PftA Book 2 - Chapter 35

Chapter 35 – The Final Delve

Natalie rushed forward, swinging her staff in a high arc as she knocked the leaping feline mob from the air. A net of hardened Light pinned the aggressive creature to the ground before tightening and cutting into the protective fur of the Shadow-attuned creature. The feline yowled in pain and anger as blood began seeping from the wounds, causing its thrashing to become increasingly violent.

An arrow of Light plunged deep into the feline’s side, raising the pitch of the beast’s cries. Natalie stepped forward and slammed the newly sharpened end of her weapon into the creature’s partially exposed neck, silencing it.

“Giving the Healer your old weapon was a good idea,” Robert said quietly as the other two party members canceled their spells and approached the fallen mob. “It’s hard to believe her former party refused to let her fight.”

I shrugged lightly and watched as Bell collected the remains of the fallen mob. “They probably couldn’t get past the ‘young female’ part. I’m sure they thought they were protecting her by keeping her safely removed from combat,” I said with a frown. “I doubt she’d be treated that way by her fellow service members, but the trio she was delving with were government civilians. Maybe they thought they were being chivalrous or something.”

It was one of the nicer possibilities, though not necessarily the one I’d bet on if I had to. Sense Intent had given me mixed messages during my few interactions with Xavier since meeting him, but chivalry hadn’t been one of them.

Robert bobbed his head and kept pace as we shadowed the trio of delvers. We were both wearing obscuring talismans, which allowed us to move unnoticed by the denizens of the rift.

“Still, I’m surprised at how quickly she’s taken to the weapon.”

I knew Natalie had trained with several weapons in the game, though her preference was for firearms. I’d considered crafting an enchanted firearm for the Healer but hadn’t had the time. Instead, I’d given her one of the first prototypes I’d made of my modular staff/baton that included a working spearhead.

When I didn’t comment, Robert said, “Miss Sumi is also doing quite well with her bow. I believe that is a native design?”

Sumi was using a modern compound bow she’d had with her when I picked her up from the Los Angeles Atlas office two weeks prior. I wasn’t sure if it was something she’d had before awakening or if it was something she purchased afterward, nor did it particularly matter. I was pretty sure Rhona planned to replace it with an enchanted version soon.

“It is,” I answered.

“Your roommate’s fighting style reminds me of yours when you were testing the new consumables you’d developed,” the Nature Mage pointed out a few minutes later. Bell had spent much of her free time between delves creating new weapons and talismans out of her portion of the materials the girls had acquired. I’d helped her occasionally, but Bell had wanted to do the bulk of the work herself.

I chuckled lightly at the comparison. “Maybe just a little. Bell’s a good Enchanter, so of course, she’s going to want to test her work.”

This was the first time Robert had accompanied me for a delve since the first day. The rest of his time had been spent modifying the small settlement to be semi-habitable for those who would use it later. Since he’d finished his task, I agreed to let him tag along for the last day’s delves. As long as neither of us interfered with the delve, our presence wouldn’t have much impact on the experience gained by the party, so there was little reason to deny his request.

“When is your next trip going to be?” Robert asked after several moments of silently watching the newly awakened trio fight another set of mobs. This time, they were fighting ape-like creatures with a variety of elemental abilities, making the fight more challenging than most of the others in the rift. The only fight that was more difficult was the boss.

I’d been keeping the rifts at an equivalent stage to the girls’ average, which had settled at level six before they started pushing all their extra experience points into the upgrade. Natalie was a little bit ahead, but she’d started at a higher level, so it was to be expected.

“I have no idea,” I replied. “I’m still not sure what the issue is with Sumi’s sister…” I trailed off with a frown. The tri-affinity mage had been extremely evasive whenever the topic had come up, but it was clear she did not feel comfortable leaving the twelve-year-old at home without her there. I couldn’t help but wonder why.

“Are you going to push the wave rift to the next stage for their last delve?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Rhona wanted it to be MT1 when we finished, so it doesn’t make sense to strengthen it when it’s already where she wants it. Besides, pushing it to the next stage would just increase the danger without providing much benefit. It’s not like they’ll reach Tier Two with one more delve.”

Keeping the same pace, it would take at least another week for the trio to reach Tier Two. Their progress had been fast, especially considering how much experience it took to purchase the upgrade on top of leveling. Still, it was impossible to reach the goal Rhona had given us, though I suspected she knew that already.

“That’s true,” he replied, though his eyes were fixed on Sumi. She spent a lot of time invisible, using a combination of Light and Shadow. She might have included some mental effects in her invisibility spell as well, given her third affinity was Mind. Anytime she was visible, I noticed Robert’s eyes tended to stay focused in her direction.

Had there been any chance of something developing between him and me, I’d probably have gotten jealous at the attention he gave her. But there wasn’t, so I chose to be amused by his fixation instead.

The boss of the jungle rift was a white lion with a yellow/gold tipped mane. The three young women had already defeated this boss several times, so I wasn’t too worried about the fight. Knowing it was the most likely boss of the rift, they carried items specifically to counter the Lightning element. It made the end of the delve a bit anticlimactic.

Once they finished looting the area, we exited the rift so the girls could take a break. They’d need their energy for the final wave rift.

Overall, I felt the trip had gone well.

“Just one more?” Bell asked as I plopped into the chair I’d claimed in our temporary abode. I knew she was ready to leave and get back to Justin and the rest of the world, especially with the end of our lease rapidly approaching. She was still planning to move in with Justin, and I could tell she was nervous about taking such an important step.

“Yes, unless you want to add another delve instead of stopping by the Korean bathhouse at the end. I figured everyone would want to spend a couple of hours soaking and unwinding, but we can skip that for another delve if you really want to push,” I said with a playful smile. I’d taken the other three women to a traditional Korean bathhouse at the end of the first week to help them unwind, and once they got over the whole ‘naked around other women’ thing, they’d really enjoyed it.

Sumi immediately interjected, “I need a soak and a massage.”

“Me too,” Natalie added in a slightly whiny voice. “No more delves. I’m so tired of killing mobs. We can just skip the last one and hang out in Seoul instead. I’d totally be fine with that.”

Sumi nodded excitedly, and Bell’s eyes lit up. I felt torn since we were technically working, even if we weren’t really. Still, leaving a couple of hours early and taking a break was different than ditching half of the day and playing hooky.

Seeing the others were already in agreement, I shook my head in exasperation. “Fine. I guess it doesn’t really matter since we’ll have to set up a second trip sometime.”

The others cheered, including Robert. I eyed the Nature Mage judgmentally, and he returned my glare with a look of innocence. Rolling my eyes, I told the others to pack up since it seemed our leveling trip was over. Most of the materials they’d collected had been sold to the guard merchant stationed at the small settlement, so there was little extra that I needed to store.

While the others packed, I dispersed the harder MT1 rift and created a new one, leaving it at LT1 to meet Rhona's requirements for the final setup. After saying goodbye to a few of the workers who’d been particularly helpful – most of whom had focused on Sumi – I teleported our group to the Atlas office in Seoul, South Korea.

= = =

Seoul was still my favorite city on Earth. There were cities on Pylos and Olym that might beat it overall, but Seoul was the best as far as purely mundane cities went.

I was probably biased. Okay, I was definitely biased, but that didn’t change anything. Seoul was awesome. There was so much to do and see, and the food was amazing. Some of my favorite restaurants were in Itaewon – the international district. I’d stopped by several times since completing the MealMaker just to store recipes and stock up on delicious meals.

Anyone who knew me well wouldn’t have been surprised at my decision to spend the day in Seoul instead of pushing for one final delve. I was grateful Rhona hadn’t been upset that we’d spent some time relaxing after a rough two weeks of near-constant delving.

After dropping off Sumi in L.A., I messaged Rhona, letting her know I’d stop by after my appointment with my personal trainer. I’d kept her informed of the trio’s progress, so there was little need to rush into the conversation. I would have stopped by before, but I’d already missed several sessions with Shawn and didn’t want to be late.

“Hey! It’s good to see that you’re back!” Shawn said as I entered the large, in-house gym. “How was your trip?”

“It was good. We didn’t get as far along as Rhona wanted, but they made good progress,” I replied before excusing myself to change into workout clothes.

As I exited the changing room, I noticed Xavier on the other side of the gym. He was talking to one of the Atlas trainers and didn’t seem to have noticed me. Ignoring the spy and hoping he didn’t look my way, I entered the side room reserved for my lesson. Shawn was ready for me when I arrived.

Continuing my training right where I’d left off, Shawn jumped into the next lesson. Thankfully, Xavier was gone when the lesson was finished, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I made my way to the changing rooms.

As I made my way to Rhona’s office after changing out of my sweaty clothes, Spatial Sense informed me that someone was approaching from behind, right as Lisa informed me I’d been targeted by an Identify spell. I glanced over my shoulder and groaned lightly when I saw Xavier rushing to catch up.

“Miss Mercer! It’s been a while!” he said as he fell into step next to me with a wide grin. “I see you’ve leveled up since we last spoke.”

I hesitated slightly as I quickly checked the status I had displayed. With a sigh of relief, I realized he’d simply noticed the small increase I’d made to my false status. It now showed me as being level four instead of the level two that I’d displayed for months.

With a strained smile, I said, “I have. I mostly stayed in the back and watched the others, though. They didn’t need my help hardly at all.”

“Oh really?” he asked, seeming interested in learning more about another capable party of delvers. “Who did you delve with? There are only so many beta testers who’ve gained access to the system already. Maybe I know them.”

I was annoyed to be questioned so blatantly by the spy, and was tempted to confront him. However, I knew it would do little other than draw more attention.

Instead, I smiled and tried to deflect. “I was asked to accompany an individual contracted to a pretty important noble. I wasn’t supposed to get involved with the delves, really. I was mostly just there to observe,” I said, telling the truth. “There was a Tier Two Nature Mage present as well. I doubt you’d know them since their information is supposed to be private.”

It was as close to an admonishment as I could get without being confrontational. The time would come, I was sure, but I hoped it wouldn’t be for a long time. While I wasn’t as worried about my safety anymore, I was concerned about my loved ones and the trouble curious government agents could cause.

After deflecting a few more probing questions, I finally reached Rhona’s office. She must have sensed me because she was waiting outside the door when I rounded the corner.

“Emie! Good! I was about to come looking for you!” Rhona said with exaggerated cheer before eying the man following me. Her smile dropped to something much more neutral. “Mr. Armsfield,” she said impersonally. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Xavier shook his head. “No, I was just catching up with Miss Mercer.” He glanced between the two of us. I could see a flash of suspicion, but he quickly suppressed it. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

I watched as the spy turned and walked away. He was annoying, and I got the impression that his behavior would only worsen as time progressed.

A/N for Mid-Tier Readers: Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a wonderful 2024!

FYI (and 100% NOT intended as a solicitation): I've added the annual membership option for any who might be interested.