Chapter Forty-Two

Once they leveled off above the treetops, the snake waved her tail tip as if unsure where to go next. Arden spread his senses out, feeling out spikes in mana strength.

Without his input, the melody of life also activated, and when it did, his eyes widened. Like the army they created in the trials, he felt a link to everything within his range.

It was like everything within range heard him or the mushroom creatures broadcasted his existence. One would think it would distress them as he was hunting them, but it was the opposite. The melodies seemed extra light and vibrant, even more so than the army within the trial.

Without asking for the snake’s input, he flew toward the nearest clearing and dove. He earned an annoyed hiss, but she quieted soon after as if noticing something. Like the previous descents, he shifted to his humanoid form near the ground, timing it almost perfectly to allow him a gentle touchdown.

Like him, the snake did the same, this time holding clear wooden daggers in each hand, obviously made of the same wood as his staff. Though a glance with his mana sense told him they held far less mana than his staff.

Both his staff and the daggers glowed brighter by the second as sounds all around them drew their attention.

Arden spread his senses and froze. Hundreds of creatures surrounded the clearing far more than he thought existed in the forest. The only thing stopping him from flying away was a vibrant orchestra of life played. It was so loud that he swore it wasn’t just in his head. Going by the sway of the girl’s hips next to him, almost like she acted while in snake form, he wasn’t the only one hearing it.

Like with the trial, he latched onto the melodies, taking control of them, which turned out almost too easy. There was zero resistance, but there was simply too much for him to hand on his own.

As if in silent agreement, the girl took the left side while he took the right. He immersed himself into the melody, delving deeper and deeper, finding a trail off into the distance.

A spike of alarm from his equilibrium sense warned him away from trying to latch onto the trail. Still, he prodded it, trying to get a feel for it. The trail pumped life mana into the creatures surrounding him, cluing him in to what it was.

It made sense the creatures had a connection to the dungeon core or life crystal. The fairies and the dungeon core were the only things his equilibrium sense warned him about. Everything else seemed free for the taking. Maybe because they would respawn like most dungeons.

As if agreeing with his assessment, the connection cut off, freeing the creatures from its control. He braced himself for hostility, but the opposite happened. The last barrier blocking them from charging toward him fell.

He took an unconscious step back, but one glance at the melody told him he had nothing to worry about.

Still, it was hard to stay still when hundreds of creatures, many of which could squash him, charged toward him. Almost like a massive dog enthusiastically charging toward their owner. Just because they meant no harm, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t cause some on accident.

That fear turned out to be unnecessary, at least in the physical sense. As like the mushroom creatures, they disintegrated into motes of light and entered his staff.

The staff shined like a sun burning hot to the touch, but his instincts told him it would be a terrible idea to let go. In fact, just thinking about it spiked his equilibrium sense, as if something catastrophic would happen if he let go. Maybe it would explode, destroying both him and the dungeon. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t going to try to find out.

He gritted his teeth as the hot staff seared his hand as more and more motes of light filled it. Left with nothing to do himself, he retreated his magical senses and scanned his surroundings with his mundane senses, eyes widening when he did so.

The once vibrant forest lost its luster. Leaves on trees turned fall shades he read about in books. Was the dungeon shutting down? Should he try to escape? No, he couldn’t. If he cut the torrent into the staff, something worse may happen.

It was like cutting the connection mid recharge of a mana battery, but on another level. The staff was definitely a mana battery which could come in handy once he left the dungeon, but it was so much more. Though it might be dangerous showing it off. He knew others would covet something charged with so much mana.

Just the fact the fairies or dungeon core cut the connection on its own meant it gave them permission to harvest the mana.

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Maybe it was a completion reward? Dungeons gave out rewards upon the exit of the dungeon to entice a return trip, but if they sucked the dungeon dry, would it have enough energy to provide a reward? Did the dungeon even provide the reward or Ortus itself?

He had a feeling he would find out soon. The original day estimate wasn’t going to happen. They had minutes at most at the current rate.

Despite the pain, he couldn’t help but stare at his staff in wonder. How could something handle a dungeon’s worth of mana? What was the staff made of? He never heard of clear wood.

Whoever the tree spirit was in life, it had to have been a marvel. The wood seemed to be from its body, after all. If just a chunk of it could handle this much mana, how much mana did the full tree hold?

Something told him the tree spirit wasn’t some random tree spirit it had to have been something far greater. If it was so great, why didn’t it lead the dungeon instead of the fairies? Unless the fairies predated it? Unfortunately, with the tree spirit’s disappearance, he doubted he would find an answer to those questions.

A glance toward the girl told him she was in a similar situation to him. She tried to hide it, but the pain in her eyes gave it away. That and the blazing bright daggers in her hands.

Said brightness kept getting brighter, or maybe it was the dimming dungeon. The once luminous ceiling, filled with shining green crystals, barely had enough to illuminate the clearing. Far from enough to shine through the dense canopy of the forest, giving the once bright forest an imposing shadowed look. Though with the falling multicolored leaves, the canopy blocked less and less light. It was like the forest entered the late fall.

The last of the creatures disappeared into their weapons, but that wasn’t the end of the mana flowing in. While the nature ambient mana appeared much thinner, it still had much more potency than the desert outside and it seemed like their weapons wanted to drain every drop.

He peered inside his staff only to recoil, mana sense seared by the potency. His mana sense recovered soon after, but he learned his lesson and didn’t try again. He should have known better in the first place. The amount of mana held within the staff was enough to power a city. At least, he thought it was. He obviously never sensed a city core.

Even the smallest cities had the tightest of security around the territory core like a dungeon core. Whoever controlled the territory core controlled the city. It wasn’t out of the norm to abandon the residents of a city in favor of reinforcing the core. They could rebuild as long the city as the territory core survived.

Of course, every city that sacrificed their residents never recovered to their former size, if they survived at all. It turned out if one betrayed those living in the city, they earned a lot of ire. He even read stories of the residents switching to the invading forces side not out of self-preservation but to get revenge.

A vibrating drew his attention back to his staff. It was so bright he couldn’t look at it directly with his eyes or even his mana sense.

The only two senses that worked on it were his equilibrium sense and the melody of life. The first sent flares of warning at him telling him something horrible would happen if the staff were damaged, but he got the feeling it would take a lot to damage the staff. If it could handle a dungeon worth of mana, it had to be durable. Well, half a dungeon as the snake took a good chunk herself.

The vibrating turned out to be the base of a deafening song. As if hundreds of beings sang at once, the staff boomed out the most powerful song he ever heard. Taken in by the song, a smile formed as the song climaxed as everything peaked.

Unfortunately, as with all great times, they didn’t last forever as the song took a sudden darker shift. Tears formed as he leaned onto the staff, as if to get closer to it to comfort it. Deep sadness filled him, as if a devastating loss had happened to him.

After what felt like an eternity, the song shifted once more to a more upbeat but far weaker song, singing of a brighter future. This song seemed directed at him as if the staff itself willed him to fulfill its hope.

That was when he crashed back to earth. He felt an intruding presence trying to worm its way deep within him. Still feeling the aftereffects of the song, he didn’t react right away, allowing the connection to worm its way down his tether.

When he did, he latched onto the intruding tendril, halting it’s attempt. Anger flared at its audacity, but upon looking deeper at the staff with all his senses, his anger melted. It didn’t want to control him. In fact, he got the feeling it rebelled against the very thought of forcing him to do anything. It just wanted to aid him by deepening its connection with him.

Even with his anger gone, that didn’t mean he wasn’t leery, which the staff seemed to sense. Whatever happened to the staff granted it at least some intelligence. That thought only brought more worries.

Could it fake the melody of life? So far, nothing with a light melody meant him harm, and it gave off a vibrant song, not some basic light song. The problem was if it had intelligence, maybe it meant well, but its well-meaning didn’t mean it wouldn’t cause harm.

Though with the flares from his equilibrium sense, he knew he couldn’t leave the staff unattended. It was far too dangerous to allow to fall into the wrong hands. Not that he thought his hands were the right hands. The staff seemed to think so, though. Or at least he was the best option for it.

A glance at the girl staring down at her daggers told him he wasn’t the only one needed to make a decision. He was at a crossroads. Did he embrace the staff and whatever boons or banes that entailed or did he keep it as is? His equilibrium sense appeared silent on the issue. It only seemed to care about protecting the staff, nothing else.

As a test, he peered deeper into the staff with his mana sense while following the melody. Unlike before, his mana sense didn’t recoil. The staff seemed to clear a path for him to look as deep as he wanted.

Not throwing away the invitation, he pushed deeper and deeper. The depths appeared endless but tiny as he reached what he could describe as the core of the staff in an instant, despite his senses telling him of unfathomable depths.

The core pulsed with life mana as if it was a heart. That wasn’t the only surprise, as a voice boomed through him, confirming his assumption of its intelligence.

“Welcome Prime of Life.”