"Becca," Levi declared, and it was so.

Before he could start looking over his new minion's stats, Becca's health, already low, continued dropping. It took Levi a moment to realize what had happened. Unbound, his shadevine had decided the rift cat was still an enemy, and never stopped draining.

"Bad, Shadevine," Levi admonished, grabbing the offending vine off Becca's tail and tossing it to the ground. "You really are the worst minion I've ever had."

Centoo gleefully stomped it into the ground, legs slicing through its health in under a second.

Centoo has reached level 5!

Stone Centipede threshold 1 attained.

Evolution threshold advancement progress: 1/2

Centoo has 1 stat point available.

Centoo has 3 ability points available.

Levi laughed aloud. "Congrats, Centoo! I'll get to you in a minute. Need to see what Becca has for us first."

Becca: Level 2 Rift Cat (+)

Strength: 2

Health: 11/370

(+9/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 8/100

(+1/min)

Spirit: 0

Stamina: 33/70

(+1/min)

Levi had to double check himself a minute. "Nine health regen per minute? At level 2? Hey, Gordon, what's the regen like on your Shadevine?"

"How do I find that?" Levi walked him through it, and Gordon brightened. "7 health, 7 mana, and 5 stamina per minute. That's a lot more than I get."

"Looks like regen is where the shadevine's plus power goes." Levi wrangled Becca's upgrade stats into shape as he spoke. "I do wish I had a normal Rift Cat to compare with."

He looked over the final sheet.

Strength: +35 Health, +1 H-Regen Psyche: +30 Mana, +1 M-Regen Spirit: +1 Stamina, +1 S-Regen

"Three hundred starting health at level 1. I'm betting that's the Rift Cat's plus mod right there. Health, health gain, and health regen. Normally you wouldn't see anything with over 150 anywhere but a nature dungeon at this level. The rest seems generally in line with what we've seen. Maybe a small boost to mana, but I wouldn't bet on it."

Becca finished flicking the last of the frosty webs off her legs and stretched, butting her head against Levi's stomach.

"What?"

Becca rubbed the side of her head against Levi's shirt, leaving behind fragments of web before wandering off.

"Oh. Of course. Thanks, your affection is noted."

Becca flicked her tail smugly and went over to lick Cen's slowly healing injuries clean. The centipede skittered back warily at first, then relaxed and even started brushing out the last vestiges of cobweb from the cat's fur with his long sharp legs.

"Well, good to see everyone getting along." Levi turned to the upgrade options for Centoo next.

Stone Centipede Abilities

Overwhelm

Increased speed and damage when charging an enemy.

Fortify

Defence is significantly enhanced while immobile.

Petrify

All special attacks gain a small chance to petrify or slow the target.

Dazzle

Can temporarily shift protective plating to dazzling crystal, confusing adversaries. Those cost 1 point each to purchase and upgrade. Then there were the Tamer abilities for Stone Centipedes, which could be unlocked universally for all minions of the same type, at a higher cost.

Stone Centipede: Enhanced Health (0/5)

Stone Centipede minions will have all health totals increased by 20%

(Upgrade: 2 ability points)

Stone Centipede: Resistance (0/5)

Stone Centipede minions will gain 5% resistance to all exotic damage types

(Upgrade: 2 ability points)

As tempting as the enhanced health modifier was, it wouldn't do very much in the short term and was a substantial investment to make valuable in the long term. Exotic damage resistance likewise wouldn't be very useful until much, much later on. And even then, 5% wasn't enough to be worth investing so much in.

Fortify was tempting as well, but sacrificing mobility wasn't something Levi saw as helpful for Centoo. His whole deal was helping Skarm get around quickly, and turning him into an immobile defender would run completely contrary to that goal.

That left Overwhelm, Petrify, and Dazzle, all of which could be useful. Levi looked over at Centoo. "Do you want to be better at charging into battle, or sparkling to disorient your foes?"

Centoo looked at Skarm, then lowered his head and mimed a charge.

"Good enough for me." Levi put all three of his points into Overwhelm, and his stat point into Strength to increase his health.

Centoo: Level 5 Stone Centipede

Strength: 3

Health: 115/115

(+5/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 30/30

(+2/min)

Spirit: 2

Stamina: 80/80

(+4/min) Overwhelm Tier: 3 Cost: Variable stamina (active)

None (passive)

Substantially increases speed and damage when charging an enemy.

Can be further enhanced with 10 stamina to further increase damage. Stacks up to two times.

Can be further empowered with 10 stamina to further increase speed. Stacks up to two times.

Each additional point had added a new option, and increased the power of existing ones. Most abilities went to a max of 5, which made Levi curious to know what other powers this ability could be hiding.

The system's refusal to let him preview anything beyond the basics of an ability without actually buying them was quite frustrating.

Once he was satisfied with Centoo's threshold, he collected Skarm's body, then headed into the treasure room to see what they'd gotten from this whole venture.

One health elixir, two of stamina, a Dark power stone, and two dungeon tokens. A very good haul, even if unexciting. Levi wasn't sure if he'd have any use for the power stone, but he could at least trade it for something more his style. Dark worked best with Assassin or Shadow type fighters, who went alone deep into hostile territory and stealthily did damage from behind enemy lines. Levi's team fighting style would not be a good match for Dark.

But there was still the question of the actual treasure he'd come here to find, waiting for him back in the Rift Cat's guarded room.

They waited until everyone's health was back up to full; there were still many Shadevines and Night Wisps between them and their destination. But despite their precautions, the trek back out to Becca's origin proved to be straightforward and simple.

The lack of light made the search more difficult, but finally Levi located something hanging from one of the dark-emitting sconces that was unlike the others. He carefully detangled it from the sconce, a small spiky item with thin dangling sections. The feel was reminiscent of a tracing, but he couldn't quite place the spiky central thing.

"We need to get out in the light so I can look at this properly."

But the moment they stepped out of the dungeon, something else immediately demanded his attention.

Congratulations, Levi Morrison!

Due to continually locating hidden secrets, your Secret Seeker title is ready to evolve!

Levi immediately brought up his title, and saw that it had changed to include new options.

Secret Seeker (Title, Rare)

Dungeons containing hidden secrets will be unable to hide from your sight: when entering a dungeon, if it contains an accessible secret treasure, you will be aware of its existence.

Treasures obtained from all dungeons will have a higher chance of being uncommon or rare items.

Evolve to Secret Seeker + Combined Evolution (No other titles available)

So, titles could be combined and evolved. Interesting. Levi briefly considered holding out for something else to combine it with, but quickly discarded the thought. The chances of getting any title at all was so low, he doubted he'd find anything soon, and Secret Seeker had already proven its value more than once.

Secret Seeker + (Title, Special)

Dungeons containing hidden secrets will be unable to hide from your sight: when entering a dungeon, if it contains an accessible secret treasure, you will be aware of its existence.

If a dungeon's secret has already been claimed, upon clearing the dungeon your presence has a 5% chance of initiating an alternate secret or special treasure being generated.

Treasures obtained from all dungeons will have a higher chance of being uncommon or rare items.

All dungeons will have a chance to provide additional items.

Evolution currently unavailable.

Levi grinned with pure joy.