SURFACE

That breath of fresh air and sound of birds chirping never appeared as Ivan and Yue hoped. Instead what had greeted them was the familiar sight of stone walls as they had seen many times in the dungeon before. But they remained composed as Yue used a fire spell to illuminate their surroundings.

Indeed what they found themselves in was another cave. However this cave was quite narrow as it seemed unnaturally paved towards a single direction from where they appeared. Ivan and Yue looked at each other before moving away from the magic circle they were teleported with and deciding to follow the path carved for them. Not like they had anywhere else to go.

Well at least after confirming that Ivan's transmutation neither worked on the floor, walls or ceiling. As for why they were composed even in such a situation? It's not like they really expected the magic circle to the bottom of the Great Orcus Labyrinth to be out in the open in some patch of grass. Of course Oscar would have taken great precautions to mask it if he didn't want his hunters to find him.

While Oscar's character was quite dubious, from the documents they found and the message he left behind he didn't seem evil enough to give them false hope, or rig their escape path with traps. But even then they wanted to be extra careful as they trekked down the hall ready for any attack.

However that attack never came as they were greeted by a dead end. Ivan and Yue observed the wall that blocked their path closer as they discovered a thin line that ran up it vertically, at least up until the point it reached palm-sized heptagon carved into it.

They noticed the familiar design etched into the heptagon before Ivan activated the 'Treasure Trove' equipped to his finger. The ring they had taken from Oscar's finger appeared in his hands as he held it up to the etched heptagon.

With a grandiose boom the line in the wall pulled open like a door and revealed the rest of the path. Ivan and Yue followed the path, coming across similar doors and other traps, each being opened or disabled with just the flash of the ring.

It wasn't long until the scenery changed, Ivan and Yue both twitched their noses before halting their steps. They looked at each other at the same time before noticing the faint light at the end of the hall. Careful steps became brisk jogging, then running, then sprinting as the two raced towards the exit.

Sunlight. Just beyond this hall was the world they seeked. As such there was no way they would ignore their excitement. Their desires only became stronger as they felt a fresh breeze hit their faces.

Both of them burst out into the light at the same time. Yue spread her arms as if embracing the world while Ivan took a knee before wiping a lone tear from his left eye. For the first time in forever they breathed an air different from the staggered one in the dungeon.

Ivan awoke from his stupor as he realized the ground he was kneeling on was neither soil nor grass. Instead what they both currently stood on was a floor not too different from the stone lining the Grand Canyon. In fact Ivan looked up before noticing that they indeed stood at the bottom of some gorge surrounded by the same rocks.

As of now he had no doubts as to where they've found themselves. The Reisen Gorge, a great gash in the earth that divided the north and the south. A gorge that ran anywhere from one kilometer deep in shallow areas to two kilometers in other places. Spanning anywhere from nine hundred meters wide to eight kilometers wide. One could make it to the Gruen Desert so long as they followed it to the west or to the Haltina Woods if they decided to go east.

However there was another property of this area that made it such a dreaded one besides the powerful monsters that inhabit it, that being so long as you stood beneath these cliffs it was impossible to use magic. Or so that's what Ivan had read from the Holy Church's documents and Oscar's library.

But for now none of that mattered. The only thing Yue and Ivan wanted to do was gaze at the sun together. Though the 'sun' in Oscar's hideout was indeed created to have identical properties to the real deal, Yue and Ivan couldn't help but find a greater sense of serenity from just seeing the true sun. They smiled brilliantly as they laughed out loud when they both had to look away and wipe the tears that had accumulated.

"We really did it... Yue." Ivan spoke, choked with emotion.

"Ah, we did." Yue carried a similar sentiment as she looked on over at him.

They did nothing to break eye contact as they instead made a move to get closer. And as if to destroy it all Ivan hurriedly pulled Yue into a hug before spinning her into the air.

"We made it to the surface, Yue!"

"Yeah!" Yue responded enthusiastically to his outburst.

However—!

"GAAAAAOOOOOOO!" Before they had noticed it, they were surrounded by monsters. It had seemed their little celebration of theirs attracted quite the group to them, as the monsters began howling and growling.

"Sit tight, Yue. This is the worst place for a mage like you." Ivan readied his fists as Yue backed up with a pout on her face. As mentioned before the Reisen Gorge was famous for its property of dispersing the mana that went into the formation of a spell before the user is able to cast it.

While it wasn't impossible for people with large magic capacities like Ivan and Yue, not to mention the mana storage jewelry they adorned, to cast a spell seeing as how they just held such a grand reserve. The cost of replacing the dissipated mana with even more of their own was quite hefty.

Which is why Ivan wanted to save Yue as a last resort seeing as how all of her capabilities are magic based. For now it'd be more cost effective to just beat the shit out of the enemies that appeared before them until they made it out of the gorge.

"GAAAAAAOO!!!" Ivan responded to the double headed t-rex as he held his right arm in front of him, his actions were followed by a mad dash towards it.

Seeing the fast approaching food the t-rex monster only remained in its spot. The moment Ivan had made it directly in front of it the two heads made a lunge for his body.

WHOOOOSH!

Ivan managed to dodge both of their bites easily as he climbed onto their necks. Ignoring the bucking of the monster Ivan only pressed his arm down on one of its heads before–!

BZZZZZT!

The head of the monster he touched exploded into a gush of blood and flesh as the remaining head roared in agony. Ivan mulled over the cost of his attack before moving onto the next head, taking advantage of its howling to do the same as before.

With a snap of his fingers the ring on his finger glowed as the water transmutation gauntlet for his left hand appeared. He ran up to another monster before touching it with his left hand, and in a flash of gray the beast could only blink helplessly as its frozen body fell to the ground.

CRASH!

The suspiciously ice shaped monster shattered into a million pieces as the remaining monsters stared in silence. Their howling and roaring grew quiet as they shivered at the sight of their prey approaching them swiftly. In the end only one more monster remained as they rest already scurried away.

All living beings possessed the fight or flight response, and it seemed this beast chose to fight. At least that was what Ivan thought as he grabbed the bleeding t-rex with both of his hands and flung it to the final challenger.

The final challenger only remained still as the corpse of its compatriot exploded right into its face, it clawed away at its own eyes before tripping on its way out. Ivan only leisurely approached the cowering beast before removing the gauntlet from his left hand.

He rested his right arm onto its back before red sparks flew into the air, he watched in interest as the beast's body contorted and bended from his touch. Ignoring the beast's howl he decided to put it out of its misery as the neck molded into a form it shouldn't have.

CRACK!

The beast's whimpering grew silent as the air stood still. Ivan observed his left hand as he contemplated something for a bit.

Yue trotted briskly up to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Yue. It's just that the Arm of Creation seemed to inflict greater pain than I imagined."

"Hm… Well it's obvious whoever is under its effects feel the transmutation of their body. It's not strange that having your organs and bones molded into places it shouldn't would hurt a lot.."

"Ah~ I suppose I should just be satisfied that it could even transmute living creatures." Ivan released a sigh as he shrugged his shoulders. This was just a little test he's been meaning to conduct since getting the tattoo inscribed.

While it wasn't possible to mold living beings using his original method of transmutation, the Arm of Creation made such an act feasible. It being imbued with life itself while attached to his arm is probably attributed to the act.

He patted Yue's head as she closed her eyes contently, a flash of green shone from his finger as a large backpack appeared on his back. Now that he was done with his little test it was time to hit the road. By no means did he intend on staying in a desert after being cooped up in a dungeon with nothing but caves.

Heading to the Haltina Woods. should be their first objective, seeing as how where there's trees there's likely to be a town or civilization nearby. He shared his thoughts to Yue as she nodded to his words. Rather than this dry cavern she wanted to be in a lively and vibrant forest. The heat in this area largely contributed to her decision.

Using the sun to determine which way was east, Ivan and Yue started their trudge to the woods as they enjoyed their stroll on the surface. Along the way they were sure to meet other monsters and creatures. But they weren't afraid, they were demons cultivated by the depths of hell (Orcus) . What do they have to fear from some lowlifes that wouldn't even be able to handle a single kick from a rabbit on the 101st floor.

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Hey guys. Today I just started watching Magi and I've gotten real fascinated with its world. Maybe in the future I'll make a fanfic using it but for now I want to solely focus on this one. Right now my current goal is to cultivate my skills while creating an enjoyable reading experience, so if I've managed to satisfy both of these goals to you then know that I shall work my hardest on this work because of your motivation.

Right now I can't afford to work on another project, as I fear it'll dilute this one. But let it be known that I got a couple ideas for three other works. They're not exactly fully fleshed out but they've been stuck in my mind for quite a while, such as this one before it was concepted.

Anyways thanks for reading and make sure to join the discord if you wanna have a chat or maybe play some games! Have a great day/night and see ya next time!

If you want to support me and read ahead 10-15 chapters, you can check out my p.a.t.r.e.o.n right here: https://bit.ly/ardoaleister

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