Lithification was basically the process in which earth was compacted under pressure and had its mineral-rich water expelled, gradually turning the earth into stone. Noah planned to imitate this process using a combination of his manipulation skills.

He sat down on the ground and conjured an earthball and mentally applied pressure. Then he activated his skill [Water Manipulation] and extracted all the water inside the ball. He looked at the ball for a few seconds, but nothing happened. “Hmmm… Maybe not enough pressure?” With that thought, he applied more pressure. When finally, at fifty points of mana spent, he saw the bell icon ringing in the corner of his vision.

You have acquired the spell [Stoneball]

You have acquired the skill [Stone Manipulation]

Noah did a fist pump as he successfully achieved his goal. “Time to upgrade my earth spells.” So, he activated his earth spells one by one and converted them all into stone. This ended up making them cost much more mana, but they’d definitely cause more damage. This was especially true for his biggest spell yet, the explosive spear which was now made of stone. It now cost fifty percent more mana than before, so from his maximum of five shots with the spell, it was now down to three shots. “Can’t wait to try it out.”

Noah then got up and was about to tell Mark that he was ready to go, but then he remembered that he didn’t know how long dungeon delves lasted. He voiced out his concern to his cousin, who immediately pointed out the existence of information packets that he’d already purchased.

“Way ahead of you on that. I already bought one and absorbed the information. The packet said that dungeon delve duration is highly dependent on the tier. Tier ones generally last for about one universal day, which is around three days for us.” Mark said matter-of-factly.

“I guess we need to inform Talal and Lily before we delve.” Noah and Mark then turned around and started heading back. And along the way they passed by the sinkhole that they discovered a while back. They stopped and looked curiously into the abyss.

“Ever wonder what’s down there?” Mark asked.

“All the time! If I could just fly, I’d definitely check it out myself, but unfortunately, I’m not there yet with my magic.” Noah slumped his shoulders. He knew that if they went down there as they were now and some monster came out to attack them, they’d be like sitting ducks, unable to get away quick enough.

So, they moved on from the mysterious sinkhole and continued on their way back to the apartment building. They couldn’t help but notice that everything was calm and peaceful. It was eerie in a way that they couldn’t describe. “I hope it’s nothing serious.” Noah thought as they neared the building.

And when they got there, they both let out a breath of relief. They saw Lily sleeping with the boars on the first floor and decided to let them be. “They’re probably tired from playing so much.” Noah thought as they went up the stairs to the tenth floor. When they knocked on the door, Talal, in his human form, immediately opened it as if he was expecting them.

“Good timing, I was just about to come find you guys. We need to talk,” Talal said with a hint of urgency in his voice.

“That’s not ominous at all. What happened?” Mark asked.

“You see, one of my friends is in the valley and wanted to settle here for a couple of days, maybe more if she ends up liking it here.” Talal saw that a flash of hesitation appeared on Noah and Mark’s faces. “Don’t worry, she’s not one of the crazy, enslave the humans type. I can vouch for her personality.”

Noah was about to agree when Mark chimed in. “Is she the reason that the animals in the valley are acting strangely?”

“Ah. You noticed that? Yes, she’s the reason. She recently went through her first evolution and other animals can pretty much sense her aura.” A hint of longing and jealousy laced Talal’s voice as he continued. “Which brings us to another thing I wanted to ask you. Do you guys want to delve into a dungeon with me?”

Noah looked at Mark and nodded. “That’s actually what we came here to talk to you about. We discovered a nearby dungeon and wanted to run it, but we found out that it usually takes three days to run a tier one dungeon. And in that period of time, no one was going to be home to take care of Lily and the boars. Can your friend do it?”

“We’ll have to ask her, but I think it should be fine. She loves kids.” That was when they heard something crash into the renovated floor behind Talal. Noah and Mark looked over and found a griffin clumsily trying to stand. It was then bathed in light and transformed into a woman with brown skin and straight auburn hair that reached her waist.

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“Even though you’re already evolved, you still suck at landings.” Talal chided her as she got close to them.

“And how are you still not used to my landings? Hehe.” She went up to Noah and Mark and shook their hands enthusiastically. “Hello human friends! My name is Aurora! I hope we’ll have a great time together as new neighbors!”

Like that, they were introduced to aurora the griffin. They filled her in on the planned delve into the tier one dungeon and asked if she could look after Lily and the boars. She agreed almost immediately of course, saying that she loved kids and of any species. She then settled herself in one of the still intact rooms on the tenth floor and insisted on going to see Lily and the piglets.

So, they went down to the apartment where Lily and the piglets were sleeping with Emeri as their pillow. As they entered the room, Lily woke up and stared at them confusedly. “Noah? Mark? Who’s the pretty lady?”

Aurora rushed to hug and pinch Lily’s cheeks. “Aren’t you just adorable?” This was when Emeri and the piglets stirred awake and noticed the new human hugging Lily. The piglets immediately ran to protect Lily as they thought that she was in distress. “Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink!” They oinked and tried to push Aurora away, but she just laughed.

Aurora raised her arms in defeat as she backed away from Lily. “Okay okay. They sure are protective of you, Lily. My name is Aurora by the way, but you can just call me big sister!”

Still confused, Lily just nodded. She then looked at Noah and Mark, a questioning look clear on her face. Mark then cleared his throat and said. “So uhm, Lily, this is Aurora. She’ll be taking care of you and the boars while we go on a short trip.”

Lily’s eyes began to water. “You…You’re leaving me? Is it because I play too much?”

Mark hurriedly went up to Lily and comforted her. “No, of course it’s not that. You can play all you want! We’re just going to go and delve into a dungeon so that we can get stronger and protect you better.”

“Can’t I go with you? I promise I’ll be good!”

Mark sighed. “Maybe next time, alright? We don’t know what we’ll be up against yet, so it’s too dangerous to bring you with us.” Lily then looked Mark in the eyes and did her best version of puppy dog eyes. Mark saw that and couldn’t help but say. “For now. Once we’re stronger and more confident in our strength, we’ll even take you leveling!”

Then it hit Noah. They didn’t know what Lily’s class was yet. “Hey Lily, what was your class again? I don’t think we ever got to ask you.”

“Oh, I got something called apprentice beast tamer. It also says that it’s uncommon. Mom said it was a pretty good class. She used to like playing this game called Diablo a lot, and I used to watch her play sometimes.” At the mention of her mother, Lily began tearing up even more, but she held it in and wiped them away. She looked at Noah and Mark. “You promise you’ll take me next time?” She asked.

Noah and Mark gawked at the mention of her class. “We promise we’ll take you next time, but uhhh, by tamer, do you mean you can tame animals and stuff? How many at once can you tame?” Mark asked.

Lily thought of the first squirrels she tamed with her mom and perked up a bit. “Ummm, yeah? I tamed a few squirrels before. They were really cute, but they died trying to protect us.” Lily visibly deflated again but tried her best to answer the questions. “Ummm. I don’t really know how many I can tame at once. I’m sorry.”

Noah hurriedly waved his hands and tried to appease her. “No need to say sorry! I was just curious. In fact, you have a great class! Definitely a lot of potential!” He said, slightly panicking.

This was when Talal finally chimed in. “Don’t mean to be a buzzkill guys but the sooner we start that dungeon, the sooner we get out and come back. Lily will be fine while we’re gone. Isn’t that right Aurora?”

Aurora perked up at the mention of her name. “Right! I’ll keep her safe from any and all bad guys!” She thumped her chest to assure them.

Noah and Mark looked at each other one last time and nodded. “Okay, let’s go. Be good, okay Lily? We’ll be back before you know it!” With that, they set off and headed for the dungeon.

----------------------------------------

“AHHHHHHH!” Mark screamed at the top of his lungs as they rode on top of Talal in his roc form.

“Aaaaand we’re here.” Talal remarked as he landed. “Oh, we’re lucky. It’s a darkness element dungeon. I’ll be completely at home in this one.” He said as he started heading toward it.

Mark spoke out before they got nearer. “Wait! Let’s buy some mana and health potions, just in case.”

And so, Noah, without thinking about it, three health potions which cost one hundred mana stones each and ten mana potions which cost fifty each. “All done.” He took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.” And all together, they entered the pitch-black space distortion.

A moment later, they opened their eyes, and all they saw was an inky darkness that enveloped them, except Talal. “It has been quite some time since this majestic me has been to a place so rich with darkness-aspect mana. Mmmm, this feels amazing!” He exclaimed as he flew around in the darkness like a fish in water.

Unlike Talal though, Noah and Mark couldn’t see anything. So, Noah immediately summoned a few fireballs and let them float around to illuminate the way forward. “I’m finally going to get a chance to test out my flamethrower!”

You have entered the dungeon [Dark Elf Hideout]

Your mission:

Eradicate all Dark Elves inside the hideout

Rewards: 1 medium grade Mana Stone

Suddenly, an arrow hit Mark on the shoulder. “OW! That hurt!” He exclaimed as the arrow barely even left a scratch on his skin.

“Oh, come on, it barely scratched you! Anyway, want to race to fifty kills? My radar says that there are at least two hundred enemies, but they’re all fairly low level.”

Mark thought about it. “Loser has to cook for the next week. Spices included. Oh, and beverages, there needs to be beer or wine or something. High-quality meat too! All bought from the store!”

“Are you sure? You know I’m higher level than you, right?” Noah asked as he didn’t know what came over his usually cautious cousin.

“Hell yeah I’m sure!”

“Okay then.”

“I’ll be the referee for this one. The quest rewards will be enough for me this time as the enemies are too low level anyway…” Talal looked at the two humans and counted down “three, two, one, GO”