"As of the end of today's training, the other lance's points have been increasing by varying degrees between five and ten percent," Arthur reported to the council.

"This is fantastic," Alduin replied excitedly, everyone else nodded and voiced their agreement.

"However it looks like we might not be able to continue this for too much longer," Arthur added.

"What do you mean?" Markus asked.

"Using Bairon as an example, his second training ended with a ten percent increase, but in the third and fourth sessions with even more aggressive training, his growth has started to decline steadily. This trend has been seen with the other lances as well."

"Could it just be a normal plateau that they're all reaching?" Pricilla asked.

"Possible, but not likely. This is happening with all the lances at the same time, with it being most noticeable with Varay and Pasta, who are both in the low nine hundred thousand range. Not only that, but I've been training with Tess for the same length of time daily, and her growth has been steady and greater than the lances. It's very likely that the artifacts have a built in limit to how strong the lances can get. I expect the other lances will peak close to or within the eight hundred thousand range."

"But Pasta isn't bound to an artifact anymore?" Buhnd pointed out.

"True, but he was at one point. I suspect that the artifacts set the limit in their core, to prevent them from ever reaching beyond the white core stage even after ending the binding."

"Out of curiosity," Virion asked with a curious smirk. "How strong has Tessia gotten?"

"As of this morning's reading," Arthur paused as he flipped through some papers. "Eight hundred and one thousand. I have no doubt she can reach Varay and Pasta in a week or two."

"What about your friend, Elijah?" Prescilla asked cautiously. "He has a white core too, have you been training with him as well?"

"No. Due to the possibility of a relapse I don't want to help him get any stronger than he already is in case I need to fight him. Training for the dive has helped him increase his strength, but it's been negligible. I did attempt to check his level, but the artifact wasn't able to read him. That said, based on how powerful his core feels compared to Varay, I would guess he's in the mid one million range."

"Good to see that you aren't giving him your complete trust," Virion commented.

"I'm having Regis and Silvie take shifts guarding him just in case. I'm hoping for the best, but I'm also preparing for the worst."

"Based on your guess of his strength, are you able to give any kind of guess to your level?" Markus asked.

Arthur appeared deep in thought. He didn't really care how he ranked among the lances, his sights were set much higher. "When I fought Elijah not only was I not going at one hundred percent, but also wasn't using my beast will, and I still completely controlled that fight. But if I had to guess, without using my will I would say I'm probably around two million five hundred thousand."

Everyone held looks of disbelief. Not because they didn't believe him or thought he was exaggerating, but that they had no idea the gap between him and the other lances was so big. Though, this was only taking his mana core into consideration.

After recovering Virion nodded in approval with a look of pride. He wasn't seeing him as his soon to be grandson, but seeing him as his first and only disciple. "Very good Arthur, you're dismissed."

Arthur raised an eyebrow as he looked at the old elf in confusion. "Umm, ok?"

"We can handle the rest of these issues without you. Prince Curtis on the other hand says he needs your assistance with something, so I'd like you to go see him. He should be right outside," Virion replied neutrally.

This was out of the ordinary for Virion, as he usually wanted Arthur's input on most issues. Arthur suspected that he just wanted to keep him informed and see how he handled issues outside of a combat nature, that Virion intended for him to eventually hold an official position on the council one day, but that was irrelevant now. Arthur normally would suspect his former mentor was scheming something, but he only seemed tired, not enthusiastic, dismissive, or energized like he usually was when he was putting a scheme into action.

"Yes sir," Arthur replied, then bowed to the council, spun on his heel and walked out of the council chambers.

The days in the Sanctuary had moved along relatively smoothly, and before long two months had passed, putting Arthur and Tess' wedding just two days away. Thanks to Virion the wedding planning had been very easy, and was coming along nicely. Training all around had been going smoothly as well. Unlike with the lances, Arthur had been training with Tess daily to give her the best chance possible in the relic tomb. As for his dive team, nearly all of them had reached the light yellow stage, while Curtis, Claire, and Feyrith joined Kathyln in the dark silver stage.

Outside the sanctuary however things were not going as smoothly. Word of Alacryan supporters in Darv had plunged the dwarves into a civil war, pretty much eliminating any future help from

them until this was resolved. Buhnd had left for Darv with Mica to try and at least solidify his role as leader and organize the loyalist, only returning weekly to vote on important matters. He had managed to establish a firm hold on most of the kingdom, but the remaining Alacryan supporters were hunkered down in the northern part of the kingdom. Even with Mica's help, regaining complete control over Darv was going to take time, a lot of time.

The Alacryan's were taking advantage of this, and had launched a new offensive in Sapin. Several small towns and villages in western Sapin had been burned to the ground, and the citizens taken as human shields. Several of the lances as well as multiple battalions were dispatched to other nearby villages and ordered an immediate evacuation to the larger cities such as Kalberk and Etistin for their own safety. Mayburn would have been an adequate city to evacuate to as well, but they were also under constant siege. Supposedly in an effort to regain control of the captured Alacryan ships that were docked there.

Aya, along with a specially trained team of elves had started moving through western Sapin in an effort to locate and free the captured civilians. They had been met with some success, and delivered freed prisoners to battalions operating in the area to escort them to safety, but there were still many more unaccounted for.

Arthur exited the town hall building and immediately saw Curtis standing there, however he wasn't alone. Theo, Tess, and Claire were there as well.

"So," Arthur said as he walked out. "What's going on?"

Curtis started walking over to him. "We have some very important pre wedding business to take care of," Curtis said with a businessman-like grin, throwing an arm around Arthur's shoulder as he arrived.

"What kind pre pre-wedding business? I'm pretty sure we have everything covered already," Arthur replied, completely clueless as to what was about to happen.

"Actually we don't," Tess said as she joined him, and with her arms crossed narrowed her eyes on him. "Why didn't you tell me how important bachelor and bachelorette parties are?"

"Because they aren't," Arthur said as he shrugged his shoulders. "It may be a custom, but it's not necessary, and I don't care about having a bachelor party."

"Well Claire filled me in on bachelorette parties and told me her plan, and I think it sounds like fun." She then smiled and wrapped her arms around Arthur's neck, forcing Curtis to move his arm. "So we're going to Xyrus with a bunch of the other girls for massages, dinner, and a good all around time." She then kissed him lovingly then released him. "Bye and have fun. I'll see you tonight, or in the morning, I'm not sure when we'll get back," Tess said as she walked back to join Claire.

"Don't worry, we only got her the best male strippers for her," Claire called back as she held in her laughter.

"Claire!" Tess shouted, then looked back to Arthur. "There will not be any. Ellie is coming too so I won't allow it." She then turned around and they continued to the teleportation gate.

"And don't worry, I'm coming to make sure everyone stays safe," Sylvie added, as Tess couldn't bear not inviting her surrogate daughter.

"So, no one has said it yet, but I'm guessing you two are escorting me to my bachelor party?"

"Of course," Curtis replied as he started to push Arthur along.

"Don't worry," Theo said as the three of them started walking. "We hired you the best strippers we could find."

"You're joking right?" Arthur asked suspiciously.

Theo and Curtis just smiled as they kept walking.

"Oh gods," Arthur groaned. "I can't see gramps being ok with this."

"Don't worry," Curtis said reassuringly. "I already got the commander's approval on everything."

—————————————————————

Two days after everyone arrived in the sanctuary

It was close to the end of the day, and Curtis and Claire were walking through the halls to Virion's office. They didn't like that they had to wait this late, but they had to make sure Arthur wasn't around, and he was currently training with Pasta and Aya. They turned the corner and saw Virion walking down the hall towards them.

"Commander," Curtis called out and picked up his pace.

"Prince Curtis, Ms. Bladeheart," Virion greeted. "Whatever it is, can it wait till tomorrow?" He asked tiredly.

"Yes, but we can't come tomorrow," Claire replied.

Virion sighed. "Fine, what is it?"

"It's about the wedding."

"What about it?"

A servant walked passed, and they kept their mouths shut till it was just the three of them again.

"Can we talk in your office about it?"

The old elf groaned as he turned around and headed back the way he came. He pushed the heavy leather curtain aside and walked to his desk, then when they entered he cast a sound dampening spell around them.

"Alright, what is it?" He asked with a little annoyance.

"We wanted to host a bachelor and bachelorette party for Arthur and Tess," Curtis stated confidently.

"Bachelor and Bachelorette party? Aren't those pre wedding human customs full of debauchery?" He asked accusatorily.

"Umm, they can be," Curtis stated awkwardly.

"But ours won't!" Claire added in a panic.

"Oh really? Because I've heard that's what those parties are all about. One last fling before marriage," Virion replied, as a bit of his killing intent seeped out.

Curtis and Claire both resisted his intent, so they didn't look very scared, but they still couldn't manage to open their mouths to say a word.

"That should be enough," Virion thought to himself after seeing their reactions, and withdrew his intent. "Alright, tell me your plans, and we'll see if you'll be throwing any parties."

—————————————————————-

Curtis and Theo guided Arthur away from the inhabited parts of the underground city, following along the stream that ran through it. Soon Arthur noticed a building near the water that had smoke billowing out. As he breathed in the air he could smell a fire burning, as well as seasoned meats cooking.

"At least it seems there'll be some good food," Arthur thought to himself as his mouth began to water.

As they neared even closer he noticed an interesting contraption out back with a set of copper lines going into the stream. It didn't take long for Arthur to realize what it was, and a smile formed on his face as he gave a light chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Curtis asked.

"I can see Pasta's contribution," Arthur stated as he pointed to the still.

"Hahaha," Curtis laughed. "Yeah, I guess his mark is kind of obvious."

After getting Virion's approval Curtis spoke with Pasta and got him on board with the plan as well. Thankfully for Cutis, Pasta kept the parts for his still stored in one of his dimensional rings, and he was able to set it up at a building that looked like it was intended to be a bar, so they made it as such.

Since Pasta at the time was only staying in the sanctuary for a week, he gave Curtis and Theo a crash course on how to operate his still, and produce his special recipe liquors. By the time Pasta returned he was pleased to see they didn't ruin everything, and his still didn't explode. They had finished two batches, but the liquors didn't turn out like when pasta made them. They weren't in any way bad, there was just something off about them. Pasta blamed the ingredients, since all of them were the proper ones to be used, and not what he found and learned how to make work. As of yesterday they had managed to make six batches of varying intensities, ensuring there would be plenty for everyone.

They arrived at the building, and could hear the many voices inside blending into an indecipherable jumble mixed with up beat music. Theo opened the heavy leather flap and stepped aside to let Curtis and Arthur enter first.

"Hey everybody," Curtis yelled out, bringing everyone to silence. "The man of the hour has arrived!" Curtis stepped aside as he presented Arthur to everyone.

Everyone cheered as Arthur smiled and gave a wave. Stannard handed Arthur a drink as he gave him a half hearted pat on the back, since he still held a flame in his heart for Tess. He took a sip of the liquor, noticing it weaker than he remembered as it only warmed his throat as he swallowed. Arthur walked further in as he received congratulations and wishes of good luck as he walked further in and took in his surroundings.

The interior really did look like a bar, there was of course a bar with many bottles of Pasta's liquor on shelves behind it, pieces of varying fruit floating in the bottles to add to the flavor. Behind the bar was a doorway that led to the kitchen where servers were going in and out carrying trays of food to a set of tables along an adjacent wall. The food on the table was set up buffet style, with more than half of the food being a variety of meats.

In a corner there was what looked like a hastily put together band. Arthur could recognize two of them, who were each playing a different type of what looked like a guitar, as guards. There was a woman playing a violin who was also a nurse, and one of the cooks playing a piano. Out on the floor there were of course tables and chairs, but there were also two pool tables.

As for the people, there were more than just his friends there, but in fact all of the men who were going on the dive. Arthur saw Kaspian making small talk with Theo, and Lunaris looking like he was having a serious conversation with Curtis. As he looked around he froze as he saw what looked like a stripper pole in the middle of the room.

"Don't worry," Regis said as he came up beside him, sounding disappointed. "There won't be any strippers tonight."

"Good, but why is this even still here?"

"Well," Regis let out an evil chuckle. "I was trying to get Fey Fey up there as a joke since he has the most delicate looking body type, but he wouldn't play along." Regis shook his whole body in frustration. "Just so you know, his water spells are a lot stronger than you'd expect."

"We'll according to him he is my rival, so he must have been training hard," Arthur replied proudly.

"No there's something else," Regis said as he went deep in thought while looking at Feyrith talking with Elijah. "I just can't put my claw on it."

"Well don't worry about it too much," Arthur replied. "You should try and have a little fun too."

"I'll try," Regis replied, sounding disappointed. "But I don't know how much fun I'll have at this sausage fest." Regis then walked off towards Elijah. If he didn't have girls to check out, he might as well do his job.

Arthur looked out at everyone socializing and smiled. With all his preparations he had forgotten about the people he was trying to protect. They pushed and pushed themselves so hard to train for this mission, but they needed more that Arthur forgot. They needed to relax and unwind as well. Despite not wanting a bachelor party, this was the perfect excuse for everyone to do just that.

"Arthur," Orson called out while holding up a pool stick.

Arthur took another sip of his drink then headed over to allow himself to unwind too.