A couple of days after my first successful attempt at bridging the dungeon entrance, I finally have a clone on the other side.

Because Bond skills don't have magic frameworks, I had to use Bond spell crystals in the end; if the link stones worked, then why not spell crystals?

Esofy and the others are in the Slime Ruins, so I send my clone to the Felin Glade. Normally it'd be easy to deal with them, so I decide to challenge myself. My Bond can now imitate basic skills such as [Beauty Beam] without actually having the skill, so I will be using just that.

I creep up on a sleeping Felin and get close to its face, then blast its eyes and nose point blank with beams, singing the fur and burning its skin. The Felin yelps in surprise and pain as I stop trying to suppress the ‘presence’ that manifested once my Bond reached level five hundred.

The Felin snorts and shakes its head, trying to regain its senses, but once it feels my presence, it slinks away blindly.

I chase after it and continue blasting it with beams, but I quickly run into other Felins who snarl and growl with open maws. They can't hurt me, but they might be annoying, so I crank my perceptive pressure and Bond presence to the max to scare them away.

As if a fire has been lit under their tails, they jump and dart away. It's actually a little comical how they manage to fling themselves back like a cat being surprised by a cucumber.

I eventually back my prey into a corner, and it tries to scare me away with threatening yowls and screeches. I blast it with beams, angering the beast as it charges at me, bouncing off the walls blindly before it sinks its claws into my illusory clone.

"Sorry, but you can't hurt me," I say and grab the beast's head. My beams seem to only be equivalent to poking it with a needle; in order to not torture the poor thing, I need to hit it in a vital spot with a sustained beam.

I drill into its skull as it tries to bite into me, the kill notification coming only seconds later. This has been a messy fight, not something my Bond is proud of. I need to exemplify beauty in all things, including fighting and killing; a quick clean kill is a must, no dragging it out, no letting the monster run away, just an enticing, alluring, deadly beauty. I have much to learn.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lotis jumps onto the pier from the boat; they will be living in this village now, with its straight streets and water pumped into each home. They have docked at the smaller pier near the residential area, the one used almost exclusively by divers who want a short commute from their houses.

"Don't run off, Lotis!" Momara Ara calls after her.

"Hurry up!" Lotis says impatiently, wanting to see the new house.

They soon arrive at the house, a single-floor building that is a little bigger than their previous house. They unpack their things from storage items and set up their furniture. Special large storage items had to be rented because normal storage rings aren't capable of holding large items like bed frames.

Fully moving into their new home takes most of the day, so Lotis is unable to meet with Alysara today, but tomorrow she'll be able to finally receive training and learn how to get wings! It takes her a while to sleep, because she’s too excited, but she manages eventually.

The next day, Lotis hums happily as Momara Waru walks her to Alysara's shop; she has already agreed to train her today, she can hardly wait to fly! As they near Alysara's place, she can't help but get a feeling of... familiarity? It's not like deja-vu, but something else… like there's something nearby that she simply knows.

They enter the shop, and the first thing Lotis sees is the three-tailed girl already waiting for them. She's so beautiful! Everything about her, from her posture to her expression, exudes elegance and serenity; it's as if the air around her respects her presence and quiets down even as the breeze flows in from the open door.

"How are you today, Lotis?" Alysara asks with a smile. The presence around her shifts from quiet serenity to joyful passion, like the beauty of a sunrise banishing the silent dark.

How does she do it? Lotis can't help but wonder.

"Great! When can I fly? How do I learn to get wings?!" Lotis chatters excitedly.

"We can fly later," Alysara says, amused. "But for now, you need to learn the basics. First, what level is your Bond?"

"Twelve! I did what you said before and learned how to use my Bond!" Lotis replies proudly.

"First you need to get your Bond to one hundred, preferably to two hundred," Alyasra says; it seems as if she already knew the answer.

"What I am going to teach you is how to level up your Bond quickly and safely. To grow your Bond, you need to be in tune with beauty; this means even when walking and talking, you need to be graceful and elegant, which are different forms of beauty."

"Different forms?" Lotis asks.

"Yes, beauty has many ways to express itself, from the calm, still night with stars shining above to the hot, passionate enthusiasm of fire, from graceful dances to the allure of jewelry. These are different forms of beauty, different ways for beauty to express itself and for us to express beauty."

Lotis nods, drinking in the lesson.

"There is, of course, ‘static’ beauty, the normal kind people think of when they think of the essence," Alysara conjures a ball of beauty mana. "And these are the previously mentioned forms." Alysara conjures four more balls of beauty mana. The difference is subtle, but noticeable when compared side to side. The one that shimmers and gives off heat is the passionate, fiery beauty and the one that seems to be slightly swaying is the graceful dancey type.

Ting! Your Bond has obtained level 13!

Before Lotis can celebrate her level up, Alysara continues on.

"But there are even other types within each category of beauty. Serenity can be like that of a quiet night, or the snow after an ice storm. It can be like the stillness of water when there's no wind, or like walking through the orchard after work, where there is no sound except that of your own footsteps."

The lesson goes on. Eventually, Alysara moved on to how to incorporate beauty into different facets of life.

"Stand like this" Alysara moves Lotis into the correct posture. "It may be slightly uncomfortable at first, but your tail is shorter than mine, so it won't be as uncomfortable."

"It's still longer than most," Lotis complains.

"The most important thing is to listen to your Bond," Alysara says, ignoring Lotis' complaint. "Your Bond level is low, so it will be hard to hear, but I'm here to help you with that. There, now just listen as best as you can.”

"I thought we were going to learn how to fly today," Lotis says, her disappointment growing.

"We are going to fly later today… if you are good and do as I instruct" Alysara gives a dark yet beautifully terrifying smile. Lotis can only grumble quietly.

The hours pass, until finally Lotis can stop holding her uncomfortable posture. Her back is sore, and her tail feels like it has been stuffed in a sleeve half its length. She stretches as she slips into the hot bath waters and breathes a sigh of relief. Still, the gains have been worth the soreness.

Ting! Your Bond has obtained levels 14-19!

How can Alysara hold that posture all day?! Yes, it looks graceful and elegant, but it's seriously uncomfortable!

As if reading her mind, Alysara gives an answer. "You need to strengthen some muscles you are not used to using; that's why you are sore. The important part is to not put your body in an unnatural posture as that can hurt you in the long run rather than just for a short while like this."

Just then, two identical girls a couple of years younger than herself arrive, sitting down next to Alysara. They also have royal blue hair and pretty much look like younger Alysaras.

"Alysara, we are going to fly today, right?" they ask, in hopeful unison.

"After this bath, yes." Alysara turns toward Lotis and introduces the twins. "They are my sisters, Yafe and Yafel."

After the bath, the four of them are finally adorned with wings, and, with her heart pumping in excitement, Lotis takes off, the wings on her back flapping. She is finally flying!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There's something about having someone to teach that reinforces your knowledge. It forces you to revisit the basics and explain them, a process that somehow deepens one's knowledge of a subject in a way that ordinary review can't.

I don't know why this is, but I can certainly say that teaching another how to use her beauty Bond has helped me grow my own.

Ting! Your Bond has obtained level 502!

Perhaps it was listening to beauty on how best to train another's posture, or maybe it was my attempts at flying with grace, I don't know.

Anyway, my efforts in the dungeon have been fruitful, netting me two more levels in my Bond. It is certainly harder to slay monsters with just my Bond, and I have to hit below what my level suggests, but considering that the monsters are between level one hundred and two hundred and still giving my Bond levels, it's definitely helping.

It has allowed me to use less mana than I would normally have, so I could start sending in more clones to train my Bond, but I also can't neglect the things I have to do outside of the dungeon. I need to study Inscriptions, train my skills, train Lotis and do numerous other things. I only have five minds; I can't do that much, I need more, I need to be able to do everything at once.

If I have my three Diadem minds working the dungeon and my last two minds in the village, one studying and the other training skills, then I should expedite my Bond growth, and if I can get my Bond to one thousand for a good clone/mind Class then perhaps I can increase my minds to… maybe twenty? Hopefully? That's four times what I have now, ten times if you don't include my item-granted minds.

Can I get my Bond to one thousand in four months, though? I don't think so. It took me a long time to get to five hundred. I need to consider getting my second class in preparation for the Treant fight... or, maybe I can fight it now, or rather just before the others? I mean, I don't even need to be in the dungeon anymore; I can fight it in complete safety. It is Grand-tier, so it is a hard fight, but it won't have the raw power of a Heroic monster.

Hmm, I remember that one of its Classes was a tank type, and I am weak against tank-type monsters; I just don't have the mana needed to power through their endurance and vitality. I don't need to worry about mind attacks, my true minds are beyond the dungeon entrance, plus the Treant doesn't seem like it has any mind abilities.

On the other hand, what have I really killed all by myself? I get really screwed over by simple things. The Alpha Spine Wolf had spell-resistant fur; I was practically useless against it, and it was killed mostly by; Kadona and Uloru. There was the Mind Slime, but that was tricky and would have overpowered me if it wasn't focused on trying to control the others. I could have never killed the Void Slime by myself. The Blast Slime, I don't count; that one was way too weak.

There have been numerous bosses in some of the dens, but when I am up against some monsters I am just useless. The Ruby-Backed Arachnoid, for example, the Phase Rovlat, pretty much all regenerators. There was also the Mana Slime, that became resistant to the same spells thrown at it. There have been a rather large number of monsters I had significant trouble with.

So, I have to ask: Can I beat the Treant by myself? Will it have something that effectively takes me out of combat? If anything, it's worth a try, and I can inform the others about its abilities. In three months' time, I will challenge the Treant. For now, though, I have a lot of training to do and not enough time or bodies to do it.