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Eight months had came and went, marking the three-fourths point of his tutelage under the half-elf, young teacher of his. For some reason, he noticed after this day of learning after having cast several, high-level invocations, Celly almost looked sad.

It was a melancholic smile she held, looking off into the distance.

“…Soon enough, I’ll have nothing left I can teach you,” Celly said with a small smile.

There was no doubt that she was happy for the young boy, but there did seem to be something there that wasn’t joyful.

“–“

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it. With a smile like that held in somber across her lips, he didn’t know how he was supposed to comfort her.

“Thank you, Celly.”

–Instead, he chose to express his heartfelt gratitude.

“–?” Celly looked down at him in surprise.

“You’ve taught me so much. I’m forever grateful to you for that,” he smiled.

Celly smiled as well, replacing that somber, “I didn’t do anything worth such words. It was your own effort that brought you here.”_.

“That’s not true,” he told her.

“Huh?”

“I have the best teacher in the world to help me!”

It was a bit embarrassing for him to express his childish gratitude in such a way, but he did have the excuse of literally being a child.

Besides, it was worth it to him to see the breathless smile of joy across Celly’s lips as her divine, silver locks blew in the passing wind.

–

There was time spent each night of him theorizing his own “level up” ability, but there wasn’t much to go off of.

He was daydreaming in his thoughts while standing around, constantly going over the information he had currently.

Unlike normal games, I don’t have any information guides or console displays to aid me. I can’t use the internet to search, either. I’m on my own here. All I know is that it seems defeating opponents and pressing my own limits levels me up. Leveling up itself seems to increase my mana limit and mastery of magecraft. It does feel like I get a little stronger physically, but I don’t know, he thought.

–

That same day was another goblin-hunting venture with his father and Celly, once more delving into the mountains.

After having cleared out a band of goblins, he stretched his arms and yawned, “These goblins really are small fry–”

As he started to walk back towards the entrance of the cave, he was stopped as he glanced back to see his father holding onto the back of his coat.

“Eh?”

Julius smiled wide, “Who said we were done here? We haven’t found their ‘boss’ yet!”

“–” He smiled wryly at this news.

And just like that, for better or worse, they were marching even deeper into the cavern that was apparently still holding the grimy fiends within.

At the very least, it was great “father-son” bonding time, at least that’s the way Julius told his mother in order for her to let him join his father on these less-than-safe jobs.

Since winter had passed, Treyna had basically forced Julius to completely shave his beard, leaving not even a stubble this time as his face was as smooth as his own son’s. Without any facial hair, Julius looked even younger–passing for his early-twenties.

“It’s almost that time, Emilio,” Julius said while walking beside him.

“Yeah,” he nodded with a small smile.

“You’ve improved a lot. Both in swordplay and magic–you’ve been getting better and faster!” Julius patted his head.

He laughed, “I still haven’t beat you yet.”

Each time they took on these quests to either hunt goblins, wolves, or sometimes slime, they had a friendly competition to see who could eliminate more.

At the very start, with the competitive, merciless side of his eccentric father, he hardly got one or two in while Julius wiped out dozens by himself.

However, over time, he had steadily closed the gap; this time around, he managed to get fifteen goblins to Julius’ twenty.

“Ha-ha! Don’t beat yourself up over that–I’m pretty awesome, you know? I’m not that easy to beat, even if you’re a bundle of talent,” Julius smirked.

As they headed in deeper, there surprisingly weren’t any other goblins that met them on their path further into the cave–but Julius repeatedly found tracks of all he could claim was “something.”

“–” Julius held a serious look on his face as he knelt down.

“What is it?” He asked curiously.

The man was quiet as he ran his fingertips across the sediment-filled dirt, finding what looked to resemble a washed away footprint.

“…Something is here, but…I don’t think it’s goblins,” Julius said quietly.

“Huh?” He let out, perplexed.

It was rare to see caution overtake his father’s carefree expression, and seeing him move silently forward, carefully, he felt anxiety bubble up in his stomach.

“Emilio, stay behind me,” Julius told him quietly and sternly.

He simply nodded, “…Alright.”

It was dark through the tunnel, but for some reason it was much more wide than it should be–over the past few months, he’d begun to pick up the telltale signs of goblin occupation in a cavern.

…These walls…they’re not narrow at all. Goblins usually create just enough space for them. Father told me they kept the passages narrow to make it difficult for people that come inside to attack, so they’ll have an advantage. Something like this…it’s the opposite. It’s spacious, he thought.

With how devoid of light the tunnel was, the luminescence that emitted from the other side of the goblin-carved passageway was blatant and alluring.

Still, there was little respite felt as he looked up at the back of his father, who moved forward with his sword held tightly in his grip.

…I don’t get it, what could be here if it’s not goblins? A bear? No…there were still goblins in this cave earlier–I don’t think those two coexist…He thought.

As they reached the otherside of the tunnel, he squinted, covering his eyes at the reemergence of light.

“Dang, that’s bright…” He mumbled.

“Emilio…”

“Huh? What is it?” He asked.

The light was still bothering his eyes as he just then blinked, finally adjusting as he realized they had entered a spacious domain within the cavern–lined with glowing crystals embedded in the pale-gray stone, luminate with an azure glow.

“Run. Get out of here–now!” Julius told him.

“–What? Why?” He asked, completely lost.

It was only just then that he saw what was waiting inside of that room: it sat on a throne made of intertwined bones, sitting on a small hill of what looked to be human skeletons. Seeing that horrific scenery, the smell finally reached his nostrils–it was putrid; the scent of decomposed flesh.

What is this…? Why is this here? He questioned.