Mosh relaxed, as he practised with, and became more familiar with his Mana senses, especially sight as he began to discern the shape of the walls and other items around him as outlined by mana instead of light. It was strange, but it had its logic and shape, a logic he was quickly becoming comfortable with. He paid attention to a notification that he had ignored as he played with his newly controlled senses earlier. That seemed to be more important than a notification that seemed non-critical.
On evaluation, the skill
Mosh shook his head, not seeing the relevance of the skill. The mana records seemed to deem it important to track, but he could not see how, or why, he would ever need such a skill. Shaking his head, he rose from his sitting position and moved to the edge of the ledge. Looking up, through the gap between the ravine and the forest canopy, the sky appeared to be darkening, evidently the day was coming to an end. He shrugged, it would make no difference down here, he was entering into the darkness. He hefted his spear, wriggled his back to make his pack sit comfortably, and switched to using his mana senses. In the multicoloured light, he stepped through the doorway and into whatever the underground construction was.
Barmenash House
Mich Barmenash lay sprawled over the couch at her aunt’s house. Since she was in the Academy she was seldom here and never did “Mosh watch duty”, but she made a point to watch when she came, Most of the time it was to see what happened in the Game and to wonder how she would fare with her bow, but she also wanted to see Mosh. She was sitting with another of Mosh’s brothers, Loni. The teenager alternating between watching the screen, doing homework, and eyeing her bow. He had tried to pick it up, and Mich did not take kindly to that, slapping away his hand when he reached for it.
Mich watched the action on screen, different beings from various races being featured from time to time. Occasionally a human or someone else from Earth was shown, but it was rare. There were few of them, and none had advanced as deeply into the depths of the Game as the aliens had. When a banner announcement rolled across the screen of a special channel for a dungeon delve, by Mosh, she did not hesitate to pay the extra subscription fee and kick her cousin to go call everyone.
The screen shifted, and the logo of the Mileu Net News and entertainment network swirled as the screen shifted to a view of Mosh. A line of text along the bottom notified everyone that this picture was mana-enhanced and colours did not reflect reality. Loni did a quick search in his textbooks and found the answer, it must be dark down there and thus mana enhanced pictures were used due to the lack of light.
They watched Mosh rise from a sitting position and enter a large rectangular doorway. A table at which four presenters sat was displayed in the bottom corner.
“Well ladies, gents, inbetweeners, those who are all and those who are none, we are watching Mosh Barmenash, the Game participant from the world of Earth. For those who don’t recall, or were unfortunate enough to miss his previous appearances, we have featured Mosh twice before. Once in a heart-stopping battle against a Prowl Cat on just his second day in The Crucible, during which it was revealed he already had unlocked some enhancements! The second time was a heart-warming moment as he tamed one of the friendliest creatures found within the Game, a tigermouse! This time it is for something we have not seen before, an apparent dungeon, in the Outer Ring!
And just a quick word from the sponsors, betting lines are open for guesses as to what will be within, from treasures to monsters! We also are taking bets on what skills, enhancements, or evolutions he has availed himself of!”
Sarah had come in as the last announcement was made and her face flushed red with rage. “They are nothing more than disgusting pieces of shit! Turning my son's life into a show and entertainment!” She lifted the heavy wooden spoon in her hand to throw at the screen, but it was deftly removed by Mich.
“Relax, Aunt, they are disgusting, but breaking the viewing screen won’t help.” Mich stopped, frowning, “No help, but it will mean we miss out on Mich facing this dungeon and any further appearances until we get to the city to buy a new one.”
Sarah looked at Mich, then grasped hold of her, buried her head in her shoulder and sobbed.
Mosh
Stepping through the doorway was anticlimactic. He walked forward, the mana specks floating and illuminating the world around him. He dragged his spear, using it to lay a trail in the soil beneath, it's metal-shod foot creating a few centimetres deep rut behind him as he walked. He had hoped that details would resolve themselves as he moved forward, but the mana motes floating in the air went as far as his eyes could see. He remained alert and nervous as he shuffled forward, and came to a halt as he saw what looked like a wall of mana before him. Unlike the motes that floated above or the ones that were stuck in the ground below, no individual components could be seen, just a continuous and unbroken wall of mana.
Nervously he walked forward, with a long piece of meat held in his outstretched hand. He advanced cautiously and watched as the meat poked into the wall of mana, and nothing happened. He stopped before his hand came into contact, withdrawing the meat. Deciding that he needed the light, and the risk was worth it, he ignited a mana illumination stone and used only his normal vision. The stone lit up, and he cursed as his eyes burned from the sudden light. He had been stupid and left his eyes open when he ignited the stone.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
It did not take long before the spots stopped dancing and he could look around. He was standing on a smooth paved floor, neat squares laid out in long rows and columns. He could see no support pillars, and the walls seemed out of range of his light. Looking forward to where his mana senses said a wall stood, it looked no different. Nothing indicated that there was anything there. He swallowed, nervous, and closed his eyes as he increased mana flow to the stone, slowly opening them as he acclimated to the greater light. It made no difference, the room seemed to go on forever on all sides, though the rut he dug into the ground gave a direction to walk in if he wished to exit. He took a deep breath, deactivated the stone while returning to mana vision, and took a step into the wall.
Barmenash House
“Well all you sapient folk out there, if you put money on him gaining a form of mana vision, it is paying out at odds of three to one! Congratulations. The bets on what form he has, and what other senses have been opened are still available, though odds have dropped!”
The room was tense, an occasional whisper being shushed down. The family were delighted to see Mosh when the light arrived and relieved to see he still looked human. Simi cheered, and got warning looks, while Caleb surreptitiously pinched his arm. The two glared at each other, then stopped when activity resumed on the screen. Mich had stepped out for a moment, contacting some of her classmates, asking if they had picked anything up. One had been sitting with one of the Mana tutors when the news that someone from Earth was being featured and they had switched over, probably most people on Earth who watched the Game had by now. According to her, it looked like mana flow to the eyes, but that meant he had created a mana path to his eyes, something notoriously difficult without assistance. It gave her hope, her cousin seemed to be gifted!
Mosh
His skin tingled as he stepped through, not from his normal nerves but from his new mana nerves. His sense of touch had evolved to include mana as had happened with all his other senses. He watched the mana spark along his arm, mana flowing over him as he stepped through.
Welcome Candidate. You have entered the Domain of House Tiasidh. They welcome you to explore and learn. A warning has been posted.
Warning! House Tiasidh defences have deteriorated and are non-functional. Numerous entities have entered, and many remain within. Their level of sapience and intentions are unknown.
The message gave Mosh pause, and he wondered if he could leave. He took a step back and found himself back on the other side of the mana wall. Stepping forward, the message appeared again, with the attached warning.
‘Kid, you don’t know what you found! I have never heard of a dungeon in the Outer Ring, but it does seem that the fates are with you and you have done the impossible! It should provide great opportunities though risks will be high. It is your decision, as always, but I recommend you go in, at least part of the way. Don’t just walk away.’
Midkar speaking up for him to go within almost had the opposite effect. Mosh was no fan of his, but when he looked at things objectively, he had to admit Midkar had always steered him in the correct direction. He decided to rely on his objective evaluation rather than his almost instinctive dislike for the man and pressed on.
He walked forward, and the mana walls formed a passage around him. He switched to normal vision and even before he activated a light stone, he could see. The walls emanated a soft light which made the passages well-lit. They reminded him of hospital corridors, clean and sterile. Nothing was in them, just straight white corridors that led inwards. He marched down the corridor and came to a halt as he saw a pile of faeces before him. It looked fresh, and when he moved forward and placed a hand near it, there was still some warmth to be felt. Whatever had made it had been here not long ago. He readied his spear, crouched and walked forward. Occasionally he would switch momentarily to mana vision, hoping to catch any differences in the walls. He moved slowly and started to find mounds of stones pulled from the walls. Holes left behind where no mana flowed and the light was diminished.
He crouched lower as he pulsed his mana vision and saw a knot of mana behind one of the stone piles. It was a ball of mana, red, green and black motes circling a central core. When he examined the area in normal vision, he could see nothing. He prepared for the headache of trying to interpret the two sets of sensory flow simultaneously and advanced, watching the mana knot move, almost as if it were attached to a body… He realised immediately, of course, it was attached to a body, it was whatever had produced that pile of faeces and was now waiting to ambush him! He turned on his Mind Detect skill, questing out, wanting to confirm what he suspected, and was rewarded with a solid return of a mind. It was not strong and carried the harsh overtones of something feral, but he could not determine what it was.
He looked towards whatever the creature was, it seemed content to wait patiently. Since it was giving him time, he decided he would experiment. He remained alert and watched as he started to weave mana before him. Now that he could sense it, he could see the different motes with the different colours dancing before him. he tried to gather motes of just one colour. Many of the ones around them were brown, they had an earthy taste, that left a feeling of clay on his tongue. He assumed this was earth mana, its abundance obvious underground.
He gathered the motes, compressing them, all the while gathering more. Slowly, a rock formed before him, at first nothing more than a grain of dust, but he concentrated as he gathered more of the Earth mana. He continued gathering the mana, all the while watching the patient creature that hid in ambush. When the mana ball reached the size of a fist, he switched to gathering some of the transparent motes that floated around and were even more prevalent. They had no taste but felt like a cold breeze that blew across his tongue and dried it. He formed another ball from it, stacked behind the ball of Earth mana that floated and rotated before him. With a thought, he threw the air mana ball into the Earth mana ball, making it explode in its direction. The rock shot out, streaking towards the target. It struck the pile of rocks behind which it hid, the ball disintegrating only a part of it, but upsetting its precarious balance and sending it falling backwards. A loud hiss could be heard as a strange lizard-like creature bounded up from the ground and from beneath the rock pile that had fallen on it. And as Mosh looked at it, a notification flickered on.
Skill
Mosh quickly disabled the notification with an angry thought to the Mana Records. ‘I said no notifications during a crisis, that is especially true when in combat.’ He activated his new skill and found that what had taken him minutes to do on his own was done in a few seconds when it was a recorded skill. The rock formed and shot forward, but the lizard saw it, and in an unexpected display of agility it swayed to the side allowing the rock to pass by safely. They stared at each other, the lizard's tongue flickering in and out, then it turned and darted down the corridor, leaving Mosh behind to look at its back as it fled.