We all advanced into the fortress. The guards bowing deeply towards my mother, not even daring to question her. We reached the spiral staircase down into the depths, the three of us. My mother, Healer Melon, and myself.
My mother took the lead, and I followed her with Healer Melon in the back of our group. Coming up the stairs were three faces I didn’t expect to see ever again. Alf, Rand, and Kar. The three young adventurers who had hitched a ride on my pass to the dungeon all those months ago.
My mother was wearing glowing gold and platinum heavy armor, her sword at her waist. She looked like a hero out of myth with all her gear. The three new adventurers had some scars, were filthy, smelled, and looked completely exhausted. The fact they survived their first descent was impressive.
Unfortunately for them, my mother wasn’t one to forget. If she decided to kill them, no one would say anything about it. I held my breath, waiting to see what she would do, not daring to speak from behind her.
“You should be careful about who you speak about or bad mouth,” my mother said and I felt a burst of Mana coming from her. Each of three adventurers lost control of their bladders and wet themselves. I winced at that. “Clean. Clean. Clean. Remember that Elena is the best.” She then continued past them. I hurried after her, not daring to look at them and hoping they didn’t recognize me.
She made them piss themselves and then used magic to clean them. I didn’t understand my mother. I thought she wouldn’t do anything or just scare them. When we reached the bottom of the staircase, she turned to look at me. “I am not heartless or mindlessly cruel. And Legend Extravagant Warren is a pig in human form. Now they will forever remember when they met me instead of him.” She then turned around and marched towards one of the tunnels.
I followed along after her not daring to say anything, but my mind was racing. My mother had a soft side? Or was she just using this to teach me something? Our timing to enter the depths was too precise for this to be an accident. She had wanted me to witness this interaction.
Perhaps a reminder to not crush people for the smallest of insults. My mother had a reputation, and not a great one. I looked at Healer Melon, but he just shrugged slightly, he clearly had no idea about what had just happened either.
There were no monsters as we made our way through the caverns in the dungeon, but my mother must have killed them at range in some way. It wouldn’t surprise me. At first I thought it was the other group, but after the fifth chamber with no monsters, there was something else going on. We reached the passage down to the next layer and no Champion monster.
We kept descending, layer after layer, and my fear began to build. The Mana in the air became denser and it became much harder to use my sensory skills. Eventually we reached the 6th
layer of the dungeon and came to a stop. I wanted to ask my mother why there were no monsters but it didn’t take a genius to figure out.Even the dungeon was scared of her. That was why she hadn’t taken me to the starting layers herself. There would have been no monsters for me to fight. It was shocking to think that even such a thing like the dungeon could show fear, or perhaps it was wisdom, knowing such weak monsters would only annoy her.
“We will begin here,” my mother said.
“There are larger groups, around level 30,” I said nervously and she nodded.
“Exactly. Each fight will push you to your limit. It is a good thing we can do this with regular monsters instead of just Champions, which can get annoying,” she replied. I just looked at her in shock.
“This…mother. The difficulty…” I didn’t know what more to say.
“Is much higher than monsters of the 3rd layer. But you have better skills, better equipment. I am here as well and there is a dedicated Healer. I plan to push you to the limit and beyond my son. People would pay thousands of platinum for such an opportunity,” she said. Healer Melon was nodding his head next to her. I steadied my breathing and drew my sword.
“Fine,” I said and turned towards one of the tunnels. Again, I knew she was right, but I wanted to go at my own pace. When she was down in the dungeon alone after her family had died, she set the pace she felt comfortable at. She might not have had a parent and a Healer looking over her, but I would bet everything I had she didn’t rush down layers either.
“That one,” my mother pointed at one with tree roots. I really didn’t want that one, but I was in no position to argue. I advanced into the tunnel checking for traps. My mother remained several steps behind me with Healer Melon glued to her side.
There was Mana coming off a tree root and I carefully inspected it. That was when large bugs crawled out from between the roots to attack. I swung my Beginner’s Blade, easily cutting through them and moving around them, while avoiding the odd tree root. Monsters were in the tunnels now. The dungeon got more difficult the deeper one went.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
My mother didn’t say or do anything, content to just observe. I was tempted to not say anything, but it would have been rude. “That root is probably trapped,” I pointed at it, and she gave me a slight nod.
We made our way around and continued through the tunnel, reaching a large cavern with vines and roots. There were over a hundred bug monsters the size of my head. Like cockroaches, not the face huggers I had faced in my previous descent. I looked at my mother and she just stared at me.
“Fight them?” I asked her hesitantly.
“Yes. Do your absolute best,” she ordered.
There was only one option, to rush in and start killing as quickly as possible. There was no time for intricate plans or trying to set up a stable position. I needed to kill quickly so I didn’t get overwhelmed.
The fight was a blur of bug guts, green fluid splattering over me, and my mother just staring at me from the side. My blade cut through the monsters with ease. If I had a regular blade this would not have been possible. By the time I was done, I was amazed that I had won.
My mother walked over with Healer Melon, uncaring of the bug guts in her path. “A weapon makes a large difference. Your Sword Skills is quite high in tier 1, which corresponds to red core monsters like these. You couldn’t easily cut through monsters before, that is why you struggled,” she said. I nodded slowly at this.
“Now clean yourself and then we will continue on,” she said.
“What?” I asked in surprise. She wasn’t going to use her Clean spell?
“You need to increase the level of the skill. It is necessary to eventually feed into the Clean spell in tier 3. Why do you think you have that skill?” she asked.
“Cleaning is an everyday activity?” I replied as I found a pool of water and got out a cloth rag to clean off my equipment.
“A reasonable assumption but incorrect. Also, this will give me time to critique you. You are right handed, which means you could have circled to the right. You went straight forward, blitzing through the monsters. Your shield work was sub-par. If you use a shield, then work on your deflection angles. In time you will get the tier 1 skill Deflection.”
“Another skill?” I asked.
“I dislike it. It is almost always better to Dodge than Deflect, but since you have a shield you will learn it. Perhaps there is an interesting spell in tier 3 that can take advantage of such a defensive skill. But dodging is preferable and using your offhand to throw weapons. Throw is a much more useful skill in my opinion, we will work on both, do not worry. Clean faster, you are going to slow,” she ordered.
I was tired after the long fight but didn’t say anything as I quickly cleaned my equipment. Training under my mother was going to be non-stop. Every single moment was going to be training and pushing myself.
As she lectured about all the improvements I should have done throughout the fight, I realized this was my life for the next year. While others might have paid a lot for this kind of attention, it felt oppressive and grating.
I noticed that Healer Melon was collecting the cores from the monsters while my mother lectured me. He was clearly experienced in doing such a task. My mother saw me looking in his direction as I finished cleaning up.
“Monster Processing is a skill that will quickly go up in level the deeper you go in the dungeon. If you do complete a fight without getting messy, you can get the monster cores instead of cleaning yourself up. Clean.” Then she used her magic and the little bits I had missed were all taken care of.
“Do better in your cleaning next time. You missed some crevices in your armor, especially around the joints,” she said and then looked around for a moment. “That tunnel.” I immediately headed in that direction and the process repeated all over again, this time with lizard creatures in a desert themed caravan.
“Greater Cure. Greater Respite.” Healer Melon took action at the end of the fight, filling up my reserves once more. I then got to cleaning while my mother lectured me.
“Don’t twirl. You feel that instinct from your Dance skill, but think in more straight lines, especially for fights like this. In time you will think in curves, but no twirling. Good job moving forward, just do that more quickly. A fighter in action is worth ten just standing around doing nothing. When deflecting with your weapon angle your blade slightly more to account for push back. Try to avoid deflections, dodge instead,” she said and kept going.
Her training was as relentless as her personality. I don’t know why I had been expecting anything different. The other trainers I had would have shown me the movements I should have corrected. My mother just critiqued everything all at once without mercy or regard. There was the occasional compliment, but it was only to highlight my failures in other areas.
My level gain for my skills at the end of this had better be immense. Since every second of this felt incredibly frustrating to deal with. I knew my mother loved me, but it was unbearably oppressive and stifling. I knew I could yell and have a fight with her as well and she would just let me do my own thing.
It was frustrating that the age of adulthood varied widely. Most nations put it at 16, twice the age of when humans unlocked their status. I was self-aware enough to know that I would regret missing out on this kind of training later on, but it was hard to think that in the moment.
Everything was something for her to critique. The angle of my feet. The speed of my cleaning. The twist of my wrist. Using my shield in my left hand to assist me. My breathing, which was one of my better skills. She pointed out how I needed to adjust the tempo to better suit my fighting style.
Even the direction I was looking or paying attention to, she critiqued as well. I had no idea how she knew such things when I was wearing a helmet, but she did. I shouldn’t have been surprised anymore. My mother wasn’t a human, but a force of nature. Just like the dungeon or the System, she just did her own thing without regard for anyone else.
“Now I will quiz you to see if you have been paying attention,” my mother said.
“What?!”
“You seem to be losing focus during my lectures. This is important information. How should you adjust your feet?” she asked me.
“Slightly wider for more stability when swinging. Twist my body to bring them closer together when advancing. Angle my feet outwards more for stability, or in the direction I plan to move for speed,” I said.
“Good, you are paying attention. Hurry up, I want to clear at least 20 chambers a day, at a minimum,” she said. I wanted to scream at that. My body might be capable with Healer Melon supporting me, but my mind felt like it was about to give out from exhaustion and the constant lecturing.