Not pushing her luck at all, Estaria would leave the dungeon as soon as she was allowed, taking the book with her.

 

S++ Dungeon Failed. No Reward

 

Once she passed the thresh-hold from Dungeon to real-space, the book transformed. Now it had a cool name and everything.

 

Marco Polare’s Guide To The Celestial Dragon Monks

 

Grants access to the Seven Paths Of The Dragon Monks (One free, further paths purchased by Traits);

 

Path of the Flame

Your fists burn like fire to your enemies, as your strikes following the Path of Flame cause massive internal bleeding.

 

Path of Iron

Followers of this path are considered immortal. Your fists feel as hard as iron, breaking through stone and armor with ease.

 

Path of Shadows

Your methods lie in the darkness when following the Path of Shadows, striking when unseen to end your enemies without notice.

 

Path of the Heavens

Your mind and body are one with the heavens. Legend says those who follow this Path are blessed with great fortune and the ability to strike with the speed of lightning. 

 

Path of Light

Monks who follow the Path of Light are among the purest and incorruptible beings in the realms of man, with strikes that leave the damned frightened by their presence. 

 

Path of Life

The monks that follow the Path of Life are renowned for their kindness and compassion,

aiding any incapable of combating the dangers of the world with unshakeable courage. 

 

Path of Death

Cathay is home to many horrors that stalk the lands, including the undead. These monks are said to be among the leading experts in their annihilation. 

 

This, was most interesting, but for the moment she checked the S-Rank key that she bought before. There was no S+ or S++ keys in the shop, so she tapped one and checked it’s description. There, it detailed that the key randomly assigned you one of the three Dungeon ranks.

 

“Great, now you tell me” she muttered, shaking her head. Turning her attention back to the book, she opened it up. It was both a physical book she could read, and an item that was giving her special system powers. There was diagrams, drawings and thesis about unarmed combat, and how to best train your body, hold your body, and fight with your body. Beyond the trait, this would be the most helpful. The Witches were lovely, but they fought with whip, dagger, and Druchii physiology. There was a limit to how well Estaria could integrate their forms into her own combat. 

 

“Is this going to be a theme?” Filnon asked, causing Estaria to jump and nearly drop the book as her Witch Lover just appeared out of thin air - to Estaria’s perception, anyway.

“Is what?” Estaria asked, after getting her heart under control again.

“You appearing in sexy clothes that make me want to drag you off to the bedroom and keep you there all day” Filnon commented, nodding at the dress. “Or is this your way of secretly telling me you are down for the whole marriage idea~?”

 

Es had noted the revealing nature of the clothes before, but never really though on the repercussions of what that meant until now. Shrinking a little so as to not show off so much, she tried to think of a reply, but didn’t get anything before Filnon’s lips pressed against her own. 

“So what’s the book?” Filnon asked, after the few seconds of kissing. 

“M-marco Polare’s Guide To The Celestial Dragon Monks” Estaria would reply, stuttering a little. Filnon really needed to meet Elaine, the two were spectacular at throwing Es’ head to the wind. Though, that said, such was a reason for the two to never meet. She wouldn’t be able to stand both at once.

 

“Who are they?” Filnon asked, sliding her fingers to interlock with Estaria’s own and hold her hand warmly. 

“N-not sure” Es would stammer, clutching Filnon’s hand tightly. It was nice, to have intimate but gentle contact with another person. The World was a whirlwind recently, and she hadn’t had time to think too much, but she was growing more and more numb and dismissive of Humans. Which, was a terrible thing and she wanted to hate it, so she was glad to be distracted. 

 

“They…seem to be some kind of Cathay order of monks who…fight unarmed. Not sure why” She’d flick open the book with her free hand and scan the writing for anything that might help. “They seem very good at it, from what Marco is saying about them” Estaria continued. 

“Well, it’s very fitting for you. Your fists are legendary in Naggaroth these days. Making them stronger will only help you”

 

Filnon’s commentary reminded Estaria of the looming fight, and so she looked up to Filnon.

“I am fighting Tularis in a few days. Apparently he wants me to prove my relation to Khaine” Estaria would have a rather somber tone. And from Filnon’s reaction, it was the right one.

“We need to step it up then. My knives are good for ranged, but you are lacking any kind of support there. I should buy you a weapon to help speed up your fighting. I assume you are wearing this because it’s a good item rather than because you are flirting with Fukuri some more?” 

 

Filnon would tap the corset covering Es’ front, to which she would nod. With that, Filnon would open up her shop and buy an interesting brace of knives. High quality thing, with some well honed knives, they would definitely help her in the fights to come.

 

“Thanks. I’ll practice with these some and then get to farming. I need level 75 before I can do the Khaine Knife quest, which is pretty far away, so a lot of work in the next few days, huh?” Es asked, upping the knives all the way to Red. It totally wiped her gold down to nothing, but now she had a really powerful ranged option with ‘Thunder Ore’ which would shoot lightning into the guy when she threw the knife, and ‘Returning’ that would have the knife boomarang back after a few seconds.

 

With a final nod to Filnon, her Druchii love turned and vanished into a dungeon. For Estaria’s part, she studied the book a bit more, and played with the knives. Her extremely high dexterity made it easy to faff with them, and her Precision made throwing them easy even when reading the book. Memorising the forms and advice that was in it, she would pick the Path Of Heavens Trait. Immediately, her body felt light and fluid, which was fitting for a swift and rapid style like Witch Dance. 

 

She got her barings with how to throw knives accurately and without flipping them so as to risk the handle hitting the enemy, she would buy herself an A-rank dungeon key. Fittingly, this dropped her in what was pretty clearly a Druchii city. The streets were aflame and roaming squads were gunning for each other. To add to this, there were Executioners around, which noticed and engaged with her quite quickly. This dungeon was liable to be useful for more than just exp, giving her a grasp of the Executioner’s style and competence. Sometimes she really loved this system.