Everyone felt much better and reassured with the thought that Aisha and the Valkyries would protect them if they were in danger, which eased the tension within them.

Most students still felt bad about their behavior when they were ambushed by the subterra centipedes, but there was nothing they could do to change the past.

As such, moving forward was the only thing they could do in order to help instead of being a burden.

Without saying anything at all, Shane walked next to Aimy and Olivia as they walked through the empty second floor of the elemental crystal cave.

Aimy didn't utter a single word, afraid of being scolded by Shane again, and even Olivia noticed that she had made a huge mistake, which bothered her extremely.

Feeling bad about it, she remained vigilant and looked around everywhere.

The second floor was extremely vast and previously filled with large deposits of elemental crystals.

However, now that they were all harvested or maybe even eaten by the variant elemental subterra centipedes, which was what Shane assumed, the whole floor looked even larger than before.

Everyone gulped down a nightsight potion that enhanced their vision considerably and walked towards the tunnel leading to the third floor which was still not clearly visible.

Considering their current position and combined combat prowess, Aisha was curious to see how the students would handle the next surprise attack that should happen soon.

In addition to the elemental crystal cave's value, she was also pleased by the gradual increase in the mana density that would come with the subsequent floors.

As such, this elemental crystal cave could also be compared to specific dimensions with certain buildings, called dungeons inside!

Dungeons could look like caves, towers or even like ancient ruins and their mana density ranged from almost negligible to an extremely huge amount of mana that inhabited the strongest beasts.

It was common knowledge that weak beasts were forced to live in areas with a lower mana density in order to survive, while they could only enter the deeper and more dangerous areas with a higher mana density, once they evolved or became stronger.

As such, the elemental crystal cave they entered could be described in a similar way, because the weakest centipedes would be at the outskirts, or higher layer which had a lower mana density, while the stronger existences lived deeper in the floors with denser mana, allowing them to become even stronger by absorbing the mana.

With this knowledge, Aisha couldn't help but feel that it was a good decision to have trusted her gut feeling when Shane sent her the message that she should change the expedition location to the radiant mountain ring dimension.

Another perk common Dungeons had, were the rewards one could obtain, and they ranged from receiving titles, unique equipment, skills, martial art techniques or even more valuable things, like an inheritance from an ancient race.

It was only obvious that such dungeons were sought out by all races, and the emergence of such dungeons could even lead to war between formerly allied races.

Rumors even said that one could receive a blessing from the dungeons if you were to conquer one.

When Aisha had first learned about the dungeons, she had been astonished as well as eager to enter one, only to find out that humanity hasn't claimed even one yet, while humanity's allies told them that their claimed dungeons had caused far more casualties than those caused by century-long wars with other races.

The news shocked mankind, but they labeled it as a lie, saying that their own allies just wanted to prevent humanity from waging a war against them.

This might have been true, but Aisha knew from her connection to their allied race that it was certainly not a lie, because a good friend of hers had sent her a video clip from within a dungeon.

She shook her head, and averted her attention once again on the elemental crystal cave and the students she had to look after, as she concluded that the cave they entered was similar to a dungeon, only less dangerous.

The rewards they could claim here were simple and not as widespread as in dungeons and were called elemental crystals.

Selling them could still earn a huge fortune for everyone, even if several thousand students were to enter the elemental crystal cave along with them.

Aisha couldn't help but praise Shane in her mind as she observed him

'He should know how valuable the elemental crystal cave is….why did he reject my offer of a share of the elemental crystals?' Aisha suddenly asked herself, as she couldn't figure out Shane at all.

Considering that he had run away from home, Shane should be facing financial problems, even more so, if he wished to pursue the path of a perfect foundation.

With the tens of thousand gold coins he could acquire inside this Quasi-Dungeon, in addition to a small share from approximately 100 Valkyries, he could easily purchase everything he needed to enter the Master stage by liquefying his mana.

However, there was something she didn't add in her calculations because she was not aware of one fact.

Shane had an Innate Skill!

This innate skill, called taming, allowed him to not only tame beasts but also to upgrade their quality and choose the best evolution path.

However, the downside to this magnificent ability was that it was extremely costly.

Without any help, Shane would have been forced to pay more than 1500 gold coins for two quality upgrades for a wild stage beast!

Umbra was still evolving and once he completed his evolution, he would be considered a [Trash] quality beast according to his race.

Upgrading his quality to the peak again would not only cost a fortune, but Umbra wouldn't remain his only tamed beast in the future.

Shane didn't even want to think about his future expenses and he was already sure that he would have to purchase a miniature world in order to store Umbra inside it because a beast sealing card was not a feasible solution, even if it had the [soul connection] ability.

Furthermore, in order to make Umbra and his future tamed beasts feel comfortable, a miniature world was considered to be better than the storage skill Tamers had, which made it so special.

Instead of feeling disappointed about the high costs, Shane felt hopeful that the hard work he did now would be rewarded in the future, and it might even help him in order to procure a perfect foundation.

Tension was evident in the atmosphere, as the group slowly moved through the second floor.

Though nothing happened over several minutes, everyone stayed alert, knowing that it could mean their death, if they were to slacken, which Aisha recognized with a praising nod.

However, nobody, except the Valkyries behind her noticed this, who were equally pleased by the students' behavior as they immediately adjusted themselves to not be a burden and instead be a helpful asset.

When the Valkyries recalled their own behavior when they had entered a dangerous area for the first time in their life, they couldn't help but feel jealous because their instructor hadn't been as nice as Aisha, while it confused them even more than their own captain was so kind to the students.

They could already visualize their captains' behavior if they were to make even a tiny mistake, which caused them to tremble involuntarily.

Aisha's nickname was Ice Goddess, but to the Valkyries, she was sometimes an Ice Fiend if she wasn't around.

Suddenly the ground below the students and Valkyries trembled with everyone changing into their combat stance. This time none of the students turned into a stone statue, and they unsheathed their weapons.

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