Once the initial euphoria of surviving that battle had died out, people had started counting their deaths and planning out for what's next. And it turned out that some others had thought the matter far deeper than she did, considering things she had dismissed without even thinking.

The general consensus was to explore the central forge first before going up the second elevator.

It was the less direct path to the exit yet, everyone seemed to be in agreement, mostly out of greed: afterall, who to say these roof monsters were only guarding the elevator? And though Sophia did not like the idea of taking such a detour, most of her team shared that general sentiment, and so she reluctantly tagged along.

In that theory's favor, the elevator going down was already waiting for them and only missed the regular puzzle pieces. And it was once again satisfying that her forward planning had proven useful once again, as her team and herself were the first going down to the second floor, and then sending the elevator back up.

It took yet about nine trips before everyone made their way down. Sophia took back the puzzle pieces just in case and pocketed them as the others were hyping themselves with ideas of getting their petty revenge on the sentient armor patrolling the first floor, downstairs.

But the survivors were determined in wasting that much time clearing the floor of all its enemies, and so she stood behind with her team and directed them toward the center of the floor where they finally found something amiss:

There was an ornated chest in the middle of the room, very much unlike anything they had seen so far, facing this elevator floor entrance. And Sophia was immediately suspicious about it:

"Ever encounter something like this?" She asked Michel.

"You are joking, right?" The guy said, shaking his head in disbelief and so she turned to her two new teammates and Prince, silently asking the same question.

"Nope. Nothing that fancy." Lono said, getting closer, only to stop at her silent warning.

She then entirely focused on Prince:

"If you truly need me to confirm it: Yep. That's definitely a trap. Now that's settled, nope, I don't know which one, although I could hazard some guesses." The tressym reluctantly admitted.

Knowing that Prince was still brooding and in an uncooperative mood, she did not push further.

"Okay guys, we are going to claim a finder share but we are going to let others handle it." She started bossing around, "Michel, I'm trusting you to negotiate. Moana, if someone else gets injured offer your help and let Michel negotiate some more afterward. And Lono, if it turns out this trap is guarded by some monster hiding nearby, you are in charge of guarding the team's back."

Still, everyone nodded and accepted her somewhat sensible, if disappointing orders.

"While everyone else is otherwise occupied, I'm going to keep exploring and search for any more nasty surprises. I will be back as soon as possible."

Obviously, Michel was feeling frustrated with this arrangement but did not argue either. She was indeed the team's best scout due to her unfair stealth and heightened instincts.

And so she started singing and went down to the ground floor where she found nothing amiss. So she kept pushing downstairs and inspected the underground floor. Which at first glance, appeared to be exactly the same. But then, she reached the location where she found the mould and here it was:

A very different mould. One of a key that was far too big and crude to fit in the ornated chest keyhole.

So there was indeed a treasure to be found there but it wasn't the fake chest sitting upstairs.

However, no matter how hard she searched, she could not find any secret doors.

I found a key mould. It's unrelated to the chest. I'm going to forge that key. How are things going on your end?

The answer was almost immediate.

The armor murder fest has died out. People are gathering at our location and arguing about the chest.

And then came a second answer she had not been waiting for:

I'm done with my prep. I'm going to head out and try to emulate your idea to slay a patrol. Wish me luck!

Paolo's answer made her smile. If he somehow managed to set it up without getting caught and then, managed to lure a patrol into his trap, his chances of success were actually far better than hers. So she had decided to trust him and hope for the best. Anyway, it wasn't like she could come to his rescue without knowing his position.

And so she concentrated on what she did best:

Operating under stealth and pulling on over everyone else while their attention was otherwise occupied.

Whatever that key opened, only her team would get it.

She felt like an utter hypocrite swinging from cooperation to competition whenever it fitted her interest but on the other hand, she was no heroine and only did what was best for her. Like she had betrayed her team on the first floor. Or left that other team to die on the third. Which thought prompted her to ask:

'By the way, system, are statistics readily available for the third floor?'

Her real question would have been to know if there were still survivors there. But unlike her true question, she knew in advance that the system would respond to that one:

This information cannot be disclosed.

Statistics for that floor are not complete.

So they were still alive. She wished them luck in finding their way out of Jurassic Park. But they were now well and truly beyond her.

In the meantime, she had recovered a dead armor from the first floor before turning back to smelt it.

And the moment she was done was also the moment she heard a single panicked scream coming from upstairs.

So they finally triggered the trap.

Ignoring the screams and shouts, she hurried up to make that damn key so she could get back and help her teammates once she was done. By chance, she succeeded on her first try this time and impatiently waited for the key to cool down.

But the sound of screams and fights died out before she was done. Far too quickly for it to be bad news, or so she hoped.

Everything alright down there?

This time, the few seconds that it took Michel to answer had been agonizing.

Yes. Everything is under control. The chest turned out to be a monster. Prince called it a mimic. The poor guy who tried to open lost one arm and almost got eaten alive. But Lono and a few others helped. And now, Clerics and leaders are arguing about letting Moana reattach that man's arm.

Sophia expected as much. New clerics could not reattach body parts or raise the dead. That was a veteran thing that was supposed to take years to learn, according to the library resources. So of course they would object to letting a field surgeon do it instead, purely because it reflected badly on them. Besides, her archetype was an existential threat to the cleric healing monopoly.

It was the obvious reason why any team would refuse a surgeon. Because their cleric advocated against them and having to choose between both, they picked the cleric's side. It was shortsighted but understandable. Surgery was gorry and it took centuries for surgeons to establish good practices and even more to restore their reputation.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

And though she did not know much about Moana, something in the way she carried herself while talking about her Oath made her think she was the real deal. She was frail, meek, and shy. And so, her talent had to lie elsewhere. Maybe she was even a pre-tutorial genius student in medicine despite being only eighteen, just like everyone else?

The key was done.

It was still red hot. But she could now remove it from its mould without risking breaking it.

And so she put the mold and key into separate cooking pots and put everything back into her backpack before rushing downstairs.

Only to see that the argument had resolved itself naturally to its foreseen conclusion.

The man's well-being had outweighed any opposition and now, Moana and a lone cleric were working on the man's arms while the others were quietly looking down on them, still high on their self-importance.

"What have I been missing?" She asked her team, more for Lono's benefit as Moana was well-occupied and Michel already told her everything. But Lono did not know that and they were still under system restrictions preventing them from explaining to their two new recruits that they could chat with one another using the system tools.

"The mimic ate that man's arm. The others killed it. And they had been arguing about the man's treatment and the treasure since then." The tressym aptly summarized, including one new piece of information into the mix.

So there indeed was a treasure.

"Already negotiate that part," Michel said. "We got nothing for helping that guy. But we got a percentage for finding it and helping deal with it."

"How much?" Sophia asked.

"20%. And they are still counting." Michel immediately answered, showing her with a look at the growing and diminishing piles of gold he was watching like a hawk.

And so she waits alongside him.

In the end, there were 160 gold in total, netting their team 32 gold. And so they started discussing what they would do with that amount, as 25 gold was the minimum requirement to learn a single first-circle spell. Sophia had secretly tried to reach for Paolo and include him in the conversation but he was unavailable and in the end, it was Michel who made the decision for the team:

"That's ridiculous. We all know you are the only spellcaster in the team without a single spell. You should have it, end of discussion. Next time, it should be Paolo, then me, and finally back to you."

That was indeed the logical decision here. But since she did not participate and went on her own errand herself, it had felt wrong to press her need. But Michel just made that decision for her and established a precedent for the team. Now, they had a pecking order for future rewards involving gold and she had nothing to say against it.

"Okay. Fine. You are right."

It was indeed getting ridiculous being a spellcaster without a single spell to her name.

Now she could learn Prismatic Orb, as she had agreed with Paolo. Then pick Magus Arcana the next time she got the chance. And start to shoot magical arrows imbued with the element of her choice. It was just the perfect blend of magic and archery the two of them had dreamed of.

Except that the spellbook was currently sitting within Paolo's backpack, wherever he currently was.

"Thanks. Gonna keep those safe until we can put them to good use." She concluded before texting Paolo.

Nevermind. We solved the issue on our end. But I need the spellbook you have been keeping safe. Tell me when you reach your forge roof. We are going to scout that place up the elevator now. But do not head there before getting our next report!

She then did exactly as she had told him and the team departed from the room and second floor to get back to the roof and then, up there into the unknown.

★☆★

In the end, in spite of Prince's claims, the second elevator also needed the puzzle pieces and she had not prepared for the need of a second spare. So they had to wait for everyone to leave the central forge, as she was not willing to do something as awful as leaving all those people trapped inside for their own stupidity.

Thinking on it, that was probably what she involuntary did to the team she had left behind in the resting area. 'Oups?'

She had not thought of anything but herself while taking those puzzle pieces and leaving that elevator on the roof of her forge. Did she accidentally kill those people because of her mistake? And that was what she did on any other forge while actively recruiting people. 'Double Oups, then?'

Surely the system must have thought of a way around that flaw. Maybe those elevators were automatically going down after a certain amount of time elapsed? It would not do to condemn so many teams to death because the first team of any forge forgot about the others. She would have to check.

Paolo, it's me again. I have a selfish request. On your way out, can you check any elevator we have unlocked for me? I'm concerned about unintentionally leaving people trapped inside. It's not an issue we can solve ourselves but I need to know. Thanks in advance.

Still no response and so, now that everyone was back on the roof, she claimed back her puzzle pieces and put them into the second elevator, which immediately came back to life with a puff of steam coming out of the hydraulics.

And up they went, even higher than she expected.

Then, she felt something was wrong with the sudden pain in her chest and the disappearance of the uncomfortable feeling of her magic, always crawling under her skin. She should have felt relieved but knew it could not be good.

'System, something just turned off my magic. Can you explain?'

That is an anti-magic field, generated by a powerful device or entity.

As a result, some of the system functionalities are now unavailable to you. Good luck!

"You felt it too?" She immediately asked Michel.

"Yes. It feels like I got drained."

And a quick look at Prince told her all she needed to know.

So it did not feel the same for everyone but they still got to the same conclusion.

Magic was gone. And with it, all his spells and her weavesinging.

And then, the elevator finally reached the next floor. And she took yet another difficult decision for the team:

"Michel, you have to go down and warn the others."

And then, supplementing her orders through the system.

I'm going to send you reports of things from here. Bullshit the others into thinking it is your divination magic at play if you have to. But do not let anyone go up unless I ask for it.

He nodded and quietly accepted his order.

As a primary wizard, he was nearly useless here and she needed a way to warn people and call for reinforcement whenever the need would arise. And so, while he actioned the lever to go down, they started exploring, now truly cut from their way back down.

And with the lonely light of the elevator now gone, the scenery of utter darkness changed before their eyes. They were back in a dark cave, illuminated by the faint light of glowing moss and mushrooms growing on the ceiling at random.

Then, deeper in the cave, down a few meters and hundreds of meters away, were thousands of 'civilian' sentient armors going on with their artificial life, blissfully ignorant of their presence. There were no patrol wielding weapons. Only a city made of metal and what looked like a temple in the distance.

It was peaceful. And so very unlike anything they had encountered so far that Sophia did not know how to react.

Were they supposed to kill an entire city of sentient armor or was the system testing their diplomatic capability here?

She dared hope it was the second. She did not feel like instigating an armor genocide even if she were able to.

★☆★

It was a long shot but Sophia started preparing for first contact.

And so, she took some papers from her backpack she had kept as a firestarter, one pen she had kept just in case, and started writing in big, bold symbols:

'We come in peace.'

Her common might still be atrocious but she was confident she could not screw up this one-sentence meaning.

"Prince, I have a mission for you." She said, proudly showing him the paper.

"You are afraid they will kill the messenger, aren't you?" The Tressym stated grimly.

She reluctantly nodded.

"On the plus side, diplomacy is your strong suit, you look inoffensive and you did not participate in killing any of them?" She tried to convince him.

"If we got to the point where you are going to casually give me suicide missions, I want a risk premium and proper death compensation." The winged cat said bluntly.

"That's it? How many lives do you have?" Sophia exclaimed before asking: "And please, name your price before I can agree to anything. "

"I have many lives," Prince said like a rich guy flaunting his wealth. "But I won't give them away for free. I want magic. One first circle spell worth of it, every day, for as long as we stay together. And I want one harmless wish within your power to grant in a single day, each time I die doing this kind of shit."

"The spell is granted. You should have asked for a salary sooner. It would have saved us a lot of trouble. But that also means you are going to be on your best behavior from now on, right?"

"Right." The tressym reluctantly mumbled. "And the wish?"

"I'm going to ask you to be more specific, give me an example and I have one condition." Sophia started bartering.

"Condition first." The winged cat immediately retorted, ruffling his wings.

"You must carry the mission in good faith without self-sabotaging to get your wish."

"Did you really think I'm valuing my lives that little?" the tressym retorted but Sophia kept staring him down until he gave in. "Fine, I promise. Now, I won't give you specifics but I can name my wish in advance, is that agreeable?"

Knowing in advance what the tressym would ask was even better, so she could call out the deal if he was unreasonable. And so she nodded her agreement.

"I want you to brew and drink a potion that would let you smuggle an object that belongs to me from the astral plane into the tutorial." Prince declared, deadly serious.

Remembering what the tressym had said on the first floor about the system loophole, that seemed like a genuine wish only a human could grant. But she was still concerned about what the winged cat would ask her to retrieve:

"Anything dangerous?" She asked.

"Should I remind you that I'm contractually bonded to serve your best interests for the entirety of the tutorial?" Prince reminded her, pedantic "And yes, of course, it will be a powerful object that definitely doesn't belong to the tutorial and would upset the system balance. Why else would I ask?"

Sophia was almost certain she was going to regret it. But unlike the tressym, she had a very limited supply of lives.

And so she did the coward thing and nodded her agreement to the grinning feline.