The rest of the evening wasn't worth mentioning, as everything after the magic duel felt mundane in comparison. I effectively spent time just saying hello to people and hoping they would support my branch in the future.

I hoped to spot our hidden adversary, but other than the incident with Galan, everyone else was pleasant if I ignored my antisocial desires.

When the evening finally concluded, and I got the signal that I could leave without appearing rude, I grabbed it by the horns. Llewel even had to perform a brisk jog to catch up.

"You did well tonight," Llewel said when we were in the safety of our abode.

"Thanks! The food was great!" Vee replied.

I simply groaned and collapsed onto a nearby chair. If I had my way, I'd be melting into a tub right now.

"Hopefully, you have the trial to look forward to at least," Llewel offered, hoping to cheer me up.

"How long will it take to prepare?"

"A few days at most. Mistress Loreleia should have already started the preparations," Llewel answered.

"I wonder if our perpetrator will attack before the day?" Vee pondered.

"There's a chance," Llewel replied. "Although it might be too soon for them to do anything."

"Maybe they will interfere in the trial?" I suggested.

Llewel frowned, "I would have said no… but I suppose it could technically be possible. It would provide the best excuse if you suddenly disappeared mid-trial where you aren't being observed."

"I guess we will have to be extra vigilant," Vee cautioned.

"I could handle the monsters while you're on guard duty. That way, we don't have to worry about an unexpected ambush."

"Sounds like a reasonable idea," Vee agreed.

"And that way, I get to let off some steam handling all the monsters!"

"So, really, you just wanted them to yourself?" Vee pretended to complain.

"Good thing you hate the taste of monsters," I retorted teasingly.

"Well played," Vee giggled.

Roughly an hour later, Paeris and Loreleia also returned home. Both praised me for my good job and congratulated Vee on elevating the Feirelle name.

I initially dreaded a debriefing, but Loreleia was also fatigued by the evening and said we could talk in the morning. I wished everyone goodnight, and Vee and I retired for the evening.

***

The next morning, we talked, and the first thing I mentioned was my interaction with Aimon Carren. Loreleia seemed pleased with the outcome and even expressed her hope that they could help Vee.

Loreleia also discussed the confrontation again and was glad I didn't back down in front of the Elarinwe boy. Apparently, these were quite common, especially among fellow main branches, and even the magical duel was cited as another example.

According to Loreleia, there was a lot of built-up animosity between the Vaelorith and Thalandor branches, as the former lived in the northern tundra and routinely needed to trade with the Thalandor branch for resources.

The Thalandor family was effectively the elven nation's breadbasket, and while everyone did at least a little farming for themselves, they could provide it for a fraction of the costs.

It was mildly interesting to learn this, but I found my interest rapidly waning. Then I got some of the best news ever—I was free to do whatever I wanted until the trial unless someone came to visit. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to relax a bit and mess with my own magic, which is my own form of entertainment these days.

And so I waited for the big day; Vee remained ever vigilant in case we were assaulted by assassins, but there were no attacks or impediments against us. It really seemed like the timetable was too soon for them to interfere, and Loreleia also mentioned that there were no political delays.

I did receive a few visitors, who ended up being small rehashes of the gala. People wished me good luck and hoped to establish a good rapport. The only enjoyment I got from them was Paeris being required to serve us tea.

It seemed everyone was expecting me to pass with flying colors, and Paeris mentioned that there was a bit of harmful gossip disparaging me for having such a powerful companion who could ensure my victory without lifting a finger.

Vee obviously found it hilarious and pointed out that, from her perspective, I was still doing the heavy lifting.

"If only they knew the truth," she giggled.

We eventually heard back from Aimon, although it was through a letter rather than a visit. He expressed that his mother was hesitant, but he insisted that Vee was worth it and promised that he would have a final answer for us after the trial. He seemed to hint that once I passed, his mother would have more reason to establish an agreement.

In my personal free time, I put all my effort into [Dimension Magic]. I wanted to complete my debuff, unlock the next magic skill level so I could test out the layering of [Pocket Space], and unlock the [Triangulate] skill. What actually happened was almost predictable…

Proficiency gained. [Dimension Magic LV 2] improved to [Dimension Magic LV 3].

Stolen from NovelBin, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

[Dimension Magic LV 3] spell [Pocket Space] learned.

When I unlocked the new spell, I jumped for joy and immediately started messing around with it, dropping everything else. I began throwing chairs, tables, paintings, and everything I could into the storage space. Vee started calling me a "crazy hoarder," but I ignored her and kept having fun.

My initial evaluation of the spell was that it was pretty helpful since I had an enormous amount of Mana. Thus, my maximum storage using it was actually greater than my [Core Storage]!

But storage space wasn't everything, and in terms of convenience, it fell remarkably flat. [Core Storage] was nearly instant when I was withdrawing or depositing, but [Pocket Space] required me to cast the entire spell every time and even cast through multiple [Sub-Cores] to speed it up; it was still notably slower.

Likewise, I couldn't casually browse the contents of my [Pocket Space] like I could with [Core Storage]. In fact, if I wasn't thinking of the exact object to withdraw, the spell would fail to cast!

When I discovered that drawback, my first thought was that I might forget that I had something stored and permanently lose it and the reserved Mana to hold it. To my relief, I discovered through some minor alterations that there was a "safety" feature of [Pocket Space] where you could eject everything

.

After I'd grown used to [Pocket Space], I wanted to start layering the spell, as the notes had suggested. My prior experience layering multiple [Torrent] spells came in handy, although the difference between [Water Magic] and [Dimension Magic] was like night and day—I had to wrestle with it constantly until it eventually "snapped" into place.

Whenever I was messing with layering [Pocket Space] spell constructs, Vee vacated the room and refused to return until I told her I'd stopped. She was terrified that I was going to somehow kill both of us after I had accidentally destroyed my arm. I promised her I'd be careful, but she stubbornly refused.

Interestingly, the difficulty was lower than the debuff I was attempting to construct, perhaps because it was a natural conclusion of a spell rather than something I was trying to custom-make. Whenever I successfully added another layer, I'd cast the spell to see if there was any noticeable change. Yet nothing happened until I was four layers deep and created a small "window" floating in my room.

"Huh…" I mumbled as I stared at it.

It was like a tear in the air, but it appeared entirely stable and not like when I had messed around and lost my arm or when I'd lost Kappa into the void hole. I cautiously transferred one of my low-level cores to my hand and placed it through the hole before activating my vision swap.

As soon as my vision shifted to the [Sub-Core], I saw a familiar sight of chairs and paintings strewn about and quickly understood what I'd done.

"I've created a little window into my [Pocket Space]!"

While the window was small, it wasn't an issue for a slime like me, who could easily fit through diminutive spaces. Still, it hadn't officially been registered as a spell yet, meaning I was only partway through my layering.

I excitedly called Vee over and waited with bated breath to see her reaction. She entered the room cautiously and looked at me with curiosity, then her head swerved immediately as she stared in horror at the floating window cut into space.

"Holy shit! What the hell is that!?" she screeched.

"It's my pocket window!"

"That's utterly terrifying!" Vee retorted. "And why does it have the same coordinates as you?"

I wasn't sure what she was talking about, so I activated [Spatial Sense]. Just as she had mentioned, a bundle of coordinates was assigned to the window, and a batch of them perfectly matched my own.

"Well, inside are the items I've stored in [Pocket Space]. But the research notes mentioned creating an independent dimensional space… so maybe I need to remove these? Or replace them with different ones?"

"That sounds… reasonable, but I still don't want to be in the room with you when you try to do that."

"Look, it's perfectly safe!" I said while putting my arm inside.

Vee gasped, but I removed my arm, which was still fully intact. I placed it inside again and began to extend it until I could grab hold of a chair, which I started pulling toward the window.

"See? It works just like normal; I can even pull out items," I said right as I tugged it out of the window.

Unfortunately, the window was too small for the chair, and as I hauled it out, it was cut in a neat line directly where it made contact with the floating space. Half the chair fell back into the dimensional storage while the rest came out with my arm.

"Yes, that's perfectly

safe…" Vee said, dripping with sarcasm.

"Well… it is if you don't touch the sides," I chuckled nervously.

Vee said nothing; she simply turned around and walked out—ditching me holding half of the remaining chair.

I guess I've got some more experimenting to do before it's ready for proper use…

And so, just like that, time peacefully passed until one night, Paeris informed me that the day of my trial had finally arrived. I resisted the urge to celebrate and dance on the spot and simply thanked him while internally screaming for joy.

I wonder how many levels I can get from this? If I wasn't splitting my experience with Vee, I could maybe consider reaching my next evolution, depending on how much time I'm allowed to spend in the dungeon. Although… we have made remarkable progress in [Companion Growth], so maybe I'm misjudging the experience split? Oh well, I'm excited to finally be able to let loose!

***

Today was the day I could throw away the frilly or extravagant dresses and don my armor again. I was bubbling with excitement, and my positivity even influenced Vee.

"Would you like me to stay away so you get full experience?" Vee offered.

"No, that's okay. We want to max out [Companion Growth] sooner rather than later. Besides, if we are attacked by assassins again, I'd rather we be close together."

"Cool. Works for me."

We met up with Paeris and Loreleia downstairs, who escorted us to the fabled dungeon. I wondered if it would be inside or on top of the giant tree, but when we reached a large branch at the edge, I soon discovered it was nearby.

Paeris pointed down, and I could see another massive tree far, far down below.

"That tree is the dungeon," Paeris informed us.

"Is this a bad time to say I've got a small problem with heights?" Vee nervously chuckled.

I was about to ask how exactly we were meant to go down when the tree itself answered that for me, as hundreds of vines burst out and began to grow endlessly towards the surface below. When the first vines touched the ground, they bulged and wrapped around each other, creating a large ramp.

"Please tell me we aren't expected to walk down this ramp?" Vee asked.

Loreleia shook her head, pulled out a piece of dried wood, and handed it to Paeris, who knelt down and placed it atop the vines. As soon as they met, the wood rejuvenated and sprouted roots that wrapped around the central vine.

Loreleia then waved her hand, enveloping the wood in some of the densest Nature Mana I'd ever seen, causing the wood to swell in size and grow before our very eyes.

"This will transport us down," she said as she gestured for us to hop on.

I shrugged and hopped on, followed by Paeris and Loreleia. After she stepped on, branches and leaves began enclosing our platform and creating a makeshift shelter. As usual, Vee was on my shoulder while practically digging her legs into my shoulder.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Vee continued to whine.

I was about to reassure her when our platform lurched forward and began to move towards the decline. I felt Vee's grip tightening even further.

"There's nothing to worry about; this is perfectly safe and has been used many times," Loreleia said. "In fact, some find it rather amusing and even traverse it without walls or even a platform."

Vee was about to say something when suddenly the platform lurched again, and we were plummeting down the vine ramp. Whatever she was about to say was lost forever to her scream.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"