The world flashed back into view around Jane. General Nui was still standing ramrod straight next to the [City Crystal] as he had been when she had touched the crystal, but everyone else had moved.

“How long did that take, sir?” She asked.

“Nearly two hours, rather a long time. Did you get a good class at least? Not that the time matters much.”

“Really? It felt like minutes to me! I think so, it gives more than [Hammerer], around the same as an [Acolyte] class.”

“Interesting, they are some of the best Tier 2s by pure stats, they require a god’s backing though. Well let us return to the dungeon, the others will have had to clear the room three times by the time we get back.”

With that he turned, nodded to the guards who saluted and left the building. Jane struggled to keep up this time with the buff boosting her performance. Despite Jane lagging slightly behind they made good time back to the entrance of the [Dungeon] where she suddenly froze.

“You said that the [Dungeon] can respawn every thirty minutes, does that mean we have to go through all of the same enemies then?” She asked.

“Obviously. However, I shall deal with them so that we do not lose too much time.” Nui replied with a grin.

As they reached the first room the General seemed to blur and then was suddenly on the other side of the room and the [Lesser Dire Rat] was dead, decapitated without moving. Jane grabbed the sandwich that dropped from it and ate it happily. Jane followed along as Tianaro Nui repeated his performance in each room, it didn’t even seem like it took him longer when there were more enemies. As Jane watched the final room be cleared, holding some leather trousers and a large handful of coins, she was surprised by a message.

[Shatterer] level increased to 2.

Strength + 3

Dexterity + 0

Agility + 1

Endurance + 1

Perception + 1

Intelligence + 1

Willpower + 0

Sociability + 1

“Hey, I levelled up just from watching you!” She exclaimed.

“There is a very large gap between us, that is hardly surprising. Still, don’t imagine it will happen very often.” Nui replied with a laugh. “Ah, Guardsman Chiratizo, thank you for looking after the young ones. Any problems?”

“No sir, all clear.” the large [Guardsman] replied, saluting. He took the loot from Jane and stored it in his pack.

“Now, prepare yourselves for the boss room.”

Silah snapped his heels and saluted so hard that Jane almost winced. Then he spun and faced the group.

“Right, I hope your tiering up went well Akaisha.” He paused long enough for her to nod and carried on. “We know this boss fairly well, but I shall go over everything again. As we learnt in our previous fight together things can go wrong rather fast. The boss of this floor is a [Champion Dire Rat]. It is as tall as me, even hunched over like the normal [Dire Rat]s, and is armed and armoured. It is always covered in a combination of plate and mail armour that protects it almost everywhere and wields one of a selection of weapons. These can be a sword, axe or mace with a shield or any combination of two weapons. It is fast and tough but doesn’t hit very hard. The shield variants are easier as they are easy to whittle down over time. Any combination of swords and or axes are far more dangerous as they will go down swinging.”

Silah paused a moment in his monologue to look at his companions. Jane looked around in confusion as the previously upbeat mood turned suddenly sombre. Jane met Nyika’s eyes for a moment, and she shook her head slightly, as if to say later. After a few moments in silence Silah began detailing the plan.

“Right, I think that we will be best served if we stick to our usual plan, and let Akaisha slot into it. So Nyiky in the back harassing if it’s dual weapons and trying to control if it's the shielded variant. Chimby covering.” Before he could finish Chirembo interrupted.

“Hey, you promised that you wouldn’t call me that anymore!”

Silah grinned and stuck his tongue out at him. Jane shook her head, as much as they acted like adults, basically soldiers really, they were still only fifteen or so. At least it had brightened up the atmosphere somewhat.

“As I was saying, Chimby will cover her and stay close enough to heal if needed. I will try to keep its attention while Mundy, you deal the damage from behind. That is our standard plan anyway. Any thoughts on what you should do, Akaisha?”

“Well Silly,” she replied really drawing out the nickname, “I have an armour reducing skill, I haven’t tried it yet so I don’t yet know how effective it will be, nor if it will work on shields, but I would try and open with that maybe? Other than that I propose that you all fight normally and I’ll try to fit in without getting in the way.”

The cousins laughed at Silah as he spluttered in indignation.

“Maybe nicknames are overrated anyway. Er, fine good plan team, let’s go!”

The group moved down the monotonous hallway until Jane noticed a change in the almost identical walls. The corridor turned the suddenly widened to reveal a much larger archway sealed with an ornate wooden door. The huge, single wooden panel, far larger than any tree Jane had ever seen, other than maybe those giant redwoods in Canada, was intricately carved with swirling organic-looking patterns. In the centre was a large shield-like shape with a stylised knight carved on it. The whole thing was rather impressive, and Jane wondered why the rest of the level was so bland if the [Dungeon] could make things like that.

“All [Boss Room]s have a door, it prevents you from opening the fight with most extremely powerful [Skill]s, and all doors have conditions to allow them to be opened. Some require keys, some have puzzles to be solved. This one just requires that someone touch it. Seeing as you have to touch it to open it…” Munodo trailed off at the end of his explanation and shrugged. “This really is a training floor for beginners. Would you like to do the honours?” He asked Jane.

“The boss isn’t going to leap straight at whoever opens the door is it?” she asked.

“No, at least not this boss, some of them do,” Munodo replied with a grin.

“Alright then.”

Jane held her sledgehammer near the head in her left hand and pulled a throwing axe out. She pushed the door with her hand, awkwardly holding the axe at the same time. As soon as she touched the door it dissolved into nothingness, much like the defeated dungeon creatures. The room behind was like some sort of massive arena, complete with raised seating around the edge and banners on poles equidistant behind the seats. Rather than the stone floor of the previous rooms the [Boss Room] had a sandy floor. In the middle of the arena, observing them as they made their way down the stairs, was the floor boss. The [Champion Dire Rat]. It was far worse than Jane had imagined from Silah’s description. Easily two metres tall, even hunched over slightly, with massive arms and legs covered in solid armour. The only fur visible was on its head as it didn’t have a helmet. It held a long, straight sword in one hand and a wicked-looking mace in the other.

The delving party made their way carefully into the arena, a metal gate springing up behind Nyika, blocking the exit. The giant rat swept its blade up in a sort of duelist salute then brought his weapons into a high guard.

Silah advanced on the Champion, shield raised while Akaisha and Munodo went in opposite directions to circle around. The boss shifted its feet carefully, keeping everyone visible while staying out of reach. Suddenly it surged forwards, the flanged mace crashing against Silah’s tower shield. Nyika launched a series of earthen spikes over Silah’s head that were easily deflected by the wide blade of the Champion's sword. With incredible speed the rat twisted away from Silah’s thrusting spear, Munodo’s blade only just catching the edge of its armour and sliding off. Its back turned Akaisha saw her chance, she launched her throwing axe at it and leapt forwards screaming [Shatter Defenses]. Her hammer struck true and the [Champion Dire Rats]’s armour flashed yellow, but before she could react an armoured tail smashed into her chest and threw her backwards. She landed on her side and rolled to a stop near the wall of the arena. She flashed her health up to see how bad it was. [Health 217/353, Mana 330/360]. It was quite a big hit but she could take another. She climbed to her feet just in time to leap out of the way of a giant thrust, the blade coming close to skewering her. She rolled to her feet ready to dodge again but Munodo was already there distracting the rat boss.

“[Spear Charge]!” Silah shouted, lunging forwards. His spear glowed blue and sank into the knight's chest. Silah ripped it back out before it got caught and blocked a counter strike with his shield. Another flurry of spikes rained down on the boss, this time several hitting it hard on the head as it traded blows with both Munodo and Silah. Chirembo grabbed Akaisha and healed her with a flash from his hands before he retreated towards Nyika.

The [Champion Dire Rat] roared and smashed both of its weapons into Silah’s tower shield, knocking him three paces backwards as he struggled to stay upright. Munodo swept his blade into the opening but before he could land a good hit his feet were swept out from under him by the rat’s tail. The [Floor Boss] ran straight at Nyika.

“[Clay Spikes]” Nyika shouted raising a wall of spikes. The giant Dire Rat smashed through them, barely slowing down. Nyika raised her staff and shouted [Mana Barrier]. A swirling translucid ball of brown and green energy appeared around her just before the rat could chop her in half. The barrier flashed but held. Chirembo struck with his own mace before jumping out of the way of the counterstrike. Akaisha leapt again, aiming another [Shatter Defenses], this time at the base of its tail. The Champion smashed the barrier with a blow from its mace and stabbed its sword into Nyika’s shoulder before Akaisha had even landed. She screamed and fell clutching at her shoulder with her good arm. Akaisha landed the blow on the rats tail and was rewarded with a squeal of pain. The armour of the dire rat flashed yellow again, even brighter than the first time, and was left with glowing yellow cracks all over it.

Munodo slashed across the boss’s arm, chopping straight through its forearm as if it had no armour at all. Its mace clattered to the floor as it tried to stab Munodo. Silah jumped in front of the blow, shield first, and grunted in pain as the blow struck. Akaisha smashed her hammer into a knee, knocking the [Champion Dire Rat] to the floor. Nyika stood, leaning on her staff and cast her skill again. The [Clay Spikes] shot up from under the [Floor Boss], leaving more holes than flesh as she finished it.

Chirembo made Nyika sit down and concentrated on healing her. After a few casts of [Close Light Wounds], he declared her healed and moved on to Jane. He frowned and cast [Light Healing] twice before moving on. Munodo only required a single [Light Healing]. Silah, however, elicited more than just a frown.

“Why didn’t you tell me that your arm was broken, Akaisha and Munodo could have waited.” Chirembo shook his head in dismay.

“It’s fine, I can handle it,” Silah replied stoically.

“And how low did you get?”

“I had 150 left, and anyway it was just about his last attack.”

Chirembo sighed and grabbed Silah’s arm. He pulled it straight, Silah gritting his teeth from the pain, and began healing it. It took longer than the other three together, Silah grimacing all the way through. While the others were being healed Jane stood up and wandered over to the fallen rat champion in anticipation of the loot. After a few seconds, the defeated boss shimmered and dissolved, but rather than dropping an object or some money three strange distortions appeared. Each was a rough diamond shape, about a metre high and half as wide at the largest point. The leftmost one was like a soft blue mist swirling lazily around inside. It gave off an air of calm and safety. The middle one was a more energetic green, less of a mist and more like leaves whipping around in the wind. It felt like adventure, but also endings and riches. The final distortion was a raging red storm. Jane felt like it meant danger and excitement and potential. She stretched her hand out towards the red one. After all, touching shiny red things had worked so far. Just before she touched she shivered and snatched her hand back, realising what she had nearly done. She turned away from the dancing colours and returned to ask her friends what the rifts meant exactly. As she turns she checked her level up.

[Shatterer] level increased to 6.

Strength + 8

Dexterity + 3

Agility + 4

Endurance + 4

Perception + 4

Intelligence + 1

Willpower + 3

Sociability + 1

“You desperately wanted to touch the red one didn’t you, “ Nyika said with a grin. “Don’t worry, the first time we came we knew what to expect, I’m sorry about not telling you by the way we forgot, and Munodo still touched it while Chirembo was in the middle of healing Duchodu.” Nyika chuckled lightly, but Jane could see the pain in her eyes. There was something there, probably related to the moment of silence earlier.

“What do they do then? The three rifts?” Jane asked, quickly changing the subject.

“They appear after each [floor boss] is beaten and always do the same thing. The blue one transports everyone in the room back to just inside the entrance to the [Dungeon] but you don’t get a reward. The green one drops a reward and seals the way down. You get something for your troubles but then you have to fight your way back to the entrance. The red one transports everyone in the room down to the next floor and gives a reward. We believe that the red and green give out the same rewards, but we aren’t sure.”

Jane looked at the rifts, mulling over what she had learnt. There was obviously some risk-reward sort of thing going on, but the question was why. Was it really just the gods doing? And if it was, why? The god that she had met, Manasura, had said that they wanted to make the universe better. Not that she knew what that weirdo's idea of “better” even was. Magic was very cool, so that was probably better, but she didn’t know enough about the history of humanity here to know whether they were in a sort of medieval stagnation like so much fiction from her time, or if they just hadn’t got there yet. Silah said something that pulled her from her thoughts but she completely missed what he said.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked you if you wanted to activate the rift.” He replied with a shake of his head.

“Oh, yes please. Red?”

Everyone nodded their assent so she reached out and touched the twisting, stormy red rift. The world seemed to twist and flash red around her and suddenly she was surrounded by trees. She stumbled forwards and would have fallen without the steadying hand of Munodo. She thanked him as she looked around the wooded area where she found herself.

In the middle of the clearing was a small stone altar with what she assumed was her loot. The groups loot. Well, the orphanage's loot. The trees were tall, with smooth silvery bark and few low hanging branches. Their leaves were densely packed overhead, enough that the canopy seemed entirely impenetrable, yet there was a diffuse greenish light illuminating everything. The air was filled with a wonderful earthy, petrichor, smell. Under her feet was short-cropped grass with flowers of all sorts of colours dotted around. The whole place felt like a peaceful forest, perfect for walks and picnics.

“This is nice, a welcome change from the boring corridors up above. I like it.” Jane said to nobody in particular.

“I’m sure you won’t change your mind when you get ambushed by giant blood-sucking beetles!” Replied Munodo.

“Wait, what!”