"Alright, what now?

" Foster asked, leaning against the wall outside of Zhaine's shop, looking at Octer, Lynol and Kyla.

"What do you mean, 'what now'?

" Lynol asked, and Foster immediaely shrugged,

"I don't know, like, what are we gonna do now? It's another couple days until my Guild Card is ready, and until then I can't really work with the guild. So what are we gonna do now?

"

"Did- Did you not hear what Zhaine said inside?

" Octer asked with a wry smile,

"He was right when he said we wouldn't be doing anything for a few days. We just cleared out a dungeon, Foster. It was a first-time clear. We wouldn't be taking new requests for a few days anyway.

"

Foster raised his brows surprised,

"Really? Huh... I mean, fair enough. Some freetime it is, then.

"

"Freetime? Who said you're getting freetime?

" Lynol asked,

"We're going to keep training. We only trained three techniques from the book. And you can do a lot better with those three as well. I've booked us a training room at the Inn, so we'll be spending a few days there until our meeting with our new handler.

"

Foster stared at his friend perplexed,

"The whole time? Seriously?

"

"Of course. Since the training room is at the Inn, we can maximize the time we have for actual training.

"

"Didn't I show you that I'm good enough in the dungeon already? Come on, I can do this!

"

Lynol rolled his eyes,

"You showed that you can fight against mindless, weak opponents pretty well. We're going to be entering the Basement soon, things will be different there. You can't beat every enemy with forward strikes in there.

"

"...What's the 'Basement'?

" Foster asked confused, and Lynol sighed in response, turning his head to look down the street,

"I mentioned it before. The 'Great Dungeon'. It's nicknamed 'Basement'. It's a huge underground dungeon that this city is built on, and since you descend down into that space, it's dubbed 'Basement'.

"

"Hold up, this whole town is built on top of a dungeon?

"

Kyla grumbled slightly, her arms crossed,

"You don't even know that? Yes, it is. It's the whole reason why this city is even here. People found the dungeon, and created a camp around it. They thought it was just a beginner's dungeon at first. When they figured out that it was actually larger than they thought, more and more people came, and the settlement grew and grew, and turned into Arcadum as it is now.

"

Foster raised his brows surprised,

"Wait, why did theye think it was a beginner's dungeon?

"

"Because it's special. 'Great Dungeon', 'World Dungeon', whatever, that sort of place has a lot of names. We have no idea how deep it is. But it starts at a beginner level with monsters that even kids can take care of, but the deepest known levels are too tough for the strongest adventurers in this city to even attempt to enter. It's a magical place, really~! I can't wait to head in there!

" Kyla said, going from annoyed to excited incredibly quickly,

"Ooh, I know! I'll go and buy some maps! And I think I can go and ask some people about strategies for the first few floors~!

"

Lynol nodded,

"Good, do that. What about you, Octer? Do you want to train with Foster and I, or do you want to go off and do your own thing for a few days?

"

"Wait, you're letting Octer choose?

"

"Foster, Octer has so much more experience as an Adventurer than you do, and he's much stronger than you are. So am I. I need to bring you to our level, but I don't need to do that for him.

" Lynol said bluntly, and while Foster stood next to him, pouting annoyedly, Octer replied,

"I'll join you here and there I think, but for now I'm just gonna explore a bit.

"

"Then do that. But you should really make sure to join us at least for a short while. To test your new martial skill out, I mean.

" Lynol suggested.

"Right, I played around with it a bit last night. It was hella weird. I'll show you guys later.

" Octer said,

"Let's split up for now. We meeting for dinner?

"

"I can come by, I don't mind~!

" Kyla replied immediately, and with that, the group split into three, and they all went their way for now.

---

"By the way... aren't there, like... more stances... in the book?

" Foster asked, breathing heavily as he turned over toward Lynol, who was currently swinging a weighed-down training sword as practice. The swordsman turned his head and looked at his friend,

"Of course. But why are you asking me? You're the one whose eyes are glued to those books.

"

"I know, but... why does the training mode thing only teach me the 'basic stance'? Even if I try, it won't teach me the others.

"

Lynol sighed and let down the training sword,

"Listen, if it won't teach you, then that's just not the way of the 'Argomna Style'. That stance that you are practicing is not a 'normal' stance. You have seen me fight already. I've got more than a dozen different stances for different situation drilled into me, but they all have certain aspects in common. What you are learning now is the 'in common' part of your combat style. You will easily branch off to other stances later, don't worry. For now, just keep on practicing it and the different strikes in the book.

"

"Right... about that... I think I'm missing some books.

" Foster pointed out,

"I don't have access to the complete style.

"

"...and the only guy that could teach you is dead.

" Somewhat annoyed, Lynol pressed his hands onto his hips,

"Were there any other books at the hut where you got these ones?

"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't want to bring a dozen books with me.

"

"...

" Lynol stayed silent and thought about what to do next,

"Those guys you met there probably reported the location. And if you found it, so did they, meaning that the books are gone even if you went back to try and get them. I doubt they're going to release the information in the books either, not that we would find out anytime soon.

"

Foster squatted down and leaned against the wall,

"Maybe the dungeon-dude knows something about it. We promised to go back anyway, so we can ask next time, right?

"

"Or you learn another, similar style to fill in the gaps.

" Lynol suggested. The two of them looked at each other for a while, and both of them knew that Lynol's suggestion was a worst-case decision. Slowly, the gaze of both of them turned toward the bracelet that Foster was wearing.

The small metal snake seemed to practically stare back at them.

"Do you think that this one knows something?

"

"It is a legacy artifact.

" Lynol pointed out,

"And the one that used to own it is the creator of this style. I think it is a good bet.

"

Foster rubbed his fingers over the small snake's head,

"I guess we just gotta figure out how to learn about all that stuff.

"