Edited by: God. Again. Stupid break. Ppl don’t have time for things that are really important: for me!

I took my time feasting on Matron’s body. The beast was a lower chimera, so instead of getting a new Core, I got a boost to my already existing one: wolf's, bat's and a little to lizard's. Why lizard? Don’t ask me. Maybe because of those few scales it had on its body, or maybe because of their tongues, still, as soon as I was done we start walking through next corridors. Eventually, we found the entrance to the deeper floor, Gisele wanted to jump in right away, yet I pull her back by her collar.

- “Why did you do that?” she pouted

- “One. Did you forget how your last rushed journey down ended? We got separated.”

- “Aww, you don’t want to leave my side?” she tried teasing me

- “… you may jump into spider’s nest again. Alone.”

- “… That’s , which means there should be also .”

- “And two: they are paying us for making maps of the dungeon. We still have few corridors left to check. To this chamber leads only one tunnel, and nothing should be able to come from that hole…” I said pointing with my head at the hollow in the middle of the floor, similar to the one that dumped us on 1st floor “… it’s getting late. We can finish checking the floor, come here back for the night, rest, and continue dungeon ride well rested.”

Dragoness pouted.

- “Gis, we were the only one that took this quest, they will wait around a month before sending somebody else here. No one will steal it from you!” still, she wasn’t convinced “.. and I am sure that they will be more impressed if we would deliver a complete collection of maps and…”

- “Ok! OK! We will do it your way! Just stop talking!”

She didn’t like it at all. Hot-blooded foolish lizard.

Same time, training room of Guild

- “Come on! Are you even trying?” Ay teased blonde girl as she once again parried her dagger strike.

Elana clenched her teeth and tired once again. She already got used to older woman teasing. It was also part of her training. She remembers what assassin told her

- “Giiiirl! Move those hips of yours!... Oh, wait. After closer inspection, you indeed have nothing to move…”

Scarlet’s cheeks were covered with a deep blush, both from tiredness and embarrassment.

- “BE QUIET! You… You!... “ girl quickly gazed at her teacher’s chest “…You cow!” Elana lost her temper.

She was quickly brought down on the floor with a swing by a woman that just burst into laughter. She was giggling like lunatic.

- “Damn you, girl! You got me there!” and she started laughing once again “… Was that your first insult or what?”

Only then El blinked twice remembering what she said in anger.

- “I… I AM SO SORRY!”

- “Wait… You really did insult someone for the first time!” In that moment crazy woman stopped laughing and got back from the floor “… I just – I just took your first time!”

- “D-d-d-don’t say it so lewdly!” girl was once again taken aback

- “Atta girl. Five minutes break. Here, drink it.” She tossed her a small bottle filled with yellow liquid

- “W-what is it?” she asked looking suspiciously at the bottle

- “Gift from your . He left me few of those in case you needed a little kick.”

After a moment of hesitation, El started drinking liquid within a bottle. She was just hoping her teacher won’t mention one certain topic. The topic she was trying to avoid by any means necessary.

- “Have you been thinking about other classes I suggested?” Brown haired killer sat close to the girl “What about clothes I bought you?”

And of course, that one topic needed to be mentioned.

- “I… I couldn’t bring myself to wear something SO raveling!”

It was time for Aiele to be surprised.

- “The fuck are you talking about?!” still, it was very hard for young noble to get used to vulgarisms used by her teacher “… This one is barely showing your shoulders and part of the back! You are covered right to your neck!”

- “B-b-b-b-but!” Up until now, El was wearing ONLY full robes or dresses suiting kids, the one that left only her palms and bit of neck uncovered.

- “No buts! This suit was meant to show off your innocence!”

- “But people will stare at me!”

- “PEOPLE ARE MEANT TO STARE AT YOU! And they will do so even without these clothes. Come on! Look at you!”

Assassin picked a bundle of her hair

- “You have such a lovely, easy to take care of hair like a brightness sun!” she moved her palm and touch her cheek “… skin pale as snow and those beautiful, big blue eyes! You are simply beautiful, and no man won’t be able not to look at you! The other matter is using it!”

Her fingers travelled to her lips, then nose, forehead just to deliver her a quick fillip,

- “Tsuk!” El didn’t expect that sneaky attack “… It hurts!” she yelled grabbing her head.

- “See? Even those natural reactions of yours will make everyone want to hug you! Another lesson, girl, two things are ruling this world, do you know which one?”

- “Faith and dedication?”

- “Almost. Money and woman. These are the only thing that mighty will desire. A wise and pretty women were ruling countries from behind a throne, because, in the end, men are simple. You just have to learn what they desire, and then promise giving it to them. Some wants power, some wants wealth, some wants love or just a little of passion. You need to find out what they desire… and then you will have an absolute control over his life.”

- “This is… cruel.”

- “Indeed. But just as men wish to use certain aspects of women, women can use men for their own goals. But fret not, my morsel, love is also a goal worth achieving.”

- “Miss Ay, can I ask you a question?”

- “You just did.”

- “I mean, another one?”

- “Guess what. You just did that AGAIN.”

- “I-I m-mean…!” she blushed even harder. “Can I ask a question AFTER this one?”

- “You have also did that.”

- “When!?”

- “Right now.” Aiele simply loved playing those games. “Just ask it, kid.”

- “If you know all of these… didn’t you ever consider changing your life?

- “I did think about it, sweetie. And I did change my life. I found a target I couldn’t bring myself to kill, eventually, using my vast knowledge and undeniable beauty I tricked him into falling in love with me. I got a lesser noble title, started a family, had a single kid… and then guild reminded that not only I have job unfinished, but also debt to pay. So they send somebody else to kill my husband, and threatening with killing my little daughter they forced me to work for them.”

Elana was left speechless.

- “And that’s another lesson, kid. We will learn about it tomorrow. How to lie.”

- “Y-y-y-you made it up!?”

- “Wait, you just imagined me as a boring housewife?” Woman’s laugh shaken the room again “No sweetheart, I didn’t ever dream of changing my job. I was born an orphan and was raised by Syndicate. This is the only life I know. A life I enjoy. You see, I visited a doctor once, the one that heals mind, not body. He said that I am sociopath which means I can’t simply live in normal society and have no value over others people life. And damn girl, he was right.”

A quick stroke on El’s head let her know that break time is over

- “Get up, kid, I will take good care of you!” assassin smiled licking her dagger.

Elana’s torment lasted for few more minutes, till she collapsed from exhaustion. As she was lying there she couldn’t notice how assassin pulled a little pendant from her pocket looking at it with bits of melancholy.

- “Silly me,” she whispered to herself tossing it behind her. Pendant fell right into the trash can.

Back in the dungeon.

I woke up after my fair three or four hours of sleep seeing Gisele looking with anticipation into the hole leading to the deeper floor.

- “Are you awake?” she asked looking back at me

She was supposed to keep a watch for half of the night, even if we were mostly safe.

- “Yeah, we can pack our things and…” I looked around the camp. It simply wasn’t here

- “Already did that! Only your bedroll is left.”

- “What about breakfast?”

- “Already ate. I left your ration on the blanket to your left.”

Indeed on a small piece of fabric few small “caloric bombs” were put. I hate those. Tasteless lumps of sugar and fat. Well, they took little space in our bags and served their purpose of keeping us alive, so I couldn’t complain… Or could I?

- “Sweetie, why are you in such a hurry?” Indeed, usually, I was the one waking Gisele up and rushing her leave the camp-place.

- “I just… I just have bad feelings about this dungeon and want to finish it already.”

That was something worthy of being taken into consideration. Gisele loves dungeon rides. So if she has bad feelings that could mean that there is a serious threat awaiting for us…

… or…

- “Gisele. You aren’t afraid of bugs that much, aren’t you?”

- “… don’t be silly!”

So she is. She wants to leave the dungeon only because of few spiders. I rolled my eyes.

- “SO WHAT THAT I HATE THEM!? They are small, venomous, disgusting, hard to kill and too many of them! They can’t be used as food either, because they are covered in that exoskeleton, and time needed to retrieve their flesh simply doesn’t pay off!”

- “We found only three lairs of these, and we get rid of them pretty easily.”

- “No – You got rid of them pretty easily! I was running in a circle serving as a bait! And you took your time killing them because you wanted to make fun of me!”

Crap, she found out.

- “So… You want us to return with the first glyph we would find?”

She hesitated.

- “We will see in what state I would be after encountering it.”

Fair decision. We quickly packed rest of our equipment and prepared to jump in even further. This time, we hugged each other for the time of our little ride down in order to prevent our separation.

- “Ready?” I asked her “On three. One… T…”

- “Three!” Gis pulled me after her to the hold. I could have expected that.

Library of Magic Academy

Morgana was sitting at her usual table in the corner of the chamber. No one bothered her here, well except few horny brats that were lured to her because of her exotic beauty. She just got rid of another admirer with few very rude words and got back to her studies.

What was she reading about? About elder magic, rituals, reversed rituals, broken rituals, re-doing negative effects of failed rituals and about White Onyx – or in the other words: about everything that could give her magic back. She found out what was the main reason behind her inability to cast spells – her mana veins were completely clogged. Yeah, just like pipes.

She spent gods only know how long in a chamber made of onyx, she was breathing it in – the small molecules (even as she couldn’t name them like that) were slowly depositing itself in her body. And because White Onyx always follows after mana binding it, it settled in her mana veins.

So, how do you get rid of it? You most likely couldn’t. If you would try to get rid of it with magic, it would be swallowed completely without any effects. Maybe, if she would spend lots of time in an environment with high magic density, the little molecules would slowly start leaving her body. Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford to bath in dragon’s blood for a century, so this method was also abandoned. At least for now.

Surgery? No. No-no-no-no-no aaaand NO! Why? Mana vein is small. Very small. Very-very small! Hundreds, if not thousands of times smaller than blood veins. No One had skill nor tools to cut through such a little organs.

She needed something different. Something more invasive, yet nothing that would require body modification.

With a groan, half demoness flipped another page as she didn’t found anything that could help her. Maybe she should ask for help some professor? Kleir will want to touch her again, so maybe better not…

… Oh, he meant nothing sexual, yes, each time she appeared near him old man would literally swallow her with his eyes, but all he cared about were his studies. Admirable dedication, still, she would prefer letting examining her body for a bigger favor.

So maybe Hannah? The woman that took Zariel in? His so-called step-mother? Yes, she told her that she is ready to help his friends at every time of night and day. Very well. She will meet her after she would finish with books here. Until then…

- “Hey! All tables are occupied mind if I sit next to you?”

A girl asked with a polite tone.

Morgana quickly gazed over the chamber. Indeed, it was weekend, which meant that students of the academy were trying to finish their report for classes they would have in next week, making every single table and chair covered in the mass of people and books.

All except hers.

- “Just don’t disturb me.” she said after a split of the second, moving bit to the left making some space for a young, redhead girl.

In the end, girl just wanted to study. She lived and almost died so everyone could have this opportunity.

- “Rituals, hmm?” girl, of course, had to disturb her. She started a conversation with a friendly tone “Complex matter that…”

- “I asked you not to disturb me.” Demoness wasn’t trying to be friendly at all

- “… sorry, I am simply working under Senate chairman that is quite good with rituals, so I thought that I could help you a little… Didn’t mean to pry. I am sorry.”

Wait. That’s information worth being mentioned. Morgana put her book down.

- “I will forgive you if you would end talking about the matter you just mentioned.”

The green-eyed girl smiled widely.

- “Senator Polimus has a diploma with rituals, he mentions about it twice or thrice a day, I am more than sure that he has the most complex knowledge about rituals in the whole country. Just tell me what you want to know about certain ritual, and I will try finding all about it.”

- “… Why won’t you introduce me to him?” she didn’t like it at all.

- “Zari asked me to do this like that. He doesn’t want you to get involved in politics. He said you hate it.”

Zariel. Zariel again. He is JUST like Balthazar. Whatever is happening around her it is because HE wanted it to be this way.

- “And what interest do you have in it?”

- “… repaying for my sins.” The girl smiled lightly “Zariel helped me greatly, and when he needed my help, I turned my back and left him.”

- “… You are Ruby, aren’t you?” she heard about this girl. Zariel would talk few words about her, usually as he would get drunk. These weren’t nice words.

- “Haha, I already imagine what he said about me. He may act like he does not care, but I know that deep inside he didn’t forgive me.”

- “You like him?” that would be another girl under his charm.

- “Like? I have no idea. He was a good friend to me, but not… I think I just admire him. He is a great mage, with vast knowledge and many possibilities…”

- “And useful pawn to have.” … in the end she was working for Senator

- “All I want is to make a world a better place. I don’t want to USE anyone. Merely to show my vision of the world and ask for help. This is one of the things that differs me from Senator Polimus. My approach to the people. I hope that in future the two of us could talk about it – a better world.”

“To make a world a better place.” The motto of her ex-husband. As much as he hated him, she could respect his dedication. He was a horrible man, husband, and lover, but a great king.

No! She needed to snap out of it. No politics till she would get a better grasp of today’s world and have her magic back. She won’t make any deals until she would have her powers back.

… and once again she will need to ask few other parties about Zariel. He is slowly rising to the position of the serious player. He owns part of Syndicate – underground organization, now he challenged alchemists guild making himself a legal trader, he has connections with nobles and mages, but his rank as adventurer makes him “untouchable” by any political parties and organizations.

Just what is his goal? It’s too much power for one man. And if someone would tell her, that he either has no plans or isn’t using this power, she wouldn’t believe. He is up to something! And she would find out what is it!

- “Miss? Everything all right?”

Her chain of thoughts was disturbed. Again.

- “It’s nothing. I will count on you in this matter. I just want to tell you that I don’t really have any money to pay for your…”

- “Don’t mind it. Told you. I want to make a world better place. I saw you during lectures, you are quite dedicated students. I simply can’t wait to see all those beautiful things you will do with hands of yours!”

A woman smiled one last time before starting reading her own books. In the end, she also came to the library to study, and this meeting was only a coincidence.

Or was it?