The Torch that Ignites the Stars (Arcane Ascension Book 3)

by Andrew Rowe

  [Some entrants will be simulated monsters; however, the majority of the competitors are based on previous entrants to this dungeon.]

  “Based on…they’re simulacra?”

  [Similar in concept, yes.]

  My mind flashed to the copies of Keras’ friends he’d run into during one of his own challenges. “Wait. Will they know they’re copies?”

  [No. They will be under the impression they are here for treasure or to seek the crystal.]

  “…Are you going to make a copy of me when this is done?”

  [Only if you grant your permission. I was…convinced by a previous person that it is unethical to copy people without their consent.]

  I snorted. Right. Obviously Keras had already been through here and argued simulacra ethics with the crystal. I wasn’t quite as worried about that sort of thing as he was, but I did feel a little better knowing there wouldn’t be unauthorized Cadences running around.

  At least not here. I still wasn’t sure about the spires.

  Focus, Corin. I exhaled a breath. “How do you determine which copies of people to use in what order?”

  [That is a complex process, and I would advise you to focus on construction. You have five minutes remaining.]

  “Right, right. Okay. Can you give me any hints on the number of people coming through at a time, or how powerful they’ll be?”

  [We will begin with one competitor at a low level. As the test progresses, there will be larger groups and higher-level competitors.]

  “Okay. Designing tests for just one person to start with should be easier, but I need a long-term plan as well. Make me one more room right in front of this one, we need some variety. Most adventurers aren’t going to turn around after clearing a single room and butting their heads against a second.”

  [Done. You have 650 mana remaining.]

  I walked to the entrance room. “Okay. Fundamentals. They’re not going to believe they’re dungeon crawling without any threats.”

  I quickly ran through my plan, revising slightly based on the knowledge that it would only be a single person.

  “Okay. How large are the pit traps?”

  [A five-foot square or five-foot diameter circle.]

  “Okay. Let’s start with this. Please place torches in the corners back here,” I pointed to the wall on the left side of the door to the next room, “and here.” I pointed to the opposite side. Torches appeared, already burning.

  [You have 600 mana remaining.]

  “Uh. Hm. Can you have them start unlit?”

  The torches went out.

  “Nice. Okay. So, those are going to unlock the door when they’re lit. Which means we also need a lock.”

  [Shall I create that now?]

  “Yep.”

  A comically large padlock appeared on the door. I grinned. “Great. Now, make pit traps surrounding each of them. Can you do…like, a line across the floor in front of each, rather than a full five-foot square?”

  [No, that would not be large enough to make a functional pit. To surround the torches, you need two pits for each.]

  I exhaled a breath. “Okay. Fine. Place those.”

  Nothing visibly changed. I had to tap on one to realize that the floor was hollow. “…What happens if someone actually falls in one of these? Endless void?”

  [No. There is a newly-constructed ten-foot-deep pit below each.]

  “Oh.” I was…almost disappointed. I didn’t actually want any of these conjured spirit simulacra things to have to fall through an endless void, but that would have been way more dramatic. “Okay. Great. Does the floor just…fall away as soon as they step on it?”

  [Correct.]

  “And they can climb back out?”

  [Yes.]

  I nodded. “Okay, good. Let’s continue.”

  [You now have 525 mana remaining. You have two minutes remaining.]

  I let out a curse. I’d taken far too long on prep. “Okay. Quick. Lesser fire elemental in the middle of the room.”

  [Done. You now have 425 mana remaining.]

  A blazing sphere of fire manifested in the center of the chamber. After a moment, two burning arms poked out from the sides of the sphere, and something resembling a single gleaming eye appeared right in the center. It made some kind of strange, cooing noise when it rotated in place when it saw me.

  It was…kind of cute, honestly.

  “Uh…hi there, buddy. You’re going to have to fight some adventurers soon, okay?”

  The elemental rotated in a circle in mid-air, which I took as a nod.

  “Don’t kill anyone. Just…throw some fireballs at them. And if they run over here,” I gestured toward the torches, “they’re trying to get you to throw fireballs at the torches to light them. Go ahead and do that if they try to get you to. You’re part of a puzzle.”

  The sphere rotated again, then let out some kind of musical sound.

  [It says ‘yes, great and wondrous master’.]

  “…Really?”

  [No, but it did confirm your orders. You have one minute.]

  This room is good enough. I need to get out of here.

  I rushed back toward the room’s exit door. Then I remembered it was locked. “Can you…”

  The door lock clicked off. I passed into the next room, then closed the door behind me. “Relock?”

  I heard a click.

  [You have thirty seconds.]

  “Can I keep working while the adventurer deals with the first room?”

  [Yes. You may also return to my room if you wish to observe the adventurer’s progress through a projection.]

  “Wonderful. Now, should I keep working…?”

  [I will be interested to see if the first adventurer uses the fire elemental to light the torches. It is an unusual style of puzzle.]

  “Thanks. Gonna be honest, I think they will probably just use their own fire source, but I like the idea of providing one within the room itself.”

  [That is generally wise. Dungeons are often disappointing when they are not fully self-contained. The first adventurer is entering now.]

  I briefly hesitated, then said, “Drop two more lesser fire elementals toward the center of this room to guard. I need to buy some time so I can watch what they’re going to do.”

  Two more adorable flaming spheres appeared.

  [You have 225 mana left.]

  I turned to the elementals. “Guard this room. If anyone enters, attack them, but do not kill them.”

  The spheres rotated in what I presumed to be confirmation.

  “Thank you.” I turned and ran back to the crystal room as fast as I could. I was way behind my intended building schedule, but I wanted to see what the first adventurer did before I made too many more choices.

  I’ve only spent 50 of my personal mana. If I burned through more of it, I could recharge the crystal a bit more…or I could guard the final room myself.

  I froze when I was nearing the crystal room’s door. Rewards. I forgot rewards.

  In a surge of panic, I rushed back to the room with two fire elementals. “Treasure box. Lock. Bag of crystals inside.”

  A treasure box appeared as requested, presumably with the bag in there.

  [You have spent 50 mana on the treasure box, 50 mana on the bag, and 25 mana on the lock. You have 100 mana remaining.]

  “Hello? Is someone in the next room?” Came a voice. “Ack! Fire! Hot!”

  I winced. I hadn’t realized the door was thin enough for someone to hear me talking.

  …I decided to cut my losses and just quiet down. “Make a key corresponding to this lock. Hide it in one of the pit traps for the previous room.”

  [Amusing. Done. You have 75 mana remaining.]

  Good enough.

  With that, I rushed back to the crystal room and shut the door behind me.

  Things are…not going as planned. But it’s okay. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. I can always stand in the last room and scare the adventurer off if I need to.

/>   When I got back to the crystal chamber, I saw what it had been talking about: the entire back wall had been replaced by an image showing the entrance room, along with the adventure inside it. I briefly gawked at the scale of the projection, and my jaw nearly dropped when I heard sound coming from the image.

  “Hello? Someone else here?”

  I winced. Social contact was not something I wanted to deal with here.

  Should I talk to him? Maybe I should get a better look first.

  The image showed the adventurer swiftly dodging a blast of fire from the elemental, then warily watching it and raising his sword. He was a tall guy with short brown hair and a thin, well-styled beard. Aside from his weapon, an arming sword, he carried a kite shield and wore heavy chain armor.

  Chain armor was generally pretty antiquated, but I couldn’t exactly throw stones. My own armor was scale, which was generally considered similarly antiquated. I wouldn’t have been wearing it if not for the Citrine-level enchantments on it.

  In his case, though…

  The adventurer side-stepped another fireball, then charged the elemental and swung his sword clean through it.

  The sword’s blade immediately turned red with heat, but not quite to the point of melting. The adventurer yelped, dropped his sword, and jumped backward. He barely managed to raise his shield in time to block another half-hearted fireball from the tiny creature, but then the shield lit on fire. Like most old-fashioned shields, it was made of wood.

  He hurled the shield off his arm then backed away. “Um…if anyone is in there…help, maybe?”

  I blinked. “Why isn’t he using magic?”

  [This adventurer is not attuned.]

  I frowned at the image of the adventurer dodging around the elemental, then rolling and picking his sword back up, tossing it between hands as the heat gradually dispersed. He was wearing heavy gloves, otherwise he probably would have burned himself badly.

  “Why would he come in here without an attunement?”

  [This shrine predates the existence of attunements. I have chosen an adventurer from an earlier point in history to test the earliest phase of your dungeon. Thus far, your dungeon appears to be successful at repelling non-magical combatants.]

  “Uh, no kidding. Is he going to be—”

  The adventurer took a fireball to the chest, screaming as the heat spread across him. It wasn’t a particularly powerful spell, but chain armor wasn’t going to do much against a sphere of heat, and if he didn’t have a shroud…

  I bolted out the door of the crystal’s home, through the remaining rooms, and then into the entrance. I found the adventurer rolling on the floor, trying desperately to put the fire out.

  I drew Selys-Lyann.

  Can you command the fire elemental to play dead? I thought, knowing the crystal was reading my mind.

  [I can.]

  I swung my icy sword at the elemental and deliberately missed. The elemental did a dramatic twirl in mid-air and then landed on the ground.

  I rushed to the downed adventurer, then used transference mana to push a smidgen of the ice from Selys-Lyann onto him, extinguishing the flames on his chest.

  He coughed and shuddered, clutching at his skin. “Th…thanks…ahha..”

  I reached into my pouch, whispered “retrieve water” and pulled out a flask. “Here, drink.” I shoved it at him. “Sorry I took so long.”

  “It’s fine.” He accepted the flask, lifting it to drink, then winced again. “I’m Roy. You?”

  “Corin. Looks like you took a serious hit there. You okay?”

  He grunted. “Think so. That thing got me pretty bad, but I think you put it out fast enough to prevent any serious damage. Thank you again. Is it dead?”

  “It’s down, at least.” I sheathed my sword. “Magic weapon. You probably shouldn’t come in here without one.”

  Roy grimaced. “Getting some magic is the whole reason I came in the first place. Wasn’t expecting to get stopped right at the front door.”

  “Yeah, I hear you. These things are dangerous. You might want to head back out and get your chest looked at.”

  “I don’t know if I could go home empty-handed. Mother would…” Roy shuddered, and not from his injury. “It might not be worth going back.”

  “Wait there.” I headed into the next room, closing the door behind me. Then, I reached into my bag and whispered. “Retrieve transference sword.”

  My old transference sword appeared. It was one of the first magical items I’d ever made, and it had proved incredibly necessary on a number of occasions.

  It was, however, largely obsolete now.

  I could easily make something better, by myself or with others. I also was getting better at using Selys-Lyann, which was far superior, and I had the sword I’d taken from Jerome, too. I still had to do some research to figure out how that one worked, but…

  Long story short, I had an extra sword I didn’t really need.

  I walked back to the entrance. Hopefully, he’d assume that I’d found the sword in the shrine somewhere.

  He was back on his feet by the time I got there, but leaning against the back wall heavily. I approached, then offered the still-sheathed transference sword to him.

  Roy blinked. “What is…?”

  “Draw it.”

  He drew the sword slowly, reverently, and gasped when he saw the humming energy around the blade. “You…what do I owe you for this?”

  “Nothing.”

  Roy stared at me strangely. “You’re…just giving this to me? Why?”

  “I think you’ll need it more than I will. But there is something small you can do, if you really want to repay me.”

  Roy’s look turned serious, then he nodded firmly. “Name it.”

  I smiled softly. “When you’re a hero with a more legendary sword to use, pass that sword on to someone else who needs it more than you.”

  “I will.” He clutched the sword tightly to his chest. “I swear it. And if you ever need anything at all…you’ll find me at Ravenslake, not far south from here.”

  “Maybe I’ll come visit sometime.”

  He reached out and offered a hand covered with a still-singed glove. I accepted it, trying to ignore my distaste for touch. He shook my hand in an old-fashioned style, but not quite like Keras. Foreign in a different way.

  “I won’t forget you, Corin. Not ever.” He nodded to me one last time, then turned, opened the door, and stepped into the endless void.

  …And with that, he ceased to exist.

  [Your defenses have successfully defeated your first attacker. The next round begins in 30 minutes.]

  [Mana earned from defense: 100.]

  [Mana earned from the attacker learning a valuable lesson: 200.]

  [Mana earned from the attacker successfully gaining a reward: 300.]

  [Total mana available: 675.]

  I felt strangely numb as I walked back to the crystal chamber to contemplate my next move.

  ***

  “Are they all going to be like that?”

  [Please be more specific.]

  I sat down on the floor. “…Vulnerable?”

  [Mortals generally are.]

  I winced. “How…do you deal with it? Seeing them hurt? I know they’re not real, exactly…or, well, they’re temporary, at least. But it still doesn’t feel right to see them suffer.”

  [Harm can cause behavioral changes that can increase future security. As long as they are improved by the process of coming here, suffering temporary harm is acceptable.]

  I grimaced. “…And what of the scars that sort of ‘teaching’ leaves? What about the lasting consequences, mental and physical?”

  [If those consequences are lesser than the benefits gained, it is a net improvement, and thus the trials are beneficial.]

  My hands tightened as I recalled someone who had used a similar line of logic while he “trained” me. “How can you accurately measure the benefits and detriments against each other? How can you
know where the training crosses the line into harmful?”

  [That is, at present, your responsibility to determine.]

  I winced. “Every individual person is going to have different strengths, weaknesses, tolerances…how can a shrine with traps and monsters account for that? Maybe a fire elemental will give valuable ideas to one person, kill another, and prove pointless against a skilled warrior who can defeat it in an instant. That whole style of design seems inherently flawed.”

  [And yet it is exactly the sort of structure that you defaulted to, without any prompting on my part.]

  I looked down, trembling. The Transcendence Gateway Crystal was right.

  I had, instinctively, set up the shrine to mirror a structure near-identical to a Judgment. It was what I was familiar with, so it was natural to assume that was the right way to do things.

  …And, in a small way, I’d seen the failures of that approach right away. I’d presumed a specific type of participant, and I’d been wrong. If I hadn’t intervened, that first entrant — Roy — might have been killed in the very first room. Not only would that have likely failed the shrine’s challenge, the idea of killing someone like Roy, even if he was simply a copy of a previous shrine entrant, didn’t sit well with me.

  I had no way of knowing how complete his memories were, or how real his experiences were. What I did know was that he was virtually the same category of entity that Len was — a spiritual being that was capable of living, breathing, and thinking.

  I couldn’t simply let beings like that die meaninglessly for some sort of test.

  “Roy…did you destroy him when he walked out that door?”

  [No, all of the entrants you will be facing are placed in stasis when not in use. Their memories are recalibrated for the next person taking the test.]

  That disturbed me in entirely different ways, but at least I didn’t have to worry about surviving challengers being killed outright as a reward for their success.

  I exhaled a deep breath. “I’ve been going about this all wrong, haven’t I?”

  [Explain.]

  I sat down on the floor. “I set this place up with the same principles as the spires. Those aren’t my principles. They never have been. Why am I emulating them?”

  [Your task is to encourage growth. Thus far, I judge that your response has been successful. This does not indicate any failure on your part.]