"Turning a 1-star hero into a 2-star? Is there a reason why we need to do that?"
Shanny asked the fairy.
[Duh! The more star you have, the higher you could level up and the more skills you could acquire.]
"In other words, we can become stronger by earning stars?"
Trudy confirmed.
[Exactly. Geez, you people are slow.]
I did ask the fairy whether a 1-star could become a 4-star like me. It seemed we finally learned how it could happen.
"Was that why you took the elemental stones earlier? To make this promotion stone?"
I asked.
[Yeah. Master used the three basic elemental stones to create this basic promotion stone, which can turn a 1-star hero into a 2-star.]
"Only a 1-star into a 2-star? Can't it promote me, a 4-star, into a 5-star?"
[You'd need a much better promotion stone for that.]
"How do we obtain such a thing?"
[Either you fuse greater quality elemental stones or fuse an existing advanced promotion stone with a high-grade spirit stone.]
The conditions seemed to be more complicated for a higher-grade promotion. But thankfully we did not need to care about it for now.
"So, how does this 'Promotion Stone' comes into play in giving us more stars?"
I asked again.
The fairy then pointed to the newly-built second floor of the synthesis building.
[First, master will choose who to give the promotion stone. Then the recipient will take this stone and go up to the promotion chamber inside the synthesis building. There they will undergo promotion and the promotion stone will be consumed in the process.]
That would mean the stone could only promote one hero.
If we wanted to promote Jonah, Shanny, and even Trudy, we would need three of those in our hands.
Which meant we needed two more. Which also meant we would need another six elemental stones. Two more water, two more fire, and two more wind elemental stones.
"Is there a condition to the promotion? Or can we just pick any 1-star hero to promote?"
Jonah asked.
[You need to reach your maximum level first. A 1-star hero needed to reach level 10 before they could be promoted. Just like how a 2-star needed to reach level 20 before they could be promoted to a 3-star.]
Currently, both Jonah and Shanny were at level 8.
They each needed to level up twice before they could be promoted.
Meanwhile, while she was with the makeshift parties, Trudy managed to reach level 6. She needed to level up four times still.
The first to the fourth floor could not give us the necessary experience points to level up anymore.
Meanwhile the fifth floor was too difficult of a trial just to accumulate experience. Though I still wondered whether master would send us there again.
What was clear however was that we needed to resume climbing the tower if we wanted to level up and get promoted.
[Well then, now that you guys have learned about the promotion, you'll be responsible for spreading the word around. I won't do it anymore. I'll keep the promotion stone in the storage until someone is eligible for promotion and master decides to do it.]
The fairy then turned to me.
[If you want to use elemental stones for your magic crafting, you'll need permission from master. Ask me first before you take them out of the storage. Or better yet, just gather plenty of elemental stones so that master won't care even if you take a rock or two.]
She said before vanishing.
The news about the promotion stone was really helpful in informing us of how to become stronger.
However, it only increased the importance of gathering materials from the Weekday Dungeon.
We still did not have a solution for the other heroes who would not actively cooperate.
There was still more than an hour before the first filtration of the Dara flowers was finished.
I decided to use the idle time effectively considering we just ran out of precious elemental stones.
"I'm going into the Weekday Dungeon. Jonah, Shanny, you two should continue with your training."
I told my comrades while leaving the storage.
"Will you be collecting elemental stones?"
Jonah asked.
"Of course. We just ran out, remember?"
"Where will you go? The forest is pretty nice. It'll be great if you can bring back more food."
Shanny said.
I shook my head upon her suggestion.
"I still lack Surya dust for my health potion. It's usually found underground. So I'll be heading into the Isralta Mine."
"Wait, Serafina, I'll come with you! I haven't been to the dungeon today!"
Trudy said while picking up wooden baskets from the corner.
"I'll come as well. I still can enter the Weekday Dungeon one more time."
Tarran said while collecting pickaxes to bring to the mine.
Since we would be going to the mine, it would be wise to bring Gerrits with us.
He had not been there yet and we could use his expertise in recognizing which material we needed to bring back.
So we stopped by the equipment workshop before heading into the rift of space-time.
"The mine? Sure, let's go! I've been meaning to go there since Jonah said they didn't bring back many ores."
Gerrits said agreeingly.
The four of us then made our way to the stone gate by the square.
Once we approached it, the gate lit up and allowing us access.
Given we were allowed to enter the Weekday Dungeon without master's order, I supposed it was a given the rift of space-time could be opened without the fairy's presence.
We entered the mirrored chamber and walked to the shining mirror in the middle.
[Weekday Dungeon]
[An ever-changing dungeon's feast!]
[Collect various materials!]
[All dungeon accessible (8 hours)]
As soon as we were in front of the mirror, a window appeared in front of each of us.
[Which dungeon will you enter?]
[Isralta Mine/Kendert Forest/Sinmiel Plateau]
Different from the window I saw in the fifth floor when I opened the dimensional portal, apparently this one was asking for my decision, not master's.
"We're going to the mine, right?"
Trudy asked to confirm.
"Yes. We're heading there."
I told her.
We looked to window in front of us and chose the option by placing our finger on it. Well, the others copied what I did since they did not really know what to do.
[Which dungeon will you enter?]
[Isralta Mine (selected)/Kendert Forest/Sinmiel Plateau]
Suddenly the mirror in the middle of the chamber turned brighter, its glass surface was emanating with soft energy, similar to the rift of space-time we just entered to get here.
I touched the surface of the mirror and my hand simply plunged right through the glass.
There was no doubt about it, this was the gate into the dungeon.
"Let's enter the mirror."
I told my party.
Given that master was not ordering us to enter the dungeon, this must be the method to enter it when we were doing it on our own volition.
Under my command, each of us walked through the mirror.
We were soon wrapped inside a bright light.
Once the light dissipated, we found ourselves inside a great cavern filled with colorful glowing crystals. A dimensional portal connected to the storage immediately emerged beside us.
[Party 5 (temporary) had entered the Weekday Dungeon, Isralta Mine (Lowest Rank).]
[You will collect materials and return!]
[00:59:59]