Allen walked beside the Gatekeeper with a vague smile on his face. Camila, Amelia, and Christopher followed on foot, flanked on either side by Faceless Ones either carrying slaves or Ty.

The cave they were in was no bigger than baseball field, though most of the space was taken up by a dense blanket of strange foliage that gave off a faint blue-green bioluminescence. Weedy plants and fungi lined the edges of the worn stone path that wound its way to the temple that waited before them.

Allen breathed in and closed his eyes for a moment. The air in the cave was damp and chilling, and yet it was still pleasantly fresh. “One of the few peaceful places in this dungeon.”

The temple was an imposing and ancient looking structure of dark, ashy oak with oxidized bronze trim. It was around the size of a standard two-story home, though its tiered roof and thick wooden frame gave it a distinct oriental flair. Its age was evident in the places where the wood had succumbed to rot, the paint chipped and faded. Still, the temple looked precisely identical to how it had seven years ago when Allen had first laid his eyes on it.

The Faceless Ones set the slaves and Ty down on the wide stoop in front of the temple. Maráuh gestured towards the big golems with finality, prompting them to incline their heads and freeze solid.

“You’ll have to get the temple servants to help you carry them inside,” the Gatekeeper began, pointing at the slaves. “The big ones cannot go any further.”

“Right,” Allen replied absently as he approached the temple entrance. He glanced at the spade shape engraved into the old wood of the tall double doors. “There should be a few of them here, hopefully Meredith can patch us up.”

He pushed the door open and peeked inside. The grand foyer alone was noticeably larger than the building was on the outside. Things just worked that way in the Wandering Gate. Also contrasting was how well lit the foyer was, despite its gothic inspirations. It also showed no signs of the wear and tear from the outside, though it had somehow still gotten even more intimidating.

The Assassin’s eyes swept through the sizeable entry room, rushing past assorted metal sculptures and faded paintings. Then he glanced up the wide twin staircases on either side of a long and dark hallway leading further into the temple. Allen’s eyes stopped at the sight of a dark haired man dressed in a heavily worn brown leather jacket. He had a grey linen scarf wrapped around his neck, nearly obscuring the blank look of shock on his face. The man stared back at Allen for a moment, his look of confusion mirroring that of the crow he was holding in his hands like a burrito.

Name: Jack Maverick

Human – Ranger – Level [hidden]

Name: Arrow

Awoken Mystic Crow – Animal – Level 450

Allen easily recognized his friend, a grin flashing onto his face as he slipped into the temple, holding the door for the rest of his group. The crow suddenly cawed as it squirmed free of the man’s grasp before flying over to Allen.

“Arrow!” Allen laughed, holding his arm out for the bird to land on. “Good to see you, girl,” he said. The bird bobbed her head and cawed softly as Allen stroked her feathers.

“Jerr!” Jack shouted, jogging after his bird. Then he stopped halfway through the hall and squinted. “Wait… What the fuck? Why do you look like a teenager?”

“Uh, I got cursed I think.” Allen smiled through his low effort lie.

Jack shrugged and closed the remaining distance before slapping Allen on the shoulder. “Is that level real? Where in Jiira’s tits have you been?!”

“Yeah it is. I’ve just been vibing,” Allen said, holding his smile as his three teammates strolled in behind him, followed by Mar.

Jack snorted to himself before he glanced passively over the other guests. His gaze was swift but sharp, having just as much experience as Allen when it came to judging character. His eyes settled on the Gatekeeper last, or rather her chest area, despite there being no actual nippleage to see there. “Who are they?” he asked gesturing vaguely.

“Hey! Don’t leave me out here!” Ty shouted from outside the temple. Arrow cawed again, ruffling her feathers and drowning out the Defender’s protests.

“Independent Researcher,” Christopher started, raising a hand and smiling faintly from his Wheelchair. “We’re working with Allen; allies,” he continued.

“Archpriestess of Pain,” Amelia said blankly, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Jack.

Camila opened her mouth and sucked in a breath of air.

“Knuckleheaded Berserker,” Allen said for her. He could practically feel the woman’s hateful glare on the back of his head, but she just sighed and didn’t say anything. “No arguments then? Hah!”

“And you?” Christopher asked, a slight hint of apprehension just barely detectible on his voice.

Allen’s banker-tier smile hadn’t wavered at all since the others had walked in behind him. “Jack isn’t too bad as far as first impressions go,” he thought. “I mean, he might be my best friend in this world, but… if I could pick who within the Spades they should get to know first, it would be someone who’s… not him.”

Jack chuckled lightly, “Well, I figure you already know I’m a Spade, is that right?” he asked sending a smirk at the stiffly smiling Allen.

“Just don’t act like a psycho, that’s all I ask,” Allen silently pleaded.

Jack noted everyone’s lack of reaction to the mention of the Spades. Then he leaned into a flourishing bow and grinned menacingly. “In that case, I’m just a hunter,” he said, “the name’s Jack.”

“Okay, I guess that’s good enough for now,” Allen thought. “Well anyway, is Meredith here? We have some kiddos out front that need their thorns pulled.” He urged Jack out the front door with the others and nodded at the rows of slaves lined up.

Lucas was sitting silently on the stoop with them, hugging his knees tightly and staring blankly at his feet. Jack’s eyes quickly brushed over the two dozen children; his grin remained unchanged. Then he turned to the legless, one-armed Ty leaning against the outside of the temple.

“Who’s this guy?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Imperial knight,” Allen said flatly. “He’s with us though.”

“Haha, okay then,” Jack laughed, shaking his head at the Defender’s pained and annoyed expression. The Ranger looked back at Allen with a casual smile as Arrow fluttered from Allen’s arm to his shoulder. “Meredith and Kläus are both here so dethorning shouldn’t be difficult. Shoam thinks you got soul killed by the way, he’s also here and so is Chthollus, which is rare.” Jack glanced over his shoulder and clapped his hands twice.

Allen hummed in surprise. “Huh, is something happening, why is the whole gang here?” Unlike the others, he paid no mind to the line of masked young women in maid uniforms that streamed out of the door behind him.

Name: Temple Servant

Proto Homunculus – Worker – Level 250

“Doc’s supposed to show up soon,” Jack said, sparing a glance at the servants who each lifted a slave and returned through the temple doors. “There’s a recruiting selection right now, so everyone’s in the training hall. Oh, here’s your temple key,” he said, tossing Allen a tarnished bronze medallion from his inventory.

“Oh, that sounds interesting,” Allen mused. He grabbed the key out of the air and stored it before he followed Jack back into the temple behind the two Homunculi carrying Ty.

The group walked into the foyer and through the middle of the two staircases. Allen absently looked around the all too familiar hall while Jack had his eyes practically glued to the Gatekeeper’s admittedly quite fine looking backside. There were double doors at the end of the hall, and as was typical for the Wandering Gate, they led to anywhere in the temple dungeon.

Two Temple Servants with their hands free pushed opened the doors before standing by on either side. Light flooded in from the other doors, forcing Allen to squint. He passed and the others passed through the threshold and walked into a massive stone chamber the size of a city block. There were pale blue flames burning in dozens of braziers at the base of every wall. However, the room still seemed to be lit neutrally from everywhere despite the fires.

Overall, the training hall had a similar gothic style to the rest of the temple. Although, if anyone looked long enough, they’d be able to tell that it was really just a box made of copy-pasted textures. Dungeons applied effort in strange ways at times, but they were always efficient.

There was a group of twenty or so standing near the entrance, many of whom turned at the sound of the doors opening.

“Another interruption?” someone said through a groan. Allen recognized the voice as belonging to one of the senior members, an old Mage by the name of Amon, but most knew him as the Chain Leviathan.

“Jack! Who the hell are they?” said another harsh voice.

Allen quickly swept his eyes over the crowd, recognizing all but four as high ranking Spades. Those four he hadn’t seen before were obviously recruits, given the defensiveness of their posture and the confusion on their faces. They didn’t look too bad, but Allen had seen better.

Then he smiled when his eyes met those of a young man no older than Jack.

Name: Shoam

Elf – Rogue – Level [hidden]

“Jerr is alive. He and I are here to get some slaves dethorned,” Jack said, eliciting murmurs of surprise and some laughter.

“I see. That, I can help with,” said a woman in a white robe. She was Meredith by the sound of her voice, though Allen couldn’t see her in the small crowd. “It seems like they all need healing, especially that one,” she finished. Allen managed to catch sight of the woman emerging from behind someone else and walking over to where Ty was propped up against two homunculi. He also just barely saw Shoam disappear as the Healer walked in past him.

Allen turned around with a grin and a defeated sigh as pushed the knife away from his neck. “It’s been a while Shoam, I didn’t get soul killed,” he said.

The Rogue stepped back and smiled, though Allen only had his eyes and body language to gage his expression by. The lower half of his face was covered by a mask, and only the tips of his ears poked out of the sides. His silver hair made him seem older, but elves’ lifespans were no different from humans.

The elf snickered, his voice coming out as a whisper. “Ah, but you have lost all your skills, dear friend, and you are apparently a child once again.”

“I have lost all my Skills, that’s true,” Allen began, returning the grin, “but I haven’t lost any of my skills.”

The elf chuckled to himself before glancing over at Christopher, Amelia, and Camila, all three of whom had tense shoulders and hard stares directed to the elf.

“Who’s this one?” Christopher asked.

“Hey! I don’t know this lady!” Ty shouted; his complaining was quickly followed by laughter from around the room.

“I have no name, Mage. I wouldn’t be able to call myself an Assassin if I did,” Shaom said.

“You probably know him as Darkstar,” Allen said bluntly. “One day you’ll learn how to say hello like a normal person,” he thought, grinning as the elf scowled at him playfully.

Christopher shifted uncomfortably while Amelia actually took a step back with wide eyes. Camila appeared entirely ignorant, which seemed to be a consistent reaction of hers.

“Oh, you have no right to react that way after presumably traveling with the White Wraith,” Shoam’s eyes crinkled even more than before as the elf smiled ear to ear behind his mask.

Allen sighed, ignoring both his friend’s reaction and the reactions of the others from his group. Instead, he focused on the scene behind the elf. He watched as Jack crept up behind Gatekeeper Maráuh who was chatting idly with the woman responsible for toppling the Anillis Kingdom five years ago.

“Oh no,” Allen thought, chuckling softly.

Jack discretely shuffled closer before slowly reaching out for Mar’s rear end. His hand made it within centimeters from its target before the golem’s stony grip snapped around his wrist.

Jack had little more than an instant to cry out in alarm before both he and the Gatekeeper became a blur of motion. An echoing crash shuddered through the training hall in nearly the same moment. Allen stood on his toes and silently glanced over at the far wall along with everyone else. He found Jack embedded in the center of a crater in the wall nearly twenty meters across, laughing like a madman.

“Art is to be observed, never touched!” shouted Maráuh as she theatrically flipped her marble hair back over her shoulders.

“W-what the fuck just happened?” Camila blurted, looking around with a twisted grin.

“Oh yeah, he’s been trying to grab her ass for years,” Allen said, biting his lip. “Maybe we should just settle down for a bit.”