I felt conflicted about my reward.

I’d gone through each of the Trial’s variations before picking one and practicing it a few times. I went with the first path I’d tried only because it was skewed more heavily toward mazes – mazes that didn’t change between runs and weren’t all that difficult to memorize.

I figured between the water features and the complexity of the mazes, I’d probably do well enough. And I did… But there was no way my performance warranted the reward I received.

The dungeon had given me a Crystal Node. It was a fist-sized crystal that could create more crystals with merely an injection of mana. I got the sense the tier of the manifested crystals would be based on the tier of the mana being injected into the node, but I wouldn’t be able to test that until I reached Tier Four.

Regardless of how perfectly the reward suited my needs, if anyone found out what I’d received, I knew it would only cause problems. Unlike items and materials made with Transmutation, the Crystal Node’s creations were perfectly suited for further crafting.

It was almost like being able to print money.

After depositing the node and the loose crystals that had been sitting beside it into my inventory, I stepped through the portal leading to the last room. There was no challenge waiting for me. Instead, I found Aiden and Faith sitting to one side.

[All party members have completed the Trial. You have 50 minutes to exit the structure before being ejected.]

I dismissed the dungeon notification and approached my companions. “How’d you guys do?”

Faith flushed and looked away sheepishly.

“I did okay, I think,” Aiden said. “I only tried one path and ran it a couple of times as practice. I’m pretty sure the dungeon is actually paying attention to us since it gave me a bow and a handful of crystal as a reward.”

Aiden had mentioned learning how to use the weapon several times. Receiving it was an obvious indication that the dungeon had heard his comments. Giving me a Crystal Node was similar since the entire purpose of challenging the Trial was to obtain Crystal to craft with.

Getting such a valuable reward simply felt a bit disproportionate. Was it a side effect of being considered an elite by the dungeon?

“I was thinking something similar,” I admitted. “I just got a bunch of crystal, but that makes sense if the dungeon is consciously aware of my crafting ability.”

It wasn’t a lie, though I felt bad for saying something so obviously misleading. But there was no reason to share the fact that I’d gotten a node. I wasn’t going to give it away or sell it, so mentioning it was pointless.

“That must have been a lot of crystal… unless you screwed up your run,” the Fire Mage asked with a raised brow.

I smiled and shook my head. “I don’t think I’ll run out any time soon.” I looked at Faith, causing her to shift uncomfortably. “What about you?”

“I just got crystal, too,” she said before shaking her head and sighing. “Mine wasn’t because I needed it for crafting, though. It’s because I was forced to quit after getting stuck at the bottom of a pit.” The other Time Mage looked away in embarrassment.

“That almost happened to me, too,” I said sympathetically. “I had to run Enhancement spells practically the whole time during one of the sections. If I hadn’t had that, I probably would have been in the same boat.”

Though the comment was made in an attempt to comfort the other woman, it was mostly true. There had been one section on the second path that had been nothing but pitfalls and pillars. The smallest misstep would have left me injured and struggling to continue, even with healing.

Had magic not been out of play, it would have been simple to Teleport across the obstacle. But that was probably why the dungeon negated the use of such advantages. I was lucky in both having decent physical attributes and spells that would enhance my physical and cognitive abilities.

If Faith had gotten a similar obstacle, her lower stats would have made completing it nearly impossible.

The lack of criticism seemed to make the other woman feel better, if only a bit.

“Alright. I guess we should go have a chat with our would-be ambushers,” I said as I stood from my crouch. “There’s no reason to keep them waiting any longer,” I joked.

We’d heard about the bandits who liked to prey on people coming out of the Trials. According to almost everyone I’d spoken to, the same thing had happened on previous floors once people realized weapons were a possible reward.

The primary culprits on the third floor were a group of peak-Tier Three challengers who’d ignored the recommendation not to focus their professions solely on combat and found themselves stuck without the ability to tier-up.

From what I’d heard, a couple of the would-be bandits had swapped their first profession for something else, but since that automatically slotted the new choice as the secondary profession, their gains were slow.

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The other members of the group seemed to think staying big fish in a very tiny pond was a better option. So, of course, they’d moved on to banditry. Sadly, while everyone knew what they were doing, nobody did anything about it.

The group stayed in the village whenever they weren’t out hunting, and they always left in a group. Most of the parties they encountered wouldn’t be able to do much aside from capitulating to the bullies’ demands.

It was possible they wouldn’t bother us when we left, but I doubted it since I’d sensed someone watching when we entered. Likely, the only reason I hadn’t run into any bandits before now was because I avoided the forest zone where they spent most of their time.

I never understood why people would plot and scheme to attack others for resources instead of simply doing the right thing and earning them. Attacking people was almost always more dangerous than fighting beasts. If they were hungry, they could hunt beasts instead of other people. There were always beasts in need of culling, and everyone had at least some magic.

I understood that sometimes things fell apart and times got rough, but it simply didn’t make sense to turn to banditry on an Alliance world.

Maybe I was just too sheltered to really understand.

I’d spent most of my downtime between runs considering how to deal with the potential bandits lying in wait. I was conflicted about getting Aiden and Faith involved since I was almost sure I could handle whoever was waiting on my own.

Aiden and Faith were not helpless by any means, but Faith was still mostly a pacifist when it came to interacting with other people. She’d had to fight off would-be attackers a few times since entering the dungeon, but they always described fighting to escape, not kill.

I wasn’t usually one to jump straight to execution, even if the Accords did allow for it in many situations. However, I wasn’t nearly as opposed to the possibility as a lot of my fellow Earthborn.

I suspected that knowing reincarnation was an actual thing made it a little easier to stomach, though it wasn’t easy by any means.

Ultimately, it felt wrong to leave Faith and Aiden behind while I took care of the threat on my own. Sure, they would be safer if I handled everything, but shielding them wouldn’t do them any favors in the long run.

“Make sure you cast Barrier on yourselves,” I reminded them. “The talismans are good, but keep them as a backup in case they attack at the same time. I’ll give them a chance to leave peacefully, but I’m not going to be merciful if they attack us,” I warned.

Barrier and its cousin Shield were both relatively simple spellforms to learn, and I’d made sure both had the spells for their affinities. Aiden’s Air version was much better than his Fire version, even with his lower affinity for the element.

“That’s fine,” Aiden said, casting his spell. “Those assholes have likely killed several people I considered friends. They deserve whatever you do to them. Just make sure you let us contribute, too.”

I flushed lightly at the admonishment. I’d gotten a little too excited during one of our skirmishes a few days earlier and had wiped out our opponents in a volley of attacks. The others didn’t even get a chance to attack before it was all over.

I’d initially worried the beasts were too strong for us, but it seemed I’d overreacted a little.

“I’ll try not to,” I said with a grimace, though I made no promises. “I’m not going to put you guys at risk if it looks like they’re too strong, though.”

“Just Teleport us away if that happens,” Faith suggested.

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving people like that alive if they attack for no other reason than to steal my stuff. Letting them live puts the blood of their future victims on my hands. I’m not willing to carry that weight.”

I could tell the other two were less than enthused with my comment, but they didn’t argue.

I took the lead as we stepped out of the building, immediately spreading my senses and locating those preparing to ambush us.

“Stop right there,” a loud voice called out. It was clear the owner of the voice was using some form of Sound magic, which made sense given the volume required to be heard over the crash of Lightning.

I sensed five individuals surrounding us. That was one more than expected. The group must have found a new member recently.

I Anchored my domain, extending my zone of influence well beyond what was necessary. I could sense Faith connecting to the domain, which caused me to smile internally. We’d practiced connecting and expanding our joint domains several times. The sheer convenience of not having to duplicate efforts had made teaching her the technique worthwhile.

Connecting to my domain also greatly expanded Faith’s range without increasing her mana costs. It made her Time magic more effective and efficient.

“You’re surrounded,” the voice said. “Give us whatever you got in the Trial, and we’ll let you leave. Otherwise…” he trailed off menacingly.

Whatever Ice attack they tried to use as a threat was rebuffed by our Barriers. The talismans would only activate after the spells failed.

“How about you leave us alone, and we go our separate ways?” I countered.

I made sure not to make any aggressive moves. I wanted to give them a chance to let things end peacefully. If they chose to throw that chance away, then the consequences were theirs.

“That’s not an option,” the voice insisted. “Now the price has gone up—”

I cut off the reply by using Space magic to send my voice directly to each of the five individuals’ ears. “You can leave me and my friends alone, or I’ll kill all of you. It’s your choice. Be greedy or live.”

The bandits’ response was an area of effect spell I recognized as Poison Fog or something similar. The effect likely wasn’t fatal, but Aiden used a couple of Wind Gusts to push the fog back toward our attackers.

The voice for the group didn’t speak again, though I could tell the bandits were communicating based on the way their bodies were moving.

“I’m going offensive the next time they attack,” I warned my companions before turning to Faith. “Do you want to play with the domain a bit?”

We both knew my Barrier would exclude me from the effects since it used Time mana. It was one of the reasons fighting something or someone with the same affinity was so difficult.

The other Time Mage nodded resolutely and prepared to manipulate Time within the domain we were sharing. A second later, an arrow and several spells flew at us from several directions. Aiden targeted the most obvious source with a Fireball just before he was caught in the Pause spell Faith cast.

Using Time magic like this was a bit of a cheat, but I didn’t care all that much. They’d attacked. Now, it was our turn.

Knowing Faith could only hold Pause for a few seconds without emptying her mana pool, I Teleported to each target, eliminating them cleanly as I moved.

I tried not to think about what I was doing. I imagined the bodies were training dummies like I’d practiced with.

Having someone else handle the Time portion made things a lot easier.

I hoped casting the spell wouldn’t disturb Faith too much once she realized I hadn’t simply disabled the bandits.

Their attacks had been made with killing intent for no reason other than greed. They deserved to return to samsara early. Hopefully, they’d be better people in their next lives.