Harvest Dungeon

"You just gained a powerful guardian. We can figure out its specifics later.." Zephirah replied unhelpfully.

I glared at the sprite but she was completely focused on my hand that held the wisp.

"You can let it go now." Zephirah told me.

I released my hold on the wisp but kept it in the rune cage. The wisp floated around within the circle of runes, I got the feeling that it was looking around then froze as it noticed the cobra orb in my other hand. "Traitor!" it yelled at the orb.

"I am not a traitor, you forced that bond upon me and nearly got me killed." a monotone voice emerged from the orb in my hand surprising me so much that I nearly dropped it. I stared at the cobra orb in shock. The image hadn"t moved but it was obvious it was aware of what was happening around it.

"Of course the snake can talk." I grumbled as I sat down a bit overwhelmed by everything that had happened. Vanessa followed me down shifting a bit so she was leaning onto my shoulders then wrapped her arms around my neck her head pressed into the side of my neck. I was starting to get a little curious about her sudden need for physical contact. Not that I minded it.

"Hang in there husband, don"t go falling apart on me now." Zephirah said flying over to float in front of me while Vanessa clung onto me tighter briefly making me wonder if she was going to start strangling me.

"I"m fine Zeph, just a bit tired, and you have a lot of questions to answer." I told her.
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Zephirah eyed me for a moment then nodded. "Sure thing, but it will have to wait for later." she told me.

"Eventually later is going to become now." I warned her.

Zephirah gave me a cheeky grin then flew over to face the green wisp in the rune cage. "So any last words?" she asked the wisp with an evil smirk.

"f.u.c.k off b.i.t.c.h!" the wisp responded in its odd high pitched voice.

Zephirah lost her smile then zipped into the rune cage faster than my eyes could follow. By the time I realized she had even moved she had the wisp in both of her hands the wisp pressed against her mouth. Before I could question what she was doing she seemed to slurp the wisp into her mouth like a juice pouch. When the last of the wisp disappeared into her mouth she swallowed and gave out a contented sigh. I felt a tingle in the back of my head. Concentrating on that odd sensations I had been feeling I realized it was my connection to Zephirah and through her the dungeon. Through that link I could feel that Zephirah had become a lot stronger. However I was worried. "Won"t that harm the cobra?" I asked while staring down at the orb. "Didn"t it say they were soul bound?"

"It did, but you shouldn"t believe everything you hear from a wisp." Zephirah replied. "If they had really been soul bound it could have never offered its allegiance to you. Besides soul pacts take an enormous amount of energy to forge." Zephirah rea.s.sured me.

"Instead I would guess it was a powerful slave bond. Still strong but less expensive."

"Yes." the cobra replied simply from the orb.

"Told you!" Zephirah said excitedly.

I was a bit surprised that it could offer allegiance while in a slave bond, but chose not to investigate it at the moment. I looked up at Zephirah only to realize that her increase in strength had come with an increase in size. Instead of being three inches tall. She was currently a full foot in height. She resembled a winged barbie as she floated around my head, impressively enough she seemed to have an even bigger rack then the iconic doll. Thankfully her clothes also seemed to grow with her. Even if it looked painted on.

"Master, would you like to claim my serpent gem?" the cobra asked me from inside the orb.

"A serpent gem! Seriously! Lucky!" Zephirah cheered and zipped around happily. Through my connection with her I could feel her excitement and get an inkling that a serpent gem was a very good thing for us. Now if I could just get her to explain why.

"And what use is it?" I asked Zephirah hoping for an actual answer I could understand.

Zephirah glanced at me, our eyes meet, I could see and feel her mind working as she tried to determine how much she should tell me. I couldn"t feel any malicious intent from her, instead I had the feeling she was afraid of overwhelming me with everything. However even if it was for my own benefit I didn"t think it was a good idea to hold back, not now.

Before I could voice my opinion, which was technically redundant as I was sure she had already read my mind, Vanessa started to sob into my neck and she held onto me tighter.

I was surprised then realized I was an idiot. Of course Vanessa wasn"t trying to get physical with me while we were in a battle. She was scared. I realized that her sudden need for contact made a lot more sense if she was frightened and seeking comfort from the only person who could provide it.

I set the orb on the ground beside me then twisted and grabbed a hold of her then brought her around to sit on my lap all the while making soothing sounds.

Instead of calming her Vanessa started to cry even harder and she clung onto me like a life preserver in a stormy ocean.

"SHHH, it"s alright now, everything is fine." I rea.s.sured her then glanced up to Zephirah hoping for some kind of clue as to what was going on.

Zephirah looked just as confused as I felt.

"SHHH, calm down, tell me what"s wrong." I tried a different tactic. "We can fix it, but you have to tell me what is wrong? Are you afraid of snakes?" I asked grasping at straws.

That seemed to help as she stopped sobbing then started laughing. Finally after a few minutes of laughing she was able to calm down. "No I am not scared of snakes." Vanessa finally replied as she let go and looked me in the eyes. Her beautiful eyes were red from all the crying and she had a desperate look to her. I had a feeling I had underestimated her reaction, she hadn"t been scared, instead she had been out right terrified.

"What is it then?" I asked her.

Vanessa gave me a sad smile. "We are doomed. You and Zephirah will die, I will be sold off to a pervert, and your ex will probably be ransomed to her enemies, and there is nothing we can do to stop it." she told me in a sorrowful tone while looking helpless.

I frowned, I could understand most of that. "What about Melissa? She isn"t even here." asked confused that one thing didn"t seem to fit with the others.

Vanessa leaned forward and kissed me briefly. "I liked you, but I didn"t chose you for this. As I was saying earlier, I am not a normal Gemini, my recruiter has watched over every part of my training and placement for fear someone would realize what I am and take me for themselves before he could take me away. During that process he saw you, or more specifically, your ex. He recognized her for who she really was. So he had me choose you so he could use your disappearance to get close to her in hopes of kidnapping her."

"Why? What could he get from kidnapping a woman from my world?" I asked perplexed and uncomfortable.

Vanessa leaned into my chest and hugged me tight. "I hate to be the one to tell you, but none of the people around you are normal. Your ex is a refuge from another world hiding out while her family deals with an internal civil war." she told me.

I stared down at the top of Vanessa"s head trying to figure out what she meant.

"Sorry husband, while I know you are still a bit obsessed, and when I say a bit, I mean a lot, with your EX." Zephirah said emphasizing the Ex. She isn"t here, so it doesn"t matter. What did you mean by the fact that we are doomed?" Zephirah interrupted.

I glared at the little sprite and wanted to retort but Zephirah was being very serious. I could see and feel it.

Vanessa shivered in my lap. "I already told you that my recruiter moved your location so that the observation equipment wouldn"t be here when he came for me. I have no idea how he did it, but he did." Vanessa replied.

"Yeah, got that part, given what I know of the company it wouldn"t be too hard. Grease the right palms and he could have walked out of the company with my core in hand. Greedy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds." Zephirah replied.

"Normally the company sends cores to one of the first three tier locations depending on which crops they want to focus on." Vanessa responded sitting up again and meeting my gaze before looking to Zephirah, then finally to the cobra"s...o...b.. "Tell them what tier this location is." she told the orb.

The orb was silent for a few moments, I was about to repeat the request when the cobra replied. "Seventh." it replied in the same monotone voice it had always used, but I felt I heard a hint of uncertainty in its voice.

"Seventh!" Zephirah screamed then began to fly around in frantic circles as she tried to come up with plans. Her mind was a mess, and while I couldn"t read her mind I was getting better at feeling it. Her mind was in panic mode.

I sat and waited for a few moments, but it seemed Zephirah wouldn"t calm down any time soon.

"So what is this about locations? What are the tiers?" I finally asked Vanessa.

Zephirah stopped in the midst of her then flew straight into my face only an inch away. It was far too hard to focus on her with her that close so I leaned forward and kissed her stomach which was right in front of my lips.

Zephirah giggled. "Flirt." she laughed effectively calming down. A moment later she sighed. "I forget you know nothing about this place or what is going on." she grumbled.

"I am sure you do that on purpose." I replied.

Zephirah ignored me.

"The cores are sent out to potential dungeon master in all the world of this realm. The dungeon pa.s.ses on the information of the dungeon trials, if they agree to partic.i.p.ate they bond with the core and are sent into the trial. Depending on their strength and confidence they chose a tier to start in. The higher the tier, the greater the ambient mana, allowing faster dungeon growth. With the increased ambient mana comes greater dangers and more rivals." Vanessa told me.

"The greater the danger the greater the rewards." Zephirah chimed in then seemed to slump in the air. "But only one dungeon master is able to "win" in each trail. The first three tiers have small numbers of compet.i.tors, three, five, and seven respectively."

"What about the seventh?" I asked.

"Twenty five." Vanessa replied, "and amongst the roaming beasts, our new friend is considered on the weak side."

The cobra hissed from within the orb.

"How did you know?" Zephirah finally asked.

"The descendants of the great serpent do not appear on a trail location lower than the seventh. Their strength and growth potential is too high to be on a lower level. A week or two from now and our new ally would have been able to break through our barrier without issue."

Zephirah glanced at Vanessa a look of surprise on her face. "I hadn"t thought of that." she admitted.

Vanessa shrugged. "I learned a lot of the trails in the company and have been wondering which tier he would send me to." she replied. "It had to be somewhere he could reach, yet also a place he didn"t have to worry about the company trying to stop him when he came for me." she replied. "Though I didn"t think he had the ability to come to a seventh tier."

"Is he?" Zephirah asked suddenly, "Or is his ex more valuable?" she asked.

Vanessa frowned then shrugged. "I do not know. I only know that she is from one of the great upper world families." she replied.

I frowned as they used more and more terms I didn"t understand. I could guess a few things. Like the fact that she never revealed herself because the company would be just as bad as her recruiter, and he probably had some leverage on her, probably her family.

"Does this change anything?" I suddenly asked.

Both women looked at me.

"Melissa isn"t here so I can"t worry about her, though I personally believe you are mistaken about her." I told them. "As for the rest, we just have to build our defenses sooner."

Zephirah sighed then shrugged. "It is our only choice." she admitted then, "By the way, what is your rune rank? Please tell me you are at least a Runic Pract.i.tioner!" Zephirah almost seemed to beg.

"Would that help?" I asked curiously.

"Of course, the lower tiered ranks focus more on understanding runic then increasing your power. With me supplying the power you can do more than a normal person, you just need the knowledge to use it properly." Zephirah explained.

I nodded. "I am a Runic Master, one puzzle from becoming a Rune Lord." I replied.

Everyone was silent for a moment before Vanessa and the cobra started to laugh at me. Obviously they didn"t believe me.