only between two different patterns though. The first is the basilisk coloration, the second makes them almost impossible to spot in sand. Some of the hallways in here are filled with sand, and the Sand Serpents are found in or around those halls.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Kind of cool they can shift color like that, but I’m not looking forward to dealing with it.”

“Agreed. With that I believe we’re almost done with the more common monsters,” Ananya paused for a moment, “We could get into details of the specific subtypes, but I believe it would be best to classify them together. The last type of monster we expected to run into a lot of in here are Golem Legionnaires.”

“Right, those are kind of like the statues I ran into while fighting the Warlord? Except smarter and not bound in one spot.”

“Mostly not bound in one spot,” Djimon spoke up. “Don’t get into absolutes with those things. They’re golems, so they can be designed to look like almost anything. There were a few accounts of busts in some of the hallways coming to life as Golem Legionnaires and activating traps on their pedestals. One supposedly had a scorpion nest hidden in its mouth.”

The Ancerva paused for a long moment, “We had a plan for how to scout for them, but honestly you and Emiko’s Mana Sense might be our best bet. The things are so varied and random that it can be easy to overlook them. I’ll be doing my best, of course, and fully expect to find at least most of them. I’d be grateful if you two kept an eye out though. Never hurts to get a second opinion on any statues.”

“Any way I can help. No promises on my end though, there’s magic all over the place around here. It’s creating enough noise that I almost want to turn it off when I go to sleep.”

Li wasn’t lying. Between his motion sense and mana sense, it felt like he had been swallowed by some colossal beast. He could feel things moving behind the walls and feel massive amounts of mana flowing rapidly from location to location. He assumed at least some of it was the machinery that made the entire mountain turn, but he was betting plenty of it was traps and monsters they would need to look out for.

He'd brought his concerns up with Kai the previous evening, but the man hadn’t looked surprised. Kai had told him he should do his best to get used to it, and absolutely not turn it off. The older adventurer had said he would need to get used to ambient noise in his sensory skills eventually anyway. How else could he expect to use them in towns, cities, or anywhere with more than a handful of people?

“We all have our own ways of contributing to the defense, Li. Don’t let this fool leave you thinking everything is up to you and Emiko,” Ananya’s voice was calm, but there was a hint of teasing when she insulted Djimon.

“Alright, we’ve gotten off topic. All of this was a good refresher and we’ve brought up some useful point. Setting up official golem protection measures will be useful. I’m sure Kai has an idea or two in mind, and will be happy to share once he wakes up. For now though, lets get back to the topic at hand.”

Li was surprised, usually Norah would be more than willing to take part in some good-natured ribbing. It brought him back to that feeling of difference he’d been getting on occasion since waking up.

“Do you agree with Kai’s plan in regards to the Archimedes Basilisks? Are there any concerns with proceeding as planned?”

There was a chorus of ‘no’s at Norah’s question. Li himself couldn’t think of a better plan, especially if part of their goal was to make the dungeon safer for future adventurers. Part of him wanted to wipe the monsters out, and screw the consequences. He wasn’t that much of an asshole though, to put others safety above his own when the actual benefit was probably minimal. Afterall, what was to keep a more powerful monster from moving in while they were still in the area?

“Great. Now comes the part that people might be a little more uncomfortable with.”

More uncomfortable than attacking an entire nest of highly poisonous serpents determined to kill us? Li couldn’t help but think they were already taking enough insanity onto their plate for one day. They’d done some dangerous things, of course, but he would really prefer to keep his death-defying moments to once a day. Still…every challenge is a chance to push yourself to new heights, right? That’s what Norah’s been teaching anyway.

“What do you have in mind?” Emiko asked, with more than a little suspicion in her voice.

Norah gave her wide, terrifying smile. “Once we’ve scattered the basilisk, Djimon is going to do some scouting. Specifically, he is going to look for the route leading from the nest that has seen the least recent basilisk activity.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Norah responded, “Why would I have a problem with going where the basilisks aren’t?”

Li was wondering that himself, trying to figure out Norah’s plan. This seemed much to risk averse for her. Knowing Norah, she should be driving them to fight the biggest, toughest, meanest…

Oh.

He came to a realization then, and he didn’t like it. It wasn’t that they were taking that route because there were no snakes. They were taking that route because something was driving the snakes away. He realized that Djimon must have come to the same conclusion, and looked his way for support. The shadow mage was just staring at Norah. Biting the bullet, Li spoke up.

“You want us to track down whatever made them set up a nest out here, don’t you?” Li asked.

There it was, that smile again. This time directed solely on himself. He really didn’t like that. Norah was scary than any of the monsters he’d come across so far. Except maybe the Garja’lu, but that was probably because there was a distressing similarity in their smiles.

“Yes,” she said with relish. “Not necessarily to fight it. At least not right away. We need to get more information through. If it is another Basilisk nest, we can assume the dungeon made some sort of mistake and is spawning to many of them. Then, as long as we cull a few more nests, things should return to normal on their own. If its something else, at least we’ll know there is more going on here.”

Li hated that he thought it was reasonable approach.

#

An hour later, they were still waiting for Kai to emerge from his tent. Otherwise, everyone was pretty much ready to go. The camp had mostly been packed away, dishes had been cleaned, and a serving of food had been put aside for the swordsman. Norah was currently in the process of discussing a scouting mission with Djimon to find a safe route to the nest and check for traps. Li himself was working through another one of Emiko’s magic lessons.

“So what’s up with Norah and Kai this morning?” He asked Emiko as she wrote something in a notebook beside him.

“Oh, yeah. I suppose Kai’s been pretty much in charge since you joined up huh? It seems like Kai decided his plan has officially gone to shit. Honestly lasted a lot longer than I expected. Between all the warnings about increased danger and the extra job from the guild…I thought things would go to hell way sooner.”

She went back to writing in her notebook real fast, adding a few more lines before she closed the leather-bound pages. She shifted in her seat, turning to face him and give her full attention.

“Still, he’s decided the plan isn’t going to hold up any longer. That means Norah’s in charge now. She’s better with all the chaos. Don’t worry too much, this is pretty normal. No plan is perfect, and they’ll almost always go wrong eventually. He’ll still be there to advise Norah, but she’ll be making the snap decisions.”

She gave him a long, considering look.

“On a different topic, I noticed you finally got to pick a class. What did you choose?”

Li was surprised, as far as he could tell there had been no sign of his class selection. At least not outwardly. He’d rapidly blazed through the first few levels of the class, but as far as he could tell that should only affect his stats.

“I chose Warrior. How could you tell anyway?”

“Warrior and not Rogue huh? That’s surprising,” She didn’t seem to register his question at first, too taken by surprise by his answer. Snapping back she responded, “Well, it’s part of my Mana Sense, plus another sensory ability of mine. I have several. Eventually, the two together should let me pick apart a lot of the spells and abilities of anything I see. For now though, I get a bit of a glimpse of the shape of somethings soul. Doesn’t help much, besides giving me a very basic idea of how much power something can bring to bear. More relevantly though, it makes it easy to track level ups.”

“So you know how we explained that leveling up is your soul reinforcing itself with more power and growing? That’s only true for racial experience. Class experience still takes a bit of the soul leftovers of whatever you killed, but it uses them to sort of sculpt your soul instead of just making it bigger. The higher your class level, the more intricate the shape of your soul. I’ve noticed yours is becoming less of a…well it’s not really a great comparison but I guess I’d have to say ‘orb’. It’s taking on some definition.”

She paused giving him time to digest what she had said so far. She let him drift in his own thoughts for a little while, wondering about the implications. Before he could get to far down the rabbit hole, she drug him back with a question though.

“So why did you choose Warrior instead of Rogue? It seemed like Rogue was what you were setting up for.”

He blushed a little at that. It was a spur of the moment decision honestly, and one he hadn’t discussed with anyone before making. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. His reasoning still held true.

“Well, I thought about it. Rogue was the sensible decision, right? I’ve got two perception abilities already, plenty of mobility, and I’ve been training in trap finding and situational awareness. But I realized, that’s not really what I want to do. You know? I don’t mind being a secondary scout, but all that backstabbing, hit and run, rogue stuff? Just not what felt right. I want to be more on the front line, or mid line at worse. That means I need to be able to take a hit or two, at least sometimes.”

“Hmmm…” was Emiko’s only response

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not seeing myself in full plate armor swinging around a sword and shield. I’ve got my own way of doing thing.” Li hovered a knife in the air to demonstrate before continuing, “But that’s still the place I want to be. Right up in whatever I am fighting’s face. Besides, it will help me balance out my stats a bit more. I really want to avoid min-maxing. That stuff works great in theory, but what happens when something isn’t going right?”

He paused, embarrassed about his reasoning. He didn’t like it? It was like he was a child pouting about the snack he’d been given. This was life and death. There should be more reasoning than ‘I didn’t like it’.

“Fair enough,” was all Emiko said.

He just stared at her, flummoxed that she could be so casual about the entire thing. She’d opened her notebook back up, and was beginning to write in it again. As far as he could tell, she had entirely dismissed the issue.

“Wait, what? What do you mean fair enough? You aren’t going to tell me I made a massive mistake or something?”

She put down the book again, looking at him, “Why would I say that? It’s your life. I mean, yeah. Rogue probably was a better fit for you at the time, and likely would have increased your power more in the immediate future. But if you can’t see yourself becoming that, and want to move in a direction now, it’s better to make that choice while you are constructing the foundation.”

She has fiddling with her pen, clearly thinking about something. “I was the same way you know. Kai took me on to be an apprentice. He fully expected me to follow in his footsteps and choose warrior for me first class. I didn’t tell him it wasn’t what I wanted for the longest time, instead just doing what I could to make him happy. He’d offered me an incredibly opportunity and could guide me far better if I followed his footsteps directly after all! But when it came time to choose…It just wasn’t the right class for me. You know?”

Emiko sighed, glancing toward Kai’s tent. “When I finally told him, he was disappointed of course. Not in me, or the choice I wanted to make though. In himself for making me feel like I had no other options. He told me that just because it might offer more power now, if I couldn’t see myself in that role, I would never reach my full potential. How much more effort will somebody doing what they want put into training? How much more will they strive for something they want? Don’t limit yourself to where you are now. Focus on what you want to become.”

Li pondered that for a while, feeling better about his decision. She was right, would he really be willing to put in the same effort doing something he felt like he was forced into? Of course not. He was just doing what was best for him in the long run.

“Besides,” Emiko continued, “It’s only your first class. A class can shift immensely when you choose your second one. Mage, Rogue, and Warrior are such wide classes, they can easily shift into just about anything. You just have to put in the right training and learn the right spells. You can easily shift back toward rogue in a year or two. And if you really, really regret your decision, you can get a soul shaper to remove your class. Be careful with that though, they’ll have to remove enough of your soul to return it to an unblemished state, so you’ll lose a lot of levels.”

“That’s an option?”

Li was dumbfounded, he’d never thought going back would be an option. It relieved a lot of the stress he’d built up about if he was making the right decisions. If he could just reset everything, even if he did have to redo a lot of his hard work, there was less reason to worry he was making a mistake.

“Yeah, but its really expensive. From a money, time, and points perspective. You’ll need to have the system stabilize your soul afterwards, so you can expect to pay three to five hundred points for that. Soul shapers themselves are rare, so you’re probably looking at a few thousand coins. Levels will come slower the second time too. Your soul basically builds up scar damage from the operation and until you are well past where you were before, you’ll continue to receive diminished experience. You also probably won’t be able to use your stronger spells. Your body and soul won’t be able to handle the ki or mana required. It really is a last resort type of thing, and most people can’t mess up their first class enough to make it worth it.”

She went back to her notebook before seeming to have an afterthought, “Oh, an unless the soul shaper is really good, you’ll lose your class entirely. So the further along you go, the more of a loss it is. You’ll still have your racial levels, but you’ll be all the way back at Mage, Rogue, or Warrior.”

Well never mind. That sounded awful. Li fully intended to never, ever need the help of a Soul Shaper. Emiko had said his current class should be pretty flexible. He’d just need to do some research once he got out of the dungeon. Push himself in the direction of an interesting class that would give him the kind of stat boosts and spells he wanted. The strength he was currently getting really was a waste. He hadn’t gotten a class skill or ability yet, but he was assuming a lot of them wouldn’t be as helpful for what he wanted. Then again, class rewards weren’t set in stone. Maybe he could push it in the direction he wanted before he wasted too many level ups.

#

It was almost another hour before Kai woke up. The entire time was spent in a flurry of spell practice and exercise as Li pestered Emiko into helping him ‘train’ his class in the right direction. She’d played at being huffy and annoyed with his requests for help, but her nature had shown through in the end. An opportunity to show off what she knew couldn’t be missed, and this was a great way to do it.

Kai himself looked different. Better in Li’s personal opinion. Freshly shaved, which Emiko had oddly complained about under her breath, and lacking the bags under his eyes that had been growing day by day, week by week. He walked more comfortably too, like he’d spent the entire dungeon wearing ankle and wrist weights and had decided to take them off this morning.

The man smiled, a real, honest smile that put every controlled grin the man had displayed previously to shame. He more friendly, as if this entire time he’d been forcibly holding everyone at a distance only to finally give in. Li didn’t miss the warmth in Norah’s eyes as she saw the way Kai was acting. He also didn’t miss how all that weight and stress had been moved to her.

She was dealing with it well, but she’d also only been carrying that weight a few hours. Hopefully they could finish this dungeon before too long. She didn’t seem right without that friendliness that had pervaded every one of his interactions with her before. Not that she wasn’t friendly now, but since the morning that affection had only seemed skin deep. A thin barrier between the world and the tough nails underneath.

This was going to take some getting used to.