I observe the guide’s movements while he works. There are twenty of us inside the room and thirty more outside. The entirety of group 4 is also present, along with one of three passengers ranked at 2 question marks.
[Ashenfoot Shaman - lvl ??]
Today it’s the vyssari, and like the rest of his brethren, he’s a short scale legged humanoid. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be anything special about him. I could probably probe for more information, but he might take offense, or see it as a challenge almost like a slap to the face or drawing a weapon. But he isn't all that important right now, so I let Sophie keep an eye on him and occasionally check in on him.
I continue to work on moving my mana. Currently, I'm working on transferring all the mana from my reservoir into the crown, and when I’m done with that, I’ll do the same with my body’s reserves.
[Mana Crown - lvl 36 > Mana Crown - lvl 37]
[Infusion - lvl 34 > Infusion - lvl 35]
And on that note, I’m working on a new kind of training, I got the idea a while back and I still don't know much, so it's slow going, but my intentions are clear in my mind.
It will work, I'm sure.
You could easily say that I shouldn’t be wasting mana like that in this situation, or that I should keep my attention on the surroundings. I am though, part of my mind is constantly focused on checking the area. And as for the training… it's more of a variation on something I’m already used to. Mana Cycling has started to feel like the kind of thing I can just keep running in the background, almost without thought. After all, I’ve been doing it constantly for almost a year and nearly nonstop. Sooner or later my body will get used to it, and at that point, it should be as simple as breathing. At least that’s what I’m hoping. Who knows how mana affects our bodies? It could easily happen.
Bringing myself back to reality, I take a moment to look over at the guide.
This one wears the same thick robe as the others, with a deep cowl to cover his head, and a white mask covering his face. There are only 4 of them remaining now, so he seems fairly busy, moving from control panel to control panel while remaining in constant communication with the others.
From what I've seen, he seems to be in the process of controlling the defensive plates and fields that surround the deck. Another one takes care of the movement, and the third one handles the distribution of power. And yet it seems like any of the three stations could be used to control any of these functions, and that even if the guide in front of me were to die right now, it would still take a few minutes before anything got out of control.
Sophie seems to take some joy in our current application of mana, and out of our whole group, her skill at [Manipulation] is second only to me. I might even be able to convince her to put more stats into mana. I have a feeling that even some of the others are starting to open up to the idea after seeing my success.
Surely.
"You’re watching me. Why?" says a voice next to me. Originating from a presence I felt approach before they ever made a sound. It’s the vyssari with two question marks over his head, meaning he is between 281 - 299 in level. If he was over 300, he would have three question marks instead.
"I'm bored," I answer.
"Maybe I'm bored as well, maybe I’ll be inspired to gouge out those eyes of yours."
"Sure. Why don't you try?"
"Your [Mana Crown] doesn't scare me."
"It's [Notyourfuckingproblem Crown], and how exactly did you recognize it? Aren't they supposed to be rare?"
"You have one of the 4 attribute crowns and know nothing about it?"
"The people around me are jerks who like to withhold information," I shrug.
"Human, I don't know if I should laugh or go through with gouging your eyes out."
"I will give you a pair of mana batteries and some upper rare items if you’d be willing to answer a question or two."
"Screw off."
And on that note, my fact finding mission ends. The more time passes, the more I find myself appreciating Tess and the others for being so willing to deal with people and collect information. Some time ago, I even dared to be a bit disappointed that they didn't find out much about the 6th floor when I was gone. But now?
What legends. Absolute gigachads, or at least I think that's how the twins would say it?
Damn, if the twins and Min-Jae ever get to spend some time with Myrra, they will ruin her.
----------------------------------------
A few hours later, our group ends up on the deck, having been sent to deal with the most recent swarm of monsters. And once again, it's me sniping them down while the rest of group 4 acts like a horde of slackers.
It’s beginning to cause noticeable levels of discomfort in the groups tasked with defending alongside us. So far, they haven't seen anyone from group 4 attack, just me. To their apparent surprise, I fail to show any sign of stopping, and my attacks are just as powerful as before and have in fact gotten stronger at a similar rate to the monsters.
[You have defeated Glasswing Moth - lvl 235]
These ones are quick and nimble but prefer to move alone, preferring to attack from below. The best way to deal with them seems to be creating a small orb infused with a bit of thermal energy and launching it at the wings.
After crashing, with bits of mana from the orb still lingering on them, the white sand takes care of the rest.
[You have defeated Dune Wasp - lvl 245]
[You have defeated Dune Wasp - lvl 235]
[You have defeated Dune Wasp - lvl 226]
…
These ones are smaller and much quicker, but at the same time, they’re much more vulnerable.
For them, the best approach tends to be attaching an anchor to an orb and launching it into the group before releasing a burst resonating mana as the orb enters their range. A second burst of oscillating mana takes care of the rest, lacerating and lingering on the monsters as they fall to the sands below.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The last type of monsters we encounter rarely show up and they tend to have extremely powerful bodies.
They’re the size of a small car, and have the capacity to cause a lot of damage. But thankfully they’re slow compared to the others.
It actually turns out to be pretty simple, and I keep learning new things about the white sand and the Mana Desert, so dealing with the monsters is barely an inconvenience for me.
Of course, it's not the kind of information I’d freely share; though the rest of group 4 already knows since we confirmed it with Sophie.
I'm almost sure the guides have to know as well. Though I don't have proof just yet; it's just the feel, and I would be very surprised if they didn't.
So my orb slams into the Boneclad Scarab and moves just the way I programmed it to. The dark blue orb collides with the beast as tendrils extend from the compact form, surrounding the scarab with threads of mana that quickly shrink around it, sealing its wings shut.
It certainly has a pretty decent amount of mana in it, so of course it works exactly as I intended, and just like the monsters before, the scarab falls to its doom in the white sand. And just like all the times before, the white sand grinds the monster to nothing.
[You have defeated Boneclad Scarab - lvl 291]
Hunting them like this is boring.
The monsters also seem to realize this weakness, at least the ones who seem to have been tracking us for the last few days have. Their heads poke from under the white sand as they launch compressed acid and poison at us.
These attacks often hit the metal plating of the flying train/ship and sizzle on the surface, melting away a thin layer of the thick plate beneath.
It's definitely the kind of attack the Deathtrap has survived dozens of times over, and the inscriptions have been carved deep into the metal, alleviating any fear that they might be destroyed by mere surface damage.
I enjoy sniping these monsters the most. I just shoot a few orbs in their direction and let the sand take care of the rest.
Even so, there are so many more to take their place. It's not something I got from my senses, as they are unreliable outside of the field of Deathtrap. No, I just need to look out over the desert, and I can see it for myself.
The desert monsters really don't like us.
They don't like our mana.
----------------------------------------
Another day passes, and no guides die, surprisingly. Everything is going smoothly for once, and that makes the passengers even more pissed off.
A constant stream of noise rises up from the engines. The ship has taken on a tilt and shudders through the air as it moves, its constant vibration rattling throughout. The heat persists inside the ship, even through the cold nights, as the metal plates release all the heat they’ve collected during the day. I’m starved for sleep, now that I’m practically forced to guard our guides and the deck at all times, except for the odd moment here or there to rest and eat.
(So, have you made any progress?) Sophie asks as we guard on top of the deck.
(I don't think I can do anything about our clothes and equipment. It's much more difficult than working on my body.)
(Do you think the white sand would be able to destroy damaged arcane items?)
(Given enough mana, probably. What about you, any progress on replicating the Deathtrap´s inscriptions or the field around the deck?)
(No progress, but I’ve got some ideas. You?)
(None, the material and the inscriptions must be working together in a way I just can't replicate yet.)
(Yet?)
(Yes, yet. But I don't think I will be able to do it in a few days. Given a few months though, probably, even without the alloy that makes up the plates.)
“Storm,” Tess says calmly out of nowhere.
She doesn't even bother using our link, speaking out loud while pointing in the relevant direction.
I look and see nothing, no matter how I strain my eyes, and it's way too far to feel anything with my senses. But it's no surprise Tess might see something with her [Farsight].
“Are you sure? Really sure?” asks the man in the bejeweled black chainmail from before. The one with whom we made our unreliable 5 way pact.
“Absolutely sure,” Tess answers.
“If it's a white dust storm, we might be royally fucked. Will you come with me? We need to talk to the guides in case they haven’t noticed.” Despite his cursing, he manages to speak with a calm expression.
“Sure. Nat, will you be ok staying here with Kim?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Thanks. Let's go.” She takes the lead and followed by the rest of group 4 and a few of the other members of the man´s group, they head down the ship.
“Min-Jae, can you keep talking with the twins, Constantly? And let me know immediately if it cuts off?” I ask.
“Sure!”
This time no attacks seem imminent, but a large number of monsters are assembling rather close to the ship. As if greater numbers would change anything. Min-Jae even seems to enjoy sniping them, and he’s actually doing a good job - using tiny orbs that drain as little mana as possible.
For now, I clear my mind and prepare to use my skills. A few slow breaths in and out to calm my heart, as I wait for the inevitable fuck-up.
“Nat!” Min-Jae barely finishes saying my name, and I move.
I try to teleport to the anchor I left on Izzy, but it's gone. Immediately I switch the target, trying to pull myself to the anchor closest to where they should be.
Mid teleport something feels wrong, very wrong. The space around me twists in a way that it shouldn't, and I find myself unable to do anything about it as I spin and the unstable attempt at teleportation damages my body. When it finally stops, I find myself outside of the ship. My feet touching the white sand.
[Focus - lvl 51 > Focus - lvl 52]
The world around me loses most of its color, and everything goes quiet as a range of scenarios filter their way through my mind in a fraction of a second.
Even that seems to be too much, and because of the amount of mana in my body, the white sand grinds at me, piercing my body.
It gets pulled towards me.
There is no resistance from my body at all as my feet grind to nothing and the floating grains pierce through my chest, neck, and hands, drilling holes as fine as sand through every part of me.
I use my anchor again, sharpening my focus. I bend it to my will, despite the resistance. I grab the remains of it and force it back together and teleport away from the sand at the cost of even more wounds.
Then I take damage from the teleport. My body twists and cracks, there are tears. I feel like I'm about to fall apart under the pressure I strain to endure. Even so, I refuse to use the black mana.
I do not fail, and I teleport through the ring of skill notifications as they ping in the back of my mind.
Back on the ship, I reform my missing feet with mana prostheses, disregarding the rest of the damage.
I feel a smile crawl onto my face as I once again use my anchor, the same one that sent me into the white dunes.
Despite the damage to my body and the pain ringing through my head, I refuse to fail, breaking through successfully even as interference tries to shunt me from the ship.
Appearing on the other side, I boost my body with kinetic energy and move quickly through the hallways and rooms until I reach the others.
The barrier tries to stop me from getting in, and someone launches a mental attack on me.
Activating my eyes and checking the barrier's fluctuations, I resonate mana across my skin, pass through the barrier, and shake off the mental attack.
In the same control room as before, two guides stand along with a powerful monster with three question marks over its head. A few groups are with them, led by the two thylarin with two question marks over their heads.
All of these stand arrayed against group 4, who are fighting back, corpses piling up at their feet.
Good, I like mysteries, but I much prefer it when things are simple like that.