Chapter 387

A/N : Sorry for the late chapter, had to do an extra half a shift today out of the blue.

There was no issue with the next floor, from what Ajax could feel it seemed to be a standard fire and earth based floor, either a desert or a volcano depending on how the properties were applied. If he had to bet Ajax would have gone for desert for the simple reason that it was missing any metal mana that was usually found in any volcanic themed floor.

“Did you find any creatures that can use this mana type?” Ajax asked the prince as they watched Xavier fight. 

“No, though I do have to say some of the creatures on this floor look… I can’t quite find the words… odd.” the prince answered. 

“Odd how?” Ajax asked. 

“Their bodies were misshapen.” the prince said. “More pudgy and with denser muscles.” 

“Adaptations to the increased downward force.” Ajax pondered. “The dungeon added monsters that would be uniquely suited to the environment.” 

The prince instantly pulled up a privacy screen before he frowned a little as he turned to Ajax. “This is the second time you do that. I am not sure what you know about this downward force but you do know something.” Ajax’s eyebrows made a break for his forehead in surprise as he looked towards the others with a little trepidation. 

“I doubt any of them has a good enough lie detection skill at a high enough level to pick up on that since everything you said was technically truthful.” the prince reassured him. “Maybe Harold, despite being a fighter it would all depend on how gifted he is in the political arena. That doesn’t matter since he knows discretion. Do make sure you keep this in mind however because I assure you Aranor would also see through it.” 

“I’ll explain more later but it's rather complicated…” Ajax started but as soon as the word complicated left his mouth the prince quickly cut him off. 

“In that case you best just prepare to give a presentation once we are back in Gryndor.” Despite the prince’s fascination with magic he was not a researcher or a scholar. 

“Can I see one of the samples?” Ajax asked as he extended his hand towards the prince. 

Instead of a single item the prince placed two pieces of rock in his hand. Both were about the same size but one felt much heavier than the other. Both of the chunks were filled with Gravity mana, in fact they looked almost identical to Ajax’s senses. 

“Does one of them amplify the force while the other diminishes it?” Ajax was shocked as he realized what was happening. 

“You think so too?” the prince grinned. “I’ll be selling only one sample type to the elves and the Republic so keep quiet about the second.” 

The prince’s voice was much sterner as he took back the samples and lowered the privacy field just as Xavier was finishing his fight. The mini-boss was two levels lower than Xavier and while he didn’t pose a real threat to him in terms of offense the mini boss's mobility combined with the increased gravity let it survive a lot longer than it otherwise would have.

“Finally!” Xavier gave a frustrated cry as his sword cut open to the monsters hearth and the spell he followed it up with froze the monsters internal organs. Once he saw how close Ajax was to the next floor he quickly followed up with a question. “Tell me the next floor is normal.” 

“Should be a desert or a volcano.” Ajax responded. “Seemed regular enough.” 

The next floor was nothing out of the ordinary but the one after that did have something a little more special. The first was a desert floor just like Ajax had guessed while the second was an open plain that housed large herds of pack animals that very much resembled the bison’s of Earth only the were much larger. It was one of the few times where the non-mini boss groups on the floor were actually a lot more dangerous than even the arch guardians due to the sheer numbers. 

Thankfully for all of Ajax’s classmates the floor also had small groups of beastkin guarding each arch. Nobody had a hard time clearing either of the floors, the desert floor was too small of a level difference for their increased stats to not make up for it and for the second floor the humanoid combatants were easily dealt, they simply ambushed the mini bosses while the prince took out all of the others leaving it to a one on one. 

Despite the ease with which they cleared both floors it had taken them a decently long time to do so. Both a desert and an open plane had two things in common. One, neither needed much vertical space leaving the floor to expand horizontally a lot more, and two clear lines of sight meant that the arches were even more spread out so it took the group a while go from one to the next. 

“Remember they will most likely challenge you but they could also try Benedict depending on which nobles decides to make their move first.” The prince cautioned his nephew.

Benedict wasn’t happy to be excluded based on the fact that mana had almost no place in his fighting style, nevertheless it was something that elves emphasized and the more racist ones saw a human that chose not to use mana heavily as less than. Lexi and Anna however were excluded because of other reasons. 

For Lexi it was clear that nobody wanted to become the cautionary tale for whatever new spell her grandfather had come up with in the years since he had last been seen on a battlefield. That she had openly shown her affinity for multiple different elements only served to further push the same narrative. 

The reason why Anna was going to be left alone was very different. The wealth of Archduke Goldmancer was widely known, not only that but his affection for his only daughter and his overprotective tendencies were as well. None of the noble families were willing to risk an open contract put out just for a little pride by defeating her, not when there were better targets available.

“I know.” Xavier nodded with conviction. “I’ll get us one of those trees.” 

Despite Xavier’s ego being reigned in a lot since his teenage years, both by the maturity that followed adolescence and the simple fact of Ajax’s presence, he still retained a healthy ego regarding his combat prowess.

Once the lower leveled in the group exited the dungeon the rest of the group had a decision to make. 

“Do we stop to sleep now or do we push on?” Ajax asked.

“Only you have anything to gain from this floor and it won’t even take you long to dispatch a mini boss.” Harold offered.

“That will also be true after we wake up.” Darkclaw said as he spread his arms wide and took a deep breath as he looked towards the trees that surrounded them. “I say we rest here where we know what the floor theme is.” 

“We’re resting here.” the prince said, putting an end to the discussion.

The reason the prince wanted them to rest here was simple, nobody was in any danger on this floor. With even the highest levels being only at level sixty the prince was sure any of them could solo the floor, the only question would be how many were good enough to solo it by finding and using the obelisk instead of slowly clearing it out. With such a safety margin the prince could actually relax and sleep as well to catch up on some of the sleep he missed thanks to the attack the night before. 

As Xavier and the other exited the dungeon they were pleasantly surprised not to be attacked by any of the elves despite more than a few drawing their weapons at their presence. The arch guardians seemed pretty peeved at not getting to interrogate them about what happened to the rest of their party and what floor they had gotten to but Lioriel was quick in intercepting them and bringing the team to Aranor.

Unlike previously the elven champion wasn’t alone while he was waiting for them, rather he was caught in an rather animated discussion with a number of other elves. That in and of itself wasn’t an issue, the issue was that Benedict, Lexi, Anna and Xavier all recognized most of the elves surrounding them. It wasn’t that they had met them before but that they had been part of their education as each was a very powerful fighter in their own right.

Despite the elven kingdoms being rivals the same did not always apply to their champions, adding that the two kingdoms hadn’t gone to war with each other in the last two generations of rulers and it meant that Deepwood’s champions didn’t have any bad blood with Aranor and in fact some of them were quite friendly.

“Look at that, what do we have here?” one of the elves asked as he turned towards the four humans.

Lioriel tensed at that. She knew she wasn’t strong enough to beat any of the three newcomers but she still moved her hand towards her weapon just in case, she wasn’t going to fail her queen without at least trying. 

“Let the children handle the children's games.” Aranor waved the elf off. 

“Oh, I didn’t know you had such a soft spot for humans, Aranor.” One of the other elves said.

“It’s not a matter of race but one of honor.” Aranor shut down the teasing. “We all know why the challenge will come before Ajax exits the dungeon, just let the young ones sort it out.” 

Despite the frown Xavier was giving Aranor on the inside he was singing the elf’s praises. By keeping the older elves out of the interaction Aranor was making it easier for Xavier to set the stakes such that he could walk away with a fortress tree if he won.