Again, James couldn’t come to a conclusion and decided to simply wait and see. He had warmed up after falling into the lake, so he left the fire and went back to the campsite, where Mo was cooking dinner with the fish that he had caught.

“You alright?” Mo looked up from the stove and asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Alright. Good to … know.” Mo still couldn’t keep a fully straight face.

Jack came out at the exact moment. He and Mo looked at James at the same time. Then, they turned and looked at each other. That was it.

Jack and Mo both broke down in laughter again.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!” “I can’t believe he fell! Fell into the damn lake!”

“…”

====================

After dinner, it was time to go to the amphitheater, for campfire time. About 30 or so kids surrounded the campfire, the ones in front holding marshmallows on sticks. Graham crackers and chocolate were passed around. Then, after people had eaten their fill, they switched to singing songs around the campfire. It was good and honest fun, even if it was a bit silly.

James looked around, and again saw the blond siblings. This time, they didn’t look at him, and he didn’t feel any mana. After all, Mo wasn’t on his phone, and wasn’t playing music.

“Hey, who’s gonna sing next? Who’s gonna sing next? Sing anything you want!” The camp counselor was playing his guitar, and was encouraging the kids to sing. Although it wasn’t quite as bad when the entire group was participating, the campers were still a bit embarrassed about singing in such a fashion.

Mo raised his hand. “Sir, can I borrow the guitar? I think my friends would like to sing a piece.”

Jack and James looked at him with murderous eyes.

“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” The counselor was ecstatic, and handed over the guitar to Mo.

“Don’t worry guys,” Mo said as he strummed some chords. “You guys will know this song for sure.” Then, he began to play the song. James and Jack looked at each other. They did indeed know this song. Under the gaze of the counselor and the other campers, they had no choice. James could only grit his teeth and make an internal promise that next time he played the violin, he would somehow coerce Mo into singing. Jack and James didn’t expect that, by the time they hit the chorus, all 30 kids would join in and release waves of harmonic music.

“““COUNTRY ROOOOOOADS, TAKE ME HOOOOMEE, TO THE PLAAAACE, I BELOOOOOONG!!!!!!! WEST VIRGINIAAAAAA”””

This music was truly blessed. When the song ended, people started clapping. At this moment, James had a bad premonition. He felt as if something was going to go terribly, terribly wrong, but he couldn’t tell what. If anything, this was a perfect moment. He was with his friends, at a campfire sing-along, and everyone was joyously harmonizing to John Denver. What could go wrong?

“Mo, you’re great with that guitar. How about singing to us some more?”

“Sure, what do you want to hear?”

“Anything! Play your favorite song!”

James immediately started looking around for something to plug his ears, but it was too late. As soon as Mo touched the strings again, the demonic sound waves plagued his mind.

Fortunately, for James, this time wasn’t as bad as the last time. It only felt as if his head was being split in half by an axe, compared to if it was being completely crushed by multiple blows from blunt axes and hammers. Unlike the last time, James had some semblance of consciousness, and could understand what was happening this time. Mo’s music was deadly, but it seemed to be less harmful than when it was playing directly through the phone. While he was suffering, James caught a glimpse of the blond siblings. The brother looked completely fine, while the sister scrunched up her face as if she was in pain and trying to hide it.

Eventually, 3 minutes later, Mo’s song came to an end, and so did James’ suffering. James joined in on the clapping anyways to hide the hellish experience he had just gone through. After a few more songs, the activities for the night come to an end, and someone put out the fire.

“James, when are you gonna bring your violin and play us something?” Jack asked as he got up and stretched.

“If I’d had it with me, I would’ve played it right now, and made Mo sing.”

“Hehehehe, how was it? Your performance was greatly appreciated by the entire camp group.

“Go to hell!” James and Jack said at the same time.

====================

James was lying in his sleeping bag in the tent, thinking. Over the past 2 days, so many weird occurrences had appeared. He had fell victim to Mo’s music 3 times, yet was no closer to unraveling the mystery of this music. Additionally, there were the two siblings.

James was now quite sure that the two of them were dungeon explorers now. After all, the sister had reacted to Mo’s mana filled music. He assumed that the older brother was stronger than the sister, and was able to resist its effects. However, James didn’t have much experience with mana at all.

In fact, the only things he could do were detect mana, and feebly activate the ability on his boots. Supposedly, the boots could make platforms on the air which the user could step on, but when James tried it, he could only put about half of his weight on it before it broke. However, he did believe that this ability would improve when he improved his proficiency with mana.

James decided to head into the dungeon, to see if he could find any of his seniors. He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask.

When he walked into the dungeon, only Beck was sitting at the table, sipping his drink. When he saw James, he nodded his head. James sat down and immediately spoke.

“Beck, have you ever used mana in the real world? Like magic? Or have you ever felt mana in the real world?”

“Eh?” Beck was temporarily confused. “I’ve never had to use magic in the outside world. Uh, if you’re asking if I’ve detected mana before in the real world, I’ve met Leah and Mike in Britain. I felt their mana presence, but it was normal. Exactly the same as their presence inside the dungeon. Maybe a bit pronounced because there’s no mana on Earth. Anyways, why do you ask?”

James told him about Mo’s music and the blond siblings, as well as some of his thoughts on it.

“His full name is Mostafa Saleh. Arab, about 5 foot 6, glasses, dark brown hair. Mole on his left cheek.” James thought for a second. “Kind of an idiot.”

“Listening to your description of your friend, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in the dungeon. But, I’ve never heard of anything with mana on Earth that’s not related to a dungeon explorer. The idea of the music itself being full of mana while your friend isn’t an explorer doesn’t make sense to me. As for the siblings, well, it could be a coincidence. I would say to wait a bit. The truth will come eventually.”

James nodded. After talking with Beck a little more, he said goodbye to him and started exploring the dungeon again. He’d asked all he needed to, and he still needed to collect those orbs of strength.