Wild Era, Ch 17: Departure

Kelin spent the next few days in the training hall, working on his combat abilities.

Eventually he ran out of monster cores and mana crystals and had to buy more from the guild, but by the time he was done, he had achieved his main goals.

Soul Paralysis reached Elite first, since it had been getting quite a bit of practice. Using it against the assassins had helped.

Reactive Sigil was next. At Elite, the number of sigils he could create increased to 5 with a maximum of 25 mana each.

After that were Spell Disruption and Soul Star, both of which improved to Advanced. Neither of them was critical to his class, so he left it at that and planned to keep working on them in the future.

Soulfire Reinforcement was the last of his class abilities under Elite, but it remained stuck at Expert despite his efforts to train it, so he eventually decided to move on.

There was a good chance he could improve it in the dungeon, either manually or through a Challenge reward.

The progress left him feeling satisfied. 

He gave himself the rest of that evening to visit Yao and Naomi and then to rest.

The guild had acted as he’d expected.

As for any other result that came from his visit to the assassins, he wasn’t concerned. Even if Hugo Whitestar wanted to cause trouble for him, the amount he could accomplish was limited. 

The rest of the council would keep him in check.

Fear would as well.

Being around Level 350 wasn’t enough for him to resist the guild’s influence, especially as part of its command structure.

The Path was watching to make sure the guild followed the rules. There had been too much corruption among high rankers before the Sovereign’s rise, so their actions were under a great deal of attention.

If Whitestar tried to kill the guild’s people or to interfere with their growth too much, the Path would know and it would alert the Heralds.

If Whitestar wasn’t afraid of them, he should be.

Those faithful lunatics would kill him in an instant.

The Silver Nagas were the Sovereign’s most loyal followers and they served as the internal affairs department of the guild and the army. 

Their loyalty was unquestionable. 

Everything they did was for the Sovereign’s honor and the greater good.

They were all at the Sixth Evolution, and if they arrived, things would go their way or be destroyed.

That was why he didn’t have to pay too much attention to Whitestar.

It was unlikely that he was completely corrupt. If so, he would have been dead already.

Kelin had spent a little while scanning through the local guild structure, so he had a good idea of what he was dealing with.

It was all fairly standard.

The guild here had a council of Gold-Ranked Knights at the Third Evolution, and one Platinum-Ranked Commander at the Fourth Evolution.

It was the same as most worlds. They were a reserve for the army and a standard defensive force, here to keep an eye on things and maintain stability.

If a world was large, the strength of the guild presence could improve a little, but it generally didn’t get any smaller.

The Fourth Evolution was the basic requirement to be able to govern a world since the spatial energy they used allowed them to teleport across large distances quickly. 

Third Evolutions Knights were like their lieutenants.

The Platinum ranker who destroyed the assassin outpost must have been the local commander, which meant she was aware of things and it would be difficult for Whitestar do anything without alerting her.

Larger worlds were governed by a council of Platinum rankers with a Diamond-ranked Fifth Evolution Lord at their head, while the sectors of the human domain were governed by a council of Diamond Rankers with a World-ranked Sixth Evolution Duke in charge.

He had once been at the very top of that command structure as a Star-ranked Archduke.

That was the title and rank that was supposed to belong to the Seventh Evolution, but since the number of Immortals was limited, it was also given to those at Level 699 with incalculable contributions to the galaxy.

How the mighty have fallen. 

Kelin chuckled as he cleaned up the training hall. 

Despite the lack of power, he was actually enjoying this new life. It was nice to have simpler things to worry about and it reminded him of the true value of things.

He hadn’t had many friends left in the past, only old allies who were also busy with their work.

As for Whitestar, he was probably playing favorites in a grey area on the edge of guild influence and trying to line his own pockets, while still following the main guild rules.

Otherwise, the Path or the Heralds would have dealt with him.

A man like that was interested in survival, lining his pockets, and the future. He wouldn’t throw it away for a temporary win that would result in his death, even if he was annoyed.

Of course, it was possible that Kelin was underestimating him or that something else was going on, so he wasn’t going to gamble with his life.

That was why he spent part of the evening setting up the teleportation beacon in his room and concealing it. 

It took one of his high-grade spatial crystals, but it was worth it.

Teleportation had the advantage of matching the travel ability of a Platinum ranker, at least briefly, so it would let him travel faster than Whitestar.

After that, he visited the guild shop where he picked up two teleportation scrolls.

Each of the scrolls was worth 300 gold and could only be used once, but they were capable of teleporting up to six people to a set beacon within a thousand miles.

The guild had some teleportation artifacts that could be powered by spatial crystals, but the simplest was a bracelet worth 5,000 gold, which was more than he had left, and the effect wasn’t much different.

Once he had some time, he might set up a second teleportation beacon in a more distant and hidden area, but for now the guild hall would be safe enough.

He also bought a few more major and greater potions, for both healing and mana, which satisfied his desire to spend money and a general sense of being prepared for anything.

That brought him up to five major mana potions and three major healing potions, as well as quite a few greaters and over fifty intermediates of each.

He stored the potions and scrolls away and headed back to his room to get some sleep.

Everything was ready for the dungeon.

***

In the morning, he completed his usual training and then headed to meet the others for breakfast. 

Maro, Galin, and Serai were waiting for him in a private room in the guild’s tavern.

“Kelin!” Galin shouted as he walked in. “Guess what? That crook of a baron paid up!”

The dwarf was seated at one side of a rectangular table and there was a mug of ale in front of him, even at this early hour. 

Maro and Serai were nearby, drinking coffee instead.

“The fine from Verasun?” Kelin asked. His tone was unsurprised as he walked toward the table and took a seat. 

There was a cup of coffee already waiting for him, and its heat and aroma had been preserved by a simple Fire spell that created an insulating sphere around the cup. 

He broke the seal on the spell and picked it up, drawing in a long breath of the steam.

“Yes, the fine!” Maro said with a grin from the side. “2,100 gold! We split it evenly.”

“It’s more than we’d get in half a dozen dungeons,” Serai said with a smile of her own.

All three of them were happy about it, so Kelin just chuckled and didn’t explain.

It seemed Verasun had done something wise after all.

“Did you get the anti-scrying artifacts I left for you?” he asked.

“We did, and we all have upgraded gear and some key equipment,” Maro agreed, “things that should serve us well for a long time. We also improved our abilities as much as we probably can in the training halls for now. When do you want to leave?”

“How about as soon as I finish this coffee?” Kelin asked, smiling slightly. “There’s no need to wait any longer.”

The look of shock on their faces made him laugh for a moment. 

“The speed will help to avoid attention,” he explained. “It’s best to be a little unpredictable when dealing with seers.”

He also didn’t want to wait any longer.  

His First Evolution was close.

Taking the team along would reduce his experience gain and give him more chances for rewards, but he should still Evolve by the time they finished.

Shadowfall was a Level 110 to 115 dungeon. 

The experience it held was enormous, especially for those who ran it under the recommended level.

It was also in the range of his Effective Level, so the Path shouldn’t raise the difficulty, and that would let him keep that matter a secret.

Maro let out a deep breath as he looked around the room, checking with the others, but Galin and Serai both gave him a nod.

“We’re ready,” he said as he looked back at Kelin.

“Then make any final preparations and we’ll leave momentarily,” Kelin said as he raised his coffee in a salute.

He crafted a quick message to Sandren to let her know they were leaving and sent it with a flicker of golden runes.

A reply came almost instantly.

When he heard it, his lips curved into a smile.

“It seems we’ll have some company,” he chuckled as he finished his coffee and set the cup down.

“Captain Sandren is going to escort us there to make sure nothing happens on the way. Then she’ll leave a couple of guards outside.”

“That’s helpful of her.” Serai gave Kelin an amused look as she stood up. “I wonder what motivated it.”

Maro and Galin stood up too, rolling their eyes as they shared a look, but they had no complaints. 

They were all well aware that Kelin was dating her, so he just chuckled at them as he pulled out a stack of talismans. 

“She’ll be here in a moment,” Kelin said. “But first, activate your anti-scrying artifacts.”

The three of them grimaced as they did. 

Kelin saw the power of the artifacts’ weigh down on their souls, but he ignored it as he began to activate Soul Veil talismans, one after the other.

Layers of wards quickly surrounded each of them, a dozen stacks deep.

Even with Sandren escorting them, he didn’t plan to let Verasun know too much about what they were up to. He wanted to have them disappear from the guild and not be visible again until they were done.

At most, the baron’s seers should discover that Sandren went out to check on a dungeon and not that she’d taken a team there.

A few minutes later, Sandren arrived. 

She gave Kelin a smile as she looked around. When she saw everyone was ready, she nodded in approval.

“I’ll take you out a hidden entrance,” she offered. “Even with scrying wards, there’s still the old fashioned method of tracking you down. There’s no need to make it easy to find you.”

The guild wards hummed around her and then a door opened in the wall at the back of the room.

“Let’s go,” she announced. “There are tunnels all through the guild if you know where to look. They’re part of the ward structure from when it was built and are still used when we need to repair them.”

She led them through a narrow tunnel lit only by the light of silver enchantments on the walls.

Before long they reached a staircase that headed down below the level of the city streets, but the stone remained the same, showing that the tunnel had been built at the same time as the rest of the guild. 

Kelin wasn’t surprised by that.

This tunnel probably predated the rise of Highmist, going back to when the guild building had been one of the first things constructed in wild territory. 

It was always good to have secret exits in case of trouble, whether that was people or monsters.

About half an hour later, not long after Kelin renewed all of the Soul Veil talismans, the tunnel ascended again and ended in a blank stone wall.

Sandren pressed her hand against the wall and murmured something under her breath. Her guild amulet shone with silver light as the Seal of Silver Stars appeared in the air. 

The same seal appeared on the wall, outlining a large nine-pointed silver star with hidden depth. It was nine feet tall and as wide as the tunnel. 

The stone wall behind the seal shimmered as it turned translucent, showing bright daylight on the other side.

There was nothing here as simple as a hidden door. Even in Gaius’s senses, the stone was still solid. 

This was an Earth-affinity spell to allow them to walk through the stone as if it wasn’t there, one linked to the Seal and their identities as guild members.

“You can head through now,” Sandren said. “I’ll go last and close it behind us.”

One by one, they walked through the wall of stone. The seal hummed against Kelin’s senses as he passed through it, and he gave Sandren a smile as she walked out on the other side after him. 

Her hand brushed over the wall and the seal faded away, turning the stone back to its usual grey. 

“That’s a nice bit of stone magic,” Galin said with a grin as he looked at the exit. “Blends right in.”

All the dwarves Kelin had ever known appreciated a good escape tunnel, so the words made him chuckle as he looked around.

The exit was set into the side of a hill that opened onto a low ravine, concealing their presence from anyone who might be looking across the plains.

He had a few old stealth talismans that he had made back with his first talisman experiments, before the current set. They weren’t very powerful, but he activated them to help conceal everyone.

Their bodies faded away into translucent outlines, rendering them almost invisible in the daylight. He could still sense them with his mana and soul senses, but it was something.

He walked up a short incline next to the wall and glanced around, making sure to keep his head low.

There was no point in tempting fate.

He could see the walls of Highmist in the distance, several miles to the east, but the exit was far enough away to not draw casual attention. 

“A good exit,” he agreed. “Shadowfall is about an hour south of here. Let’s go.”

Following his words, a group of translucent figures ran stealthily across the plains and gradually disappeared over the horizon.

Kelin knew the directions to the dungeon and he led the way into an area that most would have avoided. Highmist was surrounded by golden plains and rivers, but there were still areas that were less pleasant.

Slowly, the plains turned barren as the grass changed to dark stone. Deep ravines began to appear, cutting between boulders and fallen trees. 

The land here was disturbed, like it had risen and fallen again. Sharp hills rose up between the ravines, creating a constantly changing terrain.

The destruction followed the lines of the mana flows below the earth and from the sky above, and as they crossed the terrain, Kelin could feel Gaius’s unhappiness.

The mana flows were jagged and unpleasant, and the elemental didn’t like it.

It was the result of an old war from a few hundred years before, when Celadon had been a weaker kingdom. Massive spells had torn apart the plains and left destruction in their wake. Even the mana flows had been disturbed.

None of it had been repaired, since it would take someone at the Fourth Evolution quite a bit of effort.

He followed the directions and led the team up the side of one of those hills, until they reached a point about three-quarters of the way to the top. 

A wide ledge stretched in front of them as it cut across the hillside. It was about thirty feet long and twenty feet deep, and it ended in a cliff on the open side that fell a hundred feet to the ground below.

On the inner side, two massive boulders filled most of the ledge. It looked like they had fallen from the sky and embedded themselves into the hill, and they were so large that they shadowed the light of the sun.

Their sides pressed against each other, creating a triangular cleft. Kelin could just make out the silver shimmer of a dungeon portal inside. 

The mana flows were more stable here and hummed with force as they poured into the dungeon, but instead of Earth, which would have been normal, they were Shadow and Wind, as well as a touch of Ice.

As Kelin looked at the entrance, the voice of the Path echoed in his mind.

You have discovered the Shadowfall Chaos Remnant.

Average Level: 115.

Elemental Affinities: Shadow, Wind, Ice.

Mana Density: High.

Relative Danger: High.

Rewards: Variable (High).

Requirement: Kill 90% or more of the monsters inside.

Additional Bonus: 100% completion and kill the final boss.

Possible Rewards: Experience, Wealth, Common to Rare-grade Items, Alliance Credit.

Extra Bonus: Alliance credit for searching the dungeon for signs of tampering. 

A message from the guild archives was also included, and it sprang into Kelin’s mind.

Created from the disrupted earth of the plains, this dungeon should have belonged to the land, but it was forced into the sky and its affinity was altered to Shadow and Wind. The spirits inside still try to return to the earth, giving it the name Shadowfall.

It is a gathering place for the undead, giving rise to many undead wraiths, skeletons, and other monsters. Given the fear that undead create, as well as the poisonous miasma around them that can paralyze the living, few dare to run this dungeon. 

It is considered to be one of the most dangerous for its level in the area.

On the most recent clear two months ago, the dungeon boss was recorded as a Windfallen Spectre. Other registered dungeon bosses have been a Deathwind Phantom and a Shadowscream Wraith. It changes frequently.

Should you enter this remnant, tread with caution.

Kelin nodded as he waved the notification away.

The dungeon’s mana level was near its peak, but it wasn’t overflowing, which was fine.

He turned to the others, who were also studying the entrance. 

Maro and Serai looked concerned, but Galin was stoic as he studied the fallen stones.

“It’s time to take a gamble,” the dwarf said. His voice was a rumble that echoed across the cliff. “And we’ll let the Earth decide.”

“May Mother Winter watch over us,” Serai whispered softly. A cold breeze blew around the sylph as she spoke, lifting strands of her pale hair. 

Sandren gave Kelin a glance, silently asking if he was sure that he really wanted to do this. When he nodded, she sighed.

“I’ll wait here until a couple of guards arrive,” she offered. “I’m not planning on calling them until you’re inside. I’m also going to record this as a regular guild clear, which will help to deflect a little attention. It needs it. I’ll keep your names off it, but I’ll make sure you get the pay. Shadowfall is always dangerous, so be careful.”

“Thank you for the help,” Maro said, giving her a short bow. 

Then a flare of fire ran across his skin as he looked at the dungeon entrance and steeled himself. 

“I’ll see you soon,” Kelin said as he smiled at Sandren. “We’ll celebrate after.”

“I have a feeling the guild is going to decide on your trading plan in the next day or two,” Sandren said quietly, “as well as on the sanctions against Sarathia, so things might get chaotic. Be careful when you head back. I’ll keep the guards here for as long as I can, but if it takes more than a week, they might be needed elsewhere.”

“We’ll make the most of the time,” Kelin agreed as he checked his storage for the two teleportation scrolls. 

He glanced around the area, checking for any disturbances, and then he gave Sandren a nod of thanks.

The two of them would catch up later. 

His smile grew wider as he looked at the dungeon entrance and the threat it held. His blood was rising to meet it and he could feel Gaius’s excitement at the challenge.

There was no need for more words, so he was the first to step forward.

Silver and black washed over him as he walked through the portal.