CHAPTER 131 – Growth

Somewhere in the wilderness of Romania.

"How did you find this dungeon?" Rachel asked as she looked at the entrance of the dungeon, which was in the middle of a mountainous forest, a cave in a sidewall of a small hill.

"Got some good contacts." Cristopher said as he shrugged. "Alright, come on. Don't wanna keep calling the attention of more monsters, this place is fucking infested with them."

"Yeah…" Antonio said with a tired sigh. On their way here, it was either him or Rachel who had to fight. Cristopher only fought when the monster was at a level where they couldn't do much. After all, there was still the dungeon. Although it wasn't exactly a high-leveled one, as Antonio was the one who was going to get trained in there, it was still important to keep up their stamina as much as possible. "I think hyung is the only one who would put a kid to fight monsters..."

"Hey." Cristopher said as he patted his head, hard. "Don't go crying on me. It's training. And you're not even in danger with me here."

"Auch…" Antonio said as he tried to ease the pain of the hit. "I'm not crying…"

"Sure." He rolled his eyes back before beckoning them to follow him inside the dungeon. "Come on, let's go."

"I think you've done great, Antonio." Rachel smiled at him. "Not many 6-years-old would fight a monster heads on." She then stopped to ponder for a moment, before muttering as they went inside. "Actually… I've never heard of a 6-years-old fighting a monster…"

"It's all because of hyung…" Antonio sighed. "I can't believe he's putting me through this already…" He whispered, making Rachel smile wryly.

"'I can't believe he's putting me through this already.'" Cristopher said in a mocking, childish tone. "Come on, kid. Stop crying, let's go already!"

Antonio sighed as he entered the dungeon while Rachel could only chuckle awkwardly at them. She knows Cristopher doesn't mean any harm, but he's somewhat harsh when training someone, or so she thought. {Why is not that harsh with me?} She stopped to ponder for a moment, before shaking hastily her head and following behind them both.

As they made their way inside, they quickly found the trigger. {Why do we always find this kind of dungeon? Did Hajin only create those? Well… I mean, they're indeed the more interesting ones, I guess.} Cristopher thought as he considered the reason why most of the dungeons he's been into are actually field dungeons.

"Well, that looks easy." Cristopher said with a whistle as he looked at the trigger. It looked like a small goblin, though this one was brown instead of the usual green. "Antonio, that's yours to take. That thing only has a small knife and no magic power."

"Ha…" Antonio sighed as he gripped both katars. Slowly magic power started to flow into the weapons, though nothing too impressive happened. At this, Cristopher nodded. While the change wasn't noticeable or even impressive, it did help with slightly increasing the strength of the weapons, making the blades sturdier and harder to counter, at least for the small goblin. "Here I go." Antonio said as he rushed towards the monster.

It's not as he wasn't afraid, but he's been attacking other monsters that looked far scarier than this small brown goblin. He even sparred against Rachel once before going out of England.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Rachel asked as he looked at the small Antonio fighting against the goblin. "He's just a kid, master."

"It's not dangerous for him. And it will help him get experience." Cristopher just shrugged. "Also, he's doing fine." Antonio was actually having a slightly easy fight against the goblin. While it turned out to be more agile than he initially thought, it wasn't that good with a weapon, and even if Antonio wasn't good either, he at least got some kind of introduction on how to use them, and what's more, the use of his magic power, as little as it was right now, helped him overpower the small goblin.

"I meant bringing him into a dungeon. Wouldn't it be better for us to just train back on England?"

"Not really." Cristopher shook his head. "I think it's better this way. Nothing beats real experience when it comes to learning how to fight. Also, this small adventure has two purposes. First, giving the kid some real experience, while helping him learn how to fight, and also guide you on how to unlock an elementalist's potential and affinity to Natural Energy." He turned to look at her with a smirk. "The second one, to actually push you to fight in a dungeon. It will also be a great learning experience for you."

"But you said this dungeon was an easy one, even for me." Rachel said as she tilted her head.

Cristopher shrugged at her comment. "It is. But there are still a lot of things to learn. For example. Unexpected situations that might arise on a dungeon."

"Like what?"

"Trust me, sometimes, it's better to be prepared even for the unexpected. You never know when shit will hit the fan." Cristopher sighed.

"Right." Rachel seriously said with a nod.

"HA!" With a victorious shout, Antonio disarmed the goblin, and while it was surprised, he pierced the goblin's heart with his second katar, killing it instantly, and making the scenery around them change.

"What took you so long to kill it?" Cristopher asked as he approached the kid. "I could have had dinner and even take a nap during this whole time."

"Ha… Ha… It… wasn't… that easy…" Antonio said as he tried to catch his breath. "The other monsters I fought were this intelligent…"

"The heck? It was a goblin kid. Not exactly a creature that is known by its genius." Cristopher chuckled.

"You know what I mean…" Antonio said with a sigh. "The others were simple beasts or insects…"

"Oh well. You did better than I expected." Cristopher shrugged. "Well done, kid."

"Thanks." Antonio nodded shyly.

"Well, would you look at that, it seems we're in a valley." Cristopher said while looking at the new scenery. The area turned into a similar mountainous area than before, and they appeared to be in the middle of two big and long mountains that formed a path-like valley, with a really tall stone wall behind them. "At least this makes things easier for us." Cristopher shrugged.

"Right." And Rachel also nodded. The problem with field dungeons is that they sometimes can be really extensive, and finding the right direction might take a lot of time, which is why they really appreciated this dungeon to have an apparent path to follow. The trees around weren't that tall or leafy as to impede their vision completely, and if you included their excellent senses thanks to the Natural Energy, it was easy for them to find a path through the dungeon.

"Well, I guess you caught your breath already, so let's-" Cristopher was about to urge Antonio, but stopped the next instant, quickly activating his eyes power.

[You've entered the Dungeon 'Lost Valley's Fortress']

[Mana concentration goes up. Corrosion is expanding.]

[Monsters power up.]

[Boss monster powers up.]

[Boss monster evolves.]

[Boss monster makes a pact with an unidentified being of the Demon Realm.]

[Connection with the Demon Realm has been temporarily established.]

[Boss monster further powers up.]

[A few monsters evolve.]

[Residents from the fortress are completely hostile towards you and your companions.]

[Connection with the outside world has been cut.]

[If the dungeon isn't conquered in 7 days, the monsters would be able to go into Earth]

{This… Is new… Something this drastic never happened in a low-level dungeon, why now of all the times?} Cristopher thought with a frown as he looked at the rows of notifications he got from Observation and Reading.

"Master? Is there something wrong?" Rachel asked as she tightened her grip on her rapier and focused on her sense.

"…" Meanwhile, Antonio also tightened the grip on his katars and tried to look around for any enemy.

{Did I fucked it up bringing them here? I mean… The dungeon itself didn't evolve. That's a good thing.} Cristopher contemplated for a moment. "I'm not sure. But the monsters in the dungeon changed."

"Is that why the dungeon suddenly feels different?" Rachel asked with a tilted head.

"Mm?" Cristopher turned to look at her, smiling. "Yeah, something like that. I'm surprised you actually felt the difference."

"…" Rachel smiled shyly. "At first I just thought the dungeon suddenly changed, that it felt different than others, but I haven't been in many dungeons, so I then thought maybe this could be normal… And that every dungeon would feel different once you killed the trigger, and gave a few steps into the actual dungeon." She scratched her cheek. "Also... I think… I think it feels similar to that time on the dungeon training last semester where we encountered that big lizard…"

"Oh right, almost forgot about that." Cristopher nodded. "Yeah, something similar happened. Let's go. It's not like the place has become impossible to clear. You just have to pay more attention to the fight, Rachel. I'll be here in case something happens."

"What about me, hyung?" Antonio asked.

"You're just a 6 years old kid, you won't be fighting unless I tell you you can." Cristopher said as he hit Antonio's head. "Don't worry, I'll still be training and teaching you some stuff while Rachel fights. And if there's an opponent you can actually fight, I'll let you do it. But you better not go on your own."

"I'm not crazy to die, hyung. I still have to become a hero!" Antonio said.

"He." Cristopher smirked. "That's the spirit kiddo. Let's go."

Rachel smiled at this before they all started walking through the valley. Meanwhile, Cristopher turned on his smartwatch.

{Let's see…} He looked through the options connected to his laptop and quickly found what he was looking for.

[1. Cristopher D. Lamas [Affinity 19%]

▷ Stats

….]

{Well… 19%? I guess it's starting to affect more dungeons… He. I wonder when these changes will start happening without me going into the dungeons.} He thought with a chuckle as he walked forwards.

***

Seoul, early morning.

"So you train in the mornings too?" Fran asked Hajin, who was currently in the garden doing some physical training.

"Yeah." Hajin said after finishing a round of push-ups. He sat and rest for a moment. "Cristopher was the one to actually tell me to train every morning."

"I see." Fran nodded with a smile. "And you do so before 7 AM so you can have time to reach classes, huh?"

"Yeah." Hajin smiled awkwardly. "I thought you would take the chance to slack off a bit seeing as he's not around."

"I've thought about it." Hajin said with a nod. "But I'm already accustomed to training like this, and it's actually paying out. So I just keep doing it."

"I see." Fran smiled. "Well then, if you're done. You should come inside, I'll have breakfast ready anytime soon, so you better go and take a shower before the kids start waking up." With that, she turned around and started walking inside.

"Yeah… I will." Hajin nodded before he turned on his smartwatch and looked at his stats. {Well, I guess this is quite the improvement…}

[Strength 5.35] [Stamina 7.34] [Speed 7.43] [Perception 7.67] [Vitality 6.78] [Magic Power 2.90]

{Vitality was the one that grew the most, it must be because of the Aether and the rune… I hope the training I've been doing with Cristopher helps me get over the 10 stats range. Otherwise, I might as well be fucked during the later parts of the plot.} Hajin thought with a sigh, he then looked at his other information, including the physiques, seeing the new one he drafted before he started training.

[Magic Dysfunction Physique]

[Magic Dysfunction: Physique that prevents the body's emission of Magic Power, trapping mana inside the body. Energy Conversion: Mana stored inside your body will not disappear; instead, it will be converted into energy and stored. Stored energy can increase your physical stats up to twice their base values, but will be used every time you move your body.]

"I guess it's not a bad idea…" Hajin muttered to himself as he looked at the drafted physique. For a lot of people, or every Hero basically, having such a physique would be called a disaster. Not being able to use magic power would be crippling for them. But for Hajin? Who wasn't able to harness magic power at all? It was a blessing in disguise. The Energy Conversion trait of the physique would allow him to increase his physical stats, even if they would go back to their base values on a continued fight. {It's a refillable ticket for survival…} Hajing thought with a chuckle.

With his mind set, he went towards the bathroom in order to take a shower, after that, he would go change clothes and finally add the physique he drafted in the room Fran lent him. After all, it wasn't something he would try to do on the open, even when he knew that it won't be a really flashy change; not even the usual stroke of luck came, only he could see the golden letters, as it once happened in front of Cristopher and he couldn't see it happening.

{Better be safe than sorry…} Hajin thought as he entered the bathroom.

Going for the shower, as the water started to fall on him, he washed away his tiredness and sweat. Since having Aether, recovering from training has been easier, thanks to its recovery function. Soon after he was already out of the shower and in his room, finally changed into new clothes and with his laptop in front of him. With the drafted physique opened in the laptop's screen, he hit save.

[500 SP will be consumed. Would you like to save?]

Thankfully, it wasn't a really expensive physique, thanks to the really negative trait of not being able to emit magic power; he tried with a Mana Affinity Physique, but it was too expensive, so he still went with the Magic Dysfunction one. He hit 'Enter'.

"...Huh?" As soon as he hit it. An explosion of golden light erupted from the screen of the laptop.

[Your special stat, accumulation of luck, activates!]

[Golden characters rain down, forming words!]

['Magic Dysfunction Physique' resonates with your equipment 'Aether''s trait 'Transcendence'.]

['Magic Dysfunction Physique' evolves into 'Energy Reinforcement Physique'.]

As soon as the notification popped up, Hajin's body and Aether shined in a golden color, as the strange golden characters ran down on him and on the laptop's description.

"What the hell…" Hajin couldn't help but let his mouth hang open.

[Energy Reinforcement Physique]

[Magic Dysfunction: Your physique prevents the emission of Magic Power, trapping Mana inside the body. Energy Absorption: Your body makes use of Aether to slowly absorb ambient Mana and Natural Energy up to a specific limit, depending on how much your body is able to tolerate. Energy Conversion: The Mana and Natural Energy that is absorbed into your body is quickly converted into energy and stored. The stored energy can increase your physical stats up to twice their base values but will be slowly used every time you move your body. It can also be used to accelerate your natural regeneration. Blessing in Disguise: With a certain chance, every time the energy is used, a portion of the stored energy will lead to a permanent physical stats increase (the chance and the amount of stats gained depends on your invariable stat 'Luck'). Energy Reinforcement: Aether can make use of the stored energy to increases its defensive capabilities.]

"I have to really thank that guy out…" Hajin muttered as he looked at the effect the new Aether was having on his physique, making it evolve. "This just turned out to be a really good surprise." Hajin smiled, before standing up and going towards the dining room for breakfast, he still hadn't decided if he will attend Cube's events for today, or just stay in here and play with the kids.

***

Romania, Lost Valley's Fortress Dungeon.

With a swift movement, Rachel thrust her rapier into a brown hobgoblin's heart before burning it with a burst of Heli's crimson flames, effectively ending the fight.

"Well done." Cristopher said, slightly far from her, as she retired the sword from the now-dead hobgoblin's chest. "I see that you keep improving with the timing of your use of Heli and Laki's elements."

"Yes." Rachel nodded as she let out a sigh, cleaning her sword with the help of Laki's cold water. She then walked towards Cristopher who was close to Antonio, who was fighting a brown goblin. "How is he?"

"He's getting the trick to it, I guess." Cristopher shrugged. "My dual-wielding technique is great to use with somewhat medium-sized swords, so I had to slightly modify it to adapt to his shorter range, still, he's doing fine. Great, actually."

"That's good to hear master." Rachel nodded with a smile.

"Yeah." Cristopher nodded too, before looking at her and smiling. "Also, you too have improved quite a lot. You took care of an entire platoon of goblins with their hobgoblin commander by yourself."

"They're not that strong, master." Rachel said shyly. "There are just a lot of them…"

"Still, you do deserve praise for how well you're developing as an elementalist." Cristopher said.

Meanwhile, Antonio was just about to finish his fight, with a quick turn on his steps, he evaded a thrust to the thigh from the small goblin's short sword, and with a double swing, he cut its throat and chest. The cut on the chest wasn't that deep, but the one on the throat was enough to slowly kill the goblin out of blood loss and asphyxiation.

"Ha… Ha… Ha…" Antonio tried to catch his breath. "This… one… was… harder… hyung…"

"Yeah." Cristopher nodded as he got closer to him, giving him a pat on the head. "It was properly armed with a short sword, not just a rusty knife. You did it great, kid."

"Thanks… ha… ha…" Antonio nodded.

"Well, we should move from here, soon more recognition armies will reach this place."

"You think so, master?" Rachel asked with a frown. "We just fought a hundred goblins… How can they have that many armies to use a hundred goblins to do recognition."

"Well, those things love to breed and reproduce themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if there were tens of thousands of those things." Cristopher shrugged.

"P-Please d-don't say that… What if it ends up being t-true?" Rachel trembled at the idea of tens of thousands of goblins surrounding them.

"Relax, I'm joking. There won't be that many. And they're also weak, just relax." He chuckled. "Come on, we have to go find somewhere where you two can meditate and practice your Natural Energy."

"Y-Yes…" Rachel shakily nodded.

All three of them started walking towards one of the mountains that surrounded the valley. They haven't found the fortress yet, but at this point, they knew it was a fortress filled with brown goblins, as they've been fighting those since coming here.

"By the way, master. Don't we have to go back to Cube soon?" Rachel asked, suddenly remembering that it was already Sunday on Cube.

"Yeah. We'll have a couple of hours of training, some light sleep, then rush to the fortress." Cristopher said with a shrug. "You've been doing good so far, so I think it should be enough for now."

Rachel and Antonio nodded, as the three of them looked for a cave where to train with Natural Energy.