[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer] Chapter 107 – Dungeonley, the Dungeon IV

Miranda and Sose walked down the steps to the sight of the last battle. A column of blue-white light was their way out. The Dungeon always provided an exit once it was cleared.

However, a glance over her shoulder told her that they could just as easily walk back the way they had come.

“Most irregular,” Miranda muttered to herself.

“That’s Shrubley,” Sose snickered.

Shrubley patted the ground tiredly. “Thank you, Dungeonley. Very kind of you.”

Many of the group looked around as the Dungeon seemed to lightly rumble in response.

Cal raised his staff and washed the bug guts off Shrubley with water conjured from his Elemental essence before squeezing him in a tight, soggy embrace. “I thought you were bug food!”

Shrubley’s familiar buzzed overhead in a figure-8, excited to see him back as well.

“I am well,” Shrubley said. “Tired… but much better now, thank you.” He turned to Slyrox. “Your bomb did all the work, Slyrox. I merely lit it.”

Slyrox stood a little taller. “Kobbie-made things always best-made!”

Shrubley shut his eyes, falling into a meditative stance. To everyone else, it appeared as if his eyes went dark within that shroud of leaves.

Beneath the fatigue, something felt profoundly different within Shrubley. He was on the cusp of something more, and yet he couldn’t quite reach it just yet.

Smudge was slowly inflating himself back to his normal size. It was a sign of how drained and tired Shrubley was that he didn’t immediately heal the pinkish violet slime.

Miranda clapped her hands. “Very well done. Not how I would have done it, but interesting and, above all: entertaining!” She rubbed her hands briskly together. “Now, let’s see what loot we’ve got.”

Without asking for permission, Miranda raised a hand and all 5 chests popped open at once.

She leaned into each one, plucking an item from each before lifting the last chest and carting it away.

“Hey!” Cal cried out. “That’s our loot!”

“Vampyr tax?” Slyrox asked sourly. “Psshkoh, if you weren’t so much stronger than us…”

Miranda’s eyes shimmered gleefully as she looked at Slyrox. “She gets it.”

Slyrox looked down. “Crabbits!” she muttered darkly.

“This is the mistress tax,” Sose told them. “She would have stepped in to save you if you were in true danger, but you handled yourselves well.”

Shrubley’s eyes remained shut, stuck in that meditative trance. He could feel the level ups soar through his system. His body surged with newfound strength as he folded the knowledge and experience inside of himself.

It felt like a dammed up river was threatening to break free. Try as he might, he was not sure if he could keep it in check any longer. Rather than build up the dam, Shrubley began to channel it. Reinforcing the grooves in his own spiritual veins so the rush of energy was intensified.

Miranda straightened up and turned, feeling a sudden spike in pressure throughout the room. “Oh? This is interesting.” She motioned to Shrubley. “I think you’ll all want to watch this.”

“Pyuu?”

“What’s going on?” Cal asked, bent over his treasure chest and share of the loot. “No, not more beetles!”

“Psshkoh! Slyrox will fast-act another bomb!” The koblin staggered back, mitts raised in surprise, when the glowbug familiar bumped repeatedly against her mask. “Perhaps short-think wrong?”

The glowbug familiar bobbed up and down in a nodding motion.

Shrubley could hear voices, but they sounded distant and far away. He reached deep within himself and tore at the dam holding back the flood of power deep within.

He had been building it up ever since he had fought the bone knight back in the mirror realm. Every battle, every level added to it until Shrubley realized he was barely holding back a raging torrent of banked power.

Rather than holding it back any longer, Shrubley released it. He broke down the barriers, holding it back and let the power wash through his battered body.

Shrubley’s body lifted off the ground a full foot. His leaves glistened with raw force, a thin hazy aura of Copper turned deeper red, then took on a faint golden hue until the difference was clear.

Following his instincts, Shrubley guided the force until it filled all of his countless channels. Every branch, every twig, every leaf and bud was filled to the brim with power.

His leaves took on a metallic bronze sheen, gold and red mingled together as the influx of raw power sent shivers through his body.

Gathered around him, his friends watched as Shrubley underwent a transformation before their very eyes. Broken branches and ripped leaves were remade once more and shone with Bronze strength.

Rank Up!

You have advanced to Sage Knight (Bronze).

+15 to all attributes.

You now gain the following per level up:

+4 Strength | +2 Skill | +6 Hardiness

+8 Willpower | +6 Arcane | +8 Restoration

Shrubley opened his eyes, staring at the Shardscript in awe. He could feel the newfound strength flooding his leaves. Advancing to Copper hadn’t felt nearly half as strong as this. Shrubley’s eyes shone Bronze for a moment before they took on the customary lamplight yellow.

He stood up, taller and more articulated than before, but still obviously a shrub. Over the next few minutes, as everybody pelted him with questions, Shrubley’s leaves lost much of their luster and reverted to a healthy, dark green.

“My, my,” the Countess said, looking him up and down. “Aren’t you just full of surprises?”

“Smudge has essence!” cried the little pink slime.

Everybody rushed over to his chest to see the shining, almost immaterial gem. It looked like the air had hardened into a faceted jewel.

“What is it?” Shrubley asked, excited.

“Air essence,” the Countess answered. “Quite rare. Not exactly Black or White essence rare, but fairly close. What color is it, Smudge? Air is one of those essences that can present as various colors,” she added to the benefit of the others.

“Green!” Smudge said excitedly. He was about to jump and swallow the gem when he remembered that there were two others who also might want it. He turned slowly to them. “Want?”

“Is muchly yours, Smudge, but…” Slyrox tapped her muzzle in thought. “What does that color do again?”

“Support powers,” Shrubley said, putting a friendly hand atop Smudge’s round raindrop head. “Does anybody else besides Smudge want this essence?”

Cal gripped his staff with both hands. It looked like the only thing keeping him upright. He shook his head. “While I would love to be finished… I do not think I would be able to use it as well as Smudge.”

For a moment, Sose eyed the jeweled essence greedily. “Who doesn’t? But is this the essence you want, Smudge?”

Shrubley looked at Smudge. “Hmm, Air and Stone. Are you sure you want it, friend? We could always hold on to it until you are ready. Two of your essences seem to be in direct–”

Smudge’s body had been quivering with the sheer effort of restraining himself until he could hold back no longer. With a jubilant cry, the slime swallowed the Air essence gem whole.

“I suppose that answers that,” Shrubley said with a tired laugh.

Smudge inflated himself like a pink balloon and drifted up toward the ceiling, giggling the whole way as if it was all some great joke.

“Why isn’t he turning into Copper?” Cal asked. “He has all his essences now.”

Miranda folded her arms and watched the buoyant Smudge float across the ceiling, letting out a puff of gas every so often until he landed gently as a feather on the ground.

“Because, as Shrubley demonstrated, in order to advance to the next rank, you need to instill and absorb all the power you recently gained,” she told them. “Some find this more difficult than others. But in order for Smudge to hit Copper, he will need to meditate first. Without reflecting and guiding the newfound strength, you can’t break down the barriers inside of yourself.”

As the group watched Smudge, it was left relatively uncertain whether Smudge had the mental fortitude to reach for that kind of self-reflection without persistent guidance.

“Is Shrubley muchly talented?” Slyrox asked. “Or are we just…. how you say, wishy-washy?”

Miranda looked at Slyrox curiously, trying to parse what she said. “I believe we all know the answer to the first part. As for the second… that remains to be seen. Bear in mind, you are all incredibly young for the essences you already have. Most nobles do not even gain essences at the rate you have.”

Slyrox harrumphed and waddled over to her chest, digging through it. “No airy-self stones for Slyrox!”

Smudge floated over toward her, nudging her gently. Instead of getting mad, she grabbed the inflatable slime and hugged the air out of him until he resembled a comically deflated balloon.

Smudge drifted to the floor once more and inflated with a tiny gasp of air. “Smudge will help Slyrox!”

“Truthly?” she asked.

“Yes!” Smudge said excitedly.

Slyrox did not see how he could, but she wasn’t about to turn down an offer like that. “Slyrox did get muchly levels…”

“I know the secret way,” Smudge said with an uncharacteristically deep voice.

Both Cal and Slyrox watched him warily.

“Ranks are only one facet of power,” the Countess reminded them. “Your rank acts like a force multiplier on your levels. If you have low levels, your rank isn’t going to do much. They go hand-in-hand. Do not forget that as you pursue higher ranks. Too many focus purely on their ranks and leave their levels behind, resulting in some hilariously lopsided Irons.”

Using his staff, Cal limped over to his chest. The jewels within glittered wondrously, reflecting the necromantic green fires of his eyes a thousandfold. “I can use these to work on my jewelcrafting!”

“Do you need mine?” Shrubley asked, looking at the small satchel of jewels in his chest. He had a few items, a sack of copper coins, a satchel of small rough jewels, and a gold bracelet with a ruby set in it. There was nothing magical about it that he could see, but it was pretty.

Smudge, it seemed, had won the lottery on loot that day. An essence gem was an amazing prize, and the fact that it completed his third essence slot was all the better.

Some additional loot was passed around and traded hands. Some alchemical ingredients went to Smudge, jewels mostly to Cal, and a small variety of weapons were split between Shrubley and Slyrox, who both had different ways of practicing their crafting proficiencies with those items.

“Now we only need to find two essences,” Cal said as they joined Miranda in the pillar of light at the center of the Dungeon.

A faint high-pitched whine echoed around them, and their vision washed to white.

When they felt solid ground beneath their feet once more, they were outside the Dungeon entrance.

Behind them, the doorway had collapsed. Nothing remained of the Dungeon but rubble. Shrubley silently said his goodbye to Dungeonley. He knew the Dungeon was out there somewhere, he could feel it setting up shop somewhere else.

Shrubley hoped it would be in a place where evil beetles didn’t nest inside it.

Squinting at the brilliant morning light, Miranda grumbled and pulled her hood up tight around her head. “One of the worst things about Dungeons,” she said.

“What’s that?” Cal asked, heading back toward the town.

“Time works differently in there. What might feel like a few hours can often be days or longer.” The sun’s harsh morning rays stung her skin even though she was fully clothed. She kept her hands deep within her cloak just to be safe. “It’s always a good idea to check the date and time when you enter and leave a Dungeon.”

The group nodded along as Miranda explained more about Dungeons and the hazards of going into them. But before they reached halfway to the town, the ground under the dirt road erupted beneath their feet.

A dark figure erupted from the spray of dirt and stone, cloaked in night, and rising like an ill omen.

Then the sun started to beat on his skin, and he began to scream.