Chapter 397

The team started clearing the dungeon at a breakneck pace. Only two hours into the delve and already most of the group had already finished their kills for the third floor. The only holdout was Benedict, unfortunately for him the monsters on this floor were very defensively focused so he was at a disadvantage being a physical fighter.

“Found a frog type!” Elara returned to the group with a wide smile.

Most of the monsters they had been facing had been earth or rock based turtles with very hard shells for their levels, while a frog type would be much faster and more offensively dedicated; it was something Benedict would have no issue handling. 

The fight between the two didn’t take all that long. Benedict focused on taking out the frog's knees first and once its mobility was crippled it was easy to catch up and finish it.

“What’s the matter?” the prince asked the group as they headed for the next floor. 

“It all just seemed…” Lexi started unsure how to express what she felt without sounding delusional. 

“Too easy.” It was Xavier who finished the sentence. “It feels too easy, at the same time it also feels like a bit of a waste.”

“If we spent even a few months easing into our gains we probably could have pushed one floor further.” Anna also threw in her own contribution. 

“You’re looking at it all wrong.” Elara said as she shattered the melancholy atmosphere that was starting to form. “This might feel like you are wasting a priceless opportunity but that isn’t exactly the case.” 

“What do you mean?” even Arianwyn was confused by her friend.

“For a long time now access to another countries' dungeons has always been very limited.” Elara explained. “All of this has been for a very good reason but I have a feeling all of that is going to change soon. And it’s all because of you.” 

Everyone turned to Ajax who she was looking at. “You’ve managed to not only give yourself a big head start in terms of stats at an early level but fate or good planning also granted you access to almost five countries worth of dungeons. You’re missing a few floors here and there but not much else.” 

“I see…” Benedict caught on to what she was saying. “Just to have people who in the future could at least join together to at least confront Ajax countries would work together in an exchange more often, with us getting all of the lower floors now even though we would be higher level later on when the exchanges start we will be simply picking up where we left off.” 

Ajax couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride fill his chest with just a hint of guilt. On the one hand he was pushing the humanoid nations to work together and increase the powers of humanoids overall just through his own dedication to getting better. A small part of him however felt guilty that this progress mostly came by due to fear, he pushed the guilt aside knowing that it was a byproduct of Earth’s view of dictators who rules with an iron fist that caused it. 

“If anything I would advise all of you to ensure you don’t try and leverage your stats into leveling as quickly as possible.” Elara continued. “As with almost all things, politics will still take a long time to work out.”

Anna and Xavier were the most excited by this potential future. With their families influence the two of them were all but guaranteed to have a spot on the first such deals that went through. Lexi was also excited at the prospect of eventually catching up to the stats Ajax gained from dungeon floors even if it would take her a while to do so. 

While Ajax’s classmates were all uplifted by the news the same couldn’t be said of everyone else. Elara, Arianwyn, Darkclaw, Harold and even the prince couldn’t help but feel a touch of envy that they were simply born at the wrong time to take advantage of such an opportunity. 

More than that for Elara, Arianwyn and Darkclaw the new state of affairs would meant that they might just have to stagnate their own leveling for a short while just so they will get at least a taste of the same opportunity, otherwise in a century or two they will simply be left behind by the new generation.

Once they entered the fourth floor all of Ajax’s classmates exited the dungeon and the prince felt no trepidation sending Ajax by himself to quickly clear the floor while he stood behind to talk. 

“I can talk to my brother and father about getting a head start with the exchange delving.” the prince offered the three of them while Harold watched with practiced disinterest. “The three of you won’t have to delay yourselves for too long but it will be expensive.” 

Both Elara and Arianwyn couldn’t help but grimace at that, their kingdom was in a very poor financial situation at the moment, that was the entire reason why Ajax had even gotten his own chance at delving their dungeons. There was no way they would be able to pay a premium just to speed up the process.

“Don’t misunderstand, it won’t be materially expensive.” The prince was quick to catch on to what they were thinking. “To everyone else it will play out as more of a courtesy and goodwill for having helped Ajax, probably a part of the original deal that allowed him to delve. The price for it however will be more along the lines of a binding defensive pact.” 

One thing nobody but the prince knew about was that both king Gryndor and the crown prince would all but jump at any chance to set up a binding mutual defense pact. The reason for this was that everyone will very soon see the true extent of Ajax’s power in a very clear way.

The last dungeon on Ajax’s delving route is the Empire’s capital dungeon, unlike all the others he won’t have a booster to join him for that one and while he can boost Xavier, Lexi and Anna he would be forced to unleash a dungeon break after he squeezes out as many stats as he can out of it. 

“That would be up to my father.” 

“That decision lies with the Council.” 

Both Arianwyn and Darkclaw answer at the same time neither looking to undermine their own countries' leadership. Elara however is sure that once her father hears of the opportunity he will push in favor of accepting the deal, it’ll most likely mean some concessions for their family to ensure that she is one of the few chosen for the opportunity and the concession may even be so far as a political marriage for herself.

“I’m not here to pressure you into a decision.” the prince lifted his hands defensively. “I myself don’t have the authority to put forward such a deal but I can at least mention it. I should also mention that we should leave this kingdom as soon as possible. It won’t be long until others start putting together what little Elara did.” 

This was the biggest fear the prince had right now. He himself hadn’t put the pieces together as well as Elara did but once he saw the whole picture it put him on edge. While a future of delving exchanges seemed to be to the benefit of all on the surface that wasn’t exactly the truth. There were a few nations that would be left out in the cold.

The Empire, Deepwood and Highmountain were all supremacist nations, at best they might form an exchange with their non-supremacist neighbors but that was it. It wouldn’t take longer than a millennium, maybe two before the four more central nations would grow too strong for them to even contend with. Should Deepwood decide that they would prefer a decisive fight over a slow death they may just break the agreement and get rid of Ajax now to put a stop to anything and take their chances with rebuilding after the war.

“That…” Arianwyn’s eyes open wide, a flicker of fear passing through them. For the first time she feels that her own life is also in danger on this expedition as Deepwood would definitely eliminate all of them and not just the non-elves, worse yet they might hold her and Elara hostage to try and strong arm her father in keeping Sylvanthal neutral.

“We’ll stay behind on the sixth floor.” Elara suggested. “We’ll set a countdown for us to exit so that we come out at the same time as Ajax before you clear the last floor, that way we will downplay his abilities. He barely stumbled out of the dungeon the last time so it would look better if he isn’t pushing a floor above us consistently.

“That might buy us some time.” Harold nodded. “Even if they catch on to what we are doing, figuring out what is going on might add a day or two before they put everything together.”