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With everything finally said and done, we walked outside of the Dungeon as we stretched a bit. The wave of heat from the desert quickly hit everyone. It didn't really affect me, but it was a stark difference from the Dungeon's First Floor, with its humid and cold winds, and the gentle sunlight, which was a much more pleasant weather than the hellish sunlight of this place.

"Ugh, we're back outside already… This place's so hot I'm dying." Aquarina groaned. "A-Anyways, we're done with evolutions and stuff, right?"

"Yeah more or less." I nodded.

"Then I'll be going. I need to continue training with Arafunn…" Zack sighed. "Wish me luck, please. I'll really need it if I'll have to continue doing the tasks he'll ask me."

"Good luck Zack!" Mist ran to his side. "Here's your good luck kiss and hug!" She kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.

"Ahahah, maybe I can do anything now." He giggled playfully, walking away.

"Well, we'll be going with my mom to investigate the pyramid's interior." I said. "Aquarina's coming too. Anybody else wants to come along?"

"Me!" Mist said, quickly joining us.

"I think I'll pass; I need to train my new ability." Luck said. "Sorry, but it's a bit hard to use this new power…"

"It's fine, no pressure." I nodded.

"I'll go!" Lara said, pumped up.

"Wait, what? I thought you were going to stay alongside me!" Luck complained a bit.

"Heheh, did you? Well, maybe if you ask me nicely I can stay and cheer for you!" Lara winked at him.

"There's no need, just do whatever you want…" Luck sighed, crossing his arms.

"Huh? Why did you get angry out of nowhere? Geez." Lara sighed. "Well fine, I'll go with them then. I'll leave some Light Spirits to heal you though."

"Thanks." Luck smiled.

I thought they were going to make a big drama about it, but it didn't seem to be the case. In fact Luck still left her do whatever she wanted. But Lara is nice enough to leave him some healing backup so he can concentrate on training without worrying about hurting himself in the process.

"Exploring an ancient catacomb does interest me… I'll come along." Celeste nodded.

As for Celica and Zephyrus, both were already busy. Zephy was training his new Golden Flame Phoenix Physique and abilities related to it, and Celica was cheering for him and watching him from afar. Her golems giving her shade to shield herself from the deadly heat.

My brother was slowly getting a bit more used to his new physique, very slowly though, it has only been a day since he got it. However, with his spar with dad, I could see he was slowly beginning to release small golden fire from his sword.

It melded with his black and dark red aura rather strangely, as if both forces were constantly clashing against one another, but somehow still worked together, but rather unwillingly. Maybe once the Phoenix hatches, he'll attain a greater control over the powers? Familiars can do a lot of things for you.

"Then we can join too, right?" Pyuku appeared by our side with an army of colorful slimes. Most of the original inhabitants of these pyramids before we arrived here. "I'm bringing them along because they know the place better than any of us. Also they wanted to pass by their old village again to pick up the stuff they left behind."

"Oh sure!" Aquarina nodded. "You guys can come along if you want! Everyone's welcome."

"Yeah! Actually, mom, is everything ready?" I asked her, running to her side.

"Yes, mostly everything!" She said. "Well, well, we've got a big group of little explorers here, huh?" She giggled. "Welcome abroad! I don't think it'll be that long of a spelunking adventure, but let's have fun while we are at it."

"Yeaaah!" Everyone cheered.

We swiftly decided to enter the pyramid after things were ready. What my mother spent most of her time preparing was her "special gear" which included a lot of tiny gadgets to help her clean, break through, and decipher ancient languages.

She didn't have them beforehand, she actually created most of these recently. Her alchemy is pretty good, she can create accessories as long as she got materials. She doesn't like bragging, but father said her alchemy was only second to the Witch of the Blue Mountain.

And that's saying a lot!

We reached the old village of the slimes after just a couple of minutes. We were greeted with the half-destroyed and old looking village, which only brought a bit of sadness of their former inhabitants.

"Alright guys, pick everything valuable and bring it along! Sylphy will store it inside of her pet Glutton!" However, Pyuku's cheerful voice full of guidance quickly lightened their mood. The colorful slimes leaped from one place to another, beginning to gather all sorts of materials.

It was just wood they had here, piles after piles of rare and precious metals, spirit crystals of all kinds, orichalcum growths that probably grew out of walls over millennia, giant monster crystal cores, and all sorts of other treasures. My mother had to contain herself from asking them if they could let her see them. Some seemed to have some connection with the gods too.

"Pyuku, would it be alright to later talk with your people?" Asked my mother. "I am rather interested on the prospects of perhaps exchanging, buying, or perhaps renting some of their items. I think they could help me further investigate the relics and ancient objects of the Gods."

"Oooh! I see, I'll ask them later then." Pyuku nodded. "And sorry about that, I know they might be very valuable to you, but I can't just ask them to hand them over… They trust me, but asking hoarding slimes to handle their treasures is like insulting them in the face."

"Hoarding Slimes?" I asked.

"Yes, among our kin there is a sub-culture of people that likes hoarding shiny things! We call them Hoarding Slimes, most of the desert dwellers here moved to the desert mostly because they were driven by the shiny." Pyuku laughed.

"I-I see…" I felt slightly perplexed by that information.

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