Satisfied with the results of the battle, Vale spent the rest of the day in leisure. He lay down on the oddly comforting 'floor' inside the core while keeping the black door in the corner of his vision… the black door, which now read under 52 hours until it would most likely reopen.

Vale was ambivalent about the impending meet-up with the other Masters of Vice…

He was somewhat excited to meet the others in his predicament, especially Envy, who was closest to him, but he was scared he'd tick off Wrath and, in general, worried about his lack of strength compared to the others.

Although… paradoxical as it may sound, Wrath seemed like a nice person… so Vale was hopeful he'd at least live the coming encounter. Sadly, how many remaining appendages was a more apt worry.

As for the others…

He could judge them on their namesake, but Vale decided he'd hold off on that for now. He'd go into the situations with reservations in mind, but he'd decided to judge them fairly. However, it was undeniable that each possessed a dangerous factor he should skirt around as best he could.

There was also the fact that Gluttony and Greed might both be absent from the world still, if what the village boy said was true. So he may not even get to meet them.

The next question on his mind was…

'What the hell are we even going to talk about?'

What would a congregation of the personification of the seven deadly sins discuss at a round table?

No matter how many times Vale played the scenario in his head, it only ever devolved one way — into a disorganized argument. In fact, such a situation almost happened when Wrath was the only one speaking. He nearly began arguing with himself!

Continuing his rest, Vale stared into the endless white sky while awaiting the next day's challenges.

What challenge? Well, Level 3, of course.

Actually, after their significant strength boost, Level 3 seemed like a cakewalk…

***

And a cakewalk it was.

Level: [3]

Enemies:

[Nascent Aberrant: 10]

[Nascent Mutant: 10]

[Nascent Monster: 5]

Vale, despite facing the strongest enemy force to ever invade the dungeon on paper, was without worry when he first saw it. In fact, he wasn't just unworried, he was excited at the prospect of incoming Aether.

With Salome's new strength alongside Ximena's inhuman constitution, just the two of them alone were probably enough to thwart the threat. But now, they had a proper force of seven members who were all steadily growing stronger through sparring with one another, and Toy, who was making significant progress of her own.

In any case, the threat had been handled handily. So handily, in fact, that Ximena was able to take a sidelined role while Salome was reduced to damage control — in essence, making sure the Nascent Monsters didn't run wild.

The beasts turned out to be serpentine humanoids with a diverse skill set, but it proved futile against the Dungeon of Lust's forces.

Sadly, they dropped no items when they died because they were naked and fought with no weapons, but 45 Aether and combat experience were quite the boon either way.

If there were an MVP of the defense, it would have to be Awilix, who was most definitely taking out some pent-up frustrations on the poor serpents. She jumped around and literally bounced off the walls while dicing up the enemy.

Toy and Stacy also played a crucial role.

While Awilix was fighting in a more guerrilla tactic, Toy and Stacy were at the helm of the Legion, filling up a bottleneck in the maze. When the serpentine bastards crossed their path, they went no further into the labyrinth. They engaged in a ferocious melee that ended with no casualties on Vale's side and decimation on the other.

As for Crow and Vale?

Crow was doing its usual duty of dropping stalagmites, while Vale was alongside it in the crow's nest, barking out orders from above. Then, if he were needed somewhere, he'd drop from one of the pitfalls in the fake ceiling and help out.

When the battle was over, Vale used the 45 new Aether to summon one more archer and two warriors to round out his forces evenly.

Once he did, he split them into two squadrons. Stacy would be in charge of the evens, while One, now renamed Alpha, would be in charge of the odds.

The rest of the time, while the timer in the core ticked down, was spent organizing his forces and creating a training regimen for his growing Legion.

With the additional ten workers, progress on mining out the logistical hub increased at a fantastic rate. The room was starting to look quite spacious. Not to mention that Larry and Sizzy, no longer having to help with the mining efforts, were able to give their full undivided attention to their task at hand.

He also expanded the training room slightly, allowing his forces to train appropriately. There was even enough space for them to act out a five-versus-five mock battle. And, despite the fact that Alpha was an archer wielding a sword at the moment, the odds group held their own against Stacy and even won a few of the group bouts.

As for their individual spars, Stacy seemed quite dominant in one-on-one battle, but surprisingly, so did Two, the second Archer.

The next day, following Level 3, the progress was relatively smooth as well. Awilix and Salome continued their patrol of the area outside. Ximena sulked alone by the entrance, mourning the loss of her only two friends. Toy hid in Vale's shadow. And Vale was diligent in his training.

He hadn't made any breakthroughs in Rudimentary Shapeshifting other than the success of his minor experiment, nor had his understanding of Ember of Lust increased. Still, with his increased reserves, he was able to improve his Aether control in general.

He could now easily reinforce a particular part of his body if he willed it. He was also able to hold a shapeshifted form for longer and fixed the malleability problem a little bit.

In any case, this was all the calm before the storm…

Vale was standing in front of the hazy black door as the numbers above it dipped into the single digits.

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