The quakes stopped when Aaron reached the cave entrance and he could hear a grumbling sound, a bubbling. Hot steam and acrid chemical smells filled the air and when he peered into the cave from the small entrance, still covered in darkness, his eyes widened.

In the back of the cave the lava pit was exploding. Fiery hot magma spewed into the air and from the light coming up from the pit, he could see the lava pool was rising, moving up the walls. The volcano bubbled and erupted and with a surprised expression on his face he looked at the kids who had undoubtedly caused this. Five of them stood towards the lava, their backs to the strange molten rock walls that formed one of the natural barriers around their camp spot. They were frantically filling holes in the walls. But from their timing it seemed like they had started on the leftmost side and then waited a minute or so before the next one began to fill the gap in the wall of cooled down magma.

Aaron realized quickly that this must have been a calculated thing, that somehow they had managed to force the volcano to erupt and spew forth lava. Why was not immediately clear to him. He stayed in the darkness and hesitated to rush in to fight again. The last time he had done this it had not ended ideally for him. Sure he had gotten one of their numbers, but that had been more luck and happenstance than the result of the fight. No, Aaron had lost that fight and had gotten away with a hostage, not the other way around. He needed a plan and although this screamed opportunity to him, he held back. He was not sure if this was a mistake or not, but he wanted to see what they were up to.

The one lone member of the group who was not at the back wall of their camp was the boy who could turn his skin into iron. He stood below the camp directly in front a massive wall of cooled down lava and his skin was already the color of dull steel. Instead of plugging a hole the boy was opening one. Aaron watched how a bright glowing rush of lava poured out of the opening and along a channel in the ground towards what Aaron could only identify as a strange cone. Something ignited inside of it and then the boy closed the opening into the lava again. The temperature he needed to endure to do this must have been incredible.

Then the boy went over to work a what Aaron eventually recognized as bellows. The boy put an ingot of metal into the cone and heated it up by supplying oxygen through the bellows. So this must be what a furnace looked like. Aaron had never seen one before and he was not sure if he had ever heard of one fueled by lava. While the boy was waiting for the metal to heat up in the furnace, the lava rose and rose up the walls, making the cooled lava start to change color to a slightly dimly red glow. It looked terrifying and some lava even spilled over the top making this a really dangerous thing to do. Not five minutes later the lava suddenly started to recede. The top of the wall around the lava pit was glowing a bright red and the lava that had spilled over the edge slowly cooled down. Aaron could hear the group collectively take a breath.

"Alright, good job everyone. The first drop was a success. It will take another 30 minutes until we stop getting Exp." Myria called out and the tension eased a little bit, but not by much.

"Ketris, start preparing the entrance as soon as you have the level to make spell-traps. Lets put our new levels to work!"

Aaron frowned and watched as the whole group frantically started to work. The boy with the iron skin was forging something, hammering in a steady rhythm and the Alchemist was definitively concocting something new in his tent, at least according to the smell. The scroll mage, Ketris soon came over towards Aaron who retreated further back into the darkness. Myria was next to him, her blade unsheathed, staring into the darkness, while the boy with the crossbow sat on the elevated guard position, a crossbow by his side. He too was working on something new and Aaron watched with interest how he carved wood and bent iron parts together to make something. Probably the internal mechanism of another crossbow. But he would be ready to defend his friends at a moments notice even while busy crafting. The last of the group, the healer, was next to the boy with the crossbow and was using his staff to do something on the floor that Aaron could not see from this angle. It sounded a bit like he was scratching something into the rock.

This was not good. Somehow in the small amount of time it took for Aaron to break through to the fifth realm and acclimate, the group had started to execute a plan and from the looks of it were about to lay a trap for him. There was no other good reason to lay down what they had called a spell trap in a cave nobody ever went to. Somehow the volcano eruption and the levels they were supposedly getting were connected. It took Aaron a while until he had a suspicion. The ant nest that was connected to the lava pit and the volcano. What happened to it during a volcanic eruption? They would die, hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of them. Now what would happen if this eruption was caused by a group of Vessels? Would they level? He thought they just might. If this was the case, then it was ingenious. Killing millions of ants quickly and getting the experience for it to level up was like a cheat code. This meant that the group was getting stronger, fast. Every moment he hesitated now would make them more terrifying to deal with.

Ketris knelt down on the floor next to the entrance and started painting a circle with ink on the floor. But Aaron had enough of this. If he let them amass more advantages it might get dangerous to him. So he had a few choices now. He could rush in and fight them when they were not yet full strength and unprepared, knocking them out one after another. Even if that meant injuring them heavily or getting hurt in return. It was connected to a lot of risk, since they were stronger than before, but it also meant they were not prepared for him. The only way to beat a group of enemies on your own effectively is by ruthless aggression and smart positioning, or by ambush of course.

The other possibility in his mind was a siege because of the fact that the group was trapped in there. As long as the volcano was erupting they would only have one possible escape route, the tunnel Aaron stood in. Even with a calm volcano he doubted they would risk going through the lava pit to escape even if there was another way out through there. Which meant that they were trapped in there. He could siege them down, force them to leave and then attack them on his terrain, not theirs.

But this approach would destroy his initiative and make it too easy for them to prepare for him. So he did not really have a choice. While Aaron hesitated he inched forward in the darkness, trying to see exactly what the scroll mage did. His feet hit a rock and Aaron quietly bowed down to scoop it up before it could make any noise. This rock gave him an idea and he smirked to himself. He squatted down and gathered some loose rocks up and held them in his left hand before he got into a pitchers stance.

Aaron had never really pitched before in his life. When he had been in little league he had bat mostly, but he still knew the basics of how to throw a baseball. This rock was smaller and more solid than a baseball, but the basics should remain the same. He drew back, let his body coil and aimed at the only target he could hit from here, the scroll mage. With a smooth transition of power he uncoiled his body and threw with all of his power.

The rock shot forward, getting released way too early and crashed against the ceiling of the tunnel with a mighty crack louder than a gunshot. The rock shot forward and ricochet downwards hitting rock again before bouncing up and smacking the scroll mage in the leg with enough force to spin him around with a shout of pain. He tumbled into Myria who was caught by surprise. Aaron stepped forward out into the mouth of the tunnel and transferred another rock to his right hand before he threw it, without windup at the boy with the crossbow above.

Trisk had flinched at the loud noise of the ricochet and had dropped whatever he was working on, grabbing for his crossbow when a rock shot towards him and smashed into his shoulder with tremendous force. He cried out and tumbled back, loosing the grip on his crossbow.

Myria was the first to see Aaron as she untangled herself from Ketris and she stepped forward her blade in hand. The man looked tall, broad and muscular up close, but he did not have a weapon in his hand. She knew she needed to get her team time to form up and react to this.

"Intruder!" she bellowed and stepped forward to thrust her blade into the man's stomach. It was a probing thrust, but wickedly fast, fueled by new levels and skills and the man barely dodged by moving aside. She shifted her grip and swung the blade around to cut into his ribs when a spray of rocks were flung at her out of his left hand. Myria was a swordsman, most sword fights were incredibly fast and over in a heartbeat, so she reacted before she could think. Her blade only nicked him as he moved away and she drew back with a step and brought her blade up by pure instinct to defend herself. The rocks smacked into her painfully and then the man was inside of her range. She gasped, tried to drive him back with a quick cut from the parry, but Aaron grasped her cross-guard and stifled the attack in an instant. Then his fist smacked into her face and she was flung back as the world tuned dark.

Ketris had time to get over the shock of a rock digging itself into his leg and fumbled for his spellbook. He ripped out the emergency page and turned towards the attacker. Myria shot past him, spinning in the air, giving Ketris pause, but in that moment he understood this was his chance. He ripped the scroll apart, his eyes widening as he concentrated the magical energy released towards the Cultivator.

Aaron felt the magic around him coil and turned towards the prone scroll mage who had his hand up in a familiar gesture, his hand tightening into a fist. Aaron activated Wind Steps and then flinched as pain assaulted him. A red hot intense pain made him stumble. He looked up towards the crossbowman who was adjusting his aim. A bolt stuck out of Aaron's shoulder, just barely missing his throat. Aaron moved. The pain hammering through him made his left side entirely unusable, made his eyes tear up and it cost him all of his concentration to shoot forwards propelled by a quick step. The magic around him tightened and it was so much quicker and stronger than the last time. He felt the spell dig the bolt deeper into his shoulder and he screamed in pain, before colliding with the scroll mage.

Ketris landed on his back, stunned. He looked up at the furious blood spattered man above him and then saw a fist come down with the force of a sledge hammer and the world turned dark.

Aaron had no time to plan anything as a pulse of magic flowed through the stone from above and he had to spin away to dodge another bolt from the crossbowman who had seemingly infinite shots in his crossbow that spat out bolt after bolt. A roar to one side made Aaron turn as Kentris slammed into him. The man's acceleration was as fast as a bolt and in Aaron's injured and dazed state from being in so much pain, he was too late to dodge. Hot metal sizzled on his skin, making Aaron roar in pain and instinctively swat the man away.

But Kentris stood his ground, took the blow with a grunt. He held a glowing ingot into Aaron's chest and swung back a hammer made out of glowing red hot metal. He roared again as he brought down the hammer. But Aaron's palm grasped his wrist and pulled him off his feet. The roar of the smith turned into a yelp as he crashed into the ground. A kick and a punch later he was disarmed and gasping as the air had been driven out of his lungs and he was prone on the ground. His head snapped back as a vicious punch came out of nowhere. But his iron skin made him much tougher than even the Cultivator expected. He felt the magic flow into him from the earth and he roared as he grabbed at Aaron's foot to keep him still.

Aaron stepped back, evading the grappling attempt, felt the pulse of magic flow into the prone warrior and could hear how the scroll mage was groaning in pain, no longer unconscious. He could hear Myria reach for her blade behind him as she got to her feet. Aaron cursed and leapt up the elevated position towards the crossbowman who was peppering him with bolts. Most of them going wide as Aaron spun mid air, but the crossbowman did not stop shooting. Another bolt hit Aaron's foot by pure accident as Aaron tried to focus on dodging a shot going for his face and missed that bolt curving in the air.

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With a hiss of pain he landed on the top of the plateau where the group had made their camp and had barely any time to dive aside as a spray of dust covered his former position. Aaron shot forward, hissing in pain when his injured foot stomped on the ground. He got himself in between the enraged alchemist throwing things at him and the crossbowman who leveled his weapon at him. Aaron felt time slow as he used the Unceasing palm kata to hit evade an almost point blank shot, before his palm cracked into the bottom of the crossbow and threw it up into the air. He rammed a fist into the surprised boys stomach and was in the next moment on the healer, who stood in the middle of a magic circle, his staff rammed into the stone, the circle pulsing with magic.

Aaron felt the circle close and met the healers eyes for a moment. They were filled with hatred and fury, but still calm enough to do what was necessary. Aaron leapt up into the air dodging another pouch of who knew what from the alchemist and snatched the crossbow out of the air. He paused mid flight slowly sinking as he aimed the crossbow at the healer whose eyes widened. Aaron pressed the trigger and sent two shots into the man. The first bolt hit the magic circle, the second buried itself into the healers chest. Aaron had never shot with this crossbow before, but he had ample experience being a marksman. If he had wanted he could have killed the healer, but instead he went for a lung shot. Debilitating and fatal if not treated, but nothing what a potion could not fix.

Aaron leapt aside as the air burst around him in a flash of fire, his hair getting singed. Orlean stood underneath him throwing things at random at him with reddened eyes. Aaron spun and aimed the crossbow. Two bolts later the Alchemist was screaming in pain as he sunk to his knees. Gut shot and one in his shoulder. A grin replaced Aaron's pained grimace. It felt incredible to have a proper weapon again. To be able to use his marksmanship. The crossbow was fairly precise at these short ranges and powerful enough to seriously injure.

The remaining group underneath had formed up again and Aaron could see the scroll mage ripping scrolls apart one after another as magic flew towards him. A weaker version of the crowd control spell closed in around him, but Aaron dove out of the way of the searing shots of magic and took cover behind the nearby pillar of rock. Then he ran along its vertical surface and leapt, gave himself a stable firing position as he floated for only a second. He aimed at the scroll mages stomach, pressed the trigger and the crossbow clicked, empty. With a curse he darted back into cover as a small rain of magic peppered the nearby rock and narrowly missed him.

"Surrender." Aaron bellowed as he felt the weaker version of the crowd control spell press in on him from all sides. He removed the bolts out of his shoulder working against the spell while breathing harshly in absolute agony. Then he ripped out the last bolt in his foot as well. Blood burst out and the pain made him blank out for a moment as he sagged against the rock in his back. It took him only a moment and a groan of pain but then he was there again. The pain sharpening his focus, his heart hammering in his chest and yet he was still in agony.

"I shot the alchemist in the gut and your healer in the lung with the crossbow. They will die if you continue fighting." he called out, giving himself time while he poured some healing potion on his wounds. First the one in his shoulder, then the burn wound on his chest and the foot wound last. His own regeneration was already hard at work to repair the damage and with the potion as fuel the injuries vanished in seconds. In the corner of his eyes Aaron could see Trisk moving. He was still on the ground, groaning, but he was getting back up. Orlean and the healer were both screaming in pain.

There was a few seconds of pained silence as he waited for the reply from the group underneath. Then he heard footsteps moving around the elevated position towards the small path up to their camp. Aaron sighed. So this would not end that easily. Aaron met eyes with the crossbowman who grimaced and pulled out a hand crossbow from somewhere. Aaron smirked and shot towards him. The boy's eyes widened and he shot. Aaron paused mid air, let the bolt pass and then resumed his leap. He landed directly in front of the boy and time slowed as he dodged another point blank shot and punched the kid in the face. Trisk's head snapped back and Aaron caught his hand crossbow with glee.

He turned around towards the entrance to the camp and saw Kentris and Myria charge. Kentris in front, his skin like dull metal, his mace in one hand, a shield in the other. Myria with her longsword in both hands as she ran just behind him, both were roaring at him as they charged. The scroll mage had stopped at the entrance of the camp and concentrated on Aaron again, a scroll in his hand that was familiar to Aaron by now. The strong version of his crowd control spell. Aaron raised his hand crossbow and shot the scroll mage in the shoulder. It was a difficult shot and Aaron had never shot this weapon before, but he still hit the mages forearm. Myria flinched as a bolt shot past her face, but the two melees still came at him. Aaron turned his aim to them and for one moment considered just shooting them both in the face, but then he shot the girl in the foot, making her stumble and trip. Kentris faltered and yet kept coming, accelerating unnaturally.

Aaron leapt into the air, dodging the charge and shot another bolt into the scroll mage who was trying to rip apart the crowd control spell scroll with an injured arm. He shot him in the chest, nowhere close to the heart, but that would do it. Ketris collapsed with a pained yell. Myria stared up at him furiously, but he could see the resignation in her eyes as Aaron aimed at her head.

"Surrender." Aaron said floating slowly in the air, while both warriors stared up at him.

Myria shuddered, closed her eyes and then threw her sword to the ground.

"Myria! No! We can't give up!" The smith yelled.

"Its over Ken. Please, don't let my friends die." she said and looked up to Aaron.

Aaron landed and took a deep breath. The pain in his body was slowly receding as his wounds healed and it was the best feeling in the world. The absolute agony was replaced by nothing and then finally he was not in pain anymore. It felt better than sex and Aaron understood now how people could get addicted to pain killers.

"Ken is it? Deactivate your skill and grab some rope if you would."

The boy stared defiantly back at him, but his skin stopped looking metallic and was soon only slightly gray. He hesitated and then got a rope from one of the tents. Aaron kept his eye on him and he gestured to Myria.

"You, Myria, strip down to your underwear, you too Ken."

"What?" Myria said with wide eyes.

Aaron rolled his eyes.

"Come on, you have like three advanced crafting classes with you. Who knows what kind of contingencies you carry around with you. Strip and then Myria hogtie Ken. The longer you guys waste my time, the longer your friends will be in pain."

There was an awkward silence interrupted by the pained moans of Orlean and the rasping gasps of Miran. Myria flushed with embarrassment and fear and stripped out of her armor, her tunic and then stood in her underwear in front of Kentris.

"The shoes too." Aaron ordered Myria gave him a glare and showed him the bolt still stuck in her shoe.

"Fine you can keep your boots on for now. Hurry up." he said and Kentris just in his boxer shorts turned around to Myria, his face a mask of stoic determination. Myria hogtied the boy and Aaron walked closer, tightened the rope and then grabbed the girl by her arm and tied her up just the same. Then he lowered her down to the floor. Her face was red, her eyes wide and she swallowed.

"What will you do to us?" she asked and it sounded fearful.

"Nothing, I will heal you, tie you up and bring you to my camp." Aaron said and then went over to the scroll-mage who was unconscious by now. He took out a healing potion, unstoppered it and then ripped out the bolt out of the boys chest. The boy woke up with a scream. Aaron poured the healing potion over his chest and then forced him to drink. There was panic in his eyes, but Aaron was strong and forced him down, made him drink and ensured that the wound closed. Then he did the same to his forearm, which made the boy lose consciousness again. Aaron hesitated only for a moment, before he activated Soul Stealer and took the Scroll-mages class. Better safe than sorry. His spirit was fat and heavy, far bigger than the two previous ones and Aaron guessed this was the harvest of the "first drop." What an ingenious way to level.

Aaron stripped the boy and was very careful not to rip any of the scrolls he carried with him. Then he tied him up. He looked very pale now without his spirit and Aaron left him there. He needed to hurry unless he wanted one of the kids dying on him. He walked over to the half dead healer first. Orlean was still screaming, but he would not die this quickly and he could not do anything to hurt anyone in this much pain. He knew the feeling, but the healer was in real danger, so he came first. Aaron liberally applied potion to the boy's chest and removed the bolts, before he quickly did the same to the Alchemist. He was very careful with him, trying not to further damage his gut or damage any of the pouches or ampules in the alchemists coat. After Aaron had ensured he would not die and the boy had lost consciousness from the pain, he stripped him carefully and tied him up. He left the alchemists coat there, hoping nothing would explode before he stripped and tied up the healer as well.

Trisk was out cold when Aaron reached him and he had a broken nose from Aaron's punch. Aaron stripped him, tied him up and then carried all of the group to the same spot. Myria had wiggled on her back and was staring at him with fear and hatred. But there was also relief in her face that he had taken care of her teammates.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Did the group from the 51st floor send you? Please, we have just as much information if not more than they do. Information about Cultivators! Do you know that the nobles from the 51st floor enslave all Cultivators they find?"

"No, I did not know that. But I am not doing this for information."

Myria blinked in confusion and then swallowed hard.

"If we don't show up at the next Expedition, people will be sent down to look for us!"

"Doubtful, but maybe. I don't care by that point."

"What...what do you want from us then, if its not information?"

"Your spirits. But my employer might have different ambitions."

"Our spirits? I don't understand."

"Ask him, when he wakes up." Aaron said and pointed at Ketris. The he stood up.

"Please, we can make a deal. We can tell you how to climb the tower safely. How to conquer it. Isn't that what all of you Climbers want?" Myria asked, pleaded with Aaron.

Aaron looked down on the group, checked all of their vital signs for any irregularities with his senses, before he was satisfied and took a deep breath. He had done it. This had been close. Dangerous. But the risk would have been bigger if he had done nothing. He had to keep guard of them now and in his mind he thought about the logistics of it and decided he needed them to walk to his camp on their own power. He looked at Myria and shrugged.

"I do want to Climb the Tower, but I am not strong enough yet. I can't grow, can't become stronger if I know a risk free path up. I don't want to make it easier on me. I want the challenge and so far I have climbed on my own power and that will continue, no matter how long it takes."

This seemed to stump the girl and she just stared at him at a loss what to say.

"I will wait until you all wake up and then we will take a little trip. Although I think I will have to carry the fake mage."

Aaron leaned against a nearby wall and then waited as the group slowly woke up one after another. They had short whispered conversations and Aaron had to smack Myria once as she tried to work on loosening her bound hands. Aaron loomed over them like a shadow and it took 20 more minutes until they were all awake.

Ketris was the last to wake up, his gasp was shuddering and he groaned.

"Ketris? Are you okay?" Myria asked and there was a pause and then a rasping breath from the balding man.

Aaron wondered how a kid could be balding, but despite his youth the receding hairline was real. The young man looked sick, his body shook and then he gasped.

"What...what have you done to me?" he croaked.

"I have taken his spirit. His class. I won't run around with someone who can basically use magic. That is what I have done to your two compatriots. Now. Get up to your feet."

The group unwillingly complied, Aaron still had the hand crossbow pointed at their feet. Kentris was the first up as the only one of them who was uninjured. His face was set in an angry defiance and he glowered at Aaron the entire time. Aaron ignored it and checked over the rest of the group. He went over to Myria and removed the bolt in her foot and then healed it with a splash of potion. This involved getting her out of her boots and she looked uncomfortable bare foot and with barely any clothes on. Aaron did not care. He checked over Trisk and healed his face and broken nose. The small boy looked sullen and defeated. Miran was fine, a bit paler than before and he flinched away from Aaron when he got close to ensure he was fine. Orlean was just as furious as Kentris and yet without any of his concoctions and the memory of being shot in the gut he stayed silent.

Only Ketris was unable to get up, his body too weak, his eyes wide and Aaron sighed and lifted the balding man easily and slung him over his shoulder.

"Alright, start moving, Iron skin boy, you are first, don't care about the rest. Stay close and don't run or do anything stupid. I will not hesitate to shoot you. Move!"

Kentris walked forward and the rest of the group shuffled behind him as they started to walk out of the camp, the way Aaron indicated. They moved slowly and carefully and Aaron gathered a few glowstones from their supply and put them in the hands of his captives, before they entered the tunnel out of the lava cave.

"What will we do if we encounter monsters?" Myria asked, still the only one really talking.

"I will kill them, but I doubt we will. Keep walking, keep the light dim."

Then they slowly entered the rest of the fourth floor, leaving behind everything the kids owned. Aaron guided them through the dark tunnels past any danger they could face and towards Aaron's own camp.

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