Scarlett crossed the invisible underwater bridge over the lake along with the others, reaching the small island at its center. The soft light from the moon suspended high in the starless sky, along with the almost mystical, violet luster that hung over much of the forest and this space, gave the old marble pavilion on the island a mysterious, supernatural vibe.

Fitting, really. It was supernatural, after all. The pale blue light that escaped from the center of the pavilion, like small wisps spoke of that much.

Scarlett walked closer to it, climbing a small set of overgrown stairs to step onto the pavilion's floor, just out of reach of the strands of blue light that floated off from its center. There was a small altar there, upon which stood a simple stone chalice filled with glowing water that the shine flowed out from.

"What is that?" Allyssa asked, moving up next to Scarlett.

Scarlett looked at her. The young Shielder had pulled up her brown leather goggles to get a better look. "If you are curious, you may attempt to touch it."

Allyssa turned to her with surprise. "Is it safe?"

Scarlett nodded. "To my knowledge, yes."

The girl seemed a bit hesitant, but soon took on a determined expression and stepped forward. Before she could get any further, however, Shin grabbed hold of her shoulder and pulled her back.

"Don't go running ahead from just that," he admonished her, before looking at Scarlett with a serious face. "What is it?"

Scarlett looked at him curiously. "Nothing dangerous. It will simply transport her to a separate location."

"Then I'll go first." He hung his sword off his side and raised his shield in the air as he walked past an annoyed Allyssa, advancing on the chalice. Scarlett looked on as he put forward his right hand towards the object, and a moment after he touched it he disappeared in a cloud of blue lights.

She turned to the others. "Who is next?"

Allyssa immediately went forward and mimicked Shin's actions, also disappearing in the same manner. After that was Fynn, with Rosa gesturing for Scarlett to go next.

Scarlett arched a brow at that. "How very generous of you."

Rosa gave her a smirk. "I'd rather be the one to die last, if it turns out to actually just be a person-poofer in disguise."

Scarlett let out a low chuckle. "I believe that is the sort of thought one usually keeps to oneself in this scenario."

The woman gently shrugged her shoulders. "You know what they say. Better an honest truth than an insincere smooch. I happen to be good at both."

Scarlett shook her head. "I am certain that you are," she said, then stepped forward to the chalice and extended her hand. The moment she touched it, she felt an odd pull on her body. For a brief second, her surroundings became a blend of different colors, before reforming into a completely new image around her.

It was a wide stone corridor. Dark carpets ran along the floor, and vines grew along the old walls. Odd pieces of furniture were spread out along the walls haphazardly, in ways that didn't really make much sense. A table stood on its side next to a short bed, for example, with several wooden chairs placed on top of each other almost like a bookcase not far away.

Shin, Allyssa, and Fynn were all here already, looking around at their new surroundings. After a short while, Rosa also appeared from thin air beside Scarlett, the bard's head spinning around as she took in their new environment.

"Well, this place sure is dreary."

Scarlett took another glance around at the place. She wouldn't exactly call it dreary, but it was clear this wasn't exactly the kind of place people lived in.

"What now?" Allyssa asked, turning away from an upside-down nightstand of dark oak. The corridor they were in terminated in a dead-end just a few meters behind them, continuing in the other direction where it gradually turned left.

"We continue on, as we have up till this point," Scarlett said.

Allyssa had already walked a short distance down the corridor, and now stopped next to a small window in the wall next to her.

"Wow..." she mumbled as she looked out through it. Then she suddenly raised her hand and pointed at some point outside. "Isn't that where we just were?"

Scarlett and the others moved closer to peer through the window, where they saw a massive midnight forest stretch out far beneath them. From this point of view, it looked like the leaves on top of the trees were a dark purple, and it all had a much eerier feel to it than down on the ground. In the distance, where Allyssa was pointing, was a lake with a small island at its center. Where they'd just been.

"And that's where we started," Fynn said, pointing to a spot that was much closer to where they were now. Looking down, Scarlett saw the wall of the structure they found themselves in—a tall tower that was at least one hundred meters high at their current point—and a high cliff edge not far from where it met the ground. A river extended out from beside the tower, ending in a waterfall that fell to a lake at the bottom of that cliff. That was indeed where they'd first entered this dungeon.

Allyssa leaned further out the window—Shin's hand going out to stop her from going too far—as she looked down. "Wait, we're this close to where we began? How come we didn't see this place when we first arrived?"

"It might be some kind of illusion covering this place, similar to the bridge we walked over," Shin said behind her.

Scarlett stayed quiet. That could very well be true, but she didn't really know the answer this time.

Turning away from the window, she began walking down the corridor further into this tower. The others caught up with her almost immediately, the air around them turning more serious. The corridor itself was ever-turning, continuing to the left indefinitely. It wasn't noticeable at first, but it also seemed to be at a slight slope, so every step brought them higher up the tower. After they'd walked for some time the furniture they passed by also began increasing in number.

"Ensure that you are aware of your surroundings," Scarlett said as she paid attention to the objects.

"What," Allyssa began. "Are the tables goin—" She didn't manage to say more before a nearby chair suddenly moved and jumped towards her, but Fynn was quick as the wind and leaped in from the side, his hand slashing down and through the chair and splintering it into pieces.

All of them stood still for a moment.

"...Seriously?" Allyssa muttered.

"I believe I did warn you," Scarlett said. The others placed themselves around her, with Shin at the front of the group and Fynn at the back so that they could react quickly if needed. Like that, they continued following the corridor, with the occasional furniture springing to life to attack them, though it wasn't anything they couldn't easily handle.

After they'd been walking for a while, and destroyed dozens upon dozens of pieces of furniture, they finally reached what appeared to be the end of the corridor. A very large set of heavy iron doors stood before them, guarded on both sides by three pairs of armor. The suits of armor were all a deep black and held different weapons. Scarlett signaled for the others to stop before they got too close.

Fynn sniffed the air as Shin appeared to examine the armor carefully.

Allyssa put her hands on her waist. "Let me guess. Those things are going to start moving as soon as we get near, aren't they?"

Scarlett nodded her head. "Astute prediction."

The Shielder let out a sigh. "What's up with all of this moving junk?"

"Animated objects are a well known occurrence when it comes to fairies," Shin said.

"Well, I've never seen any myself before, so I didn't know."

"That's because you never studied."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever." Allyssa turned away from the armor and to Scarlett. "So are these just regular old metal then? If you ignore the fact that they can move."

Scarlett tilted her head to the side. She wasn't completely sure, actually. "I would imagine so, yes. However, their weapons are likely to be artifacts or magical in some manner."

"Alright then." Allyssa gave a slow nod, adjusting her goggles as she turned to the stationary armor. She then pulled her cloak open and shifted the bandolier across her chest so that she could reach the pouches on the side, her fingers passing over a couple of them before grabbing a thin vial that had a thick silvery liquid inside it. It looked a bit like quicksilver.

Shaking the vial for a few seconds, Allyssa then took a step forward and did a quick underhanded toss with it. The vial landed on a spot between the armor, shattering into a hundred pieces as a metallic cloud immediately spread out in thin strands, soon extending to envelop the two closest suits.

Scarlett saw how the dark metal of the armor suddenly started frothing where the gas touched it, and within moments it evaporated into a dark cloud of smoke that rose toward the ceiling. As the argent cloud continued to spread, four of the six suits of armor were reduced to essentially nothing within thirty seconds. The last two had only partially been within reach of the gas, but they still lost a full quarter of their plate, revealing an empty space inside as they fell over on the ground.

The defenders of these doors never even got the chance to start moving before they were defeated.

Somehow, the weapons that the suits had held were completely unaffected, having clinked onto the stone floor as the suits were destroyed. There were two large two-handed swords, a big rectangular shield with an odd wavy pattern to it, a long spear with a silver edge, a black flail covered in spikes, and a pair of thick bracers with curved blades on their end.

Rosa let out an impressed whistle. "That certainly saves us time. Didn't know alchemy could do that."

"Nor did I," Scarlett said quietly, looking up at the roof where the dark clouds had stuck to the stone ceiling. This was much more than she had been expecting from the craft.

In the game, there had been no such class as 'alchemist'. It had always been a profession you did on the side, and its applications in combat had been limited to enhancing your normal stats and adding some extra damage when creating coatings for your weapons.

"It's the Philter of Ire's Decay," Allyssa said as she took out another, thicker, vial with a clear liquid inside it. "It's useful now and then, but takes a lot of time to concoct. And the materials are pretty expensive."

She walked closer to the cloud of silvery gas that was now hanging still in the air in front of the doors. "It also takes ages to disappear, and you don't want to breathe it in," she added, opening the new vial and flicking its contents at the cloud. Where the liquid touched the gas it reacted like boiling water and sputtered before disappearing almost completely. She spent a short while doing that, ensuring all of the gas was gone, before turning back to them. "There we go. All clear."

Fynn walked forward and bent down next to one of the damaged suits of armor, but it didn't move even as he poked its half-open chest plate.

Scarlett also slowly moved forward, stopping next to Allyssa. "Your...concoctions. Where do you procure them?"

"I make them myself."

Scarlett paused. "...Is that so?"

Allyssa's lips curved up, though the smile looked a bit goofy when she was wearing her large goggles. "My mom was an alchemist. She used to work as a researcher at the Elystead Tower before she had me. I started learning from her when I was still a kid."

Scarlett glanced at the remains of the armor. "It appears you are quite skilled at it."

The Shielder showed an awkward smile at that and scratched the back of her head. "I wouldn't go that far, but I'm trying my best."

"She could have easily become accepted by any tower in the empire if she hadn't decided to become a Shielder," Shin cut in from the side. "It's the one thing she actually spends effort on to study."

Allyssa punched him on a part of his arm that was less heavily armed. "Not everyone is as obsessed with books as you."

Scarlett observed the two's interaction for a moment, then spoke. "If you wish, I could look into the prospect of the Hartford barony assisting you in acquiring materials for your alchemy," she said. "In exchange for some of your services."

Allyssa turned to her with wide eyes. "W-What? Are you serious?"

Scarlett nodded. "I am."

"I-I don't know. I don't exactly do commissions and things like that."

Scarlett turned to the weapons lying on the floor next to them. "You do not have to make a decision now. We can discuss it further at a later point, if you are interested. For now, we have other matters to prioritize."

"Oh, ehm. Yeah, of course." Allyssa nodded along thoughtlessly.

Scarlett stepped closer to the spear with the silver edge.

[Spear of Maladies (Rare)]{Provokes the blood of those it cuts, ensuring a heavy flow}

Her eyes passed over the other items.

[Two-hander of Vim (Rare)]

[Blade of Biting (Rare)]

[Bulwark of Courage (Rare)]

[Fists of Malaise (Rare)]

[Flail of Bloodletting (Rare)]

They were all of a decent enough quality, even though they weren't something she personally had a need for. But they should be worth something at least. Her eyes lingered on the bracers with blades on them. She could ask Fynn if he wanted those later on too, maybe. Though they didn't really look like his style.

"Are we going to take all of these with us?" Allyssa asked, gesturing to the weapons.

"That was my intention, yes," Scarlett said. "For now, however, we can leave them as they are." They wouldn't fit in her [Pouch of Holding], and it'd be a pain to carry them around. But she already had a solution in mind for that. That was another one of the reasons she'd wanted to visit this dungeon in particular.

"Aagh!"

Everybody readied themselves and turned their attention to Rosa, who'd suddenly jumped back from something on the ground. There was the gauntlet of one of the sets, completely still.

They all looked at her, who was staring down at the gauntlet with a weird expression.

"Are you okay?" Allyssa asked. "Did it move?"

Rosa looked up at her, then down at the gauntlet again. "No, it didn't," she said with a light chuckle as she shook her head. "Just hit my foot on it, and my mind was playing tricks making me think it was after my little toesies. I'm fine."

Fynn studied her for a moment. "...Are you sure?"

She smiled. "Of course I am. I'm always fine."

She lightly kicked the gauntlet away so that it knocked into the stone wall, then pointed towards the doors ahead of them. "So, how we getting those open? I've seen buildings that look lighter than that."

Scarlett eyed Rosa for a moment longer before turning to the doors. "Strength will not be necessary here," she said and walked over to them. With one simple touch against their cold metal surface, both doors smoothly began to open themselves. She heard how a couple of the others breathed in at the sight that was revealed.

In front of them was a veritable paradise, completely disparate from the comparatively tight corridors they'd been moving through. There was an expanse of flora here that was even more of a spectacle than the magical forest outside. It was a vast room, with shimmering water covering much of it. Lines of trees—each with vibrant purple lines running across their trunks like the other trees they'd witnessed up till this point—that were so close that they practically grew into each other encircled the entire area, acting almost like a natural wall for the space. And above their heads hung the open night sky, with the same slightly odd moon from earlier looking over it. Yet now, the moon was suspended so low that it felt like it took up almost half of the sky.

At the center of this room was a tree like none of the others. Wooden bridges with lights lining them arched up to the roots, where a wide walkway grew into and encircled the tree. The trunk itself was almost brimming with those glowing lines, and the tree's crown stretched far above the other trees, looking like it could almost reach up to the moon itself.

The bridges that connected to the root of the tree extended out into the room to large circular wooden platforms that floated upon the lake that made up the floor of this room. Strange plants that had long, sprouting lilac leaves jutted out of the water at random intervals close to these platforms, each plant sporting balloon-shaped caps with web-like patterns over them that shone a pale yellow.

Most notable of all, though, were the tiny blue and purple shapes that flittered about the space in disorderly paths all over the place. There were dozens upon dozens of them, every single one leaving a small trail behind them as they flew through the air. Focusing closely, Scarlett could tell that those shapes were humanoid, with small wings behind them. These creatures looked much more like the classical fairy one might envision when hearing the word, compared to those creatures they had encountered before.

She smiled. Here was where the true treasure of this dungeon could be found.