“That’s just great!” Chloe shouted, on the verge of tears. “The first legitimate clue I find after a month of looking ends up being a dead end!”
“Hey, Chloe, it’s not a dead end just yet.” I was trying to console her, but I knew there was little I could do other than blow more hope bubbles to keep her afloat. “Listen, you said yourself that this room doesn’t look the same. Even the entrance is different from the one in Heaven. Maybe parts of the dungeon were rearranged also. We should keep looking and maybe we’ll find something.”
Chloe’s jaw set and she nodded, determined not to let this small failure defeat her.
Vega’s brow rose. “What? You guys weren’t planning on doing the rest of this dungeon if the clue was here? Shame on you two! It’s such a cool place. It would be a shame not to kick its ass.”
This got a smile out of Chloe. If I knew one thing about the girl, it was that there was nothing like a dungeon to blow away her frustrations.
“Alright, I guess that sounds fun.”
I looked over at Dice. “You gonna join in with us?”
Dice raised a brow at me. “Is that a command?”
“No.”
“Then no.” Dice turned his back on us. “Besides, you wouldn’t want me to spoil everything with all I know about this place, would you?”
He had a point. Knowing everything about a dungeon did ruin a bit of the fun of trying to solve it for ourselves. He tossed the Keycard over his shoulder at me and I caught it.
— ACQUIRED KEYCARD —
“Suit yourself,” I said.
He leaped up the massive gear and then disappeared out of sight.
Vega gave me a perplexed frown. “What’s up with him?”
I shook my head. “Heck if I know. You know Dice. He can be a moody prick sometimes.”
Chloe nodded, having been on the end of one of his moods before.
“Come on. Let’s see if we can find anything in the other room that might point out where the Screamers are being held.”
There was a ramp that led down to the third floor. I led Chloe and a confused-looking Vega out of the room and down it.
“Wait, we’re here to find Screamers?” Vega asked.
We ignored this comment in favor of jumping straight to equipping our weapons. Below the long, steep ramp were a dozen more of the lizard monsters I was calling Blade-Tails. I caught Chloe’s eyes and she grinned at the onslaught she looked eager to unleash upon them after their earlier ambush.
“Got few Mana Bullets on you?” I asked Chloe.
“Yeah.”
“Good, because I’m about to turn this place into an ice cave.” I looked up in thought as, with a tingle of bells, my Iceberg spell formed. “Or a glacier. One of the two.”
The Iceberg fell upon the creatures, shattering in the center of their horde. We then rained down specialty ice bullets and spells on them, picking off the ones on the outside.
It didn’t take us long to finish them. Vega collected the items, and we moved down to the fourth floor.
Instead of there being monsters, there was a large growth of vines and leaves that led down toward the fifth floor through a hole at our feet. Unlike the previous floors, barely anything could be seen of the walls due to the thick growth that surrounded it.
“Lizards then plants, then more lizards and more plants,” I said, giving Chloe a sarcastic smile. “Where do they get all their ideas from?”
Chloe shrugged as we moved over the large collection of vines in the center of the room, which led down into the floors below. “Well, this is a Primatier dungeon, which is generally intended for training up abilities. It only makes sense considering the type of magic we have to use to fight the creatures here.”
I thought on this for a moment, remembering that not everyone who had made it to the New Calandor area would have accumulated as many Skill Points as I had considering how much I had to grind in the first-era dungeons.
Vega raised a finger. “That reminds me, I still haven’t gotten the level three lightning spell yet.”
I looked down over the edge to find what looked like giant praying mantises climbing up the vines toward us. “Well, here’s your chance. Go on. Plasma Beam-snipe those insects down.”
It seemed Chloe hadn’t seen them until I had pointed them out as she made an “eek” before moving behind me and shouting, “Do it quickly!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Vega lay down on his belly, leaning out over the hole in the floor as the insects drew closer. “After all, I had just mastered first person shooters before I started playing this game. Now, you two, marvel at my perfect one-shot-one-kill ratio.”
He charged up and shot a Plasma Beam at the praying mantis that had climbed the highest. Changing the angle of his finger, he charged and fired, again and again, and each time the praying mantis closest to the hole fell away.
“Alright, grab my ankles, you two,” he said.
We did so, and he leaned right out over the edge, curling under it to get the final two mantises that had been right under him. As he swung back up, he blew at the top of his finger as though it were a smoking gun and then looked up.
“Hah, perfect timing! I just got the Perfect Storm!” he called. He got to his feet and raised his hand in a swiping gesture to put away the tutorial.
I looked out over the edge. Vega had been true to his word; not a single insect was left.
“Good work. Now let’s head down.”
We climbed the thick vines until we came to the base of the massive plant, which seemed to go right through the floor. Again, Vega ran out to collect the Resource Items, as though wanting see what equipment he could synth with them. In the center of the large room was the core, an enormous tree with lifted roots one could walk under. I peered between them to find a staircase made of the wooden roots that led down to the next floor. The last step dropped off into a pool that the vines hung down into.
Water training, then. Alright. I still need to get my level three water spell. From what the old Druid in the Hall of Doors did, it seemed to be a pretty powerful one.
I grinned, remembering when Siena had taken on the water floor in the Druids’ Keep and came out looking like a mess. “Alright, I’ll take care of this one.”
I rubbed my hand out in front of me horizontally to create an Ice Wall that floated on the water’s surface and then jumped down onto it. There didn’t seem to be any monsters inside the water, but when I looked up, I realized what my targets were going to be. Bats hung upside down from the roof. With such a large pool of water below me, it wasn’t hard to figure what I needed to do.
The level two water spell was called Water Hose, and it was about as powerful as a fireman’s hose. Cupping my hand, I directed the spell at several of the bats and they were bashed against the roots of the tree by jets of water. The others, however, looked none-to-pleased and began flying toward me, fangs bared.
I redirected my spell, but a few began latching onto me, their teeth sinking into my skin as their fangs sucked away at my Hit Points. I was about to ask for assistance when an announcement popped up in my vision.
— WATER UPGRADE: ‘TSUNAMI’ LEARNED! —
Yes!
My old friend, the blank avatar, popped up to give a demonstration of how to use it. Holding his forearm vertically upright, he swiped it palm-first across his body as the line “Think of water” flashed up. I sent away the popup window and followed the avatar’s instructions, waving my hand across my body as though creating a wave with it. Suddenly the Ice Wall I was standing on tipped sideways and I slipped into the water.
What happened next shouldn’t have surprised me, but did nonetheless. The entire body of water I was now swimming in pooled to one side of the room and then suddenly struck the opposing wall with enough force that I was slammed into it. Being my own spell, it didn’t take any of my Hit Points, but it did manage to kill off the bats that were latched on to me. As the pool settled again, I managed to rise and gasp in some air. I looked around.
My spell had killed not only the bats sucking away my health, but every bat in the room. I grinned and spat water. Now that’s a level three spell!
I heard Chloe calling from above me. “Ah, Noah . . . there’s a side door behind some of the vines on the wall up here . . . I don’t actually think you needed to go down there.”
“You’re kidding!”
I cast another Ice Wall to float on and climbed a trident Vega equipped to help me up.
“I can’t believe this,” I muttered.
Chloe showed me to the door she had found behind the wall of vines. It led down a long, dark stairwell into a wide cavity in the mountain. She led us down into the dark opening, the stairs curling around ruins of the platforms that jutted out from the cave wall.
“I’m sure that water place was the six or seventh floor,” she said, sounding like she was consoling me. “But you were right about them changing the floors for the Engine Room. I must have done that dungeon a dozen times and it’s nothing like this.”
I was still dripping from falling into the water. It would take me a while to dry out without sunlight. Unequipping my robes in the middle of a dungeon so they would dry quicker would be a foolish thing to do. The staircase must have gone down at least four floors by the time we reached the bottom. It ended in a large, squared-off hollow that had neither an exit nor entrance at first glance. There were mud walls, a mud floor, and although I couldn’t see that high up, I would have put money on it having a mud ceiling as well. Strangely, from the small gaps at the bases of the walls, they didn’t seem connected to the floor, and neither was the staircase.
Ice, Fire, Water, and now Earth. Makes sense. They didn’t even have an earth elemental in the Druids’ Keep. This should be interesting.
“This looks like the end,” Chloe said, shoulders slumping.
Vega shrugged. “Makes sense, if you include the entrance, that is.”
At first I couldn’t see much in the distance, but then I noticed a small lever in the ground just off from where we were standing. If the boss of the dungeon hadn’t shown up by now, either that triggered him to appear or showed us another way out of here. I walked over to it and crouched down, brushing away some dirt so I could see the warning message at the top of the device.
“Warning: Rotation.”
“Go on, flip the thing,” Vega called as he noticed me standing over it.
I nodded and went to push the lever down. It was rusted and took a bit of effort, but the second it gave way, gears began to whir, and the whole room rumbled. It suddenly made sense why the walls and stairs weren’t connected to the ground as, with the room’s tremors, the walls and stairs began to spin, seeming to take the rest of the mountain with it.
Vega grinned. “Now we’re talking!”
After it made a full one-eighty, it stopped and lights appeared high up on the dungeon’s walls. There were hidden rooms—two of them.
I see. So those are the true seventh and eighth floors.
The mother of all bats flew from the top floor. It must have been furious after I killed the rest of its colony. From the second room came hundreds of moving vines, which caught hold and then seemed to possess the bat, the moss and branches making it grow even larger before it flapped out into the air above us.
“That’s more like it!” Vega called.
The bat-hybrid swooped down and landed on the wide mud floor before us and let out an ear-piercing screech. I was impressed, but from what I knew of Primatier bosses, their bark was always bigger than their bite.
“So what’s the strategy, team leader?” Vega asked me.
The monster flew at us before I could answer, clawed feet reaching and grasping toward us. Vega and I jumped out of the way. I lifted an Earth Mound from the ground to cover us as Chloe fled back behind the stairway, stopped, and began popping off Fire Bullets. They weren’t as effective on the Mother Bat as fire spells were on the plant monsters, and only helped in getting the beast’s attention.
“Have you got the Earth Punch spell?” I asked.
Vega nodded and went to say, “Ye—” before another deafening screech filled the cavity.
I tried to continue my instructions but then realized I couldn’t hear my own voice. In fact, I couldn’t hear anything. Vega put his hand to his ears, appearing not to be able to hear anything either. I assumed the deafening was an effect of the Mother Bat’s screeching, but whether it was a permanent or temporary change in this dungeon, I could only guess.
Instead, I mimed my strategy to Vega before it could attack again, pointing to the dirt below us, punching my fist and then pointing to the Mother Bat Chloe was firing upon. Right away, Vega pulled an A-Okay sign and then held up three fingers. He lowered one finger, then two, and then the last. Together we ran out from behind the pile of earth, fists balled for the Earth Punch spell.
Vega’s first punch came from the mud floor and launched the massive bat into a back wall. Although I punched forward, my focus was on the back wall and struck it back toward us. I caught Vega’s gaze for a second, raising my left hand. He nodded and raised his right as the bat flew toward us. Together we punched simultaneously, our two rock fists emerging from either wall and smashing the Mother Bat between them.
Complimentary level two spell combos, like Ice Coffin and Plasma Beam, did more damage than singular level three spells, doubling the amount of health it would do normally. And considering earth complimented itself, our combo took over two-thirds of the boss’s health.
My ears began to ring and my hearing slowly returned to me, so I screamed, “Once more, I’ll go high . . .”
“And I’ll go low!” Vega shouted back and balled his fist.
Just as the Mother Bat landed, it began to screech anew so we couldn’t form another plan, but it was too little too late. Just as I clenched my fist and swung down, Vega mirrored my attack with an uppercut. The corresponding punches slammed together, and an explosion filled the place between the knuckles, signaling the demise of the Mother Bat.
Vega grinned and we raised our fists and fist bumped. From the outside, it must have looked odd. After all, Vega still looked like Sirswift and I was congratulating him on our teamwork together. Needless to say, things had changed since then.
Another announcement popped up:
— EARTH UPGRADE: ‘LANDSLIDE’ LEARNED —
Again, the blank avatar showed the arm gesture needed for the spell. Its beginning position resembled the Tsunami spell, but instead of holding one arm up it held two, and instead of a swiping across, it was more like the two arms were collapsing, as though folding under immense pressure.
That’s it then. I finally have level three magic for each of the beginning spells. Considering I got my first level three spell, Wildfire, back when I was still trying to find Sue, I’m surprised it took me this long. But I guess Skill Points just creep up over time.
I turned to see Chloe emerge from behind the stairs, looking abashed.
“What?” she asked as she saw my smile. “After what you guys did to the plants above, I could have sworn fire would have done the same to the vines on that bat!”
I shook my head. “Water, fire, air, and earth. I bet they even expected us to use a wind spell like Vacuum to lift a Range Niche teammate up into those rooms to retrieve the hidden items and abilities.”
Chloe looked up at the lit rooms on the wall, as though glad she could take center stage for once.
“Well, we would,” Vega cut in, “if we didn’t have these.”
He summoned his Bird’s Eye and jumped on. Chloe frowned and I rolled my eyes before summoning my own.
“He has a point.”
Our platforms lifted us up to the top room, revealing a sparkling spider web stuck between several roots. Being the first to arrive, Vega was the first off his Bird’s Eye.
“Sweet! New ability!”
I did the same, and as soon as we touched the spider web, another announcement popped up.
— ABILITY LEARNED: ‘SPIDER CLIMB’ —
“Does this ability allow you to climb walls?” Chloe asked as she touched it next. “It makes sense considering being able to climb those walls and vines is the only way to get out of here.”
“Not that we need it with the Bird’s Eyes.” I got back on the platform. “Let’s find out what’s in the other room.”
I made it down and saw that there was an item, and for once one I could actually find a use for. Lying on the ground was a faded orange cloak with a high collar that curled upward at the throat. Inside the material of the collar were mirrors, so that all a player had to do was look down to see if anyone was sneaking up behind them. With one of the Future Projection’s only weaknesses being back attacks, that cloak would be incredibly handy.
“Mine!” I turned as Chloe and Vega turned up. “Vega, I let you take all the Resource Items, and I’ve already promised to pay for a trip for us, Chloe, so would you mind? I really could use this cloak.”
Chloe put her hands on her hips. “It looks too heavy for Range avatars anyway.” Then she smiled. “Just know that you’ll owe me and I’ll agree.”
“Done,” I said and picked it up.
— ACQUIRED: ‘ALERT COAT’ —
I equipped it, testing how clearly it allowed me to see things behind me. I could see the others, arms crossed impatiently. It worked well.
“Nice. Alright, let’s head back up, eh?”
We took our Bird’s Eyes across the mountain cavity to the opening to the vine room. The entrance was too small to fit the platforms through, so we dismissed them, climbed the vines effortlessly with our new abilities, and made our way up the ramps back to the second floor. As we arrived, however, I noticed something different about the room now that we were entering from the other side, and I halted.
I recalled how the cavity walls had spun about, how the room hadn’t looked the same as the second level of the Engine Room despite the stalled gear. The moss, broken steam pipes, and general tone weren’t the only things different about the dungeon; the alcove where Chloe and I had made out was missing as well.
Wait, but I saw it before, didn’t I?
“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked when she noticed I wasn’t moving.
I pointed to the corner of the room that the alcove was in. “In the Engine Room that would have been the alcove next to the back corner, right?”
Chloe’s face went red and Vega looked at us in confusion.
“So?”
“It’s the wrong way around. The designers may have been lazy when copying the designs for Heaven’s new dungeon, but they still flipped it around 180 degrees so that it was different in the Engine Room.”
Chloe’s brow rose and she reassessed the room. “You’re right, but if that’s the case, then the corner wouldn’t be at the back west, but at the front and east!”
She rushed to the corner and went about flicking through the layers. As she worked, I couldn’t help but feel there was something about the Research Center’s spinning that made me think of the view of the archipelago as a whole.
I mean, if they flipped the geography for Europe and Africa for the Dream State’s mainland, why wouldn’t they just flip a series of islands—
I felt like I was reaching some new understanding when Chloe gasped and moved aside to show me what she had found. It was another short sentence with a series of numbers underneath it.
More work for Dice, I guess.
The sentence was about as vague as the last one, but something about this one made sense to me: “This place is real.”
“What does that mean?” Vega asked.
“I don’t know. But I have a feeling I know someone who does.”
Chloe caught my eyes. “Brock?”
I nodded and stood to leave. However, as I turned around, a message alert showed up in my vision and I felt my heart drop as I saw who it was from.
Siena_the_Blade: “So, when are going to have this match, tough guy?”
So, she found out who I was after all. Why did I even bother to hope otherwise?