"This is not a space ring." Sarah gasped.
"What?" Varian almost slapped himself.
'I should really join another course.'
She inspected the red ring. Its band was made of a resilient alloy. The center stone on the ring was a grey stone.
It was a spacort.
The reason Varian mistook it for space ring was because many space rings were also built with spacorts as their center stone by inscribing arrays on them.
However,
"This array is not space ring's array. It's something entirely different." Sarah concluded.
'Alright. Another general knowledge course on space star treasures and arrays.' Varian squeezed a smile.
He should've really not neglected his knowledge reserves. He was fighting all the time.
Sarah looked at his silence and understood. "Don't worry, even second years can get this wrong."
"Yeah." Then his interest was piqued. "What is it then?"
"If I'm not wrong, it looks like an entrance pass…?" Sarah observed the arrays and tapped her chin.
"There are some places in Ruins that need special keys. They had similar arrays... these designs kinda match." She explained.
"You mean?" Varian's eyes widened.
"I think so." Sarah nodded.
"A breakthrough in the mission." Varian pumped his fist in excitement.
Their original mission was to find the traces of Abyssals. They sure found out a few Abyssals, but it wouldn't work if they can't find at least a lair.
According to Varian, there must be Abyssal hideouts all over the Dungeon. These hideouts couldn't be found by normal means. In that respect, they were just like special locations.
So if they want to enter these hideouts and wipe out the Abyssals, they'd need a corresponding entrance or at least a key.
Such a key must exist. If there was no such key, then Abyssals wouldn't be able to return to their lairs.
This space ring lookalike was the key!
"So he was sure that I'd die from the explosion and he wanted the key back." Sarah concluded.
"I guess." Varian nodded. Then he rubbed his hands. "Can you locate the Abyss's hideouts with that thing?"
Sarah twirled her hair. "I don't know how to use this either."
"..." Varian was speechless.
"Well, we can always ask Crimson. Telepath guys are better at this stuff." She nodded seriously. A bit too much, in fact.
'Why do I feel like she's trying to cover up her shortcoming?' He found it hilarious but decided to go along.
"Alright." Varian looked at the sky and sighed. It should've been evening. But the Dungeon had no day and night.
"My senses can detect magic beasts from a distance. You can just meditate." She said and gave him a space ring.
In it were a few dozen aura crystals.
'Rich lady!' Varian was shocked.
He wanted to return them, but Sarah refused. "That's my gift."
"Thanks then." Varian shrugged.
He took out an aura crystal and started meditating.
Sarah went to her teammates and took out a few vials. They held expensive medicine. She administered the medicine to the four and took one herself.
They'd heal completely within an hour. And heal they did.
"Um."
"Still alive?"
"What happened?"
"Is this hell?"
They woke up one by one. They were back to their peak and looked nothing like guys who were just beaten to death.
Sarah explained to them the situation. Their look at Varian varied from respect to gratitude.
"Thank you." They said sincerely.
"I searched for your info when you joined. Seeing your challenge to Charles, I decided you were an arrogant guy." Ivy, the petite girl, said slowly.
The others coughed slightly. They too had similar opinions.
"I-I changed my opinion. Even though your challenge was absurd, you're a reliable teammate. Any level 2 would've escaped when things turned dire." She looked into his eyes with sincerity.
"I was pissed at letting you into the team. But if it weren't for you, we'd be dead." Luca said in his deep voice.
"I don't like people who boast. So I had a bad impression after reading you said you'd beat Charles." Crimson scratched his chin. "But we all boast sometimes. Your actions gain my approval."
"Who knows! He might find Ambrosia and really beat Charles." Olivia giggled.
"Now that is more unlikely than Ivy getting a big bust." Crimson laughed.
"You bet." Luca joined.
The air turned silent.
"You guys…" a cold voice sounded.
They slowly turned back to see Ivy looking at them with a 'peaceful smile'.
Her body was still petite. Her chest was still an unregistered airport runway. But her eyes… they were not cute anymore.
They were filled with killing intent.
"Forgive."
"It was not me."
They both prayed, but Ivy transformed into her half-feline form and rushed at them.
"Save…"
"Mom, please stop."
"You should've kept your tongue in check." She raised her claw.
Varian silently distanced himself from the scene and exited the cave. Behind him, Olivia and Sarah followed, just as silently and even more professionally.
Olivia wiped out sweat from her forehead and said, "They're really courting death."
"Flat is justice."
"Flat is justice."
From the cave sounded the peace song.
Varian glanced at Olivia and Sarah before turning away. They were anything but flat.
"Do you agree that flat is justice?" Olivia gave a 'serene' smile.
"Y-yeah!" Varian nodded.
Olivia and Sarah looked at him strangely.
He caught the hint and yelled. "Oppai is life."
They nodded with a satisfied expression of 'You can still be saved.'
They looked at each other, and they all laughed.
"Hahaha"
"Seriously, we used to do this in our school days. But even now? I guess a part of us is still childish." Olivia said, clutching her stomach. She laughed the hardest.
"I forgot who still sleeps with a teddy." Sarah snickered.
Olivia flushed and glared at Varian.
Varian was already sky gazing and said, "My ears were not working since the fight."
"Take my blessings and find ambrosia." Olivia chortled.
Varian rolled his eyes.
Ambrosia. An almost mythical liquid.
Due to the constant deaths of magic beasts, there will be an accumulation of beast cores in any dungeon.
These accumulated cores, by coincidence and luck, fuse together to form precious drops of liquid. The higher the Dungeon level, the rarer it is.
'Ambrosia… there are legends.'
'A single drop of Ambrosia and your fate will change.' Varian sighed inwardly.
'That'd be too big of an opportunity.' He thought and a realization struck him. Then, he started to sweat buckets.
"Varian, are you alright?" Sarah asked with concern.
A level 2 Body Awakener shouldn't sweat for no reason, right?
"I-I'm fine." Varian put out his well practiced 'I'm dying inside but I can smile outside' smile.
In his mind, he was screaming.
'System! You evil system! If I get a danger equivalent to opportunity, then say I get
Ambrosia, what would be the danger?'
[Host, if that happens, your survival rate would be less than 0.00001%]
'Damn! I need to get out of this Dungeon.' Varian felt his heart pound as he recalled the dangers he faced.
He didn't want Ambrosia. He only wanted to live. And if he could, beat this system to death one day.
Right when Varian was debating on ending the mission, Crimson, Luca and Ivy came out.
Crimson and Luca changed into new clothes, but there were still scratches on their arms. Ivy walked out with a smug smile.
Of course, they were all very light injuries.
"Sup?" Crimson asked.
Sarah showed him the 'Not space ring' and asked him to check it out.
Crimson nodded and extended his mental power.
A Telekinetic's mental power would act on objects. A Telepath's mental power would act on minds.
Thus, a telekinetic was very sensitive to objects.
Crimson immersed himself in exploring every nook and corner of the object.
Everyone stayed silent while he focused.
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes.
His face had a big smile, and he pointed to the object, "Check this out." and swiped it.