I climbed down from the reindeer-pulled carriage, landing with a crunch onto the soft virgin snow.
I pulled my jacket tight as a chill ran up my spine.
"I told you to wear a scarf," Art smirked, looking down at me.
"You're not wearing one," I groaned back as I tugged my collar up towards my chin.
"I've got Sylvie." The white fox lay around his neck, yawning peacefully as she pawed at the falling snow.
"Lias, Arthur!" Curtis waved at us, his smile wide and genuine.
We closed the distance as a red-haired girl wrapped an arm around my brother. "It's good to see you again, Lias." Claire smiled down at me. "It's been a while, huh? I hope my beating of you last summer didn't cause you to hate me."
"No, no," I said, smiling, waving her off. "You gave me a lot to think about and brought up some things that I needed to work on- That I have been working on now."
"That's good. Then I'll look forward to a rematch," she smiled before adding, "That is if you're up for one."
"Thank you. I'd like to see how I've progressed over these past few months."
She pulled my brother close. "How was your trip back home? Did you get to catch up with your family?"
I moved away from Claire as Curtis followed me.
"They're staring at me; you'd think they'd never seen a 9-year-old before…" I grumbled as I tried to avoid making eye contact with the darting eyes of the older students.
"You're a 9-year-old at the entrance of a dungeon." He mumbled, catching up to me, moving at my pace. "How many 9-year-olds do that?"
"Arthur did."
If you ignore the fact that he was secretly 50.
"You and I both know that he doesn't count," Curtis grumbled.
"Oh, and why's that?" I laughed, leaning towards my older friend.
Before I could get an answer, a loud clap sounded through the snow-covered courtyard.
"All right, everyone, eyes up here!"
Professor Glory stood atop a low stone step near the gates. Snowflakes landed atop her hair and shoulders, though she seemed completely unbothered by the cold.
She looked over the gathered students, clipboard tucked beneath one arm as she began her headcount.
"Curtis. Claire. Clive. Lucas."
She continued down the list as I looked around at those who'd gathered here.
Most of the students were several years older than me, many in their mid-to-late teens. Some adjusted weapons hanging from their belts while others checked packs stuffed with supplies. A few whispered amongst themselves, their excitement visible on their faces.
"Elias." She called at last.
"Here." I raised a hand as all eyes turned to face me.
"Professor, why is a child here?" an older blonde boy asked. His ears weren't as long or pointed as Tess's, yet distinctly elf-like.
"I'm aware he did… satisfactorily at the director's exhibition last summer, but he's a child."
'Satisfactorily?' I snickered to myself.
My eyes instinctively met Claire's as she smiled down at me.
"That might be underplaying his abilities," Arthur said, hand on his hip. "He reached the final, beating two members of the DC along the way."
The tension between the pair became palpable as the two teens stared each other down.
"Two DC members?" The blonde scoffed. "That's not exactly a difficult feat; I could easily do the same, and there's a third one here I could easily beat." He said, looking my brother up and down.
"Is that so?" Art smiled, taking a step towards the boy.
All the gathered students watched the pair with anticipation. They wanted to watch them fight.
"That's enough, you two." Professor Glory coughed.
"Fortunately, Lucas, your opinion on the matter wasn't requested. And you, Arthur, I get that he's your younger brother, but I'm sure Elias is more than capable of fighting his own battles."
The half-elf, Lucas, scoffed as he crossed his arms in a sulk. He slumped back and whispered to his friends. I couldn't make out what was said, but I doubt it was anything I'd like to hear.
Professor Glory turned away from the two boys, pivoting to face the gathered group of her students.
"Director Goodsky, on my request, has allowed Elias to join us on this descent, due to the relative safety of this dungeon as well as the fact that he is here as a non-combatant."
"Non-combatant?" one student asked; she was an older girl with chopped ginger hair.
"As you all may or may not be aware, Elias possesses incredible regeneration and healing abilities that he has kindly volunteered to use on all of you in case of injury."
"All except blondie over there," I interjected, pointing over at the sulking half-elf whilst standing on my toes.
A chortle escaped several students. Red crept up the blonde's neck as he turned away from the group.
"Good," Professor Glory clapped once more. "Now that we've settled that, let's continue on into the dungeon."
She turned on her heel as she strode through the gates and into the dark opening beyond them.
---
I walked in pace with the professor as we descended deeper into the dungeon.
The chatter from the students gradually faded behind us, as I zoned them out.
Stone steps wound endlessly downward through the darkness. Mana lamps embedded into the walls cast a pale blue glow across the tunnel. Frost crept across the stone beneath my boots. Every exhale left a cloud of white drifting before my face.
The deeper we went, the colder it became.
"Still warm enough?" Professor Glory asked with a smile.
I looked up at her. "Compared to when? I've been freezing since I got off the carriage." I smiled as I exaggeratedly shivered.
"Fair point," she laughed as another gust of frigid air rolled up the stairwell.
I buried my chin deeper into my jacket as the professor seemed far too amused by my suffering.
The staircase eventually widened.
The faint blue glow ahead brightened until it drowned out the lamps entirely.
My pace quickened.
The tunnel opened into a cavern so vast that I nearly missed a step.
"Woah..." I involuntarily sounded as I took in the sight before me.
The ceiling disappeared into darkness that spread endlessly above us.
Crystals larger than houses erupted from the stone floor. Mana pulsed through them like blood through veins. Their light reflected off sheets of ice covering the cavern floor. Thousands of colours danced across the frozen surface whenever someone moved.
The entire cavern glittered.
It felt less like a dungeon and more like something from a fairy tale.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Professor Glory smiled.
I nodded, slowly.
Several crystal formations rose nearly fifty feet into the air. Sharp edges caught the light and scattered it through the cavern.
"I thought dungeons were supposed to be ugly."
"They usually are; that's why I choose to bring students here, as I want what's usually their first experience in a dungeon to be a good one," she smiled, looking back at her gawking students who shared my same wonder. "That's not even mentioning it being a D-class dungeon, which helps with their confidence in my lessons."
We continued through the crystalline cavern, its beauty not ignored by the teens who enjoyed its radiance.
"So… what monsters are actually living down here?" I asked, looking back to her after my momentary distraction.
"Snarlers," she said bluntly. Professor Glory held her jaw tense as her eyes scanned the space before us. "We should've come across a fair amount of them by now…" she thought aloud.
"What do they look like?" I asked, wanting to learn more about our potential enemies.
"They're hideous even amongst mana beasts. They only stand 140 cm tall, and they almost look like muscular mini-gorillas." She explained with a wag of her finger. "They have a thick grey fur coat, with their faces having a boar's snout and tusks, with beady red eyes and long ears. With their thick and powerful protruding jaw, you wouldn't think they were only E-class mana beasts upon first glance."
"I see…" I nodded, looking down at my feet. "Do they have any claws or mana abilities?"
"They mostly just punch or bite." She smiled, her eyes scanning the dark ahead. "Alone, they're quite weak, but in groups they-"
I walked headfirst into Professor Glory's arm. The steel of her vambrace struck my head as she stood tall.
"Elias, get back," she murmured, withdrawing her arm.
She strode forwards and freed her blade from her back. She held the thick length of silver taught before her.
"Why? What's hap-"
Hideous noises began echoing all around us. Peeking out from behind the numerous boulders and from small caverns spotted around the walls of the cave were an uncountable number of beady red eyes.
"ALL OF YOU GET BACK!" she commanded.
Their thick arms dragged against the frozen floor as they snapped protruding jaws together. Their tusks clicked loudly enough to echo through the cavern.
"Professor..." one of the older students stammered. "A-are there supposed to be this many?"
"No."
That single word did not inspire confidence in her students or me.
Professor Glory slowly backed towards us. "Everyone, remain calm. We're leaving." She said, looking back over her shoulder.
A burst of orange flame blurred past us.
The spell exploded amongst the horde.
Heat washed across my face as several snarlers were launched through the air before slamming into the frozen ground.
An eerie silence filled the space left by a mix of confusion and amazement at the sheer audacity of the person who had disobeyed their teacher's direct order.
"They're pathetic," Lucas laughed, tapping his staff against his head. "Professor, surely we aren't turning around because of a few E-class mana beasts?"
I could practically see the headache forming on Professor Glory's face as she tensely clenched her jaw and forced out an exhale.
"I-I think we should try and train here, Professor." Curtis had a determined look on his face as several other students, because of Lucas' display, gained confidence as well.
The snarlers that had all come out seemed a bit frightened now, as they warily kept their distance, studying us with their unintelligent eyes.
"Okay, but if I feel that something isn't right, we're immediately out of here, understood?" With a stern voice, she waited for the class to agree to her condition.
When she received a round of nods, she said, "Good. Split into your teams and take different parts of the floor. We don't want any friendly fire happening in here. And Lucas, if you do something like that again, there will be consequences." Professor Glory shot a menacing look towards the cocky blonde, making him reluctantly comply.
"Prince Curtis, take your team and make your way towards the left side of the cave. Princess Tessia, take your team to the right of the cave and hold your ground. The last team, with me. I'll be keeping an eye on you guys at all times, but stay vigilant and don't underestimate the snarlers, especially in these numbers." With that, Professor Glory motioned for the two teams to rush forward.
"Elias," she said, looking towards me. "Stay ready, I… still don't feel right about this."
"Understood." I nodded. "Can I also…"
"As this is still a pretty high-up floor and the number of Snarlers is high, you may, but please don't go too overboard; you are our only healer."
"Thank you," I smiled as I watched the swordswoman delve towards the wall of beasts.
The three squads as well as the professor spread out before me as they pushed the Snarlers back. I stood 20 meters behind the artificial front line the 3 groups had created. In my current position, I had little to no opportunity to engage with them in combat. The groups shifted around each other, dancing as they sliced down beast after beast.
With an exhale, I extended my arm before me.
It's been nearly 2 months since that day with Arthur in the training room.
Mana lathered around my form as the bubble around me swelled to just beyond my fingertips.
Even after so much trial and error, blood and sweat, failures and successes. This is all I have amounted to. A bubble with a radius of under a meter.
Pathetic, isn't it?
In the mana room, I could cover the entire space. The entire 100-meter-long space was my dominion, and I was its God.
But here in the real world, where mana was rare, this is the extent of my reach.
I tensed my hand and spread out my palm. Three tubes of mana shot towards the three teams. A second, third and fourth bubble bloomed to life at the centre of the groups as a faint radiance warmed them all.
If I couldn't envelop the entire space within my mana, then I could at least focus on creating smaller spaces just beyond.
Arthur said that a similar method was used back in his old world for something called "astronauts" to get oxygen in space. Whatever that means.
A snarler pounced towards the vanguard of Curtis's group. A line of red trickled down his shoulder, though just as quickly as the blood fell, it stopped. Gold bathed him as his group's bubble shifted towards him.
As things stood, maintaining just 3 mana tethers wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but it was manageable, even when being stretched nearly 20 meters away from me.
A snarler nicked Arthur, causing him to fall back. I focused mana towards the rightmost tether, towards his group.
Radiance enveloped him, and after a moment of confusion, he flashed me a smile as he returned to his position.
All three teams pushed onwards as they were forced closer to each other. As all three tethers crossed, I joined them, thereby tripling the size of the subsequent bubble.
"Professor, I don't think we can keep going like this. The snarlers keep coming!" Tess shouted over the waves of snarlers.
"Teams! Follow your leaders! We're going back up!" Without hesitation, Professor Glory motioned for the teams to follow her.
I released the now enlarged second bubble, letting the tether collapse into the atmosphere.
An icicle fell to my left.
'Huh?'
The dungeon shook as a second icicle fell to my right, before a third, then fourth, then a stalactite, then another fell around me.
A loud crash resonated throughout the space.
'What's-?'
I looked up towards the sound as a large black mass descended towards me.