Another two days had passed. We all had gotten more experienced with magic-arrow casting. Teacher Monrose decided we were ready to go by ourselves as long as we kept to the first two levels. The dungeon had created them for beginners.
Our class stood in front of the portal once more.
“Build your groups and enjoy your first dive without supervision. You have time until the evening has arrived. I will see you afterwards.” Finished with his message he left us to ourselves.
Now the fun began… Would I be able to join a group or would I have to wait outside?
Stonewall had his six together quickly. That meant Stonewall, young Earl Sandro Riversand, soon to be Baron Silas Graybear, Jason, Bart and Mouse.
The second group composed of young Marchioness Nightshield, young Earl Manor Stardust, the soon to be Viscountesses Anna and Jane Silverus and Erik in her group. Even though the men had stuck to Stonewall at the beginning they had decided to form more identical sized groups.
I moved towards the lady Nightshield, intending to join her group. I could read from her appearance that it was going to be difficult. She should me prove right.
“What to you think you are doing?” her cold voice resounded through the area.
“Young Marchioness Nightshield, I would like to join your group.” I replied evenly.
“I do not welcome trash.” She turned her back at me.
Before I could reply Anne spoke up for me.
“Please Marchioness, he has saved my life. I will warrant for him.”
The young lady Nightshield turned toward Anna, “You have to choose your friends wisely. He didn’t save you, he tripped. Why would you invest energy into him? He has lost his main core. Before he had been a genius, now he is a weak-willed failure who has made enemies with a powerful man.”
She looked at Stonewall.
“Let me give you advice. Don’t keep his company. Let’s go.”
Lady Nightshield walked her group to the portal. Anna gave me one last apologetic glance before joining them.
“See you later, trash. You don’t have what it takes to join our illustrious circle!” Laughing, Stonewall lead his group by me and vanished in the portal as well.
Damn… this meant I had to wait until we would visit the city. I could only hope to find a group there. Shaking my head, I turned towards the exit.
Suddenly the portal started. Anna materialized out of thin air. I regarded her with a raised eye.
“I refuse to leave you like that after you have saved my life. Don’t say anything. Let’s go dungeon diving.” The look on her face dared me to say a word.
I simply nodded and joined her. Surprised by her honor.
“Don’t think that I will babysit you. I will gave a chance to prove your worth. If you behave weak, we will part ways again!” The young woman told me. Her expression one of played superiority and wisdom.
“Thank you for the chance.” I simply replied.
She huffed at my neutral answer but left it be. The shields came up and the portal turned blue. It was time to hunt.
We arrived in a similar cave as last time. Anna turned in my direction.
“Follow me. Although the dungeon has adjusted to our size, the fights will be harder than in a bigger group. Pay attention, otherwise you will get hurt.”
It seemed she wanted to play leader. That was okay. I would follow her and fish her out if things spiraled out of control. This much she had earned for coming back.
Moving forward, we arrived at the first room. Sadly, no turtles awaited us. We had boars to content with. At a height of three feet, they appeared more like hideous young bears than boars.
“On my mark.” Anna whispered.
I prepared a force arrow as her lightning arrow materialized.
“Fire.” Together we threw them at the beast. I immediately readied a second one, not sure how much it would take to kill it. It proved unnecessary. The beast twitched and keeled over. I felt experience-energy flow into my core chamber.
It felt still unique improving my core and body at the same time. After the loss of my main element during the first few days, I had to fight to keep my optimism and zeal. Now the luck had returned. Although I needed time to unearth my fortune, a way forward had shown itself.
Moving further into the cave, we came across another two boars.
“You take the left, I will take care of the right.” Anna ordered.
As before, we prepared our spells and let them fly towards our enemies. I could have given her pointers already, but I kept myself back. Failure was the greatest teacher. What I found especially funny was that in her anxious effort to show her mastery she had completely forgotten to summon her familiar. In the near future she would regret it. Inevitably, there would come the moment when the enemy pressured her into a melee situation. Differently to me, she didn’t have the experience nor the aptitude and equipment to come out victorious.
Saying it now would seem the proper thing to do, but she would not remember it the same way as when she had it pounded into her consciousness by a near death experience. In addition, it would raise her dept to me. Maybe it was callous, but I couldn’t afford not to be at the moment.
My arrow hit home and my second cleanly pierced its neck.
The fight didn’t work out so well for Anna. Her boar evaded the second spell, charging towards her. She got flustered, the hastily prepared second spell broke apart.
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It seemed the situation had arrived earlier than I estimated.
The beast was now too close for arrows. I didn’t have the practice to adjust to sudden changes using my magic. With a light step, I closed in on her and pulled her out of the way. The boar tore by, not touching her by a hair’s breadth.
It tried to break, pushing its four hoofs forward. I stepped in from behind, not letting it get aware of me. My sword in hand, I estimated its next move and prepared my attack. The beast made to turn back. It had no chance. Moving directly into my striking range, the sword separated its head from its body.
I walked towards Anna, letting the energy absently merge equally with my body and core, my attention still focused on our surroundings.
“Are you alright?” I scanned her for any injuries, not finding any.
She seemed annoyed about herself. “Thank you for another rescue. I should have reacted better! I have practiced this in the past.”
It was true, she could have reacted better, but I didn’t berate her. We were both at the beginning of our magic path. Having new skills tended to disrupt the normal routines, she needed to relearn them.
“It can happen to everybody. Don’t take it to heart, especially now at the beginning of our journey. Soon you will laugh over these sorts of mistakes.” Some support for good measure would build positive feelings towards me.
She didn’t answer, but I could read from her body language that she had come to terms with the incident and was ready to proceed.
“On another note. Where is your familiar? Mine is unsuited for defense nor offense, but yours could have made a difference.”
Anna’s face turned red. Not answering my question, she called out her guardian. “Fenrix, come out.” A lightning fox appeared next to her. It had the size of a normal fox, but completely white. Its three tails wiggled enthusiastically as it scanned the surroundings and quickly jumped on Anna’s shoulder.
I had to refrain from snickering at her embarrassment. Yet it fit well into my plans. I used her insecurity and took over the command of our group.
“Let’s go.” Following my words, I stepped forward to lead. Anna quietly followed me, her silence agreement enough.
This time we came up against four of the unsightly things.
“Can you spread your arrow wider, more like a cloud, so you hit all four of them? The shock should give us a few more seconds before they arrive here. I will kill the left one with my first arrow. And we proceed from there, okay?”
Anna nodded. She still seemed a bit rattled from our last fight and followed my instructions seamlessly.
Although she strained to change the spell, she did it, and not long later the lightning-cloud was on its way. It hit the three on the left side, sadly missing the fourth.
My arrow hit the first and killed it instantly. I decided to not change the trajectory to injure the missed boar. Anna didn’t need to know about my manipulation affinity, and with her pet she could handle two.
“Focus on the shocked boars, I will take care of the charging one.”
With my instructions carried out, I focused on the incoming beast. One couldn’t even call it a fight. I quickly slaughtered it. For my experienced eyes, its charge more an invitation than a problem. Its trajectory so clear, it had signed its demise the second it had chosen to execute the attack.
Thanks to Anna’s attributional effect, the others hadn’t done much, their still muscles mostly locked up. She and her familiar easily picked them off.
“Good, next group.” I looked back to my companion for her agreement. Anna seemed a bit winded, but in the green. Her glossy eyes told me she had spent her experience energy. She obviously needed a bit of time to recover from the rush.
We proceeded, slaying all the boars we could find in the room. The longer we worked together, the better we worked as a pair. The shock effect her element provided proved useful repeatedly. I took on the roles of magician and warrior at the same time and took care of any infighting that we couldn’t solve with magic. Her familiar a welcome addition in the damage department as it had the offensive strength of another beginner magician.
Finished with the last group, I decided it was time for a break. She still had more than enough mana in her core. Mine was sadly mostly empty. My mana didn’t factor into the equation. My strength with the sword still far above my mastery with the arcane arts. No, Anna’s amount was the only one that mattered. I thought it was best to give her some rest. Her mind wasn’t used to this sort of stress. She hadn’t said anything until now, too prideful to say the words and hold me back.
“Let’s take a break before we proceed to the next room. It is better to be well rested and alert.”
Anna immediately sat down and a water-bottle appeared in her hand. Storage devices made life so much easier.
We recovered in silence. She regarded me with a thoughtful look. “I don’t understand you. You obviously have martial training, are used to fights and are not a weak-willed individual. Hell, our bodies are at the same level and I do have a bigger core than you. Yet I am mentally exhausted and you look like you have taken a walk in the park.”
I lifted an eyebrow, “is that the correct way a viscountess should speak?”
She waved me off.”Don’t come me with that. We are alone in a dungeon, it’s unneeded. If I stuck to decorum, the discussion would take all day. Don’t try to deflect.”
I grinned. I liked this behavior much better. “You surprise me. Until now I thought you were a muster example of nobility, but in truth a big part of that persona is a facade, right?”
Now she was the one who raised an eyebrow. “You know, you are also part of the nobility. And yes, sometimes the rules feel more like a constriction than anything else. I have grown up surrounded by sharks clothed in finery, you have to adjust otherwise they will eat you raw.”
Nodding, I returned to her question. “I never said that I was a failure or weak-willed. I am not responsible for your misconception. It is true that I have lost my core. But it was not due to the claimed reasons. Somebody poisoned me. Don’t look like that. You said and saw it yourself. In the end it doesn’t matter. I have to content with the new circumstances. The masses won’t believe my claims. It is a waste of time to try and persuade them otherwise. I told you this as a thank you for stepping up for me.
Yet I tell you now that I will need more time to recover fully from my injuries and unearth all the stinted potential I still have. In many ways I am more hassle than anything else. Think about it before you help me out again. That said, I won’t forget your support and if I can help you in the future I will.”
Anna took everything in quietly. “Thanks for your honesty. I will have to think about it. Let’s stop the conversation for now and proceed. I am ready.”
In reply, I stood up and moved towards the adjacent chamber.
‘Little brother, found anything interesting in the next room?’
‘No, only more boars. On the plus side, the groups are getting larger. We will earn more experience this way. I have invested especially much time in searching for traps, but haven’t found any.’
‘Good, in that case lets move up the speed a bit. Let’s see how much she can take.’
While we had been slaughtering the enemies I had an ongoing information stream connected to my head. My little brother had done his own search, and I had kept an eye on it while fighting. I had already planned all the battles for the next room.
Forearmed with knowledge, I chained the fights together, putting my companion under stress and ramping up the experience gain substantially.
An hour later we had finished the room, my mana completely drained. I had expected it, but it still irked me that my mediocre mana amount dwindled so quickly. A big part already lost in my own body, before I got it out of my root-pathways. And I was not even sure what sort of consequences the permanent out-bleeding of magic into my own body had.
On the bright side, I could upgrade my body. Making it more durable. It counteracted that exact problem to acertain extent.
Breathing heavily, Anna sat on a nearby stone. Her former hyperactive lightning fox lying listlessly on her lap. In comparison, I appeared relaxed. Although I had fought physically more, I still looked presentable. This much was nothing. She was not used to exercise the way I was. Even if most of my strength got exhausted, I was still able to operate at close to 100%. For her, the curve behaved much steeper.
“Who ever said that you are a weak-willed klutz should kill himself. God, my father’s instructors are not this pushy during training. Who taught you?! I need a break!”
I grinned at her outburst. Sephiroth’s gorgeous figure appeared in my mind. This much was nothing. My beautiful drill Sargent would have seen this not even worthy of a warm-up.
“The next rooms will be more interesting. We will have to fight against goblins.”
Anna didn’t find my news comment-worthy, opting to concentrate on her recovery.