12 - Fragment (Patreon)

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Ryan leaned against the wall, biting into the protein bar. He was freaking out too much to look at them earlier, but a few system windows had popped up in front of him.

[You have temporarily closed the -Abandoned Copper Foundry- Dungeon]

[You have killed a Level 3 -Dungeon Monster-]

[You have levelled up!]

[The -Knight's Martial Knowledge- Skill has levelled up]

Ryan sighed in relief. It seemed that everything worked properly. Small dungeons like this would take a while to heal from their heart being destroyed, so if Ryan reported this to the Dungeon Management Bureau, they would probably send out some people to permanently close it. Some dungeons were kept up if they could be managed properly or had some kind of benefit. Some dungeons produced structures and dropped items that could be useful for research, or some were safe enough that they could be used to, at least temporarily, protect civilians during emergencies. There was also the rare case where a dungeon was showing levels of sapience and deals could be struck with them, but Ryan only knew about one or two like that in history.

Whatever the case, that other message was a lot more imminently important. Another level-up. Not his own level, of course, the window was Maximus' red, so killing that 'Manager' was enough to justify another level.

"Hah... I put you together on Tuesday, and you're already level 3? Good job, little dude," Ryan smiled, holding his left fist toward the small knight. A bit confused, Maximus tilted his head to the side. Ryan laughed slightly, "Just bump my fist with yours."

Hesitant, Maximus did as Ryan said, carefully hitting Maximus' fist with his own.

"Don't look at me like that, this is a normal thing. Like a... small celebration, you know?" Ryan explained, as he concentrated on Maximus' status for a second to make the window pop up.

[Maximus]

[Knight | Level - 3 (+1)]

[AP - 27.5 (+4.5)]

[Stats]

-[Aura - 0.75 (+0.09)]

-[Strength - 0.96 (+0.09)]

-[Stamina 0.84 (+0.07)]

-[Resistance - 0.94 (+0.08)]

-[Physicality - 0.87 (+0.06)]

[Skills]

-[Knight's Attack | Level - 4]

-[Knight's Guard | Level - 2]

-[Knight's Martial Knowledge | Level - 3 (+1)]

"Damn, at this rate you'll be way stronger than me soon..." Ryan sighed lightly. Though, at least he could get stronger through training, and it didn't look like Maximus would be able to do that. That considered, Maximus might end up falling behind in the higher levels.

Ryan leaned his head against the wall behind him. He could feel the uncomfortable wriggling on his shoulder as the healing gel did its job. He should probably try and wait for a while until he could make sure that the monster's wouldn't be a danger anymore before heading back outside.

'Should only take like half an hour... I hope,' he thought. And even if they were still active, their bodies should be weak and crumble with just a single attack from Maximus, especially since he did get a bit stronger now. Though, when Ryan looked at the spirit, he did get a little concerned.

"...You're also pretty banged up, right? Are you going to be fine?"

Maximus looked down at himself, at the dents and scratches covering his armour, but just replied with a single quick nod.

"If you say so. I'll take a look later and see if I can at least get rid of the dents later," with a loud groan, Ryan pushed himself off the ground, "But now, let's just finish your quest already."

Truthfully, that was what Ryan had hoped to see earlier when looking at those system windows; a message saying something like 'you have completed the quest', but in the end, it didn't come yet. That meant that whatever it was that Maximus wanted to find here was still inside of the office. At least, now that the dungeon heart was destroyed, the mana inside of the room should have dissipated at least a little bit. And he could take his time searching through it now as well, so that was a good thing too. Ryan carefully climbed through the hole in the wall. The air in here was still densely filled with mana, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was earlier. Either that, or the pain from his shoulder and hand was distracting Ryan enough.

He walked over to the torch still lying on the ground near the desk, shining it around the room. The first thing that he noticed was that the 'Manager' was still in the middle of being broken down. There were still parts that you could recognize as a humanoid form, but for the most part, it was just bare metal plates that were crumbling into dust. He took a step closer toward it and squatted down, putting the torch into his mouth as he used his healthy hand to push some of the metal pieces to the side. He was still wearing gloves, so he wasn't super worried about cutting himself as long as he didn't shove his hand onto these petals recklessly.

When he started, Maximus quickly rushed over and started to help, pushing aside the parts of the monster that seemed to be breaking down. Underneath, there were actually a few item drops. Usually, monsters didn't drop anything when they were killed after a dungeon heart was destroyed, but maybe since it died so quickly after that happened, it still left some things behind.

Most of the drops were just seeds, again. However, instead of being regular seeds like the ones from before, they were metallic copper seeds at different stages of rust and decay. These especially seemed quite interesting, so Ryan and Maximus quickly gathered them up and put them into the pouch with the others. Once they got everything, Ryan slowly stood up again and continued to look around.

First, he took a step closer to the desk, "Do you still not know what we're looking for?" Ryan wondered, looking over as the knight jumped up onto the table. However, he didn't respond, and slowly approached the hole in the desk that had been created when Ryan swung the pickaxe into it to destroy the brooch. The pickaxe itself had fallen onto the ground, but the remnants of the brooch still seemed to be there, slowly crumbling apart.

But as Ryan shone the light onto it, a small glimmer of green was reflected back at him, "Maximus."

The knight nodded his head. He had been aiming for the brooch in the first place. Ryan watched as Maximus pushed aside the metal pieces leftover from the brooch. He seemed to be basically pulling a layer of metal off something; a small green gemstone. The hair on Ryan's neck stood up as he leaned forward.

"Wait, is that what I think it is? This is why we came here?" unable to hide his puzzled expression, Ryan watched as Maximus took out the small Spirit Core from the crumbling metal shell.

How did Maximus know that this was here? Or rather, why the hell was this here in the first place? Were spirits somehow related to dungeons, or was this a special case? Ryan showed Maximus some videos of other dungeons beside this one, and he didn't seem to react at all. This just didn't make sense... Why was the same thing that Ryan had found in his dead father's stuff inside of a Dungeon Heart?

But seeing Maximus stand there, with that gemstone in his hands, Ryan realized that it didn't even matter right now. Maximus was... sad. And that was when Ryan realized. This core wasn't just a lot smaller than Maximus', it was fractured. This was just a piece of a full core. Maximus solemnly held the fragment up to his forehead, for just a few moments, and then looked back at Ryan. He gave a single quick nod.

[You have Completed the Quest -Abandoned Copper Foundry Investigation-]

Ryan was happy that he completed the Quest, but he couldn't help but feel a bit weird about it all. Especially after seeing how Maximus was acting, he wasn't able to just be happy right now. As he stood there, thinking, another message appeared in front of him.

[You have attained a new Expansion kit for the Maximus Series - Crusader Model]

With a raised brow, Ryan looked at the message, and soon felt something form in the back of his mind, as if a memory was being pushed into his head from outside. It was similar to how he saw Maximus' domain, just that it was instead a small cardboard box like the one that Maximus' original pieces appeared in. But he would take a look at that later, as the small knight was holding the spirit core's fragment toward him. Nervous, Ryan put the torch back into his mouth, and held his hand forward.

The Spirit dropped the fragment onto his palm, and shivers ran over his body like when he first held Maximus' core. A dim light shone through the gemstone, but it wasn't nearly as strong as what Ryan had seen before. It was weak, as though whatever was inside of it was just barely holding on.

[You have found a Fragment of Gaia (1/3)]

[You have become the Keeper of the Garden Golem Spirit Gaia]

[A new domain has become available]

Ryan watched as the fragment of the gemstone fell apart into green threads that burrowed into his palm, flowing through his veins. Once more, Ryan could feel something expand in the back of his mind. It was a new domain, but it was nothing but a blank white space. The fragment carefully floated in its centre.

"...Is this what this class is?" Ryan asked, glancing past the system windows at Maximus, "I kind of figured, but... I'm supposed to help and guide and... protect you guys?"

While he seemed a bit hesitant, it didn't take long until Maximus nodded his head. With a long sigh, Ryan looked up at the ceiling. It wasn't quite what he had expected, but just looking at it from that point of view, he did understand why this had become his class. He had always wanted to help and protect others somehow. First his mom, then his friends. Then other kids at school, and then complete strangers that he saw out on the street. And if this is how that desire manifested... Ryan really didn't mind.

"Alright... So... Gaia then, huh? And a Garden Golem Spirit? I guess I can see the connection... with the monsters in here made from stone and all. They were basically a kind of Golem, but what the hell is a 'Garden Golem'?" Ryan muttered, puzzled, "Do you have any idea where the other two fragments are?"

Maximus quickly shook his head, and Ryan started tapping his foot on the ground, "Alright, I'll look into it. You should be able to tell if we're onto something, right?"

After the quick nod, Ryan smiled and started walking back out of the office. Now that this was dealt with, there was no reason to stay in there. Of course, Maximus quickly followed behind as well. However, as the two were walking back out into the hallway, Ryan could feel his body be surrounded by that thin cloud of glowing dust. He did just find another spirit, so that made sense.

[The -Spirit Domain- Skill has levelled up]

[You have levelled up!]

Ryan stared at the system windows. Levelling up a skill was one thing, but... levelling up himself? Again? Twice in a day? Sure, he was just level three, but it still felt... fast.

"Holy fucking-" Ryan let out involuntarily, as he immediately pulled up his status window.

[Ryan Aglecard] [Age - 19]

[Spirit Keeper | Level - 3 (+1)]

[MP - 23.5 (+2.5)]

[Stats]

-[Dexterity - 1.23 (+0.06)]

-[Intuition - 1.2 (+0.1)]

-[Mana - 0.67 (+0.05)]

-[Sociability - 1.15 (+0.09)]

-[Spirituality 0.61 (+0.06)]

[Skills]

-[Spirit Construction | Level - 3]

-[Spirit Domain | Level - 2 (+1)]

-[Spirit Link | Level - 3]

A broad grin appeared on Ryan's face as he saw the stat improvements. Sure, his Mana and Spirituality were still super low, but his Dexterity, Intuition, and Sociability were rising particularly quickly. The increase in sociability was actually particularly nice, since the higher that stat was, the easier it should be for him to communicate with Maximus, as well as Gaia once Ryan found the other two fragments.

The effects for the Intuition stat were the most unclear to Ryan so far though; it was often described as a sort of 'sixth sense', but Ryan didn't really know what that was supposed to mean. Every stat presented itself slightly different in different people. Less so in physical stats like Strength, for example, but even so, some people felt the stat affect their arms more than their legs, or vice versa. And for mental stats, that kind of thing was far more common, so Ryan had no idea what kind of change he had to expect. Though, it wasn't anything that Ryan would mind, he just had no idea why it increased the most out of all his other stats. Stat increases weren't technically completely random, after all.

But well, Ryan could try and figure all that out once he left the dungeon, anyway. Modak and Silvia won't believe it when he tells them that he's already level 3, and he was more than excited to see their expression.

"Though, they might get a bit mad as well..." Ryan pointed out with a nervous sigh, looking down at his clothes. His shirt was completely ruined now, since he used it to wipe away his blood, but the jacket still seemed fine for now. Despite the large slit in the shoulder, it was better than walking around without anything on, especially since he didn't really want anyone to see his back.

Carefully, Ryan picked up the jacket and pushed his arm through, clenching his teeth as the weight settled on his shoulder. He then squatted down and put as much of the items attached to that jacket into his backpack, and attached the hammer and pickaxe to it again too, throwing it all over his healthy shoulder.

"Let's go," Ryan started walking and Maximus quickly followed. Actually, he was walking ahead so that he could take care of any monsters that might still be walking around. Ryan was navigating with the map on his phone, and since there was less of a need to be quiet than before, it didn't take long until the pair made their way out of the dungeon. Seeing the rainbow hue of the barrier above him was a massive relief, and he was barely able to stop his hand from shaking as he held his Awakened License against the scanner, watching as the reinforced gate opened up.

Ryan stepped out into the road in front of the dungeon. Usually, the air in this part of town would never be something he happily breathed in, but compared to the mana-filled dungeon air, it was almost like being back home.

Immediately, Ryan dropped onto the low, knee-height brick wall at the edge of the road. Maximus jumped up next to him, as Ryan let out a long sigh of relief.

"That was way, way too close for comfort. Next time, we'll prepare longer than a few days... alright?" Ryan suggested, looking over at Maximus as he pulled his phone back out. He quickly dialled a number that he saved in his phone just the other day, holding the phone to his ear. It only took two rings for someone to respond.

"This is Aurora Carlyle speaking. How can I help you, mister Aglecard?" the chirped voice asked from the other side of the speaker, and Ryan quickly explained the situation.

"Yeah, so, I went to my first dungeon today, and I have a few things to report. You told me that I should call you for that, right?"

"Yes, of course. The Awakened Centre and the Dungeon Management Bureau are part of the same larger organization, so I am your go-to person for every Awakened matter. Was there any trouble in the dungeon?" Aurora asked, and Ryan could hear some typing in the background of the call.

"No, nothing like that... well, actually, kind of I guess? Long story short, I found the core room and ended up destroying the dungeon heart. The dungeon was marked for closure, so I figured I should let you guys know so that you can make that happen?" he quickly explained, as the typing on the other side of the call disappeared.

"...Are you positive that you destroyed the dungeon heart?"

"Yep, I got the notification and everything," Ryan replied, "On the way back outside, it seemed like most of the monsters were already too weak to even move, so I guess it's the best time to make it all happen."

"Mister Aglecard, did you bring any anti-mana measures with you to the dungeon?"

"Uhm... no? Not really... is there a problem?"

"It was the 'Abandoned Copper Foundry' dungeon, correct? I will be requesting the DMB's assistance immediately, they should send out a response and first aid team shortly. You only just left the dungeon a minute ago, correct? Please stay nearby and try to avoid moving too much. I will keep you updated on the arrival time of the response team."

Ryan looked at the dungeon's entrance with a light sigh. Maybe he did have a reason to be worried after all.

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