“Let me see if I’m understanding you correctly,” Michael says. “In this Dungeon’s first area to the first Stage, the monsters will grow stronger after twenty minutes, and after thirty, a Miniboss will spawn… and now that you have one extra person, you not only want to go past the twenty-minute mark for the first time, but cause the Miniboss to spawn?”

“Yes.”

“And you really think I can make that much of a difference?” He asks.

“Yes.”

“Well,” I say. “With our combined Levels, we’re pretty strong.”

“Either we need a few more Levels,” he says. “Or a few more party members, Gavin. I’d recommend waiting until you’ve mastered the fire spells you’re learning, and the Tier III one she’s going to teach you, if your INT is at forty or above.”

I’m about to tell him that I’m confident we can handle the miniboss, since Warren and I only leave because of Mana, and that we’re only starting to get exhausted then, but stop. Yes, we probably can beat the Miniboss, but how hard will be it? And can we do it after battling for thirty minutes at our current strength?

I take a deep breath.

“Okay,” I say. “We’ll stop before the thirty-minute mark, but go until we get exhausted. Warren and I only ever stopped before the twenty-minute mark because we didn’t want to fight the stronger ones for a few more Levels, but with the three of us, it’ll probably be easier. We could probably last one or two minutes with the stronger ones before wearing out, netting us another ten to thirty kills each.”

“Sounds fair,” Michael says, then looks at Warren. “Do you think the three of us should do that?”

“Yes,” Warren nods. “The only reason I haven’t suggested it before was because I was afraid Gavin would want to push us until the Miniboss showed up.”

“Then let’s do that,” I say.

“Not the Miniboss!” Warren exclaims.

“I wasn’t meaning to do that,” I say. “I meant to go for a few minutes past the twenty-minute mark, going as far as we can before having to leave or triggering the Miniboss.”

Warren grins at me, and I realize that he intentionally misunderstood what I said.

“Screw you.”

I step into the Dungeon, and a moment later, they do as well.

“Where did all the kobolds go?” Michael asks.

“He fires off ten Magic Bolts in rapid succession the moment we enter,” Warren explains. “Now that he doesn’t need to chant to cast Magic Bolt, he’s even faster about it.”

We wait for them to respawn, then get to work. The faster we kill them, the faster their respawn increase happens. By the time we hit the twenty-minute mark, we’ve each killed over a hundred of them, individually. I have to deal with most of the ones after the twenty-minute mark, though Warren can take on a fair few with his Gift of Speed.

We leave at around twenty-five minutes, and I have to admit that that was the hardest I’ve fought in there before, even with an additional party member. I’m so glad I didn’t try pushing it before.

“I hit Martial Artist Level 2,” Warren informs me. “Three more before I gain a STR and CON. Finally gained a Species Experience, toward the end, there.”

“I didn’t gain any Levels,” Michael informs me. “Though I gained a few Beastborn Experience and around 25 Squire Experience.”

“I gained 75 Experience to each,” I answer. “With Scout and Wizard splitting it evenly, and me gaining Human Experience at half the rate they are combined, the three gain around the same amount of Experience.”

“You shouldn’t be gaining so much Human Experience,” he says. “Not just from killing so much.”

“As much as I can figure,” I say. “Human Experience is based on a variety of things, including your personality, goals you’re working towards, and how hard you’re working towards, as well as your devotion to those goals. For me, killing a bunch of shit to get stronger so I can reclaim my kingdom and restore my king to his throne is giving me a boost to my Species Experience.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Ah,” he says. “That would explain why half of my Beastborn Experience was gained when I covered your back, then. I’ve never had that much Experience in a single fight before.”

“Probably,” I say.

“Then how come I’ve only now gained my first point?” Warren asks.

“You aren’t as devoted,” Michael and I answer at the same time, then look at each other.

“Well, that happened,” he says. “Speaking of stuff happening, I noticed that you, a magician, also switch to martial arts. Don’t you use a knife?”

“Yeah, but I don’t usually think about it ‘cause it’s in my ring.”

Warren starts laughing, and then explains to a very confused Michael about me and the Grimoire, and my reason for not looking at it.

Michael just shakes his head.

“It’s weird,” Michael says. “Seeing a magician fight like a fighter, but if you want, I can teach you more martial arts and train with you with a knife.”

“Sure,” I say. “It’ll be a good way to pass the time between lunch a dinner.”

We make our way into the Guild Hall and sell our loot, then head to a restaurant for lunch. It’s not the same one we usually use, and Warren gives me an inquisitive look.

“I’m not sure about you,” I say. “But Michael and I need a fair bit more food than what we’ve been eating. This place is a little bit more expensive, but hopefully, their reputation holds true. It’s a high silver per meal.”

We get seated and wait for our food, and it is a little more than we got at the other place, but I don’t think it justifies the ten silver we pay by the time we finish food, and make a note to not return here.

That done, we find a quiet courtyard near the edge of the city, and Michael has me strip to my pants as he does the same.

“Try to block my attacks,” he tells me. “Don’t let me touch you, and don’t try to hit me.”

“Why?” I ask.

“If something gets past your magic,” he says. “You want to be able to block them before they strike you. Odds are, you won’t be able to strike immediately. It’s how we train the mages in our tribes – to block, then to parry, then to strike. We build up to it.”

“Oh,” I say. “Okay.”

Michael attacks me, and for the new four hours, we switch between sparring and resting. Sometimes, he spars with Warren, sometimes, he has Warren spar with me, telling Warren not to use his gifts against either of us, except in the final match against Warren. I still win that one, but barely.

The training done, I sit with my back against a wall, trying to cool off. That was exhausting, and my body’s sore.

“If you’re sore now,” Michael says. “Wait three days – you’ll be even more sore.”

“It’ll only get worse?” I complain. “I don’t want to do it anymore.”

“It’ll get worse whether or not you continue,” he says. “You’re just not used to working out that much. Third day after, your pain and soreness will be at its peak. Let’s go eat – it’s good for building muscles to eat meat after training.”

I nod, then we seek out a place to eat, finding a place that charges nine silver per plate. Their portions are only marginally better than the place that charged ten, and that’s because they served the exact same amount of food, though it was mostly meat. Michael dug into that like a wild wolf digging into a fresh catch, and draws quite a few stares.

I pay, making a note that we might come back here if we can’t find somewhere better, then we make our way to the academy, and to Professor Temp’s room. Blake is practicing his Firebolt, and Professor Temp looks a little amused, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.

“Hullo, Professor Temp,” I greet her, and she looks at us.

“You boys are soaked in dried sweat,” she wrinkles her nose, then looks at Warren. “You couldn’t clean them off after whatever they did?”

“He did it, too,” I say. “We were training physically. I’m sooooo sore.”

“Hmph!” She shakes her head. “You shouldn’t let them bully you into fist fighting, Gavin. Magic is where it’s at. A good magician never has to use his body to fight, except to aim his spells. He trains his body, yes, but he never needs to learn to fight with it.”

“While he’s practicing his spells,” Michael looks at her. “I was hoping to learn Magic Shield. He mentioned it while we were talking, and both he and Kade know it. As a soldier, I believe it would be useful to learn a spell like that to defend against attacks, in case a magician sends one at me that I can’t defend normally.”

“He does have some brains,” Professor Temp says, then looks at him. “Very well. I will teach you and the fairy the runes for Magic Shield. I will give you two until Gavin has earned the right to learn holy magic from me to learn it. If you don’t, then I will no longer teach you. You will practice the runes every day until you can draw them perfectly every time. After that, I will explain their meanings to you, and how they interact with each other.”

I move over to the training side of the room and begin firing off Firebolt after Firebolt. After fourteen shots, it moves up to Level 6, then another eighteen to Level 7, where it drops a point of Mana needed to cast.

As I cast it, I manipulate the fire and the Mana in it, utilizing them in different ways. Make the fire burn hotter without increasing the amount of flames, instead making them thicker. Making the Mana denser, thus making the Firebolt itself smaller for the same amount of Mana. That one causes it to explode a little on contact, sort of like Fireball. Another twenty casts, and I manage to increase it up to Level 8, and the final twelve I can cast brings me up to Level 9, and decreases its Mana Cost down to 2 Mana per bolt.

Tomorrow, I will master it, then begin my to work on Fireball. After that, I will learn whatever Tier II or Tier III spell she wishes to teach me.

“Done,” I walk over to my team and Professor Temp. “My mind’s getting foggy, probably from all the work today.”

“Don’t try to expand your Mana Pool,” she tells me. “You’ll risk giving yourself a temporary block if you try too hard when your mind’s foggy.”

“Understood,” I say, then look at the team. “You two ready to go?”

They both nod.

“See you, Professor Temp,” I say. “Later, Blake.”