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Chapter 614
🕑 Added 2025-12-30 04:10:16 +0000 UTCKhalysstra had been shocked to see that Ajax had actually made the dungeon destabilize even if it was only for a moment. She had stayed outside of Ruinflare’s territory but close enough to keep an eye on the dungeon. She hadn’t reached it before Ajax had entered but she was pretty sure the sidhe were waiting for him to exit. Something she was proven right when she saw Ruinflare square up against them to shield Ajax.
Now that Ajax was outside the dungeon there was no need to wait around. She knew it would be best if she got involved before a fight started yet she couldn’t move around freely while carrying her son. “Ruinflare, pardon my intrusion in your domain.”
“Lady Khalysstra!” Ruinflare’s shock was easy to recognise but she was also sure she heard a measure of relief.
Unlike her meeting with her old multi headed friend Khalysstra had no rival here in terms of power. She had the equivalent rank of a humanoid’s Duke among the dragons and while she was the weakest of them all for a race that put such influence on power it still put her far above most other living beings even among the Ascended races.
“Lady Khalysstra, are you also here to find out what happened to the dungeon?” the sidhe were quick to adapt, political games were their race’s favorite pastime, considering both the difference in power present and the neutral relationship between dragons sidhe and elemental hawks it could be said that her appearance would favor the sidhe.
“Not as such.” Khalysstra denied it, she fought the small instinct to shake the head no, she had found herself also picking up on her son’s habits of head movement similar to humans nodding for affirmation and shaking for denial. “I am here because of Ajax. I have to say you’ve grown a lot since I last saw you, you even evolved.”
The sidhe hid their disappointment well at Khalysstra’s answer but Ruinflare was beaming with joy, all of it on purpose of course as an ambassador he had the Skills to keep his emotions under wraps but he was clearly gloating.
“I’ve worked hard.” Ajax said with a smile. “It’s nice to see you again, both of you.”
Shifty gave a cute roar of approval, not yet able to speak. Their greeting however made a few more pieces fall into place for Veyra, she was aware of a lot more from the questions she had asked Ajax on their way here and now she was confident that this dragon was the source of Ajax’s knowledge about the humanoid protection pact.
“So this is the human you wanted me to meet?” Aurexion finally joined the conversation. “I have to admit his Aura is quite something, for one so young and not even an Ascended but I doubt things will work out the way you want, aunt.”
Ajax felt Aurexion Aura and it was stronger than his own, if he was to compare it he would place it about the same level as Clark, the Empire’s youngest champion but there was something odd about it to him. Ajax could feel some odd tremors through the dragon’s Aura, almost as if it wasn’t stable.
Nobody present commented on Aurexion’s words though Ajax was curious, and slightly hopeful that he might have finally found a potential bond. The only other viable Ascended bond he’d met at all had been Veyra but during their time together he became wholly convinced they weren’t compatible.
“Could we impose and request that we deal with the matter of the dungeon’s instability.” Elduin’s father spoke up. “Once that matter is settled we’d be happy to take our leave and leave you to your reunion.”
The sidhe had quickly identified the situation wouldn’t be getting better for them so they were doing their best to collect the valuable information and make a quick exit before the terrifying dragon took offense to anything they did. Dragons were known for their pride and the sidhe also knew their son was a hot head, the shock of Khalysstra’s Aura might have silenced him for now but they were sure it wouldn’t last long.
“That is a fine idea.” Seeing there was no need to worry about Ajax’s safety Ruinflare could now also satiate his own curiosity, not only that but he also wanted the sidhe gone from his territory.
While both Ruinflare and the sidhe were in agreement neither pushed it any further as they waited for Khalysstra’s decision on the matter. “I do have to admit I am curious myself on how you managed to pull that off.” Khalysstra nodded.
“I can’t say I know how or even what I did.” Ajax scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “What do you mean I destabilized the dungeon?”
“When you exited the dungeon the Mana fluctuated oddly.” Ruinflare explained. “But there were no monsters released in a dungeon break, that is not normal and is a sign of dungeon instability. Not something you should be able to cause considering how much Mana this dungeon has had access to since I have been around it for decades now.”
“Dungeons get destabilized when they are at risk of being destroyed.” Khalysstra explained for Ajax’s benefit. “To destroy a dungeon one just needs to drain it of Mana enough. But for that to happen, much higher level floors would need to be delved than anything you could handle even stepping on, which leaves us a little stunned on how you managed to do it.”
“That’s how you destroy dungeons?!” Ajax was a little worried. “But the dungeons back in Gryndor are delved hundreds of times a day, and most groups clear out a good portion of their floors. How have we not collapsed the dungeons yet?”
“First of all it takes a lot more Mana to create a level one hundred floor than it would to create twenty level fifty floors.” Khalysstra continued. “The size and monsters all play a part and since those dungeons hardly ever go past level one hundred floors the consumption is low even if the floors are cleared. That’s not even to mention the massive amount of Mana being collected by the dungeon from the tens and hundreds of thousands of people that live around the dungeon and have little to no Mana control to stop from feeding it their excess Mana.”
“In that case I have no idea what I did.” Ajax shrugged. “I just cleared out two floors pretty much, I hadn’t initially planned to be as high as I did but from what you said it shouldn’t have caused such an issue.”
The more Ajax thought about it the more he was sure that whatever happened had something to do with the priestess’s staff. Even on his exit it had felt like the dungeon didn’t want to give up the broken staff but he wasn’t going to admit that in front of the sidhe as it would reveal his boon.
For the next few minutes Ajax answered some more detailed questions about his time in the dungeon and while his [Alchemy] did gather some interest from the sidhe he revealed nothing about the staff. Khalysstra, Ruinflare as well as all the sidhe bar Elduin had figured out from their social Skills that Ajax was holding something back but because he answered all the direct questions they asked truthfully they didn’t push him.
“Do you think this will happen again?” Khalysstra asked.
“No.” The conviction in Ajax’s answer was enough for Khalysstra and Ajax took pleasure in the small frown on the sidhe’s faces as it was pretty obvious they knew he had an idea about what happened but he would get to keep it to himself.
“Then we’ll take our leave.” Elduin’s father said.
“Before we go, is that an everburning tree?” Verya asked as she looked towards Aurexion's tail that was coiled around a flaming tree.
“It is.” The dragon confirmed as it puffed itself up a little, daring the sidhe to comment on it further.
“Was it guarded by a devourer?” The question surprised the dragons but all Veyra wanted was confirmation from them, it would be important to establish she had been truthful with Elduin’s parents.
“It was.” Khalysstra nodded, taking an interest once more. “A rather strong one at that. Odd that you know about it and let it live.”
“I encountered it on my way to the dungeon with Ajax.” Veyra defended herself. “We engaged but it proved too powerful for us to kill, I was hoping we could kill it on the way back but since I saw the tree I was pretty sure you already took care of it.”
With that the sidhe took their leave and Ruinflare also took the opportunity to excuse himself as he gave Ajax and the dragons some privacy. He could feel his [Ambasador] Skill gain a level as he did so which was all the reward he needed.
“Now that they’re gone we can talk about the reason we were looking for you.” Khalysstra said.
Comments
Neal Cooper
You can't start to create an audio book until the book itself is complete and put in it's final form(post editing.) Then typically there is a delay as most narrators have to put the new book into there schedule and then do the actual reading and production. This can take up to a year, though is usually shorter. For some authors/publishers they hold the release date for a title until the audio, digital and print copies are all available. Like Sanderson has talked about how that process can be well over a year after he has completed a book. On patreon you are seeing chapters nearly as they are written, so before edits, before a completed book and well before recording and release.
tyler sexton
I'm curious as to why there is so much time between the written chapters here and the audiobooks on audible or which ever. The chapters there stop just after the tournament.
Arrogant Savant
Aux is only slightly stronger than Ajax at the moment so it wouldn't especially be to his detriment but Ajax will probably have to reveal something to sweaten the deal. The fact he wasn't looked down on for losing his arm was surprising to me.
TerrestrialOverlord
Hmm 🤔. Aux is probably not feeling confident about Ajax agreeing to bond with him. I think that it's a 2 fold issue from Aux. 1 . he's thinking Ajax is strong enough that he's able to distabilize a dungeon some with that kind of strength will know somethings wrong with Aux and will not feel it necessary to bond a 'damaged' dragon for life, it's not worth it. 2. Based on what his aunt has told him and her knowledge of Ajax, he doesn't believe Ajax is powerful enough to handle the bond to accomplish the fixing that he need making the reason for binding moot. I think Lady K is playing a long game. She has seen Ajax's potential and while she probably didn't see his most precious title she could seduce enough to want to bring Ajax closer to dragonkind so that in the eventuality that he became reaper 2.0 they would the like the various creatures reaper protected or was allies with the first go around. Aux thinks he knows Lady K's full plan but he's only ½ right
Arrogant Savant
Now that I think about it Verya would make a decent bond for someone like Anna.
Arrogant Savant
Keleros has been holding the status pages hostage for a while!
Arrogant Savant
Ajax definitely went out of his way to get a feeling for both her personality and combat ability but neither meshed that well with him.
Jaklelope
Tyftc
Silver Beard
Shifty can't talk yet? That's a little disappointing; but then of course he probably won't shut up once he can. Then Author squashed by theory of bonding with Veyra. Oh well.
alex bozdog
He can tell Ajax has evolved to be Ascended what he means is for a race that didn't start as Ascended
userunfriendly
Me too! 🫡
Caiban
Can we get a full status update after all that grinding?
userunfriendly
TFTC! 🐉 and while she was the weakest of them all for a race that put such influence on power It was mentioned that she remembered the Reaper...my suggestion then is that she's like Balthazar. There are many definitions of power, and if she is like Balthazar, she's got access to immense amounts of wisdom and lore. And of course history, because SHE SAW IT BEING MADE. 🤯🤯 for one so young and not even an Ascended but I doubt things will work out the way you want, aunt.” Eh?! He can't detect Ajax is Ascended?! And he missed his aunt saying Ajax was indeed Ascended?! What's wrong with him?! 😳 “To destroy a dungeon one just needs to drain it of Mana enough. I might be completely wrong here...but hear me out. Remember that mana infused metal in that mole's lair, behind the waterfall a long time ago?! Well, my speculation then was that someone was using an underground cable to move quantities of mana from one location to another. What if it was part of a network to automatically drain or even feed mana from dungeons?! The Ascended or even the Reaper (😳) built this network to allow the selective draining or feeding of mana to dungeons. We know that the Ascended have no particular need for dungeons, except for the DRAGONS, hence my speculation that either of the two races, dragons or humanoids built this network to optimize controlling dungeons...🤯🤯 That’s not even to mention the massive amount of Mana being collected by the dungeon from the tens and hundreds of thousands of people that live around the dungeon and have little to no Mana control to stop from feeding it their excess Mana.” Ah! I totally called it! (does the happy Snoopy Dance) 🤩🤩😛 “Now that they’re gone we can talk about the reason we were looking for you.” Khalysstra said. Oh, of course she suspects they're sticking around listening. 😈
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. The anticipation for the convo, is hitting a bit hard…
Advents Blood
These chapters go by entirely too quickly and always leave me craving the next chapter. Honestly by far my favorite series to read
Vayash
I was waiting all weekend for this conversation, noooooo
Austin Long
I literally just read my last chapter and was like no give me another and you gave me another. Thank you.
