Chapter Thirty-Nine
It took Reve about twenty minutes to figure out where Misthaven was from the air, mostly because the cloud cover made spotting the place a chore. Glib remained unconscious the entire time, so Krysta was carrying him like a baby while they headed toward his village.
Reve estimated the walk would take about forty minutes, though they could cut that in half if they pushed. Instead of rushing, however, they took their time and chose to walk slowly.
The rolling hills, fog, and small streams were actually quite pretty to look at.
“We’re in the Empire of Beasts?” Krysta asked to confirm what she’d just heard. “The Great Dungeon just spit us out in another kingdom?”
“Indeed,” Reve said with a nod. “Misthaven is one of the smallest towns in the Empire. Predominantly goblins and gnomes—the place is all farmland and medicinal herbs. There aren’t even good monsters to hunt.
I only know it exists because one of my old Party members used to talk about retiring there.
She said she wanted the least-interesting place in the Empire to settle down, which was this place. ”
“And now they have a Great Dungeon opening,” Kora noted in a grim voice. “They’ll suffer all the same chaos Porter’s Walk did. We’ll need to alert the Adventurer’s Guild as soon as we can. Do they have a message center?”
“I’m not sure,” Reve admitted with a shrug. “I’ve never been here myself. If they don’t, it’ll likely be a few days’ travel to reach the next largest town.”
“Did the dungeon create a new exit just to spit us out?” Skylar wondered.
The djinn was walking next to Vester, her arm looped through his elbow and her shoulder brushing his with every step.
Krysta wasn’t the only one feeling needy since their constitutions had changed, though Skylar tried to be less obvious about it.
“Seems that way,” Li murmured, “but I’ve never heard of delvers getting ejected from a dungeon without it experiencing a break… and usually that is more of a ‘running for their lives in front of a stampede of monsters’ situation.”
“To my knowledge, dungeon eviction wasn’t possible,” Kora said. The kitsune had been frowning since they’d reached the surface. “We clearly caused a great deal more change than we knew, and it responded by throwing us out entirely. But does that mean we won’t be able to go back in?”
Kora’s question was one Vester had been pondering too, because when he’d turned from Glib’s tricks to look back at the entrance they’d come out of, he’d found it sealed with a barrier of energy that supposedly marked an unopened dungeon portal.
There’s no way the Great Dungeon closed up permanently in this spot, he thought.
From everything Non has said, the dungeons are vents for the bleed of unreality that separates planes.
It can’t shut itself off. So it either broke its own rules by spitting us out and locking the gate, or it created that gate to get rid of us and that’s currently just a one-way exit.
Vester titled his head and kissed the side of Skylar’s cheek while turning ideas over in his head. It has to have something to do with how many times we summoned Non and Julius. Maybe my transformation into a demigod too. Could there be rules specifically for semi-divine beings?
Honestly, he’d be surprised if there weren’t.
From what Non said, the pathway to divinity normally opens at level 75, and by level 100 they’re theoretically ready to ascend to a new plane and become a god—but not everyone has access to a divine class.
Do those people just go to other non-divine realms and keep gaining power that way?
He knew there was elements to this he wasn’t seeing. Faith energy, for instance, was still a nebulous concept in his understanding. He could push his abilities farther now that his constitution had shot up, but that didn’t stop them from wearing him down whenever he overused Trickster’s Domain.
Faith was the resource he was lacking.
I wonder if the gods set up rules so that those lacking any sort of divine quality got shunted to external dimensions at the same relative power scale as Ordinal… but because my personal power is far too low to ascend, the dungeon used a loophole to spit me into a new place on Ordinal instead?
There was a logic to that that worked for him. Vester wasn’t sure if it was remotely true, but it made sense to him.
Vester checked to confirm Glib was still unconscious, going so far as to poke the goblin kid with a finger, then began explaining his theory to the rest of his Party. To their credit, they all waited until he was done laying out his hypothesis before they began asking questions.
None of them were scholars on the inner workings of Ordinal’s system, and the Great Dungeon in particular was known for being even more complicated than regular dungeons, but no one could really come up with a better explanation for what happened.
But it was Skylar that ground the conversation to a halt when she said, “We’re going to have to start a cult for Vester,” like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Wait, what?” Vester asked, turning to stare at her.
“She’s right,” Kora said with a stately nod. “Non was clear that you need a reputation to fuel your powers. Adoration and being present in people’s minds fill that role. We should begin our growth by spreading the rumor that Vester forced the Great Dungeon to open a gate here.”
“Tell them he did it to balance the crimes of his brother,” Reve interjected.
When the Party glanced at her, Reve motioned at Vester.
“He’s the brother of the Hero, and now he’s mate to the Dark Lord.
The Hero is leading the Church of Light’s forces in an unjust war against the Empire of Beasts.
If we rally the people to Vester by positioning him at my side and opposing the Hero, he’ll be talked about constantly…
and with the prosperity of a Dungeon Gate, he’ll be loved. ”
“That’s brilliant,” Li Ra admitted. “The logic is flawless. Those arguments would work on my tribes if the situation involved the oni people.”
“It really is smart,” Krysta agreed. “Not to mention Vester is worth worship!” The pandali might have tried to hug him if she hadn’t remembered she had the goblin in her arms. She settled for brushing her tail along his and Skylar’s backs.
Her face was glowing with pride. “We could find some beautify—”
“Nope,” Vester interrupted. “You might be able to talk me into starting a cult—but you are not talking me into a sex cult. I have the five of you, and I have Non waiting for me when I ascend. I might have gotten comfortable with the idea of living in a harem world, but I am not going to try and collect every hot girl in the universe.”
“Awwwww,” Krysta pouted while ducking her face. “But you look so hot when you do other ladies,” she whined. Then, perhaps realizing she might have hurt the feelings of the rest of the Party, her head popped up. “Not that the rest of you aren’t gorgeous! I love watching Ves—”
Once more Krysta’s voice was cut off, this time because Li Ra gently wrapped a hand over her mouth and sealed Krysta’s lips with a palm.
“Too much,” the oni said with a quiet laugh.
“Take it down a few notches and remember not all of us are fully comfortable with being watched or giving public displays of affection.”
“You didn’t mind watching me,” Reve observed curiously. “Is there anyone you don’t want to watch?” The Avatar of Life looked confused, though she was still working on understanding her place in the group. “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”
“No, no,” Li coughed. “That… was just new for me, and Krysta tends to get enthusiastic and take things a bit farther than some of us might be ready for. You’ll understand when it happens to you.”
“Just punish her,” Kora offered with a shrug. “I’ve found it quite effective. Making her sit in a corner while Vester brushes my tails does wonders for reminding her that boundaries are important.”
“I suppose I could have him oil my wings,” Reve mused. “When the weather grows dry, they often flake. It’s a very itchy sensation. I’ve never considered asking someone to help me with it before. Normally I just use Telekinesis to apply the oil… but the right touch could make it quite enjoyable.”
“Vester is amazing braiding hair,” Skylar suggested. “Yours is long enough you could have him style it for you. His fingers are so nimble.”
“He’s even good at polishing horns,” Li admitted shyly, and Vester saw a crimson stain spread across her cheeks. That made him realize he’d likely been performing another mating ritual without realizing it.
“Let’s let Krysta breathe before she explodes,” Vester said. The pandali was starting to vibrate, and he strongly suspected the only reason she hadn’t transformed to pout properly was because she was carrying an unconscious goblin. “Also, Krysta, you know we’re just teasing, right?”
The others were quick to join in with reassurances, even taking the time to hug Krysta one by one to comfort her. Vester was glad to see it. There’d been a hint of moisture in the corners of Krysta’s eyes, and he hadn’t wanted good-natured fun to turn into something that lingered.
He took over carrying Glib so Krysta could adopt her red panda form and crawl into Skylar’s arms. Of his lovers, there was no denying that pair had the strongest bond. Vester took comfort knowing they were good friends and teammates.
“Alright, let’s set some ground rules on this cult thing,” Vester finally said after a few minutes of walking in silence.
“Spreading rumors that I influenced the Great Dungeon to open here is fine… and technically true, I think. Revealing that I’m Reve’s lover is also fine—I know she has a reputation in this Empire and I have no problem leveraging it.
We need to be careful in positioning me as Denny’s enemy, however.
My hope is still that we’ll find some way to free him from Peace’s influence and he can live a happy life here. ”
The others made sounds of agreement, and Skylar left off brushing Krysta’s fur to rub his shoulder.
Vester offered her a crooked grin, then continued, “I also don’t want to separate from the Adventure’s Guild, so we’ll need to make sure that we don’t alienate Tomlin when we do this.
I think he might actually be relieved that I won’t be involved in the shenanigans at Porter’s Walk anymore, but I get the sense he had his own plans for me. ”
“I’m sure he did,” Kora confirmed. “If he didn’t, then his wife would have.
They’re a shrewd pair. Tomlin might be terrible about his own rules, but he didn’t make it to level 100 by being slow or unable to grasp complicated situations.
If you’re proudly wearing your badge and stating your alignment to the Guild, I imagine you’ll continue to have his support. ”
“This town will also need our help,” Reve noted.
“If what my old teammate said was true, Misthaven is an extremely small place. It won’t be remotely prepared for a Dungeon Gate to be built here.
I don’t think they have a local chapter of the Adventure’s Guild present.
If we are not careful, we could destroy these people’s way of life. ”
It was statements like that which made it clear why Julius had selected Reve to be his Avatar of Life. Despite having been born in a dungeon and evolved from a monster—which had wanted nothing more than to shred delvers—she still strove to help the common people of this Empire.
“Right, we don’t want to ruin Misthaven,” Vester agreed with a nod.
“We’ll also need time and resources to help Skylar rebuild Dent and form some new golems. Splinter and Beaky are gone, and she’ll need to craft new cores.
We’ve got a lot of valuable stuff in our inventories…
but it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to sell them here. Do vapor wagons visit this area?”
Reve shook her head. “Unlikely. The Empire of Beasts uses a system of enchanted vehicles that run on tracks: three lines of metal on the ground held perfectly parallel by bracing supports. I believe they run on some kind of condensed monster core, which makes them harder to produce.”
“Wait, they have trains?” Skylar asked, suddenly vibrating.
“They use clean-core trains here? This is amazing!” She whirled to stare at Vester.
“If I can get a few clean cores and some of the materials they use to make their trains for the foundations of my next golems, I can make them so much stronger! There’s no reason I can’t supplement a golem core with a secondary energy source! ”
The djinn was vibrating to the point Krysta let out an uncomfortable squeak and started batting at Skylar’s face. “Sorry, Krysta,” Skylar whispered while relaxing her hug. She kissed the red panda’s forehead. “I got a little excited.”
“Okay, so that’s also going to be a plan,” Vester decided.
“We’ll need to find a way to message the Adventurer’s Guild and the Empire of Beasts to make preparations and prevent a beast wave, travel to a big city where we can get the best prices for our harvested goods, then find a base to settle in and consolidate all our new powers…
Also, we need to find experts on pregnancy. ”
Reve blushed faintly, and Vester created the illusion of a warm breeze to run down her back.
When the Avatar of Life shot him an appreciate glance, Vester smiled at her.
“Because I am not forgetting that you’re pregnant,” he said.
“And since I am a worrier who has no idea how pregnancy works for evolved monsters, I am absolutely going to be freaking out until I’ve heard you and the baby will be safe. ”
He pretended not to notice the contemplative look on Li Ra’s face, or the way Krysta’s nose twitched while staring at Reve. He strongly suspected he was going to be having talks with his lovers about children in the near future, which was valid, but he wanted to set a precedent.
Vester might be a bit reckless about his own life, but if he were bringing kids into this world, then he wanted to wrap them in the greatest protections he could find.
“I’ll need to find an Enchanter too,” he muttered.
“Someone with the actual class who can teach me more. If we’re going to slow down and really condense our power, we can’t let our professions slip.
I’m sure there’s more that I can do now that I can will engravings into being, but not if I lack the knowledge. ”
“A wise plan,” Kora agreed, then she waved ahead of them. “Perhaps we can discuss it more after a hot bath in a tavern and a full meal.”
Almost in welcome, the fog parted and Misthaven appeared at the top of a large hill.