Soul of the Warrior

A piercing beam came screaming out of the dark corridor, forcing Refix to hastily duck down to avoid the sneak attack. His ethereal weapons were swirling about, keeping the horde of little blue monsters at bay, but the sneak attack was timed to perfectly thread through the tiny gap between the surrounding weapons with extreme precision.   "Teilon!" Refix called over his shoulder. "You're up! Time to show us what you've learned." The beam was actually the afterimage from a small stone that had been launched by an enemy ambushing in the distance, and it was Teilon's mission to counterattack.   Teilon nodded his head as he turned to face the wall leading into the corridor. The area beyond the wall was a maze of twisting paths, guarded by hulking monstrosities. The giant ogres weren't intelligent, per se, but they were perfectly built for combat. They were stupid to the max, but their instincts were impeccable. They could seize opportunities in a flash just based on their reflexes that would pass even high Tier 4 Classers by without them even noticing them.   Refix wasn't too worried about the situation. The entire point of the delve was to take the hard lumps of solid foundation that he had been building in Teilon and Kimberly for years and polish them into the sparkling gems he knew they could be. Despite always lagging behind his own son, Reivyn, consistently when they were together, it was undeniable that Teilon and Kimberly were actually extremely talented individuals who had also gotten a lucky break with their conscription.   Refix and his team brought them into the Dungeon they had an access key to in order to mature their training. They had started off by just letting them participate in some simple fights on the higher floors against the Tier 3 enemies that swarmed the place, but Refix had decided it was time to throw them into the waters. He wasn't completely crazy, though, and he was just letting them get their feet wet first. They had upgraded from stepping in a puddle to wading in a pool.   Refix and his team engaged the horde of blue goblins, a considerably more advanced version than the green ones found in the Tier 1 regions. They were still dumb and violent like their cousins, not ever stopping to consider whether simply charging an enemy was a good idea or not, but they were low Tier 4 instead of Tier 1.   The floors of the Dungeon contained monsters in descending order from where you could expect to encounter them. The first ten floors of The Descent, floor six being their current location, contained mutated monsters found in Tier 1 Regions: goblins, orcs, and ogres; and there were hundreds of them.   The next ten floor contained the mutated versions of monsters that could be found in many Tier 2 Regions: ratmen, kobolds, and owlbears. Those monsters were upgraded to Tier 5, getting higher and higher Level within the Tier the further one went down.   Before Reivyn had disappeared, Refix's Party had only been able to reach the 17th floor before having to turn back. Refix had never stopped delving the Dungeon, though, and Ameliyn had once more started going with him when the girls were in school, and they had managed to finally pierce beyond the 19th floor and reach the area containing the Tier 3 mutated monsters.   The third zone of ten floors contained lizaldons, snakemen, and dust devils. Each floor, and Region, followed the same kind of pattern: Swarms of non-sentient, humanoid monsters that were considered the Region's "nuisance" monsters, and they were barely considered sentient. The next step up would be more organized monsters that were sentient but not sapient. And the last type of monster would be a strong brute-type, ones that were often enslaved by the middle-tier, sentient monsters.   The dust devils weren't swirling, mini-tornados like the name would imply. They were horrifying monsters formed of loose sand or dirt that could blend in with any desert environment and wait for their prey to let themselves get surrounded before they gathered together into giant, horned monstrosities bent on extinguishing all warm-blooded life. They had a hard time detecting the life signatures of cold-blooded creatures, so they didn't harass the lizaldons or snakemen of the Regions.   The snakemen were unable to control them like the previous two Tiers of Regions' sentient monsters, but they had learned to make their nests nearby, using them as a kind of defensive measure for anyone that they could either lure to their doom, or those that were seeking them out to eliminate them.   These monsters weren't just found in desert regions, either. They were the main monsters found in most Tier 3 Regions. There were different variants of them depending on the climate of the Region they were found in, though.   Refix and his Party had only briefly encountered the mutated versions of those monsters. Refix was strong enough, individually, to push further, but one of the mainstays of his Class was teamwork and leadership. He was the Embodiment of Righteousness, and he stood strong against the pressing threats. He also helped build up those around him.   It wasn't just because Reivyn was his son that he worked so hard in helping develop his Skills. It was his nature. Likewise, he wouldn't abandon his companions to delve further into the Dungeon alone. He would make sure they could follow him every step of the way.   Teilon continued walking toward the wall without slowing. Instead of slinking into the shadows to try and sneak his way down the hallway where the mutated ogre was waiting, he simply walked right through the wall. His unique experience in the Revenant Dungeon where he had been possessed by the Spectre that phased him through the pillar hadn't just opened up a variant Tier 2 Class. It had unlocked an entire branch of Classes, culminating in his Tier 4 Class, Spectral Walker. His unique Skill Set, with his earlier training in Stealth and Sneak Attack Skills, had allowed him to develop into an infiltration expert.   "Kimberly, standby," Refix turned his head and called out to Teilon's fiance. Kimberly nodded her head and walked up to the spot where Teilon had just phased through the wall.   While Teilon had continued down the path of the rogue, expanding on his abilities to move and reach inaccessible places, Kimberly had continued down the path of the vanguard. Despite still having the frame of a fairly petite young lady, her Skills and Stats ensured that she was a compact juggernaut. She wasn't decked out in extremely heavy armor from head to toe like Refix's companion, though. Her experiences with medium and light armor, and dancing about the battlefield, had led her down a path of an Evasion expert.   She could take a hit, but that wasn't how she operated. Teilon's maneuverability and unpredictability synergized extremely well with Kimberly's Shimmer Spear Class. Teilon wasn't just able to phase through solid walls. Ever since he had unlocked his Mana Skills at reaching Tier 4, he had gained the ability to do short teleports.   Kimberly would hold the attention of the enemies, not just because she was in their face with her spear, but her Dancing had a unique Charm to it all their own. Her Class also provided her with a superior, intrinsic increase in her Charisma Stat. The glinting of light off of her armor and weapons, as well as the twirling and rhythmic movements of her Dance, enraptured the enemies, even if they were of the less-than-sentient variety.   Kimberly would sway about the battlefield, moving about in her own chaotic order, and Teilon, after years of practicing together, was able to appear and disappear at random, always aiming for the perfect time and place to land an unexpected strike on the enemy.   Refix had seen countless iterations of Kimberly attracting the attention of any enemy with Teilon waiting in the background to strike. He was testing their ability to switch it up in this particular instance. A Tier 4 mutated Ogre would have been a bit difficult for Kimberly to engage in with their traditional method, but if Teilon was able to bypass its defenses and critically wound it, first, they would be able to gain the upper hand safely.   Refix had intentionally brought them to an intersection in The Descent where he knew there was one of these ogres waiting to ambush a Party that was engaged with the blue goblin horde roaming about in front of the maze. Refix and his teammates were acting as if they were just slightly superior to the Tier 4 blue goblins, around the same level as Teilon and Kimberly, and he hoped that the added pressure of the scenario would focus the two younger delvers.   A roar, quickly followed by a higher-pitched yip, came from down the hall.   "Go, go, go!" Refix Commanded.   Kimberly leapt out from her hiding spot and charged down the hallway. Refix followed at a distance where he could observe her and Teilon's fight without interfering, dragging the little blue menaces trying to reach him along with him.   Kimberly charged at a blue ogre facing Teilon with an enraged look on its face. She leapt forward, careful to not overextend herself, and pierced it in the side with her spear. The ogre was about to ignore the second fly that had shown up to bother it, continuing its attack on Teilon, but Teilon suddenly disappeared from its vision. Kimberly took the opportunity to prick its thick hide several more times as it looked back and forth for its first target. It quickly lost all thoughts about Teilon and focused on Kimberly.   Refix nodded his head as Kimberly began her deadly dance with the foe, twirling about and distracting it with her Charm Dance. The glinting of the metallic armor and weapons didn't just help to hold its attention, but it also distracted it in a way where it miscalculated where to swing its giant, spiked club. Kimberly danced about the corridor, always moving her body just the right distance to avoid any attacks haphazardly launched her way. Teilon popped in and out, slicing and stabbing with his long daggers.   Another roar came from the end of one of the branching corridors in the maze, and a second ogre came charging down the hall. Teilon popped up in front of it, swinging low to trip the monster, causing it to collapse and roll several feet down the hall. Teilon took the opportunity to descend on it, leaving long gashes in its neck and stab wounds in its joints. The vitality of a mutated ogre was tremendous, however, and he wasn't able to deliver a fatal blow in such short order.   The ogre leapt to its feet and swung its spiked club at Teilon. Teilon hopped back, disappearing into the wall, and the spiked club smashed into the wall where he had been. A large dent, with long fissures extending out of the small crater, was left in the wake of the blow.   Teilon re-materialized on the other side of Kimberly, and another short hop allowed him to pop out once more right behind a third ogre rushing around a different corner. His dagger bit deep into its kidney, and it howled in pain. Before it could turn and swipe at Teilon, he once more moved back to the first enemy that he and Kimberly had engaged.   Kimberly confused the first ogre enough to cause it to way overextend, its spiked club smashing into the ground from an overhead attack, and Kimberly thrust her spear deep into its throat. Teilon materialized next to her, and he crossed her stab with one of his own from the other direction. Blood fountained out of the ogre's neck, and it collapsed forward onto the ground, dead.   Kimberly didn't miss a beat as the second ogre charged over, and she once more captured its attention with her deft movements. The third ogre quickly joined the fray, but it didn't phase Kimberly at all. Not only was she still able to easily avoid the devastating attacks directed her way, but she was able to smoothly integrate the body of the first ogre into her dodging.   She rolled over the corpse at one point, and a club pierced into the thick skin of the deceased ogre, getting momentarily caught. Teilon had blown through a lot of his Mana pool with all of the quick teleportations he had done, but that didn't mean he didn't still have his more basic abilities to move in and out of a fight to strike at opportunities. He used the small delay to move in and lacerate the ogre's back and jab at its knees.   Refix was extremely pleased with the performance of the two youths, and he nodded his head when Teilon quickly identified the intrusion of other combatants and quickly dealt initial damage to them to reduce their combat efficiency. The battle against the remaining two ogres lasted another couple of minutes, but they ultimately fell to the accumulated damage caused by the duo.   Once they were done, and he no longer heard the sounds of combat coming from behind him, Refix quit playing around with the blue goblins, and his ethereal arsenal chopped them into bits.   "Fantastic work, you two," Refix clapped his hands as his other teammates walked up to the trio. "I do believe it's time to incorporate the two of you into the actual group fights. We'll keep it slow and steady so that you can build a better combat rapport with the team, but it's definitely earned. I think you'll start to see your stagnated Skills once more begin to increase, and your contributions will net you additional Experience from the delves."   "About time!" Teilon said, throwing his head back in relief. "I feel like I've been training since the day I could walk!"   "Who said we're done training?" Refix gave Teilon a confused look, one that expressed, "you must be out of your mind."   "Not done training?" Teilon exclaimed in exasperation. Kimberly nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, a smirk on her face.   "Training is never done," Refix grinned. "Now you just have to work for real, too.   "C'mon, let's go."   Teilon sighed to the chuckles of the other Party members as they shuffled off deeper into the maze.         "Mom, look!" Kailey exclaimed, getting Ameliyn's attention.   Ameliyn looked up to see her daughter stride into the living room wearing a black leather dress. Despite the materials used, the dress was flowing and flexible just like one made from the finest cloth. Ameliyn watched as her daughter twirled, the skirt shooting out around her, and her eye's widened as she hastily threw up a Mana Shield to block Wind Blades that shot out with the spinning skirt.   Ameliyn was about to shout in outrage, anticipating the destruction of her fine living room from the unexpected Spell, when the Mana was sucked across the room toward her other daughter, Riley, as she waltzed into the room behind her sister. She held a folded fan in her hand, and the Mana was sucked into the instrument, accumulating in Ameliyn's sight along the ridges of the implement. Riley opened the fan, and the Mana from the Wind Blades dispersed into a refreshing breeze as she fanned herself with it.   "Do you think brother will like this fan?" Riley asked Ameliyn, her and Kailey's eyes clear and bright.   Their innocent expressions couldn't hide the wicked glint of mischief sparkling in the corner of their eyes, though, and Ameliyn's mouth formed a line of displeasure.   "How many times do I have to tell the two of you, no magic in the house?!" Ameliyn reprimanded.   Riley and Kailey shared a mirthful look before they burst out in laughter. They both skipped over to the couch and sat down on either side of the couch, inviting their mother to join them by sitting in the center. Ameliyn rolled her eyes and obliged, lowering herself onto the couch. Riley and Kailey giggled as they each grabbed an arm to hug to themselves.   "You didn't answer the question!" Riley accused, swaying Ameliyn's arm back and forth.   "And not just the fan," Kailey added, swaying the other arm. "Do you think he'll like the clothes we've sewn?"   The two twins had continued to refine their magical crafting abilities over the years. Not only were they more potent, but the attributes they could ascribe to their creations had greatly diversified to the point where they had actual magical abilities all on their own, as clearly shown by their newest additions.   Gone were the vague attributes. Ameliyn wouldn't be surprised if Kailey's dress not only could execute Wind Blades from twirling, but could also shoot lightning bolts out of the buttons. She suspected that the dress also contained Stat increases that would put Reivyn's magic armor to shame. She surreptitiously spied the complicated runic weaves incorporated with the thread running all through the dress.   Riley's fan had not only sucked in the wind blades conjured by Kailey, but Ameliyn had also felt a tug on her own Mana Shield, as well. It wasn't strong enough to wrest control away from her, but she didn't know if that was because Riley hadn't put much effort in, or if the fan was too weak to do so, still. She wouldn't have been surprised if Riley had actually been capable of sucking her own Mana away as well. She had acted in haste and hadn't established anything truly solid, after all.   "Your brother would be over the moon to get anything made by the two of you," Ameliyn answered. "Those new pieces are quite impressive. Is there a specific reason you made them?"   "They were part of our entrance project to the Magic Academy," Kailey said.   "I know we still have close to eight months before we can officially enroll, but we should be Tier 2 long before then," Riley said.   The two girls were preparing to gain entrance into the Quron Magic Academy. Refix and Ameliyn had basically accepted Teilon and Kimberly into their family as godchildren, and they had moved along with them as they had advanced from the Tier 1 Knight Academy all the way to the Tier 4 Knight Academy in the Quron Empire.   They were beyond the initial three years required to graduate from the Academy, but they had been selected to advance once again for post-graduate training. It was considerably more difficult to secure a quota position for post-graduate training even from the students of the Quron Academy, much less from the Academies located in Pernius.   It was a testament to Refix's nurturing, as well as Teilon and Kimberly's natural talent and effort.   Ameliyn had been slightly apprehensive about the Tier 1 Classes her two daughters would unlock. They weren't particularly trying to hide their status, but it was always better to not have to answer questions if they didn't have to. Reivyn had skipped right over the problem when he had been conscripted.   Ameliyn wouldn't have been surprised if Kailey and Riley had simply unlocked the Common Citizen Tier 1 Class, but she was equal parts apprehensive and expectant that they would unlock the Rare Princess Tier 1 Class, as she had.   That wasn't what had happened, though. Something that she had never heard of, nor could she have anticipated, had occurred.   Both of the girls had unlocked Regal Artificer.   And it was Epic.   As far as Ameliyn knew, like everyone else in existence, it was literally impossible to get a higher Rarity than Rare in Tier 1 and 2 without manipulating the System in a similar manner to how Reivyn had. Nobody had an intrinsically Epic Tier 1 Class. Not only that, but it indicated it wasn't a simple introductory Class. Every Tier 1 Class, until the twins, was just a representation of a blank slate dependent more on their parents' status than their own.   Ameliyn and Refix had been prepared to shoulder any questions about their daughters being Princesses, but they were not prepared for the storm that would follow the revelation of the existence of an Epic Tier 1.   Ameliyn had used her connections to send a message to Josn, asking him to petition the Church of Light to help the sister of a "Friend of the Church." Josn hadn't let them down, and without even asking the reasons why, he had leveraged his reputation in the Church that he had been able to develop since the Dungeon Break to get them a meeting with the Cardinal of the Quron Cathedral.   They had been completely upfront about their entire life experience with the Cardinal. They knew that they couldn't fib or obfuscate anything, anyway, and they would get a much more favorable impression if they just volunteered the truth.   The Cardinal had been stoic throughout the story, having lived the majority of his life in a Tier 4 Region himself, but even he had been shocked at the final revelation. He had told them that he needed to pray to Mierna for the right answer, and Ameliyn and Refix had been nervous about what that could have meant.   Their nervousness, however, wasn't needed. The Cardinal, even though he was extremely politically savvy, was a true believer. When he had said he needed to pray, he had meant it literally. A week later, two pendants had been delivered to their residence with his greetings. Ameliyn had been relieved to find that the pendants had a transcendent obfuscation Spell attached to them.   Anyone with an Observation or Identify Skill, and all magical devices of similar nature, below a Skill Level of 110 wouldn't be able to pierce the shroud. The pendants would simply display that the girls were Rare Nobles, a not-unheard of Class for recently deposed Royalty.   The two parents had had one worry alleviated, but now they were worried that their daughters would blab the truth to their friends. They had broken out of their little twin-bubble a long time ago, and they had developed into quite the little socialites. Ameliyn and Refix had once more no need to be worried, though, as it turned out that the girls almost exclusively talked about Reivyn to their friends.   That had brought a sad smile to Ameliyn's face when she had discovered it. She still had the soul stone, now half-white and half-black, to reassure her of her son's continued existence, but it had been so long since she had held her little boy, much less seen him.   It had been a tense time when Reivyn's soul stone had continued to darken over the years. Ameliyn had once more been on edge and frantic with worry until it had finally stopped changing and the little orbs within the larger soul stone had begun to move about in perfect harmony with each other. That change had only happened a few weeks ago, but after nothing else had happened, Ameliyn was finally able to calm down. She couldn't imagine what her son had gone through to elicit such a strange change in his soul.   Ameliyn was about to continue the topic of the upcoming admissions for her girls when the front door slammed open and Refix came sprinting inside. Teilon and Kimberly followed him inside in a more orderly manner, but she could practically see their bodies vibrating with pent-up energy. Ameliyn frowned at her husband as he rushed into the house.   "This is highly improper..." Ameliyn began to rebuke Refix for acting like a child, but she stopped short when she saw the huge grin on his face.   "There's been word of Reivyn!" He clasped Ameliyn's hands in his own. Kailey and Riley gasped beside her as Ameliyn's heart began to pound. It felt like Refix was taking an eternity to continue his message, though it had only been literally one second.   "Hurry! Tell me!" Ameliyn practically shouted, impatient for her husband to continue. Refix was unfazed, and he didn't even pause at the outburst from his wife.   "The Headmaster of the Garoq Magic Academy received a System Notification informing him of an official Transfer of Reivyn to the Tier 4 Wispan Magic Academy!"   "That's fantastic news!" Ameliyn leaped off the couch into her husband's arms, hugging him tightly. They stayed like that for a moment before Ameliyn calmed down and pulled back, a frown on her face. "But, where's Wispan?'   "I have no idea!" Refix replied, the grin still on his face.