"We did?" a broad, excited smile on her face, Silvia practically skipped over toward the food stall where Ryan was standing with the small ticket in his hand, "Wasn't that a bit too easy?"

  Ryan turned his head, scoffing as he shook his head, "For us, yeah, we just barely had the right skillset. The puzzle was most likely about decoding the scrambled text all over the dungeon to figure out exactly what you can 'order' here. And then, as an added layer, there was the part of figuring out the code hidden inside of that order. You guys did just that together."

  Modak wrote down the information on the other 'hidden' orders, and then put away his laptop, joining his friends at the stall, "Well, there are two more orders. A small strawberry-mandrake smoothie-"

  "Yuck..." Silvia groaned.

  "Agreed. But that, plus an... extra extra medium order of pepperoni grease, if I read that right," Modak looked up from his phone, and a broad grin formed on Ryan's face.

  "Got it. In that case, I'll go grab a few more coins. You guys just wait here," Ryan said, cracking his knuckles excitedly.

  "What, why do we wait?" protesting because she didn't want to be treated like some kind of kid on a field trip, Silvia looked at Ryan with an annoyed pout.

  "Because I'm literally running there, killing four more mascots, two for the new orders and two for your guys' cards, and then I'm coming right back," Ryan pointed out. He wouldn't have a discussion about this either; he already wasn't sure about having these two in the dungeon with him in the first place. The only context where he entered combat with them around was earlier when he showed them what dungeon monsters are like. And there, he had made sure maybe ten times over that the area was safe. He really didn't want to waste his time with that right now. They still had to figure out what was down the hatch and then head toward the other areas to investigate them further. That was why, before they could say much else, Ryan went on his way with Maximus, Jester, and Gregor in tow.

  As Ryan started jogging away from the food court, Silvia and Modak looked at each other. They were both aware they were most likely thinking the same thing as the other, but Modak still felt that it was necessary to ask.

  "We're not bothering him by joining, right?"

  The elf quickly shrugged, "Not 'bothering', but he definitely can't do what he usually does, right? So we're kind of... tying him down a little bit."

  They stood there for a moment, and then sat back down on the benches. They were a little annoyed that they could do nothing but wait, but they understood why Ryan told them to stay back. Modak looked at his broken arm and let out a deep, long sigh, "I just wish I could get my hands on aura already. Then I'd at least be a little more helpful..."

  "Hey, hey, hold on, we're helpful for sure! We solved the puzzle for him, and that was something the whole of the Aglecards weren't able to do," Silvia said with a smug grin on her face, and Modak laughed slightly, nodding.

  "I guess that's true. I don't know, I just don't want to drag him down. My friendship with Ryan was the only reason I was able to get connected to the magic tower in the first place... that I'm able to make the kind of money that I need to properly take care of my siblings," Modak let out a deep sigh, "Like... I'm setting up trust funds for my younger siblings right now so that they don't have to worry about things when they're done with high school and can go study or work wherever they want, instead of doing what they feel like they need to do. I'm looking into a car I could buy for my sister so that she can get to work more easily. I just feel like..."

  "Modak," Silvia placed a hand onto the orc's shoulder, smiling, "You would have gotten the attention from the Magic Tower sooner or later anyway. Whether it was with the tower or on your own, you would have kept working on what you're curious about, and yes, you managed to figure something out extremely fast with the resources you were given, but I whooollly believe that you would have been able to do this on your own, in your dinky, nerdy little bedroom. Ryan isn't the reason you got this far."

  "I guess so..." Modak nodded and smiled, before long, letting out a loud groan, "I think my broken arm is just getting to me. I feel so weak. I wish I could just take one of those blood-rose pills and get it over with."

  Silvia placed her elbow onto the table and leaned onto her palm, "Are there any plants that work with aura instead of mana?"

  "Well... not that I'm aware of, no. Aura is only found in animals and people. I think there are some types of mushrooms that mutated to be able to feed off aura, but they don't produce it themselves," he explained, "Trust me, I looked a ton into this kind of thing already, there's no alternative for potions anymore. The world is built for mana."

  Having heard a particular word in what her friend was saying, Silvia's ears perked up, "You said anymore. Does that mean there used to be something beside potions?"

  "... You know about the orcish independence war, right?"

  "Duh, of course," Silvia said, raising her brow curiously, "What about it?"

  "So, that was a pretty big turning point in orcish history. There used to be a country called 'Orgund' before even the oppression of the orcs in the first place, where the Brigand Peninsula is now. It was super isolationist, shut off from others completely. And you know, orcs in general are a bit more attuned to aura rather than mana, just how elves are more attuned to mana. So, in an isolationist country of orcs, rather than going the route of mana, they developed aura further. But aura, due to its nature as the physical counterpart of the spiritual force that is mana, tends to be more contained to the individual, so it took a ton of different forms, usually through combat strengthening, as we do it now."

  "You say 'usually', so I'm guessing there were outliers?"

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Mhm. Some individuals learned how to manipulate aura in a way that allowed for other effects. Manipulation of fire, electricity, wind... and some of them learned how to use aura to heal," Modak explained, clicking his tongue, "And then, when the Hartics moved over from the north, they first landed in Orgund. And, you know... Avian nations had a way of using mana that was hard to defend against, leading to the period of orcish oppression. They were forcibly taught the ways of mana, and many aura arts were lost to time already. And then, after the independence war, Orgund reformed into Makita. Many orcs left to other countries, and many foreign folk were invited in to boost economy after the war. It definitely worked, but that led to the introduction of mana, and with that, magic."

  Silvia slowly nodded her head in understanding, "And mana, which is better at these 'special effects' like elemental magics, just overtook aura in those aspects?"

  Modak nodded, "Right, though some other aura techniques were taken on by other nations in turn. You can trace tons of modern aura techniques back to Orgund, so I've been reading into things more to try and learn a bit more about it. Because, you know, the orcish independence war was in the early days of the system, and Orgund's history itself spans back even before then. If they were able to develop all those techniques without the system's assistance, then I should be able to do the same. Right?"

  "Right!" Silvia exclaimed with a happy smile, but the two of them both flinched and nearly jumped off the seats when a burlap sack hit the table in front of them. They turned around, seeing Ryan standing there with splatters of blood on his face, slowly disappearing as the mascot's blood disappeared again.

  "You could have told me about all that earlier. You know that Maximus can do something like that, right?" Ryan said as he sat down on one of the empty seats, taking some deep breaths. He had clearly been running.

  Silvia curiously peeked at the bag, "That was quick. What's in that?"

  "Huh? Oh, that's a bunch of coins and a small figurine. I ran into the mascot boss and we just quickly killed it again. When you kill the area bosses, you get a bunch of coins all at once, so it was the fastest way to do this," he explained as Gaia came over to him. Ryan patted her moss-covered head as she happily stood there, and one of the sub-golems, the one that stayed with Gaia instead of Silvia and Modak, pulled a bottle of water and a protein bar out of the backpack and gave it to Ryan. He quickly drank something and started unwrapping the bar, when Modak asked about something much more important.

  He turned his whole body toward Ryan, "What did you mean when you said that 'Maximus can do something like that'?"

  Raising his brow a bit confused, Ryan explained, "Well, he has different combat stances that evoke special, elemental effects. If you want to research that, I can ask Maximus if he wants to- Alright, yeah, nevermind, he's more than happy to help out. Maybe you can learn a couple of things from him and get some tips."

  The orc stared at him, letting out a deep breath, "And you didn't tell me about this before?"

  "I definitely did. But that was during the peak of you working on your project, so maybe you didn't really listen, which makes sense. You were pretty fucking stressed," Ryan pointed out. Modak looked forward in disbelief.

  "... It would be great if Maximus could help me out, thanks. Or rather, do you maybe want to come to the magic tower with me, and then we can talk to the-"

  "Nope," immediately interrupting Modak because he knew what he was about to be asked, Ryan shook his head, biting into the protein bar, "Sorry, but I can't let anyone look at him too closely. Spirits are beings of mana, so if it's known that there's a spirit that's able to use aura, people are going to ask questions. And I don't really feel like explaining to someone I don't even know that my class has the ability to give Classes to spirits."

  Modak groaned, "Okay, fine. I'll just use him as a regular reference then."

  "Sounds good. You can come over whenever you want and figure it out with him," as Ryan said so, he stood up from his seat and looked over at the stall, "For now, let's go take a look at the hatch."

  Ryan popped the remaining bits of the protein bar into his mouth, as Modak stood up with a long groan. He was a bit annoyed that he hadn't thought about coming to Ryan with that earlier. He knew that Maximus used Aura, on top of the fact that he used incredibly, incredibly old forms of combat, so he was literally the best candidate he could ask for. That was, unless Ryan got his hands on an orcish spirit from Orgund, but that wasn't exactly likely.

  Ryan quickly stepped up to the counter, putting two coins onto the old, wooden surface, "One small strawberry-mandrake smoothie and an extra-extra-medium order of pepperoni grease, please."

  "Who are you saying 'please' to?" Silvia asked, leaning over the counter. Ryan just shrugged, as the coins fell apart into magic and left behind two small pieces of paper.

  "I don't know. Habit, I guess. Having rude customers isn't fun, you know?"

  "Hm, I guess being nice doesn't hurt," the elf shrugged as Ryan climbed back over the counter. He looked around, trying to find the actual entrance to let the others inside. It was a metal door, completely bent and rusted. No matter how much he pulled, it didn't seem like he was able to just open it up, so he had the horn of shapeless water turn into a crowbar that he could use to force it open.

  "Gaia? Can you push against it from the other side?" he asked, and he didn't need to wait for long until a loud slam against the outside of the door acted as the last push to shatter the door's old hinges, letting Ryan pull open the door somewhat easily with the crowbar, as Silvia and Modak stepped inside with him. While Silvia shone a light onto the lock, Ryan quickly started entering the code with the three small notes that they got from the secret orders. These ones were unique symbols on each of the three wheels, so just a few moments later, the lock popped open.

  Ryan tried to open the hatch, but it was also extremely rusted and bent, but with the icy crowbar, he managed to quickly force the heavy hatch open.

  It revealed a ladder, leading down a deep, vertical shaft. It was completely dark, to the point where Ryan wasn't able to see a thing. He could just tell from his gut-feelings that there was something down there.

  "Jester?" Ryan asked, and the harlequin quickly jumped out of his head, standing there excitedly. He had his comedy and tragedy masks hanging off his hip, and was wearing the blank one right now, "Want to go down and take a look?"

  Jester immediately nodded, almost too eager to jump down into a deep abyss. Ryan quickly linked to him, so that he could see through his 'eyes' to make sure nothing bad was happening to him. And then, he just quickly jumped down, catching himself on the ladder every once in a while. Of course, so that Jester could move around a bit faster and could be more safe, Ryan unsealed him so that his size and stats doubled.

  The shaft continued down for much longer than Ryan expected. It probably didn't go down quite as deep back when this place wasn't a dungeon, but here, it was clearly distorted. It would take five or six minutes of just climbing to get down to the bottom. But then, when Jester finally did, Ryan was a bit taken aback.

  He thought it would be just some kind of small storage room, maybe something where they stored old drugs or something. But no; it was a long, winding hallway with dozens of doors on either side. It was too dark to see down here, but since Jester didn't have 'eyes' in the first place, he was able to see through some magical means anyway, and that information was given straight to Ryan. Whether it was the dirt on the ground, the roots and vines growing over the walls and through the destroyed doors, or the old corpses on the ground, rotten away so much that there were only old, dried-out patches of flesh left behind.

  And one of those corpses slowly started to get up.

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