The time slowly ticked. In the back of my head, there was unpleasant pressure, a premonition of a headache. I fed my aura into the barrier around my skin. Betrayer made its move, and I didn’t know the next one.

  “Can you stop eating the sandwiches? Leave something for me, too.”

  Steel held a small mountain of foodstuffs in her hands. Occasionally, she gulped a sandwich whole when I thought I wasn’t looking.

  “What? I only ate three.”

  I sighed. “I’m going into the Archive, your job is to not let anyone close to me. If something approaches, make sure to get me out.”

  Steel nodded. She looked unusually calm.

  The Archive looked as usual. People constantly passed from terminal to terminal downloading the books into their heads. Solutions were here.

  Glares from the students annoyed me to no end, but Steel seemed fine. She even ate a sandwich, to the disgust of others…

  “I’m going in. Leave me some food, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I took a deep breath and overrode the restrictions. Within a tight spur of starpower, my mind plunged into the cold depths of the magical library. I was back within the pure darkness, flying as a soul.

  Now I could see. I was right outside a massive flow of energy, flowing like an eternal tree. There was an invisible hand with billions of fingers directing the flow. So very faint, but when nothing else could be seen, it stood out.

  “Master, this is amazing!” I turned around and saw a tiny flicker of blacker darkness right beside me. It was even darker than the background somehow…

  “Is this you, trait?”

  Auxiliary Soul

  Type: Soul

  SE:7

  Affinity: Onyx-Sapphire

  Description: A soul directly attached to yours. Contains parts of the God’s Flesh trait.

  “Yes! It’s me, your amazing assistant~” The ball of darkness wobbled.

  “Uh-huh… So anyway. Do you understand why I’m here?”

  The trait giggled. “To learn.”

  “That’s obvious, you-”

  “I’m kidding. You want to find a way to break out of a dungeon.”

  “Good, I would’ve been disappointed if you couldn’t guess even that.” I concentrated on my desires and started formulating the request.

  “Request: escaping dungeons, books, symbol-based information.” The invisible hand stopped. Some of the fingers stretched out and split something from the flow. Fast, it wrapped the thread of starpower around me.

  An information tree shone in my vision – an illusion projected by the archive. I could feel thousands of books written on the topic floating right there, whispering their contents at me.

  “Can we read the ‘Dungeon traits’? I want that trait, really, really want that trait.” The dark soul beneath the Archive’s projection wriggled closer to me. Its hunger bore down into my soul.

  “Assistant. Keep your emotions under control.”

  It floated slightly away. “Apologies, master. We should still get it.” A book written in an unknown tongue appeared in front of me. It looked to be demonic in origin.

  “Sure.” I scouted the volume of information – it was only 7 SE. With a mental touch, energy spread through me, and quickly the text started appearing in my mind. The sharp sting of new information wasn’t comfortable, but it always felt exhilarating.

  “What? Dungeon traits are useless?! There are no useless traits~” The ball of darkness complained.

  “How much of my mind do you use to read? Wait, while you’re quiet, are you just reading?”

  The trait went silent. “Yes… A good servant has to know as much as possible.”

  “Whatever, I’ll check in with Melissa if that’s straining my mind.”

  I flipped through the massive catalogue. I knew that the perfect solution was just out of sight.

  Escaping the Doom of Dungeons, a useless propaganda piece. Running Away from Work – How to Make More with Less. How was that even dungeon-related? I should clarify.

  “Filter: techniques.” The hand of the Archive touched the thread and grabbed most of it.

  “Master, I was looking at them…”

  “If we weren’t in a state of crisis, I’d give you all the time to look, but we need to hurry.” I searched for that perfect book.

  Most of them were strange… Absorbing ambient dungeon starpower to run faster? It was an escape, sure, but why not just use strengthening? Blinking using the dungeon’s structure… It was interesting, but not my target.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  I looked over around twenty similar escape-adjacent books until I noticed an interesting one.

  Dungeon Breaker Technique. The synopsis was powerful.

  “There is no escape from the curse known as dungeons. We are gods, not to be chained to machines and forced to split potential. I have made a way to escape honorably. A technique for our servants to rip our existence and the accursed dungeon with it. Material beings cannot be allowed to rise on our expense. It is the moral duty of higher beings to consume the dungeons and remove them from existence. That is the escape.”

  “Did a geist write this?” No mention of a name. The letters were an unrecognizable mess, which could only be read with a translator. Some sort of constructed language.

  “Who else serves as dungeon cores? Obviously, a geist wrote this.” My trait said loudly.

  4 SE – It was pretty big for a technique book. I grabbed the information.

  I scanned through the contents… The effects were exactly what I needed them to be. I ordered the Archive to remove me.

  My eyes opened, and I was back in my body. “Steel! You left me half of a sandwich? One tiny half? Not even a full one!” I grabbed the sandwich from her hand.

  “If you don’t want it, I can eat it.”

  “Whatever.” I threw it back at her. She caught it with her mouth and swallowed. “I found a potential solution… But it only works if what I suspect is true. Let’s go, Steel, it’s time for the final part of the plan.”

  “Again? My stomach hurts, I can’t run.”

  “Then walk. We have to get there.”

  I visualized the bizarre book and read it. The contents were different from any other technique. There was no separation into forms; instead, it was a long tirade describing the precise movements and intentions the ‘higher being’ would need to bless into the ‘lower one’.

  The more I read it, the more confusing it became. “Clutch the core like the splinter of onyx emotion and twist the sensation.” It sounded like absolute nonsense, but then there were entirely physical descriptions written right beside.

  I wasn’t sure how the translator did it, but it converted the vague measurement system into metric… Even with an accelerated mind, it was hard to process this.

  “I get it~”

  “What do you mean you get it?”

  “Who are you talking to?” Steel said.

  “To my mental assistant. It just said something ridiculous.”

  Steel nodded like it was the most normal thing ever.

  “It’s written pretty clearly. You just have to break the equilibrium of affinities through a powerful surge. It’s like geist disassembly or trait creation – easy.”

  Alright. Your new task is to read the entirety of this book. Make sure not to take the ideas about geist superiority seriously; it’s just a bunch of nonsense.

  “Yes, master~”

  We reached the door of the ELEVATE course. It was late and most everybody was sleeping, I hoped that the crazy professor wasn’t.

  I jumped inside. “Siege!”

  Siege paced through the room with a grim frown. He mumbled something.

  “Magnus? You have to stop missing lessons. I know I gave you permission, but I will kick you out if-”

  “Ivaldie vanished.”

  He didn’t flinch. His fists clenched, and he looked down. “It’s targeting me.”

  I shook my head. “It’s targeting me!”

  “Gretchen was the first it took. Then there were others, and now even Louize and Ivaldie.” He groaned. “Source damn it…”

  “Do you know the mechanism of kidnapping?”

  I conjured a chair for myself and Steel. She stared at Siege, her jaw tensed.

  “Teleportation is the most likely culprit; other professors concur with dimensional disruptions, but it doesn’t fit – the spatial-sealing imbuements remain intact.”

  I appreciated some directness, finally. Each word he spoke affirmed my conclusion. “What are the types of spatial tempering that are allowed within the station?”

  “None. Rame made sure to seal all the possible manipulations… except-”

  “The dungeons use spatial manipulation.”

  Siege stood up. “This is not good; this is really bad.” He sighed. “Lord Exlesia might just fire me…”

  “So you think the same thing? The Betrayer made a dungeon, and he’s been somehow pulling the students there.”

  “I don’t know! I’m not a dungeon expert. What do you think, girt?” He looked at Steel.

  She opened her mouth. Slowly, she tilted her head. “Geists are like traits; they make no sense.”

  Siege shrugged. “Evidently.” He grabbed a cup of venom from a table and chugged it. “I’m ashamed that I let Varaxis keep you out of this investigation. Now at least there’s a new avenue.”

  “Did you not request backup from Rame?”

  Siege’s eyes opened wide. He snorted and then full-on started cackling.

  “Stop this noise!” Steel roared.

  “You’re serious? You don’t know?” Siege clenched his fists. “Varaxis sealed the station the moment the geist appeared. She’ll be in deep space of Rame gets to know of this slight.”

  I gulped. “That’s not good.”

  “It’s what I’m saying. Stupid draconic pride.” He threw the cup at the wall. It harmlessly bounced off the ground. “Thanks for the help, kid, I’ll bring this up to Varaxis; she’ll have no choice but to listen to me.”

  “I hope that she will. I’m tired of this nonsense.”

  We didn’t mention the fact that the missing people were probably dead…

  The exhaustion was getting to me. “Steel, we should sleep in one room. Who knows when danger comes?”

  “Okay.” She didn’t bother talking. “The bed is mine.”

  “Fine…” I didn’t want to sleep on the floor, but sacrifices had to be made.

  After grabbing some more food, we went back to my room. Nothing was out of place. Steel dropped on the bed and fell asleep extremely fast. Eventually, I fell asleep too, despite the anxiety plaguing my mind.

  I woke up to the loud sounds of a siren.

  “Announcement. Quarantine is ongoing. All courses are cancelled. Remain in your dorms.” Varaxis spoke it, and it kept repeating over and over.

  I stretched my tired body and flooded everything with starpower. “Trait, did you learn the dungeon breaker?”

  “I was sleeping too…”

  So it did rely on my mind. Helpful to know.

  “Steel.” The girl didn’t even react to the alarm. How did she get to her courses on time before? I had to figure out what was happening.

  I opened the door to look outside. A guard was carefully watching over every door. Her spear flew into her hands, and she pointed it at me.

  “There is a quarantine. Remain in your dorm. Everything is under control.”

  “What is happening? Explain.”

  “Quarantine. Return. To. Your. Dorm.” The growling in her voice raised even more alarms.

  I used the detection form – nothing was unusual. No new noises happened; it was all just the blaring announcement.

  “What is the reason for this?” I pressed on, my aura flared higher.

  “Yeah, what’s the reason?” Steel appeared from behind me.

  If I could see underneath the black helmet of the guard, I was sure she would be frowning in disgust.

  “The actualized geist is getting contained.” Her aura rose again. “If you do not follow the order, I am allowed to resort to violent means.”

  “Fine, fine. Fucking hell.” I slammed the door closed.

  I looked at Steel. She looked bad. There were black circles around her eyes, and her scales looked paler than usual.

  “Are you okay?”

  She shook her head. “I spoke to Kory again. She said that today something terrible will happen.”

  “What do you mean by something? It’s already happening. W-we have to run, hide. Hell, even the dungeons would be safer.”

  “No. We shouldn’t risk it.”

  “You don’t want to go because of Kory?”

  She nodded. “I will stay. You can go, but you’re not strong enough to beat the guards.”

  “Fuck.” I sat down on the chair, staring at my notes. “I hate this. I hate this powerlessness.”

  “I miss Kory.”

  My stomach rumbled. “Let’s hope this ends soon…”

  Steel nodded. “I’m going back to sleep.” To meet with Kory again, probably.

  I focused on reading and training forms. The announcement kept ringing till late night. I couldn’t stop debating whether to try running or stay… In the end, I was still a coward.