The Dark Extra: Awakening of SSS-Skill Demon Emperor Legacy-Chapter 53: Tenth Floor of S-Level Dungeon

"Master, you do know I’m terrible at teaching students, right?" Silva asked.

Mireola nodded. She lifted her hand and cast a simple spell, using her magic to pour wine from a floating bottle into two glasses.

"I know. But teaching isn’t the reason I want you there," Mireola said as she handed one glass to Silva and held the other herself.

"What is it then?"

"Alchemy."

"For hundreds of years, alchemical records have been nearly impossible to study. Even I struggled with them. There are notes about strength-enhancing potions and all kinds of other things that no one today has been able to recreate."

"You, Silva, are the one student I’ve had who truly understands alchemy and how its compositions work. With your intelligence and access to Solaris Magic Academy’s complete library, it’s not impossible that we could create potions that help everyone."

Silva listened carefully. Nothing her master said was wrong. She remembered reading historical texts that explained how potion-making had become a lost art after the golden age of mankind.

When the Grand Empire era began, most mages avoided becoming alchemists. The alchemist path was seen as dangerous, boring, and complicated.

People preferred becoming wizards or witches to help with offensive or defensive combat magic.

That’s why the alchemist class had fallen far behind compared to other mage subclasses.

"Can you imagine? One potion that could save hundreds of lives?" Mireola asked, glancing over.

"I’ve heard of that before," Silva replied.

"It’s called the Divine Healing Light Potion. Just a single drop of that golden potion into a bucket of water, and everyone who drinks it is instantly cured."

Silva’s eyes widened. Out of all the magic books she had studied, she had never seen anything with that kind of effect.

If she really committed to studying alchemy, maybe she could find a way to suppress Agares’ dark energy. Maybe she could even strengthen his affinity with light.

Alchemy might just be the answer to everything.

"But of course," Mireola continued, "the decision is yours. I won’t force you. If you—"

"I’ll take it," Silva interrupted.

Mireola turned in surprise, seeing the confident look on Silva’s face. Her eyes were filled with determination.

That face—Mireola remembered it well. It was the same expression Silva had when she first joined Mireola’s training.

It was the face she had been hoping to see again. Not one of sadness and doubt, but one full of fire.

"Good," Mireola said with a smile. "As I promised, I’ll make sure you and Agares can meet again."

"But not now," she added.

"Why not?" Silva asked.

"The head of the knight alliance has ordered that the Empire must not interfere for now. We’re to let the Kingdom of Caer Vireth deal with their own problems first."

"If they fail, then and only then will the Grand Empire step in," Mireola explained.

Silva lowered her gaze. She had expected this. It was always going to be hard for Mireola to bring her and Agares together.

Still, she understood the situation. Her best option now was to accept Mireola’s plan and be patient.

She would meet Agares again. She believed it with all her heart.

***

S-Level Dungeon

Outside of Berdiver City

[DING! Congratulations, Agares! You have defeated the floor boss.]

[Name: Vurmok the Gatebreaker]

[Type: Stone Ogre]

[Affinity: Earth]

[Lv: 5]

[+700 EXP]

[EXP: 39,250 / 40,000] [+700]

"I really hate the EXP system in this dungeon," Agares grumbled.

He was always just short of leveling up. If he could hit 40,000 EXP, he’d advance to Stage 2, Level 1. But for now, he was stuck at Stage 1, Level 9.

[Dropped Items:]

[+30 Silver Coins]

[1x Vurmok Jagged Warplate]

[1x Fragment: Gatebreak Mace]

[1x Vurmok Core]

[5x Monster Cores]

[1x Rumble Sigil]

Agares looked at the loot panel in front of him. Six items—more than the usual four or five from previous bosses.

The last one, Rumble Sigil, caught his attention. When he tapped it, the item appeared in his hand: a black circular seal with red abstract patterns. A faint gray gemstone was embedded in the center.

"Nyx."

[Standby Mode Deactivated]

[Do you need something, Master?]

"Scan and identify the Rumble Sigil," Agares said.

[Item Identification in Progress]

[Scanning Item: 1%... 100%]

[Scan Complete]

[No information found on Rumble Sigil]

Agares narrowed his eyes. That was odd. Nyx had never failed to identify an item before.

"You really don’t know what this is?"

[Apologies, Master. My system cannot identify the item. It seems there are no existing records of Rumble Sigil in the database.]

He stood silently, then turned his eyes back to the strange item in his hand. If even Nyx couldn’t identify it, there was only one kind of person who might: a dungeon merchant.

"I need to find them as soon as possible."

He put the Rumble Sigil away and walked past Vurmok’s defeated body. From floor five to ten, he had seen no sign of a merchant.

Now that he’d cleared the tenth floor boss, he figured the merchant must be just beyond the boss room.

He walked through the now-open hallway, re-sheathing his sword. A red panel appeared in front of him showing the sword’s lingering debuff.

[-50 HP]

[HP: 1400 / 1800] [-50]

The amount wasn’t much, but if left unchecked, the damage would stack. Plus, the lingering dark energy from Shadepiercer would attract nearby monsters if the sword remained unsheathed.

With the sword stored, the black aura vanished, and Agares was safe—at least for now.

Up ahead, a strange light glowed from the end of the corridor. According to the system panel, he was still on the tenth floor—he hadn’t entered floor eleven yet.

He kept walking toward the light until he reached a large, empty chamber. It was as big as the boss room.

In the center stood a small food cart. There was no one else in sight.

"This is suspicious," Agares muttered.

Staying alert, he moved silently and slowly, one hand gripping his sword.

When he peeked behind the cart, he was shocked to see a man in green merchant robes, asleep and leaning against the back wall of the cart’s kitchen.

The man’s face was familiar. Agares’ eyes widened.

"Merchant Li?!"

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