Myles made good on his word and then some despite the lack of extra gold he had been counting like so many chickens before they hatched.

Fresh bread, pasta with sliced steak and gravy, and he’d even managed to get some cinnamon, cream, and sugar to make cinnamon rolls for dessert. Thanks to the auto conversion built into his Interface and a random platinum he’d acquired somewhere along the way, it wasn’t hard to feed everyone, but it had cost him about as much as making ten times that amount would have.

Despite the price, despite the chaos of the day, despite nearly dying, the meal that night was worth ever copper, silver, and gold.

Without a proper dining room table, everyone pushed his furniture out of the living room, sat down, and ate off of the metal plates from Myles’s little kitchen. As he cooked and listened to the others, a strange peace came into him as he fell into a familiar rhythm. As he kneaded the dough between his hands, before pulling it out, twisting here, circling back, and twisting again, he found a peace in the mechanical motions. Finally, a deft cut of his knife created another three plates-worth of pasta.

“Order up!” he called after pulling it from the boiling water.

Lyna, sans her armor, waved a hand, winced a bit, then waved again. “More!”

“It’s your fourth plate,” Myles complained half-heartedly as Ashra grabbed her plate for Myles to fill, acting as his server. Though she seemed interested in the food, Ashra declined actually eating any, having instead brought herself two stalks of broccoli and a few root vegetables from her garden to eat with the rest of them.

“Do you know how many meals I’ve missed being in the dungeon?” Lyna scolded, tapping her fork on the floor to Myles annoyance before holding up her hand and counting down fingers as she spoke. “Halflings love three things, Myles Chase: Food, Drink, and more of both! Keep it coming!”

“And weapons,” Will said, slurping up some noodles and weak gravy.

“Some of us like weapons,” she agreed, nudging Rocky from his perch on the couch behind her. “Mostly him though.”

Much to her disappointment, no one asked about Rocky.

Kendra was uncharacteristically quiet as she ate, but Myles did his best to ignore her emotions across the link. It wasn’t the night for that, and he wasn’t one to pry when he didn’t need to. Besides if it was about the dungeon still, she’d brought it on herself, and he wasn’t interested in discussing the matter. It was over and done, and as far as he was concerned. Her promise was enough to keep her in line.

When it wasn’t, Myles would do what he had to.

Still, the fact that dungeons weren’t announced to be dangerous areas bothered him. A group had gone in and come out. Maybe they hadn’t been as dangerous to one another as Kendra had been to them? The fact they could have killed one another in there by accident, or worse, if they had been followed in…

“Myles!” Tail warned, “Your water.”

Sure enough, he’d gotten distracted, and the pot had boiled over, sending gluten-saturated water across his small cooking area.

“Mists!”

Despite the laughs and scramble to protect the food, it was still a good night.

***

After another hour or two, the party began to disperse despite Myles opening his home to them for the night.

“Nah, I have a bed back in the plaza to my liking, so I might as well use it,” Lyna rationed as she lingered beyond the threshold of the door. “Meet back in two days?”

“I think we need it,” Myles admitted. “Your ribs okay?”

“Better after a good meal. Healing potions burn through your muscles if you don’t have enough in you. Can’t be having that.” A smile crossed her face as she bowed, her pink hair washing over her head as she looked up. “From the Halls to the hills, I’m thankful you picked me up.”

He hadn’t heard that one before and returned the bow. “You’re a good ally, and hopefully just as good a friend.”

“Here’s hoping. I wouldn’t want to have to go back to eating what I cook.”

“Can’t be that bad.”

“Have you seen the disasters that come without a preparation or cooking skill?”

Myles quieted after that as she laughed and waved, walking away into the night.

A few more drinks passed, and Tail bowed out next. He caught the distinct rise of a smile under their wrappings by the way their rising cheeks. “I have had enough, but I’d like to do this again.”

Their voice sounded lighter, less mysterious, and he nodded. “Next encounter?”

“I’d like that. I’ll bring the ingredients next time.”

With that, they were gone. Tail had taken a single step into the night and disappeared into the shadows and mists of the deep night under the moonlight.

Right… [Lunar Illusionist]…

That left him in a more awkward position as Will and Kendra shifted in their seats. With the others beyond his view, their connection was still there, but muted compared to the two before him.

Will shifted, looking at Kendra for a moment before getting up and stretching. “Got a big day tomorrow. My class complexity increased, and I learned a few new distortions. Need to check them out. I got lucky with the one that saved your ass.”

That was not what Myles wanted to hear, but he wasn’t going to complain. “Oh?”

He nodded. “Projectile Reset, sends any object back to its starting point and removed the built-up momentum.”

“Sounds powerful.”

“It is.” With that, the older man gave her a weak smile and passed him by, a hand on his shoulder as he passed, and a weak sigh passed his lips. “Be kind to her, this isn’t how she intended things to go.”

Myles didn’t have a chance to respond as Will closed the door behind him, leaving Myles alone with Ashra and Kendra.

The later seeming to have planned this far, took her plate to the sink, and cleaned it before looking at Myles.

For his part, Myles could feel he was safe. He knew Kendra wasn’t hostile. Honestly, he wasn’t sure she even could tell he had an empathic link to her, but whether she did or not, Kendra didn’t hide the fact she radiated regret at this point, so he said nothing and simply waited.

Kendra stood a while longer, lingering like a ghost before giving up the act. “I didn’t mean for things to go this way, Myles.”

“I know,” he said after a long moment. A long night of cooking to clear his head and her brooding told him as much.

“I just… I know I’ve been an ass. I shouldn’t have berated you, I shouldn’t have been so hard, and I shouldn’t have tried to push myself so hard without telling everyone. I risked too much and nearly lost it all.”

“You did.”

Kendra grunted. “I’m trying to apologize here. Just, let me do it, okay?”

“I am,” Myles said. “I’m just agreeing with you is all.”

“Damnit, Myles. You can’t make this easy, can you?” She cursed, but the nature of it seemed warmer than before. “I wanted to make sure we got sponsored, that we got attention so we’d all survive, if I shared that, I didn’t think everyone would go along with it, and things would just seem staged.”

“We wouldn’t, and it would but continue.”

“Look, what I’m trying to say is I don’t want to be leader again. You should…” she paused, shaking her head at the last word. “We need someone like you to keep it. You’re the least combat oriented among us. Your skills are almost completely support based, and if you keep pushing as our leader, those skills will evolve into something to turn us into a force to be reckoned with.” The next words stuck in her throat. They pained her in a way a cut or a broken rib couldn’t. Myles could tell that much even without the link, but he waited as his father would have. When someone was wrong, they needed to admit to it to get past it. Kendra needed to say it, needed to understand how important it was not to be forced into her position like he had done. “I can’t lead us the way someone like you can. Please, Myles, don’t leave.”

He smiled, holding out his hand. “I can’t leave my friends behind.”

Kendra seemed surprised, but it was short lived as she took his hand and shook it. Myles gave it a bit of a squeeze, and she returned it. She was stronger by a far margin, and it showed.

It took a lot of focus, but Myles didn’t wince.

“Two days from now, we’ll start our prepping for Shardking,” Myles warned her. “If you let yourself lose control like you did, we’ll all die, Kendra. Do what you need to improve, but not at our expense. If you need to target a rare monster or a dungeon boss, fill us in so we can help each other.”

“Got it.” She nodded as she broke the shake, wiping something from her eye as relief washed over her, and… was that admiration?

Ashra looked between them, nodding to Myles as a smile played across her lips.

“You are good for her.”

Myles ignored his companion for the moment, just sending her his agreement as Kendra said her goodbyes. Alone again, he turned to Ashra and wiped his brow with the hem of his shirt.

“I like to think so. Gotta make my family proud, right?”

Ashra nodded, helping to rearrange the furniture as Myles got behind a chair and pushed it back into position. They were heavier than they looked.

“She will be a force to be reckoned with. I have seen some of people with classes similar to [Berserker]s and fewer, [Berserker] or not, able to swallow their pride and admit their faults.”

With the last piece in place, Myles nodded. “I haven’t met any, but it’s hard enough for a junior cook to admit he was wrong about the amount of salt he put in a dish.”

“You should have children with her. They would be quite strong.”

The matter-of-fact tone took Myles off guard, and he nearly tripped over the air as he looked back at the monsterkin. “Ashra!”

As Myles looked at her, Ashra was smiling, no grinning — with the most shit-eating grin Myles had ever seen. Pleasure radiated across the link at his reaction, a good humor that he likened to that of a perfectly timed joke.

Great. She was developing a sense of humor.

In that moment, Myles was in awe of how far Ashra had come. She seemed so… so human now. More like a Beastkin or a Korgan, if the more mammal species looked like their reptilian counterparts.

He shook the thought away and went to the back door.

“Come on, we have a slime to check on.”

“But you did not…”

“Ashra…”

***

The barn was still shut up like they’d left it, and upon looking in, nothing came flying at them. Still wary of his last visit, Myles slid inside and looked around, careful to keep the wall behind him and the room in his sights.

Nothing.

The slime core must had broken and vanished back into the aether. He sighed, but maybe it was for the best. Opening up his inventory, Myles had plenty of…

Other…

What?

There before his loot from the Hoard slime was something he’d never seen before. Two somethings in fact: A book and a large circle that looked to be made from glass.

“Ashra, did you pick up a book somewhere for me?”

She looked at him, cocking her head to one side. “Not that I remember.”

“Huh.”

With his back against the corner, he sat down to take a look at these mysterious pieces before moving on. The book appeared in a flash of light, and Myles examined it as one normally would a book first.

He read the cover and checked the spine.

“The Founding of the Kessivan Grand Dungeon by Amber R. Soulborn”

Myles knew almost all the heroes of Kess, but he’d never heard of one by that name, or any of the Soulborn line. The mages and warriors that took part in the founding were idolized by many and recorded throughout history. Amber Soulborn had not been one of those.

When in doubt…

—

The Founding of the Kessivan Grand Dungeon by Amber R. Soulborn

Value: Priceless

Book (Original, Unique)

Description: A book bound in the celestial leather of a greater beast.

Detail: A silver-tinged book telling the tale of a bygone age. This is the original, unedited account of Amber R. Soulborn, one of the great powers involved with the formation and creation of the Grand Dungeons.

Language: Elder Kessivan (Silent Forest Variant - Age One)

—

He cracked the book instantly and began to read.

Tried might have been a better word though. Elder Kessivan had similarities to what was considered the common language of the continent, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of whatever the Silent Forest Variant was. It looked like someone took a claw, tipped it in ink, and tried to scratch into the page.

The idea of what he held wasn’t lost on him though, and he quickly re-added it to his inventory. When he found someone that could speak the language, he could get it translated. If it really was original as the status implied…

Well, it depended on what was inside those pages whether it was a good thing or not. He’d read stories where people died for less to keep things hidden. Maybe it was the dungeon messing with him? He’d read about that too. Some monster nests and lesser Dungeons gave out rewards meant to worry the adventurer, maybe this was one of them?

“Myles?” Ashra prodded, feeling his building stress. “It is not worth the worry until the event comes to pass.”

He sighed, nodding as he picked up the second item from his dimensional bag. Ashra had gone into her burrow to rest as he mentally selected the strange sphere.

As it came into being, he carefully handled the item. He nearly dropped it in surprise. The sphere radiated power like he’d never felt before, a quick check told him exactly why.

—

Kessivan Grand Dungeon Core (Minor - FL 1)

Value: Priceless

Home Upgrade - Environmental Modifier (Legendary)

Mana Alignment - Water - Primary, Nature - Secondary

Description: A glimmering blueish, green sphere that feels wet to the touch.

Detail: A sphere of condensed mana that has developed a survival instinct. This priceless crystal sphere can modify the environment it’s in to create and nurture monsters, create and develop items, and create traps in addition to other actions.

—

As almost an afterthought, another line appeared at the bottom of the detail section of the item. Slightly hazier than the last but distinct.

—

Good luck with that, Myles.

—

Myles stared at the description, willing it to stay far longer than any other he’d called into existence.

What in the Pantheon’s name had he done?

Myles focused, trying to remember what he’d done down in the pit. The others had asked him over and over on the trip back and during dinner how he’d survived, but the truth was, he couldn’t remember for the life of him. He remembered falling, then it was a blur until he was falling again into the group. If anything, this confirmed something had happened down there.

Was this where the book had come from too?

The longer he held the sphere, the more he began to feel the familiar buzz of mana in his system. He had to do something with it…

An idea struck him, and he walked over to one of the monster pens the barn had come with. The core wasn’t much larger than one of his stasis gems, maybe he could…

With a click, the core locked in place, and the fitting meant for a stasis gem snapped shut around it and melted into the stone, becoming one with it in a way Myles wasn’t all that comfortable with.

As it had before with Ashra, a new prompt appeared before him.

—

Set Pen to the preferences of minion: Dungeon Core - Silpha?

Cost: Ambient Mana production reduced by 70%.

Warning: Setting a Dungeon Core into a Monster Pen will bind the Core to the Pen’s area of influence. As the owner of the estate, it will be forced to obey direct commands and be considered a bound monster for the duration of its binding until the bindings are broken, the core is shattered, the core’s champion has died outside of its influence, ownership has transferred, or you have died. This action cannot be undone.

Tamer: Yes/Yes

—

He barely finished reading before the prompt closed and the pen began to change. A spray of salty water hit his nose and stung his eyes as the smells of the coastline hit him. Something like trimmed trees and grass came to mind after a rainstorm as the area looked to expand far further than confines of Ashra’s pen.

Then, Ashra nearly screamed.

“What have you done, Myles!”

For her part, Myles felt her horror at what he’d done. Unable to put into words the sheer terror she felt at seeing the core bind itself to his pen. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t like the forced option any more than she did.

Then the back of his palm began to burn, and a new prompt appeared.

—

Congratulations! You’ve achieved a Kessivan Grand Dungeon first!

Bind a Dungeon Core into your service.

Title earned: Dungeon Keeper

New skill unlocked: Aetheric Translation

—

Aetheric Translation

Skill Type: Passive - General (Dungeon Bound Required)

Cost: 1 Mana per minute

Distance: Clear Hearing required

Success Determination: None

Effect: Using the ambient mana in your body or in the area around you, the Dungeon Core Codex you are bound to will translate any and all languages within its power for you. This ability is lost if your connection to your Dungeon Core is broken.

—

Congratulations! You’ve achieved a Kessivan Grand Dungeon first!

Marked by a friendly Dungeon Core

Kessivan Dungeon Mark Bestowed: Mark of the Purifying Wake - Silpha

You have received a dungeon’s mark. Would you like to know more about this mark?

—

Myles’s head was swimming as much as his hand was burning. The back of his hand was glowing with preternatural lights of blues and greens as he gripped it in a vain attempt to comfort himself. He growled and groaned as the mark burned itself into his flesh and deeper. He felt the mark attaching to something inside of him as he came back to reality with a snap which the informational codex took as a yes.

—

Mark of the Purifying Wake - Silpha

Dungeon Mark: Kessivan (Minor - FL 1)

Body Modification: Right Hand

Description: A mana brand depicted as an endlessly circling wave in the colors of a stormy ocean and a misty forest during a rainstorm.

Primary Effect: This marks you as Dungeon Bound to the Dungeon of the Purifying Wake and its core, Silpha. As a Dungeon Bound, you have access to all of the talents compatible with your species that Silpha can or chooses to share.

Secondary Effect: As a Dungeon Bound, Silpha cannot actively attempt to consume you, your property, or any others bound to you for materials, mana, or power without permission.

Current Talents Bestowed: None

—

Soon, the sounds of waves began to echo gently across the room, turning the quiet barn into a seaside abode. The occasional splashing echoed as the waves lapped against the dune covered shore overlooking the twilight skyline. It was peaceful, and somewhat disturbing that the ocean seemed much, much more real than Ashra’s pen did. The salt on his tongue said that much as he tasted the air as much as he smelled.

To his disappointment, or great relief Myles wasn’t really sure which, nothing else happened. The pain had faded to what might be a weak sunburn, but he didn’t feel any different. After the day he’d had, it was almost disappointing. The overall feeling of the room was muted now.

Ashra keeping her head down and bowing to him as if he were some kind of god, the mixture of fear and awe radiating from her didn’t help things.

Myles sighed, running a hand down over his face. “Damn it, Drunk Myles.”