The magic items that the boss dropped were inconsequential to the trio but they could sell them for a good amount of coin. Akil didn’t want to put too many of his own personal creations on the market as a skilled appraiser could discern they were from a very skilled artificer. The two siblings were excited from their success, although Tristan was a bit stiff from being thrown into a wall. Akil was still thinking about why the monster was so much stronger than the guide said. There was absolutely no way that a party of silver would have been able to handle that monster, gold hunters would have been able to handle that monster with a full team and some luck. It would require at least a full team of platinums to handle it with some confidence.

After looting their spoils from the boss the party went to steps that led down deeper into the dungeon on the other side of the coliseum. As they delved deeper into the dungeon the monsters changed from regular goblins to hobgoblins which were bigger, stronger and smarter than regular goblins. The spread of hobgoblins on the sixth floor was much the same as the goblins on the first floor, mostly unarmored with simple weapons like clubs and spears. The floor was much more expensive than any of the previous floors, they worked their way through it slowly but still much faster than most adventurers would be able to manage. If it wasn’t for Akil’s Heroic ability the siblings would have long since run out of spells for the day. They had managed to clear the first 5 floors in less than a day but it took them an entire day to get through the sixth floor. The seventh floor continued the trend of difficulty increase with a mix of armored melee and ranged hobgoblins as well as an increase in the size of the floor.

Akil had the siblings increase their speed as part of their training. This caused them to get tired more quickly and go through their spells faster causing Akil to have to restore their energy more often. They managed to finish the floor within a single day but it was time for them to finally rest so Akil could restore his abilities. Akil didn’t want to bring them out Jamiea as he was worried that the ambient magic in this area could affect any teleportation he used. Luckily he had a spell that would let them sleep in peace even if some of the monsters respawned.

[Mage's Magnificent Mansion]

A shimmering door appeared in front of the Trio, it led to an exquisite manor that existed in subspace on this plane. The siblings were only slightly surprised, mostly at how lavish this manor was compared to Jamiea. Akil generally decorated very spartanly, preferring function over form, the only exceptions being Akil’s own sculptures that dotted the academy. They walked into a grand dining room with a huge feast prepared and waiting. They engorged themselves before having a relaxing sleep in luxurious beds, Akil accompanied Selena to bed and enjoyed time with his lover and a relaxing sleep. They woke up refreshed and ready to take on more of the dungeon. They walked out of the magical space back into the end of the seventh floor. They walked down one more floor into a strange sight, there seemed to be a large open sky with a bright sun and empty plains that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Akil could sense the top of the floor along with a large concentration of magic particles in the sky that must have created the illusion of an open sky. There were quite a few hobgoblins that could be seen roaming the plains. There were even large pockets of 20-30 goblins that were led by dangerous looking hobgoblins with full sets of armor and smithed weapons.

While the siblings were preparing for combat Akil was studying the denizens of this floor, it seemed like they were made of more densely packed magic particles, including the goblins. This was strange because the goblins on the first 5 floors had a constant amount of magic that formed them. Akil also could feel a slight pulling sensation on his body. He sensed some of the magic that formed his body being siphoned away by some type of force. His body was less biological than it was magical, most of his inner bodily functions completely magic. It was extremely subtle, he hadn’t noticed it up until now because his body did ambiently radiate magical power even though it was hidden to most types of detection due to spells that he used to hide it. If anything those spells made the concentration of magic that was generally around him even greater due to that magic.

He traced one of the threads of magic leaving him and found that it was being absorbed into the dungeon itself. He immediately hypothesized that he was being treated as a magical battery that was supercharging thai dungeon, the bosses respawn much faster than the peons and have a greater percentage of the available magic formed their being so it was not surprising that they first noticed a difference with the boss. That meant just him being here was causing this dungeon to be much more difficult than it should be. He felt a brief moment of guilt due to the adventures that most likely lost their lives due to no longer being able to handle something that they originally could. Hopefully they had realized it before the worst happened and got to safety. He couldn’t worry about them now though, although if they did run into adventurers in the deeper part of the dungeon he would take responsibility. The two siblings were just about ready to set out.

“Wait.” (Akil)

They looked at him inquisitively but he held off on explaining. He sat down cross leg and went into a meditative state. He focused the magic inside him to keep it from leaking out, it would take a little bit of his attention but it shouldn’t affect him too much. He stood up and looked at the two siblings.

“You must be more careful, it seems my presence here has increased the danger. This place has been siphoning magic from me without my knowledge and using it to empower the creatures here. It is why the boss you guys faced was so much stronger than it should have been. The effect seems to have trickled down to the regular monsters.” (Akil)

Tristan and Selena put on a serious look, they didn’t question his knowledge at all and just accepted it as fact.

“How much stronger should we expect them to be?” (Selena)

“An entire hunter rank at the very least.” (Akil)

Tristan sucked in a hard breath, that was the difference of 2-3 levels which wasn’t much for a singular monster but for every single monster in the dungeon it was a massive increase in difficulty. They took precautions and cast a few more buffs on themselves before finally heading out. The trio set out into the open plain and started fighting the monsters there. They used their usual tactics of summoning creatures and buffing them to take care of most of the majority of the stronger creatures and they summoned larger groups of creatures to combat the big platoons of goblins. They spent an entire day doing this, the fake sun in the sky had gone down completely and they couldn’t see an end in sight.

They continued to fight throughout the night with Akil restoring them back to peak conditions whenever they would run out of spells. Their stamina had gotten to the point where they could fight for long periods of time and they would run out of spells before they would fully exhaust themselves. Akil was very happy with the growth of his pupils, even with the increased power of the monsters they had been doing exceptionally well. He was a bit worried that he would have to step in for the upcoming boss but he believed in them.

They managed to finish the floor by the end of the first night, Akil still had quite a few Heroes Refrain abilities left so they continued on. The eighth floor was an expansive jungle with a thick canopy covering the top making it impossible to see the roof of the dungeon. As they started walking their way through the invasive vegetation they realized that this floor held a different degree of difficulty that the others didn’t. Not only did they have to hack their way through the flora there was also a heavy humidity that hung in the scorching air. To top it all off the monsters on this floor were almost all ambush predators making even a moment of inattention deadly.

Luckily the clothing the siblings had been gifted by Akil were enchanted against extreme temperatures and weathers so they managed to stay fairly cool and dry. They could imagine how much trouble this floor would give to a regular adventurer.

They were on the floor for about an hour before they met their first monster. Thankfully they had been staying vigilant but they still almost missed it as it was very well hidden in a muddy area. They had been wading in a chest deep swamp when they barely caught the sight of quick movement coming from their side. They jumped out of the way just in time and managed to launch some spells at the immense swamp monster. Its name was a Sawtooth Swimmer and it reminded Akil of a cross between an alligator and a shark. It had multiple rows or razor-like teeth the size of a baby's forearm, a bulky, spiked tail and a dorsal fin striking out of its broad back. The first wave of spells they fired barely seemed to affect it, it cut through the water like a hot knife through butter. If it wasn’t for the siblings practice with fighting underwater they would have been at a severe disadvantage.

Selena froze the water around it, trapping it in place and Tristan pierced its soft underbelly with an earthen spike. They didn’t bother gathering any drops from the monster as it was inside the swamp. The next monster they met was a Prismatic Viper that had been hanging from a tree, blending in with the vines. It was an extremely venomous snake monster that was about the thickness of an average human thigh and could grow up to 100 ft (~30 meters). They fought it very carefully, even though they had buffs that increased the toughness of their skin and their resistance to poison/venom they still preferred to avoid it completely. The fight was over very quickly, it struck like lightning and was met with a shocking spell shot down its throat, frying it almost instantly.

They continued on for a few hours before they heard the sound of fighting coming from closeby. They followed the sound to its source, it led to an area covered in spiderwebs where another group of adventurers were fighting a humongous spider with blue and red markings, known as a Demonfang Spider. There were 5 hunters, 3 men and 2 women, one of each was trapped in a large web while the rest were engaged in life or death combat with the spider. Akil could instantly tell that they were on the backfoot and would most likely have retreated if not for their stuck teammates. They were postering in a way that they could make a last ditch attempt to free their trapped companions but they were being pressured by the Demonfang. Akil sent a telepathic message to the two siblings.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Save the adventures but don’t use any spells above 4th level.” (Akil)

The siblings nodded in agreement and started casting spells.

[Celestial Circle], [Scorching Ray]

Tristan's spell surrounded the other party in a healing light that slowly healed any injuries while Selena fired 2 rays of fire out of her hand and slammed into the Demonfang, taking it by surprise and causing it to rear up backwards. The other adventures looked around wildly, trying to pinpoint their saviors. Selena and Tristan jumped directly into the fray. The heavily armored man with a sword and shield turned to Selena and Tristan.

“Thank you so much for your help!” (Male Adventure)

“Don’t let your guard down.” (Selena)

“Concentrate on saving your teammates, we'll handle the Demonfang.” (Tristan)

The man nodded and shouted orders to his teammates, they ran over and started to hack at the web holding their trapped party members. Selena and Tristan faced off against Demonfang. It clacked its fangs at them angrily, caustic venom dripping from its maw, sizzling could be heard as it dripped onto the ground. In a flash, it jumped into the air and shot a glob of sticky web at the siblings. They dived in opposite directions and executed perfect defensive rolls getting back to their feet in a single fluid motion. Selena finished her spell first followed closely by Tristan.

[Hungry Pit]

A pit that looked like a gaping jaw appeared right in the trajectory of the Demonfang.

[Reach Spell: Bestow Curse]

A black beam shot from the tips of Tristan's fingers and collided with the spider causing it to quiver slightly. It could feel something was wrong but it was unable to place what exactly it was. It fired a web at a branch above itself in an attempt to avoid the opening of the pit in front of it but just as the branch was about to bear its weight it snapped off without changing its course at all. The pit snapped shut as soon as the demonfang dropped into it, almost as if it was waiting for it. The spider tried to climb the sides but it was extremely slick and would constrict and crush it every time it reached a certain height, almost as if it was *chewing* it.

The adventurers finally managed to free their companions and they came back over to rejoin their rescuers in battle but they were surprised to see that they already had the demonfang trapped. The two siblings closed in on the pit and fired some Lightning Bolts and Searing Rays on the already miserable demonfang, quickly dispatching it. The party surrounded the two siblings and started singing their praises.

“Thank you so much for saving us.” (Previously Trapped Woman)

“Yeah I thought we were goners.” (Previously Trapped Man)

“You two are so strong! Are you platinum ranked adventurers?!” (Female Adventurer)

“What kind of question is that? of course their platinum rank, only a platinum would be able to handle such a strong creature with just two people.” (Male Adventurer 2)

“You both have our gratitude, if it weren’t for you showing up when you did we may have lost the lives of our friends.” (Male Adventurer 1)

Selena held onto her staff with both hands, unused to being praised so much and a little shy at being so surrounded while Tristan rubbed his head with his hand.

“I’m glad you all turned out okay, I’m Tristan and this is my sister Selena. Sorry to disappoint but we aren’t platinum ranked adventurers, just members of the Silver rank party Order of Arcane Mysteries.” (Akil)

“Whaaaaa?” (Entire Other Group)

“Well that's a bit embarrassing for us, we are the gold rank party The Righteous Flame and I am the leader, Regis… How is it possible that people as strong as you are only silver rank?!” (Regis)

“Yeah that’s crazy, what level are you guys? Oh and I’m Leah.” (Leah)

She pointed a thumb at herself, she was the woman who wasn’t trapped previously and they had watched her fighting on the frontline with nothing but her fists. The two siblings looked at each other unsure of how to answer, they knew they couldn’t reveal their true levels but they were unsure what to tell them. They hadn’t thought of a convincing lie because asking someone their levels was considered a social faux pas.

Before they could come up with an answer there was rustling in a bush closeby. The Righteous Flame all dropped down into fighting stances and drew their weapons. After a tense couple of moments, Akil popped out of the bush with a convincing worried expression on his face.

“Halt, who are you?” (Regis)

Regis pointed his sword at Akil who put up his arms in a non threatening manner.

“Wait, I'm with them, go ahead and ask them.” (Akil)

Akil had a fake panicked look on his face as he frantically gestured towards the siblings.

Tristan was dumbfounded at his master's weird act and just stood there with his mouth agape. Selena picked up on the idea much quicker than her brother and she nodded her head.

“Yeah, he's with us. Akil, where have you been?”

Akil rubbed his head apologetically and bowed to Selena.

“I’m sorry Ma’am, I got lost when you both ran off, I’ve been wandering around until I heard all the yelling a little bit ago.” (Akil)

Selena’s eyes narrowed slightly as she shot a telepathic message to Akil.

“Ma’am?!” (Selena)

“Sorry, I’ll make it up to you later…” (Akill)

She stood up straight and cleared her throat.

“That's quite alright Akil, as long as you’re okay.” (Selena)

The Righteous Flame all put away their weapons, some with relieved sighs.

“Is this a member of your party Selena?” (Regis)

Selena once again was unsure how to answer but again before she could Akil let out a hearty laugh.

“Hahahaha, I wish I was that important. I’m just a supporter of the party who carries the loot.” (Akil)

Regis’ face showed a single instant of displeasure at his conversation with Selena being interrupted but he concealed it well.

“I see, well I commend you for coming this deep into a dungeon, it takes a special kind of courage to come here without the power to defend yourself. Anyway, Selena, I wanted to ask you if you noticed that the monsters here have gotten much stronger than what they were previously? We had come in hopes of tackling the ninth floor but we started having trouble with this eighth floor that we previously cleared with ease.” (Regis)

Selena wasn’t used to being the voice of the party, she looked at Akil and Tristan but both seemed content with letting her be the mouth of the party. She steeled her resolve and did her best to come up with a convincing lie.

“We noticed while we were on the seventh floor, the monsters just suddenly started getting stronger. We didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary when it happened.” (Selena)

“It was the same for us, we used to be able to beat up a Demonfang easily but now it kicked our asses.” (Leah)

Regis sighed at his crass teammate but he didn’t deny what she said.

“We were thinking of making a camp and hankering down until whatever is causing this blows over. Would you like to join us?” (Regis)

“Oh no we were planning on going deeper into the dungeon, but thank you for the offer.” (Selena)

“What?! With just two combatants? That's crazy, you know what the next floor entails right?” (Regis)

“Of course, we made preparations to handle it, you don’t need to worry about it… really.”(Selena)

“We cannot allow it, especially not for our saviors, we will accompany you and help keep you safe.” (Regis)

Regis crossed his arms over his chest with a stubborn look on his face. Akil could tell that there was a slight infatuation with Selena that was causing him to make such a rash decision but there was also a genuine desire to protect them. Akil was impressed, it was quite admirable albeit stupid.

Selena was thinking of the best way to deny the escort when Akils voice rang in her head.

“Accept their help, consider it part of your training to keep them alive.” (Akil)

Tristan who was standing there with a smug smile on his face suddenly deflated, protecting someone would increase the difficulty not to mention the imposed difficulty from only casting lower level spells. Selena was also exasperated, she looked at Regis sincere smile with a bit of hatred in her heart. Her master and lover was completely unrelenting, he didn’t hesitate to make their dungeon clearing experience much worse. She sighed, knowing full well that there was no way she would change his mind.

“Alright then, we better get going then.” (Selena)