Past Life Hero, Chapter 50

Max was able to keep track of time with his tablet, which was useful.  Otherwise he’d have no way of knowing how local time was passing in the dark.  He idly wondered if time would revert or change once he got back to the Quartet. Thinking about the different time flows and how they didn't match up honestly hurt his head, so after the first day, he stopped giving it any thought. His mission in the dungeon had become one of simple, methodical extermination.

At least time was on his side.

On top of his other advantages, even though it was uncomfortable–maddeningly so at times–he didn't need to eat or drink to keep going. However, the monsters did. Over the course of several days, as Max waged a guerrilla campaign on them, he discovered that the feral fauns drank from a few fetid water sources.

Max had gotten lucky, though.  After his second day in the dark, he'd found a trickle on his side of the cavern that seemed to produce crystal-clear water. It wasn't enough to completely slake his thirst but it sure beat nothing.  And it was definitely better than trying the nasty water that the feral fauns drank.

Of course, if the faun water had been his only choice, he would have just gone completely without.

Whether it was their nasty water or weird tuber things they ate, Max was always pleased to see the monsters need to take care of their bodies.  He was happy they were flesh and blood, mortal creatures–and behaved accordingly.

Their weaknesses were appreciated, because they definitely were not weak in a fight.

The feral fauns together were more than a match for Max on his own. The way he’d been able to kill some and get away before while they were in a group was only because of his First Star Mana Body and his Blade Sorcerer experience. In his first life, when he’d had a first star mana body, he would have been destroyed for sure.  But now not only was he able to kill them, he could do it any time they let their guard, flying over the chasm separating their encampment and his hiding place.

His enemies were strongest when they worked together, but they couldn't be at maximum wariness at all times. On top of that, they had logistics to worry about. There was definitely some sort of order in place. It had its own rules and life had to sustain itself even if no dungeon delvers ever visited, at least as far as Max could tell.

Whenever he was ready to kill more goat men, Max would climb as high as he could up a rocky wall before springing up into the air with Slick’s aid. His silent glide across the chasm was a great way for Max to surprise the monsters. It took them at least a few minutes to register his intrusion, sound the alarm, and for their shamans to use buffing magic. Unfortunately, Max still hadn't gotten a chance to kill the annoying shamans yet.

But then the third day, after all the goat men had pulled back from their chasm to the better defended tunnels, Max knew it would be even harder from then on. The feral fauns definitely understood that their shamans were what gave them the greatest edge against Max in combat.

On the fifth day, Max sat in a cross-legged position, chin on his fist, wondering what his next move should be.

Lavinia had just appeared before him.  She was wearing an emo outfit, complete with big boots, torn pantyhose, black shorts, a Batman graphic t-shirt, lip rings, and a tiara.  Dozens of colorful bracelets covered her wrists.

Her glow currently wasn’t affecting the surrounding darkness. She could actually provide some illumination that way. For now, she was only appearing to his eyes. "Any news?" He asked out loud.

"Not really," she said. "None of them have come back out in the open over there. They've abandoned that village because it's too easy for you to catch them unaware. It looks like... It looks like they've set up even more defenses in the tunnels and the majority of them have moved upstairs to that first big cavern."

"Well, what if their trap upstairs gets sprung by somebody else," Max said.

Lavinia chuckled and sat down. In actuality, she was floating about an inch above the stone. She said, "That's highly unlikely. I get the feeling that no dungeon delvers have been this way for a very, very long time. Not only that, I'm pretty sure the fauns could just secure the trap door.  Want me to check?"

"No, you're probably right.  And it doesn’t matter anyway." Max remembered how well the trap had been camouflaged. Not for the first time, he wished he had even a slightly larger fraction of his power in his first life.  If so, the trap wouldn't have affected him at all. He dismissed that line of thought as being useless. Then he summoned and looked at his system screen to check the number of mana units he had left again and sighed.  He'd actually made a decent amount of money by killing goat men so far but it wasn’t enough.

The haul he was getting in this place would surely be very profitable even for a full-fledged, four to ten person adventuring group.  After all, there were several hundred goat men, at least that Max could estimate. However, Max had already burned through hundreds of mana units over the last five days to improve his mana body, thousands altogether. He needed a lot more than he was getting to reach a second star mana body and unless he could get stronger, there was no point in finishing this dungeon. After all, the moment he got back, he was likely going to get a spear in the chest.

Killing Regal at this point wouldn't be a problem, but some of Regal's friends or maybe even his brother would still be too much of a challenge for Max. Especially in a group. Of course, Lavinia knew all of this already and she seemed to be at a loss for words too.

Out loud, slowly, Max said, "I've been doing the math in my head and I don't know exactly how many mana units I'd get from killing the giants, but I don't even know if I can kill them. And even if I can get out of here, going into the cave with the centipedes would be dangerous as hell right now. But let’s say I can kill the giants.  If  I guess how many mana units I could get from them, plus all the fauns, I might–and I repeat I might–be able to get just enough mana units to reach a second star mana body." His voice trailed off.

Lavinia said, "Yes, but it would be super dangerous and you might still not succeed."

"Exactly," said Max. He folded his arms and bit the side of his cheek. Very deliberately, he turned his head to look in the direction he knew the abandoned temple was in.

Lavinia noticed the gesture.  "I know you're curious about the temple, but we don't know what's in there, either. That could be more dangerous than fighting the giant camp or the centipedes."

Max didn't respond, just kept facing that direction. Higher risk, higher reward, he thought to himself. He tapped one finger against his bicep, trying to weigh the pros and cons, but it was almost impossible because there were too many variables.

When he kept looking in the direction of the temple, Lavinia spoke again. "We don't know if it's another dungeon, or if it's a boss room, or a treasure room."

"Yeah, but that last part is interesting and maybe worth the risk," said Max. "We know that rewards are better in dungeons that haven't been traveled for a while, and this one is a fifth level that's unpopular. It could have been hundreds of years since anybody's been here. And this temple looks ancient. It's also in such a weird, out of the way place… It's possible that no adventurers have ever found it. Who knows?"

"Yes, who knows," said Lavinia. "It might also be full of gross, rapey tentacle monsters."

Max winced and muttered. He sighed and said, "It would be so much better if this place had even just a little bit more ambient mana. I could just sit around and build on my mana body."

Lavinia shook her head. "Maybe not, though.  There's not really unlimited time."

"Huh?" Asked Max.

"You don't know?" She asked.

“Obviously not.  Enlighten me.”

"You don’t have unlimited time, even without needing food.  Quests, like this one, have built-in time limits. They might be really long, like a year, but you can't just stay in here for 10,000 years or whatever. If you could, powerful Challengers all across the universe would be using dungeons like this to train or just live forever in. Each dungeon’s cutoff is different, and if you’re still in here…well, that’s it.  Keeps Challengers on their toes.  Anyway, there's a reason why so many of those types choose service in a Quartet to keep living instead."

"Yeah, and they still probably get access to these things too," said Max. "I mean a few months might not be a century, but it's still extra time.  I bet some of the records list how long various  teams have taken to clear dungeons so others would know they could at least stay that long."

"That's true," said Lavinia. "I hadn't thought of that."

Max held his tongue, knowing that the reason Lavinia never thought about it before is she'd never been a fighter or likely had many friends. She was brilliant, but had definitely, obviously been wrapped up in her own concerns.

"Alright," said Max. He'd made a decision and stood up. Before this point, he'd stayed away from the temple, avoiding even the possibility of triggering something nasty by getting too close. Most of his in-depth impressions of the structure, he'd gotten secondhand from Lavinia. "I'm going to check out this temple for myself." He held up a forestalling hand when his spirit began to interrupt.  "I'm just checking it out. For now," he added.

"I hope you don't regret it," muttered Lavinia.

"Yeah, me too," said Max.

***

Max regarded the ruined temple with something like awe. He'd seen many different types of architecture over the course of his lives, both of them. Especially back in Albion, he'd explored his fair share of ruins or extremely old structures. But what he was looking at now was something different. He pondered how the building actually differed from others he'd seen before. Ultimately, he had to just think of it as alien. It was sharp where it should be round, and round where it should be sharp.  Shapes were carved, or formed, that made the structure look…sacred.  Weighty.

The temple had not been carved out of the rocks of the caves. Instead, it looked like an entire section had been hollowed out and then a different sort of rock, a darker stone, had been used to build the temple. There were not even ruins or rubble to suggest that other structures had ever existed around it.

All of it was a mystery.

Max had been able to get to this area by jumping in the air and basically hang gliding over a huge chasm. The flat, rocky area had no other access.  He had no idea how anyone could have built this place or even gotten to this area again after the structure was built.

Part of him wanted to hand wave it away as a bit of randomness in the dungeon, but based on how all the monsters seemed to still need to eat and drink and otherwise live, he'd begun thinking of the dungeon as an enclosed ecosystem.  It was like a pocket dimension of its own, which definitely raised some disturbing questions. He had enough unanswered, unsolved mysteries to worry about without adding more, though.

Various creatures and figures were carved into the stone of the temple. Max was surprised to recognize some of the motifs. There was definitely a representation of the elements, as well as the cardinal directions and differences between heaven and earth. It felt like he was looking at the foundations of every religion, belief structure, and magic system in the universe. What he didn't find was any obvious dedication to a specific god or purpose.

Even though he was standing fairly close to the temple now, Max didn't feel any danger. He just felt more of the strange energy like he had before. And now that he was this close, he could definitely feel the shield that Lavinia hadn't been able to pass through before. But she’d described it as almost a wall and highly uncomfortable. To Max, it felt more like an invisible curtain of mist. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, just there.

"This place gives me the creeps," said Lavinia.

"Gives you the creeps?” asked Max.  “How is that possible?  You're a ghost." Most of his attention was on the temple.

“That’s rude.”

“No, it was rude to peek on me in the shower before our contract."

“I never peeked on you!” Lavinia retorted.

“I see.  The story keeps changing.  The plot thickens.” Max’s tone was dry as the desert.  He perfectly hid a smile.

The spirit harumphed and made a big deal out of not looking at Max anymore. The two of them studied the temple in silence for several minutes before Max announced, "YOLO," and stepped forward directly into the barrier. To his surprise, he passed right through without an issue. On the other side of the barrier, the weird energy was stronger, but it wasn't exactly alarming, just noticeable.

Lavinia's eyes widened as she tried to follow Max, only to run into an invisible wall. "What the hell?" she protested.

Max frowned and stepped back through the barrier. He and Lavinia experimented several times, but each time, the barrier easily allowed Max to pass, but never Lavinia.

Finally, the two of them stood outside, and she said, "Maybe it only lets humans pass, or the living."

"I thought you said you weren't a ghost," said Max, his tone wry.

"Now is not the time," groused Lavinia.

“Fine, fine.  Anyway, I don’t think it’s because you’re a spirit.  One of the schools in the Quartet is for Summoners, after all.  Also…”  Max folded his arms in thought before saying, "Hey, Slick." Almost immediately, the energetic little spirit popped into existence in front of Max, one eye cocked quizzically.

"You've gone with me to the other side of the barrier, right?" Slick nodded and then jumped up in the air, doing what looked like the Moon Walk. "Okay, that's all I needed, Slick. You can go back." The spirit nodded happily and disappeared again.

Lavinia's eyes were wide as she looked at where Slick had just been, then up to Max. "Slick was with you the entire time?"

"Yeah," said Max. "So why aren't you going through, too?"

Lavinia made a face. "Probably because Slick is inside you."

"What?"

Lavinia made another less pleasant face. "Spirits don't have to live outside of their contracted Summoner when they’re resting. Some can choose to inhabit the Summoner's soul space.  Or some Summoners force their spirits to. I've been–" she paused and said, "--independent this entire time."

"Why?" asked Max. He could think of a million other questions, but this seemed to be the most important one.

The former Summoner shrugged helplessly. "This is the first time I've been a contracted spirit. I've got spirits in my own soul space right now. I guess maybe deep down I just felt like if I'm in your soul space, I really need to…I don't know…accept things more?  But that can't be it because I'm not unhappy and I don't feel like I haven't accepted things. It's just like…" she paused, searching for the words.  "--Like a wall that I need to get over. Maybe?"

"What are the benefits of you being in my soul space?" asked Max.

"Well for one, it would obviously allow me to pass this barrier." She waved her hand in front of them and laughed nervously. "It can help with communication and a few other things. I don't know. I just have always told myself that it wasn't important, which is why I haven't done it."

Max didn't want to be rude or insensitive, but he was in a hostile dungeon in front of an enigmatic temple, trying to grow more powerful so he could make it back to the Quartet without being killed at numerous points along the way. But it was also fundamentally uncomfortable to leave Lavinia behind the barrier, not just for his sake but for hers.

"Is there anything I can do or say to make it easier for you to consider maybe, uh–" he tripped over the words, "--entering my soul space?"

"Not really." Lavinia shook her head and said, "Do me a favor and just wait here for a while. I promise I'll be back before too long."  Without further warning she winked out of existence.

Max stared at the place she'd been standing before shrugging and dropping into a meditative sitting position. Then, as he waited, he methodically crushed mana units and sucked the energy into his body, processing it, making it his own. About an hour passed before Lavinia came back without fanfare.

"Okay, I'm ready, let's do this. I wanna see what's on the other side."

Max opened one eye quizzically. "What changed?"

She seemed about ready to respond before shaking her head. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is I've made my decision. So let's hurry up and do this before I lose my nerve."

Max stood. "Do I need to do anything?"

"No, not really," said Lavinia. She coughed nervously, then coughed again. Eyes wild, she suddenly shouted, "Leroy Jenkins!"

Max blinked. "That meme is really old–" he started to say, before Lavinia disappeared and he could feel her energy get…closer somehow. As it happened, he realized that he'd felt the same from Slick before, just weaker.  Despite how powerful Slick was, the little spirit was less than Lavinia and perhaps much less complex.

The change, maybe more of an adjustment didn't take long, but after it was done, Max definitely felt spiritually heavier.

He didn't waste time. Max stepped through the barrier and then, with an explorative manner, thought-spoke to Lavinia:  I’m through. A second later, she appeared again.  She was acting strange.  The expression on her face read as resolute and maybe something else.

"Okay, it worked," she said.

"Yes, it did," Max unnecessarily agreed. The two of them looked at each other, smiled awkwardly, shrugged, and walked into the pitch-black temple together.

***

I can't wait to write the next part!