Chapter 231: 231
After her discussion with Mavreth, Michelle went out of the sect and took all the members of the information guild in. She took them to the hallway with the numerous doors leading to the cultivation spaces. Finally, she told them to go through the door of their element and cultivate there.
When Michelle was once again alone, Mavreth appeared again. "Why didn’t you explain anything further to them? What if they die because they aren’t prepared?"
Michelle stared at the door through which the boss lady had gone. "They don’t need further explaining." Over the days she had spent with the information guild while taking them to the sect, she could see a bit into their capabilities. And it was clear the boss lady had trained all the girls to be exceptionally deadly.
Mavreth didn’t know much about the information guild since he wasn’t all that interested in the lower realm. But he knew Michelle had good eyes. Since she said so, it was most probably true.
"What will you do now?" he started walking towards his office.
Michelle shrugged. "I don’t have much to do in the middle realm. So probably cultivate to go to the upper realm."
That made Mavreth raise a brow. "You really dislike the middle realm..."
"That’s only natural." Michelle had no intentions of denying it.
"Instead of cultivating..." Mavreth gave it a momentary thought. "How about going to the Fiend Dungeon?"
Michelle remembered that Fiend Dungeon was the place Mavreth promised the disciples in the arena to go if they were able to kill her. "What kind of place is it?"
Mavreth didn’t explain in detail. All he said was that it was a place under his control where strange, powerful creatures lived. And defeating them could greatly increase one’s powers. There were also times when they would awaken a dormant or completely new power.
But those were rare cases.
"It definitely sounds interesting," Michelle nodded with interest. It sounded quite like the place where her father, Philip Grace, had taken Mare and Snow to train them before they were sent to the middle realm to spy on the Hilberg family.
"If, when you come back, you possess a new power, I’ll teach you how to make poisons and pills above your rank," Mavreth suddenly said, making Michelle’s eyes gleam.
"That’s possible?" she quickly asked. It was hard to believe.
As far as she knew, Poison, Elixir, and Pill Maker Mastery worked differently in the lower, middle, upper, and heavenly realms than in the Land of Exile.
Back there, since people couldn’t even enter the Spirit rank, all the pills made there were only graded by levels based on the level of the one who made them—from Junior to God of Gods. It was similar to levels of cultivation.
But in the places where people could cultivate into ranks, the ranks of their pills, elixirs, and poisons depended on their rank of cultivation. If they were in the Spirit ranks, even if they were able to make pills of the God of Gods levels, they would only be able to cure Spirit-ranked cultivators with it.
Michelle was in the Divine rank, so she could only give her medicine to people of the Divine and Spirit ranks.
If Mavreth taught her a way to bypass that barrier, she would gain the upper hand above any other Poison, Pill, or Elixir Maker Master.
"How do I get into the Fiend Dungeon?" she asked. She didn’t know whether she really would gain a new power in there, but she at least wanted to confirm it as soon as possible.
Mavreth made Michelle follow him. "Once you enter the Fiend Dungeon, you won’t be able to leave for three months, so you should contact your friends before going," he mentioned as he walked through the sect.
Michelle nodded and summoned Tenether. Quickly, she attached a note to his paw and had him fly over to Kieran and the rest.
Since the group was nearby and Tenether was exceptionally fast in his falcon form, he was back within an hour, so Michelle didn’t have to wait long by the dungeon entrance.
It was a strange place. The gate was a huge mouth of something that resembled a wolf. At the moment, it was closed by a heavy door that formed the wolf’s fangs. There were gaps in between, so Michelle could see a bit into the dungeon.
But all she could see was a short hallway before it took a turn.
Mavreth placed his hand on one of the wolf’s fangs and pressed hard. It moved like a tile under his strength and a mechanism in the mouth was set into motion. The jaws slowly opened and the hallway behind was fully revealed to Michelle.
"See you in three months!" Michelle stood up, Tenether sitting on her shoulder.
A smile came in response from Mavreth. "Don’t die in there. I wouldn’t want to lose my disciple so soon."
Michelle walked in between the wolf’s fangs and entered the hallway. The next moment, the stone jaws shut behind her and darkness enveloped her.
But Michelle didn’t care the least bit. She could see in the dark.
Feeling movements in her contract space, Michelle summoned Mare, Snow, and Cold Flame. And Nyxaroth came out of her body. "What’s the fuss about?" she asked with a raised brow.
"This place feels nice..." Snow stretched her body, looking somehow like a playful puppy. Just a bit overgrown.
Glancing at the rest, Michelle saw they were acting similarly. "Do you want to move around on your own?"
Cold Flame flapped his wings and landed on Michelle’s free shoulder. "Won’t you be in danger if we leave?"
Michelle shrugged. "No risk, no gain."
"Then, I’ll be off!" Snow swished her tail behind her and broke into a sprint into the dungeon.
Cold Flame followed shortly after, disappearing into the darkness.
Seeing the two gone, Mare shook her head and turned to Michelle. "Don’t be reckless with your life," she hissed.
She didn’t have dark element spirit energy, so she couldn’t see in the dark, but as a snake, she had a very acute sense of smell, letting her sense all that was around her.
"Don’t worry!" Michelle stared at the huge snake in front of her. She didn’t know why, but it seemed her beasts couldn’t be in their human forms in the dungeon. Something was suppressing them. But since they weren’t telling her about it, they probably didn’t mind.
When Mare slithered away, Michelle turned to Nyxaroth. "You won’t go your own way?" she tilted her head a bit.
"No!" If Nyxaroth was in his human form, he could shake his head, but in the mist form, he could just bubble around. "I’ll stay in your body."
Michelle didn’t mind, so she let Nyxaroth go back into her body.
So the only one left around was the falcon on her shoulder. "What about you, Tene? Will you stay with me?"
Tenether didn’t need even a split second to think about it. In an instant, he transformed into his tiny cat form and jumped down with a soft meow.
What Michelle heard from the meow made her raise a brow. "What changed on me?" she asked.
But just an uncertain meow came in response before Tenether lunged into the darkness. He didn’t know what was going on with Michelle.
"Nyx, did you notice any changes in my body?" Michelle asked as she herself stepped deeper into the hallway.
"There is something strange going on, but I can’t pinpoint it yet. Give it a while. Maybe it will surface."
So Michelle just continued walking down the hallway. After a while, it opened up, revealing ruins of a huge city.
By the spirit energy around, Michelle could feel in which directions her contract beasts went, so she chose a direction where no one went.
Climbing over the rubble and boulders, shrouded in darkness, she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of city could have been in a dungeon. Or did it become a dungeon only after the city fell to ruin?
Michelle had no way of finding out at the moment, so she just continued going forward.
After she got over the rubble that was originally the city wall, she slid into what used to be a street and looked around. Very clearly, she could feel a bloodthirsty gaze locked on her.
But she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It was like the gaze was completely surrounding her.
That could only mean one thing. She was up against a strong opponent. One so strong it could completely fool her senses.
Not knowing where the gaze was coming from, Michelle decided it wasn’t a good idea to stay in one place. So she walked forward through the broken street, stepping over the boulders in her way.
Finally, she stepped in front of a single boulder, her gaze locked on it.
"Just because I can’t pinpoint the direction of your gaze, doesn’t mean I can’t find you!" her voice was cold and icy. She didn’t know whether the creature could understand her, but she was sure it could comprehend her tone.