As Rory stared down at the descending spiral staircase, he felt a sigh pass through him.

If only it were so easy.

"Wasn't this supposed to finally summon the floor guardian?" Zoey grumbled.

"It was supposed to open the way to the floor guardian, not summon it." Rory corrected.

"Bleh,"

Rory could understand the sentiment. They'd spent the last-

Huh. Didn't really keep track of time.

Glancing at his level, Rory nodded to himself.

Years.

-several years tracking down keystones in the pursuit of unlocking the way forward. After finally bringing each keystone to the keystone altar, it opened like a secret trap door, sliding to the side, revealing the spiral staircase they were now looking at.

Over the last several years, Rory had crossed level seventy-four, with Zoey even managing to barely nick level seventy-five. Over that time, not much had really changed, or at least Rory didn't feel as much. They mainly had gone from place to place, killing monsters as they hunted down the keystone guardians. It was a matter of persistence and patience more than it was of anything else, and it had eventually paid off.

One Wyrm Newt.

A pair of Night Jackal Alphas.

An entire colony of Razor Wing Dragonflies.

A Savage Weald Bear.

Finally, a Dactyl Supreme, the bigger and meaner version of the helicopter pterodactyls that flew far overhead.

Five keystones collected, one skill slate, two crystalized aspects of essence, two high-quality tier seven monster cores, and finally a Shard of the Sky.

The crystallized aspects of essence and monster cores had been put into storage; there wasn't much that he could do with them for the time. The skill slate had turned into a personal project and homework for Rory, years of untangling and understanding what he was looking at.

Then, there was the Shard of the Sky, one of those weirder rewards you'd sometimes get your hands on. It looked like a piece of broken glass, except it was as if, rather than ordinary glass, a literal piece of the sky had been broken free. It was only around an inch or two wide and six inches long, yet far sturdier than its glass-like appearance suggested. Originally, Rory had expected it to be another monster core when he'd sensed something valuable within the corpse of the Dactyl Supreme, yet instead, he had found the strange shard.

Oh, it was also really fucking sharp, the sharpest thing he'd ever found or even made, sharper than even the Night Copper spear tip of his banner. Its description didn't have many helpful suggestions, other than stating that as a shard of the sky, it was unimaginably sharp.

Which was, well, obvious.

Thanks, Eon, very descriptive with this one.

Carefully storing it within a snug and secure container— more for the safety of his other items within his inventory —it had been hanging out there for the last few months as they trekked back from the farthest mountain of the expansive Deep Chamber floor, where the Dactyl Supreme roosted.

While Rory had preoccupied himself over the last few years with the enigmatic skill slate, Zoey had tackled a much more grounded task.

Practicing magic.

To call her good was…. Well, a lie, but she was leagues beyond what she had once been. The thing with magic was, while spending years practicing a single skill sounded like a lot, for magic, it was barely enough to move past the most basic skills - the esoteric meaning of the word, not literal skills - as Zoey had discovered for herself. She could manipulate small constructs with strings of pneuma, but not much else. There had been one significant improvement from her practice, though, and that was that her Air Shield skill had become far more flexible and spammy, opening up a sort of ranged attack that she'd lacked for a long time.

Was it powerful? No, but it was better than nothing.

Which brought them to the present, where the two of them were staring down into the darkness.

"So, this doesn't lead to the next floor, right?"

"I doubt it, or at least not directly," Rory said. "Probably leads to wherever the floor guardian is, and only after beating the floor guardian can we proceed to the next floor."

"And are we going to proceed to the next floor right away?"

"I think we can probably turn back and finally head home, at least for a bit. I've got a mess of stuff in my inventory to handle and some thoughts and ideas I've been having."

"We can also check in on Eia," Zoey suggested. "Or your little elemental, for that matter."

"Oh, right. Jinn."

"Did…. Did you forget he existed?"

"It," Rory corrected. "Jinn doesn't have a gender, it's an elemental."

"Sounds like a way to distract from the fact that you forgot about your own elemental creation."

Rory frowned as Zoey smirked at him, shooting finger guns at him as if she'd caught him red-handed.

"What? I forget things easily." Rory finally said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Hah, as long as you admit it," Zoey chuckled. "Anyway, any reason you see not to head straight down?" Zoey pointed at the downward spiral of stairs.

"Not really."

"Then let's get a move on!"

What was surprising was that the stairs only continued downward for a few minutes before they reached the ground once more.

What was also surprising was that as the duo looked around, clear recognition was written on their face.

"Is… Is this Hogwarts?" Zoey finally questioned.

"No, but you're not far off," Rory laughed. "It's a castle."

A castle in the middle of a black void, nonetheless.

"Any ideas why we're in a castle in a void in a jungle in a volcano that's bigger on the inside, floating upside down in the sky?" Zoey rattled off, holding her fingers out as if counting how many layers deep in absurdity they were.

"Magic," Rory said with a shrug, his oft-default answer.

"Sounds about right," Zoey said with a snort, already over her short-lived surprise.

"Heads up," Rory said, pointing to the castle bridge that led toward the castle itself. Crossing it were two gargoyles, each armed with a long spear.

"It is Hogwarts," Zoey said even as she raised her shield, preparing for battle.

"You know, Aelia isn't always the most creative, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were done on purpose." Rory conceded, his War Staff clutched as it appeared from nowhere.

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"Wanna drop a rock on 'em?"

"Sure, if you want to destroy the bridge over."

"You're no fun."

"You're just lazy and don't want to deal with them," Rory retorted.

"You've got me there," Zoey held her hands up for a moment. "So, no big rock, what's the plan other than 'Zoey let them beat you over the head while I wave my dick around in the background' or something along those lines?"

"It hasn't been that bad."

"The Dactyl literally ate me."

"You were fine."

"I was gross and covered in slime."

"But were you hurt?"

Zoey grumbled, kicking a rock.

"But were you hurt?"

"No," Zoey finally grumbled louder.

"Thought so. Anyway, they are stone constructs, I presume, animated by magic unless it's some living rock, which isn't entirely out of the question. Find a weak spot, hammer it with one massive hit, and the entire thing is prone to crumbling."

"Otherwise known as 'Zoey let them club you over the head while I wave my dick around in the background,' or am I mistaken?"

"Not my fault you don't have a dick," Rory snorted, as Zoey flipped him the bird.

"Right, fuck you, don't take forever." Zoey sighed as she jogged out to engage the two gargoyles.

Watching her for a moment, Rory shook his head, suppressing a chuckle. They had grown comfortable around one another over the years, banter flowing freely. It wasn't all that different from buddies he'd had in his younger years, shooting the shit and insulting one another.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Letting the moment of nostalgia pass, Rory considered the best method he had at his disposal to hammer the gargoyles with a shattering blow. Dragon's Fall was, as always, his strongest attack, but it was also the most destructive. He could bombard them with his projections, but judging by the fact that they were made of stone, it would take time to wear them down.

Right, big fuck off arrow time.

As the War Staff vanished, a bow appeared in his hands. Pulling the string back, Rory concentrated as an arrow began to form and a magic circle appeared beneath him.

"Form of Violence, Stage One,"

Winds began to whip up around him, the arrow appearing as if being 3D printed in real time.

"Form of Violence, Stage Two,"

Stones and pebbles began to rise as energy thrummed around him.

"Form of Violence, Stage Three,"

Sometime in the past, Rory had switched out his chant, partially due to Zoey making fun of how silly his old chant sounded. What he had now was a set of 'releases' that he could call out, each one allowing him to access a more violent depth of energy, like being able to, on command, access the full unrestrained strength of the human body.

"Form of Violence: Falling Star. Nathair."

Nathair was another one of his pseudo-skills, taking the form of an oversized arrow that coiled like a twisted piece of metal, ending in a dual-pronged point, like the tongue of a serpent. The first time he had ever used the attack was against the Ape of a Hundred Throes years ago, and he had polished it since. As for the name, well, it wasn't even of his own making; it had been Zoey who had suggested the name, the old Gaelic word for serpent.

How she knew that was just one of those things Rory shrugged off —the unique, random trivia that everyone knew, the kind that made people look at you oddly when you shared it, only to reveal their own weird trivia they had randomly memorized.

With the oversized arrow projected, Rory released the bowstring as it launched through the air at supersonic speeds, slamming into the first gargoyle. It was a testament to just how high the durability of the gargoyles was that his most armor-piercing attack had barely cracked through, sticking into its chest like a splinter the size of a branch.

Zoey reacted instantly, swinging under a swiping claw and spear as she slammed her shield into the butt of the oversized arrow, driving it in further as cracks began to appear on the gargoyle.

High durability, but overall low vital force? Seems reasonable.

Drawing the string back of his bow once more, Rory repeated the process, the time taking extra effort as the arrow began to crackle with energy, sparks of electricity arcing off the arrow.

Finishing his chant and releasing the arrow, it flew forward, slamming into the second gargoyle as it attempted to strike Zoey from behind. Zoey hadn't even bothered to guard her back, fully expecting Rory to cover her.

Unlike the first arrow, which had barely cracked through the tough stone body of the first gargoyle, the second Nathair arrow, now infused with lightning, managed to pierce almost straight through its body.

Better.

As much as Rory might have wanted to continue, one glance at his shoulder told him that wasn't likely, smoke sizzling from cracks in his shoulder like a flamethrower had torched it.

Bah. I was hoping I could hold out for longer.

The problem was that Nathair was already a pinnacle attack, empowered by a chant, a magic circle, and even runes that were engraved within the projected metal. Adding that extra infusion of electricity added to its armor-piercing but also pushed it over the edge of what he could comfortably handle, the backlash frying his shoulder.

I need a new bow… Hmm, or maybe some other support equipment? Or perhaps it's just something I won't be able to manage until tier eight safely…. Ehh, questions for another time.

While his shoulder was fried, he had done what he'd intended to do, the gargoyles now vulnerable with the two oversized arrows pin cushioning them. Switching back to his staff, Rory pointed it forward as lightning began to leap across from the staff, attracted directly to the Nathair arrows. Like lightning rods, they conducted the electricity that rattled around inside their bodies, causing far more devastating damage than would have been inflicted by direct lightning strikes.

Zoey, meanwhile, stood back, having done her job as well, keeping the gargoyles back for long enough for Rory to prepare his attacks unimpeded.

After a minute or two of bombarding the monsters with lightning, Rory lowered his staff. The gargoyles had stopped moving, the cracks formed from the arrows slamming into their chest cavities had expanded, now spider-webbing across their entire bodies.

"Zoey?"

"On it."

Approaching the unmoving gargoyles, she gave them a tentative smack with the back of her gauntlet, watching as they crumbled right before their eyes.

"Yeah, dead."

"No ascension energy, so they were magically animated constructs."

"You think the floor guardian is some sort of puppeteer type?"

"Possibly," Rory said with a nod. "I don't sense much of anything from the remains."

"Yeah, I don't see anything interesting either," Zoey confirmed as she crouched down, poking through the rocky debris.

Not bothering with the remains of the two gargoyles, the two crossed the bridge, approaching the castle proper. Standing just outside the portcullis, Zoey frowned.

"It's not opening."

"Thank you for the rich observation," Rory muttered dryly.

"Don't be a smart ass," Zoey thumped the back of his head as the two turned back to face the gate. At the very top, there was a set of four Xs with another set of two Xs directly above.

"Puzzle?" Zoey finally said after a moment's consideration.

"Puzzle," Rory agreed.

Knowing what that meant, the two of them began to scour the area outside the gate, looking for signs of what was needed to open the gate. It took nearly half an hour before Zoey raised her arm.

"Found something," She called, beckoning Rory over.

Jogging over to stand next to her, Rory saw what she had spotted: a patch of disturbed dirt as if something had recently been dug up.

Or buried.

Tapping the ground, Rory activated a skill as the earth trembled, flowing aside.

"Oh, finished the skill slate?" Zoey questioned as the dirt continued to shift.

"No, but I've spent enough time studying it that I can pretty easily emulate the base function without needing the skill itself. I'm still working on the finishing touches of the customized version of the skill."

"Hmm, interesting," Zoey said, not sarcastically for once.

Finally, the object of interest appeared, eliciting a shared look of confusion from the two founders.

"What is that?"

"An abacus?" Rory half answered, half questioned why an abacus of all things had been buried.

"What's an abacus?"

"Think of it like an ancient calculator," Rory said. "Except… this doesn't look right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, usually from what I recall, each wire or row has ten beads, but this has…. Thirty-two?"

"Like a base thirty-two system of math?"

"Maybe?" Rory questioned, trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. Staring at it for several minutes, Rory split his mind into three, relying on the tripled mental threads to conjure up some idea. Even then, it took nearly fifteen minutes of contemplation before Rory believed he had something.

"Exponential sequences."

"Huh?"

"One to the first power, plus two squared, plus three cubed, thirty-two."

"Alright, and?"

"Follow me."

Letting Rory lead the way, they made their way back to the castle gate as Rory pointed upward.

"You see that?"

"The Xs above? Yeah?"

"See how there are four of them?"

"Yeah."

Taking the abacus, Rory quickly sorted the beads, sliding the first nine rows of beads to the left. With only the final row still slid to the right, Rory nodded to himself, as if locking his answer in.

Sure enough, the gate opened, nearly a third of the way before grinding to a halt.

"How did you manage that?" Zoey questioned.

"Four Xs, four sets of exponential sequences. One to the first, two squared, three cubed, and four to the fourth. Add that up, and you get 288, which just so happens to be nine times thirty-two exactly."

Above the four Xs was a set of two Xs, leading Rory to quickly sort the beads once more, leaving the first five beads on the first row to the left as the gate creaked up another third.

"Problem," Zoey pointed out. "There aren't any more Xs."

"I can see that."

"So, does that mean we're stuck?"

They could have ducked under the gate if they wanted to; there was more than enough space. As for why they didn't even bother, they had enough experience with puzzles like the current one from their years of exploration that they knew, without even attempting, they'd be repelled on the spot.

Contemplating what he was missing for a beat longer, it clicked as Rory snorted.

"What? Figure it out?"

"Yeah, it's a trick question."

Looking back at the abacus, Rory slid all of the beads to the right as the gate opened the rest of the way.

"Oh. Zero."

"Yep, zero," Rory agreed. There was a third row; it was just that the number it indicated was zero, meaning no Xs, a trick to fool anyone into thinking there were only two sets of numbers represented.

With the gate fully open, Rory extended his hand forward, lowering his head to Zoey.

"Ladies first,"

"Bless your heart," Zoey said with mock sweetness, stepping through. "If only I didn't know this was you using me as a meat shield."

"What can I say?" Rory chuckled as he followed after. "I like keeping my head."

"Uh-huh," Zoey snorted, tucking a strand of hair back into her helmet so it wasn't blocking her vision. "Well then, why don't we go deal with this floor guardian and head home, where the only thing looking to bite that sweet little head of yours off is Eia?"

Still roleplaying the valiant gentleman, Rory bowed low at the waist.

"Gladly."

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