ALEXiThymia: Chapter 102 Stage VII

Chapter 102

Stage VII

Tuesday

“You’re back already?” Luke asked as he followed his sister right to the entrance of the Dawning Light Tier II dungeon.

“Clearly.”

At that response Luke just rolled his eyes. “You know most people use that as a way to start a conversation. By saying that, I was giving you the opportunity to tell me what happened.”

“I know.” Alexa said, as she let a faint smile cross her lips.

“Gah.” Luke said, clearly playing up his fake outrage at the interaction. “Seriously though, you are doing great things and I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.” Alexa said, and tried to convey that she meant it, though her face just looked like she was slightly constipated. At least that was the look Luke saw of her.

Seeing her face, even though she was trying and failing miserably to portray emotions, Luke just laughed.

“Hahaha. Your welcome, though seriously, do you think you can do this in time before tomorrow’s class?” Luke asked.

It was currently noon, and as always Alexa had been given a day pass to recover from Super activities. This was a practice that Alexa often never took part in, as she would generally go back to class and finish out her day. Still, today was slightly different. In fact she had planned on getting out early to come here as soon as possible.

“I hope so.” Alexa answered.

“You know, you have missed a lot of class recently.” Luke noted.

Alexa just nodded, unfortunately that was part of what this school was designed to teach; the balance between personal, work, and Super activities. All three had to be balanced and this school was just the first stepping stone on her way towards adulthood. Technically, she would be, or at least should be, banned from joining one of the major Super Guilds if she had two things happen. The first was she was unable to keep up a school, work, life ratio where she attended more than 80% of her classes, or where she had her personal life compromised by her own actions. The personal life compromise didn’t include things like the media being too invasive, or her being caught up in rescue efforts where her mask or uniform was destroyed and thus revealed her face. Nor did it take into account the shape and body images of people entering and exiting a building at a particular time to see when a Super changed and who it could possibly be. No, this was the blatant taking off a mask, putting on a mask in front of witnesses or video surveillance that could then be reported. Even then, such matters could be covered up if a Super had enough talent to justify the use of bribe money or other tactics. All that is to say that Luke was certain that his sister wanted to follow in their parent’s footsteps, and he was making sure she was aware of her future being in jeopardy.

“I know.” Alexa said, nodding to herself.

Silence.

There was a moment of awkward tension that filled the air, then Luke continued. “So how was it? I heard there were elves there, including the pervy ones from class?”

Alexa nodded, “they were. They tried to recruit me.”

Scoff.

“Yeah, I bet they were none too pleased when you shot them down.”

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“I didn’t shoot them down, at least not all of them. I will be joining one group in England this weekend.”

“England, what for?”

“Dragon Slaying.”

At that Luke paused, “wait, they have elves that focus just on slaying dragons?”

At that Alexa nodded, “they do.”

“Wow, well I could see their appeal to you.”

Alexa shook her head, “they just want me there as a token human.”

“And for healing support, if they recruited you from the Hospital.”

“And for healing support.” Alexa confirmed.

“Wow, so when do you leave?”

“Friday afternoon. I will need you to set up a gate relay for me.”

“Wait, just to go from here to England? I don’t think that should be a problem. I might have to spend a bit of time figuring out where London England is on the clusters.”

“1V000428.” Alexa spouted off.

Luke just stared at her. “Do you have all of them memorized?”

“Not really, it is a simple grid pattern.” Alexa said, speaking as if that would be more than enough to explain everything to Luke.

“Right.”

Alexa just shook her head. “Just look at it and tell me if it doesn’t make sense.”

“Okay.”

By now the two were just wasting time as they were already into and through to the dungeon. Since this was all Alexa’s idea, Luke made her pay for his entry as well, even though he had no intention of entering the dungeon, at least not at this time.

“Anything else I should be aware of?”

Alexa thought for a second, but then paused. “Yeah, there is something going on between mom and dad.”

At that Luke paused. “You know that something is going on between them?”

This was huge, as it showed that Alexa was improving with her constant interactions with people.

“Yes, I don’t know what, but there is definitely some form of tension there.” Alexa admitted.

“I’ll try to look into that. It is likely nothing, but who knows.” Luke said, trying to be reassuring.

“I think it is father. Mother doesn’t seem to notice for whatever reason.”

“Father? Now I will have to check it out.” Luke said, slightly curious.

“Be careful, I don’t know why, but I predict that the deluge of elven delegations are involved.”

“All right, I will look into it, anything else?”

Alexa shook her head.

“All right. Go on, I will tell the dungeon where to send you.” Luke said.

With that Alexa nodded and waited for Alexa to enter the dungeon. The moment she did, Luke entered the dungeon just enough to bring up the massive dungeon interface.

Instantly he found Alexa’s entry right near the top of recent entrants. Then double checking, he confirmed that she was going to Stage VII of the Trials of Ascension, then made sure to change her exit point to be her entry point, here on campus and then was done. He took another second to scope out the dungeon at 1V000428. Surprisingly enough it was there, then slightly more surprisingly he could see that it was right where Alexa noted, right on the outskirts of London, on the opposite side from where the dragon had taken up nesting. Honestly Luke was impressed with Alexa, both for figuring out this mapping system of seemingly rando numbers and for identifying a dungeon existed there at all. He made a mental note on making sure to ask her about that, but that would be after she returned. For now, she had a Trial stage to complete and he had Science Class.

He left a few seconds later.

As he did the guards on duty recorded his departure as being five minutes after he entered the dungeon. The minute Luke was out of eyesight, the lead guard on duty clicked open their communications device.

Mechanical chirp.

“Yes?” The voice of General Mackie asked.

“Dungeon guard reporting in. Alexa and Luke both registered to enter the dungeon. Alexa entered, while Luke has since gone on back to class.”

“Good work, thank you.”

End of mechanical chirping.

***

At his desk, in his office the General sat in a contemplative mood. He had on his desk the request form for the Dragon Slaying Viranian party to temporarily recruit Super in training Aru’ka to help slay dragons in England.

As the head of security, such forms of course went to Mackie. While he didn’t often spy in on his charges, he did feel this was an appropriate use of his spying capabilities. He had watched Alexa the whole time since she got back. In a way he was proud that she would spend her recovery pass on exploring dungeons, but there was something else that was troubling about her speech.

Thinking back, Mackie used his near eidetic memory to replay the bit of conversation that was most alarming. “Yeah, there is something going on between mom and dad.” He paused at that, then brought up the next set of words that he could act upon. “I think it is father. Mother doesn’t seem to notice for whatever reason.”

While he never wished to delve into the personal lives of others, let alone based solely on the concerns of students, this one seemed to warrant further investigation. Jim and Judy Thyme were both key members of the faction, and if there was a rift that would directly or indirectly impact their Countess, then actions needed to be taken to ensure her protection. With that in mind, General Markus Mackie made it a point that he too would investigate the perceived trouble in paradise between Jim and Judy.

Of course, that would only come after he worked over the logistics of this augmentation support form. On the elven form, there was a column to indicate the Rank of the individual in question. Markus for his part stared at the column for a long second, before purposefully choosing to leave it blank. If pressed, he would say it was an oversight on his part. He was certain that other elves present would have the scan capability and be able to see her rank, but as it stood he did not want too much attention being drawn to the Countess, especially not while she was at this weakened state. Maybe after she has her class and is able to level…

***

Alexa emerged from the portal to find herself caught in a long stretch of densely packed bushes and hedges. The hedges were tall monstrosities of malicious plants that were both poisonous and semi-sentient. Seeing the vines, it was clear that they were there to keep people from jumping through different hedges as the slightest touch would coat your hand in an intense poison.

Of course, this type of maze meant nothing compared to Alexa’s magic. Her Healing magic made the poison she would receive by contacting the vines as a minor inconvenience, of course this was assuming her natural Regenerationwasn’t enough to overcome the effects. Similarly, her Nature magic would be more than sufficient to destroying the poisonous plants.

So why did Alexa decide to follow the direct paths of the maze around her? Simple, there was a strange magic in the dungeon, one that seemed ready to escalate the difficulty of the maze if she pressed her innate advantages. She also realized that this dungeon was here to teach something, meaning that the layout, the display, everything was likely to teach something. Especially as the underlying maze was part of the original layout. Meaning the entire challenge was to solve the maze.

To her Eyes of the Architect, the entire dungeon glowed. There were of course patterns to the design of the maze. These patterns were the true purpose of the maze, at least that is what her enhanced eyesight was telling her, but how?

RROOOAAARRR!

Just as she was coming to this conclusion, her thoughts were interrupted by a loud bellowing roar. From over the top of the hedge, Alexa could see the hulking frame and glowing red eyes of a giant bull.

Realizing the minotaur seemed to have the advantage in this, both in terms of size and understanding the layout of the maze, Alexa began moving.

Or at least she would have, if she wasn’t forced to pick between two different directions, right or left. To the right was the elves, as indicated by a massive sign written in elven script. To the left was the orcs, a destination that was once again designated by a sign written in orcish script. Seeing the two options, Alexa paused and looked at the maze of networks.

On a whim she went left, towards the orc side. Then at another intersection was a sign that once again pointed off to the left indicating the orc camp. Then nothing to the right. Liking her chances she went right, but something odd happened the more she moved.  The more she moved, the more she saw different lines begin to form out from beneath her. To the left was a pale blue line, to the center a dark blue line, then to the right a medium blue line, as compared to the first two lines. Seeing the different lines she mentally equated them to the ore deposit densities that she had seen in earlier trials. In her mind the deeper the color, the more she could expect from the final outcome.

Stomp. Rumble. Stomp.

The massive minotaur continued following Alexa at a languid pace. Alexa thought about turning to face the monster, but ultimately decided against it, while the minotaur glowed a very light shade of blue, she realized that killing it was not the purpose of this maze. At least not killing it yet. Instead, this dungeon was designed to teach something else entirely, and for that Alexa was willing to explore.

With her mind made up, she continued going through the center pathway, down the darkest path possible, as she continued moving forward, determined to see where this maze would take her.