XV: The Adventure Begins.

The group walked down a dark hallway, the stone floor and walls decorated with strange lines adorning what could be considered the entrance to this dungeon. Jessica and Marie led the way, positioned at the front to resist incoming damage due to their abilities. Marie was wearing her armor, her sword was sheathed, but her Boosted Gear had already appeared on her left arm.

Jessica was in the front for obvious reasons, her cursed technique shield for her group in addition to her physical prowess. The white-haired brunette wore a black eye mask to cover her prominent and powerful eyes, but it wasn't time to use it yet.

In the middle of the group were Seone and Susie, melee fighters who could stand out quickly, especially Susie, who had magic support to enhance her offensive capabilities.

At the end were the ranged fighters and the leader of the excursion, Ron, who had his ability to calculate and lacked means of attack, although his physical body was extremely resistant. Next to him was Axel with three arrows in his bow that emitted a white light. Next to him was John, who would be busy bombarding with his magic, as well as providing various support or countering enemy magic or energy. 

Soon the corridor ended at an entrance and led to a huge hall, majestic even in its ruin. Tree roots covered the ceiling, and many vines snaked along the walls and floor. Some of these vines had flower buds of different colors. Small lights were floating around, giving the place an illumination, and somehow everything felt... peaceful and warm. 

"Those lights are plants, they are harmless," Axel explained, as a hunter he had to know not only the animals but also the plants to avoid their dangers. Sometimes a bush could be as dangerous as a predator.

"I'm noticing something strange about these flower buds," Jessica added, causing Susie and John to focus on the flowers, casting short diagnostic spells, but the display of magic seemed to have awakened something.

The flowers suddenly opened, releasing pollen of various colors, Jessica created a veil of energy that protected the group, preventing them from exposing themselves to the unknown pollen.

"Oops... these flowers react to magic as we can see," John commented with some humor in his voice.

No shit," they all thought as they heard the handsome boy's words.

Soon the group's attention was drawn to something coming out of the flowers. They were tiny creatures with golden skin, hair of various colors, and transparent wings on their backs. As they flew, they released a strange silvery dust that floated in the air like shining stars. There was a strange laughter coming from these beings, as if they were children playing, no, as if they were happy, proud parents, wait, it looks like your lover laughing at how happy he is with you.

... 

A pulse of energy emanates from Susie, snapping everyone out of the trance they had fallen into. Jessica had dropped her veil as a result, and the tiny creatures were now very close to them.

"They are fairies!" the succubus shouted as her body began to radiate magical power, her body began to absorb mana from the environment as she performed various mudras with her hands and whispered a few words.

Her scream alerted her companions, who prepared to defend themselves against the little demons. Fairies were very... playful beings, with weak magic but a strange affinity for magic, especially the magic of enchantment and seduction. These little things know how to make people desperate because it makes them laugh, they are intelligent but not bound by human morals, so they do things they like to do but bring pain and despair to people.

Of course, if you get a baby fairy, you have an inexhaustible source of fairy dust, a magical compound of biological nature capable of producing certain peculiar reactions in alchemy. However, its direct use on humans can trigger strange effects such as seeing hallucinations, experiencing the ability to levitate for short periods, healing wounds, and sleeping for an entire year without dying from lack of nutrients, among other effects worthy of a McGuffin. 

Oh yes, they are tremendous perverts, but only with dragon-related beings, so these fairies looked at Marie with... lust. Fairies are the antithesis of dragons, but they have an unbridled desire to be with them, a strange relationship akin to a cactus and a balloon. 

"Watch out for the vines, they can probably move," Jessica said, noticing something strange around her, but her attention was on the drooling fairies in front of her, so she could only warn that something strange might happen with those vines.

"Ok, I don't want to be part of a tentacle cliché," Marie said, a little uncomfortable with the lustful looks the fairies were giving her, and the uncomfortable vibe the anti-dragon nature of the fairies was giving her.

"Oi, I'm panicking now, will there be mimics? I played too much Dark Souls and now I'm having flashbacks," Axel joked as he shot some of his arrows, even though they were very close to him, he was still able to damage several fairies, eliminating them in the process.

Seone, for his part, brandished his weapon at the fairies, causing them to flee and not come near him. Confused, he looked at John, who was collecting strange pollen and fairy dust in a jar. Noticing Seone's stare, John returned it with an uncomfortable smile.

"Something wrong?" the boy asked as he waved his hand, releasing several fireballs at the vines that had begun to move. 

Susie, on the other hand, also threw fireballs, though hers were green and eerily atmospheric, also aimed at the flowers to prevent them from emitting pollen, which had been dispersed by a joint effort of her and John.

"Why are the fairies running away from me?" asked Seone, as he helped Jessica, who was using her cursed energy-covered hands to fight the pesky fairies, but her proximity caused the little creatures to flee.

"That's because your sword is made of metal, maybe it has iron in it. Fairies are weak to iron, their bodies react similarly to an allergic reaction that will soon kill them," John replied as his spell created a tornado that absorbed a large number of these creatures, piling them up. 

Soon, a red laser struck the fairies, knocking them back and then incinerating them. Marie had fired a dragon shot, inspired by a certain boob-loving pervert. The fairies were the enemies of the dragons, but that didn't change the fact that their bodies were very weak and even a draconic attack could take them out. 

"Okay guys, now listen to my instructions, in a few seconds the vines will activate and attack us, so I need you to follow my instructions, first, Jessica..." Following Ron's words, everyone moved and acted as if they were a hive mind, puppets of a puppeteer or better, the minions of some RTS played by Koreans. 

Creepers and some random roots had activated, attacking the team not only with grappling attacks but also with acid shots or poisonous touches. Unlike some interesting animations on the Internet, these things were very dangerous; Jessica noticed that the surface of the vines had something resembling hair, but that gave her a bad feeling. John and Susie realized that it was a very painful, paralyzing poison, so it would be an excellent idea not to let them touch you. 

They could set it on fire, but that could backfire, they gave juicy points, about 60, so they followed Ron's instructions until the whole room was covered in sap and numerous pieces of plants and petals, as well as the red blood of the fairies that were constantly harassing the group.

While the mages in the group collected pollen, fairy dust, and poison, Seone and Axel approached a treasure chest on a small pedestal hidden under some vines. Axel's eyesight was only matched by Jessica's, so he noticed this very quickly.

"He's a fucking mimic," Axel said annoyed as he adjusted his glasses, even though he was getting tired of them and thought about taking them off for good, he didn't even need them, but they gave him a certain intellectual aura... but he was getting tired of adjusting them now and then.

"Let me get rid of it," Seone said with the same annoyance in his tone, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a spin ball, which he swung hard. 

He threw the projectile charged with golden energy, which hit the transformed mimic's body and shattered its facade. The chest-like appearance quickly acquired huge teeth, a long tongue, and exaggeratedly long, slender arms and legs, but it did not move due to the paralysis caused by Seone's attack. 

Catching the steel ball as it returned to his hand, Seone put it away and then brandished his sword, charging at the unsuspecting mimic and making quick but heavy slashes at it, destroying the strange being of flesh, wood, and metal. As the group regrouped, the others noticed that Seone was holding... a very strange yellow amber-ball that emitted a soft light.

"Oh, you have a very rare amber gem in your hands," John said, moving closer to take a closer look at what Seone was holding, feeling very curious about the strange amber. 

"Stranger is when you know its strange effect," Axel replied in Seone's place, drawing even more attention from the group watching Seone.

"This thing came with a note that said, "Dear Mimic Destroyer, if you find this amber with the note, it means you weren't devoured by that absurd monster and you were a little smarter than greedy, congratulations. This amber is an experiment I did in this temple after I found it, it comes from a strange tree at the end of this whole journey.

What tree is it, what's at the end, go and find out! Anyway, this amber mimics the function of the status spell or the counter potion. It lets you see how your body, soul, and spirit are doing, but I thought that would be boring, so I experimented with the gem and gave it the ability to also note the things you've learned and the weight you've left on your soul.

"Isn't that great? By the way, kill those fairies, they gave me a hard time and I don't want them to have it easy, ciao!" After reading the note again, Axel passed it to the other members of the team for them to read.

Seone then turned his attention away from the amber in his hand and looked at the others, his expression was a bit strange, perhaps related to what he just saw in his status. 

"This thing is very simple, it doesn't have classic RPG numerical values, just 3 stats with some words and a percentage, although I'm amazed to see the term "soul weight", I'm more amazed that it can shows the things I've learned," Seone said after calming down a bit. It made him nervous about what he was holding, not only because it could mess with his soul, but also because of what he read in his state.

Marie noticed the boy's discomfort and went over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. John, a perceptive fellow, asked what everyone was thinking.

"Can you tell us your status?" while in some novels this would be a very private matter, well, they were on a team and their lives depended on each other, seeing that Seone was somewhat disturbed by what he saw was a real cause for concern and they needed to know.

Seone then asked the black wizard for pens and paper, he knew the handsome boy would have something like that, he was a wizard after all. Soon, he wrote down his status and showed it to his team.

[Name: Seone]

[Physical Condition: Healthy 95% Slight Malnutrition] 

[Mental condition: Affected 70% Deep psychological trauma, residual suicidal tendencies, falling in love, the effect of a dragon's aura helps him recover].

[Soul state: Stable 90% Resonance with Fire, Spin, and Death].

[Soul weight: 60% free].

[Techniques and skills that take weight].

[Extraordinary Knowledge of the Phenomenon of Spinning 10% Weight]

[Raw Sword Technique 5% weight].

[Vitality or Chi 10% weight].

[Fighter's Way: No Instincts or Limits Released 10% weight].

[Affinity with Fire 1% weight].

[Affinity with Death 1% weight].

[Affinity with Spin 1% weight].

[Impulse 2% weight].

There was silence in the team as they read and evaluated the information Seone had given them, of course this was very private, but their concerns were well founded as they noticed two key things: her partner had a trauma that he was recovering from because of Marie's presence, something obvious but rare, apparently a dragon's aura had benefits on the psyche of those exposed to it.

The other thing they noticed was the concept of soul weight, something that worried them a bit until Susie clicked her tongue and drew the attention of the others.

"Do not worry about the weight of the soul, it is more to take into account the extraordinary abilities and energies of this nature. It means that the soul has a certain tolerance, it's like a person's body can't take any contrary energies. Even if the weight of the soul reaches 100%, there won't be too many problems, the weapon will keep growing and getting more powerful, but of course, things that are contrary or inappropriate can ruin it. 

But even if you never get to have your soul with 100% weight, there is no problem, it might even be more beneficial because having too much is not good. The weight of the weapon helps us build a framework for the future. 

I see that Seone has some good things, but I feel that something is missing... you expect to go to a certain world. And there you hope to complete the framework of your power so that all these things will form a great synergy. It doesn't matter if there is too much weight left unused, whatever you have will be enough," with Susie's words, the tension that had grown a little while ago disappeared, rekindling the flame of everyone who wanted to see their status or at least those of the group who hadn't seen that so much weight of their soul had already been used.

"Uh, I guess the dungeon can wait..." Ron said somewhat dejectedly as he saw everyone writing down their stats and starting to argue with each other, seeing how harmonious their group was, he wore a warm smile on his face. 

It wouldn't hurt to get some rest before continuing the adventure.

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AN: Hey! Sorry for the last update, my network went down but is fixed now, so there is the chapter! Please, give a review and comment your thoughts! It helps me a lot!