"You left me alone as I slept?" Lucas asks as he spots the quartet of squirrels sitting on the cooking stone. "That's… we've been here almost three weeks now, and you've never done that, Carter."

It's been a little more than two weeks since my fight with the bear, and I've only left on small, short excursions to catch squirrels for food. I haven't had to fight those birds, though I did have to escape from a stag that used its antlers to generate blinding light a few days ago.

Mostly, the last two weeks have been boring, repetitive training. Figuring out new spells, casting them, improving them, and just working my ass off in an effort to meet the requirements for three Quests.

Though it means a little bit more effort for the related Quest later on, I also increased my Magic by a point. It made a few things easier with my training for the last two weeks.

Lucas hasn't really done any training. He's attempted to make several potions by experimenting with the reagents, though without actually knowing what they do and not wanting to test them by consuming them or asking me to, he's limited. Until he brings his Inspection up a little more, Lucas has to keep making guesses. Until I get strong enough to fight against things like that bear and the stag, he can't use reagents other than what we have in here, too.

He's taken to hanging out around camp in just a pair of shorts, showing off his pale, skinny torso and pink nipples, and it's started to distract me a little bit. But then I manage to shake it off and refocus, so it's not too bad. If he knew it distracted me, he'd probably put a shirt on, and I find myself not wanting that.

"I was testing a spell out and didn't want to risk waking you," I tell him. "I didn't step very far outside of the cave, and the squirrels were close."

"What spell?" He asks.

"[Airbolt]," I answer. "It's my fifth Tier II spell, and I wasn't sure if it would make noise or not."

It does. The spell consists of a bolt similar to [Magic Bolt], but instead made of air that's swirling around. While [Air Shot] didn't do much – though we've learned it has a tearing effect against weaker things – [Airbolt] is stronger. That's most likely because it's bigger, so there's more of it behind the impact. It's still not that strong, though, but it's invisible.

The downside is the light whistling noise it makes as it flies forward. If something is fast enough and perceptive enough, they'd be able to avoid being struck by it. I'm thinking that this spell might be how I take on that bear, though – with its tearing effect, it will probably be the most effective spell against something that tough. There might be something else, but I don't have much to work with right now.

"You haven't taken on [Cast a Spell IV] yet, right?" He asks.

"No," I answer. "I decided to do it after getting the potential stuff for the one after."

I'd continue to try to figure out more spells so that I can do [Cast a Spell VI] right after, except that I remembered that [Cast a Spell III] required casting ten unique spells. We also still don't know if spells I already know will count for it or not. If they don't, I'm basically out of luck on it for an even longer time.

"I only need to get one more wind magic up a Level," I tell him. "So I'm going to suspend the Quest for this Dungeon and take on [Elementalist Apprentice]. Hopefully, I can just breeze through the next two [Cast a Spell] Quests. If so, then I'll probably have the second slot in just a few minutes."

My Mana's been back at full for about twenty minutes or so, and I know I'm close to getting [Air Shot] up to Level 4.

"Okay," he says. "I'll get started on breakfast, then."

Lucas gets to work preparing our breakfast, and I suspend the Dungeon Quest before taking on [Elemantlist Adept]. With that preparation out of the way, I summon an [Air Shot]. My current goal is to be able to put more magical power behind it, and drawing off my alterations to other similar spells, I get to work.

With [Fire Shot], putting more power into it meant making the flames hotter and more persistent. That won't work for [Air Shot], but it's informative on how to alter the spell some more. I begin compressing the wind making up the spell, to increase its cutting edge and its durability. At the same time, I keep an eye on how much Mana the spell costs. If I have to spend too much more Mana to add the effect, then I'll need to improve the Mana efficiency first.

Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case, and it takes me only a few minutes to perform the adjustments necessary. The knowledge of my changes cements itself in my head, and several notifications pop up in my vision, including one that's more than unexpected. The reward of five mana potions – the same size and color as the others – and a spell scroll appear on the ground in front of me.

Skill Improved: Air Shot is now Level 4 Experience Acquired: +1% Trait Acquired: Elementalist Apprentice Attributes Acquired: +2 Mana, +0.002 Mana Regeneration, +2 Magic Quest Completed: Elementalist Apprentice Reward Granted: 5 low-quality mana potions, 1 Tier I spell scroll; +1% Experience A total of 50 Skill Levels has been attained between all members of the enlightened species while within this Dungeon. Zone 2 has been added. All relevant Quests have been updated. [Warning: Zone 2 is Rank 3]

Zone 2? Rank 3? Does that mean Zone 1 is Rank 2, then? So the Dungeon Quest shows the Rank of the Dungeon itself as its difficulty? That difficulty is still 'tougher than you, bastard', so I'm not sure I want to handle Zone 3, yet the Quest is to complete the Dungeon to leave.

Wait, it mentioned that relevant Quests have been updated. I pull up the Dungeon Quest and find that it's changed from [Zorvax Forest Caves Dungeon] to [Zorvax Forest Caves Dungeon Zone 1].

"Uh," Lucas says. "Carter, I think we might have trouble."

"The Quest updated," I say. "Changing to only needing to clear Zone 1. I'm assuming that means we'll be able to leave after doing so. If not, we'll handle it."

Somehow. Even if it means training for a lot longer. I'm willing to bet that adventurers outside will reach higher Levels than us. After all, they probably won't have Experience held. That would allow them to train up more, complete an easier Dungeon, train up more, repeat.

In the time it takes for us to be able to complete just Zone 1 and potentially leave then, they could probably train up to the necessary Level to just deal with this, then go through a Rank 2 Dungeon's Zone 1 with much less time spent inside.

So Lucas and I are going to have some serious catching-up to do outside.

Taking a look at his scrawny frame and his seeming lack of interest in being a fighter, I have to amend that thought. I'm going to have some serious catching-up to do outside. He's cute, but he's probably not planning on becoming an adventurer-type person. I won't push him into it, either, as he might react negatively to it.

Not only that, but pushing people into jobs and duties they don't like can be detrimental to their mental health. While I am lacking care about most people, I don't like forcing people into things. That was done to me far too much for me to be comfortable with it.

"Yeah," Lucas nods. "That sounds good. So what now?"

"Now," I accept the needed Quest. "I see if I can get [Cast a Spell IV] completed without learning a new spell."

Holding up a hand, I shoot a [Firebolt] at the creek. As soon as the spell is cast, ten low-quality mana potions appear beside the five that were granted from the previous Quest. That confirms that it does. I don't have enough Mana at the moment to complete the next Quest, but I do have enough to start meeting its requirements, so I accept it, then cast five more [Firebolt]s, then the three [Magic Missiles] that I can cast.

Lucas is busy preparing a breakfast out of the squirrels, skinning them, separating the meat from the bones, chopping it up, adding some seasonings, and more. Despite our limited supply of fresh ingredients at the moment, Lucas works wonders with what's available. What could he make if I stole some eggs without getting killed?

Stretching my legs out, I lie down, using my left hand to cushion my head as I stare up at the cavern ceiling above. It's about twenty feet higher than the trees are, far enough away that it's mostly covered in shadows, causing it to appear higher than it really is. Despite that, this place is comfortable, even if a bit on the cool side.

Will it freeze here in winter if it's already this cool in summer? Or does the outside weather not affect the weather inside?

Realizing my thoughts have drifted, I think back to what I want to do at the moment as I cast a few more spells to make progress on my Quest. I'll keep doing that as I think about this stuff.

I should set the Dungeon Quest back to accepted once I finish this next Quest. Something gives me pause on doing that, though. It might take me longer than two weeks, but with my increased Mana Regeneration, I might be able to manage both [Magical Might II] and [Bountiful Mana II] before I have to switch [Zorvax Caves Dungeon Zone 1] back to active.

When I worked on them the first time, I trained them separately to make doing them easier as I could only take on one at a time. But once I complete [Cast a Spell V], I'll have two slots, meaning I can work on them together. There would be no concern on making one more difficult because of working on the other.

It would be more time-efficient, anyway. With my current Mana and Mana Regeneration, it would take me… a little more than two hours to reach full from empty, I think. So if I let my Mana return to full, then expend it by trying to make my spells as strong as I can fuel them and pushing their limits with that, I'd take out two birds with one stone.

Not one of the birds I've seen here so far, though. Those things would probably just evade the stones. I'd probably have to use another spell to take care of those, and fortunately, I've got a few of them, it's just a matter of figuring out how to hit targets moving like the birds do.

I'm also only 10 Skill Levels in spells away from reaching [Wizard Adept]. I'm going to assume it normally takes a little bit more than a month or two to reach it from the start, and that my affinity for it has something to do with that.

Some people do have natural talents for things, and it seems I have one for magic. That kind of surprises me, though, considering that Earth was without magic before the System arrived. I would expect an affinity for magic to come from some sort of magical bloodline or something.

Or was Earth without magic? Could my real parents have been magicians? Once I'm out of here, I'll see if I can talk to them again. Last time didn't go so well, but they were understanding of my struggle, after what I'd gone through with the ones I thought were my parents.

If I inherited this affinity for magic from one of them, then I'm sure they're both still alive outside of here, regardless of what's going on.

I got side-tracked again, didn't I?

Okay, back to my plans. Work on [Magical Might II] and [Bountiful Mana II] until I've completed both. If the deadline for reactivating the Dungeon Quest again draws too near, I'll cancel whichever of the two I feel I'm furthest from. I won't like having to restart it, but at least I'll get the reward for the Dungeon Quest. Completing it may be required to receive the others, and it's possible that we can accept the Quests for the later Zones even if we leave here. If not, then I'll just accept the next one before leaving, even if it means taking up a Quest slot.

Once I've got another free Quest slot, I'll work on [Wizard Adept]. I'm only missing out on one Level's worth of Attribute gains for it, and I can simply improve my Tier II spells a little more for those, maybe some of my Tier I spells as well. Just one more Skill Level will bring me up to Level 1. Two if we ignore the Experience I'm going to gain from this Quest.

The pain in the ass will be [Elementalist Adept], though. It requires a total of 25 Skill Levels in each of the four elements, only counting magics at Level 3 and above. I think I'll hold off on it a little for now in favor of improving the things that will probably help me out here the most. Normal magic, wind magic, and water magic are the ones I'll focus on the most, with some light magic mixed in as well.

Light magic for if I need the light, normal magic both for basic attacks and for [Barrier], which is a Tier II spell that's rather costly, both initially and to sustain, wind magics because its cutting power seems useful and water magic…

Those birds actually did what I was planning on attempting with the bear. I was going to try to freeze it into the creek, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to freeze enough water around it to stop the bear completely. If my plan worked, I'd have bought myself time to escape, then hope that the bear didn't pursue me after.

So the birds did what I wanted to do, and then some more.

"Breakfast," Lucas calls out right after I finish [Cast a Spell V], and I sit up, then sit beside him and accept the plate of scrambled meat, seasonings, and veggies. "By the way, we're getting low on the food you brought. It might only last us a few more days."

"That's fine," I say. "I'll be catching us food more often now."

"Really?" He asks. "You're planning on leaving here more often?"

"Well, yeah," I answer, then indicate the creek. "But I figure, we can probably figure something out with the fish over the next few days. Whether magical or something else, we do have a supply of meat here."

"Right," he nods. "And you'll be catching more squirrels, too, I take it?"

"Yeah," I answer. "And once I'm stronger, I'm catching us a deer. And maybe even a bear."

"Alright," he chuckles.

"And possibly some birds, maybe their eggs-"

"I got it!" He laughs. "So how long do you think before we move on to the next stage?"

"I'm completing two more Quests first," I tell him. "Then I'll see how my magic pits against the normal monsters in this zone and go from there."

"Smart," he nods. "Let's dig in."

Would Lucas be willing to try to learn some magic? It might help out a bit if he can become a decent mage, too.