Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 25 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

I'm getting close to finishing the first draft of this story! We'll be ending with the assault on and liberation of Buena Vista! 

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***
It took them only fifteen minutes to drive to the dungeon location. County road 300 would take them most of the way, but the time since the apocalypse hadn’t been kind to it. “I guess that’s why we’re building a new road and not just using this one,” Liz commented when they had to carefully drive around another sinkhole.

“That and this turns several times. A straight shot will be better in the long run,” David said. “At least, that’s what Josiah and Michelle said.”

“It probably would have been faster to walk,” Colin said.

“True, but this way we get to test out my new wheels,” David said. “And hauling the mining cart would have been a pain. Hey, at least you can do some Skill training!” There were two windows on each side of the cab, and they all opened up. Colin had been amusing himself by trying to blast specific limbs of trees with his Mana Bolt Skill.

They pulled off county road 300 into the dry stream bed that came out of Browns Canyon, the truck crunching snow that hadn’t quite melted yet, even with the forcible raising of temperatures the Essence Wave caused. The windshield frosted over slightly, and David scrambled to get the defrost setting set up. Rather than blowing air, it used a tiny amount of Energy to remove, heating the glass directly. A film of Mana coated the outside to keep it clear.

He dodged trees, finding gaps just big enough for the vehicle several times, before they reached a larger clearing. It was immediately obvious where the dungeon was. A large cave opening had formed, butting out of the ground ostentatiously. A flickering golden-blue shield covered the entire opening to the cave. “Seneschal, we need to make a road out this direction as well,” David said. “The ground is very broken up, and hauling large quantities of metal will be impractical without it.”

“Got it,” Josiah said. “The group from Salida should be here in two hours. I’ll split Steve’s crew in half and reinforce them with volunteers.”

“Thanks! I’ll let you know once we finish the dungeon,” David replied. “Over and out.”

They pulled the truck next to the dungeon entrance and piled out of it. Colin and Liz picked the mining cart out of the bed, and David passed out the picks. Liz wanted the Inscribed one, as Colin had no desire to really get into mining. While the others examined the cart to see what they needed to do to make it work, David sat and used the Knowledge Stone.

One minute later, he opened his eyes. “I know kung fu, or Mining anyway!” He checked his Status to see he’d gotten a Mining Skill up to Initiate 4, with the ten Essence reward for the jump from Novice to Initiate. He popped into his core cave to examine the Skill rune. “Huh. Those are starting to crowd. I guess there is a limit to the number of Skills I can have and I’m approaching it. I’ll have to see if I can combine more Skills to make room!”

He returned his consciousness to the outside, and saw that everyone was waiting on him. “Ready?” Aly asked.

“Let’s go!” David said. He formed his sword and shield. Colin made his halberd, then frowned at it. After a few seconds, he’d shortened it to only slightly shorter than he was tall rather than extending a good meter over his head. Aly’s spear seemed to suck in the light around it as she empowered it with her Shadow Mana. Liz’s weapon seemed to be made of wood, and with a flick of her wrist it stretched another meter before sinking back to its normal size.

Just before the barrier, David stopped and looked back to see that Colin and Aly had formed a triangle with him. Liz stood in the middle, ready to support or heal as needed. He stepped forward, only to be met with a menu.

Do you wish to enter: Hope’s Refuge Dungeon of Metal Production?

Yes/No

Note! You are significantly more powerful than recommended for this dungeon1

Recommendation: Five people of level 4.

Due to your excessive power level, all Essence gain will be repurposed to grow Hope’s Refuge Dungeon of Metal Production!

“Well,” David said with a shrug, “We won’t get any Essence for running the dungeon, but it will power the dungeon more.”

“Eh,” Colin said. “Not like we’d get that much for a couple of Imps and Gremlins.”

“We’re just exploring now,” Liz said. “Didn’t you say that we wanted to use as much Mana and Energy in the dungeon as we could to help it grow?”

“Yup, good point,” David said. “We probably would have picked this if it was an option anyway, just surprised me. Well, yes, we want to enter the dungeon. Wait one minute, let me scout it out. I’ll come back out if it seems like something is unexpected.”

A chorus of acknowledgments greeted his pronouncement. He stepped through the shimmering barrier. It felt like walking through a curtain of ice cold water naked, since the sensation ignored the armor that he wore. The room they entered into was a dimly lit cave that extended maybe twelve meters long and five meters wide. A small gold line made a circle only a meter ahead of them.

The Gremlins ambled about in a clearing between one of the half dozen stalagmites that stretched to meet the same number of stalactites hanging from the three meter tall ceiling. Behind them, the Grunt glared at the tiny Daemons, grunting at them every once in a while. None of them reacted to his presence, even though he was only five meters away.

The light in the area was strange, seeming to come from everywhere, but he couldn’t pinpoint any specific thing that made the light. Heh, something that the books were right about, David thought, thinking back to some of the DungeonCore books that he’d read. He charged a Mana Bolt and shot it at one of the Gremlins, but the bolt dissipated against a barrier above the golden line.

“Looks like we’re in a safe area for the start but you can’t attack out of it,” David told the others when they followed him. “I’m assuming as soon as one of us steps across the line we’ll be attacked.”

“How many was it?” Aly asked.

“Six Gremlins and a Grunt,” David answered. He stepped forward. As soon as he crossed the safe line, all of the Gremlins turned their ugly heads towards him and screeched. They sprinted at him, the ungainly movement slightly disturbing.

Two were bowled over by Mana Bolt’s, and then a Mana Grenade from Liz and Colin blew apart the rest. Colin Sprinted past David, then slammed his halberd into the Grunt’s chest through its raised arms. “Well, that was easy,” Aly said.

“The message did say we were grossly overpowered for the dungeon as it is right now,” David said. He walked around the edge of the cavern-like room. “No metal deposits here, at least none that I can identify with my Initiate Mining Skill.”

“On to the next one?” Aly asked.

“Let’s go!” David acknowledged. They walked to the opening that was directly in front of the entrance from outside. The golden safety line was at the end of a very short hallway. Beyond was a maze of stalagmites and stalactites. Flickers of motion throughout the room let them know the Gremlins and Imps in this room would try ambushing them.

It didn’t matter. David slapped a Gremlin that leapt at him the second he stepped into the room with a Shield Bash. It splattered, dead instantly. Two Mana Grenades were thrown. One hit the ceiling and sent two Imps spiraling to the ground. They didn’t make it. The other blew apart a Gremlin and caused another to ram head first into a stalagmite. In less than a minute, they’d cleared the entire room.

Again, David didn’t find any ore deposits on the walls. He even tried to break apart a stalagmite, but nothing was inside. “Well, hopefully we find something in the next room,” he grumbled.

The Alpha lasted all of ten seconds, the Gremlins with him dying instantly when the Mana Grenades hit. The Imps lasted only another minute, with the last one trying to ambush Liz from hiding only to be stuck into the ceiling with a Wooden Spike.

A glimmering crystal appeared at the end of the room, only a tenth the size of the City Crystal.

Congratulations! You have cleared the Hope’s Refuge Dungeon of Metal Production!

You are the first to clear it! Enhanced rewards!

Reward: 500kg (strike through) 880kg of Copper. 60kg 120 kg of Tin.

The wall to the right of the entrance shimmered, and then little bits of copper poked out. To the left of the entrance a smaller area suddenly gained an area of tin ore. “Alright,” David said. “Let’s get some ore.”

“I’ll go pull in the cart,” Aly said, running back up the path they'd taken to get there.

David pulled out his Inscribed pick, then stood like his Skill prompted to. He activated Strengthen and Earthen Bulwark, trying to train the latter Skill, and slammed the pick in the location his Mining Skill indicated.

“Okay, watch how I swing,” he said, keeping his strikes slow and even. “But only if you want to get the Skill. If you don’t, I can get this done in like an hour. I do think there are limits to how many Skills we can have.”

“If I just smash the wall, will I get the Skill?” Colin asked.

“No idea,” David said.

He kept hacking away, occasionally scooping the broken ore backwards. Aly was using a shovel to scoop the ore into the cart. Colin beat upon the other wall, each hit a tiny bit more effective, but it never seemed to be the unnatural progression that the System’s Skills would produce.

“Heh, doing the work and thinking that I didn’t want the Skill made the System give me a prompt asking if I wanted it. When I turned it down, I was told that I’d never be able to get the Mining Skill afterwards, but that I could still do better by my own actions,” Colin said, gloating.

“Awesome,” David said. “That means you get to help until we’re done!”

It took nearly an hour, with Liz jumping in to help smash at the wall once Colin had taken the Skill risk. Aly kept busy scooping every bit into the cart. Once they were done, David nodded to the crystal. “Thank you!” He said. He and Colin grabbed onto the cart’s handles and pulled. It was easier than he thought it would be.

“We’re pulling a cart with a metric ton of ore, and it feels like I’m pulling a wheelbarrow of wood,” David said.

“Is that what the weight feels like? You know, we don’t have a wood stove in our house,” Colin said.

“I’m just hoping my house is still standing,” David said. “We’ve got a bunch of mementos I’d like to keep, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Colin said, his face falling. “I just want to know if my parents are okay? Liz’s are in New York, so I doubt we’d find out anytime soon, but mine live in Castle Rock. What is Denver like?”

“I don’t know,” David said. “My family’s in Florida. Aly’s lives in Cambodia doing mission work. How’re we ever to determine if they’re okay?” He took a deep breath. “I’ve been distracting myself and focusing on getting stronger and providing for everyone in the city. We got lucky, meeting Al and getting these suits. We’re the strongest people in the world, most likely. With great power comes great responsibility.” David shook his head forcefully. “I don’t have time to collapse in existential dread for my loved ones.”

“Yeah, I know,” Colin said with a sigh. “I feel the same way. That’s why I’m complaining to you, since you understand.”

“Come on,” David said. “Let’s get this to the entrance and see what it says about running it again.”

“Sure thing,” Colin grinned. They both engaged Strengthen at the same time, then jogged up the slight slope the dungeon had adopted to its further rooms.

They crossed the boundary into the sunshine, the blue sky more green as the Essence Wave continued to mess with the light from the sun. With a grunt of effort, they dragged the cart the last few meters to get it out of the dungeon. “So, are we going to do that again?” Liz asked.

“Let’s see how long until the dungeon resets,” David said. Nothing popped up when he touched the glowing sheet that covered the entrance. He tried to look through any menus he had, but nothing popped up. Finally, on a whim, he used Scholar’s Vision.

Name: Metal Gathering Dungeon of Hope’s Refuge

Tier 1 Level 1

Current Status: Cleared

Dungeon Refresh: 3/180 Dungeon Essence

Dungeon Level: 1,124/25,000 Dungeon Essence

Speed up Refresh and Leveling by using Mana and Energy within the dungeon boundary.

Dungeon Refresh passive gain stopped when sapients are present within the dungeon.

“How long has it been since we left?” David asked.

“A few minutes, maybe three,” Colin answered, “Why?”

“Huh, so the Dungeon generates one Dungeon Essence every minute, and needs three hours to fully recharge. We can attempt to speed it up by using Skills inside it, but we stop the passive gain,” David answered.

“Go inside and use some Mana, see what happens,” Aly suggested.

David nodded, then stepped inside. He used Omnicaster to send a flurry of Mana Bolts out of his left hand while casting Strengthen, Power Attack, and Spike Field. He summoned the Spikes, then smashed them, then resummoned them as soon as he could. It took nearly ten seconds before the Skill came off the cool down that some Skills had, the rune not accepting any more Mana until then.

After five minutes of blasting away, he took three steps backwards to get out of the entranceway again. A quick scan made him nod. “Okay, in five minutes I managed to generate nine Dungeon Essence, so it looks like the plan of all four of us using Skills inside will work to speed it up. That’ll also let it level faster. It’s only four and a half percent or so through the first level,” David explained.

“Sounds like a plan,” Aly said. They marched into the cave and found a spot where they could attack the walls or stalagmites without risking hitting each other.

Explosions from deeper in the dungeon told David that Aly and Liz were using their Mana Grenade’s. “Hah, threw mine farther,” Aly taunted.

“We’ll see about that,” Liz muttered, then threw another grenade.

“Mine go farther!” Colin exclaimed, then tossed a Mana Grenade down the hallway, enhancing it with his Mana Bolt Skill to make it fly nearly straight. He was the only one of us to get both of the Mana Skills.

“Cheater!” Aly yelled, and burst out laughing.

‘Have you all noticed that we can’t seem to damage the walls at all?” David asked. “Not even the stalagmites are breaking.” He demonstrated by slamming a merged Power Attack and Vanguards Strike into the pointed rock in front of him. His sword bent around it before the Mana construct broke. A white streak was left on the dark stone, but he reached forward and rubbed it off.

“I could have sworn I broke one of the stalactites in the second room,” Colin said. He turned and ran down the hall. “Yup,” his voice echoed back. “But I can’t scratch what’s left.”

“What about at the harvest spot?” Liz yelled.

“Hold on,” Colin’s voice got quieter as he ran deeper in. Banging sounds clanged up the hallway while the others waited. After a minute, they stopped, and Colin ran back up to them. “So, there is a small layer of lighter gray stone still at the harvest spot where I could break it off, but behind it the walls were the darker gray they are here, and they didn’t take any damage when I hit them with the pick. The pick didn’t either, though, at least the first few times.”

“So, the dungeon seems to be indestructible when we’re not actively fighting Daemons in it,” Aly said. “Neat.”

“Yup,” David said. “Not sure how we can use it, though. Just be aware of what the walls will do to your weapons, and expect ricochets I guess.”

“Back to training?” Liz asked dryly.

“Yup,” David grinned at her.

They cycled through their Skills, burning immense quantities of Mana and Stamina for their levels. David especially, with the enormous increase in his regenerations that his Path gave him, and the stacking first buffs that he’d gotten with each level and a chunk of his Ways. After half an hour, David checked his notifications to see if anything had leveled.

Alright, haven’t checked these in a while, but I also haven’t really done much, he thought. Okay, Hiking up one, Scholar’s Vision up three, nice. Power Attack up one, Mana Bolt two, Strengthen one, Shield Bash three, and Spike Field 2. Not too shabby I guess.

“Alright, check your notifications, then let’s step out and see how long we have to wait,” he told everyone else. A minute later, he Visioned the entrance again. “Only five more minutes.”

“Take a break and have a snack,” Liz said, pulling out protein bars from her storage device. “Drink water too.”

“Yes dear,” Colin said, and then ducked the bar that she threw at him. She apparently knew he would duck, because the bar hit him in the forehead anyway. David and Aly shook their heads at their antics. Five minutes later, the golden-blue shield flared brightly and became brighter. David only then noticed that it had dropped in brightness, hard to distinguish against the midday sun.