B3 Chapter 303: Further Reaches, pt. 1

Kaius sat on the floor, allowing the frenetic rush of running for his life to leave him. Grumbling uncomfortably as holes his brother had left in his shoulder knitted themselves closed, he took his first good look at the stone bunker that had saved them from the ruinbringers outside.

Easily three times the width of the portal room, it stretched a good forty strides from wall to wall. Small braziers of flame were scattered amongst pillars of tan stone, their flickering shadows making the carved images on the walls almost dance with a hypnotic vigour.

To his left, the floor rose into a platform. Light spilled from its centre, drawing his eyes to a staircase down. Empty of depthsborn, he assumed, considering Porkchop had said the room was safe, and the silence that was only broken by his team’s heavy breathing and the muffled thumps of the scorpions outside.

It had to be empty, right? His senses had grown sharper by the day, bolstered by both his prodigious mental stats and Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus. He was sure he would have heard something rustling down there if there was anything moving — and Porkchop would have smelled them if they were lying in wait.

Slumping back against the wall, Kaius winced as the movement jostled his shoulder. The lance of pain brought him back to the current moment. Running across the desert had taken a lot out of him — they’d need to recover before they pushed on.

Though hopefully it wouldn’t take too long.

Kaius pulled up his Resources, checking the damage.

Resources:

Health – 6304/6700 (41/min)

Stamina – 5768/6560 (47.8/min)

Mana – 368/7890 (52.8/min)

Free Mana – 368/368

Reserved Mana – 0

Active Enhancement: Totem of the Glade, Sundrenched Strength

He groaned at the drop in his Stamina. While he still had plenty, it was still a significant expenditure for what amounted to five minutes of operating at his absolute peak. Even with his growing pool, fueling his enhanced body took far more energy than it had during his first jaunt in the depths. His pool did still grow faster than his energy requirements, but he was not so lucky that he could have sprinted for days on end without rest.

An hour or so of his peak abilities, that was it. Then the burn in his muscles and the fire in his lungs would become more than discomfort and mortal exertion sapped at his strength. He’d last longer than most with his empowered and changed body, but not forever.

Something they would have to work around in a place like the Depths.

At the very least, he’d gotten away with far less of a price than running into four ruinbringers should have cost them. He was proud of his team for how they had performed — and how both Ianmus and Kenva had covered for their advance once they had made it to the tower.

It was impressive that they had managed to beat them there in the first place, what with him and his brother’s stat growth, though perhaps not incredibly surprising since they both had movement skills. A trade off, significant speed for a massively increased resource drain compared to simple running. Over longer distances — hours and days — he and Porkchop would still far outstrip them.

He still wanted one — though sustained mobility skills weren’t anywhere near a certainty for frontline classers like Porkchop and him. At the very least, if Aelina offered one, he would take it — his current spells were far more suited to sudden repositioning and aggressive advances.

Regardless of how they had performed, they’d been caught flat footed — been proven weak. Once again, their weakness was in their capacity to fight against groups of enemies. A problem, considering any creatures that were not as singularly tough as the ruinbringers were likely to be numerous.

He knew from his first jaunt in the depths that finding individual or small groups of depthsborn was common, but they would have to approach each biome cautiously — focusing on careful scouting to avoid any threats they couldn’t handle, and picking off those that they could.

They’d gotten particularly unlucky in that their first encounter had been against creatures that were not just tough, but Elite ambushers capable of hiding from Kenva’s and his Skills. Hopefully they would have a far easier time of it in the future — though he wasn’t going to let that make him incautious.

Plus, he hadn’t forgotten the danger of traps. In many ways, the ruinbringers themselves had been a hidden danger, but other biomes were likely to have mechanical and magical ones as well. He and Kenva would have their work cut out for them keeping the team safe — especially since Explorer’s Toolkit was by no means a focused scouting skill.

Despite that, he couldn’t help but feel a jittery energy in his limbs at the thrill of it all. It was exciting! The danger, the rush of growth, and the gains that came from being pushed to your limits. Exactly the kind of thing he hungered for, no matter how dangerous it might be.

He knew he wasn’t alone in his thoughts. You’d think, considering how close they’d come to being scorpion food, that at least one of them would be somber — that the air of the room would be grave and serious.

Instead, when he looked at his team, all he saw were the smiles of satisfied warriors taking a well earned rest.

Some might confuse it for a flippant disregard of their safety, but he knew better. They were all treating this with the gravity it deserved — they just felt the hunger. A need to grow, and see just how far they could push.

Before the phase change, feeling the bloodsong in the way they did meant you were destined to reach the second tier — maybe even further — or die trying. Now, everyone would have to adopt at least a fraction of their drive, lest the growing danger overwhelm them.

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It was simple — people were levelling slower than the danger was rising, and the avoidance of risk was leading to weaker class evolutions that put people further and further behind the curve.

The changes that had come had been a blessing for people like his team and him, and he suspected — knew — that it would be a grind stone that would sharpen more than just them.

A new generation was rising, propelled by the growing turmoil.

Kaius couldn’t wait to see who else rose to the occasion.

With growth in mind, Kaius pulled up his waiting notifications and checked on the improvement of his skills.

**Ding! Class Skill Notifications Consolidated!**

**Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 146 > 147!**

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**Latent Glyph of Aelina has reached level 127 > 128!**

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**Latent Glyph of Vyrthane has reached level 10 > 12!**

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