The Dao of Magic

93 - Summit

I stare at Tess who is sitting on a branch, halfway up Tree. I have a small process running that randomly checks for incongruities in my memories. The fact that the dungeons on this planet seem to separate discrete groups of people going through their levels in layered dimensions was flagged. Why was it flagged? Because I came across Tess halfway through a dungeon level, when we should be in separate spaces.

Shifting my gaze over to the rabbit who found her, I do some calculations. I measure the total effort it cost me to crack the layer separating me and my disciples. Then I recall how much qi Lola had at the time. Both qi totals are nowhere near similar. Even if Lola spent all her qi on kicking the dimensional barrier, she would need at least a few hundred times more power than she had at the time.

Is the Tower dungeon weaker? The fact that it stopped at level hundred seems to indicate that. I didn't see a lot of mages going through the Tower dungeon, so maybe mages adventuring through the levels help a dungeon grow? Maybe restrictions get lessened when a person is near death? Maybe Lola messed with the separation that the Tower core was doing?

I file away the irritating conundrum in my ever-growing to-do list and decide to get a move on. I have a schedule to keep, after all.

Selis is still messing around with vast volumes of water while happily chattering at my pet rabbit. The rest of the students are either in their homes or wandering around. I sense Vox playing around with his mount, the long-haired snake I shaved. Angeta, Ket and Bord are using the beast kin's fire capybara mount as a foot warmer while reading some books in the library. It's a good thing all those tomes are largely fireproof, that could have gone very wrong very quickly otherwise.

Content that they are using their time's semi productively, I turn to Tree. "TEACH! Wait up!"

I stop and see Ket running towards me. He falteringly stops his mad dash, only barely avoiding crashing into me. "Sorry, still getting used to this qi level. I wanted to show you this, maybe it would be fun?"

He holds out a piece of jade. Raising an eyebrow, I scan it with some augur. I let out a chuckle as I look through the contents. "Good idea, seems like fun indeed."

"Done with the dungeon? I stopped being able to get a clear picture of what happened outside the necklace a while ago."

"Yeah, the later levels get very weird. The elemental energies are so thick I was nearly blind myself. I will call you guys out when we are sailing again, I'm going to do some modification to this place while we travel and don't want to bother with keeping you guys and the mounts safe."

Ket nods. "Okay, I have some ideas on how to make all that information available."

"We'll talk later then."

Done with that, I put my hand on its massive trunk and focus on the medallion still in the resting area. Forming a set of spider legs from qi, I move the necklace towards the right doorway. I make it jump and retract my qi before the dungeon can absorb the energies. I jump back outside the moment it lands on the floor and I emerge in a dark tunnel.

Looking around, the traps in the tunnel are all reset. Some light comes from the entrance, indicating daytime. Lola jumps through Tree's portal and hugs my neck with shaking eyes. She nestles into my shoulder while shaking a bit.

"Oooh, are we back at the entrance? Nice, I can try some things with the salty sea water. What is the next plan Teach? Having a braincore is really fun, I really like being able to think so much. Did you know..."

I groan a bit. Lola starts shivering more, ears lying flat against her back. Stop terrorizing my rabbit, you irritating disciple! I should never have encouraged my disciples to try out new cultivation systems. Maybe those old fogies back in the cultivation world weren't so dumb, secluding themselves for centuries at a time. I can sympathise a bit now.