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, and all the others.

Speech: "Is there a way to write spells down with rune magic for others to use?"

Thoughts: 'No, I don't think there is. Under normal circumstances, only the mage that writes the runes can activate them.' Shimizu thinks in thought.

Screaming/Demonic Voice: "What would be an exception?"

Magic: "There once was an item, greatly favoured by Rune Mages, however, its power was too great. Thus Acatl limited its supply! - Universal Ink!"

Runes: Runic spells drawn with it. Wielded by any mage, even novices at that. Quite problematic, once those who study it, irrevocably targetted as the demand grew. Into enemies eyes it fell. Dubius Demand! - Fuin!"

Writing: 'Thus a stop was put to it before Quetzalcoatl's enemies could use her own exports against her.'

Chapter 23 Pure Light, Distorted Light, and Fallen Light

Undefined Time - Riveria - Xander POV

'This plan is stupid.' Carrying a large zanbato on his back over his outfit, Xander and his Captain proceeded forward on the 18th floor. He could only narrow his eyes dressed in a cloak obscuring the majority of his and her features.

Without guild supervision crime was as active as one would imagine in the Dungeon; only with thorough reports from adventurers could accusations be levied against others. Even then, there was no investigative branch that regularly followed up on those leads. Such was the consequence of the loss of the Hera and Zeus familias 12 years ago and then the Astraea familia two years prior.

The cloaked individuals entered the hidden shaft below the giant tree in the center of Rivira. The paths were constantly changed, and without an inside agent neither the guild nor the Ganesha familia could do anything to this place. The few that could enter were almost exclusively scribes, who made an agreement with the Lelantus familia.

Once they were deep below the roots of the tree Xander tensed, putting a hand in front of his captain to stop her. A second later a black-robed figure stood before them. They wore a black mask with two superimposed kanji, for shadow and air, their familia symbol. 'The Lelantus familia, the God of moving unseen. It's always scary how good they are at hiding.'

The robed figure examined them as if they were pieces of meat to be dissected. Xander frowned in confusion as the figure pulled out a black lens and used it to take another look at them. They then declared, "Apollo. Captain and vice-captain. Vouched for by Ikelos. You may enter." Xander's eyes widened. 'What the hell?!'

Without any pause, the shadow dissolved into darkness again and the faint feeling of mana disappeared from the surroundings. Xander couldn't help it anymore. "Scary how effective their spells are. Ya think we could get one of those lenses?"

The second figure hissed at him. "Be quiet! We can't act arrogantly here. The Lelantus familia won't help us if we get into any trouble. We should act fast and use our magic stones before somebody decides we aren't strong enough to keep them! There are enough level 3's here, and even if I'm all for a rough round, overdoing it here is nothing but foolish."

Properly warned, Xander remained quiet. As they went past another row of roots and finally found a medium-sized cavern surrounded by roots, they found wooden stands which were hastily built, and many robed figures moving around. In the stands, any number of products could be found. The prices were very high, but without guild supervision, anything could be found if you had the cash.

The vendors were robed like most people in the crowd and always kept an eye on their wares. No guard was in sight, but with the Lelantus familia that likely wasn't the case.

Lydia led him through the first cavern past the stands that sold many rare items such as quality weapons, sometimes even with an enchantment or a rune of unknown origin. However, the truly magical stuff that couldn't be bought in Orario was in a separate cavern.

The second cavern was far larger and focused on slavery. Rare demi-humans, like weretigers were bound in chains and sold to the highest bidder. In another corner, a horde of monsters was sold to a group of amazons that did nothing to hide their appearance. Most of the monsters were from the Deep Floors and the seller didn't bother hiding either, he was a large guy with a wicked red spear and orange goggles.

'To think Apollo-sama made use of this in the past.' The barbarous act made his stomach churn, but he had no power to stop it and Lydia wouldn't help him if he pushed the issue. Back when he was a soldier for the Empire, he would have squashed such lawlessness, but here most adventurers were higher leveled than him and even Lydia who was only a feat away from level 3 wasn't their equal. Any missteps or a wrong comment could mean death if the wrong adversary was met and that was if they were lucky. In the Dungeon, there were many uses these people could find for them if they were captured.

He takes a step closer to Lydia and whispers so that her level two senses can barely hear his words. "Captain. Where should we search for the items?"

The cloak shifted a little as a steady female voice answered. "You go to the cavern filled with magical items. Do not expect a low price, but if you see something our familia could use, feign disinterest before bargaining a little, and do not push our luck. I will go to the alchemy section."

Xander split from his captain. He had half of their magic stones with him, enough to easily earn them 1'000'000 valis on the surface. Here, however, he hoped that they would buy quality items that could not be acquired on the surface. The next cavern was a little older. A large tent stood in the middle, which had a few strange symbols drawn onto the walls. They appeared disorganized, but Xander had been an adventurer for long enough to feel the mana radiating from them.

'At least I've found the place. Probably better Lydia sent, me she doesn't give a shit about magic. Let's see if there is something to counter illusions.'

He entered the tent to find the place glowing in twilight. The tent had multiple desks made from better wood than any other place he had seen down here. A few bookshelves for scrolls, books about magic, and even a handful of grimoires. The owner was a hunched-over old half-elf with a long white beard, over which a large necklace of a winged eye dangled. He wore an old tattered, robe inscribed with further symbols and his staff was an intimidating obsidian black, with an onyx gemstone.

As soon as he entered the old man's piercing gaze fell on him but seemed to fixate on Xander's pendant about his neck. "A dog who converted to Apollo? Need another love potion? Or has your youngest executive wasted another magic item?"

The few other robed figures gave him a glance but dared not start anything within the shop. Xander also had to suppress an eyebrow twitch as a shiver crept down his spine front of those ancient eyes and the scratchy voice. He quickly got closer and silently told the old mage. "I am in need of something to counter illusion magic."

The old man nodded and waved him to the bookshelves. "Light or dark magic then. There should be something around."

Xander retreated towards the bookshelves. The old man was strong; his mere presence scared him, but Xander remained stoic and looked through the items on the shelf. 'Scrolls, that can be used by any mage. Usually, only rune mages can make them for themselves. To think somebody smuggled out magic ink from the Acatl familia.'

He browsed the scrolls. There was a scroll for a basic light cantrip, but he wasn't here for a one-time solution. So, he went to the next shelf. 'Magic theory. How I hate it. Even though I have a spell, this is pure gibberish to me. Let's see if there are any good titles. Magic Practice, Mana Control, Finding Your Affinity… Ah, there it is! Cantrips For Dummies, by the School District no less! Not bad, what's inside?' Xander browsed through the pages, and in the end, he decided to buy it. 'Cassandra has the right affinity and likes reading enough, she'll pick it up before the war game.'

To be on the safe side, Xander also got the scroll before asking the old mage about potions. The book cost him 2 minotaur magic stones, worth 50'000 valis. The scroll 10 and the poisons he bought 8, before he quickly left the shop. However, the item the old mage was working on drew his attention. It was an amulet with a large tear-shaped emerald in the middle, surrounded by wood decorated with innumerable runes.

The old mage noticed his gaze. "Out of your price range. The old Archmage of Nature hasn't given us the chance to get our hands on anything similar since the Great Feud."

Xander wisely chose to leave it at that. 'No chance in hell I'm getting that! From what I heard about him the Archmage of Nature is nothing short of a natural disaster!'

1 day later 4 PM - The Twilight Manor, Finn Deimne's Office - Finn POV

In the Twilight Manor, at the top of its second highest tower, is a large office chamber adorned with two large, filled bookshelves on either side of a stone hearth carved with lavish designs and filled with firewood, but unlit. Within this chamber, there is a large desk with two chairs one in front and one in back, two windows that let in natural light, and a double doorway with window-adorned doors that leads out to a balcony from which one could look out over the northern section of Orario.

At the desk is a top executive, the captain of the Loki Familia, Finn Deimne, a pallum. He has medium-length scruffy blond hair and blue eyes with a fair skin tone and despite his size his desk and chairs are sized for those of the taller races. The pallum is looking at a paper, a notice from the Guild for the Loki Familia to embark on another expedition; this would be their last required one for the year.

'Hmmm… We still have three months before we must fulfil this requirement. With how things have been so far it has been relatively peaceful. However, Ais's recent level-up has spurred many of the Second String, including the amazon twins, and Executives to dive into the dungeon seeking to increase their status or even level up. I'd rather we wait a little longer since the School District should be arriving soon.'

Finn smiled softly at the thought; many great recruits for his familia have come from the School District including Dain, Noir, and Bara. He closed his eyes and his smile dropped upon thinking of them. He missed them, but he knew that if the three didn't do what they did the Great Feud might have caused even more catastrophic damage. His strategy wasn't omnipotent and Evilus had acted in ways that challenged his strategic acumen.

These thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a loud buzzing accompanied by a cacophonous tearing noise as the space in front of his office door ripped open revealing an oval-shaped void with inky darkness within. Finn's eyes widened at the familiar phenomenon. 'Wait a minute, isn't that..?'

Out of the void steps a taller individual shrouded in a dark green mossy-looking cloak. The interior of the cloak and the appearance of this person are obscured by mist-like shadows contained by the cloak itself as the void behind them closes with a loud and echoing Boom. Finn could only sigh at the not-so-subtle entrance of Myles.

"I see that your behaviour hasn't changed Myles. You know that doing that here will garner attent-"

Suddenly the door behind Myles bursts open. "Captain! Are yo-" An Amazoness sprints into the room and pauses looking to the hooded figure who turns to face her. She stands at 165 cm, has dark green eyes, long black hair, and a very well-endowed physique. She scowls and yells, "Hey! Who are you?!"

Finn immediately gets up at Tione's exclamation and holds up a hand. "Easy Tione. He's an old friend."

Myles pulls back his hood, the shadowy mists dispersing and revealing his blue eyes, silver hair, longer curved ears, and dark olive skin. "Name's Myles. Pleasure."

Tione frowns some and her stance loosens away from battle-ready. 'A half-dark elf?' "I've never seen you before… what familia are you from?"

Myles looks to Tione and then behind her due to the sound of rushing footsteps from the hall. A moment later Gareth and Riveria run into the office and look to Myles. Riveria lets out a heavy sigh and Gareth seems to smirk slightly and laugh. "Gahaha! Welcome back to Orario Myles! Back for the School District?"

Myles nods some. "That is one reason. We should talk with Loki present for the other though."

Finn's eyes immediately widen. "Does that mean-?" Myles cuts him off quickly, "Yes, but we should talk in detail and confidentially."

Tione blinks at this interplay and focuses on Finn. "Ehhh? What does what mean captain?"

Finn looks to Tione now. "You'll find out if negotiations go well. Right Myles?" He looks back to the mentioned individual. Myles nods in response.

Finn smiles now and looks at Tione again. "Tione, could you please tell the guards to stand down and fetch Lady Loki?"

Tione immediately smiles widely at Finn. "Of course, captain! Whatever you need!" She suddenly turns and sprints out of the room at top speed. Myles could only blink at the interaction.

"Uhhh… She seems very enthusiastic…" A frown then grew on his face as he looked at Finn and the others. "And how was she here first? I thought for sure you two would be here quickest."

Gareth could only laugh heartily and smirk at Finn. "Well, Tione has a bit of a crush on our captain!" Finn sighs and shakes his head while speaking, "And she is very persistent and always close by…"

Myles raises an eyebrow and then chuckles. "Pffft… Well, that was bound to happen eventually, but I would've thought a pallum would be the first woman to try and nab you."

Riveria then sighs. "You underestimate the drive of the Amazonian culture Myles… Tione has literally fought off women who try to flirt with Finn."

Now both of Myles's eyebrows rise. "Yikes!" He looks at Finn and smirks slightly. "Wait, didn't you want to raise a proper Pallum heir to inherit your will for your people?"

Finn again sighs even heavier if possible. "Yes, that is still my intention, but it doesn't seem to dissuade Tione in the least. If anything, she seemed to become even more persistent hearing that."

Myles could only hum. "I guess since you're a strong man who states he does want to have a child, it would have that kind of effect…. Haven't really been around many amazons in either the School District nor Altena…"

Riveria sagely nods. "As to be expected. Amazons don't normally gain magic nor do they focus on academic pursuits often if at all. Tione and her twin sister are a real handful. More so now ever since Ais leveled up."

Myles's eyebrows raised again. "Oh? So, she is level four?"

Riveria shakes her head. "No, five."

Myles's eyes widen. "EHHH?! She's leveled up three times in four years?! The hell is that excelia rate?! The little demon that fought Delphyne at level 2 is now level 5?! When did she level up?!"

Riveria narrows her eyes at Myles at the nickname. "Myles, be more polite! She has a proper alias now, Kenki. And she leveled up a month ago."

Myles then frowns, putting a hand to his chin. "Hm…Well that's nice for her, but doesn't such a fast level up mean that her status suffers?"

A new voice joins the conversation, "Now, now, that would be telling Myles!" The red-headed goddess Loki walks into the office with a wide grin in her normal tomboyish attire with short shorts and a crop top revealing her stomach. "Now then, let's get to the important stuff!" She declares as she closes the office door.

Myles then sighs and walks into the middle of the office and takes the seat before the captain's desk. "Very well, let's get down to it." The deity and her top executives take their own positions around the office; Finn sits behind his desk, Loki sits on the desk itself, Gareth leans against a wall, and Riveria stands by the desk opposite Loki.

Myles levels his eyes on Finn. "Quetzalcoatl-sama has decided to entertain your proposal." All of the eyes of the Loki familia widen and Loki's perceptibly open with smirk on her face.

"Ho? Really?"

Myles nods and begins writing runes on a black, transparent magic circle. "Yes, an Hourglass of Ire for the terms in your proposal." 'I require a space of convenience. Foramen!' – "Fuin!" At the chanted word the few runes disperse leaving an area of rippling space to his right with a single glowing black rune before it. Myles reaches in with a hand and pulls it out.

In his hand rests an hourglass held between three metal columns and a base and ceiling made of dark amber-like wood. Each of the aforementioned brass-looking columns has glowing runes of enchantment magic on them that gently pulse with blue light and in the middle of each column there is a gem. These three gems possess a colouration that constantly shifts within like an ebbing, ethereal current that runs the spectrum between dark blue, bright yellow and even deep verdant green.

The wood that seats the butts of the hourglass is intricately carved with complex runes that Riveria frowns at; they are indecipherable to her. None of these carved runes are glowing, but there appears to also be a round, silver metal panel atop the hourglass with a magic circle carved into it. This magic circle also has similar complex runes and there appears to be a hinge and knob opposite each other on this panel. The mana pressure that seems to gently pulse on the individuals in the room seems to be related to the colours of the gems as they change.

Loki and her top executives stare at this artifact in awe before she focuses her gaze back on Myles. "Why does this one look slightly different from the other Quetzalcoatl-sama showed me previously? This one's got no sand in it!"

Myles nods slightly. "Indeed, that's because this artifact is currently dormant. It will collect sand once this contract is signed." Myles reaches into the rippling space with his other hand and produces a piece of paper and holds it towards Finn. "Once signed, the artifact will activate and begin to accumulate the white sand which dilutes the Dungeon's mana. Once this sand turns black, you open the panel on top of the hourglass and turn it upside down to release of torrent of converted Dungeon mana that will attack the monsters about you by weakening them instead of you."

Finn takes the contract and starts to examine it with Riveria looking over his shoulder. The contract is in a formal structure as one would expect for buying property or a petition to the Guild for an investigation. However, Riveria frowns sensing mana from the contract itself and turns it over revealing a magic circle on the back that is faintly glowing. "And what is this, Myles?"

Myles looks to the magic circle and nods a bit. "That is the enchantment that teleports the Hourglass of Ire back to Quetzalcoatl-sama's vault in Altena if the signer of the contract is killed, misplaces the asset for period of 8 hours, or otherwise offends Quetzalcoatl-sama to the point of requiring 'punishment.' You raided the Zeus and Hera Familia's vaults and coffers and didn't find any hourglasses because the signers had been killed by the One-Eyed Black Dragon. For the record, the calamity killed both familias despite having been weakened by black sand from beyond even the Abyssal Floors."

All four pairs of eyes of the Loki familia dart up to Myles's face with a mixture of frowns and widening eyes. Finn speaks up, "What do you mean 'Abyssal Floors!?'"

Myles levels a blank, cold stare at them. "What? You mean that you didn't find any writings on the Dungeon from the Zeus nor Hera familias when you raided their homes? I guess Zald and Alfia were thorough in their cleanup."

All of their eyes now widened, and Finn continued, "How do you know about floors beyond the Glacial Territory?"

Myles then frowns at them and puts the hourglass on the desk. "The Zeus and Hera familias told the Quetzalcoatl familia about the Dungeon. How else do you think that we were able to create the Hourglasses of Ire? You thought that the Mystery development ability just bridges the gap between the purpose of an item and knowledge of how a magic item would function in such a matter? As omnipotent as the falna can be, it doesn't make craftsmen masters in their field when they get certain development abilities. They need experience.

That's why the Quetzalcoatl familia occasionally sent supporters into the Dungeon when the Hera and Zeus familias would go on expeditions. We had to adjust the Hourglasses of Ire to the circumstances created by the Dungeon. From what I saw in the records of the Guild after the Great Feud, your information is only partially correct."

Finn narrows his eyes to Myles. "Partially correct?" 'Damn it! We knew that the Guild's limited information could've been only part of the picture, but how much information was left out of reports made by the Hera and Zeus familias?!'

Myles looks at them all, then sighs heavily and closes his eyes. 'They are the 2nd strongest dungeon delving familia…. Fine.' He opens his eyes again and nods. "Yes. You know the different sections of the Dungeon by certain names. Upper Floors for floors 1 to 12, Middle Floors for floors 13 to 24, Lower Floors for floors 25 to 36, and Deep Floors for floors 37 to 59.

In reality, the Deep Floors go from floors 37-49. The Dragon Lair goes from floors 50 to 58, the Glacier Territory goes from floors 59 to 70, and the 71st floor through the 79th are referred to as The Eternal Conflict. The 80th onwards is noted as the Abyssal Floors by the Hera and Zeus Familias. Each of these sections in the Dungeon have intense mana that influences the environment, its denizens, and each had to be studied intensely for the Hourglasses of Ire so that the magic item would function properly.

The Dragon Lair has creatures that attack you through the floors of the Dragon's Vase and yet the spawn rate of the Dungeon does not pause when those floors are damaged by the Dungeon's own monsters. The Glacial Territory is of such intense hostile weather that water instantly freezes regardless of being in a Bag of Holding. Your water must be enhanced with mana to prevent this and the very air is so cold that it can kill Second Class Adventurers within minutes even if they had Abnormal Resistance at rank G.

The Eternal Conflict, however, is in a tier of its own. I know that you all know the red zone in the White Palace, the Colosseum. That zone is mirrored by The Eternal Conflict. The floors of this region are conical in shape and there is constant fighting between four different monster factions spawned by the Dungeon. The constant fighting occurs within the circular center area of each floor. Around this area each faction has a base that new monsters spawn from. I know two of the factions. One is giants using runic items and another is fliers that employ wind magic. The other two fall under the "forbidden information" category in the eyes of the Quetzalcoatl familia. The only known ways to traverse the floors of this region are to descend through a massive hole in the center of the floor where all four factions fight or use the teleportation circles in the giants' bases.

This pattern continues through Floor 79 where the strongest monsters of these four factions are clashing. If you are lucky, the clash will be away from the center of the floor. If not, you have four potential monster rexes from each faction alongside their foot soldiers fighting each other in the center where the hole down to 80 is. Officially the furthest that Zald and Alfia had gone was the 71st floor. Unofficially, they went down to 78. Neither of them fought those monster rexes. Zald didn't have an answer of why, but Alfia said that she couldn't stand the noise that the monster rexes gave off.

The next region takes a different approach. Instead of overwhelming force the Abyssal Floors use the very mana of the Dungeon to attack the minds of adventurers and can reduce First Class Adventurers to babbling messes. The Abyssal Floors' volatile mana is so potent that within a half hour, any adventurer below level 6 without some form of mana control was irreparably turned insane. Both the Empress and Maxim, captains of the Hera and Zeus familias respectively, had Abnormal Resistance at rank C and were able to fully resist the passive effect of the Abyssal Floors. These details were hidden to not frighten the other dungeon-delving familias or potential adventurers from coming to Orario."

Riveria's eyes only grew wider with each detail of the Glacial Territory, The Eternal Conflict, and the Abyssal Floors. 'Such an intense change of difficulty to traverse these floors! I don't even think my defensive magics could block those effects, let alone fight insanity with any of my healing magics… No wonder Gluttony and Silence didn't delve further than The Eternal Conflict!' Riveria's fists could only clench irritation and frustration.

Gareth could only stroke his beard in silent contemplation. 'This means that when we get that far we will have to change up the compositions of our expedition teams and start imposing a standard for certain development ability ranks and statuses…' Gareth clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'That's gonna bring down the morale for youngsters of the Second String and even remove some members of the Fairy Force from the expedition…!'

Finn silently took in all this information, resting his head against both his hands as they propped him up and he leaned on his desk. 'Such radical conditions are going to make expeditions into those regions expensive… Magic items made with Mystery are going to be an absolute necessity to try and stave off the effects of their environments and even force us to finally buy the Tundra pelts that stopped being made after the Zeus and Hera familias were killed off. The crafters and spirits helping them just couldn't turn a profit like they could before…And is the Freya familia as in the dark as we are for information on those floors..? They said they didn't recover any notable information.'

Loki's eyes narrowed, but still remained visible as she just stared at Myles. 'Acatl… You devious cunt! You tempted both Freya and I without giving all the details! The Hourglasses are going to help us dive even further, but neither of our familias are close to being ready for those regions unless we sink hundreds of millions of valis into your famila! That's why you agreed to the proposal, to get back at us for not helping at the Dragon Valley!'

Myles took a long, measured look at each individual before him, but when he looked at Loki, he couldn't resist smirking. "Is something the matter Lady Loki?"

All three top executives blinked and looked to their goddess, noting her displeased expression. Loki's eyes narrowed even further and then sighed leaning back some and looking to the ceiling. "Hrrmmmm…. You're still the same cocky little shit even after four years!… But! I think Her message is clear. She is only acquiescing to our proposal because she knows that it'll lead to us relying on Altena just like the old pervert and stuck-up bitch had to. Fine! We'll do it."

Loki leaned back forward and gave Myles an even glare with barely perceptible eyes. "So, go on! One of you sign and let's get this over with!"

Myles smirk grows larger as he puts his hand back on the hourglass patting it. "Yes, please do. Quetzalcoatl-sama is expecting a prompt response after you were so bold to request this again even after she kindly informed you of how out of your price range this asset is."

Finn looks between the two then turns his attention to the contract, grabbing a quill. He leans over and is about to sign, but his thumb starts throbbing and an errant thought crosses his mind making him stop.

Myles eyebrows twitch into a frown at the stop and he looks to Finn. "Problem?"

Finn looks up to Myles and then sits back with a slight frown. "Tell me Myles… Have Quetzalcoatl-sama and you told us everything about the Hourglass of Ire? It seems unbelievably potent, but surely there must be some sort of side effect of using it?" The others in the room turn their gazes back to Myles.

Myles raises an eyebrow looking at Finn. 'Well, well. I guess Acatl's prank isn't going to go through…' "A side effect huh? Well, it weakens the monsters and lifts the effect of Dungeon's Ire upon the party around you. That is all true as is the process to get the hourglass to work. It needs to be 'charged' after each use. What thought crossed your mind?"

Finn looks to Myles and leans in, putting his head on his hands again. "Well, my question would be if weakened monsters produce inferior magic stones and drop their values?"

Myles looks at Finn and tilts his head to the side. 'Yeah, he caught it.' "Well naturally? Also, you would have to consider if excelia gained from said weakened monsters is the same or not, no?"

The rest of the room other than the talking two have their eyes widen and their jaws drop, gapping at that revelation. Finn smiled slightly. 'Ah, that's why Quetzalcoatl-sama was so willing to accept the payment plan. With rights to all drop items for the duration of the payment plan what few good items or profit we do get from using the hourglass would be further funneled to the Quetzalcoatl familia and Altena! We would be staying desperate the entire time using the hourglass while hunting constantly to keep up with the diminished value of the magic stones and by extension get more drop items.'

Finn then frowned at this thought. 'But why would she be so willing to put us in that state of mind?' Finn's eyes then widened as his thumb stopped throbbing and he stared at Myles. 'The way Myles mentioned Gluttony and Silence; so familiarly and casually! Did they have some sort of relationship? If they did, then it might explain this set-up and even his odd behaviour on the last day of the Feud and the expedition a year later! Myles and Quetzalcoatl think we are way too weak and are trying to force us to improve through a financial scheme instead of how Gluttony and Silence did?!'

Riveria frowns deeply at Myles. "That is a very debilitating side effect of using the hourglass Myles! Were you not planning on telling us?"

Myles frowns back at Riveria, though not as deeply. "The Zeus and Hera familias figured that out instantly when the hourglass was explained to them. I simply thought that the same kind of insight would be within the capabilities of the 2nd strongest familia in Orario since you and the Freya familia replaced them. Was I incorrect?"

Finn grimaces behind his hands. 'That confirms that theory…'

Gareth then gets off the wall with his hands up. "Alright, alright. that's enough you two." He looks at Myles. "Well, that does make some sense and we would've figured it out anyways. Still, that's pretty mean-spirited to not mention it, Myles! We were comrades in arms during a few expeditions and the Great Feud! Why the cold shoulder?"

Myles then looks to Gareth and smiles slightly with a chuckle. "What can I say? My deity and I have a very dry sense of humour at times. All the same, the hourglass is a very potent tool in the Dungeon. If anything, it's a trump card for when the Dungeon truly wants to come for you."

Finn sighs and sits up now. "Right, that's enough Riveria, Gareth. Thank you for confirming that bit of information at least." He then looks back to the contract and frowns. 'I wonder…maybe we could solve several problems at once?' "Hmm…"

Myles looks back to Finn now inquisitively with a tilt of his head. "Valis for your thoughts Finn?"

Finn looks up to Myles. "I was thinking that maybe we don't want to sign this contract yet. If we really are going to be giving you claim rights to all drops from the Dungeon, then perhaps it would be in our best interest to do a massive extended expedition now to get as much profit as we can and then sign the contract delivering the first 56 million valis for the hourglass."

Myles blinks at this and then frowns while putting a hand to his chin.

"Many of our familia are on the edge of leveling up and are eager to increase their statuses. This expedition would offer them the chance to meet their goals, use the drop items we get to make new equipment for the next year and a half at least and give us an instant boost to our treasury."

"And set your familia up to dive deep and more often for the foreseeable future…" Myles continues with a nod. "That's great for both our familias, nice."

Finn nods with a smile. "Does that sound satisfactory?"

Myles closed his eyes and could only hum in thought. "It's a good pitch to Quetzalcoatl-sama, but she's going to be a bit miffed that she didn't get to prank you all as much as she wanted. I'll…." Myles then sighs deeply. "I guess I'll do some pass blocking by serving as a substitute for the School District with my full effort…"

Riveria blinks at this. "Wait, you're going to be giving magic lessons at the School District?"

Myles nods. "Mmm. Yeah, for the duration that the School District is doing maintenance in Melen. Then I'm on what I call 'sifting duty.'"

Riveria puts a hand to her chin now and looks down. Then she looks up to Myles and says, "Would you mind if I send a few of our familia to those lessons?"

Myles levels an annoyed and unimpressed glare at Riveria. "Not like I can stop you. I wouldn't even be here if I wasn't in the doghouse with Quetzalcoatl-sama."

Everyone in the room blinks at that. Myles then widens his eyes at that. 'Ah…. Shouldn't have said that…'

Gareth then frowns. "Why is that, Myles?"

Myles then stands up with a sigh and puts his hands on the back of his head and turns away from all four. "Nope! Not talking anymore about this!"

Finn frowns slightly. 'That's…. odd. From what I recall he's been considered a star prodigy in the Quetzalcoatl familia…'

Loki's glare seems to soften slightly looking at Myles. "Mmm… Well, it sounds like we have a plan in place!" She looks at Finn now with a wide grin. "Finn, let's mobilise. I'm sure that the rest of the familia is gonna be really excited!"

Finn looks at Loki with a smile. "As you order Lady Loki." He looks to the door to his office now and yells, "Hey! Tione! Are you there!?"

Almost immediately, the door is thrown open as Tione steps in with a wide smile. "Yes, captain! How can I help you?"

Myles flinches at her sudden entrance. 'Gekh…. An outsider might have heard that bit of drama… Daaaaaaamn iiiit….'

Finn smiles at her. "Let the executives and Second String know that we are going to start mobilizing in the next couple of days for a massive expedition into the Dungeon. Tell them we'll be focusing on drops and valis profit gains rather than exploration. If the Guild has a problem with that, oh well. The familia comes first."

Tione's eyes almost sparkle at Finn's words as her smile grows even wider. "Ohhhhhh! This is gonna be GREAT! As you order captain!" She immediately exits shutting the door.

Riveria then shakes her head at Tione, but then blinks and frowns slightly reviewing the past few words spoken. 'Wait… what's "sifting duty?" Is Myles going to be here past the departure of the School District?'

Loki then giggles at Tione's departure and looks to Myles. "Well, until the School District arrives, you're free to stay!"

Myles looks back to Loki and bows slightly. "I appreciate the offer Lady Loki, but I'd rather spread my wings a bit; see what's new in Orario and get up to date since I'll be here awhile it seems."

Loki hums thoughtfully, "Mmm! Alright! Well, let us know if you need anything or if something happens with the discussion with Quetzalcoatl-sama!"

Myles turns with a nod. "Yeah, you got it." He walks back to the desk, takes the hourglass, stuffs it back into Foramen, and focuses on the Rune Key Celare to banish the spell.

Gareth then walks up with a big smile and places a large hand on Myles's shoulder. "Well, if you're not gonna spend the night why not come out for some drinks huh?"

Myles mildly flinches at Gareth's strong pat and chuckles weakly at him with a small smile. "Ehehe… Thanks, Gareth but I'd rather not." 'After all, when you go out drinking normally the Astraea familia shows up…'

Gareth frowns some but smiles with closed eyes and shakes his head with a small chuckle. "Alright, suit yourself!" He then pats Myles's back.

Myles then smiles and nods. "Maybe another time?" He then walks forward and starts to draw some complex runes on a black transparent magic circle, over 8 in number, before chanting "Fuin!" This time, there is no buzzing nor tearing noise as an oval-shaped void tears open space in the Loki captain's office. He looks back to the deity and her three top executives with a slight smile. "Cya around!"

Myles pulls up the hood of his cloak and then walks through the void. It closes with no sound, but Riveria slightly flinches with a sigh. "I still can't read those runes and that magic is still… unsettling in an odd way."

Loki grins and walks up to Riveria intent on coping a feel to "comfort" her until a sudden chop to her head from the green-haired elf stops her in her tracks. "That hurt Mama!"

Riveria then shakes her head with a sigh and starts to leave the office. "I'll let our mages know that he will be running a lecture in the School District. If we are lucky, it will be for Runic Magic."

Finn nods at this. "Good, we'll take every advantage we can get. Might even be better if many of our novice mages are at those lectures instead of participating in the expedition."

Riveria stops and then turns slightly with a nod. "Likely. Learning from the Bloody Scribe would be good for them."

Gareth then grins and looks at Finn putting one of his thumbs to his chest. "I'll check in with Bete and some of the others to get them in line. This expedition is exactly what he and Raul are looking for!"

Finn smiles and says, "Yeah, I agree. Thanks, Gareth." The dwarf leaves. Only the deity and pallum remain.

"Hey, Finn… Did something seem… off with Myles?"

"Yeah, but he has been since the Feud."

…

"We'll just have to keep an eye on him huh?"

"Yes, Lady Loki."

2 days later Night - Dungeon - Sleipnir POV

"I ask your forgiveness Ikuchi-san. I should have respected your autonomy instead of always forcing my commands onto you." Sly says to Ikuchi with a deep bow startling the dragon.

Ikuchi looks at Sly in confusion for a few seconds as Sly keeps his posture, before Akiri decides to explain the meaning behind Sly's posture. 'It is to convey vulnerability as he slighted you. I would advise you to accept it Ikuchi-chan.'

With a better grasp of the situation Ikuchi explains. "Don't do that Sly. We're both about the same strength, there is no reason for one of us to lead. Your actions last time reminded me of Arles and that left me annoyed."

Sly gets back upright. "I understand, I will keep the orders down to a minimum, but please accept this small gift." He produced a pouch hidden in one of his pouches. 'Pouchception?' It was made from the leather of the ligerfang they fought the last time.

Ikuchi happily waged his tail and tackled Sly before he could avoid him. Even licking him once to express his gratitude. "Great, a better pouch! Can it resist my claws?"

Sly had to strain his strength to push Ikuchi from him, before rolling back and standing up. "It's made from ligerfang leather we collected last time; it should hold far better than the one I gave you."

Ikuchi quickly put it on. In a mere 3 minutes, the stronger material allowed him to use far more precision while putting it on. "Wonderful!"

Sly smiled at the display, feeling far more at ease, now that Ikuchi accepted his apology. 'Only one more to go.' "Now then, how about this. Today we leave adventuring, and instead focus on practising magic."

"What are we gonna do?" Ikuchi asks eagerly with his almost 1-meter-long swaying tail almost hitting Akiri.

Sly's smile grows and turns a tad sharper. "Nothing difficult, only theory, mana control and perhaps a few magic tricks."

Over the course of the night, Ikuchi's efforts expanded his vocabulary after a lot of grumbling and increased his mana control significantly. Ikuchi even managed to control a 5 cm sphere of water instead of the bucket-like volume he had at first. This improved his mood, which encouraged him to give Sly the drop items he got at the end of the lesson.

Next Morning - Martial Dojo - Chigusa POV

Chigusa followed her usual morning routine. Awaken with sunrise, wash up, eat breakfast with the familia, and start training. She noted that Sly overslept… again. During the last week, the black circles below his eyes had only grown in size. 'Nii-san really should know better. But why hasn't Take taken an issue with it?' Her brow furrowed as she thought of it.

'Maybe… Maybe it's because of the rumors that have started? A quest has been posted in the Guild offering a reward for information regarding the disappearance of some children in the neighboring districts. Take has even started to carry a tantō when he goes to the orphanage every day… It must be weighing heavily on his mind.'

She continued thinking of the problem as she got into her adventuring gear. She would have to thank Welf for the repairs and upgrades he made for her gloves, they had been close to breaking from overuse! This didn't even include the far heavier arrows he made her with dungeon alloys. Welf really came through for her!

Her quiver now has subsections for her three arrow types. The biggest for normal arrows, a smaller one for fire arrows and the smallest for the sniper arrows. She has begun to wear it on her right side.

With two bows in her arsenal, she also moved them to her back. Inspired by Sly's rope trick, she worked together with Welf to craft a nail catch for both her bows. A simple steel nail bound to the upper half of her bow, with a distance of around 0.5 centimeters, from the wood.

To catch the nail, she wore a baldric, a monster leather belt over her shoulder, with two small metal cylinders, for both her bows. Now if she wanted to carry her bows, she wouldn't need a hand to hold them over her shoulder. Instead, she could just pull the baldric a little forward and fit the nail inside and she would be ready to go. The best thing was that untying either bow took less than a second. This was even faster than before!

Outside she continued her practice with the 3 golden arrow prototypes. The way they flew still sometimes went against her intuition, as she was used to arrows falling sooner, but the sniper arrows flew in an almost straight line due to their longer range.

With her practice, she could switch between her different arrows faster and faster. She now ignited her fire arrows as she pulled the bowstring with a small flint she added at the tip of Yoru Yumi. The normal arrows were the simplest, only the sniper arrows still took a moment of adaptation, as she had to lower her aim, to compensate for the expanded range they possessed.

One thing she experimented with was firing multiple arrows at once. However, firing them at different targets was still beyond her without wasting too much time. However when it came down to firing two at the same target her accuracy had risen to an acceptable level. Even her Falna agreed on that as another technique appeared on her status.

Doubleshot: The user has trained extensively and is capable of firing two arrows at the same time.

To be honest she wasn't certain if her status was mocking her or helping her with that technique. It was too vague and didn't have the disadvantage of only targeting one opponent in the description, however, even with it she was unable to target two different opponents in an adequate timeframe!

She sighed as she heard the others approach their field for communal training. However Sly was still absent. 'This is unlike him. He is never late if he can help it and Take is still not saying anything! He must be hiding something again.' It was so frustrating, she was certain Sly valued her highly, but still, he took so long to divulge his problems and let her help him!'

Her anger was taken out on poor Asuka during a sparring match with her shortbow and hard armored training arrows. She pushed her fellow archer back with great ferocity.

'The worst is I saw him whispering in panic with Welf after one of his returns and immediately rushing into his room! Now he is likely doing something every few nights as well. If he doesn't tell me the next time our party goes into the Dungeon, then I'm gonna show him how infuriating his secrecy has been!'

As her spar ended Sly joined them and surprised her further by asking for a spar against Mikoto. She accepted the challenge with a small smirk and twinkling purple eyes before both fought, naginata against katana. 'Sly isn't using magic again? What has Mikoto said, to have such an effect on him? In the last few delves he also only used his magic from the Middle Floors onwards!' She looked at him with a frown, his eyes avoided her gaze. Which only annoyed her more, however, she could not have guessed his thoughts at that time.

'Chigusa-chan… my little sister. I… Why am I so weak that I can't even tell her about my problems? Welf gave me a deadline to tell her on our next expedition. She will learn of the spirits but even then, I am keeping secrets from her... I can't tell her about the Xenos... She was orphaned after a familia war when monsters ruthlessly hunted the survivors! She saw so much death and even became a hunter! How would she view me if she learnt of me teaching Ikuchi? I can't drag her into that!'

2 days later near Midnight - Sleipnir POV

When Sly left with Sylphie he once again felt a strong pressure against his mana as they passed the Daedalus Streets, a look also showed both Akiri and Sylphie to be affected. 'Akiri-san what is this pressure?'

The messenger spirit appears for a moment to answer. 'The territory of another strong spirit. One who dislikes trespassers at that. We should leave this area Shin-chan, the more one trespasses without a valid cause the stronger the suppression we feel will grow.'

With those words, they quickly left the Daedalus Streets, to the far more gentle ambient mana of Orario. He would have to make a detour around that area from now on.

A few minutes later they once again stood in front of Babel. Dodging the Ganesha guards continued to be a waiting game, but for some reason they always followed a loud stomp, which gave him a chance to slip in. However, with each time fewer reacted. They certainly noticed something strange.

'An interesting phenomenon, however, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, I will find out who's aiding me sooner or later. Time to teach Ikuchi some more, he certainly needs it.'

Sylphie floated close to him, he forced her to rest during his last visit, she certainly didn't like that, and wouldn't leave his side now. He might have also skipped some sleep to make sure she recovered from mind zero and sustained no permanent damage to her mana capacity. However, her reserves remained low, but steady with a constant dosage of mana potions during their return, before finally recovering once they left the dungeon.

She recovered quickly thanks to teas Sly made from the magic lavender, which were far more potent than the ones from his magic vervain. He used a good bit of it to help her, before giving the other herbs to Asuka in exchange for more potions. They were mostly mana potions, as his night party now contained 4 mages. Asuka was overjoyed at the new plants and promised him a special potion once she managed to make it.

Now, the four of them. Sylphie, Ikuchi, Akiri and Sly were exploring the dungeon together. Akiri rarely ever intervened before, but with their new contract, he had far more freedom. This gave him a lot of options, one of which was to help Sly with his spells.

He did it when Sly visited Ikuchi alone and showed him his magic for the first time. Akiri spoke to him immediately after they entered the 13th floor. 'Shin-chan. I think it's about time to show you a little more about how spirits use their spells.'

Sly who had been very cautious that day was startled at Akiri's intrusion, but eagerly nodded as Akiri appeared beside him. 'Please, Akiri-san. I am honoured to learn from another fox spirit.'

The three-tailed fox merely smiled. 'Good, this lesson will be on illusions. Your magic control is very good, but your grasp on illusions is still lacking, allow me to show you how it's done. I'll show you a three-layered illusion.'

Akiri quickly moved a few paces in front of him, before waving his three tails in a complex rhythm. With each movement, the mana pressure he exuded upon the dungeon increased, and slowly below his feet a glittering white magic circle filled with artfully depicted hieroglyphs started growing.

In conjunction with its growth Akiri, began chanting, although in his case it was more so commanding his illusion domain with his telepathy. His majestic voice resounded his chant in his domain. 'Hiding kogitsune, by the cunning kitsune, guiding light, resounding shishi odoshi, divine fragrance, as thou holy messenger, I affect the judgement of reality - ILLUSIO!'

Instantly upon completion, a sphere of illusion mana swept through the air. Instead of hiding, the visual effects highlighted everything, the contrast in the entire area grew far stronger and everything shined with an alien beauty.

The sounds of even the tiniest stone resounded with far more volume and their breathing got clearer and somehow easier. Lastly, the vivid smells of the dungeon and the different monsters grew in clarity, almost overwhelming Sly due to the overload of information.

He had to close his eyes, breathing erratically at the sight in front of him. 'This is beyond my imagination, it's amazing!'

Akiri merely shifted the mana around them a little. 'It comes with wisdom and practice. This illusion shifts everything within my control to closely resemble the second layer of Genkai, however, it can still be improved. Shin, you have learnt to erase a sense from your illusion, but now you need to learn the art of creation.'

For the rest of the journey, Sly used small illusions to imitate Akiri's Illusio and create more than mere shadows of something from them. His visual illusions were the most advanced, but even they could easily be recognised by anything smarter than a monster. Realistic sounds were even harder to create, but were easier than scents.

He had practised his illusion control before, but in front of such mastery Sly felt like he understood nothing. At least Akiri gave him the time to learn as he controlled the illusion the entire way. Hiding them expertly, heightening all their senses, and disrupting their opponent's senses all at once; this was Akiri's skill with illusions borne over centuries!

Today Akiri repeated the previous action, giving Sly the window to improve again. Sylphie was enthused about the new atmosphere, and they quickly reached Ikuchi. Together they hunted the Cave Labyrinth.

On the way to the 15th floor, Sly had Ikuchi work on his water exercise again, while Sly tried improving his audible illusions. Sylphie continued scouting ahead, giving them ample choice of which monsters to fight, and time to find secret passages.

On the way to the 15th floor they only found one, but it contained two red wyverns, which gave the mismatched party a good challenge. Ikuchi was instantly eager and wanted to rush in, but Sly quickly calmed him. "Ikuchi you can fight them in a second. Let's plan a little."

Ikuchi bounced back to them. "Fine but once the battle starts no more changing tactics!"

A few minutes later Ikuchi launched a surprise breath attack from Akiri's illusion. This thoroughly drenched one of the wyverns and spread water over the floor of the small 15 meter wide secret room.

Next, he rushed the second healthy one as Sly and Sylphie used their magic to attack the first drenched wyvern. Sly used Jufuku, his illusion-based technique to confuse it with multiple copies of Kogitsune-Maru, as Sylphie chained three casts of her Fujin spell.

Akiri stayed in the back, content to let his illusions contribute for him, as they encompassed the entire room and silently guided Sleipnir's technique. 'He doesn't even feel it when I am subtle about it. Amusing.'

He left Ikuchi alone as the young dragon fought the fire wyvern. The only aid Ikuchi received was from Sly as he used his pyrokinesis every time the wyverns charged their fire breath. His magic pressure far exceeded the individual magic of either wyvern.

In the end, Sylphie and Sly incapacitated one wyvern and bound it to the floor, before observing Ikuchi as he finished the second after finally grounding it. He sustained many scratches and even lost some scales due to the wyvern's fire, but with Sly as his backup, he emerged tired but happy.

Now came the second goal of this encounter. Testing the limit of how many drop items can be taken from a single monster. The wyvern Sly and Sylphie bound already had multiple deep cuts, and would soon dissolve due to blood loss, so they had to act quick.

Sly and Ikuchi began with scales. Using Shadoudansā, Sly quickly began using one hand to lift the tip of a scale up to expose hide and the other wielding his dagger to rend the scale from the wyvern's body. Ikuchi, on the other paw, dispensed with the pleasantries of care to rip scales off the wyvern's body with claws of one paw while the other applied proper holding pressure removing 5 scales at a time. Naturally, this caused some to split and turn to ash, but that mattered little to Ikuchi as a cruel grin curled across his muzzle as each removed scale elicited a scream of pain from the monster.

Ikuchi's apparent joy disturbed Sly. This was a gruesome test, and not a fun pastime. In addition, Ikuchi's actions cost them some scales and made a mess. To keep the wyvern alive, he scattered a potion across the body of the wyvern to seal the new wounds Ikuchi inflicted on it. They then shifted their attention to its claws. Those took far more effort and care to remove to Ikuchi's annoyance. Fortunately, he could content himself with restraining the wyvern as it resisted with all its strength as Sly proceeded. Each and every one of the claws took Sly using Shadoudansā to basically perform battlefield surgery to peel away the hide of the wyvern's digits to remove the bone the claw is attached to. In the end, they got four claws, 3 of them with traces of blood on them. However, a paling Sly could see the wyvern was already weakening. 'We need to finish the experiment soon. The wyvern is weakening, and I don't know how much longer I can bear doing this.'

Lastly came the fangs. Those were most troublesome to remove, as Sly kept the wyvern's fire at bay, and Sylphie bound its snout wide open for Ikuchi to rip the fangs from the jaw of the wyvern. "Serves him right!" Ikuchi snarled after finally removing two of its four fangs. Promptly, the wyvern finally seemed to seize up in shock and mere seconds later crumbled to dust leaving only its magic stone.

In addition, all the drop items that were still covered in blood crumbled. This piqued Sly's curiosity, but Akiri chose that time to tell him off. 'I think this is more than enough! Shin! Ikuchi! Cease this unnecessary violence!'

Sly tails drooped a little as he noticed the state they were in and heard Akiri's disappointed rebuke. He might have proposed the idea, but now blood dripped from his robes and many of Ikuchi's scales; he knew they went too far. Getting bloodied in the dungeon was a distinct possibility, however he usually avoided it with his long reach. 'At least I don't need to do that again.' He finally understood the principle behind drop items. 'Next time I need a drop item, I will just focus on attacking that part of the monster, and then wash it before finishing the fight. No reason to dissect monsters. That is pushing things too far.'

A cold shiver passed down his spine at the thought of somebody with less scruples knowing how many drop items could be taken from a monster. 'Just imagining something similar happening to Ikuchi is terrifying. This knowledge can't be spread carelessly.'

They quickly washed themselves in the water leftover from Ikuchi's breath attack. Ikuchi's thoughts drifted in a very different direction than Sly's. 'A fitting punishment for a stupid imitation of a dragon. I will try to take more drop items from wyverns, but I had a bit too much fun, we wasted too much strength on this experiment.'

He looked at all of them with his mana vision. He had less than a third of his deep blue mana, Sly had around half of his teal mana, Akiri had the most, barely having used any of his black mana, and Sylphie was close to zero of her green mana. With a pout, Ikuchi told Sly and the others. "We should return. I hate to say it, but fighting a ligerfang now is dangerous. We used too much mana and I feel lightheaded. I'm not used to using my breath attacks so much."

Dungeon - Arles POV

A few hours later Arles smelled Ikuchi before she got to him. The scent of wyvern blood was very telling after all. Only Gryuu ever went out of his way to hunt wyverns this much, and now it seems they have a second maniac. 'Just what I needed. Most certainly he will be even more rebellious this time.'

Now that she got closer, she also smelt something else. 'Why is there the scent of a fox around Ikuchi? And are those tomes? They smell ancient, and is that fire?' Arles quickened her pace, arriving at the edge of the room within moments. Just in time to see a small green fairy fly from the room to the sound of retreating footsteps. Unfortunately, for her Ikuchi already turned around to enter one of his secret lairs. The movement revealed a pouch he bound to his right foreleg. He took out three magic stones and started inserting them into the crystals around him.

She hesitated for a moment, torn between budding a potential catastrophe in the bud and first asking her young protegé. As she watched him, she noticed how big Ikuchi gad grown. 'Speaking of growth spurts this is ridiculous. What has Ikuchi been doing, to have outgrown me by such an extent already.' The not even 40 cm high humanoid rabbit thought as she adjusted her necklace-sized pocket watch and robe.

Once they were both inside, she asked in her high-pitched voice. "What do you think you're doing Ikuchi?" Ikuchi turned around far faster than before. Now that she was paying attention to him, she noticed that he had grown. With his tail he almost reached 4 meters, considerably bigger than before. Certainly, bigger than her.

Ikuchi squeaked from being startled. "Arles! What are you doing here? You haven't visited for a month and the first thing you do is question me!?"

'His vocabulary has improved.' "Ikuchi-chan, how did you get that bag? And why are strange scents around you? Have you forgotten my lessons!? We mustn't be found!"

Ikuchi took a fearful step back as she took one forward. "By adventurers. You never spoke of spirits…"

Arles halted her rant for a moment to consider her words. "Spirits… that is very unlikely. Few can perceive them, and even fewer can survive in the great mother, furthermore, you haven't shown that ability before. Such an obvious lie won't get past me Ikuchi! I am losing my patience! Talk now!"

Ikuchi's pupil dilated a lot and with a sudden anger, he retorts. "I didn't lie! That's what a wyvern would do. I could always see spirits, or at least their mana. I have mana sight, have you forgotten!?"

Arles is tapping her foot to the ground. "Seeing their mana is like seeing their shadow. It by no means gives you the ability to speak to them. Are you still claiming to have found a spirit?"

Ikuchi continues. "It found me. A few cycles ago the spirit stumbled into my lair, we fought to a tie, made a strange oath, and hunted feral monsters together. Now we are… kinda… friends?"

Arles had to use a lot of her patience on this one. "A spirit, in the dungeon, that isn't evil, nor death incarnate just so happened to enter one of your lairs?!" 'Don't punch children for their stupidity. Even if they deserve it! I need more information or Lyd might decide to investigate for himself.'

Ikuchi saw a chance to persuade her and instantly fell for her trap. "Sly isn't just a spirit. His companions are, but he is a half-spirit."

Now it was her chance to pounce. "Therefore, an adventurer and a spirit! Highly dangerous! We need to get rid of him before he reveals your existence to other adventurers!"

She was already turning to the entrance, but Ikuchi surprised her. He used water from the pond to hold her as he blocked the secret passage. "No, Arles! We already met multiple times! I will not allow you to harm him without reason!"

Arles had enough. With a blindingly fast dash she was in front of Ikuchi and with a single paw slapped him on his snout. The strength behind her slap instantly broke his scales and sent him crashing into the wall. "Are you out of your mind!? Are you so certain that he won't betray you!? Every adventurer we ever interacted with has betrayed us!"

Ikuchi had to use all his strength to force himself back on his paws. The single strike almost knocked him out and made him all dizzy. However, he still fought on. "Yes, I am certain! His oaths are binding both ways and in contrast to you, he has gone out of his way to teach me! He doesn't try to shelter me when I am strong enough to look after myself!"

She was fuming. 'This foolish child!' With another burst of speed, she kicked Ikuchi and sent him into another wall before repeating the action on his other side. She held back, but this needed to hurt for Ikuchi to understand the severity of the situation. "Are you certain about that? Would you bet your life on it? Or are you speaking purely on this oath!"

Ikuchi was in a heap on the floor. Gritting his fangs from the severe pain. The strong scales on his belly were shattered like glass under the force of her strength. She silently stood before him with a furious expression. "Have you had enough? Or do you still insist on endangering us Xenos!"

Ikuchi was struggling to get back up, but her kick likely broke at least a rib and robbed him of the strength to get back up. For a second Arles eyes reflected a deep grief, but she buried it at the back of her mind. 'A shame, for a moment I thought he might convince me.'

As she was about to head out a second time. She felt something behind her, but what surprised her wasn't Ikuchi. He was still lying on the floor and looking at the pond, but instead a large stream of water. Far faster than any breath attack she ever saw from him, the water freely flowed from the pool and bound around her, before a third of the pool shifted around her. Binding her within. No matter how much strength she used or how fast she moved the water bound her to her spot.

The water prison only held for a few precious seconds before breaking apart, but it was enough as Ikuchi fell unconscious. The surprise attack left Arles shocked even after the water fell to the floor. 'Magic like that… How can he control it like that? And this determination! Even after he was beaten, he still managed to use magic without his breath attack!'

It took her a few minutes to determine what to do, but she used the time to look at the pouch Ikuchi had. It was well made and very sturdy from treated ligerfang leather. Inside there were three sections. One for magic stones, one for drop items, and a small metal compartment which held two potions, one mana and one healing.

'The spirit gave him potions?' She smelt the potion. It had the usual sweet potion scent, and she tried a tiny bit to be sure it wasn't poisonous. She pushed Ikuchi on his back, jumped on his belly, ensured his broken rib wasn't misaligned, and fed him the potion.

As soon as the injuries started healing, she gave Ikuchi a strong tap against his snout to awaken him. His confused eyes found her immediately sitting on his snout. "You have one chance. I'll be watching!"

Author's Note

I am certain some are interested to know Akiri's full chant for Illusio. Here it is: 'Hiding kogitsune, by the cunning kitsune, guiding light, resounding shishi odoshi, divine fragrance, benign caress, sweetest nectar, mystic presence, as thou holy messenger, I affect the judgement of reality - ILLUSIO!'

Besides that I can only tell you I'm terrified of what appears deeper in the dungeon. If you have a few theories for the 2 unknown factions I'm interested to hear them.

Yes, like Sly, Akiri can change the chants of their spells to gain different effects. In a couple of chapters, you (and Sly) will get a better explanation of why this is. The term used by Acatl for this is Selective Chanting.