After she left, Rex stayed by the fire for a few minutes, contemplating the numbers ninety-three and eighty-one, the dungeon, and what the ancient writing of the dungeon would reveal when they stood before it.
He had not decided yet whether tomorrow's cave system was going to be explored as Rex Rexilion trying to win an assessment or as something else entirely.
The fire made the decision for him in the way that fires made decisions, which was by burning down to the useful truth of the matter. Tomorrow was not about the assessment.
Tomorrow was the next step in a sequence that had started the moment Aisella's passive scan registered that the dungeon's written inscription contained language she recognized and that the recognition made her go still in a very specific way.
"Let's just see what the dungeon has to offer..." Rex sighed.
He let the fire die down and went to the shelter.
...
