At our speed, it only takes an hour to reach the next anomaly.
Ellison is already there waiting.
He spots us imdiately and waves us over.
“Layton! You made it.”
I jog over. “Yeah, dungeon cleared. No losses. We even had a perfect run.”
Ellison’s eyes flick over our group, landing on Xander and Sadie.
“I see that. Are these your rewards for a perfect run?” He gestures just as Alex dumps Xander off his shoulder.
Xander stumbles, catching his balance. “NEVER AGAIN.” He shoots a glare at Alex, who just grins.
I laugh. “Yeah, you could say that. We found them locked up by slavers. Freed them. So wanted to co along. Xander’s the guy, Sadie’s the girl.”
Ellison gives them both a polite nod before extending his hand. “It’s a pleasure to et you. I’m Ellison. A Guildian. Layton was kind enough to allow my people to join his faction.”
Sadie steps forward first. “Yeah, good to et you.” She shakes his hand, studying him. “Are you one of the alien races the tutorial said rged into our planet?”
“No, my people are from another world entirely.” Ellison’s tone was polite but final. “I’m sure you’ll hear all about it in ti, but for now, there are things Layton and I need to discuss.”
Sadie folds her arms, still grumpy from our last interaction and definitely not satisfied with Ellisons response, but she lets it go.
Ellison produces two chairs from thin air, setting them down. He goes to take his seat, but I stop Sadie and Xander before they can wander off.
“Actually, stay. None of this is secret, and you might as well get caught up.”
Ellison shrugs and pulls out two more chairs.
Once everyone is situated, he turns to . “Would you like to begin, or should I?”
I bow regally. “Please, after you good sir.”
He gives the customary antler scratch before getting into.
“After you entered the dungeon, we didn’t want to waste ti. So we searched for a lower-level dungeon to clear ourselves.”
Ellison pulls out his own interface. What the hell? Does everyone have one of those puppies? He opens his map, pointing at a new dungeon marker.
“The first one we found was too high—Level 30. We’ll need to figure out a way to deal with that later. But the second was Level 16. We took it on.”
He continues, explaining how they fought gnos, a near-even battle where their gear and numbers gave them the advantage.
“We escaped without casualties, but Elise was kept busy healing throughout the fight. She’s growing into a fine healer.”
“She should be nearing her class evolution soon.” I say scratching my chin.
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“She should,” Ellison agrees. “As for levels… unfortunately, gains were minimal. With our numbers, the experience was spread too thin.”
“So it’s confird. Higher numbers dilute experience.” I shrug. We already pretty much had that confird. “That tracks.”
“Yes. And without upgrades to our weapons and armor, the only way forward is through harder challenges to continue level increases.”
Ellison points at the Level 19 anomaly.
“This anomaly should be manageable with our elites.”
“Well it does suck that the last dungeon didn’t give much in terms of growth.” I can’t hide a faint hint of a smile creeping onto my face.
“But we do have so good news…” I let my words hang before Ellison gestures for to get on with it.
“Four of our elites evolved their classes.”
Ellison’s eyes widen slightly and he smiles. “Oh?”
“Durkil and Daevon hit Level 25. Daevon’s now a Storm Elentalist—which cos with a defensive skill. Durkil beca a Champion of Ulm.”
At that, Ellison sits up straighter. “A Champion of Ulm?” His tone carries weight.
“Yeah. Apparently, it cos with two aura skills.”
Ellison slowly nods along, processing.
“Alex and Nick are close. They should break through in our next fight.”
“Excellent.” He says resting his hands on his legs.
“And we all gained two new titles.”
I quickly explain the first:
Evolutionary Underdog: Bonus stats for defeating an evolved class while unevolved.
Then I shared the second:
Slave Liberator: Defeating a faction and inheriting their slaves, you chose to grant freedom rather than maintain ownership. ( 15 Wisdom.)
“There is sothing I noticed though when I evolved my class. It ntioned sothing about titles when I was evolving.”
Ellison studies . “You’re asking if titles influence class evolution?”
I nod. “Yeah. I’m assuming the more titles you have, the better your options?”
He folds his arms. “I don’t have much experience with class evolutions. Durkil and Daevon are the first Guildians from Ulm to evolve in generations. But from what I know, yes. Titles matter.”
That was all I needed to hear.
“Then we need to track our faction’s evolutions. Compare class options to their stats and titles. If we can optimize class choices, we’ll get stronger in the long run.”
Ellison agrees. “Consider it done.”
Now to the part I’m REALLY excited about.
“We also got so decent loot.”
I quickly summarize most of our dungeon rewards:
3,000 UBC’s.
Skillbook: Introduction to Shard Crafting.
Skillbook: Basic Crafting.
Hidden Objective: Slave Liberation Reward: Liberator’s Chestplate (Uncommon, Upgradeable.)
Then I get to the part I was most excited about.
[Liberator’s Chestplate - Uncommon Grade (Set Piece 1 of 5.) 2 to all stats, additional 2 all stats for a matching set. Exponential aura ability scaling per piece. Self-repair & auto-equip. Upgradeable]
“Everyone in our raid team received a set piece. Well everyone except Nick—who got an uncommon-tier quiver.”
I watch Ellisons reaction carefully.
“After so discussion, we agreed that either Durkil or Alex should get the full set.”
Ellison leans forward, eyes fixing on .
“Alex made the final call. Durkil’s class has two aura skills. It makes the most sense for him.”
Mischief was listening to our conversation from nearby. We wanted the reveal to be a surprise to Ellison. He let Durkil know when to tromp over.
Ellison looks up as Durkil arrives behind . He activates the armor set.
In an instant, his tattered leather vest and pants disappear—replaced by dark, steel-blue armor that covers him head to toe.
The helt is shaped perfectly for his antlers, leaving them exposed as they jutted proudly from his head.
At seven feet tall and clad in an uncommon grade plate, Durkil looks like a goddamn legend.
“Layton….”
Ellison’s voice cos out choked.
I grin broadley. “I know, right? He looks aweso.”
Ellison isn’t smiling. There are tears in his eyes.
I blink. “Wait—Ellison? What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head, voice thick with emotion.
“Layton, you must think this is just the way things are. That power like this is common.” He shakes his head dabbing at his tears.
“It’s not. My people—Ulm—could save for generations and never touch armor of this quality.”
I hesitate, suddenly realizing.
The Guildians had spent generations scraping by. And we had just handed Durkil top-tier armor like it was nothing.
I swallow. “I’m… glad it’ll help.”
Ellison sucks in a deep breath. Then he wipes his eyes and squares his shoulders.
“Enough of this. We still have work to do.”He gestured toward the anomaly. “We have days left to prepare. Shall we get started?”
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