Aster Loka
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Chapter 37
🕑 Added 2021-12-21 17:09:00 +0000 UTC"I think there's a way to get across." Gordon pointed. "If we go along the edge on the right, see? The ledge is thicker there."
"I wouldn't trust it." Levi frowned at the ledge. It looked wide enough for a gremlin moving carefully, but nothing bigger. It would be precarious even then.
Gremlin Two didn’t wait, but ran toward the ledge as if to prove to the world that he was the bravest.
“Hold up,” Levi called, and Two slowed his scamper, looking over his shoulder. “Something’s not right here.”
Two slowed to a stop.
“What could be more right about a pit?”
“I don’t know.” Levi stared into its dark depths, trying to put his finger on what was bothering him. If only he could see through the darkness...
The thought triggered a memory. He'd picked up a traced lens in the other dungeon, but been distracted by leveling into a threshold and didn't examine it closely at the time. He pulled it out and looked it over carefully.
Components with tracing were used in crafting, with versatile arrays depending on the item's purpose; the lens specifically would be for visual enhancement items.
Unlike the blank orb and wand that needed to be inscribed before they could be useful, this could be activated without needing to understand the specifics of mana tracing.
A crafter would create a framework to channel and maintain the flow of power through a power stone and into the lens, for instance in a helmet's eye, or even a simple pair of glasses. But the framework wasn't absolutely essential, and these tracings were versatile enough that Levi could preview its options simply by holding it and a power stone together.
He had the second Beast stone which he'd yet to combine with anything, so he fished it out and held the lens up to his eye. It had three inputs, so it could support up to three power sources for its various active effects once crafted into an item.
Levi touched the power stone gently to the edge of the lens, lining it up with the first mana tracing input, then ran mana into it.
Through the lens, everything took on a hyperfocused edge, making his regular vision seem blurry and disorienting. He closed his other eye, looking around at the dungeon. Distant things were zoomed and sharpened, while closer things seemed hazy and unclear. Except when Skarm jumped up to try and see what Levi was doing, then the hyperfocus immediately snapped to him.
Motion-sensing. It would be good for scouting, but distracting any other time. Still, he stared down into the darkness of the pit, trying to see anything that stuck out at him. It seemed no amount of sharp focus could turn darkness into not-darkness.
Levi let the mana fade and rotated the lens so he could test the second mode. This one washed out all the terrain, painted the room in uniform shades of brown, except where his party stood. And where a gremlin lurked in the walls in the next room, ready to ambush them if they managed to cross the pit.
"Ahhh, very useful." It wasn't nightvision, but once he could build a frame for it the ability to scout through walls would be invaluable, even if it had significantly shorter range than the motion-sensing option.
He moved the power stone to the third input, and this time the opposite effect occurred. Instead of highlighting anyone in the vicinity, it all but wiped them out, showing the walls behind them and the floor beneath them clearly as though they were only brown shadows. He could still tell where they were, but only barely, not enough to distract from the terrain.
When he stared down into the pit with this mode, he caught the faintest flicker of movement.
"Hmmm." Levi put the power stone back in his belt and looked intently at the lens, memorizing the look of each mode so he would be able to activate them at will without needing to test them all. He'd need to build a frame for it as soon as he could find the right materials. The life sight in particular was too valuable, he wanted that available at all times. His old helmet in the future had traced lenses, but their effects were to improve lighting and detect mana concentrations. Life sight was expensive.
"What is it?" Gordon leaned closer to look.
"Crafting item." Levi held it up. "Motion sensing, life sight, and terrain sight. Very useful. And I think I know what's going on with this pit now."
"Can I try it?"
"No, sorry." Levi tucked the lens away. "It's dangerous to use multiple tracings on the same item too much without a stabilizing framework. We should save it for when it's important."
"..." Gordon laughed uncertainly. "So what did you learn about the pit?"
“Dungeons are always lit, not always well, but generally enough to see. This darkness isn’t natural.”
“I’m still trying to get over the fact that we’re stepping through rifts in the air into dungeons full of monsters.” Gordon shrugged. “I can’t speak to the naturalness or otherwise of anything we encounter. It all seems like a crazy movie set to me.”
“Well, wait a moment, I think I can show you.” Levi stepped back, then turned and searched for anything not connected to the wall.
“What did you see?”
Levi found a rock and tossed it into the pit. It fell into the darkness, then returned a faint splash. He grinned. “I thought so. Water.”
“So?”
“So it’s not a trap, it’s a detour. Well, it is a trap. It’s intended to kill us and waste our time, but since we know what to expect it’s basically free experience.”
“You were very insistent that we not step into the streams all through the dungeon, and now you want to go… diving into a pool that you’ve admitted is a trap?”
Levi shook his head. “It’s not like that, this is different. There’s a limit to the number of traps a dungeon can hold, and I’ve been counting the streams. There’s not a lot left, and the shape of this pool means even if it’s all contaminated with destruction to kill us while we swim, it’ll be diluted to safe levels. Maybe if we were level 1, but our regen can handle it for long enough.”
“Some of us are only level 2,” Gordon protested, and Skarm squeaked sadly in agreement.
“And this is a perfect chance to close that gap. I’ll hang back and watch, only intervening if necessary. Same for you, Two.”
Two looked up at him, eyes wide and pleading.
“I know you’re eager to hit your threshold, but the closer to even levels our team can have the smoother everything will progress. We can afford to play it by ear so long as the dungeons are weaker. Once we get past the easy ones it’ll be harder to single out anyone for specific leveling.”
Two reluctantly sheathed his dagger.
“I’ll go first,” Levi said. “If I’m wrong, it’ll be easier for me to survive than the rest of you.”
“And you’re confident this isn’t just a pool of acid you’re going to be trapped in until you melt away to nothing?”
Levi nodded. “Dungeons follow a strange sort of logic, but it can still be predicted if you know enough about them. One of the main things you can count on is that there’s no way to be trapped. There’s always a way forward or through or out. If this pit can’t be climbed out of, it’s because there’s another route down there. Most of the dangerous streams have been shallow enough that you can step out of them, or crawl out if you’re a gremlin. You might end up in a dead end corridor surrounded by enemies, but if you can fight your way through them you will get to the exit sooner or later.”
“Why is that? I thought dungeons are out to kill people?”
Levi shrugged. “I just know the what, no idea of the why. It’s not like I can sit down and have a heart to heart with it. ‘Oh hey, monster factory of death, how’s it going? Mind sharing why you let us through instead of making dead end pits we couldn’t hope to climb out of? And while we’re on the topic, why do you reward people for killing your monsters? Thanks, get back to me as soon as you can.’ If they could be communicated with, that would change things. But they can’t be, so…”
“Have you ever thought how weird it is that life so closely resembles an RPG game now?”
“Ever? Probably. But that was a long time ago. Honestly, the number of people who don’t care about the danger they’re in is more confusing to me.”
“They only don’t care because they don’t know. After we get out of here, you’re going to start spreading the word.”
“If anyone will listen.”
“They will. It may be slow at first, but this is undeniable reality. Enough people will see that to get through to the rest.”
Levi nodded, unwilling to waste any more time, then turned and dove into the pit.
