The [Magic Stove] was like one of those electric cooking pots that I had fleeting glimpses of in Steve’s memory. It felt like a modern appliance, complete with soft buttons on the side that could be tapped to adjust the temperature and cook time, and a little red stone that you can tap to turn it on. All it took was the stone drawing a few points of Mana from you.

  The rest of the party had bombarded me with questions while I was dicing up the veggies and chunks of sausage.

  This world had magic bags, both Zadina and Gorian had one, but they only reduced the weight and bulk of the items they held.

  “You mean to tell me that it just makes the items disappear, and then you can get it back?” Justin made an exploding motion with his hand for emphasis. “Like you’re putting it into the ether… or another world?”

  I shrugged as I minced the herbs. I didn’t mention the stacking, which would really blow his mind, I wasn’t even sure myself what that implied. The physics didn’t make sense to me at all, what little I could still grasp from Steve’s time.

  Maybe it’s compressing similar matter? That still made no sense…

  “So it keeps everything fresh?” Serina asked, biting into a slice of baguette with butter. She did a double take and took another bite.

  “Yes, time seems to stop for items inside it.”

  “So could it keep the wounded alive?” Gorian gnawed on his own bread.

  “How about a fireball? Can you store the start of one, and have, like a bank of them?” Justin jumped in as usual.

  That drew my attention, Justin sometimes has some brilliant ideas. However, I already tried putting fire in a slot. It was the obvious thing to try.

  Everyone likes playing with fire, even a girl of the shadows.

  “No, the bracelet wouldn’t let me put anything living or hot inside.”

  Maybe the way it freezes time was by actually freezing items, but the items weren't cold when I brought them out. The only other reason I could think of was that energy was trapped inside of whatever dimension the slots were in, and too much heat would destabilize it.

  The stew in the pot bubbled, filling the air with the aroma of savory sausage and onions. Everyone waited around the fire with their now cleaned cups held in eager anticipation. I ladled a generous helping to each of them.

  “Oh, this is good… So damn good. Yeah, no more ready-to-eat gruel for me as well, Liege!” Justin mumbled between slurps from his cup. “We’re only going to travel with you from now on.”

  I had gotten quite used to being the “little helper mouse” in the kitchen. Everyone kept calling me to help with various tasks, and I had gotten quite good at them. Even Chef Borin would always ask me to help chop and stir his signature stew, and he’d sneak me a cookie once I was done.

  Perhaps, he had already seen through my disguise.

  —

  Dinner was a time for tales by the fire, the men would tell their stories, made-up or half-true, to stir up laughter or excitement, and sometimes a sermon of divine encouragement from my lips. I spoke less as the lifetimes wore on.

  Gorian told of their previous dungeon with Winthrop, just a tale of how they came together to finally defeat the dungeon. Inspiring words that had even Zadina nodding. Everyone added their own little bits. Everyone except for me, of course.

  After the stew settled comfortably in our stomachs, Serina made tea, and I gladly accepted a cup from her. The smooth earthy scent filled my nostrils, sending a relaxing sensation percolating through me. It was a bit different than Mama’s stronger, black tea. I didn’t need milk with this one.

  Everyone eased into their own routine. Gorian was enjoying his pipe. Kamuel was reading a book. Serina was contemplating her tea in silent meditation. And Justin… was goofing off by flicking sparks into the air with his fingers.

  Only Zadina wasn’t doing anything other than watching me. I tried to ignore those icy blue eyes.

  I needed to review what I had reaped from the fight, especially since I leveled.

  Open Status Screen.

  My HP and Mana had recovered only slightly, and of course my stats had increased from the level. But the main thing I noticed was the 68 Soul Points. It was an increase of 17 from when we entered the dungeon, but I was sure I had killed at least twenty goblins.

  Perhaps some goblins gave a partial Soul Point? This is all such a mystery to me… What would happen if it went over 100?

  I had gained a little over 800 XP. While this was a bit, we had killed a lot of goblins, not to mention a mini-boss, or whatever a gatekeeper was, and the limiter had been removed.

  So shouldn’t it be a lot more?

  My eyes met Zadina’s and I realized the answer.

  She’s level 17, and the rest of the Valiant Fist are 9 or higher. I on the other hand am just level 3 and was at 2 during the fight.

  Back in the murky past, I had played some games that applied an experience penalty if the party’s levels were too far apart, to prevent higher level players from power leveling… newbies.

  But weren’t those online games?

  The terms and mechanics all felt so alien to me now. It was a completely different world. Looking up at the tiled ceiling and the stripped wires hanging off of it, I began to wonder once again what might’ve happened to that world.

  Is this world a future of my original modern world? What had happened to everyone…

  Goosebumps crawled over my skin, forcing me to shudder. I focused my mind on other thoughts.

  I have 5 skill points to use…

  As always, the urge to hoard points was strong in me. I decided not to upgrade my masteries because I figured I could do that on my own through practice. And [Focus Cast] I could sort of already do on my own by manipulating the flow of magic, maybe it would come in the wild to me in time.

  [Drain Touch] being temporary made it rather underwhelming for me, and I was hesitant to spend points on [Void Strike].

  Why would I need another source of damage when I have [Shadow Spike].

  I had tried to form the [Shadow Shroud] on my own, but no matter how much I tried to shape the shadows—I even tried sewing using shadow threads—I couldn’t form a cloak that I could put around myself.

  My hand tugged at the loose-fitting robe from Serina that I still had on. The leather jacket I had on before didn’t provide much protection, and there wasn’t any chain or plate armor that fit me back home, plus they all felt much too restrictive.

  The description for the spell was now really tempting.

  From the description I was guessing the spell added my [Mental] to my [Def] when I am attacked, since it wouldn’t make any sense otherwise. That would be huge since my [Mental] is close to double my [Def].

  My eyes met Zadina’s again. She was my main concern about using shadow spells, but she had seen my shadow fingers and hadn’t said a word.

  Maybe it’s safe.

  I selected [Shadow Shroud] and skill points decreased by one.

  Having learned [Seduce], there wasn’t another Mind spell for me to learn.

  I might need [Mind Mastery II]...

  My mind screeched to a halt.

  [Seduce] and [Dazzle]... During my attack on the line, I could have made things easier if I used one of those spells.

  Wanting to groan, I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration.

  I could have turned them against each other and made it through without taking all that damage. I was so engrossed in nostalgia back then that I had lost situational awareness!

  Zadina nudged me with concern in her eyes.

  “I’m… fine.”

  There was one concern with using [Seduce]. I couldn’t find any mention of shadow spells in the books, but [Seduce] was in the forbidden section of our House Library. There was also the barest mention of the [Sorcerer] class, some of which had been scratched out.

  It seems the last Sorcerer must’ve made a really bad impression.

  I wasn’t sure if I should care. I had tried to play by the church rules back then and all it got me was burning at the stake. Here, glancing over at Zadina, I was fairly confident I could take her on if I must.

  The only question was if using the spell would benefit me at all in the long run. “Does a party member need to be part of a fight to gain experience for leveling? Can I stay back and use a pet… or a summon or something?”

  I wasn’t sure if I used the right jargon, but I tried to use terms I’d read in books and none of the others seemed confused by my words.

  “That came out of nowhere.” Justin looked up from his sparks.

  “She’s thinking rationally. It’d be good for her to stay back since she’s hurt,” Kamuel said, putting down his book. “It depends on your class, but usually just contributing to the fight in any way you can will help you gain experience. Even prayers work for me. You will know when you get a recap in your mind after the encounter, you felt it in the last fight, right?”

  I dipped my head, recalling the images flashing in my mind.

  Gorian set down his pipe. “Don’t tell me, you have a pet, or a summon? Or are you some sort of monster tamer as well?”

  One of my hairbands had snapped during the fight and my fingers were busy attempting to fix my ponytail. “Well, not exactly…”

  —

  “This… is… not… what I was expecting.” Gorian said as we marched behind the lumbering hulk in front of us.

  “Awwoooll!”

  The six-foot-tall figure with a jackal's head threw its head back and howled. It raised its twin hatchets, hurling itself at the two stone golems standing at guard.

  After packing up camp, we didn’t encounter many monsters on our way toward the first floor exit. Not live ones at least.

  The path there was littered by corpses of wolves, boars, giant bats, and reptilian kobolds. All of them were gutted, skinned, and thoroughly scavenged, probably by the goblin horde on their way up here.

  Only the ambush monsters that stayed hidden were left. A few slimes had dropped down at us from the ceiling. One came for my head, and I was ready to slice it apart but Zadina smashed it out of the air with her hammer.

  “Pay attention! You’re on watch for what’s above.” She glowered at Justin.

  But Justin was pointing to a side passageway, his fingers trembling. “Gnoll!”

  A giant humanoid figure leaped out of the darkness, landing with a thud in our midst. Sharp pointed teeth lined its canine jaw as it barked at us, snorting jets of white steam out of its nostrils.

  It raised its dual hatchets. Gorian pulled up his sword. Zadina lifted her hammer. But I was faster than all of them.

  “Wait!” I directed a spell at the gnoll.

  [Seduce]

  The flow of magic spiraled into the oncoming beast. The bark turned to a whimper. Its brown eyes widened, showing the whites around it. The snarl lined with sharp teeth went slack, and its tongue hung out of its mouth as it began panting at me, turning almost puppy-like.

  “Lead,” I commanded and pointed down the hallway. Thankfully, it was smart enough to understand and began trudging toward the front.

  Everyone else, however, was rooted in place with their jaws hanging as the towering half-jackal figure lumbered past them.

  The gnoll made our next couple encounters a breeze. It dashed up to a giant python that slithered out of a hole in the wall and segmented it into three with its hatchets. When three kobolds jumped out, the gnoll chopped the spear of the first one in half, knocked the other one out with a kick of its clawed feet, and chopped the head off the last one. We didn’t have to do anything other than watch the ensuing blood bath and check for loot afterwards.

  As usual there wasn’t much.

  Once they recovered, the others told me that a gnoll was usually a monster they’d encounter at the fourth level of the dungeon.

  So it was another transplant.

  Now, the gnoll was charging at the gatekeepers of the first level: two stone golems that stood like giant grey statues at the exit.

  Clink! Clink!

  The blades of the hatchets drew sparks as they scored the stone surface of the golems, but the pair had little effect otherwise. One golem swiped at the gnoll with its stone fist. The gnoll dodged, but was sent reeling back by a kick from the other golem. The whine that escaped its lips made me want to charge to its aid.

  I can’t help it, one of my men is in danger, even if he’s a monster.

  Zadina waved me back. “You’ve pulled more than your share of weight.” She gestured to Gorian and the pair of them surged forward to join the fray.

  A rhythmic chant filled the air, as arrows sailed, and a streak of flame charred the stone. Stone cracked and crumbled as Zadina hammered a shoulder. The golem stumbled and the black, blocky hammer-head caved in half the golem’s face.

  Gorian had more trouble with his opponent, dodging counter attacks as he chipped away at a leg with his greatsword. The sound of metal scratching stone grated my ears. Finally, the sword cleaved clean through the leg. A hatchet struck the golem from behind, knocking it to the ground, and the gnoll stomped on its head for good measure.

  It stood there, its bare chest heaving up and down with a nasty dark bruise on one side. His gaze was stuck on me, awaiting my command.

  The spell never specified how long it’d last.

  Serina crouched down, picking up an uncut yellow crystal the size of a cherry from the rubble. “That makes eleven magic stones from these and those goblins. A good haul.”

  “That’s unheard of for the first level. Shows how messed up things are. Those things shouldn’t even be here.” Justin gestured to the gnoll from behind Kamuel, his eyes still fearful. “Still can’t believe that is on our side…”

  “What matters is that we’re through.” Gorian growled, waving us forward. “Let’s go next.”