“How are you feeling Chalia?”

“Much much better!”

Seleana just did her weird blue magic thing and made my head feel all better! Also, she said she has a surprise for me! I can’t wait!

“Now for this surprise, I need you to do one thing for me, ok?”

“Okay!”

“Until we get back or I tell you otherwise, I need you to call me Fehl, ok?”

“Um, ok?”

“So what is my name?”

“Selea—”

“No, my name for today!”

“Fehl?”

“Yep! And Auris—”

“Yes, milady”

“We are going on a little excursion today, so please make the necessary accommodations.”

“Yes, ma’am”

“Oh, and Chalia, let her know what my name is now.”

“Oh, her-her…”

“Why are you hiding, silly!? You’ve seen my maid several times by now!”

“Her… name is… F..l”

This is embarrassing! I know her name is Seleana, and I’m sure Auris does too!  It feels weird!

“Say it a little louder.”

“Her name is Fehl,” I whisper out.

“Good!” I hear, unexpectedly, from Auris instead of Seleana. “Now you two have a fun trip.”

Aww, she’s so nice too!

“Are we going to the guild hall?” I remember going this way when I got my guild card and sold the stuff I got on my way to Kelten.

“Mhmm.” What would you think about exploring an dungeon?

*Gasp* “We are going to an dungeon?!”

“Mhmm. Does that sound fun?”

“Yes!!” This is so exciting! I wasn’t at school much, but everyone there talked about dungeons, and it sounds like a lot of fun!

“Alright then! I have already selected a quest, so we will meet up with our party members and go on from there! Also, what is my name again?”

“Fehl?”

“Yep! Our goup is meeting at the sixteenth table, so we need to go down this first hall here.”

Selaena says that the guild has a bunch of these halls with rooms or “tables” on either side. Parties can reserve a room to meet at for discussing whatever quest they have picked up. There is also a main area, but it is so noisy that most people like to use the private rooms. Also, people call them tables, because all they have is a big table and some chairs in them.

“Here we are!” Selaena said while opening up the door to let us in. “Looks like we got here before the rest. Well, while we have some time, why don’t you change into some more suitable clothes.” She then tossed a bundle at me. “Call it a first dungeon present. In the future you will need to buy your own clothes and armor, but I figured I would help you out to get started.”

“Thank you Sel—”

“Shh”

“’—Fehl’, so much!”

I change into my clothes real quick before the others get there. I’m so excited! I get to see a real dungeon!

*Bam!*

“eep!” I squeeze next to Selaena as the door crashes open.

“—and then that bastard’s head split open like a pistachio, haha!” A man with big muscles laughs out while entering the room.

“Serves him right, it does!” A girl behind him says with a tinny voice. She’s short and thin, and has daggers on her waist.

“Oi, guys, I told you we were running late!” The last one to enter has a globe floating beside him, and he is dressed in light clothing. He’s average height, but pretty skinny.

“Olbert, it’s a stagnant and her kid, what’s it matter if we’re late?” The girl replies with a sneer. The two with her stop smiling, but I don’t know what they are thinking.

“Hey guys, sit down. Having a stagnant isn’t necessarily a bad thing—at least we know they have experience.”

The muscular guy relaxes and the girl snorts as they all sit down.

“Are you, intimidated?” Selaena says, putting her elbows on the table, pushing her chest out and smiling at the girl with a glint in her eyes.

The girl stares back for a minute before looking away with a snort. The guys look away with red faces. Are they ok? I hope they don’t have fever. I don’t like fevers.

“Alright, alright, guys, calm down. We are in a party, so let’s at least be civil,” Olbert says, rubbing his nose. “Introductions! Let’s share our name, class, and fighting style. I’ll go first; my name is Olbert and the guild has designated me as the team leader. I’m primarily an earth mage, and I work best at mid-range. I’m best at crowd control, and I also know a little about enchantments.”

“Name’s Fezrah, Assassin, close ranged.”

“And she relies on poisons, so she’s best with organic enemies,” Olbert added on, getting a short glare from Fezrah.

“And I’m Tim! Berserk Axman at your service!” Tim said with a salute.

“Tim’s good at clearing crowds of weak and moderate mobs, but isn’t the best at dodging, so he’ll work as support to give us space to take down the stronger mobs. Of course if we can trap or distract one, he can wreak havoc on tough guys, as well. So how about you guys?”

My name is Fehl, I am hybrid water and earth mage, with a focus on healing.

“Do you use direct or Aura healing?”

“Direct, but I can do so from a moderate distance”

*fweeoo* “I like this girl,” Tim chuckled after whistling at Selaena. He quickly looked away after getting a wink from her.

“And who is this?” Olbert asked, glancing at me.

“I-I’m Chalia” I say

“This is Chalia-I know she looks cute, but her sword can pack a punch. She’s a balanced physical swordsman at this point. Also, I’ll be responsible for her.”

They’re staring at me. Selaena, they’re staring at me!

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“Alright, let’s bring the kid! Hahaha! Make it interesting!”

Olbert and Fehl both frown, but don’t say anything.

“Oh, and she’ll take my share of the loot,” Selaena added, which made Olbert and Fehl relax a bit.”

“Looks like Fezrah will take the vanguard with Tim, followed by Chalia and Fehl. I’ll take up the rear. Any objections?” Olbert glanced around the room

“Alright. Meet at the Treverous dungeon in 2 hours!” Olbert shouted before we all got up and walked out.

“Chalia, let’s get a few supplies before we head over.”

“Ok!” I say. I haven’t gone to the market many times, but it looks like a fun place.

“Do you have any potions?” Selaena asks me.

“No. Do I need them?”

“Absolutely! Potions are very important! What would you do if you got poisoned, but you didn’t have a healer, or your healer didn’t have any spells to cure poison?”

“I-I don’t know.” I reply.

“You would die.” I’m not wanting to scare you too much, but I must make sure you realize that although exciting, dungeons are very dangerous! You need to be prepared for anything that might show up!”

“Oh,” I say. That does sound dangerous.

“The first thing you should get is a antidote potion. It would be best to get at least a mid-grade potion, but your funds aren’t enough for that right now. Let’s go over to the guild vendors and get a low-grade antidote potion.”

“Why do we need to go to the guild vendors?” I ask.

“There are a lot of people out here and their potions aren’t always as good as they say they are. All guild products have been properly appraised, so you know they will be potent enough, and you know there won’t be any dangerous ingredients in them. Unless you learn how to appraise potions, I would recommend that you buy only guild products if you can.”

“Oh, ok.” I say as we turn onto a street full of nearly identical buildings.

“This is the guild vendor street. Everything sold on this street is from the guild. Also, you can check consumable products by making sure they are sealed with the guild emblem.”

“Here we are, go ahead and buy a low-grade antidote potion from this gentleman here.”

“Ok!” I get in line to speak with the man selling low-grade potions for the guild.

“Hello miss, what would you like?”

“A low-grade antidote potion, please!”

“Ok, that will be 1 silver and 200 copper please.”

“What!? More than a whole silver for just a single potion?”

“Go ahead and pay the man, Chalia. It is expensive, but your life is more expensive. What is the use of money you don’t put to work? As a mercenary, you will have to buy lots of expensive things, but it’s ok, because you will be able to make all that money back up.”

“Oh, ok,” I say, pulling out the money.

I thought I was rich, but actually, I’m poor!

“You can never have to many potions!” Selaena says. “Having potions can be the difference between life and death, so when you buy a potion, you can think of it as buying another chance at life!

“Hahaha!” The vendor laughs. “Look at you doing my job for me again!” “Shut up Med,” Selaena replies with a glare. In that outfit? Even the butler would have a hard time taking you serious, haha!” Selaena keeps glaring. “Oh, alright alright, here lassie, I’m pretty good friends with your big sister here, so take a minor health potion on the house, just don’t tell my boss, ok?” He is smiling, but it looks creepy.

“Fine,” Selaena says with a smirk, grabbing a vial out of the vendors hand and giving it to me. “I know he’s creepy, but the potions are good. Now let’s move before he has any other ideas.” She grabs my hand and we start walking off. I can still hear the guy laughing though… I hope I don’t have nightmares tonight.

“Since he gave you a health potion, the next potion you will want to buy will be a stamina potion, but the Treverous dungeon has lots of venomous creatures, so an antidote potion is the most important for this dungeon. That is why it is the one we bought. You will often have times where you don’t need a potion, but you never want to be without when you do need it!”

After getting the antidote potion, Selaena showed me some of the other stores, bought some really expensive things, and then took me to the teleport gate. After showing a pass and talking to a guard, we were allowed through and teleported to an outpost next to the dungeon.

“Lady Selaena!” A man said, bowing with an odd expression on his face.

“Selaena? Who’s that? I’m Fehl” Selaena questioned.

“Uh, yes, er, lady Fehl. What brings you to these parts?”

“Routine examination of our working clients,” she smiled while saying.

“Ooh, that makes a lot of sense. I don’t normally catch you looking so, um, fashionable.”

Selaena laughed gently. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t.”

“So who is this here?”

“This is Chalia, my new friend that Loroven has me looking after. We’re checking out her first dungeon!”

“Oh, that’s exciting!” He beamed looking at me with a warm smile. “Hello Miss Chalia, my name is Griff. Feel free to look for me if you need anything! I’m here for now, but you’ll probably see me at a few other dungeon outposts from time to time.”

“Hi Griff,” I say quietly, pushing closer to Selaena.

“Griff often helps out with organizing teams when there are dungeon outbreaks, so if you ever help against one of those, you’ll probably get see him there.

“That being said, it’s getting close to time to go, so let’s head over to the entrance!”

“Ok!”

***  ***  ***

“Alright, you’ve been here before, right Fehl?” Olbert asked.

“Indeed, to the eighth depth”

“What are depths?” I ask.

This time Tim answered for Selaena, while the other two groaned.

“A depth is sort of like a division of difficulty. As you go further in a dungeon, the magic typically gets more dense and thus spawns stronger monsters. I am not sure exactly how a ‘depth’ is measured, but depending on how far you go and how quickly the mana becomes more dense, officials will make marks to give you an idea of your progress in the dungeon and to help mercenaries know when the difficulty may be above their abilities.

Of course, you can’t always rely on the markers, as some stronger creatures have been known to leave their usual areas; and only on well-known routes can you be sure that the government has marked the entire route. Even then, sometimes the marks can be worn off if a strong fight breaks out nearby.”

“We are only planning to hit the 6th depth for now, as that should be a good match for our abilities and has some fairly profitable materials.”

“Stop standing around, let’s get going!” Fezrah said.

And that’s what we did. It looks like a lot of people come here, because there were a lot of footprints, and we saw groups walking back every so often. Every once in a while Selaena would stop us so she could help an injured group and offer them advice.

“First enemy!” Fezrah shouted. Well, there were actually a few before, but Tim or Fezrah would kill them with a single swing. This was the first creature we should be a bit careful about.

“It’s a… dog?” Seriously? Do I have to kill another doggy? I don’t want to do that again!

“That’s no dog—that’s a rank 2 mana beast. And it wants to eat us. Do you see the hunger in his eyes?” Tim whispered scarily.

“Oh, yeah. He does look hungry,” I say with a shiver. Ok, I can do this!

“Knock it off, Tim,” Fezrah said, glaring at him.

“This is a dog-type beast, but it isn’t too fast, judging by it’s feet. Lets try having Tim attract it, and Fezrah will attack from behind. Fehl and I will provide support.”

Oh, so I’m not fighting after all. Oh, well.

“Chalia, you take care of any smaller creatures that get near us. I know they think you are weak, but once they see your strength they’ll be more willing to let you help out with the bigger creatures.”

“Oh, ok,” I say, grabbing my sword.

“Let’s go!” Olbert yelles.

And the creature died. Really. Olbert attracted its attention and Fezrah killed it with a single slash.

“Get ready guys!” Selaena yelled out. Everyone looked puzzled until we all heard the pounding of footsteps coming from many tunnels in front of us.

“Class one mana beasts, a bunch of them. You’re up Tim!” Olbert shouted out. Meanwhile, Selaena told me to get ready. I guess Tim won’t be able to take care of them all.

“Enrage!” Tim shouted out. He started glowing, well, kind of. It looked like there was heat coming off his whole body and his eyes started looking scary.

“Raaa!” He yelled out and started running towards the now visible beasts. At the last moment, he jumped into the middle of the pack and slammed into the ground with a *bang!*. A bunch of the creatures were either stunned or at least knocked off their feet. He then started spinning with his axe, slicing through all those beasts like they were that kind of delicious cheese I had to prepare for the people a year ago.

It was amazing! But still, a few got away, so Fezrah and Olbert started working together. “Chalia! Work with me over here! Selaena yelled at me. I jumped over to where she was surrounded by three creatures. “Take out the lighter colored one first, it is making the other two stronger.”

Alright, Chalia, It’s my time to shine! “Kill!” kill.  Ah, the mana beasts slowed down, just like last time! Wait. Even all the other people did too! Oh, no, I need to focus! The white one, where is it… There! I found it. Seeing it’s close to me, I run towards the creature. I can faintly hear Selaena talking with the others about dragons or something, but I’m not interested in that right now. I need to kill this thing!

I push towards it quickly, braced to dodge, but it’s unnecessary. It jumps towards me, so I slide under and rip through its belly with Gus. Oh, yeah, by the way, Selaena said to use Gus for adventuring. Having another sword before I can use spatial abilities would weigh me down, and she doesn’t think this sword can break for some reason.

Well, that was easy! Time for the next one. I turn and rush towards the next one, which doesn’t even see me coming until I’ve already ripped through its side. The one after that isn’t hard either. Why are they so easy? If they are mana beasts, shouldn’t they at least be rank 1?

After a few more minutes Time, Fezrah, and Olbert take care of the rest of the creatures, which makes me sad. I want to kill a few more! Blood! I want—

“Chalia!”

“Uh, huh?”

“Dragon Realm” She whispers to me. Oh, no, I totally forgot! I withdraw my dragon realm as fast as I can, which is still slow. Oh, well. I guess that takes practice, too.

They are staring at me. They are staring at me, Selaena!

“Well…” Olbert is the first to speak. “That makes things interesting.” “See, what did I tell you!” Tim yells out happily, and is then glared at by Olbert. “Let’s go,” Fezrah says, and so we get going after collecting the beast cores.

“Se-Fehl, why were they looking at me?” I quietly ask Selaena. “Oh, you should get used to it. You know why?” “No, I don’t!” “Haha, it’s because you are so cute!” Huh? “Oh, don’t look like that, of course there is another reason too!” She says, bending down close to my ear. “It’s also because you feel like a dragon when you fight.” Oh, that makes sense. I guess it’s weird for a girl to seem like a dragon. No, wait,  but I’m part dragon! Why is it so surprising then? Oh, well, I shouldn’t ask too many questions…