Primer for the Apocalypse

Adding something to the kiosk to sell was simple – especially when it registered as a book. It seemed I was not the first challenger to want to publish a book of some sort, and the dungeon already had an established process for both intra-dungeon publications and those that might be sold outside of the dungeon.

Books were one of the few products that could easily cross floors, though the cost scaled based on where it was purchased. I set the cost to the absolute minimum since I wasn’t concerned with earning money so much as getting the information to my fellow Earthborn.

The final product had to go through a few revisions to prevent any unwanted redactions, but it only took two days for Lisa and me to prepare something that covered most of what we wanted to share without obvious gaps. We cut out all the game-specific information and replaced it with a summary of what happened on Earth, which I felt would be of particular interest to those who’d been taken.

I worried the dungeon would censor the information, but it didn’t seem to care about the events on Earth in the slightest. It only redacted dungeon-specific information, which made informing my fellow Earthborn about the process of using the external messaging system a bit problematic. Lisa and I still managed it, but the information didn’t come across as clearly as I’d hoped.

Since my ‘product’ was a booklet, the dungeon handled most of the actual creation process for me. It worked a bit like Amazon’s direct printing – physical booklets were only manifested upon request and were not my responsibility to create. The ‘book’ could also be read directly from the kiosk for those who might need that feature for whatever reason.

To make sure people were being exposed to the book, I asked the new general store golem to carry a few copies in the store. I also requested it share my request with its counterparts on other floors, specifically those with an Earthborn presence.

Jackle had already moved on, having given up the shop shortly after becoming accustomed to his new prosthetic. From what I heard, he’d joined a group of dungeoneers who were getting close to ascending to the fourth floor.

I headed back into the swamp zone once my last task was complete. I didn’t encounter anyone else for the rest of the month, which was almost a relief after spending a couple of days in the central village dealing with the constant stares and whispers. I had no plans to go back for a while, figuring I would just sell what I could in Trinity Village and hold onto anything I couldn’t offload there until I eventually made it back to the central village.

My plans had to be adjusted upon reading the additional message sent by Master Kairos at the start of the new month. It seemed the sect Watcher had informed him of the high number of Time Mages who’d been included in Sir Eri’Non’s study after our agreement. Instead of feeling responsible, he’d been annoyed that the elf had removed potential recruits before he’d gotten a chance to assess them.

Now, it seemed that task had fallen to me. Joy.

Thankfully, he didn’t expect me to hunt everyone down or anything like that. I just needed to assess those I encountered, determine what their affinity score was, and find out if any sufficiently strong Time Mages were interested in potentially developing a relationship with the sect after they left the dungeon. Of course, they’d have to make it to Tier Seven to do so.

However, I had a different set of orders pertaining to Faith. It seemed she was one of the few Time Mages who’d shown a genuine interest in sect life within the game. Her name had been on his short list of people to contact if she had even a moderate affinity.

I knocked on the familiar door and waited. I knew Faith was home because I could sense her on the other side of the door. She still hadn’t recovered from the trauma of losing half of their party, which was understandable. It hadn’t even been a full month.

“Hey, Emie,” the other Time Mage said with false cheer once she saw me. “How’s it going? Did you need something?”

I smiled at the other woman’s effort. “I just had a question, and I figured I might as well ask in person since it’s a bit… personal.”

The dark-haired girl tilted her head before nodding and motioning for me to step inside. “Okay…”

“Do you know what your affinity score is?” I asked after the door closed behind me.

“Of course. We were all tested when we arrived. The golems were really insistent about it,” she said before smirking. “There were a few who refused, but I’m pretty sure they disappeared after they tried fighting with the golems.”

I chuckled mirthlessly. “That sounds about right,” I said. “Do you mind sharing yours with me? My Master is curious about the people here with Time affinities and wanted me to ask.”

Her smile dropped slightly. “Sure, I don’t mind,” she said. “I doubt he’ll be very interested in me once you tell him how low my affinity score is, though,” she warned me. “It’s only forty-two. It’s barely even standard. That’s why I took the Chef profession instead of Healer, even though I fill the role for my party.”

Her voice caught at the end, and she shook a bit. “Or rather, I did. I tried to make up for it by investing heavily into Intelligence to give myself more mana to work with, but we see how well that worked.”

I shook my head at her self-recrimination. “A higher affinity wouldn’t have helped once you were knocked unconscious, neither would unlimited mana,” I reminded her.

I intentionally left out the fact that having higher body stats might have kept her from getting knocked out in the first place. Hearing that would likely only make her feel worse.

Faith sighed. “Well, either way, I doubt the sect would be interested in someone with such a low affinity,” she said grimly.

“Is there a reason you limited yourself to functioning as a dedicated Healer for your group?” I asked. “You were pretty well-rounded in the game, if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah. But that was a game,” the other Time Mage replied. “Once it became real, it made more sense for me to focus on what I could do for the good of the party, so that’s what I did. I can’t gain the mana I need if I split my focus, but I’m a total glass cannon now. It wasn’t such a big deal when I had a team but with just me and Aiden…”

“What if I could teach you to use your mana more efficiently?” I asked, not fully processing what I was offering before the words had exited my mouth. Seeing the other woman’s eyes light up, there was no way I could take back the offer.

“How? Using Meditation to raise my affinity would take forever, and you said there was a limit,” she said, referencing both the information I’d shared personally and what was available in the booklet. I’d given her the proof I’d manifested since I didn’t need it.

“There is,” I agreed. “But mana efficiency isn’t wholly connected to affinity. It plays a big role in it, but training and focus are a part of that, too.”

“If you can make me better at casting, I’m definitely interested.”

Her affinity wasn’t good enough for the sect to accept her as a late-entry disciple, which was what they considered anyone joining after Tier Three. However, having any affinity for Time magic was enough to establish a connection to the sect. Unless she somehow managed to jump her affinity by twenty points or more, it would only ever be a tertiary connection, though.

Short of finding a Time mana well, I could not see that happening. Being sworn to keep the Epikairos Sect’s secrets, it wasn’t like I could tell her about that possibility, even if one was available.

Master Kairos had known all about the usefulness of mana wells. He’d actually been surprised to learn there was an undiscovered Arcane mana well on Pylos, and I had little doubt he’d already taken action to take advantage of that knowledge once the mana well fully manifested and was officially discovered.

In the other timeline, knowledge of the mana well had never spread beyond the local area. I wasn’t sure why, but I doubted that would be the case this time.

“Why don’t you and Aiden join me on my next trip out?” I suggested, deciding to extend an offer of assistance to the woman who was likely only in the dungeon because of my actions. “I usually stay out for a month, and I have a spare shelter you can share.”

I had more than one, but there was no reason to mention that. If we worked well together, maybe I’d consider making the arrangement permanent. If not, they could use the opportunity to improve and get stronger so they could find a new party.

I watched her face shift through a barrage of emotions before settling on determination. “I’ll talk to Aiden about it when he gets back. He’s been accompanying a new group that recently arrived, but I’m sure he’ll be interested,” Faith said resolutely.

After securing a promise to message me after she spoke with her partner, I headed to the Trading Post to offload the small amount of material I’d collected during the previous two weeks.

“Do you happen to know Markus or Antone’s affinity scores?” I asked Faith via message before Teleporting back to the village border the following morning. The artificial nights were pretty short, but it was more downtime than most people needed at Tier Three.

The couple had decided to join me but asked for the evening to pack and get situated since I didn’t plan to return for several weeks.

“Yeah. Markus’s was low-70s, and Antone’s was 46. He also has Air at like 30. It’s super low.”

I nodded to myself. Markus would definitely be of interest to Master Kairos, though Antone would be in the same boat as Faith. If his second affinity was Fate, that might have been different. But Air Mages were super common.

“I should probably talk to Markus again sometime,” I replied via message as I climbed the stairs to her apartment. “I’m here.”

The door immediately opened to reveal a much more lively Faith, shadowed by Aiden. Both were wearing the familiar leather armor I’d found them in the day we’d met. Because they both had inventories, neither needed to carry a bag.

“You both ready?” I asked the pair. They nodded at the same time.

As we exited the building, Faith said, “I messaged Markus and asked him to meet us on the first of next month since he’s out hunting with his party right now. Is that okay?”

I nodded. “Sure. That’s fine. There’s no rush.”

And there wasn’t since it wasn’t like I could do much other than ask if he was interested in making a connection to a prominent Time sect and telling him a bit about it. Master Kairos hadn’t really given me any guidance beyond that. He’d probably want me to do a bit more training for those who expressed an interest, but I wasn’t really clear on how he expected things to work out.

The fact that nobody would be leaving the dungeon until at least Tier Seven made recruiting for the actual sect a bit… difficult. But for someone with a strong enough affinity, I was sure they’d work something out.

But that was something for Master Kairos and the other Elders to deal with. I needed to focus on progression, not teaching every Time Mage I came across. I still felt bad about Faith getting caught up in my deal, which was why I’d extended the offer to her in the first place. Sure, others were also caught up in the same thing, but I hadn’t met them beforehand.

It was different. Or maybe I was just selfish. It really didn’t matter. I didn’t want to be stuck in the dungeon for any longer than necessary. Grouping up with two people for a while, or maybe even permanently, would be fine. It might even be beneficial in the long run.

Anything else… I simply didn’t have time for it.