They cleared the dungeon in record time, with the dungeon boss dead and the team with the exception of Eogan being silver rank. The tagger had gotten all the way to 250 with the help of Ashira and an all too helpful Moyo. Moyo had decided to give Eogan both the armor and gem, but he had declined, stating Moyo had won it fair and square. As they left the dungeon, they were met with a dilemma.
No other team, or teams of bronze rankers rather had cleared their dungeons. That applied to the level 300 dungeon Ashira and Moyo were supposed to check out, regardless of the delving guild not giving access to that particular dungeon, it appeared a team of peak bronze rank ascenders had snuck into the dungeon.
Moyo had spoken with Ashira who wanted Eogan in on the mission, he found it a bit odd seeing as the tagger was just as eager to go on that sort of mission after Ashira explained to him. Moyo forced the bronze ranker to wear the rock armor though, without knowing what they were about to face inside the dungeon, he wasn’t going to risk him. Eogan had grumbled as he wore the armor, stating his path was defensive enough as it is,
“You do know I literally wield earth mana, right?” he said
Moyo shrugged,
“doesn’t hurt to wear extra protection” Moyo replied,
“And you?” Eogan asked,
Moyo simply smiled, Eogan snorted, nodding in understanding. As they made their way to the dungeon, Moyo glanced around at the arranged dungeons, each shimmering like pieces of broken glass with light refracting off them. Whatever situation Mr. A was about to dump them head first into, Moyo wasn’t sure he wanted a part of it. Sure, another tier 300 dungeon could be a boost to his ascension to gold, but he had more than enough funds to keep buying delving rights to dungeons.
Besides, a team of ascenders pretending to be some top-notch guild took balls, he might not know this broken sword guild, but with the way Mr. A spoke of them, they might as well be a VIP only guild. His attention was taken by a group of people that came out of a dungeon, clad in golden armor with a variety of weapons from what looked like blasters to swords and even a man with a staff sporting two gems on both ends of it. He stopped, along with Ashira and Eogan,
“Glowing sun ascenders” Eogan muttered,
The two teams now aware of each other stood in silence, Moyo gripping dominion hard as he realized they were all silver rankers,
“Red dust” one of them spoke,
“Glowing sun” Ashira responded,
“We have no reason to fight” the man said,
“We agree” Moyo responded,
“If you hand over your dungeon core, of course” the man said as the men behind him chuckled,
“You do know the peak silver rankers watching over this array won’t interfere I we fight right?” Ashira said,
“All the more reason you need to hand it over” the man said,
“Excuse me but, who are you exactly?” Moyo asked,
“I am- “was all the man said before Moyo activated his step of the titan and appeared in their midst, his realm settling over them before either of them could realize as he uttered a command,
“HOLD”
The whole team of ascenders froze in their steps, Moyo calmly placing his blade on the neck of the man who seemed to speak for them, then he released the command. The man with the staff moved first, the gems glowing as Moyo watched a rune circle break open beneath him and activated his step of the titan, vanishing before whatever effect the rune had could activate.
Thick shards of glowing crystals shot out of the ground before exploding, the mage didn’t get a second chance to launch another attack as Ashira carved his staff in two with one swing of her blade.
Eogan slammed his staff in the sandy ground as a green pulse of energy went out, touching the ascenders and making their armor grow plant life that bound them up as fast as they could tear it away. Moyo saw all this as he battled their leader who apparently had the power of scorching heat, his body glowing red while dropping blows after blows on Moyo who finally had a chance to test his evolved strength.
Blocking all the punches that failed to even dent his skin, Moyo landed one hit on the ascender, wincing as he crumpled down to the ground below from the air where they fought,
“My bad” he muttered,
Landing to see Ashira repeatedly slapping the mage with her mantle gauntlet covered arm, the mage a bloodied mess, Eogan busy with ensuring the ascenders were all tied up properly. He walked over to the leader who gripped his ribs hard, staring wide eyed at Moyo,
“Evolved attributes” he groaned,
“You can tell?’ Moyo asked genuinely surprised,
“Spare me, I can give you all my loot, just, spare me” he pleaded,
Moyo frowned at him, shaking his head as he stood up,
“We had no plans to steal from you, not like you intended to with us” he said,
The man slumped into unconsciousness, Moyo glanced at his fist, squeezing it with a deep look on his face,
“You seem troubled” Eogan said, slamming his staff into the face of a bound silver ranked ascender and knocking him unconscious,
“Just a thought” he replied,
“It looks more than just a thought” Eogan said,
“Not to sound ungrateful, but while a long time ago, I wanted overwhelming strength, now it just seems to deprive me of enjoying a battle, save when I fight monsters”
“Then fight monsters” Eogan said as Moyo glanced at him,
“The fact that you think you’re the only one with overwhelming stats is laughable, the king of red dust kingdom is known as the dazzling fist. Body aura cultivator with the stats of a diamond ranker, plus the battle experience, pray you don’t get on his bad side” Eogan said,
“See that’s the thing, no one at my level seems to match up to my strength, it’s like I’m some overpowered character in a story or something. It’s fun at first, but overtime?,” Moyo said, pausing to let Ashira meet up with them,
“what’s wrong with muscles over here?” she asked Eogan while pointing to Moyo,
“muscles?” Moyo asked, affronted,
“he’s having a “I’m the strongest and it’s boring” moment” Eogan replied,
“Ah, the I’m at the pinnacle phase” Ashira nodded in understanding,
“What are the two of you talking about?” Moyo said,
“Every ascender who’s had a good run thinks they’re the next best thing after rulers, sooner or later, believe me you’ll meet someone stronger, you already did, you just got saved by someone stronger” Ashira said,
The look on her face made him remember, his gaze darkening, Kenuran. The dragon was still a threat and not one Moyo could overlook so easily just because he had evolved three of his attributes, nodding and letting the matter drop, he switched topics,
“so how does the ruling of the continent work?, I mean with both a gold ranker as king and a diamond ranker as emperor?” he asked,
“We can discuss that on our way to the dungeon, let’s move” Ashira said,
“The king is a vassal to the diamond ranker, the clan Azartes holds supreme control over the continent, given mandate by the mythical master of this world” Eogan explained,
“The kingdoms of red dust, glowing sun and black blade all swore allegiance to clan Azartes, that and the clan has over 5gold rankers, more than enough power to put down any supposed rebellion from the side of the kingdoms should they be so stupid as to try”
“And this master, what house or clan is he from?’ Moyo asked,
“how am I supposed to know?, I’m just some bronze ranker, one of the thousands that exist in this world” Eogan snorted,
“House Ironash” Ashira said,
Moyo and Eogan glanced at her,
“how’d you, never mind” Moyo muttered, stealing a glance at Eogan who raised an eyebrow at her,
“You seem to know a lot about the master” he said,
Ashira rolled her eyes,
“we’re in the Ironash region of the galaxy correct?,” she asked as Eogan nodded,
“Which means whoever this master is either swore allegiance to house iron Ash or is from their branch families” she said,
“Branch families?’ Moyo asked,
“a house is made up of families, the main branches come directly from the rulers of the house themselves, or rather, their legitimate offsprings. The branch families come from when the rulers…ah…have a bit of fun outside” she said,
“So, the child while royalty cannot be part of the main branch but starts his branch while under the family?” he asked,
“Pretty much sums it up” Eogan said,
“And if the branch family manages to produce a master, they are sworn to the family and given a planet to hold, houses usually aren’t so flush with masters that they can let one leave their clutches” Ashira said,
“So somewhere on this continent, there’s a diamond ranker?” Moyo said,
Ashira paused in her steps, took a deep breath and spoke,
“no”
“I haven’t said anything!” Moyo responded,
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Still no” she continued,
“what’s he scheming now?” Eogan asked,
“My…. associate here is beginning to get the idea to go test the diamond ranker” Ashira said,
Eogan glanced at Moyo and chuckled,
“There are many ways to die, going by diamond ranker is a pretty horrific way, you won’t even know what killed you” he said,
“That strong?” Moyo asked,
“Let me put it like this, from the rank of diamond, you can literally turn your realm into a physical space, like another dimension. The stability depends on how strong your willpower is, the head of clan Azartes, the diamond ranker literally built a floating island made from his realm” Eogan explained,
“a floating island?” Moyo said, already imagining it,
“indeed, plus it can only be found when he wants it to, so literally, the island could be above this array right now and we’d have no idea, do you understand?, until you cross the threshold to diamond, which, seeing as you have an absurd attribute level over the usual ascender, is possible, I would advise staying off his radar” Eogan warned,
“we’ll be gone soon anyways, doubt we’d stay long enough for him to stay past gold” Ashira said,
“so a dedicated ascension team?, explains the absurd power leveling” Eogan said nodding,
“Alright, this is the dungeon” Ashira said as she stopped in front of a dungeon that glowed red,
“Ready?” she asked,
Moyo gripped dominion and nodded, Eogan spat out the chewed stalk in his mouth and gripped his straw hat, Ashira turned to the dungeon and entered, the rest following behind her. Space and reality warped as they found themselves in what looked like a temple,
“something’s wrong” Ashira uttered,
Notice: you have entered a level 300 dungeon, dungeon creatures are level 300-350,
* You have 7 dungeon days to clear this dungeon or risk the exit vanishing,
* Monsters are **#*#***#*#*#*
* There are 1000 ****##**##*#*#* in this dungeon, all must be cleared to exit the dungeon
“Am I the only one seeing this?” Moyo asked as he glanced around,
“The system is glitching, what in the archailects name can make the system glitch?” Ashira said,
“Something not of the archailect, stay behind me my lady” Eogan said,
“My lady?” Moyo asked as Ashira bit her lip and gripped her blade that glowed the golden color of the feral mode she activated,
Then a green spear that screamed to life with power far above the rank of silver shot towards them, Moyo’s eyes watered painfully as it came in proximity to them, but he managed to raise his blade up. Eogan calmly stepped in front of them, Moyo staring in horror and awe immediately as the spear crashed into the rock armor Eogan wore, crushing it but broke on his skin.
Eogan glanced at Moyo, frowned but turned back and then began to glow. The power that blazed from the tagger seemed to encapsulate the entire dungeon,
“Now what’s a diamond ranked monster doing in a silver dungeon?” Eogan muttered,
Then like wool before his eyes, the power Eogan exuded climbed steadily, from bronze, to silver, to a matching level from what he felt in the presence of Kenuran and then a notch higher. Staring like a deer caught in headlights, he felt the power rub off him like nature personified, an avatar of the planet itself,
“Is that?” Moyo whispered,
“Diamond ranker” Ashira muttered,
Eogan gripped his staff then bent it till it resembled a bow, the staff flexible enough to stay in the bow shape. A green string shimmered to life as Eogan drew it back, an arrow shimmering to life on the bow, bursting with pure mana and what felt like authority,
“Strike true, string song” Eogan said and released the arrow,
Reality wrapped around the arrow that flew straight in the direction of the projectile, the entire area becoming a hue of dark green as it flew straight and crashed into the air, fracturing what seemed to be an invisible barrier. It broke like glass, shattering to reveal a floating skeleton gripping a staff, eyes that glowed. Ashira sucked in a breath,
“We need to leave, now!” she shouted,
The skeleton stretched his hand and Eogan waved his as Moyo felt the realm of Eogan settle over them, his entire perspective becoming a forest of trees, a pocket dimension in the temple they were in. whatever attack the skeleton used crashed against the realm and shook it, but the realm of the diamond ranker withstood said attack,
“what the hell is happening?, and who’s Eogan?” Moyo growled,
“Long story, short form, he’s from house Kairos and a diamond ranker and we need to get far away from here as soon as possible, that’s a blight!” she said,
Moyo felt dread suffuse his body but locked it down,
“I’ve faced a blight, that’s no blight” he said,
“you’ve faced a what?, never mind, you probably faced a category 1 or 2, that’s a category 5!” she hissed,
‘The difference being?”
“The difference being that creature out there can only be fought by a diamond or a master!” she continued,
Moyo stared at her for a few seconds, then walked to the edge of the realm he could perceive and began pushing against it. Eyes shut, he used his might as well as his realm to push against the edges of the realm,
“What are you doing?” Ashira asked from behind him,
“Finding my way out of this realm” he replied, eyes clenched shut,
“You can’t be in a battle with diamond rankers, you’ll get evaporated!” she said, exasperation in her voice,
“So, you’d let him die?” Moyo asked, finally stopping as it had no result, the realm didn’t even react to his intrusion,
“Eogan knew enough to send us here, I bet if the battle wasn’t taking up his whole concentration, we’d probably be transported to another location”
“Diamond rankers can do that?’ Moyo asked,
“No, plantsmen are bestowed-, sigh, never mind” she groaned, sheathing her blade,
Moyo stared at her as she walked round the forest of shimmering trees, silent as she worked herself up,
“You can ask you know, probably connecting the dots already” she said, glancing at him,
Moyo shrugged,
“I have my theories, but if you don’t want to share your secrets, far be it from me being hypocritical to make an issue over it” he replied,
Ashira gave a weak smile and banished her mantle, running her hands through her hair that was moving on its own again,
“is that something related to your path?, the hair I mean” Moyo asked,
“To an extent yeah, same with your eyes and hardened skin, mine’s just my eyes and hair” she mumbled as he nodded,
He sat on the ground, crossing his legs, eyes closed as he began to meditate, breathing deeply. He heard her footsteps stop and turn to him, eyes still closed, he raised an eyebrow,
“Questions, I sense, ask them, you will, young padawan” Moyo said,
“what’s a padawan and why are you acting all wise?” she replied, genuinely confused,
Moyo sighed and waved his hand,
“Never mind, my words remains the same, ask” he said,
Ashira sat close to him in silence,
“You have your secrets” she said,
“a few of them, some more important than the others”
“And you’re not burdened by them?’ she said,
“What gave you that idea?”
“The way you don’t let it bother you” she said,
Moyo chuckled and settled in, to be frank, Ashira seemed like a nice person. Despite whatever theories he had about her origins, one thing was clear, she was royalty and still she decided to act like some nobody building their way up. And while he couldn’t just divulge the truth of his existence, he could at least give her hints. Opening his eyes he spoke,
“Do you have a clear set of goals?” he asked,
Ashira took a minute before she replied,
“To some extent” she said,
“Well, I had,” he replied,
“What happened to them?”
“Life happened to them”
He turned to her,
“See, before the archailect came to my world, I was an average nobody, one of the multitudes just trying to make a living and finding the source of my next meal, I’m guessing yours was different?”
“I grew up in the archailect, and with a vastly different upbringing…wealthier” she mumbled at the end, as if ashamed of it,
“Cool, now when the archailect hit, I was stuck in a, let’s just say serious precarious situation” he continued,
“How precarious?” she asked,
“Literal survive where everything is insanely stronger than you situation”
“Oh, I’m guessing you weren’t in the tutorial zone, or in a yellow zone, supreme beings forbid a red zone?” she asked again,
He chuckled as he scratched his stubbing beards,
“Close enough, point was, I had only one goal, survive, get stronger, live one day at a time. And to some extent, I began to enjoy it, the feeling of getting stronger, conquering insurmountable odds, it was exciting”
Ashira nodded, listening with rapt attention,
“And then, due to certain…circumstances I can’t divulge yet, not because I don’t want to tell you, but it would genuinely put you in danger, I became insanely strong, at least for that stage” he said,
“You do know saying that only piqued my interest, right?” Ashira said,
“In time, but the point is, all those insanely strong odds, they fell flat to zero, I was the literal top creature by the end of that situation. Then I was able to leave where I was and realized that all of my species were far below me, far”
“How far?”
“I was advocate and they were initiate, it’s a pretty wide gap” he said as she nodded in understanding,
“Then involuntarily, it was my responsibility to protect them for a while, a situation I had absolutely no idea or training for. Luckily, I had a few good people, more like family when I think back on it that stood up and relieved me of most of the troubles and headaches that come with ruling”
“Mrs. Martha, a mother figure to me, Idris, Boyle, Ayo, Annika...” he said with a smile,
“Sounds like that Annika makes you smile” Ashira said a twinkle in her eyes,
“I have no idea what you mean, moving on” he said while avoiding eye contact,
“Overtime they grew strong too, we kept on breaking barriers, we theoretically led our species back into the fight, but it was always me at the front. I was the shield wall that took the brunt of the battles, I faced whatever overwhelming evil was bearing down on us, and I was fine with it, I wanted to get stronger anyways and fighting insurmountable odds were kind of like my thing”
“don’t you mean still is kind of like your thing?” Ashira teased,
Moyo narrowed his eyes,
“you’re not being a very good listener”
“Sorry, lips sealed, ears opened “she replied,
Moyo gave her a dubious look but continued,
“After a while, it became platonic. Literally no one on my planet was a challenge, the worst of the dangers had passed temporarily and I was some sort of icon for humanity, the poster boy for the strength humanity had to offer. Odds are, if I went back today, the gap would be insanely larger and that leaves me uncomfortable” he said,
“Because in the wider archailect, I’m not some scion, some chosen one or ruler, I’m just your average expert trying to survive. Then I got the stark realization I was weak, struggled to get to where I am today and realized, I’m not sure exactly what I want. Of course I want to get stronger, protect my world and people, but apart from that, what do I really want?, what’s my whole purpose?” he finished,
Ashira kept staring at him expectantly, Moyo rolled his eyes,
“You can talk now” he said,
“Oh, okay. Feels like you got a lot of responsibilities thrust upon you too early, it sort of sent you off whatever goal you might had made for yourself” she said as he nodded,
“it’s not generally a bad thing though, at least you actively decided to choose said role, I was born in it” she said,
Ah, he was right then,
“Not to jump to conclusions, feel free to warn me off if you sense I’m getting close, but something tells me you’re not just any descendant of house Kairos, you’re really important, like top priority important?” he said as she nodded,
“I was placed in a position of authority from an early age, much was expected of me and I performed flawlessly. I was a true Kairos, my strength even as an advocate was unmatched by my peers, I was the object of adoration and envy. Then I realized, I had no identity for myself, I was whatever the house expected me to be at any given moment” she said,
“So, you decided to take a journey of self-discovery in a universe filled with uncountable horrors and evil” he said,
“Also filled with joy and laughter and true friends, unlike the ones you make in a royal court” she said,
Moyo was pretty sure he was close with his theory and the thought scared him,
“Yeah, you really are important, aren’t you?” he said,
Ashira glanced at him, biting her lip,
“One of the reasons I failed to tell you of my origins was because I didn’t want to be looked upon differently, like some spoiled child”
“Well, I’m not arguing that you aren’t spoiled, but I could care less about your origin. You seem like a pretty decent person to me and that’s all that matters” he said as she smiled,
“Thanks, you too, when you aren’t running head first, blade swinging into certain doom” she said as they laughed,
“But I think I understand why you do it though” she said,
“Oh, and what might that be?”
“Deep down, you realize the only way you can understand your true purpose is by getting strong first, and doing that by fighting the biggest baddest thing you can find to get stronger quickly” she said,
Moyo kept quiet for a few seconds,
“That about sums it up, for now I guess” he replied,
“And you want to prove your worth outside of house Kairos while finding your purpose at the same time” he continued,
Ashira nodded,
“Then I guess we’re both just looking for our purposes” she said,
“Spot on” Moyo replied,
“That was refreshing, felt like a burden lifted off my shoulders” Ashira said,
Moyo smiled and realized he could breathe easier too, a calming effect settling on his body,
“You do know this doesn’t still mean we can take on a category 5 blight, right?” Ashira mumbled, resting her head on his shoulders,
“’can’t help but want to try” he replied softly,
She snorted,
“of course, wouldn’t be you if you didn’t” she replied as they chuckled,
They lapsed into silence, each enjoying the steady presence of the other, till Moyo felt a presence appear behind them and turned with Ashira who was steadily growing red. Eogan stood behind them, hands clasped together, fighting back a smile,
“Apologies, I should had knocked before disturbing whatever was going on between the two of you, such a shame to spoil such a moment” he said,
“There are no doors to knock” Ashira mumbled, eyes narrowed,
“Diamond ranker huh?” Moyo said to Eogan who shrugged, eyes twinkling,
“We can discuss that later, tell me, what are your plans for lady Ashira” Eogan asked,
“Eogan!” she gasped,
“Nothing more than hardcore battles here and there, companionship and a steady ascension” Moyo replied,
“companionship huh?, the physical type?”
“Eogan, I swear by all the elder trees, one more word and I promise you the sage would hear” Ashira said, growling as Eogan chuckled,
“Fine fine, let’s pretend nothing is going on” he said as his face became serious,
“Slight problem though” he said,
“The blight?” Moyo asked,
“Dead, issue is what happened before we arrived” Eogan said,
“The impersonating ascenders?” Ashira asked,
“Dead, all of them,” Eogan said.