Bug finally removes her eyes from Hannah and looks back to Max, “I use Body magic, yes.”

Almost as if to accentuate the point, her scaled cloak parts some as two pairs of arms reveal themselves. Each arm is covered in striped black and grey fur that stops before her elbows, leading up to scales that look the same as the ones that covers her cloak. Resting at the ends of her four arms are scaled hands adorned with a series of sharpened black claws. The arms slowly return back into the cloak after letting everyone get a good look, though the rest of her body remains as a hidden mystery.

Hannah can see as the gears turn in everyone’s heads. Questioning if they could take her in a fight or not. They eventually settle on probably not as the answer. This Bug person showed up alone, is looking calm despite being outnumbered, and is supposedly a user of a rare type of magic that may or may not make her immortal...

Or, she could be lying. But the risk isn’t worth it…

Bug eventually speaks up again and breaks the silence.

“Thank you for telling me about the Dungeon, I feel more confident about exploring it now. I just had one more request, if you don’t mind?”

“What would that be…?” Max asks nervously.

“How do you make fire? I don’t know how to light a torch.”

…

Everyone goes silent for a while before Sam has to let out a snort of a laugh. “You serious?”

Bug just nods, “Yes. I don’t know how. Can you teach me?”

Sam just laughs a bit, her guard lowering slightly, “Haha, you are quite the weird little person, aren’t you? How do you go your whole life without knowing how to light a fire?”

“Sam!” Max reprimands, but Sam just waves him down. “Relax Max, if she was going to attack us, she would have done it already. Plus, I can feel it. She’s much more dangerous than we are. And as long as we don’t give her a reason, she won’t attack us, right?”

“That’s what I said earlier… Just don’t call me little.” Bug says, looking a litt- a bit irritated.

“Hahaha, sorry, sorry. Ok, I’ll tell you how to light a fire, but then you have to leave, alright? Us adventurers don’t do so well around strangers this deep in the Dungeon, understand?”

“That’s fine. I’ll leave afterwards. I noticed some stairs in this tree earlier. I’m guessing that is the way down, right?”

“Yup, that leads to floor seven. But will you be fine when the Mana Wave comes?”

“The Mana Wave…? Oh, the restock. Yeah, I’ll be fine. It doesn’t bother me any.”

Jakub lets out a light curse and says, “Shit, she really is stronger than us…”

Bug’s eyes shift to Jakub, and he clarifies. “We can’t take the wave yet. Last time I tried, I was puking my guts out and couldn’t move right for a couple hours.”

Bug doesn’t comment but nods her head, seemingly in understanding. Returning her attention to Sam, she just asks, “Fire?”

“Ok, so… I don’t see a pack on you, but do you have a torch with you? Or the stuff to make one?”

“I have a torch.” Bug says as one of her hands withdraws from her scaled cloak with a torch in hand.

Hannah’s eyes widen at that.

She had a torch under there? Was it hanging inside of her cloak or something?

“Do you have a flint and steel?”

“I have flint… But I’m not sure about the steel part.” She says as she withdraws another hand with a shard of flint.

“You can use a dagger or even some types of rocks as the steel. Just clack them together to make a spark.”

“Oh, I have a dagger… So, I just hit them together?” Bug asks as she pulls out a third arm and starts hitting the flint and the dagger together.

“No, no, not like that. Hold on, let me dig mine out… It’s like this. See how it makes sparks? Just make the sparks land on your torch’s head. And try not to damage your dagger.”

Bug watches closely from her spot at the entrance while everyone else watches her curiously. Thankfully, she still hasn’t tried to come any closer, just like she said she wouldn’t. Nodding her head, she eventually gives it a try herself, and after a few failed attempts, manages to make a spark. A smile spreads on her face and her delight is clear to see as her ears wiggle. Trying again, this time she tries to light the torch, but regardless of how the sparks hit it, the torch refuses to light.

“Not working…”

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“Do you have oil on it? The torch. You can also use tree sap and animal fats as a fuel.”

“Hmm? Oil? Umm, one second…”

Bugs eyes move to the side as she seems to be looking at something, after a few moments of silence, she eventually nods and then brings her forth arm out with a bottle of oil in her hand, removing the cork with her teeth, Bug pours some on the torch until Sam says that it is enough. Recorking the bottle and returning it under her cloak, Bug tries to light the torch again, and this time, she succeeds.

Looking a little startled, she reels back as the flame ignites and her torch comes to life. A smile spreads across her face as she looks at the fire, and Hannah notices as Bug’s eyes look down to the corner, her smile getting even brighter.

“I did it! Thank you!” Bug cheers happily.

Sam just lets out a nervous breath of a laugh and says, “No problem. You’re welcome.”

Max calls out and gets her attention. “Ok, you know how to start fires now. Congratulations. Now, please be on your way. We would rather not fight.”

Bug just gives him a happy smile, “Yup, no problem. I just have to say, it is so great finally meeting some people that actually answer my questions. Every other time, I’ve had to kill everyone, hahaha! Thanks, and good luck in the Dungeon!”

Bug turns after dropping those ominous words and leaves with a skip in her step, waving one hand goodbye as the others return her items back to wherever she is keeping them under her cloak. She makes hardly any noises as she walks away, the light of her torch eventually vanishing and the darkness returning to the hallway outside.

…

Jakub eventually breaks the silence a moment later as he drops the cut chunks of meat into the pot of boiling water. “I think we just avoided getting murdered…”

Sam lets out a half-laugh, “Haha, yeah, no shit… Max?”

“Yeah, were sleeping in rotations tonight. Just in case she comes back. Hannah, any ideas on how to deal with a Body Mage? Just in case we have to fight her later.”

Hannah just shakes her head, “I have no idea. Everything I have read about Body Mages is about them being on battle fields tearing through armies with their bare hands. They’re berserkers that don’t feel pain or fear, and just regrow any damage that you deal them. But, they’re rare. Only pop up from time to time and always leave a mountain of corpses in their wake.”

“The stories don’t say anything about them dying?”

“No… Well, there was one that I read, in the Historical Museum of Sarataga, they had a record covering the subject wherein one died in combat, but everything about how it happened and who they were fighting was redacted. Best I can guess is that they pissed off an Immortal or someone incredibly dangerous and got themself killed…”

“Great… Alright, while we are down here, if we see her again, we head in the other direction. I don’t care if we have to take the long way around, we keep our distance. Got it?”

Everyone nods and then tries to get back to what they were doing, but Hannah keeps finding it hard to focus on her history book. Her mind keeps wanting to go back to thinking about Bug and how weird that meeting was… But also, she can’t stop thinking about how Bug had really pretty eyes. That beautiful shade of green...

----------------------------------------

Bright and early in the morning, Jakub goes around the camp and kicks everyone awake, rousing them from their short sleeps.

Last night, everyone had slept in shifts, even Hannah despite everyone saying she didn’t need to, to stay watch in case of the mysterious Body Mage returning. Thankfully, their extra care was not necessary, as the girl had not once returned to the room after leaving.

Eating some leftovers from last night’s dinner with some hard bread, everyone gets ready to resume their trek into the Dungeon.

As Hannah is washing her face in the water of the fountain by the wall, Max, Sam, and Jakub discuss their plans for today.

“Alright, it took us two days to reach this point. I would like for us to reach the eighth floor before the end of today. There, we can focus on gathering materials before breaking for camp, and then in the morning, more gathering before then starting our return trip. Remember to keep an eye out for any mana shards, mandrake, and golden feathered warblers. Those are our money makers down here.”

Finishing washing her face, Hannah joins everyone else and asks, “What if we run into Bug again?”

Jakub tilts his head, “Bugs? There are ants, but they don’t show up till the nineth floor. We aren’t going that-“

“No, the girl from yesterday. She said her name is Bug. What if we run into her again?”

Max speaks up to answer. “We try to avoid her. And if that isn’t possible, we try to peacefully get rid of her. I don’t like our chances of fighting her, not without most of us dying in the process anyways. There is just something… dangerous about her.”

“She feels like death. Like walking on a battlefield full of corpses.” Sam adds.

“Ah, so keep an eye out for her. She can’t be trusted.”

…

Sorting through some last details and getting the camp taken apart, everyone gets their packs made and their gear fitted before meeting up at the entrance to the Safe Room. Peeking outside, the light of a new day in the Dungeon is flowing in through the windows grown in the sides of the tree.

There are no signs of the girl.

“Hannah, which way to the stairs?”

“Just down the hall and to the right. It’s nearby.”

“Ok, everyone be careful. She went this direction, so be on the lookout in case of an ambush.”

Carefully making their way through, the adventurers eventually find the stairs and then begin their descent. Unlike the first layer, the stairs here are weird in that they aren’t just a straight staircase but are instead a long vertical shaft that stretches up and down for a great distance with the stairs wrapping around the sides with an opening in the middle. Thankfully, for most of the distance down, the stairs have railings to keep people from falling down the shaft.

The distance between floors is already enough to make the prospect of jumping between floors almost unthinkable for most people, so by the time that they reach the bottom of the shaft and emerge on the seventh floor, Hannah is already winded by the descent.

“Hah, haah… I am not looking forward to the climb back up…”

“This isn’t your first time coming this deep, right?” Jakub asks.

“No, it isn’t. I’ve been down here before with a couple of other parties. I’m just not as physically gifted as the rest of you. Hah…”

Sam just laughs, “Then you should work out more, hahaha! Maybe learn to swing around an axe instead of reading books.”

Max just grimaces and pats Hannah on the shoulder. “Don’t listen to her. Sam has more muscle than Jakub and I put together. If you get as big as her, you’ll never find a husband. You’re just fine the way you are, trust me.”

“Oi, I’ll have you know that I get plenty of dick. In fact, the night before we entered the Dungeon I had me this cute little freshy.” Sam says with a hungry smile.

“Yeah, and I’m sure you didn’t drag him away after a few too many drinks…”

“Hahahahaha! Fuck you, Max. I don’t need booze to get me some fun. Haha!”

As they bicker back and forth, Hannah can’t help but to smile and watch them.

Well, I certainly don’t want to end up all muscular like her, but I have to admit that she is good looking.

…