After that night’s conversation, I decided for the best of Dungeon Master 09’s leveling to completely remove myself from the equation. Following Dungeon Master 07’s suggestion, I only interfered once he was done with the monsters he was leveling against, offering pointers or making little remarks here and there. This approach, while difficult at first, led to a noticeable improvement in our relationship. Not that we suddenly became "besties," of course, I still got on his nerves whenever I could, because there was a strange fun to it, but at least we agreed on how to handle Dungeon Master 09's rearing.

  Three weeks had passed since we began our journey to the Ducal city of Aartal from our last stop in the city we last rested in. It wasn’t that the city was far off; rather, we spent most of our time seeking out monsters to help Dungeon Master 09 level up. And it had been a fruitful endeavor. The young wizard gained four levels and acquired several new skills, a clear testament to our efforts.

  As we rode through the final stretch of road, the towering walls of Aartal finally came into view, marking the end of our long journey. Dungeon Master 09, who had been silent for most of the ride, finally spoke up, holding a wand tightly in his hands.

  "Is it really alright for me to keep this?" he asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

  Sitting behind him on Veilleuse-04, I nodded, keeping one hand on the reins. "You’ve gotten used to it, right? So why not keep it?"

  The object at the center of his concern was Misery, the wand I had acquired in Auroravia. As a wizard, Dungeon Master 09 would benefit more from wands than I ever could. Wizards, after all, are a hybrid class between mages and sorcerers. They can use both spells and magic, and even have the unique ability to unlock psionic-type skills like telekinesis, phasing, or even telepathy. This versatility allows them to tap into nearly every type of MP-focused skill.

  But this flexibility comes with a catch. While wizards can dabble in many domains, they rarely excel in any single one. Their spells aren’t as powerful as those of a pure Sorcerer, their psionic abilities not as potent as those of a specialized psion, and their magic circles not as precise as those of a dedicated mage. This is precisely why wands are a wizard’s weapon of predilection. They enhance the effects of their magic circles while also being lightweight and easy to wield, perfect for the quick casting of spells or the use of psionic skills.

  Given these advantages, I decided to lend Dungeon Master 09 Misery during our journey. But as time passed and I saw how attached he became to it, I realized that he should keep it permanently. While I’d grown fond of Misery, it was undeniable that I had outleveled the wand’s usefulness. Heck, even my beloved staff, Impotence, was no longer as vital as it once was.

  Impotence granted the wielder the ability to store 25% of their MP, with a maximum of 1500 MP. While it was a powerful boon, I had long since reached the point where my skill Mana Reservoir offered more benefits than the staff itself. Impotence also granted a 0.5 enhancement to ice-related magic circles and provided an additional 1500 MP, both of which were significant, but it was clear that I needed to find a new staff before reaching level 35.

  As I thought those words, I felt a pang of self-awareness, realizing how hypocritical I was being. My hand instinctively reached for my wand holster, where the broken remnants of a wand rested. Misfortune, my original wand, had been broken for some time now. I hadn’t bothered to have it repaired, even though I could have. I had better wands, better staff, so what was the point? I thought. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to discard it.

  When our journey began, I considered giving the old wand to Dungeon Master 09, much like handing down old clothes to a younger sibling. But Misfortune was in inoperational condition that it would have been like giving him an unwearable shirt. So, I decided to give him something more practical, Misery. Initially, it was a temporary plan, but as I saw how fond he grew of it, I decided he should keep it.

  Dungeon Master 09 still seemed uncertain, glancing down at the wand in his hands. "Not to boast," I said with a playful grin, puffing out my chest, "but the sorcerer I am has gotten so high-level that I don’t even need wands anymore."

  From beside me, Dungeon Master 07, riding his own horse, chimed in, "I don’t think sorcerers were ever meant to have any use for wands in the first place."

  He was right, of course. But I’ve always been the exception. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Wei? weren’t wrong in thinking I was the second coming of their ancestors. Chances were, this vessel of mine was destined to become a great mage. But I chose to be a sorcerer partly to spite the Wei? family. As a result, the system could only channel my innate potential for magic into leveling up my ice magic, a skill that a sorcerer shouldn’t technically have access to. My unlocking of Unbound Sorcery felt like the system’s attempt to steer me back on the sorcerer’s path. Whether that attempt was successful or not is arguable, but I’m very grateful for that skill.

  "You heard Grandpa Vittorio," I said, reaching onto his waist, prompting the ever-tickle-sensitive Dungeon Master 09 to jump at the touch.

  "Arianna, not ag—" he began, only to stop halfway as he realized I wasn’t tickling him, but rather attaching my wand holster around his waist.

  Dungeon Master 09 stayed silent for a moment. After a while, he looked back at me with a determined and grateful expression. "Thank you, Arianna. I’ll take good care of it."

  "I don’t doubt that," I replied, smiling as the city of Aartal loomed ever closer.

  Once we made it past the Misty Quagmire Woods, we didn't follow the same road I originally took. Instead, we veered slightly southwest, leading us into unfamiliar territory. I welcomed this change of scenery with open arms, as we were no longer traveling in a way that made me feel like I was backstepping, but were instead traveling in a way that made me feel like we were finally properly traveling.

  The three of us had been on the road for seven weeks, making our way through or past four cities on our journey toward the outskirts of the kingdom of Eldoria. With that much time, we could have easily crossed into the next kingdom. But covering distance wasn’t our priority. Our sole focus was on Dungeon Master 09’s leveling.

  While leveling both levels and that of Dungeon Master 09’s had been the premise under which we departed Miriandelle, the reality was that we had only stopped in places that were optimal for his growth. This wasn't out of favoritism or neglect of my own advancement, but simply because of the nature of leveling at my stage.

  At level 27, the monsters I would need to face to gain any meaningful experience were far beyond the random encounters we could stumble upon on the road. Even in the most treacherous regions, the creatures simply couldn't offer me the challenge I needed. Without a focused hunt, something that was impossible while, though I hated calling it that, babysitting Dungeon Master 09, I would never find the right opponents to push my limits.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  To truly level up, I would have to seek out monsters of appropriate strength, creatures that wouldn’t be safe to stumble upon with Dungeon Master 09 around. The only feasible solution was to find a town where we could leave him behind and finally go hunting. But that was assuming there was such a town nearby with monsters strong enough to matter to me. To be frank, I'd been mulling over the idea of seeking out a dungeon instead.

  There were clear benefits to dungeon diving, or perhaps more accurately, dungeon spawn killings. For one, unlike the unpredictable nature of wandering monsters, dungeon spawns offered a more controlled environment. While you could easily stumble upon something either too weak to matter or so powerful it might easily kill you, dungeons provided a clearer estimation of the risks and rewards. Granted, even in dungeons, there was still the possibility of running into something too strong, but my past experience as a dungeon core gave me confidence that, as long as I didn’t get stupidly bold, I could avoid such a tragic outcome.

  I had considered discussing this option with Dungeon Master 07, but I refrained for two reasons. The first was that our focus was still on leveling up Dungeon Master 09, and the second was the expected response from Dungeon Master 07 himself. Despite my curiosity, I knew his answer would be a resounding no.

  Dungeon Master 07 had been the first of us to reincarnate into Fiendfell, making him our most reliable source of information about the world beyond our dungeon's domain. From the time he'd spent in his first incarnation, he had learned a valuable lesson: never mess with dungeons. Despite being dungeon masters, entities deeply tied to dungeons, we knew shockingly little about other dungeons. What we did know was that they existed out there, somewhere.

  Given this knowledge, we reached a conclusion we all agreed was reasonable: Mighty K.R.U.L had summoned multiple souls from hell into this world. We were one of these souls, but instead of being given a human vessel like the others, we reincarnated as a Dungeon Core, the entity behind the dungeon. Since Mighty K.R.U.L didn’t just summon one soul and place it in a human vessel, it stood to reason that he might have done the same thing to other souls. Though we hated the idea, the possibility of there being other dungeon masters like us out there wasn’t far-fetched.

  So while we never knew what the outside world looked like, we unanimously agreed that venturing into another's domain was a bad idea. To be fair, the likelihood of other dungeon masters being as skilled as we were was low, after all, our dungeon was the only one known as the most dangerous in all of Fiendfell, but if the one in charge of another dungeon was formerly human like us, they would undoubtedly view us as a threat. Their first instinct would be to kill us, just as it was ours toward any intruders in our domain.

  That’s why Dungeon Master 07, even in his first incarnation, never dared to venture into any other dungeon domains. His cautious approach had followed him into this fourth incarnation, becoming in fact a code of order of his current persona as a Divine Emissary.

  Noticing me watching him, Dungeon Master 07 turned to me and asked, "A problem?"

  I shook my head and offered a smile. "Not at all," I replied, reaching for my healing gourd. The cool, coconut-like juice was refreshing, a small comfort amidst the heavy thoughts swirling in my mind.

  As I chugged the liquid, my thoughts returned to my earlier musings. Despite everything, the idea of dungeon diving kept resurfacing. The potential benefits were too great to ignore. But then again, there was Dungeon Master 09 to consider, and Dungeon Master 07's firm stance against it. With a sigh, I pushed the idea aside, for now.

  As I looked at the city ahead, I decided to break the silence that slowly set in with a question that had been on my mind. "Say, Grandpa Vittorio, once we get there, are we going to do the same thing we did in Osheford?"

  Osheford was the last city we stopped at on our journey, and after that our routine had become predictable. After journeying for a while we’d settle in the city for a day or two, just like we did in the city before that, and the one before that.

  On the first day of our arrival in the city, Dungeon Master 07 would head to the local temple, spending the day there before joining us back at a local inn, where he would rest for a day. If he felt particularly fancy, we might linger a little longer, but soon enough, we’d be on the move again. We’d done this in four cities already, so I had a feeling we were about to do the same thing again.

  Dungeon Master 07 confirmed my suspicions with a nod. "Once we get there, the first thing I'll be doing is visiting the local temple."

  "I figured as much," I said, reaching for my healing gourd and taking another sip, before handing it to Dungeon Master 09.

  When Dungeon Master 07 announced that we’d be traveling, a part of me, for reasons I believed were not all that unreasonable, thought that he would approach the journey differently considering his status in the faith. After all, he's a Divine Emissary, the highest rank a human can dream of within the church. It’s not unreasonable to think that someone like him, planning a journey with two seemingly random people, would do so more discreetly. But no, instead, he seemed to be taking this journey with us as an opportunity to do some sightseeing, or perhaps something more akin to a business tour, visiting the local temples as if checking in on company branches.

  While his choice left me perplexed, I wasn’t about to question him. Given his age and experience, he most likely had his reasons for doing things this way, reasons that I didn’t feel the need to delve into.

  To strike up a conversation, I asked, "Have you ever been to Aartal before?"

  Dungeon Master 07 nodded. "A couple of times."

  "I see..." I hesitated, then decided to ask something that had been on my mind for a while. "I was wondering, just in case you’d know, do you think that if I were to look, I might find someone good with wands? I’d like to get this one repaired," I said, pointing at Misfortune, the wand that had seen better days. It didn’t look broken anymore, but it ultimately was.

  Considering that the city ahead of us was a ducal city like Auroravia, I had a feeling I might find a shop similar to the one owned by that inconsiderate old elf. But still, I figured it was worth asking Dungeon Master 07 in case he knew someone personally.

  He shook his head slightly. "I don't know. While I've been to Aartal, the times I’ve been there were under official circumstances. I didn’t get to visit the city in any thorough way, and it’s been quite a while since my last visit, so..."

  "I see... A shame, or not." I turned to Dungeon Master 09, who had been listening quietly. "You heard that? We’re going on a hunt for a broken wand-fixer once we get in there. Let’s just hope the expert we find isn’t missing anything like last time."

  "Last time?" Dungeon Master 07 asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

  "Yeah, I tried to get this fixed before. The guy I bought the wand and this healing gourd from was supposed to fix it, but he was missing the main component. Well, I say 'guy,' but he wasn’t exactly a man. He was an old elf, the first one I’ve ever seen."

  In all my incarnations, it was the first time I’d seen an elf in the flesh. Having heard so much about elves, especially the praise for how exotic they looked, I was honestly disappointed that the first elf I met was that one. Exotic, sure, but not in a pleasant way. That second encounter, however…

  A face flashed in my mind, just a slight glimpse, but I could remember the details clearly: that shy, pale face, those curious blue eyes, that unique shade of blonde... Not bad, not bad at all.

  I was pulled from my reverie by Dungeon Master 07, who was looking at me with an unusually curious expression. "An old elf, you say? Mind telling me his na—Nevermind, I think I have a fifty percent chance of getting it right. Was the old elf you met named Charlie?"

  Surprised, I nodded. "How did you know? You know him?"

  "That Charlie? Not at all." He smirked, the corner of his mouth curling. "But the moment you mentioned he was an old elf, an elf, I had a feeling his name would be Charlie."

  I frowned slightly. "Why?"

  "You said he was the first elf you interacted with, so it’s natural you’re not familiar with it. Do you know what the name 'Charlie' means?"

  Both Dungeon Master 09 and I shook our heads.

  "Me neither," Dungeon Master 07 said with a shrug. "But on Quel'thalas, on the other side of ocean, 'Charlie' is a name you give to bastards. And not just any kind of bastards, but those born of a union between an elf and a human. Essentially, an elven halfbreed."

  "Never heard of that..."

  "Well, as I said, I can’t really blame you. On that continent, 'Charlie' is a slur, the elven halfbreed version of 'son of a bitch.' But on this side of the continent, I’ve heard it’s worn proudly by elven halfbreeds across the ages."

  At first, I was confused about how he came to the conclusion that Charlie was a halfbreed instead of a full elf, but then, as he continued explaining, and I recalled a particular detail about elves, I realized I had given him the clue. By telling him Charlie was an old elf, I’d unknowingly handed him the key to the puzzle.