It took some consideration, and a fair bit of angst, but in the end, the potential loss of loot in the near future overcame the fear of running out of skill slots later on, and Will ended up absorbing the Gatherer skill shard.

  Only for a completely unexpected message to pop up.

  …That’s a thing? I wish I knew that before all that worrying. Now I really need to get some more information about skills, and which ones can be merged like that, before I use any more of them.

  After a little bit of experimenting with his status screen, Will managed to bring up the information on the new merged skill.

  There was quite a bit to unpack there, and Will took another look around to make sure he wouldn’t be surprised by another rhinobbit, before looking at the screen again.

  Let’s see. The merged skill is now Advanced in tier, and has the added benefit of harvesting plant monsters. Not that I’ve seen any plant monsters, but I’m sure it’d come in useful at some point. I’m more interested in the level and XP part. Is that a function of the skill merging, or is it just that I’ve never looked at a skill after absorbing it?

  Checking the Unstoppable Force skill turned up that it was also level one, with zero XP, and that it only needed one hundred to level up. Will attributed the difference to the fact that Unstoppable Force was Basic and Hunter-Gatherer Advanced. Will could also see a level and XP counter for the Slow aspect attached to Unstoppable Force. The aspect only needed fifty XP.

  Some more fiddling revealed the fact that Will could transfer his XP to a skill shard.

  I have two hundred and twenty XP. That means that levelling Hunter-Gatherer will eat up almost all of it. And I think that I’d rather boost my combat skill, at this point.

  A few mental clicks later, and Unstoppable Force reached level two.

  Extra damage! That’s definitely going to be useful. I don’t have enough to level it again, or for Hunter-Gatherer. I could level up Slow, I guess. But maybe I should check if there’s anything else I can use XP on.

  More fiddling with the status screen showed Will that while his attacks couldn’t be levelled up, his innate Dice Roll skill could.

  A hundred XP to level up Dice Roll is definitely possible. But what would it actually do? Presumably, it’ll effect how far I go each time I go, but what sort of change will it be?

  Will could think of several options for the skill to change. Some more useful than others.

  Rolling an extra die won’t help me all that much, if I’m really moving around in a circle. But if it lets me somehow aim where I go, it’ll be worth every point I spend. At least, it will if I know where I’m going.

  It didn’t take much for Will to convince himself to level up Dice Roll.

  After all, I can probably get more XP later.

  The results were…

  Better than he’d feared, but not quite as good as he’d hoped.

  No control over my movement. Maybe on the next level up? And then I’ll also have the map to tell me where I want or don’t want to go. Let’s see where I am now, at least.

  Will called up his new map. It had an instantly recognizable shape. A closed circuit in the shape of a large square, composed of four large squares in the corners, with nine smaller rectangles between each two squares, for a total of forty spaces. Two larger rectangles were located in the middle, unreachable, space.

  Monopoly? Out of all possible board games in the world, I’m on a goddamned Monopoly board?

  It took Will a few moments to calm down and take a closer look at the map. Most of the board was blank, with only two squares, five small rectangles and one larger rectangle filled. Will could call up information about the filled spaces, and quickly realized that the filled spaces were the ones he’d been to.

  And I guess that makes the rectangle in the centre the quest card deck? But why would you even need a deck? Will shrugged of the unknown, and unknowable, question. More importantly, if this really works like Monopoly, then it looks like the Green Forest and the Dark Forest are connected. Not sure how it’d work, considering that I don’t have an option of buying them, but maybe something will happen if I finish quests in both?

  There are also those little stars next to the Ruins and the Green Forest. I guess those are for ranks? I guess it doesn’t matter for now. Not like I can control my moves right now. Is there anything else I can do to give myself a leg up here? Wait, if skill shards can merge, does that mean I can get something extra if I use a second Hunter skill shard? Worth a shot, at least.

  It turned out that Will could, indeed, get something extra from using a second Hunter skill shard.

  …Just not something very useful.

  I don’t think it’s worth using right now. Will thought, and dismissed the message screen. The skill is Advanced, so I don’t have enough XP to level it up. Better to hold on to it for now, in case I can get to Fili and get enough cash for something useful. I can always use it later, once I get the rest of the XP. It’s probably less urgent than raising Dice Roll another level.

  Finished with all of his upgrades, Will found a secluded spot inside a convenient bush, and rolled his dice.

  ***

  It was like being inside of M.C. Escher’s Relativity lithograph. Dozens of different stairways filled a stone building. Each stairway, however, was oriented in a different, and random, direction. Some were upside down. Some were sideways. Some seemed to change orientation in the middle, in a way that hurt Will’s head if he tried to follow it. The stairways started, and ended, in as many directions as Will could see. Some of them led to doorways in the walls or ceiling. Some led to other stairways, often ones going in completely different directions at a completely different orientation.

  After half a minute of trying to understand what he was seeing, Will gave up and lowered his eyes, looking at nothing other than the floor in front of him.

  There were two stairways in front of him. One of them, the one leading up, was made out of brass, and blocked by a locked grate, seemingly made out of interlocking cogs.

  The other, leading down into the floor, was made of plain wood.

  Curious, Will approached the locked brass stairway, only to be greeted by a message screen.

  Those cog-nitwits are going to be a major thing, aren’t they? Will mused. Let’s see what the other one says.

  Will approached the wooden stairway, and was greeted by a similar message.

  And that’s the second one. Now the question is, do I want to see what Kili has down in his cellar?