The Mage's Burden

Chapter Four: Morpheus

At the last second, however, Greg sharply shifted the ground under his attacker leaving him at an almost forty-five-degree angle before gravity picked things from there. It spoke to the experience of the man that rather than lay there stunned, the first thing he did was immediately begin to roll away. Greg, however, had no plans of letting him get away. With three quick steps forward, Greg leaned down ready to run the man through. However, Greg was treated to the painful lesson that he wasn't the only one with hidden cards as a geyser of sand shot from the ground directly into his face! It wasn't just his eyes that were caught in the attack. Dust and sand particles forced their way up his nose clogging up his airways. Worse still, Greg had been inhaling at the time meaning that a painful amount of sand had been sucked into his lungs. It was a mercy that his mouth hadn't been open at the time, otherwise, he would have had a mouth full of sand as well.

Greg reflexively turned away both in pain and panicking as he coughed painfully trying to clear his airways. His eyes were a lot harder to clear out as any attempt to rub the sand out just worsened the pain he was in. Greg was on his knees trying to regain the ability to breathe when he felt his own gladius go through his chest. Despite not being able to see anything, Greg couldn't help but turn his head down toward his chest. He didn't even remember dropping the gladius. A foot was placed on his back, and Greg could only wince as the gladius was pulled out of him, the foot pushing him onto the ground even as the bandit left him to bleed out on the sand.

YOU DIED.

Greg couldn't help but grimace even as he looked at the words from the system. This was among the worst ways he'd met his end inside a dungeon. The deathblow itself wasn't that bad, all things considered, but being blinded by sand and choking on it at the same time was a uniquely nasty experience that he wasn't looking to repeat any time soon.

The Caravan. That was the name of this new dungeon that Greg had bought access to from the system. Much like his first dungeon, this one had a deceptively simple end goal. Ensure the caravan reaches its destination. Unlike his first dungeon, however, this one would last three days, which translated to about six hours in the real world. Despite delving into this dungeon for more than a month, Greg was yet to make it more than six hours into the first day because of this ambush. It was never in the same place or even at the same time, but there was always an ambush that they would have to fight through within the first six hours of the dungeon. Sighing, Greg didn't even bother to read the analysis of his performance allowing it to play out before he was ejected from the dungeon.

Greg's eyes opened, the ceiling of the luxurious room he was in coming into focus. For a long while he was still as he mentally went over the fight trying to figure out how he could have done better. Yes, he put up a good fight, but in the end, his opponent was better than he was. His failure ate at him, making him wish to go back and try again. He was doing everything he could to become more powerful and capable of defending himself without having to depend on others. However, as both his teacher and familiar had told him many times before, it wouldn't happen overnight. In the end, all he could do was sigh as he quietly conceded to himself that he just needed to give himself time to grow. Rising off the bed, Greg walked to the door to his room. Pulling it open, Greg crossed the hallway and knocked on the door opposite his. She must have sensed his approach through their bond as barely three seconds later, Olivia pulled the door open with a smile at him. "How is she?" Greg asked even as he walked into the room.

"She is weakened, not feebleminded, you can just ask her directly."

His teacher's voice reached him from within the room before Olivia had the chance to answer him. Smiling wryly, Greg walked into the room. Despite her words, Greg couldn't help the worry he felt when he caught sight of her wan look. Smiling she may be, but it was clear to anyone who even spared her a glance that she was in a bad state. This wasn't the result of any physical malady. It was the the toll that doing what needed to be done for their escape had taken on her.

Greg couldn't help but think of a child who had been presented with a big red button and asked not to press it. Naturally, the first thing that would happen in such a scenario is the child pressing the button. In the same way, the first time he met Morpheus in the mind space he conjured whenever he wished to talk, he had cautioned Greg against calling on the being's power as it would effectively be burning his life away in exchange for power. However, one after the other, situations kept on arising that forced Greg to use that forbidden power.

Before Morpheus's warning, there was the abyssal creature. After his warning, there was Olivia's true self followed by his teacher's old enemies. All three situations were ones that Greg wouldn't have been able to walk away from if Morpheus didn't intervene. The abyssal creature would have killed his teacher and then gone on to come after him. Olivia's true self would have probably killed Greg and taken his eyes if Morpheus hadn't tricked her into backing down. Lastly, having seventh-tier mages from an established alliance come after him only to find that he was a student to someone who considered them an enemy, would have been a death sentence. Their trail needed to be erased if he wished to avoid that fate, it was just that simple.

With close to, if not over, half his lifespan having been expended by Morpheus during his previous appearance, they needed to be smart about this third attempt. Despite the urgency of the situation they found themselves in, they needed to come up with a way of going about this that wouldn't take away too much of Greg's remaining lifespan. The solution Morpheus suggested was rather simple. Rather than doing anything himself, he'd instead link with the healer, share a measure of his power with her, and in exchange, draw on her longevity instead of his. Of course, as the conduit, he'd still lose some lifespan but it would be less than a tenth of what he'd have otherwise lost.

At the time, Greg immediately rejected the idea. Not only did he not want to have his teacher's lifespan shortened, but he was also worried about her compromised mana flow system. With the kind of injuries she had already sustained, Greg wasn't willing to see if they would survive being forced to bear Morpheus's power or not. Ardent as Greg was about not following this course of action, Morpheus had countered with an argument that he couldn't answer.

"You are not the only one whose life is hanging in the balance here Greg! Your teacher's life is in just as much danger as yours is, and unlike you, she doesn't have a powerful helper like me to get her out of the trouble that's coming for her. She has a brilliant mind and a sound plan of retreat. I'm sure that she will do everything in her power to cover her trail as best as she can. However, she can only exhibit power up to the third tier while the ones coming for her will be at the seventh tier. Intellect can only take you so far Greg. Without power, she will do her best and still fail," Morpheus had laid out his reasoning. This was a simple but effective argument. If all the risk fell to him, then Greg might have been willing to take it on by himself and hope to survive what may come. But as things stood, he wasn't the only one in danger if things went awry, his teacher would also be there right along with him.. "Tell you what, why don't you let her decide? Present her with the option I am offering and at least give her a chance to decide what she would prefer rather than denying her the chance without her having a say in the matter," he'd proposed.

When presented with Morpheus's offer, his teacher only had two questions. "How much lifespan will I lose?" She'd asked.