Kiresula still felt far from good the next morning, but she had improved. Her health, at least, rose to 326. Her neck really did not appreciate the awkward position she had fallen asleep on, but her heart appreciated waking up next to Mayana.

Kiresula looked at Kju: “I thought of something in a dream, but… the class assignment thing, can you do that again?”

Kju raised an eyebrow: “Not until you reach level 64 in any of your classes, which I assume you didn’t.”

Kiresula’s gaze moved towards Mayana: “I have not, but Mayana only has one green class. And so do you.”

Kju nodded. “I see what you mean. It should be faster with the synthic magic here.”

Mayana made a rather weak noise: “I am rather concerned about this process, but I have seen that Kirey suffers no ill effects from it. So, I… guess that we can try. But… I am not sure how the blue system will react to me having three classes. And… I do not want to become a glitchling.” She turned to Kiresula and put an arm around her shoulder: “Not because I don’t like glitchlings, but, you know, the lack of social standing would hurt.”

Kiresula also put an arm around Mayana’s shoulders: “I get it, don’t worry! Having half of the duarchy against you for no reason is not a positive thing.”

Kju looked at the group and also looked uncomfortable. “I see what you imply. I will see if I can get a secondary class.” He sat down, closed his eyes and his breath steadied.

In the meanwhile, Mayana put enchantments on the sharp pieces of stone they used to defend themselves: A fire enchantment to injure the boss and for Kiresula an enchantment to increase the agility of the user when magic is applied. Kiresula found using the stone knife rather convenient, but then, she remained in the green system. Mayana had to reduce the power of her own enchantment so that it would not turn green and actually reduce her agility. She would love to add more, but the slate rock could only hold so many enchantments. While Mayana held the sharp pieces of slate in her hand in order to see if she could finagle a third enchantment into it, Kju got up, looking exhausted.

“Success?” Kiresula asked.

Kju made a vague gesture: “Yeah. It was rather taxing, but I am now in possession of a shiny secondary class: Gravitational Elementalist.”

“Awesome!” Mayana and Kiresula exclaimed.

Kju looked around for a moment and then stated: “Let’s go!”

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The group arrived at the top of the spire. Kiresula noticed that the poplar tree on it didn’t seem to have any root structure and just be held in place by sheer dungeon will. She pointed it out to the group who also found it rather eerie after it was pointed out. Mayana explained that the roots were instead snaking around the centre. She explained that she could see the tree’s traditional magic. This caught everyone’s attention: “The tree is magical?”

Mayana nodded: “I mean, everything in a dungeon is to a point, but yeah, it seems to light up as imbued with conventional magic. I am not sure if it is a dungeon creature or instead a phenomenon.”

As they all stood on the top of the spire, there was a quick moment of quiet, then, there was a slight vibration, then, the spire rose even higher. There were screeches, coming from the northwest. Kiresula couldn’t quite see what caused the noise, but she had a very good idea what it was: giant eagles.

She was aware of the fact that the dungeon loved these. Especially elemental versions. Makit and his group had mentioned them. She shot a few [Bites of the Elemental Beetle] up towards the screeching dots. There seemed not to be any reaction to them, not even a screech.

The group whispered about what to do. Kiresula had some ideas: “When they are close, I might be able to blind them. Don’t look down in that case and do what you can do to hurt them.”

Mayana nodded: “Eyes, open beaks, and possibly wings are good targets.”

Kju agreed: “If you cannot hurt them, get more distance between them and you!”

Mayana added: “And stay away from that tree. I have a bad feeling about it!”

Kiresula responded: “Also from the edge of the spire. For obvious reasons.”

Kiresula looked around and noticed that the trap door seemed to no longer exist. Even the outline of where it was had closed up. Kiresula understood that the dungeon had removed all abilities to chicken out. She half-expected this to happen.

At this moment, she felt an unpleasant feeling of movement: The spire started to rotate. She cussed. Her elemental beetles required precision and targeting. They did so little damage that she could only hope to hit places where the enemy was sensitive. Sure, her magical control was a bit higher, but she had never been one for magical marksmanship. Her previous spells were good to suppress an area in ice or snow. However, now, she had to content with having been returned to far too low a level and was in different classes, she had to try to be as precise as she could be.

It became possible to see the creatures: giant eagles, taller than a person, wings longer than the height of two people, one standing on the other’s shoulders. Their beaks were yellow and looked sharp, the feathers had a metallic sheen. Kiresula shouted that the feathers looked like armour.

There were five eagles. Each of them having a slightly different colour. A silverish one was on the forefront. Behind it were a blue-ish one and a greyish one. Behind those two, in a formation akin to geese, there was a reddish one and a greenish one.

There was a screech as the first eagle descended in a steep flight.

Kiresula watched the animal approach, then she breathed in and cast [Sunlight] at her feet.

The creature screeched and closed its eyes. That was when the group fired volleys of spells into it.