Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 24 – Dungeon Deux

(Ikarus) “Fire is definitely the best magic”

“Thank the Lord for this fire you’ve provided for us Ikarus-sama”

(Nathan) “Can feel my fingers again”

Having made our way to the island, it wasn’t that much of an issue actually finding the dungeon, it literally is the only building on this entire island and it can be seen while I was flying the sky. We have just entered the building and are trying to warm ourselves up with a fire I’ve quickly made.

As for the apparent dungeon we’ve entered, it literally is a large square building with a fountain inside, nothing else, nothing more. There does look like there is some scribbled writing on the fountain but I’m too far away to read what it says right now.

There were no bodies here though, I don’t know if that means this place was completed or they didn’t end up getting here but we will be finding out anyway.

Both party members are basically right up against my bird body with their hands above the fire, give it a minute or two, they should be alright again.

“Hey, if you two are that cold, hug up really close against each other”

That definitely wasn’t an attempt to get them closer together, sharing body head does warm you up though. Cupid Ikarus is back again!

“It’s not as bad now Ikarus-sama”

“We’re good now”

[<*Sigh*>]

I should’ve suggested that when they were shivering, my meddling might have worked then. I still need to find an effective way of getting them together.

“Now that you two are warmed up, what’s the plan moving forward?”

“I would be best to wait for your magic to recover Ikarus-sama”

(Nathan) “Yeah, attempting it right now might be taking too big a risk”

‘Let’s have a check, status’

[Name: Ikarus   |   Species: Phoenix   |   Level: 24]

[Health    4,942/5,000]

[Stamina  804/3,500]

[Magicka 473/3,500]

‘Oh, it must be already be midnight, another HP is gone down. I’ve actually got more stamina and magicka left than I first thought’

“If you two give me a good night sleep, my stats should be pretty much full”

“Stats?”

“It’s probably best not to question her Charlotte”

Ignoring these two, I start thinking about something else.

I’m a little unsure on what the recharge rate of how my stats actually work, I know about health and stamina work but not magicka.

Health seems to be related to the injury that happened so if I was to take a huge stab wound, it would take a big chunk and rapidly drain as well, a small wound might take a small chunk but might not even cause bleeding damage though. So… to sum it up, it’s exactly as you would think. It was stupid of me explaining this one.

Stamina always seems to be fully refreshed after a good night sleep and magicka is just odd, it seems to recover by itself but sometimes it can recover really quickly, other times, really slowly. My best guess is it might have something to do with the types of food and drinks I consume but that’s just a theory. It should be high enough in the morning though.

“Night then Ikarus-sama”

“Yeah, night. I’ll sleep as well in a little while”

“Don’t you two being getting up to anything funny while I’m asleep, I don’t want to be woken up by the sound of kissing”

I can’t help but give a little chuckle while I’m finding a spot to sleep on, that definitely made them blush or get embarrassed. System didn’t even mind me doing that this time.

[<Aesa does not care. -User- asked Aesa to stop -user- doing stupid things. -User-does not listen>]

Okay, it’s not on board with me, let’s just go to sleep.

__________

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“*Yawnnn*… how long have I been out?”

“It’s roughly midday Ikarus”

“The Lord blesses this sleeping bird”

Both the two humans are cooking lunch on a little campfire they’ve set up. Surprisingly, I’m not hungry despite sleeping for the last twelve hours. Sleeping for this long isn’t actually that surprising for me, I actually have an excuse this time though.

‘Status’

[Name: Ikarus   |   Species: Phoenix   |   Level: 24]

[Health    4,942/5,000]

[Stamina 3,500/3,500]

[Magicka 3,157/3,500]

‘I think that was average for magic recovery this time. That should be enough to survive on for now’

“Ikarus-sama, do you want anything?”

Where the hell did they get that rabbit? They should’ve just woken me, instead of going out to hunt for food. It’s way too cold out there.

“No I’m good, you could have just woken me, would’ve gotten something out of storage”

“So… you would be willing to share some cake then Ikarus-sama?”

The priestess might have a sweet tooth, even more than I do. She seems to get a tiny bit exited at that as well.

“Urgh… fine, you can have a fruit one though”

I summon a cake and then get up leaving it wanting to check something.

The priestess is already digging into the cake and while she’s doing that, the knight cooking the rabbit asks me a question.

“What are you doing Ikarus?”

“Checking the fountain, I should be able to read the writing on it”

Looking at the scrawled-out gibberish on the fountain, I fortunately just about can make some of it out. My translate species ability doesn’t work when half of it can’t be translated though.

(T-e P-a-wr-gh- Dunge-n)

“It definitely is a dungeon; I just can’t make out the second word. I’m ready whenever you two are ready by the way”

“You really should eat Ikarus-sama but I know you won’t listen anyway”

Good, she’s starting to learn not to keep nagging me. I really don’t need food right now, I’m not hungry in the slightest.

(Nathan) “Just let me eat some rabbit and I’ll be ready”

__________

“Ikarus-sama, before we enter there’s something I need to say…”

The priestess as actually gone quite serious now, I should listen.

“… I’ve spent some time in a dungeon with an entrance like this one before. Once we get inside, stick to my side and be careful”

“Just tell me to be serious and I will. You have any idea what we might find in there anyway?”

The way she’s talking should make me worry but I’m kinda liking the idea of a risk, I’ll still try and be serious about it though.

“Unsure, there is no information on this place other than the fact it isn’t a fighting dungeon, the entrance itself would look different if it was”

I would ask about it but she doesn’t go into specific details like usual.

(Ikarus) “We ready then?”

“Yes, just take a sip of water and we should be put into a deep sleep”

“This better not hurt”

“It shouldn’t Nathan”

Those two both put a hand in the water taking a sip from it while I use my beak to do the task, nothing happens straight away though.

…

“This is taking a while, hurry uppppppp!”

As I start moaning, Nathan collapses onto the floor.

“See you in a second Ikar-”

Then Charlotte follows.

‘Ah crap, this is making me nervo-’

Then I join both of them losing consciousness.

__________

“Ah, so it should be an acting type of scenario maybe?”

“It seems that way, I just hope the Lord is still able to assist us while we’re here”

I awaken in a flowery meadow to the sound of two people talking.

“Urgh…”

(Woman) “Ah, you’re finally awake”

(Man) “Good, that’s needless worry gone.”

“Who the hell are you? Hang on, why the fuck am I child?”

Standing above me are two middle-aged adults dressed in commoner rags and I’m in the body of a young kid with similar clothing, roughly the same age as one of the kids we rescued earlier.

“Calm down Ikarus-sama”

“Me and Charlotte think this dungeon might be like acting out a play”

So, I’ve aged down and those two have aged up, they both still look a little similar, just a lot older and have slightly different hairstyles.

“My hair is brown, am I supposed to be your kid or something?”

“Yeah Ikarus, it really is a little confusing. Calm down and we’ll explain”

Is this a punishment or something for making that kid cry? No, it’s a dungeon, it has to be a coincidence, right? No point thinking about it, focus what’s in front of me, not behind. I’m getting up off the grass now.

“It sounds like you two have a rough idea of what’s going on”

(Charlotte) “A play or novel, that’s what this dungeon seems to be based on”

(Nathan) “Yeah, the voice told us it’s reading from a book”

“What voice?”

<-User- is finally awake>

“Aesa, what the hell!? You’re not inside my head anymore! Where are you?”

I start to look around but I have no idea where Aesa’s voice is coming from, it’s slightly different from what dragons’ use since it sounds like its coming from outside my head but the direction it’s coming from, I have no idea.

<Aesa cannot tell. If compared to -user’s past experience, -user- should imagine watching TV screen and reading pages from book. Closest example Aesa can give>

“Seriously… what the hell is going on here?”

It ends up taking a good twenty to thirty minutes of everyone explaining to me what’s going on, it takes that long since I just can’t seem to make heads or tails of the situation. For some reason, I didn’t wake up straight away like the others, they’ve been speaking to Aesa for quite some time. I guess they finally get to experience how my robotic wife sounds.

“Urgh, why can’t I just find and experience a normal dungeon? So… long story short, this place is basically like a novel or a play. You two are some side characters and I’m your kid, Aesa is like the narrator for the story, correct?”

“Yes Ikarus-sama”

“Yeah”

<Affirmative>

“How does the story go then?”

Best try and get as much information as fast as possible, have no idea what’s around the corner.

(Charlotte) “Aesa explained to us that the story is based around a prince and commoner”

(Nathan) “They fall in love and then save the world together; she has some type of special magic that soothes his illness”

My face immediately sank after hearing that.

This could have been any type of novel. Cultivation, survival, levelling, slice of life, heck, I don’t even mind a lot of romances but it has to be THAT type of romance. The type of romance that couldn’t be more cliché if you tried! This isn’t even a dig at them types of novels, it’s just that I’m sure there written by the exact same person, all seem to have a blonde prince as well…

Ahem… erm… maybe if I’m talking about clichés, I should probably mention the never-ending amount of isekais then, there good though! Let’s ignore the blatant irony of my moaning since I’m just contradicting myself.

At the very least, we aren’t main characters in this plot, that might end up causing a big struggle. I should look at the positives though, at least this isn’t a BL. Being trapped in one of them is one of my worst nightmares. At least I should be left alone since I’m female now, it probably wouldn’t be that bad then.

“Do we know how to complete this dungeon or not?”

(Charlotte) “We’ll have to complete the story”

(Nathan) “That should complete the dungeon”

“How do we actually do that then?”

Both my party members couldn’t answer that question but system could.

<If -user and targets -Charlotte & Nathan- don’t get involved in story, estimated time is 1023 days>

“No fucking chance, I’m not staying in a cliché romance novel for close to three years. How do we speed run this shit, Aesa?”

Three years? Even if we ignore the romance aspects of the main story, three years? Ah hell no, I’ve got a life to live people!

<Aesa needs to reread book before giving -user- competent answer on fastest possible route to complete>

“I understand your anger Ikarus-sama but there’s no need to get worked up”

“Charlotte’s right, Aesa already told us time flows a lot slower in here compared to the real world. I think she said thirty days in here is one hour outside”

Thirty days to an hour? At least we don’t have to worry about our bodies starving outside, if I do the maths quickly… divide that, there you go. I think it would end up slightly over thirty hours in the real world if we were to do nothing in here and let the story commence. We should survive dehydration but there is literally zero chance of me staying in this place for that long.

These two seem pretty calm considering the situation, I guess still having competent bodies is encouragement, mine is incompetent.

“*Sigh*… fine then Aesa, tell us when you’ve reread the story then”

<Affirmative>

“What do we do while were waiting though? I can’t see no buildings around”

Around this big flowery meadow all three of us are in, forest surrounds the outside of it and not a single building can be seen. We really are in the middle or nowhere.

“Set up and small campground and then hunt for food and water”

“That depends on if you can use your storage in here Ikarus-sama”

I don’t have Aesa guiding me but it should work fine, right? The ring is still on me, just not this kid’s body I’m currently possessing. Abilities should go through into a different body, right?

…

No, nothing from my storage works, this is such bullshit. Everything I’ve worked so hard for right now has just been put on hold for the next three years, all I want to do is burn this stupid dungeon down now!

As soon as I thought that, flames started coming out from my little hands. I quickly cancel them though.

“Okay, it looks like magic still works then, your light should work as well priestess”

“I’ll give it a try but you really should start using my name Ikarus-sama”

“I’ve stopped calling you succubus-sama now, isn’t that good enough?”

Ignoring my response, she holds out her arm and tries to use her magic.

“Summon”

Yeah, her magic works too, her magic sword made of light has been summoned into her grasp.

“At least that sorts out our protection for the time being, what’s next?”

“Let’s gather some supplies”

“I agree Nathan”

“I would help but well… look at me”

This small body is already getting annoying, this takes me back to when I struggled to walk and speak as a baby phoenix. Once we complete this dungeon, I might put this dungeon hunting on hold for a while and power level my arse off.

I know it wouldn’t have helped in this situation but I’m tired of relying on everyone else now. I don’t care about the risk to my health, I’m tired of being weak. That’s a thought for another time though, I should make myself useful for these two right now.

“Ah, I can cook dinner at the very least”