The trio approached the dungeon with little issue, a whole day passing with little conversation. Amelia was irritated that she had to bring an idiot along, that they’d nearly been found already, and that she now had to train the idiot into being something useful.

She knew her limits, and without Essence, she knew even the most simple dungeon could be a death trap. The idiot, Chadwick Turbone, walked beside them. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, with auburn hair, a chiseled jaw, and a frame that could shame some professionals she’d worked with before.

She eyed his sword crafted of mythril. The blade was well made and contained a powerful engraving containing strange magic. She couldn’t identify its purpose, but it was there nonetheless.

She had hoped that he owned a shield, but he’d met up with her without one. If he survived the dungeon run, they would have to look into getting him one. A Defender was only as good as their shield.

She thought of everything they needed to do in the near future. She needed to get her gryphon to Rank-Two and hoped that the dungeon could help her with that. They also needed to remove the presence from her gryphon, refill her Essence, and make sure that Chadwick didn’t die. Not only that, they had to avoid being caught by the UBA and find a new Guild to join. One with enough clout to force the UBA off them, even if it’s only temporary.

If her Contracted got strong enough, they could even look to go off-planet. The dimension gates weren’t cheap, but renowned adventurers and Contracted monsters often left to more actively participate in the Wars.

She knew the Ardenians weren’t moving without some heavy backing, so that would be their first ticket to some glory and recognition. At the same time, she needed to figure out who backed them. She didn’t want enemies she couldn’t at least hide from.

She sighed as she considered just how unprepared she was for everything and pat the back of her gryphon’s neck. He was good. She felt the cold pain that numbed her, but it was easier to ignore now that she wasn’t beyond exhausted.

They approached a distortion in the mouth of a cave that led into the side of a small hill. “This is it. Last I heard, it was a fairly weak dungeon for beginners below Rank-Two. It doesn’t spread and has no valuable resources, so Ghulda doesn’t use it much.”

“What’s inside?” Chadwick asked nervously.

“Giant Leeches, apparently. My information is pretty old, though, so take that with a grain of salt.” She stuck her pulled her bow out and beckoned him forward.

“Here goes nothing,” he said as he walked forward. He stopped right before entering and turned to her, “Why do I have to go first?”

“Just go, I’ll be right behind you.” She watched as he entered and then turned toward the gryphon. “We need you to get Rank-Two as fast as possible. Kill every third monster until I tell you otherwise, and I know you think he’s annoying, but he’ll be useful in time. He’s an unpolished gem in the rough. I’m gonna make him into something great, though if it comes to it and we need a distraction, don’t hesitate to leave him behind.”

The gryphon nodded back at her, then stepped through the distorted cave mouth. The inside of the dungeon shocked Amelia. A large castle loomed in the distance, though none manned the walls. None of her information ever mentioned a castle.

Chadwick stood a few meters ahead of her, staring dumbly at the castle in the distance. “I’m not liking this very much. I thought you said leeches? What leeches do you know that build castles?”

“None,” she said stoically as she stood beside him. “So, the information is a little out of date. We can scout out the enemy and determine if we can fight them or if we should leave.”

“Sounds like we should just leave. I knew this was a stupid choice,” Chadwick said as he turned back toward the entrance only to realize that the distorted air was now gone.

“Looks like we’ll need to complete it. On the bright side, the information about the swamp was accurate, so you should do your best to be careful when walking through any water.” Amelia pulled her bow out and looked around warily.

The pungent stench of the swamp water made her blink a few times as she got used to it. The lack of light didn’t bother her much, but Chad looked as though he couldn’t see further than a foot in front of his face. His face cramped as he tried looking about with little success to be found.

Amelia didn’t look forward to wading through the water, though it didn’t look to be higher than her mid-thigh. She looked at her clothes and grumbled, “I just washed these. I’m gonna have to wash again after this is all done.”

She looked over toward her Contracted and decided that she needed a name for it. The name came to her fairly easy, as the gryphon’s hide, feathers, and fur were all the same obsidian color. She walked up to it and looked it in the eyes. “I need a name for you so that I can stop thinking of you as ‘my Contracted’ or ‘my gryphon’, you know?”

It furrowed its brows at her as if asking her if this was really the place and time for that. “I’ll have you know, it bugs me to think of you as a thing. You’re my Contracted, and that means a lot more than you know. Do you like the name Obsidian?”

It looked at itself and then back at her and glared, “What? A little too on the nose? Well, deal with it because to me, you are now Obsidian.”

Obsidian huffed back at her and stepped forward into the murky water.