"Will the guardian spawn again?" Ebony curiously asked.
"Not in a short while. How fast? Depends on the dungeon." Mark checked the surroundings, entrance and portal exit before removing his runic circle. He fell onto his butt and just sat there, holding his head. Mallory similarly had beads of sweat rolling down her head.
"Let's split its body?" Ebony asked. The Cardinal Golem's body was in good condition and wasn't getting reabsorbed by Ordina.
"I'm not interested in that, don't have to include me. Or Hect." Mallory declined for herself and Hector.
"Inedible." Scarlet shook her head. Completely disinterested in the guardian's corpse.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ebony asked the remaining party member.
"Ell yeah. I gotta have a better look." The rune junkie was excited. They were thinking about the same thing.
"We should leave first, I want a nice bed and bath. Even if the inns are barely habitable." Mallory lifted Hector's body from the ground with her barrier.
If they were right and the exit portal led to the other side of the dungeon's entrance, they should be back out into the plains with plenty of inns and taverns surrounding the dungeon. Being so close to a dungeon, they were usually pricey yet not exactly high in quality.
Ebony stuffed the corpse into his bag first. Mark didn't have any issue with that. Not because he trusted Ebony so much but because he didn't want others to see it, they would have a tough time cutting it in half and he didn't have spatial storage. Obviously, he wants to study the body whole rather than cut and destroy the precious runes.
Ebony had the same idea.
The others who were already mentally exhausted from all the magic they used felt even more uncomfortable after stepping through the portal. He was glad he sneaked up beside Scarlet and that she didn't push him away when he supported her.
He also sensed Mark catching Mallory from tripping from dizziness as they exited behind him. Good going, he had sensed something between them.
"Can we enter from the back?"
"Doubt so. Never heard of any dungeon that allowed that." Mark turned at knocked at the 'solid' black portal after getting pushed away for being helpful.
It was getting extremely noisy as the guards that were standing by were alerted by their exit.
Tuffock probably just flew off the instant he exited since there wasn't any sign of him.
"Look there! They just exited Ordina!" Random dude A jabbed random dude B with his elbow. That was mean but there were both warriors wearing leather armour spotting metal pieces.
They weren't forced to reveal information about Ordina but they were expected to give their names and quester crystal. To record that they could be officially considered dungeon clearers. It was just a formality and the guards were in charge of it.
They were surprised they didn't need to disperse a gathering crowd at first but Identifying Ebony's party told them the reason why people didn't bother gathering to check out who was the first to clear Ordina. It was more interesting to see a new and rising party of dungeon clearers than a group of nobles Journeymen with a bodyguard clearing a dungeon. Some people still stayed and took mental notes. These people were either thinking a bit more or were a reasonably high level party since they knew the strength and danger level of Ordina's higher floors.
It was interesting to see the quester crystal turn from transparent to grey in colour after the guard placed them in a weird spherical box like a pokeball for a minute or so.
After confirming that they weren't going to share any information, they were let free.
Panic Attack weren't around the portal, they were probably still inside Ordina or somewhere in the small settlement.
It was getting dark and cold but still warmer than where they just exited.
After inn hopping due to unavailability for a couple of hours, they finally found a few empty rooms. 2 to be specific.
Mallory dragged Scarlet into one, leaving Hector with the guys to share the other room. There were only 2 beds but Ebony had his own so they didn't have to leave Hector on the hard ground. Ebony converted the shield he left to watch out for Tuffock into a sculpture to help strip Hector's armour off.
"Hurry and take it out!" Mark couldn't wait to analyse the golem's corpse.
"Mmm. I'll go take a bath." Ebony let him watch over their belongings as he took his heavy coat off and made a compressed stand for Icicle so that it didn't break the floorboards. They were already creaking as he walked on them.
It was a massive relief on his body when he stopped the minor enhancement on himself. He never really took his robe off other than the time his back was injured even while he was sleeping. It was already habitual since his time with Gen, something might attack at any time.
Sadly, this inn was small and didn't have bath facilities for the public. They would provide hot water if paid for but that was it. That was good enough for most freelancers anyway. They don't even wipe themselves down every single day. The receptionist said there was only one public bathhouse of sorts but it wasn't exactly well maintained after hundreds of people used it every day. Considering the flow of people in and out of Ordina in a single day, hundreds was a small number. Maybe only used by those that exited or were about to enter.
The women had the same idea, bumping into them when he was about to leave, they went together. A fifteen minute walk was bearable. There were no roads and they couldn't just speed through the crowded alleys. Standing before the building they called a bathhouse, none of them entered.
The smell was bad enough to dissuade them from entering to check its condition.
The princess was about to burst from the accumulated stress of being in a dungeon that changes the environment every few floors. It could be seen that she was having difficulties hiding her black-faced expression. She would usually act cool and regal. It must not have been an easy experience even for a tough princess like her.
"Do you want to go to Plainston or any other town?" Ebony tried asking, he had no issue carrying them all back if they wanted. It was such a short distance he could reach in less than half an hour if he was taking his own sweet time.
"The city and town gates are closed at this time." The law abiding princess crossed her arms in annoyance.
"...I can create an enclosed space with ice. We can go further out." Ebony was sure she could make a bathtub with her barriers and Scarlet could heat it up so they could deal with that themselves. The plains have nothing that would be able to harm them either.
"..." The ladies contemplated hard, clearly tempted but worried about something.
"Oh, I can leave the area if that's what you're worried about." Ebony cocked his head when that wasn't enough to convince them.
"Out in the open?" Mallory shared their concerns.
"Hmm? It'll be more private than a bathhouse won't it?" There were way more people where they were now.
"...I guess." Mallory touched her dry hair with dirt in them.
Scarlet was all for it. She sweats many times more than the healer and barrier mage. Although her sweat dries up when she's using her Core skill or enhancement it just makes her sticky and she would continue to sweat after she cooled down and her skills were completely off. She already envied Ebony being able to take a bath whenever he wanted just by using his ice as cover and a bathtub.
They went pretty far out although it was turning dark.
They weren't comfortable until Ebony was more than 2km away. Their sign for when they were done was lighting up a bright fire. He made them thick walls and a roof, large enough that there shouldn't be any complaints.
At best, all he sensed was a wild bunny hiding in its burrow.
He was already taking his time and being thorough and only took 20 minutes but they weren't done yet. He took the chance to moon gaze and just relax rather than train. He pushed aside his paranoia but he should've made a trip back to the inn to at least get Icicle before they left the settlement. The stronger he got the more insecure he got because he understood that he wasn't anywhere close to being strong enough to walk without worry about being helpless. The casual attacks from Tuffock already showed him that he wasn't even close to being free of worry. Not that he didn't already know that.
Although the corpse didn't have any signs of petrification he was sure the mage just 'retrieved' the petrification after it died. It was doubtful it died just by getting stabbed by a couple of needles.
He was pretty sure more than an hour passed before the women gave the okay sign for him to fetch and walk them back.
One was in another dress and the other was in her pyjamas and ready to sleep. He could smell plum. His Core skill crashed and burned for half a second before he quickly gave them a ride back and returned to his room. There was a huge piece of paper on the floor with the corpse laid down. Many smaller pieces of paper were strewn across the floor as well. Mark had been busy at work but he was more energetic than before the fight with the Cardinal Golem.
Mumbling to himself about how he didn't have his tools or equipment from his workshop.
It belonged to both of them so he just openly looked at how far Mark had gotten. So far, it looked like a copy or sketch. When they had the same thought, they were thinking about doing the same to their bodies. Meaning to inscribe or engrave the runes onto their body. It wasn't simply copying the symbols, they had to be sure the mana pathways were correct. Not to mention experimenting whether it was safe to use on their bodies.
After just a look, he knocked Mark out of his mumbling trance.
"It's different."
"Huh? What is? It's a quick sketch but with my skills, it should be a pretty accurate copy."
"I managed to sense it since it was mostly ice mana. The first and second layer it shed was different from this layer."
"What!? Are you sure? Did you memorise them? Do you have any skills that are related to memory?"
"I can remember them quite clearly since it took quite some of my attention. I don't have a direct skill related to that but I am confident I can duplicate it to a certain extent."
"So that's why you got hit even though it was only a little faster than you. I even thought you just let your guard down or tripped up in that exchange."
"Mark. What are your plans after this?" Ebony didn't reply to his guess, he was actually distracted by the other presence behind the petrification mage. Too bad the other person didn't make a move and allowed the petrification mage to help them instead.
"This definitely takes precedence over any of my current research. If we could inscribe this on our body with a good quality mana ore and it doesn't have big side effects, it's practically a pseudo physique that increases our defence or durability by many times!" Mark tried to keep his volume down but Ebony made it such that only the two of them should be able to hear each other.
Ebony had a better idea but it would probably only work for him. To alter his mana chassis internally and actually change his physique rather than Mark's pseudo physique of inscribing his skin. There were too many problems that might occur and he wasn't going to go in blind.
"Want to make a deal?"
"...I can guess but go ahead."
"I'll provide the runic schematics of the outer layer. Lend me your expertise and share your results with me."
"Not enough, the inner layer is clearly more valuable. It was faster and stronger after it shed twice. The outer layer is obviously centred on toughness. It's not like I can't do a little trial and error to get its outer layer schematics either, I'm a runic scholar you know. It wasn't like I wasn't busy observing it either."
"I can provide good experimental data and even fund your research a little."
"What experimental data?"
Ice sculpture walked over and had its 'clothes' melded into its body to show a clean sculpture whose surface was starting to break and tear. In minutes, an 80 to 90% similar ice golem was standing before the two of them.
Seeing the runic scholar gulp was a good sign for him, he quickly erased the runic symbols that had no power in them. Either due to inaccuracy or not running mana through them, likely both.
"3 dimensional model. I have the mana to consistently dish them out. We can even test if it actually works by destroying one inscribed and one that isn't. Working together, I can probably speed up your research by more than a dozen times, won't I?" Ebony was kinda assuming Mark would be tempted. Of course, he could engrave it too but the one with the runic skills is Mark, it would take too long for Mark to engrave it one by one compared to Ebony just conjuring them.
"...I have another condition. If there's no compatibility issue, you'll help me inscribe my body in the future when I deem it safe. That'll probably be far in the future." Mark couldn't inscribe his own body at the same time, Ebony didn't appear to have many rune inscribing skills at a level he trusted.
"If there is an issue?"
"I'll find the best smith possible. Have you seen or heard about full-body suits that completely cover the body? Those would be seamless and it should be possible for the same runes to work since those aren't separate pieces of armour." Mark didn't need Ebony to point out that his idea of a pseudo physique was too dream-like. A second thought was enough that too many problems were occurring in his mind to make it work. He heard about some Grandmaster dungeon clearers in Tidal wearing a type of armour that was similar to a second skin. Perhaps that was using similar technology.
Ebony wanted to find Kong Jing to get her roped in as well. Gut feeling told him she would be interested in this project. She was his teacher in both crafts and runic studies, there was no harm in asking her for advice if she wasn't interested. Then again, with her help, it was questionable whether he needed Mark's help. He decided not to tell Mark about her and check with her himself whether she was interested.
"Sounds good."
❅❅❅
Food was delivered to their room but the girls ate by themselves. Mark had been busy through the night even as the other two were soundly asleep.
Hector got up sometime in the night but went back to sleep after looking left and right. The three of them ate together before the two girls knocked and entered to chat.
"We'll be taking our leave. It was nice meeting you." Mallory said to no one in particular.
Hector had a loud sigh that he dragged out.
"Where to?" Ebony asked.
"Tidal and then probably the sea. How about you guys?" Hector stuffed his mouth full after speaking.
There was a little silence before Scarlet spoke up.
"I want to get my skills to the limit on Ordina's twenty first floor and evolve." The twenty-first floor had higher numbers of Prime Verglas Kobold. The level difference was high enough that they should be able to increase their skill levels at the highest pace possible. Older dungeons that had the same level of monsters would be much tougher to deal with.
"Can I come along?" Ebony asked. He wanted to stay by her side, life had never been as dull as the time they separated.
She merely nodded without looking at him.
It wasn't like they were going back immediately. Mark made his point clear that he needed Ebony's help as long as he was free. He would rent a small house that had enough space for his research. Under Ebony's expense. Even without his personal workshop, there was plenty he could study before resorting to other measures.
Attempting to check if the runes would work had actually been one of the biggest issues since he couldn't test it on paper. It might work but just because it strengthens a flat piece of paper didn't mean it would strengthen a much more complex human body. He would have resorted to clay dolls
Hector shouted his complaints as he was dragged away by the collar. Yelling goodbyes even louder. They left the other way around as the other three made their way back to Plainston for a well-deserved break. It was a short jog, so much that they spent more time lining up to enter the city.
Spending more than half a day checking houses for rent, they had to take carriages on a crowded road since the Quest Hall personnel were bringing them around. He just got one that had enough rooms for all of them and none of them disagreed with staying together. It would mostly be used by Mark alone after some time.
Ebony was wondering how they were going to be allowed entry without five people but Scarlet didn't bring it up. Perhaps they had the right to enter with their grey colour quester crystal without what's considered a full party.
Mark had no chill and it didn't even take an hour for one of the unused rooms to be filled with notes. Ebony didn't disturb or join him for the time being. He cleaned the house while Scarlet was out for fresh ingredients mumbling to herself about what sauces she should start making to stock up on. He was thinking of joining her and maybe making some mayonnaise and ketchup since she would definitely have the required ingredients.
Imagining her smile as she tried new and tasty food was enough to improve his mood immensely. He removed every speck of dirt from every corner to make the house habitable for her.
Mark was deeply annoyed that Ebony moved his notes and the corpse when he was wiping the place down, even when he clearly placed them exactly where they were. A dozen or so palm-sized ice dolls were requested when he made a stop to clean this room. Thankfully, his control and conjuration were good enough that they were all almost exactly the same size, shape, weight and toughness. They were in star pose so that Mark wouldn't have trouble inscribing or carving in between the arms or legs.
He looked over the runic scholar's shoulders when he was carving into the ice dolls with a small but sharp handheld blade. The drawings that he had already done were very detailed. Like how deep they should be at each area or the angle. He compared it to the corpse. The inner layer was different from the two outer layers that he memorised.
Mark wouldn't succeed.
Not with what he had currently noted down. He only copied their surface layout and maybe with his rune-based skills figured out the mana flow required but the Cardinal Golem's makeup was a work of art. There were clearly overlapping runes within it that were seamlessly formed by a single route or flow. Although it was similar in that it was mostly multiple types of durability, toughness and resistance runes there was an addition of other unfamiliar runes. Most likely what increased its speed and power.
He tried his best to mentally imagine adding the two outer layers onto it. Although he couldn't be sure, he guessed that the layers would connect and the Cardinal Golem's mana or perhaps life force would flow through it. It didn't get weaker when it shed a layer and even got stronger after the next layer was stripped off.
'Maybe it's due to the consumption of energy? Does it only activate one layer at the same time? Or is it not possible to activate all of them at the same time since there are multiple repeating symbols?' There are many possibilities that require some testing and experimentation to find out.
Although it was a good pastime and he doesn't mind spending his time doing research and study it really wasn't his priority at the moment. He did get stronger but the stagnation of staying a Journeyman was getting worse with time. He understood that he was already faster than most and that it was about accumulation which would pay off right after evolution but adding more objectives to his schedule would only divert his attention. This research may not even give results if it wasn't possible for the runes to affect the human body.
This short break was more for Scarlet, he was ready to get back any time. They rushed through without much hunting, he might not be interested in finding hidden rooms or treasure but if he bumped into one he'll take it. Icicle was made from something found in Ordina so it wasn't as if nothing of quality could be found.
At least, he can spend however long Scarlet wanted to stay in the city to conduct research with Mark as his assistant.
Sensing her return, he went to greet her at the door.