After the gang grabbed all the needed supplies, they stepped into the portal. They then found themselves deep inside a forest.

“This dungeon is quite remote, we've still got quite a bit of travelling left to do.” Lunaris informed everyone.

“It's a good thing that it’s remote. A sentient dungeon in an easily accessible area would’ve been a disaster. It has taken a few lives as it is.” Helios sighed.

“So, there’s nothing wrong with killing a sentient dungeon? I only ask because of the “sentient” part.” James inquired.

“Aye, usually you’d be right, its sentience means it deserves to live just like you and me. There are several beings at Hedonia that started out as dungeon cores actually. They live perfectly peaceful existences, they’ve even taken human forms.

“What’s wrong with this one then? Is it the Darkness, did it corrupt it?” James asked innocently.

“Probably not, most likely it's just a prick who doesn’t mind killing people in order to become more powerful. Although over time it definitely sided with the Darkness, why wouldn't it? So either way we’d be doing the world a favor by destroying it.” Helios answered.

“Here, take this.” Lunaris handed James a scroll with a warm smile.

“What is it?” James could feel the powerful mana fluctuations coming from the scroll.

“A gift from the both of us. We don't expect you to use it right away, but when you get the hang of it your power will definitely increase.” Helios grinned. “It’s a powerful spell, not everyone can handle it, but we’ve both discussed it and we think you can do it.”

“Your spells are powerful and you learn things quickly. But mana is your biggest limitation.” Lunaris stated. “This spell can make up for that.”

James was touched. He was starting to think that his greatest stroke of luck wasn't reincarnating into this world, but making these two friends. “Thanks guys, I’m happy and lucky to have you as friends.” James bowed deeply.

As they were making their way through the forest, the gang decided to activate the bracelets that James bought as gifts. There were faster mounts they could’ve used, but flying in an armchair over a forest was quite a relaxing experience.

As they were floating on the armchairs, James used the time to learn the spell his friends gave him.

[Skill unlocked: Mana Drain]

[Mana Drain: Damages enemies as it drains mana from them, transferring part of it to the user. Percentage of mana transferred depends on proficiency]

“You’ve learned it already? That’s my dude!” Helios clapped from his armchair.

“But you have to be careful. Not everyone can handle this spell. There are dangers in taking foreign mana from an unwilling target. You have to immediately purify it, and then you have to guide it to your mana core, which is located inside your heart. Only after that you can use it as your own mana. Any mistake and you can burn your mana channels, which is not only extremely painful but it will actually reduce your mana pool till you recover.” Lunaris warned James.

After getting more acquainted with it, James almost didn’t like the spell. You had to multi-task in your head and focus really hard. It almost felt like math homework.

But that’s what life is all about. Effort, struggle, pushing yourself. The recluse inside him needed to die. He knew he must learn to love effort, to actively seek it. Where there is effort, there is progress.

They travelled for a few hours and used the time to chat, to mentally prepare themselves for the battle ahead, and even drink tea with biscuits while flying in the armchairs.

Drinking a cuppa, with a seemingly interminable forest below and the endless sky above. As powerful as magic is for combat, at that moment James understood that the true beauty of magic lies in its seemingly more mundane uses.

“We’re here.” Lunaris announced when James was still taking in the vistas.

“Let’s buff up.” Helios then gave everyone 3 pills.

Immediately after taking the pills, James could feel the effects of the buffs. His mind felt much clearer, as if a veil had been lifted. He felt a lot more energized, his body was eager to move and jump around. And lastly, he could feel his mana core churning, the rate at which his mana was recovering had doubled!

“Remember, we must tread with the utmost caution. This dungeon should be of a fairly low level in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still sentient. And it has existed for at least a few years already. It being sentient means it actively prepared traps, expecting intelligent intruders. It had so much time to just think about how to deceive and trap people like us. So don’t even take a step without thinking.” Lunaris was obviously very concerned.

“No dungeon can beat me, no matter how sentient it is.” Helios just laughed and flexed.

“I played so many video games and read so many books, it can’t possibly show me something I haven’t seen already.” James was starting to get cocky as well, perhaps Helios had been a bad influence. Poor Lunaris, she now had two cocky meatheads in her party.

After all the preparations were complete, they stood around confused for a moment.

“Well, go ahead Helios.” Lunaris said.

“What? I thought you were leading. I've never personally been to a sentient dungeon, I only know of them from books.” Helios shrugged.

Lunaris's jaw dropped. “I don’t know much either, I just knew about the location of this one. You were the one who came up with the idea of James training in a sentient dungeon.”

“Well, yeah, I just know they’re really good xp. I don’t know much about actually going through one.” Helios laughed awkwardly.

That was unexpected for James. His friends had been so incredibly knowledgeable about this world up until now. He had even forgotten that they were all of the same age. Perhaps it was time for him to take charge for once.

“Guys, I’ve got this. It might sound ridiculous, but I’m not kidding when I say that vicariously living through novels and games prepared me for this. Too many times I’ve imagined myself in situations where I can’t take a step without it being a trap.”

The danger could not be understated, but James was excited and didn’t feel scared at all. This would be like a puzzle, adventure and action game all rolled into one. It was exhilarating.

The outside of the dungeon was pretty bland, it just looked like a crude cave entrance. But what was interesting was a small vein of gold in the wall that would attract the attention of anyone walking by. Soothing mana currents could also be felt. These two things would make just about anyone curious, excited to enter the dungeon.

“Aye, that’s one of the things that I know about sentient dungeons that have turned to evil. They’re very dangerous, but they try to lure people inside by looking like they’re full of treasure.” Helios commented.

James then stepped inside, his friends walking behind him.

James was extremely cautious, to the point one could call it ridiculous. He literally looked around for half a minute before taking even a single step.

He had even grabbed a long branch from the forest, using it to poke the floor before taking any step.

Before exiting the first room, James threw his stick into the corridor. Immediately, a flurry of arrows ripped the stick to shreds.

“Wow, good thinking mate.” Helios praised James.

James looked a bit pale though. “What now? I don’t have any more sticks!” James was extremely creative and ingenious sometimes, but other times his brain could fail to think of answers to the simplest of problems.

“Just ... materialize one out of mana and earth.” Lunaris told him, barely suppressing a laugh. Helios wasn't as strong, he was really cracking up.

James blushed and smiled as well, he really should have thought of such a simple solution by himself. He conjured the stick and threw it in the corridor. Nothing happened this time. Apparently, the trap only worked once.

Stepping into the corridor, the group realized that there was no clear path ahead. The dungeon was split into way too many rooms.

“What exactly is our goal here?” James asked.

“Well, killing monsters for xp is the most obvious task. Avoiding traps so we don’t die would be pretty nice too. And of course, destroying the dungeon core so it doesn’t kill anyone ever again.” Lunaris stated.

“Let’s start with killing some monsters then.” James really wanted to level up.

“We’ve barely entered the dungeon though, we have to delve deeper.” Helios said.

“Yeah, but exploring the dungeon one room at a time would be boring, there’s time for that later. How about we call the monsters to us? This is actually the perfect position, the exit is close by, nothing can ambush us from behind.” James was finally putting his gamer mind to work.

“But all the monsters rushing us at the same time would be incredibly dangerous!” Lunaris protested.

“That’s true, but we can manipulate the battlefield. Instead of letting them rush us as a mob, we make preparations. We raise sturdy earth walls, and even reinforce them. We then reinforce them again to make them as strong as possible. As such, this only leaves the mobs a narrow passage to get to us, so I can just blast them down one at a time.” James announced proudly.

"That’s impressive, very creative of you. I’m surprised you couldn’t think of conjuring a stick.” Lunaris and Helios both laughed. You know you're true friends with someone when they can poke fun at you.

They then got to work and raised the sturdiest walls they could.

“We have to somehow call the monsters to us now. Wait, what if the dungeon deliberately blocks the monsters from coming? It's sentient after all.” James asked.

“I’ve got this. Cover your ears and even your entire body with a thick layer of mana.” Helios said.

After everyone protected their ears, he screamed like a Banshee, having infused mana into his scream in order to taunt the monsters. James could physically see the sound waves travelling. Even the walls were rumbling.

Immediately, dozens of footsteps could be heard. Seconds after, James could already see a skeleton.

“Level 30?! That’s way stronger than me.”

“If you want to level up quickly, you have to really push yourself mate.” Helios smiled.

The thought of fighting a monster double his level was pretty intimidating, but that just meant more xp.

James then released a fireball. The impact was so powerful that the skeleton fell to the ground, but it didn’t take much damage at all!

He then conjured a fire bolt, a higher tier of spell that consumed more mana, but was a lot more powerful.

James couldn’t believe his eyes. “How come it still didn’t take damage?”

“If I had to guess, the dungeon probably knows how much mages love using fireball. So it must’ve created the monsters with a resistance to fire.” Lunaris theorized.

Bolts were one of his most powerful spells. This was a really bad sign. And other monsters started piling up behind the skeleton. If he didn’t slay it immediately, he'd have angry monsters in his face in mere seconds.

But luckily, while he was a master of nothing, he was a jack of all trades after all.

His fire bolt was powerful, but he had plenty of other spells in his arsenal.

“If fire won’t work, maybe water will.” James readied his hands and cast a water bolt that was as impactful as the fire bolt, knocking the skeleton down. But it barely took any damage!

“Welp, the mighty skeleton is clearly much too powerful for me, let’s bail.” James was about to rush for the door.

“Don’t be a chicken, mate. Just smash the son of a bitch till he can’t get up. And hurry, the other monsters are already here.” Helios said nonchalantly. Lunaris was ready to intervene, but Helios stopped her.

“He must do this on his own.”

“But these monsters are double his level! We didn’t expect that, that’s crazy! It’ll be very hard for him to damage them, and they could kill him with a single tap!” Lunaris started chanting a powerful spell, disregarding what Helios said. She was ready to eliminate all the monsters in one fell swoop.

“We must believe in him. He can do it. We’re here to protect him from greater, unfair dangers, like the agents of darkness. But we can’t protect him from everything. The best thing for his safety in the long run is to learn to face such threats and evolve from the struggle.” Helios said in an unusually serious tone.

Lunaris sighed and nodded. Helios was right. James had to do this on his own.

But he only had a few seconds to figure something out.