"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Leo asks me.
"It'll be fine, I'll protect her."
"Hey... um... Camaella?" Anduda asks while holding on to my arm. "I really don't think I am ready to go into this place..."
We are standing outside of Korus dungeon, everyone is checking their gear and making sure they have everything ready.
"Nothing will even get close to you, we have the wolves from here too." The wolves look up from in front of me. Luckily, after another good nights rest, my movements have become a little better. Not perfect, but I can mostly stand on my own, and if I am really careful I can walk short distances without falling.
"Okay..." Anduda says shyly. If you keep acting like a little child I swear I am going to start treating you like one.
"Alright, let's actually make the party now. Were lucky parties go up to 10..." Leo says looking at everyone, with Anduda included we are at 9 people.
I get a party invite from Leo, I join it and send an invite to Anduda. After we confirm that everyone is in the party the tanks move to the front, and we all follow slowly behind, with me, Nabe, Inglis, and Anduda at the back. So far our formation is Zorae and Roana at the front, Leo and Melina behind them with their swords. Reggie is right behind them with his bow, and then our group in the back.
"Two wolves!" Zorae calls, my wolves start to growl and I calm them down, as there is no need for them to fight.
The enemy wolves smash into their shields, sending a loud metal clang echoing through the hall. Anduda clings a little harder to my arm from the sound.
"Hey..." I get on a knee next to her. "What's up with you?"
"I just... I don't know..." She gets a little closer to me, shaking slightly. "I am... really scared for some reason..." Is the body actually affecting their mental age?! I know she looks kind of young, but all of the characters that you play as never had a specified age...
"It's okay," I rub her shoulder, "really, I'll protect you, you don't need to be so worried."
"I can't help it..."
"Do you need me to carry you?" I tease.
"Maybe..." Huh!?
"Look, do you trust me?"
"Of course..."
"Then trust my words, you will be fine."
"Okay..."
I stand up, wobbling slightly as I steady myself. One of the wolves dies, and Anduda startles slightly causing me to look down at them.
"Are you okay?" I ask, a little worried.
"Yeah... I'm fine... I just wasn't ready for all the level up menus..." Oh, right, yeah they are going to get a lot of those...
"Well this is a second to final area dungeon so..." I scratch my cheek.
"Wait... you are... we are in a late game dungeon right now?!"
"Yeah?"
She punches my hip a few times, don't act cute like that, I am going to start pinching your cheeks if you keep that up.
"God. Fucking. Damnit. Asshole!" She breaths heavily. "I told you I am not ready for this..." She grabs back onto my arm.
"And I told you I will protect you."
"mmmmmm." She begrudgingly hums, but nods. Jesus christ you baby... it is funny to see you act like this but I am concerned this is doing too much to you sometimes.
The other wolf falls and I see her eyes flip between a few points in front of her. Everyone relaxes for a second.
"Thanks for letting me get used to my shield." Roana says, "If they die too fast I'm afraid that we won't get enough practice in..." She gestures to Zorae.
"Of course, everyone needs to practice. Oh shit... Um?" Leo turns our way. "What is Anduda's class?"
"Little gremlin did a summoner." I smirk at them, but they don't react... Well that's no fun...
"Alright, what can you summon right now?"
"I... I don't remember..." Anduda says.
"You can check your spells you know." I say.
"Oh..." They pull up a menu and start looking through some things. "It says I can summon Shade Wolves and I have a few buffing skills..."
"Those wolves probably wouldn't survive here yet, wait till you are at a higher level to summon them." I say, "What buffs do you have?"
"Basic resistance and stamina buffs..."
"Do you want to try to cast them on me?" I ask.
"I guess I can try..."
"Alright, just consider me as the target of the spell, and then think of what the spell does, after that think of the name."
"Okay..." She focuses on my face, and after a few moments I feel a small film over my skin.
"Good."
"Oh... Did it work?"
"I believe so, yes. You should be able to cast it on multiple people." She looks to the others, after a few moments some of their eyes go wide and Reggie runs his hand over his arm.
"That feels a little odd." Reggie says.
I look back to Anduda to see her wobbling slightly. "Shit... stop the spell, now."
I feel the film fade and she wobbles a little more. "I'm sorry, I should have thought about the mana usage. Once we get back you can apply all your points and get some better spells." I... fuck I really should have thought of that...
"Okay..." She says tiredly.
I take a small mana potion out of my inventory and give it to her. "Here, this should help." She takes it and pops the cork off, drinking it slowly. After a few seconds her eyes start to get energy back and she seems to feel better.
"Ready to continue?" I ask.
"Not really... but I guess..." She says.
"You'll get used to it, I understand you are under leveled for this, but you will catch up fairly quick."
"Alright..."
I nod to the others, and we continue forward. I turn to Nabe, "What buffing spells do you have?" I ask him.
"Not a whole lot... I um... focused almost entirely on healing spells, so I just have some mid-tier defense and health buffs..." He says, looking to the floor. Why do you seem embarrassed about that?
"What's wrong?" I ask him, curious about it.
"Oh I... I um... I just feel stupid now..."
"Why?" I ask him, tilting my head.
"I just... I shouldn't have focused so hard on healing magic... looking back on it..." Huh?
"What are you talking about?" Inglis asks from behind me. "If you didn't focus on healing magic, you wouldn't have as many high level healing spells. You know how many times those high level spells can save the party?" He says.
"But... I feel like I am not really able to do much unless someone gets hurt, and I don't want to waste my mana on mid-level buffs when we aren't in a huge amount of danger of damage..." I still don't even know what my limit on mana even is... I put countless points into it...
"That's fine? I don't understand why you are so worried about it, your spells will save our lives one day."
"If... if you say so..." Nabe looks to the side. Man... this is going to be one hell of a dungeon run...
"If you want," I turn to Anduda, "you can spec into buffs with one or two really high level summons."
"Would... Would that help?" She asks.
"Of course, you can always cast your buffs on your summons to make them stronger too."
She seems to get a little excited at that. "Okay." I'm... I'm starting to feel like you are really becoming my little sister here... You acted normal outside except for a few small occasions... but in here, you are so timid... And why the actual fuck do you look so cute when you are hiding your excitement!?
We continue forward, reaching where I woke up, and soon passing it. Luckily I have only tripped a few times and have been able to save myself from falling by using the wall. We find a group of 3 wolves, Inglis skewers one with an ice sword while Reggie puts an arrow into another ones eye. The last one panics and smashes against Zorae's shield before falling over and getting finished off by Leo.
"That looked pretty good from back here." I say.
"As long as we keep up the teamwork we shouldn't have any issues, but the wolves definitely seem a little more intelligent now." Melina says.
I look down to Anduda as they start to talk about tactics, she seems to be getting used to being here and has loosened up a little. "Feeling better?"
"A little... It's still a little scary for some reason..." I wonder if it has to do with your level... Maybe your subconscious knows you can't fight these and is trying to make you run...
"I think it will get better as you level up more."
"I hope so... this sucks ass..." There's a little bit of my brother... sister? I don't know.
I look back up to the others as they finish talking, Leo turns to me. "Camaella, do you want to take the next batch?"
"Sure." I shrug, "Can you guys protect Anduda for me?"
"Of course." Leo says. "I don't want your wrath by letting her get hurt... I saw enough of that in town square..." He shivers. Damn right...
I walk forward, Anduda still holding on to my arm, "You are going to need to let go... you know that right?"
"I... yeah... I just... I don't want to..." God fucking damnit stop acting so cute you little shit!
Melina walks over. "Here." She holds out her hand, "Once she is done practicing her spells she will be back, you can use me to keep calm for now." She says in a motherly way. I would be a little surprised if this works-
Anduda grabs her hand and shuffles to her. Huh... I am still worried this is affecting you mentally more than it should...
I continue to walk forward opening up my inventory and flipping to my armor page, equipping a set of medium armor, replacing my clothes seamlessly. Thank god I didn't flash anyone...
The black leather bracers appearing on my forearms. The black top with silver-ish lining and straps that go over my shoulders, dark metal plates protecting my torso. A black, almost weightless skirt with 2 slits on the front falls to the middle of my shins. Tighter leather pants than I am used to with padded leather boots fit on underneath it. I realize that this outfit is a lot more embarrassing to wear than I thought it was going to be...
"Well damn, a fashion show alongside you kicking ass?" Reggie says.
"I used to make all kinds of armor... I really liked how customizable each piece was, so I kind of went ham on it..." I say turning away from them. "I just was never expecting to be the one wearing it..." I always tried to make them look good though, alongside practical stuff, like the torso armor. With my character being a mage and all, heavy armor doesn't really fit the aesthetic...
"I'm not complaining." Reggie gives me two thumbs up.
"I'll freeze your eyes shut if you keep looking at me like that."
"Mrow hiss." He says, taking a step back.
"Dumbass..."
I continue forward and start to walk past the tanks. "Wait, why are you going to the front?" Roana asks.
"I play solo, remember?"
"Yeah but..."
"I know, I'll help with teamwork for the rest of it, I just want to show off in front of my little sister." I say with a smirk, causing her to huff in annoyance.