Mira didn’t know how long she could maintain this, so she looked for ways to keep it going. Again, outside this wouldn’t work, but in here she began shaping the way mana flowed within the dungeon. She created a natural flow that fed unending power into the wall of fire.

  Exhaustion settled into her, but as she pulled back her mental effort, she thought that just maybe the wall might last indefinitely. Maybe not that, but she thought at least it would last for days. If that didn’t convince the army not to attack then nothing they could do would.

  Then the fire went out in an instant. At the same time, the crystal wall and the army both faded into mist. Dragos spiraled down, and she slid off his back once they were on the ground. Her mind was so spent that even her body felt bone-weary tired.

  She had been ignoring the notifications that popped up during the battle, but then one pushed through.

  You have shown restraint. 1 of 3 waves completed.

  Next wave will commence in 8 hours.

  Oh, she wanted to positively fall over. In fact, she might have done just that, but strong arms caught her. “That was incredible. You are beyond anything I imagined. Rest easy. We have time.”

  As Mira faded off to sleep, she did see a summary of the notifications that had popped up during her wrestling match with all the ambient mana on this floor of the dungeon.

  Spell Weaving +17

  You have reached Journeyman Level. The ability may now be applied to more than just ambient mana.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  When the head of a snake is cut off, the rest of his body is an ordinary. —African Proverb

  False Gods’ Fall dungeon- Solun- Mira Nelson

  The time passed all too quickly. Dragos woke her. She saw him smiling down at her as he gently shook her.

  “Sorry to wake you, but we only have half an hour before the next wave. I thought you might want to eat and freshen up beforehand.”

  “Ugh, what I want to do is hit the snooze button, and if that doesn’t work at least get some coffee.”

  He clearly didn’t know what her words meant but didn’t say anything. Mira felt stupid for saying that, but it was nice to be able to without him prying.

  He even had some food cooking for her. He must have hunted while she was sleeping because he had a brace of rabbits over a fire and, interestingly, a number of roasted vegetables.

  “I’m surprised. I didn’t think that a dragon would know how to cook vegetables,” she teased.

  “Dragonkin are only half dragon, but while it is true that we mostly eat meat, I can still be sensitive to your diet.”

  “You really are a good guy despite trying to take me prisoner.”

  He chuckled at that but didn’t reply, instead opting to provide her with a serving of everything. He had been right. She was ravenously hungry. While she ate, they discussed other aspects of combat that they might be tested on. In the end, they decided it was pointless to speculate because it could take so many different forms. The one thing that Dragos was fairly certain of was that not all the waves would be things they could accomplish without violence.

  After eating, Mira said, “I feel bad for sleeping while you hunted for me.”

  “It was my honor, uxor. Besides, you accomplished a feat that I still don’t understand. You have the power of a goddess.”

  Mira flushed and smiled, but then something hit her. “I’m pretty sure that was what the first lesson was about. No matter how strong we become, we aren’t gods.”

  Dragos grinned. “Just checking to see if you remembered.”

  “Sure, you were,” Mira said, then for some reason, she winked at him. He smiled back, and for a moment there was this tension, but then they got the warning that the next wave would begin in thirty seconds.

  Dragos quickly resumed his dragon form, and she watched him take shape. It was impressive in the utmost, and she felt like if she watched it a few more times she might be able to develop a spell that did something similar.

  She climbed on his back this time before he leapt into the air. As he did, they saw the next wave materialize. This time the floor of the dungeon changed, and instead of a crystal city or a sea of horsemen crossing an open plain, they were flying over the top of a quarry.

  Dragos circled overhead and looked down. Mira cast Extended Gaze to enable herself to see farther. What she saw made her shudder. There were dozens of malnourished elves being forced to work the quarry. They all looked to be on the cusp of death but didn’t stop because of half a dozen bare-chested orcs with whips who were driving them to greater efforts.

  Her first instinct was to attack the orcs. She cast Assess Enemy on one of them.

  Orc Taskmaster

  Level: 39

  Health: 720

  Hmm… something was off there. Level 39 was reasonably strong but not so powerful that they couldn’t fight them. There would be some danger of hurting one of the elves while killing the orcs, but that wasn’t what it was.

  No, that health total for an orc of that level seemed very low. That set Mira to look more closely around the rest of the quarry. She checked out the scaffolding and the various structures where the elves were working. Ah, she hadn’t noticed them the first time. They were for fifteen-foot-tall golems made of stone.

  The funny thing was that prior to coming to Solun, she wouldn’t have had much of an idea about what a golem was. If the vision was to be believed, she had the potential within herself to create golems. At least that was how she was choosing to take the vision, as a summary of her potential.

  She cast assess on one of the golems and had to actually pour extra mana into it in order to make it stick.

  Stone GolemLevel: 50

  HP: 12,500

  Wow. They were Tier 6. So they were the real force to reckon with here. She and Dragos discussed strategies for dealing with four of them. They both agreed that golems were likely to be fairly stupid and act only with limited agency, but they would still soak up a great deal of damage.

  Something still wasn’t right. If the orcs were in charge, then where was the caster? There should be a shaman or something that controlled the golems. She didn’t believe that those underpowered taskmasters could do that. As she looked at the orcs again, she realized that each of them was only wearing loin cloths, sandals, and iron collars around their necks.

  She pushed more mana into another assess and looked at the orcs again. This time she got more information. They all shared a common status.

  Debuff: Enslaved.

  It was starting to make more sense. So she looked over the area once more. Then Dragos said, “There, in that tower. There is someone in there.”

  She wouldn’t have called it a tower. It was more of a stack of scaffolding that had a platform with walls around it at the top, but Dragos was right. There was something in it. Mira attempted to assess it, but the spell was rebuffed. A moment later, an explosion of force ripped out of the wooden structure, and twin bolts of forking lightning launched out.

  Mira wasn’t able to react quickly enough. No matter how fast her processing speed, an attack at the speed of light was too quick to respond to. Both Dragos and she were struck by one of the forks. The larger dragon fared better but still spiraled uncontrollably.

  Mira’s spell matrix had reacted even when her mind wasn’t able to, but the five-hundred-point mage shield it threw up wasn’t enough to stop this high Tier spell. Her shield was shattered, and Mira still took over a thousand damage despite her Wind Ring’s lightning resistance.

  The current ripped through her. Her muscles convulsed, and her bones threatened to break. She almost couldn’t think but was able to focus on one simple fact. She was still alive. A thousand points of damage was more health than she had. Yet here she was.

  An automatic tier 3 Heal went off, restoring her to full health, but she had to quickly swap out her rings and triggered one of her mother’s Heal spells that was stored inside it. That restored more than two thousand health to Dragos and helped him regain control of his flight.

  The dragon then flew away from the quarry to give them time to sort out what had just happened.

  Mira checked the notifications.

  You have taken fatal damage. You are dead.

  Intervening effect- Shield Other has absorbed half of the damage you would have taken retroactively. You now have only taken 563 damage.

  Reborn Trait is also triggered. You have had another near-death experience. This time you develop an innate reduction of all electrical attacks against you by 10%.

  She slammed her heels into Dragos’ side. “You dang fool. What were you thinking taking that damage for me? If you die while we are in the air then what am I supposed to do.”

  “I suppose you’d just have to air walk to safety. Don’t worry, though. I have five times as much health as you do, and if you died, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself anyway, so it was a good gamble. Thanks for the healing.”

  Mira realized she was being stupid. “No, thank you for saving my life. I would have died without you. I’m going to raise up every defensive spell I can and try to be better prepared next time.”

  “That or you could just stay at a safe distance and leave the mage for me. He must be a very powerful Tier 5 or even Tier 6 to be able to throw out a spell so quickly like that.”

  “I agree about his power but not about staying behind. If that was the kind of partner you wanted, then you shouldn’t have taken me prisoner.”

  Dragos circled back around. “Fine. You can stay with me, but you need to fight from my back so I can protect you.”

  Mira wanted to argue, but after essentially dying to the enemy’s first attack, she couldn’t find fault with his logic. “Fine, we focus on taking out the mage. That should free everyone else.”

  “As you say, uxor.” Then Dragos dove.

  Mira didn’t have a spell powerful enough for this, and her few stronger attack spells she wanted to save for a clear shot. Dragos’ breath would, at a minimum, take out the tower and clear away their opponent’s cover. She focused on reaching out and feeling for the defenses that their enemy might have.

  Bone daggers flew out of the tower top, but Dragos was able to twist his body and avoid them. Each spell that Mira felt from this caster helped her learn his style. Black bolts of necrotic energy followed the bones. Dragos could only avoid one of them, and even doing that threw him off course.

  The second bolt slammed into him, but she cast Lesser Regeneration to counteract the damage. Dragos wasn’t going to fall as long as she had mana. And the caster might have thought that he had averted the destruction of the tower, but nothing could be further from the truth.

  Dragos apparently had more tricks in his bag because while he spun out of the way, his tail slammed into the scaffolding and blasted it apart. Mira saw a robbed creature get thrown from the tower, but then Dragos’ flight path took her past the edge of the quarry, and she couldn’t see him any longer.

  “Nice hit.”

  Mira felt his chest rumble under her. She took it to mean satisfaction with her praise, but he didn’t waste the energy to say anything. Meanwhile, she felt more magic fire off behind them. She looked back over her shoulder and saw magic missiles tracking them.

  It was impossible to avoid that particular spell, but the damage wasn’t very high. The enemy had to have known that, so he probably quick cast the spell as a distraction. He had also cast another spell, creating a floating orb around him like a glowing bubble. He now stood in the middle of the air, encased in a magical shield.

  Mira smiled. That was her favorite kinda target, but first, she cast another empowered Assess Enemy. As she did, she felt the missile slam into her shield. Interesting. The enemy was specifically targeting her. Then her spell finally pushed through.

  Bone Lich

  Level: 53

  Health: 1690/1800

  Her mind raced. An undead. That meant it was likely fairly durable. It also explained why it had been completely unaffected by the aura of fear that Dragos exuded. At least she had something she could do now.

  The lich was two Tiers above her, but she didn’t allow that to stop her. She reached out and focused on the mana he had infused into his shield. This was so much harder than trying to gather the ambient mana. His will was written over every single thread of the spell.

  This was no novice caster, but she knew she would eventually get through. “Dragos, I need you to distract him so that I can take control of his defensive spell.”

  “Consider it done.”

  Dragos moved back to gain altitude. The lich threw out spheres of black power and then the bone dagger spell again. Each attack shook Dragos. Waves of pain wracked his body, but he held on. Fire spewed forth from his mouth. It obscured the lich’s vision and place a horrendous strain on his shield.

  Dragos made a loop and came back around. This time instead of dragon fire he launched a spell. Swirls of light cascaded off him and struck the shield. Wild fields of energy sought to distort the shield and rip it apart. Mira would have loved to learn what that spell was, but all her focus was on unraveling the lich’s defensive bubble.

  The bubble wavered but held against whatever spell Dragos had unleashed. It caused the lich’s grasp on his mana to falter just enough. Mira grabbed a single thread of the mana and then began forcing her will onto the spell. She crept in without the lich even realizing it. He was good but not a meta-mage.

  They came back around for one more pass, and she said, “I’m ready. As soon as I slap your back, hit him with everything you’ve got.”

  Then Mira pushed. The lich was too strong to allow her to weaponize his shield, but she was still able to pull it apart. It popped like a regular bubble, and the lich began to fall. She knew he would have other defensive measures in place, but she also was already attacking. A quick cast of Lighting Bolt was followed by the Fire Bolts stored in the butt of her whip. They were engulfed by dragon fire as Dragos gave his all.

  The remaining protections the lich had crumbled one after another. His spells were interrupted and his defenses broken. When the living flame of a dragon struck him, bones were burnt up and his body was broken. He hit the ground, and Dragos was just a second behind him as he pulled up while smashing his tale into the undead’s remains, shattering anything that remained.

  The scenario all faded away, and once again a notification popped up saying that they had passed the second wave and learned the lesson of precision. This time they only had one hour before the final wave, and Dragos landed upon the grassy plains that had returned as the quarry faded out of sight.

  Chapter Forty

  “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” —Mark Twain.

  False Gods’ Fall dungeon- Solun- Mira Nelson

  Then again if it was really a dungeon creature then killing it should produce a reward.

  You have defeated: 1 Dark Lich level 53. XP: 636 x .9 (numerical penalty) = 572 x 3 (Tier bonus) = 1717 x 1.5 (racial bonus) = 2,575.

  Level up is suspended until completion of the 3rd wave.

  However, in compensation for suspending your leveling ability, the dungeon will extend the offer to allow you to add any further spells or stat points that you wish to gamble. This offer will expire 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the third wave.

  Mira chuckled out loud and had to explain to Dragos what she found so amusing. He was shocked at the perk she got from the dungeon. He grumbled about only gaining XP and knowledge from the dungeon. Mira realized she was truly lucky if that was the case. Then again, the dungeon had been designed as a teaching tool for true borns or any actual dragons that might be born in the future.

  After discussing it with Dragos, she decided that she would risk the 5 stat points she had gained as a result of the level-up inside the dungeon. When she checked, she realized that it was actually 10. She wasn’t allowed to apply the benefits of reaching level 39, but she could gamble the points.

  She also thought back to the spells she had used so far. She really wanted to gamble some of her Evocation spells because she needed upgrades. But Dragos pointed out that despite what she had experienced on Talos, she would have far more access to spells here on Solun.

  With that in mind, she felt sorta stupid for having gambled any of the spells and simply decided not to push her luck. Maybe she should have gambled XP before. Oh well, there was no use crying over spilt milk.

  They chatted about what the third test might include and then even started talking about what they would do after they left the dungeon. At first, Dragos was nervous about the exchange, but when he started talking about his sire, she realized that it wasn’t actually his father, but rather the last living gold dragon on all of Solun. Apparently, there were only thirteen living dragons, and gold dragons had always been the most powerful.

  Mira found that she was actually quite intrigued by the idea of meeting this elder dragon. Dragos never referred to him by name and so she didn’t ask. It wouldn’t do to inadvertently cause offense. A part of her rolled her eyes at that thought though. She had done exactly that throughout so much of her life. Becoming more mature had its positives, but she sorta did like being the sarcastic and snarky teen who could get away with saying all kinds of inappropriate things.

  Their banter ended when Mira asked a favor of Dragos, “Could you possibly change shape a bit sooner? I think if you do it more slowly I might be able to create a spell to imitate it.”

  “I would do anything for you, uxor, but I’m not sure if that is such a good idea.”