72.6% Core Progression. Serenity wasn’t sure how much the three level crystals he had would be worth, but he doubted they were 10% each. He’d need to make his way through another dungeon or buy some more level crystals before he could evolve.

Serenity knew he wasn’t quite ready yet. The Heart wasn’t done. It would be slower now that his Incarnate was unlocked and Eat Death was working again. He expected it to be slower in the Shining Caverns anyway; even if the density of Death mana stayed high, he’d want to keep his aura contained to avoid attention.

He wasn’t going to do another Tutorial, at least not for now. Once he knew how to get home, he might, but until then - that could wait. He suspected that he’d eventually look on the Tutorial visits as a vacation, but while he was still trying to get home they were a delay instead.

The only thing left in the room to think about was the pair of doors. As far as he could tell, they weren’t labeled in any way. “Any idea which door leads out of here?”

“Black leads to the Necropolis, or somewhere they own anyway. Gold will let us reach the Shining Caverns. Easy enough, right?” Katya sounded cheerful. She was probably looking forward to being home.

“If you can see color, sure. Which one’s black and which one’s gold?” Serenity had hoped there would be something else distinguishing them, but the doors still looked identical.

“Necropolis is to the left.” Katya hesitated. “It’s not always the same, so you probably shouldn’t go in alone.” She seemed to debate something with herself, then went ahead and asked. “How are you two set for money? The cores we got won’t cover much, the real value here is in the book, and it’ll take some time for me to sell that if I want a decent price. I can front you some if you need it?”

“I have some Etherium and some other low-grade cores,” Serenity admitted, “But if you’re willing to cover an inn room and food out of what you get for the book, I won’t turn it down.”

Raz nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Are either of you Guilded?” At their “no”s, Katya sighed. “We’ll want to take care of that first, then. The Whale of a Time offers a discount to people bonded with a Guild. I’m in the merc guild, obviously, but if either of you are craftsmen their entry fees are usually lower.”

Serenity shook his head, but Raz said “I’m trying to learn enchanting. I’m … not very good yet, but is that enough?”

“If you can make a living at it, it’s good enough.”

Raz sighed loudly. “Merc guild.”

As they walked up to the right-hand door, Katya stopped and started digging in her pack. “By the gods. Hale must have all of them.”

“All of what?” Serenity couldn’t think of anything else they’d need before they made it to the Shining Caverns.

“We have some paper spells we use when no one has the right Skill. I thought I had some that would hide the origin location of the portal. Probably no one will be looking, but - it’s happened, and I don’t want someone stripping the claim before we can register it and get a guard out here. C’mon, they have to be here somewhere.” Katya started taking things out of her bag as she searched.

Serenity blinked. Why were they using paper spells? Those tended to be expensive and weak at the same time. You needed someone skilled to make them, but their true power was only shown if they were used by someone who could draft them - and Serenity doubted Katya had the right Skills. If she did, she’d have made another instead of searching. “Why don’t you just runemark the door? The symbolism is right, since it’s what we’ll be opening to open the portal?”

Katya sat back and looked up at him. “I’m not a runecrafter! I don’t think there’s one on Tzintkra! Might as well ask why I don’t use an Aspect, we’re only Tier Four!” She started shoving things back in her pack, clearly upset. “We’re just going to have to risk it.”

Serenity was pretty sure there was at least one on Tzintkra - one with the Paths, unlike Serenity who’d learned his runes the hard way. It was likely there was even one in the Shining Caverns, but it was clear Katya didn’t know.

“Wait a moment, I think I can handle it.” Chalk was not going to be sufficient for a portal mask. Precision was too important. Ink could work, though it didn’t handle mana flows all that well unless it was designed for it.

The best material was something he had on hand anyway. Serenity dipped his hand into his pack and pulled out a monster core - a low-grade one. He didn’t need this to be permanent, after all, and it didn’t need to be so precise it had to be done in a single stroke. Serenity disliked fiddly runes.

Serenity tried to use the link to the dungeon. May I? This shouldn’t hurt, but it may feel odd on the door, I’m not sure.

He is sleeping. Go ahead. I will watch.

The voice wasn’t the dungeon’s; it was the Nightmare Wraith.

Serenity walked up to the door and held the core in front of him. He knew how to do mana drawing; if you wrapped the core in mana and squeezed a small portion of the material, the mana would sink into it and it would become malleable, then he could direct it with a bit more mana. Since he’d learned more about cores and that they were made of essence, he wondered if he could do the same thing directly, just pull the essence and have it follow.

[Essence Technique gained: Essence Drawing]

It was easy. Serenity remembered mana drawing with a core as much more difficult and mana-intensive than this essence drawing. He was grateful; the rune was complex enough he might not have had enough mana to finish it with ordinary mana drawing.

Serenity sketched out the main body of the rune, then asked for details. “Should it advertise a portal is coming at all? Hiding everything is possible but very difficult, it’s much easier to obscure the normal notification signal, and even easier to only obscure the origination location. It’s also less dangerous; hiding the incoming notification means people don’t know to get out of the way.”

“It only has to hold for a few days. I think all the spell does is make it harder to find - wait, you’re using a monster core as ink? How does that even work?” Katya was suddenly standing right at Serenity’s side, watching him work.

“I can try to teach you, it’s mostly a matter of mana control. It’s excellent ink for a temporary working, as long as you lay it down correctly. I’m told the technique is similar to some actual crafting professions, but I think they use a solution that holds up better with time. Monster cores are easy to get, fortunately.” Serenity’s attention was mostly on the rune he was drawing, so he was startled enough to lose the thread of the Essence Drawing when Katya started laughing.

He turned to face her. “What?”

“Monster cores are easy to get. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better description of how a merc thinks. You’ll fit right in.” Katya had doubled over and seemed to gasp for breath on the last few words.

Serenity looked over the rune. He’d messed up right at the end, but it wasn’t in a critical location; he could patch it instead of redrawing the whole thing. It didn’t quite finish off the second monster core, but it was quite small; hopefully, he’d be able to find what was left of it later.

Now that he was done, Serenity flowed some mana into the rune and examined it. It lit up correctly; each of the pieces was where it should be. “I think we’re ready. This will probably only be good for one or two uses, but it will obscure the portal’s origin. I also obscured that it’s from a dungeon, but not the fact that it’s from Tzintkra - what?”

“You can do all that with a rune that only costs two mana cores?” Katya’s expression was hard for Serenity to read. “If we had a guild for runecrafters, I’m sure you could get in. I can ask around?”

Serenity shook his head. “Mercenary is fine. It’s more accurate anyway. I only use runes because they’re relatively flexible and fast. They get expensive quickly if you want to do anything longer term or be prepared ahead of time. We should get moving.”

The rune wouldn’t really fade all that quickly, but Serenity didn’t want to reveal just how good a well-crafted rune could be. The next thing he knew, she’d be asking him to teach her, and -

He’d probably accept, even though it wasn’t what he needed to be doing. It was better if she didn’t ask.

Katya opened the door and stepped through, followed by Raz and Serenity. The other side of the portal was a room much like the one Raz had described as where he entered Tzintkra - an overhang protecting the portal and a small group of seats from the sky. It also wasn’t enclosed, and Serenity could see a dusty street lined with actual buildings outside the pavilion.

The buildings outside seemed to be mostly mud-brick and stone. Even the mud-brick buildings seemed to have a ridge of stone at the top, just below the roofline. The streets weren’t busy; Serenity could only see a couple of people outside the shelter.

Inside the shelter, two people sat in the chairs. They both looked up, but when they saw Katya, they went back to what they’d been doing before the group arrived. Serenity suspected there was a good chance they’d have been approached if Katya hadn’t been with them.

“This way,” Katya said, leading them to the left. “I know where we are. We’ll have to catch a bird to get to the Whale of a Time before nightfall.”

Serenity couldn’t tell what time of day it was; he didn’t feel the sun on his armor, but that didn’t mean much under a canopy. Serenity didn’t feel particularly tired, but food sounded good.