“No,” I say, responding to Maya, who is currently holding my damaged arcane ax.

“Come on, I’ll buy you something from the system shop worth 10 thousand shards.”

“Fifty thousand.”

“How the fuck would I even get fifty thousand shards? Ask in three to five more floors if I'm lucky.”

“Forty-nine thousand,” I prod.

At that, Maya grabs a small stone from the ground, throws it at me, and smiles before continuing to examine the ax.

I continue to pet Biscuit. Ever since I found them, he’s refused to leave my side and lays in my lap while I sit against the wall of the cliff we’ve chosen to shelter our camp. Not that I mind, the best doggo of the 6th floor deserves all the pets I can give. It's hard to believe I’ve been able to cope without him for so many weeks.

Sure, Vega is a great ESM, but there is something hard to explain when I pet this silly corgi or boop his cold nose.

Damn, I’ve missed him.

“Nat! You killed a Veil Guardian all on your own?” Min-Jae interrupts, eyes wide, in anticipation of an exciting story.

Biscuit woofs, either at him or at me for stopping petting, so I continue.

“A few. I brought a few voidsteel blades with me, so later we’ll see if we can’t get someone to make something out of them for you. By the way, you need to spend some more time training your [Telekinesis] and [Gravity Well]. I saw some scary stuff they should be able to replicate.”

“Oh, me too. I saw a Veil Guardian using strong gravity attacks against the Bastion. The Housekeeper nearly died when he focused it on her. But the guardian didn't use telekinesis or anything similar.”

I nod, “There was one more monster. I saw it wave its hand and destroy an entire city. It tore down skyscrapers like they were nothing and kept throwing building-sized projectiles at me. Scary stuff.”

The boy continues to listen as I describe a bit more of what the Veil Weaver did. Back then, I don't think I would have had a chance unless I could cooperate with my duplicate.

“What about you, Tess? Did you kill a Veil Guardian?” I ask her.

“Two of them on my own and one with the help of the Bastion,” she says. “I just needed to keep my crown charged and set some preparations in place. Then I’d just shoot them from really far away. Sophie was able to kill two of them. She even controlled one for a while.”

Sophie looks up from Izzy leaning against her, “I only controlled it for a few seconds. The Veil didn't like that at all, and it nearly killed me but the Butler and others killed it before it could finish the job.”

“That was dumb Sophie,” Izzy mumbles.

Noodle is there as well, coiled around her arm. I can tell that he’s looking at me, he’s probably hungry for my mana, but a single glance at Biscuit in my lap makes him stop. I can’t help but wonder how these two managed to establish their pecking order.

“During our last day on the Floor, I killed five,” Lily says.

Most of the eyes in the group turn to her.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that hard for her. She probably boosted herself with [Sacrifice] and she has the most powerful damage skill out of anyone in group 4, she would kill them. Her level is also getting rather close to 200, but it's still scary to think that she might be able to pull that off.

Well, it's scary, but she is our scary crazy healer, so that's fine.

The others also managed to kill a Veil Guardian but they always had assistance from the Bastion itself or the four assholes running the place, mostly the Housekeeper or the Butler.

The only people who managed to kill them on their own, whether they took them on in a straight up fight or by setting ambushes and traps, are those in Beyond. Well, other than Sophie, who I think would also do well. It's just that she already used an upgrade token, and she’s unwilling to leave Isabella for so long. Well, it's not like she needs Beyond rewards with her [Manipulation].

Of course, I killed the most Veil Guardians. My duplicate and I hunted them at every opportunity not to mention the ones I fought on my own.

But group 4 is as scary as ever.

“So Biscuit, how was your disciple?”

(Friend!)

“Oh, you liked him?”

(Food.)

“I agree. Disciples should be respectful towards their masters.”

(Food food!)

“Totally.”

(Asshole?)

“Oh no, my disciple was great.”

(Food?)

“I think it's close but you are just a tiny bit cuter than her.”

At that, he just woofs but continues wagging his short tail from side to side. Cute little rascal, I wonder how strong he got and what his disciple looked like.

“Have you guys found any monsters on this floor?” I ask.

“A few,” Tess answers me. “They don’t seem to be active at night, and they only really come out during the day. They’re all level 150 and over, and many of them rank in the two hundreds. But we know how it goes, there will always be stronger variants.”

This is such a weird setup. Isn't night usually more dangerous, shouldn’t that be when all the dangerous animals leave their hidey holes?

“Do we have any other info on the floor, what about news from the twins?”

Tess moves closer and Sophie takes over, keeping watch with her web of mana and the swarm of mana constructs.

I was able to grab one so I examine it while I listen to the others. Sophie doesn't seem to mind even though she rolled her eyes. I like how different our approach to mana can be, there is still so much to be learned.

Taking a seat next to Maya, Tess explains, “The twins are being held by the master of the Black Tower. They’ve tried to escape multiple times, but they were caught and punished…” She narrows her eyes and her expression changes, “Apparently the second in command marked them and they’re using that to track the twins.”

I don't like that either, “We will locate them and get them out.”

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“We will, but carefully. Apparently, the master of the Black Tower used to be a Champion’s disciple before he was sent to Astral Prison. So far we don't know his level, but the twins have placed their estimate somewhere around 300.”

“It doesn't matter.”

Tess smiles, “I thought you would say that, Nat. As you said, it doesn't matter. We will get Aaron and Dennis back, and we’ll punish anyone who’s hurt them. I think everyone here is up for that.” She looks around.

Surprisingly, the rest of the group seems to agree with Tess. I think as time passes, the people of group 4 are beginning to bond.

“We probably won't be able to do it before the tournament, we only have fifteen hours until it starts,” I note.

“That's true,” Tess agrees with me. “We still don't know how the tournament works, but hopefully, it will allow us to come together and plan everything out without Community censorship and time limits. As for the rest of this floor, we have only bits of information from Aaron and Dennis. Apparently, it's a prison as the name implies. The entire moon serves as a dumping ground for the criminals, from multiple planets, and they’re left to fight amongst themselves or die of starvation.”

“Are there any guards?” I ask.

“We don’t know.”

“You said the twins are being kept by people from the black tower and this Black Tower has a master who presides over its functions, what is it?”

“The prisoners on this moon have created several groups in order to survive. Black Tower is one of them.”

Nothing about this floor has been what I expected.

The last floor was probably meant to illustrate the dangers of tampering with creation. Its whole purpose was to show us a world that fell at the hands of the Enchanter Guild who, in their hubris, enslaved a young divine beast. It also gave us a chance to learn more about the Pairing, enchanting, and the dangers of mana radiation.

So what is this one about? We have to escape, but how? Is it supposed to teach us about portals between planets and planetary defenses? Are we going to find something like the orbital base from the 4th floor? What about spaceships?

Well, I’m sure we will learn as the floor progresses, but currently, we’ve got the tournament looming on the horizon. After that, I will be able to enter the 3rd Beyond trial, and we need to free the twins.

Things here really refuse to get boring.

“Nat.”

I look at Lily who’s clearly the one who called out to me and take note of her hesitation.

“Did you miss m…us?” she asks in the end. For a moment she even looks vulnerable.

Lily must have grown up like Min-Jae, though she looks a bit calmer now, but of course, her separation anxiety still seems to bother her.

“Lily, don’t bully Nat, you know…” Min-Jae starts.

“Yes,” I say simply.

Multiple pairs of eyes turn to me and I slowly return each gaze. Briefly, I meet their eyes. “Yes,” I repeat.

“Fuck, how can you say that with such a straight face? Someone might fall for…” Maya mumbles quietly, looking up from the damaged arcane ax she’s been babying.

Isabella tries to connect to my feelings but I disrupt her attempt. Then I reach out and pinch Lily’s nose and shake her head slightly.

It's nice to be back.

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

“So, my eye totally got stronger with me, Nat!” Min-Jae happily reports. “All these waves I’ve been seeing are gravitational in nature. Look what I can do.”

He rushes and his eye shines slightly and I feel a weird burst of mana emanate from his body. Then he touches a rock as big as he is and the rock flies into the air.

Both of us stare at it as it continues to fly higher and higher, “I can do this to monsters and people too. Of course, the stronger the monster is, the harder I have to work to get through their natural barrier. At a certain point, it just won’t work no matter how much mana I spend if the monster is too strong. But when it comes to weaker monsters and objects…” a single pulse of mana is all he needs to lift a dozen similarly sized stones into the air.

“I can do that to weaker monsters even without needing to touch them, but when I touch them it works better.”

As we watch the stones he sent flying about half a mile into the air before they plummet, I start imagining what would happen if he did that to monsters or people incapable of flying or landing safely.

“Can you send them into orbit?” I ask.

Right away he steps up and he turns to me with even higher excitement, “I knew you would understand, Nat! I just thought of it a few days ago, but you figured it out immediately!” he says, speaking faster, happy to share it all.

He continues, “Right now I can’t, but I’m sure I’ll be able to in the future. Just imagine sending monsters to orbit or launching them into space. Or I could lift them into the air and let them crash to the ground.”

“Tess, Nat is at it again and Kim is getting riled up,” Maya calls from somewhere nearby.

“Min-Jae, my boy. Why would you stop there? Imagine if you could lift a rock as big as a building into the air and then increase its gravity and send it crashing into your enemies. Or perhaps you don’t use a building, maybe you use high density metal projectiles, the sheer kinetic energy behind it would be terrifying. Did you hear about kinetic bombardment?”

“I did not!”

“I saw it on TV, it was some old army project. Tungsten rods or some such. As tall as telephone poles and probably as thick as Biscuit.”

A woof sounds from somewhere nearby.

“They wanted to put these rods in orbit with satellites and then send them crashing to the ground, using gravity alone. Supposedly they would reach speeds as high as Mach 8 and deal as much damage as a small nuclear bomb.”

“Isn’t that overkill, Nat?”

“You have to think big. With your gravity skill and telekinesis, you might be able to do it even without putting them into orbit.”

“I will think about it. You really like using your surroundings to fight. Whether you’re using gravity, falling rain, or wind to generate kinetic energy or absorbing it from pre-charged orbs, I’ve noticed that.”

Well, he is not wrong, “It gives me more firepower quicker. I told this to my disciple as well, but you should always try to gain an advantage, don't bother trying to fight honorably. That's an idiot’s game. But now I need to accept one of my rewards. Tess, will you keep watch?”

“Sure, enjoy.”

Thankful, I move away from the group somewhat, filter out their conversations, and accept my skill combination token.

You have used an active skill combination token. Please pick two skills from the following that you would like to combine.

Warning! Combining two skills will reduce the level of the acquired skill.

Warning! Combining incompatible skills may result in worse skills.

Warning! After combining these skills, it will be extremely difficult to reacquire the skills used in the resulting combination.

List of available skills to combine:

Mana Manipulation - Lvl 47

Perception - Lvl 43

Tether - Lvl 35

Regalia - Lvl 23

Infusion - Lvl 28

Five skills available. [Focus], [Redistribution], [Resonance], and [Mana Domain] are not here at all.

I once again wonder if they are skills that are unavailable to combine or if they are higher tiered than the active skill combination token. If there even is something like hidden rarities as I’ve taken to thinking of late.

[Mana Manipulation] with [Perception]

[Mana Manipulation] with [Tether]

[Mana Manipulation] with [Regalia]

[Mana Manipulation] with [Infusion]

[Perception] with [Tether]

[Perception] with [Regalia]

[Perception] with [Infusion]

[Tether] with [Regalia]

[Tether] with [Infusion]

[Regalia] with [Infusion]

Well, the last time I didn't even consider using [Mana Manipulation] given the way I relied on it, but this time I’ll keep it on the menu, I think I should be fine, even without it.

Let's consider our options.