[Chapter 316. Restoration]

The rest of the hour stretched with a strange normalcy that felt almost surreal after the revelations about alien worlds and mana calculations. The light banter among the women created a fragile bubble of mundanity, their voices weaving together in conversation about television shows they'd watched, foods they missed, and friends they hadn't seen since before the System changed everything.

Lana described with nostalgic detail the smell of fresh bread from the bakery near her home, while Carmen shared the title of a book series she'd been reading, her fingers tracing patterns on the blanket as if touching the memory itself. Even Vanessa's usual sharp edge softened as she recounted an embarrassing story from her first internship, the rare laughter drawing a small smile from Searanox as he observed them from his chair. Sarah remained mostly quiet, but when she did speak, it was to add a sarcastic comment that somehow made their shared reminiscence feel more real, more human.

With the hour over, Searanox stood up and stored his chair back into his ring, the metallic components dissolving into nothing with practiced ease.

"Alright, Iris, it's time for you to enter," Searanox said, walking over toward the portal. His boots left faint impressions in the grass. The morning air carried the scent of earth and wildflowers, a stark contrast to the sulfur-choked atmosphere they'd just left behind.

Iris followed his moving figure with her eyes for a moment, her silver pupils tracking his deliberate steps before she stood up. The dark fur not covered by her heavy armor caught the morning light, creating a silvery sheen around her form. "I thought that I would enter alone," she said. Her voice held a note of confusion, her brow furrowed slightly as she tilted her head.

"You will clear the dungeon alone; I just have to get something from within," he replied, waiting for her at the edge of the portal, the blue vortex casting an ethereal glow across his features.

"What do you need from within?" Iris asked as she approached, her claws making soft clicking sounds on the stone surrounding the archway as she steadied herself.

"Just some armor that is collecting dust in this dungeon." His casual tone made it sound as if he were retrieving forgotten belongings from a closet rather than venturing into a high-level dungeon.

"Armor?" Iris asked as she got closer to him, her curiosity now evident in the slight twitch of her ears and the way her tail swished slowly behind her.

Without another word, Searanox stepped through the portal into Fog Cliff Castle, the transition instantaneous and disorienting as always. Once again, he stood in the pale marble corridor, the air thick with an ancient stillness that seemed to absorb all sound. The sheer atmosphere struck him once again, the weight of ages pressing down on him, the faint scent of sea salt and decay lingering despite the pristine appearance of the stone.

Not long after, Iris walked through the blue vortex herself, her dark fur briefly seeming to absorb the ethereal light before adjusting to the dim corridor. Searanox held his hand out in front of her, palm up. In it lay a turquoise rock the size of his fist, its smooth surface giving off the same light as the one that filled the corridor.

"You will need this. Use it to walk through the fog at the end of this corridor. Do not turn the corner, just walk through the fog." His voice was low and serious, his eyes fixed on hers to emphasize the importance of his instructions.

Iris took the rock and looked at it for a moment, her fingers closing around its surface before she glanced around the corridor. "I see. Like the darkness in the other dungeon." Her voice held understanding.

"Not quite. Whatever you do, never enter the fog." His warning was sharp, cutting through the comfortable rapport they had built up during their meal.

"But you just said that I should walk through the fog at the end of this corridor." Her silver eyes narrowed with confusion, her head tilting as she tried to reconcile the contradictory instructions.

"With the rock in hand, you are fine; you will see. Just know I saw the boss die in that fog in a matter of seconds. Just stay out of it otherwise." His words carried the weight of grim experience, his expression uncharacteristically solemn as he recalled his previous battle in this dungeon.

Iris nodded and ran her hand over his neck, her claws gently grazing his skin in a gesture of both affection and understanding. "I'll be careful." Her voice was soft, the moment intimate despite their dangerous surroundings.

"Good girl. Now go ahead, I will leave the dungeon in a few minutes," Searanox said, his voice devoid of sentiment as he turned away from her. His boots made soft, scuffing sounds against the marble floor as he walked, each step echoing slightly in the cavernous silence. He did not look back.

He entered the room with the crates, the musty smell of aged wood and metal filling his nostrils. Without hesitation, he began to move the crates blocking off the entrance to the armory. One crate after another flew over his shoulder, breaking against the opposite wall with a sickening crunch of splintering wood. The sound was sharp and violent in the hushed tomb of the castle. In a few seconds, there was enough space for him to enter the next room, the dark opening beckoning like a wound in the stone.

As he entered, he summoned two cargo drones, their metallic bodies appearing in flashes of blue light. He began to store all the armor inside this room alongside them. His hands moved with efficient, practiced motions, his eyes scanning each piece of armor before directing his drones to collect it.

A minute passed, then another. His drones cleared the shelves and racks with mechanical precision while he emptied the remaining crates. Once all the pieces of gear were stored, he headed toward the exit. Just before he and his drones stepped back through the swirling blue vortex of the portal, he glanced down the corridor. Iris was nowhere to be seen.

Once outside, he stretched, his muscles protesting slightly after the exertion. He moved over toward the four women sitting on the blanket, their faces turned toward him with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

"I'm back, and now we can get started," he said, his voice flat as he dumped a pile of repair kits on the blanket before them. The wooden boxes landed with a series of dull thuds, their corners digging into the soft wool.

All four of them looked at the growing pile of wooden boxes, their eyes wide with disbelief.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Vanessa asked, her voice laced with frustration and confusion.

"Preparation for your task," Searanox answered, his expression unchanging as he watched their reactions.

"Are these all repair kits?" Carmen asked, picking up one of the boxes, her fingers tracing the rough grain of the wood.

"Yes. And with that, you should know what we are going to do while Iris is inside the dungeon." His gaze swept over their faces, lingering for a moment on the fear and confusion he saw there before turning back to the task at hand.

"That's over a hundred of them. Are you expecting us to repair this many items?" Sarah asked, clearing the space around her from the dozen repair kits that had fallen into her lap. She pushed the boxes aside with a grunt, already seeing their task before her.

"A hundred and thirty, to be specific. And yes, we are going to repair a few items," Searanox said, his voice carrying an undercurrent of amusement that made Vanessa's jaw tighten.

He gestured to his drones with a casual wave of his hand. The drones positioned themselves next to the women, their metallic frames casting small shadows on the blanket as they began unloading one item after another right beside them. The pile of weapons and armor grew rapidly—rust-scarred swords, dented shields, and cracked helmets that looked as if they hadn't seen sunlight in centuries.

As Sarah reached out to pick up a badly corroded axe, Searanox stopped her.

"Careful, they are really old and will break if you move them. Stab them first with one of the needles." He pointed to the needles inside one of the repair kits, their tips gleaming with an unnatural luminescence in the morning light.

"You want us to stab a needle into an iron weapon?" Lana asked, looking at the sword right in front of her. Her fingers hovered uncertainly above the rust-eaten hilt. The metal looked so fragile that even a light touch might cause it to crumble into dust.

"Sure do. It's a bit weird at first, but the System will repair it." Searanox's casual tone stood in stark contrast to the bizarre nature of his instructions.

He reached over and pulled one of the needles out from a repair kit, the slender object feeling surprisingly substantial in his grip. With a swift motion, he stabbed it into one of the armor pieces next to him. The needle dissolved in a blue light that briefly illuminated the ancient metal. In the next moment, two more gear pieces had glowing needles embedded in them, pulsing rhythmically as if they had developed hearts of their own.

Sarah didn't wait for another word. Pulling out one of the needles with a determined expression, she drove it into the bow lying before her, the needle sinking into the cracked wood as if it were soft clay. A ripple of blue energy spread across the weapon, filling in the cracks and smoothing out the damage until it gleamed with renewed strength.

Every time the repair process was completed, one of his drones took the pristine item into its storage space and replaced it with a new ruined piece, the cycle beginning anew as the four women worked through the growing pile of ancient equipment.