"What's happening?" I inquired.

"I don't know," Bella said.

Vepar, luckily, had the answer. "It's upgrading."

"Upgrading?" I asked back.

"Yes," was all she responded.

Amdusias elaborated, "The source of the elemental powers in this dungeon is not the strongest elemental powers. It is entirely possible for it to gain more-powerful sources, combining them into itself to greater strengthen the elemental power."

When he finished explaining, the orb reappeared. It scanned me and acknowledged me like normal, so I didn't care if it upgraded or not. In addition to the mud source, I was now acknowledged by the stone source! Once powerful enough, I couldn't wait to take it for myself.

"Sorry for that," a voice said appearing from nowhere. "I didn't know there would be explorers here. Olga, please erase their memories."

"Wait, Olga, Craig!" I said

"Hi," Bella said, shyly.

"Oh, if it isn't the fairy explorer," Olga said. "You're already on the eighth floor."

"No need to erase their memories. I'm sorry for frightening the both of you. I'll give the fairy queen a small gift to compensate. Bye," Crag said.

We immediately left, not wanting to deal with him or further dig into the secrets about how he's connected with the source. On our way out, he threw something at me, which I caught. It raised almost all of my affinities by 1%! It might be small, but at least it showed he was sorry for causing a ruckus on the floor.

We went back to the normal dungeon room, and we found it was actually quite short. There were a few lizardmen who attacked with electricity through their spears, but my armor could easily deflect it. The exploding air was more difficult to deal with.

After five of them, Bella and I walked down a small hallway. In front of us were three doors. Behind each door, there was another room with the respective elemental lizardmen corresponding to an element we had previously faced.

Unfortunately, two of the rooms were dead ends. The third room led to another similar situation, with only one correct room.

After continuing this pattern for a few days, we found ourselves in a different room. Using my mana, I could sense lizardmen. They, instead of spears, carried canes. I appraised one, and, by doing so, found that they were an evolved form of lizardmen: Senior Lizardmen! Their canes used masses of darkness to inflict injury at unsuspecting foes, and their vitality was also higher.

[Appraise everything level up! Level three!]

I'm always glad when a skill levels up, especially one such as this that I use so often. I walked up to the first senior and, as I got close, it brandished its cane. Inside, there was a shining silver sword. It glistened as he tried to slash. Little did he know it was useless against >! I easily > before >. Judging by its reaction speed, its speed stat shouldn't be over sixty! Seeing how they were an evolved race, I was initially worried, but, after the first attack, I could tell they were no match for me. They had no way to stop me as I began to slaughter them.

They tried to make it difficult for me, and they had some tactical knowledge. Their inferior battle tactics, though, paled in comparison to Blackmail! I didn't even need magic since they seemed to enjoy fighting with the sword cane instead of their weak magic. Their darkness attacks could not even cause me to flinch they were so weak! I truly wondered if the evolution did anything to them. Then, I realized the bodies hadn't disappeared!

"Interesting. Such a high-level technique."

"What is it, Seere?"

"These monsters have the ability to hide their soul in their weapon. They can then slowly recover their power with their innate healing abilities. It appears to others that they are dead, but, to demons, this is nothing! I'm just interested, such a low-leveled race could learn such a technique."

The ease of defeating them made sense. They were lying in wait, trying to form a sneak attack! Thanks to Seere, though, I collected the canes. When the bodies still didn't disappear, I tried breaking the cane, but it was too strong. Finally, I used a very high-temperature > to do so. I even created a much better cane with my blacksmithing!

This new cane had three souls in it, providing energy from them and channeling it outwards. I had to remove the sword component to do so, but this cane was at least A+ ranked. I could feel the darkness and hatred emanating from the souls, so I didn't want to use the cane.

I used two sealing runes combined to lessen the power, but the souls were still strong. Even with >, their power could slightly be felt. I suddenly had an idea, so I took a plastic bag from the warehouse and put the cane inside it. I then combined space and sealing on the inside of the bag before finishing it with a runic lock. Finally, I couldn't sense the dense aura emanating from it, and I stored it in the warehouse.

"What was that?" Bella asked.

"It's a scary weapon I somehow created. It has some bad souls in it, which still have hatred in them. As such, I don't want to use it. I heavily sealed it and stored it away."

"Why didn't you just put it in one of these?"

She took out a leather bag that looked as if golf clubs should be inside it.

"So, what's that?"

"Sorry, husband. I didn't realize you didn’t have any. Here. Use this one. I have many."

"Thank you," I said, looking at the runes drawn on it.

They looked similar to the advanced runes I knew, but they were completely different at the same time. I was unable to grasp their meaning, but I took the bag from the warehouse, put it in this, and then stored the entire thing away.

"Welcome," Bella said, happily.

Even though my demon eyes could see the room, there was no door. Bella thought it would take a certain amount of time for it to appear—we won too quick. As such, we sat and waited to move on. This was the only path left. The others were all dead ends, so we knew this was correct.

[Level seven authority confirmed. Door opened. Floor unlocked]

I saw one of the black screens that the fairies get missions from. On it, I saw Craig left me a message.

"Sorry, I got a little caught up with my new source. I forgot to open the floor back up. Everyone else was transferred to a backup, but, since you're fairies, I forgot to specifically add you for the transfer. My bad. I prepared a special room for your boss fight."

I was worried about what this guy thought special meant, but I had no choice. Bella and I advanced forwards towards the newly opened door, finding us in a forest.

At that point, I saw my dexterity increased by one!

In the forest, I asked Bella what humans could evolve into. I wondered what my family would become if they got some power.

"Humans don't evolve," she began to explain. "they are a lucky race with no ceiling."

"Are there other races like that?"

"I haven't met any, but my mom once told me that there is an end to the evolution path, and that end may not have a stat cap."

"Thanks, Bella."

"Welcome, Husband."

I saw an odd-shaped tree up ahead. The fruits blossoming were filled with mana in odd configurations—I couldn't even make it out.

I picked a fruit and looked over it. I didn't know what it was for, but Bella seemed to.

"We should let Mom know! We may get a reward!" Bella exclaimed as she had me open up a path to the castle.

We'd been here a lot, lately.

"Mom, look what we found! It was in the normal dungeon!"

"Something must have happened. How did you find this tree?" She asked, worried.

"Craig opened up a special passageway to a forest to fight a special monster, and this tree was growing there."

The queen seemed angry and called over Olga. Olga explained what Craig had been up to but had no knowledge this tree was growing.

"Come with me. Let's go meet a friend. Bella, you remember Katelin, right?"

"Yep," she replied.

The queen explained to me that we were going to another similar secret location. She took out a key and opened a random door in her castle. In the room was a plain-looking desk. Atop it was an orb, but it was small and clear—different from the others I'd seen.

"System, please contact Gwyn. Message: S fruit found in non-confined area, mission assignment: Queen, Bella, Roberto. Mission type: investigation. Visiting Katelin."

"What's that for?" I asked the queen.

"Since Craig may be involved, I reported to another level seven authority figure, Gwyn. She's in charge of the water element. Let's go visit Katelin."

The queen touched the orb and the door behind us shimmered. On the other side was a different place. There, rows of trees with the same fruit seemed to stretch on infinitely. Each was on its plot of soil, surrounded by a vast ocean.

We exited the room and found ourselves leaving a beach hut.

"Katelin, we're here on official business," the queen announced.

From the water, a giant pillar of water rose up. It condensed, becoming a small girl with a cape made of water.

"Nice to meet'cha," the girl said. "Name's Katelin, the radiant nymph."

"Radiant nymph? Is that an evolved race?"

"Correct, Roberto," the queen said. "Nymphs have many forms, and the head, who, like me, is from before the dungeon came to be, is a radiant nymph. She has a few bright nymphs under her, but most are water nymphs."

"This evolution stuff is so confusing!" I exclaimed.

"At least you can become more powerful, Husband," Bella whispered, staying close to me and far from the nymph.

"I see your dexterity is almost ready. I'll explain the paths you may choose from when we return," the queen said, though she seemed to be thinking of something else.

"What's up, peeps?" Katelin asked.

"We are here regarding a lost S fruit tree."

"Felecia, please double check all reports," the nymph commanded.

Bella explained to me that an S fruit is the basis for creating monster spawners, using extracted essences from millions of the monster itself.

Another less-powerful water pillar appeared. From it came another girl with a clipboard.

"Boss, it all checks out. You weren't playing around in the dungeon, right? You didn't drop one then cross it out? Seriously, you're such a handful. Hello, Fairy Queen, Bella, and other fairy. I'm Boss's personal assistant, Felecia. It's a pleasure to meet you. I apologize for my boss's actions."

"Likewise. I'm Roberto."

"Felecia, I wasn't playin'. You don't let me no more."

The queen asked, "then where did this fruit come from?"

"I don't know nothin'. Quit naggin'," Katelin said.

"Once again, I'm sorry. Please let me see the fruit," Felecia said, taking the fruit from the queen. "Yes. This is a wasp spawner. Eighth floor mob from the hidden condition room. There shouldn't be a tree there, though."

She pocketed the fruit and looked through the papers on her clipboard. Then, she switched and brought up a black screen, sifting through it. She soon showed us a video. In the video, Craig was plugging some cords into the source. Next to him was a tree—it was the same one!

"You gave him the wrong tree, boss!" Felecia exclaimed.

"What'cha mean?" Katelin asked, beginning to chew on a gum-like candy.

"Craig needed a refining tree to help the new source acclimate and assimilate. You gave him an S fruit tree! Sorry for troubling you, fairies. I'll get someone to fix this right away."

Felicia returned to her beam of water, disappearing.

"See 'ya," Katelin said, popping a bubble before going back underwater.

"I'm glad we got to the bottom of this. That girl, she really is too careless for her position," the queen said, shaking her head. "System, please mark the mission as complete. Distribute 20HP to both as a reward."

"Thank you," I said.

"Thanks, Mom," Bella followed.

"Let's return you both. You've still got a floor to complete," the queen said as we followed her back to the castle.

"Oh, yes, Roberto. I forgot to tell you about the evolutions that are possible."

To summarize her lengthily explanation, pixies evolve into fairies. Fairies then evolve into guardian fairies. Most guardian fairies become veiled fairies, which are the highest subordinates under the queen. Some, luckily, can become daisy fairies instead. Veiled fairies become fairy elders before becoming flower fairies. They, however, could no longer evolve past that. Fairies, like the queen, who become daisy fairies, become rose and then lily fairies before becoming flower fairies. They can evolve further to become golden fairies and then, like the queen, pure fairy maidens.

The first fairy queen in the dungeon wasn't Bella's mom. Even though she inherited their memories, she wasn't as powerful. The original was a fairy goddess who was possibly close to becoming a pure fairy goddess!

The road was so long! I was only just beginning, and I didn't even have the option to attempt either path. I wasn’t even that far yet! My power, though, was already very high. I couldn't imagine how high the queen's power was!

The next day, we finally set out to finish off this floor! At the same place as before, the tree no longer stood. It was replaced by an ordinary tree with a paper tacked to it saying, "sorry!"

Past the tree, I could see a swarm of bees! They were in a spherical shape, going around in circles to protect whatever was inside.

Bella and I used our bows to continually shoot at the bees. Thanks to the addition of the lava forest, mine was much more effective than before! Slowly, we could begin to see that there was a giant wasp inside the swarm of bees.

Even when the individual bees were exterminated, the boss didn't move. It just stared us down.

Finally, it began its attack by spitting poison towards us. I absorbed the poison and used my own > to show it that poison wouldn't affect me.

It then tried shooting its stinger, which we avoided. I shot > while > Blackmail imbued with electricity. This was enough for it to fall, where I was able to easily > the wasp until it vanished into the air.

We continued to the end of the forest, killing some small bug-like monsters before arriving at the usual orb.

While doing so, my arrow techniques leveled up, granting me >. This new skill allowed me to attach strings to my arrows that I could use to find them later or retrieve them.

As always, I quickly approached the orb so it could scan me.

[Floor eight complete. Authority level for floor eight recognized.]

[Achievement: first time eight conquered by Earth explorer. Reward: hostility perception level up! Level four! EXP + 100!]

[Unknown interference detected. Crystal orb error]

"I am Earl Raum."

"Interesting. you've freed an Earl this time," Seere, as usual, first spoke

"Congratulations on your freedom," Amon said

Foras and Furcas both simply said, "Welcome."

The dukes didn't acknowledge him.

"Now that I am free, it is time for the customary gifts to be given to the new master. I do hope you enjoy," Raum said as he passed a belt to me.

God's belt (broken/growth) (soul bound/unnamed) (Armor)

Durability: Infinite

Description: conceals all weapons equipped to belt, restores their durability to maximum, allows for a large, hidden storage space only accessible by wearer.

I put my bow inside the new space and named the belt Purity.

I also gained a new skill, albeit it not a very useful one. It would be difficult to kick an enemy.

Demon legs

Description: legs can withstand any pressure applied to them. Kicking damage increases 250%

I wondered, if I kept getting the demon body part transformations, I may be able to change my race to demon. Then, I'd be no different from the ones in my ring. I suspected, though, that they were an evolved race of demons.

I ended up asking them, and, sure enough, my guess was correct. At full power, they were hellfire demons, and, if I could release and summon them, their power would only drop a grade to that of demon royalty. Furcas, as a knight, though, would only be able to display the power of the next-lesser grade, demon knight. My demonic transformation, at first, would be comparable to a higher demon, which is the evolved form of a normal demon. Seere encouraged me, though, that, with their help, I may even make it to become an animosity demon!

We were going to directly charge onto the ninth floor, but, after we arrived, I noticed my dexterity finally hit one hundred!

At first, I could see the room was a large battlefield. On both sides, skeletons wearing armor, which were "skeleton knights," according to appraisal, were attacking each other with fists and swords. There was already a mountain of bones in the center, and I didn't want to disturb them. I didn't get the chance, though, as I heard a voice. Surprisingly, it wasn't the system telling me I was going to evolve in race!

"You are not yet worthy, but I can sense a strong attraction to the forces of heaven in your body. You must be at least a little holy to be so aligned. I may add you to our next test," the voice said.

"Who are you?" I called out, surprising Bella who couldn't hear who I was talking to.

"My name is Aurora. I am an angel from heaven, and I've taken an interest in your abilities. I may give you the opportunity to become an angel, but you will first have to go through many trials and tribulations. The path to become a perfect angel, serving God, isn't an easy one. Only the most pure-hearted can persevere."

"Angel? Not a guardian fairy?"

"Angels are much more than guardian fairies. Let's see, I think it would be appropriate to say an average angel is comparable to a rose fairy."

"That would be even greater than just one evolution!"

"Correct."

"What about my wife? I don't want anything to happen to her."

"Easy. If you pass, she will slowly gain the energy of heaven, heavenly energy, or HE. Once her affinity is high enough from this energy, and, once you become an archangel, you can promote her yourself!"

"Archangel? Another confusing evolutionary path?" I asked, further confusing Bella.

Aurora responded, "Correct. High angels can become archangels or even commander archangels. The current leader of Archipelago, Gabriel, is even a commander archangel (with divinity)!"

"Wow! Bella, someone wants me to become an angel."

"An angel, husband? That's perfect. I'd love to be an angel with you."

"I don't care, as long as we're together."

"We'll always be together, Husband."

"I know," I said, hugging her.

"I'll stop your evolution with this artifact, for now. I'll talk to some other angels and see what they think. Good luck joining us and becoming a lesser angel! You'll join a large family who can crush all opponents!" She said while maniacally laughing before her voice faded out.

She left a small cross, which embroidered itself onto my chest, causing searing pain in that area. I could tell my plasma was restricted there as if it was an artery with calcified plaque built up for decades.

We again went to see the fairy queen.

"Has Roberto finished already? Is there another issue, or are you just dropping by?" the queen asked when we arrived.

"I got invited to become an angel."

"That's very good, Roberto. Fairy is one of the few races who could entirely change races! I hope you succeed. If you do, Bella's future will be even brighter, and she won't be bound by this dungeon at all! An angel's power! I wish you luck," she said.

Halloween was in five days, and we wanted to prepare to have fun on All Hallows Eve. We were setting up a haunted house!