Chương 48

Smith Ellen Ellen was pretty sure that the 'twins' ahead of her and Hunter knew exactly why she was here. It wasn't like she was trying to keep her secret for any nefarious purpose. She was an Ellen, and she wanted to help every Ellen. Why wouldn't she? But she didn't want to get anyone's hopes up until she'd made sure this would work. And if it didn't… she could figure out a way to break the news to herselves with Hunter's help. Apprentice and Healer had been eager to escort her in, and hadn't asked any questions.

She'd caught a grin from Apprentice when the other Ellen hadn't thought she was looking, so it wasn't hard to guess that they just didn't need to ask. She suspected one or both of them had already reached Level 12 as well. Their closeness wasn't merely emotional… she'd figured out they'd been playing off one another to build up experience privately.

It did make her wonder what Abilities the two odd Classes received, but she couldn't confront them about their situation without coming clean about her own, and she well understood the desire to test new Abilities first. Of course, if another Ellen directly asked her, she'd confess anyway. Even the idea of lying to her sister-selves gave her a weird queasy feeling that she didn't like. Maybe once they all saw things the way she and Hunter did, it wouldn't matter.

That probably made her a hypocrite, but she didn't care in the moment. She let out a breath and wrinkled her nose. It didn't smell nearly as bad as what she remembered from her foray into the cave back when she was Ellen Two, but something about the place had a putrid and lingering odor she couldn't put her finger on. Her guess was mushrooms, because the twins had claimed they cleared out anything else that would cause it, and they didn't seem perturbed.

Ellen sighed and trekked onward through the narrowing passage. She really hoped the Mana Plume was still there. In nervous anticipation she pulled up her Status.

ATTRIBUTES Strength: 9 Agility: 8 Endurance: 8 Willpower: 9 Affinity: 8 Perception: 9 SKILL ENHANCERS Mana Shaping 1 STAMINA: 76/83 (+8/minute) MANA: 87/87 CLASS: Forgewright 12 EXPERIENCE: 322410/640000 PERKS Mana Manipulation Material Sense Heat Sense ABILITIES Mana Crystallization I It had been two weeks since Carpenter had broken the Level 12 barrier, and in that time she'd already made great progress on the smithy. It was usable now, if she could get a complete toolset… but that was harder.

The smelter also wasn't ready, so even though Ellen had a lot of stockpiled ore that they'd found, her supply of refined iron was much smaller and limited. She'd only been able to make a few simple blade blanks for daggers as practice, so far, since she'd only recently gotten a working bellows. Keeley, the village blacksmith, had been instrumental in getting her to Level 12. He'd seemed a little uncertain at first, with the news of multiple Ellens throwing his world askew, but he was a practical man.

Even without a lot of experience with forging weapons, Keeley was a full Village Blacksmith, a Tier 3 Class that had a lot of utility. He still remembered his own teacher's methods for how to rapidly push through the first few Levels, and had shown her how to apply them. It led to a lot of basic and boring items like hooks, nails, bars, and so on… but the stacking first time bonuses had pushed her through the remaining experience quickly.

She was sure he had more complex things to tell her that would help her get all the way to 13 or 14, but making the trip to the village and back in the dead of winter had put that on hold.

"Almost there," Healer said, breaking into Ellen's thoughts. Apprentice was tying off a rope, the other end held by Healer, and as she finished she picked up the lantern again. It was all done in perfect silence, but Ellen barely noticed any more. Despite their wildly different Class selection, she and Hunter had learned to sometimes operate in that same odd sync. It had been easy to get into the habit, once she'd learned the trick.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Given enough time it would likely be harder. The needs and capabilities of their very different Classes would make it harder for her to anticipate Hunter, and likewise for Hunter to guess what Ellen needed. That was the source of their actual divergence—unfamiliarity with Class skills and needs. Even with this expedition, she'd had to verbally explain the details to Hunter.

A Forgewright was a completely unknown Class, so nobody knew what it really needed. But it was close enough to Blacksmith in the ways that mattered.

"What's the rope for?" Hunter asked, keeping her voice low.

"I don't mind you taking precautions, I just thought you'd already explored this area."

"We have," Apprentice affirmed, tugging on the rope.

"There's a blind gap, and I'm going to poke around a little ahead of it, where we didn't go before. If there are more blind gaps I don't want to be falling down without any support. I know I get ahead of myself a lot but we can learn, you know." Ellen didn't raise any comment about that, despite the slip into plural. Hunter had already covered everything else she'd say about it. Silently, she approved of it. She'd worried that the newer generations were getting less cautious, but maybe that wasn't the case.

Maybe these two were craftier than she gave credit to them. Apprentice hopped forward, and after a few more of her own steps, Ellen could see the mana plume. It wasn't just an invisible flow of mana now, but had grown strong enough that the ripply haze in the air could be detected by the naked eye. A treasure trove of concentrated mana. Now she just needed to make it more concentrated. Apprentice was only a few steps ahead of the gap, watching quietly while Healer held the other end of the rope.

It was a tight squeeze to scoot by Healer, but she flattened herself against the other wall without complaint, and the tunnel widened around the crevasse to give Ellen some breathing room. Neither looked surprised as Ellen activated her new Ability. Her own internal mana dropped precipitously… but for every single point spent, hundreds more gathered into her hands. She cupped them together, drawing in and compressing the mana within.

A spark formed, glimmering as it added layer after layer of condensed magical energy. Directing it with some type of cap that funneled the energies more tightly would have made this more efficient still, but that required enchanted materials to begin with. Enchanted materials were expensive, as they required huge amounts of mana to create. Until they could buy or forge their own, the sloppy way was the only way to do it. SYSTEM NOTICE: Low Mana Your Mana has reached 50% of its maximum value.

Recovery has been reduced to 8/15 minutes. SYSTEM NOTICE: Very Low Mana Your Mana has reached 25% of its maximum value. Recovery has been reduced to 8/hour. Ellen continued to pour her mana into the growing marble in her hands, breathing harder now. Her Stamina was dropping too, though at a much slower rate. Apprentice and Healer quietly observed, while Hunter… wasn't visible. Ellen knew Hunter was keeping watch, despite nothing dangerous likely to be in the cave now.

There was always a chance a large animal had moved in, but Hunter likely would have seen signs of that. SYSTEM NOTICE: Exhausted Mana Your Mana has reached 10% of its maximum value. Recovery has been reduced to 8/5 hours. The constant folding of mana ceased as Ellen 'tied off' the flow. She pulled back from the plume with a shaky smile, observing her prize. With more practice, she could probably do better even with the uncontrolled plume…

but the sheer amount of mana it offered had given her something amazing anyway. EXPERIENCE AWARDED: Created a Mana Crystal. For creating a GRADE 3 [LESSER] Mana Crystal, you have gained 3500 Experience. FIRST TIME AWARD: Created a Mana Crystal For performing this activity for the first time, you have gained 60000 Experience. FIRST TIME AWARD: Created a Lesser Mana Crystal For performing this activity for the first time, you have gained 12000 Experience. That was a lot of experience in one big lump.

Ellen whistled at just the first award. A repeatable award for that much experience would be pretty helpful in pushing her way to Level 13. Or it would be, if she weren't dizzy and getting a throbbing headache. Doing this daily wouldn't even be possible. Doing it every other day could be bad for her health.

"Is it a good one?" Apprentice asked, still peering.

"Grade 3 Lesser," Ellen replied.

"Better than I'd thought I would get. But it took all my Mana, and I can't really afford to spend a Perk on Mana Well or anything. I need to be able to have the Perks to use it properly." Apprentice nodded, stepping back further.

"Yeah, good point. The problem with a Class trying to do too much." She held onto the rope, with Healer holding the other end, slowly edging her way further down the tunnel. Seeing Apprentice being careful was kind of odd for Ellen. It was such a rarity, she had to watch. She pocketed the glowing marble with a pleased smile. Abruptly, Apprentice stopped some ten yards down the tunnel and turned around.

"GET BACK! THE DUNGEON IS HERE!" Ellen wasn't sure she heard that correctly for a heartbeat… but then the rock wall next to Apprentice moved and burst forward, tackling the human girl—so frail-looking, now—against the far wall. The 'rock' had large mandibles and more than four limbs, but Ellen didn't get a good look at it before Hunter yanked her back. She didn't need any instructions. She ran.

"ELLEN!" Healer cried, and Ellen had to glance back. Instead of retreating with them, she was leaping over the gap and bolting toward the bloodied monster. Ellen couldn't see Apprentice from here, and she was glad for that. Some part of her already knew that Apprentice was gone, and she could only hope their restarts didn't end at the fifth generation.

"Healer, no!" Hunter called out at the same time Ellen did, their voices a chorus just like the twins had often done. But where the twins had done it to be amusing, this was sheer desperation and desire to keep the other Ellen alive. But Healer was already rushing the monster. Ellen couldn't fathom why she thought it was a good idea, and it went against all the caution she'd seen Healer have in the past. She was sure she was about to witness Healer's messy death. She was half right.

The sharp point of an upper arm impaled Healer through the chest and out the back. Ellen could already tell it was fatal, but she didn't get a good look as Hunter yanked her back to scramble up the tunnel. The monster shouldn't be able to go beyond the dungeon, but neither she nor Hunter trusted that to be true if the creature was already chasing them.

Though Ellen wasn't sure they needed to run, because the last thing she did see of her dying other-self was a flash of mana from Healer's hand, pressing into the rock-insect-monster's chest. Blood was spraying all over the tunnel… Very little of it Healer's.