Chapter 207 - lava dungeon

She looked at the delicious cookie and gulped.

This was a difficult decision for her. Should she forgive me and get the cookie, or continue ignoring me?

While she was contemplating her choices, I moved the cookie closer to her nose. She sniffed the fresh cookie’s irresistible scent.

I watched her changing expression and smirked.

Nailedddd it!

However, she chose a third option.

Her hand moved at lightning speed, snatched the cookie from me, and then she went back to ignoring me.

I stared at her speechlessly as she munched on the cookie while we walked.

Munch...

Munch...

Her face lit up with happiness as she enjoyed the giant cookie little by little.

I tried talking to her, but she gave me the cold shoulder.

I was completely helpless at this point as I followed the branch manager to the next testing room.

I even tried to steal the cookie back, but she glared at me and protected it like an angry cat.

I could only sigh as we finally arrived at the next room.

Inside was a dummy made from some unknown material.

I looked at it, and Luna’s attention shifted toward it as well.

I asked, "What is that?"

The branch manager spoke up.

"It’s a dummy made from a material with the strength of a C-Rank monster."

"You only need to destroy it to pass the test, but don’t underestimate it. It’s quite sturdy."

We nodded, taking in all the information she provided.

Then I took out Eclipse.

"Can I go first this time?"

I looked at Luna, but she merely huffed.

"Do whatever you want."

I smiled and approached the dummy.

"Can I use everything I have, including Aura and my elements?"

The branch manager nodded.

"Yeah, you can."

I smiled and coated Eclipse with Space Aura before performing a horizontal slash.

The dummy was cut apart like cheese, and my attack continued beyond it, even cutting into the wall a little.

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Is this the wrong dummy or something?"

The branch manager’s eyes twitched.

"No, this is the correct one. You’ve passed."

I simply shrugged and returned to Luna.

She immediately threatened me.

"If you mess with me during my test, I won’t let you off!"

I laughed, feeling the urge to do something mischievous.

So, when she started walking toward the dummy, I created a small dark vine on the ground to trip her.

However, she seemed to have anticipated something. She froze the vine with her Ice Element, shattered it, and continued walking toward the target.

She glared at me.

I simply admired the surroundings, pretending not to notice.

Oh, that was close.

Just as I thought that, Luna turned around and came back toward me.

I blinked.

When I looked at the dummy again, it had been reduced to pieces of ice and crumbled to the ground. Luna had already finished her test and returned to my side.

A small smile appeared on her face—a rather chilling one.

I avoided her eyes.

"Oh, wow! Nice performance!"

She nodded, maintaining that same chilling smile.

"Oh, is that so? Do you mind explaining what that vine on the ground was?"

My eyes twitched.

"It must have been an overgrown vine from a tree."

Luna’s eyes twitched as well.

However, I immediately changed the topic and turned toward the branch manager.

"Have we passed the test? Can we get our C-Rank adventurer IDs now?"

She looked at me speechlessly before nodding.

Then she updated our adventurer ranks to C-Rank and handed us our new cards.

Luna accepted her adventurer card, but she kept looking at me.

I felt awkward as hell.

Then I followed the branch manager toward the mission counter and asked, "Can we take a mission for a B-Rank dungeon?"

Her eyes widened.

"A B-Rank dungeon? You need a party for that!"

I pointed at Luna.

"There’s my party."

The branch manager’s eyes twitched as she explained that we needed more than just two members to enter a B-Rank dungeon.

After a long argument, I finally managed to obtain a mission for a high C-Rank dungeon.

I showed it to Luna.

"See? I got it!"

To my surprise, she smiled.

I looked at her and asked, "Does this mean you’ve forgiven me?"

She simply smiled without saying anything.

I stared at her, then thought to myself:

She’s impossible to understand.

That saying about women being impossible to understand is completely true. The people in the past weren’t lying.

The wise men of the past must have come up with that saying for a reason.

I nodded to myself before collecting all the information about the dungeon from the receptionist.

Then I thanked the branch manager for her help.

She smiled and replied, "You’re welcome. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

We nodded, and Luna also bid her goodbye before we headed toward our first challenging dungeon.

Before allowing us to accept the mission, the guild had made sure we had bodyguards and several safety precautions in place. We also had to sign an agreement stating that we would take full responsibility for ourselves.

Even though it was only a high C-Rank dungeon, the guild wasn’t willing to take any chances.

However, I felt that the branch manager was being a little naive. Perhaps she didn’t realize that if anything happened to us and my family decided to come after the people responsible, all those precautions wouldn’t be enough to stop them.

After a long journey, we finally arrived at our destination.

Though, honestly, the journey hadn’t felt long at all because Luna and I had spent the entire time talking.

We had thousands of topics to discuss. We started with Luna’s pout over the crystal ball, moved on to talking about the dungeon, and eventually ended up discussing practically nothing in particular.

But we enjoyed every moment of it.

The guards stationed at the dungeon entrance stopped us, so I showed them my adventurer ID.

The moment they saw my name, they became extremely respectful and allowed us to pass. They even reminded us to be careful.

I smiled and nodded before entering the dungeon.

As soon as we crossed the portal, I felt the entire environment change as space shifted around us.

I kept my perception focused on Luna as we moved through the spatial transition.

I could sense every aspect of space around me, so keeping an eye on her was no problem at all.

We arrived inside the dungeon, and the first thing that greeted us was an extreme wave of heat.

The surrounding environment was filled with lava.

My eyes widened as I looked at Luna and let out a massive sigh.

I saw that she had already frozen the surrounding area.

Her ice was special, so it wasn’t easy for the intense heat to melt it.

She stood in the middle of the ice like an ice goddess, practically glowing in her armor.

I teleported beside her as my perception detected numerous enemies nearby.

My eyes widened, but I immediately created several ice spears, opened small portals, and teleported the spears directly toward the enemies.

All the ice spears contained a portion of Space Force.

They pierced the enemies, killing them.

Luna sensed them as well, drew her sword, and prepared herself.

My attack succeeded. I heard their screams before their bodies fell to the ground.

Luna and I approached the fallen enemies to examine what we were facing.

What we found were small salamanders.

We looked at them and sensed that they were around D-Rank to C-Rank.

Luna and I exchanged glances before she spoke.

"They’re Fire Salamanders. The most terrifying thing about them is their fire breath."

"Many adventurers have died because they underestimated these creatures and let their guard down."

"Don’t underestimate them."

I nodded, looking at her in surprise.

"How do you know so much about them?"

She put on a proud expression.

"I studied monsters in the past, so I know a lot about them."

I nodded.

"Hmm, yeah. I can see that you’re very knowledgeable about them. I almost mistook you for a scholar."

Her eyes twitched, and she punched me lightly.

I laughed before speaking again.

"Hey, augment yourself with Ice Aura. That way, you can resist the heat. Even though your constitution can withstand most things, it still seems uncomfortable for you."

Luna nodded as she realized I was right. She augmented her body with a thin layer of pure Ice Aura.

She immediately felt much better as the familiar coldness returned to her body, pushing back the heat.

I took out a chilled bottle of orange juice and handed it to her.

"Here, drink this. You’ll feel much better."

Her eyes brightened as she accepted it with both hands and began drinking, closing her eyes as she enjoyed it.

I looked at the surrounding lava and the path we needed to follow to clear the dungeon.

Hmm, this will be fun. Let’s see if this dungeon can give us a challenge.