Dungeon Exploration
Through the faint haze of returning consciousness, I could make out someone moving busily nearby.
I blinked my blurry eyes, and the world gradually came into focus.
The one hurrying about was Isolin.
"Isolin?"
"Ah, you're awake?"
She looked down at me with a bright smile.
Seeing that both of us were still in one piece, it seemed we had won the fight against the Death Knight.
I frowned at the pain radiating through my entire body.
"Ugh..."
"Are you all right? Can you move?"
"I have to."
Even if I couldn't, I would have to.
A glance around confirmed we were still inside the dungeon.
I forced myself upright with difficulty.
The bandages wrapped around my arms and legs had surely been Isolin's work.
As I fiddled with them, she spoke up.
"Hehe... I used some of the stuff from your bag... I didn't pack anything like that myself."
"Thank you."
"No, I'm the one who should be thanking you... Um..."
Isolin trailed off, her words fading.
The way she kept glancing at me suggested she had something she wanted to say.
I looked at the mana stone lying at her feet and opened my mouth.
"I'm sorry. About your wand breaking."
"Ah, no, that's not really a problem..."
After a long hesitation, Isolin seemed to reach a decision. She nodded and spoke.
"You're a mage, right...? No, of course you are...?"
Her voice had grown noticeably more careful.
I checked over my condition and nodded.
"I knew it... Then, would you mind telling me which faction you're from?"
"Faction...?"
"Ah... If you'd rather not say, that's perfectly fine."
So even among mages, there were different factions.
I shook my head as I answered.
"Please, speak comfortably. And even if I told you my faction, you wouldn't know it."
"Ah, yeah..."
The atmosphere grew awkwardly heavy. She seemed to have taken my answer as a refusal.
I let out a sigh and rose to my feet.
My legs trembled, but I was still able to walk.
"Shall we get moving for now?"
As Isolin and I started down the path together, she began peppering me with questions.
Naturally, every one of them was about me.
"When did you join the Magic Tower, roughly?"
"Well..."
"You're hiding your identity because of a secret mission, right?"
"Hmm..."
"Um... Could the mission you received have anything to do with this dungeon?"
I let out a small sigh at Isolin's questions.
She had clearly decided that I was a Magic Tower mage on a secret assignment.
I didn't deny it. She wouldn't have believed me if I said otherwise, and this way I could avoid any lengthy explanations.
"It has nothing to do with the dungeon."
"That's a relief..."
"Would overlapping missions be a problem?"
"Yeah... If we were after the same thing, we might have to settle it with a magic duel... Ah, not that I'm saying I'd challenge you to one..."
Through our conversation I gathered a great deal of information.
The mage culture of magic duels, the various factions that existed within the Magic Tower—she told me so much.
"Hey, if we make it out of this dungeon safely, could you come visit the Fire Tower?"
"The Fire Tower?"
"Yeah. That's my faction. I want to repay you for saving me..."
"Hmm..."
She clearly wanted to give me some kind of gift in her own way, but that would be impossible.
I would never set foot in a Magic Tower myself.
"If we make it out alive."
With those words I drew the sword from my back.
From the far end of the corridor, thick with darkness, came the clattering footsteps of skeletons.
Isolin must have heard it too; she gripped her mana stone and stared straight ahead.
"Can you fight in that condition?"
"I have to."
Even if I couldn't, I would fight. I wasn't about to die to a bunch of bleached bones.
I exhaled slowly and checked what mana I had left.
The blazing ring of fire was little more than a faint remnant, scattering weak embers, but the glittering starlight mana had formed a small sphere.
It must have recovered while I was unconscious.
Clatter—
Five skeletons emerged from the darkness.
Rusty swords hung in their hands.
"Five of them..."
Isolin muttered, her face pale.
Given my poor condition, she must have decided we had no chance of winning this fight.
In that moment the skeletons charged.
I drew a long breath and steadied myself.
What I needed was a clear image.
You can do this. You've done it before.
I closed my eyes and gazed upon countless points of starlight.
That glittering world had been my teacher, and it had shown me other possibilities.
Rising with the starlight were hundreds of mages.
Their appearances varied, yet they all shared one thing in common.
Each had formed a bluish Mana Circle within their heart.
Picture a pure crystal of mana stretching in a straight line.
The starlight that had been rotating in my heart slipped free of my body and formed a thin line in the air.
The most basic magic of circle mages took shape in this world.
The weakest offensive spell, usable even in the worst physical state.
Magic Missile.
"Starlight...?"
The moment Isolin's words ended, the pure white starlight floating around me shot forward.
The first Magic Missiles of starlight numbered five.
The five points of light fanned out left and right, streaking toward the skeletons' skulls.
Papapak—!
In an instant the starlight battered their heads.
Some shattered a skull completely; others left only a fine crack before vanishing.
The power of the Magic Missiles was not particularly strong.
About the force of me hurling a stone with all my might, I guessed.
But that was more than enough to deal with skeletons.
I called forth the pure white starlight once more.
Mana consumption: minimal.
Casting speed: maximal.
Papapak—!
Another volley of white starlight hammered the skeleton at the front.
A rib and the spine snapped; the oversized skull crumbled.
As the unbalanced creature toppled, another stepped into its place.
I loosed five more points of starlight.
My accuracy was not high. But if a shot missed, I simply formed another and fired again.
Dozens of starlights streaked through the air in rapid succession. By the time the skeletons reached me, only two remained.
That was enough; I was about to swing my sword when a sphere of blue mana came flying and obliterated the last two.
Isolin's magic.
Boom—!
The explosive force was noticeably weaker than before.
I was exhausted, and so was she.
Just to be sure, I stomped thoroughly on the scattered bones littering the floor.
A sharp ache shot up my legs with every step.
"Hey...!"
"Yes?"
I turned at Isolin's call.
She was staring at me with a face full of barely contained excitement, as if she had a great deal she wanted to say—yet she couldn't quite bring herself to speak.
"That... never mind..."
I tilted my head at her expression.
Could it be that Magic Missile didn't exist in this world?
It was an attack spell formed from the most basic application of mana, after all.
"Is this what you're curious about?"
On a hunch I formed a single straight beam of starlight on my palm.
The spinning light shot forward, struck the floor, and vanished.
"I knew it...! You're from that faction!"
"That faction...?"
"Of course... The only mages who train their bodies while still being mages are them... Then what was that thing you showed me at the beginning...?"
Isolin sank into her own thoughts, muttering to herself.
I frowned at her words.
Apparently a magic similar to Magic Missile did exist in this world.
I had been quietly pleased at the thought of having manifested a spell unique to this place...
"You've seen magic like that somewhere before?"
"Ah, yeah. I watched from a distance once during a gathering. The mana was a little different from yours, though."
Isolin nodded as she answered.
Her usual confident expression had returned; she seemed thrilled at having figured out my faction.
Of course, it was only a misunderstanding on her part.
"Amazing at such a young age... Was the training hard?"
"Ah..."
What was I supposed to say?
I didn't even know the name of the faction she was talking about.
Instead of answering I offered an awkward smile and closed my mouth.
Throughout our exploration of the dungeon, packs of skeletons continued to appear.
Anywhere from two to five at a time.
The fact that they never all showed up at once suggested they were constantly roaming the interior.
Dealing with the skeletons was not particularly difficult. Far more troublesome were the traps that sprang up whenever we least expected them.
Arrows that flew the moment a pressure plate was stepped on, and sharp spikes that thrust up from the floor.
By carefully watching the floor and walls and avoiding any holes, the spike traps could be dodged—but the arrows that launched when the floor was pressed came at completely unpredictable moments.
Every journey has an end.
After walking for a long while, Isolin and I finally reached the end of the corridor.
I advanced without hesitation.
Beyond the corridor stretched a vast hall.
"This place..."
"I think this is the end of the dungeon."
I spoke to Isolin as I headed toward the center of the hall.
An eerie magic circle was drawn on the floor in the middle, and above it floated a large violet sphere.
"The dungeon core!"
So this violet sphere was the dungeon core?
Isolin hurried over and began examining it closely.
Then, belatedly, she started glancing at me for my reaction.
"So that was your goal, Isolin?"
"Yeah... The Magic Tower ordered me to bring back a dungeon core."
"Lucky for you."
"Yeah!"
Isolin pulled a blue cloth from her bag and wrapped the dungeon core.
The violet radiance pouring from it faded, and the glittering magic circle lost its light as well.
I wandered the wide hall thoroughly. Hoping to find something worth taking, I eventually discovered a large chest.
It looked as though a great deal of time had passed since it was placed here; the wood was so rotten it seemed ready to crumble at a touch.
I clicked my tongue.
Why were dungeons created in the first place? Naturally, to protect precious treasure.
Without hesitation I kicked the chest.
Crack—!
The dilapidated box shattered, spilling its contents.
What emerged was a dust-covered skull and a book that looked brand-new, bound in iron chains.
A bluish stone was embedded in the skull's forehead—clearly a mana stone.
"You don't mind if I take these, do you?"
"Sure. This is all I need."
Isolin showed no particular interest in what I had claimed.
I pulled the fist-sized mana stone free from the crown of the skull.
The skull itself seemed made of some special material; it remained solid.
But I had no use for it.
I kicked the empty skull into a corner.
"Shall we head back?"
Isolin's suggestion.
Meetings are spontaneous, and partings light, or so they say.
I swept my gaze once more around the vast hall and nodded.
"Ah, but let's wait outside for a bit first."
"Hmm... All right."
I gathered the book and the mana stone and left the hall with Isolin.