Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

When the door opened again, I had already put on Eleanora's dress and walked out.

Wearing women's clothing has truly become second nature to me. I feel quite skilled at casually putting on a dress and walking out unfazed, though I suddenly feel somewhat embarrassed at this as a former boy.

Why do mage girls like wearing dresses so much? Both Selene and Eleanora often wear them, and even Vivianne has many, frequently asking me if they look good.

The clothes I bought for myself in the capital are more practical adventure garb, though not menswear, leaning more gender-neutral.

"You really do look prettier after changing outfits." Selene rarely compliments upon seeing my attire.

"What on earth were you wearing before!"

The others also nod in agreement.

"Well excuse me then!" I huff at Selene. We really are destined not to get along if you're critiquing my fashion too.

"Are you feeling better?" Adrian looks concerned as I emerge, asking kindly,

"If you're tired, you can go rest upstairs first."

Upstairs refers to the second floor accessible by a stairwell near the entrance.

"No need." I shake my head. It's still daytime, so even with less light element from the blocked sunlight, my strength can recover quickly.

"Then let's introduce ourselves first..." Seeing I'm fine, Adrian doesn't push it and turns to his teammates,

"You all know me already, no need for that."

"I'm Blanche, 5th tier Brawler." The girl who opened the door goes first.

"I'm Hayden, 4th tier Guardian Knight." Says the boy with the shield.

"I'm Eleanora, 4th tier Water Mage." Though I know her name, Eleanora introduces herself again.

"Alfred, 6th tier Swordsman."

Hearing 6th tier, I glance at him again. That's quite a high rank, on par with the Adventure Society's Strength Tester.

"I actually just got 6th tier certification recently, don't be too surprised. Treat me as 5th tier."

Seeing my expression, he smiles lightly and explains calmly.

"Still very impressive." I open my mouth, wanting to compliment more, but don't know what else to say.

Having finished their introductions, it's now Selene and my turn.

"I'm Selene, 4th tier Priest."

Selene eagerly stands to my right, with Alfred on her other side. I suspect she positioned herself there to get close to her idol.

"I'm Feliciana..." Oh no, this embarrassing 3rd tier! I hem and haw, finally deciding to sidestep the awkward issue with an alternative phrasing.

"4-winged Angel."

"Great, now we're all 4th tier and above!" Blanche excitedly comments. Higher strength means better survival odds in this beastly environment.

"Hahaha, yes indeed..." I force an awkward laugh while turning my face away in shame.

Back in school I was at least middle-of-the-pack, but to experience being dead last here is truly humiliating.

"Blanche suddenly came back early today and told us she rescued an angel and human being chased by monsters in the city. I thought I misheard her, truly unbelievable."

Eleanora still seems immersed in the joy of discovering allies, though to me her words feel more like stabs.

"How did you notice us?" Selene somewhat foolishly asks the obvious.

"You two caused such a huge commotion in the city. Blanche and I were out scouting and of course saw it."

Adrian unsurprisingly answers matter-of-factly.

"But why didn't Selene and I see many dark creatures in the city?" I ask curiously. Considering the vast city, we flew over nearly half of it yet only encountered four monsters total.

"The monsters here only come out at night. You'll see then." Alfred resolves my question, pointing at the outside door.

"Don't go out at night, or you'll easily be discovered."

"No wonder we couldn't find a lone one!" Hearing that, Selene seems greatly annoyed. "How did I not think of that! Without sunlight at night, the dark element concentrates more, naturally better suited for monster activity."

"How did you find this house? Aren't you afraid the owner will discover you?" I look around. This clearly originally belonged to a small-sized dark race.

I already surveyed the layout and furnishings when first entering and changing clothes in the back room. It's quite similar to a normal human residence but has a few windows, though the ceiling seems a bit low, under 2 meters at most.

Aside from basic tables, chairs, and stools, the room lacks any other furniture, not even beds, just many earthenware jars and pots on the floor. The cabinets are simply hollows carved into the walls. The whole atmosphere feels quite primitive.

"Well, originally there was an owner here..." Eleanora seems a bit embarrassed explaining this.

"Shortly after arriving, a cave goblin returned. Seeing us making a ruckus, it wanted to attack..."

"Then the captain slaughtered him and threw the body outside." Before Eleanora can meander on, Blanche interjects bluntly with the outcome. The captain she refers to is likely Alfred.

While I do feel ambushing someone's home and wiping them out is a bit inhumane, desperate times call for desperate measures. Moreover, the good versus evil outlook seems normal in this world, so I guess no one feels guilty about it. Eleanora showing some concern is already quite admirable.

"Weren't you afraid of the body being discovered outside?" Selene asks, puzzled.

"That was the intent, so more dark creatures came to investigate the room afterwards. Seeing no one, they left."

I see, creating an illusion of abandonment to deter disturbances. At least for now, that will keep other beasts from harassing them.

"Could you tell us then how you arrived at this place?"

With basic introductions done, Alfred broaches the key issue. Everyone's expressions turn serious as they turn their gazes onto Selene and me.

Seeing Selene perfectly content beside her idol and disinclined to talk, I realize I'll have to do it myself.

"It started when I accepted the mission from the Adventure Guild..."

I then give a relatively detailed account of everything Selene and I experienced from yesterday until now.

"I have a question!" Hayden the shield-bearer raises his hand first after hearing it, looking quite young but can't be too weak if he's 4th tier.

"Why would an angel take missions at the Adventure Society?"

Uh... why are you leading with these gossipy questions?

I'm very troubled about how to respond. Should I honestly admit it's because I'm poor and can only earn money by constantly working missions? That would likely invite further nosy questioning though.

"Feliciana has amnesia so can't return to the angel homeland of Edenmere. She lives in the capital, for now, taking the occasional mission to pass time."

Fortunately, Adrian provides a tactful response neatly sidestepping complications.

"So you still don't know how you arrived at this place?"

Finally, a more sensible question from Eleanora.

"That's right!" I nod. "Although we realized a spatial transfer occurred after daybreak, we're totally clueless about the actual transportation method, location, and timing."

"Seems quite different from how we got here." Blanche and Alfred share a look, apparently reaching some consensus.

"And pretty far removed too!" Eleanora supplements.

"On both sides."

"Could it be you know what's going on and where we are?"

Not just me, Selene also picks up on it, instantly perking up since this pertains to our foremost concern right now.

"We still have some uncertainties ourselves..." Alfred forces a wry laugh, looking somewhat helpless.

"But there are things we understand better than you. First, based on our investigation, this place is likely called the Dark Continent, seemingly an isolated region apart from the Eldoria Continent, though its exact orientation remains unknown."

"The Dark Continent..." Hearing the name, it rings faintly familiar to Selene. Soon she recalls, "Our Church scriptures have mentioned it! The dark creatures' homeland is said to be on the Dark Continent, rumored to hold a gateway to Hell. To think we've ended up at such a place."

"Is that so? As expected, your True Church knows quite a lot regarding these matters."

Alfred strokes his nose with a knowing look.

"Then how did you get sent here? We didn't notice anything abnormal while flying last night, so how could we have crossed over?" This still greatly puzzles me. The Dark Continent seems tremendously far from the Astral Kingdom, so figuring that out may enable us to return.

"There's something you seem to have misunderstood from the start."

At this, Alfred's lips curl into a faint smile.

"Because you didn't actually cross over at all."

"We didn't cross over?" Selene and I yell out simultaneously in utter puzzlement.