Chapter 124: Train!

When she first heard the name, an array of strange emotions quickly came forward to her mind and triggered some of her senses. Dion Allegra. Since she didn't know much about the man, she decided to forget about him for the time being until he came to encounter her directly.

She discussed several things with Alena before parting ways with her. It was already night time, so there was no way that they would do heavy activities from this point on. Aria went straight to the training ground, where she had some training dummies to play with. Aria was very careful with her strength at first, but she then realized that the training dummies were actually sturdier than she thought. It was made with a peculiar metal that was incredibly hard to penetrate through.

However, if she compared the metal with a normal monster's flesh, then her power would be plenty to cause massive destruction. She also felt that her body was getting lighter- a result of her Agility being increased.

Not only did her pure strength increase, her magic power was also increased. As a Summoner, her Summons' magic power actually depended on their own potential, but Dianthe was different. She was able to have an equal exchange with Aria, to the point where her powers would be affected by Aria's own change.

Thus, when she actually tried to use Dianthe's newly reformed water spells, she was even able to leave a large gash on the training dummies.

Granted, the dummies might not have been created with the intention of withstanding magical attacks, which was why the water blade was able to penetrate much easier, but it was still scary to think about. With this amount of force,  Aria reckoned that she would even be able to tear down walls.

"This is.. too much," Aria was shocked at her own power, laughing awkwardly at the force she exerted.

Next, she placed her attention on the training ground ticket. It was a reward given to her, but there was little to no information captured on the item apart from the fact that it would open a training ground inside the Tower- as the name suggested.

It was a one time ticket, meaning that she could only access this once, but there would be a possibility of her getting another one of these tickets.

Whatever it was, Aria was deeply intrigued in it. The concept of a training ground provided by the Tower. It seemed like the System was trying to pull off was meant to nurture and train her, but for what purpose? Especially when she saw the name of the pendulum. The Unity Pendulum.

It meant that the pendulum her master had was actually related in one way or another to his goal, and he knew it. If so, why had he not spoken about this item at all? It should've helped her for his research's continuation. The fact that he disappeared with this pendulum made her think that he actually hadn't planned for her to continue looking for Unity.

But Zehell was so dead set on his goal. How could it be that he didn't even think that Aria, who was exposed to continuous years about him rambling on the Unity's existence to follow his footsteps and get on the topic as well?

Something was clearly off, but she chose to not dwell upon it any longer. She didn't know how long she was going to train for if she used this ticket, so she wanted to be able to manage her time better. There was a chance of her being stuck inside the ticket realm once she got into it. She didn't know the specific details of the item, so she chose to poke on it on a later time, when her time slot would be open.

As of now, she had a much higher priority. That was, leveling herself up and getting ready for the A-rank dungeon.

She slept through the night after finishing her training session. When she woke up in the morning, she was surprised to find out that her mobile phone had received several concerning messages of high priority.

It was news about the dungeon subjugation. It was due next week.

She glanced at the messages that were sent to her by the Association one more time. She also had received a text from Reina, who told her that she will also be joining the trip and to expect a good cooperation.

Because of the severity of the dungeon, and the fact that she had to wait for quite some time before this trip actually came into fruition, Aria felt a strange sense of distress.

She went downstairs to tell Alena about the notification, to which the little child clapped emotionlessly.

"As expected of them. Of course they rushed it.. Haa, remember when I told you that this operation was quite the dangerous one? They are seriously too confident with their own power, and  this would come to bite them in the back, seriously," Alena banged on the table, feeling frustrated at how the Association was behaving.

"Don't fret about it. Today, didn't you say that you could provide some dungeons?" Aria sat down on the breakfast table and dined in.

"Yep. I have already contacted Gin. Although I would've liked for a little bit more rest time, this is also alright. You need to get a lot stronger as well,"

Aria nodded, agreeing to Alena's suggestion. They both quickly got ready after that, and went to the first dungeon they were set to clear. Gin was waiting there, wearing the same clothes he wore the previous time. They approached the man, who pointed at

the dungeon gate they were about to do.

"Alena, let's do this?" Aria looked at Alena, who nodded nervously. Last time they entered a dungeon, it was so severe that they had to rest for an entire day. She didn't want that sort of experience to repeat again, but at the same time, she knew that the dungeon was quite the anomaly. It was the type that really required manpower if you wanted to clear it with ease.

The fact that they couldn't know what was hidden inside the dungeon was a scary thing to all the Hunters, but life was a gamble in entirety. You make a series of choices that ultimately lead to where you stand today, which was why life was so everchanging and would never have the same essence throughout all the days.

"Let's go in, then. Gin, we will be counting on you today too," Aria eyed Gin, who was standing beside the gate with a cheeky grin as always.

"Of course. Miss Croft is my VIP customer, and her payments are always generous. I will make sure to provide a great service," Gin assured as he began to chant his spells to protect the two's security during their dungeon subjugation. "As always, I will give you two a time limit. Since this is a C-rank.. let's see, how about a 2 hour time limit? Will you be able to do it?" He asked.

"Of course. Even if you make it one hour, it shouldn't be that big of a problem," Aria planned to finish it swiftly and let Alena grow as much as she could alongside with her momentum. Gin's work was based on schedules, so Alena booked his schedule for the entire day.

Thus, if they were still able to keep fighting, then they could maximize abusing Gin's power and service. They could scrape the most out of their purchase and clear several dungeons all at once. The C-rank dungeon was a warm up, and they planned to scale up higher the next time.

They both entered the dungeon. Their enemy turned out to be armoured bears, to which Alena's Silver Slime actually came to play. The Silver Slime was able to combat the armors using its slimy gel, which worked well to melt the armors and successfully connect the attacks Aria and Alena made to harm the bear.

They ended clearing it in just slightly less than an hour, as they had some problems trying to face the boss, which was a gigantic armored bear. This time, not even the Silver Slime was capable of melting the armor down. As such, the two had to work together and even ended up pulling in the assist of Ilyin, who made it hard for the bear to move around and create loopholes for Aria and Alena to impose on.

Ilyin was now helping Alena in her fights. This happened after the previous encounter, where Ilyin was touched by Alena's integrity and sought to soar with the little girl. It was a very brittle emotion that Alena had to rely on. There was no telling when Ilyin's rage would come back, but the spirit was actively helping her out right now, and causing her levels to rise exponentially.

As they got out, Gin had his usual business smile and commented on the two's speed and condition. Both of them were still left unharmed, although their outfits were somewhat turned askew as they had to restrain the huge force the bears had and avoid the dangerous strikes.