There was nothing like sitting in total darkness to make a person feel paranoid. Add the fact that the ruins were utterly devoid of sound besides Tabitha’s and mine soft breathing, and everything was ten times worse.
I didn’t have the mana to keep my light spell going, so I could do nothing to combat the pitch black surrounding my unconscious companion and me. It also didn't help that I was feeling particularly vulnerable at the moment. Tabitha couldn't move, and I was dead tired; metaphorically speaking, I could only keep watch.
I was trying to pull in ambient mana to fuel my low mana reserves, but the potion I drank sadly only lasted ten minutes, and now my body had to deal with the consequences. Unfortunately, power you haven't earned consistently comes at a cost; now that the potion has run its course, it had the opposite effect on my body. While the potion had boosted the rate at which I could convert ambient mana into my own by almost 300%, now it was reduced to a horrendous 35% of what it usually is.
Considering how long it usually takes to regain mana after depleting my reserves and this new lower conversion rate, I will need at least three days to recharge completely. That isn’t good. Not good at all.
I had no idea how long it would take for Tabitha to recover to fighting condition if she'd ever, but I doubt it would happen in three days. Not unless a miracle happens, and I felt fresh out after trying to save her arms.
If we rationed the little food and water we had, we could survive over a week down here. That sounded like a long time, and it was if the situation were different, but it wouldn’t work here. We could survive that long only by eating a single piece of jerky daily and taking no more than a single sip of water. Our high stats would help with the rest, but starving ourselves like that would slow our recovery and leave us in no state to face the winged serpent again, which was the overall goal.
To fuel our recovery, we need more food and water than we have. If we could level, that would help in more ways than one, but it wasn't like we were in an excellent place to train.
Using Sense Mana, I scan our immediate surroundings. The shaft we fell through that led to the surface was roughly 300 feet. Based on the decayed wood around where we landed, the shaft used to be some lift to the surface or, more likely a way to reach the higher levels of the arena.
We were deep, but not so deep that I couldn’t sense what was happening on the surface. The problem was that either the snake had left my range or had a way to hide from Sense Mana because I couldn’t find it no matter how much I looked.
Sighing, I switch my focus from the surface to the ruins around us, and holly crap, they were enormous! I didn't get the chance to pay much attention to the ground while the winged serpent was chasing us, but I can say now, without a doubt, that his arena was more extensive than anything back on Earth. Which begged the question, how big was the civilization that used to live here if they needed such a large arena, and what was it used for?
There were countless adjoining rooms around and below us, with huge hallways and passageways crisscrossing every which way. It was a veritable maze down here, one that reeked of death. And despite knowing we were alone, I couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched.
The air was stale but not as bad as the mana. The snake’s corruption didn’t extend down here, but the natural mana wasn't much better. Being this far underground, you would think there would be loads of earth mana, and there was, only it was all outside the ruins. Inside the ruins, it was different. I remember seeing something similar before, but where was it?
Maybe if I scan more, I'll figure out why the mana here is so unpleasant.
I did a quick sweep with my senses when we first came down to ensure nothing dangerous was lurking nearby while I worked on Tabitha, but this time I took my time and scanned everything from top to bottom. Room by room, I scan for anything that could affect this place's mana. There was surprisingly little life down here; I didn't sense moss or any bugs of any kind.
Utilizing Sense Mana, I could scan every room within 754 feet of myself, and even that wasn't enough to see everything. Not all the buildings I could sense were connected. There were sections cut off from the rest of the ruins and would require a lot of digging to access
if we wanted to explore them.
Our section is relatively larger than the rest and contains hundreds of rooms, but none contain anything that would make this place feel like a graveyard. No, that wasn't right; not even a graveyard feels like this. The place our village buries the ashes of the dead felt like any other part of the village, but the mana felt like back when….
It suddenly clicked where I felt mana like this before. The mana here was the same kind we encountered before we entered the Endless Forest, the same mana leaking out of the mass burial site from the goblin massacre!
But wait a minute; I didn’t sense any bodies. And isn’t death mana purified over time? This place must have been sealed off for countless years; any death mana should’ve vanished long ago, but here it is. Why?
Again, I scan our surroundings, taking extra care to look for anything out of place, but I don't even make it out of our room before I notice something—multiple somethings.
It was faint, but I could sense piles of dust on the floor. One, four, seven; there were eleven such piles in our room alone, and now that I know what I’m looking for, I notice similar piles in the adjacent rooms and even more scattered all over the ruins. I only need to look at the shape of the piles to realize what they were or what they once were.
Each pile of dust was shaped like a person. There were so many I couldn't count them all, and the number increased the further down I directed Sense Mana. So, it was no surprise that was where all the death mana was emanating from.
“Wait, was that movement?” I swear I could feel something shift two floors below us, but as soon as I focused on the spot, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Don’t worry; I'm being careful not to move my arms," A voice I wasn't expecting answered me.
I’m not proud of myself, but I let out a girly scream in the dark.
"Please don't yell," Tabitha groans. "I can't use my hands to cover my ears."
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Focusing on the darkness next to me, Sense Mana shows Tabitha lifting her head and looking in my direction. "You scared the piss out of me,” I yell into the dark. “How are you conscious right now?”
I can’t see Tabitha’s facial expressions in the dark, but I recognize her boastful tone. "You think this is enough to knock me out?”
“I don’t think now is the time to joke,” I deadpan.
“Fair enough, Tabitha hacks up a lung. “I can’t sleep even if I want to,” she tells me, sounding tired and in pain. "It's the potion you gave me. It's pulling everything it can to heal me, leaving me feeling exhausted, but at the same time, keeping me from falling asleep due to its healing properties.”
“How long have you been awake?"
“Not long,” Tabitha answers. “I woke up soon after you gave me the potion. Before that, I had passed out from the pain. Congratulations that hasn't happened in a long time," she tells me pessimistically.
“Sorry, I was trying to save your arms,” I retort and immediately feel bad for being so blunt about it.
An awkward silence falls between us. I wish I could see Tabitha’s face to get a feel for how she was doing emotionally, but I couldn’t waste what mana I had left just for that.
“You know, you should’ve let me die,” Tabitha finally breaks the silence. There was a whole host of emotions behind her voice, but I was expecting her to say as much, though I thought she'd be out for at least a day before or so.
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t going to let that happen,” I growl defiantly. “You can try to sacrifice yourself all you want; just know, I’ll do the same to try and save you when you do." I fold my arms and glare at the spot Tabitha is lying, even though both were pointless in the dark. “The least you can do is say thank you.”
I was fully prepared for Tabitha to give me the silent treatment, but in my heart of hearts, I needed her to understand why I did what I did. There aren't many people I care about. I care about everyone in the village to a certain degree, but outside my family, there were only ten or so people I would stick my neck out for, and Tabitha was one of those people.
“Thank you,” Tabitha’s sudden response catches me off guard.
"What was that? come again?" I try to get her to repeat herself to ensure I wasn't hallucinating because I was tired.
"Thank you for saving me, Aaliyah," Tabitha repeats in a tone I've never heard her use before. She sounded sad yet unbelievably happy at the same time.
"You're welcome." I wanted to slap myself for not coming up with something better to say, but the two words just seemed to tumble out of my mouth. Something wet rolls down my cheek, which I quickly wipe away.
There's another drawn-out pause, but it doesn't feel awkward this time. I was trying to collect myself, and I'm sure Tabitha was doing the same.
“How are you feeling?” I tentatively ask after a minute. “Is the potion helping with your arms?”
"I won't be able to move anytime soon, but you did an excellent job," Tabitha praises my workmanship.
“I’m glad. I was worried I didn’t do enough.”
I hear Tabitha chuckle in the dark. “As usual, you have no concept of what you managed to do.”
“I’m sure any trained healer could do a better job," I remain humble.
This time Tabitha laughs, which quickly turns into a deep cough. “A trained healer would’ve chopped my left arm off and focused on my other injuries. The fact that I can feel my left arm at all is a miracle in itself. The best healer in Scholl might be able to do what you did, but not in the same conditions.”
Good thing there was no light because I was blushing under Tabitha's extensive praises. But hold on, Tabitha said something important just now. “You can feel your left arm?”
“I can. It hurts something fierce, and I can tell the bones are slowly mending, but I have feeling in both arms," she proudly tells me.
"That's amazing," I let out a sigh of relief I didn’t know I was holding in. “I don’t suppose you can estimate how long it will take you to recover?”
“That’s tricky; the potion complicates things,” Tabitha answers.
“How so?”
“Well, the healing potion is helping me with my worst injuries, like the internal bleeding and my broken bones," Tabitha explains.
Shit, I can’t believe I forgot to check if she had any other significant injuries. I was so focused on her arms I ignored everything else.
"Once the potion stops working, my natural healing will plummet briefly, but that should only last a few hours. Those potions weren’t cheap, after all,” Tabitha morbidly jokes.
"Does the same apply to the mana potion I drank?" I ask. "My mana regain slowed to a crawl, and I’m running on fumes here.”
“Should be,” Tabitha gives me some much-needed good news.
I didn't tell her outright, but my mana reserves were circling the drain. Other than maintaining a single barrier of Mana Skin to protect myself from the harsh ambient mana, I couldn’t do anything with my mana if I wanted to. That said, I didn’t want Tabitha to worry about me while she was indisposed, so I directed the conversation elsewhere. “You said your potions were expensive; how much were they?”
“Let’s see,” Tabitha mumbles in the dark. “You drank the cheapest one. I think I bought the pair for 320 gold coins.”
Hearing Tabitha’s casual mention of the price of the mana potion I drank sends me into a coughing fit. "That's the cheapest?" I ask once I catch my breath. "What about the others?”
“Well, the healing potion was 370,” Tabitha throws out another astronomical number.
“For the pair?” I exclaim.
"No, that was for the one," she drops another bomb.
“Do I even want to know about the antitoxin?” I nervously ask.
"Those were the most expensive," Tabitha confirmed what I was already thinking. "But they were worth every copper,” she stresses.
“I guess," I reluctantly agree. "We were lucky it worked against the snake's poison in the first place."
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Tabitha informs me. “The potions we took were designed to combat 99.99% of poisons and toxins.”
“And how does that work?” From what I knew in my past life, most poisons, venoms, and toxins required specific antidotes to combat them. Magic probably plays a significant factor in this world, but a cure-all like the one she was describing should still be impossible.
“Easy, because the potions we took didn't cure us," Tabitha drops another bombshell I wasn't expecting.
“What!?” I exclaim.
"Calm down; we're not in any danger. Well, we are, but not because of the poison in our systems,” Tabitha replies in a calming voice. “The potion that stopped the effects of the snake’s toxin is called a poison resistance potion. Instead of neutralizing or expelling the poison from our bodies, it only isolates and contains it and lets our bodies fight it naturally."
“And that’s better?” I ask skeptically.
“It is,” Tabitha answers firmly. “Thanks to the type of potion we took, our Poison Resistance skills will level as our bodies slowly fight off the toxin. Your skill will probably level more than mine, but considering how strong the poison was, I’m hoping for at least two levels, maybe more if I'm lucky.”
“Wait a minute,” I interject. “So, you’re telling me I could’ve gotten the Poison Resistance skill just by drinking one of these potions? If so, why did you make me drink toad eggs this entire time?" I growl.
Again, Tabitha laughed at my frustration, but thankfully she didn't cough this time, which was a good sign. "You're right; you could’ve. Though if that was the case, we would’ve only had one vial when we really needed it. Also, aren’t you curious how much the potion was?”
I could practically picture Tabitha’s grin based on her tone of voice, but damn it, she knew how to tease me with information. "I'm guessing more than the healing potion. 500 gold coins?” I speculate.
"Close, 610. Each," Tabitha stresses the last word, and I make a hissing sound from rapidly sucking in air.
Holly crap, they were a lot of money! Wait a minute; I start doing the math in my head. We each drank a poison resistance potion, Tabitha drank one of the healing ones, and I drank one of the mana potions; overall, the four potions were worth 1,750 gold coins!
"I take it by your silence; you've finally realized what it took to save us," Tabitha remarks in a subdued voice.
“We drank a fortune,” I don’t need to be able to see my reflection to know I’ve gone pale.
“And it was worth it. We’re both alive,” Tabitha pauses. “For now.”
"If they were that expensive, does that mean your potions were tier 5?" I purposely ignored that last part of what Tabitha said, as I refused to think negatively after making it this far.
“I wish,” Tabitha huffs. “No, all the potions I had were only tier 4. High-quality, mind you, but only tier 4."
“That’s it? But they were so strong; and expensive?” I’m shocked to hear such potions were only tier 4 and not 5.
“Nope, just tier 4,” Tabitha again assures me. “I don’t think you understand the gulf between tier 4 and 5. Like blacksmiths, tailors, or any other crafting profession, few apothecaries can make anything considered tier 5. So tier 4 is the best most people can get their hands on, and people above level 120 strictly monopolize gear higher than that. It's the same reason my gear couldn't hold up against the snake."
“I thought the snake was just that strong," I mumble in a quiet voice, but I might as well have been shouting in the silent ruins.
“That too,” Tabitha growls in what sounds like frustration. “I didn’t think we’d encounter a lesser dragon out here, especially not one strong enough to create its own mana zone. So if we went to combat it, we'd need to-," Tabitha's voice suddenly cuts off.
“What’s a mana zone?” I ask curiously, but Tabitha doesn’t answer me. “Tabitha, is everything ok?” I ask again.
“Tell me, Aaliyah; you're watching our surroundings with Sense Mana like you always do, yes?” Tabitha ignores my question for her own, immediately putting me on guard.
“Always,” I answer. Even now, I have a clear picture of the rooms surrounding us.
“And you don’t sense anything?” Tabitha asks, sounding worried now.
“I don’t. Do you?" I push Sense Mana to its limits without entering a meditative state, trying to find whatever was worrying Tabitha.
“My danger sense skills started going off," Tabitha's anxious voice echoes throughout the quiet room.
“I don’t see anything!" I shout, panicking about the invisible enemy not even Sese Mana could spot. “I don’t have any mana to summon a light.”
“I can’t do much, but I can do that,” Tabitha proclaims in the dark.
“Tikth idwessgh fral nhtig!”
Tabitha casts a spell I'm unfamiliar with, but seeing how a ball of light quickly condenses a few feet above her, I'm assuming it's Scholl's version of my light spell.
Once again, the room we’re in is illuminated with light, and no sooner than it is, do they start emerging from the walls.