Traveling like this is actually quite comfortable. I was expecting a lot of hassle bringing along a dragon but that was completely fixed by her fairy I guess.
Lucky…? Or maybe not so much? Hey Aine? Are perhaps all fairies capable of fusing? I really hope that isn’t the case. I also would like to know what you can do as well.
¨Oh… come on master. Let a lady have her secrets. I don’t really have much to offer for now. However that will change soon¨ Hmm… so yet again you wouldn’t answer when asked. I wonder if I should bother upholding my promise…
I saw her flinch and a little bit panicky but insanely fast flew over to me. She was looking at me with her cute eyes and tried to use all of her charms. THAT WONT WORK ON ME YOU SLY FOX!
¨Master don’t joke like that anymore. It hurts and I can read your mind so I know you wouldn’t risk it. Besides of course every fairy is unique and provide her master with the most important thing that they need. Also I honestly am not capable of doing anything for now…¨
Odd. I know she isn’t lying though… so I will let it pass for now.
We are currently passing into the entrance of the floor eight.
I really hope it is going to be something interesting. I am a bit pissed that the themes are all over the places and a clear pattern couldn’t be really found even if I tried but that’s not really important.
Important is that I get to floor fifteen as fast as possible. Although I have my doubts I am currently strong enough… I want to make contact with Candace offspring as fast as possible.
Well and gifting her with a fairy wouldn’t hurt I guess. Hehe.
From my understanding fairies are somewhat systemic creature. Like I don’t know how to exactly describe it but I am nearly sure that the remark what Aine told me how to think about her is kinda spot on.
So basically giving out a free skill is generous and not really evil at all. Well only time will tell.
We made it past the entrance without any issue. I don’t even know if there can even be an issue just passing but lets not jinx it.
Immediately after passing I could tell there is complete darkness. It felt weird only because I couldn’t tell from just looking before the entrance at all. So it felt really unreal.
However my eyes are really good regardless. I can clearly see even in pitch black environment and I am sure so does Aelin. Still doesn’t hurt to confirm that.
¨Aelin are you fine? Do you see properly? ¨
She was still in her fairy form and at this point I was even wondering if she can stay permanently like that? Well as I said it would be a hassle to have a giant dragon with me all the time so I will take it.
¨Yes Felix don’t worry. Dragons have very good senses and even if not I could adapt quickly if I really needed. ¨
Well she did mention that but she also mentioned that it would be a big downgrade so lets not go that far. Besides unless there is a reason I wouldn’t really reveal us anyways.
¨Okay, good. I will scout this floor properly with my senses, meanwhile we can continue with this pace¨
Well… I could even say I will continue with this pace. Seeing them both hyper going off somewhere all the time… I kinda got used to it but it is still annoying.
Both of them act like they are on a trip. This is actually a deadly dungeon? I wish they took it seriously.
So I focused a bit on my sense. The floors until this point and even this one were all very similar structured. Except the underwater one, pretty much only difference was size and theme, also a bit different in mana in the environment but that’s pretty much it. So I am not even surprised that this floor is also about the same. However the creatures are quite different.
First I noticed that there are also elementals but they are weird. Seems they are even less physical. Almost like a fog.
Then the expanse, at least to the point I could feel was also full of activity but not so brain dead like before. More natural and much more sophisticated. However I could already tell most of the creatures are ambush hunters. Cats, Spiders, Insects and a lot of weird animals that I couldn’t really compare to earth standard. They probably even bother to go to the expanse because there are water sources. Is it perhaps that the dungeons itself Is setup in this way to promote conflict? Maybe.
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I was also damn sure nearly every creature utilizes stealth or shadows in this floor, seeing as almost everything had been using mana consistently on this floor. Interesting.
As I was thinking about skipping this floor… well my fairy had something to say.
¨Master… you are so mighty. Perhaps… this is just a thought… but maybe? You should reveal your magnificent form to these lowly creatures and bless them with your presence? ¨ Hmm… don’t think I don’t know what this is about. She doesn’t want to completely straight up admit her reasoning but I could tell this is just so that she has easier time to spread to as many as possible.
However… I do admit that just skipping all of the floors that are not interesting would be a waste.
For both of us…
Okay. I will do it. If anything dares to fight us at least something fun will happen.
We made our way past few creatures chilling in the shadows of tunnels.
No doubt waiting for unsuspecting prey, only to not notice us going past them at all… Haha!
Didn’t even took that much time. About half hour to be specific and we were right in the middle of the expanse. Now by this time I had scouted nearly everything and was quite aware of the dangers lurking about.
I am not really scared of most of the occupants but one was clearly above the rest. At this point I still cannot clearly tell the difference between a system boss or just strong evolved or high level creature but it probably doesn’t really matter that much in terms of battle prowess.
I was sure that the creature would prove hard to deal with if we fought.
It was also one of those that I didn’t really exactly know what to compare it with. The shape was all over the place and it almost seemed as if it was a mix of multiple creatures weirdly connected. Eeew. Kinda gross.
Still it was undoubtedly strong. High level of mana. Really high level of utility. I was sure because it could warp or something similar to that. Maybe shadow walk? Regardless I don’t want to fight it if not necessary.
Well I would get my answers shortly. It will either avoid me or come straight at me. That’s for sure.
As I was about to reveal us I could’ve swear I saw Aine smirk with anticipation of what is to come. Hah. Well that makes both of us.
After I revealed myself and properly let my aura took over the space of this floor. I was yet again baffled. Nearly everything in the expanse reacted in a flash and ran as fast as they could. Many even opted for using their skills to make sure.
I expected some creatures might want to run but basically everyone… come on am I that scary?
Well the thing is I guess they were just cautious because of the nature of this floor. I could clearly tell that after the initial shock… they started to slowly approach me but even that surprised me a bit because the number is usually way bigger.
Only about thirty creatures. Mostly cats. In fact only cats and one spider.
I guess the curiosity killed the cat could be applied even to the otherworld logic.
Haha.
Anyways I don’t mind. It makes me a lot more comfortable seeing that not everyone is brainless and just comes to me.
The rest of the floor was a bit in awkward spot. They wouldn’t really risk it that much so they cannot blindly roam this floor. So they instead tried to camp whatever spot they could.
I also noticed that the strongest creature is making sure we wouldn’t bump into each other. It literally made as much distance as possible between us and also made its camp.
Alright… the creatures that were in front of me were full ready. They probably knew instinctively what will occur.
I wasn’t about to waste that much time so I started doing the ritual.
At the same time I could tell the creatures were each getting their own fairy because they could clearly see Aelin. I knew yet again because of the mana shift and soon they started to appear all over the place, exactly thirty. Well no matter.
The ritual proceeded smoothly and I felt great. Everyone soundly asleep as always.
¨That’s awesome master. We got so many. There is even one spider. Are you happy ? I am so happy. ¨ She was going full speed around in circles and kept going from one to the other and talk with the fairies. I wasn’t really interested.
Hmm… well have your fun for now. I will guard these animals and then we can proceed. I also noticed that even Aelin is talking with the fairies and felt a bit sad that I am the only one who is being kept from the talks but I honestly didn’t really care that much.
They weren’t talking about anything important in particular anyways. More so on the boring side to borderline annoying small talks. No thanks.
Anyways thirty three fairies huh? I should probably try to keep track of how many are in the world but honestly that will soon become an impossible task… I know too well what exponential growth means and this one will be insane sooner or later.
This right there might be actually already enough to really conquer the world. Heh. Scary.
¨Hey master. Why are you sulking over there alone. Come to us. Come on. Don’t be so stingy. We don’t bite. Don’t worry no one will dare to attack us anyways. ¨
She said that and before I could even reply it seemed she decided that well… if I don’t come to them they might as well come to me.
What seemed a little bit scary almost as an army of little monsters were all around me in a flash.
All were pretty much the same size but each had a unique look and even voice.
Well all of them could also fly but overall they were really different no matter how I look at it.
And then my own little personal hell started. They all were pretty much swarmed around me and started talking all at the same time…
¨Hello there¨
¨H-hello! ¨
¨Hey you look funny¨
¨Oh so you are the master of Aine¨
¨Hello, you are so fluffy¨
¨Hey, please protect my master¨
¨Oi, thank you rat¨
¨Don’t bother him too much everyone¨
¨Marry me¨
¨Can I pet you? ¨
¨I like you¨
¨Hello¨
¨Hi¨
¨Yo¨
¨Booring¨
¨Do a trick… come one do a trick!¨
¨HIHIHI¨
¨Do something¨
¨Are you deaf? ¨
¨Hello and sorry to bother you¨
¨Thanks for my master¨
¨Your whiskers are glowing, pretttttyyyyy¨
¨You have nice eyes, golden is sooo cooool¨
¨Can you fly? ¨
¨Why are you so weird? ¨
¨You are so big¨
¨HIHIHIHIHIHIHI¨
¨Can we switch masters? ¨
¨S-s-scarryyyy¨
¨You are so interesting¨
¨HIHIHIHIIHIHIHHIHIHIHIIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI¨
Oh god…
Please.
Help.