Afternoon.

  Athena and Karen were visiting a cave in the middle of the lake.

  「Karen~ is this place really okay?」


  「Yes, thanks to Manaril and Hesty the dungeon at the bottom of the lake is mostly completed. There shouldn’t be any issue with us exploring it for training. After all there is an air refinement system down here.」


  The light of flame didn’t reach too far inside the cave, but there was some blue light shining within.

  There was air within it as well so it shouldn’t be much different than a normal training session. However…


  「Uu, the floor is so wet and slimy~」


  The floor of this dungeon looked almost like scales and it felt slimy and gross.

  Plus it was slippery, it made each step hard to take.

  「Training in an area with poor footing is part of the basics Princess Athena. Just like this we’ll take care of several different types of monsters in here.」


  「U-un, I understand but……no matter how much air there is in here there should be a limit right?」


  「That’s right. So if you use your favorite fire magic too much we’ll run out of oxygen, please be careful.」


  「Uwaa, I thought that might be the case….that’s so mean Karen~」


  Seeing Athena’s teary eyes of protest, Karen shook her head.

  「It’s not mean at all. It’s simply training to allow you to deal with any situation you might come across. You should understand after watching Daichi right?」


  Athena remembered what Daichi had done while they played in the morning.

  He used a technique he already knew and applied it easily to control sand.

  「Certainly Daichi-oniisan has incredible power, but technique-wise he only uses the basics…….」


  「His enormous power may have caught your eyes, but Daichi has another good point. He is able to look at our techniques and imitate them. As he does so he is able to incorporate them into his own skill set. The basis of this lies in his talent to do so and his enormous power. That is why Daichi is strong.」


  Karen explained before looking off into space.

  「……well at times he does things that operate with strange ability…but understand that that isn’t normal.」


  「Ah-ahahaha………amazing huh…using advanced materials to mass-produce golems….」


  When you say that only one would be the limit he would have already created two.

  And then in the next few minutes he would have made five.

  Then if you went to get a drink he would have converted the beach into sand golems.

  「That speed is abnormal.」


  「Yes, truly an admirable power…..in fact I was going to ask him to spend the evening with me.」


  「Th-that far………oh monsters appeared.」


  As they talked a white snake monster appeared from within the cave.

  It was about a meter thick and had its mouth open to bare its fangs at them so…


  「「Water Stamp」」


  Athena chanted and water came from beneath her feet to slam into the snake’s chin.

  The water moved powerfully and slammed the snake’s head into the ceiling.

  With that, the snake died.

  「This should be the third. For these big white snakes to keep coming out…I wonder what’s going on…」


  Athena pondered and Karen seemed a bit confused as well.

  「Hmm, it’s been a while since we’ve been back here…but there was never any monsters like this.」


  「Eh? Karen doesn’t know either?」


  「No. It seems the ecosystem has changed quite a bit. However they don’t seem to have much magic power so I wouldn’t worry very much.」


  Karen stated and it was true…they weren’t very strong.

  ……well if a really strong monster appeared they could escape by teleporting.

  Athena decided to continue the training just as they had been.

  「Un, I wanted to talk to Onee-sama as well tonight. I’ll talk with her about Daichi-oniisan and plenty of fun things so let’s go quickly! For Karen’s sake as well.」


  「Fufu, thank you very much. Let’s go.」


  And so Athena and Karen ventured deeper into the dungeon as they defeated monsters.