Chapter 491

Unlike Ajax, Lexi went for a much slower and more refined approach when it came to increasing the size of the quarry. Despite taking longer by an order of magnitude she managed to make just as much progress as Ajax had despite the large difference in their power.

Ajax gave Lexi a smile before he jumped back down and collected the second round of rocks required for cement. With the amount he had now he should have enough reagents not only for his experimentations with building cement as well as some follow up construction but also enough to connect Lessis and their new quarry with a nice clean road.

The silence quickly gave way to cheering, they were cheering so loud that even after Ajax and Lexi retired inside one of the few wooden buildings they had set up at the quarry they could still hear the excited crowd. 

“I knew high level magic was rare outside the capital but didn’t think it would be this bad.” Lexi said as she wiped the sweat off her brow. Both her and Ajax were tired after going through their mana pool. “Maybe you should look into building a tower of magic.” 

“It’s not just the magic, though I’ll admit there are hardly any mages that stick around here.” Ajax  said with a chuckle. “What they are cheering at is that nobles got off their asses and actually did something themselves.” 

Ajax had looked into this back when he had first arrived in the capital. His mistrust of nobles had been at an all time high and it wasn’t helped by what he found there. Landed nobles almost never took action publicly themselves. It wasn’t even that they saw it as beneath them, though there were plenty that did, it was more to do with instilling confidence in their own people. Any interference was done behind the scenes to instill that the system worked and they had a role to play besides waiting for the nobles to show up. 

Ajax very much agreed with that notion but his view on it was slightly different. The reason he made his trip to the quarry so public was because he wanted to change the status quo, with the increased stats as well as the increased opportunities he wanted to provide for the common folk he wanted to make what he and Lexi had done at the quarry be more acceptable as the norm. Sure it would take a long time and even then the people who could pull it off would be few and far between but there could be a reasonable expectation that a commoner could do something similar in due time. 

Ajax and Lexi took the rest of the day to regenerate their mana and bask in each other’s presence. As a newly engaged couple they had found the amount of time they had together once they arrived in Lessis to be lacking so they were making the most of it. 

“Sorry to intrude.” Lancel said as he entered after knocking on the door later that evening. “But a message has come from the royal family that is of high importance.” 

The message from the royal family was simply a heads up about what was going on. First and foremost Brightstone’s ambassador had made good on the engagement gift as well as the gift he had promised Ajax for his rise to Duke, a small contingent of dwarves was heading towards Lessis carrying the gifts and would arrive in a few weeks. Secondly they had a finalized date for the arrival of Arianwyn and Elara in Gryndor. They would be in the capital three months from now before they would start their own journey around Gryndor to delve into all the dungeons. 

“Our first noble party and we get to host visiting royalty.” Lexi said with a teasing smile as she watched Ajax’s face drop as he put everything together.

Unlike their delving trip Arianwyn wasn’t under a time crunch to get through the dungeons as quickly as possible. Since this was also essentially a trial program for more regular delve exchanges she would be expected to participate in a lot of social events. As the closest landed noble to the Dungeon he had the obligation of hosting an event, one with an open invitation for any and all surrounding nobility.

“Think about all the publicity your roads are going to get.” Lexi tried to show Ajax the silver lining.

“That’s not what I’m so worried… about.” Ajax said. “Worried isn’t the right word, apprehensive maybe.” 

“What is it?” Lexi asked. 

“It’s just that everything is happening so quickly.” Ajax said as he ran his hand through his hair. “There is always so much to do. I initially thought I’d have time to go out into the Wild Lands within months, not years.” 

“Is it really so important that you go out into the Wild Lands so soon?” Lexi asked. “Now that we have the suspicion on how to not draw attention from the ascended races, expanding will be a lot safer.” 

“It very much matters if I want to find a bond…” Ajax trailed off as he looked towards Lancel for a long moment. The retainer quickly caught on to Ajax’s desire for privacy and exited the room, more than that Ajax felt the privacy barrier encapsulate the building as Lancel stood guard outside. “Just in the past few months I’ve gained over fifty thousand Experience.” 

The amount was staggering and Lexi had felt her jaw drop at that. It was essentially half a level for her and even for Ajax it qualified as about a third. It showed just how potent the experience boost he had gained from his evolution was. Unlike Lexi, Anna, Xavier or Benedict slowing down his leveling speed made no sense for Ajax because he had already pushed most of the dungeons he had access to so far that the few extra stats he could gain from it were outweighed by increase in strength from actively working to improve and push his skills

“There’s also something I left out from the evolution notification.” Ajax’s words dropped to a whisper. He had long considered letting his family know about some of the secrets he kept close to his chest. While he didn’t want to share his Earthen origin he did want to share his hidden Trait ‘Divine Witness’ with them. Sharing the fact that he could now form an equal bond with an ascended race would be a good test to how they would react to that news. “When I evolved to an ascended human I was also granted the opportunity to form an equal bond with other ascended races.” 

Lexi spent a few moments mulling over the information, Ajax knew it couldn’t have been longer than a few seconds but to him it felt like hours as he waited for her reaction. “That makes a lot more sense…” she said with a deep sigh before getting a little angry. “If not for the fact that you are insane! You want to bond a dragon!” 

They were all aware of Ajax’s interaction with a dragon, it was actually a reasonable inference to make that it would be his goal to form a bond with one. 

“I actually don’t think a dragon would be that good of a match.” Ajax said sheepishly. “They grow too slowly to keep up with me, maybe one of the other ascended races would do better.” 

“At least you know a dragon that seems friendly and you want to go towards an ascended race where you have no point of contact.” Lexi dropped her face in her palm as she struggled to regain control. “Is this something you feel you have to do?” she asked. 

“It is.” Ajax nodded. 

“Then a few more levels shouldn’t matter.” Lexi said with a nod. “You can delay your trip and make sure you are prepared for it.” 

“But-” Ajax tried to speak but was quickly cut off. 

“No buts.” Lexi interrupted. “You are certainly more than special when it comes to humanoids but that doesn’t apply to the ascended races. For all we know you might be too low level to form a proper bond in their cultures. Remember having one hundred and fifty floors cleared barely qualified you to become an ascended race, I somehow doubt you could take on a level one hundred dragon that is combat focused.” 

That was something that Ajax hadn’t expected. He always knew he was special, even without his Earth origins his Trait had assured that for him. He was used to being unmatched for his level but that was only compared to humanoids. His sole interaction had been with a newborn dragon and one so strong he had no way to compare. While he expected his level of power to still place him at the peak of his level bracket in ascended circles, Lexi was right when she said he wouldn’t be able to make such large leaps in terms of level. He had more time to get better prepared than he thought. 

“Have I told you how smart you are?” Ajax asked as he gave Lexi a hug. 

“Not today.” Lexi answered with a grin seeing Ajax was coming around to her argument and that he wouldn’t force it to leave in a few months.