Manifold Mirror Mage

Sapphire had Gio pinned in place.

"But the rest of the team is still-"

"I don't care." Sapphire interrupted.

"But-"

Sapphire held Gio's head in both of her hands, forcing him to look directly at her.

"Gio. You did great. You turned this whole battle in our favor in a single decisive action. You also exposed yourself to close-quarters combat with a type of dungeon creature that uses venom as a primary threat vector."

"Yeah, but-"

"You were also swimming around with an open wound in bloody water. Do you know what kind of bloodborne pathogens these creatures could be carrying? We don't know what that black fire was, but you were right next to that, too. That could have been some sort of turbo-disease fire, for all we know. Not to mention the fact that you nearly drowned, and could have foreign matter in your lungs. We need to act before you begin to show symptoms, as you may be at risk. There might be other classes that could assess you for injury or infection in a heartbeat, but I don't have that kind of luxury. You're out of this battle, or so help me spirits, I will incapacitate you myself." Sapphire sternly stated.

"... Okay." Gio sighed.

As Sapphire began treating his wounds and jabbing him with whatever inoculations and concoctions she had, Gio deflatedly turned his head toward the ongoing battle. Through the branches of Sapphire's plant-like shield, Gio saw Jean pick up a Telchine and drop it on another, while Chandrika webbed them together in an interesting combination of strategy. Hatra was alternating in between gouts of magical frost and fire to devastating efficiency as she skated across icy platforms of her own making. Even Rio seemed to be getting in on the action, as needle-like projectiles periodically shot from the water with unerring accuracy.

I guess they've got it covered… Stupid fragile mirror sword. I guess I failed the whole 'don't let it cut you' part of the Rule of the Sword… hopefully that doesn't take points off my assignment. Ow!

Whatever salve Sapphire was applying to Gio's hand started stinging like a swarm of angry hornets before going completely numb. Gio watched with mixed horror and intrigue as the surface of his skin scabbed over instantly. She was simultaneously applying a series of multi-colored drops from a kit of some kind to a blood-swab she had taken from Gio's hand, and seemed to be flipping through a reference guide to compare something about the color of the sample.

Since the good doctor didn't seem amenable to distractions, and she almost certainly wouldn't want him spellcasting while she was trying to work, Gio turned to his study materials. He wrote down his experiences with [Conjure Mirror], noting that despite his misgivings about how the fight had ended, it was a fairly efficient tactic.

I mean I could wear gloves in the future… but I'm not really a "swingy sword" kinda guy. I'd honestly rather use a dagger if I'm going to be ambushing people out of mirrors in the future. Am I going to be doing that, though? It's kind of… cloak and daggery. Not exactly fit for an archmage… but I suppose I am not in a position to deny a valid strategy if one presents itself. If I don't like swinging swords… I just have to figure out a way to do something better.

<Congratulations! Your party has succeeded in a challenge. Rewards are being distributed... >

<B O N U S: Spirits of Honor, Familial Bonds, and Justice have modified the following rewards: Dungeon loot bag of moderate rarity -> CUSTOM loot bag of moderate rarity>

"Oh!" Gio exclaimed.

Jean, Hatra, and Chandrika returned to the boat. At the same time, a tiny drawstring bag icon appeared in Gio's vision.

"Oooh! Let's open them at the same time!" Hatra cooed.

"Everyone waits until after I finish working on Gio and Jean." Sapphire sternly warned.

"What did I do?" Jean asked.

"Close quarters combat with a venomous creature. Now hush for a minute! I'm almost done with Gio."

_____

A few moments of quiet conversation later, and Sapphire was finished with her stint as a triage nurse.

"Your bedside manner could use some work." Chandrika joked.

"I'm a gardener by nature. When I'm taking care of plants, they don't tend to whine and move around. Most of the time, anyways." Sapphire quipped back.

"Fair enough."

"Can we please, please, please open the bags now? I'm dying to see what's inside! Aaaaaah! My first dungeon loot!" Hatra squealed.

"I think we're ready. Everyone, on the count of three!" Chandrika said.

"One… twoooo" Jean started.

"Three!" Hatra finished.

Gio mentally activated the icon. The drawstring of the bag icon unfurled, and a shower of imaginary white light erupted. When the light faded, a very real item was left in his hands.

"I got… a shiny…paperweight?"

Gio held a transparent oblong just bigger than his closed fist. It wasn't stone or glass, but felt closer to enamel, or perhaps a clear resin of some kind. It caught the light in odd ways and appeared to be full of tiny bubbles that each reflected the world like a tiny globe. He tilted it and watched as one of the bubbles shifted slightly, as if caught in a viscous goo. With a quick scan of his mana senses, he noted that the object wasn't just inert to his mana senses, but that it sucked in mirror mana from his hands as he held it, albeit in such a small trickle that he wouldn't have noticed if he wasn't looking for it.

"Yeah, I have no idea what this is." He announced.

Sapphire held up a filigree sickle. "I think this is a farming tool of some kind."

Chandrika curiously regarded a mechanical-looking handheld object. "No clue here."

Jean had a strange-looking knife and a clothbound parcel that he was wordlessly scowling at.

Hatra had nothing.

"Did you open it?" Gio asked her.

"Oh, I did! I'm just reading. I got some tickets." Hatra answered.

"Tickets?"

"Yeah, like system vouchers. I got two [Rare Event Tickets] and a [Special Event Ticket]. I'm… not sure how to feel." Hatra answered.

Chandrika turned to her. "Those are… quite an interesting reward. Have you heard of them before?"

"From what I'm reading, they can make something happen, right? I'm just a little confused as to what that 'something' could be." Hatra replied.

"It could be… anything. Especially since we are in a dungeon. You could consider it a bit like a direct invitation for intervention from the spirits. I've heard of some curious things emerging from such tickets. Does it specify what the events would be? Sometimes they list options." Chandrika asked.

"Well, the rare tickets both say 'random' in the system interface, but the special one says 'non-combat,' which is… interesting. I wasn't necessarily picturing combat being on the table at all, but I guess I'll be cautious as to how and when I use the first two. Overall, I was kind of imagining that I'd get a physical item, like you all did. I'm not disappointed… just…"

"You wanted your first experience with dungeon rewards to be more tactile. It's not the same with a purely system reward. I get it." Gio said.

"Yeah!" Hatra agreed.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't know what this thing is at all. I'd almost rather have the tickets. Not that I usually need any help finding… special events." Gio said.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Let me help you out with that. [Identify]" Hatra invoked.

She spent a moment reading a screen visible to only her before announcing her defeat: "Yeah. I have no idea what any of that means. There are a lot of words here. What even is an ooo… ooot… ooouth.. Help me out here. How do you say o-o-t-h-e-c-a?"

"Ootheca?" Gio stuttered, his eyes wide in fear. Sapphire whipped her head around, backing away quickly.

"Throw it. Throw it away now." She uttered.

"What? Why? What am I missing here? What is an ootheca?" Hatra asked, shocked at their reactions.

"Hatra. I need you to share the system message that you got from inspect with me." Gio calmly asked, holding the ootheca away from his body as if it were a bomb.

[Speculoptera Ootheca] - Dormant. Binds with user upon priming- requires attunement to mirror mana. Contains 50-200 Speculoptera nymphs that are friendly to the bound user. Speculoptera are a type of 'Specular Pseudoneuston' and exhibit widely varying zooid polymorphism, bizarrely borrowing selective traits from several non-related invertebrates in various phyla, classes, and orders- such as Lepidoptera, Cnidaria, Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Janthina, Orthoptera, etcetera. Zooid members of the Speculoptera supercolony may interbreed and even self-predate, exhibiting traits of a self-contained ecosystem once hatched.

"Well… at least it says dormant. You weren't kidding about there being a lot of words in the description. I recognize a few of them. I don't know what 'zooid polymorphism' means, nor what 'specular pseudoneuston' could possibly be. But I do know what an ootheca is." Gio grimaced.

"Well? What is it?" Chandrika asked.

"Bugs." Sapphire said with a shiver. "An ootheca is like… a solid egg sac. The thing Gio is holding contains more than 50 dormant eggs that will hatch into bugs when he puts mana into it."

Everyone took a step away from Gio, causing the boat to shift slightly in the water.

"It's dormant! I'm not hatching a bunch of bugs!" Gio yelled.

Chandrika held her hand out. "May I?"

Gio gave the ootheca to her. Chandrika cast [Moth's Binding] on the egg sac, covering it with a gossamer cocoon that would isolate it from mana, both outside the thread as well as within.

"That should prevent accidental hatching. What a troubling reward. I hope mine isn't as perturbing." Chandrika said. She handed Hatra the strange mechanical device she had received.

"[Identify]" repeated Hatra.

[Byssus Hand-Loom] - A device used for the collection, conditioning, and weaving of exceptionally fine fibers. Enchanted for special use with magical fibers, namely deep-sea mollusks, but other fine fibers are acceptable as well.

"Oh! That's far more interesting than I thought it would be!" Chandrika said, looking far more upbeat.

"That's cool! Do you think it will help you at all? You're already so good at weaving." Sapphire said.

"Oh, this will absolutely be a fun project. I didn't even realize that this was a loom. Look at how small those hooks are. I already work with silk, which is a very fine thread… I wonder just how fine I can go!" Chandrika beamed.

"Okay, my turn!" Sapphire said, handing over the sickle.

[Sylvan Sickle] - A sickle used for the caretaking of plants, especially trees. Increases harvest yields, cuts away rot, and gently prunes.

"Interesting. I'll have to show this to Mistress Blossom." Sapphire said, lost in thought.

"I'm glad the three of you girls like your rewards…" Gio said, coming across far more forlorn than he was trying to be.

"Don't worry. I'll be right there with you, Gio." Jean said, handing over his items.

[Old Iron's Ration Enhancement Kit.] - A specialty utility knife (Chop, stab, flay and fillet!) and utensil set that enhances any meal, regardless of the quality of ingredients used in it's creation. Double effectiveness when used in austere conditions. The included spices may or may not be suitable for human consumption.

Gio put a hand on Jean's shoulders, hanging his head low.

"Custom, huh? Spirits, why?" Jean muttered.

"Perhaps-"

"Please, not now. Let's just get moving." Jean stalwartly interjected.

A dull pebble of mirror flicked Gio's thigh. He looked down, and Rio was holding up what looked like… a paper doll.

"Oh! I think Rio got a reward too! I'll be right back." Gio said.

He cast [Mirrorwalker], appearing in the mirror dimension with a blink of mana. Thankfully, Sapphire's potion was still effective; otherwise Gio would have been feeling unconfident about spending so much of his mana while the party could still be ambushed.

"Here you go." Rio said, handing over the limply hanging folded paper.

"What do you think it is?" Gio asked.

"No clue. It can't be worse than your bug sac, though." Rio joked.

"You know, I could release it here. Imagine, all the-"

"Leave, now."

Gio vanished back to the material world with a smile on his face. He gave Hatra the paper doll.

"So you get to double-dip on the rewards? No fair." She said.

Gio stuck his tongue out. "I'm just lucky, I guess."

"Well, hold on until we see what his… thing is."

[Thought Armor Katashiro] - A paper doll that provides the user with limited protection against mind control, subjugating effects, and other mental interference. A significant enough assault on the mind will destroy the doll, consuming its beneficial properties in exchange for a final burst of protection.

"That's… useful, at least." Gio said.

"It's cool, but kind of boring." Sapphire said.

After a moment of casting, Gio slipped back into the mirror dimension, draining another chunk of his mana. He shared the description of the Katashiro with Rio as he handed it over.

"Oh, interesting. I guess I can imagine why the spirits chose to give this one to me… but I think you should have it." Rio stated.

"I disagree." Gio said.

"What? You're the one running around on the material plane. It doesn't make as much sense for the one hiding out in the mirror dimension to have protection from 'mental interference', does it? Remember the Gold Inquisitor?" Rio retorted.

"I see that angle. But… I also have you to snap me out of such a thing if it were to occur. Remember the guy with the crazy eyes in the casino? You, on the other hand… are an Aspect of Chaos. I think out of the two of us, you would be much harder to deal with, if you decided to go on a rampage. What if something made you use [Din's Invocation] to set the sky on fire?" Gio said.

Rio thought for a moment. "You know what? Fair."

Gio smiled. "I knew you'd see it my way."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Go back to the real world. Jean looks like he's about to cry."

By the time he finished casting [Mirrorwalker] for the fourth time in just a few moments, Gio was sweating.

Talk about a workout. I need to get Sapphire a very very nice gift, because I wouldn't be able to do this at all without her invigoration potion.

Chandrika was in the middle of speaking pointedly to Hatra, who was wearing a mischievous expression. "As I was saying, you should probably keep it for-"

"GIO! Tell them that I can spend my ticket however I want!" Hatra interrupted.

"What? What's going on?" Gio asked.

"I wanna use the special event ticket." Hatra said.

"Now?" Gio asked.

"Yes. Now."

"And I think that such a potent resource should be best used in a situation where it can be properly exploited. If Hatra takes the tickets back to her job, her instructors would be able to help her leverage them to set her up for potentially massive gains." Chandrika replied.

"Yeah… but It's burning a hole in my pocket now! I have two more tickets to bring back to the Essence Distillery. You said that the [Special Event Ticket] would be safe, and probably result in a good thing happening, right? Then why shouldn't I use it now?" Hatra ranted.

Chandrika paused. "...If the ticket says it's safe… it's safe. The spirits do not present falsehoods in rewards."

"Sooooo…. It's safe. It's something I can just do that will give us a benefit, at no cost-"

"The cost is that you might miss out on something better." Sapphire said.

"-no cost that I'm not willing to pay. Anyways. I want to do it. There's little risk. I'm in my first dungeon, with my cousin and his friends who I am starting to view as my friends. This sounds like a great time for a fun surprise. I'm willing to bet that you all would get a benefit out of this too." Hatra said, trying to convince the group.

Gio turned to Jean. "Is it wise for us to be distracted right now? Shouldn't we just head to the end of the dungeon?"

"We'd need to rest anyways. We just got done with a pretty big fight. I don't know what 'non-combat event' entails… but If it's something we could do while we rest, and Hatra is willing to use her reward to make it happen… I don't see the issue." Jean said.

"Look." Hatra said

[Special Event Ticket] - On use, manifest a non-combat event that is beneficial from the perspective of the user.

"See that? 'Beneficial from the perspective of the user. Right now, my perspective is that I want something that would immediately benefit us, wouldn't take hours, put us in danger, or otherwise derail this mission. That's pretty airtight, right?" Hatra asked the group.

"I mean I could think of a hundred ways-"

Hatra made a grasping motion, and a gilded ticket appeared in her hands. She ripped it in half, and a chime sounded in Gio's mind.

<Serendipity! A SPECIAL event! Entrance to the Dungeon Shop activated.>

The water in front of them started to bubble.