Although the spirits had been kind enough to heal their bodies, tiredness still plagued their minds. Chandrika sat in the shallow water, uncaring, as she peeled off the bandages on her feet to reveal smooth skin. The young sage sighed deeply, cradling her head in her arms as she rested them on her knees.

  “I am ready for bed.” Chandrika groaned.

  Jean emerged from a deep pool of water, brandishing a prize for a gleeful Hatra. The starry-eyed Thaumaturge gratefully accepted both halves of the broken trident, already pouring over it with her inspection skills.

  “You guys will really let me have this?!” Hatra asked, for the hundredth time.

  “Yep. It does no good to anyone broken, and if you think that you can fix it, then you should be the one to take it. The gem alone should probably be worth studying.” Sapphire answered.

  “Oh, don’t plan on seeing me for the next couple of months. I’m going to be studying day and night to see what I can do with this baby.” Hatra cooed.

  “Well, don’t start now. We’ve still got the rest of the spiritspring to look through.” Gio said.

  Chandrika pushed herself up, twisting the fabric of her pants to squeeze out some water. She glanced sidelong at Gio.

  “So… that lightshow… would that have anything to do with that secret you were talking about earlier?” She asked.

  Like a called shot by a sniper, Chandrika seemingly pierced through the entirety of Gio’s defenses. His shoulders hiked up, and he paused, not knowing what to say. Chandrika seemed to notice his posture instantly.

  “It’s alright. We’re all unharmed, in any case,” she backtracked.

  “No… I owe all of you an explanation… but if possible, could I take some time to gather my thoughts? We’ve all been through enough tonight, and we’re not exactly done, either.” Gio pleaded.

  Hatra clapped her cousin on the shoulder, beaming from ear to ear with her prize in tow. “That works for me! I’m very curious as to how you pulled that off, and I’m still fairly uncertain as to how scared I should be for your well-being, sanity, and general safety…. But I’ve got a new toy to play with, so I can wait.”

  “Yeah! I completely agree. I don’t know how in the seven million hells that you used NUCLEAR magic, but so long as you can teach me later, I’m fine with it.” Sapphire agreed.

  “Ahaha… well, I’m not sure I can teach it… yet. I’ll try. So, we’re all cool?” Gio cautiously asked.

  Jean scrunched his face slightly. “I mean, I’m not thrilled at what happened… but I’m also happy that you’re alive.“

  “Yeah, me too.” Gio conceded.

  The wall of waterfalls that had previously isolated the pagoda from the Guardian’s arena was gone, leaving only a shimmering barrier of water interlaced with glowing designs that Gio could find no meaning in.

  “Do those symbols mean anything to any of you?” Gio asked.

  “Not particularly. It could be a dead language, or maybe just decorative lines? Dungeons can be really unpredictable when it comes to architecture. Some people claim that certain dungeons are the remnants of past civilizations.” Sapphire answered.

  “That’s not just an idle claim. We have several such dungeons in my country, though they range in archaeological value greatly.” Chandrika replied.

  Gio wondered for the second time today if he should look into taking language classes. He briefly noted some of the sprawling inscriptions in his notebook, trying to replicate them to the best of his ability, and with ample help from Scrivener's Charm.

  When he was done, Gio reached forward, trepidatiously pushing a hand into the barrier and hoping for the best. It didn’t seem like a protective field, and hadn’t reacted violently when probed with a mirror shard, so they had decided to risk it. At the first touch of Gio’s skin, the barrier popped like a bubble, releasing a cloud of mist with a gentle exhale.

  The interior of the spring was breathtaking. Columns of still water stood from the vaulted ceilings to the floor, with tiny silver fish swimming sedately through them. A dome of rippling water hung from the ceiling, shining onto the room below, and projecting light as if one were looking up at the surface from below the waves. The metal floors were covered in more of the script from the barrier, and smooth lines seemed to guide the eye to a recess in the middle of the space, where a raised basin of water overflowed.

  And the mana…

  Small blue lights danced around the space, infantile spirits of water that created the richest ambient field of mana that Gio had ever experienced. He drank deeply of it, noting how it clung to his skin like cool dew to a flower’s petals.

  “Look! Stuff!” Sapphire yelled.

  The excitable second year rushed over to the side, where she found a few ancient-looking containers.

  “WAIT! Wait, wait waiiiiit!” Gio yelled.

  Sapphire screeched to a halt, turning around to look at him suspiciously.

  “There’s supposed to be a cursed treasure here, remember?” Gio said. “My grandfather specifically called it a national security threat! Don’t just go touching stuff at rando-”

  “Oh, she doesn’t need to worry. The cursed treasure is for sure in the basin.” Jean said, surprising everyone.

  Gio whipped around, looking at the overflowing chalice-shaped bowl in the middle of the room, and then back at Jean.

  “What?” Gio guffawed.

  “Yeah, there's something shiny in it. You said ‘Center of the dungeon’, right? Well, that basin would be in the center of this circular room, which is in the center of a circular building, in the center of a circular maze…” Jean said.

  “Okay, in that case, you guys go take the horribly cursed artifact, and I’m gonna be over here, with all of the regular loot!” Sapphire smirked.

  Jean, Hatra, and Chandrika accompanied Gio to the basin. Looking into the still surface of the water, Gio examined the necklace at the heart of the dungeon.

  Two snarling vipers interwove around one another to form a circlet, fighting for control over a shining pearl for a clasp. The scales of the serpents were carved in brilliant ivory, and their ruby eyes glinted, almost as if looking back at him.

  “Should we even touch it?” Gio nervously asked. “It’s cursed, right?”

  Chandrika hesitated for a moment. “Honestly, I am not getting much from my sage skill right now… I haven’t been, since you… transformed. If I had to guess, I would think that whatever curse it bears would be something that only happens if you were to wear the artifact and use its powers.”

  “Yeah, but what about the thief’s bane curse on all the metal in the dungeon? That doesn’t need you to wear it to hurt you.” Gio argued.

  “It’s a good point. I guess... I don’t know.” Chandrika defeatedly answered.

  Gio pulled out his spellbook, summoning a hooked rod with his mirror summoning spell. He gently fished the priceless artifact out of the water, being careful not to touch it. As it left the water, the ivory scales of the serpent turned to gold, and the pearl began to glow with an inner light.

  “Hatra, if you would be so kind?” Gio nervously prodded.

  “On it.” His cousin dutifully replied. Used her skill on the necklace, gasping at what she saw as she shared the notification.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  [The Necklace of Harmonia](Artifact: Divine Relic Grade)(CURSED) - “Forge God’s touch, this necklace made. An era of sorrow and treachery paid. Endless life and beauty found, now laid to rest in holy ground.”

  A golden necklace forged by a god of craftsmanship. As a relic with a storied past, dynasties have toppled, and wars have been waged over the possession of this necklace. Its powers are both wondrous boon and horrid bane.

  ETERNAL YOUTH: The wearer of this necklace will not perish of natural causes, illness, malnutrition, or other causes of bodily harm. The bearer shall always look and feel as they were at the height of their body’s youth and potency. Magic that draws upon the youth, vitality, blood, or life force of the bearer shall find an endless reservoir of such resources to use, usually to enhanced effect.

  LONELY GOD’S CURSE: This necklace shall continuously draw upon the very fortune and life force of the loved ones of its wearer. Over time, all who consider themselves friends or family of the bearer of this necklace shall fall victim to horrific tragedy. This curse may not be avoided by any means, up to and including the intervention of gods any less powerful than the creator of this necklace. Those who share the closest bonds to the wearer of the necklace shall usually suffer the worst fates, unless they turn against the wearer in stark betrayal.

  The group stood in shocked silence as they each absorbed the description of the item.

  Jean looked at Gio with a mix of shock and pity. “That’s… horrid. Your grandfather…”

  “-Was planning on sacrificing my father and himself to make his wife live forever.” Gio harshly finished.

  “What a terrifying artifact,” Chandrika muttered.

  “It’s… bad, but would this really be considered a national security risk?” Hatra asked.

  “Hatra… Imagine what would happen to my country if I were to put on that necklace.” Chandrika shivered.

  Gio and Hatra shared a look.

  “Oh,” Hatra said.

  “There’s no shortage of suspicious nobility with ties to royalty across the world. Political marriages, and all that.” Jean agreed.

  “So the question becomes- what do we do with it? A relic this powerful…I don’t think it should be in our hands.” Chandrika said.

  Gio’s head was spinning with the implications. Firstly, the revelation that his grandfather had come close to murdering his father by proxy, but ultimately couldn’t bring himself to do it. Then, the realization that removing the necklace might jeopardize the Telchines that were living in the dungeon.

  Amidst Gio’s fugue state, he noticed something odd.

  “Is that… a piece of red string tied to the clasp? Why is it moving like that?” Gio asked.

  Jean squinted, bringing himself uncomfortably close to the relic.

  “I don’t see anything,” Jean said.

  Gio watched the wispy thread sway as if caught in a phantom breeze.

  “No, it’s definitely there. You can’t see it? It’s very thin, but super long. Actually, is it getting longer?” Gio asked.

  The thread lazily drifted in his direction.

  Gio bent backwards, trying to avoid the gossamer thread. “See? It’s like right in front of me!”

  Chandrika waved her hand in front of Gio’s face. Her hand passed straight through the thread.

  “Gio… there’s nothing there. I would especially be able to sense if there was some sort of relic-grade thread here,” she said.

  Maybe chaos did more of a number on me than I had previously thought? Am I crazy?

  The thread pulled toward him suddenly, as if caught in a phantom wind. Gio felt the thread cling to his face.

  “Ahh! Get it off!” Gio yelled.

  Jean chuckled at him, and Gio swatted at the thread with his free hand. It stuck to his clothes like a spiderweb. Gio dropped the necklace back in the basin, startling everyone present.

  “Gio… there’s nothing on you.” Hatra said. She wore a concerned expression, but she was still sort of half-smirking while watching her cousin flail around.

  Gio tugged at the thread, trying to break it. The thread simply expanded, multiplying in length at his touch. Soon, ribbons of the red strand were wafting off his arms.

  “Guys… this isn’t funny!” Gio said. Every time he moved, the thread seemed to grow in size.

  Chandrika wore a grave expression. “You’re… serious. There’s something here that only you can see.”

  “I’m not making this up!” Gio cried.

  Chandrika produced a thin shroud of gossamer fabric. She draped the cloth over Gio.

  “What happens when it touches this?” Chandrika asked.

  “The thread just goes straight through it.” Gio answered.

  Indeed, Gio watched as the red threads phased through the cloth, still waving in an ephemeral breeze.

  “Odd… that’s mageweave, and it’s woven with thread magic. If the strand is magical in nature, it should have probably done something.” She muttered.

  Chandrika produced her spellbook. She grasped the air between two fingers, pulling them taut to create a single glowing strand of gold. Instantly, a bunch of threads gathered around her magic.

  “Oh! That did something! The threads are gathering around yours!” Gio said.

  Chandrika raised her eyebrows in shock. “That… that shouldn’t be. Did you say that the threads were red? Not gold?”

  “Crimson red. Hey… the threads are sticking to you now.” Gio said, looking around. “And you, Jean. Wait… there’s threads…”

  Gio saw thousands of crimson threads. They draped over everyone and everything, connecting everywhere.

  “Gio… what happens when I do this?” Chandrika asked.

  She wove the golden thread into a circlet, placing it atop her head. Instantly, many of the threads turned golden, as if she had spilled paint on them.

  “You just turned a lot of them gold!” Gio exclaimed.

  “That’s impossible. There’s simply no way. Did you do something to my reflection?” Chandrika demanded.

  Gio reeled back at the accusation. “I’m sorry?”

  “I’m not mad, I just need to know. Did you somehow copy the sage skill?” Chandrika pleaded.

  Gio stood in wide-eyed shock. “N-not to my knowledge! What’s going on? Why would you assume that I copied your skill?!”

  Chandrika paced back and forth. She bit her lip.

  “ Gio… I think that you’re seeing the threads that my grandmother uses for her divinations.” Chandrika explained.

  Gio stared at the threads in awe. He reached out to gently hold one of the strands that connected him to the necklace. At his touch, the strand separated outward into several more threads.

  “But.. I’m not a sage… or a weaver, for that matter.” Gio quietly murmured.

  He recalled something, like a half-remembered dream. He idly thumbed the cover of his spellbook.

  A strand…

  Gio traced a thread that ran down his arm to the cover of his spellbook. The thread sank past the worn leather, in between the bindings. Gio quickly grabbed a knife out of his pocket, gently extricating… a piece of mirror.

  The thread pulled taut. A thin line of blood red string tied from one end of the shard in Gio’s hand to the necklace.

  “What is that?” Hatra mouthed to Jean quietly. Jean shook his head.

  “I don’t like this,” Gio said.

  “Me either. I can’t see what you’re seeing. I feel blind, and I don’t know why.” Chandrika said.

  “I… can’t think about this right now. I was thinking that we should maybe leave the necklace here anyway.” Gio said.

  “You want to just leave it here?” Hatra guffawed.

  “If we take the necklace, the dungeon will probably start to destabilize. I don’t know what happens to dungeon creatures when a dungeon vanishes… but I don’t like the idea that we might be responsible for the death of a bunch of innocent sapient creatures.” Gio said.

  “That’s true… and I agree. I’m just worried about what happens if we leave this here, unguarded.” Jean said.

  “Another guardian will pop up eventually,” Sapphire said, rejoining the group with hands full of scrolls and potion bottles.

  “Another guardian?!” Hatra shouted.

  “Well, probably not like whatever nonsense we just fought. But, this is a place of power… and there’s a relic here that is practically begging to be guarded. So… the spirits will probably encourage something to take the position. Here, let’s put the cursed necklace and guardian talk to the side for a second to go through our treeeasurees!” She crowed.

  Already, Sapphire was handing out objects to the group. She handed Gio a scroll case, which he mindlessly accepted, lost in thought.

  “That was the only spellform I found in this cache. I hope it’s a good one! Chandrika gets a weird fishy-smelling shirt, Jean gets a fun-looking shell, Hatra gets a cup, and me- I get aaaaalll these potions.” Sapphire said, grinning from ear to ear.

  Gio unfurled the scroll. The first thing he noted was the ink. A bright metallic teal ran across the gently furled scroll, which spiraled out into curves and flourishes.

  Hatra made her rounds, inspecting everything that Sapphire had handed out.

  [Conjure Rain] (Tier: Mid Rare)(Schools: Elemental (Water), Conjuration) - A spell to conjure rain. Spell cost will scale dramatically with the affected area. This spellform uses dated scribing techniques and materials, making it potentially quite a collector’s item.

  The description broke Gio out of his reverie. He was already salivating over the new spell, drinking deep of all the unknown patterns in the designs of the paper.

  Sapphire’s random distribution methods turned out to be more than satisfactory, because everyone enjoyed what they got. Jean’s shell apparently could be used to project one’s voice long distances, provided that those distances were based around a body of water. He was already trying it out, to the chagrin of the rest of the group, and his singing voice was terrible. Chandrika’s shirt was made of a rare type of silk that would let the wearer swim fast, but she was mostly interested in the pattern of the knit, for some reason. Hatra’s cup condensed pure water from the air, slowly filling with drinkable water. All-in-all, it was a modestly exciting haul of dungeon junk… but they still had the rest of the pagoda to explore. This was only the ground floor, after all.