Is it wrong to make bonds in a dungeon?

" So you are finally here." Her emerald eyes left the book and looked at me.

Man, maybe I have said it multiple times, but she is just so beautiful. The anime did not do justice to her. The novel's illustration gave a glimpse of her real beauty.

"How was your first dungeon dive?" Her voice brought me out of my reverie. 

"It was good." I talked as I walked towards her. " I learn a lot from Raul, Anakitty, and Ais, my status also has a good boost."

"That's good. But Ais did not trouble you, did she?" She asked with her voice tinged with a little worry.

"No, she was really helpful. We even agreed to train together." Her expressions changed.

"What! I think you should think more about that, Arin. Ais really did not know how to hold back her strength," she said with a worried frown.

"No, that's fine, rather it's a good thing for me as it will help me grow faster," I told her, but her worried expression still did not go away. She looked at me for some moments.

"Fine. If you are so sure, I trust Ais as well, but sometimes she loses herself when training. So! You must tell me right away if Ais troubles you too much." 

"Yup, I surely will Riveria." Her frown dissipated after my promise. 

"Make sure you do that. Anyway, should we start our magic training? Did you read the books I gave you?" 

"Yeah, I did. I am pumped to learn some magic, you know." 

Riveria gave a small smile. "It's good that you are motivated, but remember learning how to cast spells will be difficult, even with your growth skill. So be ready to face some failures."

Ugh, I hate failures. If I were alone, trying to learn magic and faced a failure, it would have demotivated me a lot, because I am just that weak of a person. 

But with Riveria guiding me, I am not afraid of failure because I know she won't let me stay down and force me on my feet again. 

Man, I am so selfish dumping that responsibility on her. And that's exactly why I must try my best not to burden her.

"Hm? What happened? You became quiet all of a sudden." Riveria looked questioningly at me.

"Ah, sorry I spaced out for a while," I said, trying to hide my inner emotions.

"I see, just be careful not to do that when casting magic. It might go haywire if you don't concentrate enough." Her warning makes sense since the magic system here depends heavily on your concentration, and this may also be why the mana reserves are called mind. 

Riveria closed the book gently, her fingers brushing the leather cover as she spoke, "We will start with you sensing the magic." 

"Okay, how do I do that exactly?" Since there was not much mentioned about it in those books, Riveria gave to me.

"Firstly, I will gather my magic. You need to concentrate on that, and then try to do the same. You understand?" 

"Yeah, I understand." 

"Then I will start." Riveria stood up from her chair. And walked in front of the window. And the next moment, her beautiful, silky hair started to flutter in the wind alongside her robe. I noticed a dim light started to gather around her, enveloping her gently. 

"This light that you see is magic. As of now, it is just gathering around me and dissipating in the air since I have not started any chant." The light around her started getting dimmer, and her robe and her hair stopped fluttering as well.

She sighed softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear—a habit I was starting to recognize.

"Now you try to do the same." 

"Okay, Riveria." I tried concentrating and felt that light around me. A short moment later, I was able to see it more clearly, like it had been there from the beginning. But I was having trouble controlling it. Like a drone flying out of range from me. I felt the magic going out of my control, turning the books near me to open their pages, turning.

"Don't try to use force, treat it like you would a child." 

"Okay. But you know I am very bad with kids." 

"Really? I imagined you would be the type to get along well with them."

I laughed quietly. "I tend to get awkward. But I will try again."

I closed my eyes and started to concentrate again.

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Some time passed as we continued my training, though we also did some chit chat, and I was able to make some progress, even if only a little. To be honest, I was expecting it to be easier than this. But I guess even with my skills, it will be difficult to learn it.

"You don't need to be disheartened, you have already made so much progress. I think all you need is a trigger to cast a spell." 

"Trigger?" I asked with confusion.

"Yeah, a moment where you are desperate for magic. Though that is just my guess. Since I have not met with someone with a skill like yours, which has no description. Other than the name(magic)." 

She continued.

"Even Lefiya, who has a skill similar to yours, has a proper description." 

Trigger huh…

Riviera looked outside the window towards the moon. " Anyway, I think for today, this is more than enough. And you mention that you will be learning Item creation, right?" She said and looked back at me, the moon's brightness shining on her face. Making her appear ethereal.

"Yeah." I already told her my plan for learning item creation.

"Then, I think today's training will be helpful, since having good control over magic is one of the conditions to create magic items."

"I thought so as well, but right now I don't even know if the Hermes familia will accept teaching me, much less their Item creator."

"Asfi huh. I don't think she will mind it as long as you are respectful towards the craft."

"Do you know her personally?" I don't know anything about how their relationship was, whether they were close or not.

"You can say that our familia's have worked together for some time now. So we have met on several occasions. She is very talented not only in Just item creation but in normal combat as well. I hope you get along with her. Life has not been easy on her, after all." 

With the way she talks about her, it does not seem like they are just someone who has worked together just because of their familia's. Maybe they share some kind of kinship since they both had run away from their families. 

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No matter the reason, I will find out when the time is right.

"Well, good night, Riveria. See you later." 

"Hm. Good night to you as well, Arin. See you tomorrow." After that, I left the library and started walking towards my room. Remembering that tomorrow morning I have a training session with Ais. I decided to sleep a little earlier.

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But my plan of being an early sleeper after a long time was not supposed to happen.

"Where are you going, Boy? There is a welcoming party for you today."

As I neared my room, Gareth called out to me from behind.