His arms still itched. Which was weird because all the tingling in his skin had subsided. That, and he hadn't even burned his arms thanks to his dragon scale armour.

He wondered if maybe it was because he had his scales retracted and his decoy armour back on, like they were protesting being retracted before they themselves had time to recover?

"It's all in your head," Syl said as she looked over the pile of loot they were going to declare to the guild.

Trying to distract his mind, Kai eyed the pile of loot.

Weapons, armour, potions and other commodities or materials that looked valuable.

Stuff you expect an adventurer to pick up.

He knew the pile was just a slither of what Syl had actually collected, but still, how she thought they were going to split large the pile between the five of them, he didn't know.

Thinking about it, Kai recovered his decoy storage satchel from the domain and slung it over his shoulder.

It was large, but not that large. Then there was the weight to consider… actually, weight wise, with his increased physical stats, he had lost track of how much he could comfortably carry.

Reaching inside his satchel, Kai picked out a few potions he guessed he might have consumed during the dungeon run and stored them back in the domain.

"Kai, you look too clean," Ester said from behind him. "It doesn't even look like you broke a sweat."

"I can't help that, can I? My raiment cleans itself faster than I can get it dirty."

"Come here, I'll mess up your braids a little. That way people might think you helped," Ester joked.

Kai remembered wondering how Lycaster looked spotless in his red coat… realising he probably was not any better than that guy in keeping himself clean and tidy, he walked over and crouched in front of Ester. "Make it look believable."

"No beads, Ester, at least not before you take him to dinner," Alicia joked.

"Not my type. But now that you mention it, I could use your help to pick out something nice for Saoirse. It needs to say, nice assets without saying I'm mad for you."

Kai rolled his eyes as he let Ester muss his hair with absurd attention to detail. "I am surprised you don't make her something."

Ester chuckled. "I'm not planning on proposing, just looking for help picking out a gift."

Kai nodded as he received the okay in the way of a tap on the shoulder, and he stood up. Everyone was almost ready, and thankfully, with Syl and Alicia also having the same raiment item as him, they were just as clean and tidy so he alone wouldn't look like they had just gone on a light stroll and not spent several hours running a dungeon.

Out of all of them, it was actually Mira who looked like she had done the most work.

That was what happened when you manifested elemental fire, then intensified it with everything combustible in the atmosphere that a wind elemental could gather, then soaked and chilled yourself to the bone to keep yourself from keeling over from the use of your own extraordinary power.

Apparently, Pepple also had a part in increasing the toughness of Mira's body. But they had already gone through the portal and couldn't get back in time to help with what Kai now knew was something called an avatar state, where Syl channelled the powers of elemental spirits.

Mira caught Kai looking her way. "W-what is it?" she asked as she reached up to touch the fresh set of bandages covering her eyes.

"Nothing, just lost in thought…"

It was such a shame she wanted to hide her eyes, but he couldn't blame her, they were indeed eye-catching.

Kai thought back to when they were worried about hiding his glowing eyes. How he had asked a dungeon master for something to hide them, thought he might end up with some cool mask, only to get a blindfold that disappeared the moment he channelled mana into it to activate its arcane effects.

Mira, with her uniquely beautiful eyes, it was a shame to cover them up. But just like him, she was trying to avoid unwanted attention.

They had got her a much better blindfold, but the material clearly couldn't stand up to her abilities.

He had once thought about getting a helmet for himself, but when he thought about it, if he had not figured out that reducing the mana going to his eyes stopped them from glowing, he would have had to of kept the helmet on everywhere he went. That just wasn't practical.

Sadly, Mira's eyes were different from his and Syl's, and though he hadn't asked, he suspected that manipulating the flow of mana going to her eyes was not going to do the trick of making them look normal.

He chuckled. Here he was, trying to think of a better way for Mira to do exactly what he had once been trying to do himself.

Whoever was controlling their fates clearly had no imagination.

What if they got her a mask that didn't hide her eyes but instead… Actually, that might work. "Mira, have you thought about getting some kind of mask? Instead of using bandages and blindfolds. We could find one with some defensive enchantments or runes. Seeing your eyes through the mask would be quite striking."

Mira looked uncertain, or at least he thought she looked uncertain. Her new bandages covered most of her face, and it made her harder to read, especially when her normally expressive ears were just locked on him as she listened to him.

He continued his explanation. "The best part is, if anyone looks twice, they should assume that it's an effect of the mask and not you that's special. Kind of like how everyone is supposed to think it is my focuses that make my spectral blades and not a skill I have."

Ester's ears had perked up at the mention of runes and enchantments. "I'll make it, I already know what materials to use and got this lovely wood that's light, loves enchantments and can stand up to all but the strongest of dragon fires. Or so the legends go. Actually, we could make several, some for dungeons or guild commissions. Then other, prettier ones for when we are out and about in the city…"

She paused to think, pulled a scribe and a piece of paper from her storage and made a note, before the scribe paused and she continued. "That won't work, people will see that theirs multiple masks and assume she has them made, that they're not a dungeon item. So one mask that's really, really good, maybe have it shift colours…" Ester mused as she went back to making more notes.

Mira looked at Kai and Ester for a while as she mulled it over, her ears occasionally flicking off to Syl and back before she shyly said, "I- I would like that. But are you sure, it sounds like a-a a lot of work."

"Bah, I need a new project since I've finished work on Kai's birthday gift. Won't take long at all. I'll have some sketches for you by tea tonight, and should have a prototype by tomorrow."

The mention of his birthday caught Kai's attention, but besides a quick flare of childlike curiosity and anticipation, he chose not to say anything.

He had completely forgotten that his birthday would be coming up soon. It was a weird thought that he would be thirty-two for a second time.

His birthdays hadn't been something he had really celebrated with anyone for a long time. Now he had two wives and a soul full of friends. Maybe things would be different this year?

Friends… He had a feeling he was forgetting something important. Wasn't someone quite close in age to him? He checked his system calender.

Yup, Niamh's own thirty-second birthday was just a week away.

He really needed to find out what people were planning. That and find a suitable gift for her.

"Syl told me Kai used to draw allot, you should see what mask ideas he comes up with," Alicia added to the conversation helpfully.

The mention of his name snapped Kai back.

"I'm not that good," he grumbles, remembering that he hadn't drawn in years.

Syl scoffed, "Liar, you already have a head full of ideas. You can sit with Ester and make some initial drawings for Mira to approve, while I share skills with her and we work out a plan to flesh out her abilities."

Syl wasn't wrong; he was busy trying to decide if they should lean into her being a beastkin or if there was something that they could do that might make people think twice before messing with her.

Syl came over and leaned into Kiss him on the cheek as he felt his satchel get a lot heavier. "This is why I love you," was all she said before she moved onto Alicia, whispering something in her ear that made her smile softly at Kai.

Ten minutes later, the loot was distributed, and they were standing in front of the exit portal.

"I have a question," Everyone gave him a look, so he went on, "What are we going to do with all the bodies? We must have picked up hundreds in the fighting at the manor. We're not really going to sell the meat, the skin… for people to… you know?" he asked, repressing a shudder.

"Putting goblin meat jokes aside, cannibalism is a bit of a taboo. Even dubious guilt free dungeon sourced protein is in question when other more acceptable meats are available from the many other beast or even farm themed dungeons." Alicia explained.

"Wait… that whole goblin meat thing was a joke?" Kai asked, flabbergasted.

Ester burst into laughter as Syl and Alicia nodded at him, the sly smiles that tugged at both their lips confirmation that yes, after all this time, it was just a joke.

"It's a common adventuring joke. I think it is meant to make people think twice when sorting their dungeon rations. Things do go wrong, and unprepared adventurers do find themselves eating what is commonly called "dungeon pork," if there are no alternatives to starvation," Alicia said.

"So what are we going to do with all the corpses? Shouldn't we dump them before we leave?" Kai asked as he scowled at Alicia and Syl.

"Fertiliser. We'll burn the bodies and use the ash to enrich the domain a bit. The other option is we find a time distortion and wait for them to decompose, but keeping scavengers away, even in the domain, could be troublesome."

"That's it then?"

They all gave him an affirmation in one way or another, so he stepped through the dungeon portal.

Stepping out into Cibiale, he realised something was wrong.

He was surrounded.

The area around the dungeon entrance was cordoned off and surrounded by guards in guild armour and livery.

The rest of his team came through behind him as he saw someone in full plate come jogging over. The gold guild badge on their breastplate told him something serious was going on.

"Report, adventurer, what happened?" They barked as they got close.

Caught off guard, Kai just stared at the helmeted figure, who was just a little shorter than him in all their armour, and he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Report?" they asked again as they came to a stop in front of him.

"Successful dungeon run?" Kai replied, already knowing it wasn't the report they were looking for as the words left his mouth.

"The dungeon upgraded on entry, we were given the option to validate the changes for increased reward. As we were the cause of the upgrade… we accepted?" Syl said from behind.

"Excellent. The guild requests a detailed report. You will be rewarded for any information you can provide. Even the smallest of details will be crucial for reclassification of the dungeon."

"It's open again. Confirming dungeon upgrade, entry has increased to ten people, recommended level twenty and above." Someone Kai hadn't seen said from beside the dungeon portal where they were taking a reading with some device.

With that said, Kai realised why there was so much commotion.

The dungeon had closed itself off to everyone else while they validated the dungeon changes.

He looked about and saw Talious sitting off to the side with Temra and Sicily in her human form. She had several empty drink glasses in front of her, and she finished another when she locked eyes with him.

"Attention everyone, the dungeon has successfully been upgraded. The guild will compensate anyone who lost their time slots. The dungeon will remain closed until its new guild level is determined and a rough guide for safe completion is created. Please disperse," the gold ranker in armour said, her calm voice carrying clearly out into the crowd as they burst into an equal measure of cheers and groans.

Kai glanced at the crowd, and he caught sight of a name tag hovering above someone he hoped he wouldn't see again for a while.

Lycaster looked back at him, spat on the cobbles and walked away.

The group of women with him lingered for a moment. Kai noticed the distinct chill in the pendant that faked his identity before they turned to follow Lycaster, who Kai assumed was their new party member.

"No pleasing some people," the gold ranked guard said as they removed their helmet.

"Harriet?!" Kai asked, surprised.

"Panther of Karta, please. I have a reputation. That and I'm on duty for the guild, they got me doing odd jobs to make up for what happened. When I heard it was your party stuck in the dungeon, I volunteered for the long watch."

"I wouldn't say stuck."

"Kai, tin dungeons don't usually upgrade like this. That dungeon usually takes an hour, and an upgrade would typically add just a few minutes, if anytime at all. You have been in most of the day. Everyone thought you were stuck. What happened in there?"

"Forgive him, when it comes to how dungeons actually work, I'm the team's expert. If you want a report now, I'm going to want a seat. There's a lot to discuss," Syl said as she came to Kai's side.

Harriet nodded. "Now that you mention it, he is too pretty to know how these things really work. If I didn't have firsthand knowledge of how capable he really was, I would wonder. Come with me Syl, I am not actually the one who is in charge."

Dismissed, Kai found himself sitting at the table where Talious and the others had been passing the time.

Syl had gone off with Temra and they were standing over her pile of loot as she described the changes to the dungeon to four silver ranked team leaders and a few guild officials who had shown up shortly after the news that they were out of the dungeon had spread.

"Did you get the letter I sent," Harriet asked from where she sat next to Talious.

"Letter?"

"He did, he has his appointment booked for tomorrow," Alicia answered for him.

"I do? Nobody tells me anything."

"Yes, you do. And we told you the Panther of Karta had arranged a specialist for you to meet as soon as we got the letter and the appointment was arranged. It is not our fault you were too focused on your training and didn't add it to your calender like you said you would."

"Till, I want you to take your team and help these survivors. Confirm Syl's hunch that they will turn on adventures who help them. That details likely to kill more adventurers than anything else," a loud voice barked instructions from the group standing around the loot.

One of the four silver ranked adventures nodded.

"Ash, when you go in, keep things stealthy, check out the routes past the inner wall and kill the boss as they did, see what the counterattack is like. Only burn the city down if you feel like it."

A second silver ranker nodded their understanding as they rubbed their hands together eagerly.

"Luciel, go in rough, see if the survivors do in fact keep most of the corrupted busy. It sounds like there are a lot of moving parts. I want a detailed report of everything."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The third silver ranker pulled their sword free and slammed it back into its scabbard in acknowledgement.

"Armilda, I'm afraid your team is on resource duty, I want samples of everything. You know the deal, don't worry about completion, just get me a report on what can be gained from this dungeon city, it sounds like it's going to become popular for resource divers."

Armilda, the last of the four silver rankers, actually looked disappointed, but their complaints were forestalled when the guild official held up a hand and continued.

"Take the bronze teams with you, I can see them sulking over there. But send them back if you deem things too dangerous. My guts saying this is high bronze, low silver, possibly even higher. Panther, get over here and earn your pay!"

Harriet sighed and got up. "Guess that would be my cue."

"Oh?" Kai asked curiously.

"My job as a gold ranker will be to find exploits. Locate the dungeon core just in case we need to shut this dungeon down… You're certain there was just this one corrupted child? I hate dungeons that put you in a position where you need to kill children."

"Yeah, that shouldn't be an issue. Syl found a diary in the manor. Called it a lore item. It explained how the children took much longer for the corruption to take root. Something about innocence and the connection to the system. When people started to turn and everyone became militant, all the children were evacuated. Or at least that was the scenario the dungeon was presenting," Alica said reassuringly.

Mira shivered as she clutched her pendant. "The things created by the dungeon have n-no soul. But that g-girl… she was evil. All her in-inn-innocence and m-more d-devoured by the cursed item the nobles forced on h-her."

Ester sighed sadly. "Most dungeon books are gibberish, impossible to translate. But that diary… it was a dark read. I'm actually glad you can't bring lore items out of dungeons without scrambling them."

"That's… That's good to know. Still if there are lore items there will be commissions for copies," Harriet said as she made to leave, she stopped to give Temra and Syl a nod as they passed each other than continued on her way over to look at the pile of loot as the officials started briefing her.

Kai looked at the loot, then at Syl.

"They bought all of it. For investigation purposes," Syl said with a sly smile. "Five times the market price."

"Temra stopped and stretched, "It will-" she groaned in satisfaction as her back popped, "it will give you guys some money to splash around town without raising questions. Now come on, I'm starving, and the little one has been dancing on my bladder for the last hour."

…

When they got back to the domain, the first thing they did was agree to go get cleaned up.

Kai finished first, and he came to find Talious already sampling the alcohol they had liberated from the dungeon at a table in the middle of the rooftop.

When Ester arrived, they started working on ideas for Mira's mask while they waited.

Alicia arrived next and asked if anyone needed anything passed along to the house as she was going to try to find Lilly before tea.

Ester gave a quickly penned letter to be passed onto her aunt, and Alicia bade them farewell after giving Kai a quick kiss.

Mira was escorted up onto the roof by an eager Syl and asked to do a little twirl to show off her new clothes as one of the reasons Syl had turned into a loot goblin was revealed.

She was wearing a delicate light white, frilled button-up shirt that just capped her shoulders. A simple black leather waist cincher slimmed her just enough to show her figure without looking so tight it stole her breath. A neat set of dark grey button down shorts that cut off on her thighs just above a set of horizontally striped black and white thigh high socks that ended in a pair of smart, shiny black, buckled, flat-soled shoes. The whole ensemble was brought together with a couple of belts with pouches that could only serve as some kind of accessory considering her new storage pendant.

The effect of the change of clothing from the more masculine set they had picked out the other day was night and day.

The way Mira smiled as she presented herself, turning for all of them to see as her tail swished happily, told Kai she found the change more than appropriate as she just seemed far more comfortable than before.

Syl revealed that there were a lot more outfits to choose from thanks to the dungeon. Stuff for all of them if they were interested. The only issue was that most of it needed tailoring for those without arcane raiments to make magical adjustments for them.

With that announcement, they all realised why Syl had got the raiment skill set and a professional sowing kit as her dungeon reward.

Kai was happy for her. Designing clothes and dressing people up was clearly a hobby of Syl's, and now she was working to break free of the limitations of the domain and working with her own raiment.

With Mira's big reveal over, Syl had Mira sit at the end of the table as she shared what they had all come to think of as the base set of skills.

That being sense share, mana sight and sense, omniglot and meditation.

The creation of those skills for Mira to take was far more of a spectacle in the domain than it was when they were in the dungeon safe room, as you could now see Syl pull the knowledge down from her core above.

Syl explained there were some other skills she planned on sharing, such as mana bolt and mana barrier, but she also explained that she did not overwhelm her with too many skills at once and would be pacing out the other skills over the next day or so.

She then went on to use Kai as a prime example of someone with more skills than they knew what to do with.

Mira, of course, was more than eager to just learn her new skill book, Avatar.

Syl, however, put a pause to that as she had other ideas and asked Mira if she could test her a little before they proceeded.

Mira consented to Syl's plan, though perhaps with some reluctance.

That consent soon turned into a lot of sighing as, an hour later, Mira was starting to get visibly tired of her new ability to read.

Seeing the stacks of books Syl had produced and the discussion of skills somewhat reminded Kai of the time he had sat with Syl and Alicia planning out his skills.

Kai luckily sat at the other end of the table next to Ester as she poured through a thick book on enchantments.

He adjusted the shape of the mask in front of him, making the holes a little larger and enlarging the foe lashes so they matched Mira's. Kai liked how the subtle changes made the overall look of this prototype softer.

They had started out by making sketches and drawing doodles and critiquing each other's ideas.

Ester took an uncanny interest in Kai's work, especially the sketches he knocked out in boredom when he was left with little to do while Ester was mapping out enchantments or runes for the project.

At one point, Kai wanted to make a mockup of an idea they had and, on a whim, conjured a mask based on what he was thinking from domain stuff.

It was too small and a little rough on the edges, but that was because Kai hadn't properly conceptualised the mask when making it, but Ester loved it.

Explaining that she could better plan her enchantments and everything else with a physical item, they quickly moved on from the drawings to a pile of physical prototypes conjured from the domain like some super fast magical three dimensional printer.

Syl contributed to the effort with a perfectly accurate bust of Mira after they interrupted her efforts with Mira a few too many times to check the look or fit of what they were working on with Mira.

"Found it…" Ester said as her finger stabbed a page and she started mumbling.

Kai had heard this a few times with other enchantments or runes Ester had to look up, and knowing Ester needed to read further, he went back to making minor adjustments to the mask.

The mask shape they had settled on with Mira's approval was one that came down to stop just above the top lip, then followed the natural line of her cheekbones to stop at the top of her jawbone before cutting up and around her hairline to cap her head while still accommodating for the full range of movement of her large beast kin ears.

"This will work, it will make the wood supple so it acts kind of like a second skin. Beastkin are known for how expressive they are. With this, if she scowls, frowns, raises an eyebrow or anything like that, it will transfer to the mask as it hugs her face. Means the mask needs to be completely neutral when it comes to emotion," Ester explained as she took Kai's most recent creation and started working out how to add her rune work and other enchantments.

"Sounds like this will be flush on her skin, won't that be uncomfortable after a while? Cause problems with her complection?"

Ester pointed to one of her books. "Already taken that into account. There is a whole section in there that is all about a series of enchantments that are designed to make things comfortable for long periods of time. I'm even going to add my new climate control enchantment. When this mask is done, she won't even know she's wearing it."

Kai picked up the list of enchantments they had already discussed. It was a standard set he was growing used to with a few interesting additions Ester insisted on. Repair, durability, colour and texture changing to name just a few. Right at the top of the list was soul binding.

"I know nothing about enchanting and runes, but are you sure you can fit all this on the mask? I thought the soul binding would be problematic."

"Soul bindings are actually pretty standard thanks to the system. It's what is going to allow me to add all the other enchantments without having to add a power source or having to worry too much about the channels for manually adding mana." She put the mask down, her brow curling in frustration.

"It will also prevent people from taking the mask off her and exposing that it's her natural beauty and not the item. Actually, with what I'm planning, it won't even need straps to stay on her face," she said as she held out a hand for another copy of the mask from Kai.

He conjured one and handed it to her, "What's the problem?"

"My skill.. I need a little more space."

"Needs horns," Gift said as he appeared and picked up one of the masks to peek through the eyeholes. "Mom said she'll be back for tea. She ran into Lilly when passing on that letter for more of those cool automata things. She's telling her all about what happened in the dungeon… yeah, this deffo' needs horns."

"Horns?" Mira asked, her head popping up from one of The Sage's workbooks on spell construction.

"Yeah, horns are cool, that and people won't mess with you if you have a good set of horns," Gift said as he pointed to the set of obsidian blades on his head that he called horns."

"I actually agree," Talious said as she set her glass down, and her horns grew out from above her temples to frame her face as they swept back over her hair. "A good set of horns will draw the eye and accentuate her face splendidly."

Kai looked to Mira as she looked between Talious and Gift, she seemed torn.

He picked up the latest prototype and added a set of horns similar to Talious, making sure he kept them soft and simple to fit the mask's current ascetic.

When he was done, he passed it to Mira, and she put it on.

"Add more of a twist, and point them a little more towards the tips, in my kind that says I'm friendly but dangerous," Talious said as her eyes narrowed and she inspected Kai's addition from afar.

"There's a language to horns?" Kai asked as he made the changes to a fresh copy of the mask.

Talious scoffed as she rolled her eyes and tapped a little above where her own horns came out, "Short and swept here. Will indicate she is young with potential."

Kai nodded, and the mask changed again as he added additional horns to the copy he had made of Talious's.

"That will do. Any more, and she would look like she was overcompensating or trying to attract a mate. Play with the shape a little, but keep the angles going back over her hair. Forward horns are usually a sign of aggression. High splitting horns are usually what you would think as a male territorial thing."

Kai looked to Gift's central horn and then back to Talious.

She just shrugged. "Gifts... gift. Though I have heard that some far off dragons claim a central horn is regal."

Mira sat holding her horned mask for a while. "Will this make people… fear me?"

"It will make those who know understand. They will see you and know someone told you something dragons typically keep to themselves. That or you received a gift from someone powerful… they will see the shape of my horns and show you respect."

"Ah, I was just using your horns as a template, I did not realise they were that significant."

Talious smiled and held out a hand to Kai, "May I?"

Kai handed her the mask, and Talious looked it over once before she started working them it over with her sharp red, taloned nails.

She made the edges of the horns sharper, more defined as she refined the general shape and curve of the horns on the prototype mask as if the hard domain material Kai had used to conjure the item was nothing to her.

She paused a few times to have Kai add more material here and there as she adjusted everything right down to how they broke the smooth surface of the mask and where they would intercept with the hairline when worn.

She must have spent just over five minutes before she handed the mask to Mira with a smile. "That… that will send a message."

"I can see it…" Mira said, her voice full of awe as her eyes lingered on the mask and the detail of the horns.

"Good. Now, keep it to yourself. Kai and the rest of them may have that ridiculous omniglot skill they just gave you, but they rarely use it to its full potential. They miss so much it's frustrating."

"I think I get it," Gift said with a grin.

Talious head snapped to gift.

"But I know a secret when I see one," Gift said as he shifted into his dragon form and helpfully flew away before Kai could ask him for a hint.

Kai frowned at Gift as he left but turned back, and tapped the table to the code of, "Keep drinking like you do and your breath will stink of alcohol, you wannabe alcoholic."

Of course, it wasn't true. No matter how much Talious drank, the dragon's heavy breath always kind of smelled spicy to him. But that wasn't the point. They were all a little worried about what kind of drunk Talious would be.

He thought he was being clever until Talious tapped back in a different code with the point of her nail. "Your darling mate gave me the skill ages ago, you clueless idiot. And it's not my fault the best I can get is a good buzz. I want to do something risky and have an excuse for it later, but it's not working."

Kai didn't know what that was about, and he felt the whole clueless thing was getting banded about a bit much.

"Oh," Kai tapped out his reply. "If it helps. Syl said, there is alcohol that will get you there… it's a tier thing, and you are ahead of the curve."

"Clueless," Talious tapped the table one last time.

Syl cleared her throat. "Were all getting distracted," she said as she prodded Mira back to the book in front of them and glared at them across the table.

Mira passed the mask back to Kai, and he worked on making a copy for Ester to plan out her enchantments.

After a few failed attempts, she asked him to split the horns into two parts so she could hide enchantments in the horns without disturbing any of the details Talious had put in place.

It didn't take long before Ester jumped up from her seat and declared, "This will work, the only thing I wish I could do is make this work of art a growth item."

"You can do that?"

Ester chuckled, "No one can."

Kai glanced a Syl and back as a stone appeared on the table.

"What's that?" Ester asked as she looked at the stone with equal confusion and curiosity.

"Growth stone… waiting to use it on something good."

Ester chuckled and shook her head. "Growth stone my beard."

"Kai," Syl said in a warning tone. "That's yours and yours alone. The earing was a grand gesture, but don't make me hit you. Trust me, it won't be the usual love tap if you give that up."

Ester sank down to sit back in her seat, and Talious leaned forward to take the mask to inspect the work.

"It's bright," Mira said as she looked up from the growth stone. "Makes me dizzy just looking at it."

Syl prodded Mira, and she looked back down at the book and muttered, "I wish I couldn't read."

"Just finish that section and tell me what you have understood," Syl sighed. "We can move onto the good part when you are done."

"That's a growth stone… it makes an item into a growth item?" Ester asked in a quiet voice. "Any Item?"

Kai picked it up and rolled it over the back of his hand and between his finger and thumb, "It's how gift was created… this, a few bows and a lot of soul stuff."

"May I?" Ester asked, her voice wavering slightly.

Kai handed it to her like it was nothing, just a pretty stone. Which to his untrained eye, it was.

She held it carefully between her fingers and let out a short, sharp manic giggle, "It's smooth, not a single etching, not even a mark. I don't know where I would even begin."

"It was made by a god, Atheos or someone in her pantheon. I would start there. Now give it back to Kai before you start calling it my precious. And Kai, I know what you're thinking. Put it back in the deep storage and leave it there."

Ester squeaked as Kai glanced at the stone and pushed it back through the domain to where it was safely hidden and no one else in the domain could pull it out.

"You have a plan for it?" Ester asked, tilting her head curiously.

Kai just tapped his nose and sat back.

Ester's head snapped to Talious, "You're a disciple of Atheos, right?"

Talious nodded and went quiet for a long moment before she let out a long breath, "Atheos says you are nowhere near ready. That you should pray for favourable dungeon rewards…"

Ester turned to Kai, and her eyes narrowed at him before she huffed, "I'm off to put this together in the workshop. No one disturb me…"

She stomped off, and Kai watched her go in confusion. "What did I do?"

"You taunted her with forbidden fruit… I wouldn't worry too much, she won't be mad at you. Though I should warn you all, Atheos says that being your friend and party member has already drawn the attention of a few gods. It's just difficult for them to reach out with the world still locked off as it is."

"Why didn't you tell her that?"

"I was asked not to," Talious said with a sharp, toothy grin. "If she knows she already has divine favour, she might slip from her path."

Mira slammed her book closed, "Done!"

Syl pushed one of The Sage's spell constructs out in font of her, "What's this?"

"A spell construct," Mira said triumphantly.

"Yes, but can you explain how it works?"

Mira looked at the paper in front of her for a while and then picked up a stylus and started making scribbles that looked like more spell construct gobbledygook to Kai.

But Syl clearly saw something different as with each incomprehensible scribble her smile grew.

Judging from the warm, satisfied feeling Kai could feel through the bond as Syl looked over Mira's work. Mira was smarter than he was.

"This is great. I'm happy to give you barrier, mana bolt, stun and telekinesis, maybe even infused strike when we figure out what melee weapon you like."

Mira's head flicked to Syl so fast he was surprised she didn't hurt herself, "You can also share weapon skills?"

"We will get to your melee skills and training. The main thing I want you to understand these are all base skills, learning them is supposed to help you branch out into other magical schools. Remember what I told you earlier?"

Mira tilted her head, and she looked off to the side, before grinning as she said, "Don't be like Kai?"

"Hey!" Kai complained.

His complaint fell on deaf ears as Syl went on.

"He learnt the skills and just decided mana was his to brute force with his abundant ignorance. It somehow worked," Syl said as she tapped the paper. "Your path is different. Work with Wik and the others to manipulate and adjust these base spell constructs to suit you. Find your own path. Improve the skills and abilities that you already have with what you learn."

Mira nodded along with a big smile.

"I think telekinesis will be a good match for when you're utilising the automata, it should allow you to help your friends with a good push or a pull, maybe even lift them up or lower them down. Honestly, we have all neglected that skill."

"All in all, that should give you a good base, one we can all help you with as we have all taken those skills in different directions. Even Alicia, who primarily uses Gift, expanded her knowledge when she learned them."

Syl reached out and put her hand on a stack of familiar yellow and black skill books.

"Now… with these we have the means for you to pretty much learn any melee weapon."

Mira sat up and looked at the books Syl had placed her hand on.

"Kai wasted a whole load of them, and our supply is dwindling… So forgive me, but I want to do something different with you."

"Okay," Mira said as her ears drooped in disappointment.

"I want you to forget everything that happened today…" Syl started in that tone of hers that she used when she wanted to be clear. "I noticed you wanted to participate more. That you held back. That you used a dagger when you attacked the boss. You need to forget all of that. Do you understand?"

Mira nodded slowly, then shook her head, communicating that she was lost in the explanation.

"I don't know what weapon you used when you levelled up under Mountain's watchful eye, presence? Ah, semantics. What you have to understand is people quite often pick up a weapon, find it kind of works for them, and they end up never putting it down. In the end, it might not be the right fit for them, and they never really shine."

"Oh, that makes sense. I don't actually have a preference. I've always just used what I had at hand."

"Like one should," Talious commented. "Honestly, I'm disappointed Kai doesn't realise how much damage he could do with the claws he keeps hidden all the time."

Syl coughed. "Well, my plan for you, Mira, is to see if you happen to have an innate preference. We're going to take our time and get this right. We're going to visit weapon shops and smiths, have you handle anything that interests you. Then we'll visit schools and academies and have you try stuff until you find something that fits you perfectly. Then we will use one or more of these skill books to get you started. Remember?"

"Don't be like Kai," Mira giggled.

Kai sat back and rolled his eyes as he summoned a glass of that dungeon drink.

It was nice that Mira, for some as yet un-known reason, was so clear and concise in the domain. But she could of at least stuttered a little when Syl prompted her to joke about Kai. She didn't have to go along with it so confidently.

Thinking about the joke more, he said, "Don't be like Kai isn't fair, you agreed with the plan at the time."

Syl just shrugged, "It was your decision. I know I was pushing you at the time, but you were still in charge. It was a decision you had to make."

Mira, however, seemed to study him for a long moment before she eventually spoke up. "What about Kai's mana sword? He said that was a skill… can he teach me that?"

Kai sat up as he thought about it and took a long sip of the drink.

"That's not a skill I can share… it's something he developed with his departed shadow master. It's related to his insane mana control, and while I can kind of do it... beyond surprising people by adding a sharp point to my quarterstaff, I found other methods work for me," Syl said as she eyed Kai. "I mean, I can technically share how I think it's done… but it won't give you the official skill as I, for some reason that escapes me, still haven't unlocked it."

It was news to Kai that Syl hadn't actually unlocked spectral manifestation. He shared a look with her, and she just sent him a mental shrug through the bond.

Kai saw Mira's ears wilt, and he sighed, "Give her mana conjuration… that's where I started. Like you said, it's just mana control. I can't make any promises, but if she can figure out conjuration, it's just some hand protection and a few steps backwards… Like you said, it doesn't even need to be swords. We could help her adapt it for whatever weapon she settles on."

"A Kitten with spectral claws…" Talious said wistfully.

Mira perked up at that.

Syl gave him a nod and a mental hug before she turned all her attention back to Mira. "Time you learned that Avatar skill book, I'm interested to see how it expands the scope of what you've already discovered on your own."

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