James trying to ignore his 3 senior dungeon explorers, Mike, Beck, and Leah, in the dungeon shop. The reason was because he was telling them about the events that had transpired. James could see them attempt to suppress their urge to laugh as he recounted the interview which described him as a wrestle maniac obsessed with stabbing bears.

As he spoke, Leah’s eyes had started shining, while her lips were pressed together more and more firmly. Meanwhile, Beck was staring at his shoes, avoiding eye contact, but he was was trembling as he desperately held himself together. Mike sat motionless and stared at James with a straight face, while thinking I will not laugh. I am a serious man. I do not condone this sort of behavior.

But, as soon as Beck looked up and met Leah’s eye, all was lost.

Leah started giggling, along with Mike. Beck doubled over and started wheezing as if he had terrible asthma.

It took them a few minutes to calm down. However, once they did, the discussion became more somber.

“I still don’t believe you managed to kill a tier 4 monster,” said Mike. “Even with the latent potential pill. You’re on the 1st floor!”

“I had help.”

Beck spoke next. “That girl, you say? Her name was Ayla? I feel like I’ve seen her in the dungeon before, but I don’t think she’s shown her face for a while. I dunno why.”

“Mana spreads. Never knew.” Leah said in her hesitant English.

Mike took a sip out of the cup in front of him. “Yeah, that’s something big. When we entered the dungeon, we were told to not use our abilities outside. I thought it was because they wanted us to keep it a secret. But, maybe it’s because they didn’t want mana to spread.”

James nodded, but he was a bit rattled inside. He was never told to use his abilities outside. That may have been because he didn’t have any special abilities yet, though. James currently had, give or take a bit, the strength of an average adult. If James showed off his full strength, they’d be surprised that he was stronger than he looked, but nothing else would happen. But he did have access to things like recovery potions, which, in his opinion, would cause a massive commotion if they were revealed to the public.

“None of us have a clue how the dungeon really works.” Beck also took a swig.

While James was thinking about the connection between Earth and the dungeon, he remembered a question he had thought of some time ago.

“You can bring your clothes and a watch here, right? Could you bring a gun into the dungeon?”

Mike, who had been an explorer the longest, answered. “You can. I’ve done it before, but the effectiveness of the gun quickly diminishes. By the 10th floor, it’ll be completely useless. James, I don’t think you’ve had a measurement of just how ‘powerful’ we are. But, I could easily rip a steel bar in half with my hands, using my reinforcement magic. I think if I got shot with a large gun, I’d get a bruise at most. Anyways, the monsters get way too strong after the 5th floor for the gun to be of any use.”

James nodded. He’d seen the bear cut down trees with a single swing. He wondered if he was pretty strong because he’d been able to fight it, but then remembered the price he’d had to pay after taking the pill.

“Could you make a magic gun?” Beck looked at Mike.

“Maybe,” said Mike. “But don’t ask me, man. I don’t even really know how a real gun works.”

“Ah, I mean, guns use gunpowder and ignite it to make a small explosion. If we could find a way to use fire magic to set it off, we’d be good.”

“The problem isn’t that, it’s the fact that the bullet won’t have any effect. You’re just throwing a piece of metal at them. At that point, it’s just shitty earth magic.”

“Oh yeah. Too bad.” Beck gave up on the idea.

The 4 of them sat there in silence. All of a sudden, Leah turned to James.

“Bear.”

“What?”

“Small bear. Card.”

“Oh, I think she wants to see the cub you got.”

James tried willing the bear to come out without using his card, and found it successful. The brown cub appeared on his lap.

“Cute. May I?” Leah gestured towards James.

James lifted the cub into Leah’s arms. It appeared to like it there, and licked Leah’s face.

Beck leaned forwards to take a closer look. “Damn, it really does have a mana source. But it’s not a monster, per se. I can tell the difference. It’s closer to that of a human than of a monster.”

“What is a monster, then?”

“Good question. I guess bloodlust? Monsters try and kill you on sight. This guy is friendly to humans.”

“Maybe monsters and wild animals with mana cores are different things,” offered James.

“Definitely possible. Although, apart from this guy here, I’ve never seen a non-human being that’s not a monster.”

James and Beck mused over the differences between monsters and animals while Leah booped the bear on the nose.

“Watch this.” James pulled out a magic stone and gave it to the bear. It munched away happily.

“Jesus, what are its teeth made of?”

“I don’t know. I told you I wasn’t in my right mind when this happened, but according to Ayla, I fed it the 4th tier magic stone with a bear and tamed it.”

“You tamed him with a magic stone?” Mike scratched the stubble on his chin. “Hmmm. Do monsters usually eat magic stones?”

James didn’t have an answer. “Beats me. But, this guy gets stronger with every stone I feed him. I wonder if that’s how they evolve.”

“Darwin would be proud. Wait, you said it gets stronger by eating magic crystals?”

“I could, 4th tier, give,” said Leah.

James shook his head. “No, it’d want more 4th tier ones. I can’t get those.”

“Give, to me. Feed, well.”

“Honestly, I would consider it, but it’s kind of implanted on my dungeon card, as a tamed beast.”

The 4 explorers looked at the bear, which continued to eat to its heart content.

“It is kinda cute though,” Mike admitted.

Beck stroked its head. “More than kind of.”

“It’s terrifyingly cute,” James warned. “Every time it wants to eat a magic stone, it looks at me with those eyes. It’s impossible for me to say no. This bear is a death trap.”

“Name?” asked Leah.

“A name? I didn’t think to give it one.”

“Wait, is the bear male of female?” Beck reached over and spread its legs apart. “It’s male!”

“Ah, yes, Beck, our expert biologist,” Mike said dryly. Anyways, a name?”

The 3 explorers began to list a bunch of possible names. James 2, Timmy, Beanie, Zyaryog the Destroyer…

“Leonardo,” said Leah.

“Leo the bear? Oh, that’s a constellation, right?”

Mike sighed. “Beck, it’s Leo the lion, you idiot.”

The cub cooed. It seemed to like the name.

“Welp, it’s Leonardo the bear now, I guess,” Mike said.

James could live with a name like Leo. It was much better than some of the others that had popped up.

“Today marks a special day,” Beck said solemnly. “It is the christening of our newest companion, Leonardo the bear.”

“””Amen”””

“Isn’t that supposed to be said at the end of a prayer?”

“…” “…” “…”

James enjoyed spending time with his senior explorers.