Kairos followed the party he joined out of the inn towards the crystal dome across the exit. He had gotten acquainted with the team very quickly and had to admit that this is a group that can deal with a monster outbreak, even without him.

  Leading the group are five instructors from the Royal Elf Institution. Four of which are Circle 7 Spellsingers and one head instructor who is a Circle 8 Arcane Swordsman. There are five other divers recruited to protect the students and while they are only between Circle 4 and 5, they will be sufficient to clear out weaker monsters and most importantly, in a dungeon where anything could happen these veterans might provide valuable advice. The ten students they are bringing are only Circle 1 apprentice mages, but Kairos could tell this lot is vastly talented.

  As the group proceeded, the children quickly gathered around Kairos. Not for any other reason but because he is simply pleasing to look at.

  One must know that he is now amongst elves, a race considered to be the most beautiful of all the core races on Axis Mundi, yet Kairos looked gorgeous even by their standards.

  The instructors and divers, though not as direct, also looked over every now and then, and it was through their actions that Kairos finally realised the cause of this minor commotion. Perhaps the leader of this group, the head instructor, allowed him to tag along despite his inexperience because of his looks. During this time, Kairos’ friends had been observing everything from his consciousness and their chatter had never ceased.

  Sieg: “As expected of our captain.”

  Luk: “Does good looks give you free pass for everything? That’s so unfair!”

  Xiu Xiu: “It’s okay Luk, the ugly duckling will grow up into a swan. Besides, you don’t look bad now, just not very good.”

  Luk: “Argh… I don’t know if you are trying to make me feel better.”

  Von Von: “C… children are kind of scary, aren’t they?”

  Sparrow: “Hahaha! They are hilarious, I love them! I’m going to introduce them to grandpa next time!”

  Von Von: “Are you sure we can… we can see them again? I’ll really like to tell Master Edgar that I’m alright. I’m sure he is heartbroken.”

  The three children felt homesick all of a sudden. It had been a while since they saw their parents, Siegfried, Laksa, and Helena, but because of their youth, they quickly cheered up and started consoling the elf and dwarf older sisters.

  “You can trust the captain! He always keeps his words.”

  Unfortunately, not everyone is appreciative. Amongst the elven children, a little girl called Lunaria Frowth Cecifia shot a spiteful glare at Kairos. Dressed like a little princess to reflect her status as High Elf, Lunaria folded her arms and sighed dramatically, “A mere half-breed round ear, and a weakling to boot. When have we stooped so low to walk with dirty blood?”

  The human race had always been considered inferior to elves because their round ears and rough features. However, the children birthed from the love between elf and human are all pleasing to look at, and some even more so than pureblood elves. Despite so, the elven race that considers themselves superior scorned the half-elves that had dirtied their bloodline and every elf that had fallen in love with a human were imprisoned.

  So, over the years, very few half-elves can be found but there are still many humans that have elven blood in them, and the term half-blood become used by elves on the humans that retains some elven features. Features like having long or sharp ears, higher magical and archery aptitude, or simply being more good-looking. Despite having the same meaning, half-breed and dirty blood are derogatory terms used by elf purists.

  The children looked at each other and they quickly stepped away from Kairos, as though they do not want to cross Lunaria.

  “I thought so,” Lunaria declared triumphantly. She smugly walked off as if a person like Kairos did not deserve another look. Almost immediately, a chorus of complains echoed in Kairos’ head. His ghost friends who are staying within his consciousness had seen and heard everything and they are naturally enraged. No one but Kairos saw four ghosts haunting the child angrily. Although they could not touch her, Luk and Sieg floated nearby, making “Ha-Ha-Ha!” noises while throwing standard straight punches at her head and tummy. If Saint Cadets Academy’s basic training instructor could see their form, he would proudly nod his head. Xiu Xiu, who believed herself to be less violent than the boys only generously sent open palms strikes at Lunaria’s head while repeatedly scolding the elf dummy. Sparrow, like a big child herself, drew curse doodles all over. Even Von Von who is a high elf could not agree with Lunaria. As the only matured adult ghost, she stared coldly at the elf child rather pettily and causing the child to tremble from the unnatural chill.

  All at once, Lunaria felt chilled to the bones like there are whooshes of cold winds blowing through her. When she realise that it stops when she moved away, all her hairs stood on ends and the little girl ran away screaming. Everyone around only saw Lunaria arrogantly flaunting one moment, then having sudden trembles that made her jump around like a pot lid next, before the girl dashed away hugging her head. This girl, she couldn’t be suffering from some weird mental illness, could she?

  Kairos who should be boycotted remained unperturbed while the instigator drew weird looks at her. Still, if Kairos were to let words or bullying get to him, he will never have survived until now. Of course, this is not undermining the seriousness of being bullied since can happen to anyone, no matter their age or position. It is just that the best way to face bullies is to be stronger than all of them. If not mentally, then physically, and if both are impossible then it is not shameful to become strong by repute, money, connections, or relationships. However, to experience this now invoked unwanted memories for Kairos of his early days in the academy and growing up in Rutea village. As the trauma-induced thoughts turn glaring, the image of a girl with innocent and trusting eyes seemed to reach out at him. Her words of admiration and pure faith in him resounded in his ears.

  “Kai Kai! Wah… You look amazing!”

  “Big brother I missed you!”

  “I’m glad, I’m glad, I’m glad…”

  “Kai kai don’t cry. It’s not painful anymore, it’s not painful anymore.”

  His eyes steeled with resolve. Kairos suddenly found himself to have exceptional luck. In the past when he faced hardships, there were lots of people to support him, like his father and brothers. This time round, he needs to become Relestia’s support. Undoubtedly, she is waiting for his rescue.

  Pushing out the unnecessary thoughts, Kairos beckoned to his ghostly friends still chasing after Lunaria as he caught up with the rest of the party. The group of eleven adults and ten children are considerably large for a dungeon party, but during monster season, this amount might not be enough.

  As they traverse into the first level of the dungeon, the air quickly cooled, forming light mists that swirls about their ankles. The smell of rot and death quickly overpowered the cool evening breeze they had brought from above.

  The leader of this group, the head instructor of the royal elf institute started pointing out the intricacies to watch out in such a dangerous place. Although, he is not a veteran of the local dungeon, the professor’s knowledge far outstrips anyone here and so the whole party listened intently. Of course, this knowledge is most beneficial for Kairos who is on his first dive, and the elf also knowingly kept his words understandable for a newcomer. Granted, it is also safer for everyone if Kairos knows how to keep his toes in check.

  “Always remember that the usual methods in the wilderness will not work in a dungeon. Any dungeon. Here, no matter how many times we enter, we will be pioneers searching for the rules of survival because the rules are constantly changing. Fortunately, we are still at the upper levels, so the rules in this place will be barely altered and mostly on the physical aspect.”

  Just a few words threw Kairos’ head into a spin. Rules? What rules?

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The head instructor did not bother to pause and breathe, “For example, the weight of your weapons might suddenly become lighter or heavier, or the armour you so trust might turn softer or flimsy. That is why the first thing we do when we dive is to check our equipment and not foolishly die to carelessness.”

  Any good warrior will know that a slight difference in their gear will require several changes to their fighting forms. A softer armour, for example, means that a blow that would glance them in the past will become crippling. An armour that became harder might not be a good thing either if it means that it has lost malleability and cannot absorb a blow.

  At this time, the head instructor turns towards Kairos, drawing the latter back to the subject, “In the dungeons, we divide the floors up as the upper floors – which is where we are, the middle floors, and the lower floors. Beyond that is a place for only the truly powerful, a place known as the depths. There are more levels below that, the unknown floors where no one had ever returned and the abyss that is supposed to be at the lowest level.”

  The elf paused a little. Usually at this point, a good teacher would have stopped. Even xianxia stories would refrain from giving the stages from the nascent stage all the way to Supreme Golden Immortal stage in one shot, but the head instructor decidedly continued, if only to satisfy his own habit of lecturing, “The upper floors slightly changes the rules of Axis Mundi, but once you make it to the middle floors, you will see the true fangs of this otherworldly place and you will find out why so many divers quit and never to return.”

  The elf refrained from saying, that many instructors – be it elf, human or any other race – were part of the quitters he mentioned.

  “At the middle floors, zones will be formed, each a different biome. At such places, it will not be strange to see anything, even vast openness or mountainous range. At the lower floors, concepts that you are familiar will become bizarre and dangerous. At the depths, you will no longer be able to use aura and magic, and your physical body will start mutating. Only the strongest could somehow circumvent that. Below that, at the unknown floors, although no one has returned, it is speculated that reality will become blurred, and the abyss that is thought to be at the bottom of the dungeon is theorised to be a whole different universe.”

  The dungeon seemed like a whole other world, or even, several worlds altogether. Hearing such explosive news made Kairos silent. Not just him, even his rowdy spectre friends went quiet. He did not notice anything the previous time when he went to a dungeon. At that time, he broke a giant hole in the ground to save Relestia and this in turn changed the dwellers dungeon boundary.

  “Von Von, Sparrow is this true?”

  Von Von: “It is only worse than you think.”

  Sparrow: “Kairos, I’ve accidentally overheard my grandfather mention the dungeons are expanding every year. Maybe one day everywhere underground will become part of the dungeons.”

  Von Von: “Perhaps not just underground.”

  Now satisfied of having said everything, the head instructor smiled and declared, “But fear not, we will only stay on the upper floors today. Our task is to capture five kinds of creatures and study their biology and mana paths that are affected by the dungeon. Everyone, pay attention now because we are arriving at the first-floor‘s border. Check your gear, and don’t forget your flammability tests.”

  First-floor’s border? Kairos squinted his eyes dangerously as he looked around. The place they are standing at is the same depth as the dungeon gates in the dwarf mountain. This further confirms the theory that dungeons are another world’s intrusion into Axis Mundi, and the first-floor border is exactly where physics jumbles up and the rules of two worlds clashes.

  Following instructions, Kairos carefully examined his equipment. Just when he was thinking on what to do, the head instructor came over and handed him a checklist. Thanking the elf, Kairos immediately set to work. As he read through the list, it became apparent that he is not the only one who believes that the floor borders are a clash of rules. Through a compilation of experience from the experienced divers, they speculate that the invasion of the dungeons is similar to a planet approaching a sun, and at a certain distance, the planet will burn. Now whether Axis Mundi is the sun or planet in the example is heavily debated, but from the dungeons’ expansion it is most likely the latter.

  Putting away the checklist, Kairos swiftly worked on his tests, not noticing the scrutinous eyes upon him. Because of the wild variations of what could happen in a dungeon, the complexity of the task is tremendously tedious, starting with weighing everything, then bending them slightly, and afterwards lightly scratching the protective gears. There are over a hundred such tasks to determine the changes they are encountering but only the most experienced divers could do it without referencing a checklist. The fact that everyone else in the party are carefully going down the checklist, even the divers and the instructors, made Kairos stick out like a sore thumb. When the head instructor saw that Kairos only took one look and kept the checklist, he shook his head slightly and looked away, however, the elf child Lunaria, saw the elf leader’s disappointment and did not miss the chance.

  “Hey old man,” the twenty-year-old brat abruptly called Kairos, “where did you keep the head instructor’s checklist?”

  At her hollering, everyone else looked over and soon many of them are shooting dirty looks at Kairos. How much time has passed since this human had received the checklist? Is there even time for him to take a glimpse? If he went on ignorantly, he could jeopardise this outing and everyone else. Of course, the truth is not as terrible as the students thought, otherwise the head instructor would have already stepped in. With everyone checking their equipment, it is a matter of time before they conclude what rules had been changed at this level. In fact, most dungeon parties left the checking to the most experienced member. It is different here because this is a school excursion, and the students are expected to fully participate. The instructors and veteran divers looked on without a word. In fact, most did not bother to perform any checks since the students are already doing so. Unfortunately, no one spoke for him when he was singled out.

  Lunaria is not done, she smirked and proudly said, “My lord father, a most esteemed high elf, had warned me about peasants like you. Grunts like you spend your smarts and efforts on pretence, you are too lazy to work for yourself but will whine and complain the moment others get ahead of you.”

  She looked around like an experienced narrator then announced with a pretentious flair, “Everyone, we have a leech in our midst. Whatever should we do?”

  Kairos is impressed with the girl’s ability to spark off the crowd. Like before, he did not bother to reply. This is not because he has become matured enough to shrug it off or that he felt the accusations beneath his attention, but simply because he had learned never give weight to his mockers.

  They might think your inaction is inability, but it is better to be mysterious than let them have the reaction they wanted from you. After all, every good warrior knows that the best battlefield is of your choosing. With the group stirred by Lunaria’s words, any rebuke will appear pale and weak.

  Kairos suddenly smiled, “Are you envious of my appearance? I will let you in on a secret. I am not born this way but became so after practicing a cultivation method.”

  The surprising reply caused a great stir in the group. They expected him to rebuke, or even to turn away but to say that there is a way to become more attractive grabbed their attention like sweet poisonous allure. The elves’ love of beauty met an opportunity today. Unfortunately, the owner of the secret had been offended by most of them. Asking for his beauty secrets became a ridiculous notion. Lunaria fell silent. The battlefield had changed, and the fight is now on his terms. The rest of the checks continued in silence. A few tried to share what they found with Kairos, but he only nodded and returned to his task uncaringly. Kairos ran through the list with a speed that matched any veteran. He had taken a single glance at the checklist, because that is all he needed. Unfortunately, none of the checks came back with abnormality. There are a lot more tests that can be carried out, but those are reserved for the other floors. After a while, everyone in the group is done with their checks. There were some false alarms, but at the end, no one discovered anything strange. Still, the moment the group moved, Kairos knitted his brows together. Shrugging it off, he thought that perhaps he is too sensitive to the surroundings because it is his first time here.

  After all, no one else noticed any, not even the veteran divers and the instructors, until it is too late. The path they took which everyone thought to be straightforward is instead in random chaotic directions.

  “Everyone stop!” the head instructor commanded before taking a careful look around.

  “L… Leader! The way we came from, doesn’t look recognisable!”

  The elves turned back with frightening haste, and what they saw made everyone turn pale. The path they took had disappeared. No, not even their footsteps can be found behind them.

  “Leader! In front of us, there’s a village!”

  “A village? There wasn’t anything in front of us before!”

  “Something’s wrong, we should back away.”

  “Let’s leave now.”

  The group warily moved away from the strange village that appeared out of nowhere, but they quickly found themselves returning again to the same place no matter which direction they took.

  They tried a dozen times, and ten times that, but they seem to be running in circles and always returning to the same place.

  Xiu Xiu: “What is wrong with this place. C-captain we need to leave.”

  Sieg: “Captain, maybe this is a time-space lock?”

  Since they bravely sacrificed to protect Kairos, the three of them had been following him as spirits. Naturally, they experienced everything he did on Gaia and know about Time-space stratagems. In fact, during their time in Frosthral, they had even studied the Time-space arrays used in the war up close. To be able to trap the neigh-invincible barbarians that had War God tattoos, the standard of those Time-space trap were astounding, yet it cannot be compared to what is happening now.

  Luk: “I doubt so, I don’t see any runes around and it feels more like a dimensional shift than a stratagem. Something this powerful shouldn’t be manmade.”

  Sparrow: “R… runes? Dimensional shift? Why are you children so knowledgeable? You should play more and think less!”

  Von Von: “Don’t listen to this muscles for brains, the pen is mightier than the sword!”

  Suddenly, from the village, a quaint and quiet bell rang.

  *Ding ding ding*

  *Ding ding ding*

  *Ding ding ding*

  A raspy voice that sounds like it was by an older lady came from deep between the houses, “Close your windows, lock your doors. When night falls, beasts roar. Stay out late and you will die. Die! Die! DIE!!”