10/6 6:32 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar)
Luna relaxed in an almost dormant state upon the head of her Mate, the warmth of the flames gently enveloping her in a comfortable hold as she sleepily played with the feathers near her hands.
Amber meanwhile was fruitlessly trying to concentrate on flying alone, thing quite difficult considering how her beautiful silver-haired Mate's body was draped all over her own, even if she herself was not in an Humanoid form.
Especially because she was not in an Humanoid form considering how as a Phoenix she had no clothes and felt the other right against against her.
It was no wonder, then, that she did not go to the Dungeon at her maximum possible speed to enjoy it for as long as possible.
Their flight continued on undisturbed, her majestic flying figure enough to scare away any potential Enemies before they finally arrived at her destination as she started to fly high in the sky, circling the tip of the hill in which the Dungeon was in a couple of times before landing near their Mates.
Luna jumped down before Amber could even fully land, awakening by feeling the proximity of her Mates to herself and their emotions.
More specifically she simply launched herself at them, grabbing the two and dragging them back to the now Humanoid form Phoenix.
This last one was barely able to open her arms before the four of them fell on the ground, Luna easily manoeuvring the four of them, the white-haired Elf being on the bottom of the four, her arms opened wide to embrace Amber and Mafel, these last two having their heads resting on her shoulders, while Luna herself was straddling her taller and tallest Mate.
"Before anything else, I have a couple of gifts to share, don't I?" The Vampiric one waited for no answer, quickly lowering herself and kissing her black-haired Mate.
The kiss deepened, her Human's mouth opened to allow her tongue in.
The gift, however, was not the kiss.
It wasn't only the white-haired tongue's that invaded her Mate's mouth but also a dense little sphere, sphere that melted instantly within her.
Luna broke off the kiss with Sabel before kissing Mafel and doing the same thing with her.
*Sabel Gains the Growth Skill "Unique Arma: Bracelet of the Rebel" E.
*Mafel Gains the Growth Skill "Unique Arma: Malevolent Staff of the Generator" E.
"What- How is this possible?" Amber widened her eyes, feeling the event thanks to the Mate Mark. "Shouldn't they have made their Unique Arma themselves?"
"We could say they did. I worked out how to make it for them during your training." Luna smiled, a smug little grin on her face, waiting for the question.
The Phoenix closed her eyes before sighing, her attention moving briefly to their two shared Mates that were examinating their newest Skills before sighing again, being forced to ask.
"How exactly did you make their Unique Arma, then?"
"Very simple really. Mithril and Orichalcum are the two most extreme metals that can be actually used to Craft with by the hands of People. Mithril actively rejects all forms of higher-order Energy and it is found mainly within the Core of this World with some veins reaching up to deep underground while instead Orichalcum actively accepts all forms of higher-order Energy, changing to match it once exposed to enough of it to ease its Channeling."
"So…?"
"Right, to make a long story short. I'm a Lunarian, even if incomplete for now, so altering Orichalcum is natural for me. More than that I altered my blood, Vital Energy and Mana to match theirs thanks to the Mate Marks and my Unique Skill "Singularity" and then I made their Unique Armas."
"How is it natural for a Lunarian to manipulate Orichalcum?" Sabel asked, turning back from her examination of her newest Bracelet to ask her Mate, her cheeks slightly red, thing quite normal considering how she was in close contact with three beautiful People.
At her question Luna turned back to her and kissed her again, softly this time, before answering.
"Well, because quite simply the Moon is entirely made out of concentrated Orichalcum. All the natural Orichalcum on this World is derived from bodies of proper Lunarians, more specifically the gradual and automatic process that converts the entirety of their body into it. It would function much better like that as a Vessel." The red-eyed one explained matter of factly without any particular emotion.
Mafel startled, her memories inherited by the Elf Paladin sending a red flag at the last word.
"When you say Vessel, what exactly do you mean by that?" She questioned, hoping to be wrong only to be mostly right instead.
"It is the same thing you mean if you are talking purely about the official definition of Vessel but the result itself would be quite different than what you are thinking. The difference would be between the Gods and the Moon. The firsts are egoisticals, self-centered parasites worshiped because of what they are and needing said worship to properly exist in the first place. Instead the Moon itself needs nor wants such worship, or anything else for that matter." Luna affirmed before sitting up as much as she could on her Elf's legs.
"Not only that but there is more for me to explain. At C-Rank, the blood of a Lunarian would start, drop after drop, to Convert in liquid Orichalcum until it is fully Converted. At B-Rank the Conversion would proceded from the blood to the Lunarian's single internal organ, our heart-lung-stomach-brain equivalent. Finally, at A-Rank, the Conversion would gradually progress to the rest of the Lunarian's body.
"The Vessel chosen by a God would burn itself out after some time and give control exclusively to the divine one of the two, even with the highest possible Compatibility between the two. Differently the Moon has no actual consciense, the closest equivalent being a mass of informations and wills, and choses as target for this fusion a body made entirely out of Orichalcum, the Metal most capable to adapt to sudden changes and the same Material it is entirely made out of. The result will be quite different from a Divine Vessel, I assure you."
Luna lowered herself again, pressing a kiss on each of her Mates' lips, before standing up fully and porging her hand for them to grab and to subsequently stand too.
Once they were on their feets, she kissed each of them once again, sending forth Vital Mana in each of them made by precisely matching the feeling of each of their Vital Energy and Mana to try and teach them how to better use and Sense Vital Mana.
"Well, let's make some quick introductions.
"Mafel, Sabel, this is Amber, a newly C-Ranked Demon Phoenix and my newest Mate."
Said Phoenix briefly waved to her two new Mates while examining them.
"Amber these two are Mafel, a D-Ranked, even if she won't remain such for very long at this point, Spectral Elf."
The willowy one smiled lightly, her eyes misuring the much shorter one both as a woman and as a warrior both, while inwardly preening at her Mate's acknowledgement of her forthcoming increase in Rank.
"And Sabel, a D-Ranked Human, Adventurer and soon-to-be birthday girl."
Said Human shily smiled at her newest Mate, her black eyes shining slightly.
'Am I the shortest?!' The blonde thought to herself noting her Mate's height with dismay. 'Am I really so short I cannot be seen by the average Person?!' She continued, remembering an insult she recieved from a certain Ice Dragon in the past, around the proper start of their animosity towards each other.
'No, no. I'm not short, my Mates are just tall, that is all.' She nodded to herself, temporarily satisfied, unaware that both Mafel and Luna were able to more or less guess her thoughts thanks to her emotions and their Marks, deciding to for now keep their response within their own heads after exchanging a brief look.
Sabel, instead, didn't hesitate.
"You are very cute, Amber." She was not able nor was she willing to stop her next action, peting the top of her newest Mate, carefull of her horns, taking advantage of the fact she was actually around 10 cm taller.
"I'm not short!" She protested immediately, her voice rising briefly.
Silence stretched on, her face growing more and more hot, before her tallest Mate, the 192 cm tall Elf, stepped to her and petted her too, a small teasing smile on her face.
"There is nothing wrong with being short, Amber. This only renders you even cuter, you know?" Considering the difference in height of around 27 cm between the two, this felt even more mocking yet she could do nothing considering how she needed to strain her neck to look the other in the eyes.
Before she could properly defend her honour, a pair of arms embraced her from behind before a soft kiss distracted her and she was taken in Luna's arms, being distracted and creating an opening for Sabel.
The black-haired one didn't hesitate, stepping forward and lightly kissing on the lips her shorter Mate and Mafel followed suit with her own kiss.
After all while Luna was at the core of their relations, all four of them were Mates together.
The four of them left together, moving towards the Dungeon with Sabel starting to explain the latest on the Guild's research on it.
"So, from what the Guild shared with our Party, this Dungeon was created around the change from the fifth and sixth month of this year and it has 5 Floors in total. The Guild was able to conferm someone's influence just after it's creation and the same was true for various other Dungeons all around the World and of various different types. The oldest of the altered Dungeons we know about is just about seven months old and is in Drarar." Sabel.
"I see… I would say that the Unique Skill owner is a non-standard Existence then. It is the only way to justify the speed and anonymity of their travels across the World." Luna affirmed mostly to herself.
"The Guild Master is of a similar opinion, thinking them to be either a Driad-like or Specter-like Person." Sabel.
"It depends mostly if they have somewhat of a physical form or not at all." Luna concluded, gently letting the Phoenix down on her feet. "Let's explore this place, shall we?" She indicated the entrance of the Dungeon with a nod of her head.