They left the 50th floor.
The group made their way back toward the surface.
The return journey was faster and faced fewer obstacles compared to the descent. It was as if the Dungeon itself knew that sending more monsters wouldn't be enough to stop this party of adventurers.
Because of that, they encountered very few monsters on the way back.
The path back was much easier than the road down.
Everyone was chatting and laughing as they traveled.
Alice, meanwhile, held her grimoire and continued inscribing her magic. The scope of her Seven Luminaries magic was vast, incredibly so.
Furthermore, Alice possessed the power of boundaries, allowing her to fuse Seven Luminaries magic with this boundary ability to construct entirely new magic arrays.
The gravity array used to restrain the Goliath earlier was a spell Alice had developed by combining the Seven Luminaries magic and boundaries.
Now, Alice was pondering whether she could develop a few more spells similar to that gravity magic. Walking beside Lefiya, she was deep in thought.
Noticing her intense concentration, Lefiya spoke up.
"Alice-chan, what are you thinking about so hard? There might be few monsters on the way back, but you still need to pay attention to your surroundings, you know?"
"It's fine. Shanghai and Hourai are keeping watch," Alice replied without looking up, her hand continuously writing and sketching in her grimoire.
Lefiya watched her movements, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Alice, you've been writing and drawing all this time. Are you developing some new magic?"
Lefiya leaned in closer to peek at the contents of the grimoire and instantly felt her head begin to swim.
"Ugh... so bright...!" It was as if the contents of Alice's book were physically dazzling. Lefiya immediately shut her eyes.
Seeing this, Alice let out a soft, amused chuckle.
A single glance at Alice's grimoire revealed an incomplete magic array alongside a large number of bizarre Divine Script.
Thanks to Riveria's Spartan education, Lefiya could understand a fair amount of Divine Script. But the ones Alice was writing genuinely made her head hurt.
"This is my newly constructed magic. Are you sure you don't want to take a look, Lefiya? Even though I'm not an elf, if you could learn this spell, it would be incredibly powerful for you."
Alice directly opened the book and presented its contents to Lefiya.
"Come on~~ take a look. You might learn something valuable."
"Waaah! No! My eyes would get hurt!!" Lefiya covered her eyes with both hands.
Seeing this, the corners of Alice's eyes crinkled with amusement.
"My, what a shame."
Alice closed the book and put it away.
Hearing her, Lefiya cautiously peeked through her fingers. Relieved to see the grimoire was gone, she let out a sigh.
Back in the familia, she was constantly subjected to Riveria's Spartan lessons. She had developed a deep-seated aversion to written materials.
For an elf, Lefiya had a surprisingly strong dislike for homework.
To Lefiya, Alice's grimoire was like a massive, esoteric manual on magical theory. Not only was it completely incomprehensible, but if she got sucked into trying to understand it and failed, it would surely drive her mad.
Knowledge of the magical arts was, for a mage, something akin to a poppy's allure—tempting yet potentially overwhelming.
The exchange between Lefiya and Alice caught the attention of Ais and Riveria nearby. Riveria had also heard what Alice said.
Riveria was very curious about this new magic development Alice mentioned.
So, she addressed Alice.
"May I take a look?"
"Hmm?" Alice turned to Riveria, then offered a slight smile and handed the grimoire over. "Of course. If you have any thoughts, please let me know."
"Mm."
Taking the thick grimoire from Alice, a flicker of surprise passed through Riveria's eyes. She hadn't expected the book in Alice's hands to be so substantial.
"This book... it's quite precious, isn't it?" Riveria was an excellent mage herself. If Alice could recognize the grimoire's value, so could Riveria.
"Yes, very precious," Alice replied, rubbing her nose slightly, a faint feeling of helplessness rising within her. The group was on their way back now.
And once she got back, she needed to figure out how to properly repay the favor for this grimoire to Syr, or rather, to Freya.
The magic Alice was researching, specifically the magic arrays, didn't use a single shred of this world's knowledge. It was all built upon the foundational structures of Seven Luminaries magic.
If not for the Divine Script annotations, Riveria would have found it completely unintelligible.
Frowning, she endured the mental strain, analyzing the information contained within the Divine Script.
She managed to grasp the general type of magic Alice was currently creating.
Closing the grimoire and returning it to Alice, Riveria asked curiously, "Is this magic part of the same system as the spell you used to bind the Goliath?"
"Yes, more or less." Alice nodded. "Gravity magic utilizes the power of the earth to increase the gravitational force on an enemy, thereby restraining them. However, based on the previous battle, this spell is quite inconvenient in combat. So, I'm looking into developing a new magic that can achieve a similar effect."
"To restrict an enemy's movement, you can utilize the environment. For example, using earth attribute magic to turn the ground into swamp, or employing tools, like using chains to bind the enemy directly."
Riveria frowned slightly as she looked at Alice.
"Besides those two methods, there are many other conceivable approaches. You could even use ice magic to freeze the enemy solid."
"There really shouldn't be a need to research time, should there?"
Riveria didn't know what views Alice's former world held regarding time, but in this world, toying with time was a divine prerogative.
Even though the gods hadn't expressly forbidden research into time magic...
From what Riveria knew, those who delved into temporal magic never met a good end.
However, Alice was ultimately different. Seeing Alice's completely casual attitude towards time, Riveria understood that for Alice, or for the world she came from, time likely wasn't such a monumental concept.
It was highly possible that in Alice's world, someone had already mastered time.
Therefore, Riveria didn't directly tell Alice to stop her research.
After hearing Riveria's words, a new idea formed in Alice's mind.
"Using ice and snow, huh... That's not a bad method. I'll jot it down for now."
Alice promptly recorded the idea in her grimoire.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.