“Your armor is a bit odd, but functional and doesn’t obviously shout its Tier. If we do reversible cloaks, we can have the Shining Caverns sigil on one side and … do you have a sigil, Serenity, or should we just pick appropriate colors?”

“What?” Serenity hadn’t followed the City Lord’s thought process at all. Why did it matter if he had a sigil?

The Final Reaper’s sigil had been a golden scythe on a black field. There was no way Serenity was going to use that. Ever.

The City Lord explained, “You’re the most distinctive person here, so making you the focus of everyone’s attention should work. We can all pretend to be protecting you; that way, no one will be surprised we’re all armed and we’ll be left alone. Oh, how long can you hold that effect? The one you used in the interrogation?”

“The pyramid? Not that long, I only have so much mana. Half an hour or so? A good source of Death mana would extend it. I thought you didn’t want to advertise that I’m a DeathLord, though?” Serenity wasn’t very impressed by the plan, so far.

“No, not that. The other thing. The one you did before you made the pyramid. The one where you felt like - yes, like that.”

While the City Lord was talking, Serenity had reached for his Incarnate of Death and let it wrap around him, comforting in its familiarity with no need to demand. Once again, he was reminded of how different it was from an Aspect. It was far more complete, and didn’t require pushing; it simply was. “This? It’s not an active ability. I’m not really doing anything. It’s more a state of mind than anything.”

The City Lord’s expression was indecipherable for Serenity. “That solves that problem, then. I can tell you when to do that and when to release it. You’ll just need a cloak; the rest of you - you know what’s needed, don’t you, Hale?”

Hale nodded.

“We can swap the cloak a little ways from the Residence; there’s a nature area. Full of undead trees and bushes. Not my favorite place, but it’ll do for this. Once we’re done, there’s a public City Node a couple minutes’ walk from the Residence. I think a previous City Lord wanted to seem approachable, but also didn’t want it too close to his home.” Stojan Tasi picked up a cloth bag from next to the chair he was sitting in. “Unless anyone has any objections, I think all we’ve got left is the rewards for Serenity.”

The first thing he pulled out of the bag looked like a coin mounted on a leather cord - the kind of thing some people would wear as a necklace. “This one is similar to the one I give to any dhampir in the city if they need it. The usual one just shows that you’re allowed to use Death magic; this one also makes it clear that anyone who arrests you will need to justify it to me. Please don’t abuse it.”

He tossed the necklace at Serenity, who caught it and slipped it over his head.

The second thing in the bag was a book. He showed it to Serenity, then tucked it back in the bag. “This one I’ll need you to keep safe. This is a copy of the book my family maintains to train our young and for reference. Some of it you’ll probably find useful; it includes all of the dhampir species and subspecies we know of, along with a lot of the Paths we’ve seen. I doubt you’ll be that interested in the politics and history that’s in there, but it’s there too. I’d like it if you could share anything you can with us, but that’s not a requirement for the gift. From what Syri’s said, you’re a first-generation, so I recommend that you make something like this for your own children, even if you don’t tell me.”

Serenity hadn’t expected anything like the book. The token didn’t surprise him, but the book was completely unexpected. All he could think was that he must have made a larger impression on Stojan Tasi than he’d assumed; that was the kind of thing a family would give its children to give them a leg up in the future. The Path information probably wouldn’t be all that useful to him, since he was a chimera and his Path was completely different as well, but the information on dhampirs could be very useful in understanding himself.

Can you hear me?

That had to be someone touching the Core in the Safe Rest dungeon. Were people always going to do that while he was sleeping?

Am I doing this right?

Yes, I can hear you. I was sleeping. What is it?

Dungeon Cores sleep?

Serenity remembered the child-core he’d met in the Ancient Temple Dungeon.

Yes. Some more than others, I expect. It’s probably good for dungeon core sanity, who wants to watch monsters and wait all the time?

Huh. I’d never thought of that. Dungeon Cores get bored. Is that all we are to you? Entertainment?

No. You’re also -

Serenity stopped himself before he said “food”. That would be taken very wrong. The point wasn’t to kill people; he could tell that had some benefits, but they were minor compared to having people inside the dungeon.

Having people inside the dungeon is … it’s … good. It’s right. It’s … Comforting? Is that the right word? I’m not sure why it’s that way. People - Pathed people are necessary.

Serenity hadn’t yet figured out exactly how the whole dungeon/monster/people thing worked or why it was that way. All he knew was that having even a single person inside the dungeon felt good.

The world was a complex place, and Serenity was starting to think that dungeons were an artificial part of that complexity. He wondered if monsters were, as well. Perhaps Althyr could answer questions; he’d said he was older than the Voice, which implied the Voice was artificial. It was something people had speculated about since it arrived on Earth; there was too much about the entire setup that felt constructed, starting with the Tutorial itself.

Can I link with you? We need to have some control over the dungeon before we can open it as a supply point.

Who is “we”? Who are you bringing in?

Serenity felt a moment of surprise that he knew was coming from the man touching the crystal.

Never thought I’d get questioned by a rock. I’m with Rising Phoenix, we’re exploring this entire area. A safe point would make it easier, we can stage supplies here without worrying about them being damaged or scattered, with a smaller guard force.

I’m not a rock. At least say crystal, please.

Serenity hoped his amusement would come through.

That’s a good reason. I’m not under your control, I won’t accept a Bind. I suppose I could Bind you ...

No, a Link is fine. That’s enough to know if you’ve - er, to be able to adjust a few minor things.

Serenity laughed and knew it echoed over the connection. He reached out and felt the Link snap into place.

Link 1/4

Name: Darian Ebongrove

Species: Human

Current Path: Knight of the Fallen Tree

Tier: 3

Current Maximum Tier: 4

Leakage: Low

Gain: Slow

Status: Healthy

Range: Moderate

Serenity looked at the information that had appeared. He had no idea what Leakage or Gain meant. Range was probably how far Darian could go without the Link having issues, but Serenity wasn’t sure how far “Moderate” was.

The surprise was that people could have a maximum Tier. Was it simply what they’d already unlocked, and therefore limited to one above their current Tier, or was there something more to it that he didn’t know?

It looks like I can have up to four Links at a time. Why don’t you take your hand off the crystal and try to talk to me?

Sure.

Can you hear me?

Yes. It’s a little fainter than when you’re touching the crystal, but still very clear. Go ahead and try to modify the dungeon. There should be a bunch of things you can do now.

There was a long pause before Serenity heard Darian’s voice again.

That’s amazing. Easy, too. There’s a section for consumables. Hey guys, the dungeon makes potions! They have a cost listed … looks like there’s a way to buy treasure. Potions are kinda expensive compared to how many points there are, but it’ll let us pick what we want!

Darian kept talking, but Serenity tried to tune him out. The point of having a Link was not having to pay attention to the dungeon, after all.

Especially not when he was trying to sleep.

The following morning’s breakfast was in the hotel restaurant. Katya couldn’t help but regale them all with the story of the “dungeon expert” that had been sent to observe the dungeon they’d found - and how he’d been kicked out and called an “asshole” by the dungeon. She couldn’t stop laughing as she told the tale.

Serenity already knew most of what she was laughing about, of course, but he listened carefully to see if what she’d heard told him anything. The only thing he learned was that they would be sending supplies and mercenaries out to the “parcel” starting that day, before the “dungeon expert” even arrived back at the Shining Caverns.

The other three headed off to do the shopping the City Lord had suggested, while Serenity headed back to his room. He’d remembered something he needed to try before they left: Figuring out how to summon a Nightmare Wraith. He wouldn’t need it until they were in the Necropolis, but he wanted to know just how hard it was before he tried to do it in an emergency.

Serenity sat down on his bed and tried to figure out where to start. He’d never built an “Essence shell” for anything before. Maybe he could treat it like a spell structure and use Essence instead of mana? He knew what the Nightmare Wraith looked like, of course, and - wait. He needed the Dungeon Link open, didn’t he?

It didn’t take long for Serenity to figure out how to open the link. When he did, he heard the Wraith’s voice.

He is sleeping again. What is it?

I want to try building that Essence Shell, see what it takes to summon you. Are you willing?

Certainly. There is nothing difficult here; no one has entered since you left.

Serenity felt for his Essence Pool. The only time he’d used it so far was for Second Wind, and he wasn’t really sure where it was. It felt like it came from everywhere in his body at the same time as he pushed on it, but he was able to gather some Essence in front of him, where he could see it with Essence Sight.

He tried to shape it to look like the Wraith, but it didn’t seem to want to follow his direction when he tried to get detailed; it stayed as a cloud of Essence in the rough shape of a Wraith.

May I?

Can’t do worse than I am.

Serenity felt the Nightmare Wraith reach through him to manipulate the Essence. It felt like something inside him was stretching uncomfortably to make room for the Wraith, but it stopped short of actual pain. It took a while, but when the Wraith was satisfied, Serenity felt a pop as if something clicked into place and felt the entirety of the Wraith pulled through the stretched channel, forcing it wider.

It did hurt now.

Serenity felt a massive drain as his Essence poured out to fill in the Wraith’s structure. Serenity tried to slow it down or stop it, but that hurt even more. Serenity decided he was going to have to rely on his healing ability to fix whatever was happening once it was over.

When it finally stopped, Serenity felt weak and found he’d fallen onto his back on the bed. Sitting back up wasn’t immediately possible; he didn’t have the strength.

When he pulled up his Status, he saw that his Essence was very, very low, and his Condition said he had Essence Depletion. Apparently having low Essence would make him extremely weak. It wasn’t as bad as the condition he’d been in after Moira stabbed him - he didn’t feel like he was in any danger of dying - but he felt just as weak.

Serenity triggered Second Wind and poured mana and stamina into replacing the missing Essence. The exchange rate was beyond terrible and it seemed to take forever, but once his Essence passed a quarter of his maximum, his Condition recovered and he started feeling better. He had to stop Second Wind there to avoid having his Mana drop lower than his Essence.

It wasn’t long after that that he was able to sit up and look at the Wraith. “I don’t think that’s something I can do in a dangerous place. Maybe someday, but not soon.”

The Wraith’s voice was little more than a whisper, but it was clearly audible. “I agree. That was unpleasant.”