Is It Weird to Refine Spirits in Dungeons? Chapter 5

Holocure Spirit Refiner

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 5: Journey’s Beginnings

“Spirit magic? That is a type of magic I have never encountered before,” The elf commented.

“I’m not surprised,” I replied casually, “It’s a rather rare type of magic, and it’s dependent on several conditions.”

Next to us, the other three members of the Hero Party were looking at Fubuki, who was happily dancing around for them. 

Curiously, neither Himmel the Hero nor Eisen the Warrior could see her at first, only Heiter the Priest was able to. It took Frieren the Mage to cast a spell that could make the invisible visible before they were able to see the cute fox girl.

“Ah~ She’s so cute~ I’d like to make her my wife if she was bigger~”

Foob stopped dancing, crossing her arms in an X in front of her. “No! No waifu~ Fubuki, friend!”

I couldn’t help laughing at that. It was so much like the original Fubuki. 

“Stop that, you corrupt Priest,” Frieren chided. “Isn’t alcohol enough for you?”

Heiter laughed. “You’re right about that!”

Our initial meeting had a tense beginning, but Himmel recognized that I meant no harm and invited me to join them for a break. We conversed over some simple rations, and shared our respective reasons for being in this dungeon.

From what I could recall of the plot of Sousou no Frieren, it started after the death of Himmel the Hero, many years after he and his party defeated the Demon King. That death spurred the elf mage Frieren to go on a journey northwards for some reason I’d forgotten, and the story was about the events she engaged in along the way. 

Obviously, this was way before that time, and I was learning more details about things that weren’t touched upon in the story.

Himmel was the type of person who would go out of his way to help others, and in this case, he had been requested to slay the monster that had taken up residence in the depths of this dungeon. The other three accompanied him because he was the leader.

I mentioned how I found the bodies of the monsters they killed along the way, but none after the stairs to the next floor, which made me turn back to look for the ones responsible. That was how I ran into them.

Himmel had laughed and explained how clearing a dungeon meant covering every nook and cranny, instead of just heading for the end straight away. Heiter voiced his agreement as well, though the other two didn’t say anything, I could tell they had their doubts.

Since we were on the topic of dungeons, I brought up some of my past experiences. Minecraft, Dungeon Meshi, and the minor ones… they weren’t that long ago for me, so I could remember quite a lot of details. Himmel was quite interested, especially when I mentioned having to derive sustenance from monsters.

Naturally, the party pinpointed one big trait about my accounts. The fact that I was mostly alone.

That was when I introduced my ability as a Spirit Refiner, and my companion spirit Fubuki.

That was how we arrived at the point we were at now.

“So… you’re intending to take down the monster as well?” Himmel asked rhetorically.

I nodded. “The main purpose is to gather materials or some magic that can enhance my spirit further.”

“So that’s why you call yourself a Spirit Refiner.”

“Do you know what the monster here is like?” Eisen asked me. 

“To be honest, no,” I admitted, “But I’ve seen enough clues to draw my own conclusion.”

The brief period of time I spent with Senshi learning about monster ecology had stuck with me quite well. The reptilian mob beasts aside, there were things like the size of the passageways, droppings at certain areas, markings left on the architecture, and even the temperature, which was rising the deeper I got. 

The boss monster was a giant wyrm.

“Impressive,” Frieren complimented me, “That matches the info we were given.”

“You already knew.”

“It was included in the request,” Heiter pulled a bunch of papers from his robe and laid them out for me to see.

Taking a moment to pat a curious Foob on the head, I scanned the papers, which had a sketch drawing of the monster in question. It was quite similar to the smaller ones I had seen, though there were mentions of it having an extendable tongue and spikes on the joints the younger versions lacked.

“Since we both have the same objective, would you be willing to help us out with slaying the beast?” Himmel invited.

“Sure.” I accepted instantly.

As part of working together, we exchanged information on what we could do. 

The Hero Party’s methods were physical in nature, even the spells that Heiter and Frieren used, so they had to focus on tackling monsters as they came, unless they purposely aimed for the ones in the backline. In comparison, Foob’s tail whip could strike all enemies within its range, which made me suited for taking on large groups. A quick test against Heiter’s magic shield and Eisen’s blocking weapon proved that the spiritual attack affected each individual target, even if the one in front tried to defend the one behind.

Eisen flexed his arm. “Not as hard as I thought it would be. Your effectiveness against the large monster might not be so good.”

“Yeah, I expected that. We can adjust our tactics before we confront it.”

“Didn’t you say that your spirit can still grow in power as we defeat more enemies?” Himmel asked me.

“That’s true too.”

“Then we’ll just have to clear this dungeon of all its monsters, so that your spirit will be at full strength when we reach the final room.”

“Won’t that just tire the rest of us out instead?” Frieren sighed.

“By the way,” Eisen approached me, “Why are you wearing a breastplate that doesn’t fit you?”

“About that…”

I explained how having it receive and defend against hits was part of the process to make it a spirit equipment in the future, and he told me to take it off so he could adjust it better to fit me. As a warrior, he did know his equipment well, so I did as he said, and came away with a much better fit.

They also agreed to let me tank the occasional hit when things weren’t too risky.

With that settled, the five of us continued to explore the dungeon.

Himmel taught me quite a bit along the way as well, pointing out places where traps were. The explanation as to why I hadn’t run into any until now was because the traps were placed to protect more valuable stuff in chambers that were more out of the way. Raised flagstones that were pressure switches, triggers built to go off when something was opened, and ones that went off when the switches weren’t activated. Frieren had some spells that could disarm some of them, but most of the time the Party just defended against the trap, or avoided it entirely if it was too dangerous.

I definitely need to summon that trap detector spirit soon. I examined one of the flagstones that Himmel pointed out. Too bad I can’t take this with me as a ritual material.

The exploration was rather fun, despite all the monsters and traps in our way. I even got to witness the running gag of Frieren getting caught by a mimic.

“It’s dark… It’s scary…” Her muffled wails could be heard through the gaps, even as the mimic tried to gnaw on her waist.

“I told you it was a mimic, didn’t I?” The priest sighed.

“Should we just leave her?” 

After we freed her, she was poking her index fingers together apologetically. “I was so sure there was a grimoire inside…”

“Does it happen a lot?” I asked Eisen, after I extracted a few teeth from the mimic’s corpse as reagents.

“More than I can recall…”

Still, there were successes as well. Frieren seemed to enjoy finding all sorts of trinkets in those chests, some magical, while others were just cosmetic. Himmel told me they usually traded those away for travel funds to support their journey.

As expected, the number of monsters in our way increased the deeper we went. The worst was when we encountered the boss we were looking for in the chamber before the next stairway down, with fifteen mobs as backup.

They didn’t detect us when we peeped in at first, so we had time to come up with a plan to confront it.

I kited the mobs around while taking them down as fast as I could, even as Himmel and the rest occupied the beast, who tried to target me for taking out the mobs. If not for a shouted warning, I would have taken a much more grievous blow than the glancing one on my breastplate, but in exchange, I scored the final hit.

“Boom!” Foob cheered as the Holo Bomb went off right underneath the beast’s head.

It jerked upwards, then collapsed completely as a concentrated spirit shard came out of its body and flew into my hand.

Celebration! Foob was buzzing, which didn’t match well with the ache I was feeling in my body.

“Here, let me heal you,” Heiter crouched down near me and held out a glowing green hand.

“Thanks.” The healing spell made me feel better, though it was a bit slow.

“Did you hit it with something, Ray?” Himmel asked, sheathing his sword after cleaning it. 

“He left some kind of box in its path, and the box burst when it was passing over it,” Frieren explained.

Eisen stroked his beard. “I didn’t see any box… Was it a spirit weapon then?” 

“Yes. Ah, I’m fine now,” I told Heiter, who stopped. Getting up, I moved over to examine the corpse. “Hmm, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“This is the monster we were requested to slay, yes,” Himmel answered, also looking thoughtful, “But this isn’t the only monster here. Am I right?”

“Eisen, mind helping me lift this part up?” The dwarf obliged, and I pointed out the bumps that were on the underside, “These glands are usually indicative of a male lizard, but we’ve seen so many young versions, so…”

“There’s a female version that has been spawning them,” Frieren concluded.

As Himmel and the others started theorizing about how the monster must have been hunting for food to feed its mate and hatchlings, I was feeling relieved that Senshi’s lessons had included identifying reptile gender to avoid disrupting the dungeon ecosystem. There was a chance that the monster biology in this world was different, but I was just using it as an excuse. 

The objective to slay the dungeon monster had not been cleared when this one had died, so that meant that my target was still alive.

So sometimes the native adventurers might have different objectives… I looked over the monster again. Hmm, I could use some of this, but something doesn’t feel right.

“Alright, then we shall carry on.” Himmel finished his discussion with the others. “Are you still coming with us, Ray?”

“Of course.” I moved to join them.

We found the female monster in a large chamber, surrounded by several eggs and large numbers of supporting mobs just huddling up against the glowing crystals there. Even from where we were, we could feel the heat that was being put out. That explained why this place was being used as an incubation chamber by the monster. It was larger than the male for sure, but it looked less inclined to move. From the looks of it, it was just laying eggs.

After a pre-battle discussion, we began our plan. I ran in first, using Foob’s ability to boost my speed. As I passed by some of the mobs, I struck with her awakened weapon.

Awakening was the benefit of a spirit weapon leveled up its maximum. For Fubuki in the game, the effect was that each strike had a twenty percent chance to summon a sword that would pierce through the monster, and any others in its path.

The version I had with Foob was to build up a store of energy from each strike, that I could use to release the swords whenever I wished. With the number of monsters I was hitting with each strike, I could fire off quite a lot of them. I was also dropping Holo Bombs to blast away any that came too close. The monsters quickly dwindled in number, though I also drew the attention of their mother.

It turned its head towards me, and opened its mouth.

“Whoa!” I ducked, avoiding several spikes that pierced through the stone wall behind me. 

Danger! Foob warned, even as I took cover behind one of the heat crystals that the beast seemed unwilling to attack.

Nodding, I pursed my lips and let out a whistle, signaling Himmel that it was his turn to act. So the female has a different attack mechanism… I was expecting a tongue, but this was some kind of shotgun.

With the monsters’ attention on me, they weren’t able to mount a sufficient defense against the party. Eisen finished the mother off with a two-handed swing that decapitated it after Frieren blinded its vision. 

It was much easier than the fight against the male one. Though the awakened tail whip made a lot of difference. I used the absorbed spirit energy to enhance my speed and power a bit more, since my weapons were already at their max.

“Great job, Foob,” I praised the spirit.

Pride! She responded immediately.

“It’s a good thing we came to this dungeon to deal with the monster,” Himmel remarked as he went around destroying the eggs, “If they had continued to multiply and spread out into the region, a lot of people would have been harmed.”

“Frieren,” The priest called to the mage, “Do you have any magic that could properly dispose of these bodies?”

“Of course. Help me gather them up first.”

Something caught my attention as I was doing so. “Himmel.”

“Hm?”

“Could you help me cut off this part? I think I can make use of it.”

“The tail? Of course. Where should I cut?”

“Right here.” 

“Won’t it be too big?” 

“Don’t worry, I can carry it.”

“With that weak body?” Eisen gave me an ‘are you serious’ look. “I’ll handle that.”

“No, really, that’s just…” I gave up and let him do as he wanted. “Hmm, could you trim off a bit of the flesh around the bone here?”

Himmel looked at me curiously, but obliged. 

Heiter came by and casted a spell on the cut section. “Here, so it doesn’t leak all over.”

I eyed the piece of the tail. The coincidence in this quest is too big to ignore. I mean, what are the chances that the monster happened to be purple in color, with such a familiar-looking dragon-like tail? 

Given that the beast it came from was pretty large, it was at least twice the weight of a full adult. I did say I could carry the thing, but Eisen just hefted it above his head like it weighed nothing. He put it off to the side, along with the other materials the party picked out. 

When we were sure that there wasn’t anything else we wanted, Frieren blasted the remains to ash. Normally, such a thing would be dangerous in an enclosed environment like this, but Heiter had some spell that would protect us from such hazards. 

This world really had the advantage in terms of magic.

We spent a bit more time checking over this final chamber, and our effort was rewarded when a false wall opened up.

“Oh, a treasure chest! I can feel a grimoire from this one.” Frieren dashed over and opened it. “I was right!”

“Nice reward to end this dungeon with,” Himmel remarked as she started flipping through the book.

“Hahaha!” His friend laughed, “It would be a poor one if it had been a mimic.”

“What sort of magic is it?” I asked curiously.

Frieren shut the book with a snap, giving the rest of us a pleased smile. “A magic that seals heat within crystals.”

That look definitely fits her more than her usual emotionless one. I noticed that Himmel’s gaze softened a bit when it was directed at that smile.

“That explains these.” Eisen patted one of the crystals in the room.

“Well then, shall we head back?” Himmel asked. “I do believe we deserve a feast after this. Will you be joining us?” He invited me, even as Heiter was cheering with anticipation for alcohol.

“As much as I’d like to accept, I think it’s better if I see to those materials first.”

“That’s a pity. Oh well, maybe next time, if our paths cross again.”

“Here, I’ll help bring these outside first.” Eisen picked up the items, the sight of his tiny body carrying all those slightly unbelievable to see.

“Thanks. It’s a great help. Say, Frieren…”

She listened to my request. “Of course, I do have enough magic left for that.”

We got to see a cute Foob prancing ahead of us as we made our way back up to the surface, which provided us with some pleasant entertainment. I traded some information with Frieren about our respective magic disciplines, and I began to get some ideas on making new abilities for my spirits.  The versatility of this world’s magic was impressive, that was what I felt from reading the grimoire she found.

Sealing magic plus extension magic plus attuning magic… all three went into creating this spell, just to make a constant heat source. “This magic would be great for people traveling in cold countries.”

“I would need to experiment a little before I can make something for our own use.”

Our group continued to converse and bicker, until we finally arrived at the entrance of the dungeon. I wheezed as I took the load from Eisen, who didn’t look tired even after carrying that weight for so long. If not for Fubuki reinforcing my body, I doubted I could have carried it for more than a minute.

“Alright, I’ll… be going now…” I gasped out.

“How will you do that?” Heiter asked me curiously.

“Spirit-assisted… travel… see you…!”

I activated the recall, and returned back to the house.

[Monster Subjugation Dungeon: CLEARED!]

“Welcome back, sire. That’s a rather heavy load.” Sappy’s voice remarked. 

Can’t expect them to help outside of their assigned duty… “Hi Sappy. Yes, it is.”

“I would recommend putting it away.”

“Duh.”

I staggered into the house, my arms and legs burning with the exertion until I finally managed to dump the items into the ritual circle. There wasn’t any space on the shelves for such a large-sized object, so it was best if I used it up quickly. I also stripped off the breastplate and laid it aside, now that it was usable as a ritual reagent.

Placing my hand on the grimoire on the book stand, I distributed the spirit energy to boost Fubuki up. From the emotions I was getting, she was quite pleased at the final result. It was to be expected; this dungeon adventure had been the most rewarding so far.

“Kon kon~” Foob greeted her fellow spirits, who welcomed her back enthusiastically.

I went to take a drink of water from the kitchen, nodding at a dozing Simmer on the stove as I poured it out from a pitcher in the fridge. It also reminded me that I needed a shower. The fighting in that warm area made me work up quite a sweat, not to mention struggling with the weight of all the items I brought back.

Later, I was reclining in my comfortable armchair as I reviewed the information in my head. Lauracie’s headshots dumped a lot of it into me, which made it necessary to parse through it during my downtime. It was the reason why I could just see things and realize ‘Oh, I can use this’, even if I didn’t have the memory to explain why. Or an unknown switch flipping in my mind that allows me to connect two points to realize a whole new picture.

I didn’t really like that feeling. That’s why I needed these mental review sessions.

The purple tail section was the perfect material for crafting the Plug-Type Asacoco, one of the weapons from Holocure. Due to its compatibility, I could exclude quite a few other components. As for the ritual required… This was the first time I had to consider the time of the day when conducting one. Just like its morning news skit namesake, the ritual had to be conducted early in the morning.

As for the breastplate, I could easily take care of it later, except that with the tail in the ritual circle right now, I would have to lug that out of the way first.

I really don’t wanna do that… 

I wriggled and turned in the chair. The side effect of spirit empowerment was still there… or maybe I was just a bit lazy. To distract myself, I brought up the rewards for clearing that last dungeon.

Another manual on rituals to improve the spirits’ abilities, plus some other stuff I could use for myself. It’s rather strange to be given written instructions after getting those information [Bullet] shots, but I figured it was meant to encourage me to make an effort to learn, instead of just waiting for the knowledge to be dumped into me. 

What was more interesting was the next one.

‘Basic Spirit Magicks’.

Just as the title indicated, it contained a bunch of instructions on manipulating spirit power with the help of my spirit, to perform basic spells that every spirit could do. I accepted it and started reading.

“Oh hi.” My eyes moved towards Mumei, who had crawled up onto the armrest.

“Hi, Mumei.” I returned the greeting, and turned my attention back to the book.

I could feel her staring at me for a while, but once she understood that I wasn’t interested in interacting with her, the spirit began to hum a tune. 

It was nice and soothing.

I really hope I get access to entertainment media soon, just so I can teach them the original song versions. Man… I’m suffering from Vtuber withdrawal, aren’t I?

Later that night, after a simple dinner of pork noodles cooked for me by Simmer, I took the chance to practice some of the spells in the book. Just as the name said, they were all basic stuff; strengthening, healing, sensing, some of which I already figured out on my own.

There were more intricate details that I hadn’t realized without reading the book, and once I applied those, the effectiveness of those cantrips went up. Of course, the spirit I was using had its own effect on the spell as well. Fubuki did best with speed-related boosts, Fauna granted the best healing, Gura wasn’t good for strength enhancement, and so on. There was more to learn with regards to compatibility, but I ended the session so I could sleep early.

The sound of my alarm roused me the next morning, and the bluish light through the curtains let me know that the sun was about to rise. I quickly got up and headed for the ritual room. It had a rather meaty smell around the place already.

Good thing I’m doing this right away, because I don’t think I would like the condition of the tail after one more day in this storage condition. I scrunched up my nose as I added some of the minor reagents to ensure the ritual’s success.

“Okay…” Opening the grimoire to the ‘armory’ page that showed the spirit equipment I had accumulated so far, I began to channel my energy into the circle, and spoke the words to start the ritual, “Good morning, motherfuckers!”

The ritual went off without a hitch, even when I felt Foob’s attention on me. It seemed like she was just curious about what I was doing, but knew enough not to disturb me. And so, I came away from it with the new spirit weapon: Plug-Type Asacoco.

There were some remnants left on the platform, so I went to get a mop to properly clean it off before embarking on the next one. That was completed even faster, and now I had a defensive option for future dungeon trips.

With those out of the way, I went to have my breakfast, this time a simple bowl of cereal with dried fruits. The milk tasted especially sweet for some reason. Afterwards, I went out into the garden to plant some more stuff for another harvest.

“Hello, sir!” Someone called me just as I finished giving Sappy instructions.

“Shiraken? What did you come for?” I asked the spirit.

“As part of the reward for clearing a dungeon, the types of renovations I can perform have expanded!” It announced.

“Like what?”

“Here’s the catalog, sir!”

Once again, I was shown a message window. I wondered why Shopee used a physical catalog as compared to Shiraken. I had thought it was because of the difference in contract, but they’re both linked to Lauracie instead of me, so that wasn’t it. It probably was due to individual preferences, I’d say.

What I saw in the list made me excited. I previously compared my current situation to Monster Hunter, and this appeared to be the point where I unlocked the farm option. (Excluding the obvious farm that Sappy handles) It started out with small expansions like a fish pool or a mining hole, but I could upgrade those by paying the required amounts of spirit energy. The minor spirits in charge of it could also bring in energy for me to spend on house upgrades, though I still had to enter the dungeons if I wanted the required energy for enhancing my main ones. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough energy to purchase anything just yet, so I decided to go farm some first.

There were still three more dungeons to clear on the list Lauracie gave me, but I wanted to establish my foundation further before trying those. So after I made my selection of spirit and equipment, I picked another free and easy one to venture into. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel any fear from picking one without a revive option.

[Nameless Dungeon of the Restless]

Description-wise, this dungeon was a simple one with minimal traps, almost no human presence, but as the name suggested, a lot of wandering dead.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah~ Mu~mei~” Mumei was singing as I walked through the place, our path lit by the lantern I found.

She was sitting on the hand I was using to hold up the lantern, swaying left and right in a hypnotic motion. Occasionally, a ghost would phase through the wall and try to attack us. When that happened, she would slip back into my hand, and I would shoot them down with feathers. More rarely, a skeleton would appear down the hallway, upon which I would nail them with an Asacoco.

I had to admit, seeing a giant tail buttplug pop out from my tattooed hand and zip straight at the enemy was pretty funny. I couldn’t really aim them though, since it was just a lock on to the enemy’s position and release. If there was an enemy capable of dodging their speed though, then it would be a different problem.

Though there weren’t many traps, the few we did find were also easy to handle. I purposely triggered one that swung a heavy weight along an arc, just to test the effect of the Breastplate. Sure enough, the damage I took was halved, and it could be further enhanced once I accumulated enough spirit shards. Since the danger I was facing wasn’t that much, I decided it was not worth it. It was more logical to focus on attacking, to eliminate the undead before they were close enough to launch an attack.

There were a few doors that required a lot of pushing to open, which made the Spirit Strength cantrip quite useful. There were a few enchanted items that I chose to carry with me, because I sensed they could be used, especially the shackles that appeared to have some restraining effect. I didn’t find any devil horns to go along with them, but it was a good enough haul that I wasn’t going to complain.

Excitement. Mumei pumped her fist at me as the amount of spirit shards finally pushed her weapon to its awakened state. 

“Yes, yes, I know, you scary little spirit, you.”

Affirmation. Mumei seemed to like being described like that.

We finally arrived at a large set of double doors that looked like the final chamber of the place, and after a short break, I pushed them open and proceeded inside. 

The boss turned out to be a lich, a floating skeleton in flowing black robes. It started the battle by casting several magic circles that began generating ghosts. However, before they could even come close, Mumei’s feathers pierced through most of them, their homing effect decimating the swarm. Some of them even managed to pierce through the lich, though it didn’t show any reaction to taking damage. Instead, it supplemented the summoning with some green bolts of necromantic energy, forcing me to stay on the move to avoid getting hit.

Hold on a minute… that’s… I mentally cursed as I realized something about its actions. The number of spawning circles is gradually increasing!

While Mumei’s feathers had tracking and pierce, similar to the Diablo 2 Amazon’s Guided Arrow before it got nerfed, there were still limits to the number of hits it could impart. Furthermore, the lich cast a spell that didn’t seem to do anything at first, before I realized that the ghosts were now taking more damage to dispel.

The good thing about the number of enemies I was facing was that it not only gave me the spirit shards I needed to enhance Mumei’s attacks to their maximum level, but it also fed her Civilization ability, increasing the force of her attacks for every enemy against us.

Still, it was just a matter of time before I got overwhelmed by the pressure of the numbers, so I prepared to use my trump card. This would be the first time I used it outside of a training session.

Bit by bit, I was cornered by the number of mobs facing me, and I could sense unholy glee from the lich at being able to claim my life. 

“Alright, Mumei! Let’s do it!”

Agreement!

A blackness suddenly overtook everything in a momentary flicker, before a horrifying visage flashed in front of my eyes, making me flinch and blink. When they opened again, only the lich was still present, the ghosts and the summoning circles all having vanished. What was more, I could feel power swelling up within me, the effect of Mumei’s special consuming all weak monsters for a temporary boost to my power.

“Finish him, Mumei!” I ordered.

Without any other enemies to draw away my fire, the lich received multiple attacks from her feathers and Asacocos. It finally resulted in its body breaking up as its unlife was completely drained, and an ornate chest appeared in the center of the room as a sign of its defeat.

“Great job, Mumei!”

“Mumei! Hi! Hi!” She came out to cheer in victory as well.

I took a moment to check over the room once more, but other than a single statue of some female, only the chest was of any importance. Opening it, I was rewarded with a longsword in a black sheath. Just to be cautious, I examined it for any danger before picking it up by its handle.

When I did so, I realized that it had a small patchwork doll attached to the end of its hilt. That’s when I sighed, realizing that this weapon wasn’t meant for me to wield. 

“Bye?” Mumei asked me, patting me on the hand.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go back.”

“Home!” She agreed.

To be honest, it wasn’t a complete waste of time. I now had enough spirit energy to purchase some of the house upgrades from Shiraken, and a new summoning reagent. That was enough to be satisfied with.

And to think I’m only just getting started. I wonder what dungeons await me next?