Slipping into the small cave entrance I follow Maddy into our first adventure.

The cave is well-lit due to the lantern attached to my staff, it doesn't seem bright in daylight, but it easily lights up a large area of the cavern around us. It's light is indescribable, the lantern should be blinding based on how bright it makes the surrounding area, but I can easily stare at it and not have it affect my vision negatively.

"At least you're doing something useful carrying around the light." The teasing begins.

"Kuh- don't be mean!" I am momentarily stunned before lightly chopping the back of her head with my hand.

Maddy makes an over dramatic sad face momentarily before returning to her normal self.

After travelling for a few minutes the cave gradually begins changing from natural to unnatural. The rocky walls slowly change to a tan colored stone brick.

"Hmmm, where these some sort of ruins? I thought this was going to be a natural cavern not some fortress." I wonder why Malek had us come here specifically instead of just sending us off to explore.

"Ooo maybe there will be treasure!" Maddy seems excited for whatever this place has in store for us.

Delving deeper into the ruins we emerge into a small room, though wider than the hallway. After entering the room the main entrance closes and we are trapped.

"Darnit Jordan why did you lead us into this place?" Maddy leans forward slightly and joking blames me for landing us in here.

"HOW IS IT MY FAULT?!" I yell out rather jokingly though a bit of worry creeps into my mind.

'Crap we are actually trapped this probably isn't the time to joke around.'

"Nothing is happening..."

I turn to face the blocked entrance and attempt to use [Nature Manipulation]. I can feel my energy leaving me as I cast the spell, but rather than the stone moving it seems to light up, grooves appear within the stone and shine a bright blue.

A hand begins to form from the wall, further extending into an arm and then a body.

"A golem!" I shout and begin prepare for battle.

'My magic won't be very effective here, I could create a vacuum against my familiar because it caused a reaction with the fire, what can I do against this? From what happened earlier I doubt my magic will work against this golem.'

Maddy doesn't appear to be too confident either, her blades can easily cut through flesh, but not stone.

The golem's three fingered hand transforms into a mace as it moves towards me. Maddy dashes behind it and slashes horizontally with her left dagger, with a clang it bounces off and leaves a chip in the dagger.

"Crap!" Maddy yells in frustration at her failed attack.

'I've got to do something quick, I don't want Maddy to get hurt.'

Thinking of dozens of different ways for me to use my magic I suddenly remember.

'I have 100% light affinity because of my staff, if I use [Nature Manipulation] with light I might be able to...'

Holding my staff in front of me I focus the light particles in the room into a ball. The room grows dimmer as a vortex of nothingness floats in front of me.

'Crap this is way cooler than I thought it would be.'

"Maddy! Move away from the golem!" I shout hoping she will heed my warning.

After Maddy moves away from the golem I release the void ball and it vanishes.

A warmth washes over me as I close my eyes to avoid the blinding light.

After a few seconds the light subsides and the golem is now a melted lump on the ground. I am mentally exhausted after expending a large quantity of my mana.

*Ding* >

____

Name: Magia Corvus

Class: none

Level: 8

HP: 230 MP: 640

STR: 4 DEX: 4

VIT: 6 INT: 50

WIS: 52

____

The stats from my reading were added and I gained two levels for killing that monster, it probably would have been way too powerful for either of us to defeat had I not had this staff or my crazy stats.

"Cool." Maddy gives an approving thumbs up and I return it with a smile.

"I'm tired now, so can the way out appear?" I ask the room if it will let us out, and it answers my request.

A sense of weightlessness comes over me.

"An elevator?" The two of us seem to be moving downward with the room.

I move over and begin playing with Maddy's fingers to distract myself from the sense of unease I currently have.

'This place is too strange, Malek must have known something when he sent us down here.'

After a minute of travel the room stops with a slam.

The wall with the doorway we came in at opens up and there appears to be another hallway.

We venture out and I stay closer to Maddy this time, definitely because I am exhausted, yeah that's the reason.

Not much happens as we continue to walk, taking breaks every ten or so minutes so we don't get physically worn out.

After the second break two figures appear.

The two figures appear to be large fleshy insects. After seeing the two of us they run forward.

Maddy reacts immediately first grabbing a few throwing knives and hitting the insects with them, then seemingly teleporting behind them. With a dagger in both hands she plunges a dagger into each one of the insects causing a green fluid to ooze out of their mouths and throats. They topple to the ground lifelessly.

"Woah! You're actually really strong against monsters that you can cut." I act surprised even though it's what I expected.

"Of course."

Maddy and I examine the corpses of the strange monsters. While they appear similar to insects they have no exoskeleton, and their bodies appear to be made of different bits and pieces of different creatures.

"What are these things..?" My sense of unease grows, only counteracted by [Cute Restoration] which is active whenever near Maddy.