Primer for the Apocalypse

It took three weeks to find the hot springs. I’d started to think it might be in a different zone by that point, so I was surprised and pleased when Spatial Sense alerted me to the hidden oasis.

Had it been a normal, mundane(ish) hot spring, there would be no real reason to seek it out aside from a relaxing soak. But life was no longer mundane and magicless. The spring, similarly, was not simply a font of hot water nestled within an icy landscape.

Hidden behind several layers of illusion and wards, the hot spring sat surrounded by verdant flora of various types. Each plant within the secluded space was packed with mana, making even basic herbs and vegetation capable of being used for extraordinary purposes.

The spring itself fed a gently rolling pool of steaming, fragrant water about the size of a large hot tub. It was supposedly capable of improving all forms of regeneration over time, depending on the focus of the individual using the spring. The gains were not large but added up over time.

From what Master Kairos had told me before I left, many elites petitioned to enter the dungeon solely to find these resources and mediate, seeking out new springs on each floor until their regeneration rates eventually doubled.

Going higher was theoretically possible, but the time required increased almost exponentially. For those focusing on health, doubling one’s regeneration effectively created a low-grade, constant healing effect that pushed natural healing beyond what the body might otherwise be capable of.

Since natural health regeneration only took recovery so far, adding such a boost could be the difference between making a full recovery and not. Such a thing obviously took a huge investment in time. It didn’t help that the longer the spring was used, the less effective it was.

Finding the Tier Three spring was a boon I didn’t plan to miss out on, and I immediately set about taking advantage of such an opportunity.

“Is there a reason you only invited girls?” Marjorie asked as she followed me to the spring a few months later.

I’d focused most of my time on improving my regeneration – specifically, mana and health since those were the ones I needed the most. Running out of stamina was rare, especially since I did not need to physically run away when I could easily Teleport if necessary.

“Yeah, unless you want to hang out naked around a bunch of guys…” I joked, observing their reaction through Spatial Sense. As expected, Dawn blanched while the others showed less of a reaction to the comment.

“I don’t necessarily want to be naked around a bunch of girls either,” Dawn said a bit hollowly.

“Oh, come on, Dawn!” Greta pushed her friend playfully. “It’s not like it’s anything we haven’t seen already.”

The redhead’s face brightened to challenge the hue of her hair, causing the rest of us to laugh.

“But seriously, the frozen zone is cold, even with the amulets.”

I glanced at the necklaces worn by the three other women. They were inferior to what I could make, but they weren’t bad items. It was about what I was producing when I first joined Ros’s party.

I was not the only person on the floor with the ability to enchant, nor was I the only Enchanter. There were three others. One was from Earth and had played the game enough to become familiar with the skill, and the other two were native dungeoneers who were trained in the skill prior to starting their climb.

None came close to my skill level, but I’d had a lot more time and professional training than they had. I also had an upgraded interface with specialized augments that helped support my natural skills.

The next most proficient Enchanter was the son of an Enchanter on the fifth floor. His mother had reached the peak of Intermediate Enchanting, but hadn’t been able to push past the ceiling to the Advanced ranks.

The dungeon actually sold supplementary skill datasets through the kiosk, but they were expensive and could only be used once. The datasets also only went through Intermediate levels in any professional skills, undoubtedly a mandate by external forces not wanting to lose control of the knowledge they earned so much money gatekeeping.

For Enchanting, the novice dataset included a novice runic lexicon and very basic skill instruction. The intermediate dataset provided the same but for the intermediate level. Since they were basically skill downloads, the supplements were understandably expensive. The cost also scaled by floor.

Enchanting was one of the more expensive datasets to buy since it included a lexicon and techniques, though Alchemy wasn’t very far behind. Most of the basic and intermediate skills were actually available for purchase, which I supposed was how the dungeon compensated the individuals within who never got the chance to undergo Tower Training.

Towers only trained through the novice level, after all.

“Don’t worry,” I assured them. “You won’t be cold when we get there.”

Several minutes later, I pulled them inside the illusion and wards hiding the hot springs. They’d initially balked at entering the area, the wards subtly telling them to go in a different direction. Once I explained what was happening, they’d been able to overcome the effect.

“Oh my,” Greta said in wide-eyed wonder as she looked around the small, verdant grove that stood sentinel around the hot spring. “I wondered if I’d run across one of these during my climb.”

Marjorie nodded rapidly. “Yeah. My parents heard about the healing hot springs while they were climbing but never saw them. The one on my home floor is usually held by one of the prominent families as soon as it appears. Each reset causes a huge hunt, and the results are often bloody.”

“So, the person controlling it kills anyone else who finds it first?” Dawn asked.

Marjorie and Greta shrugged simultaneously. “If the person can’t hold it, sure,” Greta said casually. “A lot of people are willing to sell the location to one of the families, though.”

“Yeah, and it’s not usually to the family that held the last spring,” Marjorie agreed.

“Well, politics aside,” I said, interrupting the lesson, “I found this one and have been meditating to improve my regeneration. I’ve gotten most of the use I’m going to be able to get from it, so I thought I’d pass it along. I’ll still probably come by occasionally just to soak, but I won’t be here enough to justify not sharing the information with friends.”

Marjorie put a hand into the swirling pool as Dawn looked at it skeptically. Greta was already stripping out of her clothes, ready to hop right in.

“You mentioned improving regeneration,” Marjorie said. “I thought the hot springs just boosted healing for a short period.”

I nodded. “They do if you just sit in them without meditating. If you meditate and focus on improving your stamina, mana, or health recovery, the pool will slowly boost your regeneration in those areas. It’s permanent, too, from what my master told me.”

Uncaring about nudity, I followed Greta’s example and removed my clothing to join the blue-haired girl in the pool. “The benefits slow dramatically the more you do it. I managed to boost my regeneration by about a third in both mana and health. At this point, twelve hours of meditation gives me about a percentage increase, so the cost-benefit isn’t quite there. It was a lot higher when I first started.”

Some would probably argue that a percentage improvement in recovery was totally worth twelve hours of meditation, but I got the sense another percentage or so was all I’d be able to squeeze out of the pool before it lost all benefit. There really wasn’t any reason to keep the resource to myself at this point.

If Master Kairos was right – and he usually was – the benefits from the next floor would functionally reset with my tier-up.

As expected, his redacted message had been more a reminder and example of the dungeon’s censorship than any real attempt at sharing new information. We’d exchanged four more messages since then, and Master Kairos was preparing to leave Earth now that his contract was coming to an end.

I could tell he was looking forward to leaving.

Bell had given birth to two healthy boys – fraternal twins they’d named Lucas and Daniel. They planned to leave alongside Master Kairos, which was honestly a bit of a surprise. I expected them to stay on Earth for a little while longer because of our parents.

But, Master Kairos had extended the offer since he was taking the new sect disciples (not personal disciples) to the Epikairos Sect in Hadier, and it made more sense for them to accompany him than to follow along later.

The fact that Earth was only MT3 made Master Kairos’s offer more appealing, I was sure. I knew he was concerned about the younger ones struggling to deal with the mana density on an LT6 world. If Amie or the newborns had any issues, he’d already offered to give them temporary [Mana Shield] tattoos that would gradually dissolve as their tolerance increased.

It was nice of him, and I made sure to let him know that I appreciated the gesture. He really was a lot nicer than he gave himself credit for.

“I expected you to have gained more levels by now, what with you climbing alone and hoarding all the experience and all,” Greta joked once they’d all gotten settled. “Now that I see you’ve been spending all of your time soaking, it makes so much more sense why you’ve barely gained two levels since you arrived.”

I scoffed but didn’t refute her comment. I hadn’t put a lot of effort into leveling since finding the hot spring. Most of my advancement had come during the three weeks it took me to find the place. It had still been enough to push to level twenty-four after the month and change I’d spent hunting before, but it was slower than I’d hoped.

I estimated I would have been able to reach Tier Two in maybe three months had I entered the dungeon freshly awakened with my current skill set. It wasn’t as fast as rotating through three rifts, one of which being a wave rift, but that was the nature of things. Doubling that, hitting tier three would have taken six months, and Tier Four should take a year.

Since I was already level twenty-four, I probably had about nine months of grinding to go if I focused. The first few levels were always the easiest (minus the alternate level).

“You guys haven’t done much better,” I replied playfully, causing them to roll their eyes.

“I’m going to be slower just because I’m focused on my profession instead of fighting,” Marjorie said a bit defensively. “These guys are still trying to earn enough alternate experience to count as a level. They’re all stuck at the peak, unable to tier up.”

I narrowed my eyes at my friends before raising a questioning brow. Dawn sighed. “That’s not totally true. Greta isn’t stuck. She’s just waiting on me and Aaron. She ditched Yarrin a while back.”

“He ditched me, actually,” Greta corrected her. “One of his friends lost a party member and he dropped me to join them. Even though they’re a group of four,” she rolled her eyes. “They tiered up a couple of months ago, so I’ve been hanging out, waiting for Dawn and Aaron to catch up.”

“Didn’t you have another party member?” I asked Dawn. I remembered her mentioning a third person in their group, though I’d never met them.

Dawn's expression dropped slightly, and she looked away. “I did, but she decided to stay in Trinity for a while. Pregnancy will do that.”

“Is she going to move up to the fourth floor after the birth?” I asked, knowing that unawakened children could accompany adults through the portal as long as they were touching.

Dawn shrugged. “Maybe? I’m not sure she knows what she’s doing right now. The baby’s father already ascended, so…”

Dawn looked guilty, which took me a second to figure out. She was probably struggling with the thought of leaving her teammate behind to continue climbing. I understood that.

“Well, if she’s interested, I can help her push to the peak safely. I’m not sure how far along she is, though. She might not feel comfortable going out, even with strong [Barriers].”

The redhead shook her head. “I really doubt Morgan is willing to do anything remotely dangerous now that she’s pregnant. As soon as she found out, she dropped everything and holed up in the village. That’s why you’ve never met her. She’s completely freaked out about being pregnant in a dungeon.”

“Well, the offer’s open,” I said lightly. The conversation moved on to lighter topics as we soaked in the healing waters. It didn’t take long for everyone to settle into Meditation and start working toward bolstering their regeneration.