It had long been suspected here in this world that the Colony and the Living Tree were weapons used in a war long ago. But learning in one day that the war was against invaders called lynthari and the Colony was something created to be used against humans would be quite earthshaking news for someone from this floor.

“So, you guys invaded this world during the Pairing, you fought humans, you created the Colony and the Living Tree and a few hundred years later you are at the point you are?”

“If you say it like that, it sounds quite rude,” her tail, which is much fluffier than other lynthari’s, moves, showing her amusement. “The Pairing is something that is forced onto us by )0ú +!ôú#*,” she continues to explain, but the system automatically censors everything else.

What a surprise.

“I see,” I nod and pretend to understand, “The Living Tree is also your job?” I ask.

The lynthari matriarch doesn't say anything else and a weird smile appears on her face and she nods, “It's been a long time since I talked with someone about it,” she breathes in, “it's refreshing.”

“So that means the other lynthari don't know?”

“They are too young, and I made sure to kill everyone who knew, leaving only kids behind.”

I open my mouth to ask why, but I freeze at the start of the sentence. Her eyes clearly show that this is as much as she will say. Asking more than this would be dangerous.

“I see,” I say in the end, and her tail moves a bit, showing an emotion that is hard to describe, seemingly both annoyed and amused at the same time.

Without explaining anything else, she turns around and walks into the wall, passing by it as if it's not there.

What level is she? Surely over 250 and her class is [Enthraller - lvl ??], showing only two question marks so she is still under level 300.

It's all really weird, she is a matriarch, probably the strongest living lynthari, yet she called Myrra Champion candidate. Does it mean that Myrra only possesses the potential to become Champion while the matriarch does not? Before this floor ends, I will have to ask her a few questions.

For a moment, I examine the wall she left through and there is no illusion or hidden entrance, it's just a normal wall, meaning she used some skill to pass through it. That's interesting, but there is something that annoyed me more than her ability to pass through materials. It's her skill that allows her to hide from other people. I guess that it is something similar to Lorven's skill or the twins' skill called [Sensory Deception].

Their skill doesn't affect the mind, just creates an illusion that the twins slowly learn to make more and more believable. Sometimes they even give them some fake mana signatures, and I could swear they somehow make them radiate heat.

The matriarch probably has a similar skill that allows her to hide from people or remove her “signature” from the world. I know that she is maybe even 100 levels higher than me, yet it still annoys me that she is capable of doing that. Especially while not being a Champion and not even a Champion candidate as far as I know.

While observing the wall to make sure, I even kick it a few times and obviously, that's when Tess appears.

“We are fighting walls now?” she asks.

“Only this one,” I sigh, “So how is our 5th Beyond explorer?”

“He is from the same group as Brainiac, Lootenant, and Mari, group WhiteWing, and apparently, he is their leader.”

“Also the strongest one out of group 1.”

“Yes, he is a bit… trusting and seems nice, but it's hard to say how much of it is an act. Right now, he seems like some paladin of justice, just from the way he speaks.”

I move away from the wall, “Someone in Beyond being nice? Tess, wanna bet? I think he is evil, maybe the worst guy from here, and is only acting all nice and just.”

“That's so like you,” she shakes her head, “Anyway, what do you think of the array?”

“That? It's a no-go for now, it leads to the Colony.”

I then tell her what I have learned from the matriarch and how close we most likely all were to death. What changed her mind is still a bit of a mystery.

“So she said she didn't want that information to leak out and she was willing to kill Obelia and probably all of us, but she changed her mind?” Tess asks and a dozen or so javelins that constantly hover behind her back move slightly to the side and follow her.

“My best guess is that she wants to attack the lab where the Colony was created and doesn't want to weaken Virelia´s forces.” I tell her.

“I thought the same.” Tess looks around and also knocks on the wall of rock, “I hoped it would be a quick expedition with decent rewards, but once again we are deep underground, surrounded by rock and darkness.”

“Are you holding up fine?”

“For me it’s not a problem, but some of the others are getting a bit nervous. It's not much, but enough to influence their behavior a bit if we stay here for much longer.”

“I see, can you tell Obelia what we learned about the array? Keep the matriarch's interference secret for now. I will meanwhile ask for the ring from Hadwin and try to check how far the closest tunnel is.”Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Tess just nods in confirmation and leaves while I reach Hadwin who is already fully healed.

The wound on his side is gone and he even put a new shirt on.

Seeing where I look, he shakes his head, “I thought I could take it on, but I was wrong.”

“Well, his attacks were quite strong.” I decide to be nice.

“Yes, but if he was real or fought better I would’ve been dead. But no worries, I will work on it.”

I nod. Seeing Haddy complain about not being able to tank the attack of someone with an epic weapon and a much higher level reminds me how weird most of us are.

How arrogant and far-reaching. We are just a bunch of newbies who only started learning how to use our skills and mana and we want to fight much stronger opponents. And not only fight, but to win, endure their attacks, crush them. Maybe you have to be a bit crazy to end up in Hell difficulty.

“I thought of it as well, but you will probably have more luck with your higher mana,” he immediately knows what is on my mind, and after pulling it off his finger, he hands me the ring we got from the expedition to the old capital.

I examine it once more.

Darkstride Ring (epic): This ring is imbued with a dark enchantment that allows the wearer to step into the shadows and reappear a short distance away in a different shadow, effectively granting the ability to blink through shadows for a tactical advantage on the battlefield.

“You just have to hope there are some shadows in the tunnels. I'm not sure how well it works with pure darkness.”

Huh, that's a good point. Is Hadwin maybe a bit smart? I didn't think of that, so maybe he is a genius?

“You are thinking something rude, aren't you?” he asks. He really is smart, “There might still be some mana in the lines on the tunnel walls so the shadows might be here, but you better hurry.”

“No problem, thanks.” I leave Hadwin and then use [Mana Domain] and stretch it in one direction again. Then, while using [Perception] in a similar way, I move around the rooms, close to the walls.

It takes a bit of time, but in the end, as suspected, I don't find any part of an unburrowed tunnel.

The ring says a short distance, but we confirmed before that the more mana you use, the longer that short distance is. So I do the same thing, just this time feed the epic ring with a lot of mana and search for shadows I could use.

In the end, I find only one, but it only feels weak, as it's about to disappear.

Quickly, I rush more mana through my body, and in the air in front of me, I create an anchor and feed it with enough mana to last a few minutes. Then, just in case, I create another one a bit further.

“Min-Jae, guard them for me,” I tell the Korean boy who is closest to me, and he nods.

Then I use [Regalia] to create armor around my body and strengthen my body before using the ring.

The world around me changes, and I feel my body being pulled and moved towards the shadow I targeted. The skill of the ring ignores the stone and just moves me toward the shadow where I pop out.

As suspected, it's one of the tunnels we used, and further behind I sense one of the marks Sophie kept leaving behind.

Immediately, I leave an anchor in the air and this one I feed with even more mana than the ones before.

Examining it for a while, I send mana towards the wall, making the lines light up. Then, to be even more sure, I create one orb and fill it with thermal energy, making it create even more shadow and be able to last hours.

Giving my surroundings one more look, I then activate the anchor and teleport back through [Tether].

The skill is currently level 9, so testing if I can teleport with people will surely make it break the bottleneck, right? So who will be my test subject and find out with me if I can transport other people?

My eyes meet those of Hadwin's and he seems a bit nervous out of nowhere.

Who told you to be so durable and upgrade your constitution?

In the end, it worked. Hadwin went first, after using the entirety of his mana and [Strengthening] his body, even putting some heavy armor on. Such an amount of distrust almost hurts my sensitive soul, but I decide to forgive him.

While transferring him, I did it extremely carefully, even though I might have seemed unbothered. I spent a few minutes preparing and carefully calculating.

Surprisingly, it all went without a hitch, just the chunk of mana it took was much bigger than expected. It's hard to guess, but probably around 20 percent of my mana? Maybe even more. Enough for quite a strong tricolored or antomic bomb.

Still, having enough mana in the reservoir and my regeneration being somewhat decent because of the big mana pool, I spent plenty of time transporting everyone and waiting for my mana to replenish. It could go a bit faster if I took more from my Mana Reservoir, but I have decided to keep it at least mostly full.

“Damn, I missed the sun,” Maya groans while she stretches. A sigh of relief is something I noticed.

“Next time we will take some people specialized in stone manipulation and tunneling. It would take them just a few hours to get us out,” Obelia stops by our side.

Her saying that isn't surprising at all. Most of us are more inclined towards fighting rather than tunneling and stopping the tunnel from falling on our heads. Well, just a few hundred more levels and I will just destroy the mountain, not bothering with such things as tunnels.

“Judging by the time, the auction will start tonight. I will be taking Tess with me as my disciple and you will have a spot for two more people if you want to take them with you,” Obelia says simply.

“Will do so. So we will meet there?” I look at her.

“Yes, I will be waiting for you,” she then waves and leaves for her guild, all of them moving towards Virelia.

“How big is that auction, Nat?” Min-Jae asks while walking by my side. I also notice a few others listening.

“Myrra said the biggest one in a few dozen years, so probably quite good. Obelia will be also auctioning an epic spear,” I answer him.

But best of all, I will also be auctioning off some inscribed mana stones. With the help of the old man and just to get a bit more money from all the weirdos that drool over some new inscriptions.

I have to find a way to spend all that money. There will be some nice items in the auction, something said even by Myrra and Obelia, both extremely rich and one of them having multiple epic items while the other one surely has one as well.

“So, who will you be taking,” I don't even have to turn around to see the shine in Min-Jae's eyes.