We took on simir quests from the E rank for the next two days, and just like that, Cws of the Orange Fox and all of our members now had the rank of E.

  Every day, I spent my time after questing learning magic from mages in the Guild hall. I learned Fme after the first quest fairly easily, and after dinner that night I had Luci teach me Healing. The next two days after we returned from our quests - which I made sure to be careful about covering myself in blood so that I didn't have to spend hours in the bath - I learned the 1st tier water and earth spells, namely the Water spell Water Ball and the Earth spells Earth Shape and Throw.

  Now, as we accepted our first D rank quest, I could say that I have mastered all of the basic magic. Well, except for Light and Mind, but those magics are a lot less common than the rest.

  This quest had a simple goal: Clear a D rank byrinth that had appeared on a neighboring mountain. Monsters found inside include Cave Eaters - giant worm-like creatures that burrow through the ground, Acid Tarantus, and Cave Bats - bats travel in rge swarms and drain mana from the victims of their bites. Once the victim is drained of mana, regur blood is eaten next. These monsters were discovered on the first floor, but low low byrinths like this one usually only have a couple of floors with weak enemies and a a guardian at the end protecting the loot. Typically high grade mana crystals are found in byrinths, so of course, the real quest is to clear the pce - which really means defeat the unknown guardian- and hand the crystal to the Guild. We can keep anything we find, as well as the Guild giving a reward of one gold coin and 10 points to every party member. Technically, multiple parties can tackle this quest at once, so to accept the quest you just go straight to the location.

  I was currently outside the entrance with Luci and Rick.

  "Now that we're here, let's go over things one more time. Rick, you're leading this time. You say you've trained to be able to find traps, so I'll trust that. Luci, you're in the back like usual. I'm in the middle. Our goal is to get in and clear the pce as quickly as possible. With that said, let's get in there."

  "Yes."

  "Right!"

  The cave was dim inside, but since we were still near the entrance it wasn't so dark we couldn't see. When we would encounter Acid Tarantus, Luci would just snipe them and be done with it. We only had one encounter with a Cave Eater, which I was lucky enough to jump away from as it emerged from below my feet before I cut it down.

  We made it to the next floor and it was the same, only the spiders were less common and worms appeared more. We also had a run in with Cave Bats, but Luci took some out with a few well timed Cuts as Rick and I got the rest. For some reason, I noticed that I could still see, but it was a lot harder than on the 1st floor.

  I was nearly blinded once we descended the stairs to the 3rd floor. Once my eyes adjusted, I could see torches lining the walls of the cave.

  "Strange..."

  "Mira, Rick. Don't let your guard done, byrinths generate magically, but it's very rare for a low rank byrinth to have floors like this. Be especially careful if there's a fourth floor, D rank byrinths can't have more than three."

  "What's that mean? You want us to get outta here?"

  "I don't know... Mira? It's your call. I personally think even if it's a higher ranked byrinth than we thought, we should be able to handle it as long as it's less than B ranked."

  "Let's keep going. If you two think it's too much at any point then we turn around and leave."

  We continued deeper into the caves. Acid Tarantus are becoming pretty rare down here, it's mostly just Cave Eaters and Cave Bats now, and we've been fighting more and more as we've progressed. We reached the end of this floor, and sure enough, where the final room should've been there was a stairwell. We descended.

  "This dungeon has to be at least C rank now. If the guardian isn't at the end of the next floor we're leaving."

  On the 4th floor, the walls were no longer regur cave walls, but polished stone like in the capitol. There were no more spiders now, only worms and bats. Now, even the former was slowly being repced by the tter. Later, once the next set of stairs was in sight, we encountered the first C rank enemy: An Skeleton Knight.

  Undead is strange. Nobody knows how they came to be, but if a corpse is left alone too long, it comes back as either a zombie or a skeleton. The tter is stronger, but zombies are almost always seen in rge groups, sometimes with skeletons too. The strength of the undead is always less than the original creature, but not by much. Typically, when an adventurer is killed and not taken care of, they become Skeleton Knights. And since they're always C rank, they might end up being a lot stronger than the original. Of course, once something is already undead, there's no coming back.

  Light magic is extremely effective against all undead, but unfortunately I don't know any yet. Luckily, it's a skeleton, and skeletons always have an extra weakness to counter their strength.

  "Rick! Get back! I'll take it out!"

  "Kay!"

  Rick turned around and ran behind me as I approached the Skeleton Knight. It was wearing a helmet, a armored boot without its pair, and a rotted leather breastpte. In its hand it held a basic sword that you can find with many practical adventurers. It swung its sword at me. Just a swing - no technique, no form, just a swing. Was this thing really C ranked? I blocked the bde and as I did so, I remembered the abnormal strength skeletons tend to have. Before it could overpower me, I took my free hand and pressed it against the rotting leather. Light magic was uncommon, but luckily anyone could exploit a skeleton's other weakness, which happened to be blunt damage.

  I felt the strength behind the Skeleton Knight's sword increase, but before it could capitalize I cast Burst. The bones scattered across the room, and the sword fell harmlessly to my feet, with the bony arm still attached.

  "Let's get back in formation and keep moving."

  ""Got it.""