Gene bawled his fists, frustrated at himself. He laid down on the ground suddenly to the confusion of everyone gathered.

  “I’m getting us out of here,” he said before he closed his eyes and his astral form dispersed from his body.

  He flew through the dungeon, bounding from room to room and floor to floor in search of any sign of the dungeon’s end. Within the vast pocket dimension, the rooms moved and reconfigured to obfuscate the exit, only locking in place when they opened a door. He watched and waited, timing their rotation until the rooms aligned with the exit door. When he was ready, he drew back into his body to see everyone gathered around him.

  He jumped up, ran to the doors and shouted, “Everyone, take cover!”

  His mind pulsed and the system spoke.

  Hero System Notification: You have used a Power Stunt to activate Telekinesis 9. You are now Fatigued. Further uses of abilities beyond your current selected powers will result in Exhaustion.

  KABOOM! Psionic energy exploded out of his mind as his telekinetic burst blew the doors off their hinges with the equivalent force of 800 tons. Steel doors vaporized in rapid succession until the shrapnel embedded into a pair of doors that matched the ones they opened to enter the dungeon. Eonis gave him a quizzical look but he didn’t get a chance to speak.

  Suddenly, the lights in the room blared bright red and a robotic voice echoed through the structure, saying, “Security breach. You have entered a restricted area. Please present the symbol of your authority. Security breach.”

  The warning repeated and Gene stumbled forward, thinking, “Run!”

  There was no time to decode what the message meant. They came for the relic and Gene was determined to get it and get them out to safety. His haphazard plan proved near fatal when ichorous flowed freely from the ceiling of the newly opened rooms. The wave of fluid crashed down in a torrent that rushed towards them but, thinking quickly, Gene cut the wave with a telekinetic pulse and Amara formed a bubble around them to shield from any splashing liquid.

  When the last drop of it finally fell from the sky, the ichor flowed backwards, bubbling into a spherical mass that began to rapidly sprout limbs of varying widths and lengths. Silvayn gawked as the eldritch horror birthed itself into the world, spilling over onto itself as it struggled to right itself.

  Kyrie was the first to regain his composure. He drew twin blades and charged, screaming, “Silvayn, take it down!”

  He activated his new ability, upgraded from Battle Acuity, Battle Superiority. With every step, he drew closer to the creature than his steps should have taken him. With twin slashes of his blades he shouted as he activated his new Cleaving Arc ability and sliced clean through a massive tree trunk of a leg.

  The creature toppled back into the room and everyone moved. Eonis focused on his Everoak bracer, pouring nature magic into it and spreading verdant armor around his body. He leaped into the air, sprung higher by the flexible wood that covered his legs, and slammed down hard on top of the creature. A massive spike of wood pierced a newly forming eye, shooting through its body and growing into a massive tree, locking it in place.

  Gene and Amara stood side by side, firing an endless volley of psionic and force energy at the endlessly sprouting limbs as the creature flailed in its attempt to free itself. Tentacles and clawed talons sprang out faster than they could keep up and Gene pushed himself harder to spread his area of attack, harnessing the power of the system.

  Hero System Notification: You have used a Power Stunt to activate Psychokinesis 9. You are now Exhausted. Further uses of abilities beyond your current selected powers will result in Incapacitation.

  His body felt heavy when the system finished speaking but he pushed through the sensation as he thought to Amara, “Focus on the legs! I’ll take care of the limbs!”

  He went high while she went low, blasting every errant piece of flesh that fought to free itself from impalement.

  With almost practiced precision, Winnie began casting a spell from the Celestial Mother as Kyra kneeled in front of her, praying. The sky above the chimeric nightmare began to darken as a night sky crackled into reality. Kyra threw her arms up in supplication and the stars began to fall, bursting into flames from their twin spell, Convocation of the Constellation.

  Eonis and Kyrie drew back as the number of stars increased as the women continued chanting. Amara threw up a protective bubble around them and Gene matched her intent, tearing sections of the ground up with his mind to form a barricade. Bombastic explosions shook the dungeon’s foundations, blowing debris at the makeshift barricade, and breaking off chunks of the stone until Amara’s barrier was their only defense. When Kyra and Winnie ran out of magic, the spell broke off and they collapsed into Kyrie and Eonis’s arms.

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  All sound ceased, all movement stopped, and with focused thought, Gene dispersed the cloud. He dropped to a knee and sighed in relief at the sight of the charred remains of the monster. The roots of Eonis’s tree grew over what was left of the creature and Gene smiled. Eonis set Winnie down and a few slow steps towards Gene.

  “We did it,” said Gene hoarsely before Eonis stepped in front of him with his arms folded.

  He glared down at Gene, making him feel immediate guilt for his rash actions, before he asked, “Why do you smell of death?”

  Gene’s eyes shot open wide at the sudden questioning and the others all watched in confusion.

  Eonis extended a hand to help him stand and said, “My class advancements as a Floraspeaker have increased my senses tenfold and now I can sense the natural flow of energy in living beings. I’ve been smelling something off this entire week when you used your power stunts but just now you did something different, didn’t you?”

  Gene took his hand and stood but his knees were weak. His eyes darted from person to person and they all gave him worried looks. He put a hand up, almost pleading as he said, “Guys, wait, don’t worry. It’s just the tradeoff from me overusing my powers. In theory, if I go too far I could die but you don’t have to worry about that. I normally faint before that point.”

  The members of Silvayn stared at Gene, aghast, and he immediately felt like he said the wrong thing. Amara whimpered and ran over to him as tears began to fall from her eyes.

  “No!” she cried out and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  Gene embraced her and shook his head as he said, “No, no. It’s okay, I’m not going to die.”

  “But you could,” said Kyrie, shaking with fury to Gene’s confusion. “You could die, could have died this entire time when you overused your powers.”

  Gene shook his head more and said, “No, you’re misunderstanding. It’s my system mechanics.”

  “Oh gods,” said Kyra, clasping a hand over her mouth.

  Gene looked at each of them, flummoxed.

  “I’m probably not explaining it right.,” he began as he tried to steady his breathing. “It’s an intrinsic part of my system. It’s why I don’t get experience in the same way you guys do. My leveling is severely reduced compared to you guys so my mechanics are balanced around this. It’s simple if you think about it.”

  “No, it’s not!” exclaimed Kyrie. His eyes were reddening as he fought back tears. “That’s all fine and well in whatever world you were supposed to go to because everyone on your team would be able to do the same thing and balance the load of power stunts to save the day but we’re not in that world. We can’t share in that burden. You have to be careful and don’t push yourself to fainting again. Please, rely on us.”

  Gene stared at Kyrie’s frantic expression and he bit his lip. He understood Kyrie’s mix of emotions but it didn’t stop him from feeling his own anger at the matter. He didn’t have a choice but to use his stunts. They were the only thing that had saved their lives every time something catastrophic happened. He felt his neck getting hot. He hugged Amara tighter and then placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her to Kyra. He took several deep breaths and looked up to the ceiling. He could feel his eyes welling up with emotion but he fought them back as he stood in silence.

  “Fine,” he said as he let out a sharp breath. “I’ll be careful but I can’t–I won’t stop using them. Just please trust in me. I won’t throw away my life callously.”

  In the moment, his vow didn’t feel good but Kyrie realized that was all he was going to get out of Gene at that time. He looked away and scratched the back of his head before saying, “Okay. Let’s finish this dungeon and get the hell out of here.”

  With the triumphant mood soured, they walked through the devastated rooms, reaching the final room where the doors that matched the entry doors stood. Once again, Gene stared at them long and hard, only stopping when a small trace of light shined through, outlining a smaller door within the larger structure. It opened, but not to the outside world. Gene looked around at the group for confirmation before stepping inside and his eyes went wide in disbelief.

  “By the graces,” said Winnie as she looked around in a confusion that was shared by all but Gene.

  The room was a small studio apartment with modern furnishings and all of the creature comforts of the world Gene came from. In the living room, pop culture and anime memorabilia filled a curio cabinet. When Gene set his focus on the cabinet, a lightbulb went off in his head and he slapped his forehead.

  “Cirel Dredaw,” he said under his breath. “The mad alchemist who bathed in the blood of his enemies, wore forbidden armor, and commanded a dread golem. It’s an acronym for Edward Elric. He was a fan of Full Metal Alchemist.”

  Gene held a hand to the glass of the curio cabinet as he stared down at the action figure of the titular character from the series Full Metal Alchemist. The cabinet was lined with memorabilia from the show and on the coat rack was a replica jacket. Winnie eyed with interest, making a circle with her index finger and thumb before she gasped.

  “It’s humming with power,” she said before scanning the room and gasping again. “There’s dozens of things in here that are powerful magical relics. Don’t touch anything!”

  Gene frowned and found himself lost in thought. He wondered what life Cirel lived that he became one of these Dungeon Masters, filling the place with profane creatures. Had he lost touch with himself and his humanity over his years isolated in New Venturis? From the description, it was clear he favored conversing with his own golems rather than engaging with the world beyond. He wondered if he would have become like that if not for his chance meeting with Silvayn.

  He looked over to see Kyrie wandering the space with his arms held up to avoid touching anything. When the warrior noticed, he gave him an apologetic smile. Kyrie returned it, diffusing the tension that had sprung up between them.

  They excited the room, leaving Winnie to catalogue the items when she was sufficiently satisfied that no traps remained. When they were ready, they exited the dungeon, garnering another 2 levels each for a mission completed. They made a hasty retreat from the ruins and after Winnie confirmed with the Celestial Mother, they learned only an hour had passed outside of the dungeon since they entered. Gene was disturbed by the thought of relative aging in New Venturis but he proved to be the only one with reservations about it. They retreated to their makeshift camp for the rest of the day, taking a well deserved rest as Gene wondered more about the life and times of Cirel Dredaw.