"Ryan, you're okay!" Silvia rushed up to her friend with a broad smile on her face, quickly giving him a hug. Though, Ryan flinched and pulled back, since he was squeezed a bit too tightly.

  "Mostly, I guess," he laughed, trying to play off how hurt he actually was. But Silvia could tell that he wasn't actually okay, now that she was taking a closer look at him.

  "What the hell happened?"

  "Just... a lot. Those rollercoasters are fucking intense. I was legitimately worried I'd die for a few moments. What about you guys? Modak, is everything alright?"

  The orc slowly stood up from the ground, pulling the certificate out of his bag, "Well... mostly, I guess. Anyway, here you go. It's blank, so let us just hope it works."

  Ryan took the certificate and smiled. The moment he held it in his hands, he could feel a slight twinge in his neck, as the text on the certificate changed slightly. The blank space was filled out with his name.

  "Yes! This is it," Ryan quickly walked over to the wooden chest in the corner, throwing the certificate inside immediately. With the help of Silvia and Modak, he took off the backpack and put in all the other items that he still needed to hand in; the certificates, the statues, and as many coins as could possibly fit inside.

  As Ryan closed the chest, he pulled out the card. It was immediately filled with a bunch of new symbols corresponding to the different areas of the dungeon, giving off that slight holographic shine.

  Ryan quickly walked up to the counter and slammed the bell maybe a little bit too hard. The clown showed up, and Ryan shook its hand without hesitation. But instead of the items displayed behind him changing out, the clown did something that Ryan hadn't seen before. It pulled out one of those 'party horns', those whistles with the curled up front that rolled out when you blew it. It blew into it, and the moment it did, that classic high pitched whistle came accompanied by confetti that fell from the ceiling. And in front of Ryan, he could see another certificate floating, which he quickly grabbed.

  The clown then pulled something else out of its pocket and gave it to Ryan. The trio all stared at the item together, "50% off forever." Ryan read, and then sighed, "So I could have saved a bunch of money, huh?"

  "What's it matter? Now you should be able to just buy up all the special rewards, right?"

  Ryan slowly nodded his head, "Yeah, you're right. Let's do this."

  Without further ado, Ryan just put the last certificate onto his card by placing them into the chest together, and a sixth slot on the shelf behind the clown lit up. There were now 5 special reward vouchers.

  And Ryan didn't hesitate to buy all of them all up. The moment they landed in his hand, he tore two of them up, and two stones landed in his hand. He once again did not hesitate to pull the two fragments into their domains.

  [You have found the last Fragment of Violette]

  [You have found the last Fragment of Morgana]

  Ryan smiled broadly as he stared at the two messages. Finally, they were both there! The sensation of having these broken fragments inside of his head felt absolutely unnerving. It was like if Modak or Silvia lost an arm and he just kept one of them as a souvenir. But now, both Violette and Morgana were whole. And as usual, it was a wonderful sensation that filled Ryan with utter joy. The other notifications that accompanied that sensation helped make up for all the trouble he went through today as well.

  [You have levelled up!]

  [The -Spirit Domain- Skill has levelled up]

  Ryan just let out a slight smile of relief. Of course, the sensation of levelling up in itself was just nice, but in part, he was just so happy that things were seeming to work out. Looking inside, Ryan took a look at the changes to the domains. And it wasn't just about the appearance of two more domains, but the changes that happened to the already existing ones.

  After all, the spirit domain skill didn't just level up, it reached level 10. A usual level-up of the skill just increased the domain's size by 1 metre into all dimensions. But this one made them blow up by more than half their size up until now. They started with 10 metres in any direction, and now they had a total of 30. They had quite a bit of space to deal with now, which Ryan was pretty damn happy about. He felt bad whenever they were just stuck in there when he was out and about, but now they had a lot more they could do.

  Maximus domain now encased his entire hut, and though most of it was still made up of his training area, there was also some grass and even a bench that he could sit on. Gaia's domain now showed a large tree, though its crown was still out of reach. But for her, what was most important to Ryan was that she had a bit of space to actually move now, even if it was just on a bit of grass.

  Gregor's domain was a much larger workshop now, and even seemed to have a bit of space for him to prototype his machines in there. As for Jester, his domain encased the entire tent that he was in until now and gave him a few more goodies to play with. But surprisingly, the area around his domain was just some kind of desert. Or at least, it was just sand and nothing else. Maybe it was a beach, but... desert sounded more like it.

  And then, Ryan moved his focus over to Violette and Morgana's domains. The former's was a small island on a pond, with massive lilypads scattered around. On the island was a small, white table covered in tea ware for two people. And Morgana's domain was a library, or some kind of study that was filled with books all over. There was a desk in the middle, and around it, stacks and stacks of books and sketches and weird, old-timey measurement instruments covered the ground. There was also a bookshelf in view, which had a ton of gemstones on it. Right now, they were both just their spirit cores floating there in the middle of their space, but as soon as Ryan got home, and as soon as he got something for his broken finger, he would build their bodies and have a small party to celebrate that they were there now. They were also amazing additions to the spirits on a combat front too.

  After all, Violette was a 'Fencer Spirit', while Morgana was a 'Witch Spirit'. Another vanguard, and a magic user. Though, that was only if they wanted to take part in combat. Ryan wouldn't force them, obviously.

  That being the case, for now, Ryan didn't have the time to build their bodies anyway, so he wasn't able to communicate with them at all. So, instead, he just grabbed the other vouchers and ripped them all at once. He wasn't sure what exactly he would get from them this time. Ryan was hoping that it was going to be another spirit, but that seemed unlikely. The very fact that he got Violette and Morgana's core fragments was already a sign that the only reason he got their fragments in the first place was because he already had some of them with him.

  And he was right. He didn't get more fragments. Instead, what landed in his hand was very... different. They were three small pouches. As Ryan opened one, he was just met with differently coloured gemstones. At first, he thought that maybe they were spirit cores after all, but that didn't seem to be the case.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Do you guys have any idea?" Ryan asked, giving each Silvia and Modak one of the pouches. They both took a look, and while the elf didn't seem to know what she was dealing with either, Modak seemed a bit shocked.

  "Uh... I think these are magic stones."

  "Magic stones? As in, crystalized magic?" Ryan asked, and Modak immediately nodded his head.

  "Yes, those magic stones. I saw a few of them at the tower," he slowly pulled one of them out, holding them against the dim light hanging above the trio, "Yeah, it looks like it's the genuine article. They're actually pretty big compared to the ones I've seen."

  "Wait, seriously?" Ryan looked a bit closer. It was barely the size of a fingernail, and this was big?

  "Most magic stones are absolutely tiny. They rarely form in the first place, and when they do they're barely the size of a raindrop. But these ones? They're massive in comparison. I can probably use some of the measurement tools at the tower to figure out exactly what they are, if you want."

  "That would be great! But let's focus on that when we're out of here, okay?" Ryan grabbed the pouches again and put them away in his backpack. Obviously, he was a little sad that he didn't have the opportunity to help any other spirit out, but if these were so rare, then this was still a great reward. After all, they had to be related to his class somehow. But there was something more important to focus on for now, "I'll head straight down into the lab. You guys wait about... fifteen minutes, and then head to where the entrance used to be. The moment I destroy the core, you should be able to get out of here, yeah?"

  "Right! Of course," Silvia let out a clearly relieved sigh. And it was obvious why; even Ryan was fed up and anxious, so he couldn't even imagine how his friends felt. Just in case, the two of them gave Ryan one more encouraging hug, before he made his way to the door.

  He twisted the handle and turned the two others, "I've got this, okay? I'll get us out of here."

  As Ryan opened the door, he shuddered. He had a bad feeling. Silvia and Modak, too, were staring at him in shock. Ryan turned around, and looked into the barrel of a gun.

  "Again? Seriously? You don't have any other modi operandi?" Ryan laughed nervously, taking a step back. The soldier cocked the gun and placed his finger onto the trigger.

  "No, he doesn't," Richard stepped past the soldier and walked into the gift shop. He seemed genuinely surprised when he saw Silvia and Modak, "How did you two get in here? Were you here the whole time?"

  "What's it to you?" Ryan scoffed, but the gnome turned and looked up at him.

  "Did I talk to you just now? No? Then shut the fuck up," with a loud groan, Richard stepped inside, taking a look around, "What's this place supposed to be? Is this that 'gift shop' thing I heard about?"

  Ryan was a bit confused, "Who did you hear about it from?"

  "Didn't I just tell you to shut the fuck up? DF-02, just, come on," Richard snapped his fingers, and the soldier immediately stepped forward, pressing his gun against Ryan's chin, clearly ready to pull the trigger at a moment's notice.

  "R-Richie, just... what happened to you?" Modak asked, confused as he stared at the man that used to be his friends, "You used to be such a kind, genuinely good guy..."

  "What happened? I got better, that's all," he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, almost perplexed that Modak hadn't realised it on his own, "But what's with your weird-ass outfit? Are you doing some kind of cosplay?"

  Modak stayed quiet, while Richard walked around him, looking him up and down, "Oh, I see! It's that project of yours, shrunken down and incorporated into a suit of some sort. Interesting. I actually did something quite similar."

  Confused, the orc stared at Richard, who was instead looking at one of the Roxie units that just came Inside. It looked a little different to the regular ones, particularly to the one that Ryan had fought earlier. It had a large speaker built into its chest.

  "Did you... did you steal my design?"

  "Gods, you're slow. Yes, I stole your design, what else would this be?" Richard rolled his eyes, "I also improved on it, if you care at all. It's much more powerful now that I can incorporate my own magic into the mix. Isn't she impressive?"

  Modak stared at the Roxie unit, confused and startled, "You... you did all of that just so you... just so you could improve on one of your shitty robots?"

  Richard took a step forward, clearly upset, "Hey, don't you dare call them shitty! They are masterpieces, greater than anything you could ever hope to make!"

  Silvia scoffed. Realizing that she did it out loud, she held her hand in front of her mouth.

  "What's so funny? Huh?" Richard asked, but seeing that Silvia didn't respond, he slammed his foot on the ground. He looked almost like a kid throwing a tantrum, "Answer me!"

  "It's just... you say that, but you still stole something that Modak invented..." she explained quietly. Richard glared up at her.

  "How dare you? I may have stolen it, but I improved on it! Okay? Show her!" snapping his finger again, Richard stepped to the side. The Roxie unit with that speaker in her chest stepped forward, and a quiet, vibrating sound could be heard. It seemed to vibrate the air itself for a few moments, as the area just heated up more and more. Until a spark just popped out in the middle of the room. It slowly floated down and hit the floorboards, immediately catching fire. It spread fast, incredibly fast, and soon even encroached on Silvia and Modak.

  "See? Isn't it amazing?!" Richard began to laugh out loud, while the orc stared at the space in the air where all of that just happened. It still seemed to be vibrating.

  "You... you killed her for this...? To make this bastardized magic, to force a spark into existence without the proper methods... This is what you killed Marge for?"

  The orc stared down at Richard, who just tilted his head to the side, saying something that seemed to stun everyone else in here.

  "Marge? And who's that supposed to be?"

  This was probably the first time that Ryan saw it happen this way, but Modak was pissed. Really, really pissed. Without a moment's hesitation, he swung forward his fist and completely clocked Richard in the face. The gnome was thrown to the ground. The fire was still sizzling away, destroying the floorboards and spreading through the room. Smoke was starting to fill the space.

  Richard held his finger to his nose. Black blood that looked like thick, dirty motor oil was flowing out of it.

  "How dare you..? I'm going to-"

  "I'll bring you down to the core," Ryan interrupted Richard, before he could do anything else. He could feel the barrel of the gun pressing against his chin while the gnome turned around.

  "What?"

  "I said... I said I'll bring you down to the core. That's your goal, right? To get down there?"

  "... The door is locked. What, are you telling me you completely conquered this dungeon? You?" the gnome asked, and Ryan nodded.

  "Yes. I have all eight perfect completions. And if you kill me, you will never be able to figure it out on your own. And if you hurt Silvia or Modak, it won't look good for you either."

  Richard let out a loud laugh. He seemed almost manic, going from completely pissed off all the way to laughing like a maniac, "What, you think that I won't be able to do something you managed to figure out?"

  "Yes, I do. And I've got proof. There, look," Ryan said, glancing at the clown on the other side of the room. It was glaring at Richard angrily. It was seeing the fire that was now burning this place as an attack, "You've been blacklisted. You can't use the shop anymore, and that shop is the only way to get one of the 'perfect completion' certificates. Without me, you'll never get there, alright?"

  Richard's smile dropped as he clicked his tongue, "Are you serious?"

  "Dead."

  "Fine. You'll bring us down there, and in exchange, I'll let you three live for a little longer. Come on," Richard stepped out of the gift shop, letting everyone else follow behind, "Go on, bring us down there. There's a hatch like the one you used before nearby, I want to see how you got down there."

  "Right," Ryan nodded, agreeing to show him. However, he slowly glanced over to his friends, "But... I'll only bring you there if you let them stay here. I don't want them to get hurt?"

  "Huh? Why would I-" Richard asked, and Ryan immediately grabbed at the gun that the soldier was holding against his head.

  "Let them stay here, or you're stuck here forever. Got it?"

  "Urgh, fine, whatever," Richard sighed loudly, though he slowly started to grin, "Roxie 01 and 04, stay here. 04, make sure you leave Modak to 01."

  The gnome was staring at Modak with a vicious grin. 01 clearly seemed to be the one with the speaker in its chest. Was Richard trying to mock him, or something? By making sure that Modak would be taken out by his own invention of it came down to it?

  "The rest of you, come with us. And you two, the moment you start trying to run away, you're dead. So, actually... go ahead and try, you'd do me a favour."

  Ryan locked eyes with his friends for a moment. They were completely terrified. But he just smiled and nodded at them, trying to make sure they'd stay calm.

  Ryan had a plan.

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