4 Days Ago
Fin absently pushed his breakfast around his plate as Marian droned on about the newly accepted theory of the birth of Mana. At eleven years old, Fin had mastered the art of appearing attentive while his mind wandered elsewhere, specifically to the far more interesting conversation between his brother and father at the other end of the table.
“A scout from the Adventurer’s Guild in Wellspring returned yesterday,” Kilian said, reaching for a pastry dusted with chocolate. “They’ve located an uncharted Tier Two dungeon far into the Eastern Reaches.” He took a bite, sending flakes of pastry cascading onto the polished wood.
Donovan set down his teacup, the porcelain clinking against the saucer. “I’ve already had Alaric assign a contingent to handle it. Ten of our Tier Two guards should be enough to clear it out.” He spoke with the confidence of a man used to battle and strategy. “The scout reported it’s nearing a dungeon break, so we can’t delay.”
Kilian’s eyes flicked toward Fin, a familiar gleam appearing, the one that usually preceded trouble. Fin straightened, suddenly even more interested in the conversation.
“Actually, father,” Kilian said, brushing crumbs from his fingers, “I had something else in mind.”
Donovan raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“My party grows restless. It’s been nearly three months since our last proper adventure.” Kilian stood, his chair scraping against the stone floor, and crossed to where Fin sat. He placed a hand on Fin’s shoulder, the weight of it warm and reassuring. “I thought I might take our little eavesdropper here for his first dungeon dive.”
Donovan frowned, the lines around his eyes deepening. “Four Tier Threes handling a Tier Two dungeon? Wouldn’t that prove… underwhelming?
Fin held his breath, not daring to move under his brother’s hand.
“The dungeon itself might pose little challenge,” Kilian conceded, “but training this little pipsqueak,” he ruffled Fin’s hair roughly, “now that’s a worthy endeavor.”
Cahira, who had been silently observing from the doorway, stepped into the room. “A Tier One entering a dungeon on the verge of breaking? Her voice remained even, but Fin recognized the steel beneath it. “The surge could bring dozens of monsters.”
Kilian’s smile never faltered. “Not to inflate his already considerable ego, but the runt has proven his capability. Besides,” he added, winking at Fin, “he’ll have his devastatingly handsome and skilled older brother to protect him. We won’t even let him anywhere near the Boss.”
“Go ahead then,” Donovan said with a dismissive wave, as if they were discussing something as trivial as tomorrow’s weather rather than Fin’s first dungeon dive.
Cahira exhaled slowly through her nose, fixing her husband with a look that Fin had learned to fear. “If he returns with so much as a scratch, I’ll hold both of you responsible.” She gestured to Kilian and Donovan in turn.
Kilian glanced at their father, who merely shrugged, the universal gesture of a husband unwilling to contradict his wife.
“And,” Cahira added, a small, knowing smile touching her lips, “good luck convincing Jace to allow him along.”
Kilian’s confident expression faltered for just a moment. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
Fin tried not to smile. Jace could be a pain in the ass, but he couldn’t help but be excited for his first dungeon.
Present Day
The Eastern Reaches sprawled raw and untamed beneath a sky thick with gray, its pine-strewn hills gashed by signs of a broken dungeon. The Tier Two insect lair loomed ahead, its stone archway cracked like a shattered jaw, leaking sickly green mana that pulsed in the damp air. Ants, black-shelled horrors the size of wolves, spilled from its depths, their mandibles snapping with a relentless, bone deep chitter that rolled through the trees. Fin, stood at the edge of the chaos, his wiry frame taut with anticipation, tantō sheathed across his back. His blazing blue eyes sparked with a restless grin. Beside him, Kilian, adjusted his sleek steel armor. His broadsword rested easy on his shoulder, dark hair flowing in the wind as he scanned the area.
Kilian’s team fanned out near the dungeon’s entrance, their movements practiced and efficient. Their equipment clinked softly against the morning stillness, each sound magnified in the heavy air.
Brady McNeil took position on the left flank, his twenty-six yeas evident in the confidence of his stance rather than his youthful face. Lean and hawk-eyed, he absently spun a curved dagger between his fingers, the blade catching what little sunlight filtered through the canopy.
Stefanie Broun, a year younger than Brady but twice the caution, melted halfway into the shadows cast by the ancient trees. Her transformation wasn’t complete, that would require more mana than was worth expending before entering the dungeon but enough that her outline blurred and shifted like heat over distant sands. Her twin daggers caught the light once, then vanished along with most of her form. Fin had spent most of their long journey here trying to get her to tell him the skill that allowed her to do that, but she was a woman of few words.
Jason Glowery, Jace to his friends, though few dared use the nickname when he wore that expression, planted his boots firmly on the packed earth. At twenty-five, the stocky, freckle-faced man carried himself with the gravity of someone twice his age. His quarterstaff, inscribed with protective runes, thumped against the ground as he turned to glare at Fin.
“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Jace said, his voice cutting through the background clicking of the giant ants that had nested in the surrounding trees. He jabbed a thick finger toward Fin, his expression thunderous. “Bringing a Tier One to a dungeon break? This goes beyond reckless, even for you, Kilian.”
Kilian’s grin stretched wide, all teeth and mischief. He clapped Fin’s shoulder, hard enough to make him stumble, sending a little pain radiating down his arm. “Relax, Jace. The kid will be fine, just watch him work.” Fin smirked, rolling his shoulders, the hum of Convergent Resonance thrumming beneath his skin like a live wire, filtering mana through his core in a ceaseless tide. Jason scowled, tugging his gloves tighter, but his protest died as the ants surged closer.
“No time to argue!” Kilian roared, charging in. His broadsword swung, flames erupting along its edge in a searing arc that charred two ants to ash, their shells cracking with pops of heat. Brady flicked his wrist, a blade of air slicing a straggler’s thorax open with a whistle, while Stefanie flickered into view long enough to bury her daggers in an ant’s eyes before melting back into shadow. Jason hung back, hands glowing soft gold as he mended a shallow nick on Brady’s forearm from a stray mandibleThe author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Fin didn’t wait for a signal. He dove in, grin widening into something feral. An ant lunged, pincers snapping for his chest; he twisted, Thunderfang igniting around his hand in a crackling arc that sheared its head off with a snap of ozone. The lighting danced along his arm, sharp and alive, and he laughed, a bright, wild sound that echoed over the chaos. Another ant reared, legs scything; he ducked, plunging into its underbelly, and then driving his arm through its skull with a crunch that vibrated up his arm. “This is more like it!” he shouted, blue eyes blazing as ichor dripped from his hands.
Jason froze mid-heal, staring. “He’s enjoying this,” he muttered, half-impressed, half-appalled. Brady snorted, carving another ant apart with a wind slash. “Kid’s got guts, crazy, but guts.” Stefanie’s voice drifted from the shadows, “reckless,” but a faint smirk curled her lips as she reappeared, wiping green blood from her daggers.
The fight ended fast, thirty ant corpses strewn across the dirt, some no more than ash, some sliced, all still. Fin wiped down his arm, breathing hard but grinning like he’d just aced a test. Fin pulled up his System screen to check his current skills:
Name: Fin Aodh
Age:11
Tier: One
Active Skills: [Thunderfang (Unique) Level 10]
Passive Skills: [Convergent Resonance (Unique) Level 18]
Kilian sauntered over, clapping him on the back. “Not bad, runt. Told you he’d hold his own, Jace.” Jason grunted, brushing dirt off his gloves, his skepticism softening but not gone. “Still a kid,” he muttered, though his eyes lingered on the pile of dead ants.
The team pressed deeper, the forest thinning as the dungeon’s arch loomed closer. Another wave hit, eight ants this time, their antennae twitching as they swarmed from the underbrush. Fin’s grin flared back, but mid-fight, one blindsided him, pincers grazing his hip before Stefanie’s dagger took its head. He cursed, dodging the next, Thunderfang flashing to finish it. The skirmish ended, Kilian’s flames roasting three in a burst of fire, but the near miss gnawed at Fin. “Too many blind spots,” he muttered, kicking a severed mandible into the brush.
They paused near a felled pine, its trunk splintered by some long-dead beast, sap still sticky on the bark. Kilian leaned against it, sharpening his broadsword with a whetstone, faint embers sparking where steel met stone. Brady perched on a rock, tossing his dagger between hands, while Stefanie vanished to scout ahead. Jason knelt beside Fin, golden light flaring as he mended the shallow gash on his hip. “You’re lucky that wasn’t deeper,” he grumbled. “Reckless’ll get you killed.”
Fin waved him off, grinning. “Just a scratch. Gives me ideas.” Jason rolled his eyes but didn’t argue, retreating to check Brady’s gear. Alone now, Fin sat cross-legged, eyes narrowing in thought. The ants kept ambushing, blind spots were a liability. He needed a sensing skill, something to catch them before they struck. His mind drifted to Earth, to lectures half-remembered through a haze of death and rebirth. Living things generated bioelectric fields, tiny currents from muscle, nerve, life itself. With Convergent Resonance feeding mana through his core nonstop, could he tap that?
He tapped his knee, frowning. “Every heartbeat’s an electric pulse,” he murmured. “Ants have got hearts, or something close. If I can feel those fields…” He closed his eyes, focusing on the mana humming in his chest, a river shaped by Convergent Resonance. He pulsed it outward, a small burst of electromagnetic energy, clumsy, raw. Static crackled in the air, faint and jagged, making Brady sneeze mid-toss. “Oi, kid, what’s that? Parlor trick?” he called, smirking.
“Working on it,” Fin shot back, undeterred. He refined the pulse, tightening it, tuning it like a radio dial hunting a signal. Minutes stretched, five, ten, his brow furrowing as he adjusted. The first hint came faint: a steady thrum, broad and warm. Kilian, leaning on the pine, his fire mana a pulsing glow like a hearth’s heartbeat. Then another, sharper, flickering Brady, his wind mana spiking with each dagger flip. Fin’s grin twitched up. “There you are.”
He pushed harder, extending the field. A third signature ghosted in, Stefanie, faint and elusive, flitting back from her scout. Then the ants, jagged, buzzing static, skittering through the brush a dozen meters off. His eyes snapped open, heart racing. “Got it,” he breathed. The web of signatures bloomed in his senses, a living map, position, movement, even a rough sense of strength. The ants’ buzz was louder, denser than the team’s, Tier Two ferocity pulsing through.
[Skill offer: Electromagnetic Perception (Unique)]
A passive skill weaving an invisible field that resonated with bioelectric signatures, revealing nearby entities’ position, movement, and relative power.
Fin accepted, a grin splitting his face as the ants’ chittering pinged his sense like blips on a radar. “No more surprises,” he muttered.
Kilian glanced over, whetstone pausing. “What’s that look runt? Cooked up something clever?” Fin stood, brushing dirt off his knees. “Just leveled the field. Watch this.” The ants were closing again, his new skill caught them early, a cluster of six weaving through the pines. “Incoming, north side,” he called, Thunderfang already crackling in hand.
The team snapped to attention, weapons drawn as the ants burst into view. Kilian charged, flames roaring from his swing, incinerating two in a blast of heat that left ash drifting in the air. Brady’s air slash took a third, while Stefanie flickered behind a fourth, daggers sinking deep. Fin moved with them, Electromagnetic Perception guiding him, a fifth ant lunged from his left, but he was ready, sidestepping as Thunderfang crackled through its skull. The sixth veered right, aiming for Jason; Fin pivoted, his skill flashing to sever its legs before it could reach the healer. It collapsed, mandible snapping air, and he finished it with a thrust.
The fight ended in seconds, the ground slick with green blood and scorch marks. Brady whistled, spinning his dagger. “That was fast. New perception skill, kid?” Fin grinned. “Yes, can pick up on any living things before they appear.” Stefanie reappeared, tilting her head. “Useful,” she said, voice soft but approving, a rare word from her.
Jason crossed his arms, eyeing Fin. “Still reckless, but… not bad. Saved me a headache there.” Kilian laughed, slinging an arm around Fin’s shoulders. “Told you, Jace. Kid’s a menace, and smarter than you give him credit.” Fin swatted the arm off, smirking. “Smarter than you, maybe. Took you how long to figure out fire burns?”
“Ay, watch it,” Kilian shot back, ruffling Fin’s hair until he ducked away. Brady chuckled, and even Jason’s scowl twitched into a reluctant grin. The moment broke as Stefanie’s shadow-shrouded form stiffened. “More coming,” she said, nodding toward the dungeon. “Bigger group.”
Fin’s senses flared, ten signatures, buzzing sharper, closer. “She’s right. Ten, straight ahead, moving fast.” Kilian raised his sword, flames licking its edge, grin feral. “Good. Let’s see that skill in action, runt.” The team fanned out, and Fin took point, Electromagnetic Perception lighting the way. The ants burst from the trees, bigger, their shells glossier, mandibles serrated like saws. Fin tracked them, calling targets: “Three left, two right, rest center!”
Kilian’s flames roared, a fireball blasting the center cluster into cinders, while Brady’s air blades pinned the right flank. Stefanie danced through the left, daggers flashing, and Fin wove between, Thunderfang crackling as he took down stragglers, two with precise slashes, a third with a thrust that sparked through its thorax. One broke past, charging Jason; Fin spun, sensing its jagged buzz, and intercepted it with a lightning-charged stab that split its head. The healer nodded, hands glowing as he patched a shallow cut on Stefanie’s arm from a stray claw.
The last ant fell, and Fin stood panting amid the carnage while the other members kept a lookout. Fifty corpses now, some burned to husk, others slashed apart. Fin’s grin didn’t fade, Electromagnetic Perception had turned chaos into order, and he felt the hum of Convergent Resonance sharpen with every move, his body honed by the constant mana flow. “No blind spots,” he said, trying to shake the ichor from his arm. “That’s step one.”
Kilian laughed. “Step one? What’s next, baby brother, plan of summoning lightning from the sky?” Fin smirked, blue eyes glinting. “Maybe. Give me a day.” Brady snorted, Stefanie’s smirk deepened, and Jason just shook his head, muttering, “insane family.”
The dungeon’s arch loomed closer, its green glow pulsing like a heartbeat. The air thickened, the chittering growing louder, deeper. Fin’s new field tingled, catching a faint, heavier buzz beyond the entrance. “Something’s in there,” he said, voice low. “Bigger than these.” Kilian’s grin faded to a thoughtful line, flames flickering along his sword. “Boss, probably. Tier Three. Ready for that, runt?”
Fin nodded, steadying his hands, senses alive with the hum of life and mana. “Ready,” he said, and the team stepped toward the dark, the promise of a greater fight hanging heavy in the air.