Even though they all had trouble getting to sleep with the memory of the funeral fresh in their mind, that first night in the mansion was the best sleep they had in almost two weeks. Most of the repairs had been made, it was a solid structure, and there was a sense of safety behind those walls. They would start their new day well rested.

  Some of the rooms that had windows facing the cliffside had streams of beautiful multicolored light flooding in. The sunlight hit the mountain at the right angle and the light would bounce off in all sorts of directions. This is what Synexus woke up too.

  He had been having the same dream of his mom. Something about Laiko’s goodbye had reminded him of her. Waking up to the rainbow sunlight dancing along his walls made it seem like the dream followed him into the waking world. Sadly, that wasn’t what happened.

  Today was a big day for all of them. As Vorin said last night, it was a new day, and they would go forward with one goal in mind: to get everyone off this island safely. It was decided that Gene, Synexus, and Drackenn would go down to inspect the lock. Gene wanted him to log the material to give them some hints of its origin. Drackenn would be there because he was the highest level and had been adventuring much longer than any of them.

  While the three were working on the lock, Vorin, Zuls, Prith, and Minily would be inspecting the magical map and making plans for where they would go once, they had a ship. They had all spent the most time on the ocean except for Drackenn. Minily also had some directional skills that could help them.

  Kumo and Shell had volunteered to stay with the class expected. Most were going to stay in the mansion, but some wanted to see more of the island. Kumo would go with those that wanted to adventure while Shell stayed back with those that stayed. While she was watching them, she would start to read some of the preserved books. There were a lot of mysteries, and they intended to unravel them all.

  Down in the cellar, the three on the lock investigation looked around at the beautiful material. It felt as if they were standing in space and all the flecks of colored light were the stars. The ambient magic felt even stronger down in this room and Gene had no doubts that this lock was the artifact sucking in all the magic.

  Omniaether Stone (???): This special stone has been infused with every kind of aether making it the strongest material in the known universe. This stone is extremely heavy and can hold a near infinite amount of magic.

  Omniaether Stone: 1%

  Omniaether: 1%

  Synexus immediately fell to his knees and let go of the wall. The rush of information was massive. There was so much in this stone that he couldn’t keep it straight. He felt that he could gain 100% of it, but it would take a long time. The walls, the door, and the lock were all made of this stone.

  Gene rushed over to him with a quick flapping of their wings. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just way too much information at once. Omniaether Stone is what it’s called.”

  “That is correct. That’s why I wanted you to add it to your skill. If you can gain 100% of this material, then it will no doubt be beneficial to you in the future. I didn’t realize it would be too much at first.”

  “It’s okay. I’m interested in learning as much as I can.”

  Drackenn approached them with his hand on his chin like he was thinking.

  “I’ve never heard of this stone. From what I can tell, it will be impossible to break. You’ve heard of this material before, Gene?”

  “I have. It is ancient and that is our first clue to what is behind that door. This is proving my theory from when we arrived at the island, but it really should be impossible. This lock has a mechanism inside that is sucking in the ambient magic. Its creator was brilliant to use this material as a battery. This entire room is part of the lock. There is only one thing that I know of that would require this much power to maintain; a dungeon.”

  Synexus and Drackenn both raised their eyebrows. Synexus had no idea what the owl was talking about. Drackenn seemed to have more information.

  “A dungeon? I didn’t think those still existed. I know very little about them, but it was taught that they were originally where monsters came from.”

  “That is an accurate history. When the System first came into existence, there weren’t classes yet. People forged classes through experimentation with magic, but the ambient magic was much lower then. The dungeons that the System created were pockets of space that people could enter to fight monsters. They would suck in all the ambient magic to sustain themselves. It was said that altered humans tried to take this magic for themselves. If enough people went into these dungeons and killed enough monsters or completed the dungeons in quick succession, then the pocket of space would collapse. That ambient magic would start to flood out into the atmosphere instead of being absorbed by the dungeon.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Wait, people forged their own classes? How would you even do that? Also, is this dungeon thing dangerous?” Synexus was now fully invested in learning more.

  “That is part of the magic training. Not forging your own class because you don’t need to do that anymore but learning to use magic outside of skills. It is sadly a lost art. People have become too reliant on the System.” Gene sighed before continuing. “I don’t believe this dungeon endangers us, but it has absorbed a lot of excess magic. I’m afraid that the aetherization will start to affect the surrounding ocean and creatures within it. It’s also a possibility that the Ullashtt will be interested in trying to consume this. I would advise that we all enter this dungeon to either reduce the collected magic or we destroy the spatial pocket and allow the magic to go back into the atmosphere.”

  Drackenn nodded. “I have to admit that when I heard about these as a kid, I was always disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to complete one.” He pressed his hand against the door as if feeling the magic inside. “You said you could teach him how to use magic outside of skills. I know very few people who can do this. Is it really something anyone can accomplish?”

  “I wouldn’t say anyone. Have you met some of these humans? But yes, I suppose that with enough effort, everyone has the potential to pick up the ability. It is difficult to do things without the crutch of the System. People already do this subconsciously with skill upgrades or transformations. Even some class evolution options are pulled from the wants or needs of the individual.”

  “That’s fascinating. I say we do this dungeon then and we can pick up magic training once we have things sorted out.” Synexus was excited to learn more about magic. He didn’t even think it was possible to use it outside of his skills.

  “I agree with Synexus. How do we open this door, Gene?”

  “That is our obstacle. I’m hoping the library has something on how and why it was locked. My guess is whomever lived here didn’t want people coming to ruin it.”

  ***

  “A dungeon?! Are you sure?” Vorin was suspicious of the news the three had reported to him.

  “Am I 100% sure? No. Nothing needs that much magic though. If it’s not a dungeon then it is likely something truly monstrous, but I don’t know of any living being that could handle that much magic.” Gene replied as the most knowledgeable on the subject.

  “Okay. I’m not opening that door until we know it’s a dungeon for sure. We will all hit the library to make the research go by faster. Perhaps we can find a journal or some notes of what took place here.”

  “That sounds like a wise course of action.”

  Zuls was leaning against the wall across the room but had overheard.

  “Wow, a dungeon. I haven’t heard of that since we were in school. If it is one, then count me in for doing it.” She then paused and chuckled. “Our lives keep getting more ridiculous.”

  Prith laughed at this. “They really have. Count me in for the dungeon as well. It will be a good opportunity to improve. On the Smile Isles, it is known that there once stood a dungeon on the main island. As kids we would go to the cave and tell stories about how it was haunted. All of us claimed that we went in, but none of us had the courage to actually do so. I now have that courage.”

  “I believe this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I suggest we all do it.” Drackenn spoke up which made Synexus realize how much he was looking forward to this. Normally he didn’t say much.

  “I’m in, but Gene, what will it be like? Will it just be hordes of monsters?” Minily asked in a curious manner.

  “The dungeons would always vary. Some were all about hunting monsters. Multiple people could go in and stay as long as they liked. Some were puzzles and had a limit to the number of people who could enter. Those were avoided because you wouldn’t be able to leave until you solved the puzzle. There were thousands of variations. We won’t know until we get through that door or find a book regarding the type of dungeon.”

  “Okay, we will have everyone start on research, but we also had news about this map.” Everyone walked over to the table with Vorin. He continued, “This map is obviously magical and for ease of use they had some type of magic beacon here in the mansion. This marker on the map is where we are. Way over here would be gale although the landscape looks a little different than it does now. Over here is where we were heading before getting off course. Using this we can find our way to get back on track.”

  “What are the other markers? The ones that are moving.” Synexus almost reached out and touched them when he asked, but he decided not to.

  “We aren’t sure. We were hoping Drackenn or Gene would have some insight.”

  “I do indeed. I believe this map tracks unusually high magic entities. This mansion is on there because of the lock in the basement. The ones that are moving are monsters that have accumulated enough magic to be picked up. There aren’t nearly this many Ullashtt, so the sensing spell must have a lower threshold. The stationary markers are either sleeping monsters, places like this which I think is unlikely, or areas where a lot of class chosen have gathered together.” Gene spoke with intrigue. This was a beautiful creation.

  “Good. That means we can see anything coming before it knows we are here. Let’s get to work with the research. Synexus I know you want to read too, but please find some time to start on the ship. I would like us to be able to get off this island as quickly as possible if it’s needed. Someone needs to go find Kumo and inform her of the new details we’ve gained.”

  Everyone nodded at Vorin and headed downstairs to the library. There were thousands of books, but luckily, they could all read quickly. Synexus went and found Kumo to inform her while also thinking of plans for how to grow a ship.