Random Portals

Steven woke up with the equivalent of a massive hangover.

He was getting sick and tired of waking up after passing out. In fact, he was getting tired of just waking up in this dungeon period. From behind his eyelids he could make out bright lights, so he kept his eyes closed while he pulled out his last remaining mana potion. After downing it his head instantly began to clear, but at the same time a bit of nausea set it. This too was unfortunately a familiar sensation. Silvia had explained it was potion toxins, though he was surprised that was still an issue with how much resistance he now had.

When Steven opened his eyes, he was greeted by hundreds, if not thousands, of floating lights. A pink light with a hint of green out shown them all floating in front.

“I’m sorry! I should have told them to go one at a time.” Silvia said, light dimming.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Steven said, “but next time please tell me what you’re planning. Now, do you mind telling me what exactly is going on?”

Nev came to sit next to Steven on the side of the bed.

“This is not a good place to talk about things. Sorin maybe watching.”

“Ive been meaning to ask you about that. You speak to me telepathically. Can he hear that?”

Nev twisted her head in confusion. “Wait, are you saying that pathetic excuse of a Dungeon Lord can hear me talking? Why am I just now hearing about this?”

“He can’t hear me,” Silvia said, ignoring Nev, “but if he happens to be watching, then he can hear your response, and your questions, which could give him a good idea of what’s going on.”

“Okay, good enough for me. Lead the way to the next hidden room.” Steven barely got the words out before all the Wisps formed a line. To Steven, it looked like a line of Christmas lights, although most were a dull yellow color, but it was still fascinating to look at.

“Looks like they want to be helpful.” Silvia said.

“Do we just follow them?” Steven asked as he stood up, sending the bed to inventory.

“Yes, they will lead the way.”

“Ive never seen these little creatures act like this,” Nev said in amazement.

“Do you want me to send some to inventory on the way? My mana is regenerating extremely slow and I don’t want it to be empty but I can get a few.”

“The sooner we get them all, the sooner we can move on to the next floor.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Steven turned to Nev, “I’m going to need a lot of mana potions when you go out.”

“Yes, Master Odling.”

Steven had to admit this was by far the easiest floor. There wasn’t a single undead anywhere, well if you didn’t take into account the assassin. The scenery was magical. It reminded him of a fairy forest. Except instead of trees there were tree sized mushrooms. luminous plants and vines hung off the mushrooms. Steven had been so entranced by the scene he didn’t even realize Nev entwined her arm with his.

“What do you think?” Silvia asked.

“It’s breathtaking! I can hardly believe something like this exists in an undead dungeon.”

Silvia didn't respond and flew off with a few of the other wisps. To Steven, she looked to be having fun, but it was hard to tell what that ball of light enjoyed. At some point, they came to a stream with a stone bridge leading over it. Steven stopped walking to stare out. As far as he could see, there was some sort of lotus flower growing out of the water. Most were glowing white, but a few were somehow glowing black. He bent down to send one to inventory, but received a prompt.

Can not send live plants into inventory.

“Well, that’s a bummer.”

“What is it, Master?”

“Its nothing really. I was just going to send one of these lotuses to inventory, but I can’t because it’s still living and I really don’t want to kill it just to place it in my inventory.”

“Oh, you need an alchemist bag to do that. I’m sorry I don’t have one with me, but I will bring you one when I go out if you like.”

Steven immediately thought of Eve. He wondered what sort of trouble she got into for coming to see him. He hoped she was doing well. It seemed like a lifetime ago, so many things had happened. He found himself missing the half Naga. She was so excited at the idea of traveling and seeing the world with him. He could only hope she still wanted to when he was out of this place. Although she only wanted to go with him because she thought he was someone he wasn’t. The thought turned Steven’s face into a frown and he had the urge to pull out his water pipe. But it wouldn’t do anything unless he changed his amulet. And now that he didn’t have any mana potions and still had to send all these Wisps to inventory, he decided to not; he didn’t want to hear Silvia complain. Besides he was nearly out of the plant.

“Master Odling, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Was just thinking about some stuff.”

“May I ask what sort of stuff?”

Steven was just about to speak when he seen Silvia flying towards him. Fantastic timing, Steven thought.

“It’s not much further now. Is everything okay?” Silvia asked while flying in between Steven and Nev, causing the spider Queen to unlink her arm from Steven’s.

“This place is like some sort of mythical forest from a story.” Steven said.

Silvia’s light brightened. “Thats because it is!” Silvia then flew back with some of the other wisps.

It didn’t take long for Steven to reach the hidden path. It was easy to find with all the Wisps leading him directly to it. On the way, Steven had sent several wisps to inventory, which confused him because he thought of them as living, but he supposed they weren’t, or maybe it had something to do with Silvia being his soul bound familiar. Whatever the case, Steven checked his mana before sticking his head into the illusionary wall. If not for his shard abilities, there would be no way in hell he would even think of doing that.

The room was very similar to the other hidden paths, the only difference being all the glowing vines and plants on the wall. Even the axes were grown up with vines, though now that he looked at them it looked as they were trying to swing, but there were too many vines and they just jerked a couple inches with a slight grinding sound. Pulling his head back out, he backed up to get a running jump. When Nev spoke up.

“Master, you could turn into your spider form and crawl on the wall, well, if this hidden path is like the others.”

Steven turned towards Nev. “Huh, never thought about that. Good idea Nev. I need to use that form more, anyway.”

The spider Queen seemed to shiver with excitement at the praise, which Steven thought was odd, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he activated his shard ability and crawled inside. Steven continued on the wall till he made it to the other side where the archer normally was. In the skeleton’s place was a pile of wiggling vines, no not just vines, there was a skeleton in there. Steven’s eyes widened as the skeleton inside tried to move, but the vines tightened up. This made Steven eye all the vines in a different light. Steven changed back to his human form to conserve mana. Silvia floated over. Behind her were thousands of tiny wisps. Nev changed to her spider form and crawled across the wall.

“Silvia, are these vines going to be an issue?”

“Only if the Wisps want them to be.” Silvia then turned towards Nev.

“Don’t you dare!” Steven said as he saw her light began to flicker wildly.

“It’s not like the fall would even hurt her.” Silvia said.

“Then what would even be the point? Besides, she is our ally and we both need her to get out of this dungeon.”

“Fine!” Silvia said as she flew off towards the back of the room.

“Where are you going?” Steven asked.

“To show those dam mimics who are boss.”

Steven almost stopped her, but Silvia wouldn’t take any unnecessary risks. Although even messing with mimics was always a risk.

“Master,” Nev said as she reached him and turned to her human form, “I will head back outside to eat and gather supplies. The drones are here if you need them.” She then gave Steven a quick kiss on the cheek before turning back into her spider form and scurrying back across the wall.

Steven put the quirky spider out of his mind and went to check on Silvia. He was stronger now but still didn’t want to tangle with a mimic, although he may be able to take one in his Spider form, but he didn’t want to try that just yet.

He quickly realized there was no need for any of that. Silvia had two treasure chests wrapped up so tight with vines they were leaking some sort of yellow liquid. A single chest still sat on the ground. Steven eyed that one wearily. He wasn’t about to get any closer. The two bound chests were trying to change into their mimic forms.

“Is everything okay do you got this? My mana is only half full right now, so I won’t be much help.”

“Yea, we got this,” Silvia said. “Whimsy here thought we could squeeze them to death before they could change to their true forms. I told her I didn’t think we could, but she wanted to try.”

Steven almost asked who Whimsy was but assumed it was one of the Wisps hovering next to her.

“Okay then, I’ll leave you to it,” Steven said as he started backing off.

“Wait, we will need you to kill it for the essence. We will get them near death and let you finish them off.”

Steven winced. He didn’t want to get that close to those mimics, even if they were bound. “Okay, fine, I’ll just throw my spear. I don’t want to get close.”

“However you want to deal with them.” Silvia said while obviously enjoying herself.

Steven couldn’t see the mimic’s health bar, as he wasn’t doing any damage. So he just waited at a distance. He didn’t have to wait long before Silvia said she was ready.

He pulled his lightning spear from storage as the vines released the mimic. To his horror, both mimics were released from their bindings.

“Silvia!”

Both mimics transformed into their mimic forms and charged at the only living thing around which was Steven.

Part of him wanted to turn and run, but he mustered up the courage and threw his spear. All his practice had paid off, and his spear flew true. The mimic then opened its mouth as if to eat the spear, and Steven’s heart sped up. The spear flew directly into the mimic’s mouth with enough force to knock it off balance. Steven readied himself to change into his spider form, but the mimic instantly died.

+807

Lightning then sparked to the other mimic as it continued its charge at him.

+798

“Huh, I guess they really were almost dead.”

“Did you think I would risk your life in the slightest? You could have sneezed on them and killed them both.”

He didn’t understand why she released both mimics at the same time that in its self was risky, but he just shook his head. Surely she would have stopped them with the vines if they got too close. “Since when have you been able to control vines?”

“I’m not controlling them. I’m just suggesting they help us, along with the other wisps.”

“Uh, okay. Sure, that explains it.” Steven had no idea what that meant but didn’t want Silvia to go on a hour long lecture about it. Instead, he hesitantly walked over to the lone treasure chest.

“It’s just a treasure chest.” Silvia said.

“It’s better safe than sorry!” Steven said as he placed his hand on the chest and sent it to inventory. He breathed a sigh of relief when it vanished. Steven then pulled out his bed and sat on the edge. He then pulled out the chest and began going through it. He absolutely loved loot.

A scroll, some old worn looking boots, a sword and a few silver coins is what he found in the chest. He assumed the silver would come in handy when he got out of this dungeon and into society, though he was unsure if it was worth much. Once everything was sent to inventory, he looked over the descriptions starting with the scroll.

Water wall scroll x1

Rarity- Unknown

~ Effect]- Create a wall of water.

~Cost]- 70 mana per second. Up to 20 seconds.

~ Requirement]- None.

Note- Affected area and magic of scroll is determined by the creator of scroll.

Steven read over the description a few times. “This is an odd scroll. Do you think it’s any good?”

“I’m not sure,” Silvia said, also reading over the description, “your inventory ability never ceases to amaze me! It is quite versatile. Does it allow you to see the description of the assassin?”

“Oh, I had completely forgotten about him.” Steven said sheepishly.

“You’re telling me you had forgotten about the assassin that beat you to an inch of your life and barely surviving by dumb luck and trickery.”

“My life has been turned completely upside down since coming to this world, okay. And I have passed out multiple times since then.”

“Sorry about that.” Silvia said, light dimming just a bit.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you did it on purpose. Any way I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the assassin.” Steven said as he closed the scroll description. “What should I do with him?”

The Wisp was silent for a long while, so long Steven was just about to pull up the next item description.

“It really depends on what you want to do. Nevateb told me the assassin is one the guild would rather not lose, so you could use him as a bargaining chip. Although the assassin could hold a grudge, it could be safer to just kill him or leave him in your inventory until you can deal with him yourself. From what I can tell, there seems to be no side effects to keeping him in there.”

Steven nodded. “yea, I don't want to have to be looking over my shoulder all the time. Though I’m finding it hard to kill him in cold blood.”

“I’m not sure why his blood being cold is a deterrent for you. You do realize all the undead you have killed are cold-blooded right. You are actually a bane to all the undead, with your absurd shard ability.”

“It’s not about the blood being cold. It’s just… never mind,” Steven sighed, “too bad there is not a way for me to talk with him.”

“Actually, we could possibly arrange that while he is still in your inventory, but it depends if I can talk with him.”

“Do you think it’s safe to be in there with him?”

“I’m not sure. I can have one of the little wisps go in his section and see if it’s safe. Once all the wisps are in your inventory, I can have them back me up.”

“Okay, sounds good. At least we have a plan now. By the way, how are the Wisp able to go in my inventory? And why?”

“Because I’m your soul bound familiar, as for why. They want revenge on Sorin.”

Steven just blinked at Silvia’s explanation, but decided to not push for more information, as he had other things he wanted to do. Opening up his inventory, he pulled up the description of the old boots.

Feet- Air leap boot

Rarity- Mythic

~ Effect]- The air beneath boots become solid for 2 seconds when activated. (Note: Will not active if there is no air to turn solid.)

~ Cost]- 200 Mana. 25 Stamina. 50 Durability.

Durability- 350 of 1,200

“Well, that’s a dumb name.” Steven said as he tried to decide if the boots were any good.

“Wow, these are absolutely amazing. There are no restrictions on them! If Sorin knew something like this was here, he would flip!”

“What about the durability? They won’t last but few more uses.”

“Just take them to a good enchanter,” Silvia said dismissively. “I don’t think you understand how incredible these are. You can just keep jumping till you run out of resources. Most equipment like this has a daily limit.”

“Oh, okay yea, I can see how that would be useful, although I couldn’t even use them but twice before I ran out of mana and stamina.”

Steven got since the Wisp was rolling her eyes. “At your rate of leveling, that will change tomorrow. Especially if you use that Shard you still have in your inventory.”

“True, but I’m still not sold on absorbing something with undeath in the name.”

“Why? You already absorbed something with death in its name.”

Steven didn’t have a good response, so he just pulled up the description of the last item.

Short Sword of Ice

Rarity- Rare

~ Effect]- Every 5th attack inflicts frost damage. Frost damage will slow target by 20% for 5 minutes (Note: All five attacks must be made on the same target.)

~Cost]- 50 Mana. (Note: Cost will automatically be paid on every 5th attack.)

~ Requirement]- 12 Strength. 10 Dexterity. Spirit 17

“This seems good.” Steven said.

“It doesn’t even begin to compare to your Spear. I would just sell it.”

“Yea, you’re right, but its…”

“Master Odling!”

Steven turned to see Nev rushing towards him.