Aarav and Sarah continued through The Sundered Ruins. The initial awkwardness of their "Panther Link" was slowly replaced by a grim efficiency. They fell into a rhythm: Sarah's [LASER PULSES] and [FORCE FIELDS] leading the charge, Aarav adapting skills on the fly to support or finish off weakened Shadow Blights.
[AARAV SHARMA]
[LEVEL: 3 (480/1000 XP)]
[EP: 15/50]
[SARAH ANDERSON]
[LEVEL: 1 (120/1000 XP)]
Aarav's EP was still a constant problem. His [LIFE DRAIN] from earlier was too slow to matter in a fight. He tried adapting another subtle energy siphoning trick from a Shadow Blight but it hardly moved his EP bar.
"Your EP management is terrible," Sarah stated flatly after he almost ran out. "We need to find you a proper energy regeneration skill. Or you'll be useless after two Adapts."
"Thanks for the confidence boost," Aarav muttered, pushing open a heavy stone door.
This room was different. Unlike the damp, crumbling corridors, this chamber was strangely pristine. The glowing fungi on the walls were brighter, pulsing with an unnatural, soft blue light. The air here felt charged, humming faintly. There were no Shadow Blights.
In the center of the room, on a small, raised pedestal of smooth, dark stone, sat a crystal. It wasn't rough like the dungeon walls; it was perfectly faceted, shimmering with an inner light that shifted from deep blue to soft green. It pulsed with a silent, rhythmic beat. It didn't belong.
"What is that?" Sarah whispered, her Technomancy-focused eyes narrowed. She pulled up her UI.
[SARAH ANDERSON]
[SCANNING: UNKNOWN ARTIFACT]
[ANALYSIS: ENERGY SIGNATURE - HIGH. ORIGIN - NON-LOCAL. UNABLE TO IDENTIFY.]
"My scanner can't tell me anything," she said, sounding genuinely intrigued. "It's not... dungeon material. It feels alien, even for this place."
Aarav felt a strange pull from the crystal. It was subtle, almost a whisper in his mind. His [ADAPTATION] power, usually passive until he focused it, was reacting. It hummed, a low vibration deep within him, urging him closer.
"It feels... familiar," Aarav said, stepping towards it instinctively.
"Sharma, don't just touch random glowing alien crystals!" Sarah warned, but Aarav was already there.
He reached out. As his fingers brushed the crystal's cool surface, the humming sensation intensified. The blue-green light from the crystal flared, then pulsed, seeming to flow into his hand.
[ADAPTATION TRIGGERED: AMBIENT ENERGY RESONANCE]
[NEW PASSIVE SKILL ACQUIRED: DUNGEON RESONANCE (RANK 1)]
[DUNGEON RESONANCE (RANK 1): SLIGHTLY INCREASES ENERGY POINT (EP) REGENERATION WHILE WITHIN A DUNGEON. CURRENT BONUS: +0.5 EP/MINUTE]
Aarav felt a faint warmth spread through him, a subtle but distinct current of energy flowing into his [EP] pool. He looked at his UI. His EP was ticking up, slowly, steadily.
[AARAV SHARMA]
[EP: 8/50] (now showing +0.5 EP/minute)
"Whoa," Aarav breathed. "I just... I got a skill. A new one. It's passive." He showed Sarah his UI.
Sarah peered at his screen, her eyes wide. "Dungeon Resonance? You just... absorbed a skill from a rock?" She looked from Aarav to the crystal, now pulsing with a fainter light. "That's not how skills work! Skills come from leveling up, or skill books, or adapting from active powers, not passive environmental effects."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: RARE INTERACTION DETECTED]
[DUNGEON ANOMALY: RESONANCE CRYSTAL (DEPLETED)]
"Depleted?" Aarav muttered. The crystal was still there, but its vibrant glow was muted.
"This dungeon isn't just for fighting, then," Sarah mused, her analytical mind already working. "There are hidden mechanisms. Hidden... lessons." She looked at Aarav with a new intensity. "Your 'Adaptation' isn't just about copying visible powers, is it? It reacts to anything that gives off energy or has a clear function. This changes things. A lot."
Aarav looked at his slightly increasing EP, then at the depleted crystal. He was still lazy, but a new, deeper layer of the game had just revealed itself. Dungeons weren't just simple combat arenas. They were... libraries? Or maybe even traps.
"Looks like our 'easy' Rank 1 dungeon just got interesting," he admitted, a rare flicker of genuine curiosity in his eyes.