บท 142: Groundwork

"Why wouldn't I be alive?" Kir asked. He wasn't ignorant of the answer, he just wanted Sreev's take on it.

"How to make you understand..." the General rested an elbow in his hand and held his forehead. After a moment, he said, "If you knew you would grow resistant to heat with exposure, would you dive into the pressure of a volcano without first seeing if lava burns you?"

"I'd have to test that with fire, first."

"Exactly!" Sreev patted his palm with his fist. "You would find near analogs before testing the real thing! So why on Hell would you go into a pressure cooker of mana like a dungeon?"

"I didn't have a choice," Kir said. "I was exploring the upper levels of one when I was attacked." He left out more than a few facts, like how Stella was with him.