He bared his teeth that time but turned and ran away from the edge of the isle. Soon, sand gave way to porous rock and then small bits of vegetation covering the rocks. Dragos led Mira down into a tunnel of rock. At first, she thought it was natural but then realized that it was simply that the tunnel was so old. This had been crafted at some point in the past but now was incredibly worn.

  Together they ran in. Her limited darkvision made it possible to keep from falling, but it wasn’t ideal. Every so often, Dragos would allow a curl of flame to erupt from his nose, lighting the way. Behind her, she heard the enemies. They were still getting closer, and yet Dragos continued. None of the chambers they passed seemed satisfactory to him.

  Even with the threat of death behind them, Mira couldn’t help but be fascinated by the place they were in. Dragos had called it a former temple, but when his curls of flame illuminated the walls, she didn’t see anything but roughly worn carvings that depicted dragons. She felt like she was missing something.

  Then they came to a fork in the tunnel, and Dragos stopped. He looked from one to the other. Mira whispered, “What’s the matter?”

  As soon as the question left her mouth, she felt it. There was a powerful magical presence ahead of her. She didn’t know what it was, but it felt like the dungeon raid floor. Only comparing the two seemed like comparing a child with an adult. There was a greater sense of maturity and completion within this aura.

  She gasped louder than she meant to. “It’s a dungeon.”

  Dragos pulled her close. “Don’t speak so loudly, elfling. They are shadow clan. The darkness will not be any hindrance to them. The only reason they haven’t caught us yet is that they have the wisdom to be afraid of the legend.”

  “What legend? I’m new to Solun, so you will have to be clearer.”

  “It isn’t a thing for you. This is a matter for dragonkin. Elves and the other lesser races know nothing of this.”

  Mira wanted to slap him. No one called her a lesser race, but she managed to contain her anger. Her mother would have been proud of her for her restraint. That alone almost made change her mind, but she bit back her chagrin. “Can we hide in the dungeon?”

  “I can, but you can’t. Normally, I would leave you to your fate—you are only an elfling after all—but honor won’t allow it,” Dragos replied.

  Mira hmphed. “What? Can’t lose a prisoner?”

  His eyes narrowed into slits, which she could barely see in the darkness. “I am not blind. I know you could have run faster than me. It would have been easy enough for you to leave me to face the shadow clan alone, but you did not. You have proven yourself to be honorable, Miranda Nelson. Honor deserved the same in response.”

  Mira’s eyes grew wide, and her breath caught in her throat. After a moment, she said, “I don’t get it. If you can enter the dungeon safely then why can’t they?”

  “First, I didn’t say I could do it safely, only that I could do it. I would not be immediately destroyed because I’m a true born. They would be destroyed by the magic within even more quickly than you because they are impure.”

  “So we could enter it. I just have to be able to handle the magic inside.”

  “That is what you take away from what I said. The magic there is ancient and powerful and meant to destroy any who are not dragons. I am close enough that it won’t destroy me.”

  Mira felt like he wasn’t telling her something, but she could hear the enemy getting closer. “I say we go into the dungeon then. If we can’t beat them in a battle then better to take our chances on me being able to handle the magic. I really am very good at that.”

  “You are either very brave or very foolish, Miranda Nelson. I can’t say which. If we do this, your fate is in your own hands. Either way, you have my respect.”

  “It’s just Mira. No one calls me Miranda except for my mom, and even then only when she is angry with me…”

  The rest of her words were cut off as a group of dragonkin came into sight. She immediately conjured a ball of light that made them hiss. She could only hope that it evened things up a bit.

  The front row was comprised of four warriors in black armor. They were slighter of build but similar to Dragos. Instead of gold, though, their scales were purple and black. Behind them were two robe-covered mages. “Ah, the great Dragos. I would kill you, but it is important that we claim her unharmed. So today the ancestors smile upon you. Turn over the human to us and we will allow you to leave.”

  “More like you would stab me between the wings the moment my back was turned. Shadow clan is not to be trusted. Your elders have bought into the lies and serve a dark power.”

  One of the warriors hissed. “We serve no one. We use the mage so that we can be restored to our proper place. Eloria is ours.”

  “That day has come and gone. Better to live for the future. Before we misunderstood our role in things and reached too far.”

  “You sound like prey,” the second mage said.

  Mira could see this was going to come to blows if she didn’t intervene. Maybe she couldn’t talk her way out of this, but she had to try. “Why do you want me?”

  “Our partner wants you and is willing to pay a great deal for you. He has instructed us to tell you that only a meta-mage can properly instruct a meta-mage. Now, come here, elfling, and this need not be unpleasant,” the first mage said.

  “I don’t go anywhere I don’t want to go, and you haven’t even told me who your partner is, so there is no chance I’m going with you.”

  “We are working with Alucien. He is the one who asked for you. No matter what you may have heard, he is very much like a cockroach. All of you humans have that trait. Regardless, the elders are working with him, and we are following our orders.”

  “I’ve heard that before. As for Alucien, my father already told him no, as did my brother. I have no interest in serving him either, although I admit to being curious that he consents to work with anyone who doesn’t call him master. The spiderkin mage I met acted as though Alucien was the master of all.”

  This elicited roaring and hissing from the nine shadow dragonkin. Mira smiled. She had realized almost immediately that she couldn’t talk her way out of this, but at least she could enjoy pissing off a bunch of jerks. Then she looked at Dragos. “Now or never.”

  He replied, “I don’t know which tunnel it is.”

  One of the mages said, “Grab her and kill Dragos. No one compares us to spiderkin.”

  Mira felt mage shields spring to life around the two. This was her chance. They were clearly powerful, and once their warriors grabbed her it would be over, but she still had one trick.

  She reached out and grabbed the weave of magic that made up one of their mage shields. It was stronger than any mage shield she had encountered so far, but it wasn’t enough. The odd thing was that she didn’t sense any of the dragonkin mage’s influence on the shield. Maybe it had only been made from an item because he wasn’t exercising any control over it.

  She hissed, “I need five seconds.” Mira knew that could be an eternity in battle and hoped that she hadn’t misjudged Dragos. He would have to be very good to keep any of the enemy warriors from interrupting her for five seconds.

  He leapt in front of her, but she was only partially aware of that. All her focus was on that mage shield. Mira was seeing the world as flows of mana rather than with her normal eyes. She twisted and turned the weave and felt it slipping into a new form. All the power of this shield would only turn it into that much more deadly of a weapon.

  Dragos hadn’t pulled out his sword yet. Mira couldn’t worry about him. She had to work faster. Then she felt a wave of heat roll over her. Her skin felt like it blistered, but she didn’t see the source. Her focus was still too caught up on the mage shield.

  Finally, the spell weave slid into place. Her hand squeezed together into a fist as she willed the spell to create a massive volley of force shards. Then most of them went inward but enough flew outward that the other shadow clan members were struck. As for the mage inside the sphere, he looked more like a reverse porcupine. His body was torn to shreds. He shrieked briefly and then it was cut off as his scales and flesh were destroyed just as easily as his robe.

  Then she turned and raced down the right fork while calling out, “This one.”

  She hit the edge of the dungeon and disappeared from sight.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  "Choices not clothes make the man or woman as the case may be." —Source Unknown.

  Solun- Dungeon- Mira Nelson

  Mira felt the motion of shifting into a new zone. It was still odd to her how that worked, but it wasn’t something that most people encountered as part of their daily life. Travel just wasn’t a big part of life in Eloria. Then she got the notification.

  You are about to enter the dungeon zone: False Gods’ Fall.

  Do you wish to enter? Yes or No?

  She clicked yes in her mind, and instead of entering the dungeon, she got a warning message. That couldn’t be good.

  False Gods’ Fall is an event dungeon. Each person or party may only enter it once. The dungeon will draw upon the heritage of those who enter it to create a unique event for each party. Unlike other dungeons, you will gain XP during the event.

  You will be unable to leave False Gods’ Fall until the event is completed.

  Do you wish to continue? Yes or No?

  Mira paused a moment longer before she clicked yes. Going back out to be killed by a bunch of dragonkin wasn’t really an option. Then, to her frustration, there was yet another message. She wanted to yell at the dungeon to get going already.

  Since you are not a Trueborn, False Gods’ Fall has a rare bonus reward system for your type. You may gamble up to three of the following.

  XP

  Items

  Spells

  Skills

  Stats

  You will lose whatever you gamble for the duration of the event, but if you are successful, you will receive more back in return.

  In the case of XP, this will result in you receiving 3x the amount of XP that you gamble. Note that your level will be reduced if you gamble enough XP.

  If you gamble items, you will receive back a similar item but upgraded in every way.

  If you gamble spells, you will receive a higher tier version of the spell or its closest equivalent. The same applies to skills.

  If you gamble stats, you will receive 2x the amount of stats that you gamble.

  Now she really had to take a moment to sort this out. Dragos had made it sound like it was a death sentence to enter this dungeon, but the more she read, the more she felt this was a great opportunity. She was used to people underestimating her.

  At first, it had seemed odd, but Mira learned that what she did with magic was unusual. Plucking spells apart was seen as suicidal, let alone turning any enemy spell against them. The truth was that anyone with magical aptitude could do those things. Her class skills just made it much easier for her.

  It was that thought that made her believe that Dragos had overstated the risk to her. She believed that she would be able to handle whatever aberrant magic existed inside the dungeon. The optimism of youth shielded her. So, it was simply a question of how much power could she afford to give up.

  Before deciding that, Mira pulled up her character sheet. It had been a while since she looked at it. Surprisingly, after a while, even if you had a visual image that quantified your existence, it still became habit to focus on living rather than on what the sheet said.

  The first thing that hit her when she looked at it was how much lower her mana was now. Losing the converter prestige path meant that she gained access to Bravery, Stamina, Rage, Faith, and Teamwork again. They were all powers of pool that had been combined to give her nearly double the mana she now had.

  The problem was that she didn’t have any skills that used those abilities. She had been saving up her character points for when she reached 5th Tier, but it was a waste to have power and not be able to use it. The next question was whether she could make use of any of those skills.

  It felt weird that she was stuck between zones. There was no way to tell how much time was passing outside of whatever this place was, but she refused to be rushed. When she opened the menu to see what skill options she had, she was thrilled by the notification she received.

  New Options are available now that you are in Solun.

  That simple statement held so much promise. So she pulled up her options for using Bravery first. This was the power type that she drew from Strength. It was one of her lowest stats, and while she had put some points into it because it was cool to not feel weak, this was never going to be important to her build.

  That excitement was quickly blunted when the list looked like nothing but variants from what she had previously seen on the Stamina list. Things like Penetrating Blow, Push Through, and Unbalance might be great for a melee fighter like Jackson or even like dad, but not for her.

  Not one to waste time, Mira quickly moved on to the Fury-based list and almost gave up until she saw a pair of skills.

  Fury Burn: Convert the power of your body into the power of the mind. Your current mana increases by 5 x skill level mana per point of Fury spent. Cooldown: 1 hour.

  Mage’s Rage: A berserker loses themself in blood rage and can throw off the weaknesses of their body. Your body is not the bastion of power that a berserker might have, but you can just as well lose yourself to your anger. Instead of losing your head, you will enter a state of intense mental acuity and focus. For the duration, all spells will have their impact increased by 2% x skill level. You gain the exhausted debuff for 2 minutes per minute that this skill is active. Minimum of 2 minutes. Cost: 1 Fury per minute. Cooldown: 1 hour.

  Hmm… She didn’t make any decisions yet, but since she had 336 unspent character points… oh wait. She had more character points than she had expected. She scrolled back through notifications and found it.

  You have defeated: 1 dragonkin sorcerer level 49. XP: 294 x 1.7 (numerical bonus) 500 x 2 (killing blow bonus) divided by number of party members x Tier bonus= 750 XP.

  You have 38 new character points available. Total of 374 unspent character points.

  Congratulations. Ding! You have gained sufficient XP to reach level 37.

  You have gained 5 stat points. Total of 10 unspent stat points.

  She could only smile. That had been super easy. It felt like cheating. No matter, she would take wins where she could get them. Although, she doubted that the shadow clan was going to want to capture her now. Oh well, being captured would have almost certainly been as bad as death. This Alucien had never spoken directly to her, but her dad had described him as evil. Combined with the little she had learned about him, he was definitely someone Mira wanted to avoid.

  Next, she looked at Stamina-based skills and was again pleasantly surprised to find one that was useful. It was even a passive skill that her dad and brother were always stressing as better than active skills. She shook her head. Like, she hadn’t figured that out by now.

  Body to Mind: Increases Mana regeneration by 10% x skill level.

  It might sound incredible, but mana regeneration was pretty slow. Her base regen was only 15 mana per hour for each point of Wisdom she possessed. Even with her ring of Mystic Confluence, which increased her mana regen by 25%, she still would only regen 356 mana per hour and would need almost 4 hours to refill her greatly reduced mana capacity.

  As Mira thought about it, that was perhaps an even greater loss than the larger mana pool. Before with the benefits of the converter prestige class, she was regenerating over 2600 mana per hour.

  Thinking about that made her wonder if there were new magical skills available to her here. Sure enough, that menu brought another smile to her face.

  Enhanced Spell: Enables the caster to increase the effective Tier of the next spell cast. Each spell may only be increased by 1 Tier from its base form and may not exceed the maximum Tier available to the caster. Skill level must be equal to the desired Tier for the enhanced spell. Cost: 10 mana x new Tier level. Effect will vary.

  This skill sounded useful to her because she was pretty sure that most of her lower Tier spells would have little impact on any monsters she would face in the dungeon. Based on what she had seen so far, she was expecting to face mostly 4th and 5th Tier stuff. Hopefully, no 6th Tier, but it couldn’t be ruled out.

  Mana Regeneration: Increases base mana regeneration by a flat amount of 5 x skill level per hour.

  That didn’t sound impressive except for two things. First, the word ‘base’ implied that the effects of this skill would be multiplied by items or skills like Body to Mind rather than simply being additive. Secondly, she knew that both Dad and Jackson had a skill that significantly increased their health regeneration. They both had perks for reaching higher Tiers with the skill that had dramatically impacted its value.

  Based on what Dad had told her, if she reached the 5th Tier, all her skills could be raised by 20 more levels. That meant at a bare minimum she needed 200 skill points to raise everything. Given that it looked like it was about 1500 XP between levels, and assuming that this Tier followed the previous pattern, the jump between 39 and 40 would require double the normal XP of previous levels. That meant she would likely gain 300 more character points by the time she hit level 40. Hmm…

  Before she made any final decisions, she looked at the other skills. There were no Faith-based skills that she wanted, but Teamwork provided her with an interesting option. It was actually a Hybrid skill that required that she had at least 40 levels in Charm Magic, which, of course, she did.