Chapter 25: Advice to grow stronger
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Marcel felt amazing after thinking about how he poked the lion full of holes was, although he’d paid his respects to it about like a minute ago, that was in no way going to stop him from being happy about it. He was happy, very happy to the point that he laughed as he laid on his bountiful pile of treasures. But he wasn’t happy about one thing; how long it took him to defeat the golden lion. He felt so relieved after beating the lion, but he’s guessing that he’d feel even better if he’d done it much faster. If only there was someone who’d help him with it. That’d be very great. 

After pondering while looking at the ceiling for a while, he looked around to see if he could find another one of those illusory dungeons, but unfortunately, there weren’t. As he was busy doing that, Allan walked by the room, saw him, then asked him about what he was up to. Marcel told him that he’d just been in one of those mind dungeons stuff. 

“I see. I’ve played with way more of them than I can count. By chance, is there anything the problem? I sense happiness all around you, but there’s also a bit of discontent. Did something happen inside the cube?” Allan asked. Marcel then explained about his experience inside the dungeon and Allan listened to him. When he was done, just like Marcel had wanted, Allan commented about the things he did wrong.  

“Firstly, the thing you were inside is called by many an illusory dungeon. You could say that when you enter one of them, you get to interact with the mind and soul of an intelligent dungeon monster, about an A or B-rank monster who’d been slain. From how you described the lion, it’s probably the great golden lion of the grand fields, a B-class dungeon monster who was slain around 700 years ago. We witches found a piece of its soul lingering around after it had died and put it to good use. An illusory dungeon is a place created by integrating the monster’s mind and a few other techniques to replicate a dungeon-like setting where you must slay the monster to exit it. The scenery is normally the area in which that monster lived while still alive, so the monster you defeated probably was the real great golden lion. Speaking of which, how did you defeat it? What handicaps did you suffer while you were in there?” Allan said. 

Marcel then explained everything in fine detail everything, including how he ran multiple times from the lion. He was so embarrassed that if someone had said he wasn’t a hero, he probably wouldn’t deny it.  

“Oh, I see. Then the lion should have been easy to defeat. From what you described; the lion’s mind seemed to have been underdeveloped. After all, it was a B-class monster. If I were you, I'd have started with the arrows straight from the beginning. If they hadn’t worked, I'd have maybe created a meteor and dropped it on the lion. If that hadn’t worked, I'd have conjured up a dragon to defeat it or ...” Allan went on about how he’d defeat the monster and Marcel’s self-confidence was dwindling. Upon listening to Allan, he began feeling like him defeating the golden lion was but a fluke. 

“Okay, enough. I should have thought of those. But honestly, what advice can you give me?” He hated to admit it, but he needed help, and asking someone who’s experienced is always better than thinking about it alone. 

“Oh, advice. Yes. You should master your ability to be creative. From how you said that you thought a lot, you probably don’t use those skills a lot. You’re the type to just go head in with a sword and hopes to win every fight, but that’s not how all opponents are going to be. Some will be far stronger than you. Some will be so strong that your chances of defeating them in a fair fight would be about 10 or even 5 percent, but some see those odds as just a minor setback and push forward through the obstacles.  

You should also train more on your body. That’s a must. Although you don’t use your real body when you enter a monster’s mind domain, the strength of your real body is mirrored there. If you can get yourself to be more versatile in your application of magic and train your strength, you could defeat the same golden lion’s mind again without encountering any problems too much to handle.” Marcel learned a lot from just listening. He began feeling smarter from just listening to someone tell him how much of a loser he was. This time, he asked for it, so he wasn’t going to let his pride get in the way of him getting stronger. Although his pride was taking significant damage by the minute, he felt like asking someone was the right thing. 

“I understand the one about my body, but do you seriously mean that if I can increase my creativity skills, I’d be able to defeat the lion without any problems?” Marcel asked. 

“Mm-hmm. Why do you think that I had so many suggestions on how you could have defeated the lion? It’s obvious because my creativity skill level is far higher from yours. Putting remnants of dungeon monsters into a separate space where people can get stronger by increasing their creativity and soul power is one of the main reasons why the illusory dungeons came to be. I’ve used these cubes more than I can count. I’ve even helped make some of those dungeons. You get where I’m getting at?”  

“Yes, yes. Your power is far greater than mine, oh great Allan. Teach me thine ways.” Marcel said enthusiastically. He’s willing to take any advice he can get to keep him from embarrassing himself in front of anyone like he had with the golden lion. 

“From what you said about how you defeated the golden lion by creating an arrow. I remember you saying that you felt tired after creating them, right?” Marcel nodded to Allan’s question and he continued, “It might be because your soul power was too low.” 

“What, soul power?! What’s that?!” Ah, Marcel, as ignorant as ever, asked Allan who enlightened him. 

“Where do you think the power you used to fight the golden lion came from? It’s soul power or rather making your soul power take form inside the golden lion’s domain. While inside that domain, magic can’t be used and so, your soul power becomes the only way to fight it, well and the strength of your real body of course. Judging from the fact that you were able to create inanimate objects and non-living things from the get-go and then improve, I must say that your soul is very strong, but that might not be enough to fight future enemies. The golden lion’s mind was quite underdeveloped. If you meet a monster far more intelligent than it was, like for example, an A class monster’s soul in a cube, you might just experience the most embarrassing defeat you’ve ever been dealt with.  

You’ve got to work on your soul power as well as all your other abilities if you hope to take on more dungeon monsters and win. Some are so strong that the only way to defeat them is with soul power. If you can manage to raise your soul power to a high enough level, you can create not just inorganic things. You can also create living things as well while inside the monster’s mind domain. If it get your soul power to an even higher level, you can even just crush the monster you’re facing under the pressure and be done with it.” 

“Okay, but how am I supposed to raise my soul power? I’ve never had to do this before, so I don’t know. I’m new to all of this after all.” 

“It’s very simple actually, we’ll use a method you’re very familiar with; illusions, a high level one. We’ll be using them to poke fun at your insecurities.” 

Marcel couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Wait, what?!” in surprise. 

“Ah~, insecurities. Those things we find unpleasant to deal with. Everyone’s got a lot of them and they just sit inside us, making us feel inadequate about ourselves. They are almost like the golden lion you just faced. Since there’s nothing we can do about them for the most part. Why not use them as opponents instead? If we face them as opponents, they end up toughening you up and making your soul stronger from having to deal with them. That’s what I meant by poking fun at your insecurities.” Allan explained what he meant, and Marcel found everything so enlightening and something humans wouldn’t want to deal with. 

“You can’t tell me that you don’t have them. The fact that your soul isn’t strong enough to crush the golden lion under its pressure is reason enough to say that you have them. Your power inside the mind domain is influenced by your mental health and confidence. If your insecurities are making you feel bad inside, your soul power becomes highly unstable and sometimes even weakens, thus making it difficult to deal with them. There’s also the fact that some of your enemies will try to use them against you. And isn’t it better to use your insecurities to get stronger than to just let them stay inside you and do nothing? Trust me, they’re fun to deal with.” Allan smiled at him. Marcel also made up his mind to do whatever it takes to get stronger. If he may have to defeat the demon lord sometime in the future, then it’s better if he’s prepared for that moment that having to just sit there and do nothing until it’s too late. Marcel told himself.  

Silly Marcel, somewhere in his mind, he’s still thinking of defeating the totally good and not-as-evil-as-he-thought demon lord. 

As Marcel was thinking of how important it was to get stronger for something he may or may not do in the future, his stomach growled to tell him that he needed food to get stronger now. His maids had prepared something for them, some steak. Just what he was craving, and when he was done with it, he and Allan began dealing with his insecurities. 

Allan began explained how it’d work, “I’m going to cast a spell that’ll look deep into your heart and soul to figure out your insecurities, then the spell will pick a random one of your insecurities and generate an inner demon out of it inside your mind. It’s going to be almost the same as in the cube. You fight the demon inside of you until you figure out a way to defeat the demon and get out. The concept is very simple actually; you enter the inner demon’s world and then find a way to leave it, either by defeating it or escaping from its world. Soul power will be your only weapon inside the inner demon’s world and your other abilities don’t matter in there. If you manage to successfully defeat or escape the inner demon, your soul power will grow by leaps and bounds. After all, it’s very stressful having to face everything you don’t want to face and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so I guess, that’s just that. Do you still want to do it?”   

“Of course!” Marcel said with vigor and conviction. 

“Where shall we do this exactly? We need to do this in a place where you won’t be disturbed.” Allan asked. 

“My room, of course. I probably won’t be bothered by anyone if I'm in my room, so I think that’s a safe place to do this.” Marcel’s words made Allan’s face turn red. He still hadn’t realized that he was inviting another guy into his room even though he liked guys. Allan was thinking two things; the demon lord would be unhappy when he finds out and that this person in front of him is just clueless. 

They then left for Marcel’s room where he laid on the bed and Allan began the spell. When he began casting the spell after Marcel closed his eyes and began to relax, and then Marcel had the same feeling he got seconds before finding himself inside the golden lion’s domain. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a very familiar place. A place that showered him in the feeling of nostalgia. He was back at the orphanage he’d lived in for 11 years and wondered what he was doing there. He guessed that this familiar location had something to do with his insecurity and began preparing for whatever it is he’d be facing while inside his mind. 

Minds are so unpredictable. You never know where they’ll take you. So interesting.

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