Book 3. Chapter 12.

“In the News.” Part 3

After Kalysto finished absorbing another hobgoblin’s stats, she watched her two traveling companions, beginning to worry about how safe it was to continue to let Ms. Tanner continue to level up. But at that moment, a strange light began to envelop Tsuki’s body, drawing her attention immediately.

“Tsuki, what’s wrong with you?” Kalysto panicked as she approached him but suddenly dozens of lightning bolts shot out of the puppy’s body, attacking even the surrounding stones. “Mrs. Mary, stay back!” shouted Kalysto at the same instant as a wave of energy burst from the puppy’s body and spread everywhere, accompanied by hundreds of lightning bolts. “Earth manipulation!” She conjured up a meter high stone wall while pushing Mrs. Tanner behind the wall and both of them took cover from the surprise attack.

“What the hell is going on? Is your dog turning into a monster?” muttered the older woman, her gray eyes full of worry and her brown hair, the same shade as her children’s, in disarray.

“No," Kalysto answered and immediately tried to connect with him.

Communication with the sacred beasts! Tsuki! Are you all right? What the hell happened?

“Master, I evolved! I thought it happened at level fifteen and I was worried that nothing had happened, but as soon as I reached level twenty, I evolved!” He shouted excitedly in his master’s mind, sending her a mental image of the partially destroyed wall she had created, from his perspective.

What was that? She asked, worried by the sudden mental invasion. Frightened at the possibility that Persephone could also do the same to her despite keeping her mental defenses active.

“That’s called shared vision, Master! From now on I can show you what I’m seeing, so now we can try what we talked about before!”

Good! Although this is not the safest place to experiment with that. We’ll go back to Sakura’s house and focus on that.

“It’s fine with me, but Master, since there are so many monsters here, can I keep hunting them and leveling up?”

Before that, I want you to answer me something. How can you show me what you are seeing when I have my shields active?

“Oh, that’s easy! It’s because the Master’s shield is mental, but our connection is of souls, and therefore takes priority. The problem before was that my level and skill were very low, while the Master had a very high mental defense, so it was difficult for me to connect, but I learned how to do it.”

So basically the problem was that you didn’t know how to use your skill?

“Our connection was very new and somewhat weak back then!” the puppy defended himself. “But now we’ve spent more time together and therefore our connection is stronger! Also, my skills have gone up a level, so it’s easier for me now.”

That’s okay! She finally agreed, regretting that she hadn’t discovered the trick earlier. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she should strengthen the bond between them.

“It’s safe to leave now, Mrs. Mary," Kalysto announced.

“Are we done with all the monsters?” questioned the older woman as she arranged her messy hair into a bun.

“Yes, you don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

“In that case," she commented, picking up the weapon from the corpse of a hobgoblin nearby. “Shall I keep them for you like we did with the other floors?”

“Yes, I’d appreciate it,” she replied as she approached Tsuki, regretting the loss of his former appearance. Tsuki, who before was a small puppy that inspired cuteness just by looking at him, now measured seventy centimeters.

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Her hand trembled as she reached out with the intention of touching him, feeling that she was facing a complete stranger.

He looked so much better before. She lamented.

Her hand stroked the soft white fur, taking comfort in the fact that at least his color was still the same.

“Master? Why are you sad?”

I think I’m too used to your former appearance... You’re too big to carry now. She changed the subject, uncomfortable with admitting her feelings.

Immediately, Tsuki stood on two legs, putting the two front legs in Kalysto’s arms.

“But we can still cuddle, Master!” -the cub announced excitedly, bringing his face close to hers.

“Don’t even think about licking my face!” She scolded him and he let out a pitiful whimper.

Didn’t you want to keep leveling up? If this tower resembles the one I found in Elinor, if you go down to the first floor and wait a while, the monsters will reappear. Blessing! She conjured while caressing him, giving him a little boost in case something unforeseen came up.

“I’ll be back as soon as I’m done!” The fenrir announced excitedly.

Tell me in case something happens! Kalysto warned him as she watched him return through the portal that had brought them to the seventh floor.

“You don’t know how I love this inventory thing. It’s so practical! I’ll never have to worry again about how much stuff I buy or if I can convince one of the kids to go with me to carry the bags!” Mary interrupted her as she stored another hobgoblin’s axe. It didn’t take long for the older woman to notice the sadness in Kalysto’s eyes. “Is everything all right?” she worried.

“They grow up so fast," Kalysto muttered as she watched Tsuki leave.

“I know. Nat was such a little girl not long ago, so sweet and cute with those chubby cheeks. And look at her now," she sighed, “soon she’ll be telling me she has a boyfriend and wants to leave home. They grow up so fast!” They both sighed as they watched his new figure get lost inside the mana portal. “By the way, I wanted to ask you, is it normal for him to grow so fast? Just a minute ago, he was such a little thing and look at him now.”

“It seems so. To tell you the truth, I haven’t had much time to research about his species.”

“How heavy is your work?”

“The work itself is not heavy. The problem is that there is always something going on that I have to solve as soon as possible, and honestly, I barely have time to sleep. That and my boss’s daughter seem to be addicted to fast results and strenuous and super intensive workouts. Someone should teach her what it means to rest and work exploitation!”

“Can’t you complain to your boss?”

“It’s her daughter! Whose side do you think she’ll take?” Kalysto complained as they approached the portal that would take them to the eighth floor.

“From what you’ve told me, despite the length of your contract, it seems to me that your boss tends to listen to your needs. She doesn’t seem so bad to me. At least it’s not like that boss you had in that warehouse, the one who didn’t even respect your lunch hours and only gave you twenty minutes for lunch.”

“I still hate that idiot, don’t remind me! He was always a problem for everything!” she growled. “ I’m so glad I quit!”

[Warning! User has entered the eighth floor of the dungeon!]

“I still can’t get used to these signs coming out of nowhere!” Mrs. Tanner complained. “By the way, I’d like you to let me know before you go back to work, I’d like to bake your boss a cake in thanks for saving you from that horrible killer orc,” although Kalysto doubted the fairy queen would like to eat something prepared by a human, the gesture warmed her heart. “You mentioned that the fairies liked sweet things, right? Maybe making her a couple of desserts would be good. I’ll send one to Mrs. Alynn. She seems like a nice person.”

“Thank you.”

“To you darling, if it wasn’t for you I’d still be stuck in the hospital, you know I don’t like them," Kalysto nodded her head as they walked forward, “Oh, look here comes more, don’t you think that axe on that one on the right is good for your new business? Do you mind if I tell the kids to try and do the same thing? I know you already gave Nat a good weapon, but my Jake has a dagger and I don’t think it’s very good. Would you mind if after this is over I lend him the sword you gave me to Jake?” Kalysto smiled, despite the hundred and fifty orcs and fifty trolls running towards them in a stampede.

“Blessing!” she conjured, touching her former landlady’s shoulder. “Blessing! Ice creation! Ice manipulation!” She added, freezing the enemy mini-army and leaving their shoulders and heads free for the two of them to hunt them with complete peace of mind. She also added a pair of ladders to help Mrs. Tanner climb the ice wall she had created. “All right, the ones on the left are all yours! It is possible that you might make it to level ten on this floor, but if you don’t, I’ll put you in the inventory. The last floors are usually dangerous, and if this tower resembles the one I saw in Elinor, the last floor will be dangerous,” she announced, remembering the presence of the gigantic eye.

Just as she had feared, on the tenth floor, there was an altar.

And on top of it a gigantic closed eye.