“Hey! Welcome back,” I said brightly when I saw Ava, Riley, and Jacob heading toward the processing stations on the backside of the Crafting Hall.

I’d just dropped off a few items at the kiosk in the Trading Post and picked up some materials I needed for my next planned project.

There were some items and materials that could only be obtained by purchasing them through the dungeon golems. It was annoying, but I was glad the dungeon allowed some trade with the outside.

Or maybe the materials came from other floors and the dungeon just handled modifying the tiers?

I mentally shook my head. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.

“Hey!” Ava said with a smile of her own. “Are you not hunting today?”

“No, it’s Fifthday,” I said. “Zavira and I decided to take every Fifthday off from hunting, so I’m just catching up on a few projects that I wanted to work on now that the [Net] scepters are finished.”

It had only taken me a couple of weeks to make the requested weapons for Harbor. But once Hexaport and Arinfort, the village housing the Hot Spring and Trial, found out about them, I had another two additional orders to fill.

I was actually quite surprised at the size of the order the remote village made. It was more than both of the larger cities combined.

“We’re taking the next couple of days off for the tournament. Are you going?” Ava asked.

“I hadn’t planned on it,” I said uncertainly.

I’d heard people talking about a tournament, but I hadn’t paid any attention to what they were saying. Having tournaments in a dungeon seemed a little weird. Then again, there were a lot of native dungeoneers who saw it as home, so… maybe it wasn’t all that strange.

“Riley is competing in the Sculpting contest,” Ava said, nodding toward the pale-haired Ice Mage standing nearby. “We’re mostly going to support him, but the whole thing is supposed to be pretty entertaining.”

I glanced at Riley. “I’ll talk to Zavira and see if she wants to take a couple of days off to watch. I’m sure she won’t mind once she hears you’re competing.”

The Ice Mage smiled awkwardly and nodded. It was always hit or miss with Riley.

Sometimes, he’d be fine and interact like a normal person. But other times, he seemed socially awkward and withdrawn. It looked like today was one of the latter days.

“Great!” Ava said brightly. “Let me know, and I’ll save you seats.” She motioned toward the building. “We’re going to go finish off the messy bit.”

“Have you considered paying someone to do that for you?” I asked before they could leave. “You spend almost a whole day processing your kills for each trip you make. You could use that time to hunt instead. The funds you’d earn with an extra day of hunting should be enough to cover all of the processing costs for your trip.”

The group paused.

“Is that how it’s worked out for you?” Jacob asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. We just started paying a Beast Processer after the wave, and it’s worked out well so far. I got the name of a good one from the defense captain I sold the scepters to. He’s expensive, but we make more than enough to cover his fees with the extra kills we get from hunting during the time we saved.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to join our group?” Ava asked semi-jokingly. “Having a Space Mage would make progressing so much faster.”

I smiled but shook my head. Being in a group of four (or five if Zavira joined them, too) would slow me down far too much.

“You can always hire someone to teleport you around. They don’t even have to be Tier Six as long as you protect them. I can sell you an E3 talisman for whoever you hire, which should be more than enough to keep them safe.”

They already knew about the talismans since I’d sold them some on the previous floor. Those talismans still worked on the sixth floor, though with less efficacy.

Eventually, the talismans would tier up, but I’d probably need to recharge them when that happened.

“That might work, especially if we let them use one of the manatech weapons we bought from you. We might not even need to pay them if we’re providing a relatively safe way of gaining experience,” Jacob added thoughtfully.

“Just make sure they can teleport all of you at one time. It’s not a hard thing to learn with a little guidance.”

On such a well-settled floor, there shouldn’t be a problem finding someone to meet their needs.

With a wave goodbye and a promise to let Ava know if I’d be going to the tournament the following day, I headed to Zavira’s apartment.

The door opened for me automatically.

Zavira’s mobile smithy took up most of the living room, so I functionally entered her workspace upon entering the one-bedroom apartment. The [Time Dilation] effect I’d added encompassed the whole apartment, and I could immediately tell it was active.

Not wanting to interrupt the Smith’s focus, I waited for her to finish what she was doing before speaking. Thankfully, she had a few chairs set up on the opposite side of the room from her forge, and the forge itself was enchanted to limit how much heat escaped.

I watched as Zavira twisted and compressed the lightly glowing piece of metal with Telekinesis. She did this several times before finally shaping it into a long blade.

I didn’t often get to watch Zavira work, but when I did, I found it entrancing. While it was interesting to watch, it certainly wasn’t something I’d be interested in doing. However, I could see how a Space affinity could be used for such techniques.

“How long have you been sitting there?” Zavira asked once the piece was quenched and she noticed me waiting.

“Not very long,” I replied. “I wanted to know if you were interested in going to the tournament that’s going on right now. Riley is competing tomorrow.”

“Is he?” Zavira asked rhetorically. “What is he competing in?”

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Sculpting.”

“I should have guessed, based on his profession,” Zavira said with a nod. “I don’t mind taking another day off since we’ve been progressing so well.”

“Are you still doing okay?” I asked, referring to her recent near burnout.

Zavira waved a hand dismissively. “I’m fine. I can keep our current pace for a nice, long while. Though, it might be good to take a week or so off with every beast wave, just as a preventative measure,” she added with a sly smile.

“You want to take a break before, or after?”

“After,” Zavira immediately replied. “If we try to do it before, we’ll just get hit with a ton of crafting requests. I’ve already had to start rejecting commissions because I won’t be able to finish them before the next beast wave starts.”

I pressed my lips together in thought. Aside from the [Net] scepters, I hadn’t gotten many commissions. My manatech devices and various talismans sold well through the kiosk, but I wasn’t getting any specific requests.

Not that I was complaining. I liked being able to make what I wanted. My items always sold, so it was all the same to me.

“That’s fine,” I said as I stood up. “We can look into spending a day or two at the Hot Spring if you want. We should have enough to cover the cost for a few days already.”

The inflation on the sixth floor really was horrible. I wasn’t sure how the residents were managing it, especially those who couldn’t hunt. I understood the whole concept of ‘supply and demand,’ but still.

“That sounds great,” Zavira said with a smile. “Let me know when you want to go. I might head over early to watch some of the Smithing competitions, depending on when they’re scheduled.”

Teleporting wasn’t the only option for reaching the remote settlement. Because of the resources available there, portals had been established to connect the two safe zone cities with the outpost.

I’d looked at the portals, and they followed the same principles as the interplanetary portals I’d helped create back on Earth. The portals on the fifth floor had been the same.

After checking the schedule, Zavira decided to travel with me and the others to Arinfort, where the tournament was being held.

While I didn’t want to play taxi, I didn’t mind transporting others when we were all headed to the same place. It was a lot like being the only person in your friend group with a car. It wasn’t a big deal to give someone a ride when I was already driving to the same location, or in the case of an emergency.

But being expected to chauffer people around because I had a car and they didn’t… not so much.

----------------------------------------

Since Riley had to be there early, I Teleported the rest of us just outside of Arinfort. The village and the newly-constructed arena had anti-teleportation wards to prevent Space-attuned beasts from teleporting inside without warning, which also impacted the local Space Mages.

Arinfort was only about two years old, having been established when the Hot Spring and Trial appeared co-located in a small clearing. The surrounding forest was decorated with an array of fall colors, with a few evergreens mixed in for variety.

The clearing had been extended to make room for the temporary arena just outside of the village gate. The arena would only be kept until the tournament was over. At that point, it would be removed, and the dungeon would reclaim the space.

Building the tournament facilities were part of the tournament process and gave those with the requisite skills and professions an opportunity to gain experience, which was more valuable than having an unneeded structure outside the settlement’s walls.

“I read that the settlement draws a lot of the beasts that might otherwise attack Hexaport,” Ava commented as we headed toward the arena. “Almost all of the beasts that attack here are high or peak tier.”

“Wouldn’t that apply to the other small settlements?”

Ava shook her head. “Maybe if people stayed there during the waves, but most of the residents return to the cities when a beast wave approaches. Arinfort is the exception because the Hot Spring and Trial will draw the attention of the dungeon mobs anyway. They obviously can’t damage either structure, but they’ll destroy the surrounding village if it’s left unattended.”

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. “I didn’t read anything about that.”

The Researcher smiled widely. “You wouldn’t have unless you dug pretty deep. I got into some of the really old archives to learn about it. I don’t think the earlier floors had the same issue.”

The entry fee into the tournament was higher than I expected, but that was basically par for the course as far as the sixth floor went.

We navigated to the area where Riley would be competing and found seats quickly. The Sculpting competition wasn’t one of the popular ones, so there were plenty of seats available.

Eventually, Sculptors of various mediums and tiers entered the small section of the arena being used. Riley was about three-quarters of the way down the line, grouped with the rest of the Tier Six artists who used Ice.

As creations began to take shape, I realized that the difference in ability between tiers was less obvious than I expected. But with art, I supposed raw talent was a pretty important factor.

Some of the artists took a solid medium and carved their submissions, like a traditional sculptor might. Others used their magic to manipulate their chosen materials. The last group manifested their creations, only bothering with adding the fine details afterward.

Riley was one of those in the last group, as were about half of the Tier Five and Tier Six artists.

His submission was significantly different from the others, though.

Where they made sculptures of people, animals, or even intricately crafted plants and landscapes, Riley’s submission resembled a huge dollhouse. One side was left open to display the insides of a home that would have fit in any modern, well-off suburban neighborhood on Earth.

Holographic screens allowed spectators to get a closer look, and I could see the attention to detail he’d put into the creation. My heart broke a little, seeing a representation of what I was sure was Riley’s family home.

It was hard not to understand when Riley’s likeness was captured so well on one of the miniatures.

All four of the icy caricatures were seated around a table laden with food. Their expressions showed love and happiness. It posed a sharp contrast to the sadness I saw on the Ice Mage’s face as he looked at his creation.

I wondered if he’d had any contact with his family since entering the dungeon. The last I’d heard, the group had decided not to get the interface upgrade because the cost was too high. I thought maybe they’d coordinated with another group to send and receive messages from home, but I hadn’t thought to ask.

I really should have.

“Have any of you guys managed to communicate with home, yet?” I asked Ava.

She nodded. “Yeah. We all got the upgrade before leaving the fifth floor. Two hundred and fifty thousand points sound like a whole lot until you need more than three times that to reach the next tier.” Ava shrugged. “It made sense.”

I was glad to hear they had a way of communicating with home. If they didn’t, I would have offered to relay messages while we were on the same floor.

“Is he… doing okay?” I asked uncertainly.

“Riley?” Ava asked with raised brows. At my nod, she said, “I think so. He gets lonely sometimes, but that’s normal, I think. It probably doesn’t help that he sees me and Jacob together.”

She glanced at me with a thoughtful expression. “Maybe you should spend some time with him. I know you plan to stay in the dungeon for a long time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spend time together now. Even if you manage to reach Tier Seven in a decade, that’s still a really long time.”

I pressed my lips together. I wasn’t opposed to spending time with Riley, but I really didn’t want any complications. Our paths were heading in two different directions, and I worried that he might misunderstand.

Hell, with enough time, I might misunderstand.

“I don’t mind hanging out and being a friend, but I don’t know about anything more than that. Emotions make things difficult, and,” I sighed heavily, “you’re right. Ten years is a really long time.”

“That’s why I stick with short, meaningless flings,” Zavira chimed in from the side. “Anything more than that is just a complication.”

“That’s a pretty cold outlook,” Ava commented with a frown.

Zavira shrugged. “It’s reality. Emie and I don’t have the luxury of meaningful, fulfilling romantic relationships at this stage in our lives. It’s pretty much a fling or nothing. Marriage and love can come after reaching Tier Eight.” She paused. “Or I guess in Emie’s case, Tier Ten, or maybe the next realm.”

“Is that really okay with you?” Ava asked me with a look of uncertainty.

Now it was my turn to shrug. “I guess? I certainly don’t want to start a family and then leave. And unless my potential partner was willing to go all the way to peak-Tier Ten with me…”

Ava shook her head. “That’s crazy. But you do you, I guess.”

After an awkward silence, Jacob said, “They just announced the winners. Let’s go congratulate Riley for placing second.”

“He should have won,” Ava said with a frown.

I didn’t disagree. Riley’s submission was extraordinary, especially given the fact that he’d created on the spot.

Since he didn’t seem upset about his placement, I didn’t think it was necessary to be upset on his behalf. Instead, I congratulated the Ice Mage with a large smile and tried not to think about families and all of the things I was missing out on.