Now traveling through the dungeon with a group of bi-pedal cats, Mia noticed that the dungeon was quite different than it was last night. Hanging from the top of the dungeon walls, covering the top halves and bridging from each side were thin white spider threads, not there the day before. “Huh…” Mia let slip, wondering what that was about.

“Spiders spawn during the night.” Si said, casting some sort of magic that caused a ball of light to shoot out from her paw, flying out from it and colliding into a nearby wall.

The wall itself Mia recognized as one of the several traps, the wall flashed for a second and the group passed harmlessly by it “What was that?” Mia asked, curious.

“Oh that?” Si lit up, casting another ball of light to the wall ahead “It’s a high-level trap disarm skill, not to brag but my party “The Cat’s Paw” is pretty high level~ traps like these are nothing!”

“We are amazing.” La said from behind Mia, looking smug.

Ra just nodded, glancing back at Mia while trying to appear calm and collected, different than the two who boasted.

“Mn…” Mia had to admit, disabling the traps was impressive but she had a hard time seeing these small cats as a big threat “You mentioned spiders?”

“Ah right.” Si motioned to the webs high above their heads “This dungeon, the ‘Root Bound Den’, has a cycle that when it goes on for too long, BLAM, spider demons everywhere.”

“They climb out and invade the tree line above, then invade the forest and the surrounding towns.” Ra cut in “It’s usually a slow cycle cause of all the traps and plants that feed off the bugs but if you don’t lower the numbers every few years…”

“Invasion of the spiders.” La said, waving her paws around in an attempt to emphasize the spiders’ movements.

Si nodded “That is why the guild put out this request, but don’t you know that already?”

“No? Why would I?” Mia asked, noticing Si’s obvious confusion.

“Well… Usually it’s the fox tribes job to clear it out, since your village is so close and your hero guards the border?” Si tilted her head in confusion.

“The only reason why the guild sent this request in the first place was because your hero sent a message asking for assistance because she couldn’t do it this time” Ra said with a glance towards Mia “You said you were here for training but… you didn’t even know your tra-“

“Enough Ra.” Si stopped him “She must have a good reason for that, don’t bug her too much alright?”

Ra grumbled something, then turned away from the rest of them and continued walking.

The image of Maria lazing around in her shrine popped up in Mia’s head, perhaps she had been a bit too forgiving towards her aunt if she was slacking off…hey…now that she thought about it, she never did get a solid explanation on a few things… why did she not realize sooner? “Mn, complicated. So guild sent cats?”

“Beastkin, not just cats” La remarked.

“Right, as La said, we are cat beastkin… haven’t you seen some of us before?” Si asked, turning around and striking a pose when she stated her race.

Mia shook her head “No, first time… I think? Beastman and beastkin not the same?” Mia asked, as far as she could remember, while they looked vaguely familiar, this is the first time she had seen a beastkin.

“Gods, what do they teach in that village…” Ra mumbled under his breath.

“Well, this is awkward, uh…” Si coughed, clearing her throat “Simple way to put it, beastkin are the sons and daughters of beasts.” She twirled, shooting out another ball of light to disarm another trap in a fancy display. “We are more closely related to animals, then you have beastman, the sons and daughters of man.” She gestured to Mia with her paw, emphasizing her body “More closely related to humans.”

“Beastkin cuter.” La nodded to herself.

“Yeah, cuter.” Ra scoffed “Why we don’t set foot in…” Ra stopped, deciding what he was about to say wasn’t appropriate in the presence of a child and just continued to walk.

“Yes well, another way to explain it is beastman are just humans with animal parts, and us beastkin are just walking talking animals.” Si smiled, patting herself on her chest “There is a lot more to it than that but, ask your mommy when we- ah, when you get back from your training.”

“Kay.” Mia nodded, pretending not to here that last part. ‘They are trying to lead me out to take me home…’ Mia thought to herself. She decided it was best to still play along, however, if possible, she did want a slightly safer dungeon to train in, less traps and more monsters would be ideal.

“Good place to stop anyways, enemies ahead!” Ra yelled back, readying his weapon and shield as he alerted the others.

Mia looked forward, peering down the dirt hallway to see a thin set of eight legs stretch around the corner. Eight red eyes stared back at her as the head sized spider reared back its two front legs and let out a screech, signaling five more spiders to appear from around the same corner, some crawling along the dirt walls.

“La! Protect the kid, Ra and I have the front line!” Si ran up to Ra’s back, not drawing any weapon but readying her fists “Ra, make sure none get back to Mia.”

“Yes ma’am” La raised her staff and pointed it at the front, meanwhile Ra acknowledged the orders received with a nod.

Mia pouted, they were going to steal all the exp! She reached back to equip her axe when Si yelled back at her.

“Leave this to us, Mia! These spiders are pretty nasty.” The first spider leaped, dashing towards their frontline, only to be greeted by Ra’s small shield slamming into its face. It let out a pained cry then backed up slightly and ramming into the shield, gnawing at it while its legs tried to wrap around it.

“Get back you-!” Ra grunted, pushing the spider away just as it collided with the shield, knocking it off balance “Now!”

Taking the initiative, Si ran forward, flexing her small paw and causing it to glow. The glow expand, growing into a large, see-through glowing blue paw that Si used as an extension of her own, swinging it down on top of the spider, crushing it under its weight “One down!”

‘what was that?’ Mia wondered, staring at the transparent blue paw as it faded when Si pulled back, retreating behind Ra. The remaining spiders, not happy about their companions death all screeched, two rushing forward on the ground while the other three clambered on the wall.

“Si! On the right!” Ra yelled, bashing his shield against the spider on the left, stopping it in its tracks, the spider gnawing on the shield while trying to climb over it.

The left over spider on the ground was pushed back, punched into the air by a transparent paw “La!” Si shouted before leaping to one of the spiders on the walls, slamming her transparent paw into it.

“Ice~” La whispered, pointing her staff towards the now falling spider, a sharp shard of ice flying out of the staff and pierced its abdomen, it falling to the ground and shriveling up dead. La shifted her attention to another spider, focusing her staff at it and launching another ice shard at it.

“Shawawaawa-!” The spider leaped into the air, avoiding the shard as it sunk into the dirt wall. While flying through the air it reared its head back in preparation to shoot something, but it never got the chance.

“Taste the ground!” Ra jumped up in front of it, having dealt with the spider he was holding back with his sword with the help of Si, he slammed his shield into the top of the spider, the same blue glow from Si’s fists emitted from his shield, causing a tiny blue explosion that propelled the spider to the ground where it landed with a sickening squish, its back splitting open.

Si landed next to Mia “What do you think?” She asked, the last of the spiders felled “We are pretty amazing right~?” she asked, striking a pose.

“Amazing~” La echoed.

Mia was taken aback, they had made that look easy despite their small size “That was… cool…” Mia admitted, that was the first time she had seen an organized fight or proper team fighting, it left her feeling a bit giddy.

“Yes, cool is what you can expect from me and my team.” Si smiled

“Strong.” La nodded.

“These spiders are nothing.” Ra said, sheathing his weapons.

Mia nodded “Are strong.” She was impressed, but more importantly that giddy feeling was leaving her curious. She crooked her head to the side, pointing at Si’s paw “What was that? The paw.”

Si raised her hand, the same transparent paw appearing a moment later “This?” She asked.

Mia nodded “Never seen it.” She then took a closer look, the paw itself was the size of the cat, it really was just a giant transparent blue paw that mimicked Si’s movements.

Si waved her paw around “This is a skill, [Phantom Arms], a lot of beastkin can use it and it isn’t just limited to our paws.” The phantom paw vanished; Si then motioned to Ra who gave a slight sigh before drawing his sword.

The blade glowed before expanding and separating itself from the sword, leaving a giant floating blue and transparent blade next to Ra that mimicked his blade’s movements “When you are as small as us, reach becomes an issue. Having this skill taught to small beastkin has become the norm, unless you use magic.” He snuffed out the skill then pointed to La.

“Magic more useful.” La nodded to herself, raising her staff into the air as cold mist seeped out from its tip.

‘Hrm, that does sound useful…’ Mia pondered before asking “Can you teach me?”

“Ha, maybe.” Ra laughed, grunting as Si hit him on his back. He coughed “If you have the time… learning skills takes a long time, especially so if you don’t have an affinity with them or they are particularly hard to grasp.”

“Not as hard as learning magic though.” Si pipped up “At least with martial skills and the like, as long as you train then you’ll eventually learn it…magic is…”

“No affinity, no luck.” La added.

“Right, no matter how hard or how long you train if the element itself doesn’t work with you then just give up.” Si shrugged.

‘well, time is the one thing I have a lot of…’ Mia considered, before remembering that she did have a magic skill, perhaps she could ask how to use it? She did have another person she could use ice magic, there was no better teacher.

As she was about to ask a transparent red screen popped up Infront of her face.

[Saving at this time is recommended. Would you like to save? [No/Yes]]

“Hrm?” She stared at the notification, why would it ask that now?

“What’s wrong Mia?” Si asked, noticing the girl’s confusion.

“Nothing…” Mia hit yes, waving the thing off before looking down at La “Can you teach me ice magic?”

“Didn’t hear? No affinity means won’t work.” La said, shrugging while shaking her head.

“It’s ok, I have the skill, don’t know how to use.”

“Wait, a fox knows ice?” Ra asked in confusion, grunting as he was hit.

“Maybe she just wants to try it cause it looks cool?” Si whispered.

Mia huffed “I am not lying, I have it, couldn’t you see my status?” Mia swore at least La had appraisal from how she found out her age and name.

“…” La stared at her for a moment, gauging her “low level, can’t see much.” She then trotted up right next to Mia, extending her paw “Hand.”

Mia bent down, putting her hand on top of the much smaller paw and shooting her a questioning look.

“Using magic is simple if you have the skill.” La placed her other paw on top of Mia’s hand, gently rubbing it “It’s like using anything else, just focus on what you want to do with it, if the image is clear and you have enough mana and skill level it will work.” La patted Mia’s hand.

Mia blinked, a bit surprised by how much La was talking, she figured this is what others must feel when she talked a bunch. But to the lesson and what she was saying, Mia figured it was like how she operated her [Time] skill through thought, or how [Dagger Arts] and [Packer] helped her without her needing to put any thought into it, in the case of the [Dagger Arts] just having to meet the prerequisites of having a dagger.

“Simple is best for level one.” La pointed her open palm towards a nearby wall “What I used earlier may use too much mana, so will try this.” She closed her eyes and focused, a cold mist gathering around her paw before an icy mist erupted from it, coating the wall in a layer of frost. “Now you try, picture what I did.” She took Mia’s hand in both paws, aiming the open palm towards the wall.

Nodding, Mia focused. Trying to picture that freezing air erupting from her palm. She felt something click, thinking it was the skill itself activating as freezing wind erupted from her palm, coating the wall in a similar fashion to how La did.

“You did it.” La smiled.

“Well, I’ll be damned…” Ra mumbled.

“Amazing! When did you learn the skill?” Si shouted, running up and pouncing, landing on Mia’s shoulder.

Mia stumbled, catching her balance, a small smile spreading on her face “I, I can use it…” She whispered to herself, this opened so many options to her. She looked up at La, who still had her hand in her paws “Thank you.”

La nodded “No problem, already had skill, just showed how.”

Giving an affirmative nod, Mia stood up with Si still dangling from her shoulder. She looked towards Ra “Now, [Phantom Arts]?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself kiddo” Ra chuckled “You had that skill already, but this is learning a whole different skill.”

“Hey, come on Ra don’t be like that~” Si said, protesting from Mia’s shoulder “It wouldn’t hurt to show her while we walk.”

“Please?” Mia asked.

Ra stared at them both, mumbling to himself before he nodded “Fine, as we walk.” He conceded “But you are in the front Si, don’t get distracted and get us all killed.”

“Now why would I do that?” Si laughed, jumping down from Mia’s shoulder and walking to the front of the group “You two have fun back there, now let’s be off!” she cheered, walking ahead of them.

“Be off!” La echoed, following Si.

“Wait! I didn’t even explain the basics!” Ra yelled after them “Argh, we are going to have to walk and talk, c’mon” he waved to Mia, walking ahead.

Mia smiled, this interruption to her training just turned a lot more productive and it was about to get even better. Now glad she ran into them “Coming” she followed after, looking forward to potentially learning new skills from these skilled adventurers.