A few moments later, bright light blasted straight into my eyes, but when I tried to raise my hands to block them, I felt both my hands still gripped by Raiju and Mindy. Making do, I screwed my eyes shut and kept moving.

  Five seconds later, Ylsa called out from the back of the line. “I’m through. Roll call.”

  We all chorused our names and I felt as Mindy let go of my hand, letting me use my arm to block my eyes with a sigh of relief. I stood there like that, guarding my eyes for the better part of a minute before I slowly uncovered them to take a look around.

  The light was still damn near blinding, but I was able to blink away the tears to observe the tiny stone clearing amid dense forest. The telltale gold circle ringed the stone pad we stood on, but there wasn’t much room beyond where we stood within said circle. My companions were all blinking away tears in their eyes except Raiju, who looked eager to get going as she sniffed with her head out past the barrier.

  Looking up, I found the sun directly above the clearing and it was far brighter than even the enhanced sun around Sunhome due to the [Great Suntree] in its heart. The longer I stood there, the worse I felt, but when I stepped out into the trees under Ylsa’s watchful eyes, I sighed with relief.

  Without turning back, I spoke softly to my companions. “Something’s up with the sun in here, it almost felt like it was sapping my energy.”

  With a whoosh of air, Raiju was ten feet in front of me and twenty feet up a tree. She shook her head and laid her lupine ears against her head. “You’re right. It almost felt like someone was watching me who wanted my fur.” She bared her teeth at what I assumed was a memory. “It wears on you, trust me.”

  Everyone else joined me in forming a semi-circle around Raiju’s perch and I took a moment to get a feel for how everyone felt in the Dungeon based on their actions, rather than their words. As most know, actions speak louder than words.

  Volta was as unflappable as ever, standing a few feet behind me, looking around curious but focused. Ylsa was exactly as I expected, wary but unafraid. Despite us all being together, her eyes never settled on any one of us, instead roaming around us as she looked for threats.

  Raiju was acting similarly to Ylsa, just with a lot of sniffing and twitching of her ears in conjunction with watching everything. I’d been worried about taking her into another enclosed space despite her recent reincarnation, but I needn’t have done so. She appeared to be in her element and I was happy to see it.

  Gabby and Mindy, despite living lives of structure and society mere weeks before, appeared to be ready for a fight, but I could see both of their sets of eyes darting around at any shadow that moved. Neither of them had any real combat experience outside of some training as children, so I knew it’d be up to Raiju, Ylsa, and I to keep them safe as they got used to life raiding Dungeons.

  I planned on finding places for both of them to safely work in Sunhome. Mindy could work with my cousin at her magic item shop, while Gabby could operate out of the Sunbeam family complex while maintaining The Dominion’s trade partnerships. However, we needed to get them to a respectable level before those opportunities could arise and Dungeons presented the fastest path to achieve that goal.

  On a whim, I tried to generate a sub-chat with just Raiju, Volta, Ylsa, and I and the Dungeon allowed it. Since it was labeled Dungeon Chat, I assumed it would disband when we left, but I took note of the ability. So much had been lost when the Party system was removed, I had no idea what else it could do beyond what I’d already tried.

  ‘Ylsa, Volta, each of you are responsible for either Mindy or Gabby in fights, your choice. Raiju and I’ll help out as we can, but she’ll be out scouting since we don’t have time to do this the slow way if we want those rewards. Are we good?’ I smiled as all three of them locked eyes with me one at a time before going back to their previous level of observation.

  ‘I’ll guard Gabby.’ Ylsa sent as she pulled [Bloodsplitter] out and spun the huge rune coated axe around in her fingers. ‘She’s more likely to hunker down than Mindy. That girl’s used to running away, I can tell.’

  The girls in question were muttering to each other nervously, but were doing their best to keep it quiet.

  ‘Guard duty? I can handle that.’ Volta moved to cover Mindy’s flank with her sparking longbow hanging at a low ready. ‘Not sure how useful my AOE storm Skills will be here, but at least my bow will be useful.’

  ‘I’m great at chasing people and so is Artie.’ Raiju somehow still sounded like she had as a huge wolf despite her speaking voice being relatively higher pitched. ‘Can I start roaming? None of the monsters nearby are very strong, so I should be able to clear them out quickly and start looking for that shrine.’

  I considered it for a minute before responding. ‘Leave any monster you can within a hundred yards, but anything outside that range is free game. I’m hoping we can find the exit and the shine in the next few hours then spend the rest of the seven hours and fifty-eight minutes I plan on spending in here letting Mindy and Gabby level grind. Does that work for you both?’

  ‘Works for me.’ Raiju sent as she began bounding from tree to tree like an overgrown squirrel. ‘I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting.’

  Ylsa merely moved to stand behind Gabby and tipped her axe to me as she laid it against her shoulder.

  Realizing something was up, Gabby whirled around on me with a finger pointed at my chest. “What’s going on? Where’s Raiju going?”

  “Scouting, what else?” I shrugged. “You saw how much tougher she is than anything will be in here and her speed means she’ll be able to escape no issue if she needs to. Because of that, I put her on the hunt for the exit and the shrine while we get moving.”

  The [Grovetender] scrunched up her face in a surprisingly cute way, her elegant nose curling just so. “Did you not consider that, as a [Grovetender], I might be able to just ask the forest for those locations?”

  “By all means.” I waved out at the forest around us. “Ask away. Meanwhile, I’m going to take Mindy out to hunt a bit.” I padded away, waving for Mindy to follow and Volta by extension. “Keep up, Raiju says there’s some weak monsters around and it would be awesome if you leveled before we get the reward for the shrine.”

  Thinking about it, I frowned. I hadn’t leveled since fighting the [Wraith King] despite him being a Tower Boss, but I wasn’t able to tell how close I was to leveling. I’d considered asking Uncle Galloway for a [Spirit Telling], but I didn’t exactly feel like giving him five percent of my level progress just to find out I was one percent from leveling. It was frustrating, but maybe I had a way around it.

  Speaking quietly, I addressed Mindy. “Two trees to our right, there’s a [Bark Spider]. It’s only level twenty, so you should be able to handle it. I’m going to try something, but I’ll be here if you two need me.”

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  The sounds of high pressure water winding up faded away as I focused inside and activated [Dominus’ Insight] while focusing on my frustration without the ability to figure out how close my Party and I were to leveling. The intense sucking sensation that followed burned my Mana channels as they were put to work. The thing is, I couldn’t tell where the Mana was going, but seven hundred Mana later, I had my answer.

  [I just contacted a friend of mine outside of Genovia on your behalf. She’s agreed to loan you a device that will let you do what you need, but in exchange you’ll need to sponsor her great-nephew via Elemental Pactlord. By Genovia’s standards, he’s level thirteen, so you’ll need to baby him a bit until he gets up to speed. Thing is, he’s going to be expensive, given his species, so he’ll cost ten percent of your Mana as long as he’s around. That’s the best I could do for now, sorry. P.S. Good work with Raiju, I’m proud of you.]

  Groaning, I pulled up the [Elemental Pactlord] control panel and frowned at a new option on the right. It was labeled Labyrinth of Lore and it was on a whole different selector than my normal summons. Toggling it, I only had the option to accept a connection, so that’s what I did.

  Ninety max Mana sealed away later, the air to my right began to shimmer and fractalize and, for half a second, I panicked. Is this going to kick us from the Dungeon? It’s limited to six people… What was done was done though, so I put it out of mind. I just hoped the Dungeon would see whoever I was summoning as just that, a pact summon.

  With a resounding crack, the fractalized air beside me ruptured in a spray of text I couldn’t parse to reveal a surprisingly cute little guy. Floating around my head height was a diminutive, orb-shaped creature with iridescent wings that shimmered like opals. Its body was composed of swirling, shifting colors, reminiscent of a kaleidoscope. [Essence Reading] popped and I got to know a bit about my new companion.

  [Glyph - Rank S Summon

  Species: Voxel - Labyrinth of Lore

  Level: 13

  Mana Investiture: 10%

  Roles: Information Gathering, Tactical Analysis]

  [Despite its small size, Voxels are formidable opponents, capable of unleashing a barrage of tiny, needle-sharp letters forth from their cores. These “letter-needles” can pierce even the toughest hide, inflicting both physical and mental wounds. Voxels are highly intelligent, able to decipher complex codes and manipulate information with incredible speed.]

  Saluting him with a pair of fingers to my brow, I smiled as I addressed Glyph for the first time. “Nice to meet you, Glyph. I’m–”

  The tiny being cut me off mercilessly. “Arthur Bajbub Neilson. Chosen of Dominus, leader of The Dominion, second in line to the Chief seat for the Ironwind Clan of Dwarves, and second in line to become Defender of the Sun in Sunhome.” He bobbed up and down a bit at my shocked expression. “Aunt Archivora gave me a dossier on you, seeing as you’re serving as my tether to this uninformed hunk of rock.”

  Not going to lie, I considered sending Glyph’s smarmy ass away right there, but then I saw the bangle hanging around his wrist and my mood immediately shifted. There it was, the answer to my leveling questions.

  [Soulfire Monitor - Unique

  Description - The Soulfire Monitor is a sleek, silver bangle that pulses with an inner light. It allows its wearer to gauge the growth of all of those within a certain range (Wits/twenty feet). Specifically, it monitors Level growth, Evolutionary growth, and any other hidden growth patterns they might have. It is on loan from Archivora of the Labyrinth of Lore, to be returned along with her great-nephew, Glyph.]

  Seeing where my gaze was locked, Glyph held the [Soulfire Monitor] aloft with what I later learned was a look of disdain on his face. “Ah, yes. The reason for my trip to this prehistoric chunk of matter.” He tossed it toward the ground like it was made of some sort of refuse and I dove forward to catch it. “How quaint.”

  Slipping the borderline artifact on my wrist, I glared up at Glyph. “I may have agreed to sponsor you here on Genovia, but you’ve got another thing coming if you think I’ll let you get away with belittling me, my friends, or my home.” I straightened up and stared straight into his tiny golden eyes. “As my pact summon, I can force you to obey me. Don’t make me abuse that link, I’ve never done it before, but I’m considering making an exception for you.”

  The tiny elemental blinked a few times before smiling. “Understood and documented.” He floated up to my right shoulder and somehow bound himself a foot off of it with some sort of invisible tethers. “I shall observe after you answer a few questions to help me calibrate to… Genovia. I need to confirm some differences from multiversal standards on this planet.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Make them quick.”

  “I will endeavor to be as brief as possible. Days in a year? Months in a year and their names? Weeks in a month? Days in a week? Hours in a day? Minutes in an hour? Seconds in a minute? How are the seasons split up?”

  Sighing, I rattled off the information he wanted, which ended up taking a lot longer than I wanted it to, since I really wanted to check out my prize.

  “Three hundred and sixty-six days per year, split into twelve months with a six day festival period between Drought and Rust. The months are called Bloom, Green, Flower, Blaze, Scorch, Drought, Rust, Wither, Harvest, Frost, Snow, and Slumber. Three weeks per month, ten days each. Twenty-four hours per day, sixty minutes per hour, sixty seconds per minute. Four seasons, three months each starting with Bloom, they’re each tied to a matching moon. Those moons are called Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.”

  He bobbed. “Calibration completed.”

  Since he wasn’t actively badmouthing anything I gave a shit about at the moment, I put the young [Voxel] out of mind and instead turned my gaze upon the [Soulfire Monitor].

  [Name: Arthur Bajbub Neilson

  Level: 30 - 97% to 31

  Racial Evolution:

  Sun Elf → Primal Elf-Solara – 19%

  Dwarf → Primal Dwarf-Aegis – 1.5%

  Human → Human Paragon – .1%]

  “What the hell?” I stared at the names after my primal races with a powerful hunger to know more. “Who were Solara and Aegis?”

  From his position over my shoulder, I heard Glyph do a sort of cocky chuckle, but he didn’t add anything after that. Irritated, I figured I could at least put the little shit to work if he was going to piss me off.

  “Care to share with the class?” I gritted my teeth. “Do you know who they are or were?”

  “Yes.” He kept his answer clipped, but I could tell he wanted to drag it out.

  Fixing him with my best glare, flexing my [Charm] and slamming him with [Lordly Aura], I leaned on him once more. “Explain, in detail, what you know of those beings. Refrain from wasting my time, or you will regret it.”

  His whole body shook as he hurried to answer. “Solara is the progenitor beast for the Gold Elves of Genovia. She was once the most powerful Primordial Phoenix in this sector of the multiverse, but she hasn’t been seen in over two hundred thousand years. Aegis is the progenitor beast for the Dwarves of Genovia. He was a Primordial Wyrm Adamantine Dragon, known far and wide for his vast kingdom full of smiths and other crafters. His bones formed the mountains his descendants now call home.”

  I released the pressure of my [Charm] and [Lordly Aura] before smiling at him. “Was that so hard?”

  If glares could kill, I’d have died right there. His voice dripped with a surprising level of venom. “What was that vile thing you just did to me?”

  Volta and Mindy approached and the Storm Elf answered for me. “That was milord’s [Lordly Aura]. Those who don’t respect him will feel it seeping into their very soul, not so subtly shifting their opinion toward him. His [Charm] may not be as high as it probably should be,” she shot me a look before turning back to Glyph, “but Suzerain lends it a weight three times as effective as most would expect.”

  “Thank you, Volta. That wasn’t in his dossier.” The young [Voxel]’s eyes fluttered at the same time as an indecipherable script ran across them. “Updating.”

  Mindy looked between the three of us before settling her gaze on Volta. “What is going on? Who is that?”

  With a short laugh, Volta led her away. “Milord has this habit of randomly summoning noble elementals…”