"How many more dungeons do you think might have music puzzles?" Melody asks. "I wish this quest had a counter or something."

"I'm not sure, but you know what?" I say. "We're at a school. Somebody here probably knows. If not, we'll go to the closest Adventurers' Guild and ask there."

Leaving the others with the boat, Melody, Rowan and I head for the stairs and follow a sign pointing us toward the main school office. It's a large wooden building painted an eye-catching violet situated not far from the docking tower. A large clock above the front door reads 4:20 pm.

The receptionist at the desk looks up from the adventure novel in his hands and says, "How can I help you?" The annoyance in his aura at having to deal with something doesn't reach his voice or his face.

"We're looking for information on local dungeons," Melody says. "Where do we go for that?"

The man's aura ripples with relief that he can immediately make us somebody else's problem and get back to his book. "You'll want the Dungeonology building for that. Go out the front door and turn left, and follow the signs."

Melody thanks him, and we head back outside beneath the yellow sky once again. The campus is connected with smooth stone walkways that cut through grassy lawns and curve around trees and flower beds in such a way that whoever designed this was more intent on making something look pretty than in letting children get to classes more efficiently. Predictably, many flower beds have dirt paths trampled through them as shortcuts.

We are not currently in a hurry and barely know where we're going, so we stick to the official walkways and follow the signs to the Dungeonology building. It is a large, squat red building, rectangular and covered in windows. Walkways lead around the outside to allow views of life-sized monster models in the windows. We head inside.

It's a Wednesday afternoon and classes are out for the day, but there are still a couple of students inside the building taking notes and copying down information. One twelve-year-old boy stands staring at a scale model of a treefolk, taking notes with [Text Editor] but otherwise not moving. I scan everyone's auras these days out of habit, like how a non-psychic might be paying attention to what they're wearing. I do not pay much attention to what people are wearing. Maybe I should. With mental fractals, I don't have much excuse.

The Dungeonology office has a name on a plaque on the door: Grace Dolwen Tempest Tiganna, Professor of Dungeonology. A middle-aged-looking woman sits at a desk, glancing over essays, but she looks up when we enter the room.

"Good day, kids," Grace Dolwen says. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm on a quest to seek out music-themed dungeons in Tempest," Melody says. "I've already done the Wisteria Garden, Hedge Maze, Spooky Grove, Forgotten Tower, and Wonderland. What am I missing?"

"Ah, an Apprentice Bard, are you?" Grace says. "Let me check that for you real quick."

Rather than getting up to look something up in an actual book or map, she stares off at nothing as a system notification pops up.

Grace Dolwen is using Enhanced Mind (Mental Encyclopedia).

Grace says, "The Flower Garden, right here a short walk northeast of this building, has a music-themed puzzle. Turn left outside and follow the signs for the Flower Garden. The Hidden Glade also has one. That's a bit of a longer walk, but you can also get there by following the signs. Don't worry that you can't see it. The signs will lead you straight there. Probably."

"Thank you so much," Melody says.

"Also, you seem to have some information about dungeons that I don't," Grace says. "I didn't know there was a music puzzle in the Spooky Grove. I've got a substantial budget for purchasing new information if there's something you're willing to share."

"Would a detailed write-up on a brand new dungeon branch be worth enough to cover my tuition next year?" I ask.

Grace laughs. "Oh, absolutely. You're a reincarnator, I take it?"

"How can you tell?" I ask.

"I teach ten-year-olds. Most of them can't say 'tuition' and don't think much about money."

"I'll bring you the information in the morning. And I'm definitely going to be in your class." I chuckle.

Grace grins. "I look forward to it. Go on now, kids. You got dungeons to run and I've got essays to grade."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Melody heads off to do the Flower Garden with Rowan, and I make myself scarce to let them have some time alone together. I tell them to meet us at the Dolwen guest house once they're done with their teenage drama, in not those exact words.

We enter the Dolwen guest house for dinner. Gogo and Dandelion are already here, as well as some other familiar faces.

"Hey, it's Meadow!" Anise exclaims, giving a wave. "And her new buddies whose names I don't remember who are no longer being mushrooms!"

"You brought Hemlock Halkyn?" Meadow says with a groan when she meets his eyes and they recognize one another.

"His core bribed me with giving my mom a quest to learn to fly a skyboat properly."

"That's something, I suppose. Hopefully he hasn't been too annoying."

"He's been on his best behavior, at any rate," I say.

"I'm grateful to be alive and deeply sorry for my part in what was done to you all," Hemlock says, bowing his head toward the adventuring party.

"Eh, you weren't the one pulling the strings, kid," says one of them.

With managing Hebron, I've been getting a better feel for how the Game works on the ground. It's all about claiming as many aether cores as you can, and turning them into whatever you need. Resources, training grounds, servants, anything at all. They're willing and able to manipulate reality on a physical level to serve your needs.

But they have to abide by the rules of the Game, which means they need essence, and things like that spawner and the aspected grapes are expensive. Hebron chose those as its basic investments at the start of the round, and they hadn't been enough to turn the tide. The orcs could have subjugated it, but it hid its core well enough that they couldn't find it and they didn't care about the grapes badly enough to try that hard. It took a pair of incredibly thorough kids with literally nothing better to do with their time to feel every inch of the ceiling in an entire labyrinth.

"Fortunately for everyone, Corwens don't believe in pointlessly being jerks to our vassals," Anise says.

"We can't stop an apocalypse alone," I say quietly. "We need allies. We need all of Tempest to be as strong as it can be."

"So how do we do that?" Jade wonders.

"Play the Game," I say with a chuckle. "But we do it our way. We're the ones in control. Not the cores. People."

"Which means we ought to go make our point at whoever is in charge at your old Hearth," Basalt says. "How many higher ranked folks does Farlow have?"

"We—they," Jade quickly corrects herself, "don't have any Legendaries. There's maybe half a dozen Epics that I know of. But nobody in my former Hearth ever made Legendary rank before. And they made sure you knew it." She sighs. "Look. I don't have a lot of fond memories of the place. I've got some uncles I won't cry over. I don't really want my mom to get hurt, even if she was kind of useless."

"What if we sent Milo and Griza?" Basalt asks. "Are there goblins in Rust?"

"Lots, but they're all the bad sort," Jade says. "But I'll bet you that Milo and Griza could probably take over all the goblins in Rust Underside by themselves. It's insane that a goblin made Legendary."

"Where even are they at the moment?" I wonder. "I need to re-invent cell phones sooner rather than later… For all I know, there's a simple recipe on how to make one in this book I haven't had time to look at yet, and my family are just chaotic."

"What happened with you and your mom, anyway, Meadow?" Anise wonders. "I ran across my sister working to bond a new [Guardian Tree] at the Festival Grounds."

Meadow sighs. "She still expected me to become a Druid and stay home and take care of trees. You don't hear her complaining about my sister, do you? No, because Acacia is a perfectly good little Hearthkeeper with absolutely no talent for magic, but she keeps pumping out girls so it doesn't matter."

"You're not still sore about giving birth to a boy, are you?" Anise says. "I had a boy, and that turned out great!"

"You had a reincarnator. Glen seems like a normal baby, unfortunately. Which means it's going to be years before I can go on adventures and hold a coherent conversation with him."

We spend some time catching up and making plans. The skymotes outside are mostly red by the time the door to the guest house opens, and Rowan walks in. Alone, flushed, and his aura burning with embarrassment.

Ah. Teenage drama. Totally my fault for leaving them alone together.

I get up and go off to find Melody.

As I leave the guest house, I sense Anise trailing along behind me. Of course my mom isn't going to let me wander off alone into a strange city at night.

"Man, I hope this isn't what it looks like," Anise comments quietly as she steps in behind me. "Intra-party drama is never good."

Following [Trace Connection] to my party member, I find her off the beaten path, crying and alone.

"Why did you track me down instead of comforting your friend?" Melody asks. "You've known him much longer than me."

"Rowan's at the guest house, safe with the others," I say. "You were out here alone. Are you okay?"

Melody sniffles. "Can't you tell? You're the psychic here, aren't you?"

"Human emotions are complicated," I say.

Melody has to laugh a little at that. "Oh, yes, you got that right. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Will there be any problems with Rowan?" I ask.

"No, no, it's not his fault," Melody says.

"He's young," Anise says.

"I ran three dungeons today and I'm happy to have a good party willing to go out of their way to ferry me around and help me with my quest. I'm not about to ruin that with some dumb drama over a little misunderstanding."

"You sure you're 15?" Anise says.

I would prefer not to have to deal with literally any of this. We get Melody back to the guest house and into bed. Before I tuck myself in, I summon a [Ghostly Watcher], more for practice than because I think any idiots are going to sneak out in the dark hours to do anything stupid.

Of course, both Melody and Rowan sneak out in the dark hours, but fortunately they go no further than the guest house balcony. They run across one another and I don't eavesdrop on them more than to make sure nothing stupid is going to happen. Let them have their private balcony conversation without the ghost of an old man attached to the body of a weird little boy interfering.

That's fine. I let my ghost drift close enough to the edge to see Tiganna and just enjoy the view of the sky while working on my first essay for Dolwen Prep with [Text Editor]. Being able to do homework in my sleep is going to be such a cheat.

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