When Ada woke up, we shared a moment of silence. I had pulled out some rations that I stolen from the mess hall from my bag and was using the chemical pouches to heat the food. I remembered my dad complaining about MREs that he would eat out in the field. Compared to the food I had been provided with since the apocalypse started, this was fine dining. The meal was some sort of meat in gravy with a piece of bread that was closer to a piece of cake in texture. It wasn't the most fluffy bread, and so it didn't absorb the gravy. I had to resort to licking the bottom of the pouch; if my mother saw this, she would have told me to mind my manners. I chuckled a little at the memories that thought brought to the front of my mind.

  "Dane, if you are gonna start laughing in the dark like a creep, you should at least let me know what is so funny," Ada said. I completely forgot that she didn't have mana eyes yet.

  "I was just thinking about how my mom would have slapped me for how I was eating my food in front of a lady," I said, letting her in on the joke.

  "Well, it's not like it matters since this cave is pitch black." Ada was not stupid; she realized that she might very well die down in the dungeon. She was sure that she had made the right choice, but wondered if she would ever get used to not being able to see her surroundings. It felt smothering and was hard to have an everyday conversation.

  "I have been thinking about that, if we are gonna be fighting together, we need to know what the other can do." Interested to learn about my companion, who lit up the darkness with the golden mana that radiated from her. I was surprised that she helped me see better than when I was by myself. "I'll start first. For skills, I have Axe proficiency, Small weapons, Haste, Danger Sense, Caveman, Meteorite, and Exodus. I have the space and time affinity and can create portals and increase gravity on objects. I can also see down here because I augment my eyes with mana, and it allows me to see what I have been calling ambient mana."

  "Are you level 60?" Ada asked, her face filled with shock. Ada knew that Dane was powerful enough to make light work of the level 40 abyss wolves, but that begged the question of how strong he was. The last time she knew the kid, he was an unremarkable miner, and now he had all these skills and could even use a legendary affinity. While in the tutorial, she was taught by the combat bots on the basics of Magic since she was going to be a caster. She had a light affinity, which was very rare among humans. But this boy casually stated that he had a Magic affinity reserved for heroes and kings.

  "No, I'm a level 37. I had three of my skills when I unlocked the system, and I earned one of them while fighting a shadowcat during my proving." I didn't have any experience with how the system was for others, and I started to suspect that those rumors of her having the system already unlocked may have been an understatement.

  Ada sat there with a look of dumbfoundedness on her face. She couldn't believe that this guy had just said he was level 37. He must have killed over 12 abyss wolves by himself, and he was just going to act like that wasn't a big deal. Either he was lying to her, or he was foolish to trust someone so thoroughly when they first met. Ada learned her lesson when she got thrown into the mines after being catfished for a desk job. "Dane, don't take this the wrong way, but are you a child in a man's body? I mean, I know that we were both slaves, but you can't just tell people all of these fantastic things and keep it moving like you didn't just fight like you are 30 levels higher than you are. I mean, seriously, you have to keep some things to yourself until you are strong enough that it doesn't matter who you tell."

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  "I just figured that since I am your only lifeline, I would be safe to let you in on my secrets. Trust me, it wouldn't be hard for me to kill a level 24 healer. I bet I wouldn't even have to do anything, I could leave you and say nothing. Let whatever monster was lurking in the dark get you. I told you because, just as you said, you can tell people whatever you want when you are strong enough." I didn't want to say any of that to her, but I got the feeling that she wouldn't believe my real reason and that she was still weighing her options on whether she should try turning me in to the dungeon team or not. The only secret I would be keeping would be my spirit human hybrid race. I was already a fugitive of the state, so I would be hunted down until I either toppled a government or became a deterrent. However, it would be better if she feared me, in case she ever started to think turning me in was a good idea. "But we need each other if we are going to survive down here. I need you, and you need me. I would prefer that we be open and honest with each other. I know that you won't trust me right away, but if I am going to put my life in your hands, I might as well let you know why you should be willing to put yours in mine."

  "You don't have to be a dick about it. I followed you down this tunnel, didn't I?" She said with a tone of disgust.

  "Well, technically, I dragged you down here, but can you please tell me what skills you have. I want to head out for the Mole King when you finish, letting me know what level you are, your class, and how support classes gain experience points." I needed to know all of this because, with a dedicated healer in the party, what she could do would determine how reckless I could be.

  "I am level 24 and a mercenary healer, but it seems you already used Identify on me because you knew that. I only have two spells: Heal Minor Wounds and Regeneration. Minor healing will heal 10% of my target's HP and seal internal and external wounds. Regeneration is a passive skill, but when I cast it on the party, everyone gains an increase to their natural regeneration for two hours. This is different depending on the person. I went through the tutorial when the world went to shit and recieved basic combat training and the basics of Mana usage. A support gains experience based on their contribution. I don't know the exact breakdown, but since we are only a party of two, it will pretty much be an even split."

  "Alright, well, with you only having the one buff and a minor heal spell, we are going to need to grind up until you get to 41 at least. At this point, I'm just going to carry you through the battles and worry if you're going to get killed. You would be a hindrance if we tried to do a boss fight. So here's the plan: first, we need to teach you mana eyes. You're no help if you can't see. Then, we're going to track and kill the rest of the Abyss wolves. We may even need to start thinning the herd of moles, but I don't want to chance an encounter with the king before you have two more spells or skills. How is your mana training?"

  ...

  I now knew how Dia felt when she was teaching me. This was excruciating, I thought, since she was a caster, that it would be much easier to teach her, but apparently, she had never once tried to channel mana outside of activating her spells. Everything was automatic, and she didn't even need to think about what was happening. We had to start from the beginning with breathing exercises. But my mana eyes made it easier to instruct what she should be feeling and where the energy was. Once she was able to dispel mana from her hands, I had her channel it through her eyes. Her vision wasn't the same as mine, and instead of seeing shades and ambient mana, she saw only the energy within living things. If I had to take a guess, that was the different mana affinities working; her light affinity was used for healing and would give insight into the bodies and systems of living things, while mine, which was space, would track cosmic energy, which was all mana. We had to make camp for the night. Tomorrow, I will show Ada the Mana River and set a trap for the wolves.