Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety-Five - Cutting Edge Cleaning

We took a bit of time to make sure every Evil Root seedling pod was split open and the monsters within properly splattered. It was icky work, but Amaryllis and I both suspected that these seedlings were the things that brought the Evil Root infection to new dungeons.

It was a little bit like a virus taking root in someone’s lungs, then when they sneezed they’d spread some of it around. What we were doing was getting rid of the part that caused the Evil Roots to spread.

Which brought up the question... could someone unscrupulous spread Evil Roots around by capturing a number of these seedlings and sneaking them off to healthy dungeons?

The seedlings were rather obviously evil-looking, what with their mandibles and insect-like carapaces. Amaryllis suggested that they might have a bunch of natural stealth-based skills that allowed them to better sneak into uninfected dungeons.

I wasn’t sure how they got through the dungeon to reach the core, but maybe they didn’t need to? What if a seedling dying in any floor was enough to spread the infection through the entire dungeon?

I... didn’t know if that was correct or not, and I didn’t have any sort of background in anything that could help me there. Maybe we could write to Sylphfree about it? They were doing a bunch of research on the subject, I was sure.

Once everything was cleared out and the boss’ room was made secure, we... well, took a bit of a break. I made sure that everyone was clean, both because there was still some lunaflower dust in the air, and because we got splattered by some of those Evil Root pods and I was worried that their juices might be a bit toxic.

Amaryllis played with the staff for a bit, but then she passed it on to the others. Caprica frowned, then waved the staff around in a big circle that left a trailing light where it passed. The light’s colour changed as it moved, the trailing edge gently fading away.

“Pretty,” I said.

“It’s making it very easy to cast this,” Caprica said. “Want to try?”

I shrugged. I couldn’t see why not?

Grabbing the staff, I squinted at the end, then thought of the lightball spell that I knew. That one was easy, just a knot of mana. I summoned one in my hand and... it didn’t feel any easier.

Then I tried to summon one on the end of the staff, and if anything, it was much harder.

“Channel your mana through the staff, as if it’s another limb,” Amaryllis said. “The staff will make turning your natural mana into light mana easier.”

“Oh,” I said. I pushed my mana through my hand and up the staff, and it really was quite easy. A simple knot on the end and the mana turned into a brilliant ball of light that I had to blink off before it blinded me. “Oh! I get it! That’s cool!”

I thrust the staff forwards while trying to make what were essentially fireballs, and a few balls of light shot out of the end and puffed harmlessly against the dungeon’s walls. I tried the same with Cleaning magic, and it turned the balls of cleaning magic into glowy balls of... well, it was still a little bit Cleaning magic, but it also seemed to have some Light-aspect mana mixed in.

Awen played with the staff next, and Calamity and Puffles both passed, neither really interested in it. “We have a few of them in the village,” Mister Puffles explained. “They don’t drop that often, but once in a while we’ll get one. We use them to make more permanently-bound lights in our homes, but that’s about it.”

“Light magic isn’t great in a fight,” Awen said. “But... um, can I keep this?”

“I don’t mind,” I said.

“No complaints here,” Amaryllis said. “If it was a Lightning or Electric based staff I’d be salivating over it. Even a generic staff designed to improve control would be worth a lot, but a staff specific to a magical aspect that I don’t use... yeah, go ahead.”

“Likewise,” Caprica said. “Besides, I don’t use magic in fights very much. I know the basics, but it’s not my area of expertise.”

“What will you make with it?” I asked.

Awen twisted the staff this way and that. “I could just make a strong light fixed to my crossbow. That could be useful in some cases. But... I don’t know, but I think Light and Glass magic work well together. There’s potential there.”

“Well alrighty!” I said. “Should we keep moving?”

I was pretty relaxed now that the biggest part of the dungeon’s challenge was behind us. It hadn’t been the hardest dungeon I’d ever faced. Then again, it was a pretty low-levelled dungeon overall, so maybe that was to be expected.

The exit was behind the perch where the boss had been waiting for us when we entered the room. It was a long tunnel dug into the wood--unfortunately, it was almost entirely impassible.

“Oh,” I said as I poked at the roots pouring out of the passageway. “Yeah, this’ll be tricky,” I said.

“We weren’t able to break through,” Mister Puffles said. “This tunnel goes on for a good forty paces before opening up to the place where the core sits. The exit to the dungeon’s right there too. Last time we had to turn back and leave the long way.”

I pressed my hand against the nearest root, then with a grunt of effort and some focus, fired a slicing beam of Cleaning magic out that bit into the root with a nasty hiss, like dropping raw meat on a hot pan.

The root squirmed a bit, then my magic sheared though it and the long trail of root leaving the tunnel fell back.

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Calamity grabbed it, then tossed it away, but there was still plenty of root left, including the one that I’d just cut.

“We’re going to have to chop off chunks and toss them out,” I said. “I could burn them all with Cleaning magic, but I don’t think I’d get very far.”

Just to try, I pushed my Cleaning aura into the tunnel, then ramped it up a bit. The magic enveloped the roots and started to eat away at them, but it was very slow. It progressed just barely fast enough for me to tell they were beginning to wither, but if I tried things this way, I'd run out of mana long before breaking through.

Maybe if I did both? Concentrate the Cleaning magic to cut off chunks that were letting my aura eat away at the rest of the roots? Some of the Evil Roots were no thicker than my thumb, so they’d break apart easily enough. It was the really chonky ones that were thicker than my torso that would require a lot more work.

I pulled out Weedbane, locked the blade in place so that it was parallel with the staff, then pushed my Cleaning magic to the edge of the blade. It cut through with... well, not ease but a lot less difficulty than when I was trying to cut through with nothing but pure mana.

“This is doable,” I said as I chopped through more of the bigger roots. Without having to ask, my friends formed a line behind me, like a bucket line where each grabbed a chunk of root and passed it on to the next. The person in the line would toss the root chunk out into the boss room where they started to form a pile.

“How’s your mana?” Amaryllis asked.

“Uh... not great,” I said. We were only ten paces in when I started to run low. I shut down my aura to conserve it, but then it only lasted a few more slices before I started to really run dry.

“Give me a turn at it,” Mister Puffles said. “And maybe pass on that scythe of yours. It looks an awful lot better than anything I’ve got to work with.”

I nodded, then left the tunnel and sat by the entrance of it. I felt a bit flushed and a little tired, but that was probably just the lack of mana. It felt like I had low blood sugar, as if I was all floaty and a bit dizzy. Not a very nice feeling.

Mister Puffle’s Gardening skills came in handy, and he was able to chop through the Evil Roots. It wasn’t as quick as my Cleaning magic, but it still let him work through the roots while I recovered.

At some point, the speed in which I regained mana had increased. I had to sit down and measure it properly one day, but it was much faster than the one-mana-a-minute I once had. I asked Amaryllis about it.

“There are a few reasons for that. Constant use of mana is like a muscle. Eventually you become better at processing naturally occurring mana and turning it into mana you can use from your body’s reserves. More mana means that you improve that mana muscle faster, and the greater your Magic stat the better your control and the faster you’ll regain mana.”

“Oh, cool,” I said. “So it’s not just my level, then?”

“It’s partly that, partly practice, and sometimes skills play a factor in it as well. The more magic-reliant skills you have, the better you’ll be at regaining mana.” She frowned. “Speaking of which, don’t you have a skill that lets you steal mana from others?”

I blinked. "Oh yeah ... Way of the Mystic Bun can do that. I hadn't thought of using it here."

“Is it permanent?” Calamity asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“Then you can take some of mine. Hardly ever use it,” he said.

I decided to only take a bit. Mostly because I was worried that stealing someone else’ mana might hurt them if I took too much. Maybe it would injure Calamity’s... mana conduits? How did mana move in a person’s body? I didn’t know, which meant that I didn’t know if I risked hurting him, and Amaryllis wasn’t certain either.

Calamity’s magic felt strange. Slow and thick and hearty, like cream soup with mushrooms. It wasn’t bad, but it responded differently than any mana I’d ever interacted with. Then again, all I had to compare it to was some fleeting feelings during a few fights, and Amaryllis’ own magic which was quick and zippy and like to throw off the occasional spark.

I refilled my mana by a dozen points using Calamity’s mana supply, then I let go. “Alright, once you’re filled up again, let me know,” I said. “I don’t want to take any more than that each time.”

“Awa, you could take some of mine too?” Awen asked.

She extended a hand towards me, and gave me big soulful eyes that I couldn’t say no to.

Her magic was strange too. Slick and... precise? It felt like she was letting me take it bit by bit. As soon as I had control over a piece of it, the magic felt like it ‘broke’ apart. It was hard to describe, but I supposed that maybe that was part and parcel of her magic being Glass aspect.

“Thanks!” I said.

Caprica was next, and by then I figured I had no choice but to take a little from everyone. In a way, I got it; my friends all wanted to help, and this was an easy way to do it.

Caprica’s magic was almost impossible to pull. I could grab onto it, but it refused to budge until I put some serious effort into it. Once I did have it though, it was warm and gooey and rather nice.

Was I reading too much into all this magic stuff?

Probably, I decided. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t interesting! I just hoped that my own mana was warm and fuzzy and nice too. “Okay,” I said. “I think I have what I need to beat back another chunk of that root. Let’s go save that core!”

***