Liam walked into his room back at the inn.

Since so many people were already leaving the Tutorial Area, he was lucky and didn’t see anyone at the bath house.

After closing the door, he took off his goggles and walked over to the mirror to get a good look at his eyes.

He let out a sigh of relief as he saw nothing physically was wrong with them.

I must have been overthinking it. Liam thought as he stared at his eyes. Either that or the effects are too low for it to matter. I think it should be fine after I sleep some.

He walked over to his bed and looked at it.

He glanced at the internal clock and saw it was only ten at night. He had already grabbed and eaten something on his way back from the bath house, so he didn’t need to worry about food.

“I should probably get some rest, but I feel like I can get some reading in before bed,” Liam stated as he pulled out one of his Knowledge Theory books. “Just a light read before bed shouldn’t hurt.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam felt sweat roll down his forehead as he finished up his sixth Iron Bone Ingot.

A chime sound echoed in his mind as he inspected the material in front of him.

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

“Congratulations! Bone Smelting has reached leveled 5! Progression to level 6: 12%!”

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

“Looks like yer getting the hang of Bone Smelting,” Fia commented as she walked up to Liam.

Liam looked at her and gave her a smile. “Slowly, but surely. It’s harder than regular smelting and even harder to level.”

“Well ya, it’s supposed ta be since it’s a higher level technique,” Fia stated. “Once when ya start learning higher level techniques the leveling process becomes harder since ya will need ta use more than what ya have been.”

“Checks and balances,” Liam muttered as he wiped the sweat away.

“Don’t know what ya mutterin to yaself, but I’d probably agree to it,” Fia stated with a grin. Her grin lasted for a few seconds before it turned serious. She looked at Liam for a bit before she asked, “When do ya plan on tackling the sixth floor?”

“Don’t know yet,” Liam answered as he turned to look at her. “That’s probably what we’re going to discuss today when I meet up with the others in a couple of hours.”

Fia nodded as she started thinking about something. “Many of the people are starting ta pack up since majority of their business has left through the portal.”

Liam’s brows scrunched as he listened to her. “Are you planning to leave soon too?”

“I’m going ta head out within the next few days,” Fia stated. “There’s a few sticking around hopin ta level their blacksmith as much as they can before heading out. I figured I’d stick around ta keep the place goin for a bit longer.”

Liam looked down at the ground.

“By the way,” Fia started as she placed a hand on her chin. “I do remember stating that I’d give ya something if ya reached yer Blacksmithing ta level seventeen.”

Liam swiftly looked at her. “That’s right! I almost forgot about that.”

“What level is it at now?” Fia asked as she tried to hide the smile that was forming.

Liam pulled up his Crafting Status window and looked at his Blacksmithing.

After looking at it he turned to Fia and said, “It’s at level fifteen. Halfway to level sixteen.”

Fia’s eyes widened. She was impressed with his growth. She then decided to tease him a bit as she said, “Don’t tell me its only that high because ya focused on Smelting now?”

“I haven’t just focused on Smelting,” Liam defended himself. “I have worked on my other categories in Blacksmithing. It’s just…regular smelting is easier to level.”

Fia let out a laugh as she clapped Liam on the back and said, “Don’t get yer knickers in a twist. I’m just teasin ya.”

Liam grumbled as he stared at her.

“I know how hard ya been working each time ya come in here,” Fia started back up. “I know ya will get there so I will have the gift ready for ya before I go. I’ll also have an address of where ta find me if ya want to continue to learn more from me once yer outa here.”

Liam lit up at that. He knew she didn’t have to do any of this. She wasn’t obligated to. He was thankful for it though. He knew he needed to do something nice for her, however he had no clue what he could do.

“Alright let’s get back to work,” Fia said as she turned around and headed towards her anvil.

Liam stared at her once more with an appreciative smile before turning back to the bones and iron ore in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And that’s all Galin told me about what kind of groups are waiting for us when we get out of here,” Liam stated as he reached for a cup of water and took a sip.

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Liam and his comrades sat at a round table outside a restaurant, enjoying their breakfast.

The giant Yooperlite stone above the city started to shine bright as the time went by leading into mid-morning.

“That’s great,” Mercer stated as he looked over Liam’s notes before copying them into one of his own notebooks. “This is definitely useful information to have before we finish with this place.”

“What do you think about the Lost Records Guild?” Liam asked as he looked at Mercer.

“Hm? What about them?” Mercer questioned as he looked up from his notebook.

“Well, you said you wanted to create an information business and I thought that this guild would be something you’d want to join,” Liam replied.

“Ah,” Mercer started as he leaned back. “The Lost Records Guild does sound like a good place to try and join, but it isn’t exactly what I’m looking for.”

“Oh?” Liam said as he raised a brow.

“The type of information I want to spread isn’t just Lost Knowledge, but all types of knowledge and information,” Mercer clarified. “To be honest, from how you explained them, it seems like this guild only deals with Lost Knowledge alone not all knowledge. So, as much as it is tempting, I don’t see myself there.”

Liam nodded as he understood what he was saying.

“That being said,” Mercer added. “I think making some kind of connection with them wouldn’t be too bad.”

“I agree,” Liam nodded. He then looked at the others and noticed Avery staring at the table. Her face looked focused, almost like she was thinking hard about something.

“You alright, Avery?” Liam asked.

“Hm?” Avery muttered before looking at him. “Yeah, I was just thinking about something.”

“Oh? What’s that?” Liam questioned.

Avery shook her head. “It’s nothing. I was just processing everything you had told us.”

Liam kept an even stare on her, but didn’t push. “I think it is a lot to think about, but we still have another floor to conquer before making decisions.”

“Speaking of which,” Roman chimed in. “What are our plans for the next floor? I remember you saying it was a raid floor?”

“Ah, yes,” Mercer stated. “I heard that the last floor should have a boss big enough for a couple or a few groups to join in on together. Apparently this was designed to help people work with other groups since there are some dungeons out there that don’t have restrictions like the Tutorial Dungeons do.”

“That’s good and all, but…,” Artem started, bringing everyone’s attention on to him. “How would that help us out with our situation?”

“He brings up a good point,” Blair stated as she leaned in closer. “You know…with how our dungeon is.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“I don’t know if we’d be able to handle it ourselves,” Artem said as he looked at the table.

“I don’t think we are going to have to take on the sixth floor by ourselves,” Mercer stated, bringing all of their attention to him.

“What do you mean?” Ariyana questioned.

“I’m not completely sure of it, but that Steve guy was looking for four people,” Mercer said. “One of the four is Liam. Another was Jude.”

The others scrunched their brows as they tried to recall what he was talking about.

A thought popped into Liam’s head as he said, “You think that Jude and the other four would appear on the same dungeon floor as us?”

“It’s only a guess, but that’s what I’m thinking,” Mercer said. “I’ll take a look around and see who hasn’t taken on the sixth floor yet of the Black Dungeon and see if I’m right about it. But until I confirm it I think we should take these next few days to train up our skills and abilities.”

Liam nodded, agreeing with what he said.

“I have to meet Nabal later for some training so I’m going to do that,” Liam stated. “I think we all should take this time to train as much as we can. I don’t know how long we will have with this place since people are already getting ready to leave.”

The others nodded.

“Alright, then I will look into the matter we just talked about and do some training. I’ll let you guys know what I find,” Mercer informed. “Let me know if any of you find anything out about anything that can be helpful.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Blair said as she got up.

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Roman agreed as he got up as well.

“I’ll go and see if I can get some more cooking supplies so I can make more supportive foods,” Artem stated. “Liam, did you still want to come with?”

“Yeah,” Liam replied as he got up. “I’ll take you over to the Bubbling Potion as well so you can meet with Galin and start learning how to extract as well.”

Artem nodded as he replied, “Sounds good.”

“Alright, let’s meet up later then,” Avery said as she pushed her chair out and stood up and walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam walked up the pathway that led to the Mage Tower. He was nervous since this place was where Steve was at, and he didn’t really want to run into him. Even though Nabal had said he didn’t need to worry about running into him here, Liam was still cautious.

As Liam walked into the reception room of the building, he noticed Nabal over by the desk talking to Elara.

As Liam approached the two, Elara noticed him and gave him a smile while waving.

“Good afternoon,” Liam said as he walked up.

“Hello there Mr. Liam,” Elara greeted.

“You’re finally here,” Nabal stated as he looked at him.

Liam looked at his internal clock and noticed it was twelve fifty-six.

“What do you mean finally here? I’m four minutes early,” Liam stated as he looked confused.

“Four minutes early is not on time,” Nabal replied.

“Now, now,” Elara started as she giggled a bit. “You just got here a few minutes ago yourself.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Nabal said as he looked back at her. “Since you’re here now, let’s get to work.” He then looked at Elara and asked, “Is the room available?”

Elara nodded as she started to walk towards the hallway. “Yes, come with me and I’ll lead you to it.”

“Thank you,” Nabal said as he followed.

As Liam followed the two, his eyes scanned the hall looking at every person who either walked by them or came out of the rooms they passed.

“You don’t need to be on guard,” Nabal stated without looking back at him.

“How do you know?” Liam asked as he looked at Nabal’s back.

“He isn’t here,” Nabal answered.

“What do you mean? How do you know that?” Liam questioned as he was taken back a bit.

“I’ll tell you soon,” Nabal replied.

Curious, Elara looked at the two as she asked, “I know I might be stepping over a line, but may I ask what has you on guard?”

“It has to do with that incident over at the Training Hall the other day,” Nabal stated.

“Oh,” Elara said before stopping. She then turned around to face Liam and bowed as she apologized, “I am truly sorry for the actions of my colleague. He was out of line.”

Liam, surprised, stopped. “No, you have nothing to apologize for. You did nothing wrong.”

“Still, the way he approached you and what he tried to do was out of line,” Elara stated as she straightened her posture. “His conduct that day is not what we, here at the Mage Tower, condone. I hope you do not feel any animosity towards us.”

Liam waved his hands out as he said, “I do not have an ill feelings towards those at the Mage Tower. I don’t feel that one person’s actions speak for a whole group.”

Elara smiled as she looked at him before giving a brief nod. “I am glad to hear you say that.”

After that she took a few more steps before coming to a stop. She then placed a hand on the wall and channeled some mana out, revealing a door. “Your room is here,” she announced.

“Thank you,” Nabal said as he walked in.

As Liam started to walk in, Elara bowed once more and repeated, “Again, I am sorry for what he tried doing.”

“You’re fine,” Liam repeated. “You have done nothing, but help me and my teammates out.”

He then walked into the room, letting the door behind him shut.

“You know it is quite rude to make a lady bow to you,” Nabal teased.

“I didn’t make her do that,” Liam swiftly said.

“I know,” Nabal chuckled before making a serious facial expression. “Now that we’re out of everyone’s earshot I have something serious to tell you.”

Liam felt how serious he was through the tone of his voice, making his body tense.

“The reason why I said you don’t have to worry about running into Steve here is because he disappeared,” Nabal informed.

“What?!” Liam exclaimed. “What do you mean? Did he die? Did he leave?”

Nabal shook his head. “I am not sure. All I know is that he hasn’t been seen by anyone for the past couple of days.”

“How can that happen?” Liam asked.

“I don’t know, but the timing of it doesn’t sit well with me,” Nabal said.

“What do you mean?” Liam questioned as a sinking feeling started to grow inside him.

“Because the day he disappeared, someone discovered groups of new people suddenly died inside one of the dungeons,” Nabal gravely stated.