“Mmm...” I groan a little, so relieved when the pain recedes. Once I'm healed up, the healer moves on and I stand and look over at Ruwi again. The sight makes me flinch. She still has healers all around her, including the one that just finished with me. Huge burns stretch across the whole front of her body, with most of her burned up armor scattered on the ground around her.

She just got up and shook herself off? Hurt like that?!

I stumble a step toward her. “Ruwi, I'm so sorry!” I exclaim, still staring her up and down.

“Bah, just doing my job.” She waves it off. “Besides, you called out the monster, someone else would've gotten blown away without warning otherwise. Even pulled me after you once you got clear and saved me way worse burns than this much.”

She flashes a huge grin, aimed at Lirushik next to me. “Someone would've died if not for you. Looks like you can pull some weight after all.” Lirushik shrugs in response to her comment, but doesn't say anything. “On that note... Instructor Lirushik, I believe Yumi earned that staff, don't you?”

“Tch,” he clicks his tongue. “Not why I took it. This thing is way too dangerous to leave it in the hands of someone like her.” That draws looks from everyone, even the students maintaining our defensive circle.

“What do you mean, 'someone like her?'” Ruwi asks warily.

“She has a history. It's not my place to get into it, you'll learn more about it later. But it makes her a risk. She can't be trusted with dangerous objects like this because they'll be far too likely to fall into the wrong hands later.”

Ruwi frowns deeply. “A history? What kind of history could she possibly have...?” She glances over me, and I look away guiltily. Should I tell them I used to be a slave? No, Lirushik clearly said it's not his place to tell them, and that they haven't learned about it yet, so he'd probably get mad if I brought it up now.

“Besides, what do you mean, fall into the wrong hands? I don't get it,” Ruwi keeps on anyway.

Lirushik flatly responds, “Anything given to her, she's likely to give away.”

“Huh?” Ruwi's response is mirrored by half the class at Lirushik's words. “That doesn't make any sense.”

“Oh really?” he sighs tiredly, then eyes Ruwi more closely, looking over the burns the healers are still working on. “Yeah, we have the time,” he thinks aloud. “Here, I'll show you.”

Lirushik turns to me, stepping right up in front of me, just a little closer than feels comfortable. “Yumi.” His commanding tone instantly makes me stand up straight. “Give me all your clothing.”

“Huh?” Did he really just tell me to do that? But he looks so serious...

“The hell?!” Ruwi exclaims from the side, but he raises a hand to stop her protests.

“Yumi.” All he needs to do is say my name with that tone, and that glare on his scary face, and I start to bow my head.

But he-

Why-?

They're mine...

He's not even my master!

Lirushik plants his hands on his hips. “Don't make me repeat myself.”

Lowering my head, I can't meet his gaze, can't look at that disappointed glower. “B-but... I... I...” I mumble uselessly. This is wrong, he's just trying to prove his point, right? It's not like he'd do something to me... right?

“Now.”

My entire body shudders against my will. One look up tells me, he will not take no for an answer. I send a panicked glance around, but none of the others here will help me either. All at once, the darkness is closing in around me, all alone again.

My breath comes fast and I squeeze my eyes shut. I can't take it. I don't know what he'll do to me. If I just obey, let him prove his point, then he'll stop... Right?

I stare at the ground, darkness ringing in my vision as I fight for breath. “Y-yes sir...” I whisper. My shaking hands come up to obey, starting to pull my shirt off. I have it most of the way to my shoulders before his hand comes down, whacking me lightly on the head. It makes me stagger a little, looking back up at him in confusion, my heart still pounding in my ears. Did I do it wrong? Did I take too long? Is he angry?

“Stop. I've made my point,” he says, waving me off, and I stand there with tears threatening, uncertainly holding my shirt halfway up my chest, unsure what to do next.

Then Lirushik turns back to Ruwi, gaze sweeping over all of the gaping, dumbfounded students. “As you can see, she will give anything, to anyone, if commanded to do so. Not the kind of person who should carry an extremely dangerous magical weapon.”

Oh god, when he puts it like that... I cover my face with my hands.

I can't do this, I crouch down to the ground, shaking. I'm so useless on my own, I'm so damn obedient, I can't even say no to someone like him who knows how to handle me properly... Even when I know what he's doing, I completely cave anyway...

He's right, I don't deserve the staff. I'm not good enough for it, it'll just be taken from me anyway...

This time, no one says anything. Even Ruwi is too shocked to come up with a response. Before she can recover enough to try again, the healers finish up with her burns, and Lirushik calls for everyone to move on.

Our descent through the cave continues in near silence, for a long time, only broken up by the occasional monster attack, but they're less frequent than before. I try to push down my shame and focus on the task. I can think about things later.

We head down a few more levels, before the fighting picks up again. There aren't really well defined floors, especially since the cave ascends and descends at least a little, almost all the time.

But, the occasional passage leading on a hard decline gives that feeling anyway. I'd estimate we're on the fourteenth or fifteenth floor when the little dots of ambient mana, so thick here that they cover my view almost as much as the surrounding darkness, end up blending into that darkness. Basically all other colors have fallen away, leaving nothing but black.

Does that mean we're at the bottom? The source? Basically the boss of the dungeon? By this point, giant hulks are the most common things we've been finding. What sort of monstrosity will the boss be?

When a mage calls out that we've reached the bottom, everyone forms up again. Just like the last times, Lirushik goes over everyone, making sure they understand their duties. He puts Ruwi on reserve, in case things look dangerous, since she's only wearing some spare replacement armor, and most of hers is wrecked in her bag.

Then he gets to me. “Yumi, you're most useful on support. Keep the area lit as well as you can so we don't need to worry about any surprises.” I open my mouth a little, but I don't know. I'm supposed to be an attacker, but I guess I really am best at support like I am now...

Besides, it's not like I can talk back to him at all...

“Yes, sir...”

There's some more discussion, and I start slow forming my spell now so it'll be ready when we go in.

I think I have an idea for how to make it work, but it's going to take time, and light magic is really expensive, so I immediately start absorbing mana, but damn, it's hot and heavy and burns everywhere. My head starts to pound and I waver on my feet as I work. I do my best to channel as much as I can straight into the magic without absorbing it, trying to get it done as efficiently as possible.

By the time Lirushik finishes up speaking and we're moving in, I think my spell is ready. And that's good, because I think I'm going to be sick...

Stepping into the room, I do my job, and throw my spell high up toward the ceiling. A little way up, I trigger it, so it chains into a number of separate lights, all spreading slowly in different directions.

When they fade, the split again, and by this point, we have a pretty good view of the room. And that's good, because the boss is enormous. It looks like some sort of spiked centipede, with way too many legs, sprawled all through the room. The fighters charge, and the mages start lobbing their spells at it, one after another.

I keep an eye on my magic, tweaking things with mana control, but for the most part, I just watch. It's... Mmmm... I'm doing my job, but it still feels like I'm not helping much. Logically, I realize how helpful clear visibility is, but it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like what I should be doing.

Even so, I do my job as commanded. While the frontline cuts into the boss, and it starts writhing and dashing around the room, its spiny, horrible legs flailing at them angrily, I keep an eye on the light. My spells are starting to fizzle, releasing the next wave, to keep the room lit longer.

Standing right near the room's entrance, out of the way where I won't be targeted, I watch them chase the boss, until it works itself into a rage and spins all over the place, forcing the tanks to circle up and hunker down until it wears itself out. Then they all dive in again, cutting into it, lopping off legs, and spilling its eerie green blood all over the ground, before they dissipate into more dark mana, filling the room more and more.

It makes me wonder, if the pitch black mana is created by the boss monster, what happens to it after we kill the boss?

Glancing back up, I see the third iteration of my lights fizzle, and start pushing on the shortest one. Just before it runs out, it hits the next over, synergizes, and refreshes both. I keep circling them around the room, synergizing repeatedly, until there's only one left, bigger and longer lasting. It casts more light, but not quite as much as the multiple lights earlier, so the room is a bit more dim.

“Light is running out!” I shout into the room to warn them. I bought them almost three minutes, that was my limit for lighting such a large room, even with a longer cast spell. Well, I suppose I can eke a little more time out of it. Thinking as much, I throw simple light elements at the bright one in the middle of the room whenever I can, pulling more of the disgusting ambient mana to keep my mana high enough.

Still, each one only refreshes so much of the duration, and I can't cast faster than it's running out. They're finishing up, the boss looks a lot less lively than earlier, entire sections of legs severed, with huge gashes all over its body. I guess it shows how durable huge monsters can be that it's still alive with so much damage.

All Lirushik told me to do was provide light, and mine is almost out. The fighters are starting to get a bit more timid, less certain of their movement as the light dims. They still have their torches for backup, but they won't help keep track of the huge boss' movement.

Steeling myself, I push harder, throwing more light spells and dipping into mana exhaustion repeatedly, even as I keep pulling as much as I can. Why is light magic so damn expensive? Because it's not what I'm supposed to be doing?

I don't know, and the nausea is quickly pushing all of those thoughts out of mind. Sinking against a wall, I bolster the light magic again, every cast sending a wave of nausea, then pain, through my body. Everything starts to burn as I continue absorbing more and more of the black mana, until my consciousness starts to fade in and out.

The next thing I know, I'm being shaken, staring stupidly into the room as I keep trying to cast. “Yumi, we're done.” It's Ruwi. I try to answer, but the overwhelming wave of nausea and agony burning through my veins, causes me to turn and throw up against the wall. “Hey, are you alright?” she immediately asks, looking me over.

“Fine...” I stumble through the answer, feeling like the wall is the only thing holding me up. The acid smell of my own puke starts to fill the area, making me grimace and my stomach turn again.

“You don't look fine...” Then she grabs me and carries me over to the others. “Hey, Yumi looks out of it.”

“What happened?” asks a healer, and they all start looking me over.

“It's fine,” I repeat, anxious about their attention, even through the pain and sickness. “Just some sickness from absorbing too much mana.”

For some reason, they collectively flinch. “You absorbed that?!” one girl asks.

“...Yes?”

She facepalms. “Corrupted mana is really bad for you. You can't just absorb a bunch of it or you'll get mana poisoning. Hrinth!” The blond comes over from where she was standing nearby and asks what it is, but she's eyeing me already.

“Yumi absorbed corrupted mana, she probably has mana poisoning.”

“She did... ugh...” she groans. Then she puts a hand to my head and closes her eyes. I see her take on a faint glow as she starts, and feel the trickle of magic trying to push into me. I pull it in, and it hurts a little, trying to burn away the corrupted mana inside me.

“Oh crap, how much did you absorb?!” Hrinth suddenly gasps. “What kind of idiot just keeps drinking poison?!” She leans forward a little, lips parting slightly for just a moment, and I think she's about to kiss me again, but she stops. There an odd look in her eyes I can't quite read, before she turns away and calls, “Beck, come over here.”

Off near the other side of the room, the other Enchanter in the group is helping collect the piles of leftover materials from the giant boss. He looks over, shouting, “What is it?”

“Come here, I need some help.”

“Ugh, fine.” He passes off the items in his arms to another person and walks over. “Yeah?” he asks irritably.

“Yumi has mana poisoning, I need some help fixing it,” Hrinth explains.

“Oh? Why not just make out with her again?” he jeers. For some reason, Hrinth doesn't answer, and just looks away. “This wouldn't be a problem if you practiced enchanting correctly more, you know.” Even when he scolds her, she doesn't say anything. So he snorts through his nose, and raises a hand alongside hers.

I feel his magic join, far stronger than Hrinths, and working together, it quickly soaks in, pushing away the dark muck that feels like it's seeped into my every pore. It gets easier to focus, and I don't feel so heavy, tired, and sick.

As they work, the burning begins to overtake the dark feeling, growing stronger and stronger, until I'm gritting my teeth, the fire hot and painful, like it's searing my nerves away. My shoulders shake, eyes filling with tears. This is almost as bad as a harsh slave punishment...

My knees go weak, and I'm just beginning to crouch down, mind fleeing from the pain before Hrinth says, “That's enough. I think she's at her limit.” While the pain quickly fades, the heat sinking into my bones and cooling, I shudder a little, and look up to see her extending a hand to stop Beck.

“I'm surprised she lasted that long, I think we got most of the corruption. That's some pain tolerance.” As he says, I still feel little bits of nausea hanging around. It's nothing compared to what I'm used to though, hardly even a bother at this point.

But after all of that, I have to ask... “Hey, what is corrupted mana?”

All eyes turn to me in shock. “You don't know?” The looks make me curl back up where I'm crouched, the shame and anxiety going right to my cheeks. That's all they need to see.

Hrinth sighs. “Corrupted mana is released in areas like this, it's what creates all of these monsters. It's not like normal ambient mana, it's seriously bad for you. If you absorb it, it basically makes your body shut down. It'll knock you out for days while your own magic tries to cleanse it. It's basically the same as when it tries to cleanse the foreign mana we use for our enchantments.”

“Oh.”

At my non-response, Hrinth frowns grumpily and puts her hands on her hips. “Even if you didn't know about it, why did you absorb so much corrupted mana anyway? What could you possibly need so much mana for?”

I blush, even more ashamed now that she's back to scolding me. “It was really hard to keep the room lit like that...”

“That much mana, just for light? What's wrong with your spells...?”

“I'm an Offensive Magic Job, my spells are flexible, but working like a support is really hard for me. I only have like five hundred mana, and my light magic costs about ten times more than my other magic...”

That draws a grimace from everyone. “Ooh, I have two thousand five hundred...” Hrinth hisses. “How have you managed as an adventurer this long? They wouldn't even let us go on practice quests until we were Rank ten.”

“I had people to help me. They protected me.”

“Mm...” she looks disconcerted.

Then Ruwi jumps back in, a heavy hand patting me on the back. Even though it feels like she's trying to do it softly, it still makes me stagger a little. “Aren't you twenty four though? How are you still so low rank? I remember making that many Ranks in like, a year, even as a kid. It isn't that hard to Rank up as a Synergist, is it?”

“Well, no...” I leveled from a couple days of casting spells on the walk out here after all. “Like the guild receptionist said, I have a unique history. I wasn't able to Rank up at all until a couple years ago, and even then, it was really hard. My situation basically left me unable to gain any favor, except from special circumstances.”

“Hey, you mentioned that. You said you didn't get any favor from casting spells, but now you do. How does that work?” Ruwi asks, drawing surprised looks from the others who weren't there for that conversation.

“I... well, I don't think I'm supposed to tell you about that. I think you're supposed to learn about it in class first...”

“Mm, in that case: Instructor Lirushik!” she shouts to him where he's still directing the students as they finish picking up the loot. There's a lot of it from such a big boss. I wonder how much it all sells for, and what they make out of it...?

“Hold on!” he yells back. Once they finish up and he comes over, he asks what she wants now.