Chapter 19
The instructor priest led me to an underground chapel.
Stone pillars supporting the ceiling stood in orderly rows, and numerous small rooms had been carved into the walls. In places, cloth hung over the entrances, concealing the interiors.
"This is an area for brief rest. You may use any room without a curtain."
When I peeked into an empty room, all it contained was a stone bed and a small altar for prayer.
——It really was just for taking a nap.
It had only the bare essentials for lying down. It wasn't built to let anyone stay long.
At the far end, a stairway leading farther underground yawned open.
"This floor contains facilities needed for your training."
The instructor priest said this without stopping or looking back.
"—That is the dining hall. You may use it whenever you like, so only go when you need to."
Ahead, crude wooden tables and long benches were lined up.
Several trainees were eating soup and bread without saying a word.
"This is the offering hall. This is where you turn in the magic stones you obtain in the dungeon. It also allows us to assess your progress in training. Be sure to turn them all in."
Next, I was shown to a stone counter.
A trainee held out a leather pouch.
A priest took out the magic stones, weighed them, and calmly entered them in a ledger.
"And this is the armory. This is where you receive the equipment used in the dungeon."
Maces, staves, and lanterns were neatly arranged on the wall behind the counter.
"This is Noah. He'll begin his training here today."
When the instructor priest called to someone behind the counter, a burly priest lumbered out.
He glanced at me, then took a staff and a lantern from the wall and handed them to me.
"At your size, you wouldn't be able to handle a mace. With the light from this lantern, a staff is more than enough to deal with skeletons on the first level."
What he handed me was a straight wooden staff slightly taller than me and a bronze lantern.
I looked at them and tilted my head slightly.
"That lantern is a magic tool. Its holy light weakens the undead."
The burly priest stated this matter-of-factly, setting two small bottles beside the lantern.
"This is holy oil for the lantern. Two bottles will be enough for your first time. Turn back as soon as the first one runs out. The lantern is your lifeline."
——I see. They controlled how long we could stay with the fuel they issued.
They measured our growth by the magic stones we turned in, and restricted our range of action with the fuel.
It was a well-designed system for efficiently training valuable healers without losing them.
I strapped the lantern to my waist and walked on, staff in hand.
Passing through a door, I found a huge shaft that seemed to descend all the way to the depths of the earth.
Doors were spaced evenly along its walls, and a circular passageway wound around it.
The same arrangement repeated over several levels, connected by spiral staircases.
"From here on, you're on your own. This is a trial to test your abilities and faith, relying on nothing but the light of God."
After saying that, the instructor priest stepped back and quietly clasped his hands.
"'The light illuminates those who lose their way and protects their faith'—don't forget it."
Then he turned his back and walked away down the stairs.
I walked along the passageway and pushed open a random door.
Beyond it stretched a cold stone corridor.
——This is the dungeon.
If I defeated monsters, my Rank would increase, and I would gain power.
I'd heard it was grueling training, but it was also an efficient method the Church had systematized.
――Then I'd use everything I could to its fullest.
As I proceeded down the dim corridor, footsteps echoed from farther ahead.
Before long, a skeleton appeared in the lantern's light.
Illuminated by the lantern, the skeleton charged at me with somewhat awkward movements.
I dodged it and swept its legs out from under it with my staff.
The skeleton fell easily.
I crushed the skull of the fallen skeleton underfoot and retrieved the magic stone in its chest.
"That was anticlimactic..."
As the burly priest had said, with the lantern's light, it really was no problem.
Even in a child's body, I could defeat them easily.
In a sense, it was power-leveling, but if this let me increase my Rank, I had no complaints.
I continued down the corridor in search of my next prey.
I tripped the next skeleton the same way.
Holding it down with my staff, I tried casting Heal on it.
I watched the skeleton closely, but it showed no sign of taking damage, nor did its body regenerate.
In a sense, that was what I'd expected.
Heal with Light Magic might have had a different result, but Life Magic probably had no effect that could purify undead.
Next, I tried Life Steal.
As I probed it with mana, I sensed something like a core around its magic stone.
It was cold and feeble compared to a living animal or monster.
When I pulled it out, it dissipated without much resistance.
I took the magic stone from the now-motionless skeleton.
At this rate, I could probably handle any number of skeletons.
I spread my mana out thinly and extended it deeper into the dungeon.
The skeletons that touched my mana seemed to be drawn toward me, just like the monsters aboveground.
The skeletons appeared almost immediately.
I fended them off with my staff and killed them one after another with Life Steal.
Even as their numbers grew, I dealt with them calmly.
As I continued fighting, the lantern's light began to flicker.
I cast Enhance on my brain.
My perception expanded, and in a world that seemed to move in slow motion, I quickly slaughtered the group before me.
I quickly replenished the holy oil and prepared for the next group.
Before long, the skeletons disappeared, and silence returned to the dungeon.
I gathered up the magic stones illuminated by the lantern's pale blue light, then left the dungeon for the first time.