"The rules are simple," he says to the newcomers. "I’ll name each item one by one. If there’s something you want to keep, you can take it, and later, when we’ve sold the rest, its value will be deducted from your share. If someone wants too many items or something very expensive, they’ll need to have money to pay the others in case the sale doesn’t cover it. If two people want the same item, we usually sort it out by talking. If not, by drawing lots."
"Or by fighting." Darius laughs.
Theodore and Alistair nod, chuckling. That must be how they’ve always handled things. The rest of us agree.
Darius takes one of the naga swords, and Alistair takes the other. When I ask him, he tells me he has a good level of mastery with swords. He’s been using the mace recently because he gained mastery with it not long ago and wants to improve it.
None of us are interested in the other items, so they’re set aside to sell. For me, given that I need money for the goblin village, it’s the best option. I imagine it’s the same for Mary, since she’s a commoner and doesn’t have wealthy parents to cover her expenses.
Carefully, so as not to mess up again, I ask about the magical items.
"I have a question about the earth affinity cloak," I say casually to the group.
"Go ahead," Theodore replies.
"I have the Stone Bullets spell. Its damage depends on my intelligence, earth affinity, and the spell’s level."
"That’s true for all spells," he says, shrugging.
"Yes, but if someone without earth affinity spends a mana point to use the ring, how is the damage calculated?"
"Ah, good question." He nods thoughtfully. "Essentially, it’s one point if the target has no magical resistance to earth, zero if it does, and two if it’s vulnerable to earth. That’s the minimum damage a minor damage spell can do. The only variable that can increase that damage is intelligence. Given that it’s a minor-level spell and that the affinity is considered low, you’d need ten points of intelligence to double that damage."
"Do you know the textbook tables by heart?" I blurt out.
"Don’t you?" he retorts, raising an eyebrow.
Uh… the Bianca from this world, the studious one, probably does. But I don’t.
"I try to, but my memory hasn’t been the same since the hit," I say.
"Wait, is that true?" Darius asks.
"Of course. I wouldn’t lie about something so important," Ronan mutters.
"Oh, you poor dear," Mary says. "My spells aren’t very high level yet, but when they improve, I can try to heal you of any injuries left by the blow."
"Thank you, that’s very kind," I reply with a smile.
How am I supposed to refuse her offer or pretend it worked when she comes to me to "heal" me?
"Didn’t your parents take you to a healer?" Theodore asks, puzzled.
"It happened right before I entered the academy. It’s nothing serious; I didn’t think it was worth making a fuss over."
"You should get it checked," Vincent affirms.
"Back to the items," I say, steering the conversation back on track. "I take it these spells aren’t very useful unless you’re a mage with a different affinity. I mean, a warrior isn’t going to reach intelligence levels high enough to deal more than negligible damage with the item."
"And they can only be used once a day, remember," Theodore adds. "I, with my high water affinity, already know the Water Breathing spell. If I didn’t, I might be interested in the ring, but I wouldn’t pay much for it since a teacher could help me learn the spell, and it wouldn’t have the time limitation. And the Wind Blade necklace—what for? To have a spell from another branch that does little damage, even if my intelligence is high? I already have better water attack spells that will improve as I train them and deal more damage over time. No, Bianca, these items aren’t very appealing to mages of other affinities either. They’re usually sold to wealthy commoners. They let them use magic even if they weren’t born with it. They fetch a decent price."
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"I see. Thank you."
The conversation shifts to other topics. The most interesting one is the level-up. Vincent, who delivered the final blow to the naga, has leveled up. He’s now level 6.
"You’ve caught up to me. Don’t get used to it," Darius quips.
I’m surprised to learn that Darius had a higher level than the prince, but when I think about it, it makes sense. He’s only been friends with them since the academy. That means he might have gone to more dungeons, or perhaps less controlled ones, compared to the ones the prince and his two friends have been clearing.
"I have leveled up too. And from what I’ve felt, I’d wager it happened more than once," Theodore says with a smile.
His smile carries the characteristic sweetness that’s typical of him, but there’s also a hint of pride.
"What are you saying? You were level four!" Darius exclaims, surprised.
In no time, I can appreciate on his very expressive face that he’s starting to view Theodore as a rival. He’s likely wondering if Theodore has now surpassed his own level.
"It’s from all the mummies I defeated in the hallway—there were a lot of them."
"I should’ve been a mage…" Darius mutters.
Alistair throws an arm around his neck and rubs his hair with his other fist.
"But you’re just as much of a brute as I am! Breaking bones is where the fun’s at," he jokes. "Magic requires studying instead of swinging a sword."
Darius shrugs him off, laughing. I notice Ronan watching them with what looks like longing.
"Well, I didn’t level up. I’m still just level 1," Mary says sadly.
"It’s because you didn’t contribute to any of the kills. Experience is shared among those who participate, with the largest share going to whoever lands the final blow. If you’d been healing, you would’ve gotten some," Vincent explains thoughtfully. "Sorry, Mary, I didn’t realize. I’m not used to grinding experience with a healer in the party."
Ronan is now looking at Mary thoughtfully. After a moment, he smiles, as though an idea has struck him.
"Did you level up, Ronan?" I ask, since he contributed to the boss fight and took down a few mummies.
"Yes, I’ve felt it happen a couple of times," he replies.
Alistair grumbles, as he didn’t level up either.
We continue chatting, and after resting for a while, we resume examining the room. We focus on the holes where the mummies emerged. We find nothing—no passageways or secret traps leading deeper into the pyramid. Well, we were told this was the boss’s chamber. In fact, we didn’t even expect to find it since it was supposedly cleared recently. Maybe some creatures, but not the naga. Disappointed, especially Darius and Alistair, we decide to leave and return.
Now that I think about it, it's very likely that they gave the prince permission for this dungeon because they have it under control and know there was no danger.
I take the wolf pup out of my backpack, where it’s been squirming in the pocket. Normally, it stays still when I carry it. It probably wants to stretch its little legs. Sure enough, it happily trots down the hallway by my side.
When we’re about thirty meters from the entrance, I feel a strange sensation, and for some reason, bad memories flood my mind. Specifically, of a certain dungeon where a particular seed of evil set the difficulty to madness. I turn around. I scan the area for the pup.
It’s lagged a bit behind and is staring intently at a hieroglyph. It must sense me watching because it tilts its head and fixes its adorable puppy eyes on mine.
"No!" I call out firmly, drawing the others’ attention. "Come here."
The pup, still looking at me, makes a strange motion with its jaw as if it’s smiling. I see a spark of mischief in its eyes.
"Whatever it is, no," I repeat.
The pup looks back at the hieroglyph, and, before I can crouch to pick it up, it touches the marking with its paw. Panicked, I grab it, fearing what it might have done, but nothing happens.
"Bianca, is something wrong?" Vincent asks.
"No, just the pup not listening to me. Better if I carry it again so it doesn’t get hurt."
"Good idea," he replies.
Ronan is watching me. I can’t read his expression, but it doesn’t bode well.
I take a deep breath to calm myself. Nothing happened. No system notification of madness-level difficulty, no undead attack like the ones Ronan was sensing… nothing. It’s strange, but the pup is just a little one, after all. It could have simply been playing.
Though it disobeyed me.
And there’s something I remember very well:
The seed of darkness will help and follow the future Dark Lord's orders if it sees them reasonable and coherent with her role as future Dark Lord.
A shiver runs through me.
Did it not take it as an order, or did it not find it reasonable or coherent with what it believes a future Dark Lord should do?
Since everyone else has kept walking and I’ve fallen behind, I jog to catch up. When I do, carrying the pup in my arms, I hear noises coming from behind the walls. At the same time, fine sand begins to fall from the ceiling. A few seconds later, there’s a sound like something being dragged rapidly above us. We all sprint toward the entrance, but we’re too late. One of the massive white slabs spaced along the hallway falls, blocking the exit.
I’m going to kill it.
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