Chương 18: 17-Return to Valhalla

Jenna sighed as they crossed the Celestial Gate that took them from Valhalla to Doran's farmstead. They appeared in the midst of the hall as the Vorian families were having breakfast. Their initial surprise was soon replaced by cries of delight. Jenna felt horrible, knowing what she had to ask of them. Mr. Bilkings had waited for them, needing confirmation of Akiros's demise. The stern, thin accountant sat apart, consulting his ledger and making annotations. Not a very social type, Jenna thought.

After the social niceties, Jenna made a big announcement.

"Einheriars are back, and you can be one if you desire. In fact, we need some of you to volunteer. The only way we can take the system back to this world is through your cooperation," Jenna said.

"I will leave the spotlight to Billy, our resident dungeon expert." Billy faced the fifty-odd Vorians in the hall. They filled the whole age spectrum, from doting grandparents to toddlers.

"Yesterday, we created a dungeon with the symbiotic, hatchery, and reproductive qualities, plus one new extra tag: Einheriar," he began.

"The idea was to create a self-reproducing type of dungeon that could enhance Vorians, granting them the Einheriar system again."" The idea was?" asked Doran.

"It did not go well, I assume."

"No, it worked," Billy answered.

"It was a success, but the reproductive mechanism is not what we expected it to be."

"The dungeon grants Einheriar quests, allowing all of you to acquire the system and choose classes. Once you hit level 15, it will grant an elite quest: Prove your worth. The quest is always the same: perform a great act of bravery. Completing it grants XP and a dungeon seed as a reward. Plant that dungeon seed inside a huge cloud of essence, such as the ones dungeons release when they die, and it will create another similar dungeon."

"As far as we know," Bob went on, "it is the only way to obtain these seeds. If we are to introduce these dungeons to Voria, we need people to volunteer as the new Einheriar. Losers have no quest slots. We can't do this for you." This was met with stunned silence, only interrupted by Mr. Bilkings harrumph.

"On the matter of Akiros?" he softly asked.

"He is dead," Jenna confirmed.

"Have the remaining money be distributed to the deceased Reclaimers' families." She made no mention of Orun being a traitor. If he really had a fiancée, she did not want that poor girl to pay for his mistakes.

"Thank the gods," the Reclamation's accountant sighed.

"You have made a sad task a little easier." He fished something out of his pocket and gave it to Jenna. They were three gold badges with a rune inscribed in the center.

"These are Raelgar, Bila, and Orun's Reclamation badges. I kept them safe for them when they went on missions. If I take them back, the Committee will just melt and sell them. The Reclamation is many things, but sentimental is not." Bilkings sighed and then carried on.

"I initially intended to give them to their families, but knowing them as I do, I think they would have loved it if they were used as gifts for the new Reclaimers. May they be as successful in their adventures as the three friends I lost."

"I did not know you were so close to them," Jenna said as she accepted the gift.

"I had to play the role of cheapskate. It was the only way Raelgar did not drink the whole shire while they were on the job," he looked seriously at Jenna.

"Why did they have to flatten that village? I worked with them for three years. For all of Raelgar's boisterousness, they were very professional. How could they make a mistake like that?"

"I am fairly sure they were set up," Jenna answered quietly, much to Mr. Bilkings' sorrow.

"I promise I will give you the full story when I have it, Mr. Bilkings."

"Thank you," Bilkings said sadly.

"And call me Rul." They decided to give the Vorians some time to make up their minds. At the end of the morning, they were approached by a small group of five Vorians. Jenna was surprised. There were not so many adults in fighting shape in the group—she had expected no more than two or three volunteers. The first of them was Lana, the young mother who had betrayed them to the Essentials.

Jenna had forgiven her as soon as she learned that the centaurs had already killed two of her three surviving children, She took her aside.

"Lana, you don't have to do this. You do not have to prove anything to us. You still have Blina, your youngest. You should think about her," she softly told her.

"I thank you for your kindness, Freewoman Jenna, but I do have to prove to myself that I am not a coward. I am thinking about Blina. That is why I am coming with you," she answered softly but firmly.

"I want to leave her a better world." Doran was the second volunteer. Jenna was also uncomfortable with his choice.

"You are the leader of these people, Doran. They need you."

"They do," he admitted.

"And much as with Lana, that is the reason I am coming with you."

"This is not risk-free, Doran," she cautioned.

"Becoming the first Einheriars paints a target on your back." Doran's laughter boomed out.

"And what is not risk-free in this bloody world? Having someone stolen by harpies while taking a shit in the fields is a normal Tuesday night!" All the Vorians laughed as he said that, as if he had made the funniest joke in the world instead of an objective description of their day-to-day. That Norseman blood had made the Vorians very partial to gallows humor. Nothing was as funny as the inevitability of one's own death. The third volunteer was Aralon, a stocky man who came with the Bjarfalla group.

He had been a tailor, trying to escape with his wife into the Reclaimed lands. She had fallen to Essentials during the trip.

"I have nothing left to lose. I want to see her again, but I will go as a hero, not as a scared craftsman, fleeing for his life." The fourth was, surprisingly, an old lady, one of Doran's.

"My name is Bena. My grandfather had a chance to become an Einheriar, but he became afraid and switched off the radio when he heard his name. He was sorry for the rest of his life. I want magic in my bloodline. I will understand if you reject me. My youth is long past."

"You are more than welcome," Jenna answered with a smile.

"Dignity was older than you when she joined the system, and she is now an Omega." The last one was the most uncomfortable case. Berno, a young farmer from the Bjarfalla group, had to physically disentangle himself from his wife, who was holding a toddler to her breast. She cried disconsolately, holding the baby toward her husband, trying to make him reconsider his decision.

"I am doing it for him," Berno obstinately said. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Jenna sighed. That one seemed to be the idea of the day.

"Let's do this quick, before they get cold feet," Bob whispered to her.

"Cold feet?" she scoffed.

"No. Not these ones." One hour later, they had already packed their supplies and said goodbye to their loved ones and were standing before the porch, waiting for the Losers to teleport to the dungeon. Jenna helped Bob open a Celestial Gate that transported them to the Rooster's previous location. The cliff was gone, replaced by a stone arch that led to a different world. Valhalla looked huge for a fifth-ranked dungeon. Jenna beheld a decrepit stone castle in the middle of a dark forest.

A single winding road led from the entry rift to the single building. Billy had explained to her that the dungeon was not really as big as it looked. It seemed to contain a whole world, but space would subtly warp if one walked too far from the castle, gently guiding the traveler back to his starting point. The Dungeon's real size was similar to that of a national park. Not as large as a planet, but large enough.

"We are going to train with you," Jenna explained.

"Bob wants to upgrade his bow skills, and Billy needs more achievement points. We can do that inside any symbiotic dungeon, but only Vorians can get quests out of this one. And we need completed quests for what we intend to do." They approached the castle, whose inhabitants were already waiting for them. The mobs looked like a ragtag band of adventurers of both sexes. They were the equivalent of level 15 Einheriars. They would be the Vorian's companions and competitors.

Standing before them were the four bosses of the castle. Anda the Valkyrie was a winged female warrior covered in plate armor and wielding a warhammer. She looked somewhat like a harpy, in the same manner that a Botticelli looks somewhat like a nude calendar hanging over the W. C. in a trucker diner. Hital, the runewoman, was middle-aged, and her face was entirely tattooed with sigils. Her eyes immediately met Bena's, as if she recognized her.

A bearded bowman with two hounds, one black and another white, lounging at his feet, gravely bowed to them. His name was Vaq, and their hounds were called Day and Night. A grim, bald-headed man wearing leather armor and two daggers ignored their whole group, not even acknowledging their presence. Infectious laughter could be heard from the back of the group. The warriors moved, letting a huge, red-haired, bearded man carrying a harp pass.

"I am Oghm, the master of this manor. I will sing your legend, heroes-to-be. I will make you immortal," he announced. He added apologetically, "Please forgive Nai the Silent, he is not the most social fellow. Be grateful he honors his nickname, though. He only speaks when someone is about to die." The Valhallans received their Vorian guests with a feast, as custom dictated. There was much mead drinking, poetry reciting, and boar eating.

"One could get accustomed to this," Bob said.

"Yes," Billy agreed.

"Beer, good food, music, friends… Nothing is missing."

"Family," Lana added in her quiet voice, surprising them all. She spoke seldom.

"Family is missing," she said. Berno, sitting at her side, gave a quick squeeze to her hand. The next morning, the Vorians began training. Jenna was set on using her quest-tuning abilities to the maximum effect, much as she had already done with Sarah and Helena. Being inside a symbiotic dungeon allowed her to fiddle with quests, even though Voria was technically an inactive system.

She had a much better touch now when manipulating quests; her powers worked better when she used them to change existing quests instead of creating them from scratch. The Vorians had split into several groups and chosen a different trainer. Jenna went first to find Bena, who was learning the ways of runes and magic with Hilta, the Runesage. The young Primordial had a chance to witness firsthand how Valhalla's magic worked.

Bena was sitting on a pile of furs, while the Valhalla rune sage drew several runes on the floor with a piece of charcoal, explaining their various meanings. Suddenly, the clear, resonant voice of Oghm the bard could be heard while he played the harp. He was nowhere to be seen. The music rained on them, seeming not to come from a fixed point in space.

Oghm's voice, in beautiful lyrics, described how the Universe whispered to the very soul of Bena, a wise, learned woman from the North, until she suddenly understood the hidden meaning of the runes. Bena gasped, watching something she could only see, which had suddenly appeared in her field of vision. Jenna focused on her personal Compendium until she could also see the Status Screen Bena had just acquired. You have been activated.

You gain an Attribute Matrix: Strength (Inferior), Grace, Intelligence (Dominant), and Faith. You gain the Rune Lore Competency at rank 1 Rune Lore 1: Understands the hidden meaning of runes, allowing you to inscribe runes. Can understand the basic content of any text, as long as it is not written in code, even in an unknown language. You can only have one rune at a time. Creating a new one will dispel your oldest rune. Inscribing a rune takes seven minutes.

Make one Choice -Rune of Healing: Inscribe a Rune on the body of a living being, making him drowsy. If he surrenders to sleep, he will heal at ten times his usual speed. If the target performs any physical action or refuses to sleep, the rune is dispelled. -Rune of Battle: Inscribe a Rune on a weapon, increasing by 20% either the Strength or the Grace of the wielder, but only when he fights with the Rune weapon. The bonus can't exceed the original stat or the Runecaster's Intelligence, whichever is lower.

-Rune of Protection: Inscribe a Rune on a shield or a piece of armor. The wearer can invoke its name to double his Strength for purposes of resisting a single physical blow. The Rune will be dispelled after being used. -Rune of the Hearth: Inscribe a rune on the floor of a room. It will heat the room's air as if a large bonfire had been lit there. Bena chose the Rune of Healing under Hilta's advice. As soon as she got her new ability, she also received a quest.

Learn your Runes (Rune Lore): Study the history and meaning of the Runes with Hilta for one hour. Memorize at least 20 different runes. Reward: 200 xps.

"This is where I am going to intervene, Bena," Jenna softly told her, placing her hand on her shoulder.

"Please, reject the quest," she instructed.

"But it is an easy quest, and I am supposed to train," Bena protested.

"Trust me, I know what I am doing," Jenna answered. Bena obeyed and rejected the quests. As soon as Jenna felt the quest leaving her soul, she intervened. It was incredibly easy; the Primordial only had to go with the flow, filling the metaphysical hole the rejected quest had left. Jenna put in her own version, one nearly identical to the old one, but which rewarded Bena with ten times as many xps.

"I am going to help you level up and the rest of the Vorians as much as possible. If everything goes according to plan, I will raise your level to 40 over the next few days. Once we reach there, it will become harder," Jenna knew from her past experience leveling her students. Jenna did her rounds the rest of the morning, approaching the different groups. Oghm's voice sounded wherever there was a Vorian being trained in Valhalla.

It always described their heroic efforts and how the universe rewarded them by granting new insights and powers. Of course, thought Jenna, finally grasping the idea. It is just like the radio show—a voice describing the activation process. Vaq the hunter was training both Berno and Bob in the use of the bow. Both seemed to be having the time of their lives stalking and shooting the dangerous beasts that dwelled in the forest surrounding the castle.

"Master Bob, you pick up the secrets of the bow too fast," Vaq told him good-naturedly.

"Only because I have a good master," Bob answered.

"Do not believe him, Vaq," Berno said, chortling.

"His companions do verily hate the speed at which he learns. Makes everyone look bad." Doran and Aralon had been chosen by Anda the Valkyrie to train as defenders, clad in heavy armor and using sword and shield as weapons. The stocky Vorians tried not to be driven back by the powerful hammer blows that fell on their shields. Billy and Lana were training under the tutelage of Nai the Silent.

Billy was in his shadow ninja form, as most of the tasks consisted of infiltrating hobgoblin camps and assassinating specific targets. Billy was getting a hefty influx of AP, which would be needed for the second part of their plan. Jenna watched from a distance as the hobgoblins disappeared, swallowed by shadows as soon as they got apart from the main group. Nai was proving to be an effective, if silent, teacher.

As their protégés gained levels, they increased the number of competencies they had and opened new quest slots, speeding their progress. That night, when they gathered for the evening feast, all of the Vorians had hit level 15, unlocking their class. Bena was now a Runesage, Doran and Aralon had become Bloodbound Warriors, stronger when fighting together. Berno was a Huntsman, and Lana a Shadowknife. The greatest surprise came when they read the quest associated with their last Competency.

They had all obtained the same quest. Jenna did not even consider the possibility of modifying it, as it was a gift from the dungeon. Prove your Worth (Valhalla): Perform an act of great bravery in the world of men. Reward: One dungeon seed. You did not spurn such gifts.