Nightfall.
The time for action was nigh.

"Alright!" Richard clapped his hands together and gathered the attention of the assemblage of Mages. "As discussed, let us proceed with hunting the elder Gila. Gwen, Petra, how are your conditions?"

"I am ready." Gwen nodded; for now, keeping busy was her best solution to keeping the sickening memories at bay.

"My spell list is adequate," Petra replied.

"Julian?"

"We're ready." Julian's men looked very much thrilled to be engaged in an operation to bring down a tier 6 monstrosity.

"Felicity?"

"I got 'em covered, Magus Huang." Felicity's eyes sparkled. Surprisingly, she acted as the Xu party's Abjurer. Unfortunately, Clan Xu's Abjurer had either perished or failed to join up with the leading group due to unforeseen. They would not know if their companion was safe until the Dungeon concluded.

"Not a Magus, not yet," Richard quipped. "Mina, you're with Petra on the left. Gwen, you're on your own on the right platform. Can you handle that?"

"I can."

"Tao, Fei, come here. Lea, let them attune with your mana."

A swirl of water flowed around Tao and Fei. Lea's alluring semi-transparent form flitted between the two Illusionists.

"The Gila is awake," Lea informed the two parties. "Shall I begin?"

"Everyone! Battle stations!" Richard stood alone by the peat bog. The others hid behind platforms transmuted from the Bayan tree by Warp Wood. "Tao, Fei, you may begin."

Deep within the bog, the elder Gila stirred.

It had existed within the Dungeon dimension for aeons, arriving almost a millennia ago upon the currents of a mana storm. It began its conquest by consuming the local fauna, transforming them into Gila-like creatures that were like itself. Its first spawn was a drove of Blue Gila, which left its peat bog den searching for prey. The subsequent spawn was Red, followed by Blue, and then Red again. Occasionally, there was a Green Gila, but those were far and in between; without access to humanoids and Demi-human hosts, the elder Gila couldn't perpetuate its rarer bloodlines.

Then as though answered by the Gods of Chaos, humans appeared, and the Elder Gila rejoiced. Not only that, these humans were Mages! Creatures attuned to the magical energies of the universe and the planes! With any luck, Gila's proliferation would inevitably spawn a supreme existence such as Black Gila King via the strange arithmetic of chance.

Meanwhile, the original fauna of the plane had all become its kin. The elder Gila had also made its spawn feed the marsh's mangrove forests to accelerate the growth of the magical fruits the pocket plane initially held— fruits that could extend the life-spans of creatures that consumed it.

As old as the elder Gila was, it knew that it would meet the inevitable end that not even chaos could overcome. That was why it cultivated the fruits of life.

Now, the instant it had awoken, it understood that the guards it had set underneath a ripening tree were dead, that usurping invaders had taken its prize.

"GARRRRROP!" The elder Gila quivered with rage; it desired to capture these humanoids and infect them with its parasitic eggs.

But the elder Gila also knew to be cautious. More than once, these humanoid invaders had almost taken its life. It would need to gather a swarm of its spawn and make a push for the tree, where it shall—

"Yo! Yo! Yo! Lizard Bitch!"

The elder Gila was surprised to find its thoughts interrupted. In front of its snout, a swell of water transformed into a human! The creature wore a skin with three white stripes and had a strange thing on its head that looked like a duck's bill. It was taunting the elder Gila by throwing its limbs this way and that in an infuriating way.

"GARRROP?" The elder Gila demanded to know why it was here.

"I am here—" The image met the elder Gila's shrivelled eyes, still the size of dinner plates. "— to smack a bitch up!"

Despite recognising the image as an illusion, the elder Gila felt an insolent force connect with its lower jaw, sending its head upwards to smack onto the cavern's roof.

"GARRRROP!!!" The elder Gila roared, sending the water currents to rush and the image to blur.

"Yo, Fei, pass it over."

Another image approached the first, this one another humanoid.

"Look what I found!" the small, androgynous-looking image spoke. "A Fructum Vitae!"

"Do you this big delicious fruit belongs to somebody?" the first image asked, looking around.

"GARROP!" The elder Gila howled at the vision. It was his fruit! The one he'd spent a century cultivating! The one closest to ripeness!

"Naw, this belongs to no one." The small image began to pull the fruit open.

Suddenly, the waters around the elder Gila flooded with the scent of its long-awaited harvest! The rich odour of its holy fruit! The prize the elder Gila needed to extend its life! With a shocking realisation, it acknowledged that these miscreants must be eating the fruit right now! They had just opened it! How else could it be sensing it so strongly? It must attack these wretched beings forthwith! With any luck, it could consume the fruit before they did; it still had a chance!

With a wave of its gigantic tail, the Gila launched itself upward, punching through the layers of peat and slipping through the taut gaps with the lubrication afforded by its slimy exterior.

Its fruit! Its prize! It would have it!

"IT COMES!"

Lea appeared beside the illusory image of Fei and Tao busily tearing apart the fruit. In-between the two bickering visions were the "spare" piece of the fruit that Gwen had hoped to keep, now expended as bait to lure the elder Gila. A portion of it had been taken apart by Lea, whose elemental body then transported the tasty morsel downstream.

The surface of the bog swelled like a bloated balloon before it erupted, ejaculating a geyser of foul, rotten water into the air and showering the surrounding with a cloud of foulness. The Red Gila that emerged was true to form, a giant salamander, its eyes and limbs long atrophied thanks to a life of unmoving stasis in the deep-dark of the fetid cavern.

Along with its exit, a swarm of strange Gila-fauna likewise emerged. Fish that were lizard-like, lizards that were frog-like, everything from ankle-sized biters with razor-sharp teeth to dog-sized spawn with jaws that distended to encompass more than half its body, rushed towards Tao and Fei.

"Shit! Run!" Tao grabbed the fruit and fled, exercising his natural talent.

Fei, meanwhile, distracted the lesser creatures by swinging to the right, throwing ineffective spells at the swarm as it advanced behind the elder Gila.

"GARRRRROP!" The elder Gila howled with insane rage, feeling the fruit flee from its enlarged nostrils. With a dull 'whoomp!' of its tail, it slid itself forward, balanced by small, ineffective limbs, toward the hapless humans that it could swallow with a single snap of its unhinged jaw.

With the swarm and the elder Gila somewhat separated, Tao stopped and turned to face his enemy. The Illusionist's face was white with fear and pale with terror.

"No!" Tao cowered before his inevitable demise.

The elder Gila's mouth closed over Tao and felt itself biting into something long, slithering and sinuous. In the next moment, its mouth burned with necrotic energy. With a reflexive gulp, the elder Gila swallowed.

"NOW!"

Beneath the gigantic Bayan tree, the elder Gila gazed up with its mucus-covered head and measured the humanoid creatures' mana-rich presence.

An ambush! The Gila howled, spraying gobs of mucus all over. It had to escape!

With supernatural effort, it turned its body and slid on its mucus trail to make a turn, slamming against the tree as it did so, encouraging a shower of leaves to rain down together with the spellfire.

Gwen injected herself with a mana potion as soon as she felt her reserve drop to half. After Conjuring Caliban, Ariel, two sets of Warding Bolts, Dark Tentacles and Call Lightning, what was left was insufficient in sustaining her upkeep.

Likewise, the vital Positive Energy from Mina's delayed healing buff expended itself without reserve.

As the Gila consumed Caliban, it had crushed the lower half of the serpent's body, forcing Gwen to expend another portion of her vitality to sustain the critically injured netherworld creature until it could begin its terrible surgical excavation.

When the creature then slid under the tree and tried to propel itself backwards, both Gwen and Petra knew that it was now or never.

Ariel let fly with a shower of needles that embedded themselves into the slimy, leathery exterior of the salamander. Four sets of Lightning Bolts fired downwards from above the Gila to sizzle its skin, splitting open the oozy surface and frying the fatty dermis below. Four bolts of Void matter followed, biting into the flesh and gouging out chunks of pink-dark tissue from the crimson exterior of the barking beast as it sought to escape.

Gwen felt her vitality drop again. A wave of dizziness washed over her, forcing her to brace herself against the warped, wooden platform. In moments like these, she began to understand why her contemporaries call her a glass cannon.

"Caliban!" she commanded. Despite becoming smothered by the barrage of malefic magic, the salamander's magical resistance proved superior. A lesser creature would have become mincemeat, but the elder Gila was merely wounded and remained fully mobile.

With a mighty swipe of its tail, it launched itself back toward the rupture in the peat bog, seeking to escape.

Unfortunately for the Gila, its escape route was no more. Richard had used Lea to crush together the passageway, closing it like a choked oesophagus.

"GARRRRROP!" A resounding roar echoed through the surrounding grove.

Around them, Julian and the House of Xu battled the tide of small Gila creatures, keeping them away from the main combatants. Occasionally, one of them threw a spell at the Gila. Unfortunately, every element apart from the monster-hunting Lightning and the all-consuming Void seemed to slide off its exterior like water off a duck's back.

"HURRRRK—!" The Gila turned toward Gwen's elevated position and fired off a glob of corrosive liquid without warning.

"Richard!" Gwen was far too preoccupied with maintaining her spells to reinforce a Shield or effect a Dimension Door.

"Water Shield!" A double layer of water covered Gwen. The first took the attack's brunt, while the second, a shield with a broader base, prevented any of the phage laden fluid from reaching her.

"Gwen, I can't sustain your Void spells!" Petra's voice called out from the right. "Mina's almost out! It's all electricity from here on out!"

Behind Petra, Mina panted with exhaustion.

"One more bolt!" Petra demanded of her cousin. "More Positive energy!"

"I am doing it!" Mina let loose a moan of effort, her blouse sweaty with exertion.

Below, the elder Gila slid forward, only to meet with a shoal of writhing tentacles. Lashes of Void and Lightning wrapped themselves around its torso, its neck, and around its bulging waist, cutting apart the slime and reaching for the flesh.

Another barrage of Void and Lightning bolts arrived, punching through the creature's hide. The Void created pock-marks the size of a human head, while Elemental Lighting opportunistically penetrated the freshly-made wounds, expending its volatile forces inside the Gila's organs.

"Ice Ball!"
"Wall of Stone!"
"Flame Sphere!"

The House of Xu continued to isolate the swarm from joining its creator, transforming the surrounding area into a fire zone separated by Felicity's barriers. Petra, too, spared what she could, laying down preprepared walls of crystal to ward away the wayward creatures.

With the salamander held down by her tentacles, Gwen checked Caliban's progress. Her familiar informed her that it would soon complete its terrible work.

"Void Skin!" She incanted, the protective film turning her silhouette the consistency of midnight. "Richard! I need to get close!"

"I got you!" Richard answered her from below. "Fei! Tao, Mirror Image, now!"

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His command was answered by an affirmative. As Gwen drifted downward toward the dying Gila, two images in her exact shadow-clad facade appeared beside her.

Within the Gila, Caliban had finally located its prize, the creature core.

"Do it!" Gwen commanded, landing just beside the Gila as to avoid its thrashing tail. A single strike from the battering appendage would likely break every bone in her body.

An illusory Gwen landed near its head, instantly becoming crushed by a snap of its maw, while the other, appearing near the tail, were dashed by a single slap that sent up a small tsunami of swamp water.

Gwen felt another wave of weakness as Caliban took its pound of flesh and engaged its consumption ability. It was slithering through tie Gila's innards and making for the spine of the Gila.

"Come on!" Gwen mouthed a little too audibly, unnerved by the presence of the gargantuan Gila. This close, the feeling was akin to standing next to a school bus as it attempted a blind turn at full speed.

Her Warding Bolts fired again, finishing off its cartridge of three. Her Call Void and Lightning likewise engaged, feeding off her Evocation Sigil to emit bolts of terrible destruction.

Then Caliban tore into the Gila's spinal column, causing a mighty shudder to overcome the churning beast. Insane with pain and agony, the Gila suddenly reared its head, turned toward Gwen, and twisted its body to perform a last-ditch body slam.

"Everyone!" Richard called out. "Lea! Give Gwen everything you got!"

Gwen was caught off-guard by the sudden vitality of the beast. The momentum of a creature measured in tonnage and far exceeding her sixty-odd kilos of body weight slammed into her non-newtonian Shield. Just as she saw her life flash before her eyes, Richard's Water Membranes opened in front of her, lasting only a split second against the physical force of the dying monstrosity.

With a ground-shaking thud, the creature body-slam landed.

"Gwen!" Her party collectively screamed.

There was a second of goose-bump horror when all who watched held their breath— until Gwen reappeared on the other side of the Gila in a burst of Lightning.

A Dimension Door!

Gwen fell to her knees and slumped onto the peat bog's torn soil, the churned mud instantly reaching her waist. The Gila twisted itself again and tried to bring its body back the other way.

"Shield of Faith!"
"Water Shield!"
"Stone Shield!"
"Crystalline Barrier!"

A glowing shield, films of reciprocating water, and an immense, umbrella-like barrier of stone appeared above and beside Gwen. The combined might of the accumulated defence bore the attack's brunt and physically repelled the Gila with recoil. Upon landing on its belly, an arterial spurt of dark blood erupted from its pale white abdomen, in the space between its two frontal legs.

"SHAA!"

Caliban burst forth from the Gila's chest in a guttural spray of viscera and roared triumphantly.

"Shaa! Shaa!" it cried out, engorged and bulbous with life-blood and stolen vitality.

With the swell of vital energy from Caliban, Gwen caught her breath and lifted herself from the sloppy embrace of the marsh.

The salamander's atrophied eyes regarded its assailant for the final time, then the fluttering firelight within its beady orbs died, turning into a milky-emptiness. Its gargantuan body twitched and shook; its limbs pawed the air helplessly. Then, with a gurgling shake of its jiggling flesh, it was no more. The Mages felt a pulse of psionic energy escape the salamander, then the cacophonous crash of combat came to a sudden lull.

Stricken by their Matriarch's death, the spawns of the elder Gila fled into the swamp. Now, it was every Gila for itself.

Petra was the first to land beside Gwen, lending her a shoulder to lean on. Like Gwen, Petra too was pallid with Void-drain. Richard, Tao, Mina, and the others quickly joined the girls to ensure they were alright.

With a theatrical expulsion of gas, the salamander's giant carcass began to collapse, its soft bones breaking one by one as the magic that sustained it drained out into the aether. A burst of nauseating stench from its relaxed anus released a cargo of dark matter more deadly than the Void itself.

At the same time, a pulse of mystical energy fed into Gwen's Kirin amulet.

"Caliban!" Gwen willed her familiar to slither toward them. For the Mages seeing Caliban for the first time, they felt overwhelmed and revolted by the sight of the viscera-clad worm, whose visage would visit their nightmares.

"Hurk! Hurk! Hrkbleeegh!" Caliban declared as it heaved like a cat trying to cough up a furball.

The Gila's Creature Core emerged pointed end first, the size of a man's torso. Caliban's ribs bloated and its carapace became stretched until it bled a milky-purple ichor. Then with a final, exhaustive motion, it spat the gore-laden crystal out onto the ground, a portion of it still attached to what looked like a segment of the creature's spine.

"Wo Cao!" someone exclaimed loudly. "That is a huge core."

The gathering appreciatively regarded their loot. Richard lifted the core into the air and cleansed it with Lea's aid, polishing the stone until it sparkled with refracted light. A heart of this size, from a creature with magical resistance, was undoubtedly immeasurably valuable.

"Gwen?"

"Yes?"

"Storage, please."

Gwen nodded and moved toward the core, allowing her Ring's spatial field to envelop the thing entirely.

When the air displaced and the core disappeared, their newer members felt their awe renewed by her Lighting, Void, and a large Storage Ring.

"The eggs!" Petra turned to Richard. "Should we destroy them?"

Richard rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"This place is already a plane populated by the Gila," he suggested. "Maybe we should leave them? If the Gila are gone from this place, The Dungeon will diminish in many ways. How would that affect the population of magical materials in the plane? What would Acolytes farm in the future?"

"How about just one?" Mina suggested. "Could be someone is desperately looking for an egg. You never know."

"Alright, just the one," Richard commanded Lea to retrieve an egg from the bubbling corpse. "At worst, we can have a dubious omelette for breakfast."

The gathered party members turned to regard the mountain of flesh that now sat before them, bathing in the afterglow. A Tier 6 beast! One with Magical Resistance that increased its toughness up to tier 8! And yet, they were the ones to butcher it!

When the Dancing Lights and Daylight spells faded, the clearing was once again reduced to darkness, illuminated only by a sliver of moonlight. The enormous corpse of the Gila had attracted a plague of carrion crawlers, so after some deliberation, the party opted to open up a chasm and throw the Gila back beneath the resting bog.

Gwen retreated to her Master bedroom with the combat over, for she was the Habitat owner while the rest of the men slept in the living room. At her behest, the girls had their choice of lodging, for the King-sized bed was enormous, and there were only two other spare bedrooms with single beds.

Felicity felt far too uncomfortable to be sleeping with strangers. Mina had never shared a bed with anyone, and so Gwen and Petra became bunk buddies in the Master suite.

Petra seemed entirely comfortable with the proposition and slid into the sheets with the enthusiasm of a military-trained bunk-sleeper. Gwen rested her eyes beside Petra's body, mindful of her soft breath.

However, when she finally closed her eyes, Gwen once more saw in exquisite detail those damned pigtails fluttering gently onto the bog.

Her eyes shot open, and her breath hastened.

Shit! She mumbled to herself. Gwen has murdered sleep, and therefore she shall sleep no more. But this world was not like her old world. Why should she be so distressed over the death of one inconsequential Mage, a nobody? It was her attacker's fault! She acted in self-defence! In the dark, Gwen felt herself pivot dangerously towards a sinister axiom before she stopped herself.

She closed her eyes again.

A scent of hot iron filled her nostrils.

Gods! Gwen bit her lips. Damn you, stupid brain.

"Hey." Dark silhouetted fingers moved through the night and parted Gwen's ruffled hair to reveal her face. "You alright?"

"Yeah..." Gwen turned toward the ceiling, wondering if the dark down-lights offered some epiphanic solution to her insomnia.

Petra shifted on the bed until the silhouette of her face hovered on the edge of Gwen's vision. Gwen could make out Petra's Husky-blue eyes catching the ambiguous light of the pocket dimension peering in from the semi-opaque pane in the dim darkness.

"Want to hear a story?" Petra implored. "If you can't sleep, that is."

"Sure," Gwen said to the ceiling.

While her cousin gathered her thoughts, the shared darkness filled only with the sound of soft breaths exchanged in alternating intervals.

"I was twelve," Petra began. "I Awakened a little earlier than the other girls in my Military school. As I was from a state institution, the Moscow Tower picked me up, and I was assigned to one of the Magisters there, an Enchanter, Magister Popov. Master Popov was an eccentric, a bohemian, if you will, not a man for the rules. His personality and profession were bad combinations, for Popov was a sanctioned Mind Mage, a spy by profession. He used his talents liberally and without much regard for ethics, but the leadership turned a blind eye to any unsanctioned use of his magic because he was also the best they had."

"I was young and ambitious, and I thought the world of Master Popov. He was suave, he was skilled, and he drank like a fish. I had thought he was going to teach me Material Enchantment because I was a Mineral Mage. But Master Popov had other plans for me."

"Other plans?" Gwen shifted a little to catch Petra's profile. A sliver of silver moonlight contoured Petra's figure under the silken sheets. Other plans, she thought to herself. It didn't take a stretch of the imagination with Petra's nubile body beside her to see where this was going.

"He convinced me that I should train to become a Mind Mage like him. He told me I was born for it," Petra intoned nostalgically.

Gwen waited quietly for Petra to continue to the story.

"Popov told me that there are dozens of Mineral Mages, hundreds even, that the Tower could tap into if they needed work of that kind done, but there was only one Enchanter he knew of that could do my work."

"What kind of work?"

"Espionage. Ghost work. Specifically Red Ghost— meaning youthful, female spies."

"Wow..." Gwen replied with a "Gwenism" only she could understand. "They sought to make you into a Black Widow?"

"You know it well." Petra laughed self-depreciatively. "He had no interest in my Mineral talents, Gwen. He thought that with my external gifts, I could become more successful than anyone. I could become his Apprentice, take over his role at the Tower one day. I was smitten. Me, a Magister and a Ghost!"

"I went along with it at first. Like I said, I was young and ambitious. Think about it, Gwen, a Magister, telling a junior Mage that they could be as great as they are. Who was I to refuse? I agreed, and we trained. He taught me everything he knew and then some. He was full of impatience. Then, when I was fifteen, Popov decided that I needed to see some blood. He volunteered me for an operation in downtown Moscow, dealing with the illicit trade of young Mages trafficked from the now-defunct Communist states overrun by the Beast Tide, you know, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus?"

Gwen knew only vaguely, but she inclined her head as not to interrupt Petra's story. She had seen the trade in illicit Mage flesh first hand, even in a Frontier city as "orderly" and "low-crime" as Sydney. With its vast stretch of hostile landscapes and endless tundras full of Magical Beasts and Demi-humans, Moscow's outer Frontiers had always been endemic with traffickers.

"As expected, I acted the bait. I charmed one of the traders and bid them take me to the underground market. The Tower Mages laid in wait for my signal, for it was my job to identify the ringleaders. Everything had gone well until I caught the eye of one of the customers, who demanded an immediate purchase and transfer from my charmed informant. When I willed my informant to refuse, he killed him right there."

"Jesus." Gwen inhaled an unsteady breath.

"That was the first time I saw someone killed." Petra's voice was calm and controlled. "They crushed his head with an Earthen Evocation."

Petra swallowed before she continued.

"The customer's goons took me after that and dragged me to a room somewhere in the den. I acted the part of the hapless waif and begged him to spare me. Satisfied with my helplessness, he dismissed the guards. It was an unexpected scenario, but I was sure I had the situation under control. The man was smitten, and this made him far more pliable to my Mind Magic. But when we entered the room…"

Gwen gulped as Petra took a moment to pace herself.

"It was a room without windows, all done up to look like some dungeon, though you might be a little young to know what that is. Anyway, we got into the room, and the first thing I saw was a child."

"A child!" Gwen spluttered in horror and disgust.

"I couldn't tell if the child was alive or deceased. I thought it was a girl first, but no, it was just a skinny boy, a street urchin. There are a lot of urchins about in Moscow and the surrounding Frontier cities. We're famous for it. The boy was undressed from the waist down."

"Jesus..."

"The man must have thought I was frightened witless. He came toward me, like this…"

Petra moved her head closer to Gwen, close enough that she could feel Petra breathing on her face.

"Oh, Pats…" Her voice was full of quivering sympathy.

"When he tried to touch me with his filthy hands, all that training, all that tutelage Master had drilled into me, flew out the window. I blasted him with a Hold Person; then I materialised a crystalline dagger and placed it under his throat— The man whimpered. His face was so pitiful, so scared. I think he would have shat himself were it not for the Hold Person."

"What did you do?"

"Then, with one swift push, just like Master taught me…"

Petra poked a thin finger under her cousin's chin; the unexpected synaesthesia instantly coated Gwen's skin with a sheen of cold sweat.

"Then I had an unexpected discovery."

"What was it?" Gwen choked out, moving a hand to caress her intact neck as she tried to pace her heartbeat.

"You should know it well." Petra smiled. "The blood."

"Who'd have thought the old man would have so much blood in him…" Gwen said softly.

"Yes." Petra moved away. "So much of it. It was like a fountain, spraying all over my hands, my clothes, my face. I had thought murder was clean, quick, easy, like killing a monster. The reality was obscene. It was disgusting. It turned my stomach."

"Then?"

"Then the Tower Mages had to move in. I had blown my cover. When the VIP died, it had sent the place into a frenzy. There was no more purpose to me discretely identifying the ringleaders."

"The operation?"

"A modest success, no thanks to me. Master said that it was a test, and I had failed it spectacularly."

"I am so sorry." Gwen moved a hand over to touch Petra's face. Petra brushed her vague fingers away.

"I am glad it happened that way," Petra said quietly. "I quit the Tower after that. Master rescinded my Apprenticeship. My parents, both serving in the military, were told of my failure. Father was disappointed, of course, but mother was alright with it. They asked me what my plans were, and I said I wanted to be a crafter. They contacted my grand-aunt— our babulya— then sent here to Shanghai, where I wouldn't be an eyesore."

"But you're amazing!" Gwen gripped Petra's cold fingers. "Your skills with the Cubes! They're incredible!"

"That's thanks to my new Master, Magister Wen," Petra spoke with a voice full of reverence. "A magic just for me. I owe Babulya my life, Gwen. She gave me hope. My Master as well, she gave me purpose, even if it's just an exchange of favours with grandmother."

"I hope she'll be satisfied with the Vitae fruit," Gwen stated.

"I hope so as well." Petra smiled.

The two girls laid side by side until their breath fell into a comfortable, iambic rhythm.

"I don't how if that helped," Petra said after a while. "I just thought I'd share it. I am not good with these things. I am sorry if there was no wisdom there to make you feel better."

"It helped," Gwen said earnestly. "Thanks for sharing, Pats. I appreciate it."

"It was good to tell someone," Petra answered. "Also, I hadn't expected that I would be so willing to overshare. Our story is strictly between you and me."

"Alright."

"Sleepy now?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I am sleeping too."

Gwen closed her eyes.

True to Petra's words, she felt the creeping lull of sleep, however troubled and uncertain it may be.

When she woke the following day, Petra was gone. The whole house was empty except for Fei, who waited upon her with breakfast.

"Everyone's outside," Fei said. "We need to hurry up; the Dungeon is ending soon."

"It is?" Gwen quickly consumed her porridge and exited with Fei. Outside, the gathered crew was impatiently waiting for the final countdown.

"So soon?" Gwen asked Petra, who was happily stretching her body without regard for the hungry eyes observing her every move.

"Expected fluctuations." Petra shrugged. "We got a good 40 odd out of the maximum 72 though, that's not bad. Especially with the ley-lines around Shanghai, which primarily services the city."

They waited half an hour more, then each of their Message devices began to vibrate.

"Participants, you have thirty minutes until Dungeon collapses. When you reappear in the Material Plane, there may be slight disorientation. Make your way to the Staging Area once you are clear. If you require aid, signal an Adjudicator once you are outside. There are no penalties for asking for aid once you exit the Dungeon. Likewise, you may not attack or engage in hostile actions toward other members of the Dungeon once you're outside."

"Anything to watch out for?" Gwen asked the party. "When we pop out, I mean."

Richard had nothing to say; it was his first dive as well.

"We're going to be pretty packed in, like when we entered. Careful that no one tries to take our loot or repay a grudge with a sneak attack," Mina advised.

"That likely?" Richard raised a bushy brow. "I guess we did piss off a lot of people."

"Sure, why not. If any assailants get caught, though, it's a huge penalty, paid in CCs." Mina smiled sweetly. "Think anyone would want to have a go?"

"They can try!" Richard grinned. "I am happy to take a few CCs to forgive and forget, ha!"

The two cousins chuckled amiably.

When the countdown reached the final minute, all the members were packed and ready to leave. Gwen had retrieved her Portable Habitat, but not before changing into a clean dress that showed off her figure.

"What a strange vanity," Petra said, her eyes scanning Gwen's outfit.

"What a waste," Gwen retorted with big smiles, scanning her cousin back.

"See you on the other side!" Mina rolled her eyes, then waved to the crowd, who waved back.

"Senior Huang! It's been a pleasure!" Julian announced. "I look forward to seeing you again in Shanghai!"

"Thank you! Senior Huang, Ms Gwen, Mina and Petra!" The others bowed.

"Julian, the pleasure was all mine," Richard replied.

"Thank you, everyone!" Gwen bowed as well, returning the favour. "I hope to see you all in Shanghai very soon."

"We look forward to seeing you as well, Ms Gwen!"

Their Message devices began to vibrate.

"All participants, the Dungeon is now collapsing. You will be teleported to Hengsha Island shortly. Keep your arms and hands close to your body, and if you should be displaced into the ocean, immediately signal an Aerial Mage to render assistance."

Gwen held her breath as the distortion began.
Her first Dungeon dive was at an end.
Now was the time to count loot.


Once again, the world became an indistinct bank of fog.

As the Dungeon-dimension closed around her, Gwen felt the physical world manifest in a swirl of volatile mana.

Immediately she checked her surroundings. Thankfully, she wasn't alone, for there were hundreds like her, standing around with mixed expressions of joy and anxiety, despair and triumph.

"Gwen!" Richard's voice cried out from the mass of bobbing heads.

"Richard!" Gwen waved back.

"Fam! Over here!" Tao's greeting was like a loudhailer.

"Everyone! You're all here!" Mina skipped through the crowd and joined their side.

"Me too..." Petra's discretion was a waste of effort; with her height and dashing figure, she was the most conspicuous of them all.

Contrary to Richard's worst predictions, the party gathered without incident and made their way towards the staging area, just south of the lowland clearing. When they entered the half-moon seating zone, groups who had arrived early were already having their loot measured and calculated for CCs.

Gwen's group made for one of the temporary platforms, where a familiar face awaited them.

"Adjudicator Hao!" Richard greeted the old Mage, who scowled as soon as he saw them.

"Oh, it's you. Well, I am glad to see you survived. I heard that you took down the elder Gila? Impressive work." Hao's mood improved as he spoke. "Well, let's see your ill-gotten gains."

"You jest, Sir!" Richard shared the Adjudicator's mirth. He bowed slightly, and the others followed his lead. "At any rate, Magus Hao, I am thinking you're going to need a bigger table!"

Hovering above the central dais floated an illusionary projection ten meters high. Upon it displayed the current top score for groups returning with their CC converted loot. By the time Gwen and her group accosted Hao, the count was already an impressive 191 CCs.

"A man of supreme confidence!" Hao rubbed his hands. He produced a slate in one hand and motioned to his assistants. "Let us begin!"

"Gwen?" Richard gestured for Gwen to proceed with unveiling their ill-gotten booty. More than half of the loot in her Ring had been at one stage someone else's hard-won CCs.

"Gwen commanded, so giddy with the prospect of overwhelming victory that she unconsciously vocalised the incantation.

A crash of cascading minerals covered the table. Watching the crystals overflow the surface, Gwen couldn't help but think of the bags of litter her cats perused. Both unwashed and stinking of the swamp, their stony loot smelled strongly of ammonium.

"Ho! Very nice. Elementally tainted crystals. Good for making magical items." Hao recorded the amount as his assistants sorted and weighed the stones. When the final stone moved into their irrespectively colourised pile, Hao rolled a hand over the multi-coloured mounds and stowed them away.

"80 CCs."

Next came a loose collection of strange flora— a few mushrooms and a few fruits of mysterious origin that they could not identify.

"Hmm, Swamp Jezebel. Three Strangle Vine Hearts. Two Crystallised Hartcry. A bushel of Vitae Grass. All up 59, I'll throw one in for the exemplar specimen of grass. Add 60 CCs."

The CC scoreboard now had a total of 202 CCs.

Feeling her palpable heart-rate beat against her chest, Gwen pumped mana through her conduits and produced the twin Gila Cores.

"Woa, lucky you! Two cores! Adult sized, very nice." Hao nodded appreciatively. "That's 30 CC each."

"Red Stars! Look at the Score Board!"

The party's attention turned to the central dais, where a group of haughty-looking young Mages in identical uniforms stood presenting a human-sized crystal block to Magister Paris. The citrine chunk of crystalline rock was enormous, taking two strength-enhanced Mages to hold it steady.

"The Dungeon Core!" an indistinct opinion identified the item. "So that's why the Dungeon closed prematurely!"

"For real?" Richard turned to Petra. "I thought they were a myth? At least, no one is supposed to be able to find it."

"They exist," Petra affirmed with a curl of her lower lips. "The core is found deep in the Dungeon, generally far underground, making discovery entirely accidental. To try to pry into so much space is impossible without expending a disproportionate amount of resources."

"Still," Mina added, her expectant expression becoming dejected. "They found it. I wonder what kind of a Guardian they had to defeat? How many CCs it's worth? Those cores can be made into Shielding Crystals or even enchanted to become Pocket Worlds. That Portable Habitat you got, Gwen? It's constructed from a chunk of this thing."

"Oh?" Gwen felt repressed by this other group's luck. "How the hell did they find such a thing?"

"Oh, you didn't hear?" said a junior Mage beside them who'd been listening to the girl's conversation. "They found it in a giant underground labyrinth flooded with water. Supposedly the guardian was absent, so they just nabbed it and legged it."

"Absent guardian, huh?" Richard manifested Lea. Her appearance was itself a source of envy for the Mages around them. A beautiful, humanoid Familiar was an incredible boon, especially a sapient one. "Lea, did you see a core while you're down there?"

Lea shook her head. Gwen read the body language as maybe she saw, or mayhap she had not. Even though Lea was self-aware, the Undine was more so a creature of passion and feeling than critical thought and introspection. If Richard had not known that a Dungeon Core existed below, Lea could not have known either.

"Don't worry about it." Richard petted his Familiar. He repressed a sigh. "It hardly mattered now— it's our fault for not knowing that a Guardian's nest could potentially hold a Dungeon Core. That's why it's important to study, kids."

Beside him, Petra felt sick with self-loathing as well. The thought that a core was down there hadn't even crossed her mind.

The party regarded one another and waited for the guillotine to fall.

"Maybe we can still win?" Gwen tried to be optimistic, but her naivety was crushed by a sudden cheer that grew from the riotous multitude of young Mages.

"400CCs!" someone shouted. "By Mao! They're going to win for sure! And they're going to get 50CC for coming first! Red Stars! 450 CCs!"

"Jesus." Richard sucked in his breath. "What are we sitting at?"

"You got anything else?" Hao patted the empty table. "Come on; you looted more than that!"

"Gwen?" Richard's voice wavered. The idea of losing to something as unfortunate as bad luck turned his stomach.

Heart in mouth, Gwen moved her hand over the table once more.

THUNK!

The core of the giant Gila fell onto the table and chipped the granite surface.

"Cao!" Hao swore, taken aback by the size of the thing. "You did kill the guardian! You guys found a core after killing a single elder Gila? I don't know what to say. Lucky? Unlucky? That's too pitiful. You could have gotten the Creature Core and the Dungeon Core and made record history!"

"Yeah, well," Richard lamented, glancing at the crew lording over their Dungeon Core. "You win some; you lose some."

"What's it worth?" Gwen asked. "We did it with an eleven-man team."

"Ah." Hao shook his head. "A damn shame then. I am afraid it has to be an even split unless you can convince the other team to forfeit their CCs."

"No, that's fine." Gwen battered her hand back and forth. It was one thing to come second, another to stab your allies in the back. She'd hate to imagine what Richard would think if she demanded that the House of Xu forgo their rightful reward. Would he lose faith in her judgement? There was also Fei; Gwen didn't want to take away the boy's CCs for the young Illusionist was only going to exit the Dungeon with 10-15 at most.

"Well." Hao rubbed his chin. "I'll try to be as generous as I can. I'll award 220 CCs. The guardian's core is a rare find, and I know of a few Magisters who would love to experiment with a Chaos core of this calibre."

"Okay," Richard tried to calculate their gains.

"We have 300 CCs." Gwen did the math for him. She glanced longingly at the Dungeon Core, feeling a little discouraged.

"That'll put you in a safe second or third," Hao intoned. "A shame, but it is an excellent show for your first dive. Congratulations."

"The egg?" Mina suggested.

"How about this egg?" Gwen materialised a Gila Egg held in the stasis of a crystalline Spell Cube.

"Hmm…" Adjudicator Hao rubbed his grizzled chin. "A rare ingredient, but of insufficient versatility in experimentation. At the very best, I can award you 20."

"That puts us at 320…" Mina sighed.

Gwen glanced at the scoreboard.

Should she ask the party to give up some of their Vitae Fruits? How much were they worth? One was for Babulya. One was for Petra's master. One belonged to Richard. Should she sacrifice the chance to grow Almudj's primal mana for some CCs?

She could always participate in more Dungeon dives, but the opportunity to grow her resistance to Void consumption was a far rarer benefit.

"Wait!" Tao interjected. "Gwen, didn't you say Caliban murdered its way through the marsh?"

Tao's unfortunate choice of vernacular struck a wrong cord in Gwen's heart.

"His belly!" Tao indicated bewilderingly. "Cali be spewing dem that cores like taking a big dump, right? Doesn't he have more inside? Maybe there are more cores inside like that time Bubbles shat out Mina's earrings?"

Mina's face became deathly pale. "The pearl earring? My favourites? The ones you said I must have lost at the club?"

"I ain't saying shit, dawg." Tao tried to pivot the topic. "Caliban be shitting treasure any minute now."

"Tao!" Mina took her brother by the scruff of the neck. "What the fuck did your dog do?"

Richard turned back to Gwen.

"Well?"

"I could try." Gwen turned her mind inwards. "Caliban, you got more of these cores in you?"

"Shaa!" Caliban replied, implying that it could shit out a modest collection, should it wished to do so.

"Okay, come out discretely."

Gwen turned to Tao and the others.

"Peaches, Richard, give me some cover. I don't want a spectacle, at least not yet."

"You got it!" Tao gave her a thumbs up and began a Major Image.

Their immediate surroundings became reflective and difficult to discern. Richard likewise reinforced the illusion with a water-screen. With both physical and magical warding in place, Gwen called her Familiar.

An obsidian serpent resembling a work of grotesquely erotic art slithered onto the table. Hao had seen the creature prior, but the details provided by proximity still made him repress his revulsion. His assistants likewise stepped back with abrupt aversion lest they drew the ire of the netherworld fiend.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Caliban cocked its lamprey's mouth.

"Hideous!" Their Adjudicator gave his most honest reply.

"SHAA—Bluuuuggh!"

A torrent of grey goo in a volume impossible for Caliban's slim body to possess poured onto the table. Captured within the mucus, much in the manner of frog spawn, were-creature cores that cascaded over the counter like tidal water. There were stones both large and small, the most potent of which was the size of a hen's egg, the finest of which was the breadth of a fingernail.

The torrent of horrendous nether-liquid continued until Caliban began to dry heave.

"Cali, go home!" Gwen commanded.

The party breathed a sigh of relief as their resident nightmare fuel retreated. Now there was only the matter of the semi-digested cores. The party had stood well away from the table, but Hao would need new robes.

Tao and Richard dispelled their illusion and Shield.

"Well? Gwen gulped. "Is that enough?"

To the Mages who had been curious about the deliberate obfuscation, it was as though a small mountain of Creature Cores had materialised from thin air.

"R-Red stars!"
"WHOA! WHERE THAT COME FROM?"
A riot erupted where the party stood, ankle-deep in mysterious slime.

"Those ain't crystals!" someone shouted incredulously. "They're CORES!"

"AEEEEE! Hundreds of cores!" A female voice pierced the already bothersome ding.

Adjudicator Hao plucked a core from the grey goo.

"Swarm cores, five to 1 CC. Tiny Cores— 1 CC each. Small Cores— 2 CCs Each! Medium Cores— 5CCs," he commanded his assistants, who were trying to hold their guts in. "Begin!"

Meanwhile, upon the central dais, more crystals and assorted flora became exchanged.

"Total: 423 CCS!" Magister Paris announced, triumphant over the Dungeon Core group's surprising windfall.

But the Magister's attention was soon drawn by the commotion coming from the lower sector, where a few hundred Mages were chanting and chittering while surrounding one of the sorting tables.

"Hao, how goes your group?" Paris felt confused by the excitement. What would be more alluring than a Dungeon Core? Who could collect enough bric-a-brac to exceed a lump sum of 400 CCs? "What's your count?"

"In a minute! I am going as fast as I can!" Hao Messaged back. "Get ready!"

Magus Xi and Gwok likewise approached the goo-covered table where Hao picked out core after core.

Thus far, the top score was 423 CCs, the second being 212 CCs.

"Where in the world did you find so many cores? How many creatures did you kill?" Xi's scar was glowing crimson with excitement. It had been some time before she'd seen such a bloodthirsty group. If these young Acolytes could channel that passion into the real world, they would make excellent Combat Mages, maybe in the Hunter-Killer divisions or serving as elite Mage Flights. "Awe-inspiring work, neophytes!"

Their eyes fell over Gwen, Petra, and Richard. Richard was the first to bow, followed by his companions. Gwen was the last to genuflect, for she was caught in the intricate calculations carried out by Hao and the assistants.

"Tao and Mina Wang?" Xi turned to her colleague, feeling a little bewildered. "I thought they were the young masters of the Wang Enterprise."

Gwok felt likewise surprised by the composition of Gwen's party.

"He scored zero CCs last dive," The Mage added.

The two Magus turned toward the party and patiently observed Hao's painstaking work.

"Peaches!" a voice called out from behind the group.

"Mack-Daddy! Little-Dog! Yo-yo, wassup!" Tao hollered back. As the two met with the party, Tao exchanged a blisteringly fast array of hand signals and gang signs with his two brothers from another mother. "Oh shit, man! You guys won't believe what happened! I almost like, died! We capped some bitches, busted up some Gila, it was nasty as anything, dawg."

"Yeah— That's Tao Wang." Xi scratched her scar in disbelief.

"Stranger things have walked the Prime Material." Gwok shrugged, equally bewildered.

"ALRIGHT!" Hao finished, his voice triumphant. He had never seen such a thing before in all his years. "Assorted Chaos Cores from Gila creatures, 133 CCs!"

"YES!" Gwen punched the air, her eyes glowing with concentric rings of cobalt blue.

"That puts you at-" Hao announced.

"That puts us at 453 CCs!" Gwen yelled. She liked winning. She enjoyed winning very-very much.

"OH shit! No Way!" Tao freaked out, hugging his two friends.

"Eeeek!" Mina shrieked, mimicking Ariel.

Petra breathed out. "I am glad."

"Fuck yes!" Richard raised a hand. "Give it to me! Team cousins!"
"Tao!"
"Mina!"
"Petra!"
"Gwen!"

Their hands met in a series of resounding high-fives.

"Everyone!" Gwen left Richard's arms and pulled the others in to form a huddle. "Team Cousins!"

"I can't believe you guys did it!" Mack-Daddy and Little-Dog exalted the jubilant Tao.

"Peaches in the house!" Tao began a beat-box with Mack and Dog.

The crowd around them applauded as well, breathing in the celebratory air. With Hao making the announcement official, Magister Paris left the dais and flew over the clamorous youth toward the group, happy that such potential had emerged from a low-tier Dungeon.

A dozen more Dungeons like this, the Magister sighed, and Pudong would have a whole new generation of Magisters.

"503 CCs, including the reward for coming first!" Gwen rejoiced. "Split five-way, that's a hundred CCs each!"

"Congratulations!" the booming voice of Magister Paris rolled across the clearing. The Magister's eyes surveyed the masses of congregating Mages, young and old. No other group raised their hands to contest the score, which was fair, seeing that Gwen's party had produced the guardian's core.

Watching Paris float through the air on a spell of flight, Gwen could only lick her lips in envy at the ability to fly.

As the Magister landed amongst them, the party paid their respects.

"You're Captain Song's group, no?" Magister Paris clasped his hands together. "My word! What fortuitous encounters you must have had! You have gathered enough materials and Cores to rival five adventuring parties!"

"We happened to be in a good spot, Sir," Richard replied modestly. "Gwen's the one who did the most legwork. She's our primary damage dealer."

"Indeed, a girl of many talents." Magister Paris turned his eyes upon Gwen, who looked modestly taken by Richard's shameless plug.

"Richard is far too kind." Gwen moved a hand toward her companions. "I couldn't have done it without the others. I doubt we would have even held onto our items if Richard hadn't saved me. Or become too injured to continue were it not for Mina. Petra too rescued me from forfeiture on more than one occasion, and Tao was likewise instrumental in our defeat of the elder Gila."

Paris nodded with satisfaction.

"Excellent, Ms Song. We need Mages who are more aware of teamwork and less obsessed with their standing," he spoke appreciatively. "I look forward to your future performance and that of your team. Your student cards, please."

Gwen and the others produced their cards.

"By the power invested in me by the Two Towers, I now award you 91 and an additional 50 CC—"

"HALT!"

All who heard the command felt shocked by the upstart interjection, none more so than Magister Paris, whose face instantly grew cloudy with subdued rage. Who would dare interrupt him during an announcement? He was one of the Twelve Chairs of Pudong Tower!

Three hundred odd pairs of eyes turned to see a group of Mages penetrate the crowd of juniors to reach Gwen and her company.

"Well, shit." Richard's smile grew rigid. "It's the Clan of Xiao."

There was the familiar face of Huyi Xiao in the congregation, as well as his aggrieved party. Their assembly was lead by an elder radiating a palpable aura of power.

With a cold expression of loathing, Magister Paris turned to Gwen and her company.

"I am afraid I can't intervene if this is a private matter," Paris announced with annoyance. "Be very careful when dealing with Chinese Clanners. Their roots are deep and intertwining. They even have connections with the Chinese Communist Party."

The PLA Tower gave its two cents as well.

"By that same measure, we can't meditate if you're not a part of the CCP," Magus Xi added with annoyance. Besides the Magus, Gwok affirmed Xi's claim. "But we'll make sure they don't do anything drastic. More than likely, they're here to get their 'face' back."

By now, the oppositional party had reached Gwen and her group.

"I am Elder Xiao Leung Tian of the Clan of Xiao," the leading Mage announced. The Magister looked to be in his forties. Were it not for his westernised attire; he would have entirely resembled a picture-perfect Daoshi.

They dipped their heads before Paris, who returned their greeting.
Gwen and her party had to bow. There was a place for blood and robbery, but it was manners and etiquette that produced civilisation.

"You have tortured and robbed our inheriting disciple, Huyi," Leung Tian proclaimed. It was not a question but a statement of fact. "Your illicit act has forced him to quit the competition. We demand compensation."

Gwen's group fell into nervous silence. They could show a Vid-cast of Huyi's shame, but that seemed like it would immediately make matters worse.

"You will forfeit." Leung Tian continued. Behind the wizened Elder, Huyi's eyes licked over Gwen and Petra hungrily, delighting in every word spoken by his Clan's Magister-tier Mage. Watching the girls squirm with indecision made his face all the more sadistic.

"And if we don't?" Gwen felt an inexplicable calm overcoming her initially nervous anticipation. She was the sort that grew colder and calmer with increased opposition.

"You shall return what you did to Huyi's team ten-fold, right here," the Xiao Elder stated arrogantly. The aura of distorted, indiscernible power surrounding the Mage suggested he could indeed carry it out without significant effort.

"Tian, spare me some face," Magister Paris attempted to intervene, likely for the sake of his reputation. "This is a children's competition. Don't you think that it's shameful for you to get involved?"

"These are no children," Leung Tian spat. "They're foreign devils, imperialists. They have no morality. You should have heard of what this Richard and this Gwen Song did. Who can defend that?"

Her face grew instantly scarlet. Gwen wanted to shriek and scream and kick the old dog between the legs. The hypocrisy! She ought to let loose Caliban in the man's face! Most importantly, they were a second away from receiving their CCs! That's it! She was done! She was going to have WORDS with the old dog!

"Gwen..." Mina tugged at Gwen's sleeve.

"W-what is it?" Gwen was visibly panting with the effort of keeping her simmering resentment from overflowing.

Mina pointed into the crowd with her eyes.

A familiar face was grinning at them.

"Uncle Jun?" Gwen blinked. Had he been here all along?

"Care if I come in?" Jun announced himself. The crowd parted as the Magi Moses had parted the Red Sea.

"Captain Jun," Leung Tian Xiao's voice took on a tone of caution.

Jun walked beside Gwen's group after greeting Paris amiably. Around them, the chittering assemblage fell silent. Most of them knew of Captain Jun Song and his reputation.

"My niece." Jun pointed to Gwen. "A lovely sight, no?"

The crowd made an "Aaaaah—"

"My other niece." Jun patted Petra's shoulder. "A distant relative, but family nonetheless, not to mention I owe him one."

Jun then shook Richard's hand. "Thanks for looking out for the girls."

"It was my duty and my pleasure, Sir," Richard thanked his distant uncle.

"The Clan of Song thinks too highly of itself." The Xiao Elder's brows knitted as he warned Jun. "Do you believe a Clan as illustrious as ours is going to fear the MSS? You're just the CCP's dogs. What would the Communist Party think if you bite the hands that fed its coffers?"

Jun appeared entirely unfazed by the insult.

"I am waiting." He stood casually. His handsome mien was impassive. "Don't worry. We got time."

"Waiting?" Leung Tian scanned the horizon. "For what?"

"For you to try something. Go on." Jun's eyes were full of mirthful mockery.

"You!" Leung Tian felt his patience crumble. "Insolence!"

"Magister Paris is a busy man." Jun sighed. He spread his arms helplessly. "As am I. So, you know. Get on with it."

His message was self-evident for all whose eyes turned toward them. Jun was telling the Clan of Xiao to either shit or get off the can. But how could the Clan of Xiao forfeit now? They were the ones who began this altercation. How could they afford to lose more face? It would be like being spat on in public.

An eerie silence descended amongst the audience and between the two parties.

"You don't dare attack us." Leung Tian retorted after what seemed like a minute.

"A man is entitled to self-defence, no?" Jun turned to Paris, who had a grin split from ear to ear, enjoying the show. "I can do that much, right?"

"By article 13, clause 3.4 of the Tower's Governance Article concerning the Public Use of Magic, Captain Song is indeed entitled to a lawful self-defence," Magus Xi added her piece. "Captain Song, I am your witness."

"So am I." Magus Gwok threw in his lot as well. Gwen was not surprised. Compared to these Clanners, Jun must be a CCP darling.

Leung Tian seemed torn between heaven and earth as his well-waxed beard quivered with indecision.

"How about this?" Jun announced, still amused by the whole thing. "We can have an old-fashioned, friendly 5v5. If our kids win, you forgive and forget. If we lose, our team forfeits all their CCs."

The proposal was fair. Leung Tian turned to see what the young Mages of his Clan thought of the offer.

Gwen followed Leung Tian's eyes as he turned to regard his scions. Then she saw his expression sink like a millstone thrown into a lake.

Huyi's face was as white as milled flour. The others behind him had equally browbeaten expressions. One of the Mages, the Diviner, was visibly shaking with fright.

The Xiao Magister then turned to look at Gwen and her troop of junior Mages.

Besides her, Richard looked more amused than anything else at the prospect of a 5v5. Petra appeared to take the news with complete indifference. Tao and Mina at least wore humble expressions of mild worry. As for Gwen herself, she could only describe her present condition as bloodthirsty.

The juxtaposition made the outcome of the contest self-evident.

After his moment of unwelcome clarity, Leung Tian seemed as though he'd aged a decade.

He turned to regard her uncle, still untouched by the events. Instead, Jun appeared sympathetic for the Elder of the Xiao Clan. In a way, Gwen felt for the Elder as well. The man himself must have gone through some serious history, such as the Communist Revolution, then the Sino War with Japan, then the Beast Tide. Now, in this time of prosperity, these losers were all his Clan could produce? These arrogant ingrates?

The tense atmosphere appeared to deflate.

"I withdraw my statement." Leung Tian turned to Jun. "We wish no further conflict with the House of Song, nor against the Ash Bringer himself."

The Ash Bringer? Gwen looked at Jun's broad, sculpted back. What an ominous title. Was Jun a Fire Mage like Alesia?

Jun extended a hand, then after a moment of hesitation, Leung Tian shook it.

"Our Patriarch will personally issue an acknowledgement to Patriarch Xiao." Jun firmly clasped the Magister's hands. "I hope you don't mind if we pay the estate a visit, together with humble gifts."

"The gift of peace would be more than sufficient." Elder Xiao separated from Jun. "Though you are welcome anytime, I would have you know that the generosity of the Xiao is well-founded. Your nieces are welcome as well."

Paris breathed out.

Xi and Gwok nodded with satisfaction.

The gathering let loose a collected sigh as the tension diffused.

Magister Paris turned to the party and raised his hands.

"Our winners! Coming in at 453 CCs. By the power invested in me by the Pudong Tower, I now award you 141 CCs each!"

A wave of jubilation flowed from the crowd and spread through the multitude of cheering Mages. Gwen felt overwhelmed by the sudden outburst. Had it not been for the Xiao's intervention, their reception would have been subtle, but now they were at the epicentre of the event's conclusion.

She turned and bowed toward each direction. Richard raised his hand to the squealing of girls from the crowd. Mina looked like she wanted to kick her brother, who paraded back and forth as he'd won a boxing match. Gwen could also see Fei, the Xu Mages, and Felicity in the crowd, waving frantically toward them and cheering.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the Elder Xiao hastily retrieved his Clan's children and beat a hasty retreat.

As the excitement died down and the records exchanged hands, Gwen and her party finally found themselves alone. For an hour after the end of the Dungeon, they had been made to shake, greet, and exchange contacts with hundreds of other Mages. Where Gwen's Message Device had been derelict, it now held the names and titles of a hundred strangers whose faces she could not recall.

When the party finally exhausted its social duties, the day was well into the mid-afternoon.

Jun presented to them their boarding passes.

The return-embarkment was likewise prolonged, with passengers using the remaining time to socialise and exchange goods and promises. Still fatigued from having only a few hours of sleep, Gwen rested her eyes, sheltered in the corner of the upper cabin, and quickly found herself dozing off, her lulling head slumped on Jun's shoulder.

Mina likewise took the opportunity to take a nap on the smiling Richard, who looked upon his cousin with benevolence and happiness.

When Gwen awoke, it was already evening. The shining city of Shanghai loomed in the distance, its piercing reflection stabbing like daggers into the dark waters of the South China Sea.

Though the feeling was faint, she felt that she was going home.


The transfer from the Port Authority to the mainland was hastened by Jun's presence, so much that when the time came to part ways, the party grew despondent at their imminent separation.

A dark limousine lingered just outside the port, waiting to pick up Tao and Mina. To Gwen's surprise, Mina parted from her with a peck on the cheeks, a bold western farewell, before retreating into the palatial vehicle.

Petra likewise had her dorm to return to, leaving Gwen and company when Jun dropped her off at Fudan's internal residence complexes. She hugged Gwen, signifying how close they've come since the Dungeon's events.

Finally left on their own, the trio escaped the glittery glamour of the sparkling city, their Jeep making for the third Orbital Ring under the low thrum of its mana engine.

"So that you know, I sorted out the incident with the Lishui girl." Jun calmly announced when they were on the orbital highway. "No point having such a stain on your public record. Do be careful in the future, though. Scrubbing offences takes more than just CCs; it takes favours."

"I will, and thank you," Gwen muttered demurely. "I am sorry for the trouble, Uncle Jun."

"And you should be," Jun sternly agreed. "The taking of a life, especially a fellow Mage, is no matter to be taken lightly, even if you have full justification. Remember that."

"I shall."

"Good, then there's nothing more to be said. I look forward to your future performance."

With the scalding over, Gwen's spirits fell into reflective silence.

"You too, Richard," Jun continued. "Can you hear me at the back?"

"Yes, Sir. I can."

"Just Jun is fine."

"At least let me call you Senior Jun," Richard insisted.

"Alright, suit yourself." Jun wasn't one for titles. "You're special, Richard. You're Gwen's peer, and you have a good temperament and just the right amount of apathy for taking ethical liberties. That said, I know why you're desperate for CCs, but dial it down and try not to piss off too many people. The nature of CCs is that you accumulate them over time. Any windfall accumulated by your method of highway robbery is just going to bring trouble later."

"I'll be careful, Senior."

"Of course, and think about the years ahead. What would happen when your parents, who lack the talent to take care of themselves, come to Shanghai? What if you make too many enemies and some of them decide to take advantage of the fact that you will be away on extended missions? A Magus need allies as well as CCs, Richard. Don't forget that."

"Thank you for the advice," Richard said seriously. "I realise now that I was too arrogant and careless."

"Good. You are both good students." Jun turned the Jeep into the Song compound. "Here we are. Try to have some food before you sleep. The food on the ferry was hardly nourishing."

"We shall, Senior."

"Thank you, Uncle Jun. I truly appreciate all the things you've done for us."

"Hey, we're family." Jun slowed the car until it came to a complete stop. "I'll see you guys in. I still need to greet the old folks."

"We'll join you." Gwen swung her legs from the Jeep's leather seats. By now, her thoughts were dizzy with fatigue. The last three days had felt more like seven.

Or was it seven after all? How many days had it been? Since leaving Singapore, she had spent two days in the holding cell. Then she had spent a day and a half in the Song Compound. Mina and Tao expended another day or so, plus three more at the Dungeon.

Had Elvia and Yue gotten back to Sydney yet? She wondered, rubbing her tired eyes. Their Journey to Darwin should have been six and a half days. At worst, after another day or two, they should be in Sydney.

"Uncle Jun," Gwen inquired as they made for the courtyard. "Think my friends have gotten back to Sydney yet?"

"Perhaps, assuming they disembarked at Darwin and Magus Shultz supplemented their travel expenses," Jun remarked. "I can ask father to loan you the LE Message Device if you like, though I dare say you have to supplement your own LDMs."

"That would be lovely, thank you," Gwen replied.

Outside, the blue hour was now quickly fading, and the courtyard became illuminated with low consumption Lumen-globes. The inquisitive face of Babulya awaited them in the communal hall, nursing a pot of Oolong that simmered softly over a Glyph of heat. Gwen's grandfather, Guo, was nowhere to be seen.

"Congratulations," she happily declared as they crossed the threshold into the hall. "Petra told me you came first."

"I'd say we came first," Gwen answered modestly. "Everyone helped, even Tao."

"That's a good attitude to have." Klavdiya reached out and took Gwen by the hand. Gwen felt a mote of Positive Mana enter her hand and make its round through her body.

"Quite a bit of damage." Her Babulya's face lost some of its happiness. "Though I am surprised that you manage to reinforce that primal mana of yours. Got lucky?"

"Very lucky." Gwen sat beside her Babulya, though her buttocks just eclipsed the edge of the seat, in case her grandfather burst through and she had to effect a prompt and formal greeting. "Also, we brought you this, Babulya."

Gwen passed a hand over the elevated coffee table and produced Petra's Stasis Cube, within which was a jade-like piece of fruit.

"It'll go sour very quickly," Gwen advised. "Petra and I had already had a piece. We saved this one for you."

"I know, dear, thank you." Her Babulya passed a hand over the cube, taking possession of the prize. "I'll share some of it with your grandfather. At our age, he needs it far more than I."

"I have another." Gwen took out the piece that she purchased from Richard.

"Oh, no, no, save it for yourself, dear. Petra said that it helps you mitigate the Void. That is far more important than adding a few years to our lives! There's plenty of opportunities for that in the future." Her babulya pushed the cube back towards Gwen. "I'll instruct you on how to acquire its benefits without damaging your physical form. Rest assured that Guo and I shall accept your piety and kind intent."

Reluctantly, Gwen withdrew the Vitae Fruit.

Jun, who had stood beside her smiling serenely, raised his hand to catch his mother's attention. "Well, if there's nothing else, I need to go. I'll be back to visit in a week or so, Mother." Jun hugged his mother and promised.

“Take care, Ah-Jun,” Klavdiya intoned.

"I will, Mother. Gwen, Richard."

"Goodbye, Uncle Jun."

"Tell father I just missed him and that there's the matter of the Clan of Xiao which he needs to deal with." Having delivered his goodbye, Jun turned to leave. "Any words for Hai? He's still sweating it out at the barracks."

"Tell Dad I said hi," Gwen replied earnestly.

Gwen and Richard watched Jun go before returning their attention to Babulya.

"I appreciate the opportunity you've given us," Richard began after Gwen had finished speaking to Klavdiya. "Truly, I am grateful."

"You can repay me by keeping an eye out for this little one," Klavdiya gave him a knowing smile. "And the others, if you can spare the time."

"I will do no less," Richard inclined his head. "You can leave it to me."

"Good, we understand each other." Klavdiya's eyes were mirthful. "Speaking of which, if and when your parents get here, I would like you to know that we have spare abodes around the city that I can offer your family until you find a place of your own."

"I would appreciate that, Babulya." Both Richard and Gwen were surprised by the candidness of Klavdiya's generosity. Here was a woman who knew not to beat around the bush. "I will try my best not to take advantage of your kindness, but I thank you for thinking so highly of me."

"Such a sweetheart," Klavdiya cooed. "You could do well to learn a thing or two from Richard, Gwen."

"I'll do my best." Her eyes met Richards. "Where is Grandfather?"

"Training your brother, I'd wager. He thinks of little else these days, and young Percy has much to do to catch up."

"To the curriculum here in Shanghai?" Gwen implored, a little worried that her studies are going to be far behind the norm.

"To you!" Her Babulya laughed.

"I don't think that's ever going to happen," Richard stated bluntly. "Sorry if that was too abrasive."

"Don't say that in front of Guo," Klavdiya warned the straight-shooting Conjurer. "I agree, by the way."

"I am sure Percy can do it, especially with Grandfather's support and the House of Song behind him. He has father's talent." Gwen flushed with embarrassment at Richard's high praise.

"I know you're a sentimentalist, Gwen, but perhaps less wishful thinking?" Richard was relentless. "Think about how this works, realistically. You've gone through how many moments of death and danger so far? How many times have you almost lost it?"

Gwen sighed. There were too many times to count.

"You think Percy, the 'heir', is going to have the freedom to risk himself? Without risk, there is no reward. Why do you we kicked that Dungeon's arse? How is it that we went and slapped down those young masters with their diet of rare ingredients? It's because we take risks, Gwen, and we survived those experiences to grow stronger."

"Richard, enough." Their Babulya placed a hand on Richard's arm. "While you and Gwen are staying here, it is best to keep such sentiments to yourselves. When University begins, you can seek more convenient residency closer to your schools."

"Sorry," Richard's voice grew faint. "Gwen is too nice. It's a flaw."

"Why should that be a flaw?" Klavdiya's voice was full of kindness as she pinched Gwen's cheek. "The Path of Ren should temper the Path of Asura; else self-destruction awaits the headstrong traveller. You too, Richard, should be self-aware of your prejudices."

Listening to Klavdiya's advice, Gwen felt a warmth in her chest that was pleasing. She felt the glad affirmation that in this new life of hers, she had not made the mistake of forsaking the chance to connect with her Babulya.

"Shall we retire then?" Richard inquired. "You've slept on the ship, but it was hardly restful."

"Yes, I would like to take a shower and sleep," Gwen confessed. "Babulya?"

"Greet Guo when you get to the training room," their grandmother reminded them. "If you're hungry, ask the servants to bring you supper."

Guo heard Gwen and Richard enter the training hall from the side entrance and told Percy to maintain his mana circulation.

Percy, as usual, took Guo's word as though it came straight from the Centaur's mouth, doing his best to maintain his concentration.

In a moment, the double doors opened a sliver, and the triumphant Dungeon divers presented themselves for Guo's inspection.

Upon seeing Gwen, Guo furrowed his bushy brows. The girl that emerged from the door felt different somehow to the one that left the estate only three days ago.

Had she become even more powerful? Guo thought uncomfortably to himself. Her growth was unreasonably quick. From Jun's Message earlier, he had heard that Gwen's group had taken first place in the competition.

That was in itself an absurd achievement. Two Frontier neophytes on their first Dungeon dive, coupled with the useless Wang siblings and one Petra Kuznetsov, could defeat all that the local Clans offered? He knew that Richard was already a first-class Conjurer and that Gwen had survived a war, but the news still shocked him to his core.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Klavdiya had said it was terrific news, but for Guo, it meant trouble.

When a member designated for a side-branch, a daughter, was so much more talented and charismatic than the heir, it subverted the family's hearts and a house's servants' loyalty. When achievements inevitably accumulated, the Song's allies may no longer look to the heir for support but throw their allegiance to Gwen, whose favour carried the most clout.

What if Gwen were to marry into a House that far superseded the prestige of the Song? What if she were to return one day with the blood of a Clan far nobler than the Songs, bringing with her a Magisters at her beck and call, and demanded allegiance from her brother? Or worse, what if she were to claim birthright, pointing out the weakness of the incumbent?

Guo felt a prickling numbness on the back of his neck as paranoid scenarios manifested themselves one after another.

Watching his granddaughter flaunt her dancer's figure made him all the more conscious of that very possibility. She was too gifted in that regard, and her uncommon beauty made matters worse. He would only know the true extent of her actions after receiving a full briefing tomorrow, but already the girl had become a killer. Was it the power going to her head? The life of one Lishui sorceress was no matter, but his granddaughter seemed to have to establish for herself a reputation for bloodthirst. In seven days, she had defeated contenders from various Houses and then killed a Mage with impunity.

In life, Guo had a simple winning philosophy that allowed him to succeed in his work: nip the trouble in the bud before it bloomed.

Yet, was it not said that the "tiger does not harm its cubs"?

Guo felt a discouraging sense of disquiet as Gwen bowed deeply, her dark hair falling over her shoulders like a waterfall. Besides the girl, the Conjurer cousin reciprocated the gesture, though Guo could feel the young man's insincerity from even across the room.

The Water Mage made his granddaughter all the more dangerous. It was clear that Richard's loyalty was first to Gwen, then to the man known as Gunther Shultz. Each of them, each bud, must be clipped before they grew poisonous and carnivorous.

A dull ache caught Guo unaware as his head throbbed, and the old Magus winced with a sudden grimace.

"Are you alright, grandfather?" the girl asked him, her face beset with genuine worry.

"Percy! Concentrate!" Guo barked at the shifting form of the boy behind him. "I am fine."

But the boy had already lost his concentration. The exercise would have to resume some other time.

"You must be tired," Guo said to his precious heir. "Good night. Percy, go clean up. We resume tomorrow morning after 0700."

"Yes, Grandfather." Percy bowed and left the room. He didn't stop to speak to his sister, and that made Guo feel better.

"Good night," Guo said again, turned on his heels, and left.

He would soon have to force Klavdiya to participate in something she disagreed with, an act that pained him more than anything in the world.

Anything, apart from disadvantaging the boy.

Sunday became a day spent in idyllic recovery.

Gwen woke late in the morning, dressed casually, and met Richard for breakfast.

After her morning meditative exercises, she travelled with Babulya to work, where she received another bout of therapeutic healing to repair the damage caused by her Void usage.

"Your body has taken too much of the vitae fruit for now. Maybe after a few more months, but for now, it is best to keep you well away from the fruit," Gwen's grandmother advised, wary of Gwen's burgeoning ambition.

After that, the afternoon was spent with Richard, walking the Bund's quay and taking in Shanghai's sights. One of the local artists had thought her a celebrity of some kind, for she and Richard made fabulous company along the boulevard, both being exceptionally tall and well-formed, and asked to paint their picture.

Gwen was too embarrassed to be holding a pose for hours, but the artist laughed and told them that he just needed a Lumen-pic.

They returned two hours later, and the artist presented them with the painting, gratis.

She had offered the man an HDM crystal, but the artist refused, saying that he was happy that they allowed him to work on something he truly enjoyed. That was when she realised that the man was an NoM and that he was reeling from the knowledge that two Mages who appeared the scions of noble houses were entertaining his hopes at all.

The painting itself was hasty and impressionist, but it captured her likeness beside Richard as they wandered through the quay. Behind them, the Pudong Tower glinted beside the Huangpu River.

A foreshadowing of the future? Richard joked. Gwen laughed without worry, dreaming of one day crossing the bay. They had been in Shanghai long enough to know that Pudong was where the Mageocracy and the Demi-humans resided. It was a city-in-a-city, where only sanctioned Mages who'd undergone mental conditioning could venture.

The pair did not return that evening for dinner but instead attempted adventurous culinary fare on The Bund.

In the middle of dinner, Jun came through with the Message that her friends should be arriving in Sydney soon and that Gwen should anticipate a call within the next twelve hours.

A taxi took the two home before the 2200 curfew, where they retired to their rooms after checking in with dear old Babulya.

Then Gwenn tucked into bed, where she counted Evees until she could fight off the anxiety of having to wait for their call.

"Gwen! You have a Message!"

Gwen had been wide awake since daybreak, waiting for the call to come. In hindsight, counting Evees mightn't have been the best solution to insomnia.

She leapt out of bed, still wearing yesterday's clothes, and made for the communal hall, where the LR Communication Device awaited in Guo's spare office.

Her desire for privacy was wishful thinking, Gwen acknowledged as she entered the room where a servant had set up the device for her. Would the servant's be watching? She had no idea, but the scene did cement the notion of her moving out and living alone or with Richard.

With a hum, the flickering projection came into focus. A close-up crop of outrageous cleavage promptly accosted Gwen's field of vision.

"Is this thing on?" Yue's voice sounded far too close to the microphone, assuming the device had such a thing. "Hello?"

"Yue!" Gwen shrieked. "Oh my god! I see you! I see, a lot of you!"

"Yue! Get back here!" Elvia's embarrassed voice was as sweet as ever.

"Elvia!"

"Gwen!"

"Yue!"

"Gwen!"

It took a few seconds, but the girls found each other and reconnected without effort.

Gwen's chest puffed with turbulent, child-like glee. These were her friends! FRIENDS! People she never had in her old life.

"I am so happy to see you guys." she choked, her eyes misty with recognition.

"Oh, Gwennie! I am so glad you're alright!" Elvia was no better; she was already leaking like a faulty tap.

"You alright down there? I heard from Gunther and Alesia that you've decided to stay?" Yue's timbre was equal parts disapproval and hurt.

Her friend's accusatory statement weighed upon Gwen's shoulders as a mountainous mass. When they had left the island, they had all promised to stay together through thick and thin— now she was the first to break that promise.

"No, no! We're not upset or anything," Elvia bawled. "It was just so— unexpected!"

"Gwennie, what have you got to say for yourself?" Yue wasn't nearly so kind.

"Let me explain," Gwen spoke slowly, keeping cadence by drawing upon a measured calm. It was all she could do to keep her emotions in check. "So, Wei and the other guy, that's the MSS agents, took me to a holding facility..."

She related her arrival in Shanghai. The Isolation chamber. The matter with Percy. Gunther's advice and babulya's support. She explained her paternal family's situation and the decision to remain as logically as she could.

"Alright, I guess that's acceptable," Yue sulked before rolling on her back and kicking the air with her legs like she was stomping an invisible adversary. "ARRRG! I am going to be so lonely!"

"Lonely?" Gwen said. "But you have Evee!"

It was now Elvia's turn to put on an expression full of guilt.

"What's wrong, Evee?" There was something distinctly heartbreaking about the angelic Healer's sullen demeanour that implored Gwen to teleport across the world and embrace her.

"She's going to Europe," Yue sighed. "Everyone is leaving me. I am just a lonely Evoker, setting fire to this cruel and uncaring world. Let it burn, I say. Let it all burn!"

"Evee? You're going to Europe?" Gwen felt a sinking feeling in her gut. So Evee couldn't avoid her family's pressure after all? Was Elvia going with her family because she was no longer in Australia to keep the three of them together?

"It's my family," Elvia spoke between sobs. "My father accepted a position in Germany. We're going to relocate to Hamburg in a week. They've been waiting for me to return."

"Oh, Evee." Gwen wanted to say that she wanted to be happy for her, but she also acutely realised that unlike her temporary stay in Shanghai, Elvia's European stint was likely permanent.

"With my potential, they're going to try and enrol me at the Nightingale College in England or the School of Asclepius in Greece. That means I'll be away from my family as well. Father says it's for the best because they don't know what's in store for them once they arrive in Hamburg."

"And neither of us can help her!" Yue fumed, her dark eyes glinting dangerously. "Those places are for Clerics only! God know what those religious nutcases would do to Evee."

"Those are incredible Tier 1 schools!" Gwen marvelled.

"You can thank your Brother-in-craft for that," Yue's intonation was ambivalent but generally upset. Gwen, too felt a strange cocktail of ire and gladness, concern and gratitude.

"I am sure it'll be alright, Evee," Gwen reached out to try and comfort the illusory projection. "You'll make new friends in no time!"

Elvia made a horrid grimace made infinitely worse by dribbling snot and streaky tears.

"All those strangers, Gwen, and not knowing anyone there." she held onto Yue's arm with white-knuckled trepidation. "I—I don't know if I can do it. You know what it was like when I came to Blackwattle. If it weren't for you guys.."

Yue sighed and produced a handkerchief, wiping down Elvia's face as she tried to capture for Gwen just how dreaded her new existence would be.

Ah, social anxiety. Gwen mourned for Elvia. Hello, Darkness, my old friend.

Evee's words did make Gwen think of their past. What would Elvia be like if she hadn't befriended Gwen and Yue? For the entire of junior high, she was a loner. The old Gwen barely register the angelic cleric on her mental radar, and Yue would have unquestionably bullied Elvia if forced together, most likely unconsciously, which made things worse still.

But what could she do?

Gwen wracked her brain.

What could she do to help her friend through her trial of isolation? What manner of aid could she deliver from ten thousand kilometres away? She couldn't SKYPE Elvia when the Healer felt down or something, could she?

Wait a minute! Gwen regarded the LR Message prism in front of her. Weren't they Face-Timing right now?

"Yue, is Brother Gunther there?"

"Nope, but I can get Master," Yue answered. "Shall I?"

"Sure, there's something I need to ask."

Yue left the vision of the projection.

Alesia's gorgeous face came into view a minute later. She looked far more hale than when Gwen had last seen her.

"Hey there, Tiger," Alesia hailed her with her usual sultry joviality. "How's my little sister doing?"

"I've got so much to tell you! I did my first Dungeon dive!"

"Already! Impressive, how did it go?"

"We came first!"

Alesia squealed with delight, uplifting the mood significantly. Gwen quickly told of her exploits in record time, covering only the highlight reel.

"So, Alesia," Gwen cut to the chase. "I want to know if it's possible to get Elvia one of these LR Message Projectors, one she can take with her to her new school."

"No!" Elvia interjected. "Gwen, that's too much!"

"It's not available for sale just to anyone, you know." Alesia furrowed her flawless brows. "You going to need HDMs and CCs."

"How much?" Gwen carefully inquired with fingers crossed.

"Assuming I pull a few strings." Alesia puckered her lips alluringly. "About 50 CCs for a set?"

"Done!" Gwen agreed without hesitation. "Can I trade it in at the Shanghai Tower?"

"The Pudong Tower is one you'll need to deal with," Alesia's eyes sparkled. "How come you got so many CCs? You've been there for what, two weeks? A week?"

"You're looking at a woman of 151 Contribution Credits," Gwen boasted, puffing out her chest. "I've got contributions to spare!"

Alesia fell about laughing in stitches, wiping tears from her eyes.

Elvia tried to dissuade Gwen, but she wouldn't have it. 50 CCs to ensure that Elvia could be safe and sound and could report to her anytime? It was worth it!

"Okay, I'll make sure Elvia has a nice dorm wherever she goes to Medical college and that an LRM device is installed for her use." Alesia raised a thumb. "Additionally, I'll match you CC for CC. She'll have the best accommodation there. A private one even, if she wants it."

"Maybe not a private one. It'll isolate Evee from her peers," Gwen advised. "How about improving her foodstuff?"

"Done," Alesia promised. "It'll be like you're pampering her yourself, you Sugar Mama, you!"

Gwen couldn't help but laugh. Yue joined in after she found out what Gwen had done, and even the tearful Elvia couldn't help but sob and laugh at the same time at the absurdity of it all.

"Can I mail some HDMs over to Elvia?" Gwen asked. If she was going to be a sugar mama to Elvia, she might as well play the role well.

"I'll set her up with a Trust, and you can pay me back a few years down the road," Alesia dissuaded Gwen from her short-sighted request. "A few thousand HDMs here and there over a few years, no problems."

"My family isn't poor either, you know!" Elvia protested, her little face red with embarrassment. "I can take care of myself!"

"Evee! You brave little angel!" Alesia hugged Elvia in her stead, pressing the Healer's sweet little face against her cheeks. "Of course you can!"

"There, now we can chat every night if you want," Gwen told Elvia confidently. "Just Facetime— I mean, Message me. It'll be like I am there next to you!"

"Okay!" Elvia made a brave face, which was so adorable as to induce Alesia and Yue into another fit of hugs, passing her back and forth like a rag doll.

"Wow." Gwen reflected with a heavy heart after the rouge-like aftermath made Elvia even more adorable. "To think… to think we're going to be apart for so long."

"Negative." Alesia made a cross with both her arms. "I could come out there to Shanghai tomorrow if I wanted. It's Yue you have to wait for."

"Yue?" Gwen looked at her friend.

"Master says I need to accumulate my CCs for the immigration application," Yue sulked. "She says it'll motivate me."

"When Yue joins you again," Alesia snorted arrogantly. "She'll be a dreadnought of destruction!"

"I am sure she will," Gwen said a silent prayer for all the creatures in the Orange, Purple and Black Zones surrounding Oceania. "What's your projection, Elvia?"

"Three years at minimum," Elvia said miserably. "I need to do at least a year of practicum as well."

"Well, I'll earn enough CCs for you to come to Shanghai if you like," Gwen offered. "Four years is a long time!"

"What, you think CCs grow on trees?" Alesia scoffed. "Even during the last Coral Sea Conflict, with a four-figure kill count, I only earned 6000 odd CCs! I spent a whole lot on my Crimson Caracal, and now I am short on CCs to get another one."

"Can't Gunther lend you some?"

"What, you don't know? It's strictly forbidden to lend or trade CCs except in rare, Tower sanctioned transactions. The process to get one of those to pass muster is downright impossible. Might as well squeeze a camel through a needle's eye," Alesia replied indignantly.

"Wouldn't Yue need a Spirit as well?" Gwen asked out of curiosity.

"Yep," Yue replied miserably. "Oh man, this illusion makes me feel so close to you, Gwen, yet so far away. There's not enough CCs in the world!"

"Could I buy a Spirit?" Gwen continued. What would a Spirit do for her Elemental abilities? What would it do for Caliban or Ariel? "I got an Auction later with something called the House of M."

"Ha, good luck with that." Alesia gazed at Gwen with a penetrating look of mock sympathy.

"Expensive?" Gwen swallowed nervously.

"Fire is one of the more common elements of Evocation, yet still my Caracas cost 1400 CCs," Alesia pointed out. "As for Lightning, only the blackest of Black Zones have an abundance of Lightning Elementals. Whereas for Void— where the hell do we even begin?"

"I see your point." Gwen bit her lip.

"Right, anything else? I'll make sure these two are safe and right as rain. Yue can use my LRM, and I'll make sure Elvia has hers when she arrives at school."

"Great, thanks. I appreciate it, Sis."

"I'll let Gunther know you dropped by."

Gwen once again faced her two best buddies.

"For the future." She put forward her palm so that the Illusory projection could see her hand.

"For our futures!" Yue followed suit.

"For us!" Elvia also joined in, stacking their outstretched arms so that they could all see each other's hands.

A wordless moment lingered as each of the girls etched the scene into the recess of their memory.

Another half an hour of small talk followed, discussing matters of one another's family. Yue informed Gwen that she'd try to get Surya to call Gwen on the LRM Device, as well as broker a meeting so that Richard could speak to his parents. Elvia promised to talk with Gwen as soon as possible, though they would have to wait until a Tower technician installed the LRM Device in her dorm. Furthermore, Gwen would have to undergo screening to ensure that she wouldn't defraud the Tower of sensitive information if she were handed an LRM device. Either way, the process would take weeks, if not months, and by then, it was likely that Gwen would have begun University.

"Goodbye," she said at last as the illusion died, the projection transforming into ghostly motes of white-grey Divination.

Gwen exited her grandfather's warded office, feeling like a girl emerging into a brave new world.

University, Gwen thought to herself. It was probably time she collected some brochures and pamphlets on the matter, maybe hunted down a few copies of students handbooks.

The future may be far away, but she felt as though she was already standing on its doorsteps.