Chapter 14
The unfamiliar buzz of the waking city, with its distant shouts and clattering carts, jolted me awake from a restless sleep.
I yawned and pulled back the hood that had shielded me from the streetlights throughout the night.
"Good morning, Frey," I mumbled, letting out another long yawn.
The little spirit jumped from my necklace to the air in front of me and greeted me excitedly.
"You're not scared anymore?" I asked while running some formulas to take care of my personal hygiene.
He swayed sideways like an inverse pendulum signifying that he wasn't.
Yesterday night after I left the girl with the adventurers from the Ganesha familia he was almost unresponsive from fright.
I still didn't know what was wrong.
I looked at Frey, with concern evident in my voice. "Are you ready to tell me what scared you? Why were you so frightened?'"
I felt a little worried as Frey froze, his excitement absent for an instant, before he sent me a mental image.
The image of the hungry gaze of an absolute alpha predator appeared in my mind.
A cold shiver crept down my spine as I asked, 'Was it even worse than those amazons?'
He nodded.
Shit.
'Oh, look here Bache! See, I told you I found someone interesting.' The amazon with long sand-colored hair said to her twin while I was experimenting with my earth manipulation on the sand of the beach, her bloodlust was visible to the naked eye. The Amazon twins had such oppressive auras that I felt I was staring back at an elemental Lord. Then, when I saw one of their hands was reaching for me, reality reasserted itself and I exploded the beach I had camped in the night before.
I shook my head to disperse the frantic battle I had amidst the sandstorm that shook the earth and the ocean a few weeks ago.
If Frey said that whoever he sensed was worse than those Amazon twins…
It seemed like I had attracted the attention of someone truly problematic.
I sighed, feeling the familiar weight of inevitability. Despite my best efforts, trouble seemed to follow me relentlessly.
Well, there was no reason to stress over it, I'll simply have to be vigilant.
But there was something that was bugging me about this situation.
Last night, while I was tired from the absolute fiasco of a day I had, I was still aware of my surroundings.
If someone had been spying on me, I should have noticed.
The fact that I hadn't noticed meant there was a flaw in my sensing formulas.
I couldn't exactly do anything about that right now though. I would have to wait until I'm observed again to try to identify and remedy this weakness. Thankfully, Frey could detect this gaze. So, as long as I paid attention to him, I should be fine.
Getting up from my seated position, I stretched my sore back with a satisfying groan.
I had been camping for a while, but even the earth of the forest was more comfortable than the cold hard stone of this place.
I had taken refuge atop the towering stone wall encircling Orario, a vantage point both secure and solitary.
From what I heard, I wasn't supposed to be there, in fact, there were guards stationed at the stairs to get up here.
That made it a great spot for me to camp since I could simply climb here with a couple of spells and dashes bypassing the sentries completely.
I get a place that was guarded basically for free as long as I'm not noticed. The only disadvantage was that the stone wall was hard and cold and I had to be ready to bolt at any moment, but I could stomach sleeping uncomfortably if it meant not being bothered.
After getting all my things packed up, I looked over the wall towards the alley below.
Seeing it empty, I simply jumped down, my mind already calculating the air formula to cushion my fall.
Having landed gracefully on the ground, winds flowing around me and dispersing as they had taken the kinetic energy from my fall, I simply started walking towards the main street to go toward the tower of Babel.
Yesterday I had agreed to dive into the dungeon with Miss Liliruca after all.
The main street near the walls was nearly deserted, but as I approached the city center, more people began to pour in from side streets, gradually filling the space with life.
The sun was just poking out of the horizon and the moon was still high in the sky.
But the people seemed to be up and working already if the numerous street vendors filling the street and advertising their wares was anything to go by.
It was pretty lively, I couldn't say I disliked it.
After buying a snack from a street vendor for breakfast, I walked down the street making sure that my hood covered my face.
As I got closer to the tower, I made sure to tune down the range of my sensing formulas so as not to get overwhelmed.
I still ran a few to detect the members of the Apollo familia though, I didn't want to have to waste the morning fleeing.
Reaching the main square after a good amount of time walking, I started looking around for the little pallum girl.
There were a lot of adventurers entering the tower. Although there were even more simply waiting in groups around it, combined with merchants and smiths offering their services made the place feel pretty packed up.
Thinking for a moment about what to do, I decided to slowly up my presence to that of a Level 1 adventurer. While a little tiring, that would help me navigate this sea of adventurers since it wouldn't seem like I was a simple civilian.
While the presence of my aura wasn't exactly the same as the one adventurers, it could easily pass as one if one wasn't focussing on it.
I wandered around the square around the tower for a few minutes, but I didn't find Miss Liliruca.
I could try to tailor a sensing formula to find her, but I was unsure if I could do it correctly. Her highly malleable field that could take any shape and was constantly shifting, made it difficult to translate into a mathematical formula. I could try finding her by searching for hydrokinetics, but unfortunately, hydrokinetics were kind of common. So it wouldn't narrow down the search that much.
I was about to try to cobble up a sensing formula anyway when a comically big backpack filled my vision.
"Master Regis! You came!" The familiar voice of a girl said from beneath the ridiculously huge backpack.
What on earth was this thing? You could probably fit an entire apartment inside.
I tilted my head down, finally spotting the familiar cloaked figure of the girl I'd been searching for.
"Good morning, Miss Liliruca. Are you alright?" I asked her.
I was a little worried about her. The day before she had told me that while the members of her familia were usually free to do whatever they wanted, they had a weekly meal they couldn't skip. And considering that her own familia was the one that was chasing her the day before, I felt my concern was justified.
But my worries seemed like they were for naught because she smiled brightly and said.
"Yes, thanks to Master Regis I'm better than ever. I could even take the tiny cup of soma without getting cursed by repeating the exercise you taught me yesterday. Also please call me Lili."
"They made you drink it?" I asked half horrified, half enraged. Suddenly with a very bad feeling about what was going on with her familia.
"Yeah, it's tradition and one of the supposed benefits of being in my familia. We have an obligatory family meal once a week, and we always have to toast with wine at the end," she said cheerfully, her eyes weren't laughing though.
Yeah… it wasn't a matter to be happy about, and my bad feeling from before was validated.
The scheme was glaringly obvious to me now—a tactic to ensnare familia members into dependency and debt.
Give the familia members a little cup a week to get them addicted to the wine. Then demand outrageous amounts of money and put them in debt whenever they want more. They couldn't even try to heal from the addiction since everyone was peer pressured to drink it at least once a week.
And considering the outrageous amount of money the little pallum had told me was needed to leave her familia…
I took a deep breath to let go of the negative emotions and put a little smile on my face and said. "I see, do you want to get going?"
"Yes, Master Regis." She responded with a smile.
There wasn't a need for me to be mad now. Much less in front of the victim of such a scheme. But at that moment I decided.
I would take this lonely girl, and I would make her strong enough to topple familias on her own.
"Also, call me Regis."
"Alright, Master Regis."
Cheeky little girl.
//////////////////////
As we neared the entrance of the dungeon, I started to become a little nervous. The closer we got the worse my jitters were.
I could feel the mana in the environment getting stronger the closer I got to the entrance of the dungeon.
It reminded me of the dragon. Kinda.
It didn't feel malicious, more like simply hostile. Like nature.
Entering the tower, I could see stairs going down a hole not that different from a circular quarry.
The entrance of the dungeon was made of smooth rock and was absolutely huge like the maw of a beast.
"Are you okay Master Regis?" I heard Miss Liliruca ask worriedly.
Memories of every time I entered the trials came to mind making me shake a little.
It was alright.
I had to remind myself that this was normal, feeling like this.
I already knew that I was traumatized by the trials, entering the dungeon full of monsters like this just hit a little too close to home.
A feeling asking for my well being was echoed by my spirit which made me smile.
Because this time, I could leave whenever I wanted and feeling the excited chill coming from Frey and the warmth of the little pallum next to me…
This time I wasn't alone.
Taking control of my body and ceasing my trembling, I responded. "Yes, I'm alright now. Thank you for asking Miss Liliruca. Let's go."
"Alright. Also, call me Lili." She said as her left eye twitched, while she started descending the stairs.
Was I trolling the little girl? To tell the truth, a little. Before leaving the other day she started calling me Master Regis and whenever I asked her to drop it she didn't.
So I thought it was fair for me to do the same.
As we got near the first floor, whatever fear or nervous feeling I had disappeared as I was busy paying attention to my sensing spells. Not for any sort of enemy, the entrance to the first floor was probably the safest place in the dungeon since so many people passed through and killed the monsters there.
But the mana readings I was getting were interesting. The environmental mana was much stronger than on the surface. Trying to create a little flame on my hand, I noticed that I had to exercise a little more will to actualize the elemental manipulation than usual.
After a minute of descending, the stairs ended and a fairly wide rocky tunnel appeared before us.
I noted that the mana levels in the environment stabilized and didn't get stronger anymore.
I could feel Frey's excitement at the sight of the smaller entrances to other tunnels scattered along the walls of this main one.
But there were still adventurers near us so he remained inside the necklace,
Oddly enough, despite being completely underground the place was well illuminated. A closer inspection revealed magic crystals attached to the walls that were giving off blue light.
"Master Regis, let's go! We don't want to stay at the entrance." I heard Lili say from further inside the tunnel.
It seemed that while I was busy inspecting the dungeon she was in a hurry to get further in.
It wasn't like I didn't understand her, this place was not the correct one to stop.
As I hurried in her direction, I asked her. "By the way, Miss Liliruca. What's up with that backpack? I could probably fit like ten of you inside. How do you even carry it?"
And I wasn't joking, trying to find her center of gravity with that thing on was giving me a headache.
"Har har, small stature jokes. I've never heard of them." She said dryly. "And I can carry it due to my skill. It's called Artel Assist. It's a pretty common skill for supporters that lets them carry heavy loads more easily."
"Also, call me Lili."
A Skill? Now that I looked at her more closely at her field I could see that it was coiled tightly around her frame, compressing it a little.
It reminded me of those lifting belts bodybuilders back in my original world used but for her entire body.
Squinting my eyes, I could see that her field extended behind her under the bag. Was it trying to help with her balance too?
I was about to dive a bit deeper to see if there was more to it when the sound of rock cracking caught my attention.
"Master Regis, monsters!" Lili exclaimed.
"Yeah, I hear them."
Moments later, I saw the wall in front of us starting to crack.
A couple of familiar green bodies with three horns and red eyes came out of the hole that formed.
I saw Lili reveal a tiny crossbow attached to her hand as they started to charge us, but before they could run three steps, I had already pierced their brain with an ice spike.
"Wha?" I heard Lili exclaim and jump a little at the swift ending of the battle as she looked between me and the goblins.
Ignoring her for a moment, I used my stone-retrieving magic trick. Instants later the magic stones of the dead goblins jump off their body straight to my awaiting hand.
A cursory look showed that they were more or less the same as the stones I had already examined in the village.
Maybe they were a little magically denser? Although their internal structure seemed simpler than the ones I inspected in Drait…
Not to mention, I had been warned that the monsters in the dungeon were far stronger than the ones on the surface. But their speed was equal to the ones I fought in the forest in my patrols…
Well, I can investigate this more in-depth later.
"Here you have, you can carry them right?" I asked Lili handing her the stone.
Just to stop at her shocked face that seemed just about to cry.
A little puzzled and worried at the quick change of mood, I knelt before her and asked. "What's wrong, Lili? They couldn't have touched you, right?".
"No, Lili's fine. Master Regis just took away half of Lili's reason for living, that's all," she said a little woodenly as she held out her hand, palm up. "Please hand them over. Lili will carry them for you."
"Okay…" I said, a little uncertain while giving her the magic stones.
How did I take half her reason for living? I only defeated the monsters…
"Come on Master Regis, you wanted me to show you the dungeon right?" I heard her say regaining her previous cheer as she started to walk again.
The rest of the first floor continued like this. We would wander around, and from time to time we would be attacked by a couple of goblins which I would ice spike before they could take a couple of steps, then retrieved and handed their magic stones to Lili.
Around half an hour later, we entered a smoothed-out tunnel that seemed very worn down. Which was surprising since the dungeon was supposed to auto-repair itself.
"This place is?" I asked my tiny guide with a wave of my hand.
"Ah, we're near the stairs that go to the second floor. That's why this place is so worn down. What do you want to do Master Regis? Do you want to go deeper? You have used plenty of magic already, and it's your first day…" She said worriedly while looking at me.
I mean, I get where she's coming from, but I wasn't tired. Besides, I had only used ice spikes the size of pencils which were some of my more efficient spells.
I only had to gather moisture from the air, model the form of the spike in my head, add a direction, and then convert the thermal energy I had taken away to generate the ice to kinetic energy.
It barely took anything from me to spam them.
"I'm fine Miss Liliruca. I'm far from tired at the moment." I said with a smile which turned into a tiny smirk when I saw her right eye twitch at my formality.
"Hmph, If you're fine, then let's go. I wanna make some money today." She said her worried expression turned into an adorable pout.
"Also, call me Lili"" Also, call me Regis." We said at the same time. I suppressed my laughter as she stopped and we looked at each other for a moment.
Then we laughed.
Her genuine, childish laughter was a stark contrast to the forced cheer she had worn all morning, revealing a side of her I hadn't seen before.
I might have been using my precognition to create this moment, but no one had to know.
Bolstered by our laughter, we ventured deeper into the dungeon, ready to face whatever awaited us below.
The second floor of the dungeon was similar to the first.
The only difference was that we found a few kobolds, basically goblins but with the head of a dog, in addition to goblins. They still died from ice spike to the brain syndrome all the same.
I noted a slight increase in the ambiental mana, but it was very subtle. Nothing compared to the difference between the surface and the first floor.
We already covered around eighty percent of the floor, finding newbie adventurers here and there, when Lili broke the silence.
"Aren't you tired at all? Using all that magic." She asked, this time not that worried and more puzzled.
"Hmmm? Not really. You don't have to worry about me exhausting myself, I'm used to using magic all day. And these basic spells aren't really taxing." I answered. "The way I'm using magic is similar to the way you adventurers use your skills. So as long as I don't cast big spells, It doesn't really tire me."
"Using Magic spells as a Skill?" She muttered. "Master Regis is bullshit."
I could only laugh as I sniped a lizard that was about to drop on us from the ceiling. The lizard fell to the ground before us and moments later, its magic stone broke its skin and flew to my awaiting hand, then I handed it to Lili in a, by this point, smooth well-practiced motion. She then tossed it into her bag.
"Master Regis is bullshit." Then she nodded as if affirming it to herself. "Lili wishes she had that kind of talent." She said with longing to herself.
Did she think she doesn't have talent? Was she kidding? As if being able to look at someone and know everything about them in the blink of an eye wasn't overpowered.
Unless…
"Why do you think you're untalented? From where I'm standing, I would say that while you certainly lack some things, talent isn't one of them." I asked honestly, curious about what she thought.
She looked at me in disbelief and with little anger in her eyes. "It's been four years since I became an adventurer.
Since then, my best stat is magic and It's not even in the D rank despite using my magic almost all day every day. And my other stats are far behind.
I tried you, you know. The gods know I tried, but when I started, no one taught me anything, and nearly died to goblins on the first floor multiple times. It didn't matter how much I struggled and fought, my stats didn't go up! If you think I'm talented, then isn't Lili just broken as she's still in the mud!" Her voice cracked under the weight of her frustration, rising to a shout as tears welled up in her eyes.
Crap, it seemed I pressed a landmine.
But she considers herself talentless because she failed to survive as an adventurer and had to become a supporter? And she herself said that nobody taught her how to survive. Isn't the fact that she's alive while living in those circumstances proof of her talent?
Not only that, I narrowed my eyes as I looked at her AIM field tightly coiled around herself that helped her stand external weight…
I thought I knew part of the reason why her gains were so mediocre.
"I see… Lili, when I said you were talented, I said it because that's what I saw with my magic senses. But what I can see is your potential for magic. Not your potential as an adventurer. I still don't understand exactly how the falna works and until I find a deity that's compatible with me I won't for sure. But I have a few theories as to why you've struggled so much." I said softly.
"If you want, I can help you figure out why you haven't advanced as much as you should. And even if we don't figure it out, I can still teach you how to use your magic. Do you want to learn?" I asked her offering her my hand.
She looked at my hand in disbelief and wariness, as if it was a venomous serpent. "Why? Why are you doing this for Lili? Lili doesn't understand. Lili just wanted to thank you for your help yesterday. Why are you being so kind to her? Lili understands that Master Regis is a kind person. But, no one just offers power to another for free. What are your intentions towards Lili?!" Her voice was accusatory.
Looking at the eyes that had been so happy looking at me with so much insecurity and suspicion….
I sighed knowing that in a way she was right.
"You're right Lili. No one offers power to another for free." I said this time saying her name the way she wanted to show that I was serious. "But what I'm offering you, isn't power. But a path you can choose to walk if you're willing. This path is one that in the entire world I thought only I could walk until yesterday. But thanks to your transformation magic letting you mimic my biology, you can walk this path too. I was excited to see how far you could go." I said sincerely, but I could see that I hadn't convinced her.
Fine, if she wanted to know the other reason that was far more embarrassing I'll tell her too.
So blushing a little and looking to the side to avoid her gaze, and said in a low voice. " I also just got to Orario and don't know anyone… So, I just wanted to make a friend who shared my passion for magic with me. If it helped that friend improve her life, then that's just a bonus."
I heard her hiccup a little at that.
"A friend you say? Regis…, you're…, an idiot!" She said a little heatedly. Her eyes were wide as if she didn't believe what was happening.
Hey…
But then, she closed her eyes and sighed.
Her gaze when she reopened her eyes was far gentler than before.
"But fine, if you want to teach me, I'll put my trust in you. So please take care of me, Master Regis." She said while bowing a little.
But then she smirked. "And if you're going to be my Master in magic… Then you're indeed Master Regis and not Regis."
I could only smile wryly at that
"Alright, you got me there. Lili." I bowed, giving her that win.
A ping from my sensing formulas echoed in my head almost making me scowl but not willing to darken this moment, I instead put smirk on my face and walked towards the stairs of the third floor and said. "By the way Lili, How good are you at math?"
"Eh?" She said confused and shivered a moment later as she registered the smirk on my face.
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Liliruca Arde Pov
Master Regis was insane.
That's what Lili concluded during their journey to the misty clearing of the tenth floor, where she heard the debilitating screeching of the bad bats. Only, the screeching that usually would have put someone of her level of strength without ear protection on the ground didn't hurt at all.
Looking at the cloaked figure that was responsible for it, she saw him raise his arm, and suddenly, from the mist, seven icicles shot as soon as they were formed.
All of them hit their mark with incredible speed and precision.
Then before the bats could hit the ground, they puffed into ash and their magic stone soared through the air towards his raised hand.
Afterward, he calmly handed them to me. The same way he did to all the monsters we have found along the way.
He made it seem effortless as if he didn't just clear a large part of the room in just a few short seconds.
Awkwardly storing the stones in my backpack with one hand, Lili heard him say. "Lili, there's a few more monsters nearby. Make sure to not wander too far from my back."
"Yes, Master Regis!" Lili said seriously this time.
The teasing game we had played all morning, had ended the moment Lili had accepted him as her master in truth and he seemed to accept that.
Although he hadn't taught Lili anything yet.
The only thing he had done was give her a tiny crystal which he asked her to channel as much of her magical energy as possible.
Curiously, the crystal, which had started with a dark violet hue, was now almost fully light blue, with hints of blue, green, red, and yellow.
Soon enough, just as he said, a few huge fat pig-headed humanoid figures approached us and Lili was able to witness again her dork of a master's incredible magical prowess.
Lili could feel his aura swell from almost nothing to the level of a high-class adventurer and then as the sudden static in the air made her hair stand on end, a sharp tendril of iron sand shot from one of his pouches towards the orcs slicing into their frames.
From the corner of my eyes, Lili saw a tiny figure with sharp claws stealthily charging towards us. "Master Regis! On your left!"
"I know, calm down, I have it handled." He said calmly as with a wave of his arm, an arc of fire went towards the direction of the imp she saw. Simultaneously, three icicles shot toward her right. Following them with her eyes she was surprised as they pierced three imps that Lili hadn't seen.
By the time, she confirmed that the imps were dead. Master Regis had already made short work of the Orcs.
"Well, that's that. How are you holding up Lili?" He said with a calm, kind smile that made her as uncomfortable as it made her feel giddy.
"Physically, Lili's fine. Mentally… Lili's about to drop." She hunched her back forward and showed him the crystal he told her to hold.
Not only had Lili been focusing her mind on the crystal all this time, Master Regis had also asked her to use Cinder Ella a couple of times every floor.
He had the gall to smirk a little as he looked at her. "Alright, let's take a break before we return. Also, give me the crystal for a second please."
Pouting at him, Lili gave him the crystal and sat on a rock.
Lili pulled some rations and a mind potion from her backpack to regain her energy.
"Oh! It's ready! I can see you've been working hard. Good job, Lili." He praised me with an excited expression.
Butterflies in Lili's tummy tried to tickle her from inside, and Lili could feel her face heat up at the honest praise.
Lili hid her expression under the hood of her cloak.
It felt good to be praised, but Lili wasn't used to it.
It was a little embarrassing.
After a minute, while she ate and her body stopped feeling awkward from the unfamiliar emotions, Lili Looked up and saw him fiddling with the weird magic crystal. Seeing that this was going to take a while, Lili asked a question that had been bothering her.
"Master Regis, you said that there was a reason Lili's falna wasn't getting stronger. Did you discover why?"
As he focused on the crystal in his hand, he said distractedly. "Mmmm… I have an idea. In order to explain it to you in detail, I would have to spend a few days teaching you theory about how our abilities work, but in the end, it's a combination of three things."
As he spoke, Lili could see him changing the form of the crystal into a flat rectangle.
"But first, let me ask you a question. Did you gain your supporter skill before you tried to get stronger in earnest or after?"
"Before I think, I gained it after a couple of weeks of gaining the falna when I was learning about the dungeon by following my fellow familia members," Lili said after a moment.
Before answering her, Lili could see him focus intensely on the card for a moment.
"I see, then I think that skill was the main reason your stats weren't going up." He said nonchalantly as he finished whatever he was doing with the crystalline card.
"My skill?" I asked, confused.
Skills were known to be generally safe. And I had never heard of a skill that slowed your progress. Much less such a common skill as mine.
"Yeah, tell me. Do you feel the weight the dungeon exercises on us slowly augmenting as we descend to each floor?"
Weight of the dungeon? Lili had felt a little pressure as she always did, but those were nerves and tension from being in a dangerous place, right? Compared to the weight of the backpack on her back… it was less than nothing.
"Your face tells me that you didn't, or if you did it was very faint." He said as if confirming something with himself. "According to what I know, the falna lets you get stronger the more you surpass your limits in certain areas and the more you desire something. That's an oversimplification and not exactly correct, but it has a hint of truth.
Now interrupt me If I'm wrong, but I think your story went something like this.
You started as a supporter for your familia to learn about the dungeon. As a really young Pallum, even with the boost of the falna, you lacked the physical strength to do the job adequately.
So you developed the supporting skill Artel Assist. A Skill lets you carry more weight than you usually would.
The problem with this Skill is that it's a passive aura enhancement type skill. Meaning that it covers your entire body with your own mana. One side effect of such a Skill is that your physical body doesn't have to resist this metaphorical weight. That's good in that it lets you traverse in the dungeon with less physical fatigue, but it's bad because I suspect that resisting this extra weight as you face the monsters in the dungeon, is one of the main advantages to growth that the dungeon offers to adventurers.
As proof of that, I can confidently say that the monsters of the dungeon have roughly the same strength as the ones on the surface. Even when it's widely accepted that the monsters in the dungeon are far stronger. I can only conclude that this weight slowing down adventurers is the reason for this misconception.
That's probably the main reason you hardly advanced at the beginning.
Now, when you tried to get stronger, you killed the monsters with trickery and deception right?"
A thousand thoughts and questions went through Lili's mind but she nodded absently and said. "Lili wasn't strong enough to face them head-on."
His smile seemed sad, though Lili couldn't be sure why. "That was the second problem. The falna rewards you for going beyond your physical limits. I'm sure your battles were nerve-wracking and really dangerous, but if you didn't reach your physical limits and went beyond, then the falna will hardly improve quickly.
Then there's one last problem.
Lili correct me if I'm wrong, but you hate adventurers, right? You desire above all else to not become one of them. And you especially hate those that are stronger than you that bully you, right?"
Oh. Ohhhhhhh.
Lili couldn't help but think that she was an idiot as she put her hands on her face and tried to contain her tears.
The falna was known to respond to the desires and will of those blessed by it.
How could she become stronger if becoming stronger meant becoming like **them**? It was something contradictory.
She had wanted to become stronger, but at the same time, she hadn't truly wanted that because that would turn her into an adventurer.
Lili wasn't surprised that her god gave her a skill that impeded her progress either. She didn't think it was ill-intentioned on his part. He probably just didn't care at all.
She wasn't sure if that was better or worse.
But in the end, none of this mattered. Even if Lili right now was strong enough to survive in the first four floors on her own. She still wouldn't be able to improve as she should be by hunting there because of her Skill.
As a layer of cold sweat covered her body and despair stole whatever appetite she might have had, she muttered. "So Lili's efforts were for nothing.
In the end, Lili was always going to be weak. There was nothing she could have done."
"When did I say that your efforts were wasted or you were weak?" He admonished me lightly.
Eh?
Raising her head, she saw Master Regis kneeling in front of her with a slight smile offering Lili the crystal card he had been working on.
"But they were wasted, I didn't get stronger."
"Haaa? Were you even listening to me? I said that your body wasn't getting stronger because your skill was shouldering the weight your body would have needed to hone itself. But it was still you, Liliruca Arde, who was shouldering all that weight on all those occasions." He said. "Here is the thing, if your body wasn't the one being honed, then what part of you was the one who was?"
His dark green eyes were looking at me encouragingly and kindly as he waited for my response.
"My Skill?" I replied a little unsure, I mean according to what he said, it was my skill, the one culpable of my body not getting stronger.
"Kinda… The correct answer is your mind and soul." He said as he made a fist with his hand and playfully and gently bonked my head and chest with it. "That's why despite being so young and a Level one you developed your magic. And the reason why I say you have so much potential. Instead of improving your physique, all this time you've been training a part that the falna doesn't know too well how to quantify."
My mind and soul? But how can those make you stronger? I admit that my magic has always been useful, but it couldn't make me stronger.
He sighed as he said."I see that I still haven't convinced you. Take this card and you'll start to understand."
Lili accepted the crystal card. The moment her fingers made contact with it, she felt the instant connection. There was something deeply familiar about it.
It felt like a part of her body. Instinctively, She focused on it and she could feel blobs of something in it.
"Do what you did yesterday." He told me. "Visualize the stream of information the falna gives you and use that part of yourself to sense the card."
Closing my eyes, in the deepest part of my mind, I called for the symbols of my falna. The blue aura enveloping my body suddenly became visible to my senses as the symbols detailing the workings of my skill came to the forefront of my mind.
Looking at the crystalline card, the blobs of something suddenly turn into legible text.
- User: Liliruca Arde
- Ability name: Pending (Close range Hydrokinetic)
- Level: 3
[Start Theory Class]
[Start Power Curriculum Class]
"What's this? Level 3? But I'm Level One." She asked, completely bewildered at her Master who just smiled and put a hand on my head.
"You don't have any idea of the absurdities you are doing, do you? No, of course, you don't. Go ahead, it's better to just show you. Focus with your mind on the Start Power Curriculum Class. And then into Start Class. Don't be afraid when you start to feel weird."
She decided to do as he said and focused on the Start Power Curriculum Class blob.
Suddenly the text in the card shifted and new options appeared.
-Partial Transformation
-Icy water Natural Armament
-Wave resonance impact
-Offensive water armor (Not available. Lack theoretical knowledge)
-Buoyancy wings (Not available. Lack theoretical knowledge)
[Start Class]
As Lili clicked into the start class blob, she could feel her body and senses became distant and the symbols and letters running through her mind became more and more prominent. She was about to panic when she felt Master Regis hug her and say. "Shhhh, It's okay, this is normal. I'll protect you until it all ends, just focus on the numbers and meanings that the card is showing you."
Her entire reality slowly became symbols, letters, numbers, and aura.
As they looped in her mind she started to feel how her aura was affected as these changed.
Lili could feel how her aura was wrapped around her body and kept her in one piece as she was compressed by the weight of her backpack.
Lili could feel how through what she sensed in her aura she could morph this one to all races and appearances she had sensed.
The meanings of each symbol that Lili could barely understand, were making themselves clearer with each repetition of the formulas.
She understood how her aura transferred the weight of her backpack through her entire body to the ground.
She understood how her aura stretched and morphed itself to accommodate any forms she transformed into.
Then new concepts were formed into symbols in her mind.
She saw as they slotted in specific places in her formulas.
In the beginning, she could barely understand what they did.
But as the formulas started to loop in her mind, she experienced how her aura contracted, stretched, and shifted, and she understood.
The spells and skills that the falna had given her were but tiny static expressions of an ever-evolving personal ability.
But Lili was a living being. One who was always changing and learning. These static expressions of her power were but the tip of the iceberg of what she could do.
So she learned what the symbols and concepts from the crystalline card Master Regis had given her.
So focused she was, that before she realized it, her senses had returned to her and the sounds of battle assaulted her ears.
As she stood up she felt a weight that wasn't there before. She quickly realized that the altered formulas that ran through her mind had made her translucent blue aura unstable.
But from that instability, came a potential that before her trance she would have never realized was there before. With some concentration and shifting some variables, she coiled her aura around herself stabilizing it, and the weight she had felt diminished considerably.
The sounds of battle then attracted her attention and she saw as her Master stood there, the elements around him lashing out and killing the monsters that approached.
As Lili walked up to him, she sensed his attention on her. Her aura had destabilized slightly as she got nearer, somehow her aura had gotten caught up in his control as tiny blue ice crystals formed around her for a second.
Lili looked at the formulas running through her mind and tried to impose her will and newfound understanding into them more assertively.
Her aura stabilized.
"Oh! Good morning Lili. How are you feeling?" She heard the relaxed tone of her master as he sliced, burned, and froze the monsters charging at him.
"Weird," Lili replied. And she wasn't kidding, her current state was abnormal. She felt freer than she had ever felt. But at the same time, she felt that she couldn't sustain her current condition for long.
"Hahaha, that's good. Hey Lili, wanna try hitting one of these ugly Orcs with everything you've got? It will make you feel better. I guarantee it." He said playfully, but the serious gleam in his eye told her that he wasn't joking.
Glancing at her tiny hands with the aura that surrounded them, she got an idea and was tempted to say yes.
Lili knew that the correct response was to say no. She would die otherwise.
She could barely fight the monsters of the first few floors, her common sense said that neither her knife nor tiny crossbow would do anything to these Orcs.
But…
According to her master, it wasn't her body that she had honed for four years but her mind and soul.
"Master, please let me face one." Her voice spoke before she realized it.
"Alright, here you go!" He said and grasped one of the Orcs with a claw made of metal sand and threw it at her.
The Orc crashed onto its back, just a couple of meters away.
Before it could rise, Lili was already closing in.
He was enormous, fat, green, and smelled really bad.
It was a monster that Lili could have never imagined killing on her own.
The symbols in her mind shifted, and her aura twisted into the shape of a Ligerfang's claw. Fear clawed at her, but she pushed it down. This time, she wouldn't run, she wouldn't trick it either.
She would just kill.
By the time her aura stabilized in her intended tiger-like paw form and she engaged in another stream of symbols in her mind to complete the technique she had thought of, the Orc had already stood up and was striking at her with its fist.
But Lili was tiny and ducked beneath the swipe of the Orc. Then she jumped and clawed with her hand where she knew his magic stone would be.
And she struck true.
She watched as, at the moment of impact, the outer layer of her tiger-like aura crystallized into ice, piercing the monster's skin. But it didn't penetrate his muscles.
At least, at first.
Lili immediately felt the backlash as a shock wave of her aura compressed painfully against her body as her blow was stopped. But as the shock wave reached the opposite side of her aura, Lili willed her aura to contract and compress.
The same way two waves of water would collide and create a wave collision. Lili's compression of her aura as the shock wave of her blow rebounded. Creating an incredible force that concluded exactly where her claws were.
Her claws immediately penetrated the chest cavity of the orc who died with a choking sound.
Before it disappeared into ashes. Since her claws destroyed its magic stone.
As she landed on the ground feeling like a group of minotaurs had run her over due to the backlash of such a half-cocked technique.
One thought clung to her mind.
'Lili could have done that better. Lili can get stronger.'
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to see her master's proud and excited expression as she fell unconscious due to having overused her mind.
Chapter 15
Regis Pov
My iron sand lashed out in the form of a serrated whip, decapitating the last of the Orcs attacking our temporary camp. Yet, my focus remained on my tiny apprentice, her trembling arms and uneven breaths betraying her terror as she faced what she believed was an insurmountable opponent.
But somehow to my amazement, she had managed to muster the courage to agree to my test.
As the Orc scrambled to get up and was about to strike at her.
I could sense her fear in her AIM field as the dungeon tried to overcome her fragile spirit when the lethal attack of the Orc approached her.
But instead of worrying, I smiled as I sensed her field finally stabilizing and increasing in strength as she found her courage and charged at the monster.
Then, she surprised me.
I expected her to punch the monster with a wave resonance impact. It was one of the simpler techniques that I had invented and that I found compatible with her AIM.
It was supposed to double her striking power as her field would lag behind her strike and use her momentum to impact just a fraction of a second later inflicting internal damage.
I proposed this test to her because I knew that if she used this technique it would be enough to shatter the magic stone inside the Orc.
Instead of the expected augmented punch though, she clumsily merged several techniques: she partially transformed the field cladding her hand to that of a tiger's paw, used the Icy Water Armament to materialize the outer layer, and used a Wave Resonance Impact through it. The result was an amplified strike that rebounded through her own field, turning an empowered punch that dealt internal damage into a fourfold amplified punch that pierced her enemies.
The disadvantage of using the technique this way was the terrible toll on her body as the shock wave of the impact would have to travel through the inside of her field at an incredible speed creating immense pressure.
The Orc died instantly, her icy claw having pierced all the way to its magic stone.
And… Yeah, there she goes down due to the recoil damage.
It wouldn't surprise me if her entire body was a gigantic bruise.
"Crazy girl…" I muttered a little worried, dashing to catch her before she hit the ground. But even as I gently lowered her unconscious form, I couldn't quite suppress a grin when I confirmed she was all right.
I proposed this test because I felt she needed the win. I knew that positive belief in herself was central and very much required for her growth.
For her personal reality to become stronger.
The fact that she had managed to manipulate the formulas she learned in her power curriculum class immediately after just one session…
It was beyond impressive and spoke volumes of her potential. It made me giddy to see what she would accomplish in the future.
Perhaps she was still a little reckless, I would have to teach her not to try these things mid-battle, but I felt validated in my choice in deciding to teach her.
It was clear to me, that this girl would become a monster as long as she was willing to continue advancing and didn't die.
Even Frey agreed with me if the feeling of awe and excitement I sensed from him directed at Lili was any indication.
I had been trying to teach him how to use more diverse attacks other than his frost blast, but he had never shown any interest in it. Maybe my taking on a disciple would rouse his interest?
While I put her head on my lap and made her drink a healing potion, I scanned the misty surroundings of the tenth floor of the dungeon.
I sighed in relief when I didn't find any more monsters in the misty fields of the floor room I was currently in.
To tell the truth, I hadn't been planning on going so deep today.
Unfortunately, the Apollo Familia forced my hand.
When we were about to reach the third floor of the dungeon, I felt them.
Three adventure parties of the Apollo Familia slowly encroached on our position.
I instantly used my air sensing and manipulation to hear what they were talking about. It didn't take long for them to start complaining about why they had to search for a falnaless brat.
So, it wasn't in doubt that they were looking for me.
They probably paid someone to stand guard at the entrance of the dungeon looking for me.
Which confirmed that my trick to appear as a level 1 adventurer hadn't worked as well as I had hoped. They probably assumed that I possessed an enchanted item that gave off that aura.
At least I hoped that was the case. I would prefer to be seen as a magic item user rather than someone more exotic.
Anyway, that was the reason I ended up on the tenth floor. Not that it was difficult to reach, or that I regretted diving so deep.
Reaching this floor was part of the reason I had managed to observe and figure out Lili's problems with her falna.
The dungeon was also a curious place.
While the monsters at the moment were pretty weak and hadn't put any kind of pressure on me, the dungeon in itself did. The weight I talked to Lili about, was pressing on me and any kind of magic I used.
While it made my magic more difficult and exhausting to use, it also made it easier to notice flaws in my formulas thanks to the added resistance.
It was like using an older computer to run modern programs. Those programs that hadn't been optimized and had been coasting on the better specification of the more modern computers just didn't work or worked stupidly slow.
So I had spent all this time revamping my formulas making them more efficient than before using this resistance as a debugging tool.
All in all, It had been a really productive morning.
Now, the only headache I had was trying to avoid the Apollo Familia searching parties on my way to the surface.
I had had them running in circles and fighting monsters for a while using auditory illusions to lure them around. But it seemed that while I had tired them out, it wasn't enough to make them go away.
I could sense them making camp at the entrance of the tenth floor…
"Couldn't they just go away?" I sighed at the injustice of the world. Frey bemusedly asked me if he could freeze them. "No, Frey, if they found out about your existence, they would be even more persistent. Leave it to me okay?" He replied with an affirmative sentiment even more amused than before.
I could swear he was laughing at me…
Anyway, what options did I have to get them out of the way?
I would prefer them to not get any data on my capabilities.
Looking at the sleeping Lili and brushing a bit of hair out of her face…
I would prefer that Lili didn't end up on their radar either. She already had her hands full with her own familia.
The easy way would be to lure monsters to their position and try to sneak through the floor stairs while they fight them off. But while easy in application, it would be difficult to pull it off effectively. There were three full parties of adventurers of unknown capabilities.
I didn't know how many monsters would be too many. If I gathered too many and they decided to run, then other people could be implicated and endangered. On the other hand, if I gathered too few I might not be able to sneak without being spotted and I didn't fancy a chase inside the dungeon.
It was risky either way…
"Mmmm… hungry…" I heard Lili mutter in her sleep as she snuggled to my lap, drawing a smile from me and amusement from my spirit.
My smile turned to amusement when I saw her field start rippling to form shapes and smells of different foods.
"No Frey, we can't eat her." The spirit was starting to emit the feeling of hunger even when the little bugger didn't need to eat.
Still, seeing Lili's field gave me an idea.
While I would have loved to simply use her magic and transform into someone else, I couldn't. Not because my personal reality was incompatible, but because of something else.
There was plenty of aura-type arcana that I should have been able to use: Fueled Berserk, Lightning Aspect, Shock Assault, Calming Flow…
But I hadn't managed to pull off any of them safely.
The dried blood all over my body from cracking and injuring itself every time I tried was proof of it.
The true reason why I couldn't use this type of spell was simple but difficult to solve. If I couldn't fully accept that my current body was mine without guilt or doubt, how was I supposed to use my chaotic personal reality on it?
The answer was that I couldn't, for now.
But I didn't necessarily need such a spell to get past the adventurers. Looking at the overly large bag of my disciple, I couldn't keep the smirk from my face.
If I didn't know how many monsters were needed to get past the adventurers, then I just needed to become the monster they just couldn't stop.
/////////////////////////
Lissos Pov. (Elf of the Apollo Familia)
"Aargh! Why do we even need to be here?!" Luan, the little pallum with way too much ego said.
"Lord Apollo commanded us to search for the boy he saw yesterday, don't you remember?" I replied back to the little shit. He hadn't stopped complaining about this the entire time.
"Yeah, but don't you think that three parties of five are way too much for just a boy without the grace of a god?" He whined back.
Lord Apollo, please give me patience because if you give me strength…
"I don't disagree with you, but you know how our Lord is when he finds someone that piques his interest. The fact that those incompetents failed to complete the mission just made him even more eager to induct the boy into the familia." I said.
I didn't say it aloud, but I reluctantly agreed with my Lord that he would make a valuable addition to the familia.
The fact that he reached the 10th floor on his first dive with just a supporter made him someone of either incredible talent or possessed a magic item that granted him the ability necessary for such a feat.
Either way, as much as I didn't want more inferior beings in my familia, we still needed to complete our mission.
"Lissos! We have company." I heard Luan speak, and a moment later I noticed their presence.
From the mist, silhouettes of orcs and imps appeared and were coming closer.
I was reminded again why we brought him with us. Despite being a level higher than him, he managed to sense the monsters an instant before me.
As much as most Pallums were nearly useless in battle, their cowardly nature made their danger senses one of the best out of all the races.
"Alright, Team 1 you're in charge of taking down the bats. Team 2 you're on the imps." I said to the other two teams, being the higher level out of everyone here made me the leader of this whole operation.
"Yes, sir!"
Turning to my team, I said. "Cover me, I'm going after the orcs. Make sure that any sneaky imp doesn't flank me. Luan, stay by the stairs and make sure that monsters from the 9th floor don't attack our backs."
The two archers and the supporter from my team nodded at me. Even the little shit of a pallum nodded without complaining.
Turning towards the Orcs, I unsheathed my sword and dashed towards the horde.
I reached the first and slashed at his ankle, which caused him to flail his strike and fall to the ground. Rapidly, avoiding the body so that it didn't trap me underneath, I punctured its magic stone through his back and dashed towards the next.
That was the proper method to kill these bastards with minimal effort. The layer of fat and muscle that made them difficult to kill, was thinner on their backs between their shoulder blades.
Dispatching a couple more orcs with this same method, arrows flying past near me targeting the imps scurrying around the battlefield and some of the Orcs targeting my flanks.
I smiled, it was fun being able to fight without worrying about sneak attacks.
"Lissos!" I heard Luan shouting from the back.
Then I heard it, a screeching noise of metal grinding on metal coming from the other side of the enormous cavern.
Dispatching the last of the orcs, I turned to the noise and tried to peer through the mist.
Was it thicker than usual?
No, that didn't matter, because horrendous noise was getting closer. A huge silhouette made itself visible a couple of seconds later.
Looking at the state of the other teams, I cursed.
They still weren't done with their monsters.
"Be careful everyone! Something big is coming!" I shouted as I felt the ground start shaking.
Moments later the monster came out of the mist.
Its dark visage sent chills down my soul.
An enormous bear with a huge chest and limbs as thick as tree trunks. It was completely black as if light itself became trapped in its body. Dark mist emanated from his immediate surroundings and clung to his metallic-looking fur.
"A black Silverback!""Irregular!""We're screwed!"
As much as I wanted to reprimand them, I couldn't really fault them for their cowardice.
They weren't elves like me, after all. It was normal for inferior races to despair in front of such adversity.
Black monsters were infamous for massacring whoever got in their way every time they appeared. Not to mention that all my companions were level ones and a regular Silverback was already a monster that would take an entire party of them to defeat.
Thankfully I was a superior elf and a Level two, so I would be alright.
Gritting my teeth, I shouted. "Cover me, I'll defeat it."
That seemed to rally them a little as I maneuvered myself to put myself on the path of the irregular.
Arrows began to rain on the approaching monster, but they just bounced off its fur.
The grinding noise intensified and attacked my ears as the irregular neared me.
At this point, the screeching was no different than being in the presence of a horde of bad bats.
Narrowing my eyes and tensing my body, I charged forward towards the monster intent on killing it as fast as possible, my elven grace letting all but glide over the misty ground of the tenth floor.
My senses and instincts sharpened as I neared it, I could feel my hair stand on end and my usual light frame suddenly felt heavier as if I were in the presence of a much higher-level opponent.
Details of the monster made themselves a little clearer due to the proximity. Its sharp claws and spiked metallic black fur menacing to to rip anyone that so much approached it. Its dead black eyes seemed to stare at my very soul making me shiver for a moment.
'The gall of this monster, to make me feel like this…'
It all raised my hackles.
I was going to kill it in a single slash. Nothing else would assuage my pride.
As we were about to clash, I readied myself to dodge at the last second and slash at its neck, the monster exploded.
One moment I was about to dodge, the next my ears ruptured, my vision went black and I felt myself being tackled into the air.
The world around me spun as I sailed through the air and impacted the ground. My sword arm and a few of my ribs had been broken in the exchange.
How? I was a Level 2 elf, I should have been able to beat any monster on this floor!
After a second where I found spinning, I managed to raise my body slightly with my unbroken arm and prepared myself to see a massacre through my still blurry vision.
Instead, I saw my fellow familia members on the ground, shell-shocked but whole.
The monster was nowhere in sight.
What in the sacred trees just happened?
///////////////////////////
Regis Pov
Ice spikes and homing flares formed around me as the killer ants spilled from the walls.
A continuous barrage surged forth that killed most of them in their first moments of life.
The survivors, that managed to charge at me, were meticulously cut down by air slashes the moment they came into range.
Adjusting the straps of the stupidly huge backpack on my back, I resumed my hike toward the surface.
There was no way that I could carry such a humongous thing with my physical strength though, so I had created ropes of iron sand that hugged and lifted the backpack from below.
As for Lili? Well, she was in the backpack. I wasn't kidding when I said that she could probably live inside the thing.
Speaking of the devil, I could feel the thing shaking.
"Wha-? Where is Lili at? Why is it so dark? Is this Hell?" She scrambled inside the bag, her voice muffled but frantic
Frey, who was orbiting around me, couldn't let such an opportunity go to waste.
The tiny blue orb conjured a few ice balls and started prodding at her with them through the bag.
"Ah! No! Bad! Stop poking Lili's ass!" She squealed.
"Alright Frey, that's enough. Lili, calm down. I'm going to let you out." I said muffling my snickers while lowering the bag to the floor.
Don't pout at me, Frey. I admit it was funny, but you were being mean.
"Master Regis?" She said with a hopeful voice.
Opening the bag, I could see her brown eyes peeking at me from the inside.
"Master Regis! Thank the gods!" She shouted while jumping and hugging me.
"Lili was so scared! In which hellish pit was Lili in anyways?"
Don't laugh Regis, don't laugh…
Pointing behind her where her bag was resting on the ground, she turned her head and froze.
"Oh! nuuu…"
I thought I could see her hydro-kinetic AIM field steaming.
Oh! So that's where anime took the stereotypical steaming blush when a character gets embarrassed.
I understood now.
Needless to say, my steaming red-faced disciple wasn't going to live this down any time soon.
////////////////
"Master Regis, why aren't you letting Lili carry her bag? Lili's supposed to be your supporter! Please don't take away the other half of her usefulness." She pleaded to me while trying to reach the strap of the backpack coiled around my shoulders.
"Hmm?" I made myself ignorant.
"Don't ignore me! Master Regis!"
"What are you talking about, Lili?" I said nonchalantly. "We're already on the fourth floor. You're going to be the one killing the monsters now."
"What?!" She cried outraged.
Alright, I couldn't keep a straight face anymore. Her reactions were just too funny.
"Don't laugh!" She said pouting and sulking a little.
"I mean, you managed to defeat a monster from the tenth floor, so you should be able to easily kill these." I reasoned out.
"Lili ended up passing out." She said looking down.
"Yeah, but that's because you were too greedy and decided to experiment mid-battle instead of using the techniques how I designed them." I swiftly retorted.
Seeing that my argument hadn't moved her, I knelt next to her and said. "Talk to me Lili, is there something that you don't understand about how to use the formulas or…"
"It's not that!" She said pursing her lips. "Master Regis card is amazing. The power curriculum class Lili went through taught her a lot. Lili has tons of ideas about how to use her magic. Lili can see her path as a successful adventurer clearer than ever. But that's the problem!"
Her eyes were starting to become moist and her fists were trembling from how tight she was clenching them.
"Master Regis, Lili doesn't want to be an adventurer!" She said from her heart, closing her eyes, not willing to look at me.
"Alright. What do you want to be then?" I replied calmly.
"Lili doesn't know." She whispered loud enough for me to hear. But as I gently patted her head she opened her eyes and looked at me. "Aren't you angry?" She replied meekly and her arms crossed in an x in front of her chest .
"Should I be?" I replied a little confused now.
"But Lili wasted all that time and effort you put in her." She said as if offended in my behalf.
"Eh? But I also learned a lot from you, you know? I wouldn't have been able to bear my way through the Apollo familia if I hadn't spent all that effort helping you." I said with a slight smile, internally laughing at my little pun.
"Bear? Apollo Familia? What?" She replied confused.
"Yeah? When we were entering the third floor, I sensed three groups of the Apollo Familia searching for me. That's why I pushed so hard to reach the tenth floor, to lose them in the mist. Didn't I tell you?" I said a little confused myself.
"No! You didn't!" She half shouted. "Why are they even going after you?"
"Because Apollo is a pedophile stalker that doesn't take no for an answer," I said in a deadpan manner.
"So regular divine behavior," she replied dryly.
"Pretty much."
We shared a solitary second of comradery at the annoyances that call themselves deities.
"So, what were we talking about?" She asked.
"Something about you not wanting to be an adventurer." I replied with a wry smile.
"Ah right! Lili's sorry Master Regis. But please, can you deal with the monsters and return my bag please?" She said with pleading eyes.
I sighed seeing that this wasn't going to be resolved fast. But leaving something like this to simmer in her mind wouldn't be good for her either.
So, with a flex of will, I ran a few earth formulas and cracked the walls of the dungeon with a few thrown rocks so that no monsters would spawn near us while we were talking.
With that done, I sat on the ground and patted the floor next to me inviting the tiny pallum girl to sit next to me.
After a second of indecision, she sat down and I said. "Lili, I understand you don't want to be an adventurer. But, you know that you'll need the strength of one to leave your familia right?"
She hugged her knees against her chest and said. "Lili knows, Lili would have been able to leave her familia a long time ago if she had that kind of strength."
"Then what part of the job is the one you hate? You don't like killing monsters? The dungeon?" I asked more for the sake of asking than for the need of information. I thought I knew why she was hesitating.
It wasn't difficult to guess considering that she literally broke down the day before when she noticed she had stolen from me…
She shook her head while hiding her face in her knees. "Lili doesn't mind killing the monsters. And while Lili doesn't like being in the dungeon, it doesn't bother her that much."
So it was as I thought.
I put an arm around her to give her a half hug in preparation and said. "Is it having the power of one that's the problem isn't it."
As if pulling the pin of a grenade she looked at me and exploded.
"That's right! Lili doesn't want to be an adventurer, she doesn't want to be like them.
But Lili is a bad girl. She steals, she scams, she cheats, she brings misfortune to whoever she's with!
Lili doesn't deserve Master Regis.
Lili thinks she doesn't deserve her power either. She'll misuse it for sure and make everyone miserable!" She poured her heart out while gripping my cloak tightly and resting her head on my shoulder.
I hugged her tightly and said softly but seriously. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Lili. In my eyes, the fact that you're worried about this at all already makes you one hundred times worthier of wielding power than the rest of the adventurers in Orario."
I heard her hiccup at my words.
"Besides you did all those bad things while drunk on Soma wine, right?" Feeling her hesitantly nod into my body I continued with a lighter tone. "Then all those things you said you did were stoned Lili's fault. That girl is an idiot. You're nothing like her."
"Pfffff what? But we're the same person." She said half-giggling half sobbing pushing her body away from mine slightly so that she could look at my face. Her eyes were moist from crying and her face was a mess, but the light in her brown eyes was just a step away from being fully lit.
Lili probably did all those things even when the wine wasn't affecting her that much, that was why she was in her current state. She probably ruined a few people in all these years in order to survive and now that she was completely sound of mind, she felt guilty. Not only that but now that she knew there was a path to power for her, she felt that the damage she could cause would be even bigger.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That was a common saying that she instinctively believed. With her negative experiences about adventures, it wouldn't surprise me if she met a civilian who treated her nicely who later became an adventurer and the power turned him evil and corrupt in her eyes.
But while that saying could be true in some ways. In my opinion, it was misleading.
Power didn't corrupt, it simply revealed who you were deep down.
I needed her to realize that.
So gently wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, I said. "Tell me, Lili, if you had a choice as you're right now. Would you do any of those things?"
"Of course not!" She negated vehemently.
"Oh…" She said, surprised at how sure and immediate her replied had been.
I couldn't help but smile at her look of realization.
Frey who had been quiet until now came and slowly approached her and nuzzled her cheeks freezing the remaining tears marring her face and making them fall off her skin.
"Stop it, Frey, it's cold." She giggled slightly at the action of my spirit. Her tone being far lighter and more childish than before.
As if part of her had been liberated.
Tightening my arms around her, I stood up and left her standing on the ground.
Just in time as the cries and roars of monsters echoed in the tunnel.
"Master Regis!" She said and looked at me with a flicker of doubt.
Right, even if I had managed to help her reach the right conclusion. A five-minute pep talk wasn't going to be enough for her to advance.
Years of negative reinforcement and self-loathing weren't something that was easily overcome.
I knew that intimately.
Still, I needed her to give herself a chance.
Ugh, what to say…
A memory of the only friend my age I ever had came to mind.
' "Uiharu, I'm going to save them." I said through my mic, my rage and desperation seeping into my voice. "Regis! Stop it! I understand your feelings, but what you're doing is way too reckless. With this plan, you're going to create a bloodbath! At least let me help you, I'm your friend, please, trust me! I won't stop you from saving them, but I'll make sure to stop you if you from going too far." Her voice came from the speakers next to my screen.'
What followed was me hacking into half a dozen military facilities in Academy City and appropriating their combat drones to launch an attack on the scientific laboratory that was sacrificing the orphans from my orphanage who ended up in there because of my actions.
If I hadn't had Uiharu supervising me…, I would have probably ended up burning half of Academy City to the ground.
I really owed her a lot.
I missed her.
Now that I thought about it, it shouldn't really have surprised me that I was kidnapped shortly after…
Anyway, while the circumstances weren't even remotely similar, I thought I was going to take a page from Uiharu's book on this one.
So as I took her backpack on my back and the group of goblins and kobolds charged at us from the end of the tunnel, I said. "Lili, I understand that you have doubts about yourself. It's normal to be scared.
But if you ever want to become free, you have to get stronger.
So please, charge ahead without fear, as your master I swear this, I'll make sure to be there when you fail so that I can show you the way forward.
And as a friend, I swear to be there. If you ever see that you are going to fall into the darkness again, I'll be there to pull out.
I promise.
So go, as long as I'm here, there's not a single reason for you to be afraid." I could feel my cheeks burning a little at my little speech. Damn was that embarrassing to say.
But… as Lili gaped at me, her shoulders relaxed, her brown eyes shined and her AIM stabilized and became slightly more robust before she started giggling herself silly.
Hearing her sweet and innocent laugh, I felt that the embarrassment was worth it.
"Lili already knew that Master was a dork, but still, thank you, Master Regis.
Lili still doesn't know what she wants, but until Lili discovers it, and in order to honor your vow, Lili will give it a try.
So please continue to look after Lili." As she said that and slowly mastered her laughter she faced the oncoming monsters and charged ahead with a smile on her face.
"Your wound is mine.
My wound is mine.
Echoing message of midnight.
Cinder Ella."
As she chanted her spell, I could see her hands becoming sharp and black while the rest of her body took on a yellow coloration.
Lili clashed head-on against the monsters, her knife-like fingers slashing through the air, penetrating and cutting deeply against any monster she got her hands on while any attacks the goblins and kobolds mustered on her were stopped cold by her tough skin.
A moment later I realized that she used partial transformation to turn her hands into the lethal natural weapons of the war shadows while her skin took on the characteristics of a hard armored.
An armadillo-like monster who boasts of the highest physical defense among the level one monsters.
The battle quickly turned into a massacre as it became clear that the monsters could do nothing against the tiny pallum as she cut them up.
Frey was swaying in the air excitedly watching as she fought against the monsters.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? Seeing her AIM field strengthen itself and grow denser by the moment. It's like seeing a gem be cut." I asked him with a smile as I started to walk towards the fight.
A feeling of fascination and curious giddiness emanated from the spirit.
"Master Regis, I'm done!" Said the pallum walking back to me her partial transformations dispelling themselves, the corpses of monsters lay dead on the floor behind her.
"So I see. Good job Lili. That was a great use of your magic." I said patting her head as I retrieved the magic stones with a flex of will.
"Hehehe." A little embarrassed laugh escaped her lips as she pushed her head into my hand.
"Let's go."
"Yes!"
As we walked through the dungeon, Lili defeated all the monsters we came across. Just as she said before, she spent a lot of time trying different combinations of monsters with her partial transformation. From the limits of the defenses of the hard armored to the sonic attacks of the bad bats to the poisonous dust from the purple moths.
She had to take an antidote because she accidentally poisoned herself, though.
But thanks to that, she figured out that she could heal herself by transforming part of her aura to the dust secreted by the Blue Papilio.
It consumed a lot of nutrients, so it left her really hungry but it was still an important discovery. She was really happy about being able to avoid buying so many potions.
Food was far cheaper than potions after all.
Just as I expected, she was turning out to be an extremely versatile blue mage. Just you know, instead of learning the magic of the monsters, she used their physical characteristics to her advantage. And that was without counting the other applications of her ability she could use through her hydro-kinesis.
As we neared the entrance of the dungeon, her breaths started to become labored and it was obvious that all this experimenting and fighting was starting to take a toll on her.
"Alright, that's enough Lili. You've done great, How do you feel?"
She stopped walking in front of me a turned to face me so we could walk side by side. Her cheeks were rosy from all the fighting and her clothes were moist from all the sweat. "Lili's fine Master Regis. Just a little tired. But otherwise, Lili feels liberated. It was really cathartic. " She said with a tired but satisfied smile.
Truly, punching someone in the face was one of the best ways to relax.
"I see, I'm glad," I replied.
As I returned her backpack to her, I said with a teasing smile. "Here you go. Be careful Lili. That's a slice of Hell that I'm handing to you."
She just pouted and blushed a little as she started to rummage through the bag. "Idiot."
"Oooh, look at all those magic stones." She exclaimed. "There's way more than Lili would get with a large party in just a day…" Then she realized what she had said.
"Master Regis…
Why are there so many stones?
Unless Lili slept like three days when she passed out, there's no way we killed that many monsters." She looked at me with narrowed eyes.
I laughed awkwardly while looking at the ceiling. "Well, you know how I told you that the Apollo Familia adventurers were being a pest?
I might or might not have retrieved their magic stones when they were distracted by a black bear."
I could feel her judgmental gaze on me without looking.
"Suddenly, Lili doesn't feel as safe to have Master Regis be her moral compass. On the other hand, money! So Lili doesn't mind that much." She said enthusiastically as her pupils changed to the symbol of Valis.
I snickered a little to myself at the phenomenon.
Lili was such an anime character, what with her bio-kinesis doing these things subconsciously.
"Oh right, how do you want to share the money, Master Regis? You still got most of these." She said pointing at the stones.
I thought about it for a moment, there was really nothing that I desperately needed. Then I looked at the tattered robes of my disciple.
She probably wouldn't have half the problems she had avoiding the bullies of her familia if she had a more diverse wardrobe to adopt different personas wouldn't she…
"You can keep it all, Lili." I ended up saying,
"What? But Lili hardly did anything," She said surprised.
I could tell she was about to disagree and argue with me, so before she could I said. "Lili, the reason your familia can identify you even when you are transformed is that even if you transform, your clothes and manner are all similar. So take this money and go buy yourself a more diverse wardrobe."
"From tomorrow on we'll split it evenly. But for today, please take it."
"Master Regis is too good." She ended up saying to herself.
"Lili understands, and she will do as Master Regis said and buy some clothes. She promises that she'll pay you back."
I nodded at that.
As we were going up the stairs to get out of the dungeon. Lili made a sound as if she remembered something.
"Master Regis, Lili completely forgot. Please take this." She said as she rummaged through the bag for a moment and handed me a piece of paper.
"What's this?" I asked.
"A NDA," she replied back.
Wait, they have those here? Damn, it seemed like the devil was more entrenched in this place than I thought.
"Lili, you don't really have to sign one of these…" I said but she cut me mid-sentence. "Lili must Master Regis. The contract basically says that I can not reveal information related to the skills that you demonstrated while I was acting as your supporter.
It's a standard contract for supporters that work for adventurers outside one's own familia. It's not like the contract has any power over Lili, but if she breaks it, the symbols around the contract would turn red and you would know. This is more for Lili's sake than for yours, Master Regis, so please take it. It's already signed."
Not having a counter to that, I took the paper and saved it in one of my bags. I would check its contents later.
As we started neared the entrance of the dungeon. I started running a few specific sensing formulas.
Just for them to ping me back a moment later.
"Damn, there goes my afternoon." I cursed under my breath.
"Master Regis?" Lili said surprised at my cursing.
"Lili, when we reach the entrance of the dungeon, go directly to the Exchange and then go upstairs into the tower. I heard that there's a few shops in there. Above all else, don't leave the tower until you've completely changed your appearance. Alright?" I instructed her in a serious tone.
"Alright, Lili will do that. Master Regis isn't coming with Lili?" Lili asked, her narrowed eyes as she thought about the reason for the orders.
"No, I'm sorry Lili. It seems like I have a date with a certain someone." I replied back as a certain familiar melody started playing in my ears through my AIM.