The First Floor Boss, Korvath the Onyx Dragon Whelp, has been slain!

10 weeks and 3 days remain until the First Floor becomes uninhabitable!

Pax grinned at the announcement as he clutched the wound in his side. They fucking did it!

He'd had a sneaking suspicion that's where they were heading in the middle of the night, since any other reason would just be pure stupidity. Not that he had much room to talk while skulking through the night to hunt his own prey.

His jaw clenched as pain shot through his side again with a miscalculated step on the uneven forest floor. He was pissed that Cihan had managed to escape him, but that bastard was fast now—unnaturally so. Cihan was also a fucking coward that would rather flee than fight, but maybe that was just the smarter move against a poison specialist like him.

Pax clenched his jaw and pushed himself forward, moving slowly to keep his stealth in check, but he couldn't afford to move too slow and bleed out before reaching the only person he knew might risk healing him.

While he had been lucky enough to get his Poison Aspect to bond with his Fortitude, the stupid bleeding Bane that Cihan managed to land wouldn't stop without either a cleanse or topping off his health. It was annoyingly powerful for a Crystal Caste ability.

He had debated visiting the Workers, knowing they had brought an alchemist with them that would be ideally churning out potions. However, he wasn't certain they would trade with him nor if they actually managed to make healing potions specifically. As far as he knew, Liraz was the only rebel among the Worker's Champions, and he had seen that she was already at Jin's side instead.

Pax smiled at the thought, glad that his half-sister had been able to accomplish joining the Wayfarer. Hopefully, that meant Jin was willing to side with them, both within the tower and beyond it.

As a barely illuminated cabin came into view, Pax felt his tense shoulders relax slightly. He had made it. Now, he just needed to get to her without getting stabbed by any of the others. Luckily, with only four other people remaining due to clearing off a majority of his list with them, he was fairly sure of his odds to escape, at least… even if it meant risking bleeding out in this gods forsaken forest.

He took a steadying breath and carefully made his way to the front door, testing each wooden step up to the porch before risking a squeaky board. Hopefully, the others were heavy sleepers.

Carefully twisting the doorknob he had previously broken the lock on during his last visit, he peeked into the lower floor to see the fire in the hearth slowly dying out and the room mercifully empty. They must have already gone to sleep like he had hoped. Why they still didn't have a watch rotation was beyond him, but at least it made his job easier.

The ease with which he was gaining access, however, was making him more determined to press his only ally among them to leave with him this time. Their last talk hadn't gone as smoothly as he had hoped but she had made a good point that she would have slowed his hunting down.

After slowly ascending the questionable stairwell, he cautiously checked each room to find which one was hers. Cold sweat was making his hands clammy and slicker than he wanted to accomplish the task, but once again Rabbit seemed to favor him and her room was the first.

Using the hand not completely covered in his blood, he covered her mouth to wake her without eliciting a scream. That turned out to be a terrible mistake as her eyes shot open and another dagger ended up in him.

"Fucking Abyss, Zen!" he hissed out, trying his best not to scream out himself from the thorn in his side. "It's me! Now heal this before you actually kill me."

Her eyes went even wider when she realized what she had done and quickly sat up to sign, "You shouldn't sneak up on me."

"Would you have screamed if I hadn't?" he whispered with a glare, turning to sit on the edge of her bed to offer the side that currently had the blade sticking out of him.

She rolled her eyes and signed, "No. You know I haven't spoken a word in over five years."

He paused for a moment at the reminder before admitting, "Fair point."

Looking over his side, she quickly dismissed the conjured blade at the same time she pressed her other hand to him and silently incanted. Life magic flowed into him, and he finally felt like he could breathe again.

Zendri raised a brow in silent question to him with her hands currently busy healing and yanking him to turn to show his other side.

"My fight with Cihan didn't turn out so well," he quietly answered. "I'm fairly certain he got a Speed Aspect from one of the Trials. Which reminds me, I saw the third one we needed to the south on my way here. We should both go after it and then follow the Servants to the next floor."

Her eyes went wide before signing with one hand, "Boss?"

"The remaining Servants and Liraz took out an Onyx Dragon Whelp apparently," he answered with a proud grin. "I know you don't talk, but surely you heard that obnoxious announcement that almost got me killed by a monster, right?"

She shook her head and gestured back toward her pillow in silent explanation of sleeping through it.

It was his turn to look at her incredulously. "You're that heavy of a sleeper? You are seriously going to get us killed." Rolling her eyes, she roughly grabbed at his other wound, and he groaned at the pain before she started healing that side as well. "Can't you be even a little more gentle?"

"Baby," she replied with her newly freed hand.

He didn't dignify that with a response as he refocused more on the healing sensation and not dying anymore. Closing his eyes, he carefully fell back onto the bed. He was so exhausted and the semi-softness of the bed was heavenly. Over a fortnight of sleeping on hard marble floors inside a Trial, if he even managed to get to one every day, which he hadn't, was starting to catch up to him.

Once he felt the Bane finally lift from being fully healed, he let out a long sigh of relief and opened his golden eyes again to look into Zendri's crimson ones. She tucked a strand of long black hair behind an ear before signing, "You got blood on my bed."

Huffing a laugh, he tiredly responded with a heavy dose of sarcasm, "Please forgive me, Your Highness. I am but a lowly ill-mannered Whisper that is undeserving of your mercy."

"You're also risking a lot to come here."

He frowned at that, knowing the truth of it. "I'm sorry for exposing you. I just didn't know who else to turn to who wouldn't actively try to finish the job. I'm still narrowing down which Lover is on our side, too. They seem hesitant to reveal themselves so early."

"How many are left on that list of yours?"

Another heavy sigh escaped him. "Five Whispers and five Fighters. I think the Whispers have gone mostly avoidance mode after my treachery was made apparent. None of us have dared to go near our own base still. I only got near enough to make the damn pinging sound stop."

"Ten Champions, all highly trained in combat, will not be an easy task."

"I know, which is why I want you to come with me now. You didn't want to impede my hunt earlier, now I need you to support it… if you're willing that is." He focused on her reaction which was impressively impassive. Years of political upbringing among the nobles would help keep those reactions hidden, he supposed. Her true intentions couldn't remain hidden from his eyes, though, and he would know if she tried lying to him.

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Pax turned slightly to lay on his side facing her as he murmured, "I know you have the most to lose out of all of us, Zen, but the rebellion needs your help. I need your help in here. If you are truly dedicated to the change we desire, the change this city needs, then I need to know you're in. One hundred percent."

Zendri observed him for a long time, hugging her knees up to her chest before finally signing, "I'm in. Let's go become Casters."

"I still can't believe we managed to take out the floor boss without a single Caster," Hadia muttered to her as they all made their way to the back of the cavern where a glowing doorway had appeared. "You're definitely going to use that Dragon Aspect, right?"

"Are you sure none of you want it?" Jin asked and silently prayed they would all decline again. She had always loved dragons and having an Aspect for it just felt… right.

Hadia rolled her eyes. "We've already said you deserve it, and despite you using that stupid Talent, can tell that you really want it."

"How?"

"You're not listing out reasonable arguments for any of us to have it instead," Karam pointed out with a grin.

"Good point. I'm not going to triple check then," she replied, smiling as she lifted the little stone figurine. Activating her [Aetheric Transmigrator] ability on it, she accepted the prompt and winced in pain as it seemed to come to life and clawed its way into the hand that held it, burying itself under her skin before vanishing into magic.

"Wait!" Hadia said too late once she seemed to realize what was happening.

"What's wrong—" Jin began to ask but cut off when she felt another ripple of magic spread out from her core. She stumbled forward but Karam's strong arm stopped her from hitting the floor. "What's happening?" she managed to ask as her breath became short and her heart raced.

"You're Ascending to Crystal Caste," Karam answered, steadily helping her to the ground when her muscles gave out.

The others moved closer as if to shield her from view. She could feel the Aspect's magic bonding to her Fortitude attribute, feeling healthier than ever before, but her entire focus centered on that point in her core that felt like it was about to combust… and then it did, engulfing her entire body in white flames.

An aura, strong and domineering, bloomed outward from her, the intense need to expand and run free almost overwhelming. She could also sense the new ability she had unlocked and her breath caught when she realized what that Dragon Aspect had truly gifted her with: a dragon Familiar to call her own.

She wasn't sure what kind of dragon it might be, but she knew it would become one. That train of thought was promptly interrupted by the oddest feeling as the four Aspects seemed to bond together to infuse her Magic with enough power to generate her Class that she instinctively knew the name of.

Abyssal Dragoon.

Power coursed through her body, the mana pulsing strongly through veins she had never been able to truly sense before. Another Passive and Cultivating ability unlocked with her Class; the former into a self-empowering Boon that constantly increased her rate of progression and learning. The latter felt similar to Hadia's ramming ability.

Then she felt something else within her begin to shift. A piece of herself that had already been there morphing into something more. A Talent cultivating in response to the Class her soul had awakened and that she now embodied.

She couldn't focus on anything other than this deluge of information and the pain that accompanied the flames burning away pieces of her to replace with pure magic.

Once it receded and she felt like she could breathe again, she sat back up from her prone position she had fallen into and pressed the Display rune to confirm what she believed. Checking her Passives first to show the others.

Passive Ability: Draconic Dominion

Type: Aura (magical, covenant)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Continually decreases the innate resistances of all enemies within the aura. The effect gradually resets once they have left the aura's influence.

Passive Ability: Draconic Ancestry

Type: Boon (magical, covenant)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Your abilities cultivate faster than average. This stacks with other cultivation-boosting effects.

"Shit, you're going to outlevel us," Hadia muttered before signing the same worry to Alim.

He nodded and replied, "It'll mean we need to work harder to try and keep up." Glancing at the rest of them, he smirked and added, "But when haven't we been at a disadvantage compared to others?"

"Always have been since I joined the Servants," Hadia conceded.

"What else did you get?" Liraz signed at Jin, smiling in shared excitement.

Jin grinned back and pressed the Display rune again to bring up her other two abilities.

Ability: Dragon Companion

Type: Familiar (ritual, summon, magical, covenant)

Cost: Severe mana and stamina.

Cooldown: 1 hour.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Summon a Dragon 🐉 as a Familiar.

Ability: Vorpal Charge

Type: Special Attack (combination, divine, void)

Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Charge an enemy with greatly increased Agility and Strength and inflicting additional Void damage with the next attack.

"You got a Familiar?!" Karam exclaimed. "That's awesome, Miss Jin!"

"Please drop the Miss. I'm begging you now. I thought after fighting a dragon together, you would realize you don't need to address me so formally," Jin pleaded.

He flushed slightly, but it didn't diminish his smile as he ignored the comment and added, "At least you'll be able to summon the Familiar soon. The tower normally provides enough materials to resummon any Familiars upon unlocking the ability and before going to the next floor."

She nodded and pressed the bracelet's rune one last time to see the Talent that had changed.

Natural Talent: Treasure Hoard

Cultivated from [Rainy Day] due to unlocking the Abyssal Dragoon Class.

You can loot slain enemies with a touch. When looting an enemy above your current Caste, you will be given a selection of additional loot options to choose one from. You can trigger the looting of slain enemies with your aura instead to save the remnant magical essence to be converted into loot at a later time; doing so will slowly increase the quality of the generated loot. You have a personal, dimensional hoard storage space. Loot automatically goes into your hoard.

It wasn't a huge shift, but it would make looting in combat easier at least, and not make her as dependent on Liraz to carry all of her own stuff.

Jin tried to stand but wobbled, a sudden wave of exhaustion slamming into her. "Whoa, what the Abyss?"

"And that would be the Soul Exhaustion," Hadia said with a flat look. "That's why I tried to stop you." She gave a sigh. "Let's just get you to the treasure room. There's no time limit there, and while it won't be comfortable, you can get the sleep you need for your Ascension Recovery."

"How long?" she murmured, but could already feel her body wanting to shut down.

"A whole day," Karam answered, wrapping his arm around her again to help her finish walking toward the door to the next room. "Try to stay awake long enough for the clear reward."

She nodded and was grateful when Hadia moved to support her other side, her friends half dragging her through the glowing doorway.

After the momentary disorientation, she glanced around the new room they had been transported to. It was perfectly circular and had five alcoves to her left and another five to her right with another glowing doorway directly across from them. In the center of the room was a low dais with a familiar-looking pedestal on it. It was identical to the one at the end of the Trial of the Aspects.

Alim moved ahead of them to place his bracelet to the top part of the pillar, triggering a large holographic display to appear above the pillar itself instead of the bracelet.

Congratulations for clearing the first floor!

Time spent on the floor: 2 weeks, 4 days, 3 hours, 27 minutes.

You have accomplished a new floor clear record! An additional 20 points have been added to each person's total.

You may now claim your clear reward below, then use the terminals to access the second-floor preparation store and upgrade the functionality of your Bracelet of External Insight.

May the gods smile upon you and the greatest Sect be victorious!

Alim pressed his bracelet to the pillar once again and then the more familiar display appeared above his bracelet. He grinned at it, then signed to the rest of them, "We each get to pick an Elemental or Magical Aspect from it."

"Nice," Hadia replied with a grin, then readjusted her grip on Jin to sign. "That means we might all be able to become Casters today then."

"Well, hurry before I pass out," Jin interjected, looking up to Karam as she processed the same math Hadia had. "I'll give mine to you Kar, so figure out which ones you want, then please let me sleep."

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