The Pinnacle Warrior

Greely

After the turn of events that led to only four delvers remaining of four parties, Greely had lost most of his hope in the Bronze tier being able to get the boon. He had every confidence that Astrid‘s party was the most likely to succeed before they left, but from what little he’d been told by the Healer girl, Chloe, it sounded like her party had been slowed by a debilitating injury to their frontliner for nearly a week before she’d helped them. Perhaps the Wanderers, as they were called now, would have enough time to catch up to the other others, but losing any significant amount of time in the delve was usually an immediate loss of opportunity to get the boon in the Wandering Trials.

Regardless, all that he hoped for was for the party to all survive. Surely they were well past level 37 at this point, and with another year of tending, they could ascend to Steel. At that point, the majority of the dangers that lurked would be able to be largely repelled by their own strength, if they’d gotten the Classes that Chloe seemed to think that they had. She and the other survivors had strong Classes, even among other rare Classes, and they all seemed to think that the Wanderers were head and shoulders above themselves.

“Today is the day that they will get their boons, right?” Chloe asked. Ever since he had, very carefully, explained that it was better for both of them if she didn’t request that anything be reported up the chain of the Guild, she’d been careful with every little thing that she said to him. Though he regretted taking away the sole safe haven that the poor girl felt remained, he thought it was better that she be told that now instead of feeling safe and endangering herself and her saviors due to misplaced confidence. He’d been able to keep himself clean of many of the conflicts that were reigniting and growing in the capital, but Ginnastadt had its claws in everything, whether they were talking about the Guild, the nobles, or the Duchess. Further, some of those deep dwellers who had long been forgotten were reestablishing themselves on the surface, for some reason. There was no telling who to trust, and Greely had hesitated for a short time over if he should even tell the poor girl.

Maybe it was time for him to leave his post and try to complete this evolution quest soon. He knew that there was a good chance it would prove to be his death, but every level in Adamantium would provide more attributes and take him a step closer to getting another Skill, and that was a risk that now he felt he had to take to protect these poor children. But what would that actually do for these Bronze, Iron, and even Steel tiers who were suffering?

Greely was pulled from his musing as Chloe cleared her throat. He supposed this was something he could find some measure of comfort in, that being such an old man allowed him his quirks.

“Today is the day,” he confirmed.“I do not expect them to have delved beyond the forty-sixth floor, going off what you’ve said. Do not be disappointed if they failed to live up to your expectations.”

“Don’t be surprised if they defy your expectations,” the sassy child replied. Greely felt the deep lines in his face crack deeper open as he held back a laugh.

“For what it’s worth,” he attempted to mollify her, “I hope they defy my expectations as well.”

Chloe stopped talking, instead turning to resume pacing. Seeing the young one’s energy brought a smile to Greely’s face, but he also hated the fact he’d been unable to warn them of the dangers they were going into. For decades, it’d been a fact that Arcanite delvers, who were so suffused with mana that exiting the Dungeon robbed them of much of their strength, rarely left the depths of the Dungeon they had made their home. For whatever reason, that’d recently  changed, and the politics in the capital were now following the whims of a group of those deep dwellers who’d either been expelled from the Dungeon proper or had made a decision to emerge for some other mysterious reason.

Too much depended on getting some of the Guild’s allies, or even entirely unaffiliated Arcanite delvers, to come out and force their superhuman conflict down below the surface once more. Greely himself, being level 140, laughed at the thought of himself not being superhuman. But again, his wandering mind, that thing that seemed to betray him more every day he grew older, was pulled from its paths as all of the gates into the Wandering Trials began to glow to signify the end of the trial period. His first look was towards the Adamantium gate, where the entirety of the Golden Fist stepped out. 

He wasn’t sure what to think of them, as they were directly employed by the Duchess, but then she’d died when they were away on a mission. Were they suspicious? Or could they be trusted? Greely couldn’t think about that for too long as a massive corpse thundered to the ground in front of him and demanded his attention. He turned his head towards it habitually, though his vision only came from the grass underfoot. There, he saw a testament to Chloe’s firm belief. The Wanderers stood around the turtle corpse, looking tired and slightly wounded, wary, but still victorious.

He’d been in charge of sourcing all of their equipment, and it would appear that he’d done well. Every person’s armor all showed signs of heavy wear and tear, with, as was fitting, Astrid and Felix‘s armor, the most damaged, but it all still protected them. Astrid had cooled lava stuck to her chest as she looked everywhere in distrust. Greely waved as she seemed to look at him, but she didn’t react or relax in response. He understood the distrust, though he hoped there would be more understanding as she came to understand the fraught situation they all found themselves in. Though, she’d also faced more failings of the Guild than the vast majority of Devers did before they reached mid to high Steel. As a Bronze, she’d been forced to witness failings and failures from the Guild, and he couldn’t imagine that she’d seen that Count and been instilled with any confidence towards him or the Guild as a whole.

The other Bronze parties didn’t seem surprised at the Wanderers’ impressive showing, the Barbarian leader, a massive male with silver hair braided tightly down his head, stepped forward towards her. His armor hung basically in scraps off of his body, with dozens and hundreds of thick and thin scars old and new painting his torso. His massive backpack was evidently stuffed full of what he’d considered valuable, and he offered a congratulatory cross of his arms to Astrid.

She reached forward and clasped his forearm before shaking it once, and the rest of the Barbarian party looked at the Wanderers with respect. There was something there that he hadn’t expected, something that Chloe evidently hadn’t known about. But Astrid had gained the Barbarians’ respect in the Trials. On the other hand, the Kin bared their teeth and seemed to consider throwing themselves at the winners, but before they could even begin to move, they suddenly disappeared. At least, to the Iron and Steel tiers it would appear to be so, but Greely could barely see as an Adamantium tier Kin ran forward, grabbed the ursine delvers, and pulled them back.

The Hiveguard didn’t interact with the wanderers, but their Defender seemed to look at Astrid for a moment before retreating back to their camp. Then, surprising Greely further, the Verdant Walkers, two Groves of them, walked forward and stretched their roots towards Astrid. The tree-like people weren’t sore losers as a general rule, but they always desperately searched for the same boons every time the Wandering Trials were found. It wasn’t a surprise to Greely, who understood the Sanctuary better than most every other Human, but they’d still be somewhat bitter about missing the boon. To have created some measure of relationship with two Groves while defeating them? Greely’s interest was piqued further, and he grew more confident in the advice he was going to give them. 

“I told you,“ Chloe couldn’t help but rub it in as she waited beside Greely.

“And I told you,“ he answered, reaching a hand out and patting her on the shoulder, “I’m glad that they have defied my expectations.”

Then, he waited for them to approach.

***

“This is the Boss on the fiftieth floor?” Kalta asked, looking at the corpse with unrestrained envy.

“Yeah,” Astrid grinned, excited despite the fact she hadn’t had the opportunity to talk with her party about the boons they all had received yet. “How close did you get?”

Instead of giving an answer, he laughed, shrugged off his pack, and pulled an entire magma moray out.

Astrid whistled through her teeth as he said, “We thought that the Boss fight would be in the center of the volcano, but when we were closer, we quickly learned that was incorrect. We were making our way out when we felt the call of the Trials.”

Astrid nodded, and now she thought about it, she figured that she and her party had been five or so hours ahead of the Barbarian party before the others had made that incorrect decision.

“When next we meet, I will be once again convincing you to join us. And not just you, Astrid and Muti,” he said, looking at the rest of the Wanderers, “but all of you.”

“I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen,“ Astrid laughed in dismissal, though her heart raced a little thinking of Muti abandoning the party. She forced herself not to pay it any mind and instead continued to look around to find a place to speak with her party.

Kalta didn’t say anything more, tapping a finger on the scar under his eye before turning and walking away. Cresche strode forward briefly, one of their roots touching Astrid’s knee just long enough for their voice to fill her head.

You are impressive. I hope to maintain a relationship with you.

Then, to Astrid’s surprise, the Verdant Walker didn’t wait for a response, instead turning and striding towards their camp. That was so out of character for the ponderous, deliberate creatures that Astrid wanted to ask why, but decided against it.

After both Cresche and Kalta gave their congratulations, Astrid turned and looked at the dragon turtle corpse. It was heavy, huge, and she didn’t know if the party would be able to haul it back towards the Human camp without help. Before she could figure out a plan of what to do, Aleksandr of the Golden Fist walked forward and, with a sweep of his hand, collected the body into a spatial storage container of some sort.

“I’ll deliver it for you, as I doubt it fits in your pouch,” he said. “Or, you can bring it along yourself?“

Astrid, taking note of her physical condition, didn’t argue. Her mana was entirely expended, and it wasn’t recovering as quickly as it had been. Her initial reaction to that was faint panic, but she quickly realized why that was. The mana was significantly sparser here on the surface, and her natural recovery was slowed by maybe 10% by being out of the Dungeon. Beyond that, if somebody who was at least at the peak of Adamantium, if not recently ascended to Arcanite, wanted to take from her, there was nothing she could do.

“Thanks. How did you do?”

“About as well as we expected,” Aleksandr answered, but he didn’t give any more information nor continue to talk to her about that. Instead, he gestured to the rest of her party and said, “I think you all need to talk once you can get some privacy away from all these prying ears.”

Astrid took a note of the dozens and dozens of people nearby who stared at every one of the delvers who had left the Trials. She nodded her thanks and stepped beside the rest of her party, and though each person bore small wounds, none looked anything less than excited. Skandr especially seemed to be almost vibrating as he appeared to check his Status again and again.

“Come with me, and we’ll find somewhere to talk,” Astrid said, and her party all followed her, who followed Aleksandr into the Human encampment. Looking around, it seemed that, of the Iron, Steel, and Mithril tiers, one Grove, one party of Barbarians, and one of the parties of Kin had been victorious. Then, in the Adamantium tier, the Barbarian who had demanded that Muti be released and then called her a failure, was the leader of the victorious party for the Adamantium tier. She strode back towards the Barbarian camp with an overwhelming confidence that evidently was warranted.

Only then did Astrid realize that nobody had entered the Arcanite tier entrance. Surely one of the people who had reached those heights had made an appearance at some point to gain access to a boon, but none had cared to come for this ritual of delving. Then, also, there was the reality that all the details of the Arcanite tier were hidden from anybody who wasn’t one themselves. Maybe there were rules about the Trials that she knew nothing about.

Before long, she stood in front of the man she’d spoken with when she first arrived here. She couldn’t remember his name, but he was, as far as she knew, the organizer for Humanity’s activities here at the Trials. He reached out and slapped her on the shoulder in excitement, his face split in a wide grin. His casual celebration knocked her to the side, stumbling, and she felt her eyes widen under her helmet at this accidental display of overwhelming strength.

“Oh, I apologize! I’m so sorry. I was just so excited to have another Human victor. Now, please, your party hasn’t had the opportunity to talk since the Trials ended, please come over to the headquarters tent. I’ll make sure everyone goes out so that way you can talk about whatever you need to talk about.”

He led the way with a massive grin, and the crowded spectators parted in front of him as he walked with a surprising speed towards their destination.

“This isn’t really what I expected to see when we got here,” Skandr spoke quietly, a smile on his face.

“Me neither,” Astrid agreed. “But we can talk more once we get into the tent. I don’t want anyone to be eavesdropping on anything we have to say.”

Like usual, Muti was quiet when surrounded by Humans, but she’d carried herself with such relaxed confidence ever since they all had exited the Trials that Astrid couldn’t help but smile looking at her. The Barbarian had shrunk in on herself when near the other Barbarians before they’d entered the Trials a month before, but now, she was more than capable of returning to the Horde she came from. Astrid didn’t like thinking about that, wanting to keep her friend close, but she embraced the positive changes, even if they came with potential negatives.

As soon as the man whose name Astrid still couldn’t remember poked his head into the command tent, half a dozen people scurried out with smiles on their faces. They nodded in greeting to the delvers and then left.

“The space is all yours, it’s enchanted to keep all sound from escaping, and we’ll have most of the Guild around the tent to make sure that nobody can sneak in and hurt you.”

That chilled Astrid to the core. Only at that moment did she realize that she and her party were in danger. But of course they were, they were, at best, competitors to three of the five races present, and they’d proven themselves as having remarkable potential. Astrid wouldn’t be surprised if there were people sent from various races to deal with potential problems at or near the Wandering Trials for this exact reason.

Inside the tent, various desks and chairs remained where they’d been when Astrid was in here last, but she didn’t care about that. She looked down at her armor, and, remembering that the Guild would probably be taking it back soon, decided against dismissing it for now. Instead, she found a sturdy chair and sat on it. She was surprised at how much of a difference it was to sit in an actual chair, and leaned into the back with a groan of relief.

“Okay,” Skandr was the first to talk as he pulled over a chair as well, “I got something called the Boon of Fortification. Simple, but upgrades all of your uncapped Skills by one tier and gives a boost to me when I use Skills and cast spells while in a single place. Warlock’s Constitution is Iron, Lightning Enchantment is Bronze. I’m guaranteed to reach the peak of Iron with maxed out Skills, and all my spells are further strengthened!”

“I need you to tell me what exactly that does,” Benedict stepped forward. “I want to know what the actual boons are. All of you’d better share it when you’re talking about it.”

With a thought, Skandr shared the description as the Great One gave it to him.

Boon of Fortification: Upgrades every Skill that hasn’t reached the highest tier available by one tier. Grants the Entrenched Expertise Skill.

Entrenched Expertise: Strengthens all spells and Skills cast and channeled without moving by 50%.

Astrid stood up from her chair in excitement, and rushed forward to clap a hand on Skandr’s shoulders. To her surprise, despite her accidentally carelessly strong movements, he didn’t struggle to withstand the hit. In fact, he flared with mana that Astrid could have sworn was Power-aligned. She then put together with that meant and said, “You passed the base hundreds in all your attributes!”

Skandr spread his arms and said, “Yes, Warlock’s Constitution now gives attributes every level instead of every other level. Behold!”

The party all continued congratulating him, gathering around to tease him before, to everybody’s surprise, he strengthened his body with mana and, though clumsy, put his fists up in front of Muti with a teasing grin.

“Maybe I’ll need to learn how to use a blade with all this overwhelming power I’ve got now.”

She threw her head back and laughed in genuine joy as she reached out and fixed his stance with firm but gentle hands before she shook her head. “I believe I will need some training from you as well. The boon I have received is called Boon of the Mana-Touched. It is very similar to your Warlock’s Constitution, granting me a plus one to all of my mental attributes for every level I gain while also…”

Muti trailed off, saying nothing, and the party all looked at her while waiting for her answer. Astrid was the first to realize she was embarrassed, and began to put it together, just as Benedict did the same. He was the first to speak, stepping forward and putting a finger up in her face with a laugh as he asked, “Can you cast spells now? Show us the full boon!”

“That is not exactly what the boon does!“ She protested, though the distinction, whatever it was, that remained was insufficient, and she shared the boon with the rest. 

Boon of the Mana-Touched: Grants the holder a +1 to Magical Potency, Self-Mastery, and Acumen for every level, to be applied retroactively. In addition, grants the holder the ability to channel mana into magical effects similar to spells.

All four members of the party, Astrid included, laughed at the idea of the Barbarian who constantly teased and joked about spells now being able to use them herself. After getting over her immediate embarrassment, Muti laughed and shrugged before going to Skandr and saying, “Though I do not yet understand the difference between what this grants me and spellcasting, I would appreciate your guidance in ensuring that I do not squander this gift that has been bestowed on me, courtesy of everyone’s strength. This part of me comes from all of you, and I will not mistreat it or joke about it.”

The laughing ceased, and Astrid felt her throat tighten as Skandr took the much taller Barbarian woman’s hand in his and replied, “Of course, my friend.“

Muti dismissed her armor and took Skandr’s head in her hands and kissed his forehead. Astrid could have sworn she saw the faintest glimmer of a tear in Muti’s eye as she said, “Thank you.”

The rest of the party smiled at the two people who were effectively two sides of the same coin now, making steps into aspects of delving that were opposite, and yet, somehow the same.

“My boon is the Boon of the Protector,” Felix answered. He dismissed his helmet as he smiled with a hint of self-reproach. “Mostly, it basically gives me a new Skill and some additional attributes.”

“Did I stutter when I said you need to share what the actual boons are?” Benedict cut him off. “The actual boon.”

Felix didn’t keep from sharing it any longer as he shrugged helplessly.

Boon of the Protector: Grants the holder a +1 to Power, Fortitude, and Self-Mastery for every level, to be applied retroactively. In addition, grants the holder the Skill: Barrier of the Protector.

Barrier of the Protector: For a Moderate stamina and mana cost, allows the holder to shield their entire body with a barrier whose durability scales off of their two highest attributes.

“I can’t wait to see how it interacts with Immovable Stance when I upgrade that soon,” Felix continued once everyone’d had the opportunity to read what he shared. “We’ll have to test exactly how durable this shield is when we have some time, but I can feel that it’ll be a great addition to my Skillset as we confront greater dangers.”

“That’s like that part of my armor that I have but never use!” Benedict laughed. “I definitely wish I’d put more practice in with it after that fight with that turtle, though. Astrid, you’re damn heavy.”

She looked over at him and spread her arms and confusion. “What does that have to do with anything? We’re talking about boons, not about me saving your life and getting knocked into you! What’s wrong with you?” 

Benedict chuckled a little awkwardly as he realized how stupid his comment had been as he raised his hands. “I figured I might as well be a little rude before I tell you all about my boon because I know you’re all going to give me a hard time.”

“Then tell us so I can start making fun of you already.”

“… It’s called the Boon of a Gentle Touch.”

Astrid blinked a couple times and Felix was the first to start laughing “You? Gentle? Oh, is this some healing thing? You’re able to heal better now? Oh, that’s rich! And don’t forget, you said we all have to share the details of the boons!”

Benedict sighed, but he nodded and said, “Yes, it’s a healing thing. It strengthens all the healing I do by 50% and gives me an option to cleanse wounds through touch, okay? Maybe I’m not so caustic and instead I’m just, just a little bit, soft.” Without any further words, he shared the description with the rest of the party.

Boon of a Gentle Touch: Grants the holder a +1 to Alacrity, Fortitude, and Magical Potency for every level, to be applied retroactively and strengthens all healing performed by the holder by 50%. In addition, grants the holder the Skill: Healer’s Hands.

Healer’s Hands: The holder can, at a Minor cost of their mana per five seconds, cleanse afflictions, poisons, and wounds through touch.

“Why do you think it gives a bonus to Fortitude and Alacrity?” Astrid asked, appreciating the additional versatility granted by the new Boon. “The mental attributes seem to be a better fit.”

“It’s because the Skill requires me to be right by the people I’m healing. Let’s me get through the battle and survive a hit if I need to.” Laughter continued to fill the air, the party teasing their Bard as they all relaxed from the heightened tension of the past month. Then, as Benedict continued to accept the light verbal beating from his friends, he finally turned to Astrid.

“Well? What did you get?”

Astrid smiled and pulled up her Status to be able to share the boon’s description with her party.