Luna was struggling, giving her all to smash, carve and shake off the many brocks that were swarming her. The rocky fiends used their little hands to grab onto her fur and climb out of her line of sight, many of them performing fist bumps once they’d achieved the feat. It seemed that was a constant in their behaviour. Elaria racked her brain, desperately trying to figure out how to get rid of the brocks without harming Luna in the process. Firestorm was an immediate no go - she didn’t want to incinerate her furry friend along with the monster horde. She wasn’t entirely sure fire was the best tool to use against the brocks anyway, as their stony nature probably afforded them a natural resistance to flames and heat.

Perhaps Luna’s high physical stats would allow the wolf to remain intact if Elaria opted to try one of her mana enhanced stomps, decimating the brocks and only injuring the wolf, but she hated the idea of harming her companion intentionally, even if it was to save her. It was then she felt a gentle wave wash over her and the surrounding area. Reaching out with a mana-reinforced consciousness, Elaria felt the familiar presence of natural mana. Unlike the rowdy and excitable fire affinity mana that had caused her some trouble in the past, this mana was resonating softly. It still felt as if it wanted to meld with her, to be shaped and used, but it was asking in a much more polite way than the fire mana.

Elaria was unsure what would happen but she had no other way to help Luna, and so she reached out with her own mana, caressing the particles of silvery shimmering mana that were gathered near the ceiling of the cavern. They began to quiver in excitement when they felt her touch, and rather than force her own will onto the mana, she allowed it to guide her as it formed a construct of its own desire, yet in line with her wishes to save her companion. It was a strange feeling, to give over control of her own power to a mysterious force she had yet to understand, but in the back of her mind she knew that the mana would not betray her trust.

The silvery particles weaved and threaded their way into a sort of mesh, and the moment the last piece slotted into place, the gentle resonant waves of energy she’d felt before twisted and amplified. A hugely powerful magnetic force erupted from above, and suddenly around half of the brocks who were assaulting Luna were ripped from her back and flew towards the source of the magnetism. It seemed that only some of the rocky monsters were composed of magnetic ores and not all of them, but it took enough of them out of the battle that Elaria would be able to jump in and finish the rest of herself along with the help of the wolf.

Luna shook her huge body, rotating her powerful abdominal muscles to throw off more of the brocks that clung desperately on, ripping chunks of silvery fur out as they flew back into the darkness. Elaria ignored a notification about destroying a large portion of the brocks, as well as unlocking two new skills - most likely thanks to the guiding hand of the world’s mana. She was unsure if its tendency to reach out and crave her touch was a result of her class or some small interference on Zel’s side.

Regardless, she was thankful that this time there hadn’t been a colossal explosion or some kind of natural disaster. Being underground, that would’ve likely spelled doom for her and Luna as well as the monsters they were facing. Elaria channelled a small amount of her mana into her fists, around half of what she used previously to shatter the brocks on impact, and started punching the annoying little balls of rock off Luna’s back and legs. After a few minutes of combat, they were able to recover their defensive position and Luna was completely freed of the mineral menaces.

A quick check of the dungeon counter told Elaria that they only had to take down nineteen more brocks to reach the goal. Either the dungeon was taking them room by room and there would only be fifty brocks in the cavern, or the numbers were just there as a baseline and they would have to slaughter their way through a swarm of the annoying blighters. She honestly wasn’t sure which option would be more beneficial. On one hand the XP to be gained if this dungeon had a similar or greater number of monsters than the goblin fortress would be extraordinarily substantial for her growth, but on the other she was a little worried about her and Luna’s ability to clear it with just the two of them.

It seemed that monsters in the dungeon were much tougher than those outside of it and her earlier supreme confidence was knocked a little. Regardless, the only way out was to complete the objectives and take down the kobold lord waiting for them at the end, so motioning for Luna to stick close, Elaria advanced into the darkness, relying on the superior senses of the wolf and her own developing ability to feel the ripples in the mana that pervaded the world around her.

There was a shift in the mana to her left. What felt like a rough bundle of spiky mana was approaching rapidly through the darkness. Elaria could make the deduction that it was a brock based on the minor differences between the resonating natural mana from before and the edge of hatred she could feel from the conglomeration. A unique trait of monsters perhaps, but she would have to spend more time studying to figure it out. A powerful, mana reinforced blow pulverised the monster into shards of broken rock and dust.

Elaria’s mana pool was dipping into dangerous territory. Despite learning how to more efficiently channel her own mana each time she employed the technique, it was still draining around 8-9 points of mana each time she utilised it. She did have a mana potion with her, but was reluctant to use it just yet, in case there was a desperate situation later on in the dungeon. There had to be some way to take in the natural mana around her and convert it into her own unique internal mana, but there was no time for experimentation while surrounded by monsters. Her to-do list was growing longer by the day. She was reminded of the bow that sat unused in her bag. It could all wait until she reached Cloudvale and had more free time.

There was a clatter nearby, most likely two brocks fist bumping - Elaria still couldn’t wrap her head around that odd behaviour just yet. She ducked in anticipation of the incoming monster, just dropping into a squat as the brock sailed over her head. Luna reacted rapidly, letting out some frustration over her earlier predicament by crushing the creature between her two claws, then jumping in front of Elaria to catch another one in her jaws, the unfortunate brock struggling to escape as her powerful teeth reduced it to dust in a move reminiscent of those hydraulic press videos that used to litter social media back on Earth.

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She would just have to take on a supporting role here and allow Luna to do the heavy lifting. Elaria attempted to feel through the darkness, relying on the mana to sense nearby monsters or points of interest. She was trying to see if there was an exit nearby, or some clue as to how they could progress in the dungeon. Unfortunately, the only thing she was able to sense was more brocks approaching, rolling along the ground in tandem towards Luna. One came whizzing from behind, and Elaria reacted instantly, pivoting on her feet while pumping mana into her foot.

An onlooker would be forgiven for mistaking Elaria in that moment for a world class striker as she elegantly booted the brock in the direction of its rolling brethren, while also attempting to recreate the resonance of the magnetic mana from earlier. It didn’t quite work, but there was some effect - the brocks containing magnetic ores were drawn a little closer to the impact zone of the punted monster and the resulting detonation of mana took out at least two thirds of the approaching brocks.

With well executed teamwork and the raw power of Luna, it didn’t take them long to defeat the rest of the scattered monsters. Luna sent the fiftieth brock slamming into the floor and Elaria had to raise her arms to protect her face from the incoming shards of rock. A quick scan of the surroundings told her there were no monsters left, at least in the area she was able to detect. If it was the case that they cleared the room after defeating fifty brocks, now was a good time for her to get some needed rest and recover some mana.

She’d barely sat down when the ground beneath her began to rumble and shake intensely, huge cracks forming as the cavern began to fall apart around them. Elaria rushed over to Luna and clambered onto her back right as the floor crumbled and the entire room fell apart around them. Her face was dug deep into the wolf’s sturdy neck, her body pulled in tightly in her best attempt to avoid any dangerous chunks of rock from taking off a flailing limb. There were only a few points left in her mana pool, but she tried to gather it around Luna’s feet so that the beast wouldn’t have to take the brunt of the damage when they inevitably hit the ground.

Luckily for them, the drop wasn’t too far away and Luna’s sturdy legs combined with the makeshift shield of mana surrounding them held up. The wolf threw Elaria off her back and then bounded over to wrap her up tight. Elaria felt Luna’s body tense up as falling shards of rock and crystal pelted her from above.

“Do your best Luna, I know you’re strong enough to hold out,” she said, comforting the canine as best she could. Ever since they’d entered the dungeon Elaria had felt her skills to be seriously lacking. Perhaps it was just the bad matchup between her and the brocks but most of the work had been done by the wolf at her side. She’d been lulled into a false sense of security by the high grades of her abilities and the ease at which she’d been progressing thus far on her journey. It wouldn’t happen again.

The barrage of falling rocks and debris eventually came to an end, and Elaria fed Luna a healing potion to patch up the scattered wounds on her back from the fight and from shielding her. A notification from the Chain popped up as the beast nuzzled her head into Elaria’s chest in thanks.

Relationship with Luna has changed from Amicable to Friendly

Luna will obey almost all of your commands and protect you from danger

“I’ve got your back too girl,” whispered Elaria.

She also checked out the new skills she’d received earlier, a whopping total of three! It was far from enough though, as recent events had made clear. It became obvious once she saw the descriptions and thought back to her earlier experimentation that there were plenty of ways to unlock new skills and on the journey to Cloudvale, if they made it that far, she’d try a few ideas that had been knocking about in the back of her mind to see if they would also give her some more skills to fill up her status.

Magnetic Pull

Using mana to form magnetic waves, you are able to draw anything with natural magnetism towards a designated point.

Mana Sense

The use of your internal mana allows you to detect nearby mana signatures and changes in the environment.

Compression Blow

Compressing your mana into a specific point on your body before releasing it in a single powerful blow provides a huge multiplier to your physical power.

Her examination of the new skills was rudely interrupted by clattering rubble and a deep, sinister hiss. Throwing out what little mana she had, Elaria sensed monsters approaching from every angle. The training wheels had been ripped off completely and the dungeon was giving them no breaks.