It was just Indena, Amanda and I once again. No powerful mentors or monsters in sight to aid us or impede our progress.

  Between us and our quest to prevent war was a less exciting obstacle… A big door. Its age and archaic design betrayed how complicated it was. We were super lucky that Samael found that key on the pick-up artist, or we might have been soft-locked here.

  The chain of jingling keys I spawned had a particular one that slid comfortably into a hidden circular lock on the large door. A plethora of strange mechanisms twisted and turned on the inside as a response, giving auditory evidence that I'd chosen the right key of three.

  Another symphony of crunchy sounds graced the unseen audio sensors of my heart, followed by a final loud *THUD.* We all stood back a few feet, cautious the door might have some sort of dangerous surprise it had yet to spring.

  Minutes went by without even a peep from the door.

  “It didn’t work…”

  Just as Indena spoke those words, a beam of light split down the middle of the door, causing it to slowly part open, allowing a peek into what lay beyond. I was happy to say there weren’t any monsters.

  “Huh, what do you know? It did work.”

  “Might you attempt to practice more patience?” Amanda mocked.

  “Don't pretend like I was the only one thinking it,” Indena retorted.

  I had two other keys to test if the first failed, so I wasn’t going to judge anything until I’d tried them all. But deep down, I was kinda worried none of them would work.

  “Onward!” I cheerfully encouraged, marching into the unknown to avoid any more silly arguments between those two.

  The tunnel we went down was dark, and the stone walls comprising it were black as coal. Seeing into it without channeling stardust through my hair or using my night vision would have been a challenge. The ones behind me didn't find themselves suffering the same poor-sighted fate, as the walls began to glow as I passed.

  “Shrimp, what’s up with this?” Indena asked.

  “The stones are reacting to her,” Amanda commented.

  That was weird, so I stopped and checked the stones in the wall for what was causing them to brighten behind me.

  “Oh! It's phosphorescent.”

  Whatever molecules comprised this stone were actively absorbing my stardust light and releasing it. Come to think of it, my new dress was phosphorescent too, since it absorbed and released my light.

  Now that I knew I was blazing a glowing trail, the others put out any light sources they were carrying and followed comfortably, knowing they wouldn't be left in the dark.

  “Nazalian's sure built some weird places,” Indena commented. “Hands… Gold… creepy monsters… What’s their deal?”

  I agreed with her. These guys must have been freaky.

  “Most of their secrets died along with our victory as the rulers of the Known World,” Amanda said, “but a culture does value what it uses the most.”

  So in the case of the Nazalian's, they had an appreciation for hands, eyes, gold, and monsters.

  “Yep… Super creepy,” I commented.

  “Creepy as it may be, their long dead culture continues to inspire us to this day,” Amanda added. “Their art and language are commonly taught in schools and churches, and some remote parts of the world revere them as ancient gods.”

  “I'd hate to worship my ancestor’s slavers,” Indena said.

  They couldn't have been very nice people if humanity rebelled against them. And even more than that, I couldn’t imagine anyone liking them enough to praise them, outside of maybe their mythical stuff. Had to give ‘em credit though, this temple was really kinda cool… As long as I didn’t think about the monster skeletons.

  As if skeletons weren’t spooky enough.

  “If humanity doesn't really like the Nazalian's, why are you guys influenced so much by them?” I asked.

  Human buildings, like the Royal Palace, had so much imagery that looked a bit too similar to this temple.

  “We were under their thumb for thousands of generations,” Amanda said. “That’s a long time for us to be exposed to their influence. They were an advanced race of beings, so it only makes sense we'd base some of our technology on them.”

  Human’s kinda had a mix of different things driving their own advancements as a race. For instance, I've seen Exceed tech here on the surface, like all the mana towers, so clearly that has had a little influence on them as well.

  Amanda continued by saying, “It's even said that some people today are their descendants, like Viro,”

  “Viro's Nazalian?” I questioned.

  “Not more than maybe a drop of his blood, but it's enough for his eyes and hair to be affected.”

  Viro did have gold eyes and silver hair, which was said to be one of the features of Nazalian people.

  Next time I see him, I should take a DNA sample!

  “Where is Viro, anyways?” I asked. “You said you came here with someone, was it him?”

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  That was a shot in the dark, but apparently I hit the bullseye.

  “As my attendant, he travels along with me wherever I go. He is also responsible for my protection…” her voice trailed off and her lips twisted with uncertainty.

  I had to question her willingness to jump into danger without him here. We could have used his help.

  “How could I expect others to do something I cannot?” Amanda immediately replied. “I'm not the type to sit back and let others do All the work for me. He treats me so childishly, and he's not even old enough to shave!”

  “Yeah, but you're in a lot of danger down here,” Indena reminded. “Did you really think you could have gotten through all this without our help?”

  “I didn't have much time to get him when I realized I could get into the sewers. Besides, a life sheltered inside of a palace, yearning for vengeance I'd never enact, is far worse.”

  “Vengeance?” I questioned that choice of word. “You mean, about finding the holy steel factory, right?”

  “Y-yes…” she didn’t convince me all that much with that stuttery tone. “Never mind that. If we don't find the factory at all, then coming down here may have been a waste.”

  I could tell she was hiding something, but it was going to take a bit more work to draw that secret out.

  ~☆☆☆~

  We reached the end of the phosphorescent tunnel, exiting out over another chasm, but this one was layered and clearly manmade, decorated with pipes and stone brick walls that called back to the design of the temple. Pistons and other devices were actively pushing and pumping steam all over, making me think it had a gritty steampunk sewer style.

  I could smell metal in the air. It was iron mixed with a strange assortment of other metallic elements, possibly a hint at the holy steel factory Amanda was looking for. But that wasn’t the only thing I detected.

  “That demon domain is super strong down here,” I commented, sensing much more darkness wafting around the air. “I think we're getting close.”

  It was looking more and more likely that we were chasing the same tail. Whoever was making holy steel may have been the demon lord we were hunting. I mean, it made sense that demons would want to start a war, because what was more evil than that?

  “Can you trace its exact source?” Amanda asked, snapping more photos for her collection of evidence.

  Indena actually took point with that and spawned a flame. She was able to channel some of the dark energy through it and pinpoint where it was the strongest.

  “That way…” she pointed down toward a big ramp. “Am I right?”

  I nodded, wondering what was going to be down in that chasm.

  “To get there, it seems we’ll need to trek through this mess,” Amanda gestured to several ramp walkways leading lower down into this steampunk chasm. “Who knows what awaits us in the lower regions…”

  Probably demons was my guess, but like she said, anything could have been waiting for us down there, so we needed to be just as ready.

  “Stardust Aura!” I announced, casting my own support spell on the two of them. “If we end up running into demons, that should help you both.”

  I also recently did some upgrading to it, so the Stardust Aura spell was much more efficient at taking and giving damage to dark aligned enemies!

  “Nice!” Indena smirked, clenching her gauntlet-covered fists eagerly. “Can Elma stack her buffs with the Stardust Aura?”

  Amanda held up her scepter and graced us with one of her support spells, adding a layer of blue to our already twinkling bodies.

  “That was a defense boost, and it seems to have worked,” Amanda proudly nodded.

  My active effects screen confirmed it. We were being buffed by both her spell and my own, which increased our defenses by a lot. If these powers stacked, I had to wonder if it was possible for everyone to learn some sort of support spell and we all could cast it on each other for super duper boosts.

  “Indena, can you learn some support spells?” I posed my question. “If we could all power each other up with them, we’d be unstoppable!”

  “I know a few fire related ones, so maybe. But it would take a lot of power that I’d rather not use unless I have to.”

  “Huh?” I tilted my head.

  She explained that she specialized in combat related magic, not support. If she shared something like Flame Aura all the time, it would help us out, but it would drain her power by a lot.

  “It’s better if we just stick to our lanes and each specialize in different things,” she said. “If Elma’s got the buffs covered, then just let her work that.”

  Ahh… I was thinking everyone could be a jack of all trades, but that wasn’t the most efficient thing. I think my build was going to be a little like that, but even I had to make some calls and specialize in what I did best.

  Come to think of it, what did I do best? My stats were pretty evenly distributed across the board. Speed was getting up there, and so was stamina.

  Since I used a spear, it was probably best to build myself around range. But honestly, that didn’t feel like enough. I was going to be facing off against things other than demons too, so I needed to keep in mind that I didn’t have much of a choice but to work on every part of me.

  Luckily, this system was pretty malleable. If I wanted to make some part of me stronger, I just needed to physically train it up a lot, then apply skill points to unlock the next tier for it. I hadn’t gotten any of my body stats maxed out yet, so I had to wait and see if the skill points were going to apply there as well.

  “Indena, what do you think I should train up?” I asked her.

  She put a finger to her chin and gave it some thought.

  “I’d focus on speed if I were you, but you’re body’s pretty strong, so don’t be afraid to tank some hits right now.”

  That was good advice. Human’s were squishy and needed armour, but I was made of armour. Most of their weapons were developed to try and hurt each other, not an Exceed like me.

  That being said, if they were using holy steel weapons, they could hurt me a lot. I couldn’t forget how that was part of the reason why we were down here.

  “Actually, I’d say focus on learning a technique,” Indena said. “Nothing will matter if you can’t master your own bodies flexibility, and learning a technique would help you get disciplined.”

  “Does the Dragon style count?” I asked.

  “Yeah. But you’re a spear user, so try and learn something with that.”

  I needed to find someone who could teach me the ways of the spear. Sure, I could use it to poke my enemies from a distance, but I was mostly copying moves I saw in RPG games. I had no idea how to really use this thing.

  “Perhaps I could locate a spearman for you,” Amanda offered. “Our country has had plenty over the years. I’m sure one of them would be ecstatic to teach you their ways.”

  That sounded awesome! Having friends in high places really was paying off.

  “So anyways,” Indena continued, “if you want me to learn support stuff, I can do it, but I don’t think it would do much good.”

  “Nah, let Amanda use support stuff,” I said. “I probably can learn a little more too by watching her.”

  It was probably a good idea to try and copycat those spells at some point. Mixing them into my cards would help us in a pinch.

  I love how dad set up my magic system. It’s so much fun to think about!

  “Yes…?” Amanda agreed, but with a slight grumble in her tone. “Allow me to focus on those magical boosts for now.”

  I trusted her to do it right. My main focus right now had to be using stardust, and I was detecting there were some demon enemies not far ahead of us…

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