Head spinning, I sat up, an otherworld lightness to my limbs as I smiled up at my new friends. “Take this, should help with the pain,” George the flabby said, handing me a purple twig. I took the twig, looked at it, at him, back at the twig, then back at him again, frowning as I continued to bleed out all over the cave floor.

“What pain?” I asked, completely uncertain of what I was meant to do with the purple stick.

“Bite it,” George said with a surprising amount of insistence I didn't quite understand. I felt fine, everything seemed fine, it was just a bit of blood, nothing to worry about.

I blinked, looked at the stick one last time, then inwardly shrugged through the growing brain fog and took a nibble. It tasted like wood, big surprise.

“No, like this,” the rotund said, miming chewing on it like some primitive.

I did so, then watched in blearing confusion as he gave me a thumbs-up sign. I was just chewing on a fucking stick why- That's when the pain hit me like a fucking tsunami.

“What the fuck,” I shouted, the stick flung from my mouth as sudden painful clarity rose through the fog of thoughts in my brain like the bile rising up from my stomach. I spewed red and green all over the floor, making George curse and jump back a step as Jones stepped into my line of sight with a disgusted expression on his face, his wand still glowing with the aftereffects of his healing magic.

“Thanks,” I said between gasps, wiping vomit from my mouth. “Arcana damn me, I need to figure out how the hell to use my fucking spells.”

A wash of genuine incredulity washed across Jones’ face at my proclamation. “You just open your fucking spell list. It tells you exactly what to do. Did nobody teach you anything?”

I gave him a blank stare then mentally tried pulling up this ‘spell list,’ he spoke of. Sure as shit a series of system boxes appeared in my vision.

==========

=Spell List=

- Dispel: Using your given casting method, remove minor magical effects from objects or people.

- Weaken: Using your given casting method, slightly weaken the physical structure of an object or opponent.

- Reinforce: Using your given casting method, reinforce the physical structure of an object or opponent.

- Riposte: Using your given casting method, reflect an incoming attack of equal power or less than your casting capabilities.

==========

Below that box was a detailed textbook of information on casting, how it works, why it works, and how to do it depending on a person's given casting method. For oration casting, it was quite simple. All I had to do was tell a story with an element of the spell as the focus, such as telling a story about a hard stone for ‘Reinforce’ or crumbling sand for ‘Weaken’. Simple enough, though the part about how the magic used my intent as an anchor for stabilizing the transfer of energy between realities and how my words shaped that energy from potential to active all more or less went over my head.

“Hey Jones,” I said, shifting to sit with my legs crossed, hands on the floor behind me as I stared up at the tall nerd. “There once was a cockroach that lost its shell and died, the end.”

I felt that familiar tingling around my solar plexus followed this time by a sudden, but not terribly unpleasant, draining sensation from somewhere deeper. Jone’s face scrunched up in disdainful confusion, then his hand shook and the wand fell from his grip to clatter against the floor.

Cursing, he stooped to swipe it back up off the floor and cursed again as he fell on his ass, eliciting laughs from Carlyn, Borgen, and even George. “Of course, your blessing is from the minstrel,” the tall mage said, struggling to get back to his feet. “Fucking oration casting. So fucking pedestrian.”

I laughed and got to my feet, offering the tall man a hand up. “Well, have I told you the one about the turtle with the shell strong enough to snap an alligator’s teeth?” I asked, purposefully triggering my casting again. Jones took my hand as the spell took effect and I helped him to his feet.

He just mumbled about how casting a weaken spell on someone was a terrible way to thank them for saving your life and straightened the lapels of his overcoat, slipping his wand inside a narrow pocket at his side.

“Oh, and thanks for keeping me alive and all that,” I said, feeling a bit bad. “Really helped with all that dying shit I was dealing with, and whatnot.”

“Sure, sure, my pleasure.” He grumbled and turned away to investigate the splattered and scattered remains of the meat cubes.

“Alright everyone, that’s enough fun,” Carlyn said, stepping forward with one of those smiles all supervisors and parents are great at. The one that says, ‘haha, very funny, now get back to work,’ just before the supervisor or parent in question actually says it. “Let's get these cleaned up then move on. Still quite a ways until the alpha’s den from here.”

Immediately the others gave muttered agreements and began using the system to loot the cubes, stuffing the resulting jerky cubes into their own pouches. I followed their example, adding four surprisingly large cubes to the smaller ones already in my pouch.

“You always fall in line so quickly?” Carlyn said from behind me as I slid the last bit of jerky into a pouch at my side, making me jump.

“What?” I asked, spinning around and flushing slightly despite myself. “No, it just made sense is all.” I tried to say it with a shrug.

Carlyn took a step towards me, closing the distance between us and I suddenly realized just how much taller than me she was, just like my wife. “I like a woman who can take orders,” she said, gently running a finger along the line of my jaw, eliciting a strangled high-pitch noise from my throat that I couldn’t suppress.

Before I could recollect my faculties the other woman was walking away, a grin on her face that would have brought me to my knees had I been a single woman. But I was not a single woman, I firmly reminded my body, frustrated and flustered by everything. Arcana, I thought, that woman was a nuisance.

When the party was finished collecting their jerky cubes, Carlyn and Borgen led us away down passage after passage in near total silence. Nika and George protected our rear while Jones explained the fundamentals of magic, skills, and the system in general to me in hushed whispers as we walked. Suffice it to say, I did not enjoy that part half as much as I thought I would.

The man spoke in either the driest tone you’ve ever heard or with so much enthusiasm and excitement it was hard to follow what he was actually saying. So to spare you from that nightmare, the gist of what I understood was that spells used mana, and were always derived from a skill, but any other skill will use stamina instead of mana unless stated otherwise somewhere in the skill. That explained why I was never losing mana from my taunts. There was some stuff about higher energies again, but I just so happened to find a strangely shaped button on the lapel of his coat that stole away all my attention while he talked.

As for the system itself, it was a very complicated subject that I really just did not understand. Jones started talking about the twenty-two major arcana and the fifty-six minor, there was something about spiritual resonance, blah blah blah, mortal gods in need of a way to protect, blah blah blah, the system is a magical being that helps the strong get stronger and the weak protect themselves, blah.

Sounds great and all, but I think his ideas might have been a bit too clouded over by his own personal ideologies. Personally, I’ve seen the weak stay at the bottom while the top keeps climbing and only sometimes are things ever different. And for further context, he dumped all of that information on me in roughly thirty minutes, so yeah, sorry If I’m a bit short on the details, that damn button was just so interesting, you know?

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Finally, I thought to myself as Borgen raised his hand in the dim lamp light, signaling for us all to stop, which we did save for Jones who was still going on in a whispered rant about how the orthodox mage schools were all so set in their ways that they couldn’t even look at new ideas or whatever.

“Shut it,” Carlyn hissed, giving the tall lanky man a death glare that could have cut through stone. “It's another fregnick”

A chill ran up my spine at her words but I readied myself, prepared to use my skills and spells, and actually felt somewhat comfortable with my rapier now too.

The rasp of scales against stone slowly crept from the darkness, the sound like sandpaper on marble. A soft hiss wafted through the air, the smell of reptile and wet dog encroaching like moss on a stone, then bang. Like a bullet from a gun, the massive monster leaped from the darkness and coiled around Borgen’s bulky form, its wolf-like snout and silver lion’s mane poised above the giant man with jaws wide open.

A flash of orange light shone from Carlyn’s outstretched hand and a bolt of flame crashed into the beast’s lower jaw, slamming its toothy maw shut on its flickering tongue, a gout of blood spraying out in an arc around the snake’s mouth.

“Hey, bitch!” I yelled at the thing, acting more on reflex than anything. “If I toss a stick will you go away?” It was not my best, but let's be honest, I’d still not proven myself good at any of this.

The fregnick’s head angled towards me as I felt my skill activate, its multifaceted eyes suddenly glowed a bright red in the dark cavern. Nika and George stepped to either side of me as Jones stepped behind with his wand already glowing, Carlyn threw a barrage of fire bolts at the creature, and I readied my rapier. The fregnick relaxed its grip around Borgen, letting out a hissing howl as it angled towards me, only to be brought to the cave floor in a loud crash as Borgen’s massive arms wrapped around its neck and dragged the monster down.

Nika and George immediately dove into the fight as I tried casting one of my spells. “I crushed a snake's spine with my boot,” I yelled, and again felt the tingling and draining from casting magic. The fregnick’s appearance took a slightly paler pallor just as Nika’s spear slammed through the beast’s still glowing eye with an echoing crack like glass being shattered. The thing thrashed and hissed under Borgen’s unflinching grip, the man’s muscles bulging under the strain, veins popping, then with one final gasping shudder, the fregnick fell still, the red glow fading from its remaining eye as ichor flowed freely from the gaping socket.

“Good work people. You know what to do from here,” Carlyn said, helping her brother back to his feet then giving everyone a keen-edged smile full of pride.

The party immediately got to work cutting away at the fregnick’s corpse. I drew my knife to start at it as well, but Nika drew me aside first.

“We should practice if you do not wish to die,” the short, toned woman said.

“Oh,” I said, taken aback by her abundance of straightforwardness. “Sure, I guess. What do you want me to do?”

Nika glanced at Carlyn for permission, received a nod and a tight smile, then said, “just do as I do for now. Everything else will come later.”

I nodded as she immediately fell into the same stance she’d shown me earlier. I did my best to mimic her but immediately failed as she let out a sigh and set about roughly moving my body into the right form again. Nika fell back into a perfect mirror of the stance and took a step forward.

Uncertain, I did likewise, earning a glare from her this time. An actual, honest to arcana glare. It was just a step! How could I have possibly fucked up a step, you ask? Well, she sure as shit showed me how.

By the time the others had finished dismantling and storing the fregnick I was sore, tired, and moderately better at standing in a certain way and taking a simple step. The practice was actually quite insightful and I progressed much faster once Nika explained that there were system manuals for martial training if one had skills like my basic one-handed weapons proficiency. The best part was Nika had upgraded me from a subject of glaring, to a subject of impassive staring, which seemed to be what she gave everyone except George who she openly smiled for. Only a small one though.

“We should find somewhere to set up camp for the night,” George said to Carlyn, taking out a watch and showing her the time. I instantly wanted to know how long It’d been since I’d entered the dungeon but held myself back from blurting out all my questions. They could wait until we were somewhere safe.

Somewhere safe turned out to be a cave with a nailed-down blanket over the entrance and a spell to hide it from whatever monsters might be passing by. As we all settled down, George began pulling bottles of beer out from the party’s dimensional storage, even handing me one to my surprise.

“Even if it's just for a minute, you’re part of the team,” Carlyn said at my surprise.

“I, uh, appreciate it,” I said, glancing around at everyone and smiling politely, their generosity making me flush slightly. As they all cheered back at me and started drinking away I hesitantly took a sip.

“What the fuck,” I gagged, coughing as my eyes began to water. Borgen Slapped me gently on the back, which from him was like getting hit by a ton of rocks. It was all I could manage to stay upright where I sat.

“Sorry, sorry,” the big agondlon man said between laughs. “That’s my stuff. See, I’ve got such a high constitution that I need shit like that just to get a buzz.”

Thankfully George was there a second later, trading the strong shit for regular beer. As he handed me the drink I asked, “you have a watch, right?”

“Sure do,” he said, sliding the thing out of his pocket and dangling it by the chain in front of me. “Why? What’s up?”

“I just want to try and figure out how long I’ve been in here,” I said with a shrug. “Told my wife I’d be back in a day or two.” George gave me an awkward smile which immediately set off my, ‘something’s not right’ sense.

“Well, that’s rather unfortunate,” he said after scratching his chin and looking away for a second. “You see, the dungeon space is separate from normal reality, from other dungeon spaces too. Actually, it's somewhat incredible that we ran into you here, since dungeon spaces are usually restricted to the parties who entered together. You see, even time works differently here,” He sighed, rubbed his forehead, then shook himself, giving me an apologetic look. “Basically what I’m trying to tell you is that you’ve definitely been here for more than a couple days on the outside.”

“So,” I began slowly. “You're saying it could have already been what, a year outside?” I asked incredulously.

“More like a week,” Jones said from my other side. “This close to the dungeon’s entrance the time dilation is not quite so pronounced, but the further one travels inside the dungeon, the more time passes outside. Once we reach the second floor it's likely that at least a year will have passed outside.”

“A year?” I asked, jaw agape slightly as realization settled in. I felt the blood rush from my face and George quickly held his hands up.

“Whoa, whoa. No need to get so stressed out about it. If you really need to get back just use a return token.”

“A what?” I blinked at the man, frowning slightly. I’d never heard of such a thing before.

“You know,” he said, pulling out the dimensional storage gem and pulling out an object roughly the size and shape of a silver coin but a purple-black color. “One of these.” When all I did was stare blankly at the toke, Jones gave a weary sigh from the rounded man’s side.

“You’ve never even heard of one, have you. Arcana, what are they teaching new adventurers these days.” He ran his hand down his face, pulling out another token from his pocket. “A return token is a basic necessity for dungeon diving, girl. Just crush it in your hand and poof, the dungeon will spit you out within a second. The only downside is that the dungeons usually don’t like it when you do this, so they’ll take any items or experience you earned from the particular dungeon during your dive when you use it.”

“So I could go home right now if I crushed one?” I asked, biting my lip as I contemplated things.

“Of course,” Jones said, then flipped the token towards me. “Take this one, we all carry a handful on use at any given time for emergencies. Just remember, you’ll lose everything you’ve gained here if you use it. Oh, and don’t worry about crushing it by mistake, the magic works by intention.”

I nodded distractedly as I caught the coin and stared at it. On one hand, I’d already technically broken my promise to Síle and I’d be losing everything if I left, but as of that moment my marriage band hadn’t registered any vow broken, so perhaps if I left now I could avoid any miss fortune and settle into a life of mediocrity with my wife, get some easy and stable job and just work my life away.

No, I realized after a few moments. If my life were seriously at risk then I might use the token, but I’d already risked so much for my dream, I couldn’t afford to waste all of that. I stuffed the token into the pocket of my trousers without a second thought.

“Anyway,” Carlyn said to the group at large, pulling me from my introspection. “We should all get some rest tonight, tomorrow we make double time towards the Alpha’s den.”

That earned her a half-hearted cheer from the others and a grin from me, which she returned with an inviting look that made my stomach twist. ignored her and turned away, curling up with my pack against one wall and letting out a long sigh as the day’s stress lightened somewhat.

All of a sudden searing pain shot through my arm from the band around my wrist. I bit my tongue against the pain, unwilling to shout in front of the others. After a few moments of agony, I lifted my arm to find one of the three vow marks in my marriage band slashed in two with a red line. Tears stung the corners of my eyes as I firmed my resolve. It was unfortunate, yes, but it was for our future. Síle would understand. Taking a deep breath, I focused on falling asleep, only for a system box to appear in my vision.

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=Level Up!=

- Congratulations, you are now - Level 1

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