A Soldier's Life

Chapter 170: Staying Grounded

I was looking forward to seeing my progress. I felt healthy and fully recovered after a week of full meals, and the ring of sustenance had slowly increased its effectiveness. I had not been training in my spare time, but I still felt like most of my strength and clarity of thought had returned. I was not expecting too many gains, as the period since my last reading was minimal. I was mostly focused on my illusion affinity—how much had it increased from just a single major essence?

I reviewed the left side of the tablet first, moving my food prep items out of the way to read the results.

My physical attributes had normalized to their relative levels before we were chased into the Elven ruins and nearly starved inside the library. My mental attributes showed modest gains from a few essences. The magic attributes showed the most impressive gains, with channeling increasing by six points and aether tolerance by three. I assumed this was due to the ley line being so close to the dungeon and the faster rate at which I could recover my aether. With my channeling increasing, it meant I would see gains outside the dungeon as well—if I ever got outside of the dungeon.

Two glaring weaknesses stood out: my aether pool and my ability to shape aether. So far in this dungeon, I had not discovered any essences for either magic attribute. There wasn’t much I could do about my poor luck, but I had enough essences to last me weeks.

I moved everything to the other side of the table to read my magical affinities. The only change was with my illusion affinity.

Rare Magics:

Space: 98

Time: 90

Displacement: 61

Materialism: 9

Worlds: 88

Void: 22

Convergence: 74

Unaffiliated Magics (Uncommon):

Charm (Mind): 5

Illusion: 3

Clairvoyance: 0

Protection (Guardian): 30

Necromancy: 0

Celestial: 0

Abyssal: 0

Elemental Magics (Common)

Fire: 0

Air: 0

Water: 0

Earth: 6

Lightning (Energy): 8

Spirit (Healing): 23

Nature (Plant): 0

I had unlocked three points in the illusion affinity, raising it from zero to three with a single major essence. It was not even remotely enough to gain a new spell form, and it was half as effective as the apex earth essence had been in awakening the affinity. Still, the awakening of the illusion affinity had been just as painful and unpleasant. I still smelled like dried vomit, even though I had left the soiled clothes behind.

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Sighing, I started to work on dinner, shaving bear meat with Maveith’s new skinning knife. I could only take one essence a day without risking being overwhelmed. I had told Maveith and Raelia to do the same, but Castile had told me during my first dungeon delve that you only needed to wait an hour between consuming similar essences, though each successive one would be unpleasant as the body needed time to recover.

Could I raise one of my magic affinities high enough to imprint a new spell form? If yes, should I pursue illusion or earth essence? I had two apex and one major essence of illusion remaining. For earth essences, I had two apex, six major, and one minor essence. There was also the possibility of getting more earth essences from the sand scarabs. I had books in my dimensional space with spell forms for both affinities.

The meat started sizzling. I cooked it in small batches and sampled each one. The cooking was more for Maveith since I had the ring of sustenance. Maveith rolled over at the smell, facing me. Sleepily, he asked, “Did it work?”

“Did what work?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“You took out the tablet table, Eryk. I know you do not want me to see your readings, but it is obvious you wanted to see if the suffering you went through was worth it.” I had to remember that Maveith was not dumb and that I was being very transparent.

I admitted calmly, “Yes, I awakened my illusion affinity. Do you want to try to awaken one of your affinities?” Maveith sat up, his nose wrinkling at my lingering scent.

“No.” His voice echoed in the room. “I am happy with improving my physical prowess. How long was I asleep?”

“More than two hours, less than three.” I did not have Maveith’s uncanny ability to know how much time had passed. “After you eat, you can go back to sleep. The ring has reduced my sleep to just two or three hours now. Although, I do want to use the amulet at some point.”

I started frying slices of purple potatoes in the remaining bear fat while Maveith quickly devoured five pounds of shaved bear meat. He had lost a lot of weight but was putting it back on quickly. It was awe-inspiring how much food he was able to consume. I drank water and popped a few slices of purple potato into my mouth. Even if I burned my mouth, I could heal the blisters easily enough. I was starting to use magic without even thinking about it. Finally satiated after eating four large potatoes after the bear meat, Maveith asked, “Are we going to pursue Castile?”

“Yes. But first, I want to harvest the sand scarabs one more time,” I admitted. “I want to try and increase my earth affinity high enough to imprint a spell form for earth on my aether core.”

Maveith’s eyes danced excitedly. “That would be amazing, Eryk. I would suggest my earth spell form, shape stone. It has been extremely valuable to me and would give us something in common.” His green eyes sparkled eagerly.

“I will see when the time comes, Maveith. I still need to raise my earth affinity high enough to imprint a spell form.” Maveith ate some apple-berry jam before going back to sleep.

I turned my attention to the coffee cherries. I was not a coffee addict, but I enjoyed a morning cup on the way to work a lifetime ago. I husked all the berries, giving me a handful of white, slimy beans. I took a moment to enter my dreamscape amulet and find the passage for cava, the dessert drink made from beans. Unfortunately, there were no recipes to follow, so I was winging it. I tried heating them in a pan—they smoked fiercely but eventually browned.

I ground the beans up and added boiling water once they were dried. I let the sediment settle and tried a sip. I spit out the bitter, grassy-tasting beverage. My heart thudded in my chest, and I felt the turmoil in my aether core. Thankfully, I hadn’t swallowed the brew. These coffee beans contained raw aether. They were an alchemy ingredient, not a wake-me-up beverage.

Maveith was still sleeping, and I did not disturb him while I cleaned up. I removed my armor and went through my sword forms. I was only mildly rusty. Even with consuming essences, I needed to start getting into the mindset of training both in the dreamscape and outside of it.

When Maveith stirred again, he rose to do his business in the corridor, and I set myself up for a nap with the amulet. As he returned, I channeled aether into the amulet. First, I confirmed in my dreamscape library that I had the book for earth spell forms. It was there, but I would wait to study it until my affinity reached a sufficient level.

I opened the scorpion room and spent three hours practicing with Konstantin, Xavier, and Maveith. It felt good to focus on fighting people instead of monsters. I also missed Konstantin’s repeated—encouragement. Zorana wanted to fight with me as well, but I declined her requests and let her play with Oscar, who was begging for attention as well.

I sealed everyone in the scorpion room again, as we were getting close to finding Castile. I guessed she would want to use the amulet. On an impulse, I created a likeness of Raelia. She immediately rolled away, drawing her weapons, and started swearing. “Where am I? Who are these people?” She pointed at me. “Legionnaire, what treacherous space have you sent me to now!” She pointed her legacy blade threateningly at me.

I had expected Raelia to react this way—her form and personality were drawn from my subconscious. Maveith moved to calm down the agitated elf. With a smirk, I informed her, “Welcome to the dreamscape, Raelia. We can talk another time.”

“What is a dreamsca—” she started to say, but I was already exiting. I sat up and was disappointed that the sour, acidic bile smell still lingered on my body. Maybe I could use the mouthwash as a body wash to eliminate the smell? No, it was best to save the mouthwash.

Maveith was rolling his essences in his hand, probably trying to decide which one to consume. “You can take another one, Maveith. Everyone is different in how long they have to wait between essences. If your stomach gets upset, you’ll know your interval between consumption.” What I told Maveith was the truth from my perspective. He took another quickness essence and put it in his mouth, savoring the effect.

“Has it been a day since we killed the scarabs?” I asked Maveith.

“No, Eryk. There are still about four hours before a day has passed,” Maveith grumbled. We walked back to the sand room and waited in the corridor. Maveith snacked while I studied the dead scarabs, waiting for the dungeon to absorb them.

They disappeared in a blink, and two small swirling sand funnels formed, followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth. “Maveith, it’s time.” I stood and cracked my knuckles. It went the same way as last time. I killed two scarabs in the sand but did so closer to the corridor. I removed the collector before the fight began, allowing me to use it on the sand scarabs between kills. When we finished, I took two major earth essences and three minor earth essences. The reward chest only held some large silver coins and non-runic ornate jewelry with some impressive emeralds.

I now had a sizable collection of earth essences. Back in the safe room, I slowly placed one of the major earth essences in my mouth. Flashes of phantom pain made me hesitant to consume my second earth essence. This was another test. If I had truly unlocked the earth affinity, I shouldn’t have to go through that pain again.

The grainy earth essence dissolved in my mouth and was hard to swallow. My stomach suddenly cramped. “Shit!” I said, and Maveith moved to steady me. I held up my hand to hold him back. “No, I am fine. Just an upset stomach. It’s working normally.” It took a few minutes before I felt the essence assimilate completely. The brief pain was perhaps because I had not waited long enough between essences, or maybe this was a sign that I was not fully healed from opening my illusion affinity. I needed to be mindful over the next few weeks. I used my healing spell form to try to detect any damage in my mana channels but sensed nothing wrong—though perhaps my healing spell form could not detect issues with mana channels?

I took out the tablet table, and Maveith turned his back, making me feel guilty for not trusting him. I used the table, reset it, and returned it to my space. “Okay, Maveith. Let’s go find Castile.” As we walked into the unknown corridor, I smirked. My earth affinity had increased from six to eight.

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