Chương 37

Apprentice Ellen The lantern cast its steady light across the all-too-familiar stones of the cave. Had it really been three lives ago since she had dared to enter this place? Ellen huffed softly and passed the light over the filthy tunnel. The smell wasn't as bad as she remembered it, and this lantern was much better than the one she'd used when she'd fought the goblin the first time. Or second time, since the first time she'd used a torch. It had only been weeks, yet it felt like so much longer.

"See anything?" Healer Ellen asked from behind her. She was patient, as always. She understood what Ellen was doing. That was what the others didn't get. Every generation, each twin pair of Ellens approached their situation differently. Some, like Merchant, went off in a completely different direction and kept themselves distant from their twin. Others remained casually close, like Carpenter and Mason, who worked together well but left one another to their own devices.

Those two were the closest match to how Ellen viewed her relationship with Healer. There was no point in pretending they were different people, no matter how much they acted like it in public. What person ever acts the same around others as they do when alone? Ellen didn't actually know, since she'd never been with another person when they were alone—by definition—but the other Ellens should understand that. Maybe they will, someday.

"No body, but it has been weeks," Ellen answered, pulling herself from her thoughts. She readied her knife and sighed.

"Would have been nice if Hunter had come with us. Tracking would have been nice about now." Healer Ellen said nothing. She understood that Ellen was just grousing, and didn't need a response. The idea that Hunter Ellen's abilities could find anything in a dark cave weeks after the event in question was such a ridiculously slim chance that it didn't need said. Her sister-self had taken a different path of learning, and a different path of expression, but behind it all they were the same.

Ellen knew that the others viewed her as careless and silly, but she was okay with that. Ellen knew that deep down, they knew she was just doing what they all wanted to, but were too busy trying to be something else. She passed by the trickling stream and into the larger cavern, large enough that she could lift the lantern high to look about. The ceiling was about twice as high as her head, and though the cavern felt large compared to the tight tunnel, it was still claustrophobically snug.

The ceiling was high, but the walls were narrow… And this was where her memories ended, from her time as Ellen Two. Just thinking about that made her tighten the grip on her knife. Her new Class was unique and—she hoped—powerful, but as a Level 11 caster-type she still didn't have any actual spells. She hadn't even managed to unlock a useful magic-based Skill Enhancer. That worried her a little bit, but she didn't have much she could do about it. It still prompted her to glance at her Status reflexively.

ATTRIBUTES Strength: 8 Agility: 8 Endurance: 8 Willpower: 9 Affinity: 10 Perception: 8 SKILL ENHANCERS Knife Fighting 1 STAMINA: 78/80 (+8/minute) MANA: 113/120 (+10/minute) CLASS: Spellstrider 11 EXPERIENCE: 197435/320000 PERKS Mana Manipulation Mana Well Thoughtless Move ABILITIES A magic-based Skill Enhancer would be much nicer, but Ellen would have to be happy with being better at stabbing things. At least she managed to pick up Mana Well to expand her mana capacity before she got her Class.

And Thoughtless Move would be nice once she got spells. Casting while running without that Perk sounded like a nightmare.

"It looks about… four yards high, and twice that long. About… three yards wide I think." Ellen gave her brief description, knowing Healer was mentally committing it so she could write it down outside.

"This seems almost beneath us with the dungeon here." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Might as well finish the job, though." Healer completed her thought, naturally.

"Even if the pay isn't worth the trip to Merriweather, it looks good to have the job done." Ellen swept the light of her lantern over the sides of the small cavern, and there caught the glimpse of the goblin's den. Still no sign of the goblin's body, which worried her… but it could just as easily have been dragged off by a scavenger or something. The lack of stench told her that the place was likely clean of anything large sleeping there, at least for the moment. That was surprising.

Right at the door to winter, a cave like this would be a prime catch for anything that needed to hibernate or shelter from the cold. Hunter Ellen had seemed to think nothing dangerous was inside, and she was certainly the expert, but it didn't make sense to Ellen. She squatted by the pile of filth, rags, and debris, looking over the lumpiness. It was across from the stream trickling through the cavern, so still dry. Even goblins knew not to foul where they drank.

By now she was close enough that she gagged and tried to hold her breath, though. The goblin was gone, but enough remnants remained to smell like it. Then she saw it, and mentally sighed. Ellen sheathed her knife and motioned Healer over. Easing back so she could breath with nominally less struggling with the scent, she grumbled.

"Looks like we tried to cover it up, at least." Ellen gestured to the remnants of her first shirt draped over a lumpy pile.

"Not much of a job, but at least we tried. We really were squeamish about this, weren't we?"

"I do remember," Healer said with a tone of amusement. She shrugged the ragged pelt off of her back and unrolled it, patting it as flat as she could in the dim light. Ellen opened up the lantern's sides to give better illumination, then went to work with the grisly business of gathering up her first self's bones. This was the real reason she'd been sent with her sister to finish this job. The other Ellens just weren't mature enough to handle the fact that their bodies weren't important.

It was not pleasant for Ellen, but neither she nor Healer had any problems with burying bodies. It's not like they were really dead, were they? Task complete, Ellen shuttered the lantern but for one side, letting the beam play out over the cavern again. She paused to let her eyes readjust, took note of one slim crevasse too small for a human, and then gestured toward it for Healer to take note. That was their other job. Just map out the cave that had killed them the first time. Also the second, technically.

Ellen did one more quick look about the cavern, then retraced her steps with Healer in tow. The crude bag containing their first body—basically bones now despite the short time period—was slung over Healer's shoulder. It was a little irreverent, but this was the first Ellen. They'd give her a respectful burial at least.

"So intense…" Healer whispered.

"You have that look on you when you're so deep in thought. This place must really be getting to you."

"Some," Ellen admitted in a low voice.

"Thinking about… everything. How we ended up here. And now I'm wondering where we'll end up. We can't keep copying forever, and one of us will have to go home someday."

"Hunter thinks it will be Village Ellen." Healer sighed that out loud.

"She's really gotten out of touch." Ellen nodded absently.

"Village Ellen is the most likely to stay. I'd bet on either Hunter Ellen or Merchant Ellen. Probably Merchant." She paused as she ducked down the second tunnel, the one they'd ignored as Ellen Two. Right at the start was a gnawed bone, which she kicked aside absently. Healer watched it skitter by.

"Rats?"

"Yeah, looks like," Ellen confirmed. Nothing to worry about. She was more intent on squeezing herself down the tight tunnel, ducking her head and creeping forward. She had no idea what was in this one, and it wouldn't do well for her to fall and break something this close to winter. Healer didn't have her spells yet either. And Level 12 was a long way off, yet.

"Think we'll ever get to go to the second chamber of the dungeon before winter makes it impossible?" Ellen asked the question just for something to do.

"I hope so," Healer sighed.

"That's the only way we'll get to 12 any time soon. Even then it's going to take… a while. We'll need Hunter at least. I don't think anyone else is up for it." Opening her mouth to reply, Ellen caught herself just in time. Her knife clattered to the ground as she grabbed the side of the tunnel, steadying herself with one foot dangling in open air. The crevasse was basically invisible thanks to the angle of the floor, especially in the dark. Healer yanked her back before she could lose her balance.

She slumped back against her sister with a loud huffing sigh.

"Thanks. Where did that come from?"

"I'm pretty sure that's always been here?" Healer nibbled her bottom lip and gave Ellen a light hug before releasing her.

"Be careful. I really don't want to have two sisters. If we go, I'd prefer we go together to pair off our descendants properly." Ellen mumbled, "I'm not sure it'd work like that, but it would be nice. Even better if we don't die at all, you know." Healer could be so fatalistic sometimes. Guess she knew who to blame that attitude on. She sighed and leaned over, trying to peek down the mostly-hidden crack in the ground. It wasn't that wide—it would have been difficult to actually fall in.

Ellen winced anyway, because if she had fallen in, it would have been equally difficult to get her out… and even if she hadn't fallen down into the mountain, she didn't relish wintering with a broken leg.

"Hm… Ellen, feel this?" Ellen murmured as she passed her hand over the crack. Now that she was paying more attention, she felt the faint tingle in the breeze when her hand passed over it. She squirmed to the side, letting Healer squeeze forward enough to reach out and feel the same thing.

"Mana," Healer confirmed.

"Drifting up from below. Mana plume, you think?" Ellen nodded, and a moment later this was confirmed by the notification that popped up. EXPERIENCE AWARDED: Discovered Mana Plume For discovering and identifying a mana plume, you have gained 120 Experience. PROGENITOR AWARD: Discovered New Mana Plume For being the first living being to find this mana plume, the System has awarded you 1200 Experience.

"Kind of neat," Ellen mumbled as her sister retreated backwards, giving her room to move back up the tunnel.

"I didn't think this region had the energy for a mana plume. Isn't it supposed to be basically worthless?" Healer Ellen frowned.

"I wouldn't say worthless, just kind of boring. It wasn't supposed to be the sort of place a dungeon could appear either. We might need to convince Merchant to put some money in for a sage to come here instead of finding one for ourselves. This is the third strange thing that's popped up in the last few months."

"A lot more than third!" Ellen objected but immediately got what was being said.

"Oh, you're treating our duplication as one big thing. Yeah, I guess. The more of this that happens, the more I'm convinced it's all linked. Maybe we can cap this off and crystalize it." Healer let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Maybe. I'm not sure I'd want to be the one to learn how to be a Mana Crafter though. I mean, I'm curious about it but-" Ellen smirked at her sister as Healer realized how silly that was. The very fact that she was curious about it meant that someday, if they kept growing, one of the Ellens would throw herself into the occupation. That's just how this was working, and they both knew it. Why sacrifice your curiosity when you can pursue any whim you want? Eventually.