The first to speak among them was surprisingly, Larena. Garthe seemed bewildered by everything, but she grabbed his arm and pulled her beside him. "Is this connected to what you told the others prior?" she said, referring to when the mercenary siblings left them all to discuss Lucy's age.

"Correct."

Larena frowned deeper then glanced at them all. "Garthe and I will stay upstairs until you're done. I... don't believe it's necessary for our jobs for us to hear this, nor do I feel comfortable with it."

"Hey, speak for yourself! I totally want to hear these secrets! Oi!" Garthe was dragged away by his stronger sister and then Larena went back up to the upper level.

Lucy watched them go expressionlessly.

It looks like Larena wants to keep her distance and stick to a professional relationship. She must feel more loyal to the Black Hand Mercenary Guild. It's fine, I expected this. If she takes the first step to distance herself from these matters then it won't make it awkward for us all.

"Well then," Lucille began, her voice sharp and curt as she addressed Roa, Marellen, and Jasten – through the Simulacrum. "As Sedric's situation has changed, I'll keep this brief."

Roa frowned but before she could interject Lucy raised a hand. "Time for questions later. I don't expect you all to have time to consider the implications of my statements, so I'll only reveal enough to enable you to put aside your theories for the meantime."

The others exchanged confused looks but nodded.

Lucille sighed and looked over her shoulder, turning to the viewing window of the black lake below. "I am familiar with this language because it's a language used by the organisation that were my enemies in the future. Yes, the future. I'm not a reincarnated mage. But it's only a 'false' future."

She faced them. "True time travel is impossible unless you're a Great Being or the System. As such, my situation could be equated to this: everyone alive in the present had their memories and strength erased while their souls were put in bodies replicated from their youth. Planes were rearranged, mana reformed and matter returned to its previous locations to create a 'reset' of the timeline instead of sending me back. I haven't time travelled, I simple remember what all of you don't."

They stared at her. She pointed at her bond with a flat expression. "He remembers too, for the record. I'm not the only one."

They stared at Scytale. He planted his hands on his hips and smirked. "What, shocked that I'm more impressive than you thought-"

"Moving on." Lucille crossed her arms. "As for the organisation... I became worried because I saw something that shouldn't be here yet. In hindsight, I was being ridiculous." She glanced at the glowing walls. "This has been here for thousands of years before I could've been born, which means it has nothing to do with me. Perhaps this plane is an abandoned project of theirs. That would be the best case scenario."

She picked up her briefcase. "I am worried about what the Light Tower may have discovered here that they desire Sedric's expertise, however. If possible, I wish to interfere before they obtain anything potentially harmful."

She glanced at the others. "Anymore highly important questions that need to be answered before we continue?"

Marellen looked distracted while Roa nodded. Lucille looked between them both and sighed. "One question each. Including Jasten. Vincent, Annaliese and Reagan, you already know my secret so no questions from either of you three."

'You failed to mention the 'erasing memories' part of your apparent time travel though, Lucille,' Vincent commented dryly.

Jasten's low voice spoke. 'I would like to ask my question first, Count Goldcroft.'

Lucy gave a dismissive wave, even if he couldn't exactly see her. "Proceed."

'Did you approach and befriend Prophetess Verdon due to your foreknowledge?'

"Approach because of my knowledge? Yes," Lucille stated shortly. "Befriend? No. I was mildly curious about the prior records about Raegan and resolved the situation purely because I could. Annaliese is the one who refuses to break off contact."

'And why should I?!'

They ignored the girl's affronted cries. Sir Albrecht fell silent, proof that Lucy's emphasis on Raegan had shut him up. He was smart enough to theorise what may have happened in the past… if her story about being from the future was correct.

Lucy turned to Tristroa. "Your turn."

"My question happens to be tangentially related," the snow elf replied lightly. "Were the rest of us approached due to you being familiar with ourselves… on the basis that your time travel story is correct? Such subtle manipulation, while presumably unmalicious, leaves a partially foul taste in my mouth to think that our decisions were premeditated ahead of time."

Lucille raised an eyebrow. "I had heard of you. We never met in person. As for everyone else… the only ones I had met in person were Annaliese, Vincent and Sir Albrecht. I hadn't heard of Marellen in the past and the mercenaries... I'm still unsure if they're the ones I'm thinking of." She shook her head. "Whatever the case, I chose your party due to our connections in this timeline."

'Uh, hey. What about me?' Sedric sounded sour because he wasn't listed.

"…yes, I had heard of you Sedric."

'You're not kidding right? You had heard of me?' From sounding shocked to smug, his voice became louder. 'Wait, if you had heard of me that must mean I was famous, right?! I was an amazing crafter, wasn't I? That's the only reason why you would've hired me!'

Lucille's expression twitched at the tone of his voice and she rubbed her temples. "Let's proceed. I'll call Larena and Garthe back down. They were disconnected from the Simulacrum for this explanation."

As she did that, she called out to Sedric. "Sedric, what's your situation?"

There was silence. Lucy frowned. "Sedric?"

They began to exchange worried looks as Sedric had been talking to them just fine moments earlier, but…

'…sorry. One of the wizards was talking to me. I couldn't reply.' There was a slight pause as Sedric spoke again. 'So… I'm in a new room… several levels below where I was the first time, from what I counted, although one wall of the room is glass so I can see out. They look like they're trying to open some big door? The, uh, lead wizard told me I need to work harder. I don't think they made much progress getting into the room.'

Lucille held her chin. "What circle wizard is the one in charge?"

'Huh?'

"The number of points on the star on his robe."

'How am I supposed to know- oh. He walked past. He has eight points.'

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"8th Circle wizard…" Trisroa mused. "I suppose he wouldn't have a Seat in the Athenaeum."

"He's more than enough for all of you Rank-3s and below to have to deal with," Lucy warned. "Let alone any other wizards or light mages he brought along. To be anything more than a 5th Circle wizard, you need to have atmospheric mana control. He'll be Rank-4 at the very least."

Scytale clicked his tongue. "Couldn't we get our Paladin to deal with him?"

'When did I become 'your' Paladin?' Jasten asked accusingly.

Lucille glanced at her pocket watch. "Sir Albrecht told me it was necessary for him to be seen, however outright conflict between him and the Light Tower is presumably off-limits if his… ally wishes him to remain employed as a Paladin."

'He promised to cut off contact after this, but knowing his faction, they'll consider me one of their 'cards' and want to preserve my status for the future,' Annaliese's guard replied.

"Nonetheless, Sir Albrecht will need to be nearby so he can collect Raegan before we make contact with the wizards," Lucille stated. "Sir Albrecht, I estimate that you'll need to leave now if you want to meet up with us before the conflict."

'Understood. Prophetess Verdon and I will enter the facility now.'

It seemed the Paladin was a bit more comfortable with entering the underground building now that they had tested the waters. Larena and Garthe returned to the control room. Garthe was looking uncharacteristically solemn. Lucy gave the raven-haired mercenary a subtle nod, aware of the conversation the two had. Larena seemed to relax slightly with that.

"Vincent, will you stay on the surface?" Lucille called out.

'…Lucille, do you honestly believe I'm safer up here than with a Rank-5 beside me?'

She paused. "Fair point. Sir Albrecht, is that fine with you?"

'Prophetess Verdon will be my priority, but I'll keep an eye on him,' the man responded.

"My thanks." Lucille turned to the others with a serious expression. "Are we ready to enter the Centre for Interdimensional Navigation?"

Five of them, including Scytale, nodded. Raegan only rolled his eyes but nobody was really interested in his opinion at that point in time.

Lucile nodded. "Good. Then we need to access the bottom floor as soon as possible. Marellen and Roa, I'll need you to take us to the central room Efratel mentioned in his letter to me."

They glanced at each other. Trisroa began, "Formerly, that floor had been marked as-"

"It translated to 'Offline,' correct?" Lucille interrupted. "I told you all. I'm familiar with the language of this place." She stretched her arms out in front of her and gestured with her head. "Let's get a move on so I can show you how the technology of this place works."

…

Roa took the lead, as Marellen's gaze was still unfocused and he followed listlessly from behind. Scytale, at Lucille's prodding, used his elemental manipulation to form an illuminating orb of light for them all in the dark passageways. The soft glow highlighted the jagged edges of where tremors had presumably wracked the infrastructure, giving it all an ominous appearance.

There was a scuffle from behind when Marellen, lost in thought, tripped over a stone and stumbled. He briefly shook his head as he righted himself and jogged up to Lucy's side.

"You promised us one question each, correct?" he asked, his multi-coloured eyes fixed on her. "I would like to ask mine now."

"I intended for it to be in the context of the situation back then but…" Lucy sighed. "Ask away."

"Before that, I have another question."

"Marellen, I promised one question-"

"It's important to us all, I swear!" he interrupted.

She observed his eagerness and resigned herself to answering. "Fine. What is it?"

Marellen shifted his slipping glasses and gripped his staff as they climbed down a rift that had shorn the floor in half, creating an opening to the lower floor. "Why is Rank-4, or even Rank-5, something you consider us to have trouble defeating, even with four of us being Rank-3 here?"

A humanoid winged snake who was busy pretending to do 'cool' poses with his laser rifle as he scouted out corners looked back. "What has that got to do with Lucy?"

"…you must've heard about Influence by now, correct?" Lucille replied, suspecting what his real question was. "The immaterial substance that makes up our skills. At Rank-3 you all would've gained the ability to sense the skills you have, as well as what form your Origin Skill takes within you. Rank-3 is considered the first major step to becoming more than mere mortal, especially with your future establishment of 'domains'."

The snow elf in front looked over her shoulder. "Does the primary difference revolve around these 'domains'?"

"Domains become many times stronger at Rank-4 and above, yes, but that's only an effect," Lucy refuted. "Influence is named as such because the more you have, the greater your 'impact' or influence on the world around you. It's a measure of your conceptual weight." She withdrew her two snake-swords and let them float next to her. "Humans aren't made to sense Influence. We're not spiritual entities. Demons and spirits are though."

"Then what's the point of it?" Garthe said, kicking a stray stone with his foot.

"It enables you to impact materials and locations with greater effect," Lucille stated. "Those who have grown up on the Aeternus plane would be more familiar with the phenomenon. A Rank-5 such as Sir Albrecht is capable of continental destruction on an unranked plane. As he goes to stronger planes, his impact is less and less."

The people around her froze slightly… all except for Scytale, who was absorbed in his role play. "Pew pew!"

"Sir Albrecht can destroy continents?" Trisroa said, stunned.

Lucy causally stretched her neck and walked on ahead of the elven mage. "Of course, the planar limitation on the exertion of Influence is thousandfold stronger on the lesser Ranks, so your strongest advanced spell may only have the effect of a beginner's fireball on our only discovered Superior plane. That would only be on materials of the Aeternus plane that are native, of course. Everything foreign needs enough time to become saturated with its mana."

She spun around and beamed at them while spreading her arms wide. "Not to mention the distance you can control spells and abilities is severely limited by a plane's strength, but at higher ranks your Influence allows you to push back. That's why we call it the 'field of Influence'. It has nothing to do with mana control."

Marellen and Roa's eyes widened as they heard the origin of one of the terms core to their role as mages for the first time.

Lucy's bond wanted his share too so he piped up, "Yeah, and you know all those old guys who look like they're stuck at 30 or something? The more Influence you have, the harder it is to change your appearance because everything about you becomes so 'solid'. You forget to… I dunno, change your hair colour back to its original after a few years and it stays stuck like that." He grinned and turned away. "That's why it's great to be a young magical beast. I got to control most of my human appearance before it gets stuck at Rank-3."

"That phenomenon is called Conceptual Identity," Lucy added.

"Huh." Garthe squinted at the raven-haired woman next to him. "Is that why Larena is so proud of herself for appearing in her mid-twenties at nearly thirty? It's all just magical crap doing the hard work?"

The loud-mouthed man dodged the sharp fist headed for his side from his older sister and whistled as he sped up in front.

'Count Goldcroft, I believe we've found the chasm you descended down. The room below has one glass wall overlooking a lake, correct?' Jasten asked.

"Yes, that's correct. There should be an exit alongside the cavern's right wall," Lucy said. Then she sighed and turned to the others. "Your own perception of your mental age can also affect your appearance, which is why humans who have lived for several thousand years appear to have aged. At that age though, their appearance is the least of their concerns."

'Lucy, why don't you look like an old woman then?' Annaliese's annoyingly frank voice spoke out.

Lucille rubbed her nose bridge. "It's... didn't I say that you needed to be Rank-3 to even begin altering your appearance? It's a slow process. Besides..." She narrowed her eyes and looked up, imagining she could see the girl above. "Why do you believe I'd appear as an old woman, Miss Prophetess? What exactly is your opinion of me?"

"I'll never have to deal with the issue of changing myself to appear younger," Scytale announced smugly.

"Why not?" Raegan asked.

The amphiptere looked back. "Because I don't age, obviously. But outside of that, if you're not human, it's even harder for you to alter your appearance." He smirked. "Every other race besides humans is naturally ten times hotter though so I don't need to care much."

The boy scowled. "As hot as the load of hot air you're spewing."

"As a cold-blooded creature I-"

"You two," Lucy cut in. "Now is not the time to begin arguing. Sedric still needs to be saved and-"

"Why did you leave yourself out when telling us we would have difficulty with the 8th Circle wizard?" Marellen interrupted.

"I-" She turned to stare at the navy-haired mage. "What?"

"Wouldn't the wizards be especially difficult for you as you're only Rank-2?" he explained, studying her with a strange glint in his eyes. "From what you described, it seems like only several Rank-3s would have a chance to do anything to him. Yet you specifically left us out. And I don't believe you want us all to fight him alone, which must mean you believe you're capable of standing equal with this wizards. Lucille, how strong were you in the past?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the mage. He gazed back, unintimidated. For once, it didn't seem to just be pure curiosity that he was asking.

"Why do I have to be implying anything? I simply made a mistake," Lucille stated lightly. "Of course I will struggle more than usual too."

"You're not one to make a mistake, Lucille," Marellen argued. "If you were more powerful than an 8th Circle wizard in the past, it would explain your magical theorem and possibly even your soul power-"

"Stop." She held up a hand and looked away. "This is why I limited everyone to one question each. We need to put our priorities in order." Lucy looked at them all. "We're not as safe as you all seem to think. You're not strong enough to tell what your likelihood of defeating the wizards even is!" She frowned at them and then walked ahead. "Marellen brought up a point – just because I might appear relaxed, doesn't mean all of you should be. I don't want to hear another question about me until Sedric is safe with us, on Gilded Seat."

She stormed on ahead, passing Trisroa and using her spiritual perception to navigate instead.

The others exchanged unsure looks and wordlessly begged Scytale with his eyes to help explain.

He scratched his head and shrugged. The only explanation he had for her behaviour was that it occurred when she felt uncomfortable with her environment.

Which was one reason why the Hero never saw her acting relaxed around him. But Scytale couldn't tell them that.

...

"So, uh..." Marellen gestured awkwardly to the holographic screen in front of them, finally having arrived at the lobby for the Centre for Interdimensional Navigation. "As you can see, these list the levels that are inaccess-" He trailed off and did a double take when he saw the status of the rooms. "What? No, this... why are six of the seven levels online?"

"Hm? There has been a change?" Roa stepped forward and frowned slightly. "Indeed, I notice it too. Have the wizards been opening these levels for some unknown cause?" A thought came to the snow elf and she paused. "Could they perhaps be searching for something?"

"If they are, that's not good news." Lucille walked in front of them and crossed her arms. "You've been reading this wrong, Marellen. There aren't seven levels. There are eight. The bottommost layer, 'Ground Zero', can only be accessed by the 'mundane passages' as they call them and need special authority outside of whatever Master Channeler authority you have."

Not waiting for their reply, she walked around the decorative fountain below the information screen. When she found what she was looking for, she held up her palms and the silver-white constructs of her third primary skill appeared between them. An electrical current jumped between the arcane devices she had created, and then she slammed them onto the fountain's rim.

Marellen came closer with curiosity and shifted his glasses. "Lightning mana? I couldn't sense that within your affinities... in fact, I assumed you had no affinities at all. Are you manually creating lightning mana through a fusion of fire and light-"

"No," she abruptly interrupted. "I'm generating electricity- or, artificial lightning through two arcane dynamos. Lightning can be created from mundane forces." Lucy stepped back as the fountain rumbled, then lifted up. Everyone paused to see the water flow over the sides then part to reveal a new platform with the fountain forming a roof above it.

Lucille gestured to the others. "Lo and behold, I found our express lift to Ground Zero. Everyone, get on. We'll be on the same floor as the wizards when we reach it."

Larena looked at her as she stepped on. "How do you know that?"

"Because I told her," Raegan said shortly. He pushed past and crossed his arms with a worried frown. "I used spiritual energy. I didn't want to make a big deal of it, but... I can tell Sedric is much closer. He's almost directly below us."

As Lucy, the last of them, got onto the lift, she let out a hum. "We might not be able to do this undetected. Everyone, be careful. A confrontation can happen at any moment from this point on."

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