The clan was feasting. Roasted meat and Ale were consumed in astonishing quantities. The victories in the arena put everyone in a festive mood. The final fight, after the first shot, turned out to be underwhelming. Ogres, despite being powerful, didn’t work as a unit. Horn squads, already experienced in group fighting through the dungeon, isolated them one by one and hacked them to pieces. The scorpion managed to take out another of the champions, while Horn’s squad made mincemeat from the last one. After that, the rest was just a cleanup. The fight wasn’t entirely one-sided, the ogres were powerful enemies, and his dwarfs lacked equipment. In the end, he lost seven warriors. Thankfully they restored after the fight.

As he sipped Ale from a mug, he went back to notifications he received after the final fight,

Quest update: First steps II

You have conquered the arena challenge! Reward: Tutorial level cap increased to 10, arena portal stone, 1500 Essence to each participant, a right to challenge single time one of the participants of the tournaments.

Current completion: 5/5 – Completed

The quest will resolve after the tutorial period. The rewards will vary depending on speed and the number of hidden objectives found.

You have won all three fights in the arena challenge. You’ve completed a hidden objective! Reward: Complete training grounds blueprint (tier 3)

Current status of hidden objectives: 3/?

The Essence was very welcome, and it allowed his warriors to progress through ninth and well towards the tenth level. The rewards seemed underwhelming until he asked Goran what the training grounds were. They were an expensive building, resource-wise, but when finished, they enabled training the main attributes. The 3^rd tier meant they could increase each of the characteristics by six! The training time was progressively longer, from several hours at the first point until several weeks at the sixth stage.

However, as with most other rewards, it’d have to wait until the main game world. Horn allowed himself to relax, maybe the first time since he started this game. It was all coming up together. The challenges were finished, the hidden ones were close by. If his hunch paid off, then in several hours, he should complete the dungeon challenge. Then after waking up, he wanted to finish puzzle one. Just in time, as the clock was entering the last twenty-four hours. A whole week went by in a blink of an eye.

“Oy, pumpkin, why are you brooding? I thought that with not having much inside,” Ingrid tapped her temple, “You’d be a good drinker, yet you sit here gloomy. We’ve won, and its time is to celebrate!”

Raising his mug to her, he replied, “Yes, it is. I’m just thinking about all that happened in these few past days. Remember when we just met? It feels like years ago.”

“Oh, you wuss!” She snorted, “How old are you anyway?”

“Twenty-five,” He said, and saw it being a mistake,

“No way!” She shouted, a few heads turned their way, “We have a baby chief!” she burst in deep laugher, almost sounding like her boars while cackling. “Gimme that. Children shouldn’t drink Ale.”

Horn blushed, feeling both shame and anger rising, “Oh bug off,”

Ingrid took a moment to stop, then she said, “Pumpkin, age is not everything, but you’ve surprised me. You’ve already shown us that you’re a capable leader. We dwarfs don’t judge a book by its cover. Actions speak behind you. But stop mopping around. You’re too young to do so. You have a few centuries in front, so enjoy it. Grab the mug, and let’s show your people that you are one of them.”

As she spoke, his anger subsided, replaced by gratitude, he needed to hear that, and he felt it striking very true. He was young, and this was a game, something that began eluding him. He was here to have fun, so god damn it, he’ll have it!

---

21 hours, 23 minutes, 34 seconds

Horn jumped up, falling from a rock slab he used as a bed in the chieftain hut. A chime still echoed in his head. He rubbed his eyes while gathering his thoughts. His head ached. It was funny there was a hangover inside a game, but a quick spell took care of it. As he began seeing normally, he focused on the notification.

Quest update: First steps II

You have passed the tutorial dungeon until it crystal ran out of charges. The dungeon is no more. You’ve completed a hidden objective!

Reward: Divine Dungeon Evolution Orb

Current status of hidden objectives: 4/?

“Huh, it worked. Another one down.” He said into the air, yawning. “Let’s see where’s my reward.”

He started walking towards the gate to the dungeon challenge when he saw a group of his warriors coming his way. A sergeant approached him, “Chieftain, we’ve found this.” The dwarf took a round orb. It looked like a crystal ball, slightly shining blueish light. He’d never guessed it was a divine artifact if not for an inspection.

Divine Dungeon Evolution Orb – Mythical – Divine – An artifact of an old era, created by Gods for the adventurers. The stone can be used on an owned dungeon core to evolve it to the next level, increasing dungeon size and energy. Remember, such a place will attract a lot of attention.

“Great job, get some rest.” Horn dismissed the group. Another artifact, another thing to create conflict. He wondered how many of his colleagues would be able to get their hands on them. The dungeon wasn’t too difficult for him, but running it to the ground wasn’t too easy either. He focused his Essence spent mostly on new troops, so he could keep throwing them at the dungeon. He wondered what others did. He remembered the promise to Ellaine, and walking back to his hut, he opened the diplomacy interface and requested an update of their relationship into a defensive alliance.

Finishing with that, he decided to summon the final dwarfs, as the Essence flows would almost grind to a halt. His crafters still generated a bit of it, a tidbit he learned from Ingrid. Each completed craft would yield some Essence based on its quality versus the crafter’s level. However, that wouldn’t be enough to summon anything else than some extra supplies before leaving.

A few minutes later, as a final dwarf appeared from the Soul well, Horn went back to his hut and checked the summary.

 

“One hundred and one, with my champions and myself, it came up to one hundred and four dwarfs. Quite an amazing number, in my modest opinion,” Horn chuckled to himself. He pulled up animal count,

 

A whole herd was currently grazing in the goblin valley, guarded by his herders. He took his advisor seriously and bought these animals to get his food production a jump start. They were joined by his builders, carpenters, and engineers working round the clock for the past two days or so, buildings wagons, barrels, crates, and chests. He could cheat a bit with buying food straight out of Soul well in the dungeon but in the Nexus? Who knew, so he decided to take as much with them as possible.

Both people and animals wise the clan looked good, but materials were an issue. They’d take anything not nailed down from the tutorial, but it’d still be tight. They didn’t even have enough arms for everyone, half of his fighters didn’t have any armor, and his crafters had only essential tools. Settling down and getting production chains up would be a priority. However, before that, he still had final challenges to win, and that damn white tower in the valley didn’t stop eluding him.

His miners tried digging through walls, but the pickaxes didn’t leave a smudge on them. His engineers attempted to find a weak point, again without any result. The structure just didn’t make any sense. Why was it there, and how the hell could anyone enter?

Well, he was already fed up with the tutorial. It was fun at the start, but now he wanted to start building up. Knowing that there wouldn’t be anything left here stopped him from developing settlement in a few days. Sleeping on a stone slab, which he was lucky to do, wasn’t his dream. What was funny, he didn’t mind it so much. In the real world, that would be unacceptable. A warm, soft bed was something he took for granted, but in here? Stone slab, dirty and grimed clothing, unregular meals, and mainly drinking water - It was a norm, and he didn’t mind. Realizing this made him doubt himself for a moment, what happened to him? Was it the thrill of living in a game? Or was his mind already so messed up?

In a somber mood, he wandered around the tutorial, popping into other areas. The valley was peaceful in the middle of the night. Small insects chipped in the distance, and the light wind rustled leaves. Outside the entrance cavern, a herd of animals was sleeping and a few dwarfs milled around campfires watching over them. He saw Ingrid sleeping between her boars, cuddling with Thumper. The crazy boar lady never disappointed.

In these early hours, the clan was peaceful. Soon, they’d wake up and throw themselves at day’s challenges, and he will be in a thick of that—what a simple yet satisfying life. For a moment, he wished it could be his true life.

Continuing with his walk, he tried the dungeon, but it was closed off. He couldn’t teleport in. The crafting hall was all but empty, with only his scribe toiling away. The cases with his people’s craft still stood proudly, displaying the fruits of their labor.

In the library, he found Sigrid, sleeping over an open book. He realized that he hadn’t seen her since their talk at the arena. She didn’t join the rest of the clan celebrating their win. Looking around, he saw a wooden plate with remains of some food, a clay bottle probably with water, and a stack of books on the table she was working on.

She looked like a mess, lips slightly open, drooling on the table and snorting loudly. Around her scattered notes, he took a peek seeing diagrams, graphs, ideas about what was the hidden challenge. She took his words seriously as it seemed. For a moment, he wondered about giving her the stone. She was a diligent one, probably the least obnoxious compared to his current champions, but he needed more fighters.

On the other hand, she was braver than she gave away. Voluntarily signing for a fight in the arena? He recalled, she almost didn’t flinch when the spell hit her and killed an adept just a few feet from her. She kept cold blood and won the bloody day. He made a decision, walking closer, he delicately shook her.

“Wha- , wh-,” She muttered, groggily waking up, “Chieftain, I had to fall asleep during research.”

Horn took a peek at a book she read. It was called ‘Adventures of Brunhilda Maneater’, “Quite a research,” he snickered.

He never saw someone turn that shade of pink so quickly. Closing the book Sigrid, pulled some papers on it and asked, “What brings Chieftain here at this hour?”

“A puzzle, what else. Lead on,”

“Of course,”

They walked in silence, Sigrid still ashamed and Horn thoughtful. His hand was in a pouch at his belt, grasping the Ascension stone.

They quickly reached the last chamber with the stone chest, where he found his previous rewards. Sigrid approached it and said, “You see, the first clue was this small scribbling at the top of the chest. We didn’t notice it the first time, too busy with the legendary books, but it says. ‘Look into yourself to find the true treasure.’ In the beginning, I thought it was just a metaphor, but then it was a puzzle challenge. So I wondered what’s the true treasure was in me, but that led me nowhere. So same as we have deducted in the previous puzzle, I’ve started looking at it one by one, but it hit me only when you fought in the arena.”

“So, what is it?” He asked eagerly,

She took a small object from her hand and presented it to him. Taking it, he understood. She just handed him a small mirror. ‘Look into yourself,’ he took it and looked at his reflection, but nothing happened. He knew she was on to something, but now he wanted to solve it by himself. Sigrid seemed to understand that need and quietly waited aside. Look at yourself to find the true treasure. He took a few steps away from the chest, then turning his back to it, he began looking at the room through the mirror.

The walls didn’t change, but as soon as he saw the chest, he smiled. The chest in the reflection was different from the one he saw. This one was a fine wooden chest instead of stone. He took a few steps towards it, observing it in the mirror. Finally, he was able to touch it, and a chime appeared in his mind.

Quest update: First steps II

You have found the secret chest in the puzzle challenge. Sometimes there’s more than the eye catches. You’ve completed a hidden objective!

Reward: Random Unique rarity technology, claimed upon building a house of learning.

Current status of hidden objectives: 5/5

Congratulations, you have found all the secret challenges! The challenge tower is now open.

New quest: Make it, or break it

You have gained access to the challenge tower. This is the test of strength and character. Succeeding will push you over the competition. Failing can hurt your clan. You can wait until the tutorial timer runs out or exit now via the tower. The challenge will only begin when every clan member enters the tower. Attempt it on your own responsibility.

Objective: Complete the challenge tower,

Failure: Leave tutorial arena before completing the quest,

Reward: Varied

Horn’s eyes blazed with wonder at reading the notifications. The reward was the last thing he thought about. He finally knew what that damn tower was! He almost raced towards it but then remembered Sigrid. She was impatiently looking at him, her hand drumming at the wall behind her. “We’ve got it. You solved it.” He turned back to see the chest didn’t change, but that didn’t matter.

“Was it worth it?” She asked,

“I think so. We’ll see soon. But we have to have a talk now,” He tried using a scary voice, but broke halfway through, then added normally, “Damn, not my thing. First of all, I’m still pissed at you for getting into the arena without consulting with me, but.”

She waited for him to continue, “But, that was some creative thinking, and it took some balls to pull off. I’ve never thought I’d see Goran ice skating on his shield. Hell, I’m still not sure how you convinced Goran to let you in. Then you solved the puzzles and the hidden challenge. You’re one of the worthiest dwarfs we have around here, so it’s only fair to give you this.” He took out the stone and threw it to her.

“Just remember, if you use it, you’ll see a lot more danger. I need my champions out there on the forehead of our clan, not sitting by in a library.” He turned away and walked out of the room, leaving stunned Sigrid behind.

---

The white tower seemed the same, but a tiny detail. The wall that resembled a doorway turned into an actual door. Horn grabbed the handle and pushed it. The dark corridor lay ahead. He checked his gear and thought last time about it. It was a risk, or so the quest said. The final challenge, on the other hand, who was he if not a risk-taker? He made the last check and skimmed through level-up notifications. The reward from the arena was pushed towards the ninth level, he was just shy of the required Essence for the tenth, but the time was short.

You’ve reached level 9. You gain: +1 Endurance, +1 Ability, +1 Spirit, +1 Might/Endurance/Presence (choose one within 1 hour or it will be randomly assigned), +1 Free attribute point.

Congratulations, you’ve learned skills: Weakness.

Weakness level 1 – 20 mana +5 per each additional target up to 10, 10-second cast, 20 feet range, 30 minutes cooldown – Mind / Spirit – Curse the target with holy wrath, slowing it down, cutting his regeneration rates and resistances. The duration, base 10 minutes, and strength depends on the target’s power.

Checking the timer, he saw 13 hours, 32 minutes, and 7 seconds.

Behind him, his clan gathered. Hundred and four, a small herd of animals, and twelve wagons. Two of them held assembled scorpions, the remaining one supplies and non-combatants. Forty-seven warriors protected the caravan. Almost half of them mounted on Warboars, and just behind him, his three champions awaited command. Ingrid Sharptong - the Boar Breeder, Goran Steelriver – the Guard Captain, and Sigrid Longhood – the Scholar.