Chương 214: (209) 3.74. A Bold Proposition

Debriefing Spur on the events of the battle took up the rest of the morning, and Vin decided afterward that he needed some time to unwind. While Spur got started screening Trod with the truth-gem, Vin grabbed two lunches from the now infrequently-used mess hall and made his way over to the dungeon. Eventually, he wanted to bring up the idea of Lumel joining him for an actual sit-down meal at one of Terra's new restaurants, but today was definitely not that day.

Vin didn't want to feel a dozen eyes on him while he tried to relax after their battle with the Red Dawn, and there was quite literally no better place to escape to than the Underside. Dispatching a few errant wolf monsters with lazy Stone Shots, Vin focused on his Dungeoneering and made his way to the nearest corridor. Dungeoneering increased to lvl 11! 1, 100 exp gained. Huh. I guess I've just been spending a lot of time in the dungeons lately.

Seeing as the Dungeoneering skill was unique in that he gained something new with every five levels, he was rather curious what hitting level 15 in the skill would end up giving him. He pondered that very question as he walked down the corridor and stepped out into the Underside, spotting Lumel half a mile away, closely examining one of the corridors branching off toward a different fragment. Grinning, Vin cast Whispering Wind, directing his voice to sound like he was standing right behind her.

"Care for some lunch, princess?" He couldn't help but laugh as Lumel jumped, spinning around and glaring at him from all the way across the massive room. There was a flash of purple, and he jerked back as he found Lumel suddenly standing directly in front of his face. Darting forward, she surprised him with a quick kiss before grabbing one of the offered lunches and warping over to their usual stone chairs he'd created a while back before he could even react.

"Come on, the food will get cold!" Chuckling at how quickly she'd gotten him back, Vin joined her, digging into his sandwich as he raised an eyebrow.

"You know, think you could finally show me the runic formation for Dimensional Shift? I've got Dimensional Sheath down, and I'm looking for my first tier three spell anyway. It's hard to think of many spells that could be more useful."

"I could show you, but only if you promise you'll take it slow," she said, looking pointedly at him.

"I've gotten a pretty good understanding of how you tackle magic by now, Vin. This isn't a 'I'll get it in a few days if I keep throwing myself at it' spell. Dimensional Shift is complicated, dangerous, and above all else, hard. Even knowing the knack you have for magic, I'd expect it to take you a week to learn at the bare minimum, and that's devoting most of your time to it each day."

"Seriously? A week?" Vin sighed, wondering just how many lesser-tier spells he could learn in that same time frame.

"You don't think I could do it faster?"

"I already told you, spatial magic is easily one of the most complex schools of magic to study," Lumel reminded him.

"Honestly, the fact that you've been learning the starter spells so quickly has been a testament to your skill."

"I had a good teacher," Vin teased, earning a blush from the pulmon.

"Be that as it may, a week is the optimal estimate. I wouldn't be surprised if it took you longer. Also, before you even go down this path, you should know the spell won't be nearly as useful for you as it is for me. I'm a Dimensional Mage, so I have passives devoted entirely to strengthening my spatial magic and making it stronger. Still want to learn it?"

"Will I still be able to teleport around?" Vin asked, curious how Lumel's and his own Dimensional Shifts would differ.

"Yes, albeit less easily. Your range won't be as long as mine, and you'll have to burn a lot more mana to achieve the same results."

"I've got mana," Vin shrugged.

"Let's do it!"

"Alright," Lumel sighed, brushing the crumbs off her robes as she got up and raised a glowing finger.

"But I don't want to hear you complaining in a few days when you still haven't figured it out." Vin had thought the runic formation for Dimensional Sheath had been complicated, but Dimensional Shift blew that out of the water. His jaw dropped as Lumel simply kept going and going, the formation growing ever outward until it was nearly half as large as she was.

"And you learned Mass Dimensional Shift?" he asked, realizing Lumel truly was a phenomenal mage to have figured out the tier beyond this one entirely on her own.

"You're incredible." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"You already got the runic formation, you don't need to butter me up," she giggled, taking her seat as he memorized it with Iron Mind.

"I know I sound like an echo, but this won't be easy, Vin."

"I know, you've made that very clear," he said, frowning at the nervous-looking pulmon.

"Is everything okay?"

"I know it's stupid… But I guess part of me is worried you'll get frustrated with the spell, and then unintentionally direct that same frustration toward me," she finally admitted, looking sheepishly at him.

"Like I said, it's dumb, and I know you'd never do that. But logic doesn't stop the anxiety."

"You're right I'd never do that, but that doesn't mean it's dumb," he said, summoning another seat next to her and shifting to it. As he put an arm around her, she leaned her head on his shoulder, letting out a content sigh as he continued.

"Trust me, I used to get plenty anxious about all sorts of things back on my old world. If I was going to get in trouble for using public facilities I knew I had every right to use. If anyone was going to try and find my parents and ship me back to them after I ran away from home. Hell, I used to get anxious just thinking about if I'd ever truly get to see the world like I wanted. Transportation to other countries wasn't exactly cheap!"

"So how did you get over all that stuff?" Lumel asked.

"I hate how nervous I get about everything. It's one of the reasons I freaked out so badly back in the library when my spell failed. I didn't know what to do and all I could think about were those golems tearing me limb from limb."

"The answer is I didn't," Vin said, laughing at Lumel's confused face.

"Sorry, but there's no magic solution. I guess some people who have it really bad are able to get medicine back on my world, but for a vagabond roaming around without any money? I guess I just got used to it. For me, coming to Edregon helped a lot, because just about everything that I used to worry about is impossible now. There are no more public facilities for me to use, my parents are literally light years away, and I no longer need to worry about expensive tickets in order to explore the world. I can just…

focus on exploring and worry less about everything."

"I wish my worries could all be solved so easily," Lumel sighed.

"Though thank you, it helps hearing that I'm not the only person that struggles with this kind of stuff."

"I'm sure Shia or Alka would be more than happy to chat with you as well about all this," Vin offered.

"Their own unique experiences might help more than my own. Maybe it's worth a shot?"

"That would involve either calling them down here, or actually stepping foot in your town," Lumel muttered, unconsciously pulling her hood down a bit more over her face.

"I know you don't like the way people look at you, but you've been living down here in the Underside for nearly three weeks," Vin pointed out, glancing at her possessions strewn all about the place. Honestly, it didn't look like much seeing as the room they were in was larger than should be physically possible without collapsing in on itself. He was struck by a sudden thought, and his face lit up.

"What about if you came and lived with us? I didn't get a chance to tell you yet, but it turns out Witherson has already gotten a lot of the housing figured out. I have an actual apartment now that I share with Scule, Alka, and Shia, which is a huge step up from the tiny stone cubicles they used to have us in! I don't think Alka even uses her room, seeing as she doesn't sleep, she might be willing to let you take it!" Vin didn't even realize until he'd finished talking that Lumel had frozen against him slightly.

Peering down at her, he realized what little he could see of her face under her hood was bright red. Finally, he realized he'd just asked the girl he'd been dating for all of a week to functionally move in with him.

"We wouldn't be sharing a room," he quickly added, in case that hadn't been clear enough.

"We'd be housemates! Sorry, I just thought you had to be getting tired of living down here in the Underside all on your own and wanted to give you another option seeing as you don't really have anywhere else to go!" As he rambled on, Lumel started giggling, which eventually turned into full on laughter while he tried to fix the current situation. Slowly, she pulled her hood back again, smiling as she looked at him.

"I appreciate the thought, Vin. But before I even entertain the idea, perhaps you should actually check with Alka before you go offering her room to someone else?"

"That… is an excellent point," he admitted, realizing he'd gotten ahead of himself yet again.

"Sorry. Sometimes when I get excited or think I have a good idea it just comes out of me without thinking."

"Oh, I'm well aware," Lumel said, her grin widening.

"I recall a certain Magical Explorer finding me crying down here in the Underside after I'd been kicked out of home and offering me a place on his team without checking with any of his own teammates first."

"Yeah…" Vin coughed, realizing it was his turn to turn red.

"... I should probably work on that."

"I think it's cute," Lumel said, leaning forward and giving him another quick kiss. Even after a week, Vin still hadn't gotten used to the strange gel-like texture of Lumel's lips, but he certainly wasn't complaining.

"Seriously though, if you check with Alka and she's fine with the idea, I might actually take you up on your offer after a few more days. I've learned quite a lot in these last three weeks, if the artifacts I've made weren't indication enough, but I think I've gotten the majority of what I can get from the Underside by now. That's not to say I don't want to continue studying it, but I think living down here isn't so necessary anymore.

There's just one more thing I've been trying to figure out that's had me stumped for a bit now. It's something big, something regarding the entire structure of the Underside itself, but I haven't cracked it yet. I can't shake the feeling that the Underside itself is waiting for something."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out! And I'll check with Alka and let you know," Vin nodded, pleased to hear Lumel might actually be willing to risk walking into their new town. He was well aware of how insecure she was about her appearance when it came to meeting other races, so he didn't miss how much she was putting herself out there.

"I guess one of the nice things about being a Dimensional Mage is that you aren't going to need much help moving all your stuff, huh?"

"It will certainly make things easier," she giggled, looking around at her scattered belongings.

"Though I might need some help bringing these stone chairs with me."