Beginner Dungeon

Traveling with his godmother Flamme, Li Yan gripped his little staff and stared at the monster, whose body was dozens of times larger than his own. The corner of his mouth twitched, and his body trembled slightly, but he stood firm before the monster.

"Evil monster, how dare you roar before the disciple of the greatest mage in this world? The flames of light shall bring you death and burn away the sins of your life. Flame Hell!"

Li Yan covered his sinful right eye, and a blazing Flame Ray five meters thick burst from the brilliant staff in his hand. In a single strike, the beam pierced straight through the Wild Boar Cow, burning its entire body to nothing.

"Pfft, what kind of line was that? A Yan, it's so funny when you say things like that while casting magic."

Flamme covered her mouth and giggled. Whenever the utterly serious A Yan said something so domineering and impressive, she couldn't help wanting to laugh. Magic clearly didn't need a chant like that, but it really did feel cool and flashy.

"Thump!"

"Ow! Godmother, what was that for?"

Li Yan, who had been happily watching the monster die, clutched his head and cried out. Flamme lectured him with a proud look on her face. "When you're facing an enemy weaker than you, you can naturally say all the elaborate lines you like. But when you're facing an opponent whose strength is close to yours, or even far greater, don't try to show off with that kind of trick."

"I know, Godmother," Li Yan said pitifully. Perhaps his expression was too pitiful, because Flamme gently embraced him and placed her delicate hand on the spot she had hit. "Don't cry, don't cry. I remember hitting you very lightly."

Smelling the mature fragrance at the tip of his nose, Li Yan gave a sly smile. A child who knew how to act cute got milk to drink and affection in return.

As a mage who had mastered magic for restricting mana, defensive magic, and fire magic, he had already surpassed more than seventy percent of the mages in this world. His talent, his teacher, and his efforts were all first-rate; now, all he needed was the tempering of time.

To test Li Yan's combat ability, Flamme had brought him to the Beginner Dungeon, the best place to put his strength to the test.

It was a paradise for novice adventurers, a place every newcomer had to go through upon becoming an adventurer. Now, Flamme, the greatest archmage in history, had brought her godson to sweep through it.

As soon as they entered the Dungeon Maze, the torches inside seemed especially dim in the gloomy surroundings. In a corner, several watery-blue Slimes dragged their bulky bodies toward Li Yan.

Li Yan kindly drew the short knife at his waist and swiftly sent them all to the afterlife.

Slimes were the most common creatures in the Beginner Dungeon. They loved eating rotten food, bones, and even garbage, although they had a hard time digesting it.

"Chitter, chitter."

After the Slimes, a group of Goblins carrying broken wooden clubs showed themselves. The moment they encountered Li Yan and Flamme, their stupid eyes filled with wicked desire.

"Hee-lululu~"

Watching the Goblins charge at him, waving their clubs, Li Yan smiled and took out his staff. A red magic circle formed before it, and a breath of flame shot straight out, burning the entire group of Goblins to ashes.

"Goblins and Slimes are both the weakest creatures. You can kill them without effort. Let's go farther in."

Flamme nodded in satisfaction. He held nothing back even against weak creatures. As expected of her godson.

Stepping over the Goblins' corpses, now reduced to ashes, Li Yan ventured deeper into the dungeon. When he pushed open a heavy wooden door, a treasure chest appeared before him.

"Treasure!"

Having played RPG mobile games, Li Yan couldn't resist the sight of treasure and reached out to open it.

"Wait, A Yan!"

Before Flamme could stop him, Li Yan stared at the chest opening its huge mouth in front of him and froze.

What's going on? The treasure chest turned into a monster!

A magic circle of fire rose before Li Yan. His legs trembling, he used his well-practiced skill to release a dragon's fiery breath from his staff, swiftly reducing the Mimic before him to ashes.

"Very good reaction, A Yan."

A trace of surprise appeared on Flamme's face. She walked over to Li Yan and, seeing him standing there staring blankly with trembling legs, couldn't help covering her mouth and giggling.

It took Li Yan quite a while to recover from the fright the Mimic had given him. Although he had already had some suspicions and had wondered whether the chest before him was a monster, his desire for treasure had made him give up on investigating it.

"There, there, my darling godson. Let your godmother give you a hug, and you'll be all right."

Flamme crouched down and pulled Li Yan into her arms. Li Yan could only press his little face against her ample breasts with a pained expression.

After the Mimic, the monsters appearing in the dungeon grew increasingly powerful. Groups of Skeleton Soldiers charged at them, brandishing their weapons, and what awaited them was beam after beam of roaring Flame Ray.

"Walking skeletons are so scary, Godmother."

Li Yan took the opportunity to hold Flamme's hand, waiting for her to give him a detailed explanation of skeleton monsters.

"Don't be afraid, A Yan. Fire magic is the bane of these skeleton monsters. As long as you burn their corpses to nothing, they'll never be able to scare you again."

Flamme comforted him gently, resting a delicate hand on his head as she carefully explained the various aspects of the Undead to him, using the traits of Death Knights and Skeleton Generals as examples.

With Flamme's explanations, Li Yan gradually learned a great deal about the Undead and how to deal with them. In short, it came down to one thing: solve it with magic! There was nothing a single spell couldn't solve. If there was, then use two.

Compared with the monsters in the forest, the monsters in the dungeon were clearly very weak. Under Li Yan's chantless blasts of flame, every monster in the dungeon was reduced to ashes.

The Beginner Dungeon had no strange traps, no teleportation magic, and no powerful boss monsters. It was a necessary step in an adventurer's growth.

After leaving the dungeon, Li Yan lay exhausted on Flamme's back. As a ten-year-old child, it was only natural to be tired after walking through the entire Beginner Dungeon.

Flamme suspected nothing. She simply carried Li Yan on her back dotingly and headed for the inn in town.

A triumphant smile appeared at the corner of Li Yan's mouth. As a mage from the strongest warrior family, he had loads of stamina, but when he was with his godmother Flamme, why would he walk like a fool when he could act cute instead?

Lying against her warm, soft back, Li Yan felt overwhelmingly safe. His restless eyes wandered about, and a glimpse of a dark abyss made his eyes widen. The filial devotion in his heart slowly began to change.

Back in town, in their plain little room, Flamme went into the bathroom first to wash. Li Yan sat quietly on the bed, reading a magic tome. The pursuit of knowledge was endless.