After Irene ravenously devoured the unique essence of the Enchanted Royal Lizard Armour, she listened to Teacher Athelei's lecture.
"A society of monsters... Are you sure?" Irene found it wild for such a thing to exist, but after her experience with the Greater Goblins, she could imagine it.
If even the lesser goblins could form camps and live similarly to humans, why couldn't their greater variants do the same on a much larger scale? That was her train of thought as the details and reasonings laid down by the angel flooded her brain. With Athelei beside her, she sometimes regretted choosing cyan for her Nebula Gem.
'Having perfect memory would be great right about now, with this... This waterfall of information.' Irene inwardly sighed as she thought about what lay in the future. Thoughts that bugged her constantly rang in her mind.
'Shackles... How do I get rid of these shackles...'
.
.
.
Time passed.
The citizens of Atlantis were finally mapping out the world outside their beautiful city's walls. Although they could not stray too far away, they were able to discover areas filled with raw materials ready for the taking.
Minerals began appearing in their empty storehouses. They no longer had to purchase large batches of raw materials in the future, save for things like lumber which they currently didn't have any use for.
Marine plants and animals also appeared in their diets. Killing the friendly beasts that swam around and protected their city wasn't an idea the Lotus family entertained. The powerful Ulthasiair still lived in Atlantis, and they did not know what would happen if they provoked such a beast.
Getting into a fight with their most powerful guardian while they sought survival would be an idiot's move. Thus, they looked outside and successfully found a few... creepy but edible food sources.
Athelei and Irene continued exploring the subterranean kingdoms. Every time Irene fell asleep, they would always sneak into the nearby Lious' torchlight.
How?
Well, Athelei had finally achieved Peak Rank 0 Artist, and with it, he successfully drew the complex Mystic Pattern, Doppelganger. Masquerading Irene as a beast or Greater Goblin only took him a rather large amount of [Mana] and a whole minute of time.
Whenever Athelei drew Doppelganger, his thoughts would always consist of, 'This is an excellent way to prepare for sequences.'
Sooner or later, he could silently make it to Rank 1. If he could understand and master what bound sequences together to create an entirely new effect, then that title would be his.
The Adventurers, mainly Arnold and Hyeon, were drawing close to the [First Kingdom]. Perhaps a few hallways here and a room or two there paired with their [Heroic Luck] would bring them to an entrance.
Quite a few Adventurers had already fallen to the many peculiarities in the labyrinth. A few paintings of the Oxhorian Spawn were rumoured to have been uncovered, bringing about unfortunate ends to all of those who made that one wrong glance.
Athelei had read all these on the Information Network. It fanned the flames of his excitement, as he guessed whatever the Exiled and Illum Spiritualists were up to. The Illyasian knights were also shrouded in a veil of secrecy.
The day they appeared within the [First Kingdom] would be the day turmoil would begin.
But before all that had the chance to occur, Irene and Athelei had come across human footprints.
"Could this be..." Irene gasped as she held a few suspicions in her heart.
"This might just be the trail of that party." Athelei said with great interest, "Seeing as they're this far away from any kingdom-city, they had spent their nights in the darkness. This spells bad news for them..."
"Could they have noticed?" Irene proposed optimistically, "They're Adventurer's after all. Would it be possible for them to have done something to survive?"
Athelei mulled over it for a moment,
"I have thought about that... But the catch would be their proficiency in item creation. Those Cloaks of Tranquility I once mentioned should be made out of those beasts and plants that glow in the dark. Or at least, from specific parts of them.
I tried my hand at creating one with the materials you got from harvesting, but I could not make much progress. I lack the skills and the special technique used in processing the materials."
Athelei poked at the darkness around him with his white Tangible Will. "What would the odds be for those Adventurers to know of such a special, and likely, ancient processing technique?"
"...Probably very low." Irene's optimism was doused by Athelei's hard numbers.
She had indeed seen the angel play around with the hides, leaves, and blood of the bioluminescent flora and fauna. A very badly damaged Cloak of Tranquility was by his side while he made comparisons and observations.
Athelei had immersed himself in research, filling up the stacks of parchment he kept pulling out of thin air. But in the end, he truly could not make much out of it just yet.
It was then that Irene and Athelei suddenly sensed signs of battle. Human voices were yelling out as a few dim lights lit up in the distance.
Athelei raised his nonexistent brows as awe was laced into his tone, "It seems like their [Luck] has allowed them to weather through the storms. I've detected one of your archenemy's relatives. If you wish to save them, now is the time, Irene."
Hearing those words, Irene shook off her slight stupor at the fact that those low odds might have been overcome. She listened to her navigation angel and zoomed forward, flying through the dark underground sky.
Irene, as usual, exploded with golden light, but this time her strikes weren't made to kill. She knew how hardy those Bedrock Worms were, and thus she focused on the likely Adventurers themselves. Golden light shone on four bodies wrapped in weird skin-tight clothing.
With a tug, the four found themselves flung into the sky and sent flying a rather great distance away. Four seemingly painful impacts sounded out after an excruciatingly long moment of flight.
But none of them had been truly injured. Sure, they might be bruised in some places, but the bones they expected to break did not break.
As for the Bedrock Worm who lost its prey, it cried out in rage. However, there was nothing it could do about Irene's ability to disengage.
"Ugh," All four of them groaned as heavy gusts of wind pressed down on them.
A human with long golden hair and a curvaceous body hiding under shining armour of gold landed before them. The five-metre-wide grey wings were especially eyecatching as it was wrapped in thin gold light.
"Hello, Adventurers." Irene stood proudly as her eyes scanned the four.
"Rank 3 Dictator..." One of the Adventurers coughed, and stiffly bowed his head, "Which master was kind enough to save us from our peril?"
Irene raised an eyebrow and smiled, "My name is Irene, a daughter of the Vistas. Do any of you have names behind those masks of yours?"
The same Adventurer who spoke with polite eloquence was the first to introduce himself, "It is an honour to meet one of the famous defenders of Aren... I'm Laffe of Avina. A C-rank Adventurer."
He then gestured to his party members, "This man over here is Grant, while the one who has yet to regain his bearings is known as Archer. He does not like his original name, and thus everyone just calls him that."
Laffe then turned to the only figure with feminine proportions,
"Finally, this lady here is Cammille. All of us hail from Avina... which we heard is no longer standing."