Perfecting Dash would take a great deal of practice yet, but Hans quickly learned that the sudden burst of speed made most of the monsters in the dungeon trivial. He claimed an empty Ogre Valley slot on the dungeon schedule and cut down every ogre before they understood they were under attack. With that ability, Hans was the biggest threat to his own safety, but if he took his time and set up his angles, a fight was easy.

  Sniping monsters with Blade Beam was similarly dull. He still put in the reps to improve his aim and his timing with the ability, but it wasn’t long until he was blasting harpies out of the sky mid-flight. The inability to use it at close range, lest he face the blowback Devon described, changed the ability’s strategic importance significantly. Hans thought he’d be able to use it in close to fill small spaces with powerful attacks, but that wasn’t going to work.

  The Wargod’s Barrier spell was interesting, but for a different reason.

  The spell was invisible unless it was struck with an attack, and from what Hans could gather, he could cast the spell once, and it would persist until it broke or until he dismissed it. Where Hans pictured the process of using Barrier to be more akin to using a targe, having to consciously position it and support it throughout a dynamic battle, it was more like a permanent buff spell, and it was far more effective than a spell like Angel Shield.

  On one occasion, Hans forgot that he had the Barrier up and initiated a sparring session with Pogo. The tusk cursed for several minutes at how it felt to have a sword bounce off the magic shield.

  Further testing revealed a curious discrepancy, however. The Barrier Hans summoned wasn’t as strong as Wargod’s, even if his intention specifically copied the orc lich itself. The Barrier could adequately block a few strikes from adventurers, but a juvenile griffon burst right through it without issue.

  Where every other dungeon ability Hans activated matched the strength of its source, Barrier was different. Why?

  Mazo had no immediate theories, so Hans deprioritized how many reps he put into Barrier. He didn’t like the idea of trusting something that could give way so suddenly, not after a career with the comforting weight of a shield on his arm.

  Regardless of Barrier, the Guild Master had a great deal to practice, so he and Devon met in the griffon canyon to spar.

  “I release you from your oath,” Hans said.

  “I, Devontes the Paladin, vow to never use Sense Truth on Hans.”

  “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “I know,” Devon replied. “I prefer it that way. How are you managing life with it?”

  “Sense Truth? I haven’t turned it on.”

  “Not once?”

  Hans shook his head. “I’ve resisted the temptation so far. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep that up.”

  “At least you can choose not to use it. Any ground rules before we get started? Besides no Soul Shift I mean.”

  “All of this is still new for me, so I’d rather you fight to win instead of letting me sneak some dumb shot in. I’m worried I’ll underestimate something and injure you.”

  Devon smiled. “I’m not worried about that.”

  “Then I guess no kill shots. Fight stops at either person’s discretion. Good?”

  “Good. Ready? Start.” Devon extended an arm and summoned meteors into existence, dropping the red-hot boulders on Hans with every tap of his fingers.

  Dash got Hans out of range with time to spare, but the Paladin was on him a moment later. Their dulled iron training swords rang like bells in the empty canyon as they clashed over and over. Hans summoned the Wargod Barrier, and Devon responded immediately with his own protective bubble, expanding the border outward to turn the defensive shield itself into a strike.

  The Paladin bubble broke through the Barrier, and the force knocked Hans backward.

  Devon chased immediately with a Dash. Hans used Dash as well, attempting to keep the Paladin from closing the distance. The pair zigged and zagged through the canyon. Devon didn’t hesitate to attack when he came within range, but Hans was gone before Devon’s sword could complete its movement.

  Hans didn’t duck or block or cast a magic shield. He was there, and then he wasn’t.

  Sensing a threat behind him to his left, Devon whirled and deflected Hans’ thrust.

  “The fuck was that?” Devon asked.

  Hans grinned.

  The Paladin exploded forward in a ball of purple flame. The impact sent Hans bouncing across the canyon floor until he slammed into a rock face to come to a stop. When he opened his eyes, Devon stood over him with his sword drawn.

  “Yield,” Hans said. “Gods, that hurt.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” The smallest wounds had already knit themselves back together. “Divine Inferno?”

  Devon nodded.

  “I feel like I’m going to blow up the entire valley when I mess with that one.”

  The Paladin looked back at the direction from which he traveled. A slanted crater sat where Devon first activated the ability; the ground beneath him bunched up like he had tried to run on a slippery carpet. A few dozen yards behind that crater was a wave of broken stones and toppled rock formations. The force to move that spell forward expelled a great deal of power backward as it went, it seemed.

  “There’s not really a half-measure with that one,” Devon admitted. “Hitting you with it was kind of cheap.”

  “Nonsense,” Hans said, dusting himself off. He frowned at his broken shield. It was new and made from bronzewood, but Devon’s attack had blown it to splinters. “Winning is winning.”

  Devon pointed his sword at Hans. “Did you fucking teleport back there?”

  “Is that what it looked like?”

  “Yes.”

  Hans allowed himself a small fist pump. “If it fooled you, it will fool anyone. When I Dash, I use Camouflage like a shadow scorpion.”

  “I thought moving and holding the illusion wasn’t possible?”

  “It’s not, but it’s a little more nuanced, it turns out. I can hold the illusion as long as I’m not actively moving, but that doesn’t mean my body can’t stay in motion. So, I Dash and activate Camouflage.”

  “And you stay hidden while your body moves.”

  “Yep. As soon as I end the Dash, I appear again, so I made sure to Dash farther than you would look because I was visible at the end there for a moment.”

  “Ooh, that’s dirty,” Devon said, adding a whistle to the end. “Again?”

  “Hells yeah.”

  Galad, Charlie, Galinda, Devon, Becky, Luther, Mazo, Hans, Olza, and Yotuli borrowed one of the school classrooms after regular hours for privacy. They scattered themselves around the room to form a rough circle. Olza made them promise to put the desks and chairs back where they found them when the meeting was over.

  Galad began the conversation, referencing notes in his journal as he went. “I know you all have a lot on your plates, especially with the Games coming up, so thank you for making the time. Here’s where we are with the Hoseki plan: Our cave crawler teams will go out shortly after the Games. We settled on three teams of two. They’ll each have one cave crawler apiece. We’ve mapped their routes so there’s no overlap as they move across the kingdom clipping statues.

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  “Does anyone have questions about that piece of the plan? It’s probably the most straightforward and safest part of all of this.”

  Everyone in the room shook their heads.

  “Alright. Here’s where things have evolved a bit. Myself, Devon, and Yotuli will make the trip to Hoseki by griffon. I’ll have letters from Mazo and Dunfoo describing the enchantment we found in the statues. Before I move on to the next point, there’s an item here we need to resolve: We could bolster our position by showing our new scholarly neighbors what we’ve found, and we could do something similar with adventurers who come for the Games, if there are experienced Mages among them.”

  “What are the risks?” Olza asked.

  “We have to admit that we know about the statues. Someone from the University or from the Adventurers’ Guild could try to use that against us before we’ve even left Gomi, the best of the worst being that word gets to Hoseki well before we do.”

  “The fellas with the books have seemed nice enough,” Charlie offered, “but I don’t know much about politics in Hoseki. For those of you who do, what are your thoughts on involving the scholars?”

  Mazo wobbled her head. “They’re asses when it comes to their own clout and prestige. I have a hard time imagining any of them being true villains, though.”

  “That’s not a resounding vote of confidence,” Charlie said.

  Mazo continued, “Dunfoo’s word will help, but he isn’t unbiased if Gomi is paying him. He also hasn’t been subtle about enjoying his wealth, so anyone who has been here could bring up the size of his house and the volume of work he does for the town. That’s not an unreasonable concern for someone to raise, and it’s where I would start as well.”

  “I’ll talk to the scholars,” Devon said. “Mazo’s right that the conflict of interest is too obvious for even us to ignore. I can feel them out and report back. We only need one, right?”

  “Correct,” Galad replied. “Anyone opposed to Devon doing some reconnaissance?”

  No one showed or expressed concern.

  “We’ll move forward with that and decide from there. Thank you for offering to do that, Devon.”

  “No problem.”

  Galad flipped the page in his journal. “The next item is the murder of Hans the Adventurer. We’ve agreed that we cannot let it go unanswered, but we have no actual evidence of the murder or Master Vaglell’s involvement. We have the story of a resurrected adventurer as told by his former pupil, Devontes the Paladin. That’s it.”

  Charlie turned to address the rest of the room. “We might have trouble convincing the kingdom that Hans is even alive. The confusion around that will be something else, so we got to be prepared for doubt on that fact.”

  “Would the Lady of the Forest help?” Galinda asked. “She put the fae issue down quickly.”

  Becky sighed with her arms crossed. “Even if we butter her up to the point that she would want to help, she can’t leave Gomi. I don’t think she’s much for writing letters, either.”

  Devon raised his hand. “What if we put this on my god? That worked well enough for the Diamond boons, so we run that again. Hans brought him back to life to serve some greater justice or whatever.”

  “The last time we poked your god, you spent a few days in a coma,” Mazo pointed out.

  “He’s never complained about anything I’ve said out loud. It’s only if I bother him directly that he gets pissed.”

  “What about the fae?” Yotuli asked.

  “Before we react to that,” Galad said, standing to physically insert himself into the midst of the conversation, “everyone should know that, as I mentioned earlier, Yotuli has asked to join as a representative of tusks and as a representative of Daojmot. I was going to dig into that later, but it looks like that would be good to address now.”

  “I support Yotuli going to Hoseki,” Luther stated. Charlie and Galinda nodded that they agreed as well.

  “I didn’t expect anyone to object,” Galad replied. “But back to the point at hand: Yotuli, what do you propose?”

  “The Lady of the Forest showed Charlie and the Queen the same memories. They saw the far-dorocha murder the fae, and they saw Hans die and fight through a terathan hive, all the way up to the trial itself.”

  “That’s true,” Charlie confirmed.

  Yotuli continued, saying, “The Queen can verify the resurrection story and speak to the way Hans died because she saw it too.”

  Becky chuckled softly to herself. “Hans loves this idea.”

  The room turned its attention to Hans. “We don’t want to be in debt to the fae,” he said. “Not in the slightest.”

  “The scholars were in town to see all of that happen, right?” Yotuli asked rhetorically. “That story has gone across the kingdom by now. There were too many witnesses for no one to talk about seeing a fae trial in person. We can ask every scholar here to confirm the truth of the story without bothering the fae directly or revealing anything sensitive.”

  “Having real proof that they left on good terms would make that case stronger,” Mazo added, “but Yotuli’s got a good idea on her hands.”

  Galinda bumped Charlie. He tried to shush her. She bumped him again.

  “What is it?” Galad asked.

  Charlie released a labored sigh. “We got proof. There was a bottle of fae wine and a letter waiting for us when we got home. She apologized for the misunderstanding and thanked Gomi for its hospitality.”

  “She?” Luther asked.

  “The fae queen.”

  Each person in the room stared at Charlie.

  “Oh, what? Of course I didn’t tell you all about it. You’re a bunch of drunks. If you knew I had an honest-to-gods bottle of fae wine, I’d barely get a sip.”

  “He ain’t wrong,” Becky said, inspiring laughter from the group.

  “Accusing a fae queen of lying, even from inside a throne room, wouldn’t go over well,” Mazo said. “The King and his advisors will know that. A decent Mage should be able to confirm the fae origin of the wine, and that should be all the further skepticism about the bottle and the letter goes.”

  The Mayor put his face in his hands. Galinda rubbed his back.

  “We’ll try to bring the bottle back for you,” Devon offered.

  Charlie waved the Paladin off without lifting his head.

  Galad took notes. “So we’ve agreed to ask for witness accounts from any outsider in town who saw the fae trial, and we will show the gift and letter to prove that our version of the story is the true one.”

  “Don’t forget that Hans’ murder almost started a war with the fae,” Yotuli said. “Sure, they came here because of the dungeon, but if Hans hadn’t been murdered, we would have never accused the fae of sending a shapeshifter into our midst.”

  “Yotuli’s right,” Devon echoed. “That brought humanity closer than ever to a war with the fae realm. I would have come out of that okay, but most of the kingdom dies if they ever decided to attack. No one would argue otherwise.”

  “Do we believe that’s enough to convince the King that Hans’ death was truly murder?” Galad asked.

  Charlie lifted his head. “Can’t imagine we come up with something better than that.”

  “Agreed,” Galad said as he scribbled. “We should discuss what happens if we are rejected. I think that goes one of two ways: we get told to shut up and go back to farming out in the sticks, or the severity of our accusations makes us candidates for jail time and we get arrested.”

  Luther spoke. “If they don’t believe you, then you just come home, right?”

  “Maybe. We’ll have angered all of the Adventurers’ Guild and their allies. There’s also the possibility that the royal family is involved with the wards, so our grand plan to expose the truth by going to the King walks us into the mouth of the beast, so to speak.”

  “No one is arresting me,” Devon said resolutely.

  “You’re coming home,” Galinda said to Galad.

  “You know…” Devon leaned forward in his chair. “Hans is stronger than me now. Gomi can’t be touched no matter what happens in Hoseki.”

  Other than Hans, Mazo, and Olza, everyone else in the room looked confused.

  “Once he gets used to his boon, Hans is the strongest adventurer in the world. He can do everything I can on top of dungeon monster abilities. We’ve barely started that training, and it’s already obvious.”

  “How much of this is Devvy being a good guy and saying nice stuff?” Becky asked Hans.

  “It’s bigger than Dev’s letting on,” Mazo said, answering for Hans. “I suppose no one else here has fought a lich, but you’ve all heard the stories, I’m sure. Hans can do everything Devon can do as well as use all of the magic available to the strongest lich in known history.”

  “Gods,” Charlie gasped.

  “I’m not trying to advertise all of that,” Hans added. “I’m also far from being as skilled as Devon, but the potential is there.”

  “We could actually win a war with the kingdom,” Luther mused. “Imagine that.”

  “There’s no winners if Gomi goes to war,” Charlie said. “Let’s agree to do everything possible to avoid that, but I don’t want any of you three becoming martyrs either. If anything smells off, come home, and we’ll figure something else out.”

  Galad stood. “Last item then. Luther will be taking on my responsibilities in Gomi while I’m gone. I’d like him to keep that position even when I return. It’s been a long time coming, and you deserve it, brother.”

  Everyone in the room clapped. Luther smiled and nodded his thanks sheepishly.

  Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

  Monitor for independently grown sections of dungeon.

  Complete the next volume (Bronze to Silver) for “The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers.”

  Learn to help your advanced students as much as you help beginners.

  Relocate the titan bones to the dungeon entrance.

  Master your Diamond boon.