“I can only create one dungeon seed per week,” Morton told Jenna for the third time. “I didn’t design the power—it came with the cooldown.”They were having tea at Morton’s and Mel’s house in Babylon. Jenna had invited Wu Na to join them, explaining that she needed their help.Each Loser was acting independently once more: Billy was exploring the Progression Dungeons and preparing their attack, while Bob was coordinating all the alchemical efforts from Belona. He had helped teleport Jenna back to Babylon, since she needed him to travel between the planes. Once in Belona, Dignity could fulfil that role.

  “I know about the cooldown. The fact is that we need nineteen symbiotic dungeon seeds if we want to destroy all the Progression Dungeons simultaneously without overwhelming Belona with Essence. It wouldn’t do to save them from the Imperials, only to have new wild dungeons emerge later. We’re going to need eighteen more symbiotic seeds in addition to the one you just gave me.”

  “Are you really sure you know what you’re doing, Jenna?” Mel asked. “The dungeons you’re planning to use the seeds on have already been transformed once. It would be like making a copy of a copy—mistakes could add.”

  “I’m aware of the risks. There’s simply no alternative solution. We have to do this, whether we like it or not,” Jenna replied firmly.

  “My question remains: how do you plan to get eighteen more like this?” Morton asked, fiddling with the seed he had just created. It was the size of an ostrich egg, deep and vibrant green.

  “With this,” Jenna said, brandishing a glass jar filled with small black pills. “Bob and Billy spent part of their time in the secret mountain, concocting these. They are medicinal pills of the third rank.”

  “What do they do?” Morton asked, examining the contents of the jar warily.

  “When swallowed, they remove the cooldown of the next power used within ten seconds,” Jenna explained.

  Melanie whistled in awe. “Jenna, that is an incredibly powerful ability. How is it possible to create something like that with ingredients of the third rank?”

  “By adding a lot of restrictions, obviously,” Jenna replied. “They will not work on powers of the fourth rank or higher. Your seed power is only rank three.”

  “You used the plural,” Mel reminded her.

  “Well, um, there are a couple more—they don’t completely remove the cooldown; they just delay it.

  “When we’re finished,” Jenna added, “you won’t be able to create seeds for the next eighteen weeks.”

  “I can live with that,” Morton said, though he felt something was off. “There’s more you’re not telling me,” he accused Jenna.

  “Bob had to add more restrictions to keep it at the third rank. Each time you take one of the pills, there is a 3% chance you will feel nauseous and throw up. If that happens, it stops the process entirely, and we will be stuck with whatever number of seeds you’ve managed to create,” Jenna explained.

  “Hmm. There’s a fair chance we won’t get all eighteen,” Morton said, doing the math in his head. “Three percent isn’t a high failure rate, but we need to get it right eighteen times.”

  “A cumulative 3% chance,” Jenna corrected him. “It stacks.”

  “You mean 3% on the first pill, 6% on the second, 9% on the third, and so on?” Mel asked incredulously.

  “I’m afraid that’s correct,” Jenna said, nervously fidgeting with the hem of her cloak.

  “Jenna, I’m no math wizard, but even I can see it’s impossible. We’d be lucky to get five or six seeds,” Morton said, looking at the pill with distaste.

  “I thought of a cheat,” Jenna whispered softly.

  “I knew it! You always think of new exploits. That’s why I love working with the Losers,” Wu Na exclaimed, clapping her hands happily.

  “I’m glad to hear that, Wu Na,” Jenna replied, “because the cheat involves using your luck powers.”

  “Meaning?” asked Wu Na, suddenly feeling much less enthusiastic.

  “We figured out a way to ensure your powers can help guarantee that Morton doesn’t throw up,” Jenna said, noting that she had shifted to plural, as if not wanting to claim the idea entirely as her own.

  “That’s not going to work, Jenna. My powers protect me from chance events, including my own magic. They won’t help Morton,” Wu Na answered warily.

  She had a distinct impression that she would not like the proposed method.

  “We thought that if Morton were standing just over you while he took the pills, your luck powers would reduce the chance of him throwing up,” Jenna explained in a very soft voice.

  “WHAT?” Wu Na exclaimed, unable to believe what she had just heard.

  A heated debate ensued for the next hour, with lofty terms like sacrifice, heroism, and responsibility being thrown around to mask the fact that they were asking Wu Na to participate in what felt like the grossest fraternity party in history.

  “Wu Na, if you don't do this, you are condemning two worlds to extinction. Besides, I have seen your powers at work. If you manage to keep your emotions under control, there is a very high chance that Morton won’t throw up on you,” Jenna explained.

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  “You're doing a wonderful job of helping me keep my emotions in check, Jenna,” Wu Na said sarcastically. “You’re getting back at me for that time I tried to smash you against a building, aren’t you?”

  “I would never do that, Wu Na,” Jenna replied sincerely.“If I wanted to get back at you, I’d kill you,” Jenna said calmly. “I would never ask you to do this.”

  That mollified Wu Na, who spent the next twenty minutes doing breathing exercises, trying to be one with the All, or at least not be one with Morton's stomach content.

  “Ok, this is as calm as I am going to get, let's do this,” she finally accepted.

  “How I miss working at the grocery,” she said as she sat on a stool, while Morton, who was quite taller, hovered menacingly over her.

  “Alright, let’s start,” Jenna instructed. She began to pop pills into Morton’s mouth, while he conjured dungeon seeds in his right hand, which Mel gently took and placed on the floor.

  Jenna was so close to Wu Na that she could almost feel the imaginary gun spinning its cylinder inside Wu Na’s head, clicking each time Morton successfully swallowed another pill.

  In less than thirty seconds, Morton had conjured eleven symbiotic seeds. Still, his face was turning a greenish hue, and the cylinder in Wu Na’s head spun rapidly, nearly screaming as its ability to control luck was pushed to the limit.

  For a moment, Jenna felt unsure that they would make it.

  ..five left, click

  ..four left, click

  …Morton started to sway dangerously on his feet.

  ..three left, click

  ..beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

  ..two left, click

  ...his body spasmed for a second, but he miraculously regained control.

  ..one left, click

  ...he trembled but held his ground.

  “And that is it!” Jenna announced triumphantly. “We have the nineteen seeds. You can relax now.”

  “Thank God,” Wu Na exhaled. “I feel so relieved.”

  BANG

  Jenna spent the next thirty minutes helping Wu Na clean her hair and her dress, while apologizing profusely.

  “Just think about what you have achieved today, Wu Na,” she told her. “Future generations will remember you for this.”

  “Well, I hope they do not remember by building a statue of Morton throwing up on me,” she said sarcastically.

  “They will soon forget that little detail,” Jenna assured her.

  “Are you kidding me?” Wu Na asked. “That is the only detail they will remember.”

  Thirty minutes and forty-three more apologies later, Jenna stood with Dignity at her office. She carried a bag containing all nineteen dungeon seeds.

  “I am curious about the process. Are the Beli getting nineteen copies of the Brotonville Train Station?” Dignity asked.

  “Not at all. The seeds just ensure the released Essence is stored in the new dungeon. They guarantee it will have both the Symbiotic and Reproductive tags,” Jenna explained.

  “For all we know, it could have additional tags. Dungeons tend to absorb the characteristics of their environment, and Discovery tamed these ones generations ago,” she went on.

  “We hope they have absorbed some characteristics of the Beli culture. Then, again, Mel was right. They have also been transformed into Progression Dungeons. This is like doing reverse-engineering to put back something the way it was meant to be.”

  “Let’s recapitulate: You are going to destroy nineteen dungeons, a task that involves infiltrating them, avoiding three enemy armies, which are also heavily entrenched inside those very same dungeons, killing the nineteen seventh rank Cores that act as their foundation, and you plan to do it simultaneously and in such a way that it does not spill a single drop of Essence into Belona,” resumed Dignity.

  “Have I got it right?” she asked Jenna, who assented.

  “Care to explain how you intend to do it?” said Dignity.

  “Why, of course. We are going to cheat. Cheating never fails,” Jenna answered with a smile.

  “Tell that to Wu Na,” answered Dignity.

  Finally, Jenna decided it was time to return to Belona and asked Dignity for help. She used Connection to share the beacon’s coordinates in Discovery’s apartment.

  Then Dignity used her enhanced Blood Link to borrow a power from an Avatar who had a class called Mirrormancer.

  “And there you go,” Dignity said, pointing at a nearby mirror that had transformed into a portal into Belona.

  Jenna did not want to leave without giving her a big hug, and Dignity returned it.

  “You are always in our minds, Joanna,” she said, referring to her by her true name.

  “I know, dear: I am always in your minds. Literally,” she answered.

  Then Jenna went through the mirror in Dignity’s office and went out of the one in Discovery’s apartment in Belona, only to be greeted by a scene that chilled her blood.

  The Losers, Pob, and Eleon were seated at the table, clearly waiting for her to return.

  There were two extra guests: Eleazar and Gala, the rest of the Imperial Family. A small, humanoid beetle stood seated next to Eleazar, playing with a metal sphere.

  “You piece of shit!” She turned on Eleon. “I knew you would betray us!”

  “Jenna, please sit down and hear what they have to say,” Billy begged.

  “Are you ok, Billy? Are they mind-controlling you?” she said, worry suddenly appearing in her voice.

  It was Pob who broke the spell. “Jenna, I am sitting at the table, too. I am sitting with members of the army who killed Vlas,” he reminded her.

  “Yes, I know he was your friend,” she answered, somewhat mollified.

  “You could say we were friends,” Pob calmly answered, “just as you could say that a supernova is very hot. If I can sit with them and listen to what they have to say, so can you.”

  Jenna sat, feeling ashamed.

  “You want our help, then,” Jenna assumed, looking directly at Eleazar, who had remained stony-faced during the whole exchange.

  “No. I want to give you mine,” answered Eleazar.

  “Why?” asked Jenna.

  “Because I was ordered to. By my late father,” Eleazar answered, throwing an unrolled scroll on the table for her to read—the scroll of Governance.