Disclaimer: I do not own Danmachi or anything created by the author Fujino Omori; all rights go to him. I only own my original characters Sleipnir, Ikuchi, Sylphie, Myles and all the others (including the Ganesha members in this chapter).

Speech: "What could we possibly have Sly and Misha talk about on the date?" Shimizu ponders. I have never written a dating scene before.

Thoughts: 'After a little worldbuilding through history lessons. She is a guild member, maybe she could talk about some interesting skills.'

Screaming/Demonic Voice: Hapa exclaims in surprise. "Shimizu, is Misha really going to be direct enough to talk about the skill Horizontal Superiority on their first date in a TEAHOUSE!

Magic: "What douth thou meaneth. With thath! - Explaineth!"

Runes: What does it look like, when Misha talks to a young man in a public teahouse about! Horizontal Superiority! - "Fuin!"

Writing: 'Ohhhh, I didn't think about it that way…'

Hapa Note: Yes, this did happen lol. Horizontal Superiority: The bearer of this skill has their Endurance and Dexterity increased whilst their torso is parallel to the ground.

Chapter 20 A Date Among Friends

The morning of Sly's return to the surface – 8 AM – The Weave Manor in Altena – Myles POV

In a bedroom with a bookshelf next to a large desk, a half-dark elf starts to stir and turn over in his bed. This man is 187 cm (6'1") with shoulder-length silver hair that slightly gleams as the rays of the sun wash over him and defined chin. Currently, he is only wearing some pants revealing that his torso is fairly chiseled, and his hands appear to have faint scars on his palms and their back. He grimaces with a groan as he faces the rays and turns back over at their warmth with clenched eyes. 'Nooo….a few more minutes…'

Myles sighs as he opens his eyes to look at the blank white wall that has sunlight shining from it and illuminating the room a bit more and grumbles, "Stupid Acatl waking me in the middle of the night for one of her selfish demands…" He pulls his bed comforter over his head and sighs.

"Hooo? I am acting stupid, am I?"

Instantly Myles's eyes shoot open at her voice and suddenly ice-cold water drenches him and his bed. "GAH! WAIT, WAIT NO!" Is all he gets out as the comforter is suddenly ripped off him and something wraps about his ankle before lifting him up into the air. His magic pressure senses runes on a magic circle. 'Call forth a drop-'

At a quick glance, he notices Acatl floating before him with runes visible in the air while he hangs upside down. In a panic, he chants, "CONDENSE THE AIR AND REBU-" but immediately is cut off by Acatl drawing the core rune of her cantrip 'Aqua Spharea!' - "Fuin!" as ice-cold water is shot into his mouth causing him to cough and break his chant. "GAAH!"

Myles immediately looks "up" to his feet and sees that a rope connected to a ceiling fixture is wrapped around his right ankle and clicks his tongue. 'Tch! She's even using material traps!' With a quick heave "up", Myles is able to reach the rope around his ankle and force chaotic mana into his hand to trigger a minor Ignis Fatuus to explode from his palm and destroy the rope only to sense another magic circle as he falls.

'Lightning sprites strike with your electric-' Myles's eyes widen as he looks at Acatl a faint light blue magic circle formed before her. "HAKASE STOP!"

'Shock! Inpulsa Sagitta!' - "Fuin!" An arrow of light blue energy streaks the short distance between Acatl and her drenched student splayed on his bed and strikes the half-dark elf causing him to yell in pain and his body to spasm and lock up. She still wasn't done as a black magic circle formed beneath her this time chanting the entire spell while only drawing the core rune with her tail onto the magic circle.

"Twin creeping shadows, heed my call, and arrest the one before me! Cape Umbra!" – 'Darkness!' Suddenly, Myles's shadow lifted from the bed forming two black hands with arms that flipped Myles onto his stomach before grasping his wrists to the bed below him. The spasming of the previous spell stops and Myles turns his head to look back at Acatl. "HAKASE PLEASE STOP!"

Acatl floats down to Myles with a wide, mischievous grin on her face and sits on his butt. "Hmmm..? Why should I?" A light blue magic circle starts to form under them both now. 'Lightning sprites-'

"OKAY, OKAY, OKAY! I'M SORRY FOR CALLING YOU STUPID HAKASE!"

Acatl could only hum with a victorious smirk on her face as the magic circle faded away. "Ho? And for anything else?"

Myles could only narrow his eyes at her slightly and then look to the side at one of his bound wrists while grumbling.

"What was that?"

"I said, I am sorry for hanging up on you!"

Another hum emanates from Acatl as she sits on Myles's butt, looking very satisfied with a softer grin. "Good! Now then, while I have you like this…" Acatl pulls out a small knife from a pocket.

Myles's eyes widen now. "Hey! Wait Acatl!"

"Noooope!" Acatl pricks an index finger and a drop of her golden blood falls upon Myles. His falna immediately reveals itself at Acatl's urging.

Myles then scowls and speaks, "The void hungers,-" prompting Acatl's eyes to widen as a bright white magic circle forms beneath them.

"Myles?!" In response to the start of this spell, Myles's falna suddenly flares with glowing, potent light. The current values of his stats suddenly start to change, his strength and endurance starting to skyrocket as his dexterity and agility plummet.

In a quick second, Acatl's eyebrows twitch into a brief frown before she clenches her hands with her index and middle fingers protruding forward copying Myles's own technique as she jams her fingers into two different, specific pressure points on his back and surging chaotic mana into them as Myles's chant finishes. "-be filled! Devorare!"

The reaction is immediate. Ignis Fatuus trigger in multiple places within Myles causing him to gasp out in pain before the spell fails, the falna settles down, and Myles stops trying to break the shadow hands with brute force. Acatl narrows her eyes at him in worry now. "Myles… Please stop."

Myles glares back at her. "And you, please stop."

A pregnant pause grows as they both look at each other, the shadow hands still gripping Myles's wrists.

Acatl sighs heavily now. "Your fervent resistance to being updated or leveled up is incredibly worrying Myles. It's been 2 years. What are you hiding?" She levels a blank stare down at Myles.

Myles holds her stare, then looks to his bound wrist again. "It's nothing…."

Acatl's eyes narrow again at his words as another pause grows between them.

"If it's nothing then I'm updating and leveling you up. You are stagnant Myles Runa; mired by some self-reflective doubt that has festered. I refuse to let you stay this way, so I will do what I can do now." Acatl's unclenched hands now guide her index fingers in a familiar pattern on his back causing the falna to glow bright blue as its interface projects up between Acatl's hands. Myles can only grimace now and his ears droop.

The numbers of all his stats all start to rise together at a constant rate. Through this process, Acatl's eyebrows furrow as she processes the excelia that Myles has accumulated. All stats max; they are S. Her eyes twitch as she sees something new emerge through the excelia.

'He had several choices. Mage, Magic Resistance, Abnormal Resistance, Healing, Spirit Healing, Fist Fighter, and even one I had never heard of; Supreme Mage! But now… This is locked in, and I can't change it!'

A deep scowl grows on Acatl's face as Myles's status adjusts and all his stats all reset to I along with his new development ability writing itself onto his status.

'Damn you both! You hurt my prodigy and made him like this! I wish I didn't teach my kitsune to honor you! For this, I'd have declared war on you myself!'

"Hakase?" Myles had been watching Acatl's expression throughout the update and now he is very worried.

Acatl blinks and looks away from the falna to Myles. "Ah, sorry. I got lost in thought… You maxed out your stats, but your excelia forced a development ability instead of letting you pick the ones I mentioned before."

Myles then frowns. "Okay, that kinda sucks. I was really setting my heart on Supreme Mage, but okay… What development ability was forced in?"

Acatl quietly looks into his eyes as she speaks, "Spirit Pleasure."

Myles's eyes widen and his ears seem to perk up. "I...see."

At Myles's reaction, Acatl grumbles with a pout and forces the falna to return his back but doesn't hide it. With a flick of her tail and wings, Acatl floats up off Myles as the shadow hands disperse back where they belong. "You're such a troublesome apprentice Myles! If you had just stayed focused on your studies and remained true to the pursuit of magic, you could have picked your development ability. That said, the reason you could choose Supreme Mage also is… concerning." Myles can only frown as he turns around to face Acatl and rubs his wrists.

Acatl looks at him sternly and utters, "Spiritus" causing Myles's eyes to widen. "Working further on that spell is what gave you the option for Supreme Mage."

Acatl's tail whips around Myles and slaps the back of his head causing him to frown and rub his head with a "Hey!" and grumble, "Yeah…I figured as much…"

She sighs at his response and shakes her head. "I know you want to create your own Enchantment spell, but the intent of your created spell is very questionable. Your captain would love it, but your vice-captain would be very disappointed in you." At this, Myles's ears droop down again, and he looks away from Acatl.

Acatl can only sigh at Myles's reaction. "It's clear that you being here and continuing this way isn't helping you. I'm kicking you out."

Myles's eyes widen in response as his head whips back to look at Acatl. "WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'KICKING ME OUT?'" Acatl puts up a hand to silence him.

"I mean that I am kicking you out of the house. Your moping around here for 3 years has yielded nothing in terms of magic advancement and I can see that you are not happy. It's time for you to go back out into the world and find something. I've updated you to your current peak, but I am leaving your Falna unlocked in case you want to convert to another familia."

Myles could only look at her slack jawed as she explained. At her last sentence, Myles frowns. "But I don't want to leave your familia Hakase!" Acatl nods at his words and retorts, "I know, but as things are you are wasting away in your comfort zone. I won't be responsible for that. So, I need you to give the Loki Familia the Hourglass of Ire, bring back the 56 million valis, and then act as a substitute teacher for the School District until they re-fill the post. One of Idunn's teachers left the familia to return to their homeland."

Myles could only frown. "Let me guess, an elf returning to their pure homeland?"

Acatl could only shrug. "That's the gist I got. So, are you on the level Myles?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, I guess. I'll pack up my stuff and head over to Melen." Myles walks over to his dresser and puts on a simple shirt with a sigh. He begins summoning his black transparent magic circle filled to the brim with glowing white dots. I require a space of convenience. Foramen - "Fuin!" A ripple in space forms by him and Myles begins taking his belongings and inserting them into his pocket dimension.

Acatl nods at his actions and then sighs a bit. "Hopefully this is the right call… Maybe being among the student body will re-ignite his fourth and seventh skills? As he is right now, he just isn't in a suitable head space to be a mentor for Sleipnir.' Acatl regrew a grimace as she left Myles's room reflecting on his head space.

'And to think that the Astraea Familia is gone… If I dropped that tidbit on top of sending him away… I don't even want to consider what he would be like now… But, if he gets back on his feet and then learns of them and figures out I knew now….' Acatl could only sigh. 'He'll be in a better position to be stable, but he will be furious with me… I don't see a better way though…'

Another sign and groan escaped her lips as she floated back towards her chambers, exhausted. She had spent all morning figuring out this prank and intervention; she needed sleep!

10 AM - Martial Dojo - Sleipnir POV

After a short but very much needed rest Sly finally stood up. His body felt much better already, and both his arms recovered from their remaining wounds, the only damage remaining was their stiffness.

After a quick exercise with his enchanted blindfold, he also felt that his mana, while still burning slightly from drinking too many mana potions, felt only slightly uncomfortable. Another day of rest and he should be able to cast large-scale spells again.

Just as he was about to head out Sylphie stirred as well. "Good' mornin. Returned as well Sly? Did what you asked and pranked Lydia and even got my hands on some of Apollo's stuff. I am simply the greatest!" Sylphie has a wide smile on her face as she looks to Sly.

Sly smiles at her, energized by her good mood. "Indeed Sylphie-san. However, I would have preferred your aid in the dungeon. After the last few days, the number of times you can cast has increased and would have been beyond useful when I was stranded on the 15th floor."

Sylphie shakes herself awake. Eying both him and one of the gold bracelets next to her. "So, your prophecy happened… What was the brightest fallen? Was your battle grand and exciting?"

Shaking his head and nudging Sylphie with one of his tails, Sly exhales. "It was my hardest battle yet. And the brightest fallen was nothing less than a Xenos."

The fairy has already started spinning the bracelet like a hula-hoop ring looks up. "A what now? Xenos? Never heard of em."

Using his tail to take the bracelet from her, Sly asks. "Did you get spotted? It cannot have been inconspicuous when you carried off these golden rings. You might be invisible, in the second layer, but in the first, you usually hide in my Illusio, but what you carry isn't."

Slyphie ignores his comment and flies to get her treasure back. "I wasn't spotted! Some praise would be appreciated! Come on Sly! I got a ton of them in good pranks and even got to hear some stuff about their plans! You have no clue what their seer said about you, do you Sly?"

Sylphie reveals with a large grin. "So, what are you willing to pay to learn what I heard?"

Sly groans before haggling with Sylphie. She might be on his side, but even a friendly spirit couldn't resist making some deals. A few minutes later and at the promise of more tea and finding another spirit plant for his room Sly learnt about Cassandra's words.

Going down to eat breakfast Sly spotted Asuka eating a late breakfast with a new silver serpent ring on her finger. The strange thing was that she was beaming with a small smile on her face. "Asuka why are you so happy? Did something good happen while I was gone?"

Asuka eats another bite of her salad before answering in a happy tone. "I mastered the Invigorate spell! It took a lot of practice but with a little advice from Acatl-hakase I managed it."

Sly smiles as well. "Congratulations Asuka-san. With this everyone in our familia has a spell in their falna."

Asuka's smile only grows at the praise and offers to eat breakfast with him. "Ah, Acatl-hakase also wishes to speak to you this evening." Asuka eats another bite before adding. "She seemed to be very serious, so be prepared for it Sleipnir-kun."

After breakfast, he goes outside and sees the rest of his familia training with Welf. They quickly made room for him to join and after a few spars to get rid of the remaining stiffness in his arms Take took him inside alone to update his status.

~~~~~~~~ Sleipnir Alias: The Sly Blue Race: Kitsune

Level 2, Tier 2

Strength: I 0 - I 99

Endurance: I 0 - G 211

Dexterity: I 0 - H 153

Agility: I 0 - 184

Magic: I 0 - G 295

Development Abilities:

Magic Student: I - H

A Mage who favors control over brute force. Vastly increased magic control and mana capacity. Slightly increased magic power. Gives the ability to conceal magic circles of spells.

Magic:

2. Illusio: Illusion-type magic that can affect multiple senses depending on mind usage and chant length. Constantly drains the mind when in use. Strong, perceptive abilities may notice inconsistencies and break through the illusion.

Hiding trickster, oh cunning fox spirit, refracting prism, super aligning sounds, unfeeling tinge, indistinguishable fragrance, bland savour, by the father of the eight-legged horse, I command thee to affect the judgement of reality - ILLUSIO

Skills:

1. Kogitsune Magica: Naturally born to wield magic. Increases the effects of the user's magic and reduces mana usage. Selective chanting of spells to manipulate the result is easier.

2. Foxfire: Foxfire is a natural ability of spirit foxes and may be learned by any related race with enough practice. It gives natural pyrokinesis and gives access to the "Foxfire" spell to create a magical fire blue fire. The mana cost is dependent on the heat and size of the flame.

3. Enhanced Senses: Renards have an improved sense of smell, much better hearing, and slight night vision.

4. 5 ᛞᛁᛗᛖᚾᛋᛁᛟᚾ ᛃᛁᚴᚨᚾ: A mysterious skill. Can't be decoded. its name doesn't appear in hieroglyphs. ᛗᚨᛋᛏᛖᚱᚤ: [1/?] Pyrokinesis

5. Martial Artist: Increases the effect of weapons the user has trained to use and increases the power of techniques. (Naginata, Spear, Dagger, Kunai)

6. Half-Spirit of Mystery: Inclined to discovery and insatiable curiosity. They are a tried and trusted keeper and seeker of secrets. Fast growth as long as the user is true to their nature.

Techniques:

Piasu: A focused melee attack able to pierce through armour.

Jūfuku: A combination of illusion magic melee combat, the caster hides his limbs with illusions and creates realistic counterfeits of them to confuse his opponent.

Take gives him his status with deadly serious eyes. "This will stay between the two of us. Not even Chigusa will know of your newest skill."

Sly reads the papyrus with disbelieving eyes. "How can my magic stat raise that much? And that ability… Spirit of Mystery?" Sly tries the sound of it slowly. "I like it."

Take explains, "Spirits have certain aspects they preserve depending on their species, but many also carry other roles. Sylphie is a spirit of wind and can grow if she controls the winds and guides them as they should be. You on the other hand Sleipnir-kun… embody mystery. A rare type of spirit that thrives in the unknown."

Take pauses for Sly to get the importance of his next words. "I will have to confess something to you Sleipnir-kun." Sly stops reading and turns his attention to Take. "I have hidden one of your abilities to protect you. Now I see where it came from. Spirits of mystery are one of the few beings that can lie to gods, as they preserve secrets and knowledge."

'That explains so much. Take always wanted me to speak partial truths to fool gods, but from his words, it seems that it was to hide this ability.' Waving his tails in excitement Sly exclaims. "That's incredible Take! I knew something was strange with those lessons, but I didn't expect that."

Take releases a small breath he has been holding. "I am glad you understand. Now, as for your current status, continue hiding the extent of your stats when you are around other adventurers, other than our familia. Working with the Ganesha familia is one thing but showing them all your cards is a foolish notion. Even unintentionally. It's very well possible for them to give intel to the Apollo familia, and we don't want to ruin the surprise once you reveal your strength."

Sly nods as well. "Yes, from what Sylphie told me it's likely Apollo will try something soon. It will be a great benefit if he underestimates me."

Take chuckles, before turning his gaze sharper towards the end. "Of course, but is there nothing you wish to tell me?"

Blinking, Sly looks up at Takemikazuchi. 'Do I tell Take now? He is already gathering information on Apollo every day, helping in the orphanage, and most likely stayed up the entire night because of me.' Now that he focuses on it, Sly sees small black rings under Take's eyes and even a few wrinkles on his monk clothing. However, what decides his course of action is the slight uncertainty he sees in his eyes. 'I will tell him. He trusts me to keep secret from our familia, in return I need to trust him with my problems, otherwise, I won't ever be able to rely on him.'

He takes one step closer to Take and lets his tails brush against his hands. "There is one more thing I have to tell you Takemikazuchi-sama."

Take reveals a genuine smile to him. "In that case, I will listen my young kitsune of mystery."

From there a debate sparks for another ten minutes. Is it wise to continue meeting his new Xenos friend or not? It doesn't take long for our enthusiastic kitsune to convince Take; he eventually relents and gives Sly his blessing for his next meeting. In the training yard, Welf and Chigusa have been discussing a new project.

When Sly joins their discussion he is fascinated. "I'm telling you that using the golden feathers we will be able to create incredible arrows. From testing the aerodynamics of the feathers, they should cut wind resistance by at least a factor of ten!"

Chigusa continues. "Those sniper arrows will be a perfect trump card for me. I can already see it! With a normal dungeon iron arrow, I can already shoot up to 300 meters without too much trouble. If those arrows only receive a fraction of the wind resistance, I can imagine shooting them up to a kilometer! This will be the perfect chance to improve my accuracy!"

Sly butts in as well, "Fascinating! Welf, you found a way to utilize my enhanced golden feathers, from that bird already?" Sly strains his ears, but nobody should be close enough to hear. "The jack bird is almost mid-level two in agility, and that is from an enhanced level 1 monster. I am certain the feathers have a magical property that makes them pass through air!"

Welf nods eagerly. "Yes, I will make the prototypes for Chigusa! But we will test them carefully. There will, at most, be 9 arrows from the 9 feathers you got."

He then looks at Sly in annoyance. "Now why do you keep destroying my stuff? I'd think after I made you that fancy armor it would last a bit longer! I already need to mend your helmet and craft another armbrace; not to mention another 50 kunai! Those will need to be even stronger. But the blue wyvern scales… I can't wait to play with them! You said they were susceptible to temperature? The properties of the monster alloy made from them should be unique! And the high silver, together with the hellhound bones I am just about ready to start on your firestaff naginata…"

Chigusa coughs silently, distracting Welf from his tirade. "Sly-kun when will we return to the dungeon? I see the anticipation in your tails. You saw something that drew your interest and wish to return, don't you?"

Sly smiles slightly and laughs it off. "Not for a few days yet. I need to take a break and adjust to my new status update."

Welf smiles visibly at this. "Perfect timing then. I visited Hephaestus this morning and took my level up. No matter what stunt you pull next time, I'll be there to watch your back."

Chigusa is too stunned to answer, and Sly can't stop his tails from patting Welf on the shoulder. "That's amazing Welf. What were your stats you've only worked with us for a little while, but with the spirit touched skill your stats should be pretty high for a level 1."

Welf pads one of his tails. "Only asking about my stats, why not the development ability?"

Chigusa regains her wits and hugs Welf. "Obviously you chose blacksmith. So that's why you asked about my ideas for those arrows."

Nodding happily Welf agrees. "You are right Chigusa."

Sly takes his tails back. "That's great Welf. With that power boost the three of us should be able to challenge the secret passages on the middle floors. However, for now, I need to take a break. I have to catch up on some sleep, attend the evening lesson from Acatl-hakase, tell you about my status update, meet up with Misha…"

His smile grows forced at the sudden reminder. "What time is it now..?"

Welf and Sylphie grin at him at the same time. Mouthing something, but Sly is lost in his head. Until behind him, he hears a loud ahem. "Nibi-kun, it isn't nice to keep a lady waiting."

Sly whirls around so quickly that not even Chigusa catches his movement, and finds himself before Misha, who is dressed in a nice light blue dress with light green pants. A nice contrast to her pink hair and eyes now that he is looking at her. Causing him to lose his focus again. "You wouldn't have happened to forget about our date would you Nibi-kun?"

Misha smiles at him with a smile of pure concern, however, Welf, Chigusa, and Sylphie feel a shudder go down their spines at the implication of her tone. Chigusa decides to save her brother before he can make the situation worse. She bows slightly to her and answers for Sly. "Misha-san, nice to see you here on this wonderful Saturday. Sly was just about to change his clothing. We all are a little behind our schedule because Takemikazuchi took our training more seriously today."

In her mind Chigusa prays. 'Please forgive me Takemikazuchi-sama. I need her alone to explain what happened to brother.'

Misha's smile turns a little warmer towards Sly. "Then I will have a short discussion with your deity Nibi-kun. Meet me in ten minutes after you've gotten ready. It was wonderful to see you two again and thank you for taking care of Sly."

Mika quickly turns on her heels and leaves Sly to his party. Welf doesn't give him time to ask questions and pushes him towards the Martial Dojo. "We'd better get you ready. You don't want to keep a woman waiting!"

Chigusa can only shake her head. "Brother is far too dense when it comes to recognizing the cues of women. I'd better catch up quickly."

With fast steps, Chigusa follows after Misha towards the little dojo beside their manor. Sylphie who had been watching the entire interaction decides to follow Chigusa. If she went with Sly, he would likely just rely on her for advice. This was something he would have to learn on his own.

After catching up Chigusa adds. "Please forgive Sly-nii for forgetting Misha-san. He only returned in the early morning. He was separated from us and had to rely on his magic beyond what was reasonable."

Misha looks at her in awe. "I am sensing a story of an adventure! I will ask him all about it during our date." Her expression returns to one of amusement. "What about Takemikazuchi-sama holding you up? Was that purely an excuse to give Sly time to prepare?"

Chigusa giggles slightly. "Well, we only stopped training 20 minutes ago. Take then took Sly to get a status update, so technically he is the reason Sly isn't ready yet."

Misha shakes her head. "I'll accept it this once, but this better not become a habit!"

Martial Dojo - Sleipnir POV

Without leaving any room for debate, Welf took him to the bath and pushed him into Mikoto's heated baths which resembled an onsen.

Once out of the onsen's water Sly wasted no time and called forth his foxfire to dry his fur. Welf gave him an appraising nod while pushing his hair back to keep it out of his eyes and onto his shoulders. They quickly made their way to Sly's room.

There Welf opened his wardrobe and quickly discovered his elegant leaf-green robe for formal events, which to Sly's horror he gave to him with a laugh. "Welf, do I really have to wear that? That's my formal wear used for rituals and public gatherings!"

Welf shoves it into his hands. "Of course you do! Misha invited you on a date man! You saw her clothes; it would be rude to appear underdressed!"

Scowling, Sly takes his robe and changes into it and mutters, "This better be a one-time thing! You know this thing cost a fortune!"

Welf picks up on his bad mood. "Come on dude it's only a robe. You already wear fancy cloaks for protection, what's the difference between the two?"

Sly sighs. "One offers protection, the other is worn for formal events!"

Welf scratches his hair, thinking. "You know Sly. You might need another point of view on this date." Sly slows putting on his robe to listen. "You lack experience Sly. You think too much about what you say in public and are always guarded, this could be the perfect chance to try and relax. You know, live it up? Misha probably saw that and decided to show you some of the things you miss out on."

With that, he finishes his clothing in silence. Thinking about Welf's words while his tails sway calmly.

Once outside again Misha complimented Sly with an amused smile. "Nice to see you dressed up Nibi-kun. The green has a nice contrast to your blue fur."

His tails sway in embarrassment, almost hiding behind him from Misha's gaze on his clothes. "It is nothing much Misha. I'd much rather wear something more practical than something so blatantly expensive."

Sly takes a moment to examine her own light blue dress, below which she wore fine green pants, the opposite of his own robe and pants. "Your own apparel suits you well and highlights your pink hair and eyes."

Misha smiles and takes one of his hands. "Thank you Nibi-kun. Well, we better get going! I'm going to show you a few of the sights and important places around the city."

They quickly leave the Martial Dojo, moving further away from Daedalus Street and towards the western wall of Orario. The first sight Misha showed him was Orario's Amphitheatron. "This is one of the oldest parts of Orario. After the dungeon was first sealed, the first houses sprung up in Daedalus Street, and this Amphitheater followed in the third year after the sealing."

Sly observes the silent building. "It is very quiet. I would have thought more would be happening in it. This is a city of adventurers and there are no spars or games between familia."

Misha corrects. "Not quite. They are rare, but some war games happened in the Amphitheater. In my lessons, I heard that back in the day Zeus and Hera used the arena to promote training between their members. They often made it a public event to let their adventurers rise in popularity."

She looks through the empty stands with a sad smile. "The stories this old arena could tell. The most common event nowadays is the Monster Philia led by Ganesha."

Misha notes that Sly's focus zooms in on her, with these words. "I love a good history lesson. To think legendary adventurers like Zald and Alfia once stood in this arena. And what about this Monster Philia?"

She exclaims. "You really shouldn't speak about them as such! They might have been classified as legendary adventurers with monstrous talent but after the events 4 years ago you will find little sympathy for them."

Misha shakes her head and continues. "Back to the present. Ganesha hosts a yearly event in early summer. He brings up monsters from the Middle Floors to show his monster tamers and make a giant show out of battles between them. It's an exciting time every year."

Sly's eyes remain focused on her for a few more seconds, while his tail relaxes. "Unfortunate that I missed it. It would have been informative. The entries I could have added to my dungeon journal…"

'I wonder why Ganesha-sama would go through the trouble of bringing monsters to the surface. Well, he is a little goofy, but his appearance hides a keen intellect. I wonder…does he know…?'

Without missing a beat Misha leads him on. "How are you getting along with those anyway? The last time you updated me on them you were just starting on the Middle Floors."

This leads to a longwinded explanation about all the monsters Sly encountered in Cave Labyrinth. 'I will tell her about the enhanced monsters.'

Thus, Sly entertained her with a recollection of his battles until they climbed to the top of Orario's wall. Misha was a little out of breath but kept her pace fast to Sly's delight. "We are above the eastern gate of Orario. Can you see the road ahead Sly?"

Watching out to the horizon, Sly indeed saw the road made from pathed stones and stretching towards the horizon. With his keen sight, Sly saw a forest beginning on the horizon.

"It leads towards the Soelo Forest, the Alf Mountain, and lastly Alf Royal Forest. The field in front of us is tended to by Demeter and her familia." Misha explains.

Sly looks out with a difficult-to-read look. "I know. Amusingly, dwarves inhabit the Alf Mountain range. Ouka-san was a dwarven traveler before he settled with Take. Apparently, the dwarves and high elves argue constantly, but due to the cool head of the dwarven lord in charge of Alf Mountain, they manage to evade conflict."

Misha corrects. "That is somewhat true, but there is another reason. The dwarven lord Kashima in that mountain is the only level 3 in both countries. His mere presence makes the elves wary of escalating their conflict with the dwarves."

Sly rebutts her. "That isn't the entire truth from what I've heard. It's an unstable power balance. While Kashima is the strongest entity in the area, elves have their trump cards, like their ritual spells. They could seriously harm the lord in a battle and decimate his troops. However, both sides maintain that balance to keep peace."

Sly frowns and his tails droop. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the Far East."

Misha stops Sly taking his hand some. "Nibi-kun, you don't have to speak about it if you don't want to. The situation in the Far East is nothing like the mainland with Orario and the School District to stop fights from getting out of hand."

Sly looks at her with a distant look. "I think I should, I fear what I might do if Apollo forces us to a wargame. I saw the worst of the Far East. Every familia is on its own in the East. Wars between noble families led by deities are a common occurrence.

…

The loyalties of families, of gods, and even the civilians are a fickle thing. Everyone looks out for themselves first and no tactic is too extreme. There are familias of ninjas, samurai, and even assassins in the East. Without stealth and sufficient strength, you get nowhere.

Those strong enough call themselves nobles and can do as they wish to the weaker familias. If fights break out there is nothing but the strength of the familia captains protecting their god. If the opposing familia can sneak around your familia and abduct your god to send them back to Tenkai with their own, they will do so. If they need to ambush them in their sleep, it happens. If they need to take an entire village of civilians hostage…"

Sly returns his gaze to her with a furious resentful gaze. "The East is rotting in corruption and nobles care for nothing but their power. The only bright side to it is that the two primary factions keep each other in a gridlock, or it could be much worse. One such faction is led by Amaterasu-sama and called the Taiyo Faction. Takemikazuchi-sama is a member of this faction, but our small familia never was high ranking. The greatest supporters of Amaterasu are Sujin with his strong familia, and Okuninushi who keeps her nobles working together to protect their territory.

The Arashi Faction, led by Fujin, opposes Amaterasu. His greatest supporters are Raijin and Sobek. They are ruled by the strongest and have many noble families on their side. Each just wishes to further their power under the rule of the malevolent gods. Fujin has the appearance of an oni and is the only deity besides Amaterasu with a level 4 captain. Raijin and Sobek have the appearance of a dragonoid and lizardman respectively.

…

My greatest problem with both factions is that they still believe their nobles are better than the civilians. The Amaterasu members are hailed as champions of the gods, who protect the people. But behind the charade they rule with an iron fist to uphold their standing. As for the Arashi faction, they are even worse. When the Taiyo faction at least protects their civilians under the image of heroes, the Arashi faction enforces their rule with the fear of retribution and treats their civilians little better than labor slaves to be distributed to the strongest. And in the land neither faction controls civil war between familia are the rule and not the exception."

Misha listens carefully before asking. "You know a lot about the East Nibi-kun. Where did you learn all that? I am certain nobody in your familia besides Takemikazuchi-sama knows as much as you do about the situation in the East."

Sly looks away from her. "My formal education doesn't matter. I have left that behind. What matters now is that the Apollo familia behaves just as the Arashi faction did. Might does not make right, but without the strength to protect what matters to me it will end the same way."

Before Sly can continue his tirade, Misha grips his hand tighter and smiles at him. "In that case, it's good that you are already plenty strong. If we go from your monster ranking, I would qualify you as at least mid-level 2 already."

"I'm not that strong Misha, my stats only just scratching mid-level 2."

Misha counters. "That would be the case if you didn't max your stats. Remember I'm your advisor and have seen them. With your level 1 stats you might even get close to high level 2 already. Don't sell yourself short Blue. Plus, together with your intellect, I doubt the Apollo familia can get around you and Takemikazuchi."

Sly smiles back unsurely, but still asks in a worried tone and both his ears focused on her. "But what happens if they catch us by surprise and we don't have time to plan?"

Misha laughs at this. "In that case just make time for you to plan. I mean you managed to find shelter in the Middle Floors to plan your return, why shouldn't you manage the same with them?"

The smile on his face gets more genuine. "Thank you, Misha. Sometimes I forget that I need to take things as they come."

They left the eastern wall and headed back into the city. Misha leads them through a little-known path through Daedalus Street. On the way, they bought jagamarukun when Misha asked Sly. "Hey, Nibi-kun... With all these many times you've asked me for information or discretion, some could see that as just an excuse you know?"

"Misha, what do you mean by that? Friends can ask for help, and even if you did not consider me as one, as my advisor I'd still be able to ask you for friendly advice, wouldn't I?" Sly asks, while cutely letting his ears drop to the side and looks at her with a slight tilt.

"Indeed they can Nibi-kun..." Misha leans forward a bit, bringing their faces closer with a wry grin. "But when you are able to change form so easily and choose to look the same... Well... I think we can reach a simple conclusion, can't we?"

"That I do not need to hide? At least more than I usually do. Or is this a return of asking me to walk around without a disguise Misha?" Sly asks confusedly.

Misha giggles at his confusion while taking a path he knows. "No, I usually don't mind your disguises. They lead to interesting rumors, but I am happy you didn't use one today. Now we're almost at the scribe's teahouse. Chigusa told me you haven't spent too much time exploring Orario, so I decided to show you one of the few quiet places in the city."

They enter the district I AM GANESHA is in and quickly take a side passage towards a little unassuming cafe nestled close to the familia quarters. "I am a regular at this teahouse. I often borrow books from the library to read here in peace. It's a nice place to delve into a book."

They enter the doors and seat themselves at one of the empty tables. The chairs are very comfortable and Sly felt himself relaxing at once. "You like reading Misha? What books are you most interested in?"

Misha took her seat before him and simply waved a waiter over. "Nothing too serious. Mostly stories and myths. Nothing beats reading about the escapades of the greatest heroes. When I was younger, I dreamed of getting famous myself, but I was in over my head. Knowing the lightning arrow, terraform and light cantrip helped, but in the end, I lacked the courage to push farther."

Sly listened carefully. "I didn't know you were an adventurer before. What was your familia if are willing to answer?"

Misha answers lightly. "Most likely not a familia you know of. I was a member of the Idunn familia. One of the four deities leading the School District. I was around high-level 1 when I left the familia to join the guild."

His tails wave in uncertainty, moving to and fro below the sightline of Misha because of the table. 'Should I assure her, or speak about my own experience? I have no idea what to say!' Even looking around doesn't give him much inspiration. Only a few librarians with books and guards eating an early lunch are present.

In a slow and somber tone Sly answers. "It's an ugly truth, but not everything works out for us… It's what makes us mortal... Even gods can make mistakes because there is no preparation for every eventuality. At least you found a place for yourself, where you fit in."

Misha returns the conversation in a more jovial direction. "Yes, there always is something to learn, which is why it's wonderful to have such a large library accessible to the public. For example, Nibi-kun, just recently I found out about an interesting development ability some of the stronger mages have. I bet you wouldn't discover its name on your own!"

The subject change instantly grabs Sly's attention. "I like a good challenge. I am certain I can find it!"

She only smiles at him, before explaining. "Any Development ability that is about magic is a viable option, so let's see which abilities you know of Nibi."

Sly starts guessing instantly. "From it being a magical Development Ability Mage and Rune Mage are obvious." Misha looks startled at him, however he misses it and continues. "Then there are magic resistance and spirit healing my teacher mentioned to me."

Misha has regained her smile. "Come on Sly that can't be everything."

Sly frowns. "I think there was a stronger version of spirit healing, chain casting and mystery if you count it as a mage ability. Although, it's a little rare in Orario…"

By now many of the surrounding scribes are listening to him closely. Misha notices this and loudly ahems them to silence. "Okay, those were very rare. I didn't even know about two of them. But the ability I was searching for was Archmage. It is always related to a magic attribute and is only obtainable from level 4 onward. It requires a high affinity for an element and a very high magic stat."

Sly can only listen in wonder. "Incredible. No, wonder I haven't heard of it, when its limited to such strong adventurers."

Misha smiles and watches a few scribes begin heated discussions of their own, while bidding the server for their bill. "Now then Nibi-kun, shall we move to the library? I'd like to show you some of my favourite works."

Sly nodded, paid for their drinks and they left the still chuckling guards behind. The remaining evening Sly showed Misha the books in the public library he had been reading to learn the history of Hera and Zeus, while Misha showed him to the fictional section of the library.

As the sun began dipping below the outer walls of Orario Sly brought Misha back to her small home close to the hostess of fertility.

7 PM - Study of the Martial Dojo - Sleipnri POV

With all his focus on the task Sly once more started chanting. Today was the day. "Hiding trickster, oh cunning fox spirit, refracting prism." Around him his mana pressure skyrocketed, creating a feeling akin to static electricity just wanting to get out of control. But with his training, Sly reigned in his magic and kept it completely stable, while a white circle began forming below his feet.

"Super aligning sounds, by the father of the eight-legged horse, I command thee to affect the judgement of reality." The magic circle formed a perfect circle below his feet, but Sly kept his hold for a moment longer. Then within the next 10 seconds, black lines appeared on the white spell circle, combining and forming a complex layer of runes slowly spinning on the magic circle.

With the circle complete Sly finished his spell. "ILLUSIO!"

The white circle turned invisible, and a dome formed around Sly stretching over the entire room and beyond. To his current limit at a radius of 17 meters. It only cost him around one-fourth of his mana capacity, but for covering two senses it was well worth it.

Acatl and Sylphie stood in front of him observing the entire procedure. "Not bad my student. Still takes you a little too long to form the perfect magic circle in combat but with enough practice, you should get there."

Sly listened without using his control over his illusion, just maintaining it. Acatl continues, "A magic circle can be formed with the help of any mage ability, but still takes some practice to perfect. With a perfect magic circle, the mana cost of a spell is reduced by around 1/2. It also makes your magic more stable and more difficult to disrupt with Ignis Fatuus."

Now Acatl was smiling at him with her fangs. "Additionally, it's one of the conditions to unlock the rune magic spell. The other condition would be to know all the basic runes to complete a cantrip. Lucky you, I already had you memorize the runes for the 8 basic cantrips.

'That training was horrible. I thought I had good calligraphy, but who would have expected the hieroglyphs behind rune magic to be dependent on the perfect position of every single brush stroke!'

Acatl continues. "Now that you know both we can start teaching you rune magic. Rune magic is a very dangerous, but also powerful art. It does what your falna does for you on your falna spells. Every spell circle you can summon with your falna always has runes in it to bind the magic into reality. Even spells cast without one, still carry the essence of the runes within and thus follow the path orchestrated by your falna.

Now rune magic goes the other way around. Instead of beginning with the spell, it starts with the Core Rune. It is a very fundamental rune for learning cantrips. In our case we'll begin with the Core Rune for the gravity magic attribute, which can have countless meanings on its own, which need to be defined with a chant, and, like any other spell, the Cantrip Name comes at the very end. Now watch closely, I'll guide you through the process.

Any Novice Rune Mage can cast cantrips even without falna, so let's begin there. First, let me show you how to infuse your mana into ink, and then we can start drawing the gravity Core Rune."

Without further ado, Acatl grabbed two inkpots and pushed Sly to take a seat beside her with a handwave and her wind. "Watch closely Sly, I will only show this once."

Acatl put her one hand slightly above her inkpot and then with a little move his magic pressure felt how Acatl's mana was slowly washing from her and into the ink. The concentrated mana took on a slightly green hue as it traveled through the air before the ink greedily absorbed all of it.

"This exercise is a little different from the mana control exercise you used with the leaf. Instead, you release mana from your hand until the ink won't accept anymore."

To emphasize her words, Acatl let the slow flow of mana turn into a torrent. The ink stopped absorbing after merely another few seconds and Acatl stopped. Behind them, Sylphie was quietly creating wind strings. "Now, it's your turn Nibi-kun."

With a deep breath, Sly focused. 'I saw it. I can already release mana from my hand when I cast Foxfire. Now I only need to do it without the chant.'

With a little nudge, Sly moved a little of his mana to his right hand and placed it over his inkpot. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and imagined his mana leaving his hand and moving down. His mana pressure acutely aware of the mana leaving his hand and following his mental commands to flow towards the ink.

In comparison to Acatl, his mana had a teal hue, but the amount flowing from his hand was almost imperceptible compared to Acatl. It was only about as much as a single foxfire cast cost him.

Acatl spoke up. "Now use a little more mana."

Following her words Sly first doubled the output. However, it was still far less than Acatl used at first, so he increased it further. At first, his mana capacity barely reacted but after a minute of continuously releasing more mana Sly started getting concerned. 'I used a fourth of my mana. How much mana can a single ink pot require!?'

It continued for around another minute before the ink pot finally accepted no more. "What in Genkai!? That took a third of my mana capacity!"

Acatl smiled in return. Already with a brush and paper in hand. "Another reason it's better to wait till somebody is level 2 before teaching rune magic. Now, look closely. I want you to draw the Core Rune for Attractio Fortis."

With a flourish, Acatl draws the 'Gravity' Core Rune on her paper with perfect brush strokes. She picks up the paper, turns to him grinning like a loon, and calls out, "The omnipotent force calls you! Attractio Fortis!"

With a loud shriek, Sylphie is dragged from her position behind them into Acatl's hand, where the now rune-free paper lies. "Evil goddess! Release me now!"

"As you can see you can activate cantrips even without the falna spell. This is the novice level of casting and very mana-extensive, so you'd better measure how many attempts you can make before you run out of mana."

Sly looks at the piece of paper in excitement. Without any further probing, he takes up his brush and draws the Core Rune for the gravity cantrip. His rune looks neat, but very rushed compared to Acatl's perfect rune. "Is this good enough Hakase?"

Acatl had been throwing Sylphie from one hand to the other with repeated cantrips and had not looked at his writing. "Yeah, it's good enough. It will take some more mana if your runes aren't perfect, but that can wait. The object you call must be within a ten-meter radius."

Sly looks around the room. 'What should I call? It would be interesting to call Sylphie, but that would only further annoy her. No, I need to call something Acatl isn't expecting.'

Sly picks up his paper and repeats the Cantrip Chant he heard Acatl call. "The omnipotent force calls you! Attractio Fortis!" – 'Gravity!'

There is quiet until Acatl throws Sylphie behind her laughing loudly, even falling to the floor. "Ha, that was hilarious Nibi! You need to give the paper enough mana. The mana in the ink only allows the runes to use mana, doesn't empower it."

With red ears and some annoyance, Sly repeats. "The omnipotent force calls you! Attractio Fortis!" This time he feeds the paper as much mana as it takes and it takes almost 1/20 of his mana. But once the rune is empowered the still giggling Acatl is pulled from the floor and dragged towards his hand.

'Wait, how am I gonna catch her? I'm still sitting at the table!'

He should have thought that through, because Acatl hurdled at him at a speed comparable to his own, and he reflexively caught her with his tails. Unfortunately, sitting as he was, the momentum carried over and both of them crashed into the wooden table, breaking it clean in half.

This caused the ink bottles to fall with them.

Acatl sees this and quickly draws more runes into a clear purple spell circle. 'The omnipotent force repulses you! Attractio Fortis!' - "Fuin!"

The ink bottles are pushed away from Acatl's cantrip, and instead of breaking, land on the other side of the room without spilling.

Sylphie who saw all this, saw her chance to finally prank Acatl. She uses the wind wires she conjured earlier to drag forward small potion bottles, filled to the brim with very sticky tree sap. To add to the effect, she also takes hold of bottles filled with glitter she "lent" from one of the shops in Orario.

First, the tree sap is thrown toward her, followed by the glitter. Both are on a direct ark towards the goddess's feathered wings.

She merely smiles. "Not so fast little fairy!" With both hands, Acatl starts writing two cantrips on magic circles while rolling from Sly and getting to her feet behind him. With one hand she writes, 'The omnipotent force calls you! Attractio Fortis.' And with the other hand she writes, 'Condense the air and rebuff the invaders! Ventus Falcem.' Followed by the chant, "Fuin."

The first cantrip grips Sylphie and drags her towards her prank. The other one creates a large windblast that pushes everything away from Acatl. This includes the sap, the glitter, and even Sly.

A large crash later and Sylphie lays on the ground covered in sap and sparkling, while Acatl stands on her feet with a fanged grin. "Not bad Sylphie-chan! You almost got me."

Sylphie only manages to moan and is barely able to move, everything is sticking together. "Damn it. Sly why didn't you interrupt her!"

He only just managed to get back on his feet and looked around in annoyance. "Really now? Did both of you need to play this prank in my study room? My table is ruined, and all my books are filled with glitter!"

Sylphie stretches her tongue towards him and dumps the last vial of glitter over his head. All his fur sparkles in a faint silver hue when moving.

Acatl laughs at their antics in bemusement. "Well done both of you…" Then she adopts a serious expression. "Sleipnir, we better get back to work. You still need to practice that cantrip. Now that you managed to cast the novice version, the next step is to learn the Auxiliary Runes. Next you can skip the chant and go right to the cantrip name when casting. At that step, you'll be doing all that on one of your spell circles."

Sly pushes his annoyance down and leaves Sylphie stuck to the ground. "Yes, Acatl-hakase. What do I have to do?"

She creates another large spell circle in front of her and holds it stable. "You need to conjure a neutral spell circle purely from your mana without casting one of your spells. From there, you need to maintain it while you draw your runes onto its surface."

She shows him this by slowly drawing first the Core Rune at the very center of her spell circle, followed by three Auxilary Runes in a triangle around it.

"With the beginner way of casting cantrips, the long chant becomes obsolete, instead we only need the Cantrip Name and the 4 runes you can see here. 'The omnipotent force calls you!' "Attractio Fortis!" – 'Gravity!' One of the inkpots returns to her hand.

Putting it down she turns to Sly with a smug smile. "This is the way to cast the Beginner level of rune magic. After it will be the Adept level, where you will unlock the Fuin spell on your falna. Now then shall we continue?"

Sly looks at the inkpot in wonder. 'How many levels are there in rune magic? Acatl didn't say anything besides Fuin when she used her cantrips during our fall. This will be a long lesson…'

Thus, Sly continued drawing runes. He spent the next hour creating magic circles without any of his spells. They were a calming teal color and were stable, at the very least till he touched them with his fingers to draw runes.

Acatl gave him no further tips, besides showing him her demonstration again. "If you can't even figure out how to draw runes on your magic circle, then you can forget about getting the spell."

Instead, she used yet another basic cantrip to free Sylphie from her predicament. 'Call forth a drop and release its flow! Aqua Spharea' - "Fuin!" As its name would indicate, it summons a 0.5-meter sphere of magical water to hurl at the user's whim. However, Acatl used it to wash Sylphie from the tree sap.

She quickly left afterward to take a bath and free herself from the remaining glitter. As Sylphie left, Asuka happened to be walking in the hall. Asuka blinked as a strange glittering shape flew in front of her. She then looked where it came from and saw a glittering Sly and Acatl training, before following the floating glitter.

Sly continued for another hour until he managed to hold his spell circle stable and draw his first rune on it with his right index finger and a very tiny drip of mana like he used to convert the ink. The rune came out as a very shaky monstrosity, but for the first time drawing in free air, it wasn't too bad.

Acatl didn't think so, as she looked at it in confusion, but urged him to continue. The second rune broke his circle, but after getting it once it only took him another hour until he managed to get all four in a shaky but recognizable pattern.

Without much time left for his magic circle, Sly instantly started chanting. The omnipotent force calls you! "Attractio Fortis!" – 'Gravity' He aimed his hand at one of his books and as the spell circle faded, the book floated into his outstretched hand at a snail's pace. Once it reached his hand, he picked it up and slumped to the ground.

'That was close. Keeping a magic circle stable constantly drained almost my entire mana capacity. At least the cantrip only costs about a fifth of the cost it has when drawn on paper.'

Acatl stood beside him with a grin. "Well done. With this, Nibi-kun, you can call yourself a Beginner rune mage."

Breathing heavily and not quite concentrated on her Sly answers. "Oh, good. Beginner rune mage. It isn't as if there were 7 other cantrips I'll have to learn."

Acatl chuckles. "Well, learning the other 7 basic cantrips will be up to you Sly-kun. You have been one of the most unique disciples I've had the pleasure of teaching. Unfortunately, I have to return to Altena. I already pushed it back considerably to teach you personally."

Back on his feet, Sly looks at her in sadness and shock. Even his tails and ears drooped down. "What! Why!? You can't just leave without notice! I knew this was coming, but I thought you would stay at least a little longer and teach me the adept level of rune magic before leaving?"

Acatl shakes her head and rubs his ears while levitating in front of him. "Sadly, that won't be possible. If you hadn't been in Take's familia I'd have offered you a place in my familia, but I can't do that to him; He's a good deity."

Sly looks even sadder at these words. "I… understand. What should I do from here? Can I teach Chigusa and my newest friend about magic control?"

Acatl smiles with her teeth. "You may, but see to it that they take an oath with you to not teach it further without my express permission. Chigusa might be confused, but seeing how you handled Ikuchi-chan it shouldn't be too difficult to get him to agree."

Sly is stunned for a moment before he moves forward and hugs Acatl. Tears were barely visible from the corners of his eyes, but Sly kept them at bay. "I will miss you Acatl."

She faintly lands and keeps her posture stable while holding him with her tail. "Now, now young kitsune. There is no reason to be sad. I might not be here, but I shall leave something for you to contact me should you ever need it. I will also send one of my familia members to look after you and continue your training."

Sly only hugs her harder and holds her with both of his tails, a few tears escaping him against his will. "Thank you Acatl. You have been a great teacher… Take does his best, but he can't grasp magic like we do. It's always hard to explain things to him, but you just know how it feels. I haven't had such a connection to anyone since my first magic teacher Sadao Shimizu…"

Acatl leaves Sly's grasp and begins to draw a series of runes behind her with the tips of her wings. 'I require a space of convenience. Foramen' – "Fuin!" Before pulling out two items. One is like a small white glass orb and another an old tome with silver embellishments. Some of them look to represent functioning core runes.

With her tail, she pulls Sly directly in front of her before floating both items in between them with a flourish of her wings. She gives Sly a sad smile. "I already left a few gifts for the other members of your familia. Even Take received one, old fool that he is, he sought to deny me at first. Now it's your time Sly."

Acatl gestures with her right hand at the small glass bead. "This item, only you shall receive. It's an occulus. An ingenious magic item based upon the Core Rune of space to connect different coordinates of reality and allow communication from any distance. If you are determined enough, you might even find its inventor in this city."

The glass bead floats towards him and Sly slowly takes it with the utmost care, afraid of breaking the valuable bead. "I don't know what to say Hakase…"

Acatl silences him with a wave of her hand, before levitating the tome in front of him. "Not quite done Nibi. As for the second item. This is a creation of my own, truly one of a kind. Not the most sophisticated piece, but the most fitting one I found for your nature. This tome holds the potential to carry infinite pages. The only limiting factor is you. You may continue your dungeon journal within, or you may make it an infinite diary, or even write upon the history of mortals, spirits, deities…"

Acatl gives him a small wink. "Or if you're smart about it, all of them. Give it a drop of your blood and mana and it will be bound to you and only you may decide which page appears before you. Anyone else would find the pages at random. Making it close to impossible to use it against you, wouldn't you say?"

Sly accepts the book with trembling hands. His magic sense is screaming at him, due to the ridiculous amount of mana concentrated within it. Almost without thought Shadoudansa slides into his hand and his thumb is nicked. A single drop of his blood drops onto the tome and immediately Sly feels a bond of some kind form between him and the artifact before him. For lack of a better way to describe the sensation that washes over Sly, it feels right; as if it was always meant to be in his possession. With the sensation, the ridiculous aura of mana vanishes from the tome, leaving behind the memory of what it can become and a single term.'Archive!'

With a sudden headache and more tears streaming from his eyes Sly bows deeply to Acatl. "I do not know how to thank you enough Acatl-hakase. With your guidance, I finally found something I truly love. To discover magic, and understand our world. Be it the dungeon, the first layer, the second layer, all of Genkai, or even Tenkai. I will learn all I can and always stand beside those I cherish."

Acatl beams at him. "Good! There will always be conflict and pain in this world. But if you just stay passionate about what you love, your will can stand the unrelenting pass of time!"

Take slowly walks into the room with his hands interlaced and a frown on his face when he sees the two of them. "Acatl-sama. I see you continue feeding Sly's ambitions, leaving me to temper them with realism."

He placed a steady hand on Sly's shoulder. "But who am I to tell you off on your last day with us? I will miss you old hag, you should visit more regularly."

Acatl just laughs and when she sees the other familia members entering behind Take and she winks at Asuka. "Too true! Now for the rest of you, I didn't get to train you too much, but practice the runes I showed you this morning. My apprentice will start teaching you until my professor comes along with the School District. Now, what would be a farewell without a show!?"

The white-winged lizard woman beckons them back and the wind picks them up gently. Taking up a straight position and laughing in glee, Acatl begins drawing runes onto a series of magic circles. All connected at the edges, the largest below her feet, with 3 floating around her, Acatl, with graceful movements, her hands, feet, and tail all start drawing runes on all four magic circles at once!

On the bottom one a huge rune takes shape that connects with the three smaller circles, each carry a collection of Core Runes in the center and multiple Auxilary Runes all around. Then with a manic smile, the three floating spell circles shine brightly, move to surround the one below her feet, and fuse into one twice the original size.

Acatl looks at each of them, stretches her wings to show their full wingspan, and shouts. "We shall meet again Takemikazuchi familia. FUIN!"

A crack into endless darkness erupts by Acatl slurping her up and a moment later the room returns to normal. Sly, still sobbing slightly, excuses himself to his room staring blankly at the occulus and infinite journal. He looked at them for an undiscernible amount of time until he made up his mind and forged his sadness into determination.

'Yet another teacher had to leave. I swear I will stay in contact. I haven't heard from Sadao-san since he left, but this time I still have a connection to Acatl! I won't lose anyone else!'

Author's Note

Explanation of the new skill. Basically, Half-Spirit of Mystery works as one would imagine, but Sly's extallia gain now scales directly to how much progress he makes in the dungeon/journal/studies and so forth. If he discovers something big, like I don't know, the existence of Xenos, then he will get a status update that would make Bell envious, on the other hand, if he fights the same monsters without finding anything new he will get about the same as the rest of the Take familia.