The others sat on the ground and passed around dried meat snacks. When a portion made its way to Rin, he politely declined. He wasn’t sure how they’d feel sharing food with a Cursed, and he was still angling for a good referral at the end of the day. The less burden he was on the team, the better.
This could be a good gig if they tell their friends about me. Perfect for my low level, too.
During their break, an unexpected swirl of mana appeared in the air. It floated down to the sand pit’s rim and materialized into a sparkling dungeon flower.
Rin plucked the flower and stared at it for several seconds, confused.
This room never had dungeon flowers in it before. Why did it wait until now to appear?
When the answer didn’t come to him, he tossed it into his mouth, stem and all.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” said Bayleigh, interrupting his thoughts. “You know that’s pure poison, right?”
“Not to me. Besides,” he swallowed, “free Charisma.”
Dex snorted. “Charisma! What a junk stat.”
“How many of those have you eaten by now?” asked Deeya.
Rin paused his chewing while he checked his status. “Looks like … four?”
Bayleigh laughed. “That’s more than anyone I’ve ever known! I bet you have more Charisma than anyone for miles and miles.”
“Does it work?” asked Deeya. “The Charisma? Does it make you more likable, as the old legends say?”
“I dunno,” said Rin, picking at a stubborn hunk of stem lodged in his teeth. “What do you think, Dex? Like me yet?”
The healer huffed. “Your face remains as punchable as ever.”
That got an audible laugh from Bayleigh, and the tension in the group eased to a degree.
Deeya rose to her feet and this time seemed confident and steady. “I’m ready. We should get going before the monsters respawn in here.”
They all agreed, wordlessly gathering up their things. As they entered the next adjoining tunnel, Deeya stepped up beside Rin. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
“Is it always that overwhelming for you? The leveling?”
“Believe it or not, it seems to be getting better. Perhaps I’m becoming more accustomed to it, or maybe it’s because the percentage increases are smaller.”
“Percentage increases?”
“Yeah, when I went from level 1 to 2, it doubled my MP, bumping it from 30 to 60 in a split-second. It took me 20 minutes to recover from that. This last time, my MP went from 60 to 90—numerically, it was the same increase of 30 MP, but percentage-wise, it was less. Only a time and a half, instead of double.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve heard of this happening before, though, and it’s supposed to go away entirely after level 10.”
Rin blinked. “I like the approach you’re taking. I should probably do the same and be way more analytical about my physical stats. Honestly, sometimes I just like whacking things till they die.” He patted the girl’s hand, hoping he wasn’t overstepping his bounds. “I can tell you’re very intelligent. I bet you’ll figure it out by the time we get out of here.”
Deeya blushed. “Thanks.” Her voice was quiet as a mouse.
The next cavern opened up before them and Rin gathered them together. He eyed the narrow ledge wistfully.
It would be so easy to skip this entire chamber.
Aloud, he said, “What did you try last time?”
“First we tried crossing the narrow ledge against the wall,” said Bayleigh.
Rin nodded vigorously, glad they broached the topic first.
“We were attacked by a swarm of these weird-looking bat things and were pushed back. We did manage to kill seven or eight of them, though. Then I stumbled and almost fell off the ledge, so we decided to turn back.”
Seven or eight? That was probably all of them. They should have just pressed on.
As if reading his mind, Deeya picked up the story. “Bayleigh scared us when she fell. She was hanging off the side and almost lost her.” She swallowed. “The chasm beneath the ledge must go on forever. It’s certain death—we dropped a pebble and never heard it land. So we decided to backtrack and try these smaller pits since they’re only about three feet deep. They seemed far easier … until Dex fell face-first into the dungeon flower and got poisoned.”
“How can you tell the pits are only three feet deep?” asked Rin. “The bottom is pitch black.”
“Oh, here,” said Bayleigh, waving her staff in a circle and conjuring a floating orb of light. Its effect was weak, although when she guided it into the first pit, they could all see the bottom, nothing more than a curved dirt floor three feet down.
“Why didn’t you use that earlier?” asked Rin. “That light would have been super helpful in all these dark rooms.”
Bayleigh bashfully stepped from foot to foot. “I’m not very good at switching yet. I can keep the light going or do fireballs, but not both. Snuffing out one to do the other takes a few seconds, and that’s when I tend to get hit.”
Rin nodded. “Since you already know about the hidden ledge, we’ll use that. That’s how I crossed the room.” He laughed and scratched the back of his head. “I imagined those pits were fifty feet deep and filled with spikes.”
Bayleigh’s jaw dropped. “That would be far too difficult for a beginner dungeon!”
Rin scratched the back of his head, abashed. “Yeah, I know. I thought so too, but I couldn’t see the bottom to know for sure.”
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“So this isn’t where you got your Cursed class?” asked Dex.
Rin paused.
Shall I tell him what happened?
He shook his head, half to himself. “You can see my status. I made it to level 6.” He left it at that.
Rin peered out over the darkened pits. They were far less intimidating now that he knew they were only three feet deep. “Where did you find that dungeon flower?”
“About three rows in,” said Bayleigh. “Here, I’ll show you.” With a gesture of her staff, the ball of light flew forward and dipped into one of the craters about twenty feet in. From their angle, Rin couldn’t quite see the bottom.
“You’ve got good range on that thing,” said Rin. “Can you keep it there? I want to get a better view.”
Bayleigh nodded and Rin darted to the ledge at the side of the room, hopping over the chasm and scuttling along the wall until he could peer into the hole. “There’s nothing there. Try the next one over.”
Bayleigh complied, but there was still nothing. They checked seven or eight pits within Rin’s immediate view, but all were curiously absent of the dungeon flowers. When he returned from the ledge, he was deep in thought, clutching his chin between his thumb and forefinger.
“There’s nothing,” said Rin. “Why would a dungeon flower be in there in the first place?”
Dex flapped his hands, exasperated. “Who knows and who cares? We’re in a dungeon where monsters spawn out of thin air and attack us. And you’re worried about flowers?” The boy huffed. “Are you going to tell us your amazing plan for getting across all this, or what?”
Rin perked up. “Oh. Yeah, I was just going to tank the bats on the ledge for you.”
Dex’s mouth opened and hung there for a moment. “Well, alright then. Let’s go do that.”
Rin’s head tilted to the side, studying Bayleigh’s ball of light hovering in place. “Have you ever tried using that in combat?”
The girl frowned. “What do you mean? It’s quite weak. Can’t you see that?”
“Can you increase the brightness to hurt a monster’s vision? Or maybe distract them by whizzing around their heads or something.”
Bayleigh’s lips pursed tight. “I seriously doubt it would help much. We’re talking about a squishy ball of light here.”
Deeya stepped forward. “No, I think Rin’s onto something.” She pointed at the dark recesses above the ledge, where they knew the monsters were hiding. “Can you guide it up there and flush some of those freakish bats out? Maybe lead them over here so we can fight them on solid footing instead of that ledge?”
Rather than answer, Bayleigh concentrated, her tongue peeking from the side of her mouth. The light ball responded instantly, whizzing obediently into the recessed ceiling area above the ledge. A cacophony of flapping and chittering made it clear the monsters were affronted. Bayleigh made the ball withdraw, and every last quad bat chased after it.
Rin leaped forward and hacked away at the monsters’ weak spots, decimating their ranks. The bats’ eerily blank faces belied their aggression toward the ball of light. They continued divebombing the orb even while the real danger—Rin—was wading into their ranks and striking them down, undeterred.
There were eight monsters in total. Once they were all grounded, Rin walked around, piercing their hearts easily with his blade. The air filled with glowing smoke trails of mana that zipped into the others.
Rin ignored the kill notifications in his mind while he caught his breath, then eyed Deeya. “That was a good idea. It was much easier fighting them here than on the ledge yesterday.”
“And my light really pissed them off!” said Bayleigh. “I didn’t know a utility spell could be used offensively like that.”
Dex ended his sulking by finally speaking up. “Many utility spells can do that. All you need is creativity and good timing.”
Rin cocked his head. “Let me know if you find a way for Charisma to be used offensively. I’d love to hear that.”
“Perhaps you could sing to the monsters, like a bard,” replied Dex, chuckling. “They might off themselves before you get through the first verse.”
“Come on,” said Deeya, changing the subject and making for the ledge. “Let’s see what’s next. I can’t wait to get out of this dismal place.”
Rin dutifully led them onward. The following chambers were unchanged from yesterday, containing handfuls of monsters that increased gradually in strength but could be easily dispatched by anyone skilled.
Bayleigh practiced fighting exclusively with her ball of light, using it as a ranged attack from a distance. At some point, her spell must have leveled up because it moved significantly faster and could traverse the entire length of a chamber. At one point, she even convinced a stone ratback to chase it off a ledge. She gave a triumphant yell when it tumbled into the darkness and exploded into essence.
Dex continued to guard the rear, bemoaning the fact he didn’t get to practice any healing spells. Deeya charged her fireballs ever larger, to the point where her spells became the default opening salvo when they breached a new room.
Most of the time, fireballs were a bad matchup for this stone-type dungeon, as the monsters often shrugged off the fire damage. Still, it made for fun theatrics, and the flames created bewilderment and panic among the monsters’ ranks, which was arguably just as effective as an offensive attack.
The team began fighting well together, subconsciously covering each other’s flanks. Besides Rin, they leveled three more times, bringing each individual to level 6. Thankfully, Deeya’s recuperation time after leveling decreased to a bare minute. Rin suffered plenty of minor cuts and scrapes, but his high Recovery stat worked wonders, healing him admirably after every encounter, much to Dex’s chagrin. “I’m never going to level up my healing spells like this!” the boy complained.
When they reached the chamber of turtletans where Rin suffered the grievous abdomen wound, they paused to strategize. They soon concluded that much of the danger lay in the monsters being so well hidden, a problem solved by Deeya’s oversized fireballs splashing a broad swath of flame across the walls.
The turtletans hated that and jumped around shrieking while Rin mowed them down. Dex even scored a kill with his weapon of last resort: a slim dagger he kept tucked in his belt. He was unduly pleased with the fact, retelling a play-by-play of the fight until everyone was sorely tired of it.
They set a good pace through the caverns and arrived at the entrance to the boss chamber without incident, to Bayleigh’s welcome surprise.
“Those last few chambers were almost easy,” she said.
Rin’s sober expression brought them back to reality. “Let’s not get complacent. This next room is the real deal, and we need to be ready. The boss fight is a level 7 Lemur with a helluva punch. Whatever you do, don’t allow him to get close.”
Deeya nodded. “I’ll start with the usual.”
Bayleigh groaned. “Not another BAF?”
Deeya’s face split into a wide grin. “That’s right, another Big-Ass-Fireball to lead the charge! Bayleigh, you get right in the monkey’s face with that light ball, and I mean right in its eyes. Amp up the brightness and dazzle it if you can.” She pointed to the tranquil pool. “How deep is that pool?”
Rin shook his head. “A couple feet. Not enough to drown the beast, if that’s what you’re thinking. The boss is about three feet tall.”
Deeya tilted her head. “And the water would put out any flames from my fireballs, too. Okay, scratch that idea.”
“Does it have any weak points?” asked Dex.
Rin nodded. “The usual: eyes, inside the mouth, groin area. Its stone skin is heavily creased at the joints, so there’s a critical weak point in the armpits. That’s how I finished it the first time.”
Deeya nodded. “Alright, how about this: Bayleigh, use the light to draw its attention away from us, then dazzle it right in the face while Rin creeps up and goes for a critical strike in a weak point. Dex, you stay close to Rin, ready to heal him up if the fight gets crazy.”
“My healing spells can range up to thirty feet now. I’m not getting close unless I have to.”
Deeya rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine, whatever.” She looked at each of them in turn. “Any questions?”
She received silence as their response and clenched an upright fist. “Alright! We got this!”
Nothing went according to plan.