Chapter 65

Sena’s magic lecture began.

Even though it felt a bit absurd to suddenly start in the dungeon, it was necessary for Sena’s self-esteem recovery.

The man sat a little distance away, smoking a cigarette and fiddling with the enchanted dagger, while Ariel listened to Sena’s magic lecture with an expressionless face.

Sena was the top mage of the Magic Tower. She was currently the most promising talent the Magic Tower had its eyes on, and the Tower Master had already marked her as the next Grand Mage.

Her magical talent was heaven-sent.

Sena’s speed of understanding magic was beyond normal. She grasped any magic easily and quickly mastered it, often leaving those around her in awe.

That much was fine. Geniuses are supposed to be like that.

But what if it wasn’t about learning, but teaching?

“Umm, so, first, you pull up your mana… and then you focus your will to lift the object…”

At least when it came to teaching, Sena was completely clueless.

“Ah, and then the circuits and formulas are like…”

Sena herself didn’t even know what she was talking about, and the man, Ariel, and Roo, who were watching from the side, just had blank expressions.

“So if you do it like this… ta-da!”

A small pebble on the ground floated up into the air.

“How’s that? Can you do it, Ariel?”

“……”

What Ariel wanted to learn from Sena was Telekinesis Magic.

Honestly, when it came to learning, all magic seemed useful.

Like the Location Tracking Magic Rakia had used before, or the cleaning magic, the magic to repair broken objects, healing magic…

And the magic Sena had used as soon as they entered the dungeon to light up the darkness, the magic to unlock locks—all of it seemed useful.

But learning all of that would take a lot of time, so Ariel decided to learn the most useful-looking magic: the one that moves objects.

The magic to move objects is also called “Telekinesis,” and first, you need to understand the wind element.

You need to know how to handle the element before you can use magic related to it.

For example, cleaning magic requires understanding the wind and water elements to cast.

But Ariel had no understanding of the elements at all.

No, in fact, Ariel didn’t understand anything about magic.

The Magic Missile and Shield Ariel used were just skills—she didn’t know anything about formulas or circuits.

She could activate them simply with her will, without any of that.

But maybe she could understand mana.

The abundant energy flowing through her body.

Ariel thought that was mana. She could feel the movement of mana when her skills activated.

Ariel slowly pulled up her mana.

Ignoring the formulas and circuits Sena had explained, she released her mana with the will to lift the pebble.

“!”

The pebble floated up into the air.

It was Telekinesis Magic.

“Wow, you did it, Ariel!”

Sena clapped her hands in delight.

“See, you’re my student! You learned it so fast—did I explain it well? Haha, anyway, you’re amazing!”

Sena patted Ariel’s head proudly, and Ariel smiled slightly as she moved the pebble up and down.

Meanwhile, the man watched with a bewildered expression.

‘What the…’

The man had also listened to Sena’s magic lecture, so he could confirm it.

Sena’s magic lecture was a mess. Her explanations were incoherent and lacking.

It was just something like, “There are formulas and circuits, but just pull up your mana and try something, the important thing is your will.”

But Ariel had done it again. At this point, it seemed like she could have done it on her own without Sena teaching her.

‘Well, not my problem.’

Anyway, Ariel learned magic, and Sena recovered her self-esteem.

It felt a bit off, but the problem was solved.

“Hmm, but that’s strange… Did you understand the elements, Ariel…?”

Suddenly, Sena made a serious face.

“I feel like I didn’t explain that properly…”

“Wow!”

The man quickly cut Sena off and stood up.

“See, learning from the top mage of the Magic Tower is different! When the teacher is a genius, you can learn this fast! This is absolutely something that can’t be explained with words! Amazing!”

At the man’s words, Sena smiled slightly.

No matter how many times she heard it, being called a genius felt good. Especially now, when her self-esteem had just recovered, it gave her a strange sense of stability.

“Hehe, of course.”

Sena made a proud expression again.

“Since I taught her, she could learn this fast! I’m the top mage of the Magic Tower, after all!”

Watching Sena, the man sighed in relief.

‘Phew.’

And he quietly let out a sigh.

‘I’m tired…’

The man desperately wanted to finish the dungeon and rest.

*

The party continued to move deeper into the dungeon.

Now, there were no random traps activating, and no sudden monster attacks.

It was just silent.

“……”

The more it went on, the more uneasy the man felt. The current silence felt like the calm before the storm.

They would soon reach the core of the dungeon, and an even greater crisis than before might be waiting.

It was only natural to feel tense.

“Wow, that’s really convenient. Why didn’t I think of that before?”

But Ariel and Sena didn’t seem tense at all.

After learning Telekinesis, Ariel had taken a cake out of her inventory and was using Telekinesis to push it into her mouth.

It was the so-called “eating cake without using hands.”

Using magic for such a trivial thing—the man found it a bit ridiculous, but Sena seemed quite impressed.

“I should try that too. Ariel, do you have more cake?”

“Yeah. Lots.”

The man quietly turned his gaze to Roo, who was flying nearby.

He hoped that maybe this fairy would understand the seriousness of the situation…

“Ugh, it’s so dark… It’s so dark it’s making me sad… I wonder what Rakia and Ghost are doing right now…”

Roo was rambling, drunk on fruit wine.

Drinking in a dungeon—it was something unimaginable, but it seemed like this fairy didn’t care.

After all, Ariel was a powerhouse who defied common sense, and Roo was just a being who followed around, drunk or not.

In that sense, the man wasn’t much help in the dungeon either.

The man spoke to Roo.

“You, your name’s Roo, right?”

“Huh? What is it, human?”

“If possible, I’d like a drink too.”

“Oh, this fruit wine?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure. Drinking buddies are always welcome.”

And so, the man started sharing fruit wine with Roo, while Ariel and Sena stuffed themselves with cake using Telekinesis.

It felt more like a picnic than a dungeon raid.

A moment later, Ariel, with her mouth full of cake, stopped walking and looked to the side.

Where Ariel was looking, there was a treasure chest.

It was the third treasure chest.

“Ah, a treasure chest.”

Sena, with her cheeks stuffed with cake, pointed at the treasure chest.

“Ariel, why don’t you try moving that with Telekinesis?”

At Sena’s words, Ariel nodded and cast Telekinesis.

The treasure chest floated up and drifted over to Ariel.

“Haha, you’re really good at this. You’re definitely my student.”

Sena just praised her like that, but if another mage had seen it, they would have been shocked.

Even though Telekinesis is a basic magic, learning it this quickly and using it naturally wasn’t easy.

Moving a pebble on the ground was one thing, but moving a treasure chest with Telekinesis required a considerable amount of mana and magical skill.

But for Ariel, it wasn’t a problem at all.

Ariel’s mana was infinite, and for some reason, she could control magic very easily.

When the treasure chest came within a certain distance, it clicked open, revealing its contents.

It was a ring with a blue hue.

Ariel moved the ring to her palm, and the ring shrank slightly.

“Whoa, it shrunk on its own.”

Sena’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.

“That ring, it seems like a magical item. Ariel, try putting it on your finger.”

Ariel slid the ring onto her finger.

The ring fit perfectly on Ariel’s finger. It seemed like it had shrunk to match her finger size.

“How is it, Ariel? Does the ring have any magic on it?”

At Sena’s question, Ariel tilted her head.

She had put the ring on, but she didn’t know what magic it had.

She could feel some energy from the ring, but she wasn’t sure what kind…

*Poof!*

Suddenly, Ariel disappeared from her spot.

“Ah, Ariel…?”

“Big sis…?”

“……??”

The rest of the party blinked and looked around, but Ariel was nowhere to be seen.

Only the cake Ariel had been eating with Telekinesis remained on the ground.