It was almost noon when the three of us managed to retreat to a private room. It wasn't just the beast wave that kept us back, but also scouting the landscape to see if there were any nasty surprises, waiting for us.

As for the dungeon, it seemed to handle the sudden burst of extra energy successfully for the moment, so I didn't prioritize it immediately.

But, finally, we were able to retreat to a private room, ready to talk. But first, a celebration. "I have to admit," I started as I raised my glass. "Your arrival was rather timely. To victory."

The beast wave, despite their enhanced nature due to the crystals Drakkan force had shattered, had been taken down easily only because of Maria and Eleanor's return. Not just their added power, but also scaring away the enemy ascended.

Things would have been far more difficult if we were trying to deal with their harassment at the same time with an endless number of beasts.

"Nonsense," Maria replied with a smile as she raised her glass. "I'm sure you would have handled everything perfectly."

"I don't think —" I started, but Eleanor cut me off.

"I agree with Maria. When we returned, we expected you to find hunkering desperately in the dungeon. You have built an amazing town. Far better than our little dingy outpost." She gestured toward the window. "Several interlocked towns, a full factory, an army of farmers that could actually stand against the forces of a city —"

"Just peripheral forces, barely more than reserves," I corrected.

"Doesn't matter. There aren't many towns or independent families that can resist even the peripheral forces," Maria replied. "You have achieved something amazing here."

I avoided her gaze, finding myself blushing. "Well, I couldn't let people get hurt…"

That earned a couple of chuckles. "Same old Devon," Eleanor said teasingly. "Cheers."

"To meeting again," Maria cheered as we clinked our glasses. For a few minutes, we just chatted. There were many things to talk about; the ascension, the political situation with Asterion, the war with Drakka, refugees, my troubles with magic, the System itself...

Yet, letting them all go to chat for a few minutes under the guise of normalcy felt like a balm to my soul. We chatted and laughed like nothing of importance was ever happening while we finished our drinks. Then, Eleanor sighed. "It's fun, but it's finally time to talk about important things."

"I guess so," I answered, unable to suppress my reluctance. I wanted to continue to chat inanely, but I also knew that it was impossible. "So, ascension? Congratulations are in order."

"Thanks, even though it's merely halfway," Maria replied.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Halfway?" I questioned. "Speaking of things, what exactly is ascension in the first place, from a technical perspective."

"It's complicated—" Maria started.

"Not exactly," Eleanor cut in. "It just requires binding certain artifacts to your stats, which acts as bridges to connect them to the soul directly, which makes them harder to use, but makes them stronger."

"Binding directly to the soul?" I asked, not entirely surprised. After all, my experience with the dungeon had been illuminating in that aspect.

"Both the class and the stats are connected with the soul at a surface level," Maria explained. "But, leveling further requires a deeper connection."

"And, I'm guessing halfway means each of you only bound certain stats."

"Yes, it's just Vitality for me at the moment," Eleanor said.

"And, it's Essence for me," Maria replied. "Those are the easiest ones, and the ones that are available."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

My eyes widened for a moment, surprised by the impact of just one stat on the power, but then, maybe I should not. Vitality and Essence were rather fundamental when it came to capabilities, and a qualitative transformation would result in an all-around improvement.

"What else?" I asked.

"The process is complicated," Maria said. "It requires an artifact of a certain quality, and the higher the stats, the better the artifact needs to be," she said, but I didn't miss her tenseness. "And, that requirement increases for each stat block."

"Makes sense," I replied. "That explains why the cities actually go ahead helping the weaker warriors to ascend, even with the secrets of upgrading classes."

"Yes," Maria said. "Having better classes is a double-edged sword during ascension. The stronger the class, the more effort it requires. Especially if one wants a perfect ascension."

"A perfect ascension?" I asked.

"Simple," Maria said. "Once finalized, ascension is immutable."

"So, you?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

Eleanor replied first. "We haven't finalized the process yet. We have some time before we can acquire the fitting artifacts for ascension."

"How much time?" I asked. While I wanted to question more on the theoretical aspects, I wanted to understand the practical aspects.

"Probably several weeks," Maria replied. "It's not an exact timeline. The longer it goes, the stronger the strain would become." Tеxt асquirеd frоm М|V|LЕМР&YR.

"What about the risks?" I asked.

They both fell silent. "It's … complicated," Eleanor finally answered. "It's not a simple process. It requires one to actively manipulate the soul. Each stat increases the strain further, and…"

"There's a chance the soul can't handle it," I completed, realizing what they were driving at. They nodded. "Fine, it looks like we need to focus on how to strengthen the soul," I declared decisively. "I'm sure such things available in the cities, considering their otherworldly natures."

Their eyes widened. "What do you mean?" Maria asked, shocked.

"Ah, you don't know that yet," I said. "We found that by accident—"

"We?"

"Rosie and I," I said. "She has shifted her base here completely."

I could sense a flash of annoyance from Eleanor at the mention of Rosie, but I didn't stop to question her about it. There were more important things to worry about. Many more of them.

"That complicates things," Maria said. "I had met some suspicious characters during this trip, but I never questioned the reason."

"Do you think ascension artifacts come from the other worlds?" Eleanor asked Maria, who paused for a quite bit before nodding reluctantly. "It might be a problem," Eleanor continued.

"Possibly, but nothing we can do right now," Maria admitted. "We have to deal with the more immediate problems first. Like the implications of Thomas' death."

"Good work about it, by the way," Eleanor said. "Though, I'm sad that I didn't see that bastard's death."

"Everything is alright with your family?" I asked.

"The last time we checked, it was," Maria admitted. "But, another trip once things calm down might be in order. Hopefully, those so-called heretics only had him as the connection, and left my family alone."

I nodded. At this point, I could do nothing but nod. I changed the subject. "Do you mind telling me how ascension felt?"

"Tough to explain," Maria said. "It was more like a broken, hard-to-remember dream. I remember wading through a sea of flames, sailing through its surface using a boat of mana, desperately wading through hoping to survive. It felt like it lasted forever, but as I bathed in flames, my mana slowly transformed until …" she stopped. "Well, it's easier to show you." With that, she raised her finger, and released a flame spell.

It was an interesting spell. It felt dense, and substantial, yet it was not as intense as I expected from a mage of her caliber.

"Do you mind casting it to a metal pipe," I said and immediately created one. "It'll help if I can use my perk on it."

"I can, but that's not a spell," she replied. "It's the raw state of my mana after the ascension."

"Really?" I asked, my interest intensifying significantly. She channeled her mana through the metal pipe, which allowed me to understand its structural details far better.

It felt familiar. The mana had both structure densities. In a way, it reminded me of the difference between ordinary mana, and one channeled through Epic skills, but only even more substantial. In a way, it was

"How does it work?" I asked. "Is it automatic?"

"I wish," Maria said. "Once I pull it from the environment, I need to use my meditation skill for almost an hour to properly transform it. And, worse, it puts a strain on soul. It's truly exhausting."

I nodded. That explained why ascended was unwilling to fight constantly, matching my observations. "I'm guessing it's the same for Health," I said.

"Yes, only it's automatic, but usually takes somewhere between a day and a week, depending on the quality of the food," she said.

"Any strain while using?" I asked.

"No," she said.

That was interesting. The ascended I had fought had showed the strain, but it could be simply about the strength of their soul. Another thing to explore. But, before I could ask more, there was a knock on the door, one that I easily recognized as belonging to Harold. Likely another emergency.

"As much as I want to talk more about ascension, we have to focus on more practical concerns first. Why don't we go out and have a ceremony so that I can give back the control of the town to you, milady," I said with a smile.

I expected a simple nod, not Eleanor and Maria sharing a glance. "Well, about that…" Maria started. "No. We won't do that."

I paused, frozen in surprise.