Using what time we have left, I practice using my new skills. Well, I say practice, but they’re both limited right now, just like how my ability to manipulate my mana was pretty weak at first. For ‘Possession’, the only way for me to practice using it right now is to possess an object. Unfortunately, the most I can do is inhabit that object, as I lack any means to physically move it. I would probably need a spell or skill that would allow me to physically interact with the world. So, no floating weapons for me, sadly. I’ll need to use it on living targets to further level it up. I tried to use it on Vulcan and Pim, but that only resulted in the skill failing and draining some mana for the attempt. Each attempt takes a bit of mana, but holding a possession, even on an object, requires a moderate amount of mana, enough to outpace my mana recovery rate. I’ll have to wait until the battle to test it out some more. My other new skill, ‘Illusion Magic’, allows me to create vague silhouettes of shadows at its base level. They can’t interact with the world, nor create any sound, but I could probably combine it with ‘Glow’ to some effect. Shining a light next to an illusion doesn’t distort it, but it doesn’t leave a shadow. It’s like the illusion is superimposed on 3D space, so it isn’t affected by anything physical. I even had Pim poke the illusion with his spear, and it just disappeared once inside of it. The same happened when I moved a glowing orb inside. The mana expenditure isn’t too bad, so for now, I’ll just deploy a lot of small, ever-changing illusions around to level up the skill faster.

  ?

  My evolution has also allowed me to move my core around a bit faster than when I was a wisp. My core can move along any path I’ve established with mana pretty quickly. So, if I saturate a room with mana, I could move my core to avoid any attacks anywhere in the room. It should also allow me to monitor the dungeon better, as I could travel along the branching mana I’ve been expanding across the first and second floors. My mana now covers about a quarter of the second floor, and most of the first floor, so I can still see whoever enters and leaves the dungeon. I’m still only able to saturate one room with my mana, as it thins out too much once it reaches a certain distance, converting back to an unusable form.

  ?

  …

  ?

  This is all I’m able to do in my short break, as the next group is finally here. They’re a bit weaker than the previous group, but their leader looks like the strongest. He’s an older man with gear that looks just as old as him. There’s a solemn look in his eyes as he remains wary of the dungeon, but my attention is drawn to his hand, or rather, his lack of one. He only has one hand left, equipped with a sword, yet he’s still chosen to go into a dungeon. Even without it, his experience must make up for his injury. The rest of his party looks a bit weaker than him, having lower levels and fewer skills on average compared to him. They’re composed of a swordsman, a scout, a ranger, and a… guy? There’s another person in the middle pushing a wheelbarrow through the dungeon. He has some combat skills and a knife, but he doesn’t seem like the type to be a dungeon delver. Maybe he’s just a helper to bring back materials, that sort of thing. He looks the least comfortable inside the dungeon, as much of an outsider to the group as the old man. I wasn’t constantly monitoring them, so I only heard snippets of their conversation. I think the old guy was called Garrus, which seemed familiar to me for some reason, but I couldn’t quite place where. I also heard them asking how close they were to the retrieval spot, so that must have been what the wheelbarrow was for. They’ve finally made it to the last room on the first floor, where they easily dispatch the stone golem, then make their way down the stairs to our current room. I tell them we'll set up an ambush again, minus Vulcan climbing to the ceiling, but not to hurt the weakest guy at the center of their group. I want to use him to test out ‘Possession’, so we’ll be aiming for the faster delvers at first.

  ?

  “Sounds good, Willow. Do you think these intruders will be enough for us to evolve?”

  ?

  “Yeah, they should be enough, or at least put you on the edge of evolution.”

  ?

  “Haha, can’t wait to see what I’ll become. Then I’ll be strong enough to take on that lizard, I just know it.”

  ?

  “...Evolve…Strong”

  ?

  Even Vulcan seems excited, and I can’t blame him. My evolution gave me a sense of euphoria, and that feeling is helping push me to get to my next evolution sooner, although I don’t know what the requirements will be; maybe ‘Identify’ will tell me at a higher level. For now, we get in our spots and prepare as footsteps echo down the stairs. I place an illusion at the center of the room, a roughly humanoid shape that looks like a person laying face down, sprawled out on the floor. I also place a glowing orb, flickering like fire, in front of it to make the shadowy illusion more convincing. Pim is perched among the stalactites, while Vulcan blends in with one of the piles of rocks strewn around the room. The delvers see the form and begin approaching cautiously, their scout at point. Once the torchlight of the party reaches the illusion, the lack of details finally betrays the illusion, but it’s already too late. Manifesting my mana in front of each of them, except for the normal dude, I blind all of them as soon as the scout cries out that the illusion was magic.

  ?

  Pim swoops down and Vulcan charges in, capitalizing on the opportunity. They attack the scout and ranger, but don’t finish them in one hit. I want to degrade their mental strength enough to possess them, but they need to stay alive for me to do so. Effectively torturing them leaves a feeling of disgust at my core, but these are the lengths I need to go to get stronger. The ends justify the means; they have to. As planned, the scout and ranger are down and conscious, pain evident in their ragged breathing and distorting faces, so we take on the remaining swordsmen left. The normal guy is stuck in the middle, witness to Pim and Vulcan’s rampage; his panic becomes more visible as the attack continues, eyes shifting between the dungeon delvers and stairs. He’s almost there, just a little bit more. Vulcan takes on the now recovered leader, but his one hand and use of a sword puts him at a disadvantage, even with superior weapon mastery. Pim takes on the other swordman, his spear mastery outclassing the delver’s sword mastery. Cuts and gushes build up on the swordsman, his leather armor becoming slick with blood as he tries with all of his might to land a blow on Pim. The man in the middle of this fighting begins to hyperventilate, the chaos finally overcoming his mental stability. Seeing my chance to act, I activate ‘Possession’ on him…success.

  ?

  My consciousness moves into his body, settling right behind his eyes. My mana is dropping at a quick pace, so I can’t hold this for longer than a minute. Flexing my temporary body, I remember all of the feelings I had lost on that fateful day that saw me reincarnated into this world. It feels nostalgic, but limiting to be kind of human again. But I have no time to waste in this body. Pim was about to finish his opponent now that my skill had gone off, and Vulcan had pushed the bruised and battered old man to the ground. Taking my chance, I flex my hand gripping the knife the man had wielded to try to defend himself. I take one step, and then another, to the man. Raising my knife above my head, I bring it down, but then our eyes meet. Betrayal, regret, fear, I can read them all in his eyes as my knife falls, but my hand stops before the final few inches. I don’t know why, but I can’t move my hand any closer. I can’t take his life, and then I remember something. Those kids I had met, the first ones to lose their lives because of me, had mentioned an instructor. His name was Garrus, the same as the man lying before me. Frozen in place, I couldn’t bring myself to kill him with my own hand, a choice I would quickly regret. Taking advantage of my hesitation, Garrus jumped to his feet, bringing his sword around and impaling me through the heart.

  ?

  “Willow!!” Pim, screaming, flew straight towards Garrus, spear poised in a blind rage. My vision began to fade as my host’s body quickly began to die, but I was still able to see what happened. Pim, flying as fast as he could, thrust his spear forward. Garrus caught it in his handless arm, blood spraying and bone breaking, but still stopping the spear. Swinging his sword in an upward diagonal slash, his blade cut into Pim, from hip to shoulder, splitting Pim’s body in half. My consciousness was ejected out of the man’s corpse, Vulcan staring at the falling halves of Pim’s body, giving Garrus a moment to breathe, but that was all he needed. Dropping into a sprint, Garrus ran straight up the stairs before Vulcan finally began to move to pursue.

  ?

  “Stop, Vulcan! You can’t catch him, and the others are still alive. There’s nothing more we can do.”

  ?

  “But…Pim…He killed Pim.”

  ?

  Vulcan was looking back at me, but there was nothing I could say to him. Pim was dead because of me, my hesitation. When I didn’t reply, he looked back at the stairs and visibly deflated when he resigned himself to reality. He walked over to Pim’s remains, falling to his knees as he gently touched his face. I could only watch, robbed of physical sensation and only allowed to contemplate my failures. Right before Pim’s life was fully lost, he was able to send one more message to me. “Sorry, Willow. I messed up.” It was my fault, and he blamed himself for what happened. I don’t even know what I was feeling, but an indescribable emptiness pervaded my core. Vulcan roared at the ceiling in his grief, stomping over to each surviving dungeon delver and ending their suffering. Once he had killed the last one, his body began to change, glowing an iridescent shine. He was evolving, becoming a bronze golem, and attaining new strength. But this was no victory. My first companion in this world, my first friend, was dead. Pim is gone.