"Am I still alive?" Brian croaked, trying to sit up but feeling as if invisible weights were strapped to his limbs.

Brian's eyes flickered open as the stale scent of crumbling plaster and damp earth assaulted his senses. He lay on a makeshift bed in a dilapidated building within Havenstone Outpost, the walls adorned with peeling paint and cracks large enough for spider-like creatures to call home. Serdna and a woman, dressed like an Aestari version of a doctor, stood over him, their faces a mixture of relief and concern.

"Ah, Sleeping Beauty finally awakes," Serdna quipped.

"Easy there," said doctor, her reassuring presence like a lifeline amidst the wreckage. Her gray hair was braided back, and she wore her well-kept doctor's coat with an air of authority.

Introducing herself as Dr. Lyra Kestrel, the doctor then placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Yes, you're alive, though you've been out cold for quite some time."

"Where's Sophia?" Brian asked, panic creeping into his voice.

"Relax, she's resting in the next room," Dr. Kestrel reassured him. "She'll recover just fine. She's a strong one."

"Thank you, Doctor," Brian murmured, attempting a smile that felt more like a grimace. Brian let out a sigh of relief, then winced as a sharp pain shot through his chest. "So, what exactly happened to me?"

Serdna scratched his head, looking like he was searching for the least distressing way to speak. "Well, you took one hell of a beating from the valtivenoms. You were lucky Sophia gave you some very powerful antidote. Then I removed all the poison with an epic riff!" Serdna made a rockstar pose with his lyre.

"Where... am I?" Brian croaked out, his mind still foggy from pain and medicine.

"Welcome to Havenstone Outpost," Dr. Kestrel replied. "Just try to rest for a while, you'll be alright."

Brian stared at the peeling, water-stained ceiling above him while Dr. Kestrel continued. "I managed to patch you up as best I could, but it was that antidote and Serdna's valtite that made the real difference."

Antidote? He felt through his pockets. Ilex’s potion? Brian deduced that Sophia must have found it and given it to him, lucky." Thank you Serd, you are awesome!" Brian said sincerely.

Brian glanced at Serdna, whose cheeks reddened under the weight of the unexpected praise. Brian offered a small nod of gratitude, which Serdna returned with a lopsided smile.

"Anytime, buddy," Serdna replied, grinning. "I'm just glad you didn't kick the bucket. I was very worried about you."

"Alright, boys," Dr. Kestrel nodded, satisfied. She picked up her well-worn medical bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "You take care. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must leave for Fort Luminar. There are others out there who need my help."

"Of course," Brian said. "Thank you for everything, Dr. Kestrel."

"Take care of yourself, Brian," she replied, her eyes filled with kindness and concern. "And remember: laughter may be the best medicine, but it's not a substitute for proper rest."

Brian forced a laugh, eliciting an exchange of uncomfortable glances between Serdna and Dr. Kestrel. With that, Dr. Kestrel turned and made her way to the door.

"Hey," Brian said, trying to keep the pain in his side from bleeding into his voice. "What brings you here?"

"Actually, I was just thinking," Serdna said, his tone growing serious once more. "I have a new assignment, and I think that your special vision might help me?"

“Sure. What do you need?”

"You can’t tell anyone, ok.”

“Of course. I promise I won’t tell a soul.” Brian replied, growing anxious to hear what Serdna had to say.

“Something's been amplifying this dangerous frequencies lately," Serdna explained, his brow furrowed with worry. "I've been tasked with finding the source and neutralizing it, apparently the government has hidden an entrance somewhere in this safe point. That's where you come in."

“Ok. I understand.”

Brian pondered the request for a moment, he knew he wasn't at full strength yet, but the thought of putting his newfound powers to use – of actually making a difference – was undeniably tempting.

"Alright," Brian agreed, pushing himself gingerly to his feet. "Let's go find this secret chamber of yours."

"Great," Serdna said, clapping him on the back – a little too hard for Brian's liking. "I knew I could count on you. I am going to get my things and I will come get you in a few minutiae."

“Sounds good.”

Brian's stare landed on a bowl of unappetizing yellow and green monster meat. He'd eaten this peculiar dish in the past, without quite knowing what it was. Now, though, he had no doubt that it was valtivenom meat.

Serdna, observing Brian's interest in the food, let out a chuckle. "You look famished. Alright I'll leave you to savor your valtivenom. I'll return later."

Brian eyed the bowl doubtfully. "Is it safe to eat?"

Serdna's laughter persisted. "Maybe," he managed between guffaws. "Well, at least I see one vegetable mixed in."

Brian wore an expression of concern for a moment, but then brushed it away with the thought that he likely had immunity to the valtivenom's poison now.

With Serdna and Dr. Kestrel's out of sight, his bowl empty, and a full stomach, Brian found himself staring up at the cracked ceiling once again. He recalled his strangely vivid dream from earlier.

"Valtite System," he muttered, wanting to summon the windows that he had seen in his dream. He remembered finding himself again in that strange, teal-colored, identical world, right before collapsing from the valtivenom’s poison.

Status:

Energy Signature: Brian Valtwood

Energy Rank: Trace (lvl 21)

Valtite Reserves: 1502

Rank Progress: 15%Affinity: Void Dominion

Specialization: Initiate Phantom

Profession: None (Locked)

Vitality: 472/580

Vigor: 400/400

Valtite: 397/410

Stats:

Constitution: 58

Strength: 40

Endurance: 40

Dexterity: 50

Wisdom: 41

Intelligence: 42

Untrained Potential: 15

General Skills:

[Valtite Resilience (Latent)] [Valtite Linguistics (Trace)] [Valtite Identification (Trace)] [Meditate (Latent)] [Valtite Potential Harness (Latent)] [Valtite Potential Calibration (Flicker)]

Oculus Core:

[Valtite Vision (Latent)] [Chronal Gaze (Trace)]

Manifestation:

[Event Horizon Grasp (Latent)]

As if triggered by his thoughts, his usual status box appeared before him, displayed in orange writing.

Right off the bat, the newest addition to his already mysterious status page was his 'phantom specialization.' In his dream, he hadn't picked it because he had run out of time. In fact, Brian had made the decision the first time he read it. These specializations were like classes, and he got the feeling that 'phantom' was similar to the rogue or thief archetype. Heck, even the name had rogue vibes.

At the moment, he didn’t see how the specialization helped him in battle. He remembered it granting him two effects: the most appreciated stat percentage increases, and something called ‘Valtite Density Reduction,’ which, by following the rogue archetype, would most likely be related to stealth or something similar.

Lastly, if he was honest with himself, the other reason why he went for the rogue archetype was because it resonated with his tendency to avoid the spotlight. It felt safe and more efficient to attack from the shadows without unnecessary up-front confrontations.

Before he moved on to explore other tabs, Brian remembered the new ability, Valtite Potential Calibration, which allowed him to fine-tune his ‘free points’. He could now assign them while meditating by focusing on the specific attribute that he wanted to enhance.

His Phantom specialization granted an additional 5% boost to both constitution and dexterity. Though he had been focusing on building both stats, he felt his constitution was currently more than sufficient. As a result, he planned to allocate his free points into dexterity to capitalize on the 5% bonus. But before doing that, he wanted to balance all of his other stats at 42.

Using meditation to allocate his free points proved more challenging than he'd anticipated. By mistake, he set his strength to 43, but he felt he was beginning to understand the process. Brian successfully adjusted both his endurance and wisdom to 42. With 9 free points remaining, he considered leveling all his stats to 43, especially since he'd unintentionally raised his strength. Even though the uneven numbers would nag at his obsessive-compulsive tendencies, he wanted to invest in dexterity more.

As he focused on buffing his dexterity, the nightmare of his free-for-all against the lesser valtivenoms seeped through his mind. He almost made a last-minute decision to dump all of his points into constitution, but Brian fought through the urge and stuck to his original plan.

It ended up working perfectly; his dexterity was at 50. Adding 9 brought his total dexterity to 60, thanks to the extra 5%.

Thinking about how the stats affected his body scared him. It wasn't every day that you discovered your entire existence could be quantified by a series of numbers and stats. Yet, as overwhelming as it may seem, Brian felt a strange sense of comfort in the familiarity of it all.

"Alright!" Brian had already determined to grind valtite nonstop and become stronger than Darius. But now, he could really plan out the numbers, something that brought joy, reassurance and confidence.

The last thing that Brian needed to check was also the scariest of all. In his dream, he had been able to see information about what Silas had warned him about; The Calamity. With the thought, the information appeared before him with the same mystical energy.

Tracked Event: ‘The Calamity’

Time Until Event: 1 Cycle, 3 tetrads, 4 Lums, 5 Sols, 22 Minutiae, and 32 Nivosecs

Chance of Occurrence: 55%

That is scary… Scary enough that it made the grivaxians worry. Brian wondered just how bad ‘The Calamity’ would be. Without more information, it would be impossible to prepare properly. Could the aestari handle it? And what exactly was it? 55% occurrence rate? Despite his many questions, he had no answers. The only thing he could really do was continue building up his valtite reserves.

So in an effort to continue forward he met up with Serdna to help him on his mission.

Havenstone Outpost was slightly larger than Fort Luminar. Though boasting more structures, they huddled together - squat, dilapidated things that barely deserved the name 'building.' Also, it didn’t resemble a futuristic Arabian bazaar like Fort Luminar did. Instead, it seemed to have been a glorious town of white and gold. But now, the white was tarnished and the gold rusted.

"Anything?" Serdna asked, glancing over at Brian as they rounded another corner.

At that moment Brian's valtite vision picked up a faint, pulsating light emanating from beneath one of the crumbling buildings. "Hold on," he said, stopping in his tracks. "I think I found something."

"Really?" Serdna asked, excitement creeping into his voice as he peered over Brian's shoulder. "What is it?"

"Looks like there might be some sort of hidden area under there." Brian pointed at a spot where a structure used to be. "Let's see if we can find an entrance."

“Wait a nivosecond… I think I hear the valtite emanating from it. You see, the directorate made me attune to the Auditory Core. It seems to pick up valtite just like your Oculus Core.”

"Uhh, nice. So you also got a sense type core. That is neat, Ilex got the Olfactory Core Recently too" Brian smirked.

Together, they poked and prodded at the rubble, eventually uncovering a narrow staircase leading down into darkness. The sight made his skin crawl, but he steeled himself, knowing that this had to be the place that Serdna was searching for.

"Ready to venture into the unknown?" Serdna asked, attempting a brave smile.

"Right behind you," Brian agreed, his heart pounding with equal parts excitement and trepidation as they stepped down the stairs.

Eventually they stared at a nondescript wooden door, its surface etched with intricate patterns about an ancient story of Valteria; there were humanoid beings worshiping a god.

The door didn’t have any handles and was shut tight; even with brute force, Brian and Serdna couldn't open it. They both sensed a dense valtite surrounding the door. When Brian focused on the energy, he triggered the following information.

Dungeon Discovered - Echoes' Abyss

Minimum Valtite Energy Required: Flicker

No more than two different valtite signatures may enter at the same time.

Access the Dungeon?