It took a few moments for the previous sentence to penetrate his brain. Actually, he wasn't sure if the words penetrated quite properly. "Darius is being what now?"

"He's the Dungeon Master."

There was no way those words meant the same thing on Union Central as they did on Earth. The thought of Darius involved in a role playing game made no sense. Hector cleared his throat. "Which means…?"

"There was a monster surge while you were gone. Darius is famous now. He did so good killing monsters that everyone calls him Dungeon Master."

"Oh. He is so good at killing monsters that he is the master of the dungeon."

"Hector?"

"Yeah, Riley?"

"You're being weird."

"I am weird, Riley."

"I like you anyway. We're getting candy?"

They went to a nearby mall and began the process of buying junk food. Riley had very strong opinions on both hard candy and chocolate. Her tastes tended to skew towards the cheaper end. "Are you sure you like that one better?"

"Yes. Those fancy chocolates are too bitter."

The bored shopkeeper weighed in. "Most people prefer cheap candy. It's formulated for the most common preferences. People often have to acquire a taste for the expensive stuff. Who are you buying this for?"

"People on Tian," Hector said.

"First time I've heard that one. Don't your kind usually prefer Tian food?"

"The ones on Union Central do. Some people on Tian would rather have cheap calories."

They purchased everything in accordance with Riley's preferences before stopping for dinner on their way back home. The chosen restaurant served giant bowls of soup that reminded Hector vaguely of Ramen on Earth. When the two of them had reached the point that they could no longer continue eating, they continued their walk.

"How are things going with Mick?" He had been vaguely curious about the pseudo relationship his young friend had with the flirty playboy.

Riley sniffed. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Why? Did he do something?"

"You sound like Darius. He doesn't need punched, Hector."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Now stop talking about him."

Back in the lobby of Tian Tower, they saw a huge line for the cafe with Esther rushing about trying to do everything herself. "Riley! You're still on the clock! Come help!"

Hector waved as his friend rushed back to her job and then rode the elevator to his floor. Where he encountered the strangest sight yet. Darius sat in the common area chatting with a couple of the other guys from their floor about some movie involving a dance competition of all things. Hector stood in silent observation for far longer than he should have, befuddled by the scenario. What had happened while he was gone?

Finally, Darius caught Hector's reflection in the window and rose to his feet. "The apple man."

Hector tipped an imaginary hat. "Dungeon Master."

The eunuch stood even straighter. "Have you seen the video? I slay thousands of monsters. Carl thinks they might base a movie off of my story."

"Will your movie have dancing, too?"

Darius rolled his eyes. "We only saw the dancing movie because they had a Xian on the main cast. That is rare on Union Central."

"Did the Xian win the dance contest?" Hector asked like he was joking, but he found himself somewhat curious about the answer.

"Of course not. He didn't even know how to dance, someone just told him to fight his shadow like he did in spear practice and that got him through the first several rounds of the competition. He was kicked out in the semifinals when they had to do a couple dance and he reflexively did a hip toss on his partner."

Hector scratched his chin awkwardly. "So… is it worth seeing?"

"It was adequate for a movie about a dance contest. You should watch my video instead."

"I would love to, Darius." If his friend cared enough to ask twice, then it was important to him. Hector determined that he would respect that.

To be fair to Darius, the video was impressive, in a testosterone-fueled way. His friend was on video spamming his chaos bolt at a horde of monsters that grew ever larger as they charged towards the sound of explosions. Their numbers didn't do them much good. Not only was Darius throwing out his attacks, there was a line of warriors who had crystallized around him. The commentator of the video clip praised it as the most coordinated surge assault in years, led by a heroic warrior.

Hector clapped his friend on the shoulder. "It looks everyone is recognizing your true worth."

"Even the blind can see the obvious." Despite his words, Darius failed to hide a smile.

"So what happened with Mick?"

Darius nodded towards the other people in the common area. "We can speak of that later."

"I was thinking of heading to the dungeon soon. I want to mentally cultivate near a rift."

"What? Just ride the train around like you used to do. At least you won't have to filter out lingering miasma. You don't even need to go anywhere. Just sit in your room and get stronger."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Hector shook his head. "You don't understand. On Eden I discovered that there is chaos on the mental band around rifts. It had a huge benefit to my mental strengthening." Suddenly he remembered that he was once more within the territory of the System and made the gesture.

Survey Results

Type: Xian

Level: 5

Body: 5

Mind: 5

Aura: 3.8

Domain: 3.3

Energy Reserves: 27%

Hector blinked. The System registered that his mind was already at five? That didn't jive with what he sensed in himself. He was close to the peak, but he knew he hadn't reached it yet.

"So what, filtering out chaos and miasma is your latest training?"

"Darius. I don't filter out chaos."

The man's eyes went wide. "You have got to be kidding me."

"It's like an elixir for my mind."

"What about your aura?"

Hector grimaced. "You mean the thing I keep solid around miasma to prevent deadly soul poison from getting to me?"

"Yes, that would be risky," Darius muttered. "Your domain, though."

"I don't think that would be any safer. The mind aperture can filter out miasma with intent and willpower, but the physical apertures act more like hydraulic systems."

Darius seized Hector's shirt in both fists. "Extend your domain into a rift."

The two men stared at each other.

"I need to get to the dungeon," Hector finally said.

"Let's go, then."

They rushed through the city and into the dungeon, discussing strategy for their foray. Darius still hadn't recovered from the energy he spent during the monster surge, so he would be limited in how many chaos bolts he could fire. He estimated he had about ten shots. That could be problematic, considering they would need to go deep to find a rift.

So that meant sneaking around and relying on Hector in combat. If Darius had to fight, then they would do a tactical retreat and try again another day. Hector sorely regretted holding his transit sphere for so long to handle the apple situation. The energy expended would have been better spent in the dungeon. It was like people said back on Earth, hindsight was twenty-twenty.

"Oh yeah. What weren't you willing to say about Mick earlier?"

A tightening of the jaw. "He stopped flirting with Riley."

The explanation did nothing to clarify the situation. "Isn't that what you wanted? Wait. Did you scare him off?"

"No. Mick… he was receiving larger portions from Riley at the cafe. When Esther told her to stop, Mick lost interest in Riley." Darius grit his teeth. "He flirted to receive special consideration. I would mock him for it if there was a way to do so without embarrassing Riley."

Hector winced. "How did she take the rejection?"

"There was no rejection, Hector. He stopped speaking to her with no explanation." The vehemence in Darius's voice made it clear he did not approve.

"People on my world called that ghosting." Hector considered the situation. Riley obviously felt ashamed of being taken advantage of like that. Probably more so than most would, considering her past profession. There was another issue, though. She had a low opinion of her own value and an experience like this would reinforce the worst self perceptions.

"I am done speaking of Mick. The subject exhausts me."

"You're exhausted after two minutes?"

"Do you think I haven't heard of the man every day for a month? You weren't here, Hector. I had to listen to her problems in your place."

Hector tilted his head to study his friend. "You know, Darius, you've come a long way since we first met. I'm proud of you."

The eunuch's cheeks blushed as he pretended to sweep dirt from his pants. "Do not accuse me of the same sentimentality you champion. I simply return in kind the treatment I receive. The community of Tian Tower has proven itself useful to me."

"Yes. Obviously you see great usefulness for Riley in your future plans." Hector laughed. "Don't worry, Dungeon Master, I won't tell anyone you're going soft."

Darius looked away. "Think whatever you will. I don't care."

Hector had never been happier to receive a lie straight to his face. Perhaps abandoning his friends for a while had been exactly what they needed. He didn't want to further harass his friend, so Hector let the subject drop.

They entered the dungeon near a terrain feature known as 'the maze' among delvers. It was far from a labyrinth, but stone had eroded unevenly to create plenty of visual obstructions. The maze offered a path you could walk unobserved, provided you were willing to take the risk that you would run into a monster when turning a corner. Most would consider that a bad trade-off.

"How is your body enhancement coming along since you reached level six?"

"It is adequate. I've been spending a lot of credits at the cafe. Some at Master Sirius's store. That man actually tried to recruit me to another tournament on Tian." Darius grunted in disapproval.

"I wonder how many times they are going to run that tournament." Hector stepped around a boulder and whipped a ferret in the face with his cable, causing an explosion of brain matter. "They have to be having trouble finding rogue Xian who haven't noticed that no one ever comes back from the tournament."

"Master Sirius is fortunate the System sees all. Otherwise he would no longer live."

Once, Hector would have assumed the threat spoken by Darius to be idle. Having seen Darius use his chaos bolt… he thought the shopkeeper literally owed his continued survival to the omniscience of the System over events on Union Central.

They emerged from the maze and found themselves a quarter of the way towards the center of the dungeon's vast space. A few miles from their presence location they saw an angry red tear visible against the dark backdrop. With a quick few words to coordinate their approach, they started forward with Hector in the front.

He killed a few weak monsters, causing them to explode with minimal effort. By agreement, Darius hung back ready to intervene if things grew dangerous. His assistance proved unnecessary. They reached the rift and paused to take in its hideous splendor.

Rifts, one and all, glowed with a malevolent red like they opened onto an otherworldly hellscape. That wasn't literally true, of course, even if evil creatures intent on slaughter emerged. Hector didn't know the explanation for the wavelength of light emitted, but his mental sense could detect the flavor of chaos emanating from the tear.

"Cover me while I give this a try." Hector didn't wait for a response before diving into his experiment. He formed a cable of force with his domain and pressed it into the center of the open rift. His cable sank into the strange pseudo-space in a way that felt like a foot sinking into the deep mud at the bottom of a pond.

His cable squelched deep into what had a surprising amount of texture for a tear in space. Then it burst through a membrane and intense pressure clamped onto the portion of his domain stretching outside the human universe. Almost the caustic nature of that environment caused him to panic before something clicked in his mind.

It was chaos. He understood how to handle chaos.

Unfortunately, using his domain instead of his externality was like trying to read in a mirror. Everything was reversed in such a way that Hector had to strain to perform the familiar transformations backwards. He managed. It was slow work, though. Far less efficient and productive than what he could do with his externality.

Another complication became apparent. There was a trickle of miasma entering through the rift and he had to ward it off by expelling cosmic energy from his domain. It wasn't a huge outlay, but it stole some of his hard-earned gains. Gains which were already less than he'd hoped for.

He removed his force cable from the rift and sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot. Do you mind if I mentally cultivate for a bit?"

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