Argent's words faded into the expanse as they stepped into the teleport, finding themselves situated in an expansive section of cave system.  It was dark, lit subtly by patches of glowing moss and fungi which grew along the rocky outcroppings making up the place. The soft bioluminescence gradually began to feel more substantial the longer his eyes adjusted to the environment, but it was still uncomfortably dark for someone with natural human eyesight.  From within the low light of the room Instructor Liamra’s voice sounded amongst them, a message pre-recorded for their arrival.

“Welcome to the fifth and final trial of your examination. The dungeon lays before you, how will you proceed? The choice is yours! You need but touch the summoning orb at the end of it all, and you’ll have passed the obstacle. Touching the orb behind you in this room will return you to the garden, but you will forfeit the test. Just remember, my dear students-- Nobody is coming in after you. You are all there is. Make the Academy proud, will you? I’ll be here to kiss your ouchies when you’re all done. Best of Luck~!!”

“Somehow, her overbearing affection does little to comfort me.”

Jaroth stated dryly, letting out a sigh as he adjusted the way his bow rested across his shoulders.  It was the first time Argent really got a good look at the weapon, and the boy who owned it for that matter.  Jaroth was sturdier looking up close than his cloaked appearance had lead Argent to assume at first glance, the composite segments of his bow comprised of heavily glued and pressed Ironwood and wild Sapwood from Orodae, fitted with steel banding for extra support.  Looking at it now, Argent supposed that Jaroth must have been deceptively strong in order to handle the draw weight on such a weapon.

“I think I understand what you mean. I know she means well, but… She doesn’t exactly come across like a teacher?”

Argent responded, earning a grin and a nod of agreement from Jaroth as the young rogue turned to face him fully for the first time.  Cool, stone coloured eyes sized him up for a moment or two, before the other boy extended a hand outwards for Argent to shake.

“Call me Gauge.”

“Argent.”

“Works for me. And you, Shizuka?”

“Mhm.”

“Stellar.”

The quick moving introduction caused Argent to chuckle. Jaroth, or Gauge, as the boy requested to be addressed by his surname, seemed unusually straightforward for the thieving type.  Shizuka was aloof but her aura felt kind. Considering the three of them together, Argent’s relief was tangible as he thanked his good fortune at being selected by Shizuka for this group.  They seemed to be getting along together far better than the initial stages of their class indicated, though admittedly their current team had avoided any of the obvious aggressors. Turning his mind back to the task at hand Argent realized he knew almost nothing of his classmate’s specialties other than what was visually discernable,  but before he could open his mouth to voice the question, Shizuka had already started down into the depths of the cavern.  Gauge trailed along behind her without complaint, leaving Argent to hurriedly follow after.

The beginning segments of the tunnels left him with embarrassingly little to do.  His teammates navigated the somber dark with ease, Gauge appearing to melt into the darkness completely as he shifted forward from one position to another.  His Empathy and Sense Aura arts allowed him to easily locate and identify targets for Shizuka, firing off an opening shot or two from the cover of stealth before leaving her to mop up the survivors.  As Argent had anticipated based off her prior performance, Shizuka’s agility was distinctly inhuman.  Wielding a pair of twin kusarigama she navigated the battlespace as if she were ethereal, using her kama and weights not only as weapons but also as methods of movement, hooking onto available segments of terrain and swinging or leaping from walls and pillars with the assistance of her chains.  Chains which, as Argent looked closely, he realized were changing lengths at varying intervals as though controlled by her mental command.  Moreover, if the amorphous lengths of her blades weren’t enough, each of Shizuka’s kicks struck like a smith’s hammer slamming against an anvil.

“Kioku’s tits..”

Argent heard Gauge mutter the obscure words under his breath.  A local curse used most often by those from the old world, blaspheming the name of a female deity who once sat upon the pantheon as the Goddess of War.  He couldn’t say the remark was unwarranted, as the two of them watched Shizuka knock a ghoul’s head clean off its body with a powerful spinning kick.

“Thank the Gods she doesn’t seem like the type to resort to violence when upset… Or the type to get upset in the first place.”

“I feel kind of guilty. She’s out there literally kicking enemies to death, and I've done nothing but follow along behind you two.”

“Eh, don’t sweat it.  These halls are narrow, and the two of us would only be in her way when it comes to close combat. Let her do her thing.”

Gauge said with a shrug, lowering his bow as their rabbit wrecking ball finished her cleanup and the three of them moved into another larger space.  It looked as though the caves were about to give way into a man-made ruin of some sort, a door not unlike the original from their test fitted into one of the stone walls.  The three of them gave the room a quick sweep before gathering at the door, finding it to be much older and more weathered than it had appeared at a distance in the low light.

“What do you think, Gauge?”

“Easy.”

The rogue replied with a casual thumbs up.  Argent watched curiously as the boy’s hands slipped beneath his cloak to retrieve his tools, more than a little interested to watch him work up close.  His expression turned to confusion as Gauge’s hands reappeared holding a rugged looking tomahawk and a thick metal spike, which he set against the aging door handle and promptly struck in the back with the flat of his handaxe like a worksman driving a nail.  The aging door had been damaged looking to begin with, fitted with a wide keyhole suited to the heavy old-style keys of times past, a keyhole which gave plenty of entry room for the spike as it was punched clean through the locking mechanism. The impact and massive internal puncture caused the door’s handles to fall off on either side and go rolling across the stone as Gauge tucked his tools back under his cloak.  Argent gave him an incredulous look.  The rogue responded with a wide smirk.

“Sometimes a bit of smash and grab goes a long way.”

Through the doorway, the halls widened into long walks leading into the next area, the environment changing from natural cavern to layered carvings, pillars and bricks.  Mosses coated the cobblestone flooring in place of a carpet, vines and other creeping plant life hanging in abundance from the walls of the ruin.  They were beautiful in a way, lush and green against the bluish-grey stone.  Argent’s eyes followed them closely, taking in their natural appeal but also trying to place the reason he felt he recognized them; on the lookout for perhaps an ingredient or two which he could gather for his potions kit.  Up ahead the hallway opened into a full blown room, pillars rising into a high ceiling whilst in the center a platform raised upwards step by step. A single switch resting in the center.

“Opinions on that? Seems sketchy to me--”

Gauge was saying, eyes on the switch as he began to move forward into the room due to the apparent lack of opposition.  It was then that Argent noticed the rustling of vines amidst the wall, a budding purple flower the size of a person’s head catching his eyes as it lifted upwards, petals opening.

“Watch it!” 

He shouted in alarm, shoving Gauge forward and out of the way as the spitting violet launched a volley of barbs out from the center of its bloom.  That was why he recognized the shapes of the vines, damnit.  The sacs of toxin which could be harvested from spitting violets were reasonably valuable in the right hands, making them a plant which often created bounty work for younger mercenaries looking for low-tier gathering quests.  Gauge had been spared being needled directly in the chest, but several of the narrow thorns had pierced through Argent’s bracers and embedded themselves deep into his forearm.  With a lightning quick flash of silver, Shizuka’s kusarigama whipped outwards and severed the bloom of the vine before it could spit again.  The plant emitted a muffled, eerie shrieking sound as it coiled around the severed portion of itself and tried to shrink inwards against the wall.

“Argent! Ah, damnit, I’m sorry!”

Gauge rushed over to him, the usual chill in his slate grey eyes clearly shaken.  He knelt down alongside Argent and examined the barbs in his arm, cursing and clenching his teeth as though he were personally experiencing the wound.

“He doesn’t have long.”

Shizuka stated matter of factly, her eyes not moving towards Argent as she spoke, instead keeping a steady watch on the walls around them in case any more blossoms reared their heads.  Gauge looked over at her in alarm before turning back to Argent some sort of clarification.

“She’s not wrong.. Spitting violet toxin is lethal if untreated.”

Before the full weight of panic could sink into Gauge’s expression, Argent reached up and clasped the rogue's shoulder firmly with his non-injured arm, steadying him with a purposeful look.

“Which is why you’re going to treat it.”

“How? I don’t have any antidotes or meds!”

He objected, looking crestfallen.  The guilt and worry was clear in his face, but Argent only shook his head and shrugged back towards the traveling pack he wore. Carefully he pulled the barbs of the violet loose from his forearm, wincing in pain as already the wounds began to ooze out plasma and pus due to the effects of the toxins. 

“You’re going to make one.”

Before Gauge could begin to question or object, Argent directed him to remove his pack.  Guiding the other boy through its contents and instructing him to remove two sets of equipment, an Alchemist’s kit and a very basic package of herbalist’s tools.  He also had the rogue remove a length of leather cord and a metal spike meant for climbing, which he applied as a makeshift tourniquet high upon his bicep in order to isolate the toxin as much as possible.  Tears filled Argent’s eyes from the leather twisting into his skin as it was wound tight, causing more pain than the injury below it.  Twice he had to convince Gauge to keep turning the application tighter as the rogue hesitated due to the obvious suffering it was causing.  Once Argent was convinced his circulation was stopped, he began to walk Gauge through the steps towards making the antidote he hoped would save his life.

“Go and get the head from that spitting violet, Shizuka has you covered… Okay. Now carefully, and I mean carefully, take that thin scalpel from the herbalists kit.. Make an incision just below the stamen, where they connect to the base of the flower’s pistil.  No, lower. Alright, start there and cut downwards, the toxin sacs should be held just there in that bulging section between the ovary and stem. Perfect, you’re doing great.”

Argent could feel himself starting to sweat, his arm was aching in more ways than one as his vision began to swim loosely in front of him.  Fighting to stay coherent, he shook himself violently, drawing a look from Gauge.  Trying to smile in what he hoped was a reassuring way, Argent continued on with the guidance.  It wasn’t long before the rogue had two sacs fully removed, having accidentally ruined one during the process.  He had looked incredibly worried about this, but Argent assured him two would be enough and that he was doing extremely well for someone dissecting a predatory vine for the first time.  The words had given the rogue a bit of a dry smile, but the fear was still fresh in his face even as they continued on.

“Now lance the sacs with that silver needle, and drain the toxin into a beaker. Careful not to get it on your fingers, Gauge… Very careful. Alright, you’ve got it. Open that box. See the smallest of the silver spoons? Yep, the one that’s barely a full cubic centimeter. Scoop in two spoons of Queviran Citrine.”

Gauge gave him a look.

“Er.. Brewer’s Antithesis? ...No? ...The yellowish powder in the third row, seventh from your left.”

Stirring the powdered gemstone into the toxin resulted in an immediate effect, as the kai contained within the Citrine dissolved and activated. It was an expensive substance known also by the name of ‘Powdered Fate’ when in its ground down form like this.  The Citrine itself was a form of etherium quartz, which contained a weave of kai which when activated served to rewrite and reverse the inherent nature of most compounds or substances it came into contact with.  No one was entirely sure how it worked, with more than a few notable mages having slaved their better years away with attempts to unravel the gemstone’s natural aspect weave and copy it as a spell.  As of yet none had been successful in such a task, or if they had, they’d kept quiet about it. As the Citrine dissolved the beaker’s contents changed from a sickly purple-black to a dull silvery green, the makeup of the substance inside altering from nerve destroying toxin to tissue regenerating salve.  A huge step in the right direction, but not quite a finished product.  Argent had Gauge crush the juice from a cluster of Shyvirre berries, mince a handful of Hanamure leaves, and drop in a clump of Eireth-- a delicate blue moss.  Taking the beaker in good hand Argent struggled to keep himself upright as he channelled arcana into the concoction, Gauge quickly reaching out to steady him as he began to sway from the exertion.  The effects of Enhance Reaction swept through the ingredients, causing the beaker to froth. Before the foaming contents could spill over the edge Argent would gulp it down, his head leaned all the way back as he did his best to swallow it without tasting.  Even still he would choke a bit on the final portion of the liquid, coughing up some of what was now essentially a deep blue syrup.  The spilled goo dribbled down his face and dripped to the stone floor in globby rivulets, but he had swallowed more than enough to make it work… Of course, assuming they had brewed it right.

“Moment of truth.”

Argent said with the best smile he could muster, wiping his mouth on his cloak and reaching up to unfasten the tourniquet binding his injured arm. Shizuka, who had been watching from the sidelines after she was convinced no remaining vines were about to ambush them, made a slight sound of approval as the blood began to flow back into Argent’s arm with a rush of colour to his pallid skin.  The blackening veins and decaying flesh around the puncture wounds spread further outwards for a brief moment as fresh blood was introduced, causing Gauge to suck a heavy breath in through clenched teeth before the discolouration gradually began to recede.  Argent’s body began to regenerate before their eyes, though not through an instant ‘magic’ sort of means, but as though his natural processes were sped a thousand times.  It was grotesquely intriguing in a stomach turning sort of way, watching the wounds fester and ooze as they rejected the toxins, forcing them out from his arm in the form of a congealed and bloody slime. Argent breathed a sigh of relief.

“Pretty amazing, huh?”

“Mhm…”

“Amazingly disgusting.”

The three of them shared a laugh together for a moment, before packing up the supplies and turning their attention at last back out towards the room around them.  That had been quite the little episode, but something in Argent’s gut told him they still had a long way to go before they’d see the end of this place.  Their instructor may have been sweetly supportive of them, but she definitely didn't pull her punches. Good intentions or not she was tossing them into very real danger… And totally fine with doing it.

“I’m glad that’s over.. But at the same time, it's almost a shame there don’t seem to be more violets, we could have made a coating for your arrows.”

“That’s alright. I carry poisons for that already.”

“I’m not surprised... Still, I think I could’ve made you something quite decent, if my rotting arm was any indication.”

Argent joked as the three of them set about examining the room, but Gauge still looked guilty at the thought.  Perhaps it was a little too soon.  Clearing his throat, Argent looked towards where Shizuka had come to a halt in front of a massive stone gateway on the south wall of the chamber. Discounting the elevated switch and platform at the dead center of everything, the massive sealed archway was the most obvious fixture in the room, large enough to pull a wagon through and carved with several detailed images.  The room itself was fascinating, having been reclaimed by nature to a large extent, it had become a veritable garden of moss covered floors, vine tangled walls, and small saplings. Four large trees from which the jouvenile sproutlings had sourced were situated in artfully landscaped areas set in each corner of the room, flanked on either side by large decorative stones.  The hallway they had entered from was connected to the small doorway on the west wall, while on the east wall there was nothing.  At the north of the room, a man-made pool brimmed with crisp, clear waters.  

“What do you think that’s all about?”

Gauge nodded towards the door after rejoining the group, folding his arms and staring up at the engraven images.  Chisled skillfully into the barrier were three circles situated in a triangular fashion around the image of an ancient tree, woven helixes of linework connecting them one another.  Each of the circles contained a symbolic engraving. One of flowing water, one with a symbolic depiction of the sun, and the last one…

“What is that?”

Gauge gestured offhandedly at the final circle, his exasperation clear in his voice.

“Some sort of.. Pouch, I think? Or a sack?”

“Mhm.”

“Why the hell would there be a picture of a sack on a door?”

The outburst was both disgruntled and clearly rhetorical, so Argent left Gauge to his devices as the rogue began to feel his way around the door, tapping on it with several small tools and mumbling in low obscenities.  Turning to Shizuka, the alchemist was surprised to find her silvery gaze already looking at him.

“Words, here.. Can you..?”

She tipped her head questioningly, not needing to elaborate further as she pointed upwards at the circle closest to them.  Sure enough, as he looked more closely Argent could make out the worn etchings of old runewords narrowly surrounding the edge of the shape. They were small and some portions had chipped or eroded away with the untold passing of time, but he found that he could in fact translate them to a crude degree.

“Good eyes, Shizuka.”

He complimented her with a smile, resisting the sudden urge to ruffle her between the ears.  He couldn't be certain if it was the animal features or merely her gentle demeanour, but he instinctively wanted to pet her in that moment.  Something he thought better of doing, keeping himself reigned in and focusing instead on the runes around the circles.  Kneeling down, Argent dug around in his pack for several pieces of parchment, some charcoal, a quill and an ink bottle before beckoning Gauge over.  Pressing the pages against the circles he would begin to make a charcoal rub of each, utilizing Gauge as a footstool to reach the uppermost one.

“..Are you.. Almost… Done up there?”

The rogue grunted uncomfortably, straining as he tried to ignore Argent’s boots digging into his shoulders.  Quickly as he could Argent finished with his charcoal presses, hopping down to offer Gauge an apologetic smile and downward bow of the head.

“Thanks.. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t mention it, just figure this out will you? Much more of this and i’m about to yank on that switch, and then we’ll be figuring things out on the go.”

Gauge replied, rubbing at the tension in the side of his neck as Argent set about deciphering the papers.  

“Or we’ll be dead.”

Argent quipped back, giving Gauge a pointed look.  The translations took him a moment or two, but once he pieced together the first line it all started rolling together in his mind.  Runescript was not what you would call a common form of writing, at least not anymore, but many of the arcane manuscripts from the old world were written exclusively in it.  Something which had led to many issues of modern transcripts and manuals carrying on the tradition, somethin akin to a sense of elitism or a rite of passage amongst mages and scholars. In his study of several high-elven field guides to arcanacraft through herbology, Argent had been given no choice but to learn the script.

Ancient stone, mother of the deep earth, kissed by blinding rays.

Crystal depths rained down by man, spilled upon earthly roots.

Golden blessing, touched by elves, its luster the soil’s rebirth.

“Great. What’s that supposed to be, a riddle? This is why I prefer smashing my doors.”

Ignoring Gauge for the moment, Argent stared down at the words.

“It seems less of a riddle, and more like a list.”

Shizuka nodded at this, crouching down alongside Argent and looking at the parchments upon which he had written the words in common script.  Carefully she ran her fingers along them line by line, her ears tipping slightly as she sank deep into thought.

“...Trees.”

She said after a moment, turning her head to look back into the room.  Argent followed her gaze to the four trees planted in the corners, before looking back at the door where the three circles he had traced were all positioned around the central image of a tree.  It seemed pretty obvious at that point.  

“You’re right on with that, Shizuka. Most of the verbage used in these transcriptions is thematically linked-- Roots, soil, elves?”

“Mhm..”

“Alright then. Let's get a closer look.”

The two rose to their feet and made their way over to one of the trees.  Looking at them up close Argent found that although their leaves were green and living, something about them seemed sickly. Incomplete, even.  Thinking over the lines of text from the door his eyes were drawn to the large outcroppings of rock situated to either side of the tree.  If he wasn’t fooling himself, he almost thought he saw a small symbol carved into them at this distance.  Sure enough upon approach, a rendition of the same sunlike image from the door was set into the rock, no larger than the typical gold coin.

Ancient stone, mother of the deep earth, kissed by blinding rays.

His first instinct was to look up. Eyes searching for something in the ceiling which could be broken or moved. Nothing in the high set cavern of the room seemed to fit that bill.  Frowning and tapping his foot, Argent tried to think of how one might cause these stones to be ‘kissed by blinding rays.’  Confident that was the answer one way or another.

“Shizuka, can you use any light magic?”

“No.. My aspects are physical and spiritual.”

Somehow that made a little too much sense for her.  Gauge was shaking his head before Argent could even look over at him, having been listening in from where he now stood atop the central platform, idly toying with the switch there.

“Don’t look at me. Darkness and psyche, as you’ve already seen”

Psyche had been obvious from his aura tracking and other basic psionics, but having Darkness as an open aspect certainly did explain why the rogue seemed to literally become one with the shadows around him from time to time.  A good ability for him to have, but precisely the opposite of what they needed right now.  That didn’t bode well for them.  Argent himself possesed the aspects of element and creation, and between the two he had nothing that would assist in forming a blinding light.  He supposed he could kindle a torch, but somehow that didn’t feel like it would cut it.

Can’t hurt to give it a try, I guess.

Walking back to his bag, he withdrew a stout wooden stick wrapped multiple times around its head with heavy cloth.  Popping the cork on a small bottle of slow burning oil, he doused the material thoroughly before handing it off to Shizuka.  Snapping his fingers, he focused his mind and activated Kindle upon the oil soaked rags, causing them to spark and ignite readily into flames.  Taking the torch over to one of the stones, their shadows dancing against the flickering light of the flames, Shizuka waved the fire slowly around the symbolic etching a few times.  Going so far as to actually rub the torch across one, smearing a bit of burning oil over its surface.

Neither tactic seemed to work, and she turned back to Argent with a frown. He sighed.  It was about what he had expected, but it still felt disappointing.  The wording of the runescript had implied, at least in his mind, that they needed a purer source of light.  A white light, a piercing light. Like sunbeams through a windowpane during a midsummer day, highlighting the particles of airborne dust within his study.  An idea hit him in that moment as he visualized those streaks of light, remembering the ways they reflected off his tools and stung his eyes. Gesturing for Shizuka to come with him up to the central platform where Gauge already stood, Argent reached into his satchel whilst the two watched him with expectant but curious looks.

“Close your eyes and cover your ears. Especially you, Shizuka.”

Glancing pointedly at the large bunny ears atop her head which pointed up and out like satellites wary for the smallest sound, he waited until she had pulled them down and covered them fully with her hands before closing his own eyes, pulling the pin on his last flash grenade and hurling it up into the air above their heads.  Covering his ears as fast as he could, he only narrowly cushioned some of the sonic impact as the cylindrical explosive burst above them, its concussive force amplified dramatically by the enclosed space as the sounds reverberated off the walls.  As he slowly opened his eyes Argent's features crept into grin, finding that each of the marked stones now emitted a shimmering white light.  The impending headache would be worth it.

“Whatever that was, I want a few.”

Gauge said, giving Argent a bit of a playful push on the shoulder. The aspiring alchemist felt a proud glow in his cheeks as one of his inventions was praised.  If they made it through all this, he’d gladly make Gauge a handful in honor of their growing friendship.

“...Shh.”

The bunny beastkin shushed them shortly, her ears perking back up and twitching to the sides. She turned and faced the pond towards the northern wall, immediately drawing out her kusarigama with a jingle of chain.  Nodding towards the water, she took up her stance.

“Something’s there.”

The two boys barely had time to ready their weapons, Gauge was in the middle of nocking an arrow when the four demi-human creatures burst out from the water.  Their purple-scaled bodies resembled the form and shape of a man with hunched posture, gnarled hands and feet ending in long talons spread with webbing.  Their heads and faces were what could be loosely described as a threatening mashup of seadragon and a carp, rows of sharklike teeth visible within their gaping mouths as they screamed at the trio in gurgling hisses.  Two were armed with packs of cruel javelins, fitted with rear facing barbs and jagged prongs of the sort fishermen would use to secure their catch.  The largest one held a coral encrusted trident, and the last carried a curved shortsword paired with a heavy, waterlogged net.

“Waeglin!”

Gauge called out, loosing an arrow as he split off towards the east side of the room.  The name was in reality a sort of portmanteau of the words ‘water’ and ‘goblin’, but it had become the widely accepted term for referring to these aquatic demi-humans in the common vernacular.  His arrow sought out the waeglin with the trident, striking the fishman at an angle and pinging harmlessly off his hardened scales.  Argent had to drop himself flat as one of the creatures armed with javelins hurled one at his head, narrowly avoiding the attack, but also rolling unglamorously down the platform's stairs.  Shizuka was also on the receiving end of a javelin which she parried effortlessly from the air using the blade her left-hand kusarigama, rapidly spinning its twin on her right by its length of chain before whipping it out towards the lead weaglin with the trident.

From behind the weaglin with the sword and net darted forward to protect its leader, tossing the web or cordage out in a wide swing that entangled Shizuka’s kusarigama in its depths.  Before she could pull back on her chains the weaglin leader slammed his trident downwards to pin her weapon along with the netting against the floor with a bubbling snarl.  Leaving it to be handled by their leader, the weaglin armed with the sword relinquished his grip on the net and rushed forward to attack Shizuka, only to be halted and driven back by a needle-tipped projectile burrowing deep into his thigh.  Adjusting from his first shot Gauge had transitioned to armour piercing arrows, but even their merciless needlepoints only managed to secure a flesh wound.  With the battle escalating now both of the waeglin hurling javelins sought to aim their second volley at Shizuka, whom they determined was either the enemy leader or simply the most dangerous opponent. Argent wasn’t confident she could prevent both javelins from finding her whilst she struggled over possession of her right-hand weapon, and Shizuka herself seemed to realize this, looking as though she were about to drop her hold on the trapped kusarigama in favour of dodging away.  Not about to let his companion be pressured for free, Argent drew a pistol from his waist and pointed it outwards towards the closest target.

A burst of smoke and flame stopped the waeglin mid throw, its armed raised and ready just before it was knocked flat on the ground as though struck by a sledgehammer.  The hard protective scales on its chest shattered violently, blown apart from the impact as the creature fell prone, but aside from being stunned the weaglin seemed otherwise alive and only temporarily out of the fight. Gauge and Shizuka momentarily forgot they were in a fight as the temptation to look over at Argent's weapon took over them, but they quickly managed to snap back to reality.  Shizuka out of necessity if nothing else, as she knocked aside the incoming javelin which the uninterrupted waeglin sent her way.  Gauge and Argent were hurriedly reloading, the rogue managing the task first, leveling his bow and releasing a second piercing shot.  Aiming once again for the waeglin with the sword, his arrow struck its target in the upper chest and dug through the scales.  Deep enough to wound but not nearly enough to be fatal, this time the injury did not halt the weaglin’s advance as instead the creature lunged aggressively up the steps in an attempt to shiv Shizuka in her ribs.

The beastkin poised herself for the attack, left with no real option but to relinquish control of her netted weapon.  Dropping her hold and using her now empty right hand to catch the oncoming attack as she sidestepped nimbly, pushing the weapon towards her left side and hooking the creature’s wrist with her remaining kusarigama. She raised her knee high, muscles rippling in her powerful legs as she primed to strike, kicking outwards at the spot where Gauge’s arrow protruded from the waeglin’s thigh.  The force of her kick drove the embedded projectile like a wedge through meat and bone, snapping the monster’s leg and causing it to crumple to that side as its weight ground down on a shattered femur. The pull of Shizuka's blade effectively disarmed the creature as it fell, removing the webbed hand it had been hooked around as though cutting through butter.  The weaglin rolled fully down the platform’s steps to the base where it writhed and screeched in crippled agony.

Argent succeeded in loading a second shell by this time, but having drawn the conclusion that targeting Shizuka with projectiles useless, the active javelin throwing waeglin had switched back to targeting the alchemist and hurled one of its weapons at his head.  Sticking with had worked before, Argent rolled again towards the west of the room, the javelin clattering off the stones alongside him in a narrow miss, grazing his shoulder during the movement.  Halting his evasive manuever and coming up into a sitting position, Argent took aim and flooded his arcana into the pistol as he pulled the trigger smoothly back.

A clap of thunder and a bolt of sizzling lightning flared from the weapon’s barrel, energizing the air in the room with a residual static that made your hair stand on end.  The electricity surged forward and struck the opponent he had priorly incapacitated before arcing upwards and into its still standing companion, both waeglin convulsing sickeningly under the voltage. There was a series of dull popping sounds as their eyeballs half melted, half burst from the strain of the amperage.  Whilst all this was happening at the side, the weaglin leader engaged itself in frontal battle with Shizuka.  Rushing her as soon as she let go of her trapped weapon the fishman advanced and unleashed a series of quick jabs with its triple-pronged armament, its spearmanship and experience far better than that of its peers. The assault caused the beastkin girl to surrender some ground, forcing her to backstep as she parried and dodged the incoming blows. Gauge emerged suddenly from the shadows at the flank, taking a shot at the leader which failed to pierce flesh as the weaglin skilfully angled itself away from him, using its natural armour to deflect the incoming arrow.

Argent loaded another shell as fast as his hands could move, his eyes wide and stomach sinking as it appeared he would be too late to intervene.  The waeglin leader’s scaly body took on a subtle red glow as it readied a powerful technique, unleashing a sweeping double attack.  Shizuka answered by leaping vertically into the air, her legs tucked as she cleared the waeglin’s full height with her spring loaded jump.  A wicked snarl squelched wetly through the leader's fishy maw as its empowered abilities enabled it to quickly adjust its trident, angling it upwards and thrusting to pierce Shizuka from below, its grotesque maw twisted into a grin. It had deliberately baited her into a jump, Argent realized, seeing no way the beastkin could alter her trajectory to avoid the incoming attack.

“Shizuka!!”

He yelled out in panic while Gauge swore loudly from the other side of the room.  The Rogue unleashed an arrow which cut across the creature’s cheek, splitting the scales and drawing blood, but failing to impede the creature’s assault.  The trident lashed outwards for a killing blow, finding Shizuka’s form.

"No!"

Argent forced himself to keep his eyes open, raising his pistol to sight in on the leader as Shizuka's body was impaled along the full length of the trident, passing rapidly through it as though a sudden illusion. She fell through the trident, and then through the body of the weaglin itself, coming to a halt on the patform behind it. The waeglin had no time to react else it would have worn the same shocked expression as Argent and Gauge when the female beastkin unleashed a kick which sent it flying into one of the supporting pillars of the room.  Stone fragments and dust clouds rained down from the ceiling as the pillar cracked, thankfully not shattering or collapsing.  The waeglin’s broken body fell in a heap to the floor, dead on impact.  Taking a deep breath, Shizuka released it slowly as she came back to her stance and centered herself.  Looking at her two shocked companions, she tipped her ears to the side for a moment, before gesturing over her shoulder with a thumb.

“Gauge.”

The rogue looked confused for a moment, but soon understood her intention as he noticed the sounds of final surviving waeglin slowly but surely attempting to pull itself towards the pool of water from which it had emerged.  Scraping and squishing across the floor as it clawed at the gaps in the stone, dragging itself along with its one leg and one hand.  Its clawed fingers had just grasped the rim of the pool when from within its own shadow Gauge emerged beside it, his bow angled down.  There was a heavy slap of meat against stone as he fired a piercing arrow directly into the back of the monster’s skull, driving its face into the ground like a tarp being staked into wet earth.  The noise made Argent wince, but it took only a moment before he was smiling in relief that they had ended the battle without anyone being seriously wounded or killed. The shallow cut on his shoulder throbbed and bled, but a bit of tonic and some bandaging would square him away right quick.  Rising to his feet he rejoined his companions, looking them over again to ensure there were no serious injuries before expressing his emotions.

“That was amazing work, you two! And Shizuka, what was that thing you did??”

“Spiritual art.. Phase. An ability from my aspect.”

Although he knew it was not intentional on her part, Shizuka's straightforward way of answering things consistantly managed to make Argent feel stupid.  Though he noted with a twinge of regret that it was his own fault for asking questions he could have surmised the answers to on his own, but a part of him couldn’t help but blurt it out. His was a questioning soul, a curious one, easily enthralled by new knowledge and always on the hunt for something unknown to discover.

“Nevermind her--”

Gauge paused briefly, looking at Shizuka and raising a hand;

“--No offense.  But what was that thing YOU did? With the lightning? You turned those waeglin into extra crispy fish and chips!”

“Ah, that.. Right.”

Argent held out his pistol, providing his two companions the same rundown he had given Instructor Ward back at the fourth obstacle.  Gauge looked disappointed by the notion that not everyone could use them at full power, but it didn’t dim his enthusiasm. Shizuka seemed genuinely curious, the quiet storms of silver within her eyes fixated on the weapon as she took it carefully from Argent’s grasp and turned it over in her hands a few times.

“...It's heavy.”

With a bit of a chuckle, Argent accepted the pistol when she offered it back to him.  He supposed it was indeed heavier than it looked at first glance, considering that other than the length of the barrel, it was basically a solid chunk of alchemical silver fused together with manaweave and treated steel.  Even with the massive twenty millimeter bore, there was still a lot of metal.

“It gets the job done.”

He replied with a smile. Shizuka gave a gentle nod of her head and Gauge sighed longingly as he watched Argent holster the weapon, muttering under his breath.

“Every time you show off a new toy, I question my life choices.”

With the threats resolved, the group slowed down to recoup and recover. Argent dressed his shoulder with some healing salve and bound it up, and the three of them took a moment to snack on field rations and have a drink of water.  Shizuka and Argent stared down at the switch infront of them, talking amongst themselves with their backs turned to Gauge while he quickly took a leak in the far corner of the room.

“What do you think it does?”

“...Mmmmm…”

Shizuka shrugged.  Argent frowned down at the ancient looking mechanical device, wondering what it could possibly be waiting to set in motion beneath the floor.  Before he could say or ask anything else, the sounds of clinking metal and grinding gears filled the room as Gauge popped up beside him and pulled the lever.  Argent stared at him with wide eyes, but the young rogue only laughed.  Beneath them the floor rumbled to life with the movements of whatever machinations lay deep within. There was the sound of shifting stone, and then a rush of liquid somewhere far below.  Water began to stream down from the ceiling above them, though not uncontrollably and not in a way that risked flooding the room; rather it was more like a soft rain which fell upon the trees.

Crystal depths rained down by man, spilled upon earthly roots.

That had been simpler than Argent expected. The shifting stones beneath their feet must have redirected a subterranean spring, sourcing the water from beneath the earth into a sustainable fountain which fed the trees.  It filled the room with a refreshing mist, water vapours trailing through the air as the crystal clear liquid descended from above.  Argent smiled and closed his eyes, letting the chill moisture gather on his face for a long moment before shaking the forming droplets away and wiping his face with his cloak.  The glowing white lights let off by the stones they had illuminated cast small fragments of rainbows across the room as sections of mist caught them just right.

“It's kind of beautiful.”

“Sure. Gives off an old elven vibe... Pales in comparison to a real forest city, though.”

“Mhm..”

It all felt surreal enough that Argent could almost forget the four waeglin corpses slumped off to the side of the room… Almost.  His eyes turned and lingered on the mortal remains of the fishmen for a long moment before noticing something.

“Hey, the pool is empty.”

They all turned and faced the body of water from which the waeglin had originally emerged.  It was in fact devoid now of any water, at least as far as they could see from where they stood.  Argent made his way towards it, walking up alongside the rim of the pool and staring down into what now appeared to be a full blown abyss.

“There’s a tunnel down inside. We must have diverted the same waterflow that filled this up when we activated the falls.”

He explained the situation as they all gathered around the mouth of the hole.  Staring down into it there was no reason to say what they were all already thinking,  with the room as thoroughly searched as it was at this point, there didn’t seem to be any other options when one considered that final missing piece of the puzzle.  Whatever it was had to be somewhere down there.  At least Argent sure hoped it was, because he didn’t have any other ideas.

“So… Who wants to..?”

“Shizuka and I will go down. You should stay up here, in case something goes sideways on us.”

Gauge looked apprehensive, but accepted the judgement call without complaint.  While the rogue dug out a long section of rope from his tools, Argent went to retrieve the torch he and Shizuka had used earlier and re-lit it with kindle.  Walking to the pool's edge, he dropped it down into the depths and watched it fade. It clattered against the bottom perhaps six meters down, fizzling out against a shallow layer of water which still lay at the bottom of the tunnel.  Gauge tied the rope off around one of the support pillars, walking the rest of the coil over to the pit and tossing it in.  

“Alright. I’m going down.”

As Argent gripped the rope and began to lower himself over the edge of the pool, Gauge nocked an arrow for good measure and stood over him looking down.  It was too dark to really see anything, but it was the best overwatch he could provide. If nothing else it helped make Argent feel like his back was covered.  As he lowered himself gradually to the bottom, there was a sudden jingle of metal as Shizuka hooked her kusarigama onto the ridge surrounding the pool and rapidly slid down the chains of her weapon, which expanded easily until she reached the bottom.

“Oh, come on. That's not fair.”

The Alchemist complained mildly, knowing that she didn’t mean to show off but unable to resist making a comment.  The beastkin didn’t respond to his jab, picking up the doused torch and frowning at it.  As Argent reached the ground beside her he could just barely make out the sight of her taking a small piece of paper from her belt, a sort of scroll which she held oddly in her palm, curling her index and middle fingers into a circle with her thumb and raising them to her mouth.  Holding the torch in front of this display, she blew through the circle of her fingers.  Her breath ignited as though she were spitting gasoline, a veritable fireball forming in a plume and streaking down the tunnel in front of them for quite some distance.  The flames burned so fiercely that they not only lit the expanse all the way to its end for several long seconds, but also served to dry and ignite the torch.

“What was that? A spirit art?”

“No.. Inferno charm.”

She must have meant that paper she had placed in her hand.  Some sort of evoking charm? The effect had been comparable to a mid-level cast of Flamethrower or Instant Blaze, it seemed like quite a thing to use so casually on lighting up an old torch, but… It's not like he really understood it.  Maybe it was trivial for her?  At this point there wasn’t much Argent felt would truly shock him, coming from the bunny eared kunoichi.  She continued more and more to put off the impression that she was miles above him in terms of skill and experience.  In a way it felt bad, reminding him of just how new to all this he really was and making him aware of how far he had to go, but at the same time it was a relief to have her with him.  Not only was she strong but her sense of calm had a way of rubbing off on you.  Proceeding to the end of the tunnel by light of their torch the two came face to face with a dead end forward, but above them the tunnel opened into a shaft similar to the one from which they had descended at the other side, a dim light shining from a small open section above.  Shizuka motioned for Argent to step away, spinning one of her kusarigama at her side and tossing it up the shaft. The kama’s blade landed where she had aimed, but a quick pull resulted in nothing more than the weapon sliding dully against the stone and slipping back off into the hole.  Shizuka amorphously shortened the chain to bring the weapon directly back to her hand and catch it rather than letting it free-fall down on their heads, then she frowned.

“There’s no lip.”

Argent astutely observed. Shizuka nodded.  Afterwards she took a few moments to run her hands against the wall, quickly coming to the conclusion that they were too slick for her to climb or run upon.  There wasn’t enough room for her to maneuver for a full jump, and the stone was too tough for them to forcibly scale using the tools they had on hand.  The two of them stood in silence for a long while.  Assessing their situation slowly but surely Argent formulated two possible plans, one of which he was confident would work, though he wasn’t sure Shizuka would go for it.  Clearing his throat to get her attention he carefully explained the option he felt was most workable, which she agreed to more easily than he had expected.  From the leather slots in his potions belt, Argent detached a few glass orbs containing a burnt orange substance.  Handing them off to Shizuka he watched as she expertly threw them at the wall with spacing just as he had instructed.  Upon impact the adhesive bombs shattered and released their pressurized contents in a wide spray against the stone, effectively gumming up the side of the wall with a thick, heavy glue.  She then reached into whatever hidden holsters she wore, retrieving a handful of kunai as though from nowhere.  With practiced accuracy she threw them into the freshly applied coatings of goop upon the wall, creating a path of metal which would allow Argent to scale the expanse using Lesser Magnetization. 

“Excellent work, Shizuka. As expected~”

Argent praised her with a smile, giving the setup just a moment or two to settle, knowing he didn’t have to wait long.  The adhesive in the bombs was incredibly fast acting, and he had one more bottle of insurance up his sleeve to make this operation go smoothly.  As he had done on the obstacle course, he popped open a vial of featherweight tonic and swallowed it down.  It was the last one he had on hand, but using it here was the best option to ensure the glued kunai would support his ascent.  As the familiar sensation of weightlessness crept into his body he stretched out his arms, flexing and curling his fingers until he felt the effects reach their very tips before clasping his hands together.  Arcana surged over him as he channeled the simple elemental art, pulling his hands apart with a sparking effect as the magnetization took hold.  He was off then, gliding upwards under the effects of Lesser Magnetization as though riding an electric railway, pulling himself towards one kunai and then the next until he reached the edge of the expanse.  Before him was a small chamber with a floor of lush grass.  A simple stone pedestal was set into the wall at the far end with a large leather pouch sitting atop it, its drawstrings pulled tightly shut. 

“This is it, we’ve got it!”

He called down to Shizuka, though it was honestly more to affirm his own sense of relief that they’d successfully located their final puzzle piece.  Stepping out into the room he wondered briefly if this was how Naiara felt all the time, his weightless form settling over the terrain without crushing a single leaflet of grass.  Making his way to the pedestal he reached out and grabbed the pouch, a warm feeling of accomplishment filling his chest… And then there was a click. The center portion of the pedestal where the pouch rested  suddenly jutting upwards as the weight was removed.

“Uhh… GUYS?!!”

Gauge’s voice echoed down the entire expanse of the tunnel, freezing Argent’s blood in his veins.  There were sounds in the walls, shifting sounds. Rushing sounds.

“Argent! Water!”

Shizuka yelled upwards to him.  He heard the metallic clink of something falling or being dropped, followed by her rapid footsteps retreating down the tunnel with increasingly heavy splashes.  Despite himself Argent cursed, something he rarely did, and in a moment of stupor he actually pushed the trap mechanism up and down several times to see if it would stop.  Naturally, it did not. Hurriedly tucking the pouch into the pockets of his cloak, he made a dash for the tunnel and threw himself off the ledge. Falling without weight was agonizingly slow in this situation, the water already chest deep by the time he landed, and then he realized there was another, bigger problem.

“No, no no no!” 

He shouted in frustration, struggling with his weightless form against the rising liquid.  With no weight to stop his own buoyancy it became virtually impossible for him to swim downwards or exert any pressure against the water, causing him to be lifted rapidly like a leaf caught in a tide.  Beginning to panic, he grabbed for the lip of the connecting tunnel and held himself there as the water rose over and submerged him.  Holding his breath he pulled himself down into the tunnel, the water pushing him up against the ceiling now and enabling him to at least use it to try and claw his way forward,  but the stone was slick with very few holds.  His hands skidded against the thin layer of aquatic grime which covered most of the walls and ceiling.  In his exertion he couldn’t help but let out a portion of his breath, precious oxygen bursting out in a storm of bubbles between his clenched teeth.  His head swam.  It was already difficult to keep his eyes open beneath the water as it was, his vision going black as all light died out within the tunnel.  He felt heavy… Heavy! It wasn’t just the oxygen deprivation in his head or the straining of his lungs, it was the gradual return of his weight!  He tried to swim forward again, but the change in his body’s density had come too little too late.  He struggled with maximum exertion, fighting against himself and the weight of his equipment as he sank to the bottom.  As his lungs felt as though they would cave, he scrambled violently against the floor of the tunnel like a wounded animal, thrashing desperately against the water surrounding him with everything he had.  Against the slick stone of the bottom, he felt something pass under his hands once.  And then again.  He gripped onto it, desperate for anything to give him leverage.  What was it? It felt cold, metallic? 

It was a chain.

No sooner than he had begun to tug upon the object in his hands, it whipped forward with immense force as if being retracted by some unseen winch.  Argent clung to it for dear life, panic sinking into his heart as suddenly his grip failed and his hands slipped along the smooth metal, catching hold again only at the very end where the chain terminated in the attachment of a large weight.  Suddenly the sound of metal being dropped against the stone as the tunnel had begun to flood made sense.

It was Shizuka’s kusarigama!

Argent had all but blacked out by the time he hit the surface, his world a blur of colours and pain.  Gauge hauled him out of the water by his cloak, Shizuka standing above where she had reeled in the length of her weapon.  Lifting Argent by his shoulders, the rogue hefted him up and moved him away from the pool.  Sputtering and choking for breath, Argent struggled to expel water from his lungs as he was propped up against the steps.  Gauge stared at him seriously.

“Get it together, man. Don’t make me give you mouth to mouth.”

Despite the fact that his breathing came in wet, laboured gasps, Argent couldn't help but laugh in short wheezes with what little air he could manage into his lungs.  Gauge rolled his eyes, standing up and turning back to Shizuka.

“He’s fine.”

“Mhm..”

Her short verbalization was the same as ever, but there was a clear sense of relief in the beastkin’s eyes.  Shizuka had been in a panic after reaching the outer segment of the pool, having deliberately left behind the extended chain of her weapon to reel in Argent behind her.  When he had not appeared until the water was practically filled, and there had been no pressure on the chain, Gauge had barely been able to prevent her from diving back in herself when faced with the guilty feeling that she had abandoned him.  Even now she still seemed shaken, making her way over to Argent once she had put away her weapons, kneeling quietly beside him with an apologetic look in her eyes.

“Argent.. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? You saved me, Shizuka.”

The alchemist sputtered, wiping the last trails of water from his mouth and nose as he stabilized.  Looking at her downturned eyes, Argent shook his head and put a hand atop the beastkin's head, patting between her ears.  It was clear she felt as though she had done wrong by leaving him behind, but it had been the right choice, and her quick thinking support had been critical to his survival.  Frankly it was his own fault for not understanding what she had done for him sooner, if he had noticed and grabbed hold of the kusarigama from the beginning it was doubtful he’d have suffered anything more than getting soaked.

“Hey, listen to me. I’d have been stuck down there with no way out on if it weren't for you.  It’s not as though you simply turned tail and ran, you made the optimal choices for your personal survival while leaving behind as much support for me as you could. You did the right thing for the team, for the mission, and in the end the right thing for me.  I’d have been dead in the water, literally, without you to pull me out.”

Shizuka smiled slightly, her ears twitching with soft movements as she was pet, before exchanging an understanding nod.  The three of them were classmates and fast becoming friends, but at the end of the day this was still a dungeon crawl, still a test.  How many adventurers a day died in dungeon depths?  Losing members of your team was an inevitable eventuality of this life, a constantly looming threat always lurking around the next corner.  One member of a party going down couldn’t be allowed to stop the expedition in its tracks or put the others at undue risk.  Argent was touched by Shizuka’s consideration towards him, he truly was, but he believed her actions in saving herself first had been entirely correct.

“You did great, Shizuka. Thank you, I mean it.”

“Mhm.”  

“Alright, not to break up the moment but let’s see what you almost drowned for.”

Gauge spoke up as he approached, nudging Argent playfully with the toe of his boot whilst barely concealing a smirk.  Shizuka stood up with a light exhale of breath, looking off to the side of the room.  

“R-right. Let's hope this is it.”

Digging into his cloak Argent retrieved the pouch and held it out in his palm, reassured by the imprinted emblem of a tree upon the leather.  It was the same image as the one located centrally on the sealed archway.  Pulling the drawstrings loose he peered inside, his heart immediately sinking.  The contents had consisted of a faint golden powder, a faint gold powder which his waterlogged escape had almost completely dissolved or otherwise lost, with only a small segment of compressed remains gunked up at the bottom of the pouch like wet sand.

“Gods damn it.”

Gauge groaned in frustration and disbelief, bringing a hand up to grip the bridge of his nose as he sank down into a squat-like sitting position and hung his head, Shizuka standing wordlessly off to the side.  Argent dumped the slushy remains into his hand and stared at it in defeat.  By failing to notice that trap not only had he almost drowned himself, but he’d ruined one of the critical pieces of their forward progression.  Even though his companions neglected to blame him, guilt stung in his chest as he rolled the substance around with his fingers, which then also began to sting.  It was as if the pain of his failure was literally burning in his hand.

“Argent.”

Shizuka looked pointedly at his hand as she spoke, her voice waking him from his self deprecating daze.  His eyes followed hers and noticed his blistering skin, realizing that the powder must have contained some kind of potent irritant.  Something in the back of his mind clung to a familiar memory caused by the sensation, rooting around in the archives of his brain waiting to be recognized.

“Could it really be that simple?”

Argent thought out loud, his question rhetorical but drawing a confused response from Gauge all the same as the alchemist stood and made his way over to one of the trees.

“What’s that simple? What did I miss?”

He queried, unanswered for the moment as Argent dug a shallow rut alongside one of the trees most prominent roots and sloughed the surviving powder-mush into it.  Covering it with displaced soil and beginning to channel his arcana, he felt the effects of Enhance Reaction take hold of the powder.  The soil around him burst with grass and budding wildflowers, the tree itself straightening upwards with newfound strength as the faint traces of sickliness faded from its bark and leaves.  In the boughs high above leaves filled with colour and blossoms sprang to life, giving way to glowing white fruits comparable in size and shape to a pear. Their rogue let out a low whistle, looking up at the tree as it stood now to its full glory. 

“Now that’s a bit more like an elven forest city, but...”

Slate coloured eyes turned across the room to the sealed door.  The circles containing the water and the sun had illuminated, their runes and etchings filled with a deep inner light, but the circle containing the pouch and the central depiction of a tree remained dark.  Argent moved over to his bag, digging out portions of his kit as he situated himself on the steps surrounding the switch platform.

“We can still do this.”

“Do what? What are we even doing?”

“Well, for starters. How are you at harvesting Argonite?”

Argonite. Gem-like cores often found formed within creatures, caused by proximity exposure to corrupt world energies.  In other words, Chaos.  Once rampant across the land due to the catastrophic Rift Event which had torn the upper continent asunder and unleashed untold horrors upon the world, its lingering effects were still continually felt within the realm even after the Heroes Lilith and Tristan defeated the Void and sealed reality shut once more.  Chaos held a natural place within the Arcanasphere, but in unbalanced amounts it placed tremendous strain on all life.  Argonite was, as far as anyone understood, the body’s way of attempting to isolate and regulate such overexposure.  Depending on the creature it was harvested from and the overall grade of the crystal formation, each piece of Argonite could hold differing effects and values.  Harvesting Argonite from monsters was considered common practice by most, but in this case…

“You don’t mean..”

Gauge’s eyes drifted over towards the slain waeglin corpses, his feet rooted to the ground as hesitance bound him in place.  Argent looked over at the rogue, genuinely surprised at his reaction.  He hadn't expected Gauge to care about that sort of societal taboo.

Argonite came in variants dependant upon the entity it had formed within.  These origins gave them classifications: Beast Argonite, Black Argonite, Ancient Argonite, and many more; But amongst all the types there was one in specific which many refused to handle openly.  Mortal Argonite. The cores which could be found within most humans, humanoids and demi-humans.  Considered in many ways to be little more than blood money, its distribution and use was largely frowned upon by the civilized world, and depending on local laws even having it in your possession could cause serious issues.  The waeglin were of course demi-human and any argonite harvested from within would be of mortal grade.  Once removed from the body there would be no legitimate way for anyone to tell its origin, leaving it up for guessing as to whether or not the gems had been harvested from a monstrous creature or someone's next door neighbor.

“I can collect them.”

In one of her rare complete sentences, Shizuka asserted her willingness to harvest the argonite and made her way over to the corpses.  Seeing the panic in Gauge’s face, Argent tried to offer him some amount of reassurance.

“We won’t take them out of the dungeon.  I’ll use them all here.”

“Use them?”

“For the fertilizer.”

The burning sensations in his hand had put the riddle in perspective for Argent.  The memories and nagging familiarities taking shape in his mind.  Amongst the common folk of the south, particularly the generational farmers, it was common practice to don heavy gloves every fall and set out into the forests to collect the very plant responsible for the blisters now covering his skin.  Quillnettle was an aggressive species which could overtake entire fields if not controlled quickly, consisting of deep green fronds which grew in tight clusters, covered in fine golden hairs.  These impossibly small needles caused extreme irritation to the skin and eyes upon contact, with prolonged exposure quickly causing a blistering rash.  When harvested and processed with the proper skills, however, the greedy little weeds contained heavy concentrations of macronutrients  which made them a potent tool for rejuvenating farmland fields.  Before leaving his home, Argent had produced many a batch of this ‘golden blessing’ for the local farmhands as a way to earn some extra coin.  He remembered the formula as though it had been carved into the back of his eyes.

Quillnettle for the main body, heavy in phosphorus and nitrogen. Add in some potassium. Cobalt. Manganese. Sulfur. Mix a two parts dose of Asirra leaves with Shakajira water and heat until evaporated. Boost with beast argonite.

Looking up from his work, Argent turned his gaze to where Shizuka collected their grim reward from the waeglin.  It wasn’t beast argonite, but both beast and mortal grade Argonite’s dominant effects were based around life and vitality.  If anything, using mortal argonite would make the solution stronger.  It took him a moment, but Gauge reluctantly moved to assist their beastkin companion in the task, and together their knives made short work of the enemy remains.  They returned to Argent with two grape sized portions of blood red gemstone and one smaller, pebble-like chunk.  It was far more than he needed, but the alchemist set about grinding it all. The waste pained him inside but he kept quiet, intending to keep true to his promise that he would not take the argonite out of this dungeon no matter how badly he wanted to slip one of the larger pieces into his bag.  

Soon the task was complete and a bowl full of fresh golden-red powder sat before the novice team of dungeon crawlers.  It was difficult to tell when compared to the soaked remains of the previous powder, but Argent couldn’t shake the feeling that his seemed different somehow.  Gauge had no such reservations, looking both thrilled and impressed with the outcome of their efforts.

“That’s the good stuff right there! Is there anything you can’t make?”

“More things than I could explain to you, if I could explain them.”

Despite his sarcastic response Argent chuckled, pleased by the compliment even if he tried not to show it.  The trio made their way to an unlit tree and situated themselves around it, breaths held as Argent dug a small trench and placed their handmade replica powder inside.  The ground around the tree flourished, the grass and natural plants surging with the lifeforce of the mixture-- but the tree itself remained unchanged.  They stared up at the ancient flora for quite some time as though expecting it to suddenly burst into life any moment, before Gauge finally broke the silence.

“It's not working.”

He pointed out heavily. Argent couldn’t contain his sigh.

“Yeah. Thanks for that.”

As had been so helpfully highlighted, the fertilizer was indeed not working. But why was it not working? Why was the tree unaffected whilst everything else started to grow? There had to be an answer that was staring him in the face.  This dungeon had tested them but it was, at its core, a beginner’s trial.  The difficulty stemmed from their own inexperience and not from the labyrinth itself.  The answer was here somewhere right in front of them and he was missing it, overlooking it somehow.

Golden blessing, touched by elves, its luster the soil’s rebirth.

“...Elves. Touched by elves! That's what I missed, what the fertilizer needs.”

“You’ve lost me.”

“Think about it, Gauge. You talked about the forest cities-- what always grows around there? ONLY grows around there?”

“Uh.. You mean aside from trees that are actually buildings?”

“...Starlight Ferns.”

Shizuka gave the reply, Argent pointing a finger at her enthusiastically for her winning answer.

“Yes!”

“Okay, stellar, then. Just plop some fancy fern dust into the mix and let’s get outta this hole.”

Argent’s face fell gradually as the excitement from their moment of solving the puzzle wore thin, leaving him with the unpleasant reality which that answer now faced them with.

“...I don’t have any.”

Those words were all it took for the other two to look just as defeated as him.  After all of that, after everything they’d accomplished to haphazardly force their way through despite hardships and mistakes, this was the dead end they were run up against.  Sinking down to a sitting position against the newly formed grass which was thriving around him, Argent looked between his teammates with a pained expression.

“What do we do now? Do we go back?”

As he mentioned the orb back at the room they had first appeared in, the one which would allow them to escape the dungeon but cause them to forfeit the test, Shizuka’s calm expression shifted for the first time as disapproval and disappointment took over her features, clearly it was not the answer she wanted, if she was willing to accept it at all.  Gauge turned and walked away, his cloak swishing in a plume behind him as he cut on his heel in what Argent could only assume was frustration.  It was only natural, none of them wanted to be failed on what was supposed to be their initial examination.  What would failing here even mean for them? Would they be expelled before they had ever truly begun?  Or would Instructor Liamra permit them to stay, starting with atrociously low marks, forced to work their way up in order to earn a ranking within the class?  Argent could already see the disdainful, condescending looks on Cassius and Seren’s faces at the thought of it, his mind running wild with the penalties they could be buried with.  It was almost as though his life flashed before him, the sacrifices and the pains, everything he had endured to get here.  Were his dreams really doomed to crash upon the stone of these doors?

He was so lost inside his own fearful imaginings that he barely noticed when Gauge returned and dropped something into his lap.  A faint blue glow from whatever it was forcibly drew him back to reality as he stared down into a pile of lush, curling ferns which possessed a natural luminescence. Ambient kai within causing them to create that soft, blue light.

“These.. Where did you get these?!”

“Like I said. Elvish forest.”

Gauge gestured towards the first tree which had been fully revived and the sprawling mass of plantlife which was still creeping out from its base.  Argent hadn’t noticed given how difficult it was to see their glow against white light from the stones on either side, but portions of starlight fern grew in patches around the ancient tree along with many other exotic fae plants, tucked away amongst the larger flora.

“Gauge, you’re a genius!”

“Mhm… Good job.”

Argent grinned wholeheartedly at the rogue whilst Shizuka punched him affectionately on the shoulder.  Laughing a bit, Gauge gave a sly wink and shrugged his shoulders in feigned nonchalance. 

“Right right, you can both treat me later. For now let's fix this damn stuff, I'm sick of being underground.”

Not needing to be told twice, Argent had already set himself to work on the ferns. Using a potent desiccating powder and a few special tools, he separated the ferns from their stinging fibers and broke them down into a light dust, which he promptly mixed together with the previous formula.  Burying a portion of this alongside the second tree yielded the same results as the waterlogged pouch had given them at the first, drawing out a cry of triumph from Argent as he cheered their success whilst Gauge pumped a fist into the air, and Shizuka’s face crept into her first true smile.  As each of the trees were revived, the final remaining circle on the door illuminated, and in a coalescence of light the three outer circles spread their glow to the tree depicted at their center.  As a gentle green light overtook the carved stone, the doors shuddered with movement and began to creep apart, receding into the walls on either side. A cavernous expanse revealed itself beyond, and visible at the far side was another carved doorway, leading into a room with a crystal orb set atop a pedestal.  Adjusting his pack on his shoulders, Argent could barely resist the urge to take off at a sprint towards their final goal so clearly in sight.  As was to be expected of a rogue, Gauge seemed a touch more wary, but he too was clearly tempted.  After checking the wide doorway for any unseen mechanisms and peering around the room tentatively, the black haired boy was appeased only after his sense aura abilities turned out a negative response.  Under that reassurance the three took off quickly for their prize, holding back their enthusiasm only enough to avoid tripping over themselves or each other.  Argent was fortunate that this was the case as Gauge’s grip closed in around his bag and stopped him dead mere inches before the final hallway in front of them.

“Wait!”

“... What is that?”

Argent questioned, only now noticing the reason he had been halted as the nearly invisible threads lingered in front of his face.  A tangle of them filled the expanse between the cavernous room and the pedestal, strung every which way throughout the short hall between.  They were paper thin and glistening only the slightest amount in the low light conditions of the cave-- not quite wires, but more like…

“Webs.”

“Ohhhh, please no.”

Gauge groaned in mild panic as Shizuka identified the strands, his eyes immediately shifting agitatedly around the room.  Ceiling, walls, he searched frantically for any signs of movement, even further perturbed by the fact that he was sensing nothing other than themselves within the room.

“Maybe they’re old?”

Argent asked, reaching out to touch one in an attempt to ascertain its strength and if possible, brush it away.  Applying pressure to the web caused it to cut into his flesh immediately as though he had just pushed his finger against a razor.  He grimaced and pulled back, eyes wide as he watched his blood trickle over the web, running along its length for a long moment before pooling into a droplet and then… 

“Oh, FU--”

A monstrous, screeching roar drowned out Gauge’s expletive.  Vibrations shuddered throughout the webbing as the single drop of blood broke free, alerting whatever slumbering entity had set them in place.  The party of three immediately backed away from the door, weapons drawn and eyes wide as they scanned for the source of the skittering wails. 

“Above.”

Shizuka suddenlt stretched herself out into a powerful push kick, catching Argent in the stomach and sending him hurtling out of the way as she herself spun into a series of evasive back handsprings. Gauge was left to fend for himself by diving into a sidelong roll as the gigantic creature came crashing down.  Sputtering from the kick Argent realized full well that Shizuka had been saving him, but gods be damned could she not have been a little gentler? His ribs screamed in pain as though they had been shattered, leaving him to gasp hurriedly for breath as he struggled to unholster a pistol and direct it towards the enemy.  The hulking monstrosity was an Arachnid in appearance only, looming above on eight mechanical legs, its body a hardened metal shell strewn with activation runes and lines of power.  Gleaming crimson eyes shone with golden light within, data clearly processing behind their lenses from moment to moment as they sighted in on the students.  

An Automation! That’s why Gauge couldn’t sense anything, his arts only detect organic life essence!

Argent’s thoughts spun, not aided by the winded state Shizuka had put him in.  The mechanical spider began to rear its bladelike fangs, circling in on Gauge and priming to bite before the bunny girl in question came hurtling in with a flying kick to the side of its head.  The impact reverberated throughout the automation’s entire frame, the energy actively dispersed along the leylines of power as Shizuka bounced upwards from the impact.  In Argent's vision, she hung suspended in the air as if by slowed time, the spider rounding on her faster than she could react. Swinging a mechanical leg through the air on a direct course for her torso, the impact sent her flying into the wall with a gasp of pain, and she barely managed to phase out of the way of the monster’s follow up attack as a second leg came jamming point first into the wall behind her.  With Shizuka’s spirit art saving her from mortal damage in that moment, Argent aimed in on the creature’s eyes and pulled the trigger, hoping to split its attention between them before the beastkin could be assaulted further. His bursting shell erupted upon its mark, causing the arachnid to skitter backwards and onto a side wall, hissing angrily though seemingly unharmed at large.  Moving to group with Argent now, Gauge came dashing in from the side, releasing a salvo of arrows as he slid into position. Skilfully drawing and releasing three at a time.

“Gotcha!”

He snarled under his breath as the piercing arrows dug into the metal framework, embedding themselves in the monstrous machine.  Similarly to before however, the arcana within the creature ebbed and flowed throughout the sigils along its body, gathering in the locations of damage.  Expelling the arrows from its frame, they clattered to the stone floor below as the holes in the metal appeared to weld themselves shut in some bizarre self-repair function.

“Are you kidding me? What is this thing?!”

Gauge spat in dismay, nocking another volley all the same.  Argent had also loaded a second shell, though doing so had brought him to the realization of how little ammunition he had left.  He only had three bursting shells left; The one he had just loaded, one in his pouch and one inside the other Argent Pistol.  Once those were gone, he was left with a handful of elemental shells, one thunder and five ice, and then…

“Look out!”

The sounds of Shizuka’s kusarigama clanging against the appendages of the spider abruptly stopped, as the creature lurched onto its front two legs, using the others to pull lengths of webbing from its spinnerets. The razorlike threads were strewn into a hatchwork spread and hurtled out like a net of blades which spanned half the room.  With unsettling speed the kunoichi appeared in front of her two teammates, fingers curled around an inferno charm as she breathed deep, releasing a powerful breath which surged forth as an immolating sea of flames.  The incoming threads were torched away, falling loosely around the room as the fires destroyed them, and their creator shrieked and clamboured further back against the wall.

“Thanks for that, Shizuka.”

Argent breathed in nervous relief, giving her a grateful nod as he fired upon the spider.  Gauge followed suit, his arrows spanning the gap and piercing into the automation with faithful accuracy.  Still the creature seemed to be showing no signs of slowing or sustaining lasting damage.  Its legs were angrily collecting threads again, both from itself and from the floors and walls around.  Rather than loading his final bursting shell Argent’s hands sought out the blue casings of his frostneedle ammunition, spacing several of the rounds between his fingers as he steadied his will and made a frontal dash for the spider.  Shizuka was already within attacking range, running along the length of the wall to leap outwards, throwing out her kusarigama and catching the automation around the side of its head.  Pulling herself directly onto the thing, she spun the hooked blades of her kama in her palms and slammed them down viciously into the back of the creature’s metallic skull.  Sparks flew from the jarring impact of metal on metal, her weapons scraping for purchase as she struggled to punch through the artificial exoskeleton of the insectoid machine.  Just as it had before, once struck by Shizuka the arachnid made to raise a leg in counterattack, but Argent was ready this time.  The chill bite of winter frosts stung the air as he fired his weapon, a barrage of ice striking the automation’s leg at the primary joint and freezing it in place.  The creature shrieked in aggravation, but its attackers wasted no time in the follow up.  More arrows from Gauge began to pepper the creature’s underbelly as Shizuka thrashed steadily at the hard lenses of its eyes, small cracks beginning to appear in the crystalline glass as Argent expertly loaded shell after shell-- freezing the arachnid’s legs at their joints until he had expended all five frostneedle cartridges.

With more than half of its legs straining against heavy burdens of ice, the arachnid slowly lost its grip on the wall, sliding partially downwards before tumbling entirely off.  The ground shook as the machine fell upon its back, frozen legs sprawling haplessly upwards whilst the others thrashed angrily for some sort of footing.  Shizuka, who had jumped neatly from the creature during its fall, spun through the air with expert grace and landed upon the exposed underbelly of the thing.  Moving rapidly along its length, she began mercilessly hammering in the piercing arrows which the spider's repair function had not managed to force out from its shell, smashing them back down into the automaton with the flat of her kusarigama.  Argent advanced as he loaded his last loose blasting shell and unleashed the shot point-black into the spider’s face, shattering two of its most central eyes in a cascade of fractured crystal and molten energy.  Satisfaction welled up in his chest as clear, verifiable damage was finally dealt to their opponent.  With no blasting shells left to load, Argent was reaching for his second pistol with his off hand when suddenly the ground beneath him shook violently, causing him to lose his footing and fall flat on his stomach. In a panic, he looked up too late to realize that the automation’s thrashing legs had continued binding up all the threads it had cast, threads which it had bound to the ceiling, floor, and walls.  As the machine violently flexed its legs inwards upon itself now it drew these webs tight, pulling apart the very structure of the room around them.

Shattering stones and collapsing boulders filled the room with the rumble of an earthquake, drowning out the sounds of his teammate’s screams as rubble mercilessly pounded the chamber.  Choking on dust and debris, Argent was in the midst of trying to pull himself to his feet when an indescribable pain shot up from his left leg and caused him to cry out in agony.  A rock the size of a horse had tumbled over the cave floor and come to rest ontop of him, crushing bone and pinning him in place.  Out of the corner of his tear-filled eyes he could just make out the forms of Gauge and Shizuka, the first of the two bleeding profusely from his head and presumably unconscious as the kunoichi shook him desperately and yelled his name at his unresponsive form.  In front of them the automation spun its gears in rhythmic whirrs, slowly but surely shattering away the ice and repairing the damage to its outer frame as a pair of working legs removed pieces of stone from its form.  Energy surged through its sigils with a dull blue glow, the powerful arcana shining through its broken, formerly red eyes.  This was bad. That thing would be on its feet and looking to kill them well before they could recover from the damages they had just sustained.

Hell, without legitimate healing magicks Argent knew there was nothing he could brew that would fix his destroyed bone structure fast enough.  The pain in his leg was like periodic lightning strikes through his body caused by the slightest twist or pull, and desperately the alchemist settled upon downing a heavy numbing agent simply to keep himself from passing out from the pain.  Green eyes trembled as he tried to peer through the chaos again for Shizuka and Gauge, the beastkin still unsuccessful in her attempts to rouse the human boy, her ears slumped and eyes filled with grief.  He could hear the spider continuing to work, surely it was almost free by now, and there.. Just beyond them down that hallway of webs, the Orb… It was right there. So close, so close! All they had to do was touch it, and they’d be out of this mess.  Its bluish glow so similar to that of the sigils empowering this enemy looming beyond them. Raw arcana simply waiting to be harnessed, waiting to take them out of this place.  

“All we had to do was touch it..”

Argent lamented to himself, speaking aloud the desperate thought within his mind.  And then from beyond the veil of pity and regret, it clicked.  He looked from the orb, to the spider, to Shizuka.  A primal hope surged within him, and suddenly he was yelling across the destroyed cave system for all he was worth.

“Shizuka! All we have to do is touch it! You just have to touch it, Shizuka!!”

The beastkin’s ears perked up like satellites as his voice spilled into the room, twitching slightly as they honed in on the direction of his speech.  Slowly she turned her head to look at him, silvery eyes pained and wet, but not yet shedding tears as the disciplined warrior girl held herself firm even in this time of crisis.  Argent could see the gears within her head turning, and so he yelled out the same message again.  It had been so simple, just like everything else in this stupid cave.  An easy answer hidden right in front of their faces. Suddenly it registered for Shizuka as well, her expression changed and her head quickly spun in the direction of the final doorway  as she rose to her feet.  As she did so however, so did the mechanical guardian responsible for putting them in this mess.  She halted, looking back as the entity stared down on Argent with freshly repaired red eyes, fangs glinting as it primed to strike its trapped prey.  

“Just go, Shizuka! Go!”

He begged, gesturing wildly for her to get to the orb.  The hesitance in her eyes was obvious, even through the drug-numbed blurr and the tears of pain, but she had to do it. If she didn’t this would all be for nothing.  

“GO!!”

There was no way he could possibly scream any louder, his lungs strained to their limits as he tore his eyes away from her and focused instead on loading a final shell into his weapon.  The automation loomed above, its fangs closing in, poised to rip him in half like a doll.  In what was the final stand he could make Argent raised his pistol with both hands and channeled everything he could muster into the grip,  his final blasting shell still within the second pistol holstered at his waist..  But what he fired now was not a thunder shell, the last yellow cased round slotted neatly at his belt.  No, what he fired now was a singular, reinforced, jet black canister.

Searing flames spewed from the barrel of his weapon, spiraling tongues of rich blue with orange and gold in their center.  They were unleashed in what seemed to be a never ending torrent, living well up to the namesake they had been given; Dragonbreath shells.  Heat, fire, and death poured from the smoking muzzle of the argent pistol without restraint as though a dozen or more inferno charms had been triggered all at once. In truth it had been Shizuka’s charms which inspired Argent to employ this final shell, having revealed the mechanism’s apparent fear, or if not fear, at least a programmed avoidance towards flames. 

“Please, Gods.. Please Gods.. Please!”

Argent supplicated the higher powers as he clung to his pistol for dear life, struggling to keep it held upright as he dumped his entire arcana pool into the shot.  The arachnid pulled away from the flames with hideous sounds, the heat of the devouring blue inferno enough to scorch the metal of its frame and cause several portions to melt away.  Again it backed off and onto the walls, almost to the ceiling as it sought to remove itself from the path of Argent’s flame.  The shell burned strongly for a full ten seconds, empowered by the extreme catalyzation which had been forced into it upon ignition.  But even these flames were fated to extinguish, and soon there was naught but smoke left drifting from the barrel.  The arachnid hissed murderously, eyes flashing with killing intent as it rushed back inwards immediately after the fires had receded.  Argent struggled to draw his second pistol from his pinned position, knowing full well it would not save him but unwilling to sit quietly and wait for his death… 

And then there was a whirr of energy within the room.  The lights within the creature sputtered and died, their illumination fading to grey as the machine shut down where it stood, legs tucking inwards as it lowered to the ground and sat immobile upon itself.  Argent let out a gasp of air, throwing his head back in relief, disbelief, and borderline shock.  He panted heavily there for a moment, half laughing, half crying as he tried to compose himself.  At the far side of the cavern, Shizuka stood with her hands upon the orb, her body and clothing ravaged with razor-thin cuts.  She dripped with blood and sweat, but still there was a smile on her face as teleportation circles began to manifest around them in a swirling light, and before he could panic over what was happening Argent found himself tumbling through space once more.  Mercifully, the rock he had been pinned beneath did not travel through the gateway with him, however the grotesquely unnatural angle his leg landed at when he plopped upon the ground made him profoundly thankful that the numbing agent had almost fully shut off his nervous system at this point. Gauge’s still unconscious form lay face-down in the garden only a few feet away, and Shizuka.. Well, she had landed gracefully upon her feet as could be expected, and was in the process of speaking with Instructor Liamra.  The little pixie was visibly distraught, fussing over the girl and patching her various wounds with regenerative magicks as she flitted about.  Not long after, she turned her attention towards the boys.

“Oohh, my poor little babies! You all did so well, so so well! I’m sorry you got banged up, but that’s just how it is around here, you know? I can’t protect you from the curriculum.”

She groaned as though it were her own leg that was completely smashed as she looked Argent over, her tiny face growing pale as she struggled not to gag at the unnatural angle of his bones.  She whimpered almost pitifully when they made eye contact, her face wrought very clearly with apologetic regret.  He did his best to give her a smile, at which the little fae only shook her head and sighed with dismay before dutifully setting about healing him.  The arcana commanded by her miniscule form was astounding, the energies genuinely putting Argent into a trance as they took hold of his body and began to repair him.  He had never been the subject of such high-level regeneration arts before, and the experience was something he felt would take a lot of getting used to, painless though it was.  Bit by bit his leg straightened and bones set until a fully functioning body was at his command once more.  By the time he had healed fully Gauge and Shizuka were long since recovered, and the three of them sat together as Vivian turned her focus back to three floating spatial distortions along the edge of the garden.  Peering into them as well, Argent realized they were a monitoring enchantment placed upon the teams, as inside one Cassius and his group stood engaged in what appeared to be a navigational puzzle dealing with elementally charged platforms.  In the next Remelia held her skirt down with one hand whilst being dangled above a pit, wrapped around the legs by an animated vine which Haana and Leif appeared to be controlling, her childlike face as deadpan as ever despite the precarious position. And inside the last a scene not unlike their own previous engagement unfolded in a vaulted chamber of marble, Naiara and Izadura engaged in brutal combat with a humongous, mechanized jaguar. The kensei stuck close to the creature and continuously pressured it with a stream of coordinated attacks whilst Naiara stood protectively over Fenn’s barely conscious form, bombarding the feline at a distance with volleys of what appeared to be energy bolts from her crossbow. 

“Are we really the first team out?”

Argent couldn’t help but ask even though the answer seemed obvious. It was really more of an incredulous observation than a genuine question, a way of expressing his surprise.  Vivian smiled and chuckled a bit, her wings fluttering for a moment as she tilted in the air to face him.

“Yes you are, no need to sound so disbelieving. You all did very well.”

The young alchemist rubbed the back of his head, unsure of how to respond to the earnest praise.  Beside him, Gauge gestured towards the image containing Naiara’s team.

“Looks like they’re not far off, though.”

He commented, causing their instructor to pause with a slight frown.

“Yes, well… They actually started their battle before you did.”

The three students gave the tiny fae a questioning look. She sighed.

“They’ve been fighting the guardian for nearly half an hour, now.  Izadura and Fenn are running on fumes…  Naiara has been keeping things in motion, but neither her nor the guardian are able to take one another out… Of course, that’s the point.”

Shizuka’s ears tilted quizzically, and Gauge squinted in obvious confusion.  Argent, however, spoke up. Vivian having confirmed his suspicions. 

“The guardians can’t be beaten directly…”

“Exactly. That's the test, isn’t it? You were never given any direct objective to defeat the guardians. You were simply told to touch the exit stone in order to succeed.”

“Wait, whoah. Why not? What good does that do?”

Gauge seemed upset now, raising both his arms in a disgruntled gesture. Shizuka remained silent but there was a curiosity in her silver eyes. 

“What if I told you the most dangerous thing.. The thing that kills more adventurers than anything else, was pride?”

Vivian gave them a pained smile, some of her energy fading away into solemnity. 

“Arrogance, conceit, vain mistakes, and just plain old stubbornness… These are the most deadly enemies you will ever face.  That is the true lesson of this test, the meaning behind it.  Finding the ability to look past yourself and admit when you can’t win, to accept what can’t be beaten, and to find a way to survive.  A way to achieve your best results despite an insurmountable obstacle.”

She gestured back into the image now, where both Fenn and Izadura lay sprawled motionless upon the battleground whilst Naiara alone continued her dance of death with her foe.

“Sometimes in this line of work, you will run up against a battle that is beyond you.  There will be times when everything you have will still not be enough. Times when you can die trying, and that will be all you do-- die.”

Argent felt a droplet of cold sweat trickle down his neck, the chills from Instructor Liamra’s words stiffening his spine. He watched Naiara fighting with all her might, a level of performance far beyond what he knew he was capable of, and still losing.  It really made the weight of the message stick hard in his mind. Gauge and Shizuka also appeared to get the point, a somber silence falling over the three of them.  A stillness which was broken by a loud clap of Vivian’s small hands.

“So that's why! And, hey, you kids got it just right. Took you a moment, but you thought it through and made it out. You recognized the situation you were in and found a solution rather than beating yourself against a problem until you destroyed yourselves. I’m proud of you, I mean it~”

“Thanks, teach… But, uh.. Er, well.. You’re not really gunna let them.. Die?”

Gauge gave a serious look which caused the pixie to giggle. Right back to her usual self as she shook her head, turning back to the images with a grin and sitting cross-legged in the air.

“Of course not, but! They have to think so. Loses its effect otherwise.”

Argent laughed as Gauge stared at Instructor Liamra in utter disbelief.  It seemed a little heavy handed on the surface, but that was the kind of school they’d gone out of their way to apply to after all.  This wasn’t a simple trade school, or a college based around tomes and grimoires.  This was the DCA, home to the best of the best when it came to scouring the deadly corners of the world.  Looking to Shizuka, Argent noticed that she had been staring intently into the portal featuring Naiara’s battle ever since it had been mentioned.  Curious what had her so engrossed he made to call out for her, but just before he could raise his voice a deep, gurgling growl would come from the depths of his empty stomach.  Sheepishly he put a hand over it, realizing for the first time since the battle ended just how exhausted and hungry he felt. Vivian offered him a giggle and a smile.

“That’s regeneration for you! Takes a lot of energy to restore wounds like those, and besides, you’re all such little babies trying to grow up big and strong! Now get out of here, shoo. Get to the mess hall and fill those rumbling tummies. I’m sure your classmates will be close behind~”