I've been traveling with this spirit for a few days now, receiving tips and information from him about this Dungeon. In hindsight, I really should have asked a lot more questions about the Dungeon Boss.

Volzaminat only focused on the presence of the fifteen-foot-tall lava golem at the center of the ruins similar to the ones in the Special Dungeon Kyron and I cleared. Why? Because the only part of the Dungeon Boss fight he cares about is the lava golem core that will drop from the lava golem.

Which is why he completely neglected to mention that there were two fire golems and two stone golems accompanying it. The four base golems are only ten feet in height, and stand forming a square with the same element opposite each other, so that it's fire-stone-fire-stone going clockwise.

"Volzy," I say as we hover about two hundred feet above and about fifty feet over from the Dungeon Boss's arena.

"Yes?" Volzaminat shifts his tail so that it's rubbing against the back of my head.

"Next time, please mention the rest of the Dungeon Boss fight's information."

"What do you mean?"

"There being five golems instead of just one changes everything."

"How?" Volzaminat asks. "You just swoop in and kill everything, like you've been doing."

"I'm not feeling like fighting five golems," I say.

"We can't exactly leave until they're dead," Volzaminat says. "Well, I could, but you can't."

"Yeah, but I don't feel like fighting five golems," I pull him off of my shoulder and hold him in my hands. "I've already done plenty of fighting the last few days. I'm all battled out and don't want to deal with fighting five golems at once."

"So you're saying you can't fight five?" Volzaminat asks as I raise him above my head. "What if your husband helps?"

"No, I could fight the five," I tell him. "I just don't feel like it. Why don't you kill the lesser ones and I'll kill the actual Dungeon Boss?"

"Why would I-gyaaaaah!"

Volzaminat's surprised yell stops by the time he's halfway to the golems.

"Caleb!" Kyron exclaims. "Don't chuck a spirit at some monsters just because you're not feeling like fighting!"

Volzaminat slams into one of the fire golems and actually passes through it. The beast attempts to incinerate the spirit, which just bolts away before the others can join in.

Once he's about a hundred feet away from the Dungeon Boss's arena, Volzaminat jumps onto the air and starts jumping from spot to spot, ascending higher and higher before moving toward us. He's using air magic the same way that Kyron and I do when we need to jump between islands in a Dungeon. Even if he's a lava/fire-earth spirit, he can still use the others, to some degree.

Their prey gone, the golems return to their resting states in the arena, and Volzaminat reaches me. As soon as he lands on my shoulder, he bites it.

"Hey!"

"You threw me!"

"I knew you'd be fine!" That hurts!"

"So does being thrown!"

"You've already proven you can't get hurt!"

"I still feel pain! That was awful!"

"You weren't hurt!"

"Yes, I was!"

"You started going 'whee' halfway down, and I could hear you laughing from here once you landed!"

"Did not! Why are you flying higher?"

"So I can throw you from higher."

"Lemme get into a better prep position before you toss me."

I fly up so that I'm about five hundred feet above the mountain – this is actually the height cap, and it's impossible for me to go any higher. The cap prevents us from exceeding the height in any way, so I have to float a little bit lower so that I can raise Volzaminat above my head. Once Volzaminat is ready, I launch him downward.

This time, the spirit sets his body into a spin. If I'd known he was going to do that, I'd have aimed him at one of the stone golems, rather than the same flame golem that I threw him at before.

While waiting for him to return to us, I fly down to the three-hundred-foot mark. When I don't come closer, Kyron flies up to me, looking exasperated.

"Really, Caleb?"

"He likes it."

"So what's the plan for dealing with this?" Volzaminat asks once he's back on my shoulder. "If you don't want to fight them? I can handle the other golems, but I want that lava golem core, so I'm not going to kill it so that the core can drop."

"No worries," I say. "I'm just going to go at a hundred percent."

"So you're still going to fight them?" Volzaminat asks.

"No," I answer. "I could go a hundred percent in fighting them, but it would still be fighting them and I really don't feel like doing that."

"What's the difference between going a hundred percent in a fight," Volzaminat asks. "And going a hundred percent to deal with this?"

"Look up."

Volzaminat looks up.

"So that's what the flux of magic I could feel you doing was."

Forming above us are five magical spears – two made of compressed air, two made of water, and one made of ice. These spears are immense in size, with the four base elemental ones thirty feet in length and the spear of ice fifty feet in length. Due to the sheer size of the spells, the fact that I'm creating five of them, and my Skill Level for their spells, it takes me around a minute to complete the castings.

"Caleb," Volzaminat says. "Those aren't just elemental spears. Is that an exploding aspect in them?"

[Exploding Fire Spear] learned!

[Exploding Water Spear] learned!

[Exploding Ice Spear] learned!

"Maybe."

"Are you sure this will work?" The spirit nudges my cheek with his nose. "A single spear is never enough for these things. Admittedly, the only spear I've seen that was bigger than this was Ulzenivokos, but that was also a giant stone spear you summoned to kill a titan."

"Killing the titan was secondary," Kyron says. "Caleb made that just because he wanted to see how big of a spear he could make, stab it into the ground, and then make a garden on the very top of it."

Volzaminat snorts.

"Had to do a lot of enchanting to make the garden viable," I say. "Sadly, it's been a thousand years, so the garden's probably gone."

"Ulzenivokos is seen as a holy site," Volzaminat informs me. "I've heard many earth mages make the journey to visit it, believing it to be a gift form an otherworldly being. Idiots. No one believed me that it came from an evil being."

I raise an eyebrow at the spirit.

"What? No one believed me, anyway," he looks up at the spears again. "Bigger isn't always better, you know. Their size and exploding aspect won't necessarily be enough, especially for the lava golem. The chances of the water and ice ones surviving the heat are nil, and I doubt you simply triggering them would be enough."

"Maybe," I say. "But remember what triggers bomb spells?"

"You intentionally triggering them," he says. "Them impacting something, or… oh, them impacting something or them being 'broken' by something, usually via impact."

"Exactly," I say. "The air spears will blast apart once they finish piercing through the stone golems or whatever defenses they conjure. That alone will help, as the blasts will rip apart the fire and lava golems. The water spears douse the fire golems and cool the lava golem. The ice spear's shards will ensure the cores are all destroyed."

"And if this fails?"

"I am the Saint of Magic," I hold my right hand up in the air, and electricity begins sparking off the spears, from the butt of their shafts all the way to the tip of their heads. "Do not take me for some half-rate mage, Volzaminat. The size of the spears ensures they cannot be stopped, and their speed will exceed that which the golems can react to. There is no battle here. There is only my power."

I bring my hand down, and the five spears shoot downward, thunder booming from the speed. An [Air Barrier] forms beneath us, stretching out over two hundred feet in radius and thick enough that the view below us would be warped even for the unobservant.

In the next moment, the spears make impact and explode. Our view below is filled with water and ice, the [Air Barrier] beneath us cracking from the compressed air, the water, and the ice that impacts it.

This absolute dominance of the fight nets me less than 1% Experience, though it's enough to bring me up to Level 42, the same as what Kyron is at right now.

As the conjured water and ice fall back down to the ground and my [Air Barrier] fades away, Volzaminat stares in utter shock.

"My casting abilities are not back at a hundred percent."

"Now I know why you consider there to be a difference between you handling monsters and you fighting."

"Caleb has that effect on people," Kyron says. "I'll go get the loot, then we'll go up to the Forbidden World."

"Okay," Volzaminat says as my husband flies down to the ground. "I could sense it quite close where we'd stopped. Why'd you stop there, anyway?"

"There's a height cap," I tell him. "We can't fly any higher than five hundred feet above the highest point in a Dungeon, typically above the land and not any structures. For most Dungeons, anyway, some have other limits. If it was fairly close once we were at the height cap, then the height cap probably changes once we beat the Dungeon."

"Didn't know about the cap."

"If the Forbidden World is above it," I say. "Then it's possible people have actually tried to look before – but didn't find it and didn't realize they had to wait until the Dungeon Boss was defeated."

"Huh."

Volzaminat is clearly learning a lot during this trip, and I think he might view people a little differently from now on.

Kyron returns to us after about a minute, then we fly up higher. Just as I suspected, we're able to exceed the former height cap. The moment we pass through it, the Forbidden World becomes visible, and I stop flying before I'm even halfway into its zone. I grab my husband and stop his flight as well, keeping him from fully entering. There's no telling if we'll be able to drop back down or not once we're above it, or if it's only once we actually enter the Forbidden World itself.

The hidden layer is a massive metal structure, just as Nizkovi told me. It's just floating in space, stretching as far as I can see, glowing reddish-orange lines streaking across its surface. I might be mistaken, but I think it's cubical in form, and I can see an entrance directly ahead of me, an opening in the side of the cube. While we're still about twenty feet below the Forbidden World, I can see the markings even here on the bottom of it.

As for the sky… we can still see below us just fine, but the air up here is just an emptiness, a black void devoid of anything except this dark grey metal structure. We can see the structure clearly, but there's no way of knowing if there's anything else out here.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Whoa," Kyron says.

"Yeah," I say. "I think we should turn back."

"But-" Volzaminat begins.

"Look at those markings," I point at them. "Do they look familiar to you?"

"Maybe."

I pull a Mysterious Fire Core out of my ring and hold it up.

"How about now?"

"Hm…" Volzaminat looks between the core and the structure. "Oh! The markings are the same, aren't they?"

"Exactly," I say. "And we fought two monsters that shared information across a Dungeon. I don't doubt there are more of such monsters in the Dungeon here. Based on what Nizkovi told us, Kyron and I are at about the Might level for fighting this."

"So what's the problem?" Volzaminat asks.

"Might Levels are based on having a proper party," I tell him.

"If the monsters share information about battles," Kyron says. "Then us being at the same level of Might as them would be extremely bad. We could probably handle this, but Caleb would prefer to perform one of these runs when we're of a significant power difference, and with at least two or three more people of similar power."

"So-"

"Don't worry," I scratch Volzaminat on the head. "We'll come pick you up when we're ready to go into a Forbidden World."

"Okay," he says.

"Look at how expansive it is," Kyron says. "A giant metal structure… whatever powers are behind Dungeons are truly incredible."

I don't think it was the powers behind Dungeons that caused the creation of the Forbidden Worlds. The way this area feels to me… it's similar to when I peered from the Abyss of Reality. While I doubt the Truth won't be revealed to those who go through a Forbidden World, but the Truth definitely factors into its existence.

Could it be-

"Caleb?" Volzaminat pokes me in the cheek with a paw. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I say. "Let's leave this place. And like I said, we'll come fetch you once we're ready to explore a Forbidden World, be it this one or another."

"Okay."

Fortunately, we weren't trapped here and are able to descend just fine. The three of us leave the Dungeon and find ourselves back in the resting cave Volzaminat has outside of it. There's a light snowfall going on outside of the cave, though the magic running through the lava crystals within keeps the cave itself warm.

Almost as soon as we're outside, Volzaminat jumps off my shoulder. His form becomes transparent as he soars forward, taking on its more spirit-like appearance. Before he lands, Volzaminat reverts back to his more human form, though he's in his foxkin form instead of a human one.

"Aaaah!" Volzaminat sighs in relief as he stretches all of his limbs, his tail flicking around. "It's so nice to be back in this form! Not being in spirit form really puts a kink in my body!"

The spirit continues to stretch, flipping around a few times as he does. Even if I didn't know that spirits never "make mistakes" when changing forms, it would be obvious that the foxkin one was intentional on his part. There's no way to deny that when he keeps playing with his tail while stretching.

"You're not native to this area, are you?" I ask.

"Hm?" Volzaminat asks. "No. How'd you know?"

"Because when you shifted back to stretch and return to spirit form," I say. "You went foxkin. You're from the Ulzeriaz Mountains, aren't you? How'd you end up all the way over here?"

"It was that annoying mage who sealed away all the demons," he huffs. "You remind me of that bastard so much. But since that incident when you were a kid, you've become a lot better of a person. That mage pretty much did whatever he wanted. Just thinking about him makes me angry!"

So the gods didn't just manipulate things so that Kyron and I crossed paths because they felt it would be best for keeping me from going fully absurd with my magical exploits and adventures. No, they did it because of something another mage like me did. That same mage is probably the reason why Volzaminat acted differently than I'd expected – I didn't have additional information.

"I take it the Ulzeriaz Mountains are from your continent?' Kyron asks.

"The southern one over there," I tell him. "I'm from the northern one. So the other mage brought you over here?"

"It's complicated and I don't like talking about it."

I pull out both of the lava golem cores in my ring and toss them to Volzaminat, and the spirit is successfully distracted. Kyron pulls out the Dungeon Boss's core and gives it to the spirit, who then puts all three of them inside of him, where they vanish. We then pull out some of the lava crystals and let the spirit pick which ones he wants from them, and I give him the leather-and-crystal circlet I made for his fox form. All of the goods disappear into him, no doubt whisked away to the part of him currently with his hoard.

"Alright!" I stretch a bit. "Now that that's all taken care of, let's say hi to Adzamvi! Hi, Adzamvi!"

I wave to the God of Life, who appeared close to the cave's entrance just as I said that.

His throne is made of pure-white stone, the armrests phallic in design, the back of it covered in silvery markings that give it a somewhat marbled look. Silver cushions are set onto the seat and back for a more comfortable time. Decorating the sides of the throne are more silvery markings, the carvings accompanying them acts of gay sex, though I know he has other thrones, and uses which one best suits the people he's visiting.

All of the gods have multiple thrones, in fact, but Adzamvi is the one who's best-known for it due to using the one which best suits his audience. Since it's primarily Kyron and myself, he's using the gay one.

As for the God of Life himself, he's 5'4" in height, making him the shortest of all the gods, though he's still about our age in appearance. Adzamvi's just short. He's also lean and toned, his muscles well-defined. Just like all gods, he's also sporting a big one.

"Hello, Adzamvi," Kyron dips his head to the god.

"Hi!" Volzaminat gives a cheerful wave to the god.

"You're in a better mood than usual," Adzamvi comments to the spirit.

"Caleb is a much more interesting person than I've come across before," Volzaminat says. "I got three new lava golem cores, a lot more lava magic crystals, and some nice accessories. Look at these rings!"

He holds up the necklace with the pair of rings, which is no longer double-looped around his neck due to his larger size.

"Wasn't expecting a visit from a god this soon," I say. "Though considering how long we've been back for and the fact that we'd already met four of them, I guess it makes sense. Are you here to give me a sample of your blood?"

"No," Adzamvi chuckles. "I came to give you some information regarding your resurrections."

"Oh! You found out? How'd it happen? Who did it? Why? Can we-"

"Hold on," Adzamv holds up a hand, and I stop and plop myself down onto the ground, Kyron sitting beside me. "We were unable to find any other case of this happening. You and Kyron are the first and only instance of someone resurrecting people like this. No matter how many times we pore through our records, we cannot find any other case where souls of the dead did not pass on, or where they had a break in their existences."

"I take it that you were unable to figure out the rest of the information?" Kyron asks.

"That is correct," Adzamvi confirms. "Whatever force caught your souls, restored your bodies, and brought you back, it's outside of our range of perception. We're going to continue to attempt to learn the cause. While it's not an issue if it's the two of you, we want to make sure we can stop it for anyone more nefarious."

"Alright," I say. "Is that all you came here for?"

"Yes," he nods. "Tyzlevir was going to come tell you, but I wanted to visit the two of you and he already had a visit."

"Alright," I pull out one of the Mysterious Fire Cores and hold it up. "I know this has some sort of connection to the Forbidden Worlds, but I was wondering if there was anything you could tell us about it? Either of them, really."

"Hm," he muses. "I can't say much about the Forbidden Worlds – Nizkovi told you pretty much everything we can say. That said, I can reveal a bit of information about that monster, and now that you've faced them and obtained their cores, we can confirm there are monsters like that inside of the Forbidden World. In fact, that type of monster is the only one you'll find within a Forbidden World."

"So if we went in there," I say. "We'd just find a bunch of those, but maybe some with lightning, or earth, or metal cores rather than fire?"

"Yes and no," Adzamvi says. "Yes on the elements, no on it being just that. They're called magitech, and there are different types of them. That particular type is called a 'sentry'."

"A sentry," I say. "A guard who keeps watch, but fights if needed. And they're able to share information with other sentries?"

"Not just the other magitech sentries," Adzamvi tells me. "With all other magitech devices on the network, if they possess the ability to read it. That means that all of the magitech enemies you would face in the Forbidden World of this Dungeon would have the data about your battles against the sentries."

"So when in a Forbidden World," I say. "Always kill any sentries we encounter as soon as we can."

Adzamvi nods.

"The magitech network is linked to the specific Dungeon that Forbidden World is in," Adzamvi tells me. "And there are two sentry Secret Bosses in every Dungeon with one, though fighting them isn't necessary to accessing the Forbidden World once the Dungeon Boss is cleared."

"So if we kill the two Secret Bosses in them," I say. "The Forbidden World monsters are already aware of how we fought them."

"Not just that," Adzamvi tells me. "The Forbidden World information does not reset if it is not defeated. I know that Nizkovi said you must clear the Forbidden World to leave it, but that's not quite true. There are three Bosses in there that can be defeated to leave. Two of them are easier, while the third is the Forbidden World Boss. Exempting any potential Superboss in one, it is the most powerful monster, and it's always obviously the Forbidden World Boss."

"But only defeating the Forbidden World Boss will reset their information on fighters," I say.

"Correct," Adzamvi says. "So if you defeat one of the other two, then leave, then return, the monsters there will still know your fighting style."

"And they learn and adapt," I say. "That's why the second sentry was aware of how I took down the first one. It's a learning Dungeon. It probably uses all of the information it's collected from everyone that's been encountered so far, meaning it can even counter things you might not have used before just because someone else did."

"Indeed," the god says. "However, this information isn't stored between Forbidden Worlds. So if you leave one without clearing it, you can go to another without worrying about it already knowing your style."

"Alright," I examine the core. "And these cores?"

"Think of magitech monsters like golems," Adzamvi tells me as Kyron pulls the other core out of my ring. "They can drop monster cores, but they will always drop that core, which acts the same as a golem's core. It is what enables them to work, contains all of the commands, their 'mind', and in smaller ones, their power source. I cannot say more than that."

"Alright," I say. "Regarding the Forbidden World… I had a strong feeling that they were connected to the Truth."

"You're wondering if it's safe for those who don't know it to enter?" Adzamvi asks, and nod. "Yes. As you suspect, going through the Forbidden World won't reveal the Truth to them. However, you are also correct in that they are linked."

"They are?" Kyron asks.

"Yes," Adzamvi tells him. "And Caleb can't tell you how, due to the nature of the link."

"So it's linked in the way I think?" I ask, and the god nods. "That's at least a relief. I don't want Kyron's head going 'boom' just because we're going through it. Well, that's one curiosity sated! Another question – is the Shrine of Calamity where my spear is stored, or did you guys destroy it?"

"The spear is there," the god confirms. "Protected by the powerful spirit who rules that region. We contemplated destroyed it, but in the end, we decided that it was best to keep it around just in case mortals needed to deal with another spirit like that one. Why the sudden shift in topic?"

"It just popped into my head."

Adzamvi snorts.

"I do wish to clarify something with you," he me us. "Tyzlevir was actually wrong about something regarding my blessing of your parents. I didn't feel it too relevant for him to know, and he never bothered checking as it never came to mind."

"So it did influence me in some way?" I ask. "Other than just me being born, I mean?"

"Yes," he answers. "But not in any truly significant way. A side-effect I noticed was that you are permanently fertile. No matter how powerful you become, you will always be able to reproduce as long as the mother is also capable."

"You just didn't feel it was necessary to tell me 'cause the chances of me actually doing something that could result in a child is next-to-none!"

"Correct," Adzamvi says. "Do you have any other questions? Anything else?"

"Nope!" I answer. "Maybe next time, though! Kyron's promised me some stuff for the next few nights, and I want to be ready for that! Also want to get a proper scrubbing and a proper bath, after that Dungeon run."

"Alright," Adzamvi says. "Then until next time, Caleb, Kyron. See you, Volzaminat."

"Bye!" I wave to Adzamvi, and the god and his throne vanishes. "Kyron, look! The descriptions have changed!"

The descriptions of the cores we received have changed, no doubt because we know what they are now thanks to Adzamvi telling us. It's doubtful others would see this new information.

Fire Magitech Core Grade: Master This is the core of a piece of magitech, the base upon which all of its functions are created.

"Not a very descriptive one," Kyron says. "But that confirms what he was saying to us. Not that I was doubting him. I am more curious about the Forbidden World now."

"So am I," Volzaminat says. "How long do you think it will be before you investigate one? Will it be this one? Can I have those cores?"

"Here," I toss him the core. "I don't plan on figuring out how they work for the time being, so I can just go grab more when I'm ready."

That's not the only reason for giving these to the spirit. If I keep them on me, then I'll be tempted to play around with them until I unlock their secrets, figure out how to use them, and figure out how to make them. With only two of these cores, I'll no doubt quickly use them up. There are also other things I want to take care of first as well.

So giving them to Volzaminat takes away the temptation to devote my time to those until I'm ready for it.

"Thanks!" Volzaminat says as the core disappears inside of him, along with the one Kyron tosses him.

"As for your other questions," I say. "I'm not sure. It might be this one, might be another. I do promise that we'll come let you know when we're ready to go, so that you can come with us. When we go, I want to be at least 15 Levels higher than the Dungeon's peak, or 10 Levels higher if we're going in with a bigger party."

"So it depends," Kyron tells Volzaminat. "On when we run another Dungeon or two for Levels, if we can find others we like enough to take into a Dungeon with us, and how much other stuff pops into Caleb's head that affects our journey. Could be a week, could be a month, could be a year."

"Okay," Volzaminat says.

"Though thinking about it," I say. "Are you even able to run Dungeons out of your zone? I know you can visit other areas for a short time, but Dungeons are-"

"That fully tangible form allows us to," Volzaminat says. "Most spirits hate it, though, so we rarely take it on. I can stay away from here indefinitely if I go into that."

"Alright," I say. "Then if we find one that we like better, we'll let you know!"

"But I want-"

"I said if we do," I tell him. "We might still just come back to this one in another 15 Levels or so. It depends on how I'm feeling at the time. I don't really run Dungeons I'm not feeling."

"Sort of like how you don't fight monsters when you don't feel like it," Volzaminat says. "You just completely obliterate them in a move I didn't think mortals actually thought of."

"Exactly!" I tell him. "I could have done that in several ways. Another was just summoning a giant orb of ice and dropping it on them. If it was big enough, the sheer weight of it combined with the force of the drop would've been enough as well. That would have cost more Mana, though, so the exploding spears was the better choice."

"I am starting to see why you are a truly terrifying being," Volzaminat floats closer before leaning back. "Are you two going to-"

"No," I tell him. "We need a good washing, first, so we'll head back to the town and utilize the bathhouse I made. Go enjoy your new goods. We'll see you again."

"Okay," he looks disappointed, then bursts into his motes which then fade away.

"You know he's still watching us, right?" Kyron asks.

"Yeah," I push him down as I kiss him. "Want to know something funny?"

"If you find it funny, I'm terrified."

"The war ended a thousand years ago," I tell him. "Yet with how busy this past week has been, you'd think the war was still on."

"Caleb?" Kyron wraps his arms around me and gives me a kiss. "We were always this busy. Your nature makes it hard for you to take proper breaks. You're always either traveling somewhere, building something, crafting something, fighting monsters, researching magic, experimenting with magic, or exploring a Dungeon."

"Well," I say. "Then let's have a few minutes of rest!"

For some reason, my husband just sighs.