Night had draped itself over Westford like a velvet cloak embroidered with three moons and a spray of magical constellations.
From the balcony of her inn room, Aria leaned against the railing, the cool stone a familiar anchor by now.
But her perception was split at the moment. She was there, but her mind was soaring high above the city streets.
'Higher, Qwy. A little higher.'
Through the Soul-Latch bond, the city unfolded beneath her in a breathtaking, silent panorama.
Qwy, her angelic wings beating at a steady rhythm, flew with an instinctual grace she'd never shown until now.
She was no longer just a quirky pet; she was a creature of the air, her single, brilliant eye capturing a world Aria had only ever seen from the ground.
'She can now fly outside the dungeon as well...'
The city was a living circuit board of light when seen through her eyes. Mana-lamps glowed along the main thoroughfares like golden data streams.
In the richer districts, enchanted sigils on mansions pulsed with soft, rhythmic colors.
The Adventurer's Association castle was a nexus of cool, blue-white energy, its spires humming with a power that was almost audible to Qwy's heightened senses.
To the south, the dark, brooding silhouette of the dungeon tower was a void, a black hole that seemed to suck the very light from the air around it.
'But the true magic began beyond the city walls.'
The forests around the city weren't just dark; they shimmered with latent life energy, pockets of emerald and silver light moving between age-old trees.
For their unique age and individuality, a distinct life color was assigned to each of them, visible only to our unique eyes.
Distant mountains scraped a sky where the auroras of raw, wild mana danced in great, silent curtains of violet and green.
'It's a world alive with primordial power, a Nature far more vast and complex than any cloud network I had ever designed.'
"It's beautiful." Aria sighed, the feeling flowing down the bond to Qwy.
Came the enthusiastic, echoing reply, accompanied by a burst of pure, unadulterated joy.
Her little companion did a barrel roll in mid-air, drunk on the freedom and the view around her.
'The world is just as new to her as it is for me. We are the newcomers here...'
The baby and mother were having fun on their own, but the moment was shattered by a dry, familiar voice from the front.
"I should have known."
Aria blinked, pulling her consciousness fully back into her own body.
Then she turned to find Reddy leaning against her doorframe, arms crossed, a single brow arched over her glasses.
Her gaze was fixed not on Aria, but on the small, dark shape circling high above against the silver moons.
"That… thing… can fly?" Reddy questioned uncertainly, her tone a mixture of disbelief and deep suspicion.
"She's just getting some air," Aria, however, answered with a casual shrug, though her heart hammered a little faster with motherly pride. "You can't keep a good eyeball down."
Reddy's eyes narrowed, finally sliding from the sky to pin Aria in place. "Aria, what really happened in that dungeon today? The official report says 'anomalous mana event.'
My scouts are talking about a new, permanent safe zone appearing on a floor that hasn't changed in a decade. Google seaʀᴄh novel fire.net
And now your… companion… is performing aerial reconnaissance over my city."
She pushed off the doorframe and walked onto the balcony, her presence suddenly that of a Guard Captain. "I vouched for you. I brought you in. Don't make me regret it by keeping secrets that could blow a hole in my city walls."
She liked Aria, but her duty as the guard captain of the city made her more protective of the metropolis and its people.
She did not tolerate those who caused trouble for others within the city walls, and she was not going to have the person she liked destroy things that had always been peaceful before her arrival.
Aria met her gaze steadily. The truth was a tangled mess of Architect classes, S-ranked cutting skills, and sentient dungeons. But trust was a currency she couldn't afford to devalue.
"The dungeon tried to kill us, Reddy. Then it changed its mind. That's the truth," Aria answered her truthfully, her voice low and serious for once.
"The safe zone was a lucky break, a side-effect of… of me pushing back. As for Qwy," she glanced back up at the sky, "she's just full of surprises."
Reddy studied her for a long, silent moment, the sounds of the night city rising to fill the space between them.
The suspicion didn't fully leave her eyes, but it was tempered by a grudging acceptance. She knew Aria was a walking anomaly; she'd known that from the start.
"Fine," she sighed, the tension bleeding from her shoulders. "Keep your secrets. For now. But you're not going back in there alone."
The first time she went in during the exam, she caused trouble that the association couldn't even understand.
And this time, a strange safe zone appeared where she had popped inside the dungeon.
Reddy jerked her head towards the room. "Come on. It's time you met your new handlers."
Aria definitely had a strange relationship with the dungeon. And Reddy didn't want either her city or the person she liked to get hurt because of that damned tower.
Aria followed her outside, a soft chirp announcing Qwy's return to her shoulder.
In the main room of the inn, three figures, alongside the short mage, were already waiting for them.
One of the unknown individuals was a mountain of a man, his bald head tattooed with glowing, defensive enchantment, a shield as tall as Aria leaning against his chair.
The second was a whip-thin woman with dark, braided hair and a quiver of arrows peeking over her shoulder, her eyes sharp and missing nothing in her surroundings.
The third was a young man, barely older than Cass, but too mature and tall to compare to him, fidgeting with a strange, Swiss-looking, multi-tool and a belt stuffed with potions and strange gadgets.
"Aria, Cassiel," Reddy spoke with a new weight behind her words, her voice all business. "This is Borin, Kaela, and Finn. They're one of my most reliable teams.
Borin will make sure nothing touches you. Kaela will see any threat long before it gets close. And Finn will keep you both patched up and your gear in one piece."
Borin gave a slow, solid nod, his orc-like body a solid mountain of muscles. Kaela's smile was a quick, sharp flash, not revealing much about her. Finn, on the other hand, offered a nervous but genuine wave.
"They know the first five floors like the back of their hand," Reddy continued, her gaze locking with Aria's once more. "They'll keep you safe. And more importantly… they'll keep me informed. Understood?"
Aria looked at the party, then at Reddy. It wasn't just a guide service; it was a chaperone assignment.
She had traded the dungeon's scrutiny for the Association's, and now she wanted answers that she had not been interested in until now.
Understanding that, Aria simply gave her a slow, deliberate smile.
"Understood." The nod from her, however, contained a kind of sadness that Reddy did not want to see from her.
Tomorrow, the dive would begin again.
But this time, they wouldn't be exploring alone.