Chapter 21 (Patreon)

“That was such a bullshit test. Overcome your weakness of lacking ranged capabilities? How? By going back in fucking time, and bringing bigger ranged weapons? That hammerhead rhino wasn’t even hard, if not for that stupid reflection I’d have lopped off its head in about ten seconds flat.”

Nick fumed, as he carried Kaya on his back over to the rest area. Eirwen had used Revitalize on her sister right away, but Kaya had remained asleep.

Determining that she was safe as the healing magic worked, they looted and gathered the ammunition before they began their march to the safe area.

He had managed to revive Jerome and Jerry by re-summoning the soul servant.  For the first time, he had felt low on mana–restoring their bodies from all the damage in fact cost him a lot. He hadn’t had much mana expenditures, but even removing the affliction from Kaya had a high cost.

Perhaps, there was also some sort of cost for restoring the same body more than once. He had no idea.

His left arm hurt. When he used the tree as a shield to cut into the rhino’s leg, the reflection of essence was extremely sharp. It had cut right through the tree, and slashed right through his armor. He had only barely gotten his guard up in time, or it’d have pierced his chest.

Eirwen giggled. “That’s expected before you enter the Ordeal! Being prepared for anything is part of how you prepare for Orion’s dangers. Remember, most people can leave and come back if it’s too challenging. For someone with an epic combat class like you, perhaps it expects you should have some kind of strong ranged spell or ability. That you came in unprepared, it is only natural for it to punish you for that to learn your lesson.”

Nick snorted. “What was I supposed to do? We rushed in here. Did Havendale actually have any spell crystals to sell me, anyway? If I fought through the bandit warlord, and all that.”

Eirwen tapped her lips. “Not likely. The bandits and the town guard in Davon’s pocket likely hoarded all skills and especially spells, perhaps even selling them to the other towns. Most have high requirements, too.”

They arrived at a new path that opened at the opposite end of the chamber, a dome of the translucent energy once again showing it was a safe area. There was a gate, which Nick knew was the exit to the next floor–the Trial.

However, the path lead to what looked like the door to a house.

Eirwen opened the door, and gasped. “Oh my, it looks like it’s a house! We can really rest well tonight.”

Nick left his soul servants out front–as much as he’d want them to enjoy the comforts, it appeared they had no capability to do so.

They marched inside, marveling at the contents. It looked like the suite to a hotel, with more than one door branching off from the more common room. The home had the same motif as the dungeon, with the walls made of tree bark and vines with leaves.

There was a kitchenette to his left complete with what looked like an oven and a sink, and couches and chairs for lounging and resting in front of a fireplace–already lit–to his right. The furniture was made of brown and green wood, with padding to sit on.

“Let’s get her to one of these rooms, so I can take care of her wounds. I know my spell is helpful, but we need to be in tip-top shape for the Trial.”

Eirwen opened one of the rooms, and they found a bathroom next to the kitchen, complete with a shower and a bath. They headed to the other doors, and the first really looked like just about every simple bedroom or hotel room he’d ever seen. A nightstand was next to a bed, which held what looked to Nick like a gas lamp.

When Eirwen twisted a switch on it, and it lit up. Rather than a flame, it was as if it filled with a soft white glow.

Nick laid Kaya on the bed gently, then helped Eirwen remove her armor, finding himself shocked at all the cuts she received. Her arms and shoulders were especially covered, but even her chest and stomach had cuts all over it.

Eirwen looked pained as she looked over Kaya’s cuts, before bringing out a green paste from her pack. “She fought really hard. I…was barely able to do anything.”

Nick snorted. “You did exactly what an Ordeal Supporter is supposed to do, though? You aided with your crossbow, weakening the boss. Then, when the enemy was defeated, you helped us recover and even made sure we got something out of this trip with your looting skill. You’re also the reason I had any juice in us to fight at my best, besides.”

She still looked a bit sad, but she nodded and started putting the paste over some of her cuts, a strong herbal smell filling the room.

Nick could feel her essence stirring, adding onto the paste and helping heal Kaya’s wounds more rapidly–the First Aid skill.

Eirwen gave a small smile. “I suppose you’re right. I guess I’ll just try to have some faith that when I hit level 5, I might get something that makes a little more difference in a fight. That boss sure had lots of essence, I just might get close!”

Nick nodded. “Sure did. You might get there sooner rather than later. Well, it’s not impossible to shift your class still, is it? Maybe when we get back and we take over Davon’s stash, we might get you an assortment of skills to make you more combat-like? I’ll support you, whatever you choose.”

“Thanks. You’re right, it’s just painful for me to see you two getting hurt, and being unable to really do anything until the fight is over. Let’s get your wounds all cleaned up, too. That wound on your arm is awful, isn’t it?”

Tucking Kaya into the bed, they left the room after Eirwen seemed to use some dream magic on Kaya before they left the room, leaving the door slightly open.

“What’d you do?”

Eirwen smirked. “I gave her a pleasant dream, using a minor cantrip of dream magic. She’ll be visited by the man of her dreams, figuratively and literally, I guess? Hehe.”

Nick frowned, as they entered the lounge area. “That’s kinda…weird. She’s going to meet a dream version of me, and get it on?”

Eirwen mock gasped, as she put a hand on her chest and smiled. “Now Nicholas, that’s awfully presumptuous of you, don’t you think? I didn’t say it was you, nor did I say that the dream would be sexual. I merely stirred her subconscious to connect with whom she pictured as her dream man. That could be you, or it could be who she pictured when she read a book. As to what she’ll do in the dream, who knows? She might not even remember it, it is no different from a dream she might usually have. Have you ever actually finished doing the deed in a dream, anyway? I just wanted it to be a pleasant dream, not one filled with bad memories and her fears.”

Nick hummed, as he started removing the odd clips on his weird, almost plastic armor. “That’s kinda cool that you can do that, but I didn’t see any kind of spells on your character sheet. Where’s it come from?”

Eirwen helped him remove his armor, removing the clips on his armored pants. He began taking everything off.

“To learn my dream magic, I had to read and practice for days and weeks. You start with simple spells that you might know as cantrips, before you earn the proficiency. You don’t know any soul magic cantrips? That should be part of how you learned the proficiency, usually.”

Nick frowned. “No, I just started with the proficiency. Didn’t my class give it to me?”

Eirwen raised her brow at this. “For a soul magic focused class like a Soul Knight, having the proficiency should have been a requirement. It would not grant you this proficiency, though it might have improved it. I already had capability with crossbows, me taking my Ordeal Supporter class merely enhanced it. You didn’t know any soul magic?”

Nick frowned. “The games I played? I don’t know. I kinda just…knew. I thought it happened when I took the class.”

Eirwen looked thoughtful, as she brought him over to a chair. She looked over Nick’s body and prepared her healing salves, working on healing him.

Nick’s arm had a deep gash in it, but her Revitalize plus all the essence he was absorbing had already done some work on healing it. As she rubbed the paste on his various gashes and bruises, he could feel a warm, numbness spreading.

Nick marveled at their capability to heal. “Sure am glad that healing is so easy. Seems like as long as we don’t die, you can make us right as rain in no time, Winny.”

Eirwen chuckled. “Don’t you test it! But you’re right, aside from broken bones–until we reach the second stratum. Sure, I should get better at healing. But absorbing all this essence is more or less forging your body into a treasure. It will cost much more essence to heal you, and it will take more time. Not only that, but the enemy’s essence will start invading you, even after they’re dead. Half the challenge will be removing the foreign essence, to enable you to heal.”

“Huh, it’ll be almost like a poison? Wonder if we’ll get anything like that.”

Eirwen continued applying the healing salve to his cuts, until she began putting everything away.

“There you are, hubby. Now, I’m gonna get us some dinner cookin’, why don’t you just focus on–”

Nick pulled her back to the chair, setting her down on his lap and facing her body toward him. He wrapped his arms around her, and her body just melted into his. She sighed happily. “Oh, I like this.”

“It can wait a minute. I’d like to thank my lovely Ordeal Supporter, for a job well done. I can tell you feel a little down that you aren’t pulling your weight, but I know how important you are. You are appreciated.”

He kissed her lips, her cheeks taking on a cute blush. She moaned as his hands roamed her body, and the kiss lingered for a time as she did the same.

Passion seemed to build between them, but eventually, she pulled away to look him in the eyes.

She smiled at him, and her eyes had a hooded look, her voice nearly a whisper and seductive. “I did enjoy that, and I’m more than ready for you if you want something fast–but you and Kaya are wounded, hubby. If you’d have let me finish–I wanted you to grab that essence and heal, and allow me to absorb mine so that we could enjoy each other later, and with much more time available to us–I’d like to have some food ready for sis when she wakes. How does that sound?”

Nick cleared his throat. “I’m good with that. You’re right. Just help me…calm down for a minute? I’ll be good.”

She giggled, as she rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m more than okay if you want to make things quick, but I’d much rather we take our proper time to enjoy ourselves.”

Nick nodded, and just hugged her into him. He started to run his hands through her soft hair, as he closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Playing around with her curly hair especially at the base of her ram-like horns, she shivered.

She joined him for a moment in absorbing her own essence, her soft breaths against his neck relaxing him.

Envisioning the whirlpools for his soul and body, he began to absorb the large amount of essence they collected from the boss.

She sighed. “I could fall asleep just like that, in your arms. Let me go? I’ll get working.”

He let her go as she stood up, still focusing on the task while giving her a smile. “You’re wonderful. Thanks for taking care of us.”

“And I don’t doubt it now, thanks to the truth in your words–thanks, hubby. It means a lot to me, that I can take care of someone else for a change.”

***

Nick finished absorbing much of his essence, before he heard a muffled voice. “Winny? Where are we?”

Nick opened his eyes, finding Kaya standing at the door. She was looking at the features of the room, but when Nick and Kaya’s eyes met, she froze. Her cheeks took on a blush, and Nick barely kept the smirk off his face as he realized: she likely had a dream about him.

Winny shouted over from the kitchenette. “I’m over here, cooking! Just a few more minutes, and I’ll be all done. Have a seat! It’s safe here in this special rest area.”

Kaya sat down across from Nick, and seemed to not want to look at him.

“How you feelin’, Kaya? You sure kicked some ass on that rhino thing. Hoo boy, them claws of yours sure looked vicious. I was surprised when your wounds weren’t worse, I took a nasty cut on my arm just for cutting into that leg the one time.”

Kaya chuckled. “I feel much better now, that I had a chance to rest. I did absorb most of the essence swirling around me. I thought you were hiding behind the tree for that? I blocked with my essence, but I think it’s more because my claws weren’t as vicious as you thought.”

Nick snorted. “You had a lot of blood on you, and it wasn’t all yours. You did some big work on that thing, and even spotted a weakness. You kicked ass, and I mean it. The Ordeal must have thought so too because it gave a reward tailored for you.”

She seemed to blush at his praise. “W-Well, it was your Aura that slowed it. I…kinda passed out, what did the Ordeal award us?”

Eirwen walked over to her pack, and pulled out two axes that looked like they barely fit inside. They were barely what one might consider a one-handed axe, though Nick realized they were well beyond a normal human at this point, at level five.

It was bearded, and had a small spike on the back. The grip was wooden, but Nick could feel the thickness of the essence in them. There was also an odd block with a grip on the bottom, of one of the axes.

Eirwen handed them to Kaya. “It called them beast warrior axes. You didn’t unlock the class already, did you?”

Kaya froze, and she seemed to check her menu. “It’s there! But, it’s not unlocked. It means I am close to meeting the requirements!”

Eirwen beamed. “That’s wonderful! It means you’re on the right track, Kaya. Maybe that’s why the Ordeal awarded those axes? Come to think of it, Beast Warriors don’t really use daggers or short swords, do they? Did you practice with ma’s battleaxe?”

Kaya blushed, perhaps as she realized her mistake. “I-I’ll practice with these.”

“And I’ll teach you. Them look like some viking axes, really. Those are great. You can hook the beard and pull weapons and shields out of the way, and hack at them with the other. What’s with the weird grip at the bottom?”

Kaya smirked at Nick, and her tail took the axe out of her hand. It whipped around behind her left and right, before coming up behind and over her head. Nick could see how the reach of the axe would allow her to strike with nearly the same reach as her arm.

“Cool, you can surprise someone with that. I think it’s better as a surprise than it is to roll with three axes, but we’ll see.”

Much of the power in an attack came from putting your own weight and momentum into the blows. With a sharp enough blade, it wasn’t required to do damage, but against an armored foe, Nick doubted anyone could really wield three weapons at once and accomplish overly much more than with two. Even two was a stretch, sometimes.

Eirwen walked back to the kitchenette and opened the pot she had cooking. A thick stew smell filled the room, as she took a taste from a spoon. “Looks like the stew is ready! Let’s eat!”

She opened the oven, and even pulled some bread out on a pan.

“What the–you had flour in that pack too? What the hell? I’m gonna search that pack, you can’t convince me you brought all this stuff. I’d believe you are magicing this stuff sooner than that.”

Eirwen giggled, her ears wiggling. “You’re so silly, hubby. I don’t have that kind of magic. Though, in a dream, I can probably make you the best food you’ve ever had!”

There was no real dining table, but the almost-coffee table between them in the living room was where Eirwen placed three bowls of steaming hot stew and the bread.

The bread was hard, but dipped in the stew, it softened and tasted amazing. The three enjoyed the stewed bearcoon meat, the meat really softened by spending a longer time at a low simmer.

Eirwen and Kaya were all smiles as they enjoyed, making small talk about the fight. Nick was definitely grateful for having their company.

Had he entered alone, he didn’t want to think about what would have happened. He supposed he would have had his soul servants, but they wouldn’t have provided any type of company. If he thought back to the rats, he had no real way of healing himself.

He’d have wounds and be unable to recover rapidly. Instead, he had moved through the floors rapidly, and he felt good. He was going to be ready for the Trial, no matter how difficult.

“What is it, hubby? You got quiet.”

“Just thinking I’m really glad you two came–even if one of you was begrudgingly. You girls are great.”

Kaya and Eirwen both beamed, but it was Kaya that responded, “And I’m really glad I came too–not just for Winny. I’m more now, and it’s all thanks to you. I’m gonna…full-ass being your bodyguard, from now on! I promise.”

She stood up, and she gave him a martial bow, with a fist in her palm held out in front of her. Kaya held it for several seconds, before sitting back down.

Nick rose his brow at that, but replied, “Damn, even used it right and everything! Thanks, Kaya. I won’t let you down.”

Eirwen giggled. “Beast Warriors are proud of their honorable service. This is a big deal! Momma had served a lord a few cities away, but came here on a caravan when he died as a Ronin–with young Kaya.”

“Ronin? What, Beast Warriors are like Samurai? That’s cool. Alright, so anything else we can do to prepare for this Trial? Anything else you think I should know, Winny?”

“Hmm, I think I just remembered something. It might be more relevant for us, in particular.”

She went back to her pack, and pulled out the book she had earlier. Sitting back down and flipping through the pages, she seemed to find what she was looking for in just a minute.

“Here it is. If the Trial is in the first stratum, a Bind Stone will be made available. At this location, people can respawn at least once. If killed while inside, they will be sent there–though it will take several days. But this is next to the portal, where people can leave with a grace period, unable to be harmed.”

Nick frowned. “How’s this relevant for us?”

Kaya sighed. “Davon and his men. Once the Trial opens and they discover it, one will probably return and let him know. At the very least, after they scout out the Trial.”

“Damn, so the ringer himself might show up, and I won’t be able to actually kill him? This is terrible.” He shook his head.

Eirwen hummed. “I don’t think he will, for two reasons. The first, is he will be limited to the level of the floor at entry. We might be able to level up once we’re inside, but he would be brought down to level five in strength–his abilities locked and his strength reduced until he did the same. If he died in the Trial, he’d stay dead before we finished it, likely. Second, the Trial will in fact have a limit to the number of entries. If he can’t bring enough of his men in, he may just opt for the alternative option.”

Nick groaned. “He’s going to try to get us when we get out.”

Kaya nodded. “His men probably all run through the first few floors weekly. When his men come back, he’s going to learn about the other entrance. I suppose it’s possible they might assume we snuck in somehow, but it’s doubtful. They keep it under lock and key, and with loyal, capable watchers. Well, if we have any luck, the rats just might keep them at bay.”

Nick had some hope that it might be a few days before they found out about the Trial. Then, a few bandits could get taken out by the rats, but he doubted much more than that. An armed force with the right equipment could kill them with impunity.

They spent some time talking into the evening. Nick told them some of his stories from Earth, and he was happy to learn some more details about their earlier lives. Orion was a strange world very different from Earth, but life was especially hard in Havendale.

Their mother was able to protect herself and her kids well thanks to her strength being early in the second stratum, but she was outnumbered. As much as she wanted to slay Davon, she couldn’t do that while also defending her children. Both because of the sheer numbers of his allies, but also because Davon was a man who was difficult to pin down, ruling from the shadows.

Thankfully, he took little interest in Mira and left her to her own devices, until she died. After that, Kaya had taken odd jobs in the city, and had taken to the trade as a rogue to increase her freedom. They kept it quiet that her mother had died for a time, but eventually, it came to light.

It sounded like the people from Havendale were just barely getting through life, unable to truly prosper because the tower wasn’t claimed. Yet, Davon was preventing this from happening, just to rule over the weak.

Nick would make sure he paid for his wrongdoings, and then he would make some big changes.