I will go with Kiara

I feel most comfortable to learn under Kiara again. When Mia broke up with me, Kiara was there to console me and give me advice. When I first got my rank and I was disappointed at it being a D, she held on to my adventurer card. After I told her about my dad, she taught me how to use runes and she did so after the usual training hours. Kiara has quite simply been the best teacher I’ve had so far.

“I’m going to study under Kiara this week.” I tell my friends, and walk up to the hooded woman.

Shalia agrees and walks over to Kiara as well, followed by Ryul.

The next people to choose Kiara are Sophie and Ari. They are the only ones of their team though. The rest of their group divide between Syvis and Dante. After them Leona joins Kiara as well.

Miranda chooses Dante instead. I can understand why. He is her boyfriend after all.

I had expected for Wendy to pick Kiara too. All of her friends are here after all. But instead, she goes for Dante as well.

“I’m sorry, Darx. I know you need to choose Kiara because she can help you train in magic, but magic lessons aren’t exactly useful to me.” Wendy explains. “I need to advance my martial arts and the best mentor for that is Dante.”

I am saddened that Wendy won’t be part of my group this week, but I can see where she’s coming from. At least it is not like she is choosing a guild already.

For the rest of the day, Kiara had us train in our skills similar to our first week with her. It was a good way for us to show our skills to Ari and Sophie. We also got to see what their skills were.

Ari is actually very agile in her fighting style. She can jump pretty high, probably fueled by her B rank strength, and she has no problem with running up walls and doing summersaults. As for her skills, she’s got [True Aim], which makes it easier for her to throw kunais and shurikens, as well as [Bunshin], which makes it seem as if there are 5 Ari’s instead of 1.

Sophie, like all other clerics, has healing magic. The 2 skills she prefers to use the most are [Heal] and [Regeneration]. Another similar spell she has is [Radiating Regeneration], which causes anyone close to her to heal, except she is not able to move while she casts it. As for her skills, she has [Presence of Mind] and [Repel]. The first one causes her spells to consume less mana, the other causes people around her to be pushed away from her.

At dinner, Wendy comes to sit at our table instead of being with her new team. Miranda instead remains at Dante’s table.

Kiara also continues meeting me in the library after dinner, where I ask her to try and teach me the summoning skill.

The second day, Kiara calls me and Shalia aside. It looks like she has something for us.

“I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a druid in my guild.” Kiara says. “He has given me an interesting suggestion.”

Kiara then shows Shalia a belt with several pouches on it. Each of these pouches hold some seeds belonging to a very specific plant. The first pouch holds the seeds for nettles. The second holds hogweed. There are also pockets for poison ivy, giant sundew, giant venus flytraps and giant pitcher plants.

“Your nature magic will allow you to make these seeds grow into fully developed plants in but a very short time. Learn about each of these plants, and you will become a very capable druid.” Kiara explains.

Shalia happily accepts the belt and puts it on.

“As for you, Darx. Aelbrecht told me to give you this.” Kiara says as she gives me a ring.

“Your water magic does not allow you to create water out of nothing. You will always need to be in search for water sources to make use of. Not with this ring.” Kiara explains. “Aelbrecht told me this ring was made by a Zrephian mage. The magic placed on it causes it to be connected to a place at the bottom of the sea. That means, every time you make use of this ring, seawater will come out of it. As long as you have this ring with you, you will never be in lack of water for your magic.”

I accept this gift from Kiara and put the ring on my middle finger. I tap into its magic a little and some water appears just like Kiara says.

Both this day and the next, Shalia and I train with our new gifts.

On the fifth day this week, Kiara had a surprise for everyone. There is a carriage waiting for us in the courtyard. She informs us that we are going to do a dungeon. A lot of us are ecstatic. A real dungeon. Leona tried not to show her excitement, but she had difficulty keeping her ears from moving. The only one who can honestly be considered calm and collected is Ari.

"Before we head out, there is something I want to give to each of you." Syvis said, giving each of us a bag similar to the one she is carrying. "This is a bag of holding. It is a magical bag which, despite how small it is, can fit almost ten times more than its size. These are a gift from me. When your training here is over, you can keep them. But they are quite expensive so please take care of them."

After that, we get into the carriage and we start driving.

We are taken through the city, through Dark Dragon territory and to the west gate. When we get to the gate, Kiara shows the guards her necklace and we are let outside. The carriage takes the scenic route along the river. This is when Kiara starts telling us about the dungeon we are heading to.

“There is a rock formation, not too far from Riledo. It is hollow inside and water from the river can flow in, hence why it has been called a grotto.” Kiara explains. “Unfortunately, it makes a really good nesting place for giant snapping turtles. They have been decreasing the amount of fish in the river and on occasion, the large one’s attack fishermen, or even damage their boats.”

“So, we’re doing pest control?” Leona asks.

“You may feel free to look at it like that if you wish.” Kiara replies.

Leona shrugs. “It’s a job.”

After about another 2 hours, the carriage stops. We are not at the grotto yet, but this is the closest the carriage can take us. We march for at least another half hour through the thickets. Then we finally arrive at the grotto. It is just like Kiara described. A big rocky formation with a large opening where river water can flood inside. Big enough to let a ship sail in, in fact.

“Remember, I will merely act as observer.” Kiara reminds us. “Prove to me that you can do this by yourselves.”

I quickly suggest Leona to take the front, together with Ryul and Ari. They are our melee adventurers after all. The rest of us, being casters, keep three steps behind them. As we move into the cave, I look around for Kiara, but she is nowhere to be seen. She’s probably using a magic spell to keep invisible. Fine then, time to impress her.

In the cave, we find a lot of large turtles, just like Kiara said. They are about half as tall as a human, but human sized in length. Thank Imris these creatures can’t stand on 2 legs.

We walk across a ridge of sand along the cave wall. It is only like 2 meters wide and Ryul needs to walks through the shallows.

When we start getting close to their nests, the turtles start coming towards us. Shalia uses the [Mud Trap] to capture some of the turtles coming towards Ari and Leona, after which the rogue and the paladin use their blades to strike the turtles on their weak spots.

It went mostly fine, until the turtles coming from the water arrived at us. They were a lot faster in the water and they snap quite quickly.

I make use of my water magic to push the river water away and give Ryul a chance to move, but the turtles keep coming. That is when Leona and Ari finish killing their turtles and we can adjust our party formation.

With Ari and Leona at his side, Ryul has an easier time fighting the turtles. He tries to flank all the turtles while Leona and Ari keep them busy and then flips them over. At first, I thought he was just silly, these turtles are heavy. But then I remember Ryul is an A rank and also has skills that improve his strength.

Shalia holds the turtles trapped in some water she’s holding while I fire off a [Water Spear]. The spear bounces off the turtle’s shell, leaving only a scratch. Damn those shells are hard. I wonder if they are used for armor.

Using [Water Spear] like that would simply drain my mana too quickly. Instead, I draw my sword and join the other melee fighters we got. I make use of a few good [Dual Slashes]. After that, we got them all.

“A bit sloppy, but otherwise well done.” We hear Kiara’s voice from behind us.

We turn around and there she was, as if appearing from out of nowhere.

“Be sure to collect the turtle shells. A lot of crafters like to work those into shields and armor.” Kiara then informs us. “Oh, and their eggs are considered a delicacy. Better grab a few of those as well.”

Easier said than done, though. Those shells are hard to remove from the turtle’s backs. Then there are those whom we had killed in the water. Shalia and I both had to use our magic to push the water away so Ryul and Shalie could drag them onto dry land. Fortunately, Kiara helped out as well.

We then filled up our bags of holding with turtle eggs we find in their nests. The turtle shells are too big to fit into the bags, so after washing the turtle blood off of them, we pile them on top of each other. After that, we were ready to turn back home.

“Hold up.” Kiara says. “Arn’t you forgetting something?”

“Like what?” Leona asks.

“Like the rest of the dungeon?” Kiara asks.

“Oohh,” Sophie replies. “There is more to this dungeon guys!”

We all look around, but all we could see is this cave and water.

“It doesn’t look like there is more to this dungeon.” Ryul tells Kiara.

Kiara smirks and then asks, “Are you sure?”