Chapter Fifty-Two

Before he approached the dungeon core, he scanned his surroundings, looking for the other delvers, but they remained out of his range.

That sent a spark of worry through him. It didn’t make sense he didn’t sense any of them on his way to the dungeon core. Unless they purposely avoided the dungeon core.

Whatever the reason, he didn’t have much time. In the minute since he arrived, he felt the ambient mana drop slightly. He didn’t want to find out what would happen if it bottomed out.

He trusted the melody so far and it hadn’t failed him. It was time to trust it again.

With his senses on full blast looking for anything, he descended the tree, then entered the clearing with his staff at the ready. As soon as the staff appeared, the melody of the dungeon core spiked, regaining some of its potency. At the same pace, he felt his staff draining.

Arden pushed down the temptation to store his staff. He could always recharge it once he left. It wasn’t like it had a dungeon’s worth of mana anymore. The tree rebirth drained it nearly dry. As it was, he wasn’t sure it had more mana than he did.

Nothing attacked him as he approached the core. The opposite happened. The dungeon core’s melody seemed to grow lighter, as if welcoming him.

Without fairies guarding the dungeon core, it was easy to reach it. The core had a dim greenish gray coloring, not unlike the eyes of the group.

Maybe they did claim it. If they did, they weren’t good owners. How could they let their dungeon starve?

Even if he didn’t break the tower’s seal, he doubted the dungeon would live much longer. A single room of planters and some delvers was far from enough to support even a small dungeon like this.

He hesitated for only a moment before he pressed his hand to the dungeon core. Unlike his previous contact with a dungeon core, it didn’t provide him with mana.

It was the opposite. A powerful suction hit him, draining his core dry within moments. He leaned against the staff, unprepared for the sudden weakness.

His bracelet’s flashed as the suction relented. At least the suction of his mana core, as it moved onto his staff, also draining it dry. So dry it vanished.

Panic his him until he felt the staff within him. Like his aspect, it needed time to recover.

He opened his Ortus menu while swaying on his feet, still dizzy from mana loss.

Territory Quest Complete!

Initiating the claiming of The Ash Forest.

Annoyance sparked as Ortus once again forced his hand, but that annoyance vanished moments later. Without Solanine competing with him like the territory claim, it was over near instantly. He felt a link not unlike the territory core.

That link soared to life soon after as he felt it worm its way into his connection with his territory core. In a blink, the previously dim core shined brightly and with it came an uptick in ambient mana.

As if it found a new source to supply it, the mana density shot up to nearly equal to his own.

Curious, he focused on the core through his connection, gasping when another sense came alive. A top-down map of the dungeon appeared in his mind. The dungeon was tiny. He wasted time branch jumping. It wouldn’t have taken him long to run from the edge to the core, maybe a few minutes at most.

To be fair, he didn’t know how big it was and how many enemies waited in ambush. The answer to that question was zero. Nothing waited to ambush him now or before. At least not a resident of the dungeon. Who knew what the armored group would do if they found him?

The mystery of the group’s disappearance solved itself when he pinpointed them near the exit. Most likely because there wasn’t anything to hunt since the only living beings in the dungeon were him and the five of them.

Soon it was only him as they left. Good thing they did, as the increased density of mana reached the edges of the dungeon soon after.

Arden focused on a random tree and tried to manipulate it, finding he could, but the moment he moved a branch, he jerked as if slapped on the wrist.

Curious, he tried again, but before he could latch onto anything, the map vanished. He found himself staring at the crystal, which pulsed rapidly as if to display irritation.

He wasn’t sure how he got that feeling, maybe because of the connection. Like how he got hints of Solanine’s emotions.

The temptation to try again sparked, but he pushed it down when he spotted his bracelets flashing again.

Great Stone Forest Territory

Type: Territory

Affinity: Nature

Attunement: Nature

Description: This card grants the owner authority over the Great Stone Forest Territory. User may change the name of the territory through their territory sub menu.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

With this card, the user may teleport to the territory core once per day.

The user gains additional teleports once per day to each claimed dungeon.

Current claimed dungeons (2): The Trials of Nature’s Firsts, The Ash Forest.

Arden perked up as he read the addition to his territory card description. If he read it right, that meant he had three teleports with two being to the center of his territory.

Even with his bird form, having teleports to several parts of his territory would be amazing. It took him what felt like hours to fly to the tower. If he could teleport there once a day, it would cut a ton of time off. The problem was, while he claimed the dungeon, he didn’t exactly control the tower.

Also, apparently, he claimed the trial dungeon too. He never got a notification for it, maybe because he didn’t have the territory yet.

Even if he didn’t claim it, he planned to visit again for some training. Though the fairies may have made claiming the dungeon difficult. If the fairies even existed anymore. They drained the dungeon dry. Far drier than the Ash Forest was. It was a miracle the dungeon didn’t die.

What about that other mana source below the territory core clearing? Was there a second dungeon down there? Something to check out.

Maybe there were more dungeons hidden in his territory, waiting for him to claim them. Though the odds were against that seeing the state of this dungeon. The territory was a true dead zone. It was hard for anything to survive, including dungeons.

A burning heat broke his train of thought. His attention shifted back to the dungeon core, finding it to be the source of the heat. It pumped mana into him, refilling his core, and then some, before sending mana down to his soul tether.

That heat ratcheted up as a pain both near and distant assaulted him. Instinctively, he knew what the cause was and what would make it better. He sent a stream of mana down his soul tether and shrunk. The moment he did, he flopped onto the ashy ground, both wings at odd angles, but unlike before, his mind remained focused.

Now with a direct connection, the mana worked fast. Grotesque pops sounded as his wings regained their natural shape and feathers he lost in the impact regrew. His wings still refused to move on their own.

He learned the cause of that soon after, causing his small feathery body to tremble, but not much else as it couldn’t do much else.

A shiver ran through him as he watched the mana reform several shattered vertebrae in his neck and the severed spinal cord the spine protected.

It was a miracle he survived. He should have died on impact. Any mundane creature would. He needed to be more careful when flying. Even if he survived an impact like that again, who knew how long it would take to recover?

If the dungeon wasn’t healing him, the injuries could ground him for a long time, if not forever. He damn near decapitated himself and shattered both wings. That wasn’t something that healed with time. It needed a healer, which meant he would have to expose himself.

He wasn’t sure where the dungeon got so much mana from, but he was thankful. Did the territory core supply it? It was possible. He felt the connection and his territory card proved it, but to have such a turnaround was crazy. Minutes ago, the dungeon was on its last legs and now it felt almost as strong as the trial dungeon.

Soon his bird form felt fully healed, but that wasn’t the end. Next, the mana flooded into his staff even though it wasn’t materialized.

Worry built as the previously recovered dungeon plummeted in mana density not unlike the trial dungeon before.

Was it donating its mana to the staff like the trial dungeon? He wasn’t sure why. It recovered. Why hurt itself again? There must be a reason for it.

Leaves fell from trees as the mana dropped below the grade one mark, then kept going until nothing was left. The core in front of him was dark.

Worried it killed itself, he peered deeper, listening for a melody, sighing in relief when he heard it. While it was just a whisper, it felt healthy. He wasn’t sure what that meant. Maybe hibernation?

Whatever the reason, he wouldn’t complain about the gift. It donated its regained mana for a reason. He just didn’t know why yet.

Just to be sure, he scanned the core again, a smile forming when he felt a trickle of mana returning. It would recover probably stronger than before.

Arden spread his wings and flapped. Easier than ever, he was airborne. Each time, he made progress.

He needed all the progress he could get if he wanted to explore the rest of the territory.

At that thought, he turned toward the exit of the dungeon, reaching the path up in seconds, proving just how small the dungeon was. However, learning his lesson, he slowed as he continued up, feeling the barrier blocking his exit before letting him through.

Soon, he found himself in the familiar cavern. He spread his senses as he circled, looking for the group, but found no one.

Next, his eyes landed on a formation on the ground, likely the portal if he remembered what he read right. What should he do about it? Now that he claimed the dungeon, he couldn’t leave an active portal formation right outside of it.

The problem was if he destroyed it, he would alert whoever owned it. Though his dungeon claiming may have already alerted them.

A sigh escaped his beak. There was no good option. Either leave the portal and hope they don’t notice his claim or destroy it, and for sure, alert them.

Really, there was only one option. They would notice the dungeon, eventually. Either way, the best he could do was delay them, and that meant destroying the portal formation.

Arden glided down and shifted, then eyed the formation. He only read a few beginner books on formations, so he had no idea where to unravel it stealthily, so a forceful method was his only way.

Mana pulsed through him as he activated his Conjure Root card right next to the formation. Then he took several steps back. He stopped at the edge of his control range, which was about five meters, then activated Nature Manipulation.

Unlike the charred trees, it was effortless to control the root. As if an extension of his body, he swiped the root across the formation, destroying a couple of glowing greenish gray lines. Mana sparked before the rest of the lines went dim, as if they shorted out.

Just to be sure, he swiped back and forth until no line remained, then cut his connection to the root. The problem was, what did he do with the root? If he wanted to limit evidence, he needed to remove the root, too.

Fortunately, that problem fixed itself soon after. Without a mana source to draw on, the root shriveled up within seconds then crumbled to dust.

Still not satisfied, he shifted back to his bird form and flew over to the pile of dust and flapped his wings, dispersing the dust throughout the cavern.

He nodded his head, then scanned the rest of the cavern with a critical eye, finding nothing else of note before he took to the air once more.

A tremble ran through him as he flew toward the hatch, but this time he took it slow. Just before the hatch, he shifted back, then grabbed the ladder.

With one hand on the ladder, thankful he wasn’t scared of heights, he pushed on the handle, causing the hatch to lift on its own as if it had pneumatic cylinders. Good to know he could probably open the hatch even in his bird form.

His good mood soured when he climbed into the room above. Every planter held dead plants, some even had piles of dust, like what happened to his root.

Good thing he grabbed the seeds when he could. It was a shame he didn’t grab more, but there was nothing he could change about that now.

Since there was nothing but dead plants left behind, he shifted back to his bird form and flew up the tunnel leading up. He found the hatch he opened, gapping wide. No wonder the plants died so quick.

Despite being mostly pointless, he shifted and pushed the hatch closed, then shifted once more and took to the air.

Arden glanced in the direction of the territory core, finding even more green on the horizon before he turned the other way.

Still buoyant from the influx of mana, he shot off. He may as well continue exploring. Maybe there were other surprises waiting for him.