Chapter 8: Answers. Also, More Questions.

"A dungeon formed?" the clerk asked incredulously. "Dungeons don't just form without warning. Our scouts would've noticed!"

"Max," Sev said, rubbing his temples tiredly. "You're my favorite clerk but now isn't the time for this. That was exhausting. We need our pay, and like, five consecutive days of sleep."

"Maybe more," Misa chipped in. Vex nodded as seriously as he could, from his position half-hidden behind Derivan.

"Sorry," Max said, though she sounded only halfway apologetic. She gave them a genuine smile, all traces of disbelief and incredulity vanishing as she glanced at Misa and the others. "It's a bit of an inside joke. I can't believe you guys managed to get a grade six, though. That dungeon's going to be terrifying."

"Glad I'm not the one that'll have to do the paperwork," Sev joked, and Max stuck her tongue out at him. She was rapidly counting out their pay even while she spoke, packing coins into a pouch that seemed too small to fit them all. It wasn't even a magical pouch; just the effect of some sort of skill, it seemed.

"Just wait," she threatened. "You're going to move up in this guild and then you're going to have to do all the paperwork. You're only a Bronze-ranked team and you survived a solo formation event! I guarantee the Guildmaster is going to be interested."

"If people moved up based on power alone I'd be a bit worried about the future of the Guild," Sev said drily.

"Good thing they don't," Max said cheerfully, grinning as she handed him the pouch. "But you can't count on that. Your team passes all the other requirements, too."

"There are other requirements?" Derivan asked curiously.

"Of course!" Max grinned at him, then lowered her voice to speak in a conspiratorial whisper. "Just don't tell the other teams. It's a secret."

"Doesn't seem like much of a secret if we can talk about it here," Misa commented.

"I mean, it's a little bit of an open secret," Max admitted. "So it's not the end of the world if you tell someone. But character tests are more honest when people don't know that it's a test."

"You're doing character tests?" Vex asked, peeking out at Max. The clerk shrugged and nodded.

"Well, yeah. Think about what the Adventuring Guild does."

"...Adventure?" Vex said, perplexed.

"We help people," Max laughed. "I mean, yes, we 'adventure', but what does that even mean, really? 'Adventuring Guild' isn't really a name we came up with; we just picked it up from the planeshifted folk that ended up here. Most of the time, the quests we have up on the board are meant to help out the villages that aren't being directly supported by any of the Prime Kingdoms."

"Huh," Misa said. "I mean, the kill quests and collection quests are obviously those. But the exploration ones?"

"Even the ones about exploring ruins are, technically, almost always ruins that happen to have monster infestations that are troubling the small towns nearby," Max said. "Don't get me wrong. We're interested in learning more about the history of the world, too. There's too much missing from our history. We do encourage 'adventuring', insofar as adventuring involves digging out the mysteries packed beneath the earth, or figuring out the intricacies of a dungeon."

"That's why you need character tests," Vex said. Max nodded.

"Can't just have powerful assholes running around doing whatever they want on rank," Max said drily. "Mind you, our system isn't perfect. The Guild is involved in a lot of regional politics and that means we have to make exceptions sometimes, and sometimes those exceptions are really stupid. But uh... it's not my place to talk about those. And there are people coming." She gave them a bright smile. "You should probably leave. These ones haven't adapted to the culture here yet."

"Oh god," Sev groaned. "Good luck."

"You know I can handle 'em," Max winked, shooing them up the stairs. Then, rather abruptly, she settled back into the perfect image of a bored clerk. The party gathered their belongings and began to traipse up the stairs even as the door slammed open.

Derivan, last up the stairs, just barely caught Max gasping in what he recognized now as exaggerated surprise.

"A wyrm? Wyrms don't just appear without warning. Our scouts would have noticed!"

"She did what?" Misa laughed, grinning wide, as Derivan explained what he'd heard while they were leaving. "There's no way that keeps working."

The four of them were gathered briefly in Sev's room to talk before they retired for the night — Vex, in particular, looked almost like he was about to fall asleep on his feet. Derivan stood next to him, giving the poor lizard something to lean on as he tried not to pass out entirely.

"It does, and you would've seen it yourself if you didn't keep dragging everyone else off to the bar every time we come back to the Guild," Sev said drily, though a smirk twitched at the edge of his mouth. "This is the first time you haven't wanted to drink."

"This is the first time I've been too tired to drink!" Misa said, as if that explained everything; Sev just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

There was a momentary, peaceable sort of silence.

Then Misa shook her head, seeming to gather herself, and let out a breath.

"Okay," she said. Vex perked up a bit, hearing the seriousness in her tone, the lizardkin trying to banish the sleepiness from his frame. "Sev, listen. I trust you. I don't believe you'd keep a secret from us without a very good reason. But it's... secrets can get teams like us killed, you know? We don't know your class, we don't know your skills, and you seem to know things you shouldn't. What can you tell us?"

Sev blinked twice, then seemed to sag slightly. He glanced at Vex and Derivan both, who stared at him not with suspicion, but with compassion; they seemed worried about him. So there was that. Even Misa was more speaking out of concern for the party than any anger towards him.

He sighed.

"I think I can tell you more than before," the cleric said quietly. "And we need to talk about what happened with Onyx at the end there, anyway. It's relevant. I'm just not sure that you'll like it. But... well, here."

"My class is [Traces of the Lost]. It's a Unique class that evolved out of my old Cleric class, and its primary feature is that it allows... allowed me to sacrifice aspects of my person to achieve an effect. It still kinda does, I guess. But nothing big anymore."

"...Sacrifice?" Vex looked up at Sev, worried. Misa just stared sharply at him, and Derivan frowned.

"Yeah. Sacrifice." Sev smiled humorlessly, then shook his head and leaned back against the wall. "It sucked, let me tell you. It was a powerful class, don't get me wrong, but... there I was, with a class that let me achieve almost anything. And I couldn't do anything big with it. It was too dangerous to do anything big with it, because it was a powerful class, and if I lost too much of who I was then there'd be a monster with that class, and it'd be a monster wearing my skin."

He glanced at Derivan. "...Maybe I shouldn't use the word monster. Sorry."

"That is hardly the problem," Derivan said, continuing to frown severely at their cleric.

"Yeah, what the fuck?" Misa said. "Don't tell me you've had to do that every time you heal us."

"No, I have normal healing spells from my old Cleric class that don't rely on that mechanic," Sev said with a small chuckle. Then he paused, and amended the statement slightly. "Okay, sometimes. It depends on what I'm healing. But like I said, I can't make big sacrifices anymore. I don't really have a spell that cures hangovers, for example, but I can sacrifice a little bit of my wellbeing to heal it, and it just gives me a minor headache in return."

"That's not okay. You can't just do that to yourself without telling us about it," Misa protested. "It was just a stupid hangover! I would've gotten over it!"

"That is why your hands were shaking after healing them," Derivan surmised. "Sev. Such sacrifices, even if they are small... We are your friends. We deserve to know what you are doing for us."

"And to choose if you get to do it," Vex added, huffing slightly. "I mean... don't get me wrong. Thank you. But that's..."

"There is a bigger question, I think," Derivan said. "What happened? What did you sacrifice?"

Sev sighed. "Yeah. I'm... Okay, so you guys know that I'm one of the planeshifted, from a place called Earth. But you know I don't remember much about it."

"You fed us some story about having amnesia, then heavily implied you were lying about it, because you suck at lying," Misa said drily. Sev chuckled slightly at that, allowing himself a small smile.

"Well, yeah. The truth is... well. You remember how Onyx said I saved him?"

"Yeah," Misa said, her brow furrowing.

"The system tried to erase him," Sev said bluntly.

"What?" Misa and Vex both asked at the same time. Derivan's eyes merely narrowed slightly, a mixture of curiosity and worry within them.

"I though the gods made the system," Vex said, almost flustered. "If they didn't, then—"

"Let us allow Sev to explain, Vex," Derivan said gently, touching the lizardkin on the arm; Vex fell silent at that, nodding, but looking a little bit shaken.

"When the system tries to erase a god, all the followers of that god have to pick a new one," Sev said. "And if you refuse, the system starts to erase you. Pieces of you. Bit by bit. Guess how I got my class." He smiled a wry, somewhat pained smile.

"You refused? I mean, no offense, but you're not exactly... very devout." Misa frowned.

"Do I need to be?" Sev asked.

He sighed. "Onyx was — is, I hope — my friend. I wanted to be a cleric to heal, and I just picked one of the lesser-known gods thinking at most I'd have to pretend to worship someone for a bit. But he never once asked me to worship him; we just talked, and it turned out he was a pretty cool guy."

"You just... hung out with a god?" Vex asked blankly.

"I hung out with a person," Sev corrected. "He just happened to be a powerful one."

"You're very strange," Misa muttered. Vex made a noise of agreement, looking like his world had been rocked for the second time. Derivan, on the other hand, wasn't particularly surprised. The human had also referred to him as 'a pretty cool guy' once, so it was nothing new for him.

"But yeah. The system wanted to erase Onyx, but I refused to choose a new god. I just kept trying to heal him while the system was doing its thing, and one of the heals caught on something, and... I'm not sure what happened. It's kind of a blur. It interacted with my class in some way and tore a huge chunk out of my memories. Tore a huge chunk out of my freedom, too, present and future. It's why I couldn't talk about this before — I literally couldn't. And then..."

Here, Sev frowned. "I can't talk about the rest of it," he admitted. "I think part of it is still going. The effect hasn't finished resolving yet. But everything I know, I know because of that incident. It planted some pieces of knowledge that I guess it decided I needed."

There was a small silence.

"Sorry," Sev said. "I know it's a lot. I was hoping we could all rest before I talked about it."

"I'm the one that asked," Misa said, shaking her head. "Look, I... thank you for telling us. This is what you meant when you said you thought you saved him?"

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"Yeah," Sev said. "He's... been quiet after that. I just thought he needed time to recover. I didn't think... I don't know what all that was. I want to help him. But I don't know what to do." He clenched his fists briefly.

Vex, Misa, and Derivan all glanced at each other. "There is only one place to start," Derivan said. "We were told we would find answers in the dungeon. So we will delve it, when we are able."

"You guys don't have to do this, you know," Sev said.

"Bullshit," Misa said, Vex nodding in agreement. "We're a team. Your problems are ours. But we're still going to have to wait for the scouts to get back; it's too dangerous to just rush into a dungeon with no information."

"Of course," Sev nodded, sighing tiredly. This time the silence that followed was one of shared camaraderie, a moment of focus they all gave towards a goal they decided to share. Derivan was the first one to break that silence, as Vex began to droop.

"Let us get some rest, for now," Derivan said. "I believe we are all due a rest. It has been a long day, and while Vex is trying his best, I believe he is seconds away from falling asleep."

"'M fine," Vex protested — but he staggered a bit as he tried to straighten himself. Derivan caught him before he could fall, shaking his head.

"You are not. We need rest." Derivan picked up the entire wizard, despite his protests. "I will take you to your room. Again."

After depositing Vex inside his room — carefully avoiding the many traps still laid all across the floor — Derivan returned to his own, and contemplated the bed. Derivan had previously never exactly slept. It was an organic need that he'd never really understood.

Now, though, he found that his consciousness seemed to be unmoored and drifting. It was different than anything he'd ever felt before. Perhaps this was what sleep was like? Now that his status had changed, and the system viewed him as something different, could he experience what other beings experienced?

Something told him it didn't work like that. He climbed into the bed anyway, wincing slightly as some of his armor-spikes punctured the fabric.

If nothing else, these were questions that he could ask, now, without worrying that his identity would be discovered. It was a surprisingly freeing realization.

His mind wandered, and kept wandering, until he no longer saw the ceiling above him, but an impossible, empty void. In that void, he saw shapes that twisted and spun into more impossibilities, swimming through the air like they were fish. He heard what seemed like voices, though they echoed directly into his mind.

He had no idea what any of this was or what was happening. Voices came and went, asking questions and eventually losing interest; he would have asked questions of his own, but unmoored as his thoughts were, he didn't think to question them; he simply answered the questions as they came.

The first was a bright, almost manic voice, accompanied by a shape that twisted in on itself with fractal brilliance.

How are the Bright-Lights, the Not-Dark! The stars, you call them! Do they still spin and turn? Do they speak to the people, bring them joy and terror?

The stars? They do not speak. They have always been silent.

Bah! What of the Great Kingdom? Does it still thrive?

There are three Prime Kingdoms. I do not know which of them you speak of.

A different voice came, then, softer and almost seductive. It seemed to caress his mind when it spoke, and he found it deeply uncomfortable.

Tell me of my children. The thought-forms, the hidden-shadows. Do they fill the skies and forests?

I have not heard of them. I do not know what they are.

Perhaps they yet hide...

The second voice drifted away, and Derivan found he was glad of it. The third one was boisterous, loud.

Tell me of the conquest of Redle! It must have been a glorious battle.

I am afraid I cannot answer. I have heard of no such place.

Impossible! Redle was on the verge of conquering the continent! Has their name faded so thoroughly?

That voice faded, seeming to mutter to itself.

The final voice was one of simple curiosity.

What are you?

Derivan's answer was honest.

I cannot say. I do not know.

You will. You must.

Derivan woke up. He was disoriented, at first, from what might have been dreams — and yet the more he tried to think on them, the more they slipped from his mind. He'd heard Vex discussing the experience of dreaming before. Perhaps this was what it was? It seemed... strange. Uncomfortable.

Even that feeling of discomfort passed quickly, though, leaving only a lingering doubt.

Shaking his head, Derivan left the bed — wincing as his spikes tore yet another hole in the fabric.

Time to find the others.

"You want me to fight... a slime?" Derivan asked curiously. He stared at the slime he was being presented with — it was a white, wobbly thing that sat at level 1. It might as well have been a pet. "Why?"

"We don't really have anything else to do until we resupply and the scouts report back about the dungeon. And right now, we don't know how much health you have or if I can even heal you," Sev pointed out. "It's better that we start small, figure out what you can and can't do before we head into the potentially deadly dungeon. Slimes are the perfect first target."

Vex nodded; he'd clearly discussed this with Sev while Derivan was still... asleep, if that was what that was. Misa was just standing nearby, watching.

Derivan stared at the slime. It stared back, wobbling. Slowly, he raised his sword; but the whole situation felt just a little bit ridiculous. He understood the logic, but surely his test could be a little more... dignified.

The slime wobbled, this time a little more aggressively. Or perhaps he was imagining it?

"Perhaps we can find some wolves?" Derivan offered. The slime was so non-threatening he couldn't quite bring himself to stab it. "I am sure the danger would be minimal with your assistance."

"This is the safest option we've got," Misa answered seriously. But she was fighting a bit of a smirk.

"...alright," Derivan replied with a small sigh. He readied his sword, staring down the slime as it began to wobble even more aggressively.

Then, before he could bring himself to attack, it launched itself at him.

Derivan tried to react, but missed. It was an abrupt and disconcerting realization that he was nowhere near as fast as he was used to being. The slime slipped past his blade, rocketing towards him...

...and promptly splattered itself on his helmet.

Your party has killed a Level 1 Regenerating Slime!

"Oh," Derivan said.

"Wait, what? What happened?" Sev asked, blinking a bit. "Is that possible?"

"Does your armor reflect damage?" Vex asked, peering at him. "Or, uh... you? I don't actually know how to talk about your... you."

"Armor is fine," Derivan said, even as Vex walked off and promptly buried his face into Misa's stomach. She gave their wizard a consoling pat. "And I don't reflect damage."

"Then that shouldn't happen," Sev said, frowning slightly. "System health is a damage buffer. The system tries to follow physics as realistically as possible, but generally, you don't take damage from attacking something. Otherwise half of the people with strength Skills would just... splatter on contact with anything more durable than them."

"Perhaps it was simply too weak, and we should try something stronger?" Derivan said, trying and failing to wipe some of the slime off of his armor. Vex coughed lightly, got over his embarrassment, and walked over to cast a quick spell that cleansed the slime off his armor. The residue seemed to be slowly pulling itself back together, a fact that Derivan felt strangely relieved by.

"I don't think that's what happened," Vex offered. He bent down to examine the slime, watching its remnants slowly crawl together. "Sev's right. This shouldn't have been possible."

"Check your status," Misa suggested. "Maybe something changed. Or you got a new buff?"

Frowning a little doubtfully, Derivan opened his status, and paused in surprise.

Something had changed.

Derivan, Level

Health:

Mana:

Stats:

Slime: 1

Skill List:

"Well," Derivan said. "Something did change. But I am unsure if it is what caused... that."

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