"…You're serious?" Vin asked, staring at Lumel like she was insane. "You want me to do what?"

The five of them were heading deeper into the sky fragment, on their way to the dungeon that Shia had located with her divine boon. They all agreed they'd prefer only having to travel two or three miles to the dungeon as opposed to the near six it would take them to get back to the edge of the fragment. While they were waiting for another solid cloud to drift close enough for Lumel to warp them all to it, she decided that it was a perfect chance to show them all her new spell.

"After I cast my spell, I want you to leap off the edge of the cloud," she repeated, giving him a nervous smile. "The spell I want to show you is the culmination of all my research down in the Underside. I actually have an entirely separate spell I've been working on that I got part of the structure for by analyzing how the Underside changed after the infernals' fragment vanished, but it's going to be some time before I finish that one."

Vin could only stare at his girlfriend who had just suggested he leap to his death, his mind still busy processing her insane request. Despite having conquered his fears, Vin was still a tad hesitant to take a flying leap off the side of the cloud like Lumel was asking. Even so, seeing the excited look on her face was enough for him to squash those fears right back down where they belonged, and he sighed. Only the knowledge that he could now arrest his own fall and easily walk back up to them if needed allowing him to force out his next few words. "Alright. Go ahead and cast."

"Thank you," she said, holding out a hand and focusing on him. "Dimensional Anchor."

Vin felt something almost physical clamp onto him, but he couldn't actually see or feel anything. However, a quick cast of Sense Dimensions gave him a rough idea of where the clamp had landed, and when he looked more closely at his core, he blinked as his perspective shifted slightly and he realized he could clearly see a shimmering, purple band wrapped around his core. He'd never seen anything interact directly with his own core like that before.

Minor Arcane Discovery! 1,000 exp gained.

"Alright, go jump!" Lumel said, stepping back and excitedly watching. Saying a quick prayer to the Goddess of Benevolence, Vin did as instructed. He walked over to the side of the cloud, gave his friends one final look, and leaped off. He told himself he'd start casting Slow Fall after five seconds, before using his clouds or Redirect Gravity to get back up, but he didn't actually need either. After he'd fallen for two or three seconds, he suddenly felt the band around his core tighten, and he gasped as the world lurched around him. Before he knew what was going on, he felt himself snap back upwards as if he'd been connected to a giant rubber band, and in the blink of an eye he was right back where he'd been standing moments before.

"What in the…" even as he looked around him, blinking at the jarring sensation of being forcibly teleported, he realized what must have happened. "You locked my position in this dimension somehow? Forcing me to return to it? Is it time or location-based?"

Lumel's grin only grew at his quick understanding of what had happened, and she beamed at his analysis of her newest spell. "It's location-based. If the subject travels a certain distance away, the tether snaps them back. The more mass the subject has, the more mana it takes out of me though, so it won't be useful for larger enemies."

"That's still pretty incredible," Shia said, looking at Vin curiously. "Is it a one and done?"

"No, the tether stays until I run out of mana or choose to dismiss it," Lumel said, growing a bit more reserved as she turned to answer Shia. "Like I said, I got this from studying the Underside. It's based on how the giant rooms are linked to the fragments up above."

"I can't believe you were able to figure out a spell by examining something the Gods put together," Scule said, shaking his head. "That's insane."

"It's impressive as all hell," Vin nodded, peering at his newest notification.

New spell witnessed! Tier 4 Spatial Spell (Dimensional Anchor).

"Thanks," Lumel said one more time, blushing at all the praise.

As much as Vin wanted to help her learn the ins and outs of her new spell, they weren't in the best position to be wasting mana right about now. Instead, Lumel dismissed her tether and, once the next cloud was in position, they continued on toward the dungeon. Other than a minor pit stop to defend themselves from some of the flying stingray monsters, they made it without incident.

New Dungeon Discovered! 5,000 exp gained.

Dungeon Type: Cloud

Primary Monster Type: Birds

Strengths: N/A

Movement: Fast

Groupings: Large Group

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The dungeon on this fragment proved to be similar to the forest-style dungeons they'd encountered before. Nothing appeared to be different, but Vin could feel the space around them expand unnaturally, indicating they'd entered the dungeon proper. Sure enough, he could now sense that location of the corridor leading down into the Underside as well, thanks to his high Dungeoneering level. Curiously, he still received experience for discovering new dungeons, but he could tell that it was different somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he had the feeling he truly had to earn the discovery of the dungeon in order to gain the experience.

Which meant any ideas he may or may not have jokingly tossed around to Lumel about using the Underside to farm dungeons from the back end were no longer viable.

Relaying the information he got to his friends, Scule immediately grew antsy.

"Are you kidding me? A bird dungeon? What the hell, Gods?!" he demanded, shouting up at the sky before realizing what he was doing. As Scule's face went white and he began rapidly praying under his breath, asking for forgiveness, Vin rolled his eyes and dropped him in his pocket.

"Just stay there, we should be able to handle a couple of birds. The entrance to the Underside isn't far, anyway."

Lumel seemed capable of detecting the entrance as well, as she didn't even wait for him to point out where they needed to go before taking their hands and beginning to warp them closer. The first two jumps were uneventful, but the third proved to be a mistake. The moment they all landed, the cloud erupted under them as dozens and dozens of small birds shot out in all directions, screeching at the top of their lungs as they swarmed them. The monsters had jagged, serrated beaks that looked like they were designed to tear their way through flesh, despite the fact that each one wasn't much larger than a common pigeon.

New monster discovered! 200 exp gained.

Immediately, Lumel warped them back to the cloud they'd just been on before they could get torn to bits, which gave them a few hundred feet of breathing room. The swarm of birds screeched as one again, before turning and making a beeline straight for them.

"That's got to be like a hundred birds!" Scule shouted, gripping the top of Vin's pocket and barely peeking out. Reginald was peering out right beside him, and the rat gently pulled him into a reassuring hug with his tail.

"Maybe so, but they sure are clumped together," Vin grinned, taking careful aim before casting. "Fireball!"

Using Runic Recalibration, he dumped as much mana into the runic structure as the spell could hold, far more than he'd ever tried before that point. His eyes widened as a ball of flame half as large as he was manifested in front of his palm before shooting forward, blazing across the sky like a meteor. It wasn't particularly fast, and an intelligent opponent could have dodged the spell easily, but regular monsters had something of a one-track mind. The swarm of birds didn't even try to evade the flaming projectile, and Vin had to shield his eyes at the burst of light that radiated out from his spell when it made contact.

The force of the explosion actually pushed the cloud they were standing on back a few feet, and Vin felt his clothing rustle in the wind his spell had created. As the smoke cleared, his jaw dropped as just about every single one of the birds fell from the sky. Many had been completely incinerated, and most of the remaining birds had lost their feathers and were now incapable of flight. Even those on the fringes that didn't look scorched appeared heavily disoriented, and they plummeted as they struggled to stay in the air.

With a single spell, Vin had taken out an entire swarm of monsters.

"Now that is some magic!" Scule laughed, hopping out onto his shoulder once more and making a rude gesture down at the falling birds. "You like that, you winged freaks?! That's what you get!" Reginald quickly joined him, squeaking taunts down at the birds that Vin was sure were incredibly witty as he danced alongside his companion.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Shia grinned, looking impressed. "Not exactly great for anything with half a brain, or capable of moving faster than your average shrub, but fantastic for taking out monster fodder."

"I thought it was amazing," Lumel said, squeezing his hand and giving him a shining smile. "It's nice knowing you can do stuff like that. It makes me feel safer."

"I appreciate knowing you can warp us to safety before a swarm of monsters eats our livers," Vin laughed, making Lumel blush slightly as he turned the attention back around on her. "Seriously, that was an impressive reaction."

"Having seen how those insects shot out of the cloud on our way into the fragment, I've been half waiting for something like that to happen with monsters every time I warp us," she admitted, looking pleased with herself. "Glad my paranoia finally paid off."

"It's not paranoia when birds are involved," Scule spat, still frowning down at where the birds had fallen. "Lousy, good for nothing, feathery menaces, the lot of them. I vote we look for more and treat them the same."

"Alternatively, why don't we keep heading for the corridor entrance and put this whole fragment behind us before something else happens we're not prepared for," Vin countered, getting a reluctant grunt of acceptance from Scule. "Lumel, do you mind?"

"Hold on tight!" she said, warping them forward again.

It wasn't long before they found the Underside entrance, and seeing as they didn't have to wander the dungeon hunting for it, they didn't even stumble upon any more bird-based ambushes.

The familiar stone frame was standing up on a cloud like it was the most ordinary thing in the world, and Vin couldn't help but laugh when they first spotted it. Warping beside it, the frame transformed into the usual endless tunnel stretching into the distance, and the group finally relaxed as they left the sky fragment behind them and entered the Underside once more.

"Good Gods, that was one hell of a fragment," Scule said, stretching as he sat on Vin's shoulder and peered up at him. "I don't think your Ambassadors or Diplomats are going to be able to establish any sort of connection with the avisul."

"No kidding," Vin snorted. "Lumel and I are the only ones capable of going over there. Though they didn't seem all that keen on leaving their fragment, so we probably don't have anything to worry about in that regard."

"I liked them," Lumel said, smiling softly. "They were kind and friendly."

"Not nearly enough plants for my liking, but the people weren't bad," Shia agreed. "I kinda wish I could bring Mary with me to visit them and have her help me set them up with a garden or two."

"Just let me know if you ever need my help getting there," Lumel said, surprising all of them as she offered up her services. "I wouldn't mind visiting them again."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that," Shia said, sharing a smile with the pulmon. "Though that probably won't be for a while. We've been gone for almost a week, thanks to a certain someone's ill-timed nap, and I'd bet my staff there'll be plenty of fires for us to put out once we're back."

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