The Wandering Witch Celeste

Standing still in front of a cave, recalling the events and encounters that had happened for the past few weeks, and how Mirelle and I made our way here to the entrance of this cave, I couldn't help myself but let out a soft chuckle.

At some point in our journey deeper in the forest, I realized that the small crystals I had collected were Mana Crystals, and while they were small; they still were something important and according to [Scholar], it could be eaten by Golems to strengthen their core, refill their mana and some rare cases, they could even expand their maximum mana capacity. 

It was good that I had not thrown and collected the Mana Crystals. Now, I only need to replenish Mirelle's mana once in a while, only the maintenance of Mirelle was the only thing that had not change. 

Shocking as it was, I recently found out that Mirelle could repair itself by absorbing up mud or water, lowering the frequency of maintenance to a certain degree. It also seems to like my mana quite a bit, and has become more expressive. Mirelle could now move a bit faster and more energetic compared to its sluggish past. 

While the frequency of maintenances and mana replenishments had lessened, I didn't get too sad. Instead, I kept going at somewhat the same frequency of maintenance as before. It felt a bit lonely to eat by myself and I had gotten more attached to Mirelle as time went on. I would sometimes talk to Mirelle to for hours while I wrote notes about creatures we encountered in my book, or I would stay close to Mirelle when I was meditating or was practicing manipulating my mana. 

"Mirelle, I think this cave is the reason why we keep encountering so many goblins. According to [Scholar] this cave might be a dungeon. Should we explore it Mirelle?" 

I asked Mirelle, I turned towards Mirelle, my gaze ever gentle waiting for her response. 

"Miii~!" - Mirelle 

"Ohh~, you seem just as curious as I am, Mirelle. Let's explore this dungeon then, Mirelle." 

"Mii~" - Mirelle 

Once we decided to enter the dungeon, we walked into the cave dungeon. 

I didn't really have much knowledge about dungeons aside from games and novels, I wasn't really sure how different it was from what I knew before coming here. Truth was far from fiction after all, and even [Scholar] and the knowledge Goddess Sylvara had given, it was just the basics and didn't contain all the knowledge of this world. It was knowledge enough to survive in this world and it seemed that certain information and knowledge were sealed to a certain extent by the Goddess.

It wasn't all that important to me nor was it alarming, as it was done to protect myself and not influence my life in the future. The Goddess simply didn't want me to end up harming myself with my skills because I didn't know what to do with it or chase after a skill just because it had unimaginable power or potential. The Goddess wanted to make sure that everything was decided by my own volition, which I was thankful for. 

While deep in thought, we stumbled upon the end of the cave, it wasn't too deep and the light from the entrance of the cave was still somewhat there, and just as I was starting to wonder what to do, I noticed something on the wall at the end of the cave, it was a patch on the wall that was different from the rest. 

It had a smoother surface than the rest of the cave walls, and was a lot darker too. Using [Fire Magic]'s [Fire] spell to lighten up the area to see better, but to my surprise the darkness in that patch of the wall didn't get any lighter. 

"I wonder what it is... It feels so out of place." 

When I finished speaking, a small ripple had form on that smooth dark surface, making it look like it was made out of water and a familiar green hand with somewhat sharp claws came out of the rippling of the once smooth dark surface, and then a small green figure I had become too familiar with has come out of the ripple... It was a goblin. 

Not letting the shocking scene stun me for too long, I readied [Verdant Staff] and ordered Mirelle. 

"Mirelle, please defeat the goblin!" 

 And just as I finished my sentence, Mirelle jumped towards the goblin and holding its body in place with its muddy body. 

"Great job Mirelle, it's my turn now. <>!" 

Arrows made out of water quickly formed and shot one after another at the goblin's body. As the goblin keep trying to escape from Mirelle, it has stopped moving and fell to the ground. Having defeated the goblin, and now knowing what was the smooth dark patch was, I ordered Mirelle. 

"Mirelle, please keep an eye on the dungeon's entrance while I make something. Thank you" 

"Mii~!" - Mirelle 

Mirelle nodded as it made those noise and approached the dungeon's entrance and standing guard. 

This was how we fought, Mirelle would hold the enemy with its muddy body while I prepare spells. I wasn't sure whether Mirelle could hold weapons or tools, but since we were going inside a dungeon, I wanted to be safer. Decided, I decided to make a weapon for Mirelle.

"Mirelle, you can hold things, right?" 

"Mii~" 

Mirelle picked up a stone from the ground and happily showed me that it was capable of holding things. Knowing this, I was relieved by having such a reliable and trustworthy companion. 

"Mirelle, I'll make you a sword. <> Sword!" 

"Mii~!" 

Hearing it make what I assumed to be happy noises; I couldn't help but smile at the sight. The sword had already taken shape and was already slowly descending midair. 

"Mirelle, here. Please use the sword to defeat our enemies and protect us." 

"Miii~!" 

I handed the sword to the enthusiastic Mirelle, and Mirelle then swung the sword around happily as if it found a treasure. It looked like it liked the sword quite a lot, which made me a bit happy. 

I used [Creation Magic] again to create a few more things before just before entering the dungeon, as that was why we entered this cave to begin with, and I wanted to use this opportunity to explore a dungeon but not at the cost of lives. I wanted to properly prepare for this exploration into the dungeon.