~ Chapter 11: The hidden truth… ~

[Tuberculus’ point of view]

The conversation of those three kept repeating in my head as I made my way back home. Instead of heading up, I took a moment to rest and calm down. I sat down next to the golden stairs of the pyramid and got lost in the scenery.

From time to time, there were the guards who passed by, whom I greeted with a weak smile. Looking at them, I could not help but wonder if they were there to protect my wife or if they were there to keep her in check? Various thoughts and ideas were forming rapidly in my mind; many of which were doubting absolutely everything that she had told me so far.

I could not trust her words, but surprisingly, I did trust HER. Was this a nonsense? Was I going crazy? No, judging by everything that I came to witness so far, Yandrea was probably in a situation that forced her to lie to me, maybe as a way of protecting me or simply because I ended up being an unknown factor in everyone’s plans.

While I could not guess what was happening to her, there were a few things I was fully aware of. First of all, I was pathetically weak when compared to the other monsters in this dungeon. I was quite deplorably at the same level as the rabbits Yandrea was taking care of in her hidden grove. The second thing was that she was without a doubt in a situation that was forcing her to lie to me, unless she was actually a master of lies and acting and was just directing an elaborate and crazy play... But with regard to this crazy idea, why would she do it in the first place? I was by no means someone important in this world or an Apostle of the gods above... I was just an old man who barely had any luck left in his pockets.

“Maybe my luck was stolen by someone to raise his to the max in some far away world from here...” I said and then shook my head “As if... luck also comes with bearing a great amount of responsibility to the world itself. After all, why should I be treated any different than some random adventurers who died by stumbling on his own feet in a basic spike trap?”

Looking up at the ceiling, I saw the crystal that was emitting the fake sunlight dimming down. It was going to be nighttime soon. The guards changed their shifts and there was probably an automaton looking for me to call me back for dinner, but I did not feel like eating anything.

I got up from the ground and patted my clothes a few times to get rid of the dirt and dead leafs that stuck to them.

Up in the pyramid, my table was prepared and a scrumptious meal was waiting for me. Yandrea was nowhere to be seen, probably still out, managing the dungeon.

That night, I ate alone, just enough to fill my stomach.

Yandrea came after it got dark outside and apologized for being late. I forgave her, what else could I even do?

Inside her Inner Mind, before I fell asleep, I called out to her.

“Are you sleeping?”

“No... What’s the matter, Tuby?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes in a cute way and looked up at me, her ears twitch once.

“I’ve been thinking...”

“Hm?”

“I’m rather weak, aren’t I?” I showed her a wry smile.

“Well, yes. Ah! But you are definitely stronger than Mr Puffins!” she declared with a cheer.

“Who... Who is Mr Puffins?”

“The boss rabbit in the Hidden Grove. He has a dark brown coat with black spots! He’s the biggest among his kind and none of the rabbits dare to challenge him, although this is not the case for Lady Maya. She is a deer and would often completely ignore all of his outbursts.” she giggled.

I felt even more terrible now...

“So, I’m stronger than a rabbit... and weaker than a deer?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Hm, I think so.” she tilted her head to the left.

“Didn’t my Power Level go up lately? I’m over 200, aren’t I?” I asked.

“Status.” she said and then replied “223. You are getting stronger.” she nodded.

“A deer... over the level 200... should I even be surprised? I mean, Illsyore believed having lava on the first floor was considered as easy in his book.” I shook my head.

“I wonder if I’ll ever get to meet him?” Yandrea said as she let out a sigh.

“You want to meet another Dungeon?” I asked surprised.

“No.” she shook her head and then tightly embraced me “Just him because he’s related to you. I want to meet your friends as well, but... I’m stuck here. I can’t ever leave.” she lowered her eyes; sadness was reflected in them.

“Maybe you will, someday... There are, after all, rumors and stories of Dungeons taking the form of humans... and I know for a certain that Half-Dungeon do have human form.” I smiled and patted her head.

“You told me this before, but I really find it hard to believe... Maybe I’m just not one of them?”

“Maybe you just need time, and speaking of which, I was wondering about something.” I scratched my right cheek.

“Hm? What?” she looked up at me with curious eyes.

“Could you... no, could we go out on a hunting date?” I asked.

“Hunting date? What’s that?” she tilted her head to the left.

“You and me, out there, hunting natural born monsters so we can raise our levels. Well, you can probably raise your own by hunting for adventurers?”

“Hm? I haven’t gone up in level in a long time. Everyone is very weak and most of the Magic Energy I absorb goes back into maintaining the Dungeon. The bigger your territory is, the slower your growth.”

“I didn’t know that... So, with your territory, when was the last time you increased in level?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Hm, I think it was 54 years ago?” she replied.

“So long ago...” I was taken aback.

“Ah! But don’t worry, the amount of Magic Energy, the efficiency of the spells, and the elemental affinity kept going up! If I put my mind to it, I can change my entire dungeon in just a matter of days!” she declared quickly trying to make it seem as though she was not losing anything.

“Did you want to do this? I mean... making such a large dungeon?” I asked, and she avoided my gaze.

“Not really... it just... it just happened.”

Could it be that she was forced to make it this big? Over 700 floors...? It makes sense if they want to control her... I thought.

“It’s alright, don’t worry, so how about the hunting date? Who knows? Maybe in a few years, I can catch up with you?” I showed her a smile.

“Don’t be silly!” she laughed “A few years, definitely not! But if we’re talking about decades, who knows?” she placed her head on my chest and then spoke softly “That’s enough for tonight, I’ll think about your request... it sounds nice... a date, huh? Why not?” she smiled.

We went on our first hunting date two days later; she guided me towards a secret passage she made for us near her Hidden Grove and led us to a special area that was just a big cylinder with an area of 150 meters and a height of 30 meters. Inside this place, Yandrea brought natural born monsters for me to hunt.

At first, she was really worried about me and constantly nagged me with all sorts of advice, most of which would have been useful if I did not know it already. However, as time passed and saw that I was handling monster after monster, she was slowly calming down and stopped being so nagging. Instead, we discussed about the peculiarities of each monster and would compare notes on how to safely and efficiently kill it.

I managed to ask her to join me as well. She was using a combination of traps to kill them, which I found odd at first, but then I learned that she did not really know how to hunt them otherwise. Our hunting dates became tutorials for Dungeons as well.

Illsyore didn’t need to learn how to hunt, he was learning as he grew, which meant that Yandrea was exempted from the privilege he had... Tamed Dungeon of the Royals... this was what those adventurers called her. Is this what it means? A silly woman with little to no means of defending herself? Or am I just being mistaken? After all, building all of this should not have been possible without her learning a few combat skills, how else would she increase her level... unless... the dead adventurers? She was growing and surviving on luck... I thought as I looked at her happily chasing a Minotaur with one of my spells, the [Inferno Blizzard].

In my hands, it looked powerful, but in hers, it was devastating. It did not even take her that long to learn it, but as far as she told me, her most powerful spells were considered by my standards as Master Rank. With her affinity and efficiency, they could even be confused with Supreme Rank spells. Powerful Adventurers would not be able to handle her, but that was it.

She did not understand yet the complexity and beauty of creating and crafting spells. She had that ability and power, but she never used it.

I started teaching her, but she had a bit of trouble understanding the concepts, so I went back all the way to the basics. In a way, this was training for me as well, since I could strengthen my foundation. Magic itself was not the result of chance or luck of stringing words together and praying they would produce a magical effect. It was a connection between one’s mind, their heart, and the energy around us. We had to understand what triggered it and how it could be molded to form various reactions.

A fireball, for example, required one to understand what a fire was, a reaction resulted from the ignition of a flammable object or substance, the air around us, and a spark of some sort. Each of these three components could then be further researched and explored, but without understanding this concept, Magic Energy would not be able to flow properly within the conjured spell.

Words gave us a clearer vision and idea about what we wanted to cast, whether it was simple or complex, it mattered not. In the end, our own comprehension of those words strung up in a sentence or paragraph was important. Imagination played a key role in all of this and there were those who claimed that in order to be a Supreme, you would have to reach the point where casting a spell just by imagining it alone was enough.

Of course, this was not a new concept, but it was the most difficult one to master because both the mind and imagination were easily distracted like a squirrel in the middle of a garden filled with nuts.

The other component that was just as difficult to work with was the feeling one had when casting a certain spell. Depending on the type and amount of Magic Energy it needed, that said energy moved differently through the caster’s body. Basically, a [Fireball] gave off a different feeling from an [Ice Spike].

This was the reason why I would often tell my students to practice, practice and then practice some more. Only by casting spells again and again could you perfect yourself and get better at it. On this note, however, Dungeons seemed to have a bit of an advantage over everyone else. Their comprehension skill was in a completely different league from mere humans.

I was made aware of this almost every time I saw one of them cast a spell or experienced the complexity of their creations. Thus, I was led to believe that it was almost impossible to intentionally make a Dungeon unable to learn a skill that was simple for humans. What I didn’t think about or rather refused to believe was that you could do something to them in order to reach such a cruel and barbaric result.

Every time we went off on one of our little adventures, I was able to gain several levels, and she was able to learn a new spell or modify an existing one. To be honest, I never saw someone being more honest about learning than Yandrea was. Whether the spell was simple or complex, she was wolfing down the knowledge like a starved Dayuk in a butcher’s warehouse. Even going back to the basics was not something unsightly or shameful to her, on the contrary she welcomed it.

From casting a simple [Fireball] spell to modifying it with an [Earth Sphere] spell to creating a [Molten Core Spike Bomb], she was constantly discovering something new. In general, there were several types of magicians out there. There were those who were called Elemental Casters, who focused on a certain type of elemental spell; Buffers and Debuffers, who focused on spells that influenced the enemy or the ally’s status; Wreckers, who focused on strengthening their Magic Armor and enhancing their melee offensive abilities; Sharpshooters; who focused on long-ranged spell that could take out their target from a great distance; Summoner and Tamers who used Magic Energy in order to either call out creatures in a similar way to Dungeons or to tame them as pets; Illusionists, who focused on altering the perception of either their allies or enemies; and lastly Researchers, who rather than focusing on only one type of spell, they would try to comprehend, research, and use as many types of spells as possible.

Me and Yandrea were of the latter type. Thus, there were days when rather than hunting down as many enemies as possible we ended up getting stuck with researching one spell and a bunch of unlucky monsters who became our test dummies.

Two whole months went by like this, and my level had increased by a staggering 156 levels. I had a Power Level of 379, almost double the one I had before I came to this dungeon. To think that it took me almost seven decades of my human life to reach level 200 and only two months here to gain three thirds of that. It was amazing and completely unbelievable, but here I was... far more powerful than I was back when Dankyun’s goons took me down.

Still, even if I was as strong as I am now... I still would not have been able to take down a Supreme... I am getting there, slowly but surely, however, I am far from it. I would often think, reminding myself not to get too arrogant with just a little bit of power increase, while at the same time lamenting over my ridiculous weakness.

Just reaching Power Level 1000 would not make me a Supreme. I had to research and discover or learn from somewhere a spell that was worthy of this rank.

It was for this reason why I kept pushing myself harder and harder every day to the point of risking to collapse from total exhaustion.

“Tuby, I don’t like this... let’s stop it.” Yandrea told me when one day after recovering from my fainted state.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I like learning more about magic with you, but I don’t want to do it if you end up pushing yourself so hard that you faint... I’m sorry...”

It was then when I learned that she really did care about me. I could not and should not have made my own wife worry about my health and safety like this. While initially I was stubborn and wanted to continue, claiming that I was alright, in the end, I could not go against her. We decided to take small breaks, a mini vacation from magic every four days or so, during which we would both focus on activities that relaxed us. Yandrea went to the upper floors to check up on her dungeon, while I resumed my usual walks through the forest and my casual exploration of the nearby settlements of ornaks, ellyarian, and automatons.

For more than two months now, this was our routine: several days of training and a day of relaxation. It made me feel like I was back in my young adventurer days when for the most part I was struggling to learn more about magic while fighting monsters on the side.

But as interesting as these moments were, I did not forget about why I started this in the first place, why I wanted to become stronger. Every time I went to the monster settlements, the air was becoming more and more tense, rumors of a rebellion were flying left and right. In some parts, they were openly talking about it, and it mattered not for them if I or an automaton was witnessing this.

They becoming more daring and open about their opinions was one thing, but some of them were now greeting me with glares instead of a welcoming smile. The ones who were previously acting nice towards me or were seeing Yandrea in a good light would all of a sudden become the outcast in their society. Things were becoming more and more dangerous, and my wife was apparently blind and deaf to their actions.

I even saw her once flying over the settlement while one of the ornaks was actively protesting against her rule. If anything, I would have thought she would stop and fly down to either obliterate him or give him a sermon to remember, but nothing happened. Everyone went on as if it was just any other regular day.

Am I getting senile or something is definitely wrong here? I often came to wonder as I bared witness to these strange events.

One day, while I was exploring the Kimbian Forest to the south, close to its edge with the Metinas Plains, I stumbled upon a most unusual sight. One of the Lion Emperor Guards I often saw patrolling the area around Yandrea’s Pyramid at noon was out here talking with a Reiss wearing an expensive and elegant hooded robe embroidered with gold thread to form various elaborate designs that showed off his importance.

Initially, I thought he was the High Priest of some religion or maybe even an important political official, but then I remembered that under normal circumstances, any and all intruders in the dungeon were marked as enemies by the creatures living inside it. This was especially true for the guards, so seeing one not act out against an outsider was completely baffling to me.

So, I hid in the bushes and listened carefully to their conversation.

“Thisss! Isss baffling!” the Reiss in the hooded robe screamed at the guard.

The Lion Emperor was a humanoid beast that stood on two legs and looked like an oversized muscular nekatar with the head and mane of a lion. He listened to him and furrowed his brow.

“I am the third ssson of Duke Hershow! DUKE HERSHOW! I wasss born in royalty!” he screamed and stomped his foot “Yet, why?! WHY?! WHY AM I SSSPOSSSED TO DO THE DEMEANING JOB OF DOING A REPORT ON THISSS USSSELESSS TAMED DUNGEON!”

I clenched my fist and furrowed my brow, but I held in my killing intent. The guards, especially those from the Lion Emperor species, had very sharp senses and could have easily detected me if I was not careful enough. Fortunately, hiding one’s intent to kill was a skill I had to learn in order to sneak around dangerous monsters.

“Even thossse ussselesss knightsss who followed me couldn’t do much againssst the monssstersss here. Am I in the wrong? No! Of courssse not! I’m a nobility!” he shook his head and then grabbed the Lion Emperor Guard by the mane. “And you! What do you mean I have to be essscorted to her? Can’t that shikak jussst come here and tell me?” he pulled harder, making the monster wince. “Are you lissstening to me? HUH?” he looked right into his eyes “Ah, you want to hurt me, don’t you?” he smirked and then struck him hard in the stomach.

Coughing, the Lion Emperor Guard fell on his knees and winced from the pain.

“I’m a SSSLAVE! My rank isss sssuperior to yoursss! It isss an honor just to be in my presssence! Why can’t you ussselesss people jussst underssstand thisss?” he shook his head and then kicked the Lion Emperor Guard, repeatedly “I! AM! A! NOBLE!” he stopped to catch his breath “I’ll return tomorrow... for a thorough inssspection! THERE BETTER BE NOTHING AMISSS! Hisss Highnesss HATESSS failuresss! And make sure she doesssn’t forget! Yandrea isss just the Tamed Dungeon of the Royalsss! She better not forget thisss!” he spat on the ground and then turned around to walk towards the exit.

What did I just witness? How can the Slave of a Dungeon act like this? And Tamed Dungeon of the Royals? What did he mean by this? I held my head and remembered the things that were being said about my wife a couple of months back when those adventurers arrived at the North Entrance. They too spoke in a demeaning way about my wife.

For them, just like for that Reiss slave, Yandrea was someone below them... A Godlike Dungeon was below her own Slave? How was that even possible? It did not make any sense? Even her own guards are treated like weaklings who did not know how to fight back or rather... they could not.

I stayed in that bush, hidden, waiting until the Reiss Slave left, however the Lion Emperor Guard got up and slowly walked towards me.

“So, you knew I was here?” I asked him.

The guard furrowed his brow.

“Here.” I took out a healing potion from my Storage Crystal and then asked him “Can you tell me why they are treating my wife like that?” I asked as I continued to sit down there, behind the branches.

The Lion Emperor grabbed the potion and drank it. He muttered a low ‘Thank you’ and then to my second question shook his head.

“I figured as much...” I looked up at the sky. “But tell me, how did you know I was here?” I asked.

“Killing intent... then a familiar scent... Slave does not know it. Too furious to realize it.” he replied.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

“Do you think that Yandrea is a good ruler?”

“...”

“I order you as Yandrea’s spouse to speak your mind freely.” I declared in a firm tone of voice.

“Ruler... no. She does not rule... she cares for us... like family. Ruler, no... the mother of us all? Yes.” he replied.

His answer made me smile. It fitted the image of Yandrea who was comparing my strength with that of a fluffy bunny and not some fierce monster or powerful spell.

“Spouse of Yandrea... you should leave. This place... dangerous. Soon the owners of Yandrea will come down for their trial...” he said as he furrowed his brow.

“Yandrea is nobody’s pet and nobody owns her!” I retorted as I raised my voice.

“...”

“Sigh... Sorry... Thanks... I’ll go now. About this... keep quiet about it.” I said and then got up and left.

The Lion Emperor Guard saluted me by punching his chest with his fist.

I have no idea how I returned to the pyramid, but it was already late in the evening when I did. My chest felt tight and my mind was heavy. There were a thousand questions in my mind and a billion more on the tip of my lips. I sat down near the stairs, in the same spot where I usually found myself lately whenever I was conflicted with something. There were no answers to be gathered from those living on this floor. Nobody would tell me since they were most likely told by Yandrea to keep quiet about it. There were no hints among the buildings and things she built or maybe I was too dumb to actually notice them.

Maybe my mind was altered as well when I was reforged in this new body? I wondered as I tried to brush my long-gone beard “Ah, yes... she completely removed the hair on my face... all the way down to the roots.” I shook my head and looked up at the magic crystal on the ceiling that was dimming in intensity. Night was coming.

“Tuby?” I heard her voice calling out to me... and I slowly opened my eyes.

The morning rays were punishing, but not as much as the pain I was feeling from falling asleep the entire night out here on the ground. I groaned and as I moved, I remembered my old age... the old bones in me creaked.

“Yandrea?” I asked as I looked up and saw her floating above me.

“You didn’t come back last night... and now I found you here. What happened?” she asked.

“Heh... What happened?” I scoffed and got up, stretching my body. “Yandrea, we need to talk.” I told her with a serious look in my eyes.

“Talk? About what, Tuby?”

I looked to my left and saw the guards approaching. “Take me inside, this isn’t the place for it.”

“Alright... but you are worrying me.” she told me.

Inside her Inner Mind there was no one to listen in on our conversation. She could be honest with me without worrying about others hearing us. It was the safest place for the both of us, this was why I wanted for the two of us to have this conversation here. However, it was not easy to ask her about this because for the most part... I still felt like a stranger to her.

Everyone was entitled to their own secrets. Everyone had stains from their past and skeletons in their closets which they would do anything to hide. I had my own, and she most likely had hers, but the way I felt and saw this whole thing was that instead of having just a simple locked door somewhere in the house, which she told me to never open, I was one of those secrets hidden away somewhere, locked behind lock and key.

As a Dungeon, she had the right to ignore me, maybe even kill me for my insolence. As my wife, I did not even know if this term was simply used as a way to define her status and rank in front of me or if I was truly entitled to hope for more?

“Yandrea... I’m a bit confused right now... I don’t know what’s happening or why...” I began.

I mulled over this matter on my own for several months now... it was time to stop. After what happened yesterday, I could not do it anymore.

“You can talk to me, Tuby... I’ll listen... and here, there’s no one but us.” she showed me a sweet smile.

“I know, that’s why I asked to speak with you here... Unless you bring a Slave here.” I looked into her eyes, and she flinched.

“S-Slave?” she asked.

“Like a Reiss... who happens to be the third son of a duke, or maybe some self-entitled Nergval Elf. Who knows? That doesn’t matter, really...” I sighed and held my head.

“Tuby... I...” she backed away slowly, holding her shoulders, a defensive gesture.

“Yandrea... for me, Godlike Dungeons represent the most powerful Dungeons of them all... You are at the peak, the most powerful, the most respected, the most wise and intelligent, the most beautiful of them all. Yet, you are not seen like this, are you?” I shook my head.

“...” she looked down.

“When I first arrived here, I noticed something strange... You know, the Temple of Heroes is a real oddity for someone like me, but I thought that hey, maybe this is just her strange little hobby? Who knows?” I laughed “But then... I met this adventurer in the Northern Forest, the poor Reiss was dying... I think his name was Guass or whatever. But that’s not important. I could have saved him you see... Cast a [Heal] and maybe give him a potion to drink. I have a bunch of those, after all. But... BUT! That bastard of a smelly rodant called you a shikak!” I unwillingly showed a bit of my rage and then combed my hair with my hand, trying to calm down.

Yandrea was surprised by what she was hearing. She looked at me with big eyes and parted lips, trapped in suspense, almost to the point of holding her breath.

“Then, you know... I thought that maybe he was crazy, or something...” I shrugged. “Until I saw his friends... and followed them close to the entrance...” I looked into her eyes and she gulped “They way they described you... I saw no trace of the majestic and elegant being that you were supposed to be. Ignorant whelps like them treated you like you were nothing but a flee...” I stopped and looked down at my hands “You know, Yandrea, I’m usually a calm and reasonable man, someone who would first negotiate with the other party, trying to learn more of the truth before acting like a fool. It was one of the many lessons I learned from my time as an adventurer. However, when I heard them, I wanted to harm them... I wanted to kill them.” I looked back at her “I could not stand them talking like that about you, but I knew that I was far too weak to do so... Still...” I looked down “I could not understand why you allowed it?”

“Tuby... about this...” 

“I also noticed something strange happening among the ornaks and the ellyarian...” I looked back at her “They are actively promoting a rebellion against you, calling you unjust and unfit to rule over them. A rebellion in which they appear to claim that they would live far better if they had the free will to decide whatever they wanted, which from a certain perspective, it’s not a bad thing, but then again, with them being your monsters, you can easily tell them what skills and abilities they have and then properly guide them towards a job in which they excel. You never even imposed yourself on them and told them they couldn’t practice something else if they wanted to, right?”

“They can have whatever hobbies they want, true...” she replied.

“Yet, they made it sounds like they don’t. This is why some of them are buying this whole nonsense about the rebellion and the others don’t. The ones who are against it are now being ostracized by the others.”

“That is... bad...” she looked down.

“Initially, I thought that maybe you are not aware of this rebellion or maybe you are just binding your time, waiting for the moment when all the snakes reveal their heads to cut them off in one slash. That was the logical explanation, but as time went by... and more and more of them made themselves heard to the point of not even bothering to hide it in recent days, I found that theory to be... wrong. Why would you not act? Why would you ignore them even when those loyal to you are beaten down or forced to stay in their homes? Why would you keep quite even when you flew over them?” I questioned and held my fist tight.

“The matter with the rebellion... is... complicated...” she closed her eyes.

“That may be so, but why can some slaves who through the contract with you should be unable to fight back against you can curse and demean you in such ways, Yandrea?!” I raised my voice as I looked at her.

“...” she kept her mouth closed, her lips pursed.

“Tell me, Yandrea! Why can they do that? What do they mean when they say that you are their Tamed Godlike Dungeon or the Tamed Godlike Dungeon of the Royals?! What do they mean by tamed? How can someone like you, with your power and strength be tamed by some bastards who spit on your name and insult you behind your back?!” I shouted as I felt my anger boiling up.

Was I angry at her for keeping these secrets from me? No, whatever the case, there had to be a reason, I always told myself that.

Was I angry because she was insulted? Probably, but there was something more there, a hidden rage that spawned from something else, something that came to my mind as soon as I saw her cowering back from me like an injured deer.

With trembling shoulders and a lowered head, like a servant who was being scolded by her master and not at all like a Godlike Dungeon who could squash me like a bug. And this... this sight... this appearance of her as a meager and weak woman was what truly angered me because in that moment... I saw a flash before my eyes, a memory from before.

“Yandrea... I do not mind the secrets... I do not mind your caution, but tell me... Tell me, Yandrea, how can I stay calm and pretend that I am both blind and deaf when I see your beautiful body harmed by others? In that day, when those adventurers left... I saw the cracks, Yandrea. So, tell me, Yandrea, how can I stand to see you hurt by others and know that I am powerless to defend you, to protect you, to understand you?” I asked beating my chest with my fist, as I felt that pain screaming out from inside me.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked at her, and I felt like once again I would be unable to protect those I cared about... I was too weak to stand and defend Fellyore Academy. I was too weak to help Nanya, too weak to save Illsyore, too weak to do anything right, and I hated it! I loathed my weak self who could do nothing but watch as those I cared about suffered.

And maybe yes, I was being hypocritical to think like this and feel like this when instead of seeing Yandrea as a lover, at best, I saw her only as a good friend of mine, but it was enough for me to feel ravaged by this pain in my chest.

“Tuby... I... I want to tell you everything... I want to, but I fear that when I do... you will hate me or worse... you will start to act like them. I’m afraid of this... that’s why I never told you, but...”

At this moment, right as she was starting to speak, a voice echoed in her Inner Mind, a guard from outside was talking to her.

“Miss Yandrea, the inspectors from the surface have arrived. They are waiting for you at the Southern Entrance.”

Without answering back to the guard, she looked down. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and slowly dripped down her cheeks.

“I guess this dream of mine... has finally come to an end... a foolish dream of a normal life...” she said and then showed me a weak smile.

Why? Why are you showing me this expression, Yandrea? Why are you hurting? I thought as I clenched my chest.

“I’ll take you out and bring you to a safe place... afterwards, we can talk.” she then pulled me out of her Inner Mind.

She floated out of her Crystal Body and then without looking at me said “Follow me...”

Yandrea led me three levels down and there she opened a secret path. We stepped inside and walked until we reached the middle of the pyramid. Here, she sculpted the floor and dropped us down for what felt like hundreds of meters, maybe it was more than 1 km down? I could feel her Dungeon Territory extending down to allow her to fly with me, while at the same time the scorching temperature of the rock going higher and higher; Magic Armor being the only thing that stopped this heat from cooking me alive.

Once we reached the bottom, the magic crystal in the walls cooled me down and the lights turned on to reveal a long passageway.

“Wait for me here... I’ll be back once I’m done with the inspection...” Yandrea said and then flew up.

“Yandrea... wait...” I called out to her, but it was already too late.

The ground closed off behind her, making it seem as though it had never been carved out.

“I guess I can only see now what’s at the end of the tunnel... What even is this place?” I wondered as I slowly walked through the tunnel, guided only by the low blue light emitted by the Magic Crystals.

This place was eerie and completely detached from her main dungeon. I could not feel her Dungeon Territory here at all, which meant that it was impossible for anyone to find this place unless she specifically guided them here. Without her, you could not know for how long or how deep you had to dig.

When I reached the end... what I saw there... completely baffled me...

“Yandrea... you... where did you bring me?”