Sacrifice Mage-Chapter 40: Into The Dungeon

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Cerea asked. I had somehow ended up at the street that led to the Artificer’s Guild. “Because I won’t lie, that sure doesn’t look like any smithy I’ve ever seen.”
“Uh… oops,” I said, scratching the back of my head in slight embarrassment. “Sorry, I’m terrible with directions. I know the way, though.”
Thankfully, my next attempt at heading to our actual destination was successful. Cerea was kind and not impatient about it.
“A new customer.” Gutran grunted like he always did as we came in, but his slitted-eyed glance held a note of gratitude, or so it felt like to me. “But not unwelcome.”
Gutran didn’t have a lot of things for sale. Smithies usually took orders and commissions instead of having things pre-made to purchase off-the-shelf. Nevertheless, Gutran did have a selection of basic things, which was what Cerea was really looking for.
While she was busy browsing, I poked Gutran about the fact that my Power had hit Iron X.
“Oh, that’s excellent,” he said. “Sacrifice is certainly useful.”
I half nodded, but half shook my head too. “Well,
for now
. I figure higher ranks are going to be too tough to rely on it.”
“But you will still be making progress
towards
said ranks, even if you aren’t actually gaining them. So it all works out in the end.”
“Huh.” I hadn’t thought of it that way, seeing Sacrifice as a shortcut to jump ranks rather than making progress towards them just like all my training and other efforts. “Makes sense.”
“But Sacrifice isn’t what we’re here to discuss. You’ve got Escinca for that. What you need is a little breakthrough to get to Silver I for your Power.”
I nodded. “Yes. Any suggestions? Asking you since you’re the one who knows everything I’ve been doing to raise Power’s rank.”
“Hmm.” He considered for a few moments, his eyes lazily looking over where Aurier as guiding Cerea through the shop section of the smithy. “Must you rush?”
“I’m rushing?”
“You
aren’t
. But breakthroughs are difficult to achieve in an intentional way. They are usually more natural occurrences. I suspect you will achieve it through your dungeon expedition soon enough. What I would actually suggest is taking care of what Augmentation you actually learn. Like with Affixes, those come from where you place intentional focus.”
“Right, Augmentations. I wanted to ask about those too. Any tips or suggestions?”
Gutran smiled, shaking his head slightly. “All I can tell you is to think of what you’re capable of with your Aspects, what you
want
to be capable of with them, and how an Augmentation can help.”
“I… don’t even fully understand Augmentations, if I’m being honest.”
He raised a scaly eyebrow, probably wondering why I hadn’t learned about them yet, considering I was an official mage now with a guild badge and everything. “Augmentations are essentially like Affixes but for your Attributes instead of Aspects. The neat thing about Augmentations is that you can learn them in such a way as to take advantage of what you’ve already learned.”
Gutran gave me a short explanation. He had a Power Augmentation called Manablow. With it, just a flick of his will was all he needed to essentially imbue whichever of his Aspects he selected into any physical strike that took advantage of his Power.
I blinked. “That’s… pretty awesome.”
It was also nice to hear that Augmentations had fancier names than the comparatively more mundane names of Affixes. That would help keep them apart in my head.
I looked down at my fist and thought about imbuing it with Gravity. “Wait, I can already kind of do that with my Infusion Affix…” I blinked. “But if I had that Augmentation, I wouldn’t necessarily need to learn Infusion as an Affix for any future Aspects I learn.”
“Well, Manablow would allow you to infuse
yourself
with a chosen Aspect, yes. But Infusion allows you to infuse anything, right? In that case, you might not want to skimp on Infusion, especially if you want to go on and learn other mage-like things like enchanting and whatnot. I don’t need it, so I’ve never needed Infusion.”
“Never?” I eyed the forge. “Even if you could infuse things you make with your Aspects?”
He shook his head. I thought I saw his expression darken, but in the low light and with his non-human face, it was hard to tell. “
My
Aspects aren’t necessarily things that my customers would want infused into their gear. It doesn’t make for a good product.”
“Oh, fair. That makes sense.”
Basically, Manablow was a great choice for someone who didn’t have Infusion or intended to get it anytime soon. For someone like me, I’d need to take a look at other Augmentations. It was interesting to think about though. Gutran’s basic idea about it was correct. I’d need to consider what I already had, what I wanted, and find the right complements.
Gutran did mention a small list of Power Augmentations that could be interesting. Force Ingestion, Overcharge, Aural Motion.
They sounded interesting, but he also told me not to just pick among them. There were more out there, and some that I might discover on my own as I tried to focus on what I needed or desired.
I had to wonder what sort of Augmentations a mage normally got for Power, considering mages weren’t typically people I associated with needing to rely on Power for combat.
Cerea had finished looking through everything on offer and picking up stuff she liked. I was glad to see that it was all up to her standards because she ended up purchasing pretty much everything she had been lacking. Gutran looked a little surprised at that too.
“I’ve got to tell Ugnash and Khagnio about this place,” she said, looking around with a smile, her silvery hair catching the forge’s low light. “And some others too. Neat little place you have here, Master Smith.”
Taken from NovelFire, this narrative should be ed if found on Amazon.
“Gutran is fine,” he said. “And thanks. I try my best.”
“And a hardworking apprentice too! How cute.”
Aurier blushed, now back at his station and hitting the blade he was hammering a little too hard.
“Take care, Ross,” he said as we were about to leave. “Oh, and Gutran says I might be getting a permanent position in another month if I keep this up!”
He was obviously really proud of that, and I praised him for it. “Of course. You deserve it, buddy.”
Aurier said his dream was to make enough on his spare time to arm the whole cult and most of Ring Four too. No pesky Thralls would be taking anybody easily if it was up to him. I praised his ambition and decided to ignore the sociopolitical implications of heavily arming a not insignificant population of oppressed people.
We exited the smithy, thanking Gutran again. I took a deep breath. It was nearly time for my first dungeon excursion.
Before I headed out to the meet the others, I took care of one last thing. Sacrificing coins. I had spent a decent chunk on the runes and potions and that treasure at the end, so I was loathe to use up even more money.
But the reward had stated my Aspects would be boosted during money-making ventures. Considering my entire dungeon run was supposed to be a different kind of job, and considering the fact that Cerea had stated fifteen thousand as the minimum earnings from our run, I figured giving up another couple thousand to raise my Aspects’ ranks was justified.
The problem was that the rewards grew costlier. It wasn’t actually just a constant rate of five hundred coins equals to one rank increase like I had thought. After a thousand gold gave me a two-rank boost, the next thousand coins raised my Aspects by just a single rank.
I supposed it made sense. It was the same issue with the last permanent rank increase I had attained from Sacrificing the treasures.
Higher ranks needed stronger Sacrifices.
Deciding a three-rank boost was enough, especially since the next one might need two thousand coins at this rate, I decided to get going.
We met at the gate to Ring Four. Ugnash was already there, and I was second to arrive. He was easy to spot, especially since we were heading out early before the crack of dawn. Not that dawn was an intuitively determinable point in time in Zairgon.
The others arrived eventually.
“Late,” Ugnash rumbled. “As usual.”
“Ah, stuff it, you overgrown demon.” Khagnio yawned so wide, I was pretty sure his jaw would dislocate for a second. Wait,
could
Scalekin jaws stretch like some snakes could? “Let’s go. Wait, where’s the other ape?”
Cerea appeared before long too. At least she looked less sleepy than Khagnio. “Morning!” She said brightly, closing a small pocket-watch she was looking at before stuffing it in her coat. She eyed me up and down. “Looks like you’re more than prepared, Ross.”
I did feel a bit conspicuous in my armour and the shield I had on my back, plus the mace at my waist and all the daggers arrayed on my belt. The dimensional storage bag hung under the shield. None of it felt too heavy, though. I was constantly channelling Gravity to keep my footing light. “Can’t be too careful, right?”
“Right. Let’s get going, shall we?”
Ugnash hummed with a nod and led the way. My nerves tingled. It was a little strange to be going on my first ever dungeon excursion right there in Ring Four. Mostly because the location of the dungeon entrance just emphasized the fact that Ring Four really wasn’t considered a part of the main city.
At least it was Warded. Ugnash explained how a powerful Warden or some such had used Aspect of Warding to create a barrier around the dungeon’s entrance, which was a little cave on the side of the volcano pretty far from the populated bounds of Ring Four.
The Ward was to prevent anything from getting out. Not that Seethescale Dungeon was supposed to be a particularly dangerous monster habitat. If there was ever a breach, which hadn’t happened in decades, the city guards were supposedly strong enough to deal with the Slimes, Brillwyrms, and the rare Wraiths that could slip out.
I marvelled at the barrier of pink and white threads forming a translucent net over the entire area. It wasn’t just some kind of forcefield. As we entered—thanks to the token needed for entry that Ugnash had already acquired—I noted that it felt more like walking through cobwebs.
“The token is available for purchase from the Preservatory Guild,” he said in answer to my question about where he had gotten it. “The Adventurer’s Guild cut a deal with them so it’s not too expensive.”
The dungeon’s opening yawned wide before us. I was a little impressed at how dark it seemed.
“Stick close to me, okay?” Cerea whispered as Ugnash and Khagnio led the way inside. “I need a big strong armoured guy to keep me safe.”
I rolled my eyes with a smile. “You’re almost as tall as I am
and
you’re at least Silver, if not Gold. I’m still an Iron.”
“Silver, sadly.” She snickered. “You’re definitely Iron all over.”
She was laughing at my armour and armaments. I supposed I could appreciate the pun.
Walking into the dungeon was like crossing another strange threshold. Aside from the change in lighting and the sudden dimming of noise too, the air itself turned strangely more needled, like there were tiny invisible icicles hanging everywhere. My skin tingled now too.
“Standard procedure,” Ugnash said. We had already discussed some of the expedition specifics, but he repeated it anyway, probably for my benefit. “That means tank ahead, support at the back, rogue freely mobile to hit where appropriate. Lights for tank and support. Stay low, keep senses sharp. The monsters here shouldn’t be big trouble, but it’s best we stay on our toes.”
When I had first heard it, I had nodded along. It fit my general idea of what party mechanics were supposed to be like. My role was supposed to be support, mostly centred around protecting Cerea in case any monsters got past Ugnash and Khagnio.
Just as he had stated, Ugnash and Cerea both brought out lamps. At first, I thought it was weird to be using plain old lamps in a world where people had magic. But then I saw there was no oil or any other kind of fuel involved. The distinct light-blue glow came from long sticks within the lamp’s cylindrical glass pane, illuminating everything with light that felt strangely starry.
“They’re Darksticks,” Cerea explained. “Created by the famous Spellmachinist in Sinthesar. Not easy to get though, so protect them like you’d protect me, Mage Moreland.”
“Uh, sure,” I said. I wasn’t sure I could actually prioritize a lamp, magical or otherwise, as much as someone’s life. “How do they work?”
“It’s a
very
smart procedure, actually. I don’t know the specifics since I imagine Sir Spellmachinist clearly has business secrets he would love to protect, but the most well-known aspect of it—
Aspect
, quite literally—is his use of the Aspect of Opposition. Basically, the sticks are imbued with a property that makes them hate darkness and glow whenever there’s no light.”
Sir
, she called him. A Vaunted, then, though I still didn’t have enough context as to what they were. “That’s… wild.”
“Neat, isn’t it!”
“I think I hear something,” Ugnash said
We all tensed, though we kept moving of course The monsters here were supposedly a variant of wyrms called Brillwyrms. My first internal question had been how they were different from Rotwyrms. Unfortunately, I had gotten distracted by other things, and the fact that the question was probably going to find an answer inside the dungeon.
Ugnash held up a hand, the universal signal to stop. Khagnio edged away from us, his body slowly fading into the gloom surrounding us. I wondered if that was one of his Aspects taking effect.
There was no time for me to pay attention to him, though. My eyes were instead focused on the pinprick of light that was drawing closer to us in the tunnel. On the shuffling and the light grunting noises getting closer and closer. I swallowed.
“Say,” Khagnio’s voice whispered through the gloom. “Why don’t we let our new mageling handle this one? See what he’s really got against an actual dungeon monster?”
For a second, it looked like we were all going to ignore Khagnio’s stupid idea and take care of it together, like an adventuring party was supposed to. Cerea even turned her head to tell off Khagnio.
But then, Ugnash stepped to one side, clearly opening up a path for me. There was a hooded look to his eye.
“Go on, Ross,” he said. “I think you can handle this one.”
Well, I trusted Ugnash’s judgment more than Khagnio’s for sure. Even Cerea didn’t contest it after a look from the big Rakshasa. Odd, but whatever. I took a deep breath, then stepped forward.