Chương 24: Experimentation

Wait. My head snaps up, and a smile flashes on my face. The mage made a spell out of nothing more than mana! I have mana! I should be able to do that too! [Mana: 260(34)] Not much, but it should be enough for a little experimentation. My eyes close, and I return to mana control. There's not much water in the bathroom manifestation of my mana veins, but I can move it. It's a bit counterintuitive to burn mana while waiting for it to regenerate, but curiosity and wonder have taken over.

The mystical energy flows like a whirlpool, curving throughout all of my limbs. It makes its way through the tiny core in the center of my body, then continues the cycle. Holding my arm out and my palm up, I slow the mana as it passes through my wrist. Stopping it would be idiotic, considering what happened last time. I make sure that not too much is collected in one place. Once a sustainable flow is formed, I use my will to push the mana against my palm and exit.

Like a gate opening, my skin becomes permeable as mana exits into the air as a sort of vapor. Unfortunately, the mana ignores me the second it leaves my body, making the act of collecting it into a ball impossible. My eyes open, and I lay my head back with a sigh. This doesn't feel like something that can be brute forced. A part of the puzzle has to be missing. [Mana: 260(24)] One step further from recovery.

Minutes pass as I stare at the ground, spreading my fingers and feeling the grooves between stones filled with moss. Even a history book would make me happy at this point. Mindlessly, I pick the moss from the floor and roll it around in my hands. After squishing the ball of vegetation a few times, an idea pops into my mind. I stand up in a flash and bolt to the door. My feet blur beneath me, and I marvel at how much stronger I've become Soon enough, I make it to the rooms I just cleared.

My hands fill with a couple axes, and I flip on my heels, making my way back. After I slip through the door and close it, my chest hits the ground, and I get to work. With the robe in one hand and an axe in the other, I carve the moss from between the stones and gather it in the large piece of clothing. A few minutes later, the robe is tied closed on the limbs and hood, leaving only the bottom open. Minutes turn into hours as I fill the robe with moss, moss, and more moss.

The action feels pointless and slow at first, but my determination grows as I see the thing fill up. It's a dreadful process that takes far too much time. But boredom is a powerful motivator. I lose myself in the busywork. The technique changes as I continue, improving to collect more moss with less work. Only after I worry about my ability to close the bulging robe do I stop. Failing to tie the end closed, I pull out some bloody sashes and weave them into a rope to do the same.

I step back to my feet, panting lightly from being on my knees for so long. A smile strikes my lips upon my majestic creation. A robe packed to the brim with moss. That's all it is, but my mind sees something different. Slowly lowering to my knees, I gently lie down on my back. The robe compresses, and I tense, but it does not break. Satisfaction painted on my face, I stretch out further than I ever have since getting here.

"Ohhhhhh, yeah."

"That's the good stuff." My makeshift mattress compresses, but holds its shape. A screen expands in above my eyes as I relax and release the tension that has been built up for the last couple of weeks. [Mana: 260(154)] [Health: 305(214)] Grunting in annoyance, I stand up and walk over to get my rations that will soon be ravenously devoured. Placing them next to the mattress, I lie back down with a moan and close my eyes.

I return to my part-time job as a janitor, sweeping small waves of mana into the drain that is the healing skill. The session is not quite as long without the complete saturation of my mana bar. When my eyes open, I find that my hunger isn't quite as powerful either. Still, I fill my stomach with moldy bread and the lowest possible quality jerky. Another trip to the water bowl later, I lie back down on my new mattress, giggling and shaking in joy. [Health: 305(242)] My health is looking positively wonderful now.

It would be good to get a good fight, and my mind agrees. But my body does not. I snuggle against the cool, shaggy cloth of the robe and close my eyes. Just one little nap couldn't hurt. Gotta get to full health, after all. This time, I don't even command myself to fall asleep. It happens naturally. When my eyes open, my body is greeted with a slight ache from my wounds and a deep sense of fulfilment from not sleeping on the lumpy ground. As I rise, I stretch out completely.

Just for a second, it feels like nothing is wrong. It feels like I woke up at home, getting out of bed to take a shower. Like clockwork, I would leave the bathroom clean and awake, saying hello to my parents and making pancakes for breakfast. But I'm not at home. I'm in a dungeon designed to kill me or make me grow. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. There's no refreshing shower, only healing from fighting to the death.

No parents, just the calculated moves of hobgoblins as they seek to end my life. My satisfaction fades, and my determination seeps to the front. Lying back down, I close my eyes and begin another round of healing. I won't die. I'll become as powerful as possible, then find my parents. The sweeping of mana becomes purposeful. With the past level-ups in the skill, the process becomes faster and more efficient. Once again, I find it strange how easily I can get lost in such a tedious action.

Perhaps it's just the affinity I have with magic classes showing through. Really wish I had looked closer at the inclinations with other classes before I was teleported. But that damn dog. Just couldn't let me have a single nice thing in my life. Still, things turned out well. I'm not super amazing at fighting, but being able to control myself was a truly lucky twist of fate. For a few moments, I wonder if I'll ever go the traditional route of a tamer and start somehow recruiting hobgoblins and orcs to the cause.

But I remember the bond mechanic. Tamers seem to be based on some level of trust between them and their tamed being. I don't think I'll ever be able to trust a hobgoblin or orc. Enough fighting against them has instinctively labeled them as enemies in my mind. Then again, the path of the caster looks to be cut off for me at the moment. Even if I were able to create those mysterious balls of mana, it would be unlikely that I could form them in a battle alone.

Also, getting that ball out of my skin is hard enough, getting it through my gauntlet as well seems like an impossibility. I'll just have to keep my eyes open for another magic skill. Might just have to face the facts. A traditional casting route may be counterproductive to my current direction as a brawler. Chime Only a few seconds before I finish, the skill levels up again. My eyes snap open, and the hunger takes me over.

Muscles contract in my waist as I flip up like a lever and snatch up the remaining bags of jerky. The frenzy only lasts for a few minutes before I realize that my entire supply of food is now gone. I rush to the dirty water bowl to stave off dehydration, but I quickly start sweeping the room upon my return. Nope, all out. The room is still mostly empty, so there's nowhere for food to hide. My gaze unfocuses as I stare out in front. [Health: 305(301)] [Heal Tame(lv. 2) > (lv. 3)] A smile graces my face, and I flex my arms. I have truly never felt better in my life. The constant, bone-deep exhaustion I didn't even know I carried my entire life is gone. Pulling my shirt up, I look at my wounds. The two cuts on my shoulder have healed, leaving hardened scabs. One is from the mage I just fought, and the other is from a fight far earlier in the dungeon. Curiously, I pick at it, and the pieces fall away like they were waiting for a reason to. Underneath them is a small, thin scar.

Unfortunately, the other wounds are not the same. The place where the mana ball exploded is still deformed like a crater. I remove the scab, but a significant divet is still there, along with burn scars. The cut on the other side of my chest is bad as well. Despite my bandages, a significant groove sits with a large amount of scar tissue when I remove the scab. I grimace at the sight. These wounds won't be leaving for quite a long time. I estimate that I'll need an actual healer, if they are even capable of this.

Pulling up my pants, I look at my other wounds. All of the arrow wounds, including on my chest, have healed almost perfectly. Just tiny scars remaining. The deep cut into the bone on my leg is also looking amazing. With the bone so close to the skin, the flesh was hardly mutilated at all. After readjusting my clothes, I stand still and jump as high as possible.

"Hahaha!" My vertical must be at least double what it was before I was transported. I start sprinting up and down the tutorial, laughing like a child playing in their front yard. None of my physical stats, except vitality, has gone above twenty-two, so I'm probably not at a superhuman level yet. But the difference between a CrossFit master and the person I used to be is like night and day. I run in circles, jumping, shadowboxing, and far more as I test out my uninjured body.

The beaming smile doesn't leave my face and only grows as I do a variety of physical actions. I drop to my hands and feet. My personal best on pushups was fourteen, but I completely blast it out of the water at sixty-six. Of course, my second-lowest stat begins to show itself as my breathing quickly grows heavier. Endurance hasn't been a concern with the structure of the dungeon so far. Fights don't last long, and when they do end, I have the freedom to pick and choose when the next battle is.

Strength just gives so much more bang-for-buck than endurance. Though even that is flagging behind now that I'm bottlenecked by my own body, hard-limited by commands to avoid blowing myself apart.

"Kevin, start feeling pain." To my ecstatic joy, nothing changes. No sudden waves of agony, no fresh pain waking up. Just my normal body. Alive and fully healthy. Ever since that first goblin bit me in the leg, the damage on my body had only built up. Again and again, more injuries piled up on my body. It built to a climax in my last fight, my health reduced to below a sixth of its total. If I were a normal warrior, my time fighting in the dungeon would have ended there.

Taking the mana attack to the chest was idiotic, almost costing me my life. But the risk was worth it. Without awakening my mana, I would have chosen a different skill. One far different than the one I got. I would have stagnated, unable to push further into the dungeon with my handful of wounds. My supply of food would have eventually run out, forcing me to eat monsters in my attempt to survive. All the other people in the dungeons would be making progress, leaving me in the dust and weakened.

A wicked grin grows on my face as I walk over and slip on my gauntlets. It didn't happen. I didn't get left behind. I'm going to bulldoze through the rest of the dungeon and come out the other side a fucking powerhouse. I awkwardly hold the shield between my hands as I slip through the door and back into the dungeon. The two hallways to the sides are ignored as I move forward. Excitement fills my face at the prospect of another fight. Several minutes of walking later, I make it to the second intersection.

Looking left, the small forest of metal poles still sits in the distance. Taking a deep breath, I continue on down the large hallway. Not even a minute later, I spot it. A razor-thin wire traveling across the entirety of the hallway at knee height. Only five feet in front of me, I guarantee it would have been ignored if not for my highest stat being perception. Annoyance grows. The main hallway is something I pass through often.

I don't want to have to recognize the trap every time, or worse, accidentally set it off after forgetting it or not noticing. My gaze takes me upwards, left, right, and down. The dungeon is eerily good at hiding the damn traps. My only chance of seeing them is through the triggers. Eventually, I spot a difference. Thin, tiny holes are carved in the left wall in somewhat even spaces. Gotta give props to the dungeon.

The whole thing looks like a creation from a first-time game developer, but the traps are clearly taking the lion's share of effort from the creator. The holes are incredibly difficult to make out, and they sit perfectly spaced between cracks in the cobblestone. They divet perfectly in the mortar between each stone as well. Ten points for perception on my next level-up. For sure. After a few moments of inspecting the trap, I see that the holes extend ten feet in both directions from the wire. Complete coverage.

Getting an idea, I prop up my shield precariously next to the wire, just barely balancing it upright. When the angle is perfect, I let it go. Dashing for dear life, I jump into a roll to reach the edge of the trap. I turn and look just as the shield falls. It hits the wire, pulling it slightly. My eyes look expectantly, but nothing happens. Resetting the shield that is lying on the trigger is incredibly stupid, so I opt for a simpler solution.

I place one gauntlet down and hold the outside of the other with my hand, pulling back. Right before I execute, I speak.

"Kevin, don't miss." Not sure if it does anything, but it couldn't hurt. I heave and throw the gauntlet at the shield. It hits the edge, but it's enough. The shield falls completely, and the wire goes limp with the click of a mechanism. I expect the sound of a couple hundred crossbows firing. Instead, the mechanism explodes.