Arthur trudged through the ice with Tess on his back as he used every drop of mana in his core to keep them both warm as well as himself moving. Mana rotation was helping, but all it was doing was buying them time, as he was burning through mana faster than he could absorb it.

On his back Tess held onto him, her face buried in his neck. Before becoming the student body President and was only director Goodsky's disciple, Tess sometimes saw some of the older students goofing off. Once she saw a female student jump onto one of the male student's back, and he carried her around as she clung onto him with a dreamy smile before they faced each other and kissed. She envied how blissfully happy they were, and found herself daydreaming about her and Arthur being like that. But now as she rode on his back she couldn't find herself enjoying this at all, as she not only remembered that their lives were in danger, but also that they weren't a couple. Arthur said that he needed time, that he wasn't ready to be in a relationship yet, and she said that she would give him the time he needed. Tess knew she would wait forever for him to be ready, but that didn't make it hurt any less when she was always longing to be with him.

Arthur kept his mind focused on trying to find anyplace that wasn't a block of ice. He used less mana on himself to keep warm, as to use the bitter stinging cold as a reminder of the danger they were in. Tess' face in his neck was a constant threat of distraction for him, however once his mind began to wander off to happier thoughts, the cold shocked him back into the reality of her life being in danger.

"I think I see a spot we can use," Arthur stated as he began to pick up his pace.

In only a few minutes Arthur had arrived at the location he had spotted. Technically it wasn't ice, but there was ice on it. The area was frozen sand, no doubt frozen from water that once was liquid. The sand was slippery, and as hard as concrete. Igniting his feet with fire mana, Arthur began walking onto the sand, his feet sinking in a little bit with every step as he melted the ice as he looked for a level spot.

"Ok this will do," Arthur said as he took a knee so Tess could climb off. "Empty all of your wood and your bag from your dimensional ring," Arthur instructed Tess.

She knew why Arthur wanted the wood, but why he needed her bag was a mystery. Regardless she listened, and a large pile of wood emerged as well as her bag.

"I need a bigger dimensional ring," Arthur commented under his breath as his bag fell out of his onto the ground.

Having a dimensional ring in itself was a big deal, however he was often reminded of how small the capacity of his was, as his could only hold his bag and whatever he could fit in it, while the rest of his companions could not only hold their bags, but also all the beast cores they obtained, as well as enough provisions for a month, and at least a week worth of firewood. Tess' ears twitched and a small shaky smile formed on her face as she heard this, but Arthur didn't notice.

"Ok, here's what we need to do," Arthur said as he tapped his foot, and three long stone pikes shot out of the ground between them, with two being forked at the top. "We need to get out of these wet clothes and put some dry ones on."

"What?!" Tess replied in shock as she looked like she was covering herself with her arms.

"That's right," Arthur said as he broke one of the pikes near the ground. "Because our clothes are wet they're causing our bodies to lose heat extremely fast." He then placed the pike into the forks of the other two. "We might survive long enough to fall asleep, but we won't wake up. We'll be frozen to death."

"I get that but..." Tess replied as her voice trailed off.

"You do have a change of clothes right?" Arthur asked.

"Of course I do, it's just..."

"You don't want me to see you undressed?" Tess nodded. Arthur smiled as he draped the mountain elephant blanket he received from Pasta Bloom over the horizontal pike, creating a partition between them. "Don't worry, I promise not to look."

Tess smiled and nodded, and the two began digging through their bags for their clothes. After a few minutes Tess was changed into a red dress that ended mid thigh. It wasn't exactly appropriate for inside a dungeon, especially this one, but it was summer outside, and she had hoped to spend some time casually with Arthur alone at one of the outposts.

"O-o-k-k. N-now what," Tess shivered out. Arthur gave a reply, but it was muffled. "W-what was t-tha-at?" Tess asked. But Arthur's voice was muffled again. "I s-sti-il can't-t h-hear you," Tess repeated as she looked around the partition.

Tess' eyes widened as her cheeks blushed, and for the first time since entering this dungeon she didn't feel cold. Arthur had his pants on, but was having trouble taking his shirt off due to it being wet and clinging to his body, which was what really caught her attention. During the summers while Arthur was still Virions disciple, they often swam in a lake right outside of the city, so Tess had seen Arthur without a shirt before, however that was years ago. Now as she gazed upon him she could see well defined muscles, as well as scares from those three years as an adventurer, all evidence of how hard he had worked to become as strong as he is.

Finally Arthur was able to wrestle off his shirt. "I said..." Arthur began as he turned to face the partition, but stopped as he saw Tess peaking at him. "And you were worried about me looking?" Arthur teased with a smirk.

"Eeep," Tess squeaked as she quickly pulled herself back around the partition, feeling completely embarrassed while she couldn't stop picturing Arthur without a shirt on in her head.

"Well if you're done enjoying the view, how about setting up for a fire, I'll light it when I'm done," Arthur said as he pulled out his shirt.

Moving past her embarrassment Tess picked up a pile of wood and began setting it, and as she did this she started to feel the bitter cold yet again. On cue, a thin stream of fire shot over and ignited the wood.

"That's better," Arthur commented, and a few more pikes shot out of the ground. "I'll hang our clothes by the fire, that should help them dry while keeping us warm.

Arthur began hanging up his clothes by the fire as Tess admired him. Not just his physical good looks, but also how he took charge and knew exactly what needed to happen for them to survive. After Arthur was done with his clothes he came and picked up Tess' to do the same. As he lifted them off the ground her eyes widened as she saw her under garments hanging down from the bottom.

"I'll take care of mine!" Tess said urgently as she sprang up and took her clothes from Arthur.

Despite how much she loved Arthur, she was not ready for him to see, let alone handle, her bra and underwear. Arthur was completely bewildered by her actions, but decided to not worry about it and took a seat by the fire, after laying out his sleeping bag so they didn't have to sit on the icy cold ground. Tess discreetly hung her under garments along with the rest of her clothes, and came back to sit by the fire next to Arthur, who draped the warm blanket over both of them.

Due to the heavy mana usage they both incurred, Tess suggested that they both meditated a bit in case any beasts were to arrive. Due to mana rotation and his mana usage dropping considerably, Arthur's core was already well on its way to being full, however he took part anyway. For Arthur this was relatively easy, not only did he have a fairly high tolerance to the cold, but his previous life made him disciplined enough to be able to handle the discomfort of the cold without breaking concentration.

Tess on the other hand was not as fortunate. It was much colder down in the depths of the dungeon, and her current clothes weren't nearly as warm, not to mention Arthur wasn't helping warm her anymore. This resulted in Tess' teeth chattering, keeping her from being able to absorb very much mana.

After a few minutes of this Tess noticed Arthur had begun moving considerably. Tess internally scolded herself as she thought that Arthur had become annoyed and was going to move a little further away to concentrate. She felt the blanket lift up off her body, and thought Arthur was taking that too, but her eyes shot open in shock as she felt his warm arms wrap around her from behind.

"Arthur? What are you doing?" Tess asked, completely caught off guard by his actions.

"Well you're clearly cold, so I decided I was going to keep you warm," Arthur replied as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"B-b-but what about you meditating? You can't replenish your core like this," Tess replied as she mentally fought herself not to read too much into Arthur's actions.

"Actually I can. As a matter of fact, I was absorbing mana while I carried you," Arthur stated with a smile.

"What? How?" Tess asked in shock as she turned her head to face him.

Arthur's smile faded as a solemn expression replaced it. "Sylvia, the dragon that gave me her will, Sylvie's mother, she taught me how."

"Oh," Tess said as she looked away, her shock completely fading in an instant.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked after seeing the sudden change in her mood.

"I've noticed she seems to be a sensitive topic for you that you don't share, so I'm just dropping the topic," Tess replied. She wanted to be there for Arthur, to help him carry his pain, but she wasn't going to push the issue.

"The timeline I gave your family after I brought you home, I avoided specifics so I didn't have to account for my time with Sylvia," Arthur began.

"You don't have to do this. I won't make you if you're not ready," Tess quickly interrupted.

"Sylvia is a sensitive topic for me. My parents don't even know about her. Because of the attack they now know I came across a dragon's den, but they don't know anything more than I got Sylvie's egg from there," Arthur sighed.

He had often felt these secrets were keeping his loved ones safe, even if it did cause him pain. His mind was old enough to handle it, so he never thought of sharing to ease his pain. However in this moment, he was willing to share with Tess.

"But maybe if I did share, this wouldn't be so bad anymore."

Tess turned completely around to face Arthur, giving him her undivided attention.

"After the fall off the cliff, Sylvia reached out to me with her mind, and told me she had saved me as well as that she would help me return to my family. She was able to show me how to find her, and I was there by nightfall. I walked into a cave," Arthur chuckled." And literally fell into her home. When I got up I was greeted with a view that looked like pure evil, with red eyes and black armor, and a gash on her chest. Her voice did not even come close to matching her appearance. She spoke kindly to me, kind of like a kind old grandmother. That's where I learned of the fruit we found in our first dungeon, I lived off of the fruit while I waited for Sylvia to create a portal. While I was there we talked, and I learned life lessons, that I feel have made me who I am today. She saw me training and was amazed that I awakened at such a young age, and because of my age, she believed I could learn to meditate while walking, and some day while fighting," Arthur paused and smiled. "I can't meditate nearly as good fighting as walking, but I'm working on it."

Tess smiled at Arthur, as she listened intently to every word. She knew he often held back the whole truth from people to protect them, so hearing Arthur reveal something without holding back made her feel he truly trusted her.

"Anyway, I'm not really sure how long I was down there, weeks, months, it was all a blur to me." A solemn expression formed on Arthur's face. "On the day I mastered meditation while walking, she collapsed. I ran to her, and realized I ran into a pool of her blood. The portal she was creating for me was making her injury worse, it was killing her." Tears started to escape Arthur's eye. Tess reached over and wiped them away as she gave a sympathetic expression upon seeing the pain he was in. "That's when she revealed herself to me. With a bright light she turned into a white dragon, and completed the portal. That's when he came, the one she was hiding from. He had a similar appearance as Sylvia did when I first met her, but I don't know if that was his true form or not. Sylvia made sure to keep me hidden from him, before she used the same move I can use with her will, static void. That's when she gave me Sylvie's egg and her will, before telling me to run into the portal to escape. I tried to get her to come with me, but I think she knew he would follow." A teary smile formed on Arthur's face. "Her last request was for me to call her Grandma Sylvia, and those were my last words to her as she pushed me into the portal."

Arthur's breathing was staggered as he tried to calm down. Tess leaned forward and held him in her arms. Much to Arthur's surprise, being held by Tess was helping him calm down.

"Thanks," Arthur replied after he pulled himself back together. Arthur wasn't used to dealing with his pain like this, but he had to admit it did feel a little better.

"Any time, I'll always be here for you," Tess replied as she gave him a loving smile.

"Ok, now let's get back to you meditating while I try to keep you warm," Arthur said with his prince like smile.

"Fine," Tess conceded with a smile. "You know, grandfather is right about you. As talented as you are, there's no way the Glayders won't make you a lance one day."

"Pfft. I'll never accept being a lance under Blaine Glayder," Arthur replied.

"What?! Why not," Tess questioned sounding shocked.

"Maybe now would be the right moment," Arthur thought to himself before actually replying. "Two reasons. One, Pasta Bloom told me about what it was like for him to be a lance. The artifacts the lances are bound to can be used to strip the lances of their free will, and I don't trust Blaine Glayder one bit. With that said, I would gladly accept without hesitation if I was asked to be a lance to one of your parents," Arthur replied in a serious tone, before sounding more light hearted in the end.

"Is that because you actually trust my parents?"

"That, and also my second reason, no conflict of interests."

"Conflict of interests?" Tess asked, not understanding what Arthur could mean by that.

"This is it Arthur, stay calm. And Gray, keep quiet," Arthur thought to himself before explaining. "Well, you never know what the future may hold. By the time I would be even considered to become a lance, I may still be in a romantic relationship with a certain former elf princess, and things could have gotten pretty serious."

"Well, first you'll need to....." Tess started, before freezing as one key word in Arthur's second reason clicked. "What do you mean by still?" Tess' heartbeat was already starting to quicken as she was uncertain if she properly understood what Arthur meant.

Arthur smiled warmly as he took Tess' hands in his. "I mean I'm ready. I'm ready to be your boyfriend, and have you as my girlfriend. If you still want me that is."

Tess pulled one of her hands free from Arthur. "I think the cold is making me start to hallucinate and hear things. I could have sworn you said you wanted us to become a couple and start dating." Tess then pinched her leg.

"You heard me right. I think I started to realize how much you really meant to me back during the attack and you were at Lucas' mercy. And all the time we've been able to spend together this year, I feel I can say with confidence, I love you Tess. Not as a friend, but as a young woman that I want to always be there for and make you happy," Arthur confessed.

Tess smiled as her heart raced, full of joy that the boy she had loved for so long finally told her the three words she always wanted to hear come from his mouth to her. She then lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Arthur's neck as they both fell to the ground.

"I love you too Arthur," Tess replied as she forgot all about the cold and kissed him.

Even including his previous life, Arthur felt this was the most difficult thing that he had ever done, to allow himself to love someone, knowing that this was a potential weakness an enemy could exploit. However with this knowledge Arthur wasn't concerned, he was instead resolved to achieve a white core, as he now had one more person to protect.

—————————————————————

Meanwhile at the beginning of the eighth floor...

"So if we keep this pace we should be able to reach the tenth level tomorrow. Although I think we should wait till the next day to take on the dungeon boss, so we can be well rested," Elijah stated as everyone was eating dinner quietly around the fire.

"That would probably be best. This cold is harsh enough as is, we should make sure we're as well rested as possible since it'll probably be coldest there," Lunaris added, seeming to be the only one paying attention other than Orson and Karen.

To see if anyone else was paying attention Elijah continued. "The team for the dungeon boss will be Feyrith, Curtis, Grawder, and Lunaris. Any objections?" No one answered, or even looked like they even heard. "Curtis, you're teaming up with Lunaris against the boss, will that be a problem?" Still no response. So Elijah decided to block the fire off with a stone barrier that reached the ceiling.

"Hey!"

"What's the deal!?"

"Bring the fire back!"

"Nice to see I have everyone's attention back," Elijah replied with a sarcastic tone, and removed the barrier. "Listen, I know you're all worried about Arthur and Tess, but we need to focus on things happening here, otherwise we risk having an accident."

"Do you think they're ok?" Claire asked.

"Maybe we should have tried to get to them," Fayrith suggested.

"Arthur tends to downplay things, what if they're hurt?" Lilia asked.

"Listen up. We left on Arthur's order, we didn't abandon them. Arthur might downplay things for himself, but he won't do that to others. If Tess was hurt I have no doubt he'd want to get her up here with the rest of us. We are going to keep to the plan, if we don't find them by the time we defeat the boss, we'll rip this dungeon to pieces looking for them." Elijah told everyone in an attempt to raise their spirits. "And besides, look at Sylvie." Elijah pointed to the young dragon laying on a blanket by the fire. "You see how calm she is? Do you see her smiling? How could she be so at ease if Arthur was in any kind of danger? Honestly, I feel bad for any beasts he comes across. Because now they only have to worry about him, not being held back by the rest of us."

Everyone chuckled a bit as they imagined Arthur might be able to clear this entire dungeon by himself. Sylvie was the only one who didn't really hear Elijah's pep talk, as she was too busy keeping tabs on Arthur.

"It's about time papa."