“The journey up the dungeon showed the two of you the gap in strength very clearly.” Meebur continued. “To Nid, this dungeon was easy, but for Frey it was nearly impossible. That made it all the more unfair that I should have Frey fight the boss alone.” Meebur knelt further down to look directly at me. “Nid, as far as we know, your memories are tied to powerful or difficult experiences. But since you’re so strong, I didn’t think I could give you a challenge very easily. So, I wondered…if you saw Frey in a situation like this, would it make you see yourself in him? As you were before you became the Withering Wyrm?” He then turned to Frey. “And Frey, you were able to see the power we all had, but not the source. A tamer, I believe, is only as powerful as their dedication to their monster and to the art of taming. You had to face near death to dig deep and exclaim why you were pursuing this. Once you knew what led you down this path, you could finally access the power of your mark.”
“I was holding myself back…” Frey said.
“Yes. But facing difficulties, being broken down by hardship, can be what many of us need to better understand ourselves. You’re pursuing the art of taming to feel closer to those you have lost.”
“Is that a worthy reason to do this?” Frey whispered, covering his face. “It feels selfish…to be using this just to make myself happy again…”
“What better reason could there be? Frey, you may have a greater connection to taming than even I do…” Meebur stood up to his full height. “Now, let’s ride this high while we can! Learning to boost the damage of a monster's next attack is one thing, but there are other skills to practice. Try using another one. You know which.”
With great effort, Frey lifted himself up off of the bedroll. He leaned forward and raised his right hand. He saw his mark, and visibly concentrated on it. He closed his eyes, and I saw the tension in his forehead dissipate. He was clearly feeling at ease with who he was, and why he was here. The mark began to glow white.
“
“Thatta boy!” Meebur said, patting Frey on the back with enough force that the young tamer nearly dropped his newly created egg. “Oops, sorry about that. Sometimes I don’t know my own strength.”
“Tell me about it.” Astrid said, stepping forward while rubbing her wrists. “You didn’t have to nearly rip my hands off to hold me back.”
“I kind of had to,” Meebur said, shrugging. “If I held back even a little, you would have broken free and ruined my plan. And probably hit me pretty hard too.”
“I still might hit you hard.” Astrid said, turning away from him to hide her smile. “That was really reckless.”
“Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette!” Meebur said. “Metaphorically speaking, Frey.” The young tamer clutched his newly created hatchling egg close to his chest. “Don’t worry, that egg’s all yours. A tamer needs to have a monster to care for. It’s what gives us our strength!” Meebur chuckled to himself.
Frey held his hatchling egg tight to his chest. I could tell by looking at him, that he did, in fact, look stronger while holding it. A tamer with a monster, even still within an egg, evidently had a boost in strength and speed that put them above the abilities of most people.
And Frey was already a pretty fast runner before, I thought remembering how we first met.
“Sorry, before we do anything else…can I speak to Meebur alone?” Frey said, turning to Astrid and I. “I just…need to ask him something. Now that I’m a real tamer and all…”
“Of course. We’ll leave you two to speak.” Astrid said, and she led me away from them. The two of us wandered towards the other end of the room, where the boss golem had nearly finished turning to dust. It was so large that it took some time for it to fully disappear.
While Frey held his hatchling egg and spoke to Meebur alone, the pieces of the golem faded away like sand blowing in the wind. Once the last of it had finally disappeared, I heard a distinct bell nearby. Looking down, I also glowed a bright white for just a second. A text box appeared before me, and I knew what it would read before I even looked up:
Congratulations! You have leveled up. You are now Level 2.
“Well done, you must have just leveled up.” Astrid said, looking down at me in my cute form.
With my victory over Leif’s monster, the training with Frey and the other recruits at the guild, defeating golems throughout the dungeon, and now my first fight with a boss, I had earned enough experience points to level up.
Species - Nidh?gg, the Withering Wyrm
Type - Earth Deity
Rank - SSS
Level - 2
Title - “Twiceborn”
Tamer - Meebur the Magnificent
Status - Normal
Skills - Click for full list
Stats:
HP - 1250/1250
EP - 534/780
Strength - 110+5 (physical attack, carrying capacity)
Vitality - 105+5 (physical defense, HP)
Agility - 105+5 (speed, evasion)
Perception - 110+5 (hit chance, crit chance, detection)
Intelligence - 65+3 (magic attack, memory)
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Mind - 65+3 (magic defense, EP)
My Status screen showed a decent increase in virtually every stat, but when I checked the Skills screen I got a bit disappointed. There wasn’t anything new added. Hoping for a new skill, it was a little disheartening. But looking closer, I saw that while there was nothing new, some of the skills I had been using most frequently had themselves leveled up too:
- Lvl. 2
- Lvl. 2
I was surprised to see that
The more combo skills I use, the more I can level up my basic skills. Nice!
I also noticed on closer inspection that I had earned another empty skill slot, bringing me back up to 49. I had 50 originally, then spent 2 to create my transform skill and learn
After closing the text boxes that showed off what I had earned by leveling up, I turned my attention to the defeated boss. Amongst the fading remains of the boss golem, something was left behind. Just like the escape buttons and other loot we got from the defeated golems throughout the dungeon.
“Perfect.” Astrid said and picked up the item amidst the dust. It looked like a bangle made of brown metal and white fabric with onyx gems inlaid along the outside. When Astrid picked it up with both hands it seemed to be much heavier than it looked, as her arms tensed up. “This item is part of the reason there aren’t more tamers or adventurers attempting to defeat this dungeon’s boss. Most of them ignore this dungeon because of this raiment. I don’t know what Meebur has planned for this…”
Once I came in contact with the item, information on it was added to my Almanac. The item was indeed a stellar raiment, a special item that could only be received by defeating a boss. Like Meebur described earlier, the boss of a dungeon dropped the same item every time. Most raiments offered benefits or skills that you had access to while they were equipped. While some were less useful than others, this one was the only raiment which actually reduced the wearer’s stats. It also significantly lowered their speed. Apparently, wearing it made it feel like the gravity of the planet had been doubled.
“It’s called a bulk brace,” Astrid said, “and, now that I think about it, maybe it is something you’ll need one day, Nid.”
Considering I had created a cute form specifically to not destroy everything I touched, this item made sense to me. There may be a day in the future where the bulk brace could keep me from destroying the guild with a sigh.
With great effort, Astrid carried the brace back over to where Meebur and Frey were speaking. As I slithered by her side towards them, I felt a sudden surge of nausea hit me. It came on so suddenly, that I was actually knocked back by it. My eyes went wide, and I shook my head to try to clear my thoughts.
“Is everything ok?” Astrid said, her
Yes, I think so…maybe I’m simply adjusting to being Level 2.
“That could be it, yes. You likely got a significant boost in stats. You are a deity monster afterall.”
I shook my head once more, and finally felt myself return to normal. Something still felt off, but I assumed it would go away in time.
Text box, everything is ok, right?
Your current Status remains “Normal”.
That’s good, but I don’t feel normal…
As Astrid and I approached Frey and Meebur, it was clear I wasn’t the only one who seemed off.
Meebur was standing above Frey, his head turned down. Without saying a word, he turned towards Astrid and grabbed the bulk brace from her. Completely unaffected by the weight of the stellar raiment, Meebur put the brace in his bag next to the assorted escape buttons, potions, and other items we had earned from defeated golems. I could see how much heavier the bag suddenly looked. I got a notification that the raiment had been added to my tamer’s inventory.
And with that, he immediately walked past Astrid and I towards the boss room’s door. He stepped past us with such speed, I could feel a cold breeze as he did so.
“What’s wrong with him now?” Astrid asked Frey.
“I don’t know…something just happened. I don’t understand. It was like one second he was listening, and the next…it was probably my fault. I didn’t mean to make him upset. I just asked him about my…no, it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have said anything to him. He’s already done so much for me.” Frey immediately stood up, and with one arm holding his new hatchling egg, the other rolled up the bedroll he had been laying on. “Come on, let’s pack up and follow him. I don’t want to hold us back on the way down.”
Astrid and I looked at each other, exchanging curious glances.
Whatever it was Frey asked him, I don’t think it’s any of our business.
“Agreed,” Astrid said, and the two of us quickly caught up to Frey and Meebur and began our journey down to the entrance of the dungeon.
* * * *
The journey down was much easier than travelling up the dungeon. The floors were empty of any golems, as even the ones we had snuck by crumbled away into dust once the boss golem had been defeated. It was also much simpler to climb down the threads compared to climbing up them.
Frey moved much more quickly, even with his new hatchling egg in a makeshift sling across his chest. On more than one floor, he actually beat Meebur down the threads.
While Frey seemed empowered by the experience and the creation of his first egg, Meebur was moving as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He wasn’t even smiling, which was very unlike him.
Maybe the bulk brace is just that hard to carry, I thought, but immediately felt like it was something more.
After only a few hours, we reached the bottom of the dungeon. We stepped out of the entrance and I could see the road we had taken from Artemis to get here. After a long journey we were leaving having accomplished exactly what we had come to do: I had unlocked more of my memories and better understood how to do so again, and Frey had awakened his tamer powers and even created his first hatchling egg!
“Thank the gods…” Frey said with a sigh. “A part of me was worried we’d never be leaving that dungeon.”
“Oh, we wouldn’t have stayed there forever. Meebur would have died of old age soon enough.” Astrid said, nudging her former guild leader in the side.
But Meebur didn’t react at all. Not even a smile.
“Um, let’s just make our way back to the guild. We’re all a little tired from the trip.” Frey said, and was the first to step forward onto the road. Meebur soon followed behind him, and Astrid and I pulled up the rear.
I had intended to slither up Meebur and rest on his shoulders like I had on the journey here, but when I got close to my tamer, he simply started to walk faster.
I couldn’t get anywhere near him.
What did you ask him, Frey? What happened up there?
We began to walk away from the dungeon, traveling back home to Artemis. But something told me that this journey wasn’t over just yet…