Chapter 456

“Take care of yourself.” Lexi hugged Ajax one more time before they got ready to leave the dungeon.

“I’ll only be here for a few hours.” Ajax tried to reassure her “It's not like I am clearing any of these floors.

The team spent a bit longer than intended on the previous floor but Ajax insisted on it since it was the best chance for him to experiment with alchemy on the gold he collected that he couldn’t take outside. The results of those experiments were interesting, gold was one of the worst products he had ever used when trying to create a potion or elixir. He did find out however that gold did make the more unstable mixtures go out of control almost on contact every time. That was something that might be useful in the future, certainly not something he would put large amounts of gold into. 

“I have an idea about how to deal with the gold.” Anna said. “I’ll see if I can get the prince to try and get you out of the way of the dungeon break once you come out. You are carrying multiple storage rings, maybe you can slip it to him in the chaos.” 

“I’m willing to try it if he is.” Ajax nodded. “If we get caught it’s not like they can say anything about it since they technically shouldn’t be taxing me at all.” 

With that the group parted ways as Lexi, Anna and Xavier exited the dungeon. Ajax was dead set on speeding through the floors, it would take something very out of the ordinary to get him to prolong his stay, especially on the higher floors where the danger was very much real. 

As soon as Lexi, Anna and Xavier exited the dungeon they were quickly pulled off to one side. Anna had made sure to wear a small necklace made of gold that she had in her spacial ring before entering the dungeon. Wearing it now was a test to see if the Empire knew anything about the golden city floor they had delved. 

The imperial soldiers that greeted them as they exited the dungeon surprised them a little. A small army was gathered at the entrance of the dungeon and they looked ready for battle. It didn’t take long for them to realize that the army was there to prepare for Ajax’s dungeon break.

The guards were upon them in moments and they were quickly escorted away from the entrance of the dungeon. While the guards were very impatient they all kept a respectful distance and their words were very polite as they moved the trio to where the prince of Gryndor was waiting for them.

“How was it?” He greeted them with a smile from where he was sitting next to a pale looking Oliver. “We were expecting you a few hours ago.” 

“Ajax found something he wanted to experiment with so we stuck around until he got done playing with his cauldron.” Xavier explained with a sigh. “Hope you didn’t threaten Oliver too much.” 

“Only once or twice.” the prince said with a calm smile. “How long do you think Ajax will be?” 

“A couple of hours at most, time moves faster in those higher density floors and he will be running straight from one floor to the next.” Lexi answered. “Might take a bit longer on the sixteenth floor just to not pick a hard battle.” 

Lexi was trying to hide Ajax’s ability to pick out floors, the time he would be spending on the sixteenth floor would most likely be a lot shorter than the time he spent on the fifteenth as he would be looking for the most suitable mana type for the level one hundred and tens to be. 

“There is the matter of your spacial rings.” the imperial crown prince mentioned with a nod towards the three new arrivals.

“Anything we gain from the dungeon belongs to us.” Anna said in a cold voice.

“That does not apply to national resources.” Solderon pointed out. “We do need to check.” 

Everyone knew that it was only an excuse for them to check since they wanted information more than anything else, more specifically they wanted to know just how far the pushed into the dungeon before being forced to exit. 

Much to the imperial’s displeasure, they weren’t able to find a single item from the dungeon among the groups spacial rings.

“You didn’t take anything?” Sandor asked, trying to help his father. “Were you that unlucky?” 

“Just ask the question you want to ask.” Xavier dodged the obvious bait.

“How far did you delve?” Denisa asked straight forward.

“We exited on the ninth floor.” Anna answered much to everyone’s surprise. They didn’t know why she was giving away such vital information. “I’m sorry.” while her face was expressionless the tone of her words didn’t convey any regret. 

While nothing could be read on Solderon’s face the same could not be said for Sandor and Denisa. Both of them winced when they heard Anna’s answer. The Empire was relying on Gryndor’s need to send their people into the Empire’s dungeons as a way to trade spots for any future access Gryndor might gain in other nation’s dungeons. The news that the most promising of the new generation won’t need access to the Empire’s main dungeon for at least a couple of decades was soul crushing for both Sandor and Denisa who would be forced to choose between stagnating their level or giving up floors.

“The situation is slated so far in your favor you don’t even need to hide your hand.” Solderon finally showed some emotion as he let out a defeated sigh. The empire was at the mercy of Gryndor. “Do you have an estimate?” 

“No, my brother will handle that.” the prince answered. 

Gryndor couldn’t push the Empire too far when it came to the price. If the Empire thought they were falling too far behind they would turn to war rather than wait for Gryndor to simply conquer them in a few centuries when their champions all vastly outstated the Empires.

“It doesn’t feel good, does it?” Sandor whispered to Xavier. 

“What do you mean?” Xavier asked. 

“Knowing you won’t become king.” Sandor clarified. “I made my piece with it a few years ago. My father is too young, the chance to delve into dungeons like this is my first ray of hope of having a chance at the crown.” 

Xavier could sympathise with Sandor’s feelings on this matter. He felt very much the same way when he first found out about Ajax’s training method. The chance to delve so many dungeons had also reignited his own hopes of becoming king of Gryndor one day though he knew he would have to keep pushing himself to remain competitive in terms of strength with his younger cousins and any other siblings his parents might give him.

“It’s hard.” Xavier nodded. “It must be even harder for you.”

“You do know you have to change your focus, don’t you?” Anna asked Sandor. 

“What do you mean?” Sandor asked. 

“You’re not going to be able to compete in terms of combat prowess, you simply missed out on too much for your level.” Anna clarified, Sandor was already level fifty and it was true he had already missed out on the rewards from a lot of dungeon his competition might have access to. “You’ll certainly need to remain a viable fighter to continue pushing through floors but you should focus on learning to rule if you want a chance at the crown. I think Denisa has a better chance of being crowned queen as things stand.” 

Unlike her brother Denisa had focused a lot on learning everything she could about ruling and developing her skills in the same direction as well. She was a competent fighter but at best average for a royal. 

“It’s not a comp-” Solderon cut himself off, as much as he wanted to say it wasn’t a competition that was no longer the case. Denisa had never had any ambition for the crown but that was because she had realized a long time ago it was out of reach for her. Now that it was no longer the case she could have changed her mind.

Over the next hour or so Xavier, Anna and Lexi talked with Denisa and Sandor. Over the course of the discussion Xavier, Anna and Lexi cemented their previous conclusion that they couldn’t become friends with the imperials, this all stemmed from their different views towards the other humanoids. But they could be allies and trade partners.

“He’s out!” The shout was picked up by every platoon leader and carried over to the group. The prince stood as he and the squad that was present prepared in case they needed to extract Ajax. It turned out there was no need as Ajax was led to them in seconds, unfortunately for their plan to hide the ring in the chaos it seemed the empire were prepared enough to lead Ajax away before the dungeon broke. 

“What’s the floor?” Zilfallon said, appearing out of nowhere with an excited smile and his sword drawn. 

“Some kind of massive lake.” Ajax answered. “The Aquatic monsters should be easier to handle away from the water but they are still between level one hundred and fifteen and one hundred and twenty.”