During the first day back from the dungeons, Sam took the cubs, along with Abe and Jig, to get registered. The look of amazement on the beast registration clerk's face, when she returned so quickly with more tames, delighted Sam.
Training began once they knew the eagles were being looked after. Her new helper, Terrence, was a LVL 10 Beast Tamer and Janice's kid brother. In his early twenties, he planned to help his sister at her farm/aviary. The promise of custom-crafted armor was almost enough to make him agree to work for Sam for free; the silver was a bonus.
Since he also had a bird tame, an Ice Falcon named Blizzard, whose feathers caught the light with a sharp, glacial sheen, and an adorable Arcticblast Fox named Squall, whose fluffy, snow-white tail never stopped twitching, Sam offered him a second set of armor for Squall if he helped her eagles learn to fly—well, if Bliz did. She assured him his sister would still receive armor for her tame as well. Once she figured out how to armor a bird, reproducing more wouldn't be difficult.
By their fourth day of training, Sam leveled the cubs again, which gained them the active skill Ambush Pounce. They had endless fun using it to attack Tempy and Iggy. Sam was so happy that her tames couldn't harm each other. Their new passive skill was Nocturnal Senses, an enhanced night vision skill that also improved their ability to find shadows in unlikely places.
Sam decided to pause the cubs' growth at LVL 3. She needed to ensure they benefited from the full XP bonus that higher-level tames would miss out on. Though halted in level, she upgraded their skills as much as possible. Their armor, three big sisters, and their Tamer—who could send them to their Beast Space in case of emergency—would protect and strengthen them. They'd be fine.
Her main concern was staying LVL 17 before getting to The Lab. Since the Beast Bank had so little removed, and she wanted her tames to benefit as much as possible from The Lab, she decided to level up their little jiggly friend. Needing over 13k in XP to level up was a good chunk. While she was at it, she leveled up her newest tames as well—not Appa, who was already level 16, but the other three got a level up. Now with only a little over 19k in the bank, Sam felt better entering The Lab.
Sam had also taken the time to work on her pike and shield skills. Her level in Pike Mastery had leveled to seven, while her Shield Mastery was at five. There wasn't much to do with a shield: block, bash, push. Though it was amusing to watch the cubs bounce off it when they pounced at her. The shield still worked as a barrier; it was just the enchantment that didn't affect them.
When the day came to leave, Sam had already made and set up a bedroom for Terrence while he was gone. She bid him and her eaglets goodbye and made a trip to Mary and Red's to stock up on food. She could afford the little extravagance, so why not?
She got back up on Sunblaze, and they headed out of the Northern gate toward the capital city of Fractalis, Gröttlich. As they rode, she had Sunblaze work on some of her skills. She used Horizonbound Leap to jump over rivers, Galebound Step to glide swiftly across the terrain, and Dawnflare Pulse to quickly bypass beasts. Sunblaze's passive continued to hide them and boost perception, while Solar Veil made them near invisible in the mornings.
After a few days' travel, they made it to the bridge in front of The Lab. Surrounded by its own wall to keep monsters contained should the upper floors break, The Lab was also connected to the walls of the Capital city. From the direction she came, Sam could either enter the gates surrounding The Lab or take the bridge and enter the city.
Figuring one night in the kingdom's capital wouldn't destitute her, Sam chose to cross the bridge and rent a room for the night. She wanted a good night's sleep before entering the tower dungeon. The only planned resting place was between level ten and eleven, so she wanted to be well rested.
By the time the spires of Göttlich came into view, the air itself felt different. Lighter. Thinner. Like the wind had been filtered through silk.
The road leading up to the capital was immaculate—smooth stone paved in a pattern so precise it almost looked printed, edges marked with faintly glowing runes that kept dust and grime from ever settling. Even the wheels of passing carriages seemed to hum rather than clatter, guided by levitation glyphs etched into their frames.
When the city gates came into view, Sam slowed.
Göttlich didn't look like the other cities she'd seen—it looked engineered. Massive white-stone walls curved upward in perfect symmetry, their surfaces inlaid with lines of gold-traced sigils that pulsed faintly, like veins under skin. Guard towers gleamed with mirrored facets of enchanted glass, and the banners snapping above them shimmered as if woven from starlight instead of silk.
There was no grime, no stray straw, no mud clinging to wagon wheels. Even the air smelled polished—a mix of ozone, lilac, and faint mana residue. Somewhere beyond the gates, a bell chimed; the sound wasn't a clang, but a pure, harmonious tone that vibrated in her chest.
At the first gate, the guards didn't shout or posture. They didn't need to. Their armor—silver-white plate etched with soft blue light—looked ceremonial until you noticed how seamlessly it moved. Every motion was smooth, efficient, and rehearsed.
After reaching the gate, Sam had to argue that yes, she was an adventurer; then show her city ID to prove she didn't just steal the badge from an older sister; then transport her tames in and out of their beast space to prove they were hers and that she had complete control. Sam almost said, "Screw this, I'll sleep in the woods." However, Jarvis's reminder of warm, cozy beds persuaded her to keep her head and not order Tempy to zap him.
The gates themselves opened in silence. No grinding of gears, no creak of hinges—just a sigh of displaced air as the massive doors folded inward on invisible runes.
And then—Göttlich.
The capital unfolded before her like a painting. The streets weren't dirt or cobblestone but polished mana-slate that glowed faintly underfoot. Floating crystals hung at intersections, shifting their light from gold to rose as the day progressed. Carriages drifted noiselessly along designated lanes, drawn by creatures that looked bred for beauty rather than labor. Pedestrians moved in neat, unhurried lines—robes clean, posture perfect.
To the right, she caught sight of a waterway—not a river, exactly, but a magically regulated channel, the surface glass-smooth as it flowed between ornate bridges. The water carried no smell, no debris, just faint ripples of blue light.
In the distance, the Royal Spire dominated the skyline. A tower so tall it seemed to pierce the clouds, wrapped in silver wards that refracted sunlight into a thousand drifting motes. Around it spread the noble estates—gardens suspended on terraces, fountains shaped like phoenixes, and courtyards that probably saw more servants than family.
Everywhere she looked, the city hummed with quiet perfection.
But underneath that perfection was something else—a subtle pressure, like standing inside a snow globe. Controlled. Contained. Even the breeze felt scripted.
A group of maids passed by on the opposite walkway—uniforms crisp, eyes down, movements synchronized. Sam noticed the faint shimmer at the edge of the street: a barrier line. Beyond it, she glimpsed a secondary gate, a narrow, shadowed tunnel where carts of supplies rolled in under watchful eyes. The "help's entrance."
Of course, it was.
"Welcome to Göttlich," she murmured, her voice lost in the soundless elegance of it all. "Where even the dirt knows its place."
By the time Sam reached the inner districts, dusk had already softened the city's glow into something dreamlike. The light crystals overhead shifted from gold to violet, casting everything in a calm, perpetual twilight. Even the shadows seemed deliberate, placed just so by whoever designed this place.
Sunblaze's hooves rang quietly against the mana-slate road, each step echoing like a soft bell. The Dawnsveil Courser's luminous mane caught the fading light and threw it back tenfold—amber, rose, and white-gold ribbons that shimmered as she moved.
Heads turned. Of course, they did.
Everywhere Sam went, the Dawnsveil's impossible beauty drew attention. In Göttlich, though, the stares were different. Not the awed looks she'd gotten from villagers or curious adventurers; these were calculating. Measured. Like merchants silently tallying value.
A few nobles slowed their pace as she passed, their silks rustling faintly. A woman in a sapphire gown whispered to her escort, eyes flicking from Sunblaze to Sam and back again. Sam caught a single word—"unregistered"—before they turned away, the sound of their shoes swallowed by the perfect road.
"Don't mind them," she murmured to Sunblaze, reaching forward to pat her neck. "They've probably never seen a creature that wasn't groomed by ten attendants first."
Sunblaze snorted, proud and unconcerned, and flicked her mane like a challenge.
The main avenue curved toward the residential tier, where even the inns looked expensive enough to charge for air. Enchanted lanterns floated above doorways, shedding warm light without smoke or heat. The air carried the faint scent of jasmine and spell-ink—luxury and artifice in equal measure.
Sam stopped outside a tall, ivory-fronted building marked The Glimmer Spire Inn. The sign shimmered faintly, as if made from captured sunlight.
A valet in silver-trimmed robes appeared immediately, bowing low. "Welcome, honored guest. Will you be requiring a stable for your mount?"
"She prefers open air," Sam said. "Somewhere quiet, if that's possible."
The man hesitated, his eyes flicking again to Sunblaze. "We… can accommodate that."
Inside, the inn was almost oppressively pristine. No dust, no creaking floors, no stray draft. Mana stones set into the ceiling mimicked a soft starlit sky, and faint music drifted from nowhere in particular—gentle, soothing, and entirely artificial.
Sam handed over her coin, signed the ledger, and climbed the polished stairway to her room.
It was perfect. Of course, it was.
Perfect bed. Perfect lighting. Even the sheets smelled faintly of lavender and mana crystal. The window offered a view of the city's heart, where the Royal Spire gleamed against the night like a second moon.
She sent her armor to her inventory and equipped regular clothes. As she dropped down onto the bed she sighed. "Well," she said softly, "if I die in The Lab tomorrow, at least I'll die well-rested."
Sunblaze's reflection shimmered faintly in the glass, her mane flickering with dawnlight even in the dark.
Outside, Göttlich hummed quietly—too clean, too calm, too carefully alive.
When morning came, she made her way back out of the city and entered the gate to The Lab. Above ground, the tower dungeon wasn't all that impressive. It was a simple, one-story building, worn with age and reclaimed by nature during the thousand or so years since it was built—a testament to the original architect, but also to its conversion into a dungeon.
The Lab was a sort of reverse tower. The building above ground was just the first floor; each consecutive floor was technically a sub-basement, totaling one hundred and nine levels. This included a hundred dungeon floors and nine rest stops after every tenth floor. While you could choose to leave any floor before venturing to the next, you couldn't really rest there. The dungeon had a superior replenishing rate, and monsters would respawn after a couple of hours.
Like the other dungeons, The Lab also contained instances. The only exception was the rest floors. If you needed rescue, you either had to make it to a rest floor or exit after killing the mini-boss on your current floor.
When it was her turn to enter the portal, Sam received a few looks. It wasn't common to enter alone. With her beasts in their spaces, she looked like she planned to tackle The Lab just by herself. The mocking comments didn't escape her hearing, but she ignored them all. The first floor featured level five monsters—that wasn't exactly a challenge. This trip was mainly to help train her tames, at least until they got to a higher level... or rather, a lower level, she supposed, considering The Lab was mainly underground, which she was not too fond of.
From what she read in the various books O.S. left behind and what Jarvis had told her, one of the dungeon's main challenges was the monotony. It was room after room, floor after floor, with five monsters to each room. She wasn't sure if it was a test of endurance or boredom. She did wonder how this would all work. Were they actual rooms? Did she have to walk down a hallway with flickering lights, opening room after room? Or was it more of a basic description: "Rooms" separated by corridors? Enter one room, open the door when monsters are dead, new room, repeat? Well, only one way to find out.