Chapter 57 (1 of 2) The Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis (Patreon)

Lucille went expressionless as two pairs of hurried footsteps approached her study door. They stalled for a moment as they were barred by the locked door.

Lucy fixed a calm smile on her face and straightened up, returning to her work as the jingle of keys sounded, indicating an unlocked door. The door was slammed open and a girl with long blonde hair burst in.

“Lucy!”

Lucille rubbed her neck as she heard the loud sound but ignored the girl. Annaliese scowled and Vincent walked in, eyes narrowed at Lucy. “Is the great time traveller enjoying herself today?”

“What in the realms are you talking about, Vincent?” Lucy replied without looking up.

“Lucy! Why didn’t you tell me you’re over two hundred!” Annaliese exclaimed. Then she frowned. “No, I know why you didn’t tell me. It’s all because you thought I was too immature to deal with, isn’t it? I bet the real reason why you didn’t want me to come back is because I’m bothersome!”

“I’m more interested in discussing Lucille’s other unique characteristic,” Vincent interjected in a dry voice. He came in front of the desk. “A woman who has seen more than two hundred years of the future must have some very special plans in store for the present.”

Lucy smiled brightly at her aide as he narrowed his eyes back, but Annaliese hit Lucille’s desk to draw her attention. “Lucy, stop ignoring us and answer!”

Lucille looked between the two. She let out a short sigh and then spread her arms. “This would make a fascinating subject to study.”

Her audience gave her indescribably strange looks as she continued, “One girl is shocked that a girl who appears only two years older than her is many more years older than she thought, while you, Vincent, are more preoccupied with the concept of me having obtained knowledge of and seen events that occur later than the present. Is it the difference in social class? The difference in age?”

Vincent scowled at her as she held her chin. “Perhaps it’s a symptom of the commoner-nobility divide, or in fact, derived from the difference in abilities between you. Annaliese is the Prophetess of Fate, so her familiarity with the idea of pre-knowledge must be higher than-”

“Lucy, stop avoiding the subject!” Annaliese interrupted.

“That was what I was going to say as well,” Vincent stated with a flat voice. He rapped a hand on Lucy’s desk. “Count ‘Time Traveller’ Goldcroft, I would appreciate a quick response before I go fetch your bond and bring him into this.”

Lucille shrugged. “Time travel is impossible, Vincent. I can’t physically be any sort of individual from the future, as the System wouldn’t let anyone ruin what it has set up.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes. “You appear to be discounting the possibility of you coming from a similar timeline set in the future, and only being transferred to your eighteen-year-old self in this timeline.”

“I-” After hearing Vincent mention timelines, she tilted her head and eyed him strangely. “You know about timelines?”

He nodded. “A discussion with Melissa Evisenhardt resulted in me learning about them just before the debut.”

“Before the debut? But- wait.” Lucille held up a hand to stall any more words from him. “Melissa knew my age before she met me. If I assume correctly that you hinted to her of my age…” Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you ask about time travelling soon after talking about me?”

Vincent opened his mouth and then hesitated. “I… er, yes. Is that important?”

Lucy stared at him for a moment longer and then ran a hand down her face.

Of all the ways someone would discover it…

He flinched as Lucy jabbed a finger at him. “Vincent, this means you were, in fact, the entire reason why Melissa Evisenhardt decided to take an interest in me. With such a quick change of topic to the existence of timelines, what conclusion do you think she has made?”

He thought about it with a strange expression. “Well…” He suddenly shook his head. “Let’s… return to the topic. Is that a confession to your true status?”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Why do you suddenly believe I’m a time traveller? You’ve dismissed it so many times before.”

Vincent sighed and placed his hands on his hips. “One too many details don’t add up. The fact you have no elemental affinity before and now, that somehow Scytale is a similar soul age to you too, and that of all the people to have become the new Head of the Aurelian Commission…” He gave her a pointed look. “It was you. Someone with an agenda.” Then he shrugged. “Eventually, I decided that I’d keep an open mind and act on the basis that you could know the future if I discovered one more detail that pointed to that conclusion.”

Lucille gazed expressionlessly at him again, but then smiled brightly and spread her arms. “You’ve got me, congratulations Vincent! Yes, I come from the future. I hope you’re happy with the knowledge.”

Vincent crossed his arms as he eyed her with hesitation, seemingly wondering what to do now she had admitted it.

Annaliese looked between the two of them, having difficulty following the conversation. The Prophetess leaned forward and pointed at Lucy.

“Anyway, Lucille,” she began. “You’re really two hundred and fifty?”

“Two hundred and forty-nine,” Lucy corrected. “I was two hundred and forty-eight years and nine months before my return. I returned to my seventeen and nine-months-old self, so I simultaneously had my two hundred and forty-ninth and eighteenth birthday at the same time.”

Annaliese thought about that. Then she shook her head. “That’s too confusing. But if you’re that old, why don’t you speak like old people?” she asked curiously.

Lucy stared incredulously at her. “Annaliese, please remember that while I’m mentally much older than you, I was still born only two years prior. I am part of the same generation as you.”

“Yet you treat Sedric, Scytale and Miss Verdon as if they were far younger than you,” Vincent stated dryly.

“And they are!” Lucy argued, making him surprised. “Can you imagine what it’s like to return to your younger body and see everyone you knew acting so immaturely? It’s a new form of mental torture, I swear.” She crossed her arms and scowled. “If I hadn’t revealed my age to the Counties, I would’ve been stuck being treated like a youngster for the next ten or twenty years. I may have lived far longer than the two of you, but ten years is still a long time for me.”

Annaliese and Vincent stared at her. Then Annaliese shrugged. “Why didn’t you reach two-hundred and fifty?”

Lucy opened her mouth to respond, but Vincent replied instead.

“If dying sent you back somehow… then that person who killed you and you said you killed as well could still be alive,” Vincent mused, holding his chin. “Although the possibility exists that he hasn’t even been born yet…” He saw Lucille’s expressionless face and narrowed his eyes. “No. He’s still alive, isn’t he?”

Annaliese looked between them both with wide eyes. “Huh? Lucy was killed?”

Vincent didn’t say anything and continued to watch Lucille. Lucille turned away with a frown. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Vincent looked unsettled by her response, but Annaliese continued to look between them both with confusion. When nobody said anything, she clapped her hands to draw their attention. “So, Lucy, no more lying to me, okay?”

Lucy sent the blonde-haired girl a flat look. “You have no understanding of the implications of my words, do you?” Lucille sighed and rubbed her neck. “We need to cut this conversation short. Sir Albrecht will soon be able to hear us with his Rank-5 senses.”

Annaliese paled slightly. “Uh oh.” She quickly spun around and ran towards the door. “I- uh, I might see you at dinner, Lucy!” Then she ran off, hoping to avoid meeting with Sir Albrecht for a few minutes longer.

In the silence of the study, Vincent turned to Lucille. “Does this mean I’ll receive more comprehensive explanations of your actions?”

Lucy glanced at him, then continued to write on her documents. “I did expect you to eventually gain suspicions of what I am, but certainly not after only five months of knowing me.” She dropped the pen and intertwined her fingers. “That said, I will endeavour to… clarify my behaviour from now on.”

He nodded. “That’s all I want for now. I’m willing to wait to ask about what will happen.” Then he gave her a serious look. “But if you still intend to ‘save’ your world as you told me… can I ask why it was destroyed in the future?”

Lucille fell silent, tapping her gloved fingers against the desk. Then she spoke slowly, “My world studied alloys of mundane and magical materials. After careful research, we discovered something that made us incredibly valuable for the Supreme Institutions.”

And threatening to them.

Earth, when the Cosmic Realm was assimilated, became known for its ‘Anti-Magic’.

…

“Goodbye, Lucy!”

Lucille gazed wearily at the cheerfully waving Prophetess, accompanied by the tired-looking Jasten Albrecht and frowning Raegan. Vincent and Scytale were standing behind Lucy, watching the guests leave with smiles and grins respectively.

“I really enjoyed staying here!” Annaliese said, smiling. “It was lots of fun!”

“…that’s good,” Lucy said with a sigh.

“Hey Raegan, watch out for those evil Paladins,” Scytale called with a smirk.

The boy scowled and Sir Albrecht gave the snake a flat look. The Paladin adjusted his greatsword on his back and nodded to Lucille. “Thank you for your hospitality, Count Goldcroft. I will be sure to bring back good words of your treatment to the Great Sage.”

Lucille nodded. “May Escalon’s great will shield you.”

“…yes, may it shield you too,” the Paladin replied, watching her solemnly. He turned around and glanced at his wards. “Let’s go.”

They walked down the side entrance hallway, heading for the door. When they were nearly at the exit, Annaliese spun around and waved her hand. “I look forward to seeing you again next month!”

The Paladin and young boy on either side of her whipped their heads to the side to stare at the cheerful Prophetess, realising what her words meant.

Lucille shook her head and turned around, walking away as an argument began to form among the three behind her. Vincent and Scytale walked alongside Lucy and followed her to the lift.

“That was an eventful week,” Vincent commented with a smirk.

She shot him a weary look and sighed. “I foresee a great deal of stress in the coming year.”

“Nah, you’ll be fine,” Scytale said with a grin. “Just make sure to avoid any scheming Sages and- oh look!”

Vincent and Lucille blinked when faced with another tall individual, a spear strapped to his back. The scarlet-haired ex-mercenary looked up and paused when he saw them. “…I just returned from a Battlefield Event, so I was heading up to the fortieth floor, but…” Hargrave looked between them all. “Has… something important happened while I was gone?”

Lucy stared at Hargrave, but then shook her head and continued past him. The red-haired man gazed at her with bemusement as she walked off. “Why…”

As Scytale and Vincent approached, Scytale stopped to pat Hargrave on the shoulder. “Let’s just say you missed a lot.” He smirked.

And he left Hargrave wondering who the young boy was.

…

Vincent parted ways with them, still too busy with work the last few days to sit down and have a proper conversation about Lucille's past, and Lucy and Scytale left to go to her living room. She sat down with a sigh and poured herself a cup of coffee as Scytale lounged on the couch.

“So…” he began, “What next? Do we just jump up and head to the Dungeon?”

Lucille shook her head. “Not yet. During the time Annaliese was here, I ended up organising two meetings. It won’t take more than four hours to resolve, after which we can finally find the Dungeon.”

“Well, if so…” Scytale sat back up and stretched. “Should I go to the Obelisk and deal with my class merging? I want to make sure I get my class up to Epic before we begin levelling.”

She nodded. “That sounds like an acceptable plan. I need to leave the Commission Headquarters too, so we may as well do that now.”

“Righty-o.” Scytale stood up. “Time to go!”

…

After informing Vincent of their plans, Lucy and Scytale took a carriage. Lucille got off first to let the carriage take Scytale to the nearest Obelisk, while she looked up at the tall building in front of her.

Made of tree trunks twisted through magic to form a building, wood mana emanated from the structure. Out of curiosity, Lucy attempted to control some of the wood mana that had entered her radius of control.

Hm… so I can’t control the wood mana itself, but I can disintegrate it into earth, water, and light mana. I suppose altering my skill to control mid-level elements is another thing to do, although being able to disintegrate mid-level elements is still valuable.

She stepped into the building, the roof covered in emeralds carved into the shape of leaves, and many magical plants on all sides of her. She walked up to a staff member behind a desk.

“Reservation for Count Lucille Goldcroft on the highest floor,” she ordered, holding up her pocket watch.

The staff member flinched and hastily stood up, holding out a hand to lead the way. He took her through the building into a small dome-shaped area, where the short-range teleportation circle lit up under their feet. Lucille walked out onto the rooftop of the building, shaded by massive leaves.

The Ancestral Oak of Plenty was a restaurant chain owned by a clan of wood elves. With food that was produced on the plane of Glenheim in their own domain, it was considered quite a luxurious place to eat, although the food served wasn’t always to the tastes of those who dined there.

…in Earth terms, it was a vegan and ‘all-organic’ restaurant. Still, the food served was all from magical plants, so they functioned as far better meat substitutes due to their marvellous flavours compared to the chemical varieties from Earth.

That reminds me of the FSF. The World Government’s provisions for them were… of interesting taste, to say the least. I wonder how Matthew is doing…

She gained a slight smirk as they walked up several stairs to a raised platform.

His squad will be completely paranoid after not seeing me for a year. I always enjoyed sneaking into their base in the Fringes. Maybe I should add Matthew to the list of potential ‘Super Schemer’ club members.

A better club name should probably be found first though.

The staff member she was following pointed to a green door. “Your room is here.”

Lucille nodded and he stood to the side of her and the one individual in front of the door.

With fiery red curly hair that cascaded past her waist and a bronze Halberd gleaming on her armoured back, the 25-year-old woman nodded to Lucy. “Faction Head. It’s good to see I wasn’t too early.”

“And I’m glad to see I wasn’t late,” Lucille replied with a smile. “Have you eaten here before, Lady Chavaret?”

The woman shook her head. “Rosaline is fine. I’ve never been good with formalities.” She looked at the door. “I haven’t eaten here, but I’ve heard unique things about it.”

Lucy nodded and opened the door. “I haven’t eaten here before either. It will be a new experience for us both.”

They entered through the door, revealing a small balcony that showed a pleasant view of Gilded Seat. They drew up a chair on either side of the table. Their waiter patiently stood behind Rosaline.

They took some time to order their meals and then the waiter left.

Rosaline fixed a serious gaze on Lucy. “Please excuse me for being impatient, but I would like to discuss our reason for meeting here today as soon as possible.”

Lucille nodded and intertwined her fingers. “I take it you’ve read the details in my letters.”

“Multiple times,” Rosaline replied with a nod. “You wish for me to take my legion of the Mercenary Army to a region of the Beast Realm on an expedition.”

“Indeed. But not just any region.” Lucy tapped her fingers on the table. “Are you familiar with Anomalous regions?”

Rosaline held her chin in thought. “The name is familiar, but I don’t know the details.”

“An ‘Anomalous region’ is a region that does not form on the outskirts of the Beast Realm as a frontier region, but anywhere within the main body of the realm,” Lucy explained. “They grow with far quicker speed than any normal region of the Beast Realm and push apart the regions around them to expand. But they have one more important detail.”

“An Anomalous region is a region that somehow failed to form properly in its pocket dimension,” Lucy continued. “The chaotic mana gave way to monster essence, and so Anomalous regions are filled to the brim with monsters. Each Anomalous region has, at minimum, five Aberrations within its borders.”

“Monsters stronger than King…” Rosaline murmured.

Lucille nodded. “As such, these regions contain hundreds of thousands of Lairs. They are the only places with such a high density of Realm Events. The experience and System rewards you may obtain from such a region is uncountable.”

“I’m curious.” Rosaline leaned forward to look at Lucy. “Which particular ‘Anomalous region’ do you want us to explore?”

Instead of answering straight away, Lucille retrieved a large scroll from her dimensional bag. She unfurled it to reveal a map of several specific regions of the Beast Realm. She pointed to the one painted dark green alongside a slightly larger region painted red.

“The region I want you to take your legion to is called the Soul-Swallowing Swamp Anomalous Region.” Lucille pointed to the green region on the map. Then she pointed to the red region beside it. “It’s located next to the capital region of the fox subrace, the Spirit Seer Region, where the Kitsune are.”

“Kitsune?” Rosaline raised an eyebrow. “I’ve heard they have a small population and only one enclave in their capital region.”

Lucille nodded. “They’re not known for their power. However, their enclave is a major trading point. The Kitsune are unique among the subraces of the Beast Realm in that they don’t try to restrict their bloodline royalty to only those with pure magical beast lineage. The soul beast and demon beast foxes of the Demon and Heavenly Realm have both chosen to vassalize themselves and mingle with the Kitsune and so short of the Dragon, Phoenix and possibly Fenrir regions, this enclave has the most inter-realm trade.”

“Ah, so this ties into your plans for the Commission to do more trade with the Beast Realm,” Rosaline mused. “The Dragons, Phoenixes and Fenrirs have too many factions and forces involved in their trading, but as the Kitsune tends to trade only between the fox races, the Commission’s mortal race goods may be valuable.”

“But as is the rule with the Beast Realm, you must prove yourself before a Supreme enclave will take you seriously. Which is where you and your legion come in,” Lucy said, pointing at the warrior. “Wiping out a large amount of the Lairs in the Soul-Swallowing Swap Anomalous Region will reduce the size of the Anomalous region and increase the size of the Kitsune’s. The Commission does not need the land from another realm, but the Kitsune would benefit from the region growing.”

“I see now.” Rosaline gave Lucy a vicious grin. “No politics, no contracts, just pure force, and power to prove ourselves and gain access to their enclave’s trade. And my legion becomes strengthened by the rewards and experience from the Lairs. I like this plan very much.” Rosaline stood up and gave Lucille a salute. “Count Goldcroft, I am willing to take my legion to the Soul-Swallowing Swamp Region by your request.”

“Good.” Lucy nodded. “Please be warned that you may be stationed in the Beast Realm for several years or longer.”

Rosaline nodded seriously. “I have no issues with that. Chavaret won’t be participating in the Tournaments of Glory Pantheon for several battle seasons, nor do we expect any large war before the Millennium Chapter that might need my legion’s forces.”

Lucille smiled. “Then let’s eat our meal and discuss the details further, so you may leave for the region soon.”

They ate lunch, and then Rosaline soon departed. Lucy stretched and waited patiently on the balcony as her second guest of the day walked onto the balcony.

“Oh, am I late?” Jacques Rouzet asked, blinking as he saw Lucy at the table.

“No, I just met someone here before you,” she explained, shaking her head. She gestured to the seat Rosaline had been in with a gloved palm. “Please sit, and don’t hold back from ordering something. I’ve just eaten, but I can’t send you away from this place without treating you at the very least.”

“Yes, well, when I heard Caius got to eat here two months ago, I might have been… a little jealous.” Jacques smirked and sat down as the waiter approached. “But I understand the logic in Vincent sending me to talk to the crafters of the craftsmen zone instead.” He shot her a look. “Which seems to be related to what you called me here for.”

Lucy smiled and ordered a drink from the waiter for herself. “How have my group of crafters been settling in?”

“They’re very comfortable with working in a private workshop of the craftsmen zone for now,” Jacques informed her as the waiter left. Lucille had set the ponytailed man in charge of her newly employed crafters. “They all came from the zone, so they’re familiar with it. But they all want to prove their skills as soon as possible.”

Lucy smirked. “And how is that coming along?”

Jacques grinned. “Sir Artair quickly put us in contact with those neutral crafter clans of Alichanteu. Sir Arwen, when he heard, became eager to do his part and connected us with a few of the crafter clans outside of the Commission who may be interested in working on the trains with us as well. They’re very happy to agree to a secrecy contract in exchange for their crafters eventually being released from the Commission’s employment, as that’s a rare benefit,” he explained.

Lucille hummed. “Artair had connections to the neutral faction of Alichanteu, even though they don’t support him as heir… they must feel their responsibility to hide the existence of the airships more important.” She glanced at Jacques and he smirked and clasped his hands over his ears.

“I heard nothing, and anything I did hear I’ve forgotten already,” he said.

She grinned and then opened up her dimensional bag to retrieve a folder. “Let’s move on to your situation. Have you come to a conclusion about my proposition?”

Jacques nodded. “Mostly, but just to clear up a few details, I’d like to run through it again.”

With a nod, she leaned her chin on her hand. “What do you wish to know?”

“So, you want me to set up a commoner commerce… union? Something that’s like a Faction but not?” he asked.

“There is the possibility of it eventually becoming a Faction in the future, but for now, I want it to be an alliance of commoner merchants,” she explained. “The reasons for this are complex, but essentially, I wish to create more competition in several cities of Alichanteu. This will improve the development of products for the market, as well as drive up wages and employment standards. The noble merchants out there need some pressure as they’ve been a bit too lax for the last century.”

Jacques pointed at himself. “But using me, a noble.”

Lucy raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been informed that you tend to prefer the mannerisms of commoners over proclaiming yourself a noble.”

He gave her a sheepish grin. She shrugged. “I’m not faulting you for wanting to have their lifestyle. But in this instance, you can be a far better bridge than any other noble of the Commission. After all, I’ve heard quite a few of your friends are the children of the commoner merchants I want to join this union.”

Jacques stared at her, surprised. “Ooooh… yeah, that makes more sense now…”

Lucille handed over the folder. “All the official details of your task are in here. Any transportation fees will be covered by me, and you’ll be regularly commuting to and from Headquarters to visit the union’s cities. Remember, you’re only a bridge, not the leader.”

He nodded and stood up, then gave her a short bow. “I will do as you wish, Faction Head.”

Lucy nodded. “Make sure to ask me or Vincent whenever there’s a problem. We’ll involve ourselves to ensure the nobles don’t try anything too big. Additionally, watch out for Olden and Radical.” She paused for a moment and gave him a serious look. “The Dissenters too.”

He gave her a surprised look but nodded seriously. “I will.”

The door to their balcony opened up, and the waiter appeared with Lucille’s drink and Jacques’s lunch in hand. He sat back down and Lucy took a sip of the fruit tea.

“But anyway, I saw Scytale in his human form the other day,” Jacques said with a grin. “He was busy talking to the Prophetess, but he sure is a striking figure, with his silver hair and gold eyes. What kind of abilities did he go for?”

Lucy smiled and took some time to discuss their new ‘classes’ and plans. Once they had finished, they both left the building.

Lucille got into the carriage Scytale had used to go to the Obelisk, to find her bond eating an ice cream inside.

In response to her odd look, Scytale shrugged. “What? I haven’t had any since we returned. Did you expect me to do nothing while waiting for you?”

She shook her head wordlessly and sat opposite him. Lucy checked her pocket watch as Scytale eyed her curiously. “So, where to next?”

“We check in with Vincent, get changed into something more appropriate, and then…” Lucille looked up and smirked. “We go to the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis.”

…

The marble ground beneath their feet glowed with violet runes as the teleportation array slowly dimmed, allowing them to step off the array and into the Ascendant City of New Syna. The constant mana they had been surrounded by the entire time they were on the Gilded Dome plane had faded, to be replaced by small flickers of coloured mana, few and far between. It was a stark contrast to the atmosphere of the Gilded Dome plane.

“Yeesh. I am so glad we didn’t start on one of these planes,” Scytale said, following Lucille out of the way of the teleportation array users. “The lack of mana feels disgusting.” He tapped a foot on the stones beneath their shoes. “Plus, it feels like the slightest bit of magic would punch a hole straight down to the plane source.”

“The Sparsewood Forest plane isn’t that weak,” Lucy replied, looking around as they moved through the city. The plane’s lower strength was reflected in the use of many mundane methods of transport and building construction. The materials that paved the roads were low in magical density, and the weaker horse and oxen low-ranked beasts pulled carts and carriages. Items seen used by the people were a low rarity. “On a Minor plane, a peak Rank-1 would typically have the ability to wipe out a small-sized town if they tried.”

Lucille took a turn, Scytale following close behind. She glanced at him. “Besides, we’re both under level 20. There will be no ‘punching down to the plane source’ yet.” The road widened and they came face to face with the south city gates. “Besides, you know planar destruction isn’t available until Rank-6.”

“You get my point though,” Scytale complained. He walked beside her as Lucy nodded to a gatekeeping guard, exiting the city. “How far is this Dungeon if we can walk on foot, anyway?”

“Not very. You could say it’s in an ‘abandoned land’ of New Syna City,” she explained. She gestured to the land before them, a wide flat area with only a few trees and shrubs. There wasn’t a creature in sight. “The history of this place is pretty common. A war occurred, and a kingdom was flattened. The Ascendant City was named New Syna in remembrance of the old kingdom of Synadis that was here, many millennia ago.”

Scytale raised an eyebrow. “But what about the whole adventurer stuff going on? Don’t we need to check in with them first?”

She shot him an odd look. “Have you been to the Adventurer’s Guild before?”

“Nope.” Her bond shrugged.

Lucy hummed and continued walking out onto the wasteland. “I see. Well, what do you think would happen if we go marching into their branch headquarters, demanding to be given a Dungeon Quest because we know where one is?”

Scytale went to open his mouth, but Lucy continued before he could answer, “The local Guilds would chain us up and torture us for our information. What we need to do is find this Dungeon first so the Dungeon Discovery Quest is triggered, as the Adventurer’s Guild will protect us from the other Guilds. We’ll become too valuable as they’ll want to get on our good sides to find the Dungeon.”

Lucille pointed ahead. “As such, we find the Dungeon, trigger the Quest, delve into it until we get what we need, then officially register the Dungeon with the Adventurer’s Guild so we automatically receive their Quest rewards.”

“Alright then,” Scytale replied. He stretched his arms above him, eager to move. “Where is this mysterious Dungeon?”

Lucy looked down at the ground. “Right about… here.”

Scytale looked down and only saw dirt and stone. He raised an eyebrow. “Lucy, there’s nothing-”

His eyes widened as a blaze of fire mana flared out from Lucy and she stamped a foot into the ground. The ground immediately cracked open to form a large hole and Lucy and Scytale tumbled down. Her bond let out muffled curses as he quickly morphed into his beast form.

“A little warning would be nice!”

The mana round Lucille turned white and a mana-circle spun beneath her feet. Scytale flew down as the spell slowed her fall, allowing her to have a gentle landing. She let the mana around her turn to light mana and light up the place around her. Scytale did the same with his light-element bestial aura and looked around.

“Okay… so I’m seeing a lot of what looks like crystal walls and marble floors. There are also weird crystal vases on pedestals in places. Pretty fancy,” he said. Then he looked up. “Fancy roof too. Did you say this place used to belong to a bunch of earth elementalists?”

They both watched as a small ding made a System message’s existence known.

[Mystical Realm Event: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis]

[Exploration Progress +0.1%]

[New! Exploration Progress: 0.1%]

Then Scytale flinched as a second loud notification sounded. Scytale saw the message and excitedly flapped his wings. “Hey Lucy, this is an Ancient Dungeon! I just got the Dungeon Discovery Quest, and…” His words died as he felt a mix of strange emotions from Lucille. He turned to her. “Uh… Lucy?”

Lucille looked at her bond. “Did you say you received the Quest notification?”

He nodded, while she hummed slightly.

“Interesting… it appears I might not be able to begin Quests,” she said.