Feeling the disapproving gaze of the cyclops sitting to his right, Miles busied himself with cleaning the crumbs on his summoned table, while Ash stared vacantly down at the sweeping hand, still trying to digest the reveal that Miles’ original Custodial Skill had been the time loop.

  The demon wasn’t taking it too well. Miles would have used his state as a distraction, but there was no dodging the Warden’s patient, but still disappointed tone. “So Caspian’s having trouble because of your… rushed exit. Couldn’t you have just waited a couple of days before making your own exit? You spent years in the loop. How bad would two more days have been?”

  George’s words made a lot of sense, which was why Miles was having trouble finding a satisfying answer to them. His eyes swiveled from left to right as he tried to conjure something, but he frustratingly found nothing and after a couple of heavy, quiet seconds, he threw in the towel.

  “I know, I know,” he said, throwing his hands up. “I just… couldn’t stand seeing the exit and not taking it after so long. And I did offer both of them to leave with me. I could have easily smuggled them across the checkpoint, but neither of them wanted to. And both knew they might have issues when the Inquisitors started asking their questions, especially Caspian. A Torchbearer coming out alone of the 30th floor? Alone? Of course they were going to have questions for him. And you know as much as I do that lying wouldn’t have worked.”

  George harrumphed, his voice rumbling in the dank cave. “Truth skills. Well, that’s fair enough. You offered them an easier option and they rejected it. I can’t blame you for wanting to see the surface after so long,” the cyclops said, eyeing one of Caspian’s last sandwiches. The chef had made it especially for him a while back, when Miles had let the Torchbearer in on some of his secret in one of the old loops.

  Miles wistfully nodded and recalled that period. Back then, he had been working intensively on his offense, having barely just eked out a victory against the second champion, Grahl The All-Seeing. Fighting George’s image for months had really hammered in how behind he was when it came to firepower, so as soon as he had won, he had spent the next year or so scouring the wilderness for powerful foes. Anything he could sharpen his edge against. That was when he had met Caspian, stranded in the middle of a ghost city in what might be the most dangerous territory of the 23rd floor.

  As the sole survivor of a failed delve, the cook had managed to patch up the city’s dormant enchantments and basically spent years in there, farming and foraging, and just… waiting for anyone to come by and hopefully get him out of there. He was friendly. Easy to get along with. And while Miles back then didn’t want to get attached, George had enjoyed cooking and hunting with the chef.

  Back then, Miles couldn’t carry the man through the loops, so he’d occasionally check in on him and of course, once he got his Vault upgrade and got the hang of taking people into his storage, he took the man in. But making friends was complicated in the loop, and so Caspian had spent most of his time in stasis. Both for his own safety and theirs. And while the older versions of the man had learned quite a few of Miles’ secret, the version he carried along with him was kept unaware of all.

  George wiped his mouth and let out a content sigh. “I’m glad you’re helping him out. Do you think he’ll take you up on the offer?”

  Miles scratched his chin for a second, wondering if Lott had progressed on that front, then shrugged. “I hope so. But it’s his call, you know? It’d be safer for him here, and honestly, he’d be perfect for my project. But I can’t force his hand and well, we aren’t that different. We’ve spent years down there wanted to get out. We might have to wait until he gets that out of his system. For now, I just want to get him away from the bounty hunter or from whomever might have questions for him. Make sure he’s safe. We’ll see what comes after then.”

  George nodded and went for another bite. “Good.”

  The conversation lapsed in quiet lull, only perturbed by the sound of wind humming through the tunnels of the Flooded Ruins, until Ashirruk looked up at Miles and broke the silence. “And you said you’d spent close to a century in the loops? How long did that translate too in the regular timeline?”

  A smile tugged on Miles’s and George’s lips at the familiarity of the scene. While neither George or Hazel could recall their past, both had also been flabbergasted at the loop and what it might allow. So the fact that Ashirruk was taking so much time to come to terms with it was somehow funny.

  “A little less than six years,” Miles said after a second, and Ash shook his head disbelieving.

  “Such an ability is simply… obscene. Chronomancy of this level… I didn’t know it was even possible.”

  George made a sound in his throat as he nodded, and Miles had to agree. “It’s not supposed to be possible. A while back, I even tracked down some of the best Seekers in the field to try and make sense of it and understand a little more of what was happening to me. Chronomancy specialists aren’t that common, but they’re around. Some of them could even create those time-chambers where way more time inside would go by compared to the outside? Well, they couldn’t even fathom how you’d go about sending a soul and body back to the past. Not even minutes. Slowing down time in a strictly limited space is possible. Accelerating it through spells like [Haste] is also an option. But complete reversal?”

  Miles shook his head, recalling those loops and the shenanigans he’d been put through. “It broke everything they thought they knew. We did confirm that it was me who was being sent back, and not the whole world being reset, but that’s it, and honestly, I had to stop after a while. The research was taking a lot of time, and it wasn’t getting me anywhere and somehow, the information always ended up leaking. I had to cut so many of the loops short back then. Before someone managed to stuff me in a burlap sack. As for the research into Custodial skills, that hit the wall even faster.”

  The demon frowned at that last part and looked up. “What do you mean?”

  Miles spread out his hands. “Nothing. It didn’t work. When I told the researchers of the rarity, they laughed at me. When they tested me with their appraisal Skills and enchantments, they couldn’t even sense them. Only my other Skills. I gotta say, that had been one of the most embarrassing days in the loops. The worst part is, I can still remember it. And I’m the only one who does,” Miles grumbled, trying to the shove the memory away.

  George, who had been looking behind them, chuckled as he turned forward again. “Do not worry, little Miles. I’ll make sure you don’t forget it,” he teased, and Miles deflated. But then George’s tone changed, and Miles looked up. “Also, there are voices approaching. People. How would you like to proceed?”

  Ash raised his head at that and looked behind him, toward the tunnel George had pointed toward. Miles couldn’t hear them just yet, but he knew better than to doubt the cyclops’ senses.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Miles said with a nod before turning to his two summons. “You guys can go back in the notebook, and I’ll call on you if there’s anything. Otherwise, I’ll see you on the surface once I’m done here. Should only be a couple of days.”

  With that, the two said their goodbyes—well, mostly George. Ash was still mulling over what he had learned, and once the two disappeared in puffs of magic, Miles stretched his hands above his head and yawned.

  “Well, let’s see what these folks are about, then,” he mumbled as he refilled his cup and waited. Three or four minutes later, he heard them. Marching and talking. Immediately, he winced.

  They were green. You aren’t supposed to be chattering this loudly when delving. You never knew what you might alert. But at least they had the wherewithal to quiet down before they exited their tunnel and moments later, he saw a head peek out of one of the other tunnels. A young man with short black hair scanned the cave, until his eyes landed on Miles and his table, where the delver just froze.

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  Miles just smiled and waved.

  Maybe it was because the stranger thought Miles was a monstrous illusion, but the young man didn’t return his wave and instead, he disappeared back into the tunnel where a hushed debate seemed to be taking place before it quieted down and this time, two heads peeked out from behind the stone. A young woman and another young man.

  “I’m not gonna bite,” he called out loudly. “Come on out, already.”

  Miles was still on his break but soon, he was going to cross the lake and keep going and well, he wouldn’t mind giving these kids a hand. And boy did they need it, he realized as they trailed out from their tunnel.

  Miles didn’t wince as he saw their state, but he could already empathize a little.

  Their composition was classic, as far as he could tell. He saw two Vanguards, a Warden, a Seeker, and a Shadow. Behind them, two Torchbearers, he believed, considering the deflated backpacks on their backs. Exhaustion was obvious on all of their faces. Especially on the Seeker and the Shadow. Dark circles were under their eyes, and their sunken faces and skin had that paleness he associated with fatigue and starvation.

  What had happened to them? This was just the second floor.

  “Apologies, stranger. We didn’t mean to disturb your rest,” said the young man with the shield hanging heavily in his arms. The Warden seemed to be their leader and while they had all come out ready for a fight, none had been expecting to find a solo delver, he assumed.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Miles said, waving the man’s worry aside as he eyed the rest of the crew though already, he noted something he didn’t like that much. The Torchbearers were standing a few paces back, alone, and they were talking between themselves. Which told Miles they may be contractors and not actually part of the team. But maybe he was wrong and even if he was right, it was how a lot of delvers did business, so he let it go for now.

  The rest of them were in bad shape. Grime was sticking to them and even though they had kept their distance, he could smell them from here. They were mostly looking at him and at the table that seemed so out of place here, but he noted how they kept glancing behind him toward the lake with dread.

  “What happened to you guys?” Miles asked after a few seconds. “Did you get lost?”

  Instantly, the words rang in their minds, and their faces morphed with frustration, anger, exhaustion, which almost made him chuckle as he’d been there himself. But he refrained and shook his head, already knowing the response, even before the Warden gave him a clipped nod.

  “Alright, sit down. Take a breather. You guys hungry?” he asked, and seeing their faces light up, he dug into his side pouch and began pulling from his stockpile of rations. “So. What happened?”

  ***

  Astrid’s POV

  Astrid could barely hear the recounting of their nightmare of a delve over the sound of herself inhaling the jerky between bites of surprisingly fresh bread and cheese. More than once her companions had to be rescued with a tap on their back or with a flask of water lest they’d choke, but none of them could hold themselves. Only Silas managed to keep his cool, and she suspected that was because he didn’t want to offend the stranger.

  That thought sobered up a little, and she slowed down as she stole a glance toward the man still sitting at his table, as if he had just been done having a picnic. He was listening to Silas tell him how they’d gotten caught in a sandstorm on the first floor for nearly three days and since then, every step of their Delve had come with some inane bullshit that kept setting them back. As if they’d offended the Dungeon before even stepping within it. From the sandstorm to the hordes of salamanders to the half-collapsed cave they’d arrived in on this floor, it was a setback after setback. No wonder they ran out of provisions. Even their hired Torchbearers had taken pity on them and shared their personal stash.

  Or maybe that’s self-preservation, she thought as she glanced to the side and saw the couple inhaling their own food just as fast as she was. The Torchbearers had better odds of survival if they all did.

  Astrid grimaced. That was how her dad thought. And the two Torchbearers—Roland and Lyra—had been nothing but friendly and comforting. This was her team’s first delve, but not the first one for the Torchbearers, and the latter kept encouraging them and telling them that not all delves would be like this. It wasn’t unheard of to have an unlucky delve, but better to get those out of the way early and up high in the Dungeon. Better to be unlucky in the first and second floors than the 9th or 10th.

  Astrid shook her head. They were months—if not years away—from being ready for The Dying Dream.

  When Silas finished off his retelling, the stranger leaned back, his steaming cup still in his hand. It really was like he was just on a picnic. That should be ringing some alarms in Astrid’s mind, but she was too busy stuffing her face with bread and cheese.

  “Jeez,” the man grimaced. “That’s unlucky. But why didn’t you guys hunt anything? There’s plenty of edible stuff up here?”

  The question made them all slow their chewing as they uncomfortably shared glances.

  “We tried,” said Theron. “The lampreys seemed edible, at least. But we couldn’t catch’em.”

  Astrid blinked at how…polite Theron’s response was. Where was the man’s usual snark? She could barely remember asking him anything without having her head bitten off.

  “Well, the bats are edible too. But yeah, they’re kinda gross,” he added, seeing their faces. “But you could have used the bats to lure up the lampreys. Just tie a good rope around the bat and pull it when it starts sinking.”

  The man’s eyes scanned them and honestly, even Astrid couldn’t hide the revulsion on her face. Eating those worm-like things? The thought nearly made her jerky and cheese claw up her throat.

  “You don’t have a choice,” the stranger said, eyes on her. Astrid felt her cheeks blister. Did he hear her somehow? Did she speak her thought out loud? No, she was chewing. It must have showed on her face.

  She averted her gaze, but the man continued speaking.

  “I hope this was a lesson for you all. And while it’s not emphasized enough on the prep-guide, you gotta take it seriously. Before you put a foot in any floor, learn what’s edible and what isn’t. How to catch it. Starvation is deadly down here. If not directly, then it’ll slow you down when you need to have your wits about you. Imagine stumbling on a mini-boss with hunger clawing at your guts? You might not be after the portal it’s hoarding, but do you think it’ll care to listen to your explanations? It won’t. So have plenty of rations, but they should be your last resort. Got it?”

  The team nodded at that, and Astrid looked back down at the plate of jerky and cheese. They really did have a lot to learn, still, and now that her stomach was full, she glanced past them toward the lake and suppressed a shiver before turning her attention back to the bread in her hand, then back to the stranger.

  Who was he? And how did he have fresh bread lying about on the second floor?

  It must be a storage item. Or a storage Skill. And he’s alone… so he’s high-tier. Tier-10, maybe?

  She eyed him a little, then something in the back of her mind whispered that no. He was way too relaxed to just be tier-10. She herself was tier-3, and while the jump between her to tier-10 was huge, this felt wider. Wide enough that she couldn’t even put a finger on it. Because even from tier-10s, she usually sensed something. A little mana here or there. Especially when they used a Skill or an item. But she was sensing nothing right now aside from what her eyes were seeing and her ears hearing.

  That unsettled her, so the clap that came next nearly made her heart burst out of her chest.

  “So? You guys ready to get across the lake? We can continue our chat on the way. Then I’ll probably go ahead once we’re past it. I wouldn’t want to slow you guys down,” he said with a wink.

  Astrid opened and closed her mouth like a fish, especially at that first part, but the last bit nearly made her choke from laughter.

  There was no doubt here about who would be slowing who. But hey, this was an opportunity to learn something new. Wasn’t that what the Dungeon was all about?