Zalkri grit his teeth, gasping for breath. Tears formed at the edges of his eyes as I forced mana into him. "Stop!" he yelled, after only fifty seconds, collapsing to the ground the moment I cut off the flows of mana. He managed to roll onto his back, where he lay panting.

At least that was twenty seconds longer than Bluvre had lasted. He was out cold on the floor, with only an occasional twitch to show that he was still alive.

"Wimps," laughed Cluma, whose overuse of death magic had left her needing three recharges already. We weren't even halfway through the dungeon yet! Luckily, she no longer needed to stop and sit while I refilled her mana. Whatever she said about getting used to it, I was certain now that wasn't the whole story. [Mana Sight] showed me that with each recharge, the inflammation of her mana veins was less. Her body was adapting to the higher mana flows.

While it seemed beneficial, that didn't change the fact that I was seemingly changing her biology. Was this what I did to Darren, and I'd just lacked the ability to see it? Would there be any harmful side effects? Honestly, I wanted to stop, but Cluma insisted she was fine, and that we should continue. Perhaps there would be another bearer of the [Self-Destructive] title before long.

But, while Cluma was improving, the dogkin were having a bad time. [Analysis] showed that Bluvre had lost health during his attempt, and [Mana Sight] showed that both of their mana veins had ended up in a far worse state than Cluma's, even compared to her first go. Was it because they were dogkin? Because they had larger pools than Cluma? Because they were older, or less adaptable? Whatever the reason, Vyre had forbidden any further full-powered experiments, and once our pair of experimental guinea pigs had recovered, we again set off on our way.

What I could do was a far slower recharge while moving, giving all four of them a five times boost. It was better than nothing, and let them lean more heavily on [Stealth] than they otherwise would have, but they still couldn't use it with impunity. Not that they needed to. Any individual out of our party of six could solo every group we came across without expending a single point of mana. But it was still useful to them, letting them train skills that they otherwise needed to keep in reserve. Splitting the flow of mana into four, while tightly controlling the flow rate, also gained me another level of [Expert Mana Finesse].

That state of affairs continued all the way to floor ten, the only slight mishap being when Cluma set off a dart trap while Kelja was standing between her and the launch site. He dodged, but twisted an ankle in the process. My questions about how these dogkin coped without a healer in the party were answered as I watched him hop after us for a minute, followed by a couple more minutes of limping, after which he was walking completely normally. All four of them had second rank health pool and healing skills.

I was... weirdly inconsistent. Years ago, I'd been risking my life by rushing onto dungeon floors I wasn't ready for, and conducting dangerous experiments on a regular basis. Now I had skills that would greatly benefit from faster healing, and a title that would let me get rank three healing skills if only I trained them, yet I had refused to do so. I'd promised myself a long time ago that I wasn't going to fear pain, and now here I was, wasting my potential, and then complaining because Cluma was overtaking me.

"Cluma?" I asked the empty air where my active [Mana Sight] assured me she was. "Once we're done here today, can you do me a favour and hit me with [Minor Harm] a few times? And don't let me chicken out."

"Whu?" she asked, not having been privy to my internal monologue.

"I want to train [Enlarged Health Pool] and [Accelerated Healing]."

"But I can't use that spell on people. Can I?"

She sounded confused. The Law would obviously prevent her from hitting anyone with that spell, yet now I was asking for it. I could imagine that resulting in some amount of cognitive dissonance.

"Personally, I just used a sharp knife to cut myself," said Vyre.

"I can happily walk solo onto floor ten and almost get myself killed, yet I can't injure myself, even though I know it's comparatively a lot safer," I complained. "Yes, I know it's inconsistent and illogical. When it comes to it, I'll probably change my mind about letting Cluma zap me too. That's why I'm asking now, rather than when she'd be able to do it immediately."

I might have to, though. Cluma had frozen up for a couple of seconds once we stopped talking, and I suspected my request had been wiped from her memory. I'd have to wait and see if she mentioned it once we left the dungeon. Which wouldn't be too long; the six of us had stepped through the tenth floor boss room doors and stood before the army.

"Okay," said Vyre. "Cluma, you'll open hostilities by assassinating the king. Me and Kelja will follow up with wide area attacks aimed at the melee fighters. Bluvre and Zalkri, use [Stealth] to infiltrate once we're done and go after the generals. Peter, take out the assassins with long ranged attacks, and do what you can to disrupt the sages. After that, us four will use melee only, to avoid catching you two in an area attack. Cluma, do the same. Peter, continue as long range support."

"What about the archers?" I asked.

"I don't think any of us are slow enough to let them hit us," Vyre replied with a shrug.

I nodded and prepared to unleash the lightning. I actually had to be careful now; this deep, and with my [Expert Mana Control], I was capable of overloading the glove. Thankfully, [Mana Sight] made it clear when that started to happen, so I could back off.

Bluvre and Zalkri vanished, but the goblin army didn't react. Nor did they react when Cluma confidently stepped over the line, although I did note that the two dogkin waited on this side of it. I shut off my active scanning, in case I gave away Cluma's position to the sages, and waited for the fight to begin.

The goblin king ducked, an expression of confusion on his face, before a spurt of blood burst from his back. I think Cluma had swung at his neck, anticipating him sensing the threat and dodging, and then followed up by piercing his heart from behind, but with my active scanning off, I wasn't certain. Regardless, he was dead, so I reacted immediately, lancing four assassins at a time with my lightning and successfully taking out every one of them before they stealthed themselves.

Vyre used a familiar arte, launching a wave of force in front of him and blasting an entire squad of goblin heroes ten metres backwards, their bodies bent horribly out of shape. Kelja used something I hadn't seen before, swinging a sword like normal, but bisecting every goblin from another hero squad despite them being at a distance. [Mana Sight] showed an echo of spatial affinity mana, and to my senses it looked very similar to [Far Reach], except that this was a combat arte, not a spell. It hadn't displaced the attack, but had simply enlarged it. It was as if Kelja had swung a sword ten metres long.

I continued with my lightning, picking off the knights. I attracted a rain of arrows, but for the most part, was able to parry and dodge. On the few occasions I was forced to use [Displacement], I redirected them behind me, unwilling to return them to the goblins without knowing Cluma's location.

Not that Cluma's location remained a mystery for long. The sages died one after another, blood spurting from magically inflicted neck wounds, hearts stabbed out or heads severed. Some threw up magical shields of flame, which were enough to repel Cluma, but she took out more than half of their ranks before the rest worked out how to protect themselves.

The rest of the fight was over quickly, with no injuries on our side beyond a few bruises, where a couple of Vyre's party had taken hits that hadn't penetrated their armour.

ding

Skill [Danger Sense] advanced to level 9

Not much in the way of gains for me, but I'd been using lightning instead of my combat artes or spells, and it no longer stressed my mana control.

"Is it over already?" asked the ghostly Cluma.

"Yup. That was it."

"Please, I beg you, don't say anything more than that," complained Vyre. "I don't think my ego could take it if you start calling that 'easy' or 'anticlimactic'."

"Anticlimactic, maybe," said Cluma, "but I still have questions. What was that fire shield the sages used? How are melee fighters supposed to penetrate that?"

"You can use your bow. Your arrows would burn up, but they should still get through intact enough to kill. Otherwise, wait for them to run out of mana, or grab dropped weapons from the other mobs to throw. They can't use offensive magic effectively while shielded, so it's fine to just ignore them and leave them till last."

We returned to the surface and waved goodbye to our temporary teammates. "Think we can do that tomorrow on our own?" I asked Cluma.

"I could do it by myself," she answered.

"Nope. I spent far too long being an overconfident idiot to let you fall into the same trap."

"It's not overconfidence. Not one of them could see me! Even when the goblin king, the strongest monster in the dungeon, dodged me, it was obvious he didn't know what was happening, and I could manipulate him into a position where dodging a follow-up blow was impossible."

"Still no. Now, do you remember what I asked earlier?"

"Hmm? About what?"

"Something I wanted you to do once we left the dungeon."

"No? You didn't say anything about plans for tonight."

So she really couldn't remember. "I wanted you to hit me with [Minor Harm]."

"But I can't use that spell on people, can I?" she asked, repeating word for what she'd said earlier.

"You can, but only with their permission," I answered, trying to push her thinking in a direction the Law would be happy with.

"Per... mission?" she muttered, as if trying to wrap her head around the concept. She dropped her [Stealth], reappearing in front of me, her face a mask of confusion.

"Here, aim it at the top of my arm," I said, holding it out.

Cluma raised her hand, but then hesitated. "But that would hurt you? Why would..."

She was struggling, but there was no sign of our conversation being immediately edited out of her memory. This was apparently butting right up against the edge of what the Law would permit. Perhaps it was an opportunity to help the twins, too? I generally didn't use [Soul Perception] these days, in case it was harming me, but what was happening here could be important.

Cluma was fighting the Law. I could see it happening. The patterns were far more active than they should have been, given her emotional state, but rather than the normal flow, they were racing around the chains, almost as if they were attacking them. She may as well have been trying to burn away an ocean with a candle, or spit at the sun. The chains were rigid, and there was nothing she could do against them.

Would that be true of the twins? They weren't yet bound. Could they fight the Law with willpower alone, while their souls were still foreign enough for the Law to be ineffectual.

"I... What was I..." muttered Cluma.

"You were going to cast [Minor Harm] on my arm," I reminded her.

Again she raised her arm, and again she hesitated. The activity of her soul increased, but the dark shadows where the chains penetrated her surface pulsated, and the activity slowed. "But that would hurt you..." she repeated.

"Yes, it would. That's the point; I'm trying to train my health pool skills."

She didn't react. I wasn't sure why this was so hard. If she couldn't hurt me here, how could she spar effectively? Heck, the fourth tiers had literally killed each other! What was the difference? Was it simply a question of purpose? I was asking her to cast a harmful spell at me to help me train. With sparring, she was trying to win, and that sometimes led to her harming an opponent.

Maybe a different tack would work then? "Cluma, can you help me train my health pool skills?"

The look of confusion left her. "Yes, of course. How, though?"

If I told her to cast [Minor Harm], or even to stab me, we'd likely end up back where we started. If I was right, she needed to decide the best route towards the goal on her own. "I need to take health pool damage. Preferably small wounds, that can heal on their own."

"Oh, I have the perfect spell for that! Hold out an arm."

Seriously?! Was it really that easy? I held out an arm, and Cluma cast [Minor Harm], a tear a couple of centimetres long opening up on the top of my wrist, weeping blood.

"Ow," I yelped.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed.

"No, it's fine. That's what I asked you to do. I still need to take a bit more damage though, so can you do a few more?"

I teleported home with a number of wounds to my arms. Frankly, it would have been easier to take Vyre's advice and cut myself, but trying to convince Cluma to do it had certainly been educational. I couldn't ask her to hurt me, but I could ask her to perform some more acceptable task which required hurting me to complete. I'd also found that souls didn't like being bound, but had no power to resist.

The problem with using that to help the twins would be that I'd have to tell them about the erosion in order for them to make a conscious effort to fight back. I might even have to use soul affinity to get them the [Soul Sense] skill, to let them see what they were doing. What effect would telling them have? What if someone had told me? I'd have been terrified. What if I told them, and they still couldn't do anything about it? Or worse, what if one of them could, and was forced to watch the other deteriorate?

ding

Skill [Accelerated Healing] advanced to level 9