The unsuspected nature of the attack triggered Dave’s class passive skill, Arcane Backlash. The bite would have dealt over 1200 damage even after his Toughness, but instead, he took a mere 600 damage while the full 1200 was reflected back at the beast. Because it was inside its mouth, the damage went off as a critical strike and blew its head to pieces.

  Gray Sara fell to her knees crying at the loss of the drake. Dave started to call out that it was okay. Something about her being missing made this image of her so emotionally powerful, even though intellectually Dave knew this wasn’t really her. It stalled him long enough that he almost didn’t see the goblin making a break for the core.

  Dave threw his sword. The attack was a bit crude, but the goblin was weak enough that with the extra frost damage he was frozen solid and then shattered into so many pieces by the weapon.

  On instinct, Dave pulled out his backup sword—the flaming sword he had looted from the death knight a year ago—and advanced upon gray Sara. She was still on her knees looking up at him. She hadn’t raised a hand to attack him, and Dave struggled. How could he strike down on a monster that looked exactly like his precious daughter?

  Then gray Sara sealed the deal as she whispered, “Daddy.”

  The sword dropped to his side. As it did a smile split gray Sara’s face, and Dave suddenly realized he had lost track of the treant. His esoteric sense told him that the creature was inches from the core once he opened himself to the input. By the time he turned around it was too late. The creature’s wooden finger touched the core and then all the images faded.

  He had failed to pass the 7th wave but then he got a shock.

  He heard Sara’s voice. “Daddy?”

  Dave wanted to curse. It had already used her against him. Eloria or whoever ran this challenge didn’t need to rub it in.

  Then he heard it again. It sounded so real. “Daddy, is that really you?”

  Dave spun around looking away from the core and saw a shimmering oval in the air. It looked like a reflection in water, but he could clearly make out Sara on the other side.

  “Yes, sweetie, it’s me. Where are you?” he asked as he raced forward to the oval. When he tried to touch it, the image rippled and obscured Sara, but he was completely unable to put his hand through.

  “I’m in the mountains. Don’t be mad, Daddy. I had to go. I heard a voice calling for help. See, I found my new friend. She was hurt and lost. I’m going to help her.”

  Dave looked and saw behind Sara a woman with brilliant red hair. She surely did look like she had gone without food or sleep and perhaps had been beaten. Of course, Dave was proud of Sara for wanting to help but scared that she was so far away. The words of the Seer popped up in the back of his mind.

  “I’m not mad, I’m just worried about you. Tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you.”

  Sara hesitated. “No, Daddy. I’m sorry. This is something I have to do.”

  Behind her, Dave heard the woman say, “This is the magic of the world. A quest perhaps.”

  The voice sounded strong and sure—definitely at odds with the image of the woman he saw.

  Sara said, “I think I have to go. The short men with beards are coming. Don’t worry though, I’ll be safe, and I’ll come home as soon as I can.”

  Then the window closed as Dave said to himself, “I love you, Sara.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Better to keep a king busy with building, lest he turn his eyes to his neighbor and go to war.”- Admonition of 1st Praetor Sun Yu when asked the reason he sought to build the Imperium.

  Tier Challenge- the place between- David Nelson

  First reward already administered. Confirmation of safety for Sara Nelson. Heed the words of the Seer.

  Dave wanted to scream or cry. He wasn’t sure. Then he thought about it. Something wasn’t right here. The system or world or Gods never went this far to put his mind at ease. Maybe for Emiri, but she was blessed or chosen or whatever you wanted to call it.

  No, he had to take it in stride. The message said that it confirmed Sara was safe. He thought about that for a while. He didn’t like it, but the best he could do was move forward. He knew she was near some mountains and dwarves, but between the Seer and this magical message, he had to think it was best for him to leave Sara alone now.

  That might be the hardest thing a father ever had to do, but he would do everything in his power to make sure she had a safe place to come back to. And if he didn’t hear more soon then he would go looking for her. Seer or no, magical window or no, he was still her father.

  The burden of so much emotion crashed in on him, and Dave fell to his knees. He would have said it was impossible for him to fall asleep again, but that was exactly what happened. Whether it was part of the challenge or not he didn’t know. He only knew that when he woke, he felt much more relaxed.

  No, maybe that was the wrong word. He felt like he had his own purpose and that Sara was safe. In this crazy world, that was all he could hope for. Now he had a bunch of notifications to check out.

  Congratulations you have completed your Tier Challenge. Your class, Arcane Dreadnought, is now Tier 3.

  You have earned the class skill: Damage Shift: 30- a shield can only be used to block damage, but through magic, your class can shift damage, even after it has happened. You may transfer any amount of damage done to a target within the past 1 second/level to you. It will be as though the damage was never done to the target. The full amount of damage will affect you bypassing any damage resistance that you might have.

  That was a true tank ability and more. If he read it correctly it could even bring someone back from the dead. Not that he was going to risk his interpretation being wrong just to test it.

  You have also gained the following prizes for completing the waves:

  100 XP

  Charm Stone: Spell Rebound- Tier 3

  500 XP

  Mythic Potions- Healing x2 (2000 HP), Mana Regen x2 (300 mana/minute)

  2500 XP

  Breastplate of the Mother Hen

  Congratulations. Ding! You have gained sufficient XP to reach level 41.

  You have gained 6 stat points. Total of 6 unspent stat points.

  You have gained 155 character points. Total of 155 unspent character points.

  Dave grinned. Not only had he gained a level but he was very close to gaining another. Before he assigned his stat points, he wanted to see what happened with the core. It was now flashing a golden color that had been steadily slowing.

  When Dave looked closer, it was obvious that the sphere of the core had cracks in it. It started to shake. Then a piece of the core was pushed out from the inside. As it broke apart, a tiny creature buzzed up into the air.

  It looked like nothing quite so much as a tiny fairy. Its wings were beating as rapidly as any hummingbird, and its—or rather her—body was clearly feminine but no taller than six inches. She was wearing a golden breastplate that fully covered her torso except for the slots for her wings.

  Her legs and arms also had armor in bracers and greaves, but in contrast with the warrior look, she had a black poofy skirt on and small matching shoes with pointed toes glazed in gold.

  “Altracia?” Dave asked hesitantly. He could feel the same thrum of the core coming from this tiny creature but wanted to be on guard all the same.

  A storm of glitter blasted away from her, then the fairy began to hover in the air without beating her wings. “This form is going to take some adjusting too. My head feels like it is going to burst. I don’t know how you all survive constrained to a single vessel like this.”

  Then she closed her eyes for a moment. It was hard for Dave to see the details of her face from where he stood, so he walked over to her. When he was within a couple of feet, she opened her eyes. He almost jumped back when she started to speak because her mouth was full of very white, but very sharply pointed fangs.

  She didn’t seem to notice but instead said, “It looks like I can build another core to control the dungeon from, but now I will also have some mobility as long as I stay inside the dungeon. I need to shift some of the functions to you, though, as all this pressure is frying my mind.”

  “That isn’t exactly a selling point on why I should let you do anything to my brain.”

  “We already had a deal. It is part of you forming a bond with me.”

  Dave looked at the tiny fairy and for a moment wondered if he was about to open up a Tinkerbell vs Wendy situation. His wife wasn’t exactly the sharing type. The panic on his face must have clued the newly created fairy in to his stress.

  “Oh, don’t worry, fairies are an extinct race on Eloria, but I was allowed to take this form. Bonding with me isn’t anything like that. In fact, I’m not acquainted with the urges of flesh, but if anything I would say that this body wants to eat you not kiss you.”

  Dave laughed weakly. “What do you mean by shift some functions to me.”

  “You will become my dungeon bonded. You will perform some tasks for me right away, and then you will give 10% of your time to tasks I might have or just to being in the dungeon. In return, you will get the already promised stat buffs, but you will also get to make a key decision and then oversee certain dungeon functions.”

  Dave could feel the weight of Eloria pressing down on him. He had agreed to this deal beforehand. The change in her appearance had thrown him off, but Dave knew he had to go through with it. “One thing. What should I call you?”

  “Hmm… I never got to pick my name. What do you think I should call myself?”

  “I don’t know for sure, just not Florence. That one is already taken, and you don’t have nearly enough cats anyway.”

  “Was that supposed to be an attempt at humor? I’m not sure. This is all so new. Here, let me try and laugh.”

  The sound that came out of her mouth was something like the combination of a very wet tuberculosis cough and an evil cackle. Dave’s eyes went wide. “Uh, I think you’re gonna need some work on that.”

  “Oh, well. For now, just call me Nim. I can decide on a permanent name later. Now you need to accept these changes.”

  With that, another wave hit Dave.

  Nim, the dungeon fairy and mistress of the Bastion of Thralls dungeon, has offered to make you into a dungeon-bonded human.

  Do you wish to accept? Yes or No.

  Reluctantly, Dave clicked yes. Then the agony began. He felt his body as it was stretched and pushed and twisted in new ways. Power flooded him, but it was sorta like shaking up the can and then trying to pour it into the cup.

  Eventually, the explosive force faded, and he felt like he was brand new.

  Dungeon Bonded- Tier 2 (of 3): Your body has been bonded to the dungeon. This will make you even more of a dungeon creature. Your race is now changed to dungeon-bonded human.

  You have gained +10 DEXTERITY, +15 CHARISMA, +20 ENDURANCE. Subsequent enhancement will increase different stats.

  You have also had your Dodge, Heavy Armor, and Esoteric Senses skills increased by +50 levels each, even though this exceeds your natural limits.

  Finally, you are now able to take on the form of a raid boss for a limited duration but only within the sphere of influence of the dungeon.

  As a raid boss, you will have your health and mana quadrupled for the duration of the effect. You will gain the Thundering Taunt and Cleave abilities while in raid boss mode. You will also gain second and third-phase abilities. Testing will be required to determine what those abilities are.

  Dave shook his head. The boons were amazing again. There were more notifications still coming in, but he tried to slow down to just appreciate what was happening.

  You must now decide on the primary direction of the dungeon. It will still be capable of all these functions but will specialize in one of them.

  The Few, The Proud- rate of the dungeon spawning elite is increased by 300%. Elites will be 50% stronger than before. Bosses will be 100% stronger than before. The drop rates for elites and bosses will be similarly improved.

  Warriors Wanted- the dungeon is capable of producing minions that can exist outside of the dungeon and will be able to expand the influence of the dungeon. They may only be commanded by the dungeon mistress or bonded.

  Aim High- all crafting skills practiced within the dungeon will benefit from a 50% increased speed. Further crafting materials will be generated 100% faster than previously.

  Let the Journey Begin- the dungeon becomes a paradise for training with multiple floors for every Tier 1st through 5th with the potential to expand. XP is increased by 25% for groups and 50% for raids. Swarm-type events will occur periodically inside the dungeon, which will have the potential for massive XP boosts.

  Dave read each of the options twice. Then he broke it down to better loot options, the potential to create an army, improved crafting, or better leveling options. There were reasons for all of them.

  Better gear would improve the adventurers. Dave’s concern there was that the increased power of the elites and bosses would make it almost impossible to get newer people trained. The big question mark for him about this was the only reason that he didn’t drop it as an option right away. If he was still considered a mini-boss all the time with the ability to become a raid boss for a limited amount of time, did that mean that he would receive a 100% boost in power?

  The option of building an army of dungeon creatures was extremely tempting. After having heard the Seer, he liked the idea of a force of disposable creatures. Yet, it felt short-sighted to choose that option.

  Improvements to crafting would perhaps be the best in the long run. It would turn the dungeon into a place that would usher in tomorrow. Of course, this was the opposite problem of creating an army of dungeon creatures. Yes, it would be nice to have more gear now, but it was unlikely those increases would make enough difference in a war that was soon upon them. This was taking the long view and trusting that he and his family would survive to make it past the war.

  The final option was personally tempting since leveling was becoming harder. The quest today was the best XP he had seen in a while, and unless fiends started storming Eloria, Dave didn’t expect that XP would come slowly now. It made his defeat on the seventh wave all that much more painful since if the pattern had remained the same he would have gotten 12,500 XP for completing that wave, but such was not to be.

  Dave sat down and thought through the options. He assumed that with the destruction of the barrier the dungeon was back to its normal time dilation. That gave him the time he needed to make the right decision. Rushing now would only hurt later.

  In the end, it came back to the lesson that Eloria had taught him and his family time and again. The power of the individual was paramount here. Having a powerful training dungeon with XP bonuses would give him options for sending in low-ranked soldiers and power-leveling them. He was just going to have to see what he could do to expand the dungeon so more people could use it at the same time.

  With that in mind, he chose the fourth option and felt the dungeon begin to shudder around him.

  Nim said, “It will take about forty-eight hours of your precious outside world time to finish reforming basic floors and modes. To complete the changes is going to take months. Now, I need to explain what I need you to do.”

  She then talked to him about the task she had in mind. Dave’s head began to spin. He looked for holes in the plan but didn’t initially see any. The contract he had with Nim would keep her from using this against the world. Sure it would help her become stronger and spread her influence, but it would also help Dave and all his allies.

  He had hoped that his negotiation skill would pay off in dealing with the core, and sure enough, it seemed to have. Having a skill of 260 had come in handy as had the Charisma boost he had just gotten. Dave thought back to when he had to negotiate deals on Earth. None of that experience had prepared him for negotiations on this level, yet it worked out in his favor. At least it did as far as Dave could tell. Only time would tell as he began to implement the dungeon’s plan.

  He was so psyched that he almost forgot to look at his new gear. The potions were simple. The HP ones would restore up to 2000 HP and provide +100 HP/tick regeneration for 5 minutes after consuming one. The mana potions only restored 1000 MP but increased mana regeneration by 300 per minute for 6 hours.

  The stone was different from any item he had seen so far. He picked it up and felt a sharp prick as a single drop of blood was drawn from his hand into the clear stone. It took on a ruby red color and then floated out of his hand. From there it began to orbit around his head, and he immediately knew it would auto-reflect one hostile spell of 3rd Tier or less that was cast at him once per moonrise.

  As for the armor, Dave couldn’t help but wonder if that was Nim making fun of him or just Eloria in general. Once he looked at the description, he didn’t care though.

  Breastplate of the Mother Hen

  Defense: 35

  Weight: 0.5 lbs.

  Type: Heavy

  Passive Effect: Light as a feather

  Passive Effect 2: All allies within 15’ of you benefit from 50% of your Toughness and Regeneration.

  Active Effect: Spread your wings- causes all damage that affects any ally within 15’ of you to strike you instead, but your resistances and defenses apply rather than theirs.

  Today had definitely been a good day for upgrading his tanking abilities. Dave made the decision not to spend any of his character points as he was too anxious to get started with Nim’s plan. Now that he knew Sara was okay for the moment, he felt the freedom to do that.