At the Green Leaf Dungeon.
I stood before the floating door, its soft green light humming quietly in the stillness. A name hovered above it like a bad joke from some capricious god.
Green Leaf. Seriously?
After ten long years of brutal schooling, revision of theory, and a little practice. I finally decided to delve into a dungeon and it had to be named Green Leaf? I half expected the creatures within to invite me to have a cup of tea and some biscuits. Yet… this was it.
My first dungeon. Well, I chose it because this one sounds more harmless.
The Magical Energy around me shivered as I raised my hand. The door's face rippled like water and pulled me in.
---
The air was different immediately.
I was on a curving forest trail. Light poured down between crystalline leaves. Colossal fungi marched along the trunks. The air was pure too pure.
It was quiet and peaceful. I suspected something fishy. Then I heard it.
Hop. Hop.
The underbrush snapped. A half-dozen or so small white shapes jumped into view. Little bodies with floppy ears. Red eyes with small amounts of magical energy burning inside them.
Rabbits.
"Oh thank Syrelle," I complained. "Finally, Something I can deal with."
They stared at me as if I'd insulted their grandparents.
Then the head bunny let out a banshee wail, leaped off the ground, and flew into my face.
I jerked back, reflex taking charge. Magical Energy flooded my palm. A small red shape; a thready, flower-like arrangement of flame-colored lines appeared in mid-air in front of my hand.
[Flame Spark]
The shape glowed and thrust a firebolt ahead.
The bunny flipped in mid-air, avoiding neat. It slammed into me like a ball of fur.
I stumbled back, barely retaining my footing. Two more approached. One lashed out at my boot, the other climbed up onto my shoulders and was clawing.
"Starter mobs?!" I bellowed.
Another burst of light flashed next to my left hand; icy blue lines, carved in a rippling circle.
[Frost Touch]
I flung my hand out toward the earth, forcing the spell to spread.
Thin ice lay over the grass, covering three rabbits in mid-run. They shrieked and struggled as the cold took them.
One of them stared at me, chewing on its own frosted leg like it was nothing.
"What KIND of murder-bunnies ARE you?!"
I backed away, panting. I was thinking quickly. I had magical energy. I had spells. But theory was one thing; this was blood, instinct, and anarchy.
A flash of silver appeared before my other hand.
[Gust Burst]
A whirling sigil of air flared and I expelled a rush of air that sent two approaching rabbits stumbling backward. One slammed into a mushroom. The other into a tree and ricocheted like a rubber ball.
There were five left. And they were learning.
They stopped charging. Started to circle.
Clever and wonderful.
My magical energy trembled from overuse. I wasn't ready for that many successive casts. I attempted to remain calm.
Think.
I retreated behind a tree root where I'd stored something in my Spark Rune, written onto a small stone and hidden in the grass.
One of the bunnies hopped upon it.
ZAAAP.
The rabbit jerked and collapsed, shaking.
Three more came suddenly.
I enabled casted sigil.
[Shadow Coil]
Dark tentacles lashed out from my hand, wrapping one around the leg and slamming it into a bush. Another came too close—this time, I did it too hard.
Not what I wished for. But required.
My energy core seethed in anger.
[Stone Fist]
A feeble formation blazed at my feet, and a stone spike burst out of the earth, sending the rabbit soaring into the air.
The final bunny hesitated.
It looked at its dead kin, then at me.
I gazed into its eyes, slowly raised my hand.
A white-gold construct burst forth.
[Lumen Glint]
And a flying sphere of light appeared beside me.
Enough to deflect.
When it blinked, I focused, swift and sharp.
A single extra red glyph blazed across before my palm.
[Flame Spark]
The bolt struck true.
Thud. Stillness.
I stood there. Panting, shaking in fatigue.
My magical energy was depleted. Robe ripped. Covered in blood, fur, and rabbit scratch marks.
"Victory," I rasped.
I crashed heavily onto a tree stump and stared at my burnt gloves.
This was war then.
Then, this is real.
I hadn't thrashed. Not exactly. I'd used my spells, my practice, my traps. Not tidy, not efficient, yet.
But I succeeded.
"I made it through my first fight," I grumbled, voice still trembling.
And I groaned as agony seared my back.
"Barely."
I stared up at the canopy. The leaves shone in the sunlight. Peaceful again.
"If these are the weakest monsters…" I grumbled, "I am in so much trouble."