We went back to the volcano room. Usually, we wouldn't be far enough in to find the source, but, with my authority, I just teleported us in front of it. I had to split the lava sea until the rocky stairs were visible. I quickly descended, as the temperature slowly increased.

Finally, I arrived at the obsidian path. It was short, and I arrived in another room, which had natural stones for walls and the floor. It was actually colder than outside. There were two orbs here. One had an orange flame surrounding it, and the other had a yellow flame. As soon as they noticed my presence, they scanned me, successfully acknowledging me. I quickly went to floor zero to confirm, and, after that, we had to return to Earth.

We had a tradition in my family, where we counted down to midnight and the official start of Christmas. We gave each other our gifts soon after, before eating a very early breakfast about an hour later.

We went back home about a half-hour before the countdown, got in our pajamas, and sat around the couch. There were a lot of people here this year: my mom and father, Emily, Bella, Aurora, Krystal, Kylee, and me. Bella and I sat on the center couch. To our left were my three daughters, and to our right were the rest of the family.

We ate Christmas cookies and talked with each other until, finally, we counted down the last thirty seconds. When it hit zero, we high-fived, hugged, and acted excited. It was finally Christmas!

My parents and I exchanged ordinary gifts, except for a C- ranked sword I gave my father. It was wrapped in sparkling wrapping paper, and I used BTP to buy a simple sheath. I didn't know if he had ever used weapons, but he seemed excited with the gift. Emily, on the other hand, was confused. She had no idea why I would ever buy him a sword. I just continued on, until after we received all of our gifts. Bella also joined in the exchange.

After looking over our gifts, we had our breakfast and prepared to go back to bed. I brought the girls to Persephone.

"I have gifts for you all," I told them.

I took out four more simply-wrapped swords. These were the A+ ranked swords from before. I even added a few designs using my blacksmithing skills. They were little angels and fairies playing around the hilt.

Bella almost started crying because she was so happy, immediately hugging me while embracing her back.

The other girls were even more surprised.

"Even Commander Gabriel's weapon is only A+ ranked!" Kylee exclaimed.

"No one else on Archipelago could even hope to get such a weapon," Kylee continued.

"It's not like it's that rare. I've seen a couple, but I'll take it anyway," Aurora said, trying not to sound as excited.

"Actually, Roberto, we have gifts for you as well," Bella said, smiling.

She took out a golden thread before describing it to me. "This thread is from my mom's hidden room. I wanted to get you something good, so I chose this. It will allow you to communicate with all of us easier. Just weave it into your clothes.

I heard Persephone at this time. "Master, please use the thread here."

"Why?" I asked.

"In addition to the special communicative features, it can capture invaders."

"Then, I give you permission."

The thread disappeared before forming an intricate pattern on the ground in front of our Christmas house.

"When did you get this?"

"It's a secret."

"We also got you gifts," Kylee announced.

"When we told you we had to report, we were actually looking for these," Krystal explained.

Krystal went first with a spell book. "This is a hard-to-find book since it's for vampires. I think the army must have taken it from some defeated foes. It will hopefully be useful for you."

Vampiric blood leash

Rank: C-

Requirements: blood

Description: Create a leash of blood, taming any monster or beast who is touched with such a leash. Tamed ones must obey every order and command given by their master.

"Mine's an angel skill, but it is still hard to get. It can be used for offense or fleeing," Kylee explained hers.

Six Razor Wings

Description: transforms angel wings into six razor-sharp wings, which can cut through mountains and, when vibrating, increase speed by three times. Feathers unleashed from these wings will be just as tough, reforming mountains.

"Thank you so much," I said. "I really love your gifts, and I know I will use all of them thinking of each of you."

Aurora touched my shoulder and said, "Here, I got you a little something myself. You don't have to like it."

I took the small box, but she quickly told me to go somewhere else in the world, so I transported us all before opening it. A large organ, about the size of a house once all the pieces unfolded, appeared in front of me.

"This artifact is usually kept under stringent security, but, with my previous identity working directly for Gabriel, I was able to take it for you. Please, bind it. Currently, it can shrink on command, but the other functions require a drop of your blood and a name."

I followed her directions while responding, "Thanks, I knew you wouldn't be left out," while she let me hug her for a few seconds. I named the organ Windchime.

Once I bound the soul-bound artifact, I realized some of its functions. Besides allowing me to easily play any song or string of notes, some unique combinations of notes had other functions. One changed the weather, even though I could do that elsewhere. Another caused beings to gather where I was playing. A third function manipulated the ground, and each element could be somewhat manipulated by the keys. I could even create dimensional tunnels, albeit small ones that could only transfer between nearby planets.

We had a very merry Christmas, going back and forth between Earth and Persephone. It was peaceful and jovial, so I enjoyed it very much.

The next day, we returned to the dungeon. We didn't initially attack the sixth volcano. The girls spent the first half of the day trying out their new swords and the great effects they acquired. After midday passed by, we walked into the first floor of the sixth volcano.

Immediately, we faced enemies. There were also a bunch of traps. I quickly took out Pounce and shot towards the trigger points of the traps, not disabling them this time. When they activated, the topography of the room was altered; however, the monsters were unaffected. We charged forth, slaying all who obstructed our path.

Eventually, we made it to the second floor. Here, there were ten monsters we hadn't encountered before: Floga. They had bodies made of fire, looking almost human in appearance. They held lances made of fire in their hands, which they attacked with. The tip of their weapons emitted a burst of flames, but my > easily absorbed their attacks. I started my attack with > while Bella used her spiritual water, Krystal and Kylee used >, and Aurora used a skill that turns fire into steam.

Aurora's steam increased the power of my humidity pierce, heavily wounding the enemies. Unfortunately, it was still not enough. I was forced to use > to finish them off. Half dropped high-tier MP recovery potions, which was a big help. The others dropped EXP shards, one for each of us.

The third floor was, surprisingly, much easier than the second. Out combined attacks were able to defeat the single Floga much easier. Even though this one could recover its body through the lava, our attacks were faster.

The fourth floor of the sixth volcano was a giant crater, with the usual metal pole protruding from the center.

There was no lava here, and neither were there any traps I could detect. I did not know why it was so different, but I thought something was off. Suddenly, large rocks began coming up from the ground, suspended in the air. They started flying at us, forcing us to fight back. Nothing dropped, so we knew they weren't monsters.

We continued going against the barrage, unable to find a way to get it to stop. Soon, I noticed the lava beginning to seep through the cracks in the ground. It was bubbling, and, when they popped, the lava spewed further. We didn't have any time to deal with it, though, as the rocks were already keeping us busy.

Suddenly, Aurora announced, "Found you. Roberto, here are coordinates. Attack there."

I didn't know what she found, but she passed me a strange set of numbers. I don't know how, but I could interpret them as five-dimensional coordinates, going beyond the conventional length, width, height, and time.

Using that information, I > Blackmail towards the wall, using Persuasion to deflect the boulders.

I saw a small ripple in space before a monster appeared. Its entire body was gray, with a human-like face, but there were no facial features. It had neither eyes nor mouth; neither nose nor ears. Below the head and neck, there was a sphere. From such sphere extended four arms in three different directions, for a total of twelve. Further down, it had four equally-distributed legs.

"I knew it. It's a Parabolic Paltrominix!" Aurora exclaimed.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's a tricky monster that specializes in hiding, using optical camouflage. Your demon eyes would be able to pick it up if you used them. Other times, they invade worlds by acting like boulders. Each arm can telekinetically control up to ten rocks of the size we have been fighting against. It doesn't reveal itself, so its enemies rarely know who they're facing. I was part of a battalion sent to rid a world of a bunch of them, which is how I guessed."

After being discovered, the Parabolic Paltrominix again disappeared. Unfortunately for it, I activated my demon eyes and could easily see where it ran. I shot a > in its direction before using > and > to dispose of it. After such a strenuous fight, we took a small break. I asked Aurora about the coordinates, and she explained.

"There are many different types of coordinates. I sent you the simplest system I know, which is perfect for this case, especially since neither the void nor a large stretch of space had to be crossed. They require many more coordinates to pinpoint, including the seven points for each spatial wind flow, as an example. The coordinates I sent specifically use three dimensions of space, one of time, and one of time directionality. I could have included the body position coordinates if I knew the weak point, which would include the three spatial dimensions, one angle dimension, and one penetration depth dimension."

She acted like a teacher, professing about simple matters to a young student. I played along and asked a question.

"Ms. Aurora, what is the dimension of time directionality?"

"Excellent question. The dimension of time is specified as an offset from the current time. The directionality specifies if the offset is in the future or the past, although, actually, it deals with time being slowed or made faster."

"Thank you, teacher."

I almost got her to laugh with my final response. I asked Persephone to look through the library and find books about coordinate dimensions. The first one I read during our break was very simple, similar to an algebra class. The only new information I learned is that, by default, points are specified by using the location of the being. That location would be all zeros. I would, therefore, be point 0,0,0,0,0.

After that, we went up to the next few floors. They were more normal, at least until we entered the final floor.

On the final floor of this volcano, another new monster appeared. How many new monsters would we encounter on this floor?!

This monster had a spherical, rock-like body. Surrounding it were three arms made of fire on each side. Above it was an eye made of fire. They were all connected to the stone with thin strings of fire. They were called Fireflying Fiends. They were easy to deal with, as > severed the arms and eye, leaving my family to deal with the defenseless body. As soon as we defeated one, another seemed to pop up from the ground. We continued with this for the rest of the day and the next. It seemed like this floor was mostly a test of endurance. In addition to the recovery potions I'd gotten and consumed, I gained so much EXP that I only had four-hundred remaining until my level increased.

We had to take another break from these volcanos, as we were going to begin our New Year's celebration. I first stopped by floor zero to get another "utility" spell. This one was interesting, as it created specific elements before combusting them immediately, effectively creating fireworks.

I wanted to practice, so I went to my place in the dungeon and started setting up some fireworks. I kept them from combusting and used my > to cast them into the sky. It was only then that I had them explode, creating the fireworks successfully. In the afternoon, I told my parents about it. That way, they wouldn't have to purchase any.

At this time, Emily was over a friend's house. They were drinking coffee together.

Soon after, a massive earthquake struck. For almost a full minute, the ground shook. Krystal and Kylee immediately activated their gravity manipulation halos. They increased the force of gravity, themselves becoming a massive force to sway the surrounding area.

That helped us stay away from the shaking. Bella, my daughters, and I also flew, which decreased the effect of the seismic activity. Soon after, everything was calm. Immediately, my father turned on the news while my mom called Emily, who reported everything was fine.

According to the newscaster, this earthquake was detected and felt around the world. There was, however, no damage to any buildings, nor was there a single death due to the activity. Almost immediately, they had a seismologist on the air to interview.

The seismologist explained that the earthquake registered at twelve on the scale, which meant that it should have caused most buildings to collapse. He was unsure why none had done so. Soon after the news reported scientists in different countries, and even within different states of the USA, all reported the epicenter to be there. Even at places without any fault lines, epicenters were reported. There were no other details, and the news went back to other topics.

"That's a big earthquake," I commented.

"That's right," my father said. "With all of that rocking around, I thought the only reason our house was standing was due to the runes I'd installed."

"What's an earthquake?" Kylee asked.

I then went on to explain to them. Even though Bella could access my memories, she was still enlightened. After listening, Aurora wanted to do some mathematical computations. I had never seen the symbols she used, but I found a book in the library, which Annie had cataloged, that explained the concepts. It was a relatively large book, but it was not difficult for me to comprehend. It looked like she was computing where the quake had originated from, using concepts much more advanced than calculus. Although I could finally follow the math, I still did not understand the formulas or constants. We all watched in awe as she worked for almost an hour before finishing.

"It looks like the epicenter is from below the mantle. I looked up the insides of your planet beforehand. I hope that was okay. It appears to have expanded in all directions."

"It's fine," I replied, smiling.

"If you say so," Aurora replied.

We had to go outside to prepare some more. Specifically, we had to dig out a small place for a fire pit. My > skill was useful for this. We next gathered a few large rocks to surround the pit with. With the rocks around, we had fun painting them. At the end of the day, we began to gather firewood. My father put a tarp over it, in case it rained, although it was supposed to be sunny for the next week.

Those of us who regularly went into the dungeon did so after Emily came back. We spent the night fighting through the first and second floors of the seventh volcano.

During the day, we scoured the ground for more wood. We also listened to the news, but they knew nothing more about the earthquake. Emily appeared mad and thought they should try harder to figure out the mystery.

We also took down the Christmas tree. Together, we all hacked and chipped away at it until it was mostly sawdust. We sprayed the sawdust around our wood, to help with beginning the fire.

Usually, we light a small amount of sawdust, and, after it gets going, we feed it into the fire and fan it, providing oxygen. This year, I had a plan. If Emily knew of the dungeon, we wouldn't even need the wood—magic is used as fuel.

That night, we went first to Persephone. There, Annie gave me a book she had found. This book explained the science behind how time stoppage worked.

It begins by creating a small barrier directly around those who can move, and the air within can move. Anything that comes into contact with the barrier, likewise, will leave suspension until it is no longer in contact. Light continues to work, but, as soon as time is resumed, all energy resets to its initial pre-stoppage state unless explicitly changed. It was an interesting read, but it took me a few hours to comprehend.

We lost some time exploring the volcano, and we barely finished the fourth floor by noon the following day. I was very close to increasing my level, only needing two more EXP shards. Bella gave me two of hers, finally allowing my level to increase!

[Congratulations! You have leveled up! Level 11à12. All stats increased by 12. SP + 24. Calculating Reward.]

[reward determined. Class ??? Reward: all resistances below level one of nullification level up! All resistances below level six level up! All regenerations level up! HP increases by 40 total, MP increases by 500 total, HE increases by 100 total, DE increases by 500 total. Class Skill Lord reward: skill falling rocks: rocks appear in the sky, coming from elementary particles over a one-meter area, attacking a single target. Rocks can change to fire or ice due to law comprehension]

[skill tickets gained: +12.]

[Familiar has consumed one skill ticket.]

[Familiar has consumed one skill ticket.]

[unknown interference detected. Elementary rune techniques level up! Basic rune techniques level three!]

[unknown interference detected. All energies, HP +400. Remaining skill tickets: 1]

[domain congealing +5%]

[domain congealing has passed 80%! Function unlocked: permanent death: any being who dies within domain cannot be later revived by any spell, skill, artifact, or other method unless by a god or devil]

[domain radius reconstructed. Current: five meters. One skill ticket consumed]

For the new runic skills, the first was runic grimoire. This was a soul-bound book that also lives in my soul. It records runes, and, using prerecorded runes, their power could be enhanced. The second was read runic lines and runes. This applied to basic runes, but I was still unable to access the Vampire Basic Runes. Finally, I could draw basic runic lines. These lines were curvier than the elementary lines, and they had to be exact.

It took me the rest of the day to make sure the curves were correct—even with the skill, it still took practice.

It was now eight o'clock in the morning on New Year's Eve.