27 Going Solo... Maybe

When Oria takes her first step to the next platform past the bridge, Faruk tells her another thing.

"...Though, I did say I don't give advice at this area, I will give you this and only this one advice to you, Oria."

"Uhh... okay...?"

"Always use [Appraisal] whenever you see an enemy. No matter what they are."

"Oh, r-right. I'll do just that."

"Hm. Off we go, then."

With that, her solo journey begins!

Accompanied by the ticking sound of the relentless watermill, she traverses through the straight path in front of her. The stone surface is less mossy, but being so close to the water, it's even more pungent in there than the last area.

"(Ugh... it's even worse in here... but I can hold on just fine now. Maybe it's because I'm already getting used to the smell?)"

Then, she comes across a door leading to a dark room.

"Uhh..." she's reluctant to enter. Her eyes gaze at the buoyant iron ball, which simply looks away when she looked at it.

"Aww... (He's serious about not giving me advice, huh...) I can't see anything in there. It's not a safe point, either... the smell in there is the same as out here. Ooh... what am I going to do?"

"I already told you, I won't give you any help." Faruk coldly said.

Oria pouts at his remark, "Nnn... I know that!" she then thinks about it, "(Huh... I think I can use my wand to light the path... by using Albus Ignis.)"

Oria decides to give it a shot. She takes out her wand. She closes her eyes, imagining that a tiny white fire burning the tip of that tiny stick she's holding. Then, she casts the magic in a mediocre tone.

"Albus Ignis."

A white fire ignites by the tip of that black wand on her hand. But it burns a bit too large.

"Oh, no, no, this isn't right... it's too big, the heat is spreading to my wand..." she stopped the magic, snuffing the fire quickly. "Okay... let's try it again..."

Again, she imagines the white fire again. She tries to picture it as small as possible. She remembers the torches on the walls have flames that burn sizably, but too big for her wand.

"(No, I mustn't use fire that large...)" she thought. "(Oh, wait... I think I remember there are some torches that have their fire almost dying out... that level of fire... maybe I can imagine that level of intensity.)"

Oria tries it out. She imagines the dying fire she remembered, then tries to picture that sort of fire lighting up the tip of that black baton of hers. Eventually, she casts the magic, but this time saying the word quietly.

"Albus... Ignis..."

An ignition is heard, and as she opens her eyes, she found a tiny white fire flaming the tip of her wand. She smiles gleefully, seeing that her effort is a success.

"I did it...! Faruk, I did it!" she showed it to Faruk in such excitement.

"Hm. It seems you've found something to light your way. Good work."

"Heehee. Thanks."

But as the fire was imagined as a dying fire, that petite white flame is sharing that trait.

"Oh-oh! The fire...!" she tried to shelter the fire from open wind, trying to maintain it active.

"...*sigh* Why are you treating it like it's a natural fire...?" Faruk shook his head.

"Oh, yeah... hehe," the child rubbed the back of her silver head. "(Oh, yeah... I wonder how the fire remains burning... maybe it was from my mana? Oh, well, guess I'll find out later.)"

The child and the Silver Dragon enter the dark room. With a poor illumination in her hand, they explore the dark room. She notices that just a slight shift to the right she already meets the wall. The same is said when she goes a bit to the left. When she searches for the ceilings, she finds out surprisingly that they have an endless-like height. It's like she's crossing a tight path between two enormous stone walls. Even so, she decides to keep on crossing the pathway.

After some time crossing the dark path with Faruk following quietly behind, Oria finds herself at a cross junction.

"Uwaah... where to go...?" she said confusedly. She can't determine where to go.

"To the left...? To the right...? Or straight...? Umm... Faruk...?" she looked behind her. "...not going to tell me, are you...?"

"You know the rules... and so do I," he casually replied.

"Gah... come on... (Eh, wait, I remember he said that this area of the dungeon is straightforward. Which means...!)"

Oria takes a thousand step and rushes forward, leaving the Observer ball behind.

"Eh? Hey! Don't just charge in there, you little--!"

Poor Faruk flies quickly to keep up with her. Oria has no idea whether her decision is correct or not, but she just believes she'll end up at the right place. Eventually, she slows down as she notices the path ahead is elongating and seemingly endless. Faruk then catches up. His voice is grumbling, ready to blow up at her at any moment.

"HEY, Oria! That's VERY dangerous of you to do that! Rushing carelessly into the unknown like that! Who knows if there's monster in there!?"

"...hey, Faruk... are we really going on the right path...?"

"Huh?" Faruk looked ahead. "...Yeah, this is the way. Why?"

The child looks at him in a gleeful expression. "Heehee. Thanks for telling me!" she smiled smugly and goes ahead.

"Wha-HEY! Why you little human—! (Did she just trick me into telling her?! Ooh, she's surely going to get it now...!)"

Faruk's single eye squinted tightly. He speeds up, giving chase to the little girl who's sprinting ahead of him.

...But Oria—in front of her—notices a T junction. There's a two different path, but she doesn't know which one to take. Confused which one should she take, she carelessly chooses to go left. Just as she went there, a disaster struck. The white fire on her wand dies.

"Wha— why now of all time?"

Meanwhile, a minute later, Faruk ends up by the T junction, too. ...Except, he goes to the right instead of left.

"(Puh... that little twerp... where did she go? I hope she's not heading left... that path is full of monsters. I can't sense her presence in this Observer form... darn it, she didn't know about this split path, yet! I don't see her on that left passage, so she must've headed to the right!)"

In his panic, Faruk missed her, even though he has a sight that allows him to see things as clear as day.

On the other hand, Oria stops on the spot. Blind in the dark, she tries to light her wand again.

"This is so scary... please, monsters, don't come here..." she prayed to herself while trying to reimagine the tiny white fire.

"Albus... Ignis...!"

The fire reappears again, giving a sense of calm again to the confused child.

But now... another problem rose.

"Huh? Which way did I go through? Did I go from there...? Or there...?" Oria got even more confused.

The little girl lost direction.

...

..

.

It's been three minutes since Faruk speeding through the right path. Furious, yet he's ultimately worried, because up until now, he's yet to find his protege.

"Why haven't I caught up with her? Impossible if she can run faster than my flying speed... I also haven't spotted that small light from her white fire... don't tell me it died! This grows worse with this entire structure being soundproof!"

Meanwhile, Oria, on the other side of the wall, couldn't tell whether she's going deeper or retracing her steps.

"Oooh... I shouldn't have left Faruk...!" she cried. "Where am I supposed to go...?"

The child nearly teared up. Fortunately, she then remembers something.

"...T-That's right... maybe I can find a skill that can be helpful in this situation... I haven't used that one skill point, yet..."

She checks her status screen and goes to the skill tree. There, she finds a lot of skills. Too many for her eyes, perhaps. It's like she's being shoved a massive info to her brain. Just by looking at the giant skill list makes her head spins.

"Oh, no..." she holds her head, caressing it in her frustration. "Faruk..."

She's just scrolling down the screen while reading unlockable skill names one by one, hoping that she's going to find something useful.

"I shouldn't have left him... what have I done... I'm such a bad girl... *hic*... *sob*..."

In her grievance, she prays that Faruk will catch up with her eventually. But then she just remembers that there's a split path and there's a possibility that Faruk goes to the other side instead of hers. Thinking of that sends her into a meltdown.

Her finger just fondles with the screen. That display is the only source of light now since her little fire just died again. Accompanied only by the dim light of the screen, she's struggling to find a skill to unlock while hoping Faruk comes to her.

"(...Please, Goddess... please lead him here... I don't want to be left alone in here...)"

Oria can only cry in her heart. It is at this moment that she realizes that she's incredibly reliant on her beloved master. Every move, every choice, and every action... all are guided by him.

"I caused trouble again, didn't I...? *hic* Just like... just like how I did with Hilda... I heavily relied on her back then... and it led me to be alone to escape...

...This time, I relied on Faruk too much. I'm alone again... I was so stupid."

Her tears cannot be stopped. They just... unintentionally flows over her skin, dropping to the cold stone floor. But before her eyes cause flood to her adorable face, she wipes them with her brown coat. She's standing up again.

Clenching her hands, she calls to herself.

"...Don't cry, Oria... Hilda *hic* told me... not to cry anymore..."

She remembers her dying words that time:

"Hold yer head high, baby... Don't cry too much."

Those words resonated in her mind. Another one resounded:

"...I want you to take... my precious thing to the outside world with you."

Reflectively, she holds the amulet on her chest. That beautiful accessory she gave to her. She holds it tightly.

"That's right... she's with me. She will always be with me... she believes in me that I will take this amulet of hers to the outside world!"

That amulet may seem like just a coincidentally pretty amulet that might go valueless if sold on the market. But for her, that amulet gives her courage. The power to stand up again. To go with her life again. To hold her tears, too...

"I must no longer rely on anyone... I don't want to trouble anyone. I do NOT want to make anyone suffer because of my dependent self anymore!

Master Dux... and Faruk... they've been so kind to me all this time.

I...

I don't want to lose them!"

Thinking of that provides an adequate courage that gives her eyes and mind focus. She quickly looks through the still screen again, scrolling through the list of skills that she can unlock with her skill points. Eventually...

"This *sob* might be it...!"

Her nose is still snotty. On the screen, she reads out: [Pathfinder]

She taps on that skill and reads the description.

[Pathfinder]

Desc: Dungeon-only. Passive skill. Gives user the ability to trace their way in and out of a dungeon, including path that they should take.

Cost: 1 Skill Point(s).

"It's a skill that I can only use in dungeons, huh...? Ah, but it's exactly the thing I need! I'll take it!"

<Select this skill: Yes – No>

She presses yes.

Naturally, the voice of the system is heard afterwards.

<Skill: Pathfinder Lv.1 achieved!>

That skill is now among her existing skills in her status screen. Almost immediately, her eyes feel like they're warming up.

"Whoa... what's this feeling... huh? What's this...? I can see..."

The child's pupils are illuminated in a faint rinse of light, painting the outline of her pupils. In her sights, she can now see a small luminous circle on the surface around her. There's a triangle acting as an arrow, pointing to the path ahead. Meanwhile, there's a red arrow pointing behind her.

Another mystery rose.

"What's these symbols supposed to mean...?"