Sitting deep within the quiet forest lay an arena. The sight of a great battle, the great the dungeon had yet seen, it was now a gathering place. With the directive to kill fading after the Claimant’s death, the nature of the forest area was changing. No more fighting was done here, though there was a struggle to see for any creatures brave enough to wade through the dense aura to lay their eyes upon it.
Alongside a smattering of Sundercats were a large contingent of Ents, their bark and leaves the different species found in the forest. The four remaining Attack Animals were a permanent fixture, statuesque in their judgement. There were a surprising amount more denizens of the forest than I had seen, and a new competitive streak had me sad to miss out on fighting some of them. Mostly they seemed like normal animals - foxes, rabbits, weasels and the like, though some bore strange markings or other signs they weren’t the mundane creatures of old. There was a sad beauty in how much these creatures had changed thanks to the System, only to become deadly and fearsome.
I wasn’t thinking about any of that right now though as I glared at the staff standing upright at the centre of the arena. I ignored the grunts and whoops from the various creatures surrounding me. There wasn’t a hunt of aggression in the energy of the air, and I trusted the new sense implicitly. Nothing here would hurt me. They were excited for me to try again. Once my mana recovered, I did. As I gathered the magical energy, I pictured exactly what I imagined happening. With my hands wrapped around the staff, my mana infusing my muscles, I heaved.
While my mana pool quickly drained, I opened the sluice gate to something grander.
Skill - Spirit Well (Unique)
If mana is the fertiliser, Spirit is the seed and its growth. Generally intangible, once brushed against, its existence is more clearly felt. By using Spirit, you have gained a sense for the well inside and the ocean beyond yourself.
As the less rigid Spirit sank into the flowing mana in my channels, the energy within me began to thrum with power. The System wasn’t wrong. I could see why this skill, amongst them all, was considered “unique.” The structureless energy which I had been calling Willpower was now more clearly felt in everything. It was a little distracting, but it was also why I knew the gathering monsters around me weren’t a threat. Every action, or inaction, held some whisper of Spirit. It was the intent behind the world, keeping the natural order.
Item - Jingu Bang
An intriguing object, even amongst the oddities upon the Tree. Originally not a weapon at all, this storied weapon was a mere measuring stick. Made to measure the distance from “ground to the heavens,” this marvel of magical engineering has a theoretically infinite length and mass. A mischievous thief stole the stick after taking a liking to it, fashioning it as a weapon. Together, the pair were unstoppable.
Deep within my core, the Dragon roared its assent as I challenged the staff once more. Now I had a sense for it myself, I could feel that this connection with the magical dragon inside was another example of Spirit. Before I had stumbled into its secrets, it was the Dragon which had supplied the Spirit to make me stronger in desperate moments. In a way, it had been a safety net because the Dragon was not going to help me anymore. This was the eighteenth time I had tried to lift the staff, and I still couldn’t make it budge even slightly.
When I used Spirit to enforce my will, the world instead followed my rules. Or, it was supposed to. It was confusing, but Naea was of some help. Once I knew the term Spirit and asked her about it, she was able to fill in some gaps for me. Spirit did not generally take the place of mana, but instead existed within it. The analogy I landed on was that Spirit was the spice which flavoured the meal you made with mana. The final attack against Master Thorn had been a simple Mana Bolt, but when infused with pure Spirit, the intent of the attack to be deadly made it so.
I had a whole skill dedicated to understanding how it worked, and I was still lost. I had resolved not to use Dragonburn in tandem with Spirit again if I could help it, though. Needs must, but the sensation of cold which had followed me for days after the battle with the Claimant boss was harrowing. No matter what I did, while my Spirit Well was drained, my extremities couldn’t get warm. Until, that is, I refilled the well. I found that levelling skills made this sensation fade away, so I had thrown myself into work when I wasn’t challenging the Jingu Bang.
I grit my teeth as my feet buried themselves in the hard dirt below me. Every drop of mana was humming the same rhythm of strength, the ground itself cracking under the pressure I was able to exert. I had only levelled once since before the fight with Master Thorn, but this wasn’t really about physical attributes. The battle here was one of wills. Waves of energy expelled from me like a haze, mana bursting from invisible pores and filling the air with my power. I roared. The ground gave way.
It wasn’t enough.
The unsteady ground beneath me caused me to slip, and all of my strength left me. Absorbed right into the Jingu Bang. I tutted as I observed the theft, shaking my head. The damn thing was making itself heavier each time I failed. Yet, somehow I seemed to gain on it each time all the same. I had lost this contest over and over at this point a total of eighteen times. Twice a day, once when I woke up and once before I gave up and went to sleep, I headed to the Jingu Bang. Once in the arena I tried to lift the staff and it inevitably fought me off. I swore I could feel a chuckle from the energy inside the weapon at one point. I would have given up, if it hadn’t been for my Spirit Well skill.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
I had already led me to one priceless treasure, after all.
After the battle with Master Thorn, I had felt cold in a dangerous way. My entire being was pulsing with a frigid wind through the empty space inside of me. When it became clear the Attack Animals weren’t moving, I dragged myself back to Clive’s to rest. Unfortunately, Merownis was still unconscious and taking up a fair chunk had been my personal space up to now, and it was getting a bit annoying. The smell alone was fairly pungent, so I thought about building a work space. When the idea came to my mind, the Spirit Well inside of me shivered. Something told me this was a good thing, not a bad one. Following this instinct, I started work.
After carefully prying nails from tables and chairs using my impressive strength from within the café, along with the lumber gathered in my looting, I began to make a building. It was discoloured due to different materials, it was misshapen due to my lack of skill, but the shell of a work shed began to form quickly thanks to my attributes and lack of distractions. The first attempt at making my workspace had only taken me a few hours on the first day after beating Master Thorn.
The monsters of the forest avoided me while I worked. I felled another tree with Severance. It felt strange to use a sword to chop wood, but the blade’s magical effect worked wonders on just about anything. There was a deference in the forest’s monsters now. It wasn’t because they were scared of me, but instead because it would be rude to get in my way. Being able to sense intentions was a nice boon of the Spirit Well skill, but I hadn’t expected it to extend to-
Skill Unlocked - Architecture (Common)
Listen to the bricks and tiles and wood, they too, want to become more.
I grunted in surprise as the prompt appeared. It had been nice to do peaceful work, even if I knew the feeling inside was growing towards something. Along with the new skill, completion of the work shed also gave me a fair few skill levels in Construction. I had sighed in relief as warmth filled me for the first time in hours. Except, in the space left by the discomfort of my lacking Spirit, there was an itch.
I wasn’t done.
Like a man possessed, I had smashed my work to the ground and started again. The information from my new Architecture skill told me it was shoddy work which deserved nothing but destruction anyway. The second attempt was much better, as I actually knew to put in foundations and support beams. After dismantling the shell I had created so far, I fixed my mistakes and the task was complete. The finished product this time was much more presentable. There was a rumbling in the energy of the dungeon as well as my own Spirit Well as I placed the finishing touch.
New Building Complete - Workshed
Building options unlocked.
I was both proud the System accepted my ramshackle building for the workplace it was meant to be, and floored by the amount of energy which came my way. I had to physically brace myself against a wall as my level rose. I had been fairly close to seventeen after defeating Master Thorn, and this was less experience than I received for that, but the System wasn’t done. I could feel a storm appearing in the Spirit of the dungeon, gathering over my head.
There was no way to avoid the lightning strike of its arrival.
Compared to a skill increasing, or even being created, the amount of Spirit being raised to change the gains I received on a level up was on a different level. A maelstrom of power spun quickly over my head before plunging into my being. Once the world stopped spinning, I opened my eyes to the System prompt I felt appear and nearly choked. This was…
Achievement Unlocked - Pioneer (World First)
The trailblazers of a world are its lifeblood. Without those who chase the unique, the mundane would reign. This act of Creation within the confines of a Dungeon has added weight to your soul. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.
Effect: +2 Strength per level, +3 Recovery per level, +2 free attribute points per level
I noted the capitalisation of “Creation” as an oddity, but I was much more focused on the alterations the System was doing to me. I could already tell I had received the level up from the creation of the work shed before receiving these boosts, but I wasn’t going to kick rocks about it. It was as large a set of bonuses as I had received for absorbing the Aspect of the Dragon. Granted, that came with a plethora of other benefits but still…
Despite the increased value of levelling up, I had avoided doing so, even as the Jingu Bang taunted me. The reason was simple. I felt the same pull towards the weapon as I did towards creating my little garage. There was an achievement waiting for me there and I was loath to “waste” any level ups by not getting this achievement first. I wasn’t happy about how long it was taking, though.
Walking back from my eighteenth fruitless attempt at drawing the staff from the stone, and thus becoming monkey king, I called out for Naea, who had called me boring and disappeared days ago. She materialised before me nearly instantly. My surprise at her appearance was interrupted by the flare of Spirit from inside Clive’s. Naea had sensed it before me?
That was interesting, but unsurprising. It made sense she would feel the goings on of the dungeon before I did. What was surprising was being unable to enter the café. The moment reminded me uncomfortably of the Shift, when the door had become so heavy it threw me across the room. Was the event inside as powerful as the creation of the Dungeon itself?
Even with Manasight active, I couldn’t see through the blinding light of mana from within Clive’s. I could, however, guess what was happening. I felt the tremor through our connection, even if I hadn’t been able to make use of it yet.
Merownis was waking up.