For the next few days, Kisuke, Medusa, Sona, Aika, Koneko, and Line from the Loki Familia continued delving deeper into the Dungeon until they reached the 12th floor where the visibility is too bad due to thick mist.
However, the girls are also getting used to it because they can now use Mana to strengthen their senses. But before they can reach the state where it's actually useful in a real battle, Kisuke and Yoruichi had to teach them how to process the information that is entering their senses. If not, even with stronger senses, it would just be noisy information for them instead of useful information.
During this time, Line was also able to memorize her own magic circle and can now almost complete the spell without the assistance of her incantations.
And with a final push from Kisuke, before lunch of their 5th day in the Dungeon, Line finally cast her healing magic after a few minutes of concentration.
"I did it!" Line cheerily jumped and exclaimed, "I did it, Kisuke-san!" And due to her sheer happiness, she ended up hugging Kisuke in delight.
It's only a few seconds later that she finally realized what she has done and she immediately separated from Kisuke with a blushing face, "I-I'm sorry!"
Kisuke didn't mind it as he chuckled and ruffled her hair, "Congrats~."
Still feeling embarrassed, she moved his hands away, "Geez... Please don't treat me like a child..." Line muttered as she pouted. But after that, she looked straight at him with still slightly flushed face, "And thank you very much~."
"Still, you are only on your first step. Although you succeeded, It took you a few minutes to cast simple magic and in addition to that, your control isn't very precise yet as most of your Mana were wasted. It's as if you cast your magic 7 times."
"I know. But now I actually did it, I'll work even harder!"
"Your enthusiasm is good but you shouldn't cast magic continuously. I allowed you to do it these past few days because I figured that it won't do any warm on you for now. But now, I can see that you're very tired so you should only do that for a few hours a day."
"..." Line went silent as she indeed intends to do it nonstop even after going home. She would only stop when her Magic Potions were gone or she entered a Mind-Down state.
"However, you also shouldn't waste your free time," Kisuke continued and took out a book and passed it to Line, "Take this and study its contents."
Line grabbed the book and scanned a few of its pages, "This is?" The book is all sorts of magic circle diagrams that are making her dizzy just by looking at it.
"Those are the basic magic formulas that would help you create your own magic. Try reading and casting the first example."
Following Kisuke's instructions, Line went to the first page of the book and memorized the simple magic circle. Opening her left hand, she carefully weaved Mana on top of it and drew the magic circle from her memory and a small flame sprouted in it, "...I did it... Magic not provided by my Falna..." Line muttered as she watches the flame dance on her hand.
At this time, the hunting group returned, "Oh, it seems that you succeeded. Congratulations." Sona first said.
Line couldn't reply as she kept staring at the flame on her hand. All this while, even after seeing them do it, she actually still has some doubt. But now that she cast magic not listed from her Falna and she didn't have any skill that allows her to do so, all of that was blown away and were replaced by an unknown feeling that she didn't know how to describe.
And during this time, her consciousness started drifting away as she entered in some sort of trance.
.
.
.
Underneath the Guild is the Room of Prayer. Sitting on a throne is white hair and blue eyes old man. He wears a white robe with a black hooded cloak and sandals. While sitting quietly, the old man's eyes suddenly widened as if he was startled.
From the darkness of the room, a figure that wears black robes that cover their face, making it impossible to tell their gender or any other features, appears, "What's wrong, Ouranos?" The figure asked with a ghastly voice.
"Fels..." Ouranos muttered his aide's name, "For an instant... I thought I felt the Dungeon... expressing happiness..."
Fels didn't really understand, but before he could ask more Ouranos continued, "It's probably just my misconception... Anyway, what happened with the Xenos?"
"Some new members arrived."
"I see... What about the Ganesha Familia?"
"Their captain, Shakti is taking care so that no information leaks. However, I also discovered that some Adventurers are deliberately searching for them."
"Do you have any plans?"
"For now, I asked Ganesha to be careful of these individuals... However, we really need more people regarding this."
"...It's hard to find someone who would willingly accept a monster as a friend..."
Hearing that, Fels became quiet.
With their conversation regarding the 'Xenos', Ouranos completely forgot his misconception which actually isn't.
.
.
.
Twilight Manor, the home Loki Familia, which is located in the northern part of the Labyrinth City Orario, is described to be a huge structure built on a small area of land. Multiple tall towers overlap and support each other, with the middle tower being the tallest. The home is also described as being carved out from flames.
In a certain room, all the top executives gathered, along with Loki, are talking about their next upcoming expedition in five days.
"How are the logistics?" Finn asked Riveria.
"Food, supplies, potions, and weapons are all already prepared."
Finn nodded, "Good. Now then, the quest we received the Dian Cecht Familia. The quest is to gather a certain amount of Cadmus Spring from the 51st floor. Other than that, all the other quest is to gather some materials from the Lower Floor and we can leave that to other low-level members.
And finally, our main goal... The exploration of the 59th floor where the only Familias who were able to reach it is the Zeus and Hera Familia."
Everyone nodded with a serious expression. Finally, they were about to reach the deepest floor recorded in the history of the Dungeon.
"With that said... All of you need to rest and condition yourself. So no more entering the Dungeon, especially you Ais."
Ais head dropped down, "...Yes."
"Now, now, Finn." Seeing Ais' reaction, Loki immediately interfered, "Don't go too hard on her."
"Loki... you can't spoil her..." Finn answered.
Ais became even more depressed after hearing that.
This time, Riveria sighed, "Haahh... Finn, please allow her."
As if an angel descended, Ais' eyes lit up as she looked towards Riveria.
"Even you, Riveria?"
"At least postpone the mandatory rest until two days until the expedition." Riveria then looked towards Ais, "And Ais, you can't go alone. Take Tiona and Tione with you. That's the condition."
"We'll accompany you, Ais~!" Tiona energetically answered.
"If the captain allows it, then I don't mind." Tione followed.
Sighing, Finn agreed, "Fine. Let's go with that." At least, it's better than let Ais secretly enter the Dungeon.
"Now that's decided, let's have lunc--- !?" In the middle of speaking, Loki's eyes suddenly widened in shock.
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth furrowed their brows at her, "What's wrong?"
Loki went silent for a moment, making everyone slightly nervous, before smiling wildly and muttering, "It seems that something very interesting is happening out there... I wonder what is it...?"