These next few delves were making sure that the entire party was in a role they most excelled at. In addition to being ingredient runs. They'd have to do a run outside of the city in the next couple of days as well. Trillia wanted to have three of each potion, the removal of gills and the ice explosion, for each party member before they did a serious dive into Floor Three.

She wanted their next serious attempt to be the last attempt at Floor Three. Everyone felt the same way.

For the first floor, they split into two groups. Trillia had a mental link to Layla. The groups were Trillia, Amelia, and Ialu in one group. Malor, Frederick, and Layla in the other.

Despite their much higher levels. Splitting up into two groups actually earned them a small bit of experience since their party sizes were smaller. They used the mental link to establish both were at the boss's door at the same time.

Paws and Stibs gave it their best, but the limitations of dungeon floors simply prevented them from being a real challenge. The two surrendered two minutes into the fight. Paws slumped on the ground with a whine as Stibs sat next to him and scratched his ears.

Trillia felt bad. "Is there something we can do to help?"

Stibs looked over at her and wore a big smile. "You do plenty. Metal Man and Exploding Woman help Father make better gear. We proud of you. When we first meet, you can't even beat one of us. Now you and friends beat us quickly. Paws and I happy that Father has such strong allies."

Trillia smiled at that. Unable to suppress a little giggle at the nicknames Frederick's parents were earning for themselves in the dungeon. She desperately wanted more information and to see how they were doing, but she resisted the urge to pry.

Walking over, she gave Stibs a hug and sat down next to Paws, feeding him some smoked meat and giving him ear scritches as well. "Maybe we can help make you some nice metal wolf armor! I bet you'd look even cooler!"

The wolf glanced over at her as it munched on the meat. Stibs chuckled softly and looked over at her party that was getting ready. "You have strong friends. You go far. You will visit often?" The goblin looked at her. His words gave the wolf pause, and the two stared at her.

Trillia's smile grew a little wider. "Of course, I'll visit my friends often. Without all of you, we'd have to risk our lives training outside. Here, we can train and enjoy ourselves before we have to face reality. It looks like they are ready. Thanks for all the help, guys."

Trillia stood and gave them a little wave before her group moved down to the second floor. Amelia looked over. "Should we go easy on them in the future?"

Trillia shook her head. "No. I think they understand that their part in our story as an obstacle is over. I think they'd be sad if we held back. Sometimes... Sometimes, I wish the dungeon didn't have to hold them back. That we could see just how strong they'd be if they could go all out, you know?"

Amelia gave her a smirk. "Maybe one day we will get to see that. For now, we have a second floor to conquer. Same split as the first floor?"

Everyone nodded, and they split up at the first turn of the maze.

It took the group two hours to meet up at the boss barrier. Layla's group looked a little worse for wear, and she was down to ten percent of her mana. Trillia quickly topped her off as Frederick spoke up.

"Seems Red River is helping us test this theory. He hit us with three waves of those ice bugs. We got through, but it did a number on our armor and Layla's mana. Damn good experience, though."

Malor nodded a confirmation as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath. Layla seemed the most unperturbed by it all. Trillia stood next to her and grabbed her hand gently. "Are you holding up OK? We don't have to split up if you don't want to."

Layla smiled and looked over at her. "I'm doing ok. It's eye-opening for us, you know? Realizing how much we've leaned on you and Amelia. I don't think the two of you realize just how strong you are compared to us. You guys were here waiting for us to catch up, and I can't imagine Red River went easy on you. I guess it's not just levels that matter."

Trillia nodded slightly. "We had about the same encounters, from what you've described. Amelia and I have been together since I was only three or four. That's a lot of years of friendship that comes out in a battle. We know how the other works well. Don't worry our whole group will get there one day."

Layla gave her hand a little squeeze and nodded. "Thanks for being such a good leader. I'll go get everyone's buffs ready."

As she walked away, Trillia just stared at them all. She didn't really remember them ever mentioning her as leader. She figured it'd be Amelia or Frederick. Ialu rubbed up against her. The group was laughing and joking about something. Malor seemed to be the topic of the joke. He gave a very half-hearted, angry look before joining in the fun.

Trillia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, silently speaking to herself and whatever deities might be listening. 'This is happiness. This is what I want. Just laughter.'

Wearing her own smile, she joined her friends. Frederick looked over and was the first to bring the group to topic. "How are we doing this? Remember, we're also here to help the second-floor boss learn."

The group nodded as Trillia put forth the first plan. "Let's do what we've been doing. Split up. Amelia and I are better suited to go over the ceiling hybrid. The other group can focus on the ground hybrid. Amelia's buffs will hit all of us anyway. Ialu can run interference for the tails for both groups. If the hybrids start to get comfortable with our attack patterns, we switch groups."

The group thought about that plan for a bit before they all nodded. Malor looked over his shoulder at the boss barrier. "I think that should work. I'm curious to know the type of weapons they will use. That could screw up our plan pretty badly."

"If it does. Our plan is working. We'll get a valuable lesson, and so will they."

The group double-checked their buffs and stepped through the portal. The second all of them were through, a hail of arrows was raining down on them.

Malor stepped forward with a raised hand and voice.

"[Barrier of Deflection]!"

As the arrows hit, they skipped off to the sides. The ground hybrid wasn't in the center of the room anymore. Instead, it sat at the far end and was dual-wielding bows. Its massive [Brawn] allowed it to fire rapidly enough to cover an area in arrows instead of needing pinpoint accuracy.

Malor glanced over at the others. "This is brutal on my mana pool. I'm already down to fifty percent after only a few seconds. Close the gap!"

Trillia topped him off on mana, and the group split up. Unfortunately, their opponent did, in fact, have two bows. The large rain of arrows became two small pockets, slowly pelting the groups.

They turned to dart toward their opponent and were caught by the next surprise. The hail of arrows had a fairly low flight path. So they hadn't looked up to see the roof was covered in the heavy fog that normally settled on the entire arena. About halfway toward the archer, Amelia was nearly impaled by a trident slamming into the ground from the heavy fog.

Before the group could look up to see their newest attacker, it had already vanished bag into the fog and obscured itself.

"Change of plans! Everyone focus on the ceiling hybrid! Malor, see what you can do about that fog!" Trillia barked out orders as she grabbed Ialu's neck, and the wolf took off toward the archer. Malor looked up and began chanting. Layla stood ready to intercept and protect him.

An agility boost came from Amelia, followed by a boost to intuition. At first, Trillia thought that an odd thing to boost. But as her intuition climbed, she could almost see the paths of the arrows and where they would land. Apparently, it had an even greater effect on Ialu, who was dodging between arrow fire.

As they neared the archer, Trillia raised her mana bow and let loose a volley of her own. Instead of aiming at the creature itself, she aimed at it's weapons. If she could disarm it, the rest of her group would be secure.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As Trillia fired volley after volley at the archer hybrid, she began charging her mana for [Storm of Bolts].

"[Intercept]!" Layla, appearing on top of Ialu behind her, caught Trillia off guard. A moment later, the thud of a trident hitting her shield caused Trillia to twist her head to see that the other hybrid had given up defending itself and instead had turned its attention to creating space for the archer. The archer hybrid was scurrying up the wall and had continued to rain arrows down on her team.

With a mental command, Ialu whipped the two orcs around and charged at the trident wielder instead. As they got close, Trillia raised her arm, and a thrum of mana hit the air.

"[Full Augment Storm of Bolts]!"

The air around her arm crackled with electricity as lightning arced toward the hybrid. As it wound up and threw another trident, a bolt of lightning flew from Trillia and slammed into the hybrid's chest. The thing collapsed dead on the spot.

The room went still and ever so silent. Save for everyone's heavy breathing. The archer hybrid stared at her before surrendering. The trident hybrid had a hole blown through it's chest. The group continued to stare at her. She looked around at them oddly, seeing that all of them gripped their weapons a little tighter.

"What's wrong?"

Amelia slowly approached. "Are you ok? Trillia?"

Trillia quickly glanced at her left arm to see if the same thing had happened with Storm of Bolts that happened with Searing Rend. Sending no magical hand there, she blew out a sigh of relief. Though, she was a bit confused by the question.

"What is this, Amelia? I feel fine. Great, actually."

Amelia motioned, and Frederick walked over, keeping a weary eye on her. They held up a small pane of glass that Trillia knew as a mirror. Now, it was Trillia's turn to go silent. Her eyes had taken on a golden glow, and two faintly glowing crystal horns had sprouted from her head.

She was suddenly aware of the tension in her mana. Of the hunger that called for her to strike down the other hybrid despite it having surrendered.

They all stayed silent, the group weary of her. The only one who seemed unbothered was Ialu.

Gobbinz cut through the silence. "Great work! I think this is a good setup for the hybrids. Had it not been for that attack, I think they could have put some serious pressure on you guys today."

Trillia's head snapped over to him. "What's going on with me?"

Gobbinz looked at her, then the rest of the group. "She's a [Mana-Sage]. Trillia, one of your passives of that class, is mana-warped. Haven't you looked into it?"

Trillia brought the passive up almost out of instinct.

Mana-Warped

This passive will make subtle changes to your body to better help the flow of mana.

Trillia slid off of Ialu and walked over to Gobbinz, repeating what the skill said. Gobbinz nodded as if what was happening made sense. The group and Trillia weren't sold. Gobbinz sighed and pulled out a book from one of his many pouches. "You've encountered creatures like this before. We all have. Mana-Warped is a trait. It happens when creatures without that passive undergo radical changes due to mana infusions. It makes them significantly more dangerous and nearly immune to attacks generated with mana."

Trillia thought back and remembered hearing others argue and discuss the trait before. "Is that happening to me?"

Gobbinz shrugged. "I don't think so. You have a passive skill that is manifesting as you are getting more comfortable with your power. You aren't going crazy."

The group again shared worried looks. "First, the claws when I used Searing Rend. Now, horns when I use Storm of Bolts. This time, I didn't even have a wisdom boost ." Trillia spoke with obvious worry in her voice.

Amelia came up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Want to call it here for today?"

Trillia immediately shook her head. "No. I can still be of use as an alchemist. If something goes wrong with my mana, just run and leave me. I'll get Arlyss to pull me out. I'd rather all of you are safe. We need to make progress and gather herbs."

The group seemed hesitant but ultimately nodded. Gobbinz seemed confused at their reactions.

The group descended into Floor Three in silence. Buffs were cast for underwater action, and the group moved slowly. Mostly focused on gathering herbs for more alchemy.

They ran into three sharks. The ice potion worked extremely well. As Arlyss had suggested, as the creature was about to snap down and bite Trillia, she threw the potion forward and got yanked back by Frederick.

The creature's jaws snapped shut, and ice erupted from inside its mouth, killing it instantly.

The gill removal potion also worked well to finish one off, but it was slow enough that the creature could still do serious damage as it was dying.

The group agreed to focus on the ingredients for the ice potion instead.

After another five hours in the water, the group finally decided to call it a day. All of the potions had been used, and everyone was getting tired. Magical healing could only do so much for true exhaustion.

As the group made its way out of the dungeon, Trillia broke the long, awkward silence first. "I'll go and speak with Arlyss about that passive. I want to make sure I'm not a danger to any of you. Tomorrow, I'd like to go out of the city and gather the rest of the ingredients I need. I...I can do that alone."

Amelia reached over and pulled her into a hug. "We'll go with you, dummy. We aren't scared of you, Trillia. We're scared for you. We saw what searing rend did to you and how badly it messed with you. We just don't want you to go through that again. The whole point of today was that we didn't want you to push yourself so hard."

Trillia's eyes misted over at the hug. She sunk into Amelia's arms and hugged her back. "I just got worried we'd fail. I don't want you guys to make no progress cause of me."

Layla walked over and joined the hug. "We are making progress, though. And even if it's a little slow, we aren't at risk of dying. Our goal as a group is to travel the world together. This is training to that end. Which also means training to make sure you aren't putting yourself at risk to keep us safe when we get to the real thing. We won't abandon you, Trillia."

Trillia sniffled a bit, took a deep breath, and nodded. "Sorry. Sometimes I worry. Let me go drop off these ingredients. I'll meet up with you guys at the tent in a few hours."

The group nodded, and at her request, a portal opened. She stepped through it, and her breath caught in her throat. The portal closed behind her.

She found herself standing on a cliff. Thousands and thousands of feet below her, she could see the clouds. Arlyss stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the sun slowly set. "Is everything ok, Lord Arlyss?"

She saw the faintest of nods. Trillia took a few steps forward to stand beside him. She glanced down at the clouds far below them. "What is this place?"

The deity she stood next to took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. "Apparently, it's the tallest peak on Alirast. My mother came here once. To meet a god of dragons and forge an alliance between Kadessa and dragonkind. An alliance that is at risk because of the curse my siblings and I carry. But, really. I just like the view. It's so...so far away from everything. From my problems, from the other deities that rest within Alirast. I feel unburdened when I stand here."

Trillia offered him a little smile as she stared at the sunset. She wanted to ask about the passive. But she didn't want to ruin his peace. Closing her eyes, she let out a sigh. She could figure this out alone.

A heavy hand on her shoulder caused her to jerk a bit and open her eyes. Arlyss stood there with a smile. "I figure it's also a good place to have a conversation with one of my dearest friends and most loyal followers. Speak your mind, Trillia. I am here to help."

She smiled, and the two sat on the edge of the world and watched the sunset. Trillia spoke to him of her worries with her passive and re-iterated her worry about her mana issues.

Arlyss sat and listened. Once she had spoken her piece, he spoke himself. "I think you are destined for mana and magic. You have all the mana of Alirast flowing through your veins. If you keep hiding from your purpose and keep dancing around it. It will consume you twice as fast. You'll be so afraid to use your power for fear of the unknown that when you need to use it without hesitation to save someone, you won't. Growing horns or claws isn't going to change who you are, Trillia."

She thought his response might be something along those lines. No one seemed particularly worried about it except her and her friends. He continued. "Do you get a sense of dread when you use your mana?"

She shook her head no.

"Do you feel sick or uneasy when these changes happen?"

Again, no.

"Do you feel safer knowing that you can wipe out a floor boss in a dungeon in a single attack, knowing that you can save your friends on a whim?"

She sighed softly but nodded yes.

"Stop fighting it. Lean into it."

"I just don't want to risk their lives."

Arlyss stood and pulled her up by the shoulders. Reaching out, he cut his palm open and extended it.

"I, Arlyss Ocrey Darktone, Deity of Knowledge and Unity, hereby swear that if Trillia Demonsbane should ever lose herself to her mana, I will intervene and pull her and her friends from harm's way."

Trillia stared at his hand for a moment, a look of horror spread across her face. This was a blood oath from a deity. She couldn't put him in that sort of spot. She would never dream of letting someone risk their so-

Before she could continue the thought, she felt a sharp pain in her hand and saw him squeezing it in his own. All she had to do was say the words. To seal the blood oath.

"Trillia. Accept the geas. Fight at your fullest. Go all out every chance you get. Don't let life pass you by for the sake of duty and safety. We don't know how long we have in this realm."

"I don't want you to die for me."

"But you'd die for me. You'd die for your friends. Friendship is mutual, Trillia. Let us help carry the load."

Tears rimmed her eyes again as she looked down at their hands. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "I accept, Lord Arlyss."

A notification was immediately slammed up in front of her eyes. No ignoring this one.

A deity has formed a blood oath with you! Should the deity fail to deliver on the terms, it will face obliteration.

Trillia gripped his hand tighter. "I won't ever let it come to that. Never."

Arlyss smiled and leaned forward, giving her on the forehead. "I have faith in you. Now. I believe you have some things to drop off in my lab before you join your friends for a meal?"

She blinked away some tears and nodded. With a thought, the two were standing in the lab. "How can I repay you? For...everything?"

Arlyss shrugged with the same smile on his face. "You're a good avatar. You represent me well. You help me with my challenges when they arise. There's nothing to repay, Trillia. Drop off your things and go relax. Once your group has cleared Floor Three, I may have a task for you all."

She gave him a hug before dropping off her ingredients and stepping through another portal into her tent. The group was there with some stew. She took a seat, and the group kept chattering away about tactics.

Somehow, they knew to let her just sit there and enjoy the ambiance before asking any questions. She stared down at the cut on her right hand.

Go all out, huh? She'd learn to control it in the dungeon. Something to discuss with the group on their outing tomorrow.