The walk back to the safe zone was long, and my paws were immeasurably heavy. A cold emptiness spread from my stomach where the warmth had once been. No amount of fish from my pile could banish the cold…but that didn’t stop me from trying.

System Activation of Welcome to Atria

All spells and many abilities require mana to use. An individual’s mana pool is dependent on a number of factors, including species, type, casting method, and many other traits. When mana is depleted, spells cannot be cast.

So, that’s what the warmth was. My inner pool of mana had run low after the fight with the axolotl. It made sense. The creature was much more powerful than me from a measure of levels. Of course, I was still a greater being, but greatness isn’t only measured in power. I’d used a lot of my magic pulling off its frills, not to mention the amount I’d used to keep the piranhas out of the water until they died.

I dearly hoped that sleep could restore mana. It’s what my body wanted more than anything in that moment.

Mana can be restored through proper eating, hydration, and sleep. For practitioners of command casting, known commonly as holy casting, this is the only requirement. For practitioners of absorption casting, also known as unholy casting, a suitable location suffuse with ambient mana may be used to accelerate recovery.

Amsiii continued on after that point, but I was too tired to remember anything it told me. My head rested down on my paws, and all I knew was the soft drone of Amsiii’s explanations. It would be frustrated with me for falling asleep, but I’d deal with that later.

* * *

I dreamt of sunlight. Of trees filtering the rays of the sun so that they warmed my fur to a comfortable temperature rather than burning. The smell of herbs and mushrooms wrapped me up in a cozy blanket that clearly spoke of home.

Warm hands stroked my spine, massaging my aching muscles. I purred at the attention. Soft words filled my ears as I laid in the woman’s lap. I kneaded her legs, gently flexing my paws and claws in rhythm with my purrs. She seemed to like it, and that was fine with me.

I don’t know how long the dream actually was. All I know is that it faded away all too soon, leaving me cold and alone in the dungeon once more…

* * *

The warmth had returned to my stomach when I woke. I rose to my paws and stretched my forelimbs as far forward as I could go. Then, with a final yawn, I turned away from the comforting allure of sleep, and got down to work. Wrapping my tail around my paws, I consulted Amsiii.

Aptitude points available: 1

Excellent. I needed a way to weaken my enemies, to level the playing field so that a tiny, but majestic creature such as myself was less likely to be harmed.

Allocating 1 Aptitude point to Enervation

Spell discovered: Chill I

Soulbond Spell discovered: Increase Potency I

Soulbond Spell discovered: Drain I

Soulbond spells? Knowledge on the two spells labeled as “Soulbond Spells” were already filtering into my thoughts, but I never learned them myself. Where had it come from?

Wait…I have an ability called Soulbond…but I’d never asked what it did. I turned to Amsiii for answers.

Soulbond - Granted by Witch’s Familiar. You share a link with another being on Atria. You are eternally bound, sharing mana and knowledge between one another. Spells known by a soulbonded partner will be learned automatically, though they will be at their weakest level, regardless of the partner’s proficiency. Soulbonded pairs may also communicate within a short distance dictated by their combined level.

Note: Soulbonded pairs will suffer ever increasing drains on their energy and mana if they are out of proximity for an extended period of time.

Though an inarguably useful ability, that last warning was more than a little concerning. Assuming that my Soulbond was with the witch who summoned me, I was in trouble. I had no idea where she was. I had no idea where I was. How could I find her before we both began to waste away?

I pushed the thought aside. I couldn’t do anything about that while stuck in the dungeon. One problem at a time, and the challenge that demanded my more immediate attention, was that of the toads.

Thanks to Soulbond, I now had a new arsenal of spells that would hopefully help me to keep up with the toads. I just needed a little more insurance that the two creatures would go down without trouble.

Picking a few of the mushrooms and carrying them over my head, I trotted back to the snake tunnel. To my surprise, the tunnel was empty, save for the four venom sacs I’d extracted. The dungeon must have reabsorbed the snakes while I slept. Did that mean there were more snakes lurking? I didn’t hear any hissing, but that didn’t mean I was safe.

Keeping an ear on the tunnel, I dropped my mushrooms and got to work. I wasn’t quite sure how Increase Potency I worked, but this was an excellent time to get the basics down.

I called for the mana inside me. It felt…slightly different than it had yesterday. It still answered to my call, and still surged in the same way, but it felt qualitatively different…as if it had changed from rat meat to fish meat: still delicious, still nutritious, but fundamentally different in flavor and texture. Did it have to do with what I ate? Or was there something else dictating the flavor of my pool?

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The mana swirled to life as I willed it to form Increase Potency I. There was a shift, and I directed my focus onto the venom sacs. The snakes had only been level 1, but maybe I could bump the strength of the venom juuussst a tiny amount. My spell settled onto one of the venom sacs, and the sac turned from green to a dark gray. It had worked!

Gingerly, I took a mushroom cap and set it next to the venom sac. With a single claw, I pierced the deadly venom and dripped it carefully onto the mushroom. Only when the entire thing was covered in the poison did I cast the emptied sac aside. The mushroom hovered before me as I examined it.

It smelled sickeningly sweet, like a flower so poisonous that you dare not even breathe near it. I hoped the toads didn’t have a good sense of smell, because I wouldn’t go within ten feet of the thing. Then again, my senses were exceptional. A lesser creature may just fall for it.

I repeated the procedure with the other three venom sacs. Each one was enhanced, turned gray, and drizzled over a mushroom until nothing remained. Once I was done, I examined each of the four to make sure they were the same. They seemed to be, at least by my eye. They all smelled equally foul, so they must be the same.

Purring slightly at my hard work, I padded back to the safe zone, washed my paws, then returned to enact the plan.

It was a fairly simple plan. I knew that the toads liked mushrooms from my last interaction with them. With luck, they’d like these, too!

Creeping closer, I heard the deep CROOOOOOAAAAK of the monsters laying in wait. I took a deep breath, then sent the mushrooms flying to the pile of stones on the left. An enormous tongue darted out once, twice, four times, each time snatching one of the tainted mushrooms and swallowing it whole.

I silently padded into the room, keeping close to the wall as the poison began to take effect. The enormous orange eyes dilated before it began to groan in pain. It was time to strike!

I launched myself forward, slashing at its eyes and calling up the mana within me to form one of my new spells. As soon as my paw contacted the hulking toad, Drain I took effect. I watched the life drain from the creature’s eyes as the combined effect of the magic and the poison took hold. It stumbled once to the side, then collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Congratulations. Level 5 Stoneskin Dungeon Toad defeated. Experience gained.

Level 5?! What happened to Forced Fairness?! I was only Level 2 when I entered the dungeon! How on earth would I have been expected to deal with this thing?! I guess my suspicion that “fairness” meant something different to a dungeon was correct. What I didn’t understand was why it had decided to make things so difficult for me specifically. None of the Petal Hoppers had been consumed by the hungry earth, and I hadn’t seen any other creatures but me and the dungeon monsters since falling. It was starting to feel personal.

Perhaps the dungeon recognized my magnificence as a paw-ragon of among man and beast alike, and it had given me a challenge commensurate with my brilliance? That had to be it. I couldn’t think of any other reason for it to go so far out of its way to try and kill me.

The other Stoneskin Toad groaned a deep CROOOOOOAAAAK at its fallen companion. I wiggled my nose and flexed my claws in response. I had no more tricks up my sleeve. It was time to do battle.

I crept around the edges of the room, getting closer to the great toad as it searched for me, but I was like a shadow. My black fur blended seamlessly with the darkness. I was built for stealth. I was one with the void.

The toad didn’t see me until I pounced, throwing myself onto its back and slashing at its eyes, just as I’d done to its companion. The toad reared back on its hind legs as I clung to the stone plates. My claws sliced through the jelly of its eyes, leaving it bleeding and blind.

The advantage was now mine. If it couldn’t detect me, it couldn’t attack me. I hopped off its head, determined to use the opportunity to find other weak spots in the stoney hide.

I padded softly around the creature, trying to see its stomach and limbs. The whole thing was covered in the same plates of stone armor that its back was. Though there were small gaps between the plates, I had nothing long nor sharp enough to capitalize on that particular weakness.

A thick and slimy length of skin and saliva wrapped around my middle without warning. I yowled in surprise as the toad yanked me off the ground. How had it seen me! Its eyes were destroyed!

I clawed and bit at the tongue, but it didn’t react. Instead, the toad pulled me closer and closer to its waiting maw. I writhed, twisting my body in every direction I could manage, but the tongue was wrapped tightly around me.

My magic surged inside of me, calling upon both of the two new spells at once, and spending a large amount of mana in the process. The temperature plummeted around me as Chill I took hold. Tiny ice crystals formed on the toad’s tongue as it withered and wrinkled under the effects of Drain I. Combined, the two spells were the result of pure enervation, the draining of energy and life.

The suffocating grip of the toad’s tongue weakened, and I was able to squirm out of its grasp. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth, unable to retract fully within. I darted away from where I’d fallen, but its head tracked my every movement. Sight was apparently not its only sense.

I hissed at the toad. It grumbled a sound through its dead tongue. I looked at the thing curiously. A little bit of Chill and Drain had rendered the appendage completely worthless…what if I could do that to the whole creature?

The chinks in its armor were too small for a good slashing, but were they big enough for a paw touch?

I sprang back into action, leaping onto its head once more and searching for the edges of the great stone plates protecting it. Finding one, I carefully searched for a hole big enough to fit my paw. Just behind its eye, where the plate of its head and side came together, a hole exactly the size of my paw waited just for me.

Mana swelled inside me as I shoved my paw between the plates. Once again, the temperature fell around me, and the toad groaned in pain. I extended my claws, gripping tightly to the plates and skin to keep from being thrown from the great creature’s head. Both Chill and Drain required time to optimize their damage, and I fought to give them all the time they required.

The toad thrashed and raged, slamming into walls and stomping its terrible feet. I clung to its back as it began to grow weary and slow. Eventually, after several long minutes and nearly my entire mana pool’s contents, the toad slowed to a stop and released its final breath.

Congratulations. Level 5 Stoneskin Dungeon Toad defeated.

Level up to Level 5

One Aptitude Point Available

Abilities available for selection

Only once it had lain still for several minutes did I relax enough to retract my claws and jump down from the toad’s back. My flanks heaved from the effort and mana exerted during the fight. My pool ran dangerously low, but I didn’t dare rest.

I didn’t know what the full definition of “abusing the safe zones” might be, but it had only been an hour or so since the day had begun. Trying to rest again seemed like inviting trouble.

Besides, Amsiii had told me there was a time limit on how long I could spend down here. The longer I was away from my summoner, the wearier I would become as the Soulbond drained us both.

I padded softly down the far hall, only to find a perfectly circular room on the other side. Two doors waited on either side of the room. Padding to the one on the right, it read: “For ease of passage to the forest above.”

My heart leapt in joy, and I very nearly threw the door open with Telekinesis II, but curiosity drove me to check the other door, just in case.

It read: “For greater reward, and your heart’s desire.”