“Now be sure to be back in time for the Kings’ End of spring garden party.” Seni told the children for the hundredth time. The poor woman was so used to having to repeat herself to the boys.

“Yes mom! We know. We will only explore Ember Moon for the month.” Jensen sighed but was holding tightly onto her with a big smile.

“Why does the King need us there anyway?” Auna groaned once again.

“You know he wants to keep you under his eyes. You do have a deal with him after all. Besides since the capital was literally under siege last month in attempt to kill you it isn’t too unreasonable, he requested you come.” Seni shrugged lightly with a small pity filled smile. She understood the wish not to be around high society.

“I know.” Auna sighed as well. Giving her little moon one last hug. He had grown a bit and had much more chubby features.

“Everyone has a swimming skill, right?” Seni asked again.

“Yes.” Everyone laughed at her, she had asked them many times now. Auna began to set up the door. They would be entering the dungeon from here.

“Also, Auna, I know you used your map skill very much lately. You upped your mana pool, right?” Seni smiled as she asked the question already knowing the answer.

“Yes, I will not make the same mistake twice. I will keep the map up to ensure I know when enemies are coming.” Auna sighed, the siege on the capital would not have been so much of an issue with it. The map would have warned her about the bad people with ill will coming up. She would not have needed her Mr. Voice to warn her.

“Okay, be safe everyone.” Seni gave them each one last hug. Nick did as well. They were unsure if they were making the right decision. The Bloodwaves had been upset after all. They all knew the children would go anyway though. They had prepared them as much as they could. The cover story was that they were all spending their entire break within the capital, under guard.

“Okay, everyone ready?” We have to finish this by the end of the month. We need to find more land. For a door.” Auna yelled as they all get settled into their small ship.

Jensen took the helm as the triplets pushed the ship into deeper water.

“We should go for about two weeks, if we find nothing we have to turn back.” Chloe was staring into the bright sky; a big yellow sun was hanging in it. The water was clear, with very little fish. They travelled with high hopes and excitement.

“Good thing we have people with the storage skills. I still can’t decide who has the better one though.” Bruno mused as they ate food from Aunas’ storage.

“I don’t know. The ship was brought here by Jensen. Though Auna can technically hold more.” Mateo answered. They had been having this conversation everyday for a whole week. They were all a little annoyed with having nothing to do.

The waters were calm and now full of fish. They did not fish though, as they didn’t bring the equipment for it. They had yet to see any land either. The fish were just normal, non-monster fish. It truly was odd.

“Say. Is this dungeon for supplies? It is just so odd.” Diego mused out loud as Jensen continued to steer the ship. The girls just watched them talk as they tried to play chess.

“I have never heard of such a place.” Jensen fiddled with the tools meant for charting the course. They had been using the proper tools in hope of gaining the skill for sea navigation. They had not gotten it yet though.

It was most likely because the course was a straight line south. They found going North from their island ended in a wall after just a few hours. They then decided to go South. When they veered to far off course East or West though they were met with more walls. Even Auna could not see past the walls. There were also no fish or coral near the walls. They decided staying in the middle of the ocean ‘hall’ was best. It was not uncommon for dungeons to have unnatural walls or endings.

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“This might help us bring in more money though.” Auna stretched from her spot in the crows’ nest. She had taken to the spot; it was high up and her map range was slowly growing. Even if currently, it was all just water. It was fairly quiet so they could talk even if she was so high up.

“That is true, we could maybe set up a fishing spot. Fresh fish is always a nice item to sell. Many merchants have storage skills that allow them to transport goods without too much decay. Though not as great as yours.” Diego answered as Jensen laughed.

“My moon when did you become so money focused? You used to love the adventure!” Jensen continued to laugh as Auna scoffed at him.

“Come on, she has to pay for her freedom after all.” Chloe came closer to the helm.

“She could just run away to another country?” Jensen had his signature wry smile plastered on his face as he steered the ship.

“The other countries would immediately hand her over to the church.” Chloe deadpanned not putting up with his crazy attitude. Auna had already decided to ignore him.

“A fishing spot would be a nice change of pace.” Jensen gave in.

“The type of fish keep changing.” Diego pointed to a new stream of fish swimming alongside the ship. Every so often the fish would change, sometimes even coexisting even though they were not native to the same areas.

“This is a very odd place.” Jensen agreed.

The next few hours were quiet as everyone just hung around. Until Auna spoke. “Land Ahead!” She nearly leaped from the crows’ nest in excitement. Dropping down the main deck of the ship.

“Here look!” Auna showed everyone her map. On it was a wall, with a small area that seemed to stick out.

“Another wall? Is this the last floor?” Chloe groaned.

“The stairs to the next floor might be in the small jutted out area here though.” Mateo poked her cheek to which she swatted at him. Making everyone else laugh.

“How long do you think it will take?” Jensen spoke up, looking impatiently.

“Maybe a day?” Auna shrugged climbing back to her nest.

“A DAY? Why even bother telling us!” Jensen yelled after her, muttering even more.

“Well, we can’t even see the wall yet. Her map skill has really upgraded, hasn’t it?” Diego spoke in awe.

“It really has. She doesn’t want to ever be caught off guard again. You know the gods might have answered her prayers.” Jensen answered.

The next day of travel went by agonizingly slow. They had less than three weeks left before the party. Everyone was very anxious to do something other than sit on a ship. They had practiced sailing so much but now it seemed it was not needed. The trip was so boring.

“Wow Look at that wall! Is it even taller than the other ones?” Ciela was bouncing up and down. Pacing on the deck as the boys worked to dock the ship to the dock on the only visible landing area. She had been sleeping when the wall came into view waking with the rough docking.

“I think it might be. Be on guard though this is a dungeon!” Meredith scolded everyone.

“My map is not picking up any hostile beings.” Auna said as she jumped off the ship. Her wings spreading open to carry her landside.

“No fair!” Jensen called after her as he handed the ship over to a sighing triplet. He also flew catching up quickly, landing with her.

“You really shouldn’t have done that.” Auna scolded as she watched the boys struggle to finish docking the ship. They soon were joined by everyone.

“Really another floor with no monsters?” Chloe looked around as everyone gathered.

The island was odd. It was connected to the wall. There was a small village on it as well. Roughly one hundred homes sat empty with all of their belongings left behind. Dust had settled on everything. There even was long rotted food on the tables. Small fields lay baren closer to the wall.

“This really must be a dungeon for gathering?” Ciela was sitting on a small wall overlooking a plot of field.

“Mr. Merlin did say dungeons can be similar inside to the outside.” Jensen answered her as he fed her candy.

“What do you mean big brother?” Ciela asked around a mouthful of candy.

“Uh so dungeons in forests might be forest like inside, or ones in big cities can be labyrinths or more like this village. With monsters though of course.” Jensen motioned around.

“Do you think this place is like this because of big sis then?” Ciela looked towards Auna.

“How so?” Meredith came closer, as the others also gathered.

“Well, our crater is safe and full of gathering items. There is also the great monster forest. It does border the ocean.” Ciela smiled at Auna who was deep in thought.

“It could be, that might be why it is odd.” Auna easily accepted that as the case. “Should we give up on this then?”

“Not so fast. I found a dungeon podium in what seems like a temple. It is in the back, near the center of the village.” Bruno pointed towards the wall.

“Why is there one here? Are they not suppose to be in lobbies?” Auna questioned the boy as he looked around at the fields.

“Well yeah. Sometimes they appear on floors that are basically special like this, they are a way to move safely between such unique floors. A dungeon with unique floors like this are often researched. As such it is thought that the gods have shown mercy, giving researchers easy access to the floors. Even if a person has not gone to other floors the unique ones are open to all who enter.” Bruno answered as if everyone should have known that.

“Why do you know that?” Auna asked curious.

“Not everything is taught in classes, sometimes you need to sit around and listen in taverns or guild halls.” Bruno finished, showing no signs he would continue.

“Then should we go down a floor?” Auna asked everyone.

“Yes!” Everyone jumped excited to go down to the next floor.