The next dungeon in the loop was Lightning type, one of the rarer ones that Levi didn't have much experience with. There hadn't been many of them in the areas he'd been posted, and they were kind of treated as a joke. Lightning powers were pretty much the definition of 'flash without substance'.

The Stunning Wave skill was a perfect example of that. Lightning had stun properties, yes. Its special abilities could be very helpful. But they tended to be wild. Undirected. Any time you set off a lightning spell, you were risking harming yourself as much as your enemy, and that went for power stones in weapons too.

Even just holding a weapon while channeling lightning abilities could be enough to stun you. And if there was one thing you did not want to be in the middle of combat it was suddenly stunned by your own weapon. As a result of this fatal drawback, Lightning power stones were almost exclusively used in armor to provide shock resistance, rather than as active effects.

But he'd still need Lightning tokens, just to be sure. As with everything, his lack of perfect knowledge about the future left him with only general direction and floundering for the specifics. He couldn’t claim to be a very broadly skilled individual. He had his focus, and he was quite good at it, but not an exceptional genius by any stretch.

So it was with mild trepidation that Levi approached the Lightning dungeon, the next on their cycle around the region. This particular dungeon was situated in a small town, but not in anyone's house or any public area, rather half inside a run-down old car that looked like it had been sitting in one place for at least twenty or thirty years, judging by the weeds and rust. It looked like someone had simply dumped it there and forgotten about it.

Levi stared through the missing window at the dungeon tag hovering in the air above the passenger seat.

"Do we break in?" Gordon asked, brows furrowed uncertainly. "I don't think Pierce is going to fit..."

"No, just move the car. Drok?"

"Yes." Drok picked up the car, carried it a few meters away, and set it down, leaving the dungeon entrance exposed.

"How does the car not end up in the dungeon?" Gordon asked.

"It's dead."

"Dead?"

"Remember the cordon around the Nature dungeon, where someone was snatched out of their car from trying to park over an entry? Same thing applies here. Nonliving things only enter if they're being brought in intentionally. Otherwise, they'd always be scooping up dirt and grass and air, and be very noticeable."

Gordon sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "This dungeon's only level 1. What should I expect?"

"Lightning things. They'll try to stun you. Try not to be hit. A lot are area or chaining, so we should spread out. Other than that... I don't know what the base creatures are here. Birds, maybe?"

He checked his revive cooldown, but it would still be another hour before he could recover another minion. Which would be Centoo, since Skarm was very insistent.

Within the dungeon, Levi and Gordon encountered only... caterpillars.

Large ones, about the size of Levi's arm, but though the spines along their backs crackled with visible lightning, they were... not very intimidating. Which... he supposed that did seem to be a trend among level 1 creatures. Gremlins, Dire Turkeys, Glitterlings, none were particularly dangerous to a prepared delver, but it was still underwhelming.

“Shall we run Tink and Firelord through their paces? Since it’s a lower level place?”

“Who?”

Gordon gestured to Levi’s (much diminished) group of minions. “Tinkerbell and Firelord. Y’know, the sparkly fairy and the one with lava magic?”

“That’s… not what I’m going to name them.”

“Sure, because your names are so much better. Let me guess… Mira and Flameboy?”

“I wouldn’t name anyone ‘Flameboy’, what kind of name is that for a respectable kobold?”

Said respectable kobold nodded sagely in agreement, while Tink - no, the Mirror Sprite, he wasn’t naming her… him? - giggled and made a wall of flickering fire appear dramatically behind Firelord. No, wait—

Levi facepalmed, then gave up and opened the minion sheet with a groan. “Thanks, now you’ve gone and got them stuck in my head. I hate you.”

“Good. Keeps you on your toes.”

“Yes, we’ll have...” Levi sighed. “Tink and Firelord run this one. Pierce can clean up anything they miss.”

The boss was… an even bigger caterpillar. Not even the size of Cen or Centoo, only about four feet long. Its shocking spines were longer than its non-plus cousins, though, and it could flex and rotate them at will, facing either straight up or fully out to the side. Its hide was deep blue that set off the constant lightning crackle across its back dramatically.

“You want this one?” Gordon waved his manabow in the direction of the caterpillar. “For your collection?”

“Full up at the moment. At this rate I won’t hit level 13 for a while yet.”

“I don’t have a slot free either.” Gordon shrugged and motioned for the minions to advance. He glanced at the sparking caterpillar, then back at Levi. "It's not cowardice if I keep a distance from that thing, right? That's just good sense."

Levi laughed companionably. "I'm not going to condemn you for being sensible."

They fired off a few shots at the caterpillar boss just to get some practice in, while Firelord waved his staff and conjured a bolt of fire above his head that homed in on the boss and at the same time Tink created an illusory cliff all around the caterpillar to keep it in place.

The illusion didn't work as well as Tink clearly hoped, as the caterpillar boss just walked right through it. It must be using something other than sight to navigate. Frustrated, the sprite dove down at it and started punching until one of the electric arcs zapped her immobile. She fell to the floor, where the caterpillar proceeded to stab her repeatedly with its front legs. Her minimal health pool fell rapidly, and if Drok and Pierce hadn't jumped in it would have been the end of her.

Levi huffed out a breath, wondering if Tink was going to be worth the investment. Illusions would be valuable, but if she couldn't level properly she'd be of little help.

"We've got to get you a better way to attack, girl," Levi said, picking up the stunned sprite while Gordon and Flomper headed in to grab their usual pile of generic treasure. "Firelord? Can you teach her magic?"

The kobold hissed uncertainly and prodded the immobile sprite. He shrugged, then hissed again. Tink sat bolt upright and head-butted Firelord in the face. Levi could tell it was intentional because she had to deliberately twist her body halfway to make it connect, but then she leaned back innocently as though it had been an accident. Firelord snarled and stalked away, and Tink fluttered into the air looking satisfied with herself.

"What are you doing? You just picked a fight with the one guy who can teach you how to level? Are you crazy?"

Tink spun in a circle, sparkling light falling from her wings. Levi was sure he'd never seen a Mirror Sprite do that before.

"Can you use a manabow, at least? You've certainly got the power for it."

She held out a hand, flying down lower to Levi's level. He passed her the manabow. She drew it back, stone bolt appearing on the overlay, then smirked and fired it into Firelord's rump.

With a snarling hiss the kobold spun on her, a fireball appearing in the air as he waved his staff.

"Woah, woah, no intra-party conflict, please." Levi stepped between them, giving the kobold a stern look until Firelord let his fireball fade away. "Skarm, can you give him a lecture? I'll deal with Tink."

Skarm nodded and squeaked something to the kobold, who hissed back angrily. Levi left them to their discussion and turned to Tink. She'd flown up toward the ceiling, back facing him, and tossed the manabow away into the corner.

"Tink. If you're going to be part of this team, you need to at least pretend to get along with everyone. You are never to attack another of us under any circumstances."

She shook her head, still refusing to face him.

"You and Flomper should get together to be disdainful, I'm sure you'd have a great time."

Tink huffed and shook her head, sparkles falling more vigorously around her, twinkling in rainbow hues.

"No? Then why not apologize to Firelord?"

Tink made a horrified gasp, flying further away from Levi.

"Don't like that suggestion, huh? Well, you've got to do something, at least, if not apologize at least stop provoking him. He was willing to help you."

She shook her head even more emphatically, so hard Levi half worried she'd snap her own neck with her vehemence.

"You don't want to learn fire magic?"

She turned, facing him for the first time, and nodded. Her face was twisted as though she were trying not to cry.

Levi was taken aback, unsure how to deal with such a sudden display of emotion. "What do you want to learn? You have to find a way to be..."

He trailed off as she waved a hand, sparkles pouring out from it in a glittering arc, twisting and shining in dazzling array. Every time Levi tried to follow one it shifted or winked out, leaving another in its place to fly by and distract him again.

"You just want to focus on illusions? No attack spells at all?"

She nodded, drifting down closer to Levi.

"But... it would be a waste, you have such high mana potential. You should be--"

She huffed and turned away. Levi couldn't help wondering if it was a mistake to name her after a temperamental fairy. How much of his subconscious expectations were guiding her formulating personality?

But it was too late now, the name was firmly stuck in his mind, he'd never be able to think of her as anyone else now.

"Let's just get you a manabow, then."

She grimaced, mouth turning into a downturned pout.

"No complaining. I won't force you to try learning fire magic if you don't want to, but you have to do something to directly cause damage if you want to level."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him, gesturing around at the room with a wide sweeping arm motion.

Skarm poked at Levi's leg, so he waved Tink away and turned to the others. Firelord was looking mildly less rebellious now, and gestured at Tink in a half dismissive half welcoming wave.

"She won't be needing your services, but thank you for the offer. I'm glad you're willing to work together."

Firelord nodded, deeply enough that it was almost a bow.

Levi ran a hand through his hair, which was damp and a bit greasy from days of hard exertion without a shower or comb. He'd started to hope that the intricate management of minion relationships was going to get easier as time went on, after how easily Ward and Elmire had integrated with Skarm and Two, but clearly it wasn't so easy to pull off peace and harmony with so many different creatures.