A Soldier's Life

Chapter 149:

The reward chest was not challenging to find. It was in the middle of a bush and was the same solid stone box I had found before, with no way to open it other than shattering it. This one was slightly larger, which gave me hope for a good haul. I turned it in my hand, and it clinked with coins and something heavier. I went to Maveith and sat beside him, shaking the box.

“Got the reward chest here, Maveith. Hoping it contains a healing potion for you,” Maveith looked over, interest and hope clearly on his face.

I smashed the box with the elven dagger hilt, and it crumbled like before when I compromised it. I sifted through the debris and found thirty-six large blank silver coins and an apex essence in the mossy carpet. The golf ball-sized sphere was a faded purple. Intelligence, if I remember correctly. “Did it have a healing potion?” Maveith asked, rolling on his side to look at the loot.

“No, it is just some silver coins and an apex essence,” I replied, holding up the sphere.

“Apex?” Maveith questioned, sitting up. “What does that mean?”

“Essences come in three sizes. The smallest are called lesser or minor essences, depending on who you ask and what you read,” I produced the minor dark green quickness essence and handed it to him. “The middle size is called greater or major essences. They are about twice the diameter of the minor ones.”

I let Maveith study the minor essence before continuing. “The final ones are called apex essences. They are highly valued because they can raise your potential.” I handed him the light purple sphere I had just obtained.

Maveith turned the balls in his hand and focused on them, “Flavius asked me if I ever saw you use an essence collector that matches that description.”

“What did you tell him, Maveith?” I asked, curious.

“I said no.” He looked at me, “Did you have that the entire time? You should have used it on the manticores,” Maveith’s tired voice rumbled.

“I did. I was able to harvest all three of the manticores while you were recovering in the cabin.” I pulled out another apex essence, “it produced an apex essence from the young manticore.” The sphere was blue and had white cloud-like wisps inside, reminding me of the sky. “This was from the young manticore.” I handed it to him.

“Why is this one so much prettier than the others?” Maveith said, intently focused on the magical spheres.

“I think it is because it can enhance a magic affinity.” I said truthfully. Maveith made to hand the three essences back to me. “Take one and consume it. The green is quickness, the pale purple is intellect, and the cloudy one is the magical affinit. I may be able to find out what it is once I study the books Castile left in the dreamscape.”

It did not take long before the gray-skinned man handed me back the two apex essences and placed the green one in his mouth. His expression went through a range of emotions, “I feel tingly like electric currents are being fired through my muscles.” Just a few seconds later, he said, disappointed, “The feeling is gone. I do not feel any different.”

“It takes dozens of essences to affect real change. But there is a secret. Essences can help fortify an attribute and make it more difficult to lose points,” I told him of the secret Konstantin revealed. I still kind of felt like an ass and greedy just giving him the one essence. I should probably share the manticore and shape changer essences with him in the future.

I stood. “I am going to explore the corridors. Is there anything we can get from the bodies of the shape changers?”

Maveith painfully stood and went to the nearby creature. “It has muscle, but some monsters have toxic meat. I think these are mountain berries,” he indicated the bushes. He plucked one and chewed it before spitting it out. “It tastes like mountain berries as well. The moss looks like common moss used for stopping bleeding by soldiers and women.” Maveith’s tongue and teeth were stained a deep blue-purple.

“I do not know how long it will take for the shape changers to reappear, but I think we have at least a day. Why don’t you harvest the berries while I check the corridors?” I offered the goliath.

“Okay, Eryk. Do not be too long,” he said as he looked at my first kill. The stump of the head had soaked the moss in a large area with its dark blood. “Where is the head of the other one?”

A slight panic hit me, and I walked to the beheaded creature and then circled the room. I placed the head behind a bush out of Maveith’s sight. I picked it up to show him, “It just rolled a little way over here.”

Maveith nodded, accepting, “I was focused on mine and did not even see your strike. Just the body falling to the ground.” I thought I would keep some of my secrets if I could. Maveith was not stupid; he just took time to puzzle things out and usually came to the correct answer. The more we traveled together here, the more he would see and learn.

I placed one of the twenty-gallon water casks on the moss. Water sloshed inside as I shook it, but not much remained. Maveith’s eyebrow raised at the size of the cask, processing that it came from my space. “Fill the canteen and use this to harvest the berries.” The other water cask in my dimensional space was full as I had only used this one to fill my canteen.

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There were two exits from this room. I faced the corridor where we entered and recalled what the shapeshifters had said. One corridor led to a dark room with treasure, and the other corridor led to a large, mean red bear. How did they even know the bear was mean if they could not leave their room?

I looked down the corridor that had the dark room, and a black void was just fifty feet away. It did not look like a dungeon exit, though. I walked halfway to it and stopped. I had an ominous feeling start to creep in on me. I took another step, still twenty feet from the dark room. The light from the ceiling and floor did not penetrate the room. Even my glowstone could not shed light into the room. My uneasiness was too strong. I started backpedaling and returned to find Maveith lining the barrel with moss.

I realized I had cold sweat on my face as Maveith looked up at me, waiting for a report. “There is a dark room that light cannot penetrate. I did not enter, and it felt dangerous.”

“Maybe we can try together if the other corridor is not feasible as well,” Maveith offered supportively.

“Maybe,” I said, but I did not even want to enter that corridor again. I walked to the other corridor and could not even see the end. Remembering Maveith’s warning of traps, I used the butt of my spear like a blind man’s cane as I proceeded, counting my steps.

About one hundred feet down, a side corridor opened to my left. The corridor I was following continued in a straight line, and there appeared to be an end in sight. I decided to continue down the corridor, and I reached room in just over a hundred feet.

I paused at the entrance to the room, taking it in. The ceiling was maybe forty feet and had flashes of red, differentiating it from the ceilings I had seen so far. The room was also a massive hexagon, maybe eighty feet across. A massive mound of earth dominated the chamber’s center, and the floor appeared to be a soft black soil. Around the chamber were nine apple trees that I could see, but maybe more beyond the mound, I could not. I did not see an exit from the room, but the mound blocked my line of sight.

The apples on the trees were all bright red and looked delicious. I studied the room, not wanting to take a step in. I remembered the lesson with the scorpion, where I had been trapped inside after entering. I finally picked something out: there were bear prints in the soil. Very large bear prints.

I whistled as loud as I could, hoping to draw out the monster that guarded this room. I heard a heavy snort, and a red gargantuan bear sauntered from the other side of the mound. This bear was easily twice the size of the gray one I had killed. Its body rippled with fat and muscle as it walked. It had short red hair that seemed to shimmer like flame.

The bear noticed me but did not charge. It just walked to one of the apple trees, its massive head sniffing, finding an apple it liked, and its long tongue wrapped around, pulling it free. It crunched into the apple, its massive jaws crushing it and causing a foamy drool to form. It eyed me as it ate apple after apple. It was clearly waiting for me to enter.

Was there just one red bear? It did not look like a normal bear. Did it have a hidden power? I stepped into the room hesitantly. The corridor did not seal behind, allowing me to exhale in relief. The bear finished its current apple but did not charge me. It just watched me. I realized this bear was much smarter than a normal bear. It knew I could run if it charged. It yawned, acting unconcerned, but took a half step in my direction.

I remained near the corridor, not planning to move further into the chamber. The red bear took another step toward me. I did not move. It took patient step after patient step, its eyes locked to mine. Its head was at eye level with me as it approached. The eyes were a deep red, almost black, as it approached. When it reached fifteen feet, the extreme range of my reach, its body suddenly tensed, ready to rush and reach me before I could flee.

It never got its chance, as the front half of its head had been removed. The body collapsed quickly, and I could see the reward chest appear on top of the mound behind the bear after its body dropped. Yeah, I was cheating the dungeon out of a fight, but I did not care. I just hoped the dungeon did not have a consciousness and started to change the rooms to counter my ability. I climbed the mound, eager to check the chest.

The stone case was easily shattered to reveal twenty large silver coins and two potion vials. I recognized the runic writing on one of the dungeon potions, as it was the same one, I had received after defeating the gray bear. I had a healing potion for Maveith—a greater healing potion.

The other potion had unfamiliar runic writing, but I could probably find out what it was in the books Castile manifested inside the dreamscape. I sent the coins and the unknown potion to storage as I approached the bear. The essence collector ready, it worked rapidly, pulling in the smokey essence to form a black sphere that flickered with red and orange flames. Another apex magic essence.

I sent the essence and collector to storage, took the apex essence of intellect, and consumed the large, faded purple sphere. It dissolved on my tongue and tasted like cotton candy, or maybe that is just what I wanted it to taste like as it rapidly dissolved. I quickly received a brain freeze as the essence worked. I was grateful for getting a huge multiplicative of effectiveness from essences, but the physiological changes were much more pronounced for me, especially when I consumed apex essences.

Grateful as the feeling faded, I looked at the bear. With the elven blade, I quickly cut a sizable bear steak. I carried the steak back down the long corridor to return to Maveith as proof of my victory.

Maveith was hunched over a berry bush and looked up; his lips were a bright blue. “Sampling the merchandise, Maveith?” I questioned him.

“The berries are extremely sweet,” he smiled; his teeth were a deep blue. At least I had a few drafts of the mouthwash in my dimensional space. “Is that meat?”

I held up the steak, “From a bear with rippling red fur that reminded me of fire as it moved.”

Maveith’s brow furrowed in thought, “A fire bear? They are dangerous foes. No fire, magical or normal, can harm them; they are incredibly strong and fast.”

“Yeah, it was a tough fight. Do you want to go help harvest the rest of it? Maybe after you drink this healing potion?” I held up the prize in my other hand. Maveith’s eyes went wide, focusing on the tiny vial.

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