Having a mental connection to a screaming spider was not fun, and I hastily dismantled it to save my sanity. At the same time, I was glad that I wasn't made of flesh and blood, as no doubt Vee's puncturing vice grip would've made my shoulder turn into shreds.

The two elves showed no reactions as if this was the most natural thing in the world. Meanwhile, I had no fear, even if we crashed straight into the ground, as I'd likely done worse to myself on numerous occasions.

Even my crash landing with the griffin didn't do much.

When we neared the ground, the platform began to slow its descent until we made a cushioned final landing. After that, the structure started to degrade and fall apart, with the branches shriveling up and the leaves scattering to the wind.

Seeing the surface, Vee teleported off my shoulder and began rolling around in the grass. Evidently, she was delighted to be on solid ground again. I reconnected the telepathy with her and couldn't resist doing a friendly jab.

"I guess it's good that you weren't born a bird."

"Or anything with wings," Vee corrected. "Or maybe that would've forced me to come to terms with my phobia."

"You know that flying is my best method of travel, right?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're in too much of a rush, Syl? When we go on our journey, we should take the slow and scenic route, stop, and smell the flowers."

"Isn't rushing to the interesting and fun place and then taking time to explore the better option?"

"Nope, I don't know where you heard such nonsense."

I chuckled to myself and finally decided to stop teasing her. I gazed at the tree before us, which had well-darkened bark and a large gaping hollow almost resembling a maw.

"Is this the dungeon?" I asked.

"Yes, the dungeon is inside the tree itself," Loreleia answered. "Unlike your typical dungeons, you go up instead of down to progress in it."

"So more of a tower than a dungeon," Vee commented.

Loreleia nodded, "The guardian has already been informed of your trial. So the layout inside has been shifted to accommodate it."

"Anything else that I should know?" I asked.

"Only that you will need to get a token to prove that you've reached the end of the trial. I honestly expect you to quite easily finish it," Loreleia replied.

"Once you succeed, you can return to the base of the trunk," Paeris said, pointing to the tree that supported the entirety of Caelthal. To me, it looked more like a mountain than a trunk. "If you touch it and let your intent be known, it should communicate it to us, if not bring you up outright."

I nodded along to his explanation and began walking to the dungeon tree. At first, I thought it was entirely unguarded, but then I caught brief hints of movement and spotted numerous plant creatures that had seemingly merged with the tree and foliage surrounding it.

We'd reached the entrance, and the guardians shifted away. The tree hollow's mouth opened wider as if beckoning me to enter. This was the moment we departed! I couldn't wait!

I turned to say goodbye to the other two.

"Blessings upon you, daughter; may you bring honor to the Feirelle branch," Loreleia said.

"Good luck, Mistress Sylthaeryn," Paeris also said, but with an accompanying bow.

"I shall bring glory to our family," I replied in turn. "And I wish the grace and benediction of the great ancestor for your Ascension so that we both may return with fortuitous tidings and prospering for Caelthal."

Paeris and even Loreleia nodded approvingly at my impromptu performance. I was a little unsure of where it had come from and was looking forward to turning [Roleplay] off for an extended period of time during this dungeon.

There was a good chance I wouldn't see Loreleia for quite some time, as she was leaving on her own journey and accomplishment. Her absence would be the perfect opportunity for our foes to strike.

Vee also waved farewell, and then, brimming with confidence, I began to step through the mouth of the tree. As we entered, I could feel the tree rustling as if it had noted our presence.

The first room was oddly reminiscent of the entrance rooms in the previous ones, except it was circular and devoid of much to see. I wasn't expecting a fight in the first room, and this was evidently the entryway, but I couldn't spot a door, staircase, or even a rope.

I was examining the room's ceiling, wondering if I needed to break through it when it and the back wall began to stir. A living staircase grew along the wall, spiraling around until it reached the next floor, where a hole had formed.

"I guess that's our way up," Vee pointed out.

I nodded and began our ascent, wondering about our first challenge! I readied for battle, but as we reached the next floor, it held no monsters and instead looked like an audience chamber.

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"Child of the forest, welcome to your trial!" an old man's voice thrummed throughout the floor. It felt so slow and ancient that Gramps was youthful and spry in comparison.

"Hello?" I replied out loud, cautiously, as I looked around.

I couldn't see anything in the room, and no matter what sense or vision traits I used, I was entirely restricted to this room. Even the floor below had "vanished" as far as I was being told—a very peculiar feeling.

My traits back in my first and second dungeons weren't nearly as good as they were now, so I wasn't certain if this was a standard feature for all dungeons or one unique to this one.

"I'm not a fan of big ominous voices," Vee said while frantically looking around. "Especially if they have no source. And if the creepy dungeon is preventing me from teleporting out of it."

"Messing with coordinates again?" I quickly telepathically questioned Vee.

"Bingo. I've been restricted to this room from the moment we entered it. It was almost like crossing an invisible boundary line somewhere on the staircase as we moved from the first to the second floor."

"Let me have a good look at you so I can record you for history. " the voice boomed again. "It's always so exciting to see the new generations, although they are so few and far between with you elves. Hoh, hoh, hoh!"

The walls began to creak and groan as they twisted and shifted. It gradually began taking on an appearance until a giant face was in the wall and staring directly at me and Vee. Somehow, the bark, knots, and plants formed together to give an accurate face of an ancient

old man face. The formed plants gave him a majestic-looking beard that would be the envy of any dwarf if only it were not made out of vegetation.

"Ah! Now I can get a better look at you," he said in a booming yet cheerful voice. "Oh! The Feirelles! I see; that's one of the main branches. Today must be a very big day for you. Hoh hoh hoh!"

"Pleased to meet you, [Dungeon Master]," I said with a bow. "I am Sylthaeryn Feirelle, and this is my [Bonded Companion] Vee."

"I think you left the [Roleplay] on," Vee quickly warned.

I winced and immediately disabled it. I didn't need nor want it further muddling my mind into behaving like a princess—I was going to be free to grind some levels!

"So polite!" he boomed joyfully, the bark on his face creaking as he formed a smile. "My name is Ygdran, but almost everyone just calls me Dran since it can be a little hard to pronounce. Hoh, hoh, hoh!"

"Nice to meet you, Dran," I replied, testing the waters. He seemed to remain jolly, so he must have been fine with me using his nickname. "So, how do we go about this trial? Is everything already ready? Are there any rules?"

"Yes, everything is ready on the floors above this one," he answered. "I only ask that you don't use any looting abilities and try not to damage the outer dungeon walls too much. Otherwise, you're free to use your full strength and encouraged to do so!"

"Okay, I won't use [Dungeoneer], but is taking monster corpses for harvesting okay?"

"Oh! That's a decently rare Emblem to get—I thank you for not using it; it puts unwarranted stress on me. Harvesting monsters is no issue at all."

Yes, slime food is secured!

"Thank you. That will be great for Vee and me. I'm hoping we can do some good hunting and get some leveling done."

"Ahh, the never-ending chase for levels; I perfectly understand. Hoh, hoh, hoh," he boomingly chuckled. Your companion seems very powerful; you must be very proud!"

"I am."

"Yup. I'm the best," Vee giggled.

"I must say I've never seen one such as her…" he muttered curiously; although even muted, it sounded loud to us. "Let's take a closer look, shall we? Riftweaver… interesting! I don't know much about spiders, but that sounds powerful!"

Vee was posing on my shoulder, clearly loving the attention. She was really becoming quite the ham.

"Ee—" he suddenly squeaked out in a strangely childish tone.

"Ee?" I replied curiously.

"Did he choke on something?" Vee asked.

"[Experiment]!?" he screeched, his booming voice was gone.

I looked at Vee curiously. I hadn't expected him to be able to see that. I quickly turned on [Roleplay]; I would need all the help I could get to try to lie my way through this.

"Is something wrong?" I quickly asked, trying to keep my tone as reassuring as possible.

"That creature on your shoulder is an [Experiment]!" he screeched, and the pretext of his elder persona went up in flames. He honestly sounded like a scared child.

"Vee? She's harmless," I replied and touched her gently on the forehead. Vee even tried her best to act sort of like a cat and rubbed her little head against my finger.

"No, no, no," he stammered. "They most certainly are not harmless! They are either dungeon extorters or dungeon destroyers!"

I suppressed a wince. That first one was likely me. I couldn't believe that they'd actually spread word of what I did around the dungeon alliance.

"Dungeon destroyers? Did something happen?" I asked, trying to guide the conversation.

"That dragon [Experiment] burnt down my big sister's dungeon!" Ygdran yelled. Seeing his giant elderly bark face contorting into a combination of terror and rage was a sight to behold.

"Vee would never burn down your dungeon, I promise."

"Sheesh, what a big baby," Vee sighed.

"Really?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm willing to take an oath if you really want. I've done it before, certified by Gramps himself."

"Gramps…?" he muttered confusedly, then focused intently on me. His eyes widened in horror as if he'd seen his worst nightmare come alive.

"Juniper! Juniper! Come quickly! Help!" he hollered out loud.

The entire tree quaked, nearly causing me to lose my footing. A flower bud began forming in the room's ceiling, growing rapidly. What started around the size of a melon had ballooned out larger than a fully grown orc.

"Juniper!" Ygdran cried out, tree sap running down from his nose and eyes as if he were a snotty kid crying for his mommy.

"Dran, what's wrong?" a melodic and girly voice asked.

"There's two [Experiments] here! They've come to plunder and destroy my dungeon!"

"We're doing no such thing!" I argued back.

"[Experiments]!?" her melodic voice turned hostile and venomous.

The flower bud erupted into full bloom, and I saw a beautiful girl emerge from it. She had vines for hair, down almost to her feet, and a plethora of flowers blooming down them. Her skin was made from bark but refined into a womanly shape while glowing green markings ran down and across her entire body.

She looked straight at Vee and me, and her pink eyes shifted to a reddish hue.

"Destroying my tree was not enough; now your kind must go for my little brother!?" she furiously denounced us.

"Juniper…" Ygdran sobbed.

"Uhh… do you think we can take them?" Vee asked hesitantly.

I grimly shook my head. If they were anything like Simon, the Dreadlich Dungeon Master I'd previously encountered, then I did not want to fight them. And there were two of them! Even if one was presently blubbering like a giant, overgrown baby.