Pear watched the dead spot in the swirling Arcance mana that was Savantha as she approached him, having destroyed another Arcane Elemental.

"Did you get anything from that?" she asked him.

"I think so," Pear told her as he drew out the shapes the elemental had used in its fight against the other player. "Now I'm trying to see what this one is."

"Using magic seems so much harder than just hitting things," Savantha observed as she watched her short partner wave his wand through the air. "All this stuff about studying the elementals so you can try to learn their spells seems like a huge pain in the ass."

"Most people that choose to use magic won't do things this way," Pear explained to her as he finished shaping the elemental's spell and igniting the magic with a touch of his Arcane Manipulation spell. "I'm only doing it this way because of my teacher. He put this cloak on me and threw me in here. I thought he was trying to kill me."

"And now?" Savantha asked as she watched Pear's face twist unhappily.

"Jury's still out," he told her. "That one was a bust too."

"Damn," she swore. "That means that in this whole thing, you've only gotten maybe three spells out of like twenty elementals, right?"

"Yep," Pear nodded. "Force Hand, Force Barrier, and Force Missile. Not counting the Force Shield and Force Bind that I already had."

"Does the missile one even count?" Savantha asked grumpily as she sat heavily on a rock beside Pear. "You said you already knew Missile before you came in here. How is what you had before this any different than what you have now?"

"I didn't know that Force Missile and Missile were different until I cast the spell and got the notification," Pear explained, eyes watching as the purple Arcane mana moved through the area. "I think that I can cast Missile, Shield, and Bind with other types of mana and that would change them to be spells like Water Missile or Fire Bind instead of just Missile."

"This just agrees with me about magic being too hard," Savantha groaned. "If these elementals were immune to physical damage or something, I'd have been screwed when I started this dungeon."

"There, there," Pear said, deadpan, as he pulled his staff out and channeled his shield spell through it. "We'll get through this."

"I'm sure," his Party member agreed as another Arcane Elemental caught sight of them and sent a barrage of Force Missiles flying toward them. "Can you get this one? I'm tired."

"I'm working on it," Pear assured her as he waved his wand, shaping the Force Bind spell and casting it at the elemental.

To Savantha the whole thing was odd to look at. Her new Elvish companion, tiny as he was, was staring at nothing and waving a stick in the air, muttering under his breath before a group of purple, glowing darts flew toward the two of them from deeper in the room, flowing around a large rock that was in the way. After a moment, she heard the elemental screech in pain as the mage's spell connected and it found itself consumed by the structure of the spell to empower the whole thing.

"Still total bullshit to watch you 'fight' these things," she griped. "You throw up your little shield and they feed it power or run into it while you build a spell that eats them."

"I was set up to go through this place without that many issues," Pear pointed out. "My teacher said he helped grow this dungeon and guided the whole thing into what it is now, all so he can use it to help teach students of the Mage's College more about combat spells. He just gave me a few extra handicaps before that."

"Those handicaps are letting you walk through this place," Savantha pointed out. "It's not pitch black, but it's still dark enough to make it hard to see unless an elemental is right next to you, lighting the place up. You said that it's all glowing from the mana in the air. The elementals might still take physical damage, but they're not the sort of thing you want to keep hitting. My fists are burned or something everytime I touch them."

"I thought you had a weapon," Pear muttered.

"Nope," the woman told him. "No sword, no dagger, no stabby stick, just my fists and the gloves that were on them."

"Shouldn't those gloves protect your hands?" Pear wondered.

"They did," she nodded. "The problem is that it was starter gear and it didn't hold up that long before it was a bunch of scrap cloth. My clothes aren't much better to be honest. I look like some sort of barbarian woman with this stuff."

"Oh uh, do you want my robe?" Pear asked, cheeks warming at the mental image of his companion that he'd been staring at quite often, not realizing what she was wearing. "I've got a shirt underneath it and that should be fine for me."

"As long as you're fine not getting it back, I'll take it," Savantha said. "I'll probably rip it apart so it can fit me, but it'll work out."

"It'll size itself to fit you as long as you're not a smaller than a Dwarf," Pear told her as he pulled the black robe from his outfit off and passed it over to her. "The devs didn't want to deal with having to constantly re-size player's clothes if they weren't given something that fit them."

"Huh, didn't know that," Savantha observed before gripping the sleeves of the baggy robe and ripping them off. "Good to know."

"Why?" he asked her at the sound of tearing cloth. "I just told you you didn't have to do that."

"I don't like the sleeves," she told him. "Been years since I wore anything but a tank top."

"Because of course," Pear muttered. "Let's go check out the Arcane Elemental King and try to figure something out against him."

"You've been here for like a day and you think that we're ready to take him on?" Savantha asked skeptically as she pulled the now sleeveless robe over her and tied it tightly at her midriff. "Getting ahead of yourself aren't you?"

"I want to know if my spells will affect it the same as they do the other elementals," Pear explained. "If they do, then we can leave this place a lot sooner than we think. Besides I've only got enough rations for a month, if I feed only myself. That means that we're on a time limit no matter what. Since the personalized Pod servers like the one we're on don't have levels, there's no real point to trying to grind experience on these things."

"I guess I get it," Savantha agreed as she followed the shorter Elf toward the center of the massive room. "I've already worked on my martial arts skill and gotten it to common, so there's not really much I can do here."

"What are you, some sort of monk?" Pear asked.

"Sure am," her voice carried the grin that she flashed him. "Love to practice kickboxing and tae-kwon-do IRL, so when I saw that I could be an actual martial artist monk in here, I was sold."

"I was the same way when I saw that I could sling spells," Pear said. "I always like to play a mage type in games, so when C99 said that I could cast actual spells, not just press a button, I was planning my character immediately."

"Guess that means that you weren't just picking a mage class so you could avoid fighting up close then," Savantha observed with a grin. "That's better than the other type."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Other type?" Pear asked, confused.

"The type of caster that chooses magic so they can avoid all the headache that comes from fighting in close," she explained. "You know the type, they start out and they grab a sword or something and then they get a scratch or run into a problem and all of a sudden they're learning magic spells and acting like it was the plan from the start."

"Oh yeah," Pear nodded. "I know what you mean. I've run into the reverse a lot and it's always such a cop-out. Just because they can't figure out how to use the spells, they grab a hammer or something and start beating on whatever the problem was."

"Ugh, I hate that kind of player," Savantha said as they walked. "I can respect the ones that pick something and stick with it from the start, but if you tell me that you're going to do this and then you change directions, then you're just terrible!"

"Tell me about it," Pear agreed as the Arcane Elemental King came into view. "I hate joining player guilds and such because then there's all those people that tell you they tried to be a caster or an archer, but they gave up because it was easier to hit something with a glorified stick. Drives me up the wall to deal with that kind of person!"

"Totally," Savantha nodded. "How can you trust your back to someone that didn't even stick with something they said they were going to do? I'd rather have someone that spent the effort learning to use a shield right instead of someone that only knows how to hold it in place. And don't get me started on the Captain America wannabes."

"I hear that," Pear said before deepening his voice for comedic effect. "Let me throw my shield at the ground and ricochet the thing into the other guy's balls. After it hits them and drops him, it'll fly back at me and I'll catch it. Foolproof!"

"Stuff like that ruined so many people's imagination," Savantha laughed. "Now they all want to play as their favorite characters, but they throw a fit when you don't play along."

As the two shared a laugh, Pear focused his eyes on the Arcane Elemental King that was still showing itself to his Examine as the Dragon King's Right Eye.

"Should I try to have my Bind spell eat it?" he asked Savantha as they observed the gathered mass of Arcane mana that sat possessively over the center of the hill that rose in the middle of the room.

"Couldn't hurt," she shrugged and he began to cast. "Just give me a shield before you let it fly."

"I'm working on it," he assured her as he erased the start of the Bind spell and began setting up a Force Shield that would cover her. "Just make sure you stay close to me, so that the spells overlap. I think that'll make them stronger."

"And if it doesn't, then I can hide behind you and use you as a shield until the spell stops the attack," Savantha said, jokingly. "Great!"

"You've got the order wrong," Pear said, mimicking her tone. "I'm small, I'll hide behind you and be safe while you tank."

"No way in hell am I ruining my new top because you don't want to play shield for me," she laughed.

"But that's how things are supposed to work out," he said, also laughing. "I'm the squishy caster and you're the armored fighter."

"I know you're pretty much blind, but this doesn't look like armor to me," Savantha told him as the spell flared into place around her.

"You'll be fine," Pear assured her. "Just dodge-tank."

"Because that's not ridiculous," she said as he waved his wand through the air again and began forming the Bind spell again.

Silently, focusing on forming the spell correctly, Pear formed the shapes for the Force Bind spell as sent the mana into the layered shapes, targeting the Arcane Elemental King. As soon as the spell formation snapped into place and colored the purple of Arcane mana, the watched as the mana around the mass at the center formed into chains and threw themselves toward the resting king.

"Oh we're so boned," Pear said as he watched the chains disappear deeper into the elemental and disappear. As he watched his spell fade uselessly, his Examine triggered and he finally saw what they were trying to fight.

Arcane Elemental King: An Arcane Elemental that has managed to survive against its bretheren and formed a core of Arcane mana that will sustain it and absorb mana from Arcane spells. It is usually non-hostile to creatures that come near it unless they attack first; then it will not stop hunting them until they are dead.

"What's the matter?" Savantha asked.

"It ate my spell," Pear said turning and beginning to run. "And now it's pissed! Run!"

Before Savantha could answer him, the Arcane Elemental King sent a barrage of Force Missiles flying toward them. Yelping, Savantha quickly followed and then overtook Pear as she sprinted away.

"Can we leash it?" she asked him.

"Didn't you use Examine on it?" he asked.

"No!" she anwered. "Once you've examined it once, you know all about it."

"Mine said it'll hunt us until we're dead!" Pear told her as the massive elemental chased after them. "Didn't yours say that?"

"Mine just said that was non-hostile unless you attack it!" she called over her shoulder as they raced away. "What's the plan?"

"Step one is don't die!" Pear yelled. "Step two is kill it!"

"Works for me," she said as the elemental sent another barrage of magic darts flying toward them. "How do we do that?"

"Probably have to hit the core," Pear told her. "Can you see anything like that?"

"I see a big, glowey, purple stone," Savantha answered him, looking over her shoulder. "Is that it?"

"Maybe," Pear said as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her away from the wall they were barrelling toward. "I'll try to hit it with a spell."

"Didn't that piss it off earlier?" she demanded. "And do nothing?"

"I used Arcane mana," Pear explained. "This time, I'll use something else."

"Like what?" Savantha asked.

"Anything else," he told her. "But I'll need you to do something for me so this can work."

"What?" she asked.

"I need you to carry me so I can focus on casting the spell," he said.

"That sounds like a stupid idea!" she said.

"I'm not happy about it either!" Pear said. "So unless you want to try tanking the massive thing, this is the plan I've got!"

"Piggy-back?" she asked.

"It'll work," Pear said. "Just tell me when to jump."

"Jump?" Savantha asked as Arcane Elemental King's flying darts petered out and chains of purple mana began to flash toward them from the ground.

"I'm not stopping for this," Pear explained. "I'll jump onto your back and grab on, once you're back to speed I'll start casting."

"Just don't miss your jump," she said. "Go now! Jump!"

Springing off the ground with all his might, Pear leapt through the air, avoiding the chains of magic that had been threatening to overtake him, and crashed onto Savantha's back as her hands locked on his legs and his arms wrapped around her.

"Don't choke me," she complained as she stumbled a step before finding her stride again and running quickly through the dungeon's cavernous room with the large, shapeless form of the elemental king chasing after them relentlessly as glowing purple darts of magic flew past her and grasping chains of deep, glowing purple reached for her. "I need to breathe if we're going to get through this."

"Sorry," Pear said, as he pulled an arm from around her and gripped his wand tightly in his hand. With fast motions, he drew his mana from within himself and shaped it in a circle, surrounding a triangle balanced on a line that bisected the bottom of half of the circle. "Fire Manipulation!"

In his vision, the shifting mana that made up the neutral shape he'd drawn changed color to an angry, deep red that seemed to give off a heavy heat.

"That's hot!" Savantha hissed in pain as the spell activated and a burning dart of fire illuminated the room around them before flying through the air to strike the Arcane Elemental King's core.

Screeching in pain, the king redoubled it's attacks.

"Faster!" Pear yelled as he began drawing a second dart spell. "It's pissed now!"

"I couldn't tell!" she snapped back as another bloom of heat flashed and the king screamed again.

"This is too slow," Pear muttered to himself.

"What?" Savantha demanded.

"Not you," he assured her. "I'm trying something different with my spell casting."

"Less talking, more doing!" she told him as the elemental king's barrage of spells returned in full force.

No responding to his partner's words, Pear focused his attention on his casting and brought his Fire Manipulation into play at the start rather than shaping the spell and then igniting the effect with aspected mana. As the burning, red mana flowed through his wand, Pear quickly drew the formation for the Missile spell and watched as it rocketed away much larger and faster than it had before.

"Ouch!" Savantha complained as she felt the heat burn her arm. "What was that?"

"My idea worked." Pear told her.

"Well, use something other than fire," she complained. "That last one burned me!"

"Switching to Light," Pear assured her as he drew one last Missile spell with the Fire mana and ended the flow from his core. Piercing, golden mana replaced red heat and Pear drew the Missile spell again.

To Savantha, the flash of golden light behind her disappeared almost instantly and the Arcane Elemental King's bellow was louder than before.

"I think that one hurt it worse than the fire," she told Pear.

"Not well enough," Pear told her as he called consuming, black Dark mana from his pool, shaping it into a spell. "Next type."

As the shadowy bolt flew through the air, Pear watched as it crashed into the Shield spell that the king was using, spreading through the spell before the entire thing shattered.

"Now we're talking!" he grinned just before he flew through the air as Savantha tripped on a rock.

"Sorry," she called as they pulled themselves up. "Are you okay?"

"I tink I bith my thongue," Pears said, lisping a bit. "Wath outh!"

Savantha sprang from the ground, narrowly avoiding the king's wrath as Pear cast another Dark Missile toward the elemental.

"You cast, I'll tank!" she said as she watched the black dart pierce into the elemental and spread rapidly before it was finally consumed by the creature's body, destroying some of it's mass.

"Works for me," Pear agreed as he pulled his staff from his back and began another casting.