Chương 88: The System Hated Solo Players

The battle ended moments later. Hernan looked down at his hands. The remote spells remained active, making his muscles feel stronger while the defensive layer continued protecting his body. Kart approached him.

"What happened to you?"

"I don't know."

"You moved faster than before," Lucia said.

"A lot faster," Mellia added. Hernan flexed one hand.

"I suddenly felt stronger." All four summoners looked around suspiciously. No visible spell connected Hernan to anyone, and none had sensed Sieghart's carefully suppressed mana thread. Their attention eventually shifted toward the only unfamiliar mage in the formation. Sieghart had already crouched beside one of the dead bats. He lifted its enormous ear and studied the ugly, eyeless face with the concentration of a scholar examining an ancient artifact. Hernan stared at him.

"You…" Sieghart turned the bat's head slightly.

"What?"

"Did you do something?"

"I'm examining its ears."

"That isn't what I asked." Sieghart looked back at the corpse. The others continued watching him. For the moment, the ugly face of a giant dead bat had become the most interesting thing in the entire world. Hernan continued staring at Sieghart while the other summoners waited for an explanation. The remote reinforcement remained active, making the teenager noticeably stronger than before. Unknown magic entering someone's body during combat could disrupt their concentration or interfere with their own techniques.

Hernan had almost lost his balance when the reinforcement activated. It was better to keep the secret. Soon enough, the group resumed their advance. Sieghart walked behind Mellia while examining the White Magic notification again. White Magic gained 10 experience points. He wondered why the main path gained experience only when he used its spells to support someone else. The answer was almost painfully obvious.

If Sieghart could level White Magic by repeatedly applying Protection and Muscle Reinforcement to himself, he could grind the path without any meaningful restriction. Infinite Mana allowed him to maintain both spells continuously. He could spend every hour strengthening and protecting himself until their levels became absurd. The system already gave him permanent attributes whenever several spells advanced.

Allowing him to gain unlimited White Magic experience through passive self-enhancement would make the path even more broken. Requiring another person created a natural limitation. Sieghart needed allies, dangerous circumstances, and meaningful contributions. The system rewarded him when his support magic helped someone overcome a real enemy. That raised a more complicated question. Was the limitation a natural property of the system, or had someone designed it deliberately?

Sieghart's status screen recognized branches, assigned levels, granted permanent parameters, and evaluated whether his spells contributed to defeating enemies. Those functions seemed far too organized to be accidental. Perhaps the system represented a natural law that translated itself into terms Sieghart understood. His memories from Earth included games and numerical progression, so the magic might have chosen a familiar interface. The alternative was that someone had created the system.

Seraphina remained the most obvious possibility. She possessed broad magical affinity, could apparently use magic almost without stopping, and developed the safe core-absorption method that allowed Sieghart to gain personal experience. Mira's ancestor might have built the framework to organize her own power. She could also have modified something older and passed it unknowingly to a distant successor. If Seraphina had designed the system, requiring White Magic to help others might have been intentional.

The limitation forced someone with overwhelming power to cooperate instead of growing entirely alone. That interpretation sounded almost moralistic enough to annoy Sieghart. It also matched what little he knew about Seraphina. She had refused to become a weapon for mages who wanted to exterminate Aura users, even when some of her students abandoned the human lands. Perhaps the system's restrictions existed to prevent its bearer from becoming an isolated disaster capable of growing through selfish repetition.

Sieghart could not prove any of those theories. Seraphina might have possessed no system at all. The resemblance between them could still be coincidence, although each new discovery made that explanation less convincing. Either way, the leveling condition remained useful. White Magic gained experience when his spells supported someone else during a real battle. Sieghart finally possessed a repeatable method for advancing it. He only needed to avoid turning his companions into unwilling test subjects.

The group reached the three-way intersection Lucia had discovered earlier. The central mining passage continued forward, while the two natural tunnels curved around both sides. The old map showed only the central route. Mellia unfolded the brittle copy beneath one of her floating lights. Several lines ended abruptly where sections had collapsed or been abandoned. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"This map is incomplete," Kart said.

"It was drawn before the mine closed," Mellia replied.

"These side tunnels probably formed afterward." Lucia directed her four scouts into the passages. Two traveled along the left route while the others disappeared through the right. She closed her eyes and followed their vision.

"The left path descends. It becomes steep after approximately eighty meters."

"And the right?" Mellia asked.

"It rises before turning north. I can't see the end." Hernan examined the dark openings.

"Which one do we check first?" Kart looked toward Mellia as well. None attempted to choose independently or challenge her authority in front of the group. Mellia studied the map and both passages before answering.

"We go upward."

"Why?" Hernan asked.

"The mountain has a limit. If the passage continues rising, it either reaches another entrance or ends before the peak." Mellia pointed toward the descending tunnel.

"We don't know how deep the lower path travels. It could connect to natural caverns extending beneath the entire mountain." Kart nodded.

"We can clear the shorter route first."

"We aren't clearing anything yet," Mellia corrected.

"We'll investigate the upper tunnel briefly, retreat to camp, and adjust our strategy after reviewing what we find." Hernan glanced toward the remaining daylight marked upon their timekeeping tool.

"We still have several hours."

"And we don't know the size of the nest, the origin of the metal plates, or whether another group is involved." Mellia folded the map.

"We gather information and return before exhaustion affects anyone. The mine will still be here tomorrow." Everyone accepted the decision. Sieghart had assumed that combining adolescents with supernatural abilities would produce a predictable disaster. Too much power and too little experience rarely created sensible behavior. However, Mira would not have recruited unstable children and taught them how to summon weapons.

The four possessed different personalities, and Hernan remained particularly easy to irritate, but none behaved recklessly when the mission mattered. Mellia listened to information before choosing a route. Kart followed instructions without surrendering his judgment, while Lucia reported what her scouts actually observed instead of inventing certainty. Even Hernan complained without ignoring orders. They were young, but Lunar Arc had trained them well. Sieghart still found their presence tiring.

At least he no longer expected them to enter every dark tunnel simply because someone questioned their courage. Mellia placed a small defensive plate near the descending path. The construct embedded itself in the wall and created a faint directional mark. Kart left another marker near the central passage. If the group needed to retreat quickly, the constructs would guide them toward the mine entrance. Lucia recalled two scouts from the lower tunnel and sent all four ahead through the rising path.

The group resumed its usual formation. Kart's guardian constructs led while Hernan followed with his weapons prepared. Mellia maintained two barriers above them and one along each side. Lucia walked near the center with her eyes partially closed, viewing the route through her scouts. Sieghart remained behind Mellia where he could reach everyone with healing or support magic. The upper tunnel narrowed considerably after the first turn.

Its floor sloped beneath them, while the ceiling remained high enough for bats to attack from above. Scratches covered both walls. Some had been created by claws, while others resembled marks left by tools. Sieghart noticed that the waste and scattered bones became less common as they climbed. The air also felt cleaner, carrying a faint current from somewhere ahead.

"There might be another entrance," he said. Mellia looked over her shoulder.

"Because of the air?"

"And the lack of waste. If most bats lived here, the tunnel would be dirtier." Lucia checked through her scouts.

"I still can't see daylight."

"The opening could be narrow or blocked." Mellia nodded and continued forward. Sieghart kept part of his attention on the others while considering his magic paths. Black Magic gained experience through harming or killing enemies. White Magic advanced through supporting others during battle. The conditions reflected the fundamental purpose of each path. If that pattern continued, Summoning Magic might gain experience when independently controlled constructs accomplished meaningful tasks.

Simply creating Mana Sword and holding it himself could count as personal spell practice rather than advancement of the broader path. Arcane Magic was harder to understand because its branches behaved differently. Transmission moved mana, Runes created structured effects, Illusions deceived senses. Perhaps Arcane Magic advanced whenever he used mana to change the rules governing another spell or object.

Sieghart had spent years leveling Mana Transfusion, Mana Rune, and Phantom Image individually without identifying how to advance Arcane Magic consistently. This mission offered an opportunity to test those theories. He could summon Mana Swords and direct them without holding the weapons. If they defeated monsters independently, the system might reward Summoning Magic. He could apply runes to his companions' constructs, strengthen them through Mana Transfusion, or disguise their presence with Phantom Image.

If those combinations contributed to battle, Arcane Magic might gain experience. Even unsuccessful experiments would teach him more than fighting weak creatures alone. Sieghart finally understood why Mira wanted him to work with a group. She might have intended to improve his social skills or prevent him from spending another year underground. However, cooperation also created progression possibilities unavailable to an isolated mage. The system apparently hated solo players.

Sieghart found that ironic, considering it had given him Infinite Mana and enough magical paths to function like an entire party by himself. Lucia suddenly raised one hand. The group stopped.

"One of my scouts found something."

"What?" Mellia asked.

"Footprints."

"Human?"

"I think so." Lucia directed a scout lower and projected its vision through a small crystal she carried. Faint light formed an image above her palm. Several boot prints crossed the dusty tunnel ahead. They were larger and more defined than any marks left by the young guild members. The tracks moved deeper into the upper passage. Mellia studied them.

"How old?"

"Recent. The edges haven't collapsed." Kart looked toward the darkness.

"The report said no one entered the mine."

"No one from Bellhaven," Mellia corrected. Hernan tightened his control over the floating weapons.

"So another group is here."

"Possibly." Mellia ordered Lucia to reduce the light produced by her scouts. The barriers around the group shifted closer while Kart's constructs lowered their metal bodies. They continued more carefully. Sieghart prepared another nearly invisible thread of mana but did not attach it to anyone. He had promised to warn the others before applying support magic again. The knowledge that White Magic could finally gain experience made restraint slightly more difficult.

For years, he had wondered whether the system would ever explain how its broader paths advanced. Apparently, the answer had been waiting inside teamwork. Sieghart had finally learned how to level White Magic. Now he intended to make the other paths reveal their secrets as well.