“How might the raw potentia rewarded by a dungeon be used?” This is a common question asked by new delvers and even some wise veterans. Oft either preceded or followed by “What is raw potentia?”

  For the second, the answer is somewhat complicated. The most succinct way to explain is thus: Raw potentia is the potentia of potential itself. It is as of yet unassigned to anything, it is unbound and ready to be directed.

  This leads us to answer the first question asked. Potentia itself being the essence or spiritual expression of a concept, this means it may be assigned to strengthen or increase the delver’s connection to any concept they choose.

  

  Willow

  First Room, Sheerna

  

  Carefully stepping to the door, Willow glanced to her left and right. Ravvy and Luzzi both nodded their readiness. Looking critically at the vertical handle, which boasted a protruding button to disengage the catch, she looked for traps. While none of the information she’d purchased on Sheerna had mentioned traps, she knew game dungeons often boasted deadly surprises for the unwary. Despite Madrick’s earlier insistence that rifts were not dungeons, she was pretty sure they were similar enough to safely make assumptions based on her knowledge of the later.

  What would be the worst result of assuming traps are possible? Wasting a bit of time checking? After a thorough examination, she failed to find anything she thought suspicious. Pushing down on the handle’s latch, she tensed, expecting the worst despite her investigation. Nothing happened. Literally nothing, the latch didn’t even press down.

  “It’s locked” she grumbled to the others. Two breaths whooshed from either side of her. They’re as on edge as I am! Willow realized in surprise. Haven’t they both delved a ton? Ravvy said he was rank fifty or something at one point.

  Shrugging, Willow sent an imperative command through her fingers into the handle, ‘unlock.’ At the periphery of her vision, Willow saw Luzzi flinch as the door snicked softly.

  “I thought you said it was locked.” Ravvy grumbled. She suspected he’d been startled too.

  Holding the handle, she turned her head over her shoulder to give him a sardonic look, “It was, I unlocked it.”

  As she spoke, Willow felt a small rush of energy she recognized as xp. Or maybe raw potentia, if the book Madrick had given her was to be trusted. She preferred xp. Immediately pressing all of it into her partially recreated back into it skill, she felt like she was just a teaspoon away from having it back.

  Pressing forward, the door swung smoothly and soundlessly open. It was fortunate the hinges were so well maintained, as the room beyond was occupied by a variable horde of sleeping predators. Cats. Cats everywhere.

  The room was brightly lit by a thick beam of sunlight falling through a massive skylight in its center. The whole area was roughly ten by ten meters square, though the space was used efficiently, with as much vertical space occupied by dozing felines as horizontal. As to the decor of the room, it was furnished like an absolute classic cat-lady had been given an unlimited budget.

  Willow and the others moved carefully as they entered, only moving in as far as they had to so they could get a good view of the entire room.

  The wallpaper was a slightly yellowed floral print which sported a grand total of three possible patterns, lacking any sense of flow or charm. The sofas looked like they were twenty to thirty years old, looking stiff with massive brass rivets visible where the couch arms joined their main bodies. Several chairs stood on stiff curved legs, with a single worn and clearly well-used wood rocking chair at the far end of the space. The only thing which suggested that, perhaps, a run of the mill cat lady hadn’t been the room’s occupant was the sheer scale of it all. Every piece of furniture was between double and triple the size Willow would have expected in a human’s home.

  All of the massive furniture, save the rocking chair, were positioned in a disjointed L facing a relatively squat coffee table, beyond which was what appeared to be a hallowed out box-style television. The glass screen had been removed, along with any wires - or whatever those old devices had in them - and two massive tigers were tangled together as they slumbered within. One of the tigers was white with black stripes, while the other was black with orange stripes. If she had to guess, Willow would have to say they were each the size of a large horse.

  Despite being the biggest cats, they absolutely were not the only big cats to be found. Many species were familiar to Willow, if slightly off from what she’d normally expect. She saw leopards, black panthers, - actually, aren’t black panthers just leopards too? I think I heard that somewhere. - jaguars, lynxes, pumas, lions, and so many more. Beyond those ‘normal’ felines she could identify, there were stranger looking variations. A small lime-green cat was loafed perfectly on top of the old CRT look-alike. It boasted a split tail which reminded Willow strongly of Luzzi’s and was the cutest little fuzzball she’d seen in her entire life. Like the rest, the little green’s eyes were closed and it appeared to be breathing peacefully.

  Looking up, Willow saw tails and paws dangling from the extensive catwalk above. About three and a half meters above, was another entire floor. Except this one was clearly designed specifically for the cats to play. There was hardly a straight line for walking in sight. No boxy framing, no carefully designed room flow, no floor for that matter. The entire thing looked like a series of near-random beams, angles, and even curves. She spotted several tubes which might be some form of plastic which curved from one end of the second floor up and around in a loop before opening back up at the opposite end.

  The method the cats were intended to ascend to this second floor was clear. There were huge cat towers scattered throughout the entire room, clad in mostly shredded fur-laden carpet. The towers were interspersed in a way which seemed to suggest someone had, at some point, intended to have a walking path from one side of the room to the other. However, the distinct lack of doorways made the need questionable.

  Carefully turning to see what her delving companion’s reactions were, she found Luzzi standing with her tail straight up, nose in the air, ears twisted out away from her head in what she would have called ‘helicopter ears’ if she was any of the cats in the room doing the same. While she wasn’t entirely sure what the expression meant, the paavaras was clearly alert. Beyond that, she might be concerned or afraid.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Ravvy’s eyes were carefully roving the room still, searching. He looked mildly concerned, but not as tense as Luzzi was. Once Ravvy’s eyes landed on Willow he nodded to her and hiked a thumb over his shoulder, clearly suggesting they go back through the door. In full agreement, Willow carefully turned around. She was reaching for Luzzi’s hand, intending to gently pull her behind to indicate she wanted to go back. I’m still not sure what she can and can’t ‘see’ without eyes. She seems to navigate just fine, and I being condescending?

  Before her hand touched the the fluffy paw she was reaching for, she froze. Standing in front of the door, facing in toward Willow and the others, was a cat girl. Bipedal, the girl was little shorter than Willow. Her body was covered in ragdoll-like scruffy long white and black hair, at least as much of her body as was exposed by the overalls she was wearing. Little cat ears sat perked upward alertly on the top of her head, while the pixy cut her black hair sported revealed she had another set of human ears as well. Large pink eyes were sparkling with mischief, fully dilated like a cat which had spotted new prey. Oh no.

  The thought had barely crossed Willow’s mind before the little cat girl moved. She reached behind herself, grasping the handle to the door they’d entered through, and deliberately pulled it toward her back. It closed silently, the girl’s fur covered thumb pressing the button to keep the latch from clicking. Carefully, she released the handle, still silent.

  Slowly moving into a shallow crouch, she stepped languidly toward the party. Each step seemed to engage every muscle the girl had, as she gracefully slid toward them. Two quick steps and the girl was within arm’s reach, the fluffy tail trailing behind her flicked excitedly.

  This situation didn’t seem favorable. Willow was confident she could use her moment to defeat the little cat girl if she needed to. She thought she could even win without making too much noise, if she was careful. Yet, she didn’t really want to do that. Besides clearly being strongly related to felines, she was just a girl. A young one, maybe between eleven and thirteen.

  So, possibly stupidly, Willow let her approach unchallenged. The fact that neither Ravvy nor Luzzi made any moves was at least somewhat comforting. They couldn’t all be totally wrong, right?

  The girl had no concept of personal space as she approached to mere centimeters of Willow. She circled her, hair rising on Willow’s skin as the girl’s fur brushed lightly against her. She moved in and around all three of them, sniffing and staring at them carefully. Then she spoke.

  “Wanna play with me?” Her voice was a soft squeak, absolutely adorable.

  Glancing at each other, Willow got the impression neither of the others had more of an idea what to do in this situation than she did. Smiling warmly, Willow widened her eyes and pointedly flicked her eyes around the room.

  The cat girl followed her gaze, then giggled softly, “Yeah! They sleep lots. We’ll be careful not to wake them up. We’ll be quiet. Promise! It’s part of the game, y’know?”

  Taking a deep breath, Willow took a chance as she replied with the softest voice she could manage, “What’s your name?” She didn’t whisper, knowing the hissing of a whisper would carry more than her normal voice at its quietest.

  “Jemin!” She answered happily, “So you’ll play?”

  “Maybe… We’re worried your… Friends might get very angry at us intruding. We wanted to pass through without bothering them.”

  Another soft giggle, “Pass through? You mean you want to go visit Hoozie?” She looked up and to the left.

  Resisting the urge to exchange glances with her party, - God, I miss Jonah and his party channel thing. - she shrugged, “We don’t know what’s in the next room. We’re exploring.”

  “Oooooh! I love exploring!” Jemin exclaimed, dancing a little on the spot. The little voice had risen enough to make Willow wince. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to disturb the pack of cats. Or is it pride?

  “Well, maybe you could show us how to get through without upsetting any of your friends so we can keep exploring?”

  “Can I come explore with you?!” Bouncing on the spot, her huge pink eyes seemed to be sparkling.

  Luzzi gently tapped Willow, who took it to mean she wanted to take over. Looking over, she nodded her agreement and waited. Her fuzzy friend - I wonder if Luzzi’s fur is softer than Jemin’s - stepped forward slightly and spoke with a voice soft enough that Willow could barely hear it even as close as she was. “I believe you are yet too young to leave your family, yes?”

  The little girl immediately became defensive. “Well, I leave sometimes! Just cuz mami doesn’t like it doesn’t mean I can’t!” She jutted her chin out defiantly. OOooh boy.

  Making a soft purring sound in her throat, Luzzi soothed, “I don’t mean to offend, Jemin. I say this because my companions and I would likely offend your entire family should we take you from the safety of your home. We do not wish for any bad will between us.”

  “Oh.” Jemin deflated, looking sad. “They do always tell me to wake them up if strangers come in, or if the door opens.” She looked over her shoulder, back at the door she’d taken such pain to close as silently as it had opened.

  Turning back, her mischievous smile was back, “Okay, I won’t go with you. But in that case you have to pay me back by playing a game!”

  “What kind of game do you propose?” Luzzi asked carefully, clearly as skeptical as Willow was.

  Abruptly realizing something, Willow turned to look at Ravvy. She was surprised to find him focused on the conversation, looking tense and serious. Huh, I kind of figured he’d think this was a good opportunity for some excitement and do something stupid like belch to wake all the cats up. Putting the sudden thought from her mind, Willow turned her head back toward Jemin and Luzzi.

  “Hide and seek!” She proclaimed happily.

  A quick round of glances were exchanged, silently agreeing that they’d tell the girl they would play then B-line to the exit. Luzzi nodded, “That is acceptable.”

  “Great! And after you find me, I’ll give you the key to the door out!” Jemin giggled as she pulled a small pink key out of the front pocket on her overalls.

  Another quick glance around, they were in agreement they’d still just go to the door. Willow would just open it the same way she opened the last one. They nodded at Jemin.

  “Yay! Okay, count to one hundred before you start looking! Uh, but don’t shout when you start searching. We’ll start the countdown together so I can keep track myself.”

  “Okay.” Willow agreed and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, then started quietly counting aloud, “One…. Two…” She heard Jemin count in sync with her up to three, then the extra voice disappeared and Willow was left murmuring numbers into the air.

  Upon reaching a hundred, she opened her eyes and looked around. Part of her kind of wanted to just play the game with Jemin and see how it went. The little cat girl was adorable, with her little whiskers and bright eyes. Though the double set of ears is kinda off putting.

  Instead, she followed as Luzzi confidently chose a direction. They approached one of the cat trees which didn’t currently have any slumbering predators occupying it. Climbing the thing wasn’t hard, but it was kind of gross. All of them were covered in different varieties of fur by the time they got to the top less than a minute later.

  Seeing the meter gap between their heads and the nearest empty beam, Willow knelt and proffered cupped hands to Ravvy. He glanced from her hands to their destination, much further for him than for her or Luzzi, and scowled. Despite his clear annoyance, he stepped into Willows proffered hands and bent his knees, ready to jump. Rapidly standing and pulling her arms up, she flung the little alien up. He landed with only a slight thump. Looking around frantically, Willow was relieved to see all of the cats were still asleep.

  “They must be interfered with in some way. No ambush predator would remain oblivious when we’ve made this much noise.” Luzzi murmured, before leaping gracefully, and silently, up to the catwalk. Biting the tip of her tongue as she worried at Luzzi’s assertion, Willow followed with a quick hop. She caught the edge of the beam and pulled herself quietly up.

  Taking care, the trio wound their way around the large sleeping cats. They were roughly going in the direction Jemin had looked when asking if they were going to visit Hoozie. None of them knew exactly where the door was, but that had been enough direction to get them going.

  Fifteen minutes later, they’d managed to find the door. Directly behind a huge cat which resembled recreations of sabre tooth tigers Willow had seen online, was a small door. It was roughly a meter and a half tall, and looked barely large enough for Willow to squeeze her shoulders through.

  A silver ring sat in the center of the door, in the middle of that was a small keyhole. Feeling somehow nervous, Willow stepped forward and touched it. She sent her mana into the door and told it to unlock. A very soft click was followed by a barely audible ‘diing’. Grabbing the little knob, Willow pulled turned and pulled. The door didn’t open.

  Hearing the huge cat mere meters behind them sigh and shift in its sleep, Willow felt sweat rolling down her neck. She tried again. Another click, with a slightly louder chime. The cat yawned loudly behind. Turning, Willow watched the massive mouth full of large teeth and framed by oversized canines slowly close. It’s still asleep.

  Resisting the urge to sigh in relief, Willow turned back to the others and shook her head slowly. Pointing back the way they’d come, she shrugged and raised her hand above her eyes and mimed scanning around.

  The others got the message and agreed with short nods. With the door making louder sounds with every lock Willow disengaged magically, there was just about no chance they’d be able to unlock it without the cats waking. It looked like they’d get to play hide and seek after all.