Essence Wave Book 2 Chapter 30

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

First draft done! Final word count, 113,278. 37 chapters, and y'all will get the final one by this weekend! 

In other news, I've been selected as part of a beta on Facebook to encourage interaction and more posts. If y'all could, can you go to my author Facebook page, and like my newest posts this week? Comments are great too! Depending on the number of interactions with my page, I'll get a bonus from Facebook that'll help out a ton. Thanks!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

The Dungeon was quickly reset, with nearly thirty people sending every bit of Mana and Energy they had available to power it. David trained A Leader’s Gift more, every time he was nearly full he’d give someone a full drop. The conversion rate was getting better, nearing nine to one instead of ten, but was still atrocious. At this rate, I doubt I’ll ever get A Leader’s Gift below five to one, even if I reach the Master tier, he grumbled after the last time. A flash of light shot through the Dungeon once he did.

“Everyone out!” He yelled, and they walked out of the Dungeon. “It won’t reset if there’s anyone in it.” The procession of people who marched out made David shake his head. “Alright, if you’re level four, line up over here.”

Nineteen of the twenty seven people were level four. Emily and Steve stood off to the side, both level six, while a couple of the people there were still level three. After about a minute of talking, six people were picked to go forward, including Samantha. A tank, a healer, two melee damagers, an Earth Mage, and a sniper with a Mana and Energy powered crossbow. David watched nervously as they prepared to go into the Dungeon.

Standing outside fidgeting was not a good look for him, so he wandered around, checking on people. “Emily,” he said, walking up. “How’re your students?”

“Most of them are doing okay,” she said with a grin. “Learning to shoot takes a lot less time when the System helps out. Though some of them …” she reached over and smacked a teenager who was flirting with a muscle head, “need to pay more attention to their weapon and less on boys.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” the girl responded contritely, turning back the cyberpunk sniper rifle she was in the middle of cleaning.

David shook his head. Emily smiled and said, “They’re good kids. Need more experience in actual fights, but they’ll make you proud.”

“Good. The Dungeon should give a good bit of experience, though it won’t be anything like the fight that is coming. I wish we had more time,” David said, frowning.

“We’ll do our best,” Emily said. “That’s all we can do, to make the world safe for the next generation.”

“If we can push the Daemons off-world, we’ll have time,” he said. “Supposedly, increasing your Constitution past eighty triples your lifespan, and it increases from there.”

“So you’re saying we’ll live to be a couple of hundred years old?”

“At least,” David said, and he could tell that the others were watching. “As we learn more about the System, from what we can find at the Market and experimenting, we’ll make sure to share it with everyone. Together, we’ll stand tall and victorious over the Daemons. First, we shut down their portals, then we kill every one that managed to get here. After that, we take the fight to them, until they are removed from our universe in its entirety!”

“Oorah!” Blake shouted from behind him. “Heya boss, care to top off my Mana please?”

“Sure,” David laughed, sending him two hundred Mana.

“Thanks,” Blade grinned, then turned and blurred as he put together two dozen planks of wood to make a small stand. “Place to sit and collect taxes,” he explained.

“Taxes?” David asked.

“You know, from the credits? Michelle had something similar put at the Bridge Dungeon. Last time I ran it Elliot had me deposit ten percent of the credits I gained into a storage device,” Blake explained.

“Huh, Dungeon didn’t give us any credits when we ran it,” David grumbled. “Not sure what he used to store the credits in.”

“You could just take them,” Emily said. “Or have Aly do it if you don’t trust yourself.”

“Or I’ll go get whatever the device was that put the credits in the City’s accounts,” Aly said. “Since I’m the fastest one here.” She turned and Sprinted off, nearly blurring she moved so fast.

“Well that problem is solved,” David laughed.

A few minutes later, Aly returned to find David pacing. “It takes twenty minutes on average for a team to beat the Dungeon,” she said, holding out what looked like an obsidian iPad. “Apparently they just use a City Interface Tablet to collect the taxes. You could probably use it to do more, Mr. City Lord.”

“Let’s see,” he said, tapping the tablet. Nothing happened for a second, and then he got a notification.

Do you wish to bind to the City Interface Tablet? Yes/No

‘Yes,” he said. Nothing happened, but when he pulled up his Status he found another tab. “Ooh, nice. I can access the Dungeon’s control interface. One more run and it’ll upgrade a level. I wonder what that’ll do?”

“We’ll find out soon, look,” Aly said. Samantha and crew were walking out of the Dungeon. They all had minor cuts and scorch marks on them, but no one seemed significantly injured.

“Excellent,” David said, hurrying over. “I’m glad you all are okay.”

“It’s ready to be mined,” Samantha said. “I’m gonna lay down for a bit.”

“Sure. Everyone who wants to mine, follow me. Steve, bring the cart. Everyone else, go to the first cavern and start to train again. Keep the hallway safe though, so you don’t hit us when we come back.”

David pulled out his pick, then passed out the other one and both shovels. Steve pulled the cart, and inside it was another half-dozen picks and shovels. They hurried down to the end of the Dungeon and began to mine. David shouted encouragement and tried to teach as best he could, while also whacking away at the wall as fast as possible.

Ten minutes later, they were done, and four of the others pushed the cart out. David looked over at the Dungeon Core, and asked, “Why do you agree to do this? What’s in it for you, Daemon?” He didn’t expect an answer.

“Easier evolution,” a hissing voice answered. “Soon, I will level from your people’s use of essence, and eventually, I will become a Lord. My people do not age, do not die from time, so I know that I will become free one day. One day, your people, your city, will fall and fail to clear the Dungeon enough, and then I will be free to destroy.”

“Good luck,” David said. “But it will be a long, long time from now, if ever. I will see to it.”

“So they all say,” it hissed. “Now …” the voice cut off.

“Who’re you talking to?” Aly asked, jogging down the hallway.

“The Dungeon, but it stopped as soon as you got close. It might only get to talk to me since I’m the owner, I guess?” David shrugged. “No idea.” He then repeated what the Dungeon boss told him.

“Huh,” was all Aly said afterwards. “Come on. Let’s go train your Mana Shield some more. Gotta keep you alive when you throw yourself into the thick of things.”

“Sure,” David laughed.

She dragged him back up the hallway to the first cavern, then off to the right where Emily was coaching the flirtatious teen on a Farsight Skill usage. “Here’s your target,” Aly said.

“Can I have Tiffany train her Power Shot and Tracking Shot on you?” Emily asked. “It’s much faster to work on when targeting a person than a stone block.”

“Sure,” David said. “You’re level four, right?”

“Uh, yes, sir,” Tiffany said, her voice higher than he expected.

“Then yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll put up my Mana Shield, and you try to hit me in the stomach, okay?”

She nodded hurriedly. David led her to the hallway, and then jogged to the end of it. He turned, putting a thousand Mana divided between Earth, Metal, and pure Mana. “Ready?”

“Yes sir,” Tiffany called back, shifting into a shooting stance, with her arms tucked into her side and the weapon cradled to her cheek.

David grinned, then danced to the side just before she pulled the trigger. The gun shot out a red-gold burst, somehow using Energy to form a bullet. The attack was quick, but not quicker than his reflexes. The bolt turned in mid-air, tracking towards him, but he was able to roll his body such that his shield took the hit without any risk of it hitting his chest.

It took two hundred Mana to fix the damage to the Shield, and he felt the Skill expand when he did so. A quick glance showed that his Mana Shield Skill had jumped to Apprentice one. Huh, huge jump just for fixing the Shield without recasting it, he thought, then he danced to the side to dodge a blast that moved twice as fast. The clap of it hitting the far wall echoed down the hallway.

“Oh, sorry, I should have taken that,” he shouted. “Do it again.” He activated Earthen Bulwark too, just to take the impact.

She nodded, then focused. The front end of her gun glowed for a second, and then the blast repeated. This time, it hit him in the gut. His Shield didn’t break, and the push back didn’t defeat his Skill, but he could tell it did quite a bit of damage. Six hundred Mana was used to fix the Shield this time.

“Keep it up!” David shouted. “That was awesome.”

Twice a minute, an attack shot at him. His Mana and Energy regeneration were more than capable of keeping up, though each shot that impacted did a bit more damage. Ten minutes later, on the last shot before the Dungeon reset again, she cracked his Shield and scorched his armor. “Woo!” Tiffany said, jumping up and down. “I did it!”

“You did,” David said. “Come on, gotta get out so the Dungeon can be run again.” He jogged out. “You’re going to be on the next team too.”

“Yay!” She grinned. Getting a team together only took a minute, and then they were in the Dungeon.

David went around, recharging people and making small talk. It took twenty minutes for them to finish the Dungeon. “Okay, let’s get the Dungeon reset in ten minutes,” David said. “Burn hot and burn fast. Let’s go!” He Sprinted into the Dungeon, pushing the mining cart ahead of him. This time, while using Mining he also activated Vanguard’s Strike and Strengthen. The first blow caused the ore to explode off the wall, the entire tin area dropping to the ground.

“Sorry guys, no time to have you learn mining now,” David said. “I’ll buy you a Beginner knowledge stone after the coming battle.”

“Sure thing, bossman,” Steve said, shoveling quickly to put the ore in the cart. His buddies joined him.

David moved to the copper wall, then slammed his pick into it. Again, a cascade of ore fell to the ground, and it only took two more blows to pull all of it down. Less than a minute later they had it all stored away, and then Steve, (names) hauled it up.

David met up with Tiffany in the second cavern. “Ready to train more?” He asked her.

“Uh, yes sir,” she said.

“Did you make level five?”

“No sir,” she grimaced. “Still need two hundred more Essence. The run did give me five hundred, so I’ll level on the next one.”

“Good. The others in your team?”

“Uh, Jamil and Melissa leveled up, Sierra, Brandon, and Peter didn’t.”

“Okay. Now, ready? I’m increasing the Mana used to make the Mana Shield. Let’s see you break it this time.”

She nodded, a fierce grin on her face, and pulled up her weapon. David saw Aly wave at him, then slash at a young man who was focused on Dodging, his motions augmented by the telltale red-gold glimmer of Energy. David staggered, the Power Shot knocking him backward a step. “Oops, forgot to activate Earthen Bulwark.”

“Aw man,” Tiffany said. “I thought I had you.”

“See if you can knock me down now,” David challenged, activating Earthen Bulwark again.

She glared at him, then pulled her weapon back up. More and more Mana and Energy was fed into the gun, until finally a massive blast shot out of it. David crossed his arms in front of his chest, the attack setting off his danger sense. The impact broke his Mana Shield and threw him backward. He rolled quickly to his feet, his Hit Points down a couple hundred and his forearms stinging. “Nice one!” he shouted.

Tiffany collapsed like a puppet that had its strings cut.

“Tiffany!” David exclaimed, Sprinting to her. He knelt next to her, breathing a sigh of relief when he noticed she was still breathing.

Her eyes opened. “So tired,” she whispered.

“Here,” David said, transferring over three thousand Energy and Mana. He sagged a bit, his Mana dropping to only seven from his previous usage. A splitting headache formed, but it dissipated quickly as his regeneration pushed him back into the double and then triple digits pretty quickly.

Tiffany shook her head, then her eyes unfocused as she checked her notifications. “I, I just evolved Power Shot into Focused Sniper’s Shot. It lets me use Mana and Energy, instead of just Energy, and it is Rare! I’m the eighty-seventh person to evolve a Rare Skill, so I got fifty Essence too! Thank you!” She threw her arms around him.

David awkwardly patted her back. “Great. Let’s test out the new Skill, and maybe don’t go overboard this time, okay?”

“Okay,” she said shyly, blushing.

David stood and jogged back down the hallway, then turned to face Tiffany. “Alright. I need to meditate for a few minutes to get back to full, and so do you.” At her nod, he leaned against the wall and dove into his core cave. Notifications time, he thought, pulling them up. Oh good, finally leveled Mana Shield and Earthen Bulwark. Two levels to A Leader’s Gift too. Nice. Huh, Overcharge leveled too, all the way to Initiate seven. Weird. I must be using it to assist with putting more Mana into Mana Shield. Eh, oh well. Useful. Anything to let me fully utilize my ridiculous Mana and Energy pools.

Okay, full enough now, he thought after a few subjective minutes, then opened his eyes. “Ready?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” she said.

David quickly cast Mana Shield, dumping a full fifteen hundred Mana into it, then activated Earthen Bulwark. Afterward, he gave her a thumbs up. She aimed, Mana and Energy flowing into her weapon, and fired.

The impact wasn’t quite as pronounced as the first time she’d used her new Skill, but it was still enough to break his Mana Shield. “How much Mana and Energy did you use in that shot?” David asked.

“Two hundred of each,” she told him.

“Ouch, so four hundred resources broke fifteen hundred, even when I’m a significantly higher level than you,” David said. “That’s a good Skill.”

“Uh, it has a tolerable armor penetration, and counts as a tier higher too,” she said with a grin.

“What’s the downsides?” David asked.

“Well, you saw how long it took to charge,” she frowned. “I can feel that I can’t use it yet, like the Skill is tired or something.”

“Cooldown,” David said. “Yeah, the Skill runes need to recharge something between usages. Some have incredibly tiny cooldowns, while others can take a full day. Planning around that is important for fights.”

“Got it,” she said.

He reached out a hand, “Recharge?” She nodded and took his hand, so he dropped a thousand Mana and Energy into his Skill. Afterwards, he walked back to the other end of the hallway. Echoes of explosions sounded down the cavern, the volume overpowering whatever the Dungeon did to prevent sound transfer. I wonder what’s going on, David thought.

“Ready?” Tiffany asked. David gave her a thumbs up, then set himself to receive her attack. He channeled out layers of Earth, Metal, and pure Mana. They quickly formed a mesh, with layers of Metal and Earth in a hexagon pattern, attached together with pure Mana to make a copy of scale armor. He pushed his Skill to set up three layers, with each offset from the one above it.

Tiffany breathed deeply, then pulled her weapon to her shoulder. Five seconds later, a blast exploded against his chest. He jerked from the hit, his Shield cracking, but he held his position. Two of the three layers broke, but the last held, keeping his Hit Points intact. “Aww, man,” Tiffany complained. “I didn’t break it this time.”

“New design,” David said. With a mental flick, he checked his blinking notifications, “and it gave me six Skill levels, holy crap. Apprentice one in Mana Shield. That will help immensely.”

“Yay,” Tiffany said, jumping. “I got three Skill levels too. Oh.” The Dungeon flashed.

“Let’s go,” David said, and they ran up to the Dungeon’s entrance. Outside, he found nearly a hundred people, though a quick scan with Scholar’s Vision revealed they were all level three.

Aly found him and Tiffany, “Tiff, head to Blake, he’s organizing your team for the next run,” she said.

“Where’d they all come from?” David asked.

“Josiah asked us to speed up, so I told him to send us more people. Now we have another fifty people to drop their Mana and Energy to recharge the Dungeon. It should only take a few minutes now,” Aly explained.

“Good,” David said.

Less than a minute later, he saw Tiffany walking with five other young people into the Dungeon. “How’s your training going?” He asked his wife.

“Pretty good,” Aly said. “I was working with Steve and his crew to help them hit elusive targets. Steve started to get better at the end, but none of them could hit me. Did get my Elusive Shadow Skill to Apprentice four, so that worked out great for me at least.”

“Elusive Shadow?” He asked.

“An evolution of Dodge,” she said. “Let’s me Dodge better, using Shadow Mana and Energy to move my body out of the way, or turn parts of it to shadow so a blow goes through it. Weird feeling when it works, but made Steve freak out when his super smash went through my arm.”

David just laughed. “Good. I managed to push Mana Shield up to Apprentice by modeling it after scale armor. Metal and Earth Mana scales were stacked with pure Mana.”

“Good to know,” Aly said. “I like you having better defenses.”

“Same, my beauty,” David pulled her into a hug, then he dismissed his helmet to kiss her. She kissed him back, smiling all the while.

Five minutes passed before the Dungeon team returned. Tiffany and three others had triumphant grins on their faces. She ran to David, jumping in joy, “I did it! I got level five, and a really cool Path. Thank you!” She threw herself into him, and he grinned and spun her around before setting her down.

“That is great,” Aly said, a fond grin on her face.

“What was it?” David asked.

“Arcane Sniper! It’s a Rare Path that made my Mana Skills and ranged attack Skills level faster and increased my Mana regeneration by three times,” she bounced excitedly.

“Awesome,” David said. He looked around, “Let’s get this Dungeon reset ASAP!”