Chapter 35 - Target: Honing Tower
Alyssa had hidden in a bush quite some distance away from the battlefield. Although she had a view of the battlefield, due to the distance and the bushes before her, she couldn't be sure what exactly had happened.
And although the little girl believed in Zwei's strength, she still couldn't help feeling uneasy, afraid that an accident would occur.
"Alyssa, where are you?" At this time, Zwei's voice entered her ears.
"Teacher, you're back…" Alyssa jumped out of the bush in joy. However, the cheer she was about to utter got stuck in her throat.
Zwei was indeed unharmed. Despite the many ferocious gnolls she had seen just now, not one of them even managed to touch the edge of her teacher's clothing.
Originally, this should've been an outcome worth celebrating. However, Alyssa had her gaze fixed behind Zwei instead.
The reason for Alyssa's reaction was a silver-haired girl, who looked to be around 11 or 12 years old, currently standing behind Zwei.
"Teacher, who is she?" Alyssa asked curiously, turning to Zwei, who wore an awkward look on his face.
"Come, introduce yourself," Zwei said softly as he gently stroked the girl's silver hair.
"…Tio Skange," the girl whispered as she blinked her bright, golden eyes.
"I'm Alyssa Murgatroyd. Nice to meet you~."
Although Alyssa didn't understand how Zwei ended up returning from battle with a silver-haired loli, she still greeted the latter with a gentle smile. She then tilted her head and wondered, "Speaking of which, your surname sounds a little familiar."
"Of course, it sounds familiar." After locating the direction they previously came from, Zwei added casually, "It's because Skange is the surname of the local lord."
"Ehhh—!" Alyssa's eyes widened in shock as she looked at the silver-haired girl's indifferent expression. "Miss Tio is the lord's daughter?"
"Unless there is someone else you know surnamed Skange…" Zwei shrugged.
The reason why the iron-blooded man from before had guarded the valley's entrance so desperately was to protect Tio, the daughter of William Skange. Meanwhile, William Skange was none other than the lord of the fief Zwei resided in. And before dying, the iron-blooded man had asked Zwei to escort Tio back to the lord's residence in Horador City.
The task might not sound particularly difficult, but Zwei knew that this matter wasn't as simple as it seemed.
Tio was the lord's daughter. Her appearance close to the monster-infested Angola Mountain Range was already puzzling in itself. Not to mention, the enemies attacking her were merely a small group of gnoll cavalry, the cannon fodder of the beastmen army. Yet, this cannon fodder had actually managed to threaten her life!
Even if magicians weren't thick on the ground in this world, there were still plenty of Basic Magicians running about, due to the flourishing magic academy industry. No matter how poor the lord was, he should be able to hire one or two Basic Magicians as guards. However, what Zwei saw was a near-overwhelming tragedy.
The fact that the lord's daughter would appear in this place with barely any protection basically made her fish on the chopping board for the beastmen. It was no wonder the beastmen would disregard the border troops and sneak a gnoll cavalry unit past the border.
If one ignored these objective conditions, this incident could be summarized into a deceptive report such as "The lord's daughter was attacked by beastmen!"
Although Zwei didn't know what kind of person the local lord was, he vaguely sensed that he had already gotten embroiled in some kind of extremely dangerous incident.
"This is…a little troublesome…"
As Zwei didn't wish to let others know about his dungeon raids, he had Tio settle in Alyssa's house after returning to the village.
Although Tio was somewhat reluctant to part with him, Zwei succeeded in persuading her in the end. In addition, on their way back, the two little girls had befriended each other, though it was mostly Alyssa doing all the speaking while Tio listened earnestly.
After telling the two girls that he was going into closed-door meditation for a day and that they shouldn't disturb him, Zwei returned to his mage tower.
Of course, his true goal wasn't to meditate.
He still had two normal dungeons—the Coral Sea Path and Night Forest's Center—he hadn't cleared. According to his original plan, he would first clear both dungeons and acquire their rewards to raise his strength. Only then would he challenge the dungeon named Honing Tower's First Floor.
However, Tio's matter awoke another presentiment of danger in Zwei. To prepare himself for this problem as soon as possible, he had no choice but to prioritize clearing the Honing Tower's First Floor.
After all, the quest description clearly stated that this dungeon served as the test for his promotion to the Basic Magician rank.
If he could clear this dungeon, second-circle spells might appear in his skill tree!
First-circle spells only allowed him to exert superficial control over his own mana and the elementals around him. Only after reaching the Basic Magician rank and acquiring second-circle spells could he manipulate mana in the truest sense. His proficiency in the application of various magical elementals would also improve. Moreover, if he could instantly cast second-circle spells as he did with his first-circle spells, then his overall strength would soar to terrifying heights. At that time, even Level 15 monsters would be no different from cannon fodder before him.
In addition, after reaching the Basic Magician rank, differences would start to appear between magicians of the same element.
Take the commonly seen fire magic for example. After stepping into the realm of second-circle magic, some magicians would focus on the temperature aspect of their fire spells, while others would focus on the explosion aspect. The former was known as Ash Magicians, while the latter was known as Destruction Magicians. Of course, both factions had their pros and cons, making it difficult for magicians to decide which path to take.
If even a simple element like the fire element had different specializations, more complex elements such as the wind element, which included wind magic and lightning magic, naturally had their own specializations too.
Of course, these matters weren't a concern for Zwei's current self. Rather than focus on future matters, it would be better if he calmed down and thought about how to tackle the Honing Tower's First Floor.
While inside the dungeon, he wouldn't be able to make use of the Dean's Mage Tower's Bronze Storage Box. Hence, he first had to sort through his belongings and store what he needed in his cloak's pockets.
After so many dungeon raids, he more or less understood how the Trial Gate's dungeons worked.
He couldn't bring clothing made in the real world into the dungeon. However, equipment produced by the dungeon did not have such a limitation. Hence, he wouldn't have to worry about losing his items if he stored them in his Apprentice Cloak's pockets.
With this, he had completed all the preparations possible.
With the Dark Celestial Sphere in his hand, Zwei opened the Trial Gate's panel. After taking a deep breath, he tapped the circle representing the Honing Tower's First Floor and chose to enter the dungeon.