Stepping Wild (Dungeon Runner 04)

"There you are," the dungeon said as Tibs stepped towards the room he sensed under the ground ahead of him. There was clear impatience in the tone.

He'd walked until the sun was almost to its zenith, from where he thought the dungeon had been before. It had covered its tracks well enough Tibs couldn't be certain where its previous location had been. He'd run on the canopy in the direction and for about as long as the previous time, then headed toward where he'd pointed Karliak and counted on his sense to feel the room.

Even while having sensed the dungeon move the ground to close off the clearing, he couldn't find any signs within the earth that marked the passage of the room.

"Have you been here long?"

"Is this where I'm stopping?"

Tibs sensed, but even now, with Karliak saying they were still moving. He couldn't tell. He estimated how far from the village they were. Maybe it was too slow for him to notice.

"Can you do some work with me while continuing to move?"

"So long as you can keep up."

"I'll do my best."

"Are you going to teach us how to get Runners?" Simtor asked.

"We'll progress toward that, but there are things to cover first." He placed the net down, then stepped away. "Karliak, I want you to absorb that, and remember how it's made. I'll need you to remake it later."

It 'sunk' into the ground and the wood and other essence that made the ropes faded away from his sense as they moved toward the room. He focused and was almost able to feel them enter the 'roots' around the room's walls.

"What it is?" the dungeon asked.

"It's going to be a tool we'll use to help you understand what traps are, but before that, we need to work on your rooms."

"What's a room?" Simtor asked.

This was going to be more complicated than he'd expected.

"Then we need to start with something else. You, Karliak, are a dungeon."

"We covered that already," they said, annoyed, "I test runners, they get stronger when they pass. I get stronger when they don't and die."

"You and the Runners exist in a state of balance. You can't be so strong that no one survives, or so weak they all survive all the time. When things work well, you and the Runners progress at relatively the same rate."

"And if they don't," Simtor asked.

"We'll talk about that later. You, Karliak, set up your tests within rooms. Those rooms are then separated by corridors. You can do whatever you think will test the Runners within the rooms, but the corridors are there so they can rest. They need to be safe for them."

"What is a room?" They asked, impatience building. "A 'space where I test Runners' doesn't seem like it's enough."

"A room is a contained area with a fixed number of entrances and exits. You make it contained by making walls. The openings on those walls will be how Runners come in and leave."

"If it's just openings," Simtor said. "That doesn't seem particularly contained."

Tibs smiled. "Contained here means the space limits how far the traps can go, or the space in which they fight your creatures."

"What are creatures?" Karliak asked.

"That's also for later. Right now, you need to make walls."

"How do I do that?"

"How did you make the walls of your core room? The stone that surrounds your core, through which the essence travels from you to the chest, or when you absorb something, those are a type of walls."

"I see. And I…don't know." They sounded puzzled.

"So, you became aware, and they were already there?"

"I think so. I was, then I was a little more. Then there was something surrounding me and I felt…Simtor would explain those are essences later. I felt essence flow into me and I became aware they were there, that essence gathered before moving into me. Simtor would explain those are my channels and that I have to pull the essence I absorb through them, if I want that to go into my reserves."

"You can take the essence within your influence and move it around without absorbing it." It was an easy extrapolation, since he could do the same.

"Yes."

"That means you can work with more than your reserve if you need to."

"I…guess?"

"How quickly can you make walls like those of your core room around me?"

"I don't know how to make them."

Right. He needed to start with something more basic than that. "Recreate the net I had you absorb."

It 'grew' out of the ground by a tree on the opposite side of Karliak's influence from Tibs.

"Alright. Can you absorb part of your room's walls and remake that next to the net?"

"Don't," Simtor ordered. "Breaking that's dangerous. Something about your channels being vital and any break to them risks hurting you."

Thinking back to how the Them had damaged Sto's channels, and how they'd been raked in the dead dungeon, Tibs realized that might have been why.

"Alright. I didn't know that. Thank you Simtor."

"Errr. Okay."

Was it worth explaining polite conversation, if Tibs was the only person they'd talk with, and he didn't particularly care?

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"In that case, can you sense how the walls are made? How the essences that make them are woven together?"

"I can."

"See if you can recreate that. Oh," he hurried to add. "Just make a small one. Don't drain your reserves to make it."

The section of wall that grew from the ground went up to his ankle and was about the length and width of his foot. When the essence settled, Tibs approached it. "How much essence do you have left?" It was rough stone, but not the kind he'd see on the side of a cliff, cave, or in a stream, or even in a tunnel dug out by people. There was a flatness to it that looked off, and something on the surface.

"I don't know how to answer you," Karliak said. "I have some of all my essences left."

They lacked a frame of reference. He chuckled. Abyss, he didn't even have one for his own reserve, with how deep it ran. "Okay. How much larger do you think you could make it, if you used as much essence as you can spare?"

"I…don't know."

"It might be easier if Karliak makes it," Simtor offered.

Tibs stepped away. "Don't hurt yourself doing it." He considered something. "Start by making it five times as wide, then go up."

It widened, then rose, stopping not quite at Tibs's height. The same oddity was on its surface, but with more of it, he now recognized the channels he sensed along the room's walls.

"What element are you low on?"

"Force."

"That's part of the wall?"

"Yes, shouldn't it be?"

"The way it's talked about in books, Force essence is about impacts. It's about things coming to a stop. So I wouldn't expect it in something like your walls." He stepped away. "I want you to practice making the wall with as few of the elements as you can."

"Can I do that?"

"You can make changes to anything that's yours within your influence. Those won't all produce something useful, so it's about testing what works, what doesn't, and what works best for what you're trying to do."

"What am I trying to do?"

What could he give as a goal? "Filling your influence with a wall, the available space, don't destroy anything with it." Although…no, that was best for later. "Also, as you move, absorb all the wood essence you can. Well, all the essence you can. You can never have too much of any of them. I'll be back in a few days and we can continue this."

* * * * *

Tibs couldn't miss the dungeon this time, even if they were much further than he'd expected. The essence filled the entirety of their influence and had the distinctive sense of dungeon made stone. Someone from the village would have to make camp before they'd reach them. This could be far enough. The overall rounded shape made Tibs think that was how high they could influence.

It caused a problem. Karliak couldn't be aware of him unless he was within his influence.

He tapped the stone. Nothing happened.

The only way he knew to make them aware, he hoped wouldn't make them angry. He pushed his essence into the stone and made some of it his.

The space around that moved away so fast it caught him by surprise. He moved his hand within the created void, ready for an aggressive reaction. Instead, the stone retreated, and he stepped within the dungeon's influence.

"What did you do," Karliak demanded, "and how did you do it?"

"I took control of the stone essence away from you. It was the only way I had to get your attention. As for how, in this case, because you weren't expecting it. But two things can influence it happening. How much of their own essence someone can put into taking yours, and how much willpower they have. The same is true of you resisting it happening."

"Can any Runner do that?" Simtor asked.

"Yes, but a Runner can only influence their own element. And a Runner only has one element. Except Sorcerers, they have one element but they train to be able to work with all of them. I'm not sure how a sorcerer would go about gaining control of an element that isn't theirs."

"You didn't read about that?"

Tibs chuckles. "Sorcerers don't share their secrets with scholars."

"What is a Sorcerer?" Karliak asked.

"They're one of the class of Runners. You have Fighters, Archers, Sorcerers, Clerics, and me, Rogues."

"What does them being a class mean?"

"Ultimately, nothing. They're just words the guild decided on for how Runners think and what they're better at. We're going to address the adventurer's guild later. Basically. You can expect a fighter to be at the front of a team. They'll go into the battle without hesitation. The archer, sorcerer, and cleric will hang back, supporting the fighter as they can, and attacking creatures at a distance. The cleric will heal the fighter while they fight, and anyone who gets hurt, until they're out of essence."

"And the rogue?" Simtor asked.

Tibs smiled. "We're the sneaky ones. We'll be the one surprising you and doing that thing you didn't consider to overcome your traps. We or the sorcerers will usually handle the puzzles. But this is the important part. The guild's wrong about the classes."

"How can they be wrong, if they're the ones of made them?" Simtor asked.

"Because they're overconfident. They think they know everything there is to know about dungeons, essence, the elements, and the Runners."

"What does it mean, for me, that they are wrong about the classes?" Karliak asked.

"It means that a Runner can do whatever they want. A Cleric can become good enough at fighting they'll join the fighter in the front. An archer can be sneaky and surprise you. A rogue and be tough and also fight in the front."

"Sorcerers?"

"They can probably be any of that too, but those I've known did stick to the back and fight at a distance."

"So," Simtor said, sounding thoughtful. "The classes are there so we have an idea of what to expect from the Runners, but they aren't limited to that."

"Yes, you're going to have to adapt. See what they do and make changed through the night to compensate for how they surprised you, but remember, it's a balance. You're looking to make it harder, but not outright deadly."

"What's night?" Karliak asked.

"That's the time when there's more darkness essence than light around us." He chuckled. "Actually. I don't know if you need to wait for the night to make changes. Sto did, because there were no Runners going in. You don't want to do it while there are Runners, but I can't tell you why. The guild used it as a threat, and from what Sto said, unless he took part in protecting a Runner, they wouldn't survive the times while his door was closed. Other dungeons also closed their doors at night, but the guild is who keeps the Runners from going in, so I don't know if the dungeons learned that was the best time to close their doors, or if it happened and the guild learned from that."

"So that guild works with dungeons?" Karliak asked. "Are they the ones teaching them what to do? Like you are?"

"No," Simtor said, before Tibs. "If I'd been taught, I would be the one teaching you all of this. If not for that other dungeon, you'd have someone who was useful to have around."

"But that wouldn't be you."

"But they're be able to actually help you, instead of—"

Karliak snorted. "I don't care about that. I'd rather have you here than anyone else, no matter how much they know."

Tibs smiled in the following silence. Every dungeon and helper he'd talked with respected each other, but they weren't all friends. Some felt more like associates in a business enterprise. Knowing each of their roles and sticking to that. He hadn't run those dungeons, or any outside Sto, The Purity one, and Firmen, but he'd always thought those wouldn't be as fun to run because of the lack of friendship.

"What do I do next?" Karliak asked.

"First, you'll absorb all the stone wall."

"I already absorbed what I can."

"Your reserve is…" he trailed off, looking at what was around him. "I'm keeping you from absorbing this." He stepped out, and before he looked around to reenter, all the stone melted into the ground.

He stepped forward. "Karliak, encase me in stone. Take it as close as you can."

Stone grew from the ground, leaving seven paces of space. It closed over him at, he expected, the same distance. Behind him, it ended where the dungeon's influence did.

"Fill the space as quickly as you can as I step back." He stepped to the edge, and the wall moved forward those two paces. He stepped the one pace that took him outside of it, and the stone immediately filled the space to the limit.

He walked around and back inside the dungeon's influence. "This is interesting."

"What is?"

"I'm the one creating the zone you can't affect."

"Yes," Simtor said. "That's obvious."

"No, I mean…. The guild and books say that we, people, generate an area around us, and that it's what prevents a dungeon from affecting us and what's close to us."

"Yes, it's what happened when I tried to encase you."

"But if that's correct, when I stepped outside your influence, that…thing we generate would still reach inside you, and should have stopped the stone from advancing, as it had when I was inside you."

"But you weren't there anymore," they hummed. "You stayed close?"

"Against your limit."

"I don't know what it means."

"It means that I am creating it. That me, my body, somehow interacting with your influence, creates the area that prevents you from affecting me."

"And what does that mean?" Simtor asked.

"I think it means this is something Karliak can overcome."