08 — Training With the Paladins
08 — Training With the Paladins
“Status Open.” A hologram appeared before me.
Name: Luciel
Job: Healer V
Age: 17
Level: 1
HP (Health Points): 450 — MP (Magic Points): 180
STR (Strength): 73 — VIT (Vitality): 111
DEX (Dexterity): 76 — AGI (Agility): 73
INT (Intelligence): 108 — MGI (Magic): 107
RMG (Resistance to Magic): 100 — SP (Skill Points): 0
Magic Affinity: Holy
SKILLS
Assess Mastery I — Monster Luck I — Martial Arts V
Magic Handling VII — Magic Control VII — Holy Magic VII
Meditation V — Focus VII — Life Recovery IV
Magic Recovery VI — Strength Recovery V — Throwing IV
Butchery II — Detect Danger IV — Ambulation IV
Parallel Thinking II — Swordsmanship II — Shields I
Spears II — Archery I — Short Cast IV
Null Cast I
HP Growth Rate Up VI — MP Growth Rate Up VI
STR Growth Rate Up VI — VIT Growth Rate Up VI
DEX Growth Rate Up VI — AGI Growth Rate Up VI
INT Growth Rate Up VI — MGI Growth Rate Up VI
RMG Growth Rate Up VI
Poison Resist VI — Paralysis Resist VI — Petrify Resist VI
Sleep Resist VI — Charm Resist II — Curse Resist VI
Enfeeble Resist VI — Silence Resist VI — Disease Resist VI
Shock Resist II — Bewitchment Resist I — Spiritual Resist I
TITLES
Shaper of Destiny (all stats +10)
Protection of the God of Fate (increased SP)
Adventurer’s Guild — Rank E | Healer’s Guild — Rank A
“Still level one. Am I just spinning my wheels? Wait, my stats have gone up.” Way up, in fact.
It had only been a week and a half since I started my labyrinth diving, and all of my stats had shot up by at least fifty percent. What was the deal with that? I also now had this Bewitchment Resist skill, which only cemented my conviction that the labyrinth was an illusion.
After returning to my room yesterday, I’d spent hours going over the fight in my head, considering all the ways I could improve. But criticizing myself just made me feel depressed. I wrote up an itemized list of all the ways I had let my arrogance get the better of me.
One piece of parchment was, painfully, not even close to enough. I had forgotten to use any of my barrier magic beforehand (I was right in front of the boss door and that didn’t even cross my mind? Come on, Luciel!), panicked when I couldn’t use magic, and used my sword and spear less like bladed weapons and more like clubs. My sword was chipped from having hit the walls and floor so many times, and my lance was bent in multiple places.
If Brod found out, I’d be in for a world of hurt. If Gulgar found out, I’d be in for a world of hurt in liquid form. I might have sounded paranoid, but I had enough experience with those two. They were not to be trifled with, and I’d learned that well. Still, at their core, they were good people and wouldn’t take things too far.
I was thinking about asking the paladins or templars to let me join their training one of these days when my stomach interrupted my thoughts with a growl.
“That’s enough introspection. I need some grub.”
“Luciel!”
On my way to the dining hall, I heard Lucy call out to me. She was accompanied by Lumina and another young woman I didn’t know, who looked about the same age as me.
“Good morning, Lucy, Miss Lumina. And I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Luciel, an exorcist.”
“Good morning, Luciel,” Lumina replied.
“Morning,” followed Lucy.
“Good morning. I’m Queena,” said the new girl. “I’m with Lady Lumina’s regiment.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Queena. Are you all on your way to breakfast?” Running into friends first thing in the morning was always nice.
“We are,” Lumina replied. “As we do every morning after training.”
“That explains why we’ve never seen each other before. Good thing I had a late start today.”
“You seem in good spirits,” she giggled. “The word around the palace is that you have accomplished a great deal in your short time here. I’ve been hearing rumors about a healer with modest combat abilities.”
“Oh, yeah, that. Actually, something related has been on my mind all day.”
“If it’s an ear you need, we have some to lend. Will you eat with us?”
Monsieur Luck was up early today. “I’d love to.”
As we ate, I talked about my work as an exorcist, yesterday’s mistakes and all.
“Luciel, have you gone mad?” Lumina chided me, incredulity plain in her eyes.
“Do you have a death wish?” Lucy sneered.
“You’re an idiot. If luck wasn’t on your side, you’d be dead right now,” Queena, who I’d only just met, spat matter-of-factly.
“I thought you were no longer an ignoramus, but I see now that you’ve merely traded ignorance for recklessness,” Lumina continued. “I despise those who forsake the gift of life.”
“I beat myself up over it all night already, guys. Please, you’re killing me here.” Their scornful gazes made me want to run away and hide in my room. Maybe some people were into that sort of thing, but I wasn’t.
“So, what are you going to do about it? Keep this up and you won’t last long.” Lucy didn’t mince words, but I could tell she was worried in her own way.
“You’re right. Honestly, I wish I could just go back to Merratoni and continue my training.” I wasn’t holding my breath, though.
“Healers can’t be transferred from Headquarters without a writ ordering the move,” Queena informed me.
She seems knowledgeable, I thought, when Lumina’s gaze caught my attention from across the table. She broke into a dashing grin.
“If it is training you want, I believe we can deliver.”
“Wait, really?” The thought gave me pause, but it wasn’t a bad idea.
“Indeed. You may find it rigorous for a healer, but I have no qualms about allowing you to join us. However, do not expect personal instruction.”
“As long as it doesn’t get in the way of my job, I’d be more than happy to.”
“I must warn you once more, a paladin’s training is severe.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Anything it takes to get stronger.”
“You ought to prepare yourself thoroughly. We conduct comprehensive sessions on the Day of Fire, weekly.”
“Understood. Thank you so much.”
With our plans decided and breakfast eaten, I made my way to the (totally real) undead labyrinth. My new goal was the twentieth floor. That was, of course, assuming the floors leading to it gave me as little trouble as the first nine levels. Either way, it was going to take some time—time that I could use to learn from my mistakes and curb my hubris. I had to have that fabulous prize.
I stopped by the shop, but Cattleya wasn’t there. “Guess there’s no magic bag today. Oh well.”
I descended once more into the labyrinth.
I trudged along, doing my usual purifying routine, but this time with a twist: I started to vividly visualize the cleansing in my head as I cast the spell. As a result, the monsters seemed to evaporate more cleanly than before.
“I think I’m on the right track,” I muttered. “But man, please don’t let that wight show up again.”
This time, before entering the boss room, I cast Area Barrier on myself to raise my physical and magical defenses. When I reached the center of the room, the door shut behind me as it had the day before.
“And there’s the swarm. Let’s hope my magic works.” I optimistically cast Purification, destroying a huge chunk of the horde at once. “That’s it?!”
Three more Purifications, some cleanup, and I was done in less than a minute. The boss didn’t reappear.
The ground began to quake and the path downward soon reopened. At the bottom was a door that I hadn’t noticed last time. I worried for a moment that it might shut behind me when I walked through it, but continued down anyway, hoping I wouldn’t have to go through all this noisy stone-rumbling rigmarole every time I came down here.
As expected, the door did close behind me. I opened it up again and saw that monsters had repopulated the boss room.
“The person who made this is seriously screwed in the head.”
I took a short break, then began my exploration of the eleventh floor.
The walls, which had been pure white on the floors above, were a dark red. It was convenient that the floors were marked in units of ten, but the purpose of it made me anxious. What if there were traps that would leave me somewhere else in the labyrinth at random?
I pierced a zombie with my spear, then stabbed it with my sword as I pulled the other arm back.
“Wonder if I shouldn’t be skimping on my martial arts training,” I mused. “And these zombies not getting any stronger feels weird.” They had gotten faster, but only a little. Not enough to be any sort of issue.
I strode through the halls, picking up magic stones, and noticed that they appeared to be wider than before, but that was the extent of the changes. Monsters appeared at the same rate they always had. I probably had yesterday’s nightmare to thank for today’s level-headed approach.
Once I had seen all there was to see on the eleventh floor, my stomach growled with perfect timing. I checked the menu clock. It was just around lunch time, so I sat down on the stairs and set out a barrel of Substance X.
“That stuff really does work wonders for keeping monsters away. Why don’t all adventurers carry a keg with them?”
I finished lunch and, after clearing the twelfth floor, clocked out for the day.
Cattleya was waiting for me at the counter. “Welcome back, Luciel. Let’s see those stones.”
I pulled out my bag. “Thanks. Here they are.” Crap, yesterday’s got me all nervous around her.
“Aw, don’t be so scared. I won’t bite. And there we go; you made 12,219 points today.”
That was more than I’d expected. The monsters hadn’t seemed any different... Unless they had?
“Sorry, you were just so imposing yesterday that it’s made me a little nervous. It got me wondering if maybe you used to be a paladin or templar, or even if you used to be under the pope’s direct command.”
“Oh, Luciel,” she tittered, “don’t you know not to pry when it comes to women? Some of us have secrets that are best left buried. Who knows what’ll happen if you go digging?”
“Yeah, good point, some questions don’t need to be answered!” I laughed nervously.
The perfectly normal shopkeep beamed from ear to ear. “Ah, before I forget, your magic bag.”
“It’s here?!” I cried in excitement. “Wait, it looks like any old bag.”
“Put some of your magic into it.”
I did as instructed. “Whoa, it changed color!” The leather sack had shifted from brown to pale white.
“It’s yours now. Anything within a meter’s radius that you touch can be willed into the space inside. When you want to take something out, just envision the item and will it to appear. Test things out; see what it can do.”
Simple enough.
“Thank you.” I held the bag and concentrated. I felt...books? “Are there grimoires in here?”
“You guessed it. Her Holiness said to give you all the spellbooks we have as a little motivation boost.”
Talk about divine providence. “Even those over there?”
“Yep. Even those.”
Was it just me, or was Monsieur Luck really putting in the overtime lately? Now I was free to use all those points I’d saved up on other things.
“In that case, I’ll take four holy silver swords, four shortspears, five sets of bows and quivers, and I think a set of potions.”
“Just for the record, this isn’t a free pass to be reckless, okay?”
To be honest, Cattleya had started to scare me more than any labyrinth. But I kept that to myself and quietly hoped the old Cattleya was still in there somewhere. I thanked her again then returned to my room. Once there, I immediately got to reading my new grimoires and practicing the new spells they contained.
The next day, I made it to floor fifteen. And soon, it was time to train with Lumina and her paladins.