Penelope got two upgrades in 24D.

There was a push to do another square after they rolled through the second one of the day. With the extra teams, the fighting was easier, but she wanted some time to change gear. There hadn't been any objection to her getting the major upgrade pieces. She'd a single piece so far on that floor that had two stat lines. And she gave Stephen her Burning Wand, which helped solidify her getting two pieces. Losing the two points of recovery hurt, but it put her closer to hitting 60 Magic and gave her a skill she could use instead of a passive that boosted fire spells.

She scanned the two pieces of gear once she got back to her room.

Mud Wand

Magic +3

Aura +3

Earth Damage +11%

Skill: Mud Slide - Launches a wave of sticky mud in a crescent . Deals major T2 damage and exhausts.

Silver Pants

Magic +3

Speed +3

Metal Resistance +11%

Skill: Knives Out - Create five knives to throw at a target. Deals weak T2 damage

She slipped off the Green Pants that she'd gotten on the last floor. The <Vine Snare> spell vanished from her spell menu.

Is there any way to keep that permanently? She flipped the Silver Pants and held them up to her body for a moment before sliding them on.

"Why would you want to keep a T1 spell that isn't in your element?" Jeru appeared with his eyes closed.

Does that even help? Penelope fought the urge to cover herself despite already having the new pants on.

"Would you believe me if I said yes?" Jeru peeked from behind his blue fingers.

No.

"Then why ask the question?" He adjusted his purple robes and sat down on her bed. The lone piece of furniture was crude. A metal slab with soft vines under a hide from one of the monsters on the previous floor.

Because maybe you'll tell me a believable lie so I don't feel like I have a pervy guy in my head who is watching me all the time!

"Pervy?" Jeru's face contorted. "You think I want a front-row seat to some of the minds I've been inside?" He shook his head. "No thanks! If I could do this thing over again, I'd want a way to filter some of that stuff out." He pointed at her menu. "Back to your original question. You've got another spell that you can use in its place for crowd control. Plus, you'll be able to help with landscaping now because of the spell on your new wand."

Penelope looked at the spell. Exhausts?

"Major stamina drain." Jeru nodded. "That is going to drain your mana if you try to spam it and it'll make walking through the mud you leave behind almost impossible."

Which means using it sparingly, unless I need to do a lot of damage in an area. Penelope looked at the other spell. This looks interesting.

"Metal beats nature." Jeru laughed. "The game elements add some extra flair, and most of the time, you'll do more damage while sticking to your element, but in this case, nature resists light, and metal does more damage to it, so you'll actually do more damage out there with the metal spell."

I'm guessing it doesn't auto-target? Penelope pointed at the stone wall and cast the spell, sending five hand-length metal blades at the wall. The blades bounced off the wall and clattered to the floor.

"You're lucky those didn't fire with more force." Jeru clicked his tongue. "You could have ended up with one in your arm and had to see the Healer. Or worse…" He let the implication play out in her mind.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

You also could have warned me that they weren't going to stick in the wall.

"You act like I've seen every spell out here." Jeru grumbled. "None of the other Loopers were a Spellslinger and none of the Casters took the metal element." He thought for a moment. "Actually, there's only one Spellslinger in the whole mix and he stayed back on the second floor. I'm surprised Patrick didn't make him come down here considering he was the guy who made them the knives for cutting up the monsters."

Penelope picked up one of the blades and turned it over in her hands. The metal was cool to the touch and despite the impact with the stone, the point was still sharp.

He's going to make me make a lot of these, isn't he?

"A T2 blade will cut into things that a T0 blade won't." Jeru nodded. "He's probably waiting for you to come out so he can see what your new spells can do."

Penelope sighed and gathered up the blades, then pulled her door open. The hinges had taken Patrick a few days to perfect, but the resourceful man had figured out how to make them and set out to replace the draped hides across people's doors with something sturdier.

The balding man was in the clothes he'd arrived in.

It's weird to see people in jeans and t-shirts. Penelope held out the blades. "I'm guessing this is what you want?"

"That's one of the reasons why I'm here, yes." Patrick took the blades from her and pricked the tip of his finger with one. "That's really sharp, but it looks like you hit something with them." He eyed her. "Are there holes in your walls?"

"No." Penelope closed her door. There wasn't a way for her to lock the door from the outside. On the second floor, Patrick had made a little hole to stick a vine through that could be tied to the board that barred the door from the inside, but there'd been concerns about it being used as a peephole and the system took extra effort that was being put into making more hinges and doors.

"KING!" Patrick held out the knives as the curly, brown-haired nineteen-year-old ran over to them.

"Yes?" The baby-faced young man wiped the back of his arm across his face, leaving a smear of dirt and sticky black fluid down his cheek.

"Take these over to the processors and tell them to throw away the ones they're using because they're going to have more that won't tear up." Patrick shook his head. "And what have I told you about hygiene?" The balding man sighed. "You're going to catch something if you keep wiping your face with God-knows-what."

"Yes, sir!" Kingsley saluted with the blades in his hands, stabbing himself in the forehead.

"KING!" Patrick barked. He shook his head and took the blades back from the young man. "Go get one of the Healers to fix that." He looked around and spied Circe lingering at the end of the row of rooms. "Circe! You can carry sharp things without cutting yourself…" He paused and turned to Penelope. "Can you make these without shooting them at something?"

Just like <Light Ball>?

"It's more like <Light Torrent>, but yeah, it's a similar concept." Jeru affirmed. He pointed at the open space to her right. "You might want to point that direction though, in case you actually shoot them."

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Penelope took a deep breath and silently cast the spell. This time, instead of willing it to fire at a target, she held the spell in place, then let the blades fall to the ground.

"Hmm, now we need to find a bucket…" Patrick backed up a few doors and ducked into his room.

"You got a pretty cool spell." Circe walked over and bent over to pick up the fallen blades. "Did your class change yet?"

"Nope." Penelope looked at her menu. "I'm at 56 Magic, so I still need two more from gear to rank up when I hit level 30."

"Cool." Circe finished gathering the knives. "What do you think of this?"

"This?" Penelope looked around.

"How we're splitting up the rooms. How we're making a life inside a dungeon." Circe sighed. "Like, what are we even going to do once this is all over?"

"I don't know." Penelope resisted the urge to give the question to Jeru. Once she killed the ArchDemon on the 10th floor and stopped the incursion, he was going to die, so she doubted that he was going to have a plan for how they were all going to get home. Not that home would even be like they remembered it, since Jeru had tuned the barrier to stay in place until after magic was released on Earth. She had no idea how far away they were or even how the Elves normally travelled between planets.

"Oh…" Circe frowned. "I just figured you'd thought about it."

"Do you have someone that you're hoping to get back to?"

"Me?" Circe shook her head furiously. "No, if anything, I'd rather not go back. My dad is back there and…" She glanced around. "He wouldn't approve of this or what we've done."

"Oh." Penelope swallowed.

"You don't know what her dad looks like or even his name, so if you tell her that he's on the surface, she's going to wonder how you know that much about you." Jeru appeared between the two of them. "This is not one of those times where you want to know too much."

Circe isn't going to go around telling people that I know things that I shouldn't.

Jeru glared at her. "Really? The woman who grew up in an abusive and controlling household isn't going to have trauma flashbacks to someone who apparently has been stalking her to learn things that she shouldn't know?"

Okay, you have a point. Penelope let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "I don't know how I'd be able to go back to a life without spells." She looked over at Circe. "Given the option, I'd probably want to stay here too."

"We can be besties!" A grin split Circe's face. "And if anyone tries to mess with us, BAM! We can smite them!"

"Sure." Penelope allowed herself to smile.

"I got it!" Patrick walked out of his room with a large bowl made out of insect carapace from the previous floor. He had to carry it with both hands, then sat it down in front of Penelope. "Can you fill that?"

Her smile grew as the man who was as old as her parents struggled to contain his excitement like a kid at Christmas.

"Sure." Penelope held out her hand. "Give me a sec."

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