...I opened my eyes.

What I saw above me was a stone ceiling. Where was I?

I tried to remember what happened moments before passing out. John had cast a spell. "Black Out" was the name, a spell whose purpose is to knock out its targets. A clean method to get rid of your opponents.

Even though I still felt a bit tired by the spell, I got up.

I was in a small room whose walls were also made of stone. I was lying on a hard wooden bed covered by a white bedding. The room was illuminated by lamps hanging on the walls.

There wasn't much in that room. In addition to the bed, there was a nightstand with a used candle, a table with a chair and a long unknown object that was leaning against the wall, wrapped in fabric and ropes.

When I got out of bed, I noticed that there was a folded paper on the table, with a metal key being used as a weight, so I went to the table and unfolded the paper. There was a text written on it, the first line of which said "For Amaris Welimir", which made me inclined to read it.

"Salutations,

You may be wondering about your current location.

I'll clarify it for you: You're in the Dungeons of Avalon

This place is a structure created in the mold of dungeons usually found by adventurers in order to test the skills of the students who come here. And that's exactly why you're here.

Both you and the other students who have been selected are here to have your skills tested. Your strengths, repertoire, decision-making and limits will be evaluated.

Therefore, your goal is clear: to get out of the Dungeons.

Don't worry, you won't be at risk of death during this test.

Based on the data collected about you, we have prepared a tool adapted to your abilities and needs. Feel free to use it as you see fit during the test, because it is yours.

Use the key you found next to this paper to unlock the door of this room.

That's all that needs to be said. I wish you luck and proceed with caution.

Signed, Hugo Reignia"

Mr. Reignia! So that's what he meant when he told Erina and me that things wouldn't be easy for us!

And this place... was that what my brother and he were working on last year?

All those tests that Mr. Reignia told John to go through was for these dungeons?

But why do they need dungeons? To evaluate students? This is a school, for Goddess’s sake! Don't you have enough evaluation methods anymore?!

And most importantly, why exactly me, Erina and the other six need to be evaluated? What Mr. Did Reignia see in us that he didn't see in the others?

Well, Erina has the blessing of the Protective Goddess, does it have any correlation? Maybe not. As far as I know, I don't have a divine blessing.

...Or maybe it does if each of us is selected for a unique reason. If that's the case, what would be my reason? It could be because of the brother. Maybe Mr. Reignia wants to find out if our shared genes gives me the same skills as him!...

...Wait! I have to think about my current situation! I was knocked out by my own brother, put in a dungeon against my will and now I have to find a way out of here! And it won't be a simple task, because I don't know if Mr. Reignia didn't notice but I'm a support mage! My strong point is to heal injuries and give buffs to allies and debuffs to my opponents.

My repertoire allows me to keep the team standing for longer - while I keep myself alive - increasing our chance of victory. But I don't have any team! I'm alone here!

Mr. Reignia, how do you want to evaluate my skills if there's no one with me?! I need people to support to show what I’m good at. Does he want me to become a DPS overnight, or what?!

I have to stay calm. Panicking won't be useful to me now.

Since I have dedicated myself a lot to support spells, my offensive spells are not so extraordinary, but if I use my head, I can make them yield. I just need to choose my fights wisely and I'll be able to manage myself.

By the way, Mr. Reignia mentioned on paper that there was a tool prepared for me...

I looked at the unknown object resting on the wall. That must be the tool. Carefully, I untied the ropes and pulled out the fabric, revealing the true identity of the equipment that was granted to me. My eyes widened: it was a magic staff! A real staff! Instead of a wand, they gave me a staff!

The staff was long, surpassing my height. It showed to be resistant and when hitting it, you could hear a solid sound. Its long rod fit perfectly in the grip of my hands. It was silver, with some details in light blue and, separating the top of the stem, there were two blue rings. At the top, the staff formed an arc with rounded cavities and, in the space inside the arc, there was a large bright purple orb!

I continued incredulous, holding that preciousness in my hands. On the paper it was written that this tool was now mine, but would it be mine during the test period or for life? And if it was for life, would it be a gift or would I have to pay? I could already imagine the number of adventurers I would have to heal as a mercenary healer to pay for such a preciousness.

Having this staff in hand made me feel more determined. I felt that I could easily face this dungeon and everything it threw in my way, so I took the key on the table, put it in the lock, turned it and opened the door. Here I go!...

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

... And my excitement went away as soon as I crossed the door.

However, there was no turning back, if I wanted to get out of there, I needed to move on.

While I explored the dungeons in search of the exit, I tried to comfort myself with some memories of my past life. Before reincarnating, I lived in a world where there were computers and, on these devices, I played many MMORPGs. In games, we could create characters of different classes and I, most of the time, chose the support classes - they didn't always have the same name in all games.

The funny part is that, as much as the support classes are used by players who walk in groups, I was very shrinking violet and played alone. There were few times that I participated in a guild in a game and in those few times I didn't talk to anyone. They must have thought I was a bot or something like that.

As much as there was other classes more appropriate for solo players, I kept choosing the support classes. And, honestly, I don't regret it. In the end, I always found a way to improve my stats to be able to do a lot of damage. So, in a way, I've managed to be a DPS before! Okay, it won't be the same thing - I'm not in a game anymore - but I'll sort something out.

The first monsters I saw were slimes: creatures made of a gooey material that, depending on how much they fed themselves, could get bigger than an adult human. Not always having a huge body is convenient, so the slimes I found were the size of a child. Due to their gelatinous consistency, these creatures were resistant to physical attacks, but, in compensation, their resistance to magic was weak. In other words, slimes are the perfect targets for beginner mages!

The slimes I found were green, so they must be from element of earth, so fire spells would give more damage. As expected, I threw some fireballs at them, they turned into a green puddle on the floor. A quick victory with a basic spell. As I had said, I just needed to use my head.

As I proceeded, I wondered where the others were. What would be the tools that each one received? It's a magic school, so they must have been staffs. Would I find them eventually or was this place structured in a way that prevents us from meeting each other, no matter what we do?

As I walked, I observed the dungeons’s appearance. Its walls and ceiling, as well as those of the room where I woke up, were made of stone - some gray and others beige. Between the creases of the rocks, small plants grew. The whole place was illuminated by balls of magical light that floated around. In addition, there were flights of stairs with ramps on the sides, which indicates that there were multiple floors, as if I were in the ruins of a small underground civilization. How long did it take to build such an elaborate place?

The beginning of my quest was no different from what was expected: I explored the corridors and killed the monsters that came to attack me - As the mana was my greatest resource, I decided not to attack monsters that did not react to my presence. As the monsters I met were weak to magical attacks, it was very easy to finish them off. I confess that I ended up having fun, feeling like I was the master of this dungeon.

However, in my moment of fun, I ended up coming across a creature similar to a rhinoceros beetle, but it was not small, it must have been a meter long and was as tall as a little below my knees. In addition, it had two huge blue eyes positioned with its horn in the middle. Its body was baby pink and light blue coloured. A very coquettish colour palette for a monster with characteristics of a strong type of beetle.

I tried to pass by him without fighting, but when he noticed me, he moved quickly towards me. It was clear he wanted a fight. I was faster than him and casted a [fireball], which hit the monster like lightning, preventing it from dodging.

However, to my surprise - and misfortune - the most my fireball did was push it a little bit. At first, I thought he was resistant to fire, so, by reflex, I casted an [ice shard] and shot it at the monster without delay. Once again, my attack only pushed him. There was only one explanation. "A monster resistant to magic!" I cursed when I came to the conclusion.

The beetle monster, now recovered, kept running towards me. I wasn't willing to spend all my mana a single creature resistant to magic - who knows what I could come across later - so I took a detour. Fortunately, he didn't follow me, he probably had interpreted my presence as an attempted invasion of his territory.

After getting rid of that little inconvenience, I left out a sigh of relief, but I felt a slight irritation and it was about Mr. Reignia. A monster resistant to magic so early, my dear?! Not only did he leave a support alone, but he also made it easy for magic-resistant monsters to find me! This kind of monster should only appear when the mage finds an ally who makes physical attacks, like a warrior! When it comes to individual tests, this dungeon is terribly unbalanced!

I haven’t remained irritated for long and soon calmed down. However, when I climbed some stairs, I arrived at a large area with three arch-shaped entrances - one to the north, one to the east and another to the west - and, to my misfortune, it was full of beetle monsters! I had thought that, by dodging that beetle from before, I would be avoiding the territory of his kind, but apparently that one had just moved away in the group. Was that lonely beetle a decoy to make any magician divert the path and fall directly into the domain of these monsters? If that's the case, I fell into the trap.

Whether it was something planned or not, it didn't matter. It was clear I made my fight inevitable by fleeing. I was at a numerical disadvantage, besides my enemies were able to resist my attacks, but all was not lost. My mother and father had given me an essential tip for situations like this: "When you need to fight a creature resistant to magic, follow these steps: use the [Increase strength] and [Increase speed] on yourself, then use the [Increase durability] on your selected weapon and then you hit the heck out of the monster until it breaks!"

I applied the spells to myself and the magic staff. As soon as I finished, I saw the first beetle running towards me. "So naive…" I thought. When he got close enough, I gave him a hit on top with the staff, leaving him completely crushed on the ground.

The monsters around must have thought I simply got lucky, because several of them decided to come together to attack me. This was beneficial for me, because the effect of the spells was temporary, so the sooner I got rid of them, the better. My body moved lightly and quickly, but my blows with the staff had a lethal force. It looked like I was performing a dance and the cadence was the impact of the magic staff against the insects. One by one, those beetles were crushed by my dance of violence. In a short time, I was the only living being still standing and the floors and walls were full of crushed insect bodies.

When evaluating the results of my clash and confirming my victory, I was panting and my heartbeat was intense. I was ecstatic and, at that moment, I felt invincible. The effect of adrenaline was so strong on me that I lost control of myself and started laughing uncontrollably.

“Hahahahaha! Did you think you were going to get the better of it? Well, you got it wrong! I'm the master here! Your illustrious lady! Hahahahahaha! ...Eh?”

My moment of imaginary invincibility was abruptly broken the moment a threat arose in front of me. Another monster-beetle, but his pink and blue was darker and, instead of being short, he was gigantic! If he tried to lift the body, his horn would touch the entrance arch! And precisely this creature of intimidating size was the one who was staring at me.

I swallowed dry. He was probably the leader - or father or mother - of the smaller beetles and, by killing the little ones, I just challenged his authority. Unintentionally, I ended up buying a fight with a giant animal that, to make matters worse, was resistant to my magical attacks!

With the few seconds I had, I evaluated my situation: the giant beetle was probably stronger than the little ones, so knocking it down with a single hit wouldn't be possible. I would need to use a lot of spells on myself and on the staff, not to mention the healing spells I would need! Even if I won, I’d be vulnerable and would have to rely on luck not to find another monster of the same level until I managed to recover my mana. It was a lost battle.

I only had one alternative left... RUN!