Zero Potential: Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Chapter 15

There it was, a sign that even more events from her past had changed. At her feet was a glowing golden circlet that rolled as if propelled by magic, from the disappearing dust of a head, and landed right at Terra’s feet.

That is when she looked at the item.

Benevolent Crown of the Once and Future Queen (Fully Charged): Binds Upon Pickup. Grants the wielder + II Tiers to all Social Skills. Will turn invisible upon wearing. (Hidden Information: Will turn into a Corrupted Crown, if not wielded by the true slayer of the final dungeon boss).

Seeing the hidden message, Terra’s eyes went wide with shock.

All this time she had been expecting the crown to be a Corrupted Crown from the very start, but according to the item, it would only turn into a Corrupted Crown, if it was not wielded by the original person who performed the final death blow to the once and future king.

“How?” Was all Terra managed to say, after reading the description of the item. According to this, she could easily grab the crown right now, gain a permanent two tier increase to all Social skills. Better still, the crown, unlike all the other items gained thus far, was already fully charged. In fact, she could see the fully charged power core on the circlet, it was a large glowing emerald that sat at the exact center of the circlet.

Silence.

Terra just stared at the circlet for a moment, before her mind began putting together the pieces. Professor Helga was new, granted she was in charge of the F Class students, but after the first few weeks when the F Class students invariably washed out, Helga should have been reassigned to the higher-level classes. This was the way the Academy worked, as gradually more and more teachers filtered up the ranks, trying to help out with roles and responsibilities around campus. The fact that Helga had been absent in all of her previous lives implied that she had been permanently removed from the time loop before Terra arrived.

Badump, badump.

“Did they kill her, trying to take the crown for themselves? Only to then cause the crown to become a Corrupted Crown?” Terra found herself asking.

Silence.

Of course, no one would answer her, as apparently no one knew of the past lives that she spoke of. Worse, the more this life went on, the harder it was for Terra to even identify common events. Even the coursework seemed to be more laxed as there was no impending war with the neighboring kingdoms to worry about.

As she stood there, Terra felt the weight of the two ghostly daggers still being gripped tightly in her hands, as her hands crushed the bone of the previous dungeon construct in place, even now. Looking at the daggers, and then the crown, an idea came to her.

“Dungeon, can I exchange the crown for its power source and these two daggers?” Terra asked, unwilling to let go of her stolen trophies thus far. While the sword might have been a better overall option given her training, she was adept at wielding all weapons, and dual wielding daggers was no exception to that. Also, these daggers appeared to be made of Obsidian Steel, a metal that was able to channel magical energy. Making them both strong and durable for Terra’s preferred fighting style of using both weapons and magic simultaneously. This was why she often went with a one-handed sword for offense, as that left her a free hand to cast. Yet, these daggers made it so she could both dual cast and dual wield at the same time.

With these daggers, Terra felt that her fighting capabilities would be exponentially improved, and right from the start, versus having to go and find similar crafting materials and make something like this for herself. Of course, nothing would ever replace Obsidian Steel, as the process to make such a rare metal had long since been lost to time.

Just when she was about to give up on the notion, a system prompt appeared within her mind.

Change Condition Registered: You wish to exchange prize: Benevolent Crown of the Once and Future Queen (Fully Charged), for the Arcane power source fueling the Benevolent Crown, and the two Obsidian Steel daggers currently in your possession? Yes, or no?

Seeing the message, Terra smiled brightly. First, she was surprised that the dungeon even bothered to consider this deal. Second, her feelings were correct in that these daggers were in fact Obsidian Steel, the famed metal whose true value was undeterminable.

“Yes.” Terra said, quickly speaking her thoughts trying to make the great dungeon commit to this line of thinking.

As she spoke a second message came to her.

Calculating.

Challenge difficulty: 8 of 10.

Speed: 10 of 10.

Ambient Energy provided during course run: 11 of 10.

Conditions needed to change: -2.

Condition threshold met for acceptable change parameters.

Terra was a bit shocked to see the logic of the great dungeon shown to her like this, though she partly wondered if this was due to her now fully charged Burning Eye of the Tiger that granted her this additional insight into the workings of the dungeon. Regardless of why she could now see the logic, Terra felt slightly relieved that her words had been heard and accepted.

Reclaiming unused resources.

With that message, the crown and the two hands that Terra had been desperately gripping onto began to fade away.

Clatter.

Well, the entire crown faded away, except for the arcane power stone. A stone that used to be powering said crown but was now bouncing slightly against the dungeon floor.

Additionally, the two daggers within her hands now felt like they were real. While the summoned hands that had been wielding them were removed, the overall feel of the blades felt oddly good within her hands. As it almost felt like the hilts themselves had been slightly modified to fit her unique grips.

Smiling to herself, she ran the blades through her academy uniform beltloop. With both blades in place, she placed them then continued watching them for a moment, almost expecting them to dissolve into the air, the way they always had in the past.

“This is awesome.” Terra said, excitedly, as the blades she had always treasured were now hers. Better still, there was an unused arcane power source right there at her feet. A power source that she quickly picked up before the dungeon decided she didn’t want the item.

Just holding the item, she felt the passive nature of her Burning Eye of the Tiger activate, showing that the arcane power source was at 100% capacity. It was also clear from the way this power readout was shown, that when she was able to read out the dungeon’s response to her, it was all due to this eye being empowered.

Pausing, Terra wondered why Professor Chan never took full advantage of this eye before. He was the one who told Terra about the ability to barter with any dungeon you enter.

***

“If your heart is pure, and free from greed, you will be allowed to barter and even haggle with a dungeon. However, if your heart is full of sin, particularly the sin of killing a fellow delver, you will forever be denied this option by the great dungeons.” Professor Chan had said to a young Terra in a past life.

***

At the time, Terra thought he was just quoting some ancient tomes, but what if he had been speaking from his own person experiences, then that would mean…

Just thinking about the prospect of Professor Chan striking down any fellow delvers seemed odd. As the Professor Chan that Terra knew was completely honorable, but what if he had been trying to atone for a previous sin?

“Did he? No, he couldn’t have…” Terra trailed off her thoughts, and then quickly looked around. Only after she realized she was still by herself did she let out a sigh of relief. Only the dungeon had seen her, and fortunately the dungeon was not one to talk to strangers.

Still holding the arcane power source within her hand, she wondered if she should keep it, for one of the many different unpowered soul bound artifacts that would be found in the coming years.

Twitch.

Just as she held that thought, she felt the weight of her unused Arcane Staff of the Elements weighing heavily against her back.

Just as she was debating whether she should use the arcane power source on her staff, the dungeon presented her with an option that all but made up her mind for her.

Dungeon Checkpoint Met.

Would you like to continue down? Or take the hidden exit up?

In her mind, she looked to the side wall, a wall where in her past life there was a quick dungeon exit that was only traversable if she had completed the one hundredth floor of the dungeon. Now she was given a new chance to push herself even further, with challenges that she had never faced before.

The thought simultaneously excited her, while also made her realize two things. First, she knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that she would go further into the depths of the dungeon. As she figured that the previous delvers that originally conquered the hundredth floor in her past lifetimes had never been offered the chance of going further. Particularly if the dungeon itself witnessed delvers killing other delvers.

The second fact that Terra knew was that with her going further into the dungeon, she would need every advantage possible to her. With that in mind, she pulled out her soul bound Arcane Staff of the Elements, and inserted her arcane power source into the staff.

Thrum.

Instantly, Terra felt the swelling of power coursing deep within her bones as the staff lit up with its true potential. Then she felt it, the moment her fully powered Burning Eye of the Tiger saw, and then synchronized with her fully powered Arcane Staff of the Elements.

Soul Bound Item integration:

Burning Eye of the Tiger: Effect: +II Tiers to Omniscient Gaze, +II Tiers to Analyzing Combat Pattern, +II Tiers to Identify Hidden Assailant, and +II Tiers to Tracking Prey.

Arcane Staff of the Elements: Effect: Elemental Mastery Tier II, Elemental Casting Range X2.

Item Compatibility noted: Burning Eye of the Tiger’s visual range has doubled and is now able to identify magical elements. Arcane Staff of the Elements now able to automatically target hidden items or people. Spells channeled through the staff are now able to hit moving targets.

Seeing the changes that overcame her items, a thrill of excitement ran down Terra’s spine, as this was not something she had ever heard about in her past life. Nor was it something that she thought she would be able to mimic by gathering items from different dungeons. No, this was a feat that was only possible due to her going deeper into this dungeon by herself. Then a smile came to her face as she imagined what other items, she could gain by daring to delve deeper into this dungeon.

Now fueled by the thrill of the unknown and filled with the ideas of unknown but linking treasures, Terra confidentiality made her decision.

“Continue.”

Skreech.

With that one word, the door the opening in the wall that had previously led to the outside world now opened, but rather than pointing up, this door led down. A fact that was confirmed by the glowing stones that lit up the sides of a descending stairwell, something that if viewed from far enough away would almost appear like you would be going straight to the underworld.

Seeing that a new challenge awaited her, she began making her way forward, but was once again met with another prompt.

Would you like to continue with Survival Mode?

Seeing the message, Terra smiled maniacally and answered, “yes.”

Final Ten Floors unlocked on Survival Mode.

Then with that, Terra was finally allowed to enter into floor 101 of the dungeon, going to a place she had never known existed in her past life. As she strode forward, she was prepared to this next set of challenges wherever the dungeon allowed her to go.

Badump, badump, badump.

Her heartbeat wildly, while she could only force calm slowing breaths in, all while she imagined the future challenges that awaited her.

***

On the surface, yet another earthquake was felt.

“What is happening?” Panic students screamed.

Then a moment later they were met with a dungeon message, letting everyone know what had in fact happened deep below.

Challenger has successfully completed the first major obstacle on floor 100, using Survival Mode.

Know that now and forever to go beyond floor 50 of this dungeon, you too will have to traverse take on the challenge in Survival Mode as well.

Then below the message, was an updated counter, so constant was the notice that everyone mostly ignored the message that could be minimized to fit into the bottom right corner of one’s periphery if they were so inclined. Though at the moment, everyone on floor number one had their marker thrust forward into the center of their vision.

Furthest explored floor: 101.

“What the? Was it that Trash girl?”

“I can’t be. There must have been someone already down there clearing the paths for us.”

As the students bickered amongst themselves, and as the shock of yet another minor earthquake was felt and then discarded, everyone was met with yet another message.

Furthest explored floor: 102.

***

Far away, a congregation of the most powerful seers who had devoted their lives to stopping the next calamity from occurring saw their crystal momentarily flash black for a moment, before once again calmly dissipating to a dense silver smoke.

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t know, it looks like the challenges and temptations of power are just beginning, and rather than fully turning away from all temptation, they have decided to press onward.”

“So they have not been fully consumed by evil?”

“For now, though I fear what they might find as they go deeper.”

“What will they find?” The youngest Seer asked.

Hearing the question, all consciousnesses of the elderly Seers turned towards the youngest of their group, the one who took over only after the last Dark one had fully come to their powers.

“They will find the truth…”