Unlike the rest of the Alliance, sects did not dress primarily based on their affinity. Instead, they dressed based on their sect colors, using their affinity colors as accents. Usually, it amounted to the same thing since sects were largely element-based. However, that was not always the case.
Some sects focused on specific crafts, the most famous of which was the Hephaistos Sect. They were famous for Smithing, having produced most of the notable Smiths of any specialty within the Alliance since their inception.
The most famous Smith currently alive was Hephaistos Sect’s Patriarch – a fact that I was only aware of because of its connection to the Epikairos Sect. The two sects were officially allied and had been since they were established several hundred years earlier.
This seemingly random bit of trivia became relevant as I ate dinner with Jackle and his new party.
Something drew my attention to a short, athletic-looking woman with dark, neatly braided hair standing by the entrance. Her eyes scanned the dining room as if searching for someone. By pre-awakening standards, she looked to be in her late teens; however, appearances were quite misleading once mana became involved.
The woman’s sect-style robes were mauve with tan under-armor, the color scheme used by the Hephaistos Sect. Master Kairos had informed me of his machinations in his most recent message, so I was unsurprised when her dark eyes immediately lit up upon noticing me. She looked almost relieved.
She must be the one Master Kairos was talking about. I mentally shook my head at the realization that he’d actually put effort into finding me a potential friend.
Having followed my gaze, Jackle leaned closer and quietly asked, “Do you know her?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. But I have a feeling that’s about to change.”
To my surprise, the woman did not approach. Instead, she quickly turned and left the restaurant. The tan embroidery on her back removed any question about who she was.
The Hephaistos Sect’s emblem was very recognizable.
“Huh. I guess not,” I muttered before returning my focus to the meal in front of me. The dish was similar to stir-fry, except instead of being over rice, the grain was more noodle-like. It was obvious that each of the vegetables had been prepared separately since each was cooked to perfection and seasoned with its own complementary spices.
As I enjoyed the complex flavors woven into the dish, my dinner companions shared their insights into the floor and its zones. Jackle’s three party members were all fourth-floor natives. None had left the floor of their birth. Instead, they’d hired professionals at the peak of the tier to assist them in leveling until they reached level thirty-one.
At that point, they were presumably on their own, though I was sure there were plenty of people willing to ‘assist’ them through Tier Four as well.
I couldn’t help but wonder if such practices created a hollow foundation, but it wasn’t my place to question their choices. They might have gained undisclosed benefits using that method of progression, though I doubted it. Ultimately, their progression was on them.
As the meal wrapped up, Jackle and his companions invited me to stay for drinks. I’d never liked the taste of alcohol, so even if there wasn’t someone potentially waiting for me outside, I would have likely declined. Besides, dungeons and alcohol didn’t seem like a smart combination.
As I suspected, the Hephaistos Sect disciple was waiting for me outside when I left the restaurant about a half-hour later.
“Greetings, Disciple of the Epikairos Sect Patriarch,” the woman said with a slight bow. “I am Zavira deHephaistos, a direct descendant of Patriarch Hephaistos of the Hephaistos Sect.”
I returned the bow, being careful to match the other woman’s angle. The formalities weren’t quite as strict as many cultivation novels made them out to be, but they were important.
“I am Emie deEpikairos,” I said, introducing myself since I hadn’t sensed the use of an identification spell. “Master Kairos mentioned you would be entering the dungeon soon, but he didn’t provide any guidance on when or where to meet you,” I added by way of apology in case I’d missed something.
“That’s understandable. I only just entered the dungeon,” the woman said before tensing minutely. “To be perfectly honest, I have been observing your progress through the dungeon for the last nine days. Your Patriarch wanted me to familiarize myself with your fighting style and personality before entering the dungeon.”
“You were on Sira?”
Zavira’s head bobbed softly. “For the last few months,” she admitted. “Sira has a wide variety of training and progression programs available to those who can afford them.”
“What about the mana density?” I asked in confusion. “Were you wearing a [Mana Barrier]?”
The dark-haired disciple chuckled softly. “No. I grew up on a Tier Eight planet. I have a natural resistance to higher-tier mana. Being on a Tier Ten world is uncomfortable, but it won’t kill me.”
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Zavira and I spent the next few days getting to know one another and training together in one of the gyms designed for sect elites just entering the dungeon. I was amazed that such facilities existed, but I supposed with the fourth floor being the launching point for the majority of sect elites, it made a certain sort of sense.
Aside from being a Smith, I learned that the dwarf/human hybrid was a skilled Force Mage capable of wielding her element with great finesse. Given her training in Force-Smithing, her skill with raw Mana Manipulation was somewhat understandable. It only took a short demonstration to make me realize just how outclassed I was when it came to the skill.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Zavira was an outlier or if every elite was skilled like her. She was certainly a lot nicer than I expected a Sect Elite to be.
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As the fourth child of a Sect Elder who also happened to be the however-many-great-granddaughter of the Sect Patriarch, I would have expected her to be arrogant and selfish. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
While it was true that Zavira had never really wanted for much in her life, she was a remarkably hard worker. She’d started learning to smith at a young age and had already begun incorporating mana techniques into her craft before even awakening.
Using elemental mana before awakening was by no means impossible, but it was certainly harder. In fact, training and forcing the use of elemental mana of various types was how people used to determine affinities before testing stones were a thing.
That was something I’d learned while attending Atlantis University.
As we trained and became more familiar with fighting together, Zavira shared quite a bit about her upbringing. I reciprocated occasionally, but the parts of my background that I could share were remarkably boring compared to a Young Mistress of the Hephaistos Sect.
Zavira had been training and pushing herself practically from birth, making me feel like a slacker in comparison. That wasn’t her intent, I was sure. Regardless, learning more about her background helped to curb any negativity I might have felt about the other woman’s blessed background.
Four days after entering the fourth floor, we headed into the underground zone. It wasn’t my first choice of destinations, but Zavira was eager to collect materials to work with. As a Smith, that mostly meant metals, though she could use bone if necessary.
We exited the gate right as the false sun’s light crested the horizon. I had to admit the dungeon did an excellent job of simulating a natural environment. There was even dew sparkling on the blue-green grass carpeting our path to the underground/ desert zone.
It didn’t take long for us to reach an entrance to the zone beneath the desert. It was quite noticeable, especially once you crested the first dune leading into the zone.
The opening leading underground was covered by a short, hollow pyramid made of sandstone that rose about fifteen feet into the air. As we got close, I could feel the chill emanating from the staired tunnel leading down.
It was almost like standing outside of an air-conditioned house with the door open during the peak of summer. The shift in temperature was so abrupt that it was noticeable, even with a [Temperature Control] enchantment regulating my immediate surroundings.
Zavira was wearing a similar talisman, though hers had been given to her prior to entering the dungeon. Instead of learning how to create enchantments manually, Zavira possessed an expensive book of basic and intermediate enchantments, which she used alongside the spells Copy Enchantment and Transfer to enchant her items.
The spells were potent and effective, making them a good choice for crafters who didn’t want to invest the time into learning how to enchant manually. Neither spell provided professional experience since the system/spell was doing all the work, but they were handy to have.
Their usefulness was not purely limited to those who didn’t want to learn Enchanting. I’d added both Master-difficulty General spells to my repertoire at Tier Two just for the sheer convenience of being able to quickly duplicate existing enchantments.
In fact, I had recently used both to create new Tier Four versions of my pods. The time saved on that one project alone was not insignificant.
Because of its location and the logistics likely involved with creating an underground zone, the area was a lot more like a rift than the other zones I’d explored. The shift, combined with the difference in how the floor was laid out, made me wonder how else the dungeon might change as we progressed.
Just a few dozen meters after reaching the base of the stairwell, we encountered our first creature. It looked a lot like a rabbit. However, instead of long, floppy ears, the dungeon beast had rounded ears similar to a mouse. Its lower teeth protruded from its jaw like a boar’s, making the otherwise adorable creature look a little more dangerous.
[Tunnel Pikat – Level 32 – Earth]
Metal shurikens appeared around Zavira, each spinning as they orbited the shorter woman. With the flick of her wrist – a motion I felt was largely symbolic – two spinning blades were launched at the creature. To my surprise, the blades were deflected by the creature’s soft-looking brown fur.
With a huff, Zavira motioned for me to wait and swapped the shurikens for foot-long needles. She immediately launched three of the projectiles at the knee-high creature bounding toward her, its sharp claws extended and reaching for the squishy-looking mage in front of it. This time, the weapons were not deflected but sank deeply into the creature’s soft underbelly and neck, redirecting its trajectory into a nearby wall.
Zavira immediately followed up with a wave of Force, driving the long needles farther into the creature’s soft underside and the wall behind it. The creature hissed and flailed as it unsuccessfully tried to dislodge itself from the wall.
The toughness of the creature’s fur was completely negated when the injury came from the inside, I noted.
Not giving it a chance to escape its bindings, Zavira withdrew a short spear from her storage and finished it off.
“My weapons are normally a bit more impressive,” she commented as she removed the spear from the creature’s limp body.
With a flex of willpower, she pushed the blood from her weapon before storing it. She did the same for the needles after removing and storing the creature’s corpse. I felt a twinge of jealousy at how easily Zavira manipulated mana before reminding myself how hard she worked. If her descriptions were even remotely accurate, the Force Mage had earned every bit of skill she displayed.
“I believe you,” I said, having seen her weapons in action during our joint training. “Its cutting resistance seemed like a hard counter to your blades, but that still didn’t save it.”
“True,” she agreed. “I imagine the creatures have elemental weaknesses in addition to their weaker undersides. Since you use a wide variety of elements in your weapons, perhaps you can test the next one to see what elements work the best against them?”
With a nod of agreement, I took the lead as we pressed forward. Within a few minutes, I sensed a small nest of rodent-like creatures down a nearby side tunnel. I extended my Barrier to encompass Zavira so we could speak without the sound traveling.
“There are four creatures at the end of the tunnel. I’ll target each one with a different element. I only have four at the moment,” I said, though I was sure Zavira already knew what equipment I had since she’d been watching me for nearly two weeks.
The Force Mage nodded and motioned me forward. “I’ll cover your back and get anything that rushes us while you’re casting.”
When I reached the corner, I modified the Barrier and began lobbing spell effects at the unprepared creatures. Lightning was the clear winner. The creatures’ defenses against slashing and piercing damage did nothing to keep their muscles from locking up when hit by a bolt of Lightning.
The Lightning also tended to jump between targets, especially when they were clustered together.
“It’s too bad Lightning is so loud,” Zavira said as she rubbed her ears. I didn’t bother casting Restore since the noise couldn’t actually injure someone at Tier Four.
“I can make it quieter by overlapping spells, but it’s probably more mana than it’s worth.”
Zavira shrugged, and we quickly stored the bodies of the fallen pikats. We’d already agreed to split the loot based on the standard Adventurers’ Guild loot distribution model, so it didn’t really matter who collected what since everything would be evenly split at the end.
The variety of mobs we encountered slowly increased as we delved further into the underground ecosystem. There were football-sized ants that were individually easy enough to handle. However, we quickly learned that killing one of the relatively weak creatures sent the rest of the nearby ants into a frenzy, causing them to swarm anything nearby.
Fighting the seemingly unending swarm of Tier Four ants was a good way to gain experience points, though the sheer number of mobs nearly pushed us to retreat several times. By the time my stomach informed me it was time to eat, I was ready to set up the wards and hole up somewhere safe for a while.