Chapter 40

“I’m a little jealous that my Shadow Step skill isn’t good enough to qualify for membership in the Porter Guild,” Cora said with a pout as Stephen scouted the floor in his bird form.

I could tell it wasn’t something she felt all that strongly about, even if she did pretend to be put out by the rules. Cora was just like that.

“They’d probably let you join if you could get the skill to let you travel between cities with at least one person,” I said.

“But people with inventory skills can’t do that,” she countered.

I shrugged. It was a relevant point. So was the argument that someone with a storage item could perform the same function as someone with an inventory.

But I wasn’t the one who made the rules.

“Still, it’s good that you both registered. If we’re lucky, the guild will escort the two of you to different cities, and we’ll have a much larger range of options for future travel.”

“It’ll save a lot of money as well,” Mike pointed out. “That is, if the two of you are willing to transport us.”

“Well, it’s not like we’ll be leaving you behind,” I said.

It was something I’d already discussed with Stephen, so I knew he agreed with me on the point. Even if the two of us might pop over to another city alone for one reason or another, we wouldn’t just abandon Mike and Cora to do our own thing.

I could also use the sanctuary to transport all of us, though I wasn’t quite sure how to bring that up.

I didn’t think it would draw too much attention to have the three of them in the space while I teleported to a new location, but letting them know that I could directly open the space anywhere I had already set a Dimensional Anchor seemed like it might be too much.

Maybe I was just overthinking it, but I still felt the need for some degree of secrecy when it came to my abilities.

“It looks like we’re just the second group to enter the floor,” Stephen reported after shifting back into his Dian form. “The other group is heading this way, skirting the edge of the floor. They’re probably one of the newer bronze groups like us. I think I recognized a couple of them.”

“What do you think, intercept or avoid?” Mike asked.

“You know I tend to avoid interacting with other delvers whenever possible,” the shifter replied. “I don’t have any particular impression of the two I recognized. They just look familiar.”

“How close are they?”

“Pretty close. I expect you’ll be able to feel the vibrations from their movements soon enough.”

“Well, if they’re that close, we might as well stay in the safe zone until they show up. That way, we won’t have to worry about them becoming hostile. It would give us a chance to get a feel for them without any real risk.”

He made a good point. If the group were hostile, we could either leave and re-enter the dungeon later or consider what other actions might be appropriate, depending on the circumstances.

Though I’d never been a bloodthirsty person, I’d lost the deep aversion I’d initially had to killing others a long time ago. If they wanted to start a fight, I certainly had no problems ending it as long as we could ensure there were no witnesses to raise future issues.

It only took a quarter of an hour for the other group to approach the safe zone. There were five people – three men and two women. One of the men looked very familiar, though the rest of the party seemed less so.

“Healer Emie!” the familiar-looking golden-haired man exclaimed when he saw me. With the way his dark purple eyes lit up, it was clear that I should recognize him. “Did your party just arrive?”

“Yes. We haven’t been here very long. We were just about to head deeper into the floor.”

“Already?” he asked, looking startled by my comment. “Didn’t you just evolve a few weeks ago? I would have thought you’d stick to the outer edges until you earn a few more levels.”

I felt bad for not knowing who the man was, especially since it was clear he knew who I was. He was even familiar enough with me to know how recently I’d evolved.

It took a moment for me to make the connection, but I eventually realized the man in front of me was one of the many patients I’d seen during our three-week break from delving.

I’d regrown his right hand and most of his forearm just two weeks earlier.

“Ah, well, we’re Ascenders, you know? We’re a little more capable than our levels might imply,” I said a little awkwardly. “How is the hand doing?”

The man’s eyes brightened at my comment. He was clearly pleased that I remembered him.

“It’s good! Better than good. It’s perfect! I still can’t thank you enough for regrowing it. I was worried I’d have to give up my dream of becoming an Ascender myself.”

Motioning to the rest of his group, he said, “This is my new party. In case you forgot, I’m Jed. That’s Harlon, and his girlfriend Jeni. The one in red is Stacy. She focuses mostly on fire skills. And that’s Lannigrand. He’s our control specialist.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Their old parties fell apart after they reached the first evolution, so we all decided to partner up and make a new party! This is just our second delve, so we’re still taking things slow while we get used to working together.”

That wasn’t much of a surprise. A lot of parties fell apart shortly after reaching ‘adulthood’. Many Dians just wanted to live normal lives and only bothered with the dungeon because it was required.

That aspect hadn’t really changed from the time of the simulation, though I felt the percentage of the population who felt that way was significantly lower in modern times.

After chatting with the newcomers for a few minutes, my party set off toward the center of the floor. We had no intention of going all the way to the boss, but challenging some of the higher-level beasts sounded more appealing to all of us than sticking to the outer edges.