The next morning, Lyon was already buzzing again.
Mr. Lambert was the one who brought the news.
He stepped into the breakfast room wearing the exact face of a man who had overheard something juicy and could not keep it to himself.
"Divers from Paris ate at the restaurant this morning," he said.
Dominic looked up from his plate.
"Yeah?"
"They were talking about an auction."
Camille leaned forward.
"What kind of auction?"
Mr. Lambert shrugged.
"Dungeon things."
That got everyone's attention.
"Armor," he continued. "Weapons. Artifacts."
"Apparently it's being held tonight at the Amphitheater of the Three Gauls."
Dominic and Janet traded a look.
Dominic leaned back slowly.
"…We should go."
Jake nodded at once.
"Absolutely."
Janet crossed her arms, thinking.
"Actually… he's right."
Now that Dominic's team was not only diving but also preparing to defend future lime-oak clones across several floors, their current gear would not be enough forever.
Dominic looked around the table.
"We're expanding territory."
"That means stronger enemies."
"And more camps to defend."
He tapped the table once.
"Upgrades make sense."
Alex nodded.
"We could also ask the Greencap Kingdom."
Dominic shook his head.
"The captain respects us."
"But he's not adopting us."
"And those rabbits don't exactly mass-produce gear."
Janet added calmly,
"And even if they did, I doubt they could make something as advanced as Alex's half-plate again."
Everyone nodded.
Decision made.
They were going to the auction.
That evening, the event turned out to be far more extravagant than expected.
The Amphitheater of the Three Gauls, a historic Roman site overlooking Lyon, had been turned into something halfway between a high-society gala and a black-market trade hub.
Torches lit the stone terraces.
Elegant tables lined the outer rings.
Wine flowed freely.
But the real rule of the night was anonymity.
It was a masquerade auction.
Every guest wore formal clothes and a mask covering the upper half of the face.
Divers.
Collectors.
Corporate reps.
Black-market dealers.
Everyone moved together under elaborate disguises.
Dominic looked delighted.
"This is the coolest thing I've done outside the dungeon."
Janet adjusted her mask.
"Try not to start a fight with an arms dealer."
"No promises."
Jake and Jack were already reading the crowd like professional infiltrators.
Alex walked beside Phong in a dark elegant dress and silver mask.
"You look excited," she said.
Phong nodded.
"I want to see what dungeon artifacts look like outside the dungeon."
He meant it.
But the excitement didn't last.
His system menu blinked.
Again.
Phong sighed.
"…Of course."
A message appeared.
From Em.
He opened it reluctantly.
The thing didn't even bother greeting him.
[Guess what I did this time.]
Phong already hated where this was going.
The next line appeared.
[I met Olen.]
Then another.
[I wore Alexandra's face.]
Phong stopped walking.
Alex noticed at once.
"What happened?"
He did not answer yet.
He kept reading.
[I offered to simply give her to him.]
Then the next message hit him cold.
[I could have altered her memories.]
[Made her fall in love with him.]
[Easy.]
For a moment, Phong forgot how to breathe.
The idea alone locked his chest.
His hands shook a little.
Alex put a hand on his arm.
"What is it?"
He finally spoke.
"That… thing…"
"…offered to rewrite your memories."
Alex froze.
Dominic turned immediately.
"What?"
Phong kept reading.
[But your boy refused.]
[He said he wanted the real Alexandra.]
[Not a puppet.]
Phong exhaled slowly.
Even he had to admit it.
Olen's ego had accidentally saved them.
Em continued.
[So I gave him something else.]
Another line appeared.
[If he eats monster flesh raw…]
[He can become that monster for one minute.]
[Only monsters he gained skills from.]
He agreed immediately.
Dominic swore under his breath.
"Of course he did."
Phong's anger did not fade.
It deepened.
Something had changed.
Em had crossed a line.
Manipulating ecosystems was one thing.
Playing with human lives was another.
Trying to tamper with Alex's mind?
That was unforgivable.
Phong opened the system menu again.
This time he didn't write to Em.
He searched for the other contact.
The one who had once politely asked him to fix scorched land.
The Sky Emperor.
He typed calmly.
[The entity Em threatened to alter Alexandra's memories.]
[To make her love someone else.]
Then he sent it.
After that, he reopened Em's message.
And replied.
[You know…]
[This whole "violating people's agency" thing…]
[The dragon probably hates that.]
He paused.
Then added one last line.
[I just told the dragon what you tried to do.]
Then he closed the menu.
Deep in the dungeon, Em was already moving.
The chaos thing had realized its mistake.
It was heading toward another Pillar's territory, hoping to hide.
Too late.
Thunder split the dungeon sky.
The Azure Dragon appeared.
The Jade Dragon.
The Sky Emperor.
Both mouths roared at once.
The sound shook entire floors.
Its voice carried absolute authority.
A law older than the dungeon itself.
Pillars do not impose their will on the test subjects.
Em was already on the ground when the dragon finished speaking.
The beating that followed was fast.
Final.
Em eventually snapped back, bruised but still defiant.
"You act like they have a chance."
It laughed bitterly.
"They've failed this test so many times I've lost count."
The Azure Dragon said nothing.
Em kept going.
"If the cycle keeps resetting anyway…"
"Why not guide them?"
"Why not push them to the finish line?"
"Or at least have some fun before the next reset?"
The dragon's eyes glowed like distant stars.
Still no answer.
Some rules did not need explaining.
And some questions were better left unanswered.
Alex noticed the change in Phong the moment he closed the menu.
The anger was still there.
But beneath it was something deeper.
Fear.
She gently took his hand.
"Hey."
Phong looked at her but said nothing.
"It didn't happen," she said softly. "Whatever that thing said it could do, it didn't."
She squeezed his fingers.
"And even if it somehow did…"
A faint smile tugged at her mouth.
"I'd fall for you again."
Dominic snorted loudly from behind them.
"Oh, absolutely."
Everyone turned.
He shrugged.
"Unless that thing rewrites her whole personality from the ground up, she'd dump Olen in about a week."
Alex gave him an amused look.
"That generous?"
Dominic crossed his arms.
"I'm being charitable."
Janet smirked a little.
The logic wasn't wrong.
But Phong didn't laugh.
He stared ahead, jaw tight.
Then he said quietly,
"I need a moment."
Alex opened her mouth to follow.
But Dominic lightly touched her shoulder.
"Let him."
She looked at him.
Dominic nodded toward Phong's back as he walked toward the darker edge of the amphitheater.
"What Em did tonight," Dominic said quietly, "opened something."
Alex frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Dominic folded his arms and leaned against the stone rail.
"A wound."
"A deep one."
Alex slowly got it.
Phong had lost his aunt and uncle.
His only family.
Killed by powerful people who treated other human lives like disposable tools.
That loss had started him down this road.
And now a cosmic thing had casually suggested it could take Alex away from him by rewriting her mind.
Dominic continued, voice low.
"It reminded him that even with the garden… even with the plants… even with everything he built…"
"There are still things he might not be able to stop."
Alex looked toward where Phong had disappeared into the crowd.
"…Losing someone again."
Dominic nodded.
"That kind of fear doesn't leave easy."
She glanced at him again.
"You can be surprisingly deep sometimes."
Dominic grinned.
"That's my secret."
"When I'm not busy being a himbo."
Janet snorted.
"That exact duality is why I married him."
Dominic pointed at her proudly.
"See?"
Janet shrugged.
"Unfortunately accurate."
They gave Phong some space and turned back to the auction floor.
The amphitheater was getting louder as more items were brought out.
Rare dungeon equipment.
Monster materials.
Artifacts from deeper floors.
Dominic spotted something at once.
A pair of heavy leather combat gloves inside a reinforced glass case.
The auctioneer announced their properties with full drama.
"Forged from the hide of a Basalt Gorger."
"Enhances physical strength by twenty percent for one minute."
"Cooldown: once per day."
Dominic's eyes lit up.
"That's mine."
Janet sighed.
"Of course it is."
The bidding lasted less than thirty seconds.
Dominic won.
He slipped the gloves on right away and flexed his fingers.
"Oh yeah."
"These are nice."
Joanne drifted toward another stall where a craftsman displayed strange arcane accessories.
One ring caught her eye.
Mounted on it was a tiny metallic device that looked like a miniature telescope.
The vendor demonstrated by channeling a simple spell.
The device projected a narrow targeting line through the air.
Joanne's eyes widened.
"…Is that an aimscope for spellcasting?"
The vendor nodded proudly.
"Precision enhancement."
"Useful for long-range casting."
Joanne reached for her wallet immediately.
But Jake and Jack appeared behind her like synchronized criminals.
They grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back.
"Don't."
Joanne blinked.
"What?"
Jack leaned in and whispered,
"We can make that ourselves."
Jake nodded hard.
"Way cheaper."
Joanne paused.
Then smiled slowly.
"Deal."
Jake did not need a new weapon.
He was still using the dagger carved from a soldier ant mandible during the Bamboo Ant siege.
The blade had a natural serrated edge and still carried faint mana traces.
But he did buy something else.
A pair of reinforced boots.
The vendor explained proudly,
"Acid-resistant leather."
"Built for corrosive environments."
Jake nodded in approval.
"Good investment."
Considering how many dungeon monsters liked to spit acid, that was not an exaggeration.
Meanwhile, Alex wandered through the upper ring of the amphitheater.
Most stalls sold weapons or armor.
But one vendor caught her eye.
The man wore a mask like everyone else, but his accent gave him away at once.
Heavy German.
His stall held something unusual.
Seeds.
Dozens of small wooden boxes filled with different kinds of seeds.
Most buyers ignored him.
The vendor kept loudly explaining to passersby,
"These come from a tree that grew behind Les Cornes de la Terre."
The French name for Horns of the Earth.
People laughed.
"Sure it did."
"Next you'll say you climbed its back."
The vendor didn't seem bothered.
Alex stepped up quietly.
Then switched languages without warning.
"Woher bekommst du sie wirklich?" she asked in German.
Where did you really get them?
The vendor blinked.
Then answered in German too.
"A forest that appeared after it passed near a gate."
Alex studied the seeds carefully.
They looked strange.
Not normal tree seeds.
But not obviously dungeon-mutated either.
Interesting.
She bought them without hesitation.
The vendor bowed politely.
"Someone finally took them seriously."
Nearby, Séline and Camille were shopping too.
Both of their classes leaned heavily melee.
That had already been a problem more than once.
Then they found something perfect.
A pair of compact mana-enhanced crossbows.
Lightweight.
Fast reload.
Bolts infused with weak mana pulses for better penetration.
Séline tested the balance.
"Good."
Camille nodded.
"Finally something for range."
They bought them immediately.
As the group kept moving through the auction floor, night deepened over Lyon.
Music echoed across the old amphitheater.
Masked figures traded weapons built to kill monsters.
Wine flowed.
Gold changed hands.
But somewhere beyond the crowd, Phong stood alone for a while under the cold night sky.
Thinking.
Trying to steady the fear Em had woken up inside him.
Because the dungeon was no longer the only thing he was fighting.
Now he knew something worse existed.
Something that could twist reality itself.
And it had already started playing games with his life.