The town grew quiet over the next few months. There had been a few new dungeons, but no new towers. Conquering the dungeons became a race between the town and the gnoll tribe. Between Austin’s people and the orc tribe, they had more of the dungeons under their control. This not only gave them access to several treasures and materials but also gave them access to a plethora of Aether types. They found that conquering a dungeon removed the danger of the dungeon and gave them access to the Aether that made it up. Austin was incredibly grateful for this because he finally had access to metal Aether. While he grew accustomed to purifying different kinds of Aether, it was nice to have an Aether that suited him better. Especially because he needed so much more Aether to grow his Essence at his current level.

  Austin thought it was interesting how dungeons worked. The people who conquered a dungeon had to give other people permission to enter. So, they became a valuable resource that could not be easily used by other people. This was especially valuable because it stopped gnolls from entering their dungeons without having to worry about keeping them guarded.

  Austin sat in one of the dungeons that had been conquered. He did not take time to visit many of the other dungeons, but he wondered how similar they were. This particular dungeon took the form of a cave made out of metal. It had a similar look to a craggy cave, but instead of dirt and rock, it was covered in blueish silver metal. Throughout the dungeon were various metal spikes that ranged in color. While there were typical colors someone would associate with metal, there were also red, green, and purple spikes. Austin wanted to learn more about their individual properties, but was not sure how. He also thought that they could be good to forge into weapons, but again, he was not sure how to do so. No one in the town was a blacksmith, and even the orcs did not seem to have the knowledge to work the unique metals.

  The progress that Austin made meditating in the dungeon astounded him. He could not help but wonder what progress he would have made if he had a more common Essence type. It made him wonder why there were not more people at his level or even higher in the town. He still felt like he needed to do much more to reach Steel. He had not even made a new branch since he reached Iron, but he felt like he could at least make his next branch soon. From his understanding, each branch required more Essence than the previous one.

  Austin also learned that he had to be careful when absorbing Aether. It was not a problem when he had to purify Aether, but he could absorb more in less time now that he no longer had to purify it. This meant that he risked overindulging in Aether and forcing his Essence to rise too quickly. Apparently, if Essence grew too quickly, then it could stop the user’s ability to manipulate it into different pathways.

  Luckily, Austin did not have to spend as much time meditating to get the results he wanted. Since he could not force it too much, he just ended when he felt like he hit a good stopping point. Which almost always ended up being faster than his old meditation sessions.

  Austin finished up his meditation and walked back to the entrance of the dungeon. The entrance took the form of a door made of silver light. The light worked as a barrier that only allowed people with permission to enter the dungeon.

  Once Austin exited the dungeon, he was met with the fresh morning air of the forest. He stretched his body as he prepared to go about his next task for the day. While the dungeon did provide him with a great resource, it made him stiff and sore to sit on the metal floor. The floor was incredibly hard, and at first, it even distracted Austin from his meditation.

  “Just now finishing?” A voice came from behind Austin.

  Austin turned around to see Drugos. After passing his trial, he wore a red pendant around his neck that hung from a red chain. The pendant depicted the face of a man with two large horns coming from the side of his head. The man also had long, untamed hair and rows of sharp teeth. Austin always got the impression that it looked like a demon. According to Drugos, the man was named Rafiq.

  “Yeah, I got a bit of a late start today. I was spending time with Elliot before I came to meditate,” Austin said. “Sorry if you were waiting for me.”

  “I’m just kidding. I just got here,” Drugos replied. “You ready to go to the usual place?”

  Austin nodded, and the pair walked through the forest until they found a clearing within it. The clearing was filled with debris and burn marks. The grass had been completely burned away, leaving blackened earth underneath it. Several of the nearby trees had been knocked down or had large burn marks across them. After Drugos and Austin found dungeons that were suitable for their Essence, they decided to meet in an area near their respective dungeons. They used the area to train together. Not only did they both have tower treasures, but they were also around the same level with their Essence progress. While Austin could train basics with other people, his training with Drugos allowed him to fight without holding back as much.

  “So, what are you thinking for today’s training?” Austin asked as he leaned his back against a tree.

  “I’m thinking that we do tower treasure training, single Aether type,” Drugos responded as he stretched his arms in preparation.

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  “Not a bad idea, I could definitely use it. I think today I’ll go with sand,” Austin nodded.

  “And I’ll be using smoke,” Drugos said. Drugos had three Aether types in his treasure, just like Austin. They consisted of smoke, fire, and earth.

  Austin pushed off from the tree and entered a ready stance. The ground beneath their feet started to break apart into fine sand and rotated around Austin’s arms. Drugos entered a stance as well, and clouds of black smoke started to surround his body and obscure his features.

  The two instantly moved to attack each other. Streams of sand flowed from Austin’s arms like rushing water. The streams separated into several strands that came at Drugos from every direction. Before the sand could reach Drugos, he leaped backward out of the way. The streams of sand collided into an explosion that scattered sand in all directions. Austin quickly pulled the sand back towards himself and allowed it to revolve around his body like a current.

  As Austin’s sand retreated, Drugos sent an overwhelming wave of smoke from his body. The dark smoke brought darkness around the entire area and obscured all of Austin’s senses. Through their training, Austin found that the smoke was even able to block his Essence sense. It had created such an overwhelming amount of Aether that it could hide Drugos’s Essence.

  Austin prepared himself for Drugos’s attack. Drugos usually followed up his smoke with a physical attack. The good thing about the smoke is that Drugos could not do any damage with it. So, he always needed to get in close to attack. Their training sessions had a win condition of landing three successful attacks.

  Austin was used to Drugos’s follow-up and developed a plan to deal with it. Austin discovered that he was able to use his sand as an extension of his sense of touch. So, he sent his sand across the ground like a web. Once Drugos touched the sand, Austin would launch an attack.

  It did not take long for Austin to feel Drugos enter his web. The moment he felt it, Austin sent his remaining strands towards Drugos in a powerful and quick stream. The force of the stream of sand collided with Drugos and knocked him backward. The smoke in the area condensed and flowed back to Drugos as the attack hit. As Austin's vision returned, he saw that Drugos was able to keep standing from the force of the stream.

  “First hit goes to you,” Drugos said. “I really thought it was going to be me. That’s a nice new trick you got.”

  “I had to think of something to deal with your smoke,” Austin smiled as he drew his sand back towards himself.

  “I guess I’ll just have to get more creative, too,” Drugos said as the smoke swirled around him and drew itself into a condensed ball around his hand.

  “Good luck,” Austin said as his sand split into four streams of sand.

  Austin threw his hand forward, and one of the streams chased after Drugos. Drugos dodged out of the way of the stream, but Austin quickly followed up with another. Stream after stream rushed towards Drugos, and he was forced on the move. As each stream missed, Austin brought it back and threw another stream at Drugos. Austin moved like a conductor directing a symphony of sand streams. Instead of attacking all at once, Austin decided to keep up a continued assault and prevent Drugos from countering.

  Eventually, Drugos was cornered by the attacks. He was forced to take one of the streams. The sand stream crashed into Drugos and sent him towards a tree. As Drugos’s back hit the tree, he forced himself back to a solid stance and threw his arm towards Austin. Smoke shot forward in an overwhelming wave. Drugos then charged through the smoke and rammed his shoulder into Austin. As Austin hit the ground, the smoke gathered around Drugos once more.

  Before Austin could get back up, Drugos’s foot came down in a stomp. Austin was forced to roll backward from Drugos to make distance. As Austin stood up, Drugos was already closing the gap between the two. Drugos’s smoke now covered and obscured his entire body. Suddenly, Austin felt the force of a punch from inside the smoke. Austin realized quickly that Drugos used the smoke to obscure his attacks and prevent Austin from predicting them. Before Austin could create distance and react, a second punch slammed into him from the smoke.

  “That’s three,” Drugos smiled as his smoke cleared.

  “I really did not expect that,” Austin sighed as he let his sand fall to the ground.

  “I had thought about something like it before, but was not sure how well it would work,” Drugos explained. “When you figured out a counter to my smokescreen, I figured that I should give it a try. It seemed like that was my best route to try to get some hits in.”

  “Well, it worked really well,” Austin nodded. “It made your attacks completely unpredictable. Also, using that first wave was good as a distraction. It seems like that is more suitable for your style.”

  “I agree. I thought I would have to use the smokescreen to attack from the shadows, but combining it with my aggressive fighting style felt right,” Drugos said. “You did really well, too. It seems like you havea better understanding and control of your sand.”

  “Thanks, I’ve been trying to work on it. It feels very different from using my Essence. I have been able to use a lot of powerful attacks without precision with my Essence. Sand seems like it requires precise moving and understanding,” Austin said. “Also, controlling Aether still feels weird to me.”

  “I can agree with that,” Drugos chuckled. “Essence gives us a lot of flexibility. We can mold techniques to suit our style. Aether control is just raw control of the element and requires understanding how to incorporate it.”

  “I think it’ll be useful once we master it, at least,” Austin nodded. “It’s just very strange and different. One of my closest companions uses wind Essence, and he can do all sorts of things. I feel like I’m restricted to creating gusts of wind.”

  “It would be crazy if we could create techniques with it,” Drugos said. “Imagine how much stronger we would be.”

  “True, there has to be some sort of restriction,” Austin said. “Now, are you ready to train some more?”

  “Of course,” Drugos replied with a wild smile.