All of Ai's alertness paid off as she destroyed both of Codelros' Battle Elf cubes before he even realized they were broken.
As a result, this hastily arranged match ca to an end.
"Tatsuro, I won!"
"Huh...? Oh, is it over already?"
While still not fully grasping the situation, Ai quickly rushed over to where her beloved was waiting.
As Codelros watched her retreating figure with his mouth agape, suddenly an unfamiliar intellectual voice echoed in his head.
"I was able to respond to the call imdiately. Well, even so, being able to lend that child my power even a second earlier makes a difference. I thank you, little one."
"--Who... no, could it be--"
Though he had never heard the voice before, he had felt its presence many tis.
(Could it be the Spirit Beast!?)
"Indeed. Well, this won't happen again, so you need not rember it. Now, about my thanks... which part of would you like to borrow?"
(C-can I really choose?)
"That's what I'm saying. Decide quickly before I change my mind."
(Um, well... Could I perhaps borrow one arm?)
"One arm. Very well. Hmm... I've already lent you the left hand. Then I shall lend you the right arm."
(The entire opposite arm!?)
Since he could already use his left hand, he thought having just the left would be enough. He never dread the spirit would lend him the opposite arm.
And while sensing these feelings, the monkey spirit deliberately said:
"Are you dissatisfied?"
(No, absolutely not!)
"Continue to work hard. If you do, I may consider lending you more power."
(Yes! I will strive forward each day.)
"Ah, and one more thing. What we discussed here must remain confidential. If you speak of this to anyone, I will never lend you my power again. Rember that. --Now, farewell."
(Yes. Please rest well.)
And so ended Codelros' once-in-a-lifeti conversation with the Spirit Beast.
When he noticed his clenched fist had beco sweaty, he wiped it on his pants and imdiately tried extending a right arm from the tip of his staff.
A thick, powerful right arm made of light brown spirit energy shot out.
Even though he had lost, he felt refreshed knowing that with this, he could reach even greater heights as he dismissed the spirit technique.
And while trying to suppress his expression thinking a smile would be inappropriate, he returned to the waiting room.
However, that ended up making his face look rather creepy, causing everyone to worry about him, but that's another story.
Tatsuro embraced Ai as she jumped into his chest with a bright smile.
"Tatsuro"
"Mm, good work."
As Ai nuzzled her head against his chest affectionately, he patted her head, and they imdiately started talking about the spirit technique she had just used.
"This is an amazing spirit technique!"
"Yeah. Sothing like hands co out, and it can extend like the Ruyi Jingu Bang."
"That's right! So even when I don't want to get up, if there's sothing rod-shaped nearby, I can grab things from far away. Isn't it amazing!?"
"Oh... yeah... It's amazing how Ai can make such a seemingly sacred spirit do that."
"If a normal person did that... they probably wouldn't lend their power anymore..."
Leah said jokingly, but she was actually right on the mark.
If anyone other than Ai - for example, if Codelros tried to use the spirit technique as an errand runner because he didn't want to get out of the kotatsu, the spirit would never lend its power again. (T/N: A kotatsu is a low wooden table fra covered by a futon or heavy blanket, which has a heat source underneath the table. It is a popular winter heating device in Japan)
The spirit's feelings would probably be sothing like "What do you think you're using for, you fool!!"
But when Ai does it, the spirit properly lends its power.
In this case, the spirit's attitude is more like "Oh, what a troubleso child," responding like a grandparent indulging their grandchild's whims.
The response when lending new body parts is also different.
When a normal person wants to borrow sothing:
"It's too early for you, you brat!" they would be judged with stern eyes.
In Ai's case:
If she thinks "I want to use that~"
"Oh, you want that? Well, here, take this too while you're at it."
They lend it freely, like giving pocket money to a grandchild they haven't seen in a while.
For those with martial arts skills, this extrely different treatnt might make them think "What's with that!?" But that's just how important the [Valkyrie] skill is to the spirit beasts.
"Ah, looks like a point to go to the next floor has appeared on the stage."
"Is that so?"
The entire floor surface of the large circular stage in the middle transford into a glowing pond.
And then only the glass room on Tatsuro's side had its door open, allowing them to proceed there.
"When we get this far, it really feels like it's over."
"Yeah. It was a really educational ti."
For Ai, being able to properly see what spirit techniques were like helped her understand what they were.
And since she also leveled up, there was nothing more to ask for.
[Now then, will the winning Tatsuro team please proceed to the treasure vault. If you jump in there, it's just one leap away!]
"That's sudden. Is everyone okay with this?"
"Yes~"
"Peewee"
"Neigh"
"Indeed"
"I'm fine"
"OK!"
"Well then, shall we go?"
[Yes, yes~]
Tatsuro and everyone left through the opened door and reached the circular stage that had transford into a glowing pond.
When Tatsuro glanced at the other side, Beverly gave a small wave.
So Tatsuro gave a slight bow before everyone jumped in together.
For a mont their vision turned pure white, and they imdiately arrived at the so-called treasure vault.
It was a dimly lit place, but small lights were arranged at regular intervals, so it wasn't so dark that they couldn't see anything.
And in this space, there were tal walls in front of and behind Tatsuro's group, and although there were no stairs, countless doors covered the entire wall surface.
And these walls covered with many doors continued endlessly along with a wide path that stretched as far as the eye could see both left and right.
[Alright~ We've arrived! This is the treasure vault. From now on, I'll unlock all the doors in this space for thirty seconds only. During that ti, you can take any treasures inside freely. But when it's over, the room doors will be forcibly locked. So please be careful - if you're inside a room, you'll get trapped and won't be able to get out!]
"What's that, scary!"
"By the way, if soone gets trapped, how can they get out?"
[Hmm... well... If soone like you happens to co again and coincidentally opens that door, they can get out. When the door is locked, ti stops inside, so you won't die. Actually, there are several beings trapped inside already, so you might be surprised if you open so doors. Well, given the number of doors, the chances of that happening are probably one in several hundred million~]
"That's even scarier!"
"If you're too consud by greed, it leads to your downfall..."
It seems they should consider that there's no way out once trapped.
Therefore, they established a preventive asure to avoid the worst-case scenario by strictly adhering to the rule that everyone must be outside the doors three seconds before the end.
"Well then, let's decide on assigned sections. We only have thirty seconds, so it would be better to move efficiently."
The walls were densely covered with countless doors.
Rushing in randomly would only lead to wasted effort.
If they decided which doors to open and in what order from the start, there would be no overlap or confusion.
"Then I'll go up this wall and open doors from left to right in one go."
"Then I guess I'll take the middle section. Flying with wind magic is faster than running on my own feet."
Ai pointed to the front wall, indicating the doors lined up at its towering peak.
Tatsuro pointed to an area several levels below that.
After incorporating everyone's opinions, the assignnts were as follows:
Tatsuro and Ai as ntioned above.
Cardina, with her high-flying ability, would take the doors at the top of the opposite wall from Ai.
Jeanne, who could reach while standing in her [True Form] state, would take the area slightly below Tatsuro.
Nana, with her speed and wings, would take the area opposite to Tatsuro.
Leah would take the front doors at ground level. Athena would take the back doors at ground level.
"Also, it might be better to transfer everything except what we need from your [Item Boxes] to my [Infinite Item Field] first. If it still gets full, feel free to send things my way. Is that about good?"
"Yeah. After that, it's a race against ti."
So everyone sent everything except the bare necessities to Tatsuro's [Infinite Item Field] to secure enough capacity.
Then Nana and Tatsuro cast speed-up magic on everyone, and they finished their necessary preparations while facing their assigned sections.
[Well then, is everyone ready? We'll set up a panel here to show the ti, so please check it yourselves. We'll also count down the last five seconds~]
"Got it."
[Then, three seconds until the treasure grab starts. 2--1--Start!]
At the dungeon's starting signal, everyone dashed out simultaneously.
First, Ai maximized her abilities with body enhancent and ran vertically up the wall to reach the top in an instant.
She sent out her clone to open doors while she threw everything into her [Item Box] without even checking the contents.
Tatsuro followed slightly behind on his board, rising to his assigned section with wind magic.
Jeanne skillfully opened doors using wood magic as well, reaching in with her fingers to transfer items to her [Item Box].
Athena opened the doors in the bottom row one after another, moving treasures to her [Item Box].
On the opposite side:
Cardina rose quickly in her [True Form] state. Though not as fast as Ai, she reached the top at considerable speed and opened doors with her front legs while collecting treasures.
Nana, in her [True Form] state, used [Dragon Flight] while running vertically up the wall like Ai toward the doors below Cardina.
Finally, Leah secured treasures from the bottom row doors within her capabilities, moving with minimal but certain movents.
And as the seconds counted down on the huge panel that had appeared in the middle of the pathway---
[5 seconds remaining. 4--3--]
By this point, everyone had exited the doors as per their earlier agreent.
[2--1--0. Ti's up! The doors have been locked~]
With the ending signal, everyone returned to their original positions.
And Tatsuro made sure everyone was present.
"Is everyone here?"
"Yes~"
"Peewee"
"Neigh"
"Indeed!"
"I'm here"
"Here~"
After confirming everyone's safety, Tatsuro breathed a sigh of relief as he began checking their spoils.
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