“Calm down, Jessica.” Barwin put his hands up in a placating gesture. “This could be just a mistake. Or a trick from the dungeon core. We don’t know. Let’s just go back to town and let the-”

  “Oh, cut the stones! What this human is trying to tell you is that the dungeon core knows you are here to destroy the dungeon. We know you are here to destroy this dungeon. The Adventurer Guild knows you are here to destroy this dungeon. I don’t know how much that young Baggio is paying you to do this, but gold is no good to dead adventurers. Even if you kill all of us, the Guild will get you. So, if you destroy the dungeon, you will be dead before the first winter snows hit the ground. Get out of the dungeon now, and the Guild can’t kill you for something you haven’t done. Otherwise, you are a dead woman!”

  Nog loudly cut to the root of the situation, and it caused the members of the Baggio party to look at each other. Pos could see them silently making their decision. The moment stretched, no one spoke, no one moved, and just as Pos had his hopes up, he saw the human archer lifting her bow up slightly.

  He was not the only one who saw the action.

  Everyone here was an adventurer. They were all delvers. They were all alert to the most minuscule of movement and danger. Several hands reached for their weapons, and…

  “Enough!”

  One word, simple and softly spoken, stop everyone. All eyes turned to the young Baggio. Despite being in a dungeon, surrounded by Classed higher levelled than he was, the young Baggio looked regal and unruffled.

  “There has obviously been a misunderstanding here. Leader Jessica, let’s stop our delve for today. We should go back and explain to the Adventurer Guild that this dungeon is…trickier than any that had come before it.”

  Pos could tell that Jessica was surprised, but the human did not argue. Instead, she gave the young Baggio a stiff nod, and Pos relaxed. The danger was over, and common sense had prevailed.

  Without another word, the young Baggio gave a courtly bow to Pos’ group, activated his Recall Stone and disappeared from the dungeon. His party soon followed, but Pos did not miss that the leader gave him a dirty look before disappearing. The young Baggio must have promised her a lot of gold.

  “Okay, let’s get out of here.” Barwin said.

  “Wait!” Someone shouted. “What about the rewards? We were promised gold and treasure. Where are they?”

  It was a good question, and everyone turned to one dwarf who could answer it. Pos scratched his chin in bemusement as he read aloud the message he received from the dungeon.

  “Dungeon Quest: [Save the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques]

  Quest: Success!

  You have saved the dungeon. You have succeeded in chasing off the adventurers. You did not kill them. Partial reward given.”

  “Part…partial reward? We saved the core! What does it mean we only get partial reward? That’s unfair! We should go down to-”

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  Several adventurers tackled Nog to the ground before she could say something regretful. Umdar even put a gloved hand to her mouth to stop her from talking. Pos almost laughed in relief.

  “Well, the quest did say something about killing them. We didn’t, so partial reward is fair. And, we didn’t do anything except run after them. I wish all my quests were this simple.”

  Barwin laughed as he addressed the group. Pos could tell that the older adventurer was trying to cool rising tempers, but his words resonated and several adventurers laughed at their success.

  Jes, quill in hand, approached Pos. “Pos, when did you receive that message?”

  “Who cares? Did the message say how we are getting the rewards?” Someone shouted.

  Pos had no idea and was about to say so when a section of the maze moved. Adventurers quickly backed off from the area, hands on their weapons. Hands that were loosened when they saw branches pushing out a treasure chest from the hedges.

  Cheers rang out and more than a few adventurers moved towards the treasure chest. Pos was among them, when several adventurers shouted.

  “Danger!”

  The cheers died immediately. Pos backed off. His [Dangersense] did not activate, but he was a [Warrior] and there were other adventurers in the group with better [Dangersense] than his.

  “Check the chest.”

  An adventurer dressed like a typical rogue move towards the chest at Barwin’s command along with two other adventurers. The rest of the group backed off. Pos mentally cursed the dungeon core for putting a trap on the chest. This was supposed to be a reward!

  The three rogues looked over the chest and exchanged a few words between themselves. Then, one of them activated a skill. The other two opened the chest before quickly backing off.

  Five seconds later, green smoke shot out of the chest, but there was no one near for the smoke to poison. Barwin raised his hand to stop an anxious adventurer from approaching the chest, before indicating to the rogues to check the chest again. The three rogues did just that.

  They approached the chest and when they gave the all-clear, cheers rung out again and the group ran towards the chest. The time, Barwin did not stop them.

  Gold.

  The chest was filled with gold, and Barwin along with a few of the older adventurers tried to keep order, stopping adventurers from taking the gold before a count could be made. Pos left them to it.

  He only had eyes on one thing in the chest.

  Pos reached in and took out the scroll. Jes and a few of the more scholarly adventurers were right beside him when he opened the scroll.

  Like the first scroll, it was a painting. A beautiful painting showing a strong powerful white tiger, but instead of hunting in the woods, it was now resting on its side by a river. Once again, there were strange markings on the top right of the painting.

  Then, the words on the scroll moved.

  They changed and Pos stood transfixed as the markings settled anew. Suddenly, Pos realized that he could understand them. The markings weren’t just symbols; they were words!

  Words in a language Pos had never seen before, and was almost certain wasn’t from any lands in this world but he found that he knew them. Without prompting, the dwarf read out the words.

  “[White Tiger Movement].

  Second Movement: Tiger Rest- Once every six hours, you may activate Tiger rest, recovering from any serious wounds you have.

  Requirements: Survival of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques; [White Tiger Movement]- First Movement; Level 15 in any Class

  Please note you do not meet the level requirements of this dungeon technique.”

  Jes looked over to Pos in shock. “Pos?”

  “It’s a language, Jes. The markings are words. Words of a brand new language.” Pos answered excitedly. Even to a non-scholar like Pos, he knew what this meant.

  “Are you sure? It looked a little like the pictorial language of the dwarves, but I’ve never seen a language like this before.” One of the adventurers said.

  Pos nodded. “Yes, I am but this is not the dwarven script. You know what this means?” When the other adventurer shook his head, Pos told him. “The dungeon cores have a language! This pictorial language belongs to the dungeon cores. They have a language of their own, and we’ve just discovered it.”

  Loud gasps could be heard as everyone realized what this meant.

  “We are going to be famous.” Jes whispered.