"Rise and shine, apprentices," the pilot's voice woke him up.

The lights of the deck flared back to life, and Nar groaned, covering his eyes against their brilliance.

"We'll be landing in approximately two hours," she continued. "Breakfast will be served shortly, and make sure to use this time to make your final preparations as well as to use the toilets. Captain, out."

Nar stretched in his seat, trying to loosen the stiffness from his body. The seats were undeniably comfortable, but after hours of sitting in the same position, his body was begging him for some movement.

"Did you manage to sleep?" he asked Rel.

"Uh… Oh, yes. I dozed off for a bit," she said, staring straight ahead, towards the end of the corridor. "Don't worry. Like I said, I'm still fresh off the Source."

"Nice," Nar said, staring out the window.

He could see nothing except glaring white, and the occasional puff of cottony cloud drifting by.

"Looks like the storm's gone," he said to himself.

"Thank fuck!" Mul grumbled.

His voice remained unchanged, which told Nar his words had come from a place other than anger.

"You slept right through it!" Nar said, grinning at the brawler. "It was fine!"

"Whatever…"

"Here comes the food!" Rel said.

Nar looked up from the brawler and found a crew member walking down the corridor, a black metal box in her hands.

"One roll each, vegetarian on the left, meat on the right," she said, as she approached them.

When the box stopped at their side, Rel reached into the box and pulled out 6-inch bread rolls for all five of them, and Nar noticed that hers was marked as vegetarian, as he had expected.

The bread was yellow, with a medley of colors sandwiched in between the bread composed of some sort of fresh and delicious combo of vegetables, cheese, meat and red sauce, which he promptly proceeded to devour.

He was nearing the end of his breakfast when he noticed Gad, Jul and Viy getting up to use the toilet, and glancing past them he found that a long line of male apprentices was queuing for the boy's toilet. Looking back towards the other end of the corridor, he saw the same.

I'll just wait a bit, he decided, resolved to make the last of his roll last a bit longer.

A few moments later, staring regretfully at the empty wrapping in his hands, the speaker chimed in again.

"Party leader KUR293457741231907XAV, you are called to the bridge."

Kur shot up from his seat as though he had been scalded and looked at them in confusion.

"Did they just…"

"Party leader KUR293457741231907XAV, you are called to the bridge," the same voice called.

"That's you, isn't it?" Cen said.

"Yeah…" Kur said, frowning in confusion.

"This can't be good," Mul said.

"I better go see what they want…" he said, stepping into the corridor.

On a sudden decision Nar stood up to follow him.

"Sorry, let me through!" he asked Rel.

She nodded approvingly at him, and shifted her legs into the corridor to let him pass, and Nar excused himself as he pushed through the numbers of apprentices littering the corridor, and caught up with Kur just as he was passing the queues for the toilets.

"Nar?" he asked, when Nar tapped him on the shoulder.

"Let me go with you," Nar said. "Gad's not here and all that."

Kur's confused look changed into a beaming smile. "Now that's the spirit! And thanks. I appreciate it."

Together, they made their way past the last of the apprentices waiting their turn for the toilets, and reached a non-descript, closed black door. Kur rasped his knuckles on it, uncertain, and a dot of white light turned on in the middle of the door.

"Yes?" a voice said from a hidden speaker.

"Uhm… I was called? I'm Kur."

"Ah, right."

The light blinked off and the door swung open.

"Come on in," a human man dressed in brown and black combat gear said. "Down there. The guy with the blue hair."

Nar followed after Kur, looking around him in amazement. There were no windows that he could see, and instead, the entire round triangle shaped bridge was plunged in darkness, and littered by screens, blinking lights of many different colors, and several instruments and panels in front of which sat five people, busily monitoring whatever instruments were in front of them.

There was a level difference, and as Kur headed down towards someone who indeed had a distinctively bright mop of blue hair, Nar glanced up at someone sitting on a larger chair, above the other five people.

A large helmet covered her entire face, and wires and cables were connected to the chair, with several of them even being connected directly into her actual body and neck, through what appeared to be metal bits in either her uniform or directly in her skin.

That must be the pilot, Nar thought with a shiver. He had never expected them to actually be plugged into the actual ship. Crystal. How does that even work?

"You Kur?"

Nar peeled his eyes from the pilot and her chair, and found an alfin looking man about 5-feet tall, and with even longer and pointier ears than an alfin, his skin a deep, dark blue.

"That's me," Kur said. "And this is Nar, my party member."

"I'm Jailonis, but you can just call me J. Nice to meet you," he said, reaching out his hand for Kur to shake.

"Nice to meet you too," Kur said, managing not to sound uncertain.

"So, something's just come through, and there's been a change of plans," J explained. "One of the ships by the cluster has been broadcasting dungeon ticket sales. They're a gas harvester and apparently, they've hit the jackpot and they're full to the brim, so they don't need any more of their slots."

"Okay…" Kur said, frowning.

At his side, Nar held a similar expression, and he had a sinking sensation that he knew what J was skirting around.

"We forwarded their pitch to the Scimitar and the results came back very good for your party affinity wise," J said.

"You want to change our dungeon?" Kur asked. "Now?"

"It's already done," J said with a grimace.

"What?"

"I know it's shocking but hear me out," the blue man said. "The swamp you were headed into had a 72% and a 3% chance to unlock two of your party's affinities. But now, you're being swapped into a forest, and you'll have an 85% chance, a 1% chance, a 98% chance and a 2% chance to unlock the rest of your party's affinities."

Nar and Kur stared at him in stunned silence, then at each other.

"Exactly," J said. "We couldn't pass up on an opportunity like this."

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"I mean, yeah, but… We didn't prepare for it!" Kur said. "How…"

"They're getting the maps and all the info sorted as we speak," J said. "We should have it by the time we land."

"Still! We prepared for the swamp! We don't have anything ready for…"

J raised a hand for Kur to stop.

"Beetle SCI-003, over. Yes, COO, they're right here," he said. "Yes, of course."

And looking at them, he said. "The COO wants to speak to you."

Before any of them could say anything, he tapped something on his panel.

"You're on speaker, COO."

"Kur?" her voice came from the panel.

"Yes, COO," Kur said. "I'm here with Nar."

"Good! So, you've heard, yes?"

"Yes, COO."

Tys chuckled. "I can tell you're not happy."

"I mean, I get the opportunity and all, but we didn't prepare for this!" Kur said.

"I know, but listen up," she said. "First and foremost, you're going. That's not up for discussion. We already bought you guys a slot, and even at a discount, it wasn't cheap."

Great… Nar thought. However, he couldn't deny the excitement at the prospect of the last four of them, himself included, having a chance of unlocking their affinities, as slim as that was. And hopefully, not something water or mud related.

"This is an orange grade dungeon, level 30-35, and from what we can initially see, there's nothing in there to worry us," she continued. "It's a forest, still with water and mud affinities, as well as a few others I won't tell you about. But you get through this, and you are almost guaranteed to unlock two more affinities for your party. That means seven out of the nine of you will have unlocked their affinities this early on, which will be a huge advantage for your party and your individual paths, do you understand?"

"Yes, COO," Kur said, and really what else could he say?

"Now, this forest is also more challenging. You will be facing a lot more monsters than in the swamp," she revealed. "But the gains are even better, and I can promise you will not regret going through this dungeon instead. This is a reward, Kur. An opportunity, not a punishment. And your party can take it."

Kur sighed. "Alright, COO. How do we do this?"

"Well, your consumables for starters, you can drop all of the antidotes," she said, sounding as though she was scanning through a list. "There's only one venomous beast in the forest, and it's not a boss. You can grab antidotes for it downstairs and drop the others, as we have some of it in stock… As for the fighting, it should be a lot more straightforward compared to the swamp, even if your enemies will be stronger."

"I guess, there's that…" Kur said. "All those poisonous and venomous beasts looked like they were going to be a headache."

"They probably would have," the COO said. "Mostly, you're looking at physical damage, with some nature and ground aether skills amongst the forest goblins. And the final boss is just a trio of big brutes, which Gad and Nar can take easily."

"That's not too bad," Nar said, exchanging a glance with Kur. And there was no mention of mental attacks, which was perfect.

"I suppose," Kur said, rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression, the lights from J's panel gleaming on his eyes. "What about the gathering and harvesting requirements?"

"Because this is such a sudden change, we're sending you a much-reduced list. You'll focus more on the harvesting than the gathering, so it shouldn't be a big issue for your guys," she said. "The main thing is hitting all the bosses on the list, follow the itinerary, and hopefully get great gains and at least the two new affinities."

"When you put it like that…" Kur said.

"Sounds great, doesn't it?" Tys asked. "And to sweeten the deal, once you guys get through this, you will all be automatically invited to join us for the full delve. You will have more than earned it."

Nar and Kur stared at each in surprise.

Sure, Nar had harboured no doubts whatsoever that he was going to be invited to stay aboard, as arrogant as that might have seemed. He worked harder than most, and his master had given him no indication of wanting all of his investment into Nar to go to waste, not to mention that the Master of Shadows would never give her darling Jul, and that in one way or another, Viy, Rel, Cen and even Tuk had masters training them. However, Kur, Gad, and Mul weren't being taught by masters, and as fantastic and amazing as they were, no doubts whatsoever in his mind about that, he hadn't known for certain about their fate. This offer, even without knowing if they would choose to stay or not, was a big relief for him to hear, as he wasn't ready to part ways with the party just yet… If ever.

"Alright…" Kur said. "I guess we're doing this, then."

"Good," Tys said. "This is going to be huge for your guys! Trust me, you won't regret it. I'll see you when you're back! Good luck! COO, out."

"Alright, that's about it," J said, giving them a thumbs up. "I'll transfer over your new brief when I get it, and with that, good luck in there!"

"Thanks," Kur said. "Alright let's go tell the others."

"Mul's going to love this," Nar said, shaking his head.

"Ugh. Crystal's sakes…"

*********

They filtered out of the ship, one party at a time, and waited to be led to their dungeons in a wide queue.

"Wow…" Tuk breathed, staring upwards.

Before them, stacked up against a corner of a crevice in between massive, protruding cubes in the walls of the Labyrinth, was a sprawling, flat and inverted V of stacked up dungeons entrances.

The cubes shone in a cacophony of greens, yellows and oranges, with strips of clouds gliding lazily around the higher cubes in that pile. Haphazard sets of stairs led up into the confusion of dungeon entrances, and there had to be at least a thousand cubes sprawling high above them.

The more he looked, the more it looked as though the whole thing had just sprouted out of the walls of the Labyrinth, as though both the crooked, misshapen stairs and they dungeon cubes had organically grown from the very walls of the Labyrinth itself, and with no rhyme or reason that he could observe. Which was exactly what had happened as aether had come pouring into the location, and even just standing around, Nar felt a sort of static running against him, setting his airs to rising as a gentle humming audibly emanated from the gathering of dungeons, almost like a chiming, soft lullaby. Fortunately, it didn't look as though the ambient aether was gathered up in enough quantities to cause them any issues, or pain.

At his side, Mul stared upwards as well, his expression blank, and Nar grimaced and looked away from the brawler. Mul had not taken their change of plans well, and the red circled leash around his neck had done its job all too well.

That thing is horrible, Nar thought.

"Kur's party?" the helmeted guy asked, as the party in front of them departed for their dungeon.

"That's us," Kur said.

"Ah… The one with the change in dungeon," the man said.

Then he looked towards their left and whistled. Nar followed his gaze and found an even bigger ship than theirs, with massive cloth-like, oval and cylindrical bulges inflated to the brim on either side of a long and narrow looking gray ship.

"That's one fat bird," the guy said. "Crystal… Those things look ready to blow!"

"So that's the ship," Kur said.

"Yup. They can't stuff anything else in that," the man said.

"Shouldn't they be using storage systems for all that gas?" Cen asked.

"Not every outfit has the XP for that," the crewmember said. Then he looked back down to his screen, then up to the stack of dungeons. "FORD10-OR-1R-259877… Where in the Abyss are you?"

While the crewman scanned the cluster of dungeons, Nar let his gaze wander around them. There were another dozen ships landed in the small, flat space before the dungeon cluster, and while some of them just had crew members loitering around their entrances, probably on guard duty, from the others, like their five beetles, there were apprentices queuing out from them.

Up on the stairs, there were hundreds of parties moving to and from the dungeon entrances, and Nar noticed one of them that shone in a sudden flash of green. A party of people simply materialized next to the cube, arranged in a line in front of it, and they quickly made room for another party to immediately approach the cube. There seemed to be some altercation between the two parties, but soon, the new party vanished, gone into the dungeon…

Were they late or something? Nar wondered.

"Right, there it is," the man said. "Okay, Ses will take you up there!"

Another helmeted, combat gear wearing delver, presumably Ses, came running towards them from the confusion of stairs.

"Where to next?" he asked.

The first guy tapped his screen into the newcomer's.

"Crystal… All the way up there?"

He groaned but beckoned at them.

"Come on, kids! We're running! You're already a few minutes late!"

And without giving them any preamble, he burst out running towards the main, wide stairs leading up into the cluster of glowing cubes.

"Come on!" Kur shouted. "After him!"

"Good luck!" the first guy shouted after them.

At a full sprint, they hit the stairs and kept going up. Their guide deftly dodged around other guides and apprentices, both on their up, and down, and without stopping even once, he guided them through narrower and narrower, and more uneven and misshapen stairs as they climbed further and further up.

How high are we going? Nar thought after almost fifteen full minutes of straight up climbing.

"Holy shit!" Nar heard Mul cry out.

"Just don't look down!" Cen said.

Nar kept his eyes on the steps before him, which had turned dangerously vertical, but fortunately, after a couple more stairs, their guide paused before a smaller, and orange glowing cube. Their dungeon entrance had to be barely taller than Nar, and on its top, right corner, in darker orange, the numbers 30-35 were visible, as well as the ID of the dungeon.

"This is it!" the guy said. "Damn. This is the highest I've been all morning!"

Nar glanced behind him, and was startled at the sudden drop right behind his feet. Below them, in between strips of aetheric clouds, at a sheer 400-feet drop, where the aetherships, arranged to just about fit in the small ledge before the dungeons.

"Everyone looks so tiny from here…" Jul said, bending over the drop to look down.

No fear of heights in her at least, Nar noted. Meanwhile, Mul, Tuk and Gad seemed to be running a private contest to see who could stand the furthest from the edge.

"Don't stand too close, there," Kur warned them. "So, now what?"

"Now, whenever you're ready, touch the gate," their guide explained. "You'll get a prompt asking you if you want to get in, so just say yes, obviously."

"Right…" Kur said, eyeing the cube.

"And when you come back out, just head back down to the ships."

"Got it," Kur said.

"And I know you guys have just gotten a new dungeon, but try to be on time," he warned them. "People get antsy when you run over into their slots. For good reason of course. And when you come out, just make sure you make room for their party leader to touch the cube right away, alright?"

"I'll remember that," Kur promised.

"Alright then, good luck!"

And with that, their guide headed back down at a sprint that made even Nar wince.

"Alright, people. Here we are," Kur said, considering them all.

"Here we are," Cen echoed, looking up at the glowing orange cube with an almost referent expression.

"I know that things aren't ideal…"

"That's one way to put it," Mul grumbled, his back touching the wall of the Labyrinth.

"But we'll make it work, alright?" Kur continued, undaunted. "We've trained hard. We've worked hard. And this is our last assessment. So, let's get in there, and get it done. We've faced the unknown before, so this isn't anything new to us."

"Wish it was…" Mul said, flatly.

"I mean, it's also kind of exciting too, right?" Tuk asked, his usual brightness shining through. "Besides, it's better than the swamp, right? Only one poisonous beast in there!"

"That's what they told us," Kur said, staring over the orange cube. "Any last questions?"

"Let's do this," Gad said. "We're ready."

"Alright, armor on," Kur said, igniting his own, bronze armor. "And weapons out, just in case."

His body heaved in a deep breath, then the party leader reached for the cube. "And here goes nothing…"

And suddenly, Nar was nowhere.

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