Deeper Into the Darkness

"Alright, this looks like a nice place to set up camp. We can also mine nearby while we're camping here." Aima placed her rucksack down with a clang as she breathed deeply.

"That map is really handy. Does it even show where we can possibly camp in this cave?" Sebastian also placed his rucksack down beside her as he started to unpack his bedroll and the party's cooking utensils.

"That's right. When they expanded the cave, they commissioned some adventurers to make a map of this cave. They improved it over time, resulting in this map. If you go to any places that you're unfamiliar with, make sure to search if they have available maps for it. You saw how convenient it is."

"Enough with the explanations. Aima cast [Light] around this place then set up some magic traps around the perimeter. Sebastian scout for enemies while we're setting up. Jin, Mel and I will set up camp here." Becky resumed her authoritative role in the group when they settled down. She had to leave the scouting to Sebastian again which didn't sit well with her beastkin pride.

After closing his eyes and placing his hands on the ground for a while, Sebastian finally stood up. "I detect no enemies around us at the moment. Can I help you with setting up a magic trap? I've only read about it in the monastery, but I've never seen one." Sebastian stood beside Aima as she was preparing her spells.

"It's actually easy if you can expect where the enemy will come from, like in this cave. I'll place mana stones on each side of the opening here. Then I'll bind them together with my own mana, creating a feedback system. I cast [Signal] into both of the mana stones here. If the mana strand gets broken by someone else casting mana spells or the connection is broken physically like someone passing through, then it activates the spell I prepared beforehand."

"I see. The number of ways you can use mana always fascinates me. Thanks for showing me that."

"Now that I showed you how to do it, can you show me how you use your [Augment], I still have trouble understanding it."

"It's actually quite similar to when Jin uses [Shield Block] to reinforce himself or when you use [Oakskin]. The mana spreads throughout the body, creating a layer. While the skill is active, it consumes mana. For my [Augment], the mana is activated on the inside. Turns out I was very knowledgable with the human body - so I can use that knowledge to flow mana through specific areas. Was that simple enough to follow?"

"That was simple enough. What I'm wondering is how a countryside boy like you was able to create that skill."

"You say that as if people from the countryside will never amount to anything." Sebastian smiled as he patted Aima's shoulder, catching her off guard.

"Haha, I've been found out. So Becky told you where I came from. Well, I never deny it. It's just that I've seen my share of discrimination, and this is just from Wildecross City. Not even THAT big of a city." Aima laughed as she set up another magic trap.

"We're back from scouting and setting up the traps. What should we do now boss Becky?" Aima pretended to be formal in front of Becky to her disappointment.

"Sigh, I don't really know if you're a good influence to the rest here. You, Jin, and I will go mining in that section over there. Mel and Sebastian prepare our food please."

Sebastian and Mel took out various dried meats and vegetables from their rucksacks as they placed it in the pot. Sebastian produced water using magic, while Mel started the campfire and placed the pot over it. As they were waiting for the stew to boil, Sebastian and Mel found themselves in an awkward silence.

"Mel, is everything okay? I saw you during the last combat."

"Hmm? Yes, I'm okay. Are you asking because of my archery skill? I think that was not bad considering the number of enemies we faced. It actually slowed them down, for the rest to finish off. Don't you think?"

"I'm not talking about your archery - I don't have any complains there. I mean about your sword skills. Because my senses were heightened during that combat, I was able to notice your shaking."

"Ah. That." Mel unconsciously played with her long hair as she sat down in front of the campfire.

"Was it bad enough for you to notice Sebastian?"

"I'm sure the others didn't notice it. What was the reason why you couldn't hold your sword?"

Mel took a couple of deep breaths as she pretended to stoke the fire.

"If you're not comfortable talking about it then -"

"It was during the mutated wolf quest. You saw how badly mangled my arm was. We never expected a pack of mutated wolves to be formidable opponents. If your party didn't come that time, I would have - died."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is that why you switched to an archer class?"

"Yes. I have my reasons but I didn't want to stop adventuring simply because of that. I didn't want to get close to enemies, so archery seemed like the next best thing for me."

It was Sebastian's turn to take a couple of deep breaths before he quietly used his skills. '[Augment] Steel mind and body, hyper senses, night vision.' Sensing that the others were quite a distance away on their mining excursion, he continued the conversation with Mel.

"There's no way of getting around this but Mel, to tell you the truth, I'm actually a Forgotten One. That's why you'll find my ignorance and naivety a bit strange at times. Anyway, before I came to Kalonia, I was a nurse specialist - er, a healer in my world. I've seen cases similar to yours over there."

"Aha! Hahaha!"

Mel suddenly burst out laughing as she clutched her stomach, wheezing and gasping for air. Sebastian had a puzzled look as he looked at Mel, waiting for her to finish laughing and explain her outburst.

"I'm sorry, I lost it there. I do believe that you're a Forgotten One, it makes a whole lot of sense now. I was merely laughing because you hid it by saying that you are from the countryside. That's just funny." She was wiping the tears from her eyes as she calmed herself down.

"Er, yes - it was the only reasonable thing we could think then. It's easier to mingle with people if I tell them I'm from the countryside compared to proclaiming that I'm a Forgotten One right off the bat."

"I understand that part, don't worry. I'll keep it a secret as well. Ahaha. I just found it funny that someone had to pretend to be from the countryside. It's actually cute and charming in a way. Please continue."

"Ehem. Yes. I was saying that you have what we referred to as a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD if you will. It's from the mutated wolf quest, and it has affected your ability for close range combat."

Mel's face turned serious when she heard his diagnosis for her condition. "So is that something that can be treated with a healing spell? If it's a mental condition then wouldn't [Cleanse] be sufficient enough?"

"Unfortunately, not everything in Kalonia can be treated with magic. Mental trauma is a different kind of shock with its own after effects. Let's work on that when we get back to the city, is that okay with you?"

"I'd like to know more about this, then I'll decide if I will go through with your treatment. I definitely think that something is wrong with me, however, I don't think that this is the right time nor place to discuss this."

"I understand. We'll stop this right here and as agreed, we can talk about it more back in the city."

While they were waiting for the stew to finish cooking, they fell back into silence. Sebastian resorted to sharpening and polishing his two swords while Mel tended to the fire absentmindedly.

*

"That was a good meal if I say so myself! Honest labour really does make you hungry!" Jin rested his back onto the cave wall as he stretched his legs out.

"Now that sustenance is out of the way, let's decide on guard duties. I brought an hourglass with me so we can use this for the duty length. Is everyone okay with that?" Aima brought out a sand hourglass from her rucksack as she placed it in front of everyone. It almost looked like she was auctioning off an important item with everyone looking intently at it.

"Because you three went out earlier to mine for ores, how about Sebastian and I take the first and second shift?" The usually quiet Mel voiced out her opinion much to the party's surprise.

"That actually makes sense. Thank you for considering that Mel. I'll take third then if nobody minds." Jin decided for himself, without even waiting for Becky and Aima's opinions.

"I'll take the last shift."

"Does that mean that you'll be the one to wake us up?" Aima looked at Becky with fear in her eyes.

"I know that some of you might try to oversleep so that's why I'll take the last shift." Becky remained resolute as she looked at her party members with an intense gaze.

"Ahem. Going back to the order, I'll go first then. Mel, you take the next shift after me." Sebastian steered the conversation back on track. "Once everyone's done with equipment maintenance and washing up then we can call it a night."

Once everyone fell asleep, Sebastian activated his skills again. '[Augment] steel mind and body, hyper senses, night vision.' With the rich mana in the cave, activating and maintaining skills were no problem for him. The challenge was now in his usual training regimen. 'I need to develop new arrangements for my skill. However, I need to do this while I keep these current set of skills active.'

Ever since he left the monastery, Sebastian was still devout in his training and journal writing before he went to bed. He created sub-skills that were suited for different scenarios he could think up. However, without Rivie's guidance or protection, he could only do it at a slow and safe pace.

While they took turns with the guard duties for the night, the hours passed quickly and without incident.

***

"With this, our haul should be enough right?" Sebastian placed the pickaxe down as he gathered the iron ore from the vein in front of him. After spending 2 days and 1 night in the cave, they finally managed to fill a wheelbarrow's worth of ores.

"For the quest, yes. Remember that we can use these ores to smith or improve our current gear. I know you just had new weapons and armour fashioned from mutated wolves." Aima quickly gathered their current ores in Jin and Mel's rucksack, to their surprise. She was clearly making room for more iron ores in her own rucksack.

"You do have a point. If we gather more iron ores for you to enhance our weapons, how much would it cost though?" Jin picked up his now heavy rucksack as he prepared to head deeper into the cave.

"I'll give everyone a discount, of course, you are after all my party members. Fufufu. We can discuss it afterwards when we get back. The cost depends on how complicated or easy the enhancement will be."

"I see. What does everyone think? This sounds like a good idea while we're here. We don't want to spend more coin to enhance our equipment in the city, also I don't think it's a good idea to come back here just to mine ores for our personal use." Jin was suddenly in his leadership mode.

"I agree with Jin and Aima as well. This isn't the best place to spend a lot of time in, however, I don't want to come back here. The prices for iron ore in the city might be high at the moment." Sebastian gave his vote as he was also preparing his rucksack for the extended adventure.

"Our supplies are enough to last us for another day so we should be fine. Let's do quick equipment and inventory check before we head down." Becky reminded them as usual about their duties and responsibilities before they ventured forth.

"Um, I'm actually running out of arrows. The frequent encounters have dwindled my arrows to a single quiver's worth."

"Use your sword then. The cramped space makes it difficult for arrows to begin with. We can change the formation to a close-combat one if needed." Becky quickly shot Mel's concern down as they finalised their equipment check.

Sebastian pulled Mel aside as he quietly whispered, "Don't worry, I'll try to take them down before they reach you or block their path if needed. If any gets close, stay by Aima's side - you can just say that you're protecting the healer."

Mel nodded half-heartedly as she absentmindedly prepared her sword in her waist. She clutched it tightly turning her knuckles white as the blood circulation was restricted. Sebastian noticed it again even without using his [Augment] skill.

"Mel. Look at me. Focus on your breathing. Look at me. Take a deep breath through your nose while I count to 5. Hold it in. Good. Now release it through your lips as I count to 6. Let's repeat that."

Sebastian quickly utilised deep breathing exercises to circumvent Mel's panic attack, before she completely lost her focus. After a while, Mel's eyes refocused and she relaxed her hands.

"Every time you feel your anxiety growing, use this breathing exercise. You can close your eyes while you do this as well."

"That should be all the checks, right? Let's head deeper. Based on the map, we can head down to level 5. There should be fewer parties there, thus more iron ores." Aima waited for the group at the staircase heading down as they went in their usual combat formation. Jin and Sebastian led the way while Becky stayed in the middle. Aima and Mel positioned themselves at the back.

*

"Alright, here we go! [Light]!" Becky cast her globe of light onto the cave wall to signal the start of the fight.

"[Augment] Double reinforce arms!" Sebastian made quick work of three spiders as he used both power and speed in his slashes.

SSAK! SSASAK!

"[Spear Slash]!"

"[Rock Kick]!"

BAM! THUD!

The fight lasted for a moment, showing their improvement as they delved deeper into the cave. Aima didn't even need to maintain or cast a second [Light] spell as the fight was finished quickly. Mel stayed beside her, keeping her bowstring tight and ready. She hesitated to use her arrows for fear of breaking them. When they broke down, it meant fewer arrows for her to use. Once the fight finished, she quickly placed the arrow back in her quiver.

"Whew. That was a good one. We're getting better at dealing with poison spiders." Jin placed his glaive on his back before he started extracting the mana stones from their carcasses.

"I'm just curious though, Korinne Cave is known for having poison spiders and rat imps - even the post mentioned it. However, we haven't seen any rat imps at all since we've been here. We've stayed here for almost 3 days now." Sebastian wondered out loudly again while he was opening up a dead spider.

"That - actually makes sense. I haven't seen any and I didn't see any traces of them at all. Perhaps they went down into the deeper levels. If they're congested there or somewhere else, we shouldn't make the mistake of stumbling into their den. You better keep your enhanced senses active at all times if possible. I'll use my beastkin senses as well as a backup."

Becky never ceased to amaze Sebastian. She started her rant with a discussion before ending it with a threat.

"Sigh. I got it, Becky. You don't need to say it like that." With an exasperated sigh, Sebastian continued to lead the party into the descending darkness with his glowing amber eyes.