The blonde woman takes a hesitant bite of the noodles I prepared for her, and she stops chewing. Tears starts to form in her eyes, and then she starts to sob. She almost slams the bowl on her face as she slurps the entirety of its contents in one go. "This is the best thing I've ever eaten," she says, looking at me with more respect and adoration I think I deserve, considering it took me ten minutes to cook 'the best thing she has ever eaten'.

"It tastes alright," the warrior guy says. "But we still had some food left, Eda. I don't see why-"

"WE ATE RAW MUSHROOMS AND FLOWERS FOR FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT, CAYDEN!" Eda shouts in between tears. "I thought I was never going to eat real food ever again..."

"It's a good thing I was here then, you would've been torn to shred by those bugs if it wasn't for me," Lexia says, a smug grin on her face.

"Yeah! Your spell was pretty cool, how did you do that?" Cayden asks.

Lexia perks up at the unexpected compliment. "I know right! I'm a Hex Master, what did you think of my monologue?"

"It was so cool! You were all 'then DIE!' and then they all started to die, and I was all 'WOW!'"

"W-wait, are we going to gloss over the fact that she said she's a Hex Master?" Eda meekly asks.

"What's a Hex Master?" Cayden asks.

"It's a powerful and rare magic class," Lexia explains. "Which is why you should totally join our party! We'll have a tank, a healer, a mage and...James."

Cayden is instantly convinced and accepts the party invite sent by Lexia/

"What!? No! We don't even know who they are!" Eda protests.

I take a peek at my inventory, there's definitely enough food for all of us. "I don't mind cooking for more people."

Eda looks back and forth between her empty bowl and me. "I suppose we can stay together until we get out of that dungeon..."

Unfortunately, getting new party members wasn't good enough to convince Lexia not to hunt for the core--even if the reason we wanted the core was to get party members. Eda really wanted to get out of this dungeon as soon as possible, but Lexia somehow managed to convince Cayden to get the dungeon core with us, and Eda begrudgingly followed suit.

Eda explains to me that they both tried to explore the dungeon but stayed too long, and the dungeon ended up migrating as they were exploring it. Dungeons will move and shift every so often, which is why they are never marked on maps, and it's pretty common for dungeons to hide from high level adventurers, so finding them can be really hard.

Unfortunately, that meant both of them were stuck in ever-changing tunnels as the dungeon was moving somewhere else. With no exit in sight, they were constantly under attack by monsters and barely had time to eat or sleep--not to mention the very real threat of tunnel collapse. She says they probably could've handled the beetles by themselves, but it didn't make fighting them any less of a chore, so the help was appreciated.

While finding the exit might be hard, finding the core is actually pretty easy. It has a distinct scent you can follow, and the route to it is usually relatively straightforward--barring all the traps and elite monsters that are surely stationed there. The path to 'beat' a dungeon and the path to the core is different. The non-core path usually has more treasures and more manageable monsters--and most importantly--it leads very far away from the core.

That's all according to Eda's knowledge, neither Lexia nor I have ever been in a dungeon before, and Cayden says he 'goes with the flow' when it comes to dungeons rather than relying on any technical knowledge. Speaking of, Cayden and Lexia are getting along well, although I think it's because he's constantly gushing over how cool she is, and Lexia is really enjoying the attention.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Eda suddenly pushes me on the ground as a deafening sound of metal against metal blows out my ear drums. I turn around, and I can see the silhouette of a thing clash against Cayden's sword, it takes some time for my eyes to adjust and see the enemy for what it is--a giant ant standing on two legs and holding four swords with their remaining 'arms'. Even though Cayden has to keep up with four different weapons, he parries and strikes each of them with perfect timing, although he never manages to hit the ant itself.

Unfortunately, the ant isn't alone, two more show up from the path ahead and forces Lexia to draw back to where we are. The ant Cayden is fighting tries to strike Lexia, but he keeps it in check long enough for her to cast a spell.

I can already feel the uncomfortable feeling spreading through me, it's a lot weaker than before, but it still hurts. It feels like a massive headache and being pricked by a bunch of nettles--but it's not enough to make me fall over.

I can't say the same for the rest of the team though, while they aren't screaming in pain, Cayden is clearly distracted and is slowly losing the stalemate against the sword ant. Eda spreads her hands outwards and vines start to sprout and grow, creating a massive, thick wall of vines between us and the two ants reinforcement.

I can already feel the pain lessening as the two other ants are hidden from Lexia's sight. It makes her spell single targeted and as a result the pain is a lot more manageable. Eda casts another spell and a green glow surrounds Cayden, what used to look like a draw is now a slaughter, as Cayden cuts the ant's arms one by one with terrifying speed, finally decapitating its head once it is left quite literally unarmed.

The two other ants burst from the vine wall as they cut their way through, the pain starts to spike up again, but it's not too bad. I roll away from the fight so I can stay next to Lexia. Those monsters are much more powerful than I am, and I'd just get in the way if I tried to help directly.

The two other ants also have their own unique weapons, the first has two spears and the second has four daggers. If fighting the sword ant proved to be a challenge, those two were nigh impossible for him to face, the reach of the spear ant allowed it to safely stab him from afar while the dagger ant jumped around to hit his blind spots. He was completely on the defensive, unable to do anything else but parry and dodge.

"Hey! Do you have seeds? Any seeds will do, just throw them my way!" Eda shouts at me, panting as she throws more and more spells to buff her companion.

I check my inventory and throw a bunch of pine nuts at her--which technically counts as seeds--and instead of catching them, she casts a spell on the nuts in midair and roots start to spread from them, until they all simultaneously explode and transform into small pine trees that end up slamming against the spear ant.

The tree attack was enough to give Caiden the opportunity he needed, his sword goes straight through its head, and the insect falls limp.

We hear another body drop, thankfully it's not Lexia but the dagger ant who finally died from her constant spell damage. We stay on guard for a few more minutes, and finally relax when we are sure no more enemies are coming. Although, 'relaxing' might not be the right word, considering the following argument.

"You!" Eda points at Lexia accusingly. "What was that? That spell almost screwed us over!"

"What? The damage was useful, wasn't it? There were only three enemies, so I'm sure it didn't even hurt that much."

" 'Only' three enemies? Wait...if the pain stacks with the number of enemies- what's WRONG with you!?"

"Eda, it wasn't that bad." Caiden says.

"Caiden, if we fought nine enemies, this would have been three times as painful, you wouldn't even have been able to hold your sword. If she used that spell on all those beetles back then, that must mean..." She looks at me with a pained expression. "Ho, you poor thing, no wonder you were crying."

"Well- what was I supposed to do?" Lexia retorts. "It's the only damage spell I have, if I'm in danger I have to use everything at my disposal-"

"You chose to be a Hex Master! It was your choice to make people around you suffer as a shortcut to power, don't you DARE play the victim!"

"What do YOU propose then?" Lexia says through gritted teeth.

"If you really need to cast that spell, ask us if we're okay with it and how many targets you're going to use it on before you cast it, that applies to any of your other spell that might hurt us for your own benefit."

Lexia looks at me, as if she was expecting me to take her side--but Eda's solution makes a lot of sense, even if it would cost us a few seconds of talking every time we entered a fight.

"Fine, if that's what it takes..." Lexia mutters, and Eda lets out a sigh of relief.

I don't like seeing people yell at each other, but I feel better when Eda gives me a thumbs up behind Lexia's back.

"Hey, thanks for the pine nuts, that was a good call." She flashes me a simple, honest smile.

I try to smile like her, but it feels fake and forced, so I just give her a thumbs up.

Lexia said I needed a goal I set myself, right?

My goal will be to learn how to smile then.