“It’s not fair.”
“That’s the tenth time you’ve said that, Beth.”
“Still not fair,” the girl huffed, pouting as Chris chuckled, “Why’d Jess have to get even more stuff?”
“Probably because it was her Tamed monster that killed the Boss?” her brother said, “I mean, that makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“But she got two items!”
“Well, one of them was more for Aurum anyway, wasn’t it?” Chris asked, patting her on the shoulder.
“Still counts as for her,” Elizabeth grumbled.
“Enough whining,” Chris sighed as he rolled his eyes, “Just be happy for her.”
“Easy for you to say, in your fancy armor,” Elizabeth chuckled, poking him in the side, the man not even reacting, “And she’s getting a boyfriend as well.”
“She is?”
“Yeah,” Elizabeth nodded, “Alan. You didn’t notice how close they’re getting?”
“Not really my business,” Chris shrugged.
“Why do you never take notice of these things?” his sister sighed, “It’s like you don’t care.”
“It’s not that I don’t care,” Chris replied quietly, “I just…didn’t have the time or motivation before to try and find a partner.”
“Well, you should now!” the girl said, “There are a couple of female soldiers in the group, right? Why not go talk to one of them?”
“It’s just a bit awkward,” Chris blushed, “It feels wrong to try pick up women in a Dungeon, you know? Plus, the soldiers all treat me like a superior, so it would be weird if they thought I was like, ordering them to do something.”
“Coward,” Elizabeth laughed, giving her brother a slight shove, “Anyway, isn’t it weird that we haven’t found anything to fight on this floor? It’s just been a massive snowstorm since we arrived.”
“Yeah,” Chris nodded, looking around the bubble of air he’d created around the whole group, blocking most of the howling winds and blinding snow from hitting them, “I hope we find somewhere decent to camp soon, I can only keep this going for maybe another hour.”
“Cave up ahead!” the shout went out as the soldiers all let out sighs of relief, doubling their efforts to move through the snow and wind as they headed towards the indentation in the cliff.
It took them another half an hour to reach the cave thanks to the thick snow and ice, Chris groaning in relief as he released the air bubble once they were all inside, his head pounding painfully. He quickly found a place to sit down as the soldiers went about setting up camp, noticing Alan and Jessica talking near the entrance. His sister’s words came back to him, making the man shake his head in disbelief, leaning back against the cold stone as he waited for his Mana to fully recharge.
“There you are!” he cracked an eye open at the sound of his sister’s voice, looking past her to the two women standing there awkwardly, “These are Sarah and Ayla, play nice.”
“What?” Chris groaned as the girl quickly hurried away, leaving the three staring at each other in confusion.
“You wanted to speak to us, sir?” Sarah asked, standing to attention as she looked at him.
“No,” he sighed, his headache still going strong, “Sorry about this, I think Beth is trying to set me up with one of you. She’s a bit of a meddler.”
“Set you up?” Ayla asked, glancing over at Sarah as the other woman snorted slightly, “What do you mean, sir?”
“She thinks I should try dating one of you,” Chris muttered, rubbing his temples, “Hey, so either of you have anything for pain, this headache is killing me.”
“Right here, sir,” Ayla nodded, pulling out a small bottle and handing it to him, “Mana depletion?”
“Yep,” Chris nodded as he opened the bottle, taking two of the small pills and dry swallowing them, “Hopefully this will take the edge off while my Self-Regeneration Skill finishes up. It sucks that the headaches stick around for a while afterwards, though.”
“True,” Ayla nodded, “Maybe I could help with that, sir? I’m one of the Medics of the group, so I have the Healing Magic Skill. I’ve figured out how to boost Mana regeneration and soothe the headaches depletion causes.”
“Really?” Chris said, “Then yes please, go ahead.”
“I’ll, uhm…I’ll need to touch your head and chest to do so, sir,” the woman continued, “Is that fine with you?”
“Yeah?” Chris blinked, his brain catching up to what she was saying, “Oh, right. Sure. You should be able to use your magic through my armor, it’s made of a Mithril and Orichalcum alloy, so it conducts magic really well.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The two women looked at each other again, the confusion clear on their faces.
“Oh, uhm…magic metals,” he tried to explain, before giving up, “Never mind.”
“The magic usually requires direct contact with the skin to work properly, sir,” the medic explained, “But if you’re sure it’ll work through your armor, I can still try.”
“I’ll leave you two to it, then,” Sarah chuckled as she walked away, leaving the pair looking at each other, Chris fighting off a blush.
Ayla quickly placed her hands on his forehead and chest plate, closing her eyes as the lights started to glow under her palms. Chris hummed in satisfaction as the cooling sensation washed through his aching brain, soothing the pain as he felt his Mana start to jump up even faster than before. After a minute, the woman stepped back, visibly exhausted and rubbing her temple, Chris feeling perfect.
“You have a headache now?” he chuckled, Ayla nodding as he handed back the medicine she’d given him, “Here, you can have this back then.”
“Thank you, sir,” she nodded, “I need to go rest a bit.”
“Call me Chris,” he said as she turned away, “I’m still a little weirded out by all of you calling me ‘sir’ all the time. So just Chris is fine.”
“I’ll let the others know,” Ayla smiled as she walked off, Chris sighing in relief that his headache was already gone.
“So?” Elizabeth asked, appearing beside him, “You think she’s a keeper?”
“Who?” Chris asked, looking at her stupidly.
“Ayla, or course,” Elizabeth laughed, “I mean, having a Healer for a girlfriend would be pretty useful, don’t you think?”
“Please stop,” Chris groaned as the girl continued to badger him, laughing as she started talking about his future wedding.
------
“We found it,” the captain said as Chris sat with him outside his tent, the two of them eating the warm stew, “It’s about two days travel through the snowstorm, no sign of a Boss.”
“Right,” Chris nodded, remembering the fungal forest from his first Dungeon, “Because this floor is more about the challenge of surviving than fighting. How long do you think it’d take if we could travel in the air bubble?”
“A full day’s hard march at least,” the captain explained, showing Chris the rough map the scouting party had drawn, “The exit is in a crevasse about halfway up the side of a cliff, so we’ll have to do some climbing as well. Are you sure your family will be able to do it?”
“My dad is tougher than he looks,” Chris chuckled, “As for Jess and Beth, I’m sure they’ll manage.”
“Alright,” the captain nodded, “We’ll leave in an hour. The sooner we get out of this snowstorm the better.”
“I agree with you there,” Chris nodded back, watching as the captain practically inhaled his food, then went about ordering the other soldiers to break camp.
He watched as the highly trained soldiers quickly finished eating, setting about packing everything up in minutes before they started checking their equipment. Everyone was now wearing thick wolf fur cloaks, courtesy of his father, the man having been extremely excited when he’d managed to get a pelt from his Harvesting Skill. While they were only D Rank items, they had boosted morale as they were a lot warmer than the previous thin fabric ones they’d had to use.
“You know,” Chris muttered, looking down at his steel mace, the weapon looking more than a little worse for wear, “I haven’t actually tested out some of my new Skills. I wonder if I have the time now?”
Opening his Status screen, Chris read over it.
Name: Christopher Trevor Sanders
Level: 10
Class: War Magister
Job: Master Alchemist
Experience: 50185/51200
Health: 350/350
Mana: 150/150
Stats:
Strength: 15
Vitality: 25
Dexterity: 20
Intellect: 30
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 5
Free Points: 0
Titles:
Leader, Explorer, Truly Ambitious, Mage, Giant Slayer, Survivor, Demon
Skills:
[Self-Regeneration lv 5]
[Studious Sage lv 2]
[Elemental Mastery lv 5]
[Weapon Mastery lv 4]
[Armor Mastery lv 4]
[Alchemical Magic lv 1]
[Potioncraft lv 1]
Opening the Skill he was thinking of, he checked its description as well.
[Alchemical Magic lv 1. Rank A. Alter the shape, state and composition of materials using magic.]
“Right,” he grinned, reaching into his bag and pulling out a few scrap weapons and a pile of Magic Stones, “Let’s get testing.”
------
“Come on, Chris,” Elizabeth sighed as her brother sat on the ground, doing something to the mace he’d been using, “Everyone’s ready to go, we’re just waiting for you.”
“Just a few more seconds,” the man muttered, before opening his eyes, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, “Done!”
“Done what?” the girl asked.
“I’ve successfully upgraded my mace!” he said excitedly, showing the object to her, not looking any different than before, “It’s now made of Magic Steel, and is a C Rank item!”
“Really?” she asked, looking down at the pile of twisted metal and broken weapons beside the man, “Do you think you could upgrade my knives as well?”
“Probably,” he hummed, looking at the mace in pride, “It’s amateurish work, but it’s a definite upgrade. And I’ll only get better at doing it with time!”
“Right, well, if you’re done, we’re all ready to leave,” Elizabeth repeated, Chris blinking as he looked up at the rest of the group, all staring at him curiously.
“Oh, right, sorry!” he stammered, quickly sliding the weapon into the loop on his hip before scooping the scraps into his bag, “Let’s get going then.”
------
“Major,” Ryan said as he answered the video call, the woman smiling back at him, “Everything is progressing smoothly, we’ll be able to open our doors to the public in around two more weeks.”
“Good,” the woman nodded, “Hopefully the group from the Dungeon will be back before then, but we should still be prepared for if they aren’t.”
“We have plans in place for both scenarios,” Ryan nodded, falling silent for a moment before he continued, “I have to ask, Ma’am. Why did you choose me to be the Director of the Diver’s Association?”
“A number of reasons,” she shrugged, “I’ve read your records, and you’re good at handling conflict and negotiations, two things that are bound to come up when dealing with people gaining what are effectively superpowers.”
“Is that all?” Ryan asked slowly, the woman laughing.
“Well, I suppose the fact that you’ve also managed to make friends with the most powerful man on the planet helped your case too,” she chuckled, “But it’s not the only reason. I’ll be counting on you to keep everything and everyone in check once we open the doors, Director Peterson.”
“Yes Ma’am,” Ryan nodded as the call ended, sitting back in his plush chair in his new office as he sighed, rubbing his eyes.
He looked at his desk, a literal mountain of paperwork piled on top of it as he groaned.
“This is going to be worth it,” he repeated to himself like a mantra as he started working, “It’s all going to be worth it in the end.”
