Chapter 104: Silent Days

POV Eliza

After the very enjoyable birthday with Lirella, I was very motivated to get back into the dungeon. I also took the time to practise dark magic with the simple summoning spell. I looked for a quiet spot on floor 11 to do this. The spell was basic in rank, so I could only summon the lowest monster. I had no idea what I could summon with it and couldn't influence it. The summoned monster was always random. In my first attempt it was a rat. Then came a bat, a snake and a spider. They were all animals that were either nocturnal or preferred to operate in secret. I was able to give them a command at the beginning, which they then carried out. At the moment they were not yet helpful, so I only practiced summoning them. The summoned monsters only stayed for about 10 minutes before disappearing again. So I only let them scout. They were far too weak to fight. Besides, I could only summon one monster at a time.

Then I went to floor 16, where the caterpillars were welcome opponents despite their acid attack due to their slowness and the butterflies again served as passive training partners for my Mind Resistance. The fact that I had advanced Mind Resistance meant that they couldn't harm me now. Even their needle attack did no more damage than I could regenerate. So today I ignored the butterflies and fought my way through the caterpillars. As soon as I had gathered 5-6 butterflies at the same time, the damage from their needles became noticeable and I fought them too.

The spells I knew were still too weak to do any serious damage. The only exception was the air cutter, which I had just learned. So I continued to use my mana mainly for support spells. In addition to the air cutter, I had learned the next level of acceleration spell. This further increased my speed and I first had to get used to it. These days were therefore also for practicing purposes.

I had now reached the point where I had to slowly decide which forms of magic I should specialize in and whether it was worth continuing to invest in air magic. I had already given up on Water Magic. I didn't have the EXP to increase it or the money to afford more spells. Due to my affinity for dark magic, that was a given and other types of dark magic such as shadow magic also sounded interesting. Necromancy wasn't for me and I wasn't convinced by summoning either. I haven't been able to assess curse magic yet. Of the other forms of magic, I only found Gravity Magic and Aura Magic worthy of a second look, possibly Illusion Magic. But at the moment I was putting that off, as I had no way of getting hold of the relevant instructors. I also didn't yet know whether there were any restrictions on learning or performing like the six elemental magic types.

That left the choice of weapon. I combined the daggers I was wielding with my newly acquired Weapon Skill: Aimed Attack. This made it easier for me to attack certain parts of my opponent. These included joints, tendons and the like. So far, this has been enough to defeat all opponents. I was also able to defeat the wolves on floor 17 and the orcs on floor 18, as well as the bears on floor 19.

However, I preferred the orcs as opponents, because although they wielded weapons and sometimes wore armor, they were easy to overpower in single combat. The wolves were larger and liked to attack in packs of 3 to 5 wolves. This made it much more difficult to catch them individually. That's why I was rarely on this floor, especially as they were popular targets for the other adventurers.

The orcs also had classes on this floor. They were almost all fighters or archers. While the fighters went straight into close combat, the archers kept their distance. But thanks to my better agility, I quickly got to the latter and they were much worse in close combat. I could also sneak up on the orcs, so I had various options open to me.

After two more weeks, I had gained enough experience to switch to the floor with the bears. However, I reached the limit in terms of damage. The bears' thick fur also prevented me from easily reaching vulnerable areas. I tried to compensate for the disadvantage by fighting more often with two daggers at the same time. It was still enough, but I urgently needed better daggers.

I could hardly hurt the treants on floor 20 with the daggers. Here I had to switch to the air cutter, which turned out to be very effective. Nevertheless, I quickly came to the conclusion that it was hardly worth fighting the treants. A fight simply takes too long.

However, I was beginning to wonder how good I would look against the boss. So one day I just ran through the floor looking for the boss cave. I found it by chance. I watched another adventuring party go into a cave and when they didn't come out, they must have been fighting the boss. I followed another group and actually saw the expected door. After confirmation, I went back again. As excited as I was to fight the boss, once I defeated him, I wasn't coming back to those floors.

On one of my rest days, which I continued to spend with Lirella and Weyn, our conversation returned to the subject of the dungeon.

“Are you still going to the dungeon alone?” Lirella

“Yes, after Lynn and the others left Tyros, I didn't join another group.” Eliza

“Have you never thought about changing that?” Lirella

“I'm unsure about it. I feel a bit like a burnt child. The loss of the young wolves has left a noticeable hole in me. I don't know if I want to go through that again.” Eliza

“But you'll soon have problems in the dungeon on your own. There are also ways to join a group in pairs. At least for boss fights, this is done more often. That way, you can also take the stele bonus with you.” Lirella

“That doesn't sound uninteresting. I might be able to earn some money that way. I know you're offering me your teaching services for less money, but I don't want to take advantage of you. I don't have many reserves left after the winter, so I could do with some extra income. The magic stones pay well, but the boss battles are very appealing to me.” Eliza

“I'm happy to do that for you. Just by being with us more often, you're already doing a lot of good. I can't put a price on the development my little one has undergone since you've been with us. But think about the other groups. You don't need to pay a skill instructor for every stele. I know that they're even more expensive for magic than for mundane skills.” Lirella

“I'll take it into consideration. I'm still almost alone in the dungeon, as very few people want to go there in winter. But when the weather improves and the first adventurers come back to Tyros, it will be fuller again. Until then, I can still think about it.” Eliza

We spent the rest of the day talking more until Weyn came home. He had started an apprenticeship with a blacksmith last year and so wasn't home until the evening. He told Lirella and me what he had done today. He seemed to like it there.