The late-night city streets are dark, calm, and quiet.

After going back to the same Shielded Dungeon entrance and paying the 10 bronze fee to get inside, I step into the E-Class portal to teleport back to the Vice City Labyrinth's 21st floor. Chester waits near the outer rim of the Dungeon Square as I do.

It's been a few hours since we left for the auction house, so I should be right on time.

The moment I teleport back onto the marble white pillar standing high above the green clouds, my sense proves my assumption right. The presence of two familiar readings shows up in my mind's eye, but with significantly higher-powered stats and mana levels. Just like when I ranked up, and just as Fisher and Arie, their natural mana control both received between a 100 and 200% boost.

However, their position is almost a kilometer away. Although I did say that we would meet back in this dungeon, I never really specified where. It may be easy for me to find the exact teleport point from before, but to anyone else, all these white pillars look the same.

I smile, air-stepping in their direction and using my Appraisal skill to examine their new status to check for any buffs. Both Maria and Abby's skills are already maxed out at advanced and legendary grades so the rank-up wouldn't target advancement there; they would most likely give unique abilities based on their battle style.

The sight of the healer and ice mage both come into my field of vision and two buffs pop up in the form of blue text boxes.

[Area of Total Restoration]

[Ice Age]

At first glance, the names just seem to be more extreme versions of their normal skills... A restoration buff for Abby and possibly an Ice defense or offensive boost for Maria. However, the names could be misleading and my Appraisal skill doesn't allow me to check the details with more depth. All of the ranked-up buffs I've seen so far have been incredibly overpowered, so I'm sure there are hidden metrics to these too. I won't know for sure until the two of them go to battle.

I wave from a distance, and they wave back as I approach. Both of them made it to level 505. They succeeded in the rank-up and got some extra training in too, it seems.

I get much closer and speak up.

"How'd everything go? A smooth rank-up process? What floor did you have to climb to?"

Maria smiles wide and replies as I drift down to meet them on the stone pillar.

"It went really well! We made it up to the 23rd floor! That's where both of us started getting really consistent level-ups with every kill."

She pulses dark blue with excitement as Abby gives off a slow and consistent green flow of energy. Her eyes dimly shine, matching the bright emerald hue as she jumps into the conversation.

"Yep, success on our end. How about you? Did you find any Essence stones at the auction?"

I smirk, letting them both grab onto my shoulders as we teleport back to the Solaran Dungeon Square.

"Yeah, I got us the most powerful gems I could afford. They're similar to the shards we all absorbed before the Labyrinth. To use these new ones, you'll need to push that new restoration buff of yours to the limit."

As we leave the square and meet back up with Chester, the four of us walk back to his home. I can clearly feel the mana control difference in these two. It's near the point where I was post-absorbing the largest Blue Ogre King's Essence. So, in other words, just under half the control of my newly ranked-up real body's control level, nearly even with Lydia when we first met. So now they're forces to be reckoned with.

Even with such increased power, the question that still runs through my mind is how are they going to handle absorbing these Soulstones? The temporary MP absorption buff potions come to mind, but even with a few hundred percent increase for just a handful of minutes, I'm not positive that'll be enough to pull it off...

It's not so much the MP itself I'm concerned about; it's the possibilities of unknowns that rub me the wrong way.

Pondering these thoughts, we make our way home to find Arie and Fisher waiting for us.

They're both standing with arms crossed and confident looks on their faces as we approach. The blue-haired swordsman is the first to speak up.

"You were right. Two guards came wandering into the Black Market's dead zone trying to tell their boss something."

He chuckles.

"We took care of them."

I pause, wondering if they killed those two...

It wouldn't be the worst option, but they never really did anything to harm us, so they don't deserve it as much as our direct captors. I shrug, but Arie interjects, rolling his eyes before we step onto the porch and walk inside.

"By 'took care of them', he means we stripped them of any identifying items, knocked them out, tied them up, and locked them in a cell down below the market. The same as they did to us. When we manage to take out their boss, maybe we'll think about questioning them further. Neither of them saw our faces, so no harm done. Mission accomplished."

I nod, a little relieved that my teammates aren't as ruthless as I had imagined, but more interested in the really important topic at hand.

We all sit around the living room as I pull out the briefcase from the auction.

"This is what I managed to buy."

With two clicks, the containment field begins to buzz in our ears and the crimson gems light up the room with a red tint. Everyone stares in awe for a moment before Chester speaks.

"Now, I believe I heard your earlier conversation correctly. You said all of you managed to absorb essence stones?"

There's a round of nods from each of us. I step back from the open case and motion for him to continue on, he knows much more than me about the stones, so it's better for him to explain.

"Well, these are Soulstones. They're quite different, but share similar properties to the items you've successfully consumed before."

Everyone gets closer to the gems, eyeballing them from close range, and Fisher even goes in to touch one. Chester urges him to stop.

"On physical contact, the process will start so be careful. Unlike consumable gems, Soulstones are a bit more volatile. Just like the Essence you all absorbed, once the process has started, it can't be stopped. You either successfully absorb the Soul Energy along with its absurd amount of mana keeping it contained, or you will give up early and only take in a fraction of the mana while losing the benefits of a soul bond taking place."

My eyebrows raise at his last statement. I've only heard of a soul bond one other time in my life; it was when I was making a pact with Ember.

However, I don't interrupt and let Chester continue.

"I'll take it most of you don't have the Appraisal skill, so I'll explain its strength and properties in full... This is a 7-piece Red Hydra Soulstone collection. Each Fragment has roughly 50 million MP, that's hundreds of times greater than the average Essence stone. If successfully bonded, each of you will receive the Red Hydra's Rage buff."

There's a long pause.

"I for one have never seen an item of this class on the market. Anything over B+ is hardly sold; it's usually kept by the hunters that farm it. However, I have seen similar lower-grade Soulstones with buffs attached. This will be of a similar nature to your ranked-up abilities. A permanent buff on your status, available to use like a skill at any time you wish. The stronger the monster's soul, the stronger the buff it gives. The stronger the buff, the harder it is to bond."

The pause continues as everyone stares down at the stones and rethinks Chester's explanation along with his implied warning. These are unknown powers with unknown buffs. Even with Abby's Restoration skill in mind, the overflowing Red Aura from the containment field still makes this seem like a gamble.

My words cut through the silence after almost half a minute goes by.

"I'll go first. I'll absorb the first stone."