"We're here."

Damien stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary rock formation about thirty minutes north of Gravestone.

He checked the map on his translucent system screen, then looked up at the rugged terrain.

To the naked eye, this place was nothing but a collection of jagged boulders and overgrown moss, the kind of scenery adventurers would walk past without a second glance.

"Here?" Lyra frowned, her sharp elven ears twitching as she scanned the area.

"Damien, not to doubt the Voss family intelligence, but there is no mana fluctuation here. No dungeon entrance, no spatial distortion. Just rocks."

She tightened her grip on her mana bow, her blue eyes narrowing.

The skepticism was valid. In the world of Elias, dungeons usually emitted a distinct, heavy pressure to warn the weak.

Here, the only sound was the wind whistling through the cracks.

"That's exactly why it hasn't been found for centuries," Damien said, a confident smirk playing on his lips.

He stepped forward, placing his hand on a specific, moss-covered boulder.

In the original novel, the protagonist Alaric stumbled here while running from a Tier 3 Magic Beast. He bled on this rock by accident.

But I don't need to bleed. I have the system's coordinates.

"Isabelle, use your gravity. Push this specific rock down, not in," Damien ordered, pointing to a protrusion that looked like a natural bump.

"Yes, Young Master!"

Isabelle obeyed instantly. Her eyes flashed a faint ruby red, a sign she was tapping into her Baros-Ignian bloodline. She extended a hand.

Woom!

The air distorted. A heavy, purple-tinged pressure descended on the rock. Unlike the chaotic explosion from her awakening, this was controlled and precise.

Click.

With a sound like a heavy lock disengaging, the boulder sank into the earth.

The ground beneath their feet trembled, and the solid cliff face groaned. Slowly, magically, the rocks parted, revealing a dark, spiraling staircase leading deep into the earth.

Immediately, a gust of ancient, stale air rushed out. But this was no ordinary wind, it was a wave of pure, suffocating Earth Mana.

It washed over them physically, making Lyra gasp and step back.

"This pressure…!" Lyra's eyes went wide. "This density… it's at least a Tier 4 dungeon. No, maybe higher. How did a concealment array hide this?"

"Because it wasn't hiding a dungeon, Lyra," Damien said, stepping onto the stairs, his cloak billowing in the mana wind.

"It was hiding a tomb. Let's go."

The descent was silent, save for the rhythmic tapping of their boots on the stone.

As they went deeper, the darkness faded. The walls began to glow with a soft, golden luminescence.

Veins of raw gold ore and mana crystals ran through the cavern walls, lighting up the path like a royal hallway.

"So beautiful…" Isabelle whispered, her hand brushing against the wall. "Young Master, these crystals… just one of them could buy a house in the capital."

"Don't get distracted by the wallpaper, Isabelle. We're here for the main course," Damien warned, though he, too, was impressed.

The resting place of the Golden Dragon Italica. In the novel, the protagonist used this wealth to fund his rebellion against the Demon Lord.

I'll be using it to fund my Shadow Faction.

"Enemies ahead," Lyra's voice cut through his thoughts.

She had taken the vanguard, her eyes glowing with a faint green light as she used an elven sight technique. "Three hundred meters. Construct type. Four of them."

"Strength?" Damien asked.

"High Tier 3. Their armor is… gold?" Lyra sounded confused.

"Golden Sentinels," Damien identified them immediately.

"Golems made of gold and earth mana. Physical attacks barely scratch them, and they have high magic resistance. Perfect."

He looked at his two companions. This was the test.

"Lyra, you take the eyes. They are the only weak points for ranged attacks. Isabelle, when Lyra blinds them, crush them. I'll handle any that get too close."

"Understood," Lyra said. She raised her hand, and the mana in the air swirled violently.

Mana Fabrication.

In a split second, a beautiful, translucent green longbow materialized in her grip. Bypassing a quiver entirely, she pulled the string back, and an arrow of pure, condensed wind mana formed, humming with a high-pitched screech.

Twang!

The arrow flew through the dark corridor faster than the eye could follow.

Clang!

Three hundred meters away, a metallic screech echoed. A massive, ten-foot-tall Golden Sentinel, which had just begun to animate, jerked its head back.

The wind arrow had pierced straight through its visual receptor, shattering the gold plating.

"Target blinded," Lyra reported coolly, already forming a second arrow.

"My turn!" Isabelle stepped forward.

The blinded golem roared, a sound like grinding metal and charged. Behind it, three others woke up, their heavy golden footsteps shaking the floor.

Isabelle stared down the charging monsters. For a second, the sweet maid vanished, replaced by a demon.

"Gravity… Crush!"

She slammed her hands downward.

BOOOOOOM!

The gravity in the corridor shifted violently, becoming crushing enough to shatter the floor tiles instantly.

The leading golem, weighing tons, was slammed face-first into the ground by an invisible hand. Its golden armor buckled and groaned under the pressure.

The three golems behind it stumbled, their knees bending, struggling to lift their own feet.

"Now!" Damien yelled.

Refusing to stand back, he tested his own limits.

"Shadow Step!"

Damien dissolved into the darkness cast by the glowing crystals. He reappeared instantly above the pinned, blinded golem.

His hand was wreathed in black smoke, the signature of the Voss family magic.

"Shadow Spike!"

Ignoring the thick armor, he aimed for the crack in the neck plating that Isabelle's gravity had exposed. He thrust his hand down.

A solid spear of shadow erupted from his palm, driving deep into the golem's mechanics. The light in the golem's remaining eye flickered and died.

"One down," Damien said, flipping off the carcass. "Three to go."

The battle was a massacre.

Lyra was a turret of death. Her accuracy was terrifying; every arrow found a joint or a sensor.

Isabelle was a force of nature, controlling the battlefield with gravity zones that made the golems look like they were moving through molasses.

And Damien was the executioner, using his shadow mobility to finish off the targets they set up.

Within five minutes, the corridor was littered with piles of scrap gold.

"Haa… haa…" Isabelle panted slightly, wiping sweat from her brow. "That gravity spell… consumes a lot of mana."

"You're doing great," Damien praised her, handing her a mana potion from his Void Gem. "We're close. The density of the mana is increasing."

Lyra looked at Damien, her expression complicated. "You fight like a veteran, Voss. And your knowledge of these constructs… it's unnatural."

"I told you," Damien smirked, checking his sword. "I'm a greedy king. A king knows his domain."

Lyra rolled her eyes, but the respect in her gaze was undeniable. They moved on.

Finally, they reached the end of the corridor. Before them stood a massive set of double doors, easily fifty feet high, carved from solid gold and etched with draconic runes.

The pressure radiating from behind these doors was palpable. It felt heavy, ancient, and majestic.

"Behind this is the main chamber," Damien said, his voice turning serious. "And the Guardian."

"What kind of Guardian?" Isabelle asked, her demon instincts flaring warning signals.

"In the story, it was a beast formed from the dragon's leaking aura and the surrounding earth.

A Golden Earth Dragon. Not a true dragon, but close enough to kill us if we aren't careful."

Damien checked his status.

[DP: 500.] [Status: Peak 3rd Order (Suppressed).]

I can't beat a 4th Order boss with just this. I need that manual. And I need to edit my technique. But I can't edit it until I have the manual in my hand.

"Listen to me," Damien said, turning to the girls. "The Guardian inside is Peak 4th Order. Maybe even touching 5th Order due to the environment. We cannot beat it in a contest of strength."

Lyra paled. "Peak 4th Order? Damien, we should retreat. My arrows won't pierce its hide."

"We don't need to kill it immediately," Damien corrected. "We need to distract it. The treasure, the manual I need, is located on the altar behind the beast. My goal is to get to that altar."

"And then?" Isabelle asked.

"And then," Damien's eyes gleamed with a dangerous blue light. "I will become strong enough to kill it."

He pushed the doors open.

RUMBLE.

The chamber was vast, a cavernous dome filled with mountains of gold coins, jewels, and artefacts.

But dominating the center of the room was a creature that stole the breath from their lungs.

It stood thirty feet tall at the shoulder. Its body was made of compressed earth and raw gold ore, shaped into the crude but terrifying form of a dragon without wings. Its eyes were two massive, burning topaz gems.

The Guardian of Gold.

As the doors opened, the Guardian turned its massive head. Without a roar, it simply exhaled, sending a wave of golden dust heavy as lead blasting toward them.

"Scatter!" Damien yelled.

He and Lyra dove right; Isabelle dove left.

CRASH!

Where they had been standing a second ago, the floor was obliterated, turned to sand by the weight of the Guardian's breath weapon.

"It manipulates mass!" Lyra shouted, firing three arrows in rapid succession.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

They bounced harmlessly off the Guardian's golden hide. "My attacks are useless!"

"Isabelle! Gravity!" Damien commanded, shadow-stepping across the room, dodging a massive claw swipe.

"Gravity… Press!" Isabelle screamed, her horns manifesting as she pushed her power to the limit.

A purple circle appeared over the Guardian. The beast groaned, its legs buckling slightly… but only slightly.

It was too strong. It roared, shaking off the gravity like it was nothing more than a heavy cloak, and turned its gaze toward Isabelle.

It lunged.

"No!" Damien gritted his teeth.

He couldn't let Isabelle tank that. She was strong, but she was a glass cannon.

"Shadow Bind!"

Hundreds of black tentacles erupted from the gold coins, wrapping around the Guardian's legs. It didn't stop the beast, but it slowed it down for a fraction of a second.

"Lyra! The eyes! Now!"

Without hesitation, Lyra drew her bow to its limit, infusing every drop of her mana into a single, spinning arrow.

Screech!

The arrow flew true, slamming into the Guardian's topaz eye.

CRACK.

The gem fractured instantly. The Guardian roared in pain, thrashing blindly. Its tail whipped around, smashing into a pile of gold and sending coins flying like shrapnel.

"Now's my chance!"

While the beast was distracted, Damien bolted.

He sprinted past the thrashing monster, sliding under a swinging claw, and shadow-stepped through the chaos toward the back of the room.

There, resting on a simple stone pedestal that looked out of place amidst the gold, was a floating, golden scroll.

The Dragon's Breath Aura Manual. The key to his Dual-Core.

The Guardian sensed him. Ignoring Lyra and Isabelle, it turned its cracked eye toward the thief stealing its master's legacy.

It opened its mouth, gathering a massive sphere of golden energy, a beam that would vaporize anything it touched.

Damien reached the pedestal. Keeping his eyes forward, he grabbed the scroll.

[System Alert!]

[Item Detected: Golden Dragon Aura Manual (Peak Grade)]

[Do you wish to learn it?]

"Learn it!" Damien screamed in his mind.

[Learning…] [Technique Acquired.]

The beam was firing. The light was blinding. Isabelle was screaming his name.

Damien stood his ground. He stared at the translucent blue screen hovering before his eyes, his finger poised over the final button.

[System Alert!]

[Current DP: 500]

[Edit 'Midnight Tome' for Dual-Core Compatibility? Cost: 500 DP]

"Spend it."

[Editing…]

[WARNING: Severe Soul-Backlash Imminent.]

As the golden beam of destruction left the Guardian's mouth, Damien felt his soul rip open.

BOOM!

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