"C-C-Carter?" Lucas asks as I wait for Wyatt to finish fixing potions onto his belt.

We've just finished breakfast and are preparing for Wyatt's first proper attempt at fighting using thrown potions. Half of the ten two-ounce bottles he's equipping have grey-tinted liquid with swirling patterns to them while the others look more like dust clouds swirling around.

Windburst and stoneburst potions, both of the crude variety. The ones he's equipping have the strongest power of all those he's made at 19 Magic in strength, so they won't be too useful. This is just experimenting around, however. If it wasn't just testing things out a little, he'd be using the semi-crude variants instead.

Wyatt did a little practicing with his magic grenades and earned the [Grenadier] Class upon some success, but that was against pretty weak monsters. That was obtained for earning the [Throwing Mastery] Skill, which seems to be the prerequisite for the Class. We're sure it's what he was using as a weapon that helped with the Class, as I can't imagine a ninja who uses throwing knives and no bombs or grenades would also gain [Grenadier].

Today, Wyatt's going to test his bombs against stuff that's a little bit tougher, to see how they fare in actual combat. Since there's a Class for this sort of combat and everything, Wyatt wants to get a feel for it and if he likes it, start using more potent ones in fights.

Lucas seems nervous for some reason even though he's not coming along with us. Considering his concern for our health and safety, I can make a guess about what it is. He's been pretty vocal about his worries regarding the potion bombs these last few days.

"What's up?" I ask. "If you're worried about Wyatt accidentally getting us caught up in his things or monsters targeting the potions… I've taken that into consideration and will be standing a safe distance away."

Once we reach Wyatt's destination, I'm also splitting off from him to check something out so that he can test in peace and I won't have to worry about potential shrapnel.

"N-not that," Lucas says. "D-don't think t-that would h-h-hurt you, a-anyway."

"Oh," I say. "What's up?"

"C-c-can I come with y-you guys?" He asks. "I-I-I want to try f-f-fighting, too."

Lucas wants to try fighting monsters? That's a surprise. His preferred course of action around monsters is to take shelter somewhere safe until the monster is dealt with. Exempting tamed monsters, of course. Those, he's adjusting to.

"You don't need to fight," I tell him. "You're a healer and alchemist, and you're even taking over handling the gardens. Fighting isn't a requirement to stay here – look at Chance, he's not a fighter in the slightest."

"Y-yeah," Lucas nods. "B-but I want to t-t-try something."

"Alright," I say. "Grab a pack. I finished preparing standard ones for everyone while you were making breakfast."

Even if Lucas isn't a fighter, I still made up a supplies pack for him for when he joins us on outings or if we need to run from something.

Lucas nods and grabs one of the packs from inside, then I let Chance and Collin know that we're heading out. There's a spot that should be good for Wyatt to test the bombs in so we set off for there. It's a bit to the northwest of here and almost directly north of the forming lake at the former location of the sports park.

The former sports park is where we head to first since it'll be easier to navigate to our destination from there. With no common landmarks anymore other than the pits in the ground from where things used to be, it's better if we travel through routes we know.

That said, it seems the terraforming that's going on is filling in those pits, too. Where the roads and houses used to be aren't shallow anymore. Trees have begun to grow on them as well, along with some undergrowth.

"Strange," Wyatt says when I comment about this. "Why would it do that here when it wasn't elsewhere?"

"Maybe it has been," I say. "And the reshaping is going on more rapidly in areas we aren't frequenting? There's probably some sort of set of rules it has to follow and us going to the Dungeon a few times messed with things. Now that we aren't planning on returning to it for a bit, it's fixing up the area here."

"O-o-or it c-c-could b-b-be a god?" Lucas asks.

Now that he mentions it, I'm surprised I hadn't considered that. The gods do seem to have an active role in things so it's a good thought. The terraforming seems guided considering that all we've seen so far is the water areas getting expanded and the pits being filled in, so it's possible there's a mind behind the actions. At least, for the ground portion of it. When it comes to plants, that seems to be just spreading of what's already there. The only exception would probably be the sudden increase in larger areas that didn't have much else, like in downtown.

Then again, if I shift my mindset to "gods are fundamentally different", it could also be that they can just snap their fingers and a beyond-human level of complexity can be created for the terraforming rules. Ones which account for every possible factor to help determine how things are shifted.

What are the odds that a god will possess a golem to answer the question if I ask it?

"Right," I say. "It could also be that there's a god in charge of doing the terraforming and they're making the decisions on where to fill in or expand based on if someone's going there or planning on it, in order to avoid messing with the plans of those in the area."

"Fair enough," Wyatt says. "So if that's the case, think the sports park's changed a lot rather than a little? We basically finished with it."

"We're almost there," I say. "So we can see. It's possible."

Another couple of minutes pass before we reach the former sports park and upon arrival, we're able to confirm the increased change speed.

The ponds from the southern end and the one at the northern end (by the Dungeon Gate) have connected now with an irregular form. At the moment, it's a semi-crescent shape that stretches from the northeastern corner down to the southeastern and over to the southwestern. It may actually go past where the southwestern one was, judging by what I can see.

Just as with on the way here, more trees have begun to grow in the soil where the road used to be. I'm pretty sure the walking path has been taken over by the now-lake as well and if it hadn't been, it would have trees.

Along the shore on this side of the lake are some plants; tall grasses, shrubs, flowers, and reeds. On the other side is still mostly grass, and most of the trees from that side are completely gone. The grove with the Dungeon Gate is still there, but those are really the only trees we can see on that side.

Chances are, this side of the lake is done being reshaped and that's why there are so many plants on it now.

"Think it's going to stay a crescent?" I ask. "Or change more?"

"It's not a proper crescent," Wyatt says. "And it'd be cooler if the Dungeon Gate was on an island, too. Y'know, since it's for a bunch of islands."

With that much change to this park in just a few days, I'm surprised the rest of it hasn't had further changes made. More alterations must be underway. The original shifts must have been for connecting the ponds together.

"Yeah," I agree. "There must be a limit for how fast the terraforming can happen. Let's keep going."

"S-s-should we check out t-t-the plants?" Lucas asks. "I-I-I think some of them are n-n-new."

Plenty of them probably are new plants, designed to help absorb some of the magical energy in the soil. We could no doubt acquire some alchemical reagents from them.

"At the shore?" I ask and he nods. "Maybe on our way back. We don't know how much we'll be gathering where we're going and this is quicker to reach."

"F-fair," Lucas nods.

We continue northward, following the path shown by lower growth of trees to reach our destination. It's a bit far and goes through a more densely-wooded area, but we arrive without much problem.

"A field?" Lucas asks. "Wait. A field? No trees in it?"

"More like a large glade," I say. "If you consider the tree growth around it. It used to be a junior high. Collin's magihawk noticed it yesterday and as far as Collin could understand from him, it's mostly got low-level monsters. Not sure if there's some plan for it or not when it comes to the terrain alterations, just that it's turning into a glade at the moment."

Without trees growing in it yet growth around it, there's an implication that it's intended as a grove within the forest. Whether the grove is temporary or planned something bigger, we don't know and won't be able to say for sure until things are finished.

"Oh."

"Anyway," I say. "This is where we leave you, Wyatt."

"Should be done in about an hour," Wyatt waves.

"W-w-wait," Lucas stammers. "W-w-w-we're leaving h-h-h-him a-a-a-alone?"

"Just a bit, yeah," I tell him. "Unless you wanted to try fighting groups of rat monsters and stonefang snakes."

"N-n-no," Lucas says. "B-b-but what i-i-if he g-g-gets h-h-hurt?"

"Did you want to stay just in case?" I ask. "My plan was to head off and check something out. Something neither of Collin's familiars that came this way wanted to go to."

That's a bit unfair to Lucas since I know he'll want to stick with the person doing the unknown thing.

It's for the better, though – I know Wyatt will be okay as he's got some stronger alchemy bombs than the 19 Magic ones. He's just testing potion bombs for viability as an offense by using the weaker ones. With how strong he is and how strong the stonefang snakes we've been encountering are, there shouldn't be an issue. All of our packs have treatments for their stone curse, too, and we already know from experience that it's slow enough we can take the counters in time.

Meanwhile, Lucas wants to try out fighting monsters. That's better done in a one-on-one fight rather than against a group of them. If he sticks here to watch Wyatt, he'll want to focus on healing Wyatt or attempting to provide other support.

That won't be the best setting for him to try out combat with. Even ignoring all of that, my gut says it's better for Lucas to come with me and it's not been a bad idea to listen to my gut in the wake of the Mana Flood.

Lucas looks between Wyatt and me, uncertainty clear on his face.

"I'll be fine!" Wyatt gives him a goofy grin and salute. "Go with Carter! He might need the help, anyway!"

"O-okay," Lucas nods a little shakily. "I-I'll go with you, C-Carter."

"Cool," I say. "We won't be too far, Wyatt. Do you remember where I said we'd be?"

"Yeah," Wyatt nods. "If I finish up my thing before you return, I'll just stay here and wait for you, though. Unless an extra hour or two passes, then I'll come looking."

"Cool," I say. "Come on, Lucas. Let's go."

I lead Lucas around the clearing with a safe distance between us and it, just in case any of its monsters might get the idea to come after us. Those should be left for Wyatt to have his fun with.

Once we're past the glade, we head a little bit further north, toward what used to be a walking and biking trail. It started off the road just north of the junior high and travels further up, into an area that was already pretty wooded and without many homes in it.

Though the actual paving for the trail is gone, the path itself remains fairly clear, even if a little bit narrower now. A lot more undergrowth is present in these woods than it is further south, but it doesn't touch into the trail. Another guided growth, maybe?

Someone I used to hook up with lived over here and I've been on the trail a few times. It's rather lengthy and I never went all the way down it as that could actually take a day or two by foot. Did learn a few spots that were good for departing from the trail at to have sex without getting caught, but that doesn't matter at the moment.

"R-really?" Lucas asks as I tell him this.

"Yeah," I respond. "The woods were pretty dense even before the Mana Flood and some sections are actually pretty big or butt up against farmland. Perfect for doing stuff like that without getting caught. Unless there was harvesting or something going on in the fields, but we could be hidden from there and the trail at the same time."

The size of the wooded section and the trees and slight undergrowth it had provided a decent sound barrier, too. Plenty of spots were good for not being heard from.

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"D-d-do you think we'll meet the other g-g-guy here?" He looks around, trying to spot shadows in the darkness. A worry of a sudden monster attack, I'm sure. "I-i-is that why you w-w-wanted to come here?"

"Nah," I answer. "I mean, there's a possibility, yeah, but after two and a half weeks, he's probably taken off somewhere. And before you ask, no, we wouldn't get back together. He wanted romance and I didn't so we split as friends. Kept in touch a bit and he had a boyfriend for a couple of months, though now he's got a girlfriend. At least, did before the Mana Flood. Not sure if they're both still alive, or still together, now."

"H-h-he's straight?"

"Bisexual," I correct. "Koda is, too, by the way. Honestly, though – the odds of us encountering them after this point in time would be slim."

"Carter!" A female voice calls out. "Carter, over here!"

The universe likes to play with me, doesn't it? I don't need to look to identify that voice.

Lucas and I turn to face the person shouting to us, a woman my age with long, golden blond hair tied up in a tight bun dressed in jeans, a brown jacket, and sneakers. Considering her lack of other items, are they converted clothes? The scratches on her cheek and the dirty state of her outfit indicates they may have had some difficulties over the last few weeks.

"Hey, Trent!" She turns. "Carter's here! And some other cutie!"

"Hey, Grace," I step off the trail and approach her. "Surprised to see you here."

"We wanted to leave the area," she tells me. "But there's a lot of monsters. Trent and I found a spot we could hide out in, though things have gotten more dangerous. You're the first living people we've seen in weeks."

That doesn't surprise me. No sane person would stay here without an incentive to do so, not if they can leave and hope for somewhere safer.

"We've been forced to fight monsters," Trent says as he approaches us, having initially been out of sight. "But neither of us are too fond of that."

Trent's the same age as us and has the same golden-blond hair as his girlfriend, his eyes a pretty vibrant blue. He's current shirtless and with a few scratches and bruises on his torso and arms, his jeans ripped and sneakers a bit worn. His lean build looks like it's bordering on skinny now.

They haven't been eating properly. It's a miracle they've managed this long without supplies form the System Shop. That does make me wonder about their clothes, though. Though they're ripped, dirty, and a little bloody, they exist.

"Hey, man," Trent pulls me in for a hug. "You look like you're doing pretty well. And is that Lucas Nash looking at us in horror?"

Trent and Grace went to the public high school and while they were a couple of grades above Lucas, they might have still had some classes together.

"If you start healing them, they'll thank you," I tell Lucas.

Lucas steps forward and immediately gets to work on Trent's injuries.

"What happened to you two?" I ask as I bring a hand up to Grace's cheek to heal the scratches there. "Not that good at fighting?"

"Enough to survive," Trent tells me while watching Lucas work. "But not good enough to make it out of here. Where would we even go, anyway? It seems the whole world's gone to shit. Did you see how everything just… dissolved in a week and a half? Well, the old stuff."

That's a clear sign they haven't been to a System Shop as I know the two of them well enough to know they would have asked some questions. Ones which would have told them about ambient magical energy, at the very least.

They would have wanted to know why things were dissolving.

"I'm just glad the damn squirrels have calmed down," Grace says. "Up until a few days ago, we were encountering them constantly."

Even out here, their numbers dropped? I would have expected them to stay relatively the same until culled. The presence of the queen only increases their spawn rate, it doesn't simply make more of them present. Does that mean the less-frequent attacks we've been facing have been because the squirrels were pacified by her death?

"You're welcome for that," I say. "They were spawning in at a high rate due to the presence of a queen version of them, which I killed a few days ago. While Lucas and some others were avoiding work."

"Not that we aren't making up for it," Lucas mutters, causing Trent to snort.

"Carter really knows how to make people pay," Trent says. "Probably because-ah, nope."

"I've already told him some," I shrug. "What have you two been doing out here?"

"Trying to survive," Trent answers as Grace unzips her jacket, revealing that she's wearing just a bra underneath but has a few more injuries. "It took some effort for us, but we managed to figure out that damn [Stone Bullet] spell."

"We made a makeshift cave," Grace tells me as I gesture for them to sit down for a more comfortable healing position. "That's actually where we were when we heard voices. I came out to check as it was my turn to check things. Just some [Earth Mastery] we worked together."

"How'd you get those clothes?" I ask.

Trent and Grace give me uncomfortable looks and Lucas pauses in his treatment of Trent. I ignore that to continue treating Grace.

"We encountered quite a few bodies early on," Trent tells me. "Some clearly killed by monsters, some… probably from the big rush of Mana that started this whole thing. At first, we just left them. But when we realized things were dissolving…"

"We tried to find some that had clothes that weren't," Grace finishes. "While we felt bad about looting corpses, we needed clothes and they didn't. It was practical. Practical."

That's her attempting to convince herself of it, and it's true. They went with practicality over respect because things are different now and survival is important.

"We don't know why some don't and others do, though," Trent says. "Dissolve, I mean."

"They're from the System Shop," I tell them. "It can exchange old items for ones that survive in this world, so they had probably gone to one. Your [Starter Pack] also comes with some clothes."

I explain to them what we know about the Mana Flood, the ambient magical energy in the air, the System, and anything else I think is important. Now that I've had a better chance to examine them, they both look exhausted. Two and a half weeks without eating much and having to deal with monsters… they're pretty lucky. Neither one of them seems to have turned out to be a fighter.

"How'd you guys learning healing magic?" Grace asks. "Seems pretty handy. We've been stuck with, well… you can see."

She gestures to her wounds. Something about their situation is suspicious. As non-fighters who can barely fight and lacking healing power, they shouldn't be alive. The air alone should have killed them by now.

I trust Trent for sure, but I don't know Grace that well. I really wish Grandma were here, but I'll handle things as if not suspecting anything, just in case it turns out to be nothing. If it does turn out to be something, however, I'll make sure I'm prepared.

"Lucas picked [Lesser Heal] as his Skill Scroll from the [Starter Pack]," I answer. "And I was given an incentive by a god to try living out here for at least a month, which included additional [Starter Pack]s. It was a Skill I picked for one of those. I actually learned [Stone Bullet] the same way as you two – by seeing a stoneshot squirrel use it."

"Don't listen to Carter," Lucas says. "He lets monsters nearly finish their spells just so he can memorize them. And then he'll turn them around and use that same spell against the monster that taught it to him."

"Seriously?" Trent and Grace ask at the same time.

I shrug.

"You really are insane," Trent snorts. "So are you two together, or…?"

"Friends-with-benefits and party members," I answer. "Wyatt's also with us, as are my brothers. It's just the five of us at the moment but I don't have an issue with you two joining us. I trust you. Main thing is you'll need to find a way to be useful. No freeloading. There's actually a lot of work to be done, but-"

"Wait," Grace says. "You're actually staying in the area? For a month?"

"Possibly six," I clarify. "That's the actual Quest I received. The incentive was just so I'd try it out for one. And I mean, we're nearing on three weeks now, so we're at least doing fine. And no one else has to. To be clear on this: Lucas chose to stay with me instead of leaving with his parents. Wyatt's just an insane fucker who decided he was going to stay with me after I rescued him from a Dungeon. Chance and Collin left our family to come stay with me. They're staying with me. That's why everyone has to be useful. So if you want to stay near me but not with me, you can also do that and won't have to be useful to me, though you also won't have the benefits that working with me would get you."

"O-o-or if you want to l-l-leave," Lucas says. "Y-y-you can as w-w-well. B-b-but make sure y-y-you're prepared."

The thought of these two leaving on their own is sending his anxiety up. Seeing them in need of healing and in need of proper food is definitely affecting him even with knowing they wouldn't necessarily have to leave entirely on their own.

In the hope it calms him a little, I reach over with one hand and rub his back a little.

"Yeah," I note that this is definitely calming him some. Good. "If you'd rather go somewhere safer, we won't stop you. It might be a good idea to take a few days to recover your strength first, though."

"Is there somewhere safer?" Grace asks. "There's been monsters everywhere we've tried going."

"That's why we hunkered down," Trent says. "Figured we'd eventually meet friendlies if we stayed in one place."

"T-t-there is," Lucas nods. "The M-M-Mana levels are um… C-C-Carter?"

Seems he's aware he's going to stumble too much to explain this to them.

"The levels of ambient magical energy varies from place to place," I take over. "We have it especially bad here, and those levels directly influence the changes to the terrain, flora, and fauna. There being so much Mana in the air and soil here is why we have such a high amount of monsters and why they're as tough as they are. That's also only going to increase over time. My grandma's taking survivors she's collected from this area and on her travel down south. As a group, it's taking them weeks. As a pair, you could probably make in there in three or four days. It's safe in their group."

"By our-" Trent begins.

"That doesn't mean we'll send you off alone," I continue. "You wouldn't even know where to go. The dissolving is slower the further away you go as well since it's caused by the ambient Mana around, and they're planning on stopping once they reach an area that's manageable for Status Level 0 people. The effect of ambient Mana should be so weak there that it won't dissolve stuff at all, though old tech still won't work."

"Y-yeah," Lucas nods. "G-Grandma Elm says that if w-we m-meet people w-who want to g-g-go meet them, t-t-to let her know and s-s-she'll handle i-i-it."

"Handle it?" Grace frowns a little.

"Send one of her familiars up to guide them down," I clarify. "They're fairly strong. All are monsters she's tamed and she sends one of them – a magihawk – up here regularly to stay in touch. She also has a bear, two wolves, and a snake that I know of. All monsters. All strong."

"He hasn't c-c-come back in a few days so h-h-he'll probably be here today," Lucas says. "T-t-the m-m-magihawk, I m-m-mean."

"Fea's here now," I say. "He arrived about twenty minutes ago and has been flying up in the sky. Currently doing circles with a loop-de-loop every ninety seconds. Seems he's still acting weird."

"What?" Lucas looks up to see Fea flying around up there. "Weird bird."

Fea lets out a call as if to let us know that he heard him.

"How do you always notice when he arrives in stealth?" Lucas asks.

"After all the magihawks I've faced… I keep looking at the skies in case something's coming," I answer. "A paranoid habit."

"How can you tell that's your grandma's familiar?" Grace is looking up. "It looks like any of the magihawks that we've come across. Those are… nasty. Their screeches keep stunning us."

"We did figure out that Mind lets us resist it," Trent says. "And invested some points into that when we gained Levels, so we can at least resist it now. Took a few hits before the stuns wore off before then, though."

"It didn't last that long on me," I say. "They quickly learned that I could use that spell, too."

Trent just snorts, then winces as the movement caused him to shift just enough to ram a shoulder injury into Lucas's fingers.

"S-sorry," Lucas apologizes.

"My fault," Trent says. "We have a lot of injuries, huh?"

"It's more their severity," I say. "We can only heal the lesser wounds and that does take a little time, even with our Magic values. And we're almost done with what you two have shown us. Anyway, to answer your question, Grace, I've got pretty sharp eyes. He's high enough you can see him decently, and that means he's close enough I can make out the harness Grandma has attached to him."

It looks new to me, too. I guess his tube was given an upgrade, possibly to prevent him from opening it.

"Right," Trent looks at Grace. "You only know Carter from the few times you were around when we were hanging out, so you wouldn't know. Carter's got some pretty insane senses. You'd be amazed at what he notices, too. And his ability to hold a grudge or cut you out of his life. Still not talking to your parents?"

"That's even supported by Fea!" I laugh. "He's apparently been removing my parent's letters and burning them in transit, so I didn't know they were sending some until Grandma asked me about them."

Lucas and I catch them up on stuff that's happened as we finish treating all of their injuries, then we get up and I let them know I was just wanting to explore this wooded section since it was already fairly dense before the Mana Flood.

"It's only gotten denser," Trent tells me. "As you can see, of course. I'm surprised the trail is still here, to be honest."

"There's one thing that's different," Grace says. "Other than the density and monsters, I mean. There's a Dungeon Gate."

"Right," Trent says. "We came across it after a few days, when running from some spiders. Decided not to enter it. It's a Rank 1 Dungeon and after what you just told us about Dungeons… that's a good thing. Us not entering, I mean."

"Yeah," I say. "Do you remember where it is? So I can check it out and memorize the way there?"

"It's not far from here," Trent tells me. "But the spiders are, uh… a bit tough. We're both Level 6 [Elemental Mage]s and we can't even pierce their hide. We're lucky we've managed to escape them."

"Lucas," I say. "Can you get into my pack and pull out a waveburst? It's like Wyatt's grenades, except water element instead of air or earth."

"A… you have a what in your pack?" Lucas asks. "Carter! What if it exploded? They aren't even tested!"

Ah, yes. The difference between when he's nervous and when he's shocked and horrified. His shocked horror at this is understandable, though. Even Wyatt doesn't know about what preventative measures I have at hand in regards to the bottles.

"We already know how they work," I tell him. "Wyatt's just testing how viable they are as the combat method. And I did some testing with these. One of Chance's projects the last few days was a strengthening enchantment for the glass, too. Even with my 16 Strength, I can't break them. If the spiders are too strong for me to handle… I'll just disrupt the enchantment on one of the bottles and throw it. Know [Water Burst]? Imagine something like that, but in all directions. And the equivalent of a Status Level 2 mage. We used components from water slimes to make them and enhanced them with some mana crystals. It tore right through the tree I threw it at."

Lucas is quiet for several long moments and I pretend to not notice him staring at me with an unamused expression.

"That's why we heard a sound like a tree falling yesterday, isn't it?"

"Yup," I answer. "Oh, and Wyatt isn't aware that I made them, so he's not aware we have any that are stronger than 47 Magic, the strongest he's managed so far."

If a person starts at 10 Magic and invests all of their Attribute Points into Magic while only going up in Level for mage-type Classes, they'd have 38 Magic when they reach Status Level 1. They would then have 94 Magic at Level 2. When excluding bonuses from mastery thresholds or Perks, which would boost those up just a smidge.

That's already stronger than I am by a significant amount, and the waveburst potions I made are stronger than that by a little bit more.

Lucas pulls one of the 2-ounce bottles out of my backpack and examines it for a few moments. He sighs, then hands it to me. Inside of it is a mist-like substance that's bluish-green in color, with swirls of both blue and green shifting through it. Covering one part of the ball part of the bottle are silvery runes, the enchantment that's strengthened the glass so it won't break in my bag.

[Waveburst Bomb] A crude waveburst bomb crafted by an amateur alchemist, a sudden rush of air touching the liquid will cause a burst of water in all directions. Magic: 132 Magic Expiration: 5/13/2023

It's pretty potent and sits at the equivalent of somewhere near the start of Status Level 2. If the spiders are stronger than me, then Trent and Grace probably wouldn't have escaped them. If they're stronger than this, there's not a chance Trent and Grace would have been able to escape unless the spiders let them.

I fix it onto my belt as I notice Lucas examining a second one.

"If you're wanting it just in case," I say. "You disrupt the enchantment by doing something like cutting through it. Just use a little bit of [Air Mastery] to etch into the enchantment. It's designed to resist roughly 50 Magic worth of strength so while they're still vulnerable to attacks, getting jostled won't break them.

"You'll know you've disrupted the enchantment the moment you hear a slight chime," I tell him. "Chance added that in so we'd know. An alternative is to throw it and shoot it with an [Air Bullet], since you know that spell."

Lucas nods, then fixes it onto his belt. He'll probably opt for throwing it and shooting it with [Air Bullet], since he's no doubt worked on his aim some if he wants to try fighting monsters.

"Alright," I look at Trent and Grace. "I promise, you'll be fine if you're with us. Mind showing us the Dungeon? Might even get the satisfaction of seeing a spider that attacked you get shredded."