The clock had less than a day left.

  “You’re not going to get one last session in?” Circe swung her legs over the side of her bed.

  “I don’t want to start the fifth floor off tired.” Penelope stared up at the ceiling.

  “We talked about this.” Jeru admonished her. “While it’s unlikely that they start the fight early or that they win quickly, it still will create a new save point if they do. I need to reset this now.”

  You also said that the closer they were to me when I reset, the longer they get a boost to their job experience on the next run. Penelope stretched, then rubbed her temple. So I need to do it during breakfast.

  “Circe is the only one who really matters.” Jeru shook his head as he floated over her. “You don’t know for sure that you’ll get paired with Lanlo and Rendhe or that you’ll even get paired with anyone at all. What happens if Cirdor looks at your stats and decides to keep you segregated off to himself?”

  We both know that he’s too busy at the moment to personally oversee my teaching. Penelope blew a stray strand of red hair out of her face as she rolled over. I’ve got a lot more loops to go before that happens.

  “I haven’t had a looper yet that was able to keep going through the slog until they raised all their jobs into the thirties…” Jeru tilted his head as he watched her stand. “But I think you can do it.”

  “What?” Circe raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got that weird look on your face.”

  “I’m just arguing with myself.” Penelope forced a smile she wasn’t feeling. “I know we haven’t got to hang out much because of all the training the last eleven weeks, but I’m really glad you came out here with me.

  “Okay, who died?” Circe reached out and took Penelope’s hands. “You’re never this sentimental.”

  “They’re about to start the boss of the fourth floor.” Penelope pulled back her hands and shrugged. “I just felt like you’d like to hear something like that from me.”

  “Does it come with a hug?” The brunette woman flashed a smile at her friend.

  Penelope shook her head as she took a step back.

  “It was worth a shot.” Circe sighed. “I’ll wear you down eventually.”

  Not likely. Penelope wove her fingers together and pulled them close to her belly. But you’re right. Circe is the only one I can really ensure comes with me and I’m not going to get anything else out of this run. Go ahead and restart it.

  Blinding light washing over her was her only answer.

  That’s never going to not be so bright, is it? Penelope rubbed her eyes.

  “Not really. It’s almost like being brought back from the dead in a way, so there’s a moment of shock as your mind adjusts to the new surroundings. Though, like , you can acclimate yourself so it’s not as jarring.”

  Noted. Penelope down off her perch and headed for the portal to the surface. She ignored the cheers and cries. The faster she got Cirdor under control, the less time other people would spend in custody.

  “PEN! WAIT UP!” Circe chased after her friend.

  Penelope didn’t slow down. Instead, she through the portal, landing herself in the square.

  “Non-lethal shots only!” Grandal bellowed. “We want as many of them alive as possible!”

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  Blasts of light erupted from the weapons in the soldier’s hands. The small army of Centaurs, Elves, and Unktehila marched into the square where she was standing.

  The brown-haired Centuar pointed his weapon at her. “Surrender, hell-spawn!”

  “Hellspawn?” Penelope sighed. “I work for Master Jeru Bannem. I have a message for Cirdor Pengal…” She paused for a moment as she decided whether or not to tell the captain anything. “Tell him to meet me in his office.”

  “You’re not going anywhere!” Grandal pointed his rifle at her.

  That was a lot less scary when he was only carrying a sword. Penelope cast her and spread them out in a barrier in front of her.

  “Dungeons have a habit of destroying non-living matter that doesn’t originate from the Dungeon itself. Swords are more likely to be allowed, which is why they were armed with them. Considering the laser blasts are going to do minimal damage based off of the level of craftsmanship and the depth of the Dungeon, it makes sense why they didn’t trust those to be effective.”

  I just need him not to try to kill me. Penelope used to pull the barrel down so the blast scorched the cement in front of the Centaur.

  “I don’t want to fight you, but if you attack me, I won’t lose.” Penelope glared at the captain. “Go find Cirdor and tell him that I have a message from the Elders for him.” She didn’t bother waiting for the Centaur to acknowledge her order, she simply into the alley on the east side of the admin building, then ran down the alley and around to the front door. She pulled out her menu and attached the card to it, then threw that at the control pad by the door. By the time she reached the door, it had opened, allowing her to run inside. She sat down on the front step of the stairs leading up to the second floor and waited for the orange Elf to come find her.

  It didn’t take him long.

  The orange Elf stormed into the building with his sword out. The bars shot up around her, but before the cage could even half form, the card on her menu screen turned them off, sending them back into the floor.

  “Satisfied that the Elders have given me clearance, or do we need to fight too?” Penelope tilted her head as she watched the angry man from her seat.

  “How did you… You’re only Human!” Cirdor fumed.

  “Which is exactly why Master Jeru chose me to represent him after he died.” Penelope folded her arms in front of her.

  “Humans don’t have access to the Conduit, there’s no way that Master Jeru would ever entrust a Human with a mission from the Elders.” Cirdor gathered mana inside himself.

  Penelope snapped her fingers, adding flair to the cast of . “I don’t have access to the Conduit, I have access to the system that he put in place to stifle the incursion.” She took a deep breath. “Look, we can sit here and argue all day about your prejudice against Humans, or you can recognize that I…” She paused, then leaned forward. “Here, look at this. Jeru showed me how to do this.”

  She gathered mana in her fingers and drew circles on the marble floor. Despite how many times she’d done it, it wasn’t perfect, but it was still detailed enough to show that it wasn’t just some random magic circle.

  “Where did you…” Cirdor dropped to his knees to inspect the runes as she drew them on the floor. “Where did you learn this?”

  “One of the last things Jeru taught me before he died.” Penelope shrugged as she finished the circle. “But I thought this would be the easiest way for me to show you that I am who I say I am.”

  “I need…” Cirdor took a deep breath. “I can’t just accept that you’re an agent of the Elders because you learned how to put together Master Jeru’s basic magic circle.”

  “Not even when I also have access to the Elder security system?” Penelope eyed the other man.

  “You could be a Succubus who was able to glean all of that from his mind after you killed him.” Cirdor shuffled backwards, then scrambled to his feet. “Master Jeru never did become soulbound.”

  Do I need to know?

  “Succubi tried to overthrow the Elves by charming all the essentially unmarried Elf leaders, both in the government and the military. After that, there was a rule that if you wanted access to sensitive documents or a position of power, you had to be soulbound, so you would be immune to the charming abilities of the Succubi.” Jeru shrugged. “I never got soulbound, so legally speaking, I could be susceptible to their charms, but considering my father put mental blocks in place to ensure I’d never lose control of my mind to another..” He banged his head with his blue fist. “I’m the only one in here.”

  Must be nice… Penelope sighed. “Look, I’m not a Succubus and if you think Jeru was weak enough that one could tamper with his mind to that degree, then you don’t know him as well as you claim.” She stood up. “So can we stop messing around and focus on the problem at hand?” She pointed towards the back of the building. “There’s a Demon incursion in your backyard, and we can’t get help from outside the dome. I was able to take what Jeru was able to show me before he died and get us to the fourth floor, but now I need your help to power me up more while the rest of them push things down to the fifth floor.” She glared at him. “Can you do that?”

  The orange man bristled, but after a moment of thought, his shoulders sagged. “What do you need from me?”

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