"What can you tell me about what lies beyond this layer?" I ask. "I have a quest from Tempest to reach its core."

"Tempest has a great deal of faith in you then, it seems," the old orcish [Ethical Witch] says. "Beyond the Brazen Halls you will find the Deep Nests, where dwell the ogres and monsters beyond your level. And beyond those deadly caverns lies the Middle Sea. Legend tells of terrible sea monsters that swim beneath the waves and attack any who trespass into their territory. To reach the core, you would need to dive deep beneath kilometers of water and evade a great many high-level monsters. Not a journey for the faint of heart."

"Hmm, thank you for the information," I say. "In that case, it seems I'm going to need a submersible."

The old orc chuckles. "I have not heard of someone building an 'underwater-going-vessel' before, but if you intend to make the attempt, then I can only wish you luck. The only ones I have heard of going down beneath the waves of the Middle Sea were ones who had Enhanced Breath (Water Breathing), and they did not descend as far as the core."

The young orc [Primordial Child] comes up to us sipping from a copper cup full of grape juice. "Hi! This 'grape juice' stuff is so good!"

"Glad you like it," I say.

"Drake… Drake… your name is Drake. Why are none of you afraid of giving your names to strangers?"

"The people on the surface are usually more hesitant to share their class name than their given name," I say. "The first orc I spoke to that knew Common and had interacted with outsiders more gave me her name freely. Grishka, I believe it was?"

"Ah, yes, her," says the [Ethical Witch]. "The woman over there speaking with your dwarf friends?"

I look over there and try to pinpoint her in the crowd, but I can't see auras very well in a crowd and only briefly saw her face. The Witch waves her over and she approaches close enough to make out her status information.

Name: (?) Brenig Tempest Tiganna Race: Orc | Gender: Female | Rank: Heroic | Tier: Journeyman | Class: Seeking Ranger Disposition: Neutral | Mood: Cheerful

"Ah, look at you!" Grishka says. "The kid I took for a halfling at first turned out to be a reincarnator."

"Most halflings I've met didn't wear shoes," I say. "We were just discussing the topic of calling people by their names versus their classes. In which in my case, if you know my class, you also immediately know that I'm a reincarnator."

"Why did you tell them your name but I can't tell them mine?" the [Primordial Child] wonders.

Grishka says, "I spoke to them in Common and told them my name so that they'd know I was a person and not just a monster to be killed. Goblins and surfacers use names when they want to be seen as individuals rather than just a job."

"You've been to the surface before?" the orc girl asks.

"Yep," Grishka says. "Wasn't easy but I'm always finding paths. The caverns shift and sometimes you wind up in unexpected places. Sometimes lost orcs and goblins show up on the surface. Sometimes lost little human boys land in the caverns." She grins toothily at me. "You seem to have done well for yourself, though."

"Yes," I say. "Thank you for not murdering me when you had the chance."

Grishka throws back her head and cackles. "Ah, what would have been the fun in that? I'd have missed seeing all this madness if I had. And beer! It's been years since I had beer. You think this might become a regular thing?"

"I think they didn't bring enough beer but will definitely be bringing more," I say.

"Times are changing," the [Ethical Witch] says. "Niece, are you interested in learning magic from the surface people?"

"Yes!" the orc girl exclaims. "I saw a bunch of skills I've never seen before today and I want to know how to do them!"

"We will find out the requirements for the 'prep school' that Drake has been telling me about and see if we can send you there, then."

"Really?" She almost spills her grape juice in her excitement.

"And you may tell them your name, if you wish," the [Ethical Witch] says.

"My name is Snix!" the orc girl says. "I don't know why it's such a big secret but it's my name and I like it and it's so weird being called '[Primordial Child] this' and 'Brenig child that.'"

"Nice to properly meet you finally, Snix," I say with a grin.

I wander off from the orcs and find Pinion enjoying some beer, and ask him, "Are you interested in submersibles?"

Pinion shrugs. "They're fascinating, but I'm afraid I don't know anything about building one aside from that water's supposed to stay outside."

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I pull up my [Minion Roster] and start a search for Crafting (Shipbuilding). Hopefully, that includes submarines, because if there's a skill specific to the construction of submersibles, I don't know what it's called.

It sounds like a fascinating project, but it's not one I have time for right now. Submarines are kind of neat, but I want to fly. I'm not sure that I'd even want to dive down into the Middle Sea in the first place if I didn't have a good reason for it. Tempest's quest with the offer of a rare class unlock is tempting, but there's more to it than that.

It's that Tempest has a core like every other dungeon. It's just a dungeon 80 kilometers in diameter. And Tiganna is a dungeon that's 10,000 kilometers in diameter. And the Crystalline Heavens is a dungeon that's 300 million kilometers in diameter. Dungeons all the way down.

Point being that I have to wonder if touching Tempest's core would allow me to make alterations. Like changing the annual monster swarms, for instance. People in Tempest are used to them, sure, and take advantage of them for experience and resources, but they're also a serious danger.

Maybe if I could touch the Great Orb, I might even be able to stop the apocalypses. But if it were that simple, someone would have done so by now, I would think.

The party winds down as the refreshments run out and people go home. I'm just glad for that to be over with and to have gone peacefully.

Come morning, Milo's group is leaving Hebron, and taking Trundle and Copper with him.

"Teaching goblins about metalworking should be a great Deed," Copper says. "Basalt says there's nothing more urgent here that I need to be doing in the meantime."

"Good luck," I say. "I've spent a few seasons in Grubwick myself. The goblins are always fun and eager. Try not to get blown up or glued to anything."

"Noted…"

Basalt has been doing some rearranging of the layout of the hold, and I take a wrong turn on the way back to the workshop. I find myself in a dimly lit mushroom farm with rows upon rows of different types of fungus growing neatly.

"Hello!" says a voice with an oddly fuzzy quality to it, and I read the aura before I actually see the figure in the dark.

Name: (?) Hebron Tempest Tiganna Race: Shroomfolk | Rank: Basic | Tier: Journeyman | Class: Fungal Apothecary Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Cheerful

Oh. The shroomfolk Pinion mentioned. I'd been so focused on crafting and the contest that I completely forgot about her. In the dark, I can only see a pair of round glowing orange eyes and a rough humanoid outline.

"Hello," I say. "I'm Drake. I haven't seen you before. Do you spend all your time in here?"

"You can call me Penny!" the shroomfolk says. "Yeah. The meatbags think I look funny and don't know what to do with me and I'm the only shroomfolk here."

"Well, I can't even tell what you look like since my eyes aren't as good in the dark as yours must be," I say. "But I'm sure they'll love you once they get used to seeing you around. They're good folks."

Penny moves into the light from the corridor so I can get a better look. The crystal lamps light up a blobby grayish-purple humanoid figure a little shorter than me, with an oversized head and arms and legs proportioned more like a doll than a living being. It's like someone tried to make a gnome or dwarf out of mushrooms and wound up with something in between.

"You think I look weird too," Penny says.

"I think you look cool," I say. "Different isn't bad. The world would be boring if everyone looked and thought exactly like me."

[Minion Roster] has brought up several viable candidates for Crafting (Shipbuilding), and I interview them one by one with [Astral Contact] to see who is willing to get reincarnated as a gnome to design a submersible capable of reaching a domain core. That's going to be a long-term project, so I see no need to delay getting it started.

I've crafted another gnome effigy from copper and written up yet another notebook of useful starting skills, so I have them ready to summon him by the time I find a willing and eager soul. I place them on the spawning platform along with a bowl of life-aspected water, a toy boat, and a few spare tools.

Name: Stern Hebron Tempest Tiganna Race: Gnome | Gender: Male | Rank: Basic | Tier: Journeyman | Class: Gnomish Shipbuilder Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Excited

I note that the name seems to be the term for the back of a ship, not an adjective indicating being grim and cheerless. Basalt gets him assigned the quest he already agreed to for building a submarine, and I pass him off to Aunt Rosemary for a tutorial.

Trundle notifies me via astral telepathy when he arrives at Gleam. I'm already feeling exhausted trying to keep track of my gnomes, but I'm going to leave them to their jobs as I have no reason to micromanage them and largely don't care what they do.

September passes in a blur of crafting and skill grinding, and there's a lot of work to be done to make sure Hebron is prepared for swarm season. I'm nervous about leaving them for school, but I trust that they're in good hands.

Not all of the people we spawned this year are as chill about the idea of regular monster apocalypses. Aunt Rosemary has been trying to explain to them that it's perfectly normal, but most of them are still Basic-rank and have cause to be worried since even the weakest monster swarm might tear them apart.

"We'll stay here and watch over the newspawns," Uncle Hawk says, he and his party having shown up at some point. "Best that they spend the season in their own Hearth."

His party members aren't going home to their own Hearths this year. Too far away and way too many interesting things happening here. Apparently the exploration of the Brazen Halls is the hottest news in Tempest this year, and they're eager to see how deep they can go.

I head back to Corwen in the last week of September, leaving the Hebrons in the care of the Epics and the hopes of no monster swarms they aren't capable of dealing with showing up. I've done everything I can.

The Hearth is crowded with all the kids who have been off at school or doing things elsewhere all year, and I can't guarantee that more babies haven't appeared when I wasn't looking.

The Great Orb turns red on October 1st as always, and Aunt Savannah gets up in front of the entire Hearth to make her yearly announcements.

"Monsters rise to the surface of our fair domain once again," Aunt Savannah says. "I hear the fluttering of bat wings, Basic and Elite, so those of you who are still Basic rank must stay indoors unless accompanied by an Elite or higher."

"Aww," Willow and Griffin say in unison.

"I hear hooves hammering against the ground outside, heralding roaming herds of Heroic and Epic monsters. Those of you Elite and higher should be prepared to defend the walls when they approach. I have also picked up the slithering of a Legendary serpent, possibly more than one of them, so no one below Epic rank is to leave the village. That is all."

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