"Qwy…"

[ "Miss Riddle seems to be dealing with her own traumas. Will she be able to get over it by herself?" ]

Right after finishing our talk with the branch manager and coming up with the final few things, we were done with the official stuff.

I had three days to leave the city and in that time, I needed to wrap up something pretty important.

"She's a big girl. She will know how to deal with stuff on her end. We don't really have to worry about her too much."

Since we already share a special connection, we can know about one another even if we are far away from each other.

I will not stop her if she wants to tag along with me but even if she decides to stay behind in Westford, she will know how I am doing.

Qwy's special bond skill works wonders even when we are far away. Even Rose confirmed that this bond is not restricted by distance.

As Qwy gets stronger, the things that one can do through this bond gets more diverse. Perhaps in the future, the distance between us won't even matter.

"So." So I don't really have to worry about her.

She will be fine.

However, what will not be fine, is my curiosity.

"Miss Aria?" Standing before the dungeon's entrance, I smiled at the familiar guards.

Ah… yes. I was going back inside the dungeon right now.

"I can go in, right?" Even though we had the funeral just this morning, the dungeon had been opened to the adventurers in the afternoon.

The association wanted to deal with the nobles so keeping the adventurers busy would mean keeping the public busy.

The morale of the public would rise as well so the association was doing their best.

And since the dungeon was open anyway, I was standing in the not so long line.

"Ummm…" But the guards seemed to be worried about something this time.

The dungeon gates weren't completely open yet, they were doing an ID check this time since the situation right now was sensitive.

The dungeon was still filled with many corpses and many of them were still unclaimed. People from the association were working on the first floor so everyone was getting a safe environment to farm and practically a free pass to the second floor.

Those who were part of the joint raid squad weren't going to go back inside since they should be tired and resting right now, but that did not seem to be the case with me.

"There's no problem, but, will you be alright?"

"Are you ok Miss?"

The sensitive matters were kept limited to the higher ups within the association. For most people, people who had fought in the battle against the Naga as well as those who had played an important part in the raid, were practically heroes.

The two guards were worried about me, just like how it was for the people standing behind me.

"I'm fine. I won't be fighting anyway." I was still too tired to go in by myself just to fight. But whatever my reasoning may have been, the ones around me misunderstood my words.

"Oh! Are you going to assist the association individuals?"

"That must be the case! We shouldn't delay you then!"

They thought I was going in to help the people from the association that were dealing with the corpses.

"So?" I didn't need to correct them this time either. They were free to think whatever they wanted. My work inside was secret anyway.

But then again, if it's the association, I don't think they will just let me wander around in the dungeon.

The branch manager should already know I'm going in. And he might have placed people to tail me inside as well.

'Not that it could matter anymore. I'm leaving the city anyway.'

It was good to specify the early departure clause in my inn contract… or should I just go? We have good enough money anyway.

"Yes yes. Have a safe day!" Both of the guards said their prayers for me as I stepped towards the dungeon's dark gate.

"Thank you for your hard work." They were certainly working hard right now so I patted their back as I walked past them.

-Oooooooooooong!

Crossing the dungeon's dark gate, I found myself in a new corner of the dungeon, an area I had never been to.

[ "The dungeon's guest privileges still apply to you. With the new categorisation of the dungeon, your anomalous actions will not affect you directly either." ]

The dungeon was not seeing me as just a guest architect anymore. For the dungeon, I was now a guest anarchist that spread chaos which helped the dungeon.

I still had the guest privileges, and now that I am categorised differently, the dungeon will have to process what I do differently as well.

I bet the dungeon was keeping a close eye on me now as well. The eyes of the association people weren't the only thing that I could feel right now.

"Anyway…" But we weren't here for any of that so I looked at both my hands.

There, on my fine fingers, there were two unknown rings.

I obtained them both as special rewards and now that they were together, it was time for their actual effects to shine.

"Qwy~!" My baby went around the section we had fallen into and scared away all the mobs that were trying to get close to us.

Rose was not saying anything either so I don't think I had to worry about anything for the time being.

"How does this work now?" Taking out both of the rings, I placed them before one another.

They had not reacted this whole time, but there was most certainly some form of resonance between them.

They hummed at a certain frequency that Qwy can perceive but I couldn't. And this time as well, they did not react to physical closeness.

"Is there some other condition I have to fulfill? This is a set, right?"

I wondered what to do with the two rings, but somehow, I felt a new sensation on my fingertips.

A surreal sensation ran through my body as strings of energy instinctively shifted rang out of them.

The strings, made up of countless colors that almost seemed white, went inside both the rings and lifted the rings up.

-Oooooooooooooooong!

Then, with that energy, colorful runes that I somehow understood glowed out from the rings.

Intertwining, the runes weaved together the rings not into a new ring that it should have been, but into a square.

The shifting of the shape was a little too dramatic. The square was not simple either.

There was a new decoration marking on it which made it seem more like a piece of a bigger part.

At the same time…

-Ooooooooooong!

The walls of the dungeon moved right as the rings had fused, and I felt a new strange sensation in my heart.

[ "The World Energy was the answer, master." ]

A door appeared beside us after the walls finished moving.

The door wasn't carved into the stone or magically conjured. It was a subtle shift in the dungeon's very essence, a space that simply opened where none had been before.

The key piece, perceiving the dungeon's presence, shot out and fused with a certain part of the door, becoming whole with the gate as it opened.

"What is… this?" I murmured, stepping closer to the open door, the square in my hand glowing faintly with a light similar to the one present on the door. It was obvious that this was not just a door; it felt like an invitation for us…

[ "You should go in and see for yourself." ]

Rose's voice held a new reverence, a tone I rarely heard from her.

It confirmed my instincts. She already knew what lay behind this door. She simply wasn't sharing it.

"Fine, let us go." I understood my skill's intent so I stepped forward towards the door without worrying further.

The door was made of pure, shimmering light, not unlike the mind realm I had recently escaped, but far more stable and welcoming.

It pulsated gently, inviting us in.

"Qwy!"

Qwy, who had been darting around, came to a sudden halt, her small body trembling slightly, not with fear, but with an overwhelming sense of wonder.

"Are you ok, baby?" I asked with a concerned look the moment we were inside, looking back at her, extending a hand to my dear familiar.

However, the feeling of awe she was feeling was more intense than anything we have felt so it made me look around myself as well.

Instead of a dark, cavernous space, we found ourselves in a vast, open expanse of pure light, reminiscent of the mental arena where I had battled the resonance protocol.

But this was different. Here, the air was crisp, and though there was no sun, a soft, omnipresent glow illuminated everything.

"Woh…"

In the center of this ethereal space, a singular, massive crystalline structure pulsed with a gentle, rhythmic light. It was intricate, a lattice of glowing lines and shifting colors, constantly reconfiguring itself.

[ "Welcome to the core, master. The place that only the architects can visit." ]

As we looked upon it, I felt a familiar connection, a subtle hum in my own World Energy. It was as if the core was a massive, complex brain, and I, with my support skill, was a single, tiny neuron, capable of understanding and interacting with it on a fundamental level.

"So this is the one that's been giving us hardships, huh?" We were in the underground floor of the dungeon, before the core that I had seen in spectral form for a few times already… in a place that was much different from what I had expected it to be…

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