Fate was walking through the forest, looking for John and Prota. He was aware that they were meant to be training, but what he didn’t expect was for them to be resting under the shade of a tree. John had some kind of book in his hand, while Prota was taking a nap while using his legs as a pillow.
“...what are you guys doing?”
“Training,” John said. “Wanna join us?”
“This is the training you were talking about?”
“Yeah. Pretty hard, isn’t it?”
Fate just stared at John.
“I came to deliver a message,” he said, forcing himself to ignore the situation at hand.
“A message?”
“There’s a cover for our dungeon dive that we all need to know about.”
“Why do we need a cover for something like that?”
“You just hit B rank, John. I don’t know why you’re so reckless, but people don’t just jump at taking on dungeons. They’re dangerous. You can die. So for you to just run in as soon as you hit B rank is a little… well…”
“Reckless? Yeah, makes sense,” John shrugged. “What’s this mission about?”
“The guild is sending us in to secure some artifacts.”
“...yep. Mm hm. I know what those are for sure.”
Fate just sighed, hurriedly explaining before he turned to leave.
“Oh, get ready. You’re going to be an adventurer that’s officially been hired by the guild for the accomplishment of clearing a long overdue quest. Are you sure you’re fine to go in the way you are?”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. Seriously.”
Fate nodded and left, leaving John alone. He sat and watched the clouds blow by as a brisk wind blew through the trees. He let his mind go blank. He was especially good at doing that. He didn’t want the responsibility of having people to take care of. Having loose ends to wrap up. He just wanted to take things day by day.
Was that too much to ask for?
“John. John.”
He snapped out of his trance and looked down to see Prota staring up at him. The sun was noticeably lower in the distance. Just how long had he blanked out for?
“Oh, Prota. You good?”
She nodded.
“What’s up?”
“John’s system. What is it?”
“...why are you asking that now?”
Seriously. His system should just be a quality of life thing. Why did it keep coming up? He thought she was just going to ask something generic about it, maybe something about how to use it, but the question she asked made him freeze up.
“Does John’s system talk?”
“...talk?”
“The system. Talks to me,” Prota explained. “It’s like it’s a person. Usually the system is like ‘level up!’ but sometimes… it talks to me.”
John felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek. Prota’s system was talking to her? He racked his brain. There was one time his system had talked to him, but that had been Zero.
Probably.
So who the hell was this?
“It’s not me,” Zero said preemptively. “I’m not doing anything.”
“...Prota, what do these messages look like?”
“Like a person is talking,” Prota said. It was the exact same explanation as before. It didn’t look like she was going to elaborate. She probably couldn’t.
John racked his brain. What? Who could be talking to her? The [Author]? No, that didn’t make sense. The [Author] wasn’t stupid enough to pull something like that, and besides, that’d only ever happened once, in a very roundabout way. After all, while it was technically possible for the [Author] to communicate with their [Characters], what was the point? It looked stupid. There were so many other things they could do.
“I don’t know,” John finally said. “I don’t know Prota. I wish I did.”
He put his hand on Prota’s head and patted it slowly, staring up into the sky again.
“Does it matter?”
He felt her shake her head.
And that was the end of their conversation.
~~~
John and Prota had been given two weeks to train, but there was no way John was going to let Prota do any more work after what she’d just been through. So, as compensation, he let her run wild with whatever she wanted to eat. As a normal person, he was concerned for her health, but on the other hand, this was a story, so surely she couldn’t get fat or something, right? Besides, the amount of health benefits fighting provided had to be good enough. Right?
Thankfully, it seemed to be doing wonders for her mood, regardless of her health. She seemed to be even more energetic than before after that day, although you wouldn’t have been able to tell by looking at her. She’d nod three times instead of one, and she was more bold when it came to asking for things. Her voice had a little more intonation to it, and his eyes were just a little bit more open. She still looked like she was half asleep. Just… a little less so. It was enough, though. More than enough.
The fated day was coming up. John and Prota were tucking into bed early, ensuring a fresh start to their unknown adventure. This was highly unusual for John, who was more of a nocturnal animal than anything else, but even he knew that his body wouldn’t survive without proper rest. As they were getting ready to sleep, John was talking to his sister, calming his nerves down.
“I’ve read up a little bit. Dungeons are known to have mana beasts, so maybe you’ll get to learn the magic of a mana beast?”
He’d had never considered that. Prota’s [Soul Copy] was apparently at level two, whatever that meant, but he still knew relatively little about her power. The fact that he understood her power more than she did wasn’t helping either.
“Maybe we should ask Fate if he’d give you some of his mana…” John mused.
“...John,” Prota said quietly. “Why is John doing all this for me?”
John froze and sighed.
“Prota. We went over this, like, a year ago. Seriously. You need to stop getting so hung up over these things.”
“But… can’t John do it faster alone? Why… why is John helping me?”
“...I don’t know,” John sighed. “I swear I told you this already. Are you worried? Why are you bringing this up now?”
Prota got quiet at that.
“I’m not going to leave you, ok?” John said.
But what happens when you have to choose again? What happens when it’s her or your goals?
“Shut up,” John muttered. Now wasn’t the time for an inner dialogue.
“...?”
“Seriously, I’m not going to leave. If I was going to leave you I would’ve done it already. You know that.”
The girl nodded and went off to bed, but John stayed up. She’d gone though a whole character development arc, literally. Shouldn’t she be working on something else right now? Why was she still afraid of losing him? He didn’t know. He hated it. He was supposed to know everything, be able to predict most things, that was his thing. That was how he survived. Prota was a [Character], after all. He was supposed to be able to [Read] a [Character]. That was his thing.
So what happened when his strongest trait was taken from him? How was he supposed to survive?
But you don’t need to just survive anymore. You have Prota. She can protect you.
Protect. What did it mean in this scenario? Why had he asked her to do that? It’d created a hyperfixation that was either good or extremely bad for Prota. He didn’t need to be protected. He had [Plot Armour]- no, his [Resets]. Then what had he been thinking when he’d asked that?
“...I’m just getting crazier by the day, huh?”
~~~
“Do you remember what a dungeon is, at least?”
John had a bored look on his face as he listened to Fate’s explanation, but Prota was all ears. Finally, a dungeon. She’d only ever heard about them as a little child, but to think she was now strong enough to enter one…
“Dungeons are deep caverns that contain what is known as a mana core. Mana cores are minerals that are extremely rich in mana, overflowing to the point where the surroundings are altered. Regular animals might become new variants of mana beasts, or new minerals unseen anywhere else might be formed. Of course, these are all enticing rewards, but the two most valuable things are artifacts, and the dungeon core itself.”
John’s ears perked up at this. “The dungeon core? Wouldn’t that destroy the dungeon? How about the artifacts?”
Fate shook his head and sighed.
“The artifacts are not related to the dungeon. They were placed there long ago, and no one knows how they got there. They’re also not guaranteed to be in a dungeon. Which is why we’ll be leaving barehanded,” Fate said, emphasizing the last part.
“Piss,” John muttered.
“On top of that, the mutations caused by dungeons can be dangerous. Of course, the materials made by dungeons are useful, so any such things can be sold or used. The dungeon core itself contains a lot of mana, and the guild will pay you for bringing it to them. Of course, they can use it to do all sorts of things, so it’s a win win for everyone involved.”
“...you mean a core is a self-renewing source of mana?”
“I guess,” Fate shrugged. “It’s not like science is a big thing in this world. The closest thing they have are magic towers, and they’re more focused on circles and spells than physical items.”
“Alchemists? Magical engineers?”
“Well, yeah, but… they’re rare. They’re common enough that magical tools are a thing, but the concept of “improvment” isn’t too big.”
John let out an audible sigh. He’d been hoping to get a weapon more suited for this world than his guns, but it looked like that was now a dead plan.
“However, dungeons are still extremely dangerous. If left alone for too long, it’s possible for a dungeon to break, causing all of its mutated beasts to get out, and that’s a really bad thing. Scouts are paid handsomely to judge the difficulty of the dungeon, and all they do is go in and out” Fate explained. “So we better keep our guards up. Especially considering that there could be something worse than a monster inside.”
Prota nodded and gripped her staff. John yawned.
“Let’s go in already,” he muttered. “I wanna go back to sleep.”
“For a guy who doesn’t have a mana core, you sure are confident,” Fate muttered, but took his papers out of his cloak and presented them to the guard.
“...all good. You guys can head on in. Will your mana beast be going in with you?”
“Yes.”
“Good luck,” the guard said, giving a lazy salute.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Fate returned the salute in full and went further into the caves.
“What were you, some kind of soldier?” John said quietly as he caught up.
“Focus.”
The dungeon had torches lining the walls at the start, but as they went further and deeper in, the only light was from a few glowing crystals and Fate’s fireball. Still, no monsters appeared. No mutated beasts, or even regular beasts, for that matter.
“...hey, nothing’s happening. Hey, isn’t that tiring?” John said, pointing to Fate’s fireball.
“It’s nothing.”
“Put that away,” John sighed as he pulled out a flashlight. “Save your mana for something unexpected.”
“What the- where did you get that from? Hey, you can’t just pull something like that out of nowhere-”
“Shh,” John shushed, flicking the switch on. “Just accept it.”
Fate turned to Prota, who just shrugged. At this point, there was no point in trying to rationalize what John did. She herself was growing desensitized to it.
“What are you doing here anyway? Isn’t it safer for you to just wait?” Fate said, extinguishing his spell.
“I’m, mm…” John mused, putting his finger on his chin. “Oh. I’ll be moral support.”
“Moral support?”
“Like a mascot. I’ll cheer you guys on or something. Big help, right?”
“...no, but really. Isn’t it worse for Prota if you’re here?”
Fate expected John to answer, but surprisingly, it was Prota who shook her head.
“John stays,” she said quietly.
That was that. For a little while, they kept walking, but nothing happened. There was nothing. No traps, no forks, no monsters, just a single path lit by John’s flashlight.
“Are… are dungeons supposed to be this easy?” John worried as they went in deeper.
Nothing was happening.
“...I don’t know,” Fate said, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. “I’ve never been in one of these.”
“I thought you knew everything.”
“Huh? John, these things are common knowledge! You’re learning these things because you’re the weird one here!”
“...so the dungeon being this empty could be normal?”
“I guess?”
John just sighed. “So what do we-”
He didn’t get to finish as Prota threw him backwards, blasting out a fireball and taking out a wolf that had leapt out from the darkness.
John gulped as he stared at the dead beast on the ground.
“Heads up,” Fate muttered as growling could be heard from every direction. “Shadow wolves. These guys can be tricky.”
Prota’s eyes lit up as she took her staff off her back, immediately summoning a volley of icicles. Fate similarly closed his eyes and did a quick chant as a ring of fireballs appeared in the air.
“...you have to chant to cast spells?”
“Your sister is the crazy one,” Fate said, still looking at the wolves. “Normally, it takes a two second chant to cast just one fireball.”
“What? Why?”
“You want a lesson, or you want us to clear this first?” Fate yelled. “Are you gonna help?”
John nodded as he took his bag off his back, then pulled out his rifle. Fate stared with wide eyes.
“You’ve had that this whole time?”
“Ready when you are. I’ve seen creatures dodge magic. I’ve yet to see a creature dodge a bullet.”
With that, John got up and sat against a wall, propping up his gun beside him.
“Well. Good luck.”
“Good luck?!” Fate exclaimed. “You can fight! What are you doing?”
“Fight?” John shrugged. “What are you talking about?”
“You were just talking about-” Fate started, but was unable to finish as the wolves began to attack.
They weren’t particularly fierce, but there were a lot of them. Fate was clearly still frustrated, chanting as he let out an immense wave of fire that obliterated the wolves in front of him. Having also been trained by Kit, it seemed that his spells seemed to be much stronger than Prota’s. It was enough that Prota could focus on standing back and protecting John, catching any stray wolves that sensed that John was the weakest prey of the group.
“She’s taking her job seriously, huh?” John thought with a warm smile that went unobserved. He leaned back and relaxed. He jumped a little as Kit leapt onto his head but ignored it.
The fox kept hitting him.
“Really? You want me to fight?”
Kit leapt down and looked at John in the eyes. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but the general message was pretty obvious.
“Haah… Fine.”
He picked up his rifle, checked the magazine, then pressed the stock firmly against his shoulder.
“So much for keeping the genre correct. Maybe I should’ve gone with a sword.”
There was a click as the safety went off.
“Prota!” he called out. “Cover your ears!”
She looked back and saw the gun, and immediately understood. He’d shown it to her once, and the sound wasn’t exactly pleasant. It was like hearing a cannon go off. Well, not really, but to someone who had no idea what a gun was, it was close enough.
“Here we go.”
Thirty bullets. That was way more than enough, considering Fate had already taken care of eight of the wolves, with Prota having killed three more.
“One.”
There was a loud crack, and then silence. The wolves shrank back, growing, but it seemed they were wary now.
“Huff… huff… why didn’t you do that earlier?” Fate growled. “Was it difficult to do or something?”
“No,” John shrugged. “How many are left?”
Fate shook his head. “That’s the problem with these guys. From what I’ve read, they come in packs of thirty or more.”
“Thirty?!”
“It’s ridiculous, yeah, but it’s easy for them. They’re called shadow wolves for a reason. Their bodies can blend into the shadows, making movement and space basically a non-issue. It also makes it so that we have no clue of how many there are. There could be none. There could also be more.”
“Damn. That sucks, huh? Well-”
John was about to say something when he felt a tug.
“Prota?”
“Twenty one.”
“Twenty- what?”
“Twenty one.”
“What are you- right, they’re mana beasts!”
He ignored the glare coming from Fate. This one wasn’t his fault. How was he supposed to think of something like that? If anything, it was Fate’s fault for not letting him know that they were mana beasts.
…right?
“Prota. Right now, can you absorb their mana?”
Prota thought for a few seconds before nodding.
“Good. We’ll cover you. Fate?”
“Sounds like a plan,” the boy nodded.
Prota closed her eyes. She had to focus. There were a lot of targets here, but she could do it. She felt the mana around her and extended her tendrils. This time, they felt like they were more responsive, more obedient, but she didn’t have time to think about that right now.
Her mana core was somewhat depleted from having cast mana recovery and multiple spells, so this was a good moment. She plunged a tendril into each core, ignoring the yelps and cries coming from the battle that was still raging on.
“It’s working!” she heard Fate yell. “Keep doing it!”
She could feel the mana flowing into her core, the dark and shifting feeling of the mana that came from the shadow wolves. With one last push, she pulled out, taking as much as she could with her.
“Prota,” John said hesitantly. “Your hair turned… black?”
Prota looked down to see that her hair had indeed turned black. However, just as she did so, it slowly shifted back to white, and within seconds, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
As soon as her hair was back to normal, images and feelings flashed through her head. Spells, how to use them, how they’d been used, pouring into her body as if she’d used them all her life. It was as if she’d grown up with shadow magic. It wasn’t as if she’d learned spells, like fireball or icicle. It was more as if she’d understood the fundamentals of shadows. As if the basics of how to manipulate them had been implemented into her body.
She focused, and her body began to shimmer, as if she were a mirage and not of physical form. That was the most she could do at the moment, but it was enough to distract the wolves, who seemed to be a little more cautious now.
“Hey. You’re gonna let her do all the work?” Fate called out, slashing away.
John grumbled, rolling his eyes as he raised his gun, and the cave was filled with a symphony of noises once again.
~~~
“Haah.. thirty one. That’s a ridiculous amount,” John sighed.
The wolves had been significantly weakened after Prota had absorbed their mana. They had been forcibly pulled out of the shadows, and every time they tried to go back in, they were only able to hide for a little bit before popping back out.
“It was close,” Fate admitted.
“Close, my ass. You didn’t even use your sword.”
“Your sister had it in the bag,” Fate shrugged. “Honestly, she’s incredible. I’ve heard of [Soul Steal] before from Kit, but to see it in action like that is amazing.”
Prota was pleased by the compliments, but she was still busy trying to figure out this power. It felt strange. Now that her [Soul Copy] was level two, it seemed that the magic she could learn off the bat was of a much higher level than before. It was strange, though. Unlike Elfin or Draco, she hadn’t acquired “spells.” She didn’t have anything like a fire arrow, or basic wind manipulation.
The feeling was very foreign. It was like when she’d made the Blossom of Ice, or when she’d learned magic for the first time. As if she were taking mana and shaping it to her will, rather than using spells that already existed. Absorbing the mana of the shadow wolves had simply shown her how.
“Hey, and that gun. Where the hell did you get something like that? The flashlight, too. Where are you pulling these items out of?!”
“Secret :)”
“What is that sound?! How are you doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“It’s like you’re smiling without actually smiling!”
Prota looked up to see John and Fate arguing over something and sighed. She ignored them and went back to thinking. These powers of hers. Where did she get them from? Why had they been given to her? And was she ready? She wasn’t expecting an answer, but somehow, one came anyway.
[Good job. You’ve figured it out on your own, now. I’m gonna be going back to sleep. Don’t wake me up unless you really need help, got it?]
“W-wait! Who are you…”
The message disappeared before she could finish, but she couldn’t even bring it up to anyone. John didn’t know what it was. Who else would? Come to think of it, had she ever figured out who that voice from the Cave of Trials was?
…did it matter?
“Thank you,” she whispered. She didn’t know what or who this mysterious thing was, but she wouldn’t have made it this far without it.
“Come on, Prota!” John called out as the group got ready to leave. Prota stood up and nodded.
She would figure it out. Someday.
~~~
“Doctor. They’ve entered the dungeon, just like you said.”
“And you’re sure the preparations are done?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then they’ll make it out?”
“Unknown, sir. We can’t risk having someone follow them in. All we know if that they entered.”
Doctor spun around in his chair and faced the trembling messenger.
“You know what I hate more than anything? Idiots. You’re all idiots. You couldn’t even get one man to follow them?”
Tentacles shot out from Doctor’s lab coat and held the man up by the neck.
“H-hey, hold on, don’t-”
There was a sickening crunch as Doctor snapped the man’s neck. The body fell to the ground, and the guard standing outside came in.
“Clean it up,” Doctor grumbled, twirling a pen around.
“So incompetent… you really do have to do everything on your own.”