“Fire Starter.”

A small fire lit up from the tip of his finger, illuminating their surroundings. A concrete floor and cobblestone walls. Shadows as far as the light could expand.

Kazi's voice echoed, “Are you alright? Marta? William? Ms. Sun-young?”

“We can see so there’s that,” said William. “By the way, where did you learn THAT?”

The orange flame flickered with power, imitating the practicality of a torch. However, there was a flexibility to it where Kazi could turn it to his whims. He did just that, playfully going in circles.

“It’s one of the starter skills for the Mage Class."

“Okay, so when did you get that?” William asked, confused.

“A preeetty long time ago. It was when we first met, when we fought the Slime Jack.”

“Could you bring the flame a bit close ahead?” Sun-young interjected. “There might be traps.”

Kazi took two steps forward, then stopped. He went down, the flame on his finger revealing the black line on the concrete. “I’m guessing this is where the traps start.”

Marta stood behind him. “S-should we step forward and, uh, test it?”

“Not yet,” Kazi said. “I wanna try something.” He rolled his shoulders, feeling the magic within him circulate. Eventually, it slipped into the palm of his hand and a burst of fire appeared.

[ New skill created : Fire Ball ]

It wasn’t massive but it was certainly powerful. He could feel the heat of the flames, grinned, and proceeded to throw it like a baseball. The Fire Ball travelled through the air and illuminated the shadowy hall, only for the flames to abruptly explode. Darkness fell again. A distinct whizz cut the air.

With a snap of the finger, Kazi lit the area up and revealed the incoming arrow. But he had already caught its shape right before the explosion and coolly caught it with his bare hand.

“Woah! Would you look at that!” The arrow in his left hand and an impressive flame to his right, he turned to his allies, who were frozen in shock. “Arrows in complete darkness. That’s a hell of a trap.”

Marta’s eyes were full of concern. “K-Kazi, your hand, it’s bleeding…”

The spine of the arrow was as metallic as the tip. The friction created from its speed must have burned his flesh. “I’m alright,” Kazi said dismissively. “The tip isn’t poisoned either. I’m good.”

“Are you sure—”

“The candles are on,” Sun-young pointed out, accidentally talking over Marta. “The flames are blue…?”

Looking over her shoulder, he saw what she was referring to. The flames on the candles were a mystic blue, a complete colour change from his ordinary orange.

“Did they light up because you got hurt?” William said. “That has to be it, right? There were two arrows—one arrow that destroyed your Fire Ball and the other arrow that's in your hands.”

“I think you’re right. Look, the arrow is disappearing.” Before William could fully glance over, the arrow was already gone. No sparkles, nothing remained of its brittle. “There might be a limit as to how many arrows the hall can unleash.”

“Um, sixty seconds are almost over,” said Marta. “Are we just…should we just give up?”

“We can do the special objective after. Safely completing the main objective is our top priority,” Kazi replied. He listened to the droplets of blood leaking. He lit up another flame and used it to cauterize the wound. Whatever pain stung him, he ignored like it was an insignificant chill.

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Marta looked utterly flabbergasted. So was William. Even Sun-young seemed disgusted.

“D-dude…” William’s jaw was open. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

“Nah, not really. Now then…” With that same cauterized hand, he summoned a Fire Ball. A grin spread across him and he threw it again. He summoned another and threw another.

He kept throwing Fire Ball after Fire Ball. The arrows exploded. Kazi was making headway, however, going faster and faster, the Fire Balls travelling further and further in the shadow hall. Witnessing the hall transform from total darkness to light was a magical spectacle straight out of a fairytale. The hall, due to its narrow constriction, refused to allow deep analysis. The light became a vague symbol. A blip.

William let out a whistle. “Just how deep does this hall go…?”

Kazi promptly stopped and wiped a bead of sweat from his temple. “Four arrows at a time and the candles don’t seem to light up from my fire. More importantly, I saw a cracks in the walls. I wonder if the hidden objective is in that.”

“A hidden objective.” In Sun-young’s hands came her new katana: Majin-ken. Writing across the long metal were blue Japanese symbols. One by one, they gave the katana a deadly glow. “I’ll deflect any of the arrows. Kazi, you light the way.”

“I’ll destroy the wall,” said William.

‘Marta is a mage and she does have the Magic Barrier Class Skill. It’s a Passive skill too but…’ Kazi eyed her. ‘Yeah, she’s not ready yet.’

“Marta, ready to run?”

The young woman nervously pushed her glasses up her nose. She wanted to change and that was what Kazi gave her. A fresh set of metal armour that seemed a size too large for her—silver and shiny—its worth, ability, and beauty unquestionably able to stand in the fiercest war of the mediaeval era. If its wearer didn’t exude the anxiety of a modern woman, the magic on it would have been crystal clear.

“I think so." Her own words lowered her confidence. Marta drew in a breath. "Um, you really think I can run in this?”

“You were running fine before.”

“But that was without the armour…”

Kazi smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “Remember. Once you stop thinking about how others see you, once you really focus and believe in yourself, you can do anything. You remember that and you’ll be fine.”

Fear lingered, but conviction was also introduced. To teach Marta to fight, he needed to build stamina. To do that, he made her do the simplest thing ever: run. Run till her breath ran out. Run till she looked like a total mess. Run till she forgot the conceived notions of pride and dignity. It was the most valuable lesson of all. It was better to live ugly than to die beautiful. That was what he told her and damn did it take a long time to get it through her skull.

She hadn’t completely discarded herself of that unnecessary pride. Kazi could only do so much in three days. But time, he would.

Overall, for someone who did zero exercise in her original life, she was decent. To motivate her, he bought her an expensive set of armour dipped in magic. She was a mage and the armour was said to amplify magical might. It would compensate for her level, he thought.

'I could also switch to the Mage Class and use Magic Barrier but I can tell Sun-young is really excited to try out her katana. Might as well give her a swing.'

“By the way, should we do three-two-one-go or just three-two-one?” Kazi asked.

“Go,” Sun-young clarified.

“Cool. Just making sure.”

Judging by William’s face, it was indeed a valid question. ‘Glad we got that cleared up then.’

“Three…” Sun-young went into a stance, her left forward and her sword held in a single grip. It went so high up it nearly touched the ceiling. “Two…one…”

Marta gulped. William shifted.

“Go!”

At top speed, Sun-young was the fastest. The instant she went past the black line, the rain of arrows began. Kazi remained two steps behind her, lighting her way with a massive ball of fire.

The first arrow whizzed towards her, and she spun her blade, the katana's edge meeting the projectile with a crisp clang. The arrow splintered into shards, harmlessly falling to the ground.

A second arrow followed, faster. With a flick of her wrist, she sliced the metal arrow.

The candles did not light up.

‘So the candles really only light up from injury. Specifically, when it detects blood,’ Kazi deduced.

Sun-young kept going, never allowing a single arrow through. She was quickly burning through her stamina, however, and it was clear she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long. They were barely twenty metres in. Luckily, that was all they needed.

Kazi yelled, “William, left!”

William wasn’t a moment too late. He summoned his axe and bashed into the crack. It wasn’t that there wasn’t much to break, William was just that strong. With three swings, he broke through the wall and hopped through. Sun-young hopped in last, still deflecting the arrows.

The weary sigh from Sun-young prompted Kazi to give her praise.

“Nice work. You didn’t let a single arrow through.”

“I do my best,” Sun-young replied, nodding. She tried not to look too proud of herself.

“Look. A treasure chest,” William said. The bashed wall led to a small room where a treasure chest lay.

“Let the lady with the katana open it up,” Kazi joked.

Sun-young chuckled and unequipped her weapon. “Finders keepers, losers weepers.”

“What are we in kindergarten?” said William. “But, uh, yeah, go ahead. If it’s a trap, then you can be our sacrifice.”

“And if it’s the rarest item ever, it’s mine.”

“Deal.”

Sun-young crept close to the treasure. It was different from the one in the forest, lined in silver and made of the lighter-coloured birch wood. She touched the lock and the chest flung open.