"Speaking of which, Tsuna—what brings you to me this time?"
Loki's eyes always brightened at the unknown, but the priority now was whatever Tsunayoshi had run into.
"Here's the thing," he said. "I settled on entry rules for the two training spaces, so I'll need a little of your blood, Loki-sama, to serve as the access key."
"Oh? To keep… other people out?"
Loki immediately grasped his intent. She didn't really believe someone would sneak into her home, happen to find Tsunayoshi's secret rooms, and then slip inside—but the fear was always that one in ten-thousand.
She glanced at Astraea, who still hadn't fully caught up, and her mouth curled with mischief.
"Perfect. Since Astraea-chan is here, let's draw hers too. Her girls will use the rooms as well—no point locking them out later."
Tsunayoshi nodded. Two small knives rose into the air before Loki and Astraea.
Loki barely reacted—she'd grown used to this—but it was Astraea's first time seeing it.
They each took a knife and made a light cut on a fingertip.
Fresh drops beaded, but an unseen force lifted them, suspending them in the air.
The goddesses' blood mingled, swirled, and fused with a strange substrate that bloomed and hardened into the shapes of two doors.
Crests of the Loki Familia and the Astraea Familia etched themselves across the panels—clear heraldry as part of the identification.
"The red door is the challenge space," Tsunayoshi said, opening it to reveal a vista that belonged to an entirely different world. "Just like I mentioned, this one is fixed to a 'jungle canyon' biome."
It was Astraea's first time witnessing a child who could shape such a space right before her eyes.
More shocking still—what he used wasn't magic, but a skill.
That only deepened her curiosity.
What kind of skill could accomplish this?
"Oooh," Loki hummed, peering into the doorway. "Different from the grasslands and woods in the rest area—the trees here claw up from inside the ravine. Everything's much messier."
"And there's a broad river running through it. You really can stock a lot of dangerous monsters here. The terrain's complex and very… fightable."
"No, Loki—this terrain is exactly what makes it less fit for combat."
Astraea stepped out of her thoughts and, after surveying the canyon, gently disagreed.
"For a ravine, the slopes are extremely steep. Just moving here drains far more stamina."
"Rivers inside gorges are also dangerous. All life flocks to water. Any adventurer who approaches will only attract more trouble."
"Since this zone targets weaknesses, you won't be placing simple monsters here, will you?"
"Just so, Astraea-sama," Tsunayoshi said, snapping his fingers.
In the middle of the gorge, the river heaved—and a triple-headed crawler surged up from the current.
"The mutated floor boss of the Great Azure Waterfall—Amphisbaena," he said. "We skipped that boss on expedition, so I don't know its full move-set. I've built in the abilities listed in the Guild reports and added the same regeneration model as the mutated Goliath. Power level: roughly Lv. 6."
"In addition," he continued, "there's the thing your girls met in the jungle canyon—the Dungeon's 'sweeper.'"
A purple-black, withered, four-limbed crawler hauled itself out of the ground and appeared before Loki and Astraea.
"It's one of the Dungeon's self-cleaning mechanisms," he explained. "Its body is entirely purple-black magic stone—extremely tough. Even a first-tier weapon won't deliver a killing blow. It also reflects magic with multiplied force. Only front-line fighters can put it down; a party of mages will wipe themselves."
"As for its strength, it scales by floor. On the 30s, call it Lv. 5."
No wonder Alise and the others had been pushed to the brink.
At last Astraea understood why her children had nearly faced annihilation. Against a monster that targeted you this precisely, any unprepared familia would falter.
"This is the arena for targeted challenges," Tsunayoshi said. "Beating what I make here won't earn 'deeds' toward leveling, but the experience is more valuable than deeds."
Both Loki and Astraea agreed.
"Truly," Astraea said. "This kind of experience is far more precious than simple growth points. You might not gain levels directly, but by facing monsters tailored to your flaws, you learn what you must do in real combat."
"An adventurer's battle is a battle of information," she added. "Only by grasping a monster's habits first can you fight it best. Every creature has a weakness—but the Dungeon seldom gives you the chance to discover it. Your space does."
Astraea could only marvel at Tsunayoshi's power.
With a gift like this, a familia could be raised swiftly and safely. If he could manufacture both space and foe, he could tune the difficulty so no one had to die.
That was the Loki Familia's greatest edge—an advantage other familias could never hope to match.
And it would only compound with time.
"It's like the age of Zeus and Hera," Astraea whispered to herself. "In a hero's light, everyone around them grew. Guided by the hero, they took up arms and faced the world-shaking crises."
In this moment, she believed more than ever that an age of heroes would return—more brilliant than any before.
(End of Chapter)
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