Tess had dubbed this dungeon The Hollow, since it was somewhat under a large tree. It consisted of beast creatures and was one of the easy ones, not that any were particularly difficult.
Olivia was on the ground, currently being attacked by a group of tunnelers, which were a creature that was a hybrid between a mole and a rat. Tess lifted her up with one hand, completely ignoring the tiny bites and scratches coming at her.
“Now isn't the time to cower,” Tess admonished, “What do you do first?”
Olivia yelped as another bite caused a little damage.
“Get them off me!”
“Do it yourself. How will you do it?”
Olivia tried to go back towards the light that was ‘outside,’ only to find herself blocked by an invisible force field.
“Can't leave a dungeon until you beat the boss.”
Olivia glared at Tess.
“Water Bubble!” she shouted in desperation.
A bubble popped into existence, surrounding Olivia entirely and pushing the tunnelers away.
“Good. Defensive spells and self buffs are good at the start when you face an unknown threat. Now what?”
Olivia glanced at the creatures throwing themselves at the bubble, and Tess, examining them closely.
“What sort of weaknesses do they have?” Olivia asked.
“Correct. Testing for weaknesses is next. Try something.”
“Water Spurt?”
A blast of water, very much unlike the previous dribble, shot out from Olivia's hand and struck one of the tunnelers. It flew into the wall of the tunnel and went limp.
“It works. But you have a lot around you still. How could you do better?”
Olivia had looked relieved when the one tunneler was blasted away, but that relief was wiped away in an instant by Tess's reminder about the others.
“Water Spurt! Water Spurt! Water Spurt!”
She started blasting each one with their own spell. After a few moments, no tunnelers were left moving. Olivia glanced at Tess.
Her hair was plastered to the side of her head and the giant red ribbon was sagging with water. Droplets fell off here and there as Tess blinked.
“Well, that works,” Tess said before using shower magic to instantly dry off.
Olivia looked exhausted.
“How could you have been more efficient?”
Olivia looked around and sighed.
“Taking them all at once?”
“So why didn't you?”
“They were everywhere! And I have no idea how this thing helps at all!” she replied, gesturing vaguely at her current outfit, “And which one was I supposed to use? I can't decide in the middle of chaos like that! And…”
Slap.
Olivia was spun around again as she fell.
“Stop making excuses. I taught you Wave. You just had to use it, but you didn't. You fixated on what you remembered. It's your first time, so it’s understandable, but you can't lose your head. If you do, you'll miss things and get yourself killed. For example, how much mana do you have left?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Olivia remained on the ground, but was staring up at Tess. She pulled open her menus and navigated through them.
“Like 13?”
“Out of?”
“230.”
“Exactly. Instead of casting Wave, one spell, you cast Water Spurt multiple times, ultimately costing you nearly all your mana. Your refresh rate is still low. You have to think.”
“Okay,” Olivia said glumly.
“And as for the gear, let me show you the difference.”
Tess instantly swapped out her entire Magical Girl gearset for a basic robe.
“This robe gives no bonuses. Water Spurt.”
Tess shot the magic at the nearby wall. It penetrated pretty deep before stopping. Then she switched back into the Magical Girl gear.
“Water Spurt.”
The impact against the wall shook the whole tunnel as the magic practically carved a new tunnel right in front of them. Olivia stared open mouthed before turning to Tess.
“Oops. Little too much. But you get the picture. This gear amplifies your magic that much,” Tess said, slightly guilty at the extent of the damage.
Tess pulled Olivia up. Using Channeling, she infused mana into the weakened woman.
“Now, let's try again,” Tess said, pointing deeper into the tunnel.
Olivia had little choice but to carry on. She did well enough for Tess the rest of the way through, receiving pointers and tips when necessary but managing on her own from that point onwards. When they arrived outside the boss chamber, Tess stopped for another explanation.
“Okay. So in here is the boss. In dungeons, the boss is the big threat and can really mess up your day. I will say, this boss isn't like anything you've hit in here so far. But the reason I said you should learn Water is because it will work really good here.”
“But you said out there…”
“I chose it because it'll be good in this dungeon,” Tess interrupted loudly.
She infused a bit more mana to top off Olivia, then gave her a push.
“In you go!”
Olivia stumbled forward into the dome chamber, followed by Tess. The chamber at first glance was dark and empty, though glowing lichen soon began to illuminate the chamber in an eerie pale blue.
“I think it was Megan that once said this was like a rave scene,” Tess muttered aloud.
“Huh? No it isn't. There would be way more colors. And flashing lights. And a DJ,” Olivia looked back.
“Focus,” Tess chided.
The blue light gave no hints as Olivia turned back. She cast her bubble shield preemptively.
“What's different?” Tess asked.
Olivia scanned the chamber.
“That pile of rocks?”
“Focus on it.”
Olivia did so.
“Earth elemental?”
“You should now have Identify. Earths can take a lot of hits and deal some heavy ones too. But they're slow. Go for it.”
Olivia lashed out with water magic. The elemental reared up and formed into a massive shape very much like the tunnelers. As Olivia continued to pelt it with magic, clods of dirt seemed to break from its form.
“Good. Range is your friend here. As you can see, your magic weakens the bonds it has over the earth under its control. Because it's busy fighting you, it can't focus on reabsorbing to heal.”
Tess sidestepped a blow from the elemental as it turned its attention towards her. She gracefully twirled around several others as the elemental seemed to grow frustrated. The elemental pounded its forelimbs into the ground.
“Ah, see how it's focusing its own mana now?” Tess observed, “This is a good opportunity to hit it with something big. Infuse more mana than normal into your Water Spurt.”
Olivia did as Tess instructed. Instead of a spray, a torrent erupted forth that hit the elemental’s head. The thing crumbled to the ground and moved no more.
“Congratulations. You've beat your first boss. Now you should open that treasure chest behind you.”
Tess smiled as Olivia opened the chest and started rifling through the contents.
“By the way, I have something else to teach you.”
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Iriea
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Oena sat on her throne watching her world of Iriea slowly spinning through the cosmos. It had been a while since she had ordered MSI's System and had it implemented. It was working perfectly. She smiled as she remembered when the System originally activated, so many had thought it was their great goddess Oena's blessings. In a way, since she had bought it instead of just putting in the development work, it was and she never bothered to correct her people.
As promised, the System naturally bettered her people and created a more dynamic world. And it had finally spawned up the demon lord encounter. She was so excited as that meant she was finally about to be granted the hero from another world perk. It also promised to change her world even more.
She had been wondering what sort of person they might be. What would they do? It was only a short while away.
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Elsewhere
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The lesser deity smiled as the Tutorial patch completed.
“I should probably find a new job.”