Once again, and hopefully for the last time, I stepped through the dungeon’s portal and was teleported to a tavern. Or at least what looked like a tavern, there was a bar covering most of the right side of the room, tables and chairs filled the floor, and on the far side of the room, it appeared to be a stage area. Taking up most of the left side of the room was a lowered area with what appeared to be skeletons fighting each other. What instantly drew my attention were the 2 familiar people sitting at a table near the lowered area; their shouting was familiar enough that I broke out into a huge smile.

  “Luca! Clair!” Taylor called from the bar, holding up a glass with a purple liquid in it.

  “Forest Spirits be praised,” Clair breathed out next to me, “I’m so glad to see you all.”

  “You guys make it through that tenth challenge.” Raven stated more than asked; she pointed at the skeletons, "If you hurry, you can get in on the next round of bets."

  “It sucked so much, I’m just glad everyone is here, and we don’t need to carry on further,” I confessed, letting out a relieved sigh. I was about to find out what Raven was gambling on when a voice pinned me in place.

  “I’m sorry that you didn’t like Challenge 10, Reaper.” The person behind the bar said, “We haven’t had many visitors to the dungeon, so I haven’t really had a chance to get feedback on the challenges, and your group is somewhat…unique.” They said, looking at me, they cocked their head to the side. It moved a little too far to the side to be natural.

  The strange person pulled 3 glasses out of thin air and put them on the bar; they began to fill up with a green and purple liquid. When they were full, they brought out a small box and tongs from under the bar, and with extreme care, they pulled out what looked like black ice cubes and dropped them into the drinks. Clair picked up a drink when it had filled up, and Taylor interlaced their arm in hers and led her away.

  A shiver ran down my spine when they said 'unique', and I winced. I turned to face them and saw that the person was humanoid, but I couldn't tell if they were human, elven or another race. They had blonde hair that flowed down past their shoulders, and their piercing violet eyes were uncommon but not unheard of. They wore a white shirt with a black and blue waistcoat over the top and held a white towel that they were using to clean a glass. I was confused for a second when my Danger Sense activated and warned me that I was standing in their domain. My eyes went wide, and I had to ask the question.

  "Architect or Source?" I asked, and I just about managed to keep my voice from trembling.

  "I am architect Archibald Hidibaldstow." He said, bowing, "I'm afraid my partner is sleeping off an upgrade, and so they are unable to join us presently." He smiled, and I let out the breath I'd been holding.

  Dungeons had 2 entities that controlled them, a source and an architect. The source was a supremely strong entity that provided the power for the Dungeon. It gave the Dungeon access to mana, magical properties and the ability to spawn creatures, structures and anything else a Dungeon would need. The architect was a weaker entity in comparison, as it was only in charge of the design for the Dungeon; being weak compared to the Power Source was like saying a rock was weak to a mountain.

  "I wish to offer you my gratitude. I know what you did before my companion fell into their slumber." Archibald said with a warm smile.

  I swallowed the lump that had been forming in my throat; it knew. The architect knew that we were the reason for the source’s slumber, but it was grateful rather than angry. I was unimaginably relieved about that; messing with a Dungeon usually ended up being extremely bad, and the Dungeon would usually seek vengeance against the perpetrators. The last time something like that had happened, the city built around the Dungeon was overrun by monsters and the surrounding area became uninhabitable for a few decades.

  "I would like to have a conversation about your party and a reward for your actions; however, that can wait for a while." Archibald continued, "Please have a drink and enjoy a side project of mine." They placed a tall green bottle on the bar next to the drink. "I have also brought your companion here from challenge number 9, so you do not have to resummon them."

  I slapped my forehead. I had almost completely forgotten about Elle; she was such a new addition that I had all but forgotten about her when we left the challenge, and now I felt bad about it. I picked up the bottle and the drink and took a sip. I've had a lot of nice drinks in my life, but to this day, nothing has come close to it. It was sweet like a strawberry dipped in liquid sugar, but as the sweetness started to overwhelm my taste buds, a short, sharp tang similar to that of concentrated lemon juice smashed the sweetness away. What remained made my mouth feel like it was a lazy river filled with a mixture of passion fruit, apple and bananas.

  "Wow, that tastes amazing." I said, giving Archibald a weak smile, "and thank you for bringing Elle here."

  "You're more than welcome. Please take your drinks and join your friends for the fights."

  I left the eerie Architect behind the bar. I was glad that they hadn't killed me, but at the same time, they gave me the creeps. It was like talking to a polymorphed insect that was trying to pass off being a human; some things could be imitated, but others were just too foreign or alien. I pushed my thoughts on Archibald to the back of my mind as I sat down between Taylor and Raven.

  I was sitting in front of what could only be called a fighting pit. As I looked down into it, I realised that there was some Dungeon fuckery going on. It appeared that the skeletons were only 3 feet lower than us; however, I noticed that the walls around the pit were taller than the skeletons. I thought about trying to figure out the spatial distortion, but it was Dungeon fuckery, there was no reasonable way to understand it, it just was. Instead, I focused on the fighting pit, which had a sandy floor and stone walls. The two skeletons in the pit wore leather-studded armour, one of them had red buckles and straps, and the other had blue buckles and straps. They circled each other occasionally, swung their swords or dodged thrusts. Clangs rang out as metal met metal in rapid clashes. After a few strikes, they parted and circled before attacking again.

  "Dee-Dee Ceased has this." Raven stated, "My 5 gold is all but secured."

  "I'm not so sure, the technique that Iza Kadaver is showing is superior." Harold retorted, "Look at those parries, there is not a single bit of wasted movement, it's so much more efficient."

  "Stamina loss isn't going to affect the undead Harold." Taylor pointed, "They are undead, so they won't get tired."

  "It's not about stamina loss, it's more to do with the precision. The parties are leaving Iza in a better position to counterattack than Dee-Dee." Harold explained, "Look, right there. Without the precision that comes from superior, it wouldn't be the best place for that slash."

  As Harold commented, I watched as the skeleton with red straps, which I guessed must have been Iza, parried a slash from the blue strap skeleton. I watched as both swords slashed and rose skyward. As the swords went up, Iza launched a savage punch that broke a few ribs, which clattered to the ground. I thought that had been the extent of the damage that the punch had caused, but as Iza stepped backwards, Dee-Dee collapsed to the ground in a pile of bones.

  "Ohhh, what a savage punch." A male voice announced. "It looks like we have a winner for this bracket."

  "Son of a whore!" Raven shouted at the pile of bones in the pit. "A simple block, and you would have had it; no wonder you died in the first place."

  "Ancient Spirits Raven, it's just a pit fight," Clair said. "And you know better than to gamble on things like this."

  The Iza Kadaver walked out of a doorway that appeared at the side of the pit, and a large gerbil-like creature scampered out and began stuffing the pile of bones into its mouth.

  "The next fight is a mage battle between two of our previous winners." The disembodied voice announced, "In the red robes, coming in at just over 11lb its…Tony Scally. In life, Tony was a middling merchant who rose to prominence in the town of Spring Falls due to being the only merchant who did not return to civilization after the founding of the town. He was known to enjoy reading, music and being alive."

  A skeleton wearing red robes walked out of the doorway and stood in a ready stance on one side of the pit. I couldn't really make out what they looked like, but since it was a skeletal mage, I guessed they looked like any other skeleton.

  "In the blue robes," the announcer continued, "coming in at just under 10 lb, we have Ricky Mortis! Ricky hails from Halden Holme and, in life, was known to be an arcane researcher. His hobbies include dissections, research and reading bad romance novels."

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  A skeleton wearing blue robes walked out of the doorway on the opposite side of the pit and stood in the same ready stance as the other skeleton.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, the match will start in 2 minutes. Lady L will be with you shortly, so you can place your bets."

  A skeleton wearing a blonde wig and red lipstick that was lining its teeth stepped out of a portal to the left of the pit. I recalled in horror for a second at seeing it. Her? I was confused and horrified by the lipstick; it just didn't look right. Lady L pulled a chalkboard that had the fighters' names on it, and then the odds afterwards. Ricky Mortis had a 1/15 chance of winning, whereas Tony Scally had 1/18 odds.

  "10 silver on Ricky," Raven called.

  "5 silver on Tony if you would please," Harold said politely.

  I contemplated gambling in the fight, but gambling had never really held any interest for me. Sure, I gambled when we played cards in the evening, but I never went to any casinos or sought out the gamblers in taverns as Raven did. I turned to Taylor instead, putting the fight out of my mind.

  "Taylor, I finally got my carving skill to Grand Master," I said to them softly.

  "What, really?" Taylor said, their eyes lighting up with barely contained excitement. "How did you level it up? Can you feel a noticeable difference? If so, how big is the difference?"

  Taylor continued to ask questions at a rapid pace, not letting me answer before asking the next one. I sat there with a bemused smile on my face, listening to her list off each question. They pulled out a pencil and a notebook, getting ready to write down my answers. I knew that it had been a few years since they had put out notices in the Magic Society and the adventurers’ notice boards asking for the opportunity to speak to a Grand Master, but no one had ever replied to them. After a few more questions, they realised that I hadn’t answered any of them and stopped asking more. They looked up at me expectantly.

  “What order did you want me to answer the questions in, and which ones do you want answered first?” I asked, chuckling slightly, and Taylor coughed and blushed a little.

  “Sorry, I got a little carried away there. What is the official name of the skill called, and what level is it now?”

  “The official name for the skill is Wood Carving, but that just sounds like a mess to say out loud. It’s Grand Master level 1.”

  “Does the skill use mana or stamina?”

  “It doesn’t use either while I’m actually carving. It’s a crafting skill, so it relies on my skills and movements with my carving knife; however, when I used it last, there was no mana or stamina loss from it."

  "Mmmh, is there a noticeable difference in the skill usage?"

  "Yes, with the Master version of the skill, I would mentally project the design I wanted to create onto the wood, and I would be able to tell if it would be hard to create what I wanted." I said, and Taylor nodded, "With the Grand Master version of the skill, I get impressions of what the wood wants to become."

  "Does that affect the results that much?” Taylor asked.

  "It actually does, which is kind of surprising. If the wood wants to become what I want to make, then everything is easier, cuts are a lot smoother, and I can visualise how deep I need to cut to get what I desire."

  "Okay, have you noticed anything that is harder or more difficult?" I had to think about this; had I noticed anything more difficult?

  Movement in the fighting pit distracted me, and I looked over as the announcer ended the time for gambling; both skeletons had begun to cast spells. The casting time for the spells wasn’t too long, and both mages released their spells at the same time. A large fireball and a bolt of lightning both came into existence, streaked towards each other, and passed each other in the middle of the arena before carrying on and crashing into a skeletal mage. There was a bright flash that made me cover my eyes, dark spots obscured my vision, and I couldn’t see the results of the fight. Thankfully, the announcer told everyone the result.

  “Well…That’s never happened before.” It said, sounding perplexed. “It appears that we have a draw due to mutual annihilation.”

  “What a load of shit,” Raven complained from my left. “What happens to the money in the case of a draw?”

  “Unless someone gambled on a draw, the Dungeon claims all lost bets.”

  “FUCK.” Raven shouted. She turned to me. “Lend me 10 gold, Clair, I’ll pay you back.”

  “Just like you paid me back for the last 10 gold you borrowed?”

  “Err, I need a little bit more time, and I’ll get that back to you,” Raven said quickly.

  I let their conversation fade into the background as I pondered Taylor’s question. I had only used the skill once since getting it to Grand Master, and I hadn’t really tested anything. I’d used it to complete challenge 2, but I’d caved the duck like I’d have done normally.

  "Not that I've noticed, but I've only used it once since getting it. I need to test it more."

  "What tests are you thinking of doing?"

  "The only thing I've carved was a duck for a challenge, and I searched for a piece of wood that wanted to be something close to it.” I explained, “I want to test what it would be like going against what my skill was telling me, would it be harder to carve or would my skill refuse to help or deactivate?" I said excitedly. "I also wanted to push the limits of my skill. Can I carve without tools or appropriate materials? What's the furthest from wood I can get and still have my skill work?"

  "Those are very good questions," Taylor said, nodding, "when you try to answer those questions, do you mind if I watch?"

  "Sure, I don't think I'll be trying till after we've caught the necromancer, but I'll definitely let you know."

  "Thanks, Luca," Taylor said, smiling. "I hope we can get the quest wrapped up soon and do something fun."

  "Same," I said wistfully.

  “I still have the readings we took when your skill was in the Master stage. Would you mind carving something now so that I can take a few readings?”

  “Sure,” I shrugged, we weren’t exactly doing anything important right now, “is there anything in particular that you’d like me to carve?”

  “It doesn’t really matter to me, but I’d prefer it if it were something that didn’t take long so I could get a complete set of readings.” I nodded, and Taylor looked at me a little sheepishly. “Can I get my tools out of your bag?”

  “Oh damn, I forgot I was carrying everyone's stuff,” I said, reaching into my bag of holding and pulling out Taylor’s pack.

  She took her pack and started pulling out a few of her magic tools. I looked back at the arena, which had a skeletal archer facing off against what looked like a spellsword. I glanced up at the gambling board and saw their names.

  When Taylor had everything set up to take her readings, she nodded to me. Thought about something easy to carve; it needed to be something simple and not take too long. I decided against doing another duck since I had already done that earlier. I decided a simple wooden dagger would be best, as it was small and shouldn’t take me long. I rooted through my bag and pulled out a few blocks of wood and examined them. The first block was supposed to be a fun toy for a baby, so I put it back into the bag. The next block wanted to be admired, and the dagger didn’t fit its desire. The next block wanted to be something practical and useful, so I gave it the idea of being a training dagger. I felt a sense of acceptance, and I started to carve. The carving of the dagger didn’t take long; the wood peeled away from the block so easily it felt like I didn’t need the knife at all. It felt like minutes had passed, but by the time I was finished, the announcer was calling the end of the fight.

  “Thank you, Luca, these were some very interesting readings,” Taylor said, scribbling in her notebook. “These mana fluctuations are so strange. Do you channel mana while you crave?”

  “Not consciously, I channel mana while trying to visualise the final piece and to formulate the blueprint of the item, but after that,” I shrugged, “I just carve without thinking about it.”

  “That’s not how that is meant to work,” Taylor mumbled as they wrote down my response. “Okay, I need some time to go through these readings and come up with some theories, but thanks for this.”

  “No worries, let me know if you need anything else.” Taylor beamed at me as they continued to write in their notebook.

  I turned back to the arena to see what was happening. I’d missed a fight and only saw the back of a skeleton exiting through one of the gates. In the middle of the sandy pit was a pile of broken bones and shattered armour. I looked up at the gambling board as Lady L struck out the name R. I. Pentaghast. They then wrote the name Deeda Bodie in the next slot on the brackets, showing that they had been the winner. They then flipped the board over to reveal the next 2 names as the announcer started speaking.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, this next fight is a special event.” The announcer called, “We have a recent acquisition to the Dungeon, and this is their first official fight. In the blue armour, we have a spellsword who goes by the name of Johnny Rotten. They boasted 34 confirmed assassinations before they were caught and executed by the Hand of Justice’s paladins.”

  A short skeleton entered the arena and walked to the now familiar starting position. Their leather armour was the same as all the other however, the sword they carried looked to be in better condition than some of the other skeletons. Looked up to see Lady L write down the odds for the newcomer, and I grimaced as they wrote 1/56

  “In the red shirt and trousers weighing in at just under 13lb, we have the notorious serial killer Marty McFright, who boasts a total of 100 confirmed toddler stabbings and over 40 young female strangulations, but unfortunately was the victim of 5 teenage boys. Marty has spent the last 4 seasons in training to become one of this season’s favourites.”

  A tall, skinny skeleton walked into the arena wearing just a red shirt and red trousers. I couldn’t see any weapons, but that didn’t mean anything since most mages didn’t carry weapons and relied on quick spells if they were in trouble. I watched as Lady L wrote down the odds for Marty, and I gawked. They wrote 1/3. I decided not to gamble on the fight. I was unsure if Marty was going to win; the odds made it not worth putting any money down on it, regardless of how much I would receive. Instead, I scratched my leg and knocked a glass bottle onto the floor. The glass bottle bounced towards Raven twice, and she reached out to catch it, but as it hit the floor for the third time, the glass shattered. Green smoke spread out over the ground like mist on a lake; it rolled out till it created a small cloud that was a half foot by a half foot. Slowly, the mist began to draw itself together, and I felt a tug in my chest as the mist began to rise and take a solid form. I shook my head as I suddenly realised that Elle had a sense for the dramatic. First two little legs that had webbed feet appeared, then a small, round body began to form, but the body seemed to rise and taper off into a thin, long neck that ended in a flat beak. Elle’s appearance would have been cool; however, she’d taken the adorable green duck form and lost the cool mist form vibe that she’d started with.

  “OH MY GOD,” Raven exclaimed. “YOU ARE SO CUTE!”

  “I know, right?” Clair beamed. “It’s Luca’s Soul Companion.”

  Raven turned to me, and I flinched at the burning look of desire in her eyes.

  “I want one.”