---

As the team of adventurers stepped out of the gate, Jen glanced over with a curious sideways glance for a blink at her new companion, who was looking with interest at the wheat fields of Tria and letting his gaze wander over the vast fields and farms.

Has he never seen wheat fields before? She asked herself the question, even if it seemed rather silly to her in the next moment and she shook her head. Hardly. Haha. But he has such a... certain look when he looks into the distance. Almost dreamy? Or like he's just enjoying it. The vastness, the freedom. Maybe a little like myself? Hm...

As if he had sensed her gaze, he turned his head toward her and gazed at her briefly until, not half a second later, his gaze traveled over her head and surveyed the city wall.

Has he noticed that I've just been watching him? Or was it just a coincidence that he's looking back now of all times...?

Avan's gaze, as he had introduced himself to the group, had soon made a sweeping sight and the young adventure couple in front was already waiting with different facial expressions, from impatience on Dani's part, to curiosity and a mischievous grin on Patris' part, while Jen's guard walked behind her on the left and also seemed to be eyeing the young mage.

Jen herself glanced at Linob behind her as he frowned, wondering again why her father had insisted that she not go off alone. I was so looking forward to it! And as soon as they caught me, almost as if they had been aware of all my preparations for weeks, the permission came with the premise that I would take one of the elite guards with me. And now I am finally free for the first time in my life, but still have someone with me to watch over me... Not fair!

With these slightly sour thoughts, she trudged past the young man to her two friends, at least Jen thought she could call them such, and Linob followed her like the obedient shadow he was, but not without once again casting an obvious glance at Avan.

Avan merely arched his eyebrows halfway up, and then continued to trot along behind them with his gaze wandering, much to the delight of the young huntress in their group.

---

There is something wrong with this guy. I can smell it miles away against the wind. Last night's story was true, for the most part, as far as I can tell, but he's hiding a lot more than he wants to appear! Just wait and see... And woe betide you if you even try to harm the young lady. I'm almost looking forward to it, in case you turn out to be more devious than you now admit.

Linob thought as he once again threw a direct, challenging glance at Avan as he followed behind his ward.

 

[Battle Mage - 188]

 

Especially with such a level, at such a young age? Almost got into my level range, huh? Something definitely can't be right.

---

 

Avan chuckled inwardly as he first felt Jen's curious but harmless gaze on him and effortlessly grasped it through his sphere of influence, and was a little more surprised at the slightly threatening manner the guard at her side gave him as they walked past him to the waiting couple.

 

[Swordmaster - 211]

 

And something is different since the silver rank of my identify skills. I swear I could only identify people 10 levels above my own level before. Why does it go so much higher now?! Doesn't make any sense. And there is nothing new in the skill itself, is there?

[Silver] You now get a sense of your opponent's strength and most of the properties of identified objects are no longer hidden from you.

No, definitely not... Where does that come from then? Some hidden or instinctive growth in my sphere of influence as a dungeon perhaps? I just don't get it... But why complain. I already feel like a cheater anyway. I'll just take that too.

I mean, I can make durable and stretchy clothes with my dungeon mana now! And as long as they stay within my huge sphere of influence as a dungeon, the shape and texture of the fabric will remain. Now if I could only master enchantments with the runes in my storage... Could I "write" more magic into the already magical fabric in the form of runes? Argh... After this adventuring chapter, I just want some time to myself and my rest, maybe with Elisa... And occupy myself with enchantments. Maybe finally learn to forge? And definitely just process the shit...

And so, in his own thoughts, Avan trotted after the others, following them without really paying attention to his steps and using only his sense as a dungeon, while his gaze continued to roam over the golden wheat fields all around.

Just outside the south gate, the group had found vast expanses of golden yellow wheat fields, which were in full bloom and stretched as far as they could see. Only in the southwest, exactly where the right path also led at the next fork, did it probably go into the nearby forest.

The wheat fields themselves were divided into areas of a hundred by a hundred meters, where some farmers and their workers, some of them slaves with bracelets or neck rings, were already working and beginning to harvest. In between, Avan saw small and medium-sized farms and grain silos, horses, cows, and once even one of these chocs, probably a tamed chocobo.

Before he knew it, he was with the others at the edge of the nearby forest, in the deepest middle of which somewhere the red wolves, or vounds, had been sighted the last time, when a careless group of hunters on a game hunt had penetrated too deep.

Suddenly Avan was torn from his thoughts and observations. "Say, we had not clarified this before, because we assumed that you already know everything. When silver rang and so... But did you bring a tent, or at least a sleeping roll? And food rations?" Asked him out of nowhere a slightly embarrassed Dani, who was scratching the back of her head with her right hand, her cheeks red, and immediately dropped her hand and looked to the side when she noticed his gaze.

"Ahm... Ah, yes. I was able to get a sleeping roll, but unfortunately I don't have a tent. But I don't mind, since I like to see the stars above me..." Came the hoped-for answer from Avan, and the young ranger exhaled in relief. "And I also took some food with me, although I've never had any problems finding enough in nature so far.... I can cook, too, but I'm not much good as a hunter of game, I think."

Avan looked at the young woman expectantly, clasped his hands behind his lower back, and tilted his head questioningly.

"Ahhh! Ahm, yes, very good! Then you can prepare the food with Patris, and I can finally concentrate fully on the hunt! Because he can't cook at all.... Or if he tried in the past, everyone would rather go to sleep immediately without comment." She laughed with a mischievous glint in her eyes as she smirked at her boyfriend, who just waved it off with a laugh.

"Hah! I'll take the blows and the injuries for you, honey! Fair enough!" And turned, a smirking Dani catching up to him and whispering in his ear, while Avan deliberately respected privacy and didn't listen even though he could easily.

Jen just grinned mischievously at the two lovebirds, a bit like two siblings she had grown fond of, and also followed them on the well-trodden path into the forest, Linob always faithfully right behind her.

As Avan walked after them again, continuing to look around, identifying everything and taking advantage of his entire 250 meter radius of influence, he inwardly slapped his hand against his forehead at that moment for his own stupidity.

"I had already learned before all this shit not to forget it anymore!" He whispered barely audibly to himself and scolded himself.

 

[Healer - 109]

[Ranger - 131]

[Bulwark - 129]

 

Avan had forgotten to identify the other people, as he had so often since arriving on Aorus. Groaning slightly at his own renewed failure and forgetting, he finally made up for it, and simply nodded inwardly as he saw the level of his three other companions before him.

Shit... I've never wanted to count HOW MANY I've actually killed with the dungeon implosion... But that must have been a hell of a lot if I'm many times higher than my companions, and can almost reach the elite swordmaster here...

Unbeknownst to the others, and since the start of his journey out of Haipu, Avan had also begun to make use of his new dungeon skills, pulling in small amounts of wood, rocks, sand, earth, and all sorts of other material here and there.

Unlike his Celestial Storage, he was able to store various materials and plants in a separate "area" that seemed to know no end, and he could access them vaguely rather than as accurately as his inventory.

 

Passive Skill: Celestial Sphere

[Bronze] Range is multiplied by 5. (50m)

You are now able to store various mundane materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence. You have unlocked an anchor point.

[Silver] Range is multiplied by 5. (250m)

You are now able to store advanced materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence.

 

He had also experimented a bit with what exactly was meant by mundane or advanced, or what an anchor point should be.

As for materials, Avan had found out that he could now "absorb" anything non-magical and store it in his dungeon without any problem, while anything magical and with foreign mana simply remained rooted to the spot, no matter how much he mentally tugged and jerked at it.

Liquids, interestingly, did not count as materials either, but that became kind of clear when Avan thought about it.

So he had taken in tons and tons of earth, various stones, whole trees, bushes, grasses and everything else he didn't have in a certain quantity and deposited it in his dungeon.

Sadly, magical plants of any kind, that is, those that produced, generated or transformed foreign mana on their own, and thus represented alchemical ingredients of immense value, were also among the things he could not take with him.

 

Yet!

 

But the best part of it all was, and was the reason why Avan had been so diligent in collecting various materials; he could, depending on rarity, density, and many as yet unknown properties, create all these things himself with the dungeon mana after the first absorption!

However, Avan still hadn't found out what this ominous anchor point was, and without consulting the mute horn, his faithful dungeon companion, he simply couldn't figure it out on his own.

And so he trudged after the group, while he collected the most diverse and above all new types of materials for his dungeon in the far distance and without strangers looking.

If I can build a permanent dungeon with this anchor point in the future... Or a floating piece of land on which I can travel? With all the trees and plants!

Suddenly, Avan stumbled momentarily, but caught himself immediately before anyone else noticed and asked. And that's when I found my first iron ore and copper ore! Yeah! Infinite copper, iron, and with more knowledge even steel!

 

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