“How about we call you… Maggie.”

Gordon groaned.

Levi ignored him and brought up the magma snake’s stats, then a comparison against Crimson.

Maggie: Level 1 Magma Serpent +

Strength: 0

Health: 150/150

(+2/min)

Psyche: 1

Mana: 90/90

(+4/min)

Spirit: 0

Stamina: 50/50

(+1/min) Crimson: Level 1 Magma Serpent

Strength: 0

Health: 40/40

(+1/min)

Psyche: 1

Mana: 35/35

(+2/min)

Spirit: 0

Stamina: 50/50

(+1/min)

Both Maggie and Crimson had their initial point in Psyche for increased mana, but Maggie’s was noticeably more effective. While Crimson gained 15 mana per psyche point - a respectable amount - Maggie received the highest mana bonus of anyone at 40. Second only to the ogres’ +50 health as one of the highest bonuses of anyone.

"You fought well," Levi told the now-docile magma snake as it sprawled across the middle of the chamber.

It had been a long time since they’d actually lost anyone to a level 1 dungeon. Specialty dungeons did tend to be more dangerous than standard Destruction ones, but still. Maggie was a genuinely dangerous creature. On par with Becca, he'd say, especially once she was leveled up a bit more.

“Did you see how Greg clobbered the fangs right out of its mouth?” Peter fist-bumped his ogre, who grinned proudly in answer to his master’s excitement. “That was AWESOME! I sure hope we get some cool loot for this one.”

"Let's go see," Levi offered, waving an arm toward the end door.

Like the previous dungeons so far this trip, this was no disappointment in the loot department, giving two much-needed health elixirs to replenish their dwindling stock, a Fire token, and two items.

Circlet of Flame (Headwear, Uncommon)

Abilities: Amplify Ability

Power stone: N/A

Upgrade Slots: 1

Great-Axe (Manablade, Standard)

Abilities: (Insert power stone)

Power stone: 0/1

Upgrade Slots: 0

Levi passed the circlet to Irene, as the one who used abilities most regularly and the one who could benefit most from a little boost.

"Anyone want this axe?"

Gordon shrugged. "If no one else wants it, I'll take it. Better weapon than a sword at least." He gave the two-handed axe a few experimental swings, then nodded. "Yeah, I'll take it."

No one had leveled, again, due to there being so few enemies in the actual dungeon and the boss being tamed instead of killed. But Levi would still count it as a complete win.

"One more, then we’ll head back to meet up with Cassandra and split the team."

He still wasn't sure how he should divide their forces. By all rights, Cassandra and Laurence would be more in need of escort than Levi, especially since his sub-team had three tamers and a medic. But Levi didn’t feel anyone in his team was expendable. Even when he picked someone up specifically to send off, like Ward and Gremlin Three, he found himself growing fond of them as they fought together.

Once Gordon had revived Plus and Irene finished fixing up Maggie and Cen and the others injured in the fight, it was time to head off to their final dungeon for this loop.

The trip was as uneventful as ever, Levi alone with his minions and his thoughts for a couple hours while somewhere the others drove. He wondered briefly if they'd be able to reach their rendezvous before Irene hit her threshold and became a danger to the car.

But, no, this was the last dungeon of the day. They'd be fine. No one got two levels in a dungeon this much lower than them.

Destruction Dungeon: Level 1

Just another Destruction dungeon, entirely routine…

The moment they stepped inside Levi felt a faint sense of potential, uncertainty, and excitement.

This dungeon held a hidden secret.

He kept an eye out while they progressed, but nothing stood out to him on the way in. It wasn’t notably more dangerous than other level 1 destruction dungeons, just a whole lot of gremlins.

It was enough for Levi finally to hit level 11, and Crackle reached level 2. Levi had to confess… he’d almost forgotten that Crackle existed. He was small, and wherever he went in the fighting he seemed to make it a point to stay out of Levi’s line of sight. As if he was picking up subconsciously on Levi’s distaste for Rust Scarabs and trying to avoid causing a distraction.

It made him feel fondly for the little bug, and also a bit guilty for forcing his personal issues on his innocent minion.

He put his own point into Spirit, and Crackle’s into Psyche. Hopefully some of his other minions would start leveling again soon, but between only level 1 dungeons and only properly clearing one boss fight, it made sense why progress was coming so slowly.

As it turned out, this dungeon also held an ogre. It wasn't as difficult to capture as Maggie had been, and Maggie herself made it much easier. That is to say, even an ogre was easier to kill when it had been constricted by a serpent dealing constant fire damage, and further adorned with two shadevines.

Once dungeons leveled a bit more and bosses started having more than one or two creatures to escort them, things would become more complicated to solve, but for the near future having a fire snake capable of constricting a bus was going to be a huge advantage.

Maggie seemed eager to finish off the ogre, but held back at Levi's command and allowed him and Gordon to bring down its resistance and then tame it.

"Drok," Levi declared, patting the ogre on the shoulder as it straightened its posture and bowed with a polite smile.

"Yes," the ogre said, in a surprisingly ordinary voice, only slightly deeper than Levi’s own. "Drok."

Levi stared. Up until now, none of the minions had been capable of proper speech. Gremlins could squeak, Becca could purr and snarl, the centipedes could click, but none of them could talk.

"You can talk?"

"Yes. Drok."

"Can you say anything else?"

Drok shrugged. "Drok, yes."

So, perhaps his linguistic abilities were... limited, but it was still something. More than anything else so far.

"Greg! Can you talk too?" Peter asked his ogre.

Greg shook his head and made a rumbling sound that didn't translate to words, then smacked one fist into the other with a smile.

"Greg..." Drok said, bowing politely. "Yes."

Greg looked uncertain what to do about this, and frowned.

Drok slapped Greg on the shoulder. "Greg, yes, Drok."

Greg looked at Peter for a moment, then at Drok, then put his arm around the other ogre's shoulder and nodded with a wordless grunt. Greg's skin was greyer, Drok's more of a dusty brown, but until they were right beside each other it was hard to tell. They had very similar shapes, similarly bulging muscles, and similarly flat faces.

Drok slapped Greg's back one more time, then walked over to sit down beside Irene, who was still working her way through the other injured minions.

Irene was using their restoratives supply at a dramatic speed, but her Medic level was increasing equally dramatically. She'd already reached level 8, and at this rate would catch up to Levi before long. It seemed treating a lot of creatures at or above your level was very good for gaining experience, while Levi was only fighting things far below his own level and gained less as a result.

Once the dungeons outleveled humans, that would change, but that wouldn't be for another month even if their plans went exactly as intended.

Levi really looked forward to leaving behind all the talking and recruiting and heading into his little dungeon loop to level. He didn't exactly miss dungeons being a death trap, but he did worry that all this easy fighting would reduce his effectiveness. He'd lost too much of his previous skill already by being stuck in an unpracticed body with insufficient mana and stamina, but to forget how to go up against overwhelming odds could be deadly. He would need that edge when the demon portals opened in October.

And he needed Peter and Irene to be familiar with, comfortable with, and safe within such drastic circumstances. He would not allow them to be thoughtlessly mowed down again.

Levi pushed the thought away. That was the distant future. Right now, he had a cleared dungeon just waiting for him to seek out its secrets - a task he would undertake with utmost attentiveness.

The first place to check was the treasure room. Levi also had his minions spread out to check the walls and ceiling throughout the dungeon, gremlins sneaking into any crevice, Shadevine slipping into even the tiniest of cracks, while he started here. A reasonable percentage of hidden secrets had been in or near the treasure rooms, but this one proved not to be the case.

It did contain the usual pile of items: two mana restoratives, a Destruction stone and token both, an unimprinted scroll which Levi thought Laurence could probably make use of, and another storage belt much like Levi's own - this one he gave to Peter.

Peter, naturally, immediately tried to fit his scythe inside, frowning when only the tip went in.

"You need a bigger compartment size for anything like that," Levi corrected gently. "Anything that fits in your hand should fit in the belt, and you can store about twenty to thirty items in each of the compartments."

While Peter played with his new belt, Levi set about searching the room itself.

Nothing. He found nothing in the treasure room, and none of the minions returned with any rare special items.

Levi walked out of the dungeon and re-entered at the beginning, walking very slowly through each room, paying close attention to the faint sense that told him there was something hidden. It seemed stronger the closer to the end of the dungeon he got, then faded off again as he crossed the treasure room toward the exit portal.

So… in the boss room?

Backtracking, he walked slowly around the chamber. It was as boring as they came, without any secret hiding places in the walls, no cracks or nooks in the ceiling, only the slightly raised central square for Drok to stand on…

Levi crossed to the stone, the only part of the room that stood out to him. It was about eight inches tall, wide enough across in all directions for an ogre to stand on comfortably, and positioned right in a beam of dramatic lighting from the dungeon’s ubiquitous light control.

The base didn’t quite meld with the floor. Levi ran his finger along the crack where the stage met the floor beneath. They were two separate pieces.

Excitement rose in his chest as his suspicion turned to certainty. He braced himself and gave the stone a shove, but it was too large and heavy to budge on his own.

“Greg? Drok? Can you guys come help me with this?”

The ogres came over and positioned themselves on either side of Levi.

“Two, one… push.”

They heaved together. With a shrieking groan of stone on stone the whole platform slid noisily aside, revealing a small trapdoor concealed beneath.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

Levi tugged the trapdoor’s latch and it swung smoothly open.