Hermera
The 7th of Mounichion
The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals
Consciousness returned to Arche in waves of pain. He was on his back, clothes sopping wet, and his head throbbed like it had been split open and sewn back together with barbed wire. Water forced itself up and out of his throat as he turned onto his side, coughing and sputtering through full body spasms. When the last of it left his system, he rolled back over and stared at the ceiling, vision still swimming.
A flashing symbol near his vitals that told him he’d received Mana Burnout, a harsh debuff that drastically reduced his Health, Stamina, and Mana regeneration.
Health: 611 / 750
81%
Stamina: 580 / 580
100%
Mana: 360 / 360
100%
Exhaustion — Tier 2
Mana Burnout: 56:01
The exhaustion debuff was nothing new. It had shown up a week and a half prior, the day after they left Myriatos, and worsened as the trip went on. Considering the quality of his sleep, the only surprise was that it hadn’t gotten worse than tier two. The Mana Burnout was the more annoying of the conditions.
The risks of long-term health issues were not inconsequential, considering how often he seemed to lose consciousness. The more immediate health concern was how often he experienced Mana Burnout, but it wasn’t like he intentionally forced his Mana to zero. The amount of Mana Divine Body ate through was staggering, and the lack of information he had about the skill meant it was difficult to gauge its usage. Typically, he had to operate off instinct whenever he used it, combined with checking his vitals, which was a distraction in a fight. Still, it was the only method he had to keep things balanced. Otherwise, events like this would happen, where the skill that saved him could end up killing him.
With the way his head was aching, he wished it had killed him. However, as recent circumstances had proven to him, it might very well have killed him and still made his head hurt.
Arche rubbed his eyes and tried to get his vision to focus. A steady orange light shone from near his feet and there was a strange taste in his mouth. Brackish water and vomit were strong, but there was something else on his lips. Something reminiscent of strawberries and mint. He must have hit his head amid the commotion, or had a stroke, because there was nothing of either anywhere near them.
“Ugh,” he moaned. “I hate swimming.”
“You’re not supposed to go swimming in thirty kilos of clothing, you stupid malaka.”
He eased himself into a sitting position.
“Good to see you, too, Tess. Was anyone else hurt?”
“No,” Cora replied. “There were some vines that attacked us on the surface but, other than you and Basil, no injuries.”
Basil’s hard landing suddenly made more sense. There must have been vines reaching up the walls that he hadn’t noticed as he’d gone down to fight the Gourdian Knot at its source.
“If Basil hadn’t gone in after you, things would have ended very differently,” Tess chided.
Arche looked over at the Rogue. She was angry, even with a head injury he could tell that much, but there was something else beneath the anger. Her cheeks looked flushed, but it was difficult to tell in the light from Helwan’s Everlit Lantern. Probably just a trick of the colors. He twisted to lean up against a wall.
“Thanks for the save.” He nodded toward Basil, who sat against the opposite wall, soaking wet. “Thought I was a goner, there.”
The young man shook his head.
“I didn’t really do anything. By the time I got there, you had already slain the creature. Torn it nearly in half. Never seen anything like it. You didn’t even have your weapons.”
“I have a gift for breaking things.” Arche let out a chuckle that quickly devolved into a wet cough.
“I saw what was left of your sword. Maybe this will last a bit longer.”
Basil slid something over to him. The Tridory, slick with water and mud. Arche smiled.
“Thanks. I was not looking forward to hunting for it if it was still wrapped up in the vines.”
“This location isn’t secure,” Cora said, eyeing the dark tunnel. “We shouldn’t linger. We’re still near the mouth of the dungeon and we don’t know what lies ahead. Are you well enough to travel?”
“To travel? Yeah, but I’m gonna be pretty miserable for a while. Mana Burnout’s got”—he checked his vitals and groaned—“an hour left. Killing that thing gave me a level, so I’m not hurt bad from almost drowning, but I’m still not going to be worth much for a while.”
“How often have you experienced Mana Burnout?” Helwan asked, brow furrowed in concern.
“I don’t know, half a dozen times in the last month, maybe?”
“That’s…not good.”
“Yeah, I’m aware. Can’t do much about it right now.”
The satyr scratched the tuft of hair on his chin a few times, clearly considering something.
“Very well. Lyssa asked me to start a school and I will. You will be my first student. I will share with you some of the techniques of Mana Manipulation. I will do my best to help you learn to shape it through the natural pathways you have. I can’t promise it will be quick or even that it will eliminate the chances of Mana Burnout, but if you keep pushing yourself to that limit, you might scar the passages.”
Arche stared at the satyr. The last time he’d asked for help involving magic, the satyr had been hesitant to share anything. Granted, a lot had happened since those days in Dawnwood.
“You’d do that? Thank you. What happens if the passages are scarred?”
“Oh, many bad things, let me assure you.” Helwan chuckled. “Probably the best outcome you could hope for would be that your Mana is difficult to access and comes out in a trickle, requiring you to spend an absolutely ludicrous amount of attribute points on Willpower in order to get any strength out of your spells.”
“What’s the worst outcome?”
“Well, depending on your perspective, your Mana could completely dry up. Or you might explode. Or any of dozens of bad effects could occur between the two.”
Arche groaned.
“That’s just my luck. All right. For the short-term, don’t suppose you have any sort of healing magic?”
“I don’t have biomancy, I’m afraid. Gaiamancy and phosphomancy are my talents.”
“Got it. I won’t be much help in a fight, but I’ll do what I can. You prepared to take point, Basil?”
Basil looked up in surprise, then nodded.
“I won’t let you down.”
“Won’t let me drown, more like.” Arche gave the guard a tired smile, doing his best to ignore the ache in his head.
Tess sighed, threw one of his arms over her shoulders, and hauled him to his feet.
“You should be more careful,” she hissed. “There’s no reason to tempt fate.”
“I didn’t have a lot of choices at the time,” Arche replied, matching her low volume. “But you’re right. That was too close for comfort. I’ve had enough of water for a while.”
Tess tsked, but seemed mollified. Together, the five of them made their way down the passage. It angled down, taking them deeper underground. Basil led the way, Cora and Helwan close behind, and Arche and Tess brought up the rear. Arche remembered the last time he’d walked these tunnels with Lyssa by his side. There had been undead, but the Gourdian Knot hadn’t been an issue. They hadn’t even known it was there. If they were lucky, nothing would have replaced the arachtaurs, so the only threats would be the revenant and traps.
“Wait!”
Basil stopped, arms spread to the side, one foot in the air, teetering unsteadily. The rest turned to face Arche, who gestured toward a patch of unassuming stone ahead of them.
“Flame trap.”
“You saw that from all the way back there?” Basil looked incredulous.
“No. Found it last time, forgot about it until just now. Be careful, I don’t remember where all the traps are.”
Everyone moved slower after that. A few minutes later, the tunnel emerged into a large room. Helwan shuddered at the half-burnt webs covering the ground. Arche wrinkled his nose at the smell of three rotting arachtaurs. He remembered fighting against the creatures with Lyssa. It had been a pitched battle that ended with him badly injured, saved only by the regenerative properties of a level up. His eyes were drawn to a gouge in the stone wall and a dark stain below it, black in the light of Helwan’s lantern. He’d almost died there. Almost died everywhere, it seemed.
A hand slid into his own and Arche realized his was shaking. He looked down at it, partly in confusion, partly in betrayal. When he looked up, he met Tess’s eyes, full of compassion and pity. There was something akin to understanding there, but the threat of vulnerability was too much. Arche took a step away and cleared his throat, pulling his hand free from hers. He had no words to explain it but he couldn’t bear to see her look at him like that. His grip tightened around the Tridory and he strode into the room with sure steps. He was alive, so what if his hands shook?
The spider women laid where he left them. Their decapitated heads stared back with eyes like sludge. Their humanoid top halves had withered into husks and their spider legs curled in over their abdomens. The smell was atrocious. Sour with an acidic note that burned the hairs in Arche’s nose and nearly broke the stoic mask he’d donned.
Unanimously, and without speaking, they all continued onward, away from the room and deeper into the dungeon. Once the smell faded, Arche let out the breath he’d held and checked the timer on his Mana Burnout.
“I don’t think we should go much farther right now.”
Everyone turned to look at him.
“My timer’s almost expired, which means I’ll be able to heal myself soon. If we encounter the revenant before we’re ready, it’ll be a bad time for everyone involved. I vote we sit, take ten minutes or so, get ready, then continue on to the treasure room. Helwan, you were here with me last, how far out do you reckon we are?”
The satyr cocked a head to one side, thinking.
“I’d say another half-hour’s walk.”
“Excellent. It’s probably about late-morning now. We should be able to take an hour, defeat the revenant, grab as much treasure as we can possibly get our hands on, then hightail it out of here before dark. Any objections?”
“What if the revenant finds us while we’re sitting around?” Cora asked.
“Then we’ll have to fight it, but if we keep heading toward it, we’ll have to fight it before we’re ready.”
“Very well. I’ll watch the passage leading forward. Someone should watch the passage we came from; I spotted some side corridors that I doubt have been explored in some time.”
“I’ll watch it.” Basil volunteered.
“Great,” Arche said. “I’m going to sit down. ‘Reduction to vitals regeneration’ has been kicking my ass.”
Arche leaned against a wall and eased himself into a sitting position. He closed his eyes and opened the notifications that had accumulated after his fight.
You have slain a Level 34 Gourdian Knot.
You gain 1,190 experience.
Slayer of the Mighty activated!
You gain 1,400 bonus experience.
You have reached Level 21.
As a Human, you receive 5 attribute points to distribute per level.
As a Demigod, you receive +1 to each attribute per level.
Medium Armor has increased to Level 4.
+2% Defense with Medium Armor (+8%)
+0.5% Mobility in Medium Armor (+2%)
Spearmanship has increased to Level 18.
+2% Damage with Spears (+36%)
You have learned a Skill.
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Shields — Level 2
You’ve learned that shields can be used for offense as well as defense. To attack as well as protect. It certainly took you long enough to start using one.
Each level in this skill improves your capability with shields.
+2% Defense with Shields (+4%)
+1% Damage with Shields (+2%)
Swordsmanship has increased to Level 16.
+2% Damage with Swords (+32%)
You have learned a Skill.
Axemanship — Level 1
Even a farming tool can turn into a deadly weapon in the right hands.
Each level in this skill improves your capability with axes.
+2% Damage with Axes (+2%)
You have learned a Skill.
Axe Throwing — Level 1
Performance or combat, throwing an axe is a great way to send a message.
Each level in this skill improves your accuracy when throwing axes.
Every 5 levels in this skill increases your Strength and Dexterity by 1.
This is a subskill of Axemanship.
+3% Accuracy of Thrown Axes (+3%)
+2% Range of Thrown Axes (+2%)
Swimming has increased to Level 4.
+2% Swimming Speed (+8%)
-0.5% Stamina Drain from Swimming (-2%)
Divine Body has increased to Level 13.
Profession Paths are available.
Explore Profession Paths?
Yes
No
Arche dismissed the last notification and shut his eyes. A lot of his skills had improved, especially from such a short fight, and another level was certainly something he would never turn down, but the ambiguous nature of Divine Body still bothered him. He’d learned a few things about what it did from trial and error. It regenerated his Health and Stamina at approximately the same prodigious rate at which it devoured his Mana, it involved channeling Mana through his body to greatly increase his physical attributes, and activating it made his skin glow.
When he’d first used the skill, the light had been bright red, but ever since he’d retreated into his mindscape and blundered his way through containing the rage-energy crystal connected to his Mana pool, the light had been a bloody orange. The crystal was almost definitely the reason he had access to Divine Body in the first place, which meant it was probably there because of Ares. That he had changed the light from red to orange meant that he had somehow corrupted its intended purpose. There was no telling what that meant or if it was bad.
Knowing his luck, it was probably bad.
You have entered The Necropolis of Pygmaia.
This is a Student Dungeon.
Recommended Level: 20
The last time he and Lyssa had emerged from the dwarven ruins, they had received Dungeoneering experience, enough to catapult Arche up to Level Seven. Now that he had reached the Novice rank, he was able to see the basic information for the next rank up. He and Tess were above the level threshold, but Helwan, Basil, and Cora were still under-leveled, averaging out in the high teens.
It would have been easy to dismiss that warning, as he and Lyssa had made it pretty far without too many issues while he was still low leveled, but she had been much higher than Level Twenty and had done most of the heavy lifting, and they had still nearly died to the revenant and the arachtaurs. The dungeon had also killed about a dozen adventurers who had initially traveled with Helwan, some of whom Arche suspected he had killed for a third time in the fight with the Gourdian Knot. There could be no forgetting that any time soon.
Arche put those thoughts out of his mind and pulled up his profile.
Arche
Level: 21
Experience to Next Level: 6,121 (23%)
Race: Human
Age: 27
Height: 189 centimeters
Weight: 89.5 kilograms
Profession: Demigod
Trade: N/A
Traits: Slayer of the Mighty, Psychic
Companions: Lyssanderyli
Adventuring Party: Helwan Panysk, Theresa Eliades, Basil Meneres, Coralyndessyn
Health: 614 / 750
82%
Stamina: 320 / 580
55%
Mana: 360 / 360
100%
Exhaustion — Tier 2
Mana Burnout: 3:44
You have 5 undistributed attribute points.
Strength: 41
Dexterity: 37
Agility: 24 (33)
Fortitude: 34 (29)
Endurance: 41 (36)
Intelligence: 36
Wisdom: 36
Willpower: 36
Perception: 29
Charisma: 45 (39)
Comeliness: 16 (12)
Luck: 23
Between Exhaustion and Mana Burnout, his Stamina took a dive during the walk. The red number of his Agility stuck out like a sore thumb, marking the twenty-five percent penalty the second tier of Exhaustion gave him. Arche closed his menus and found that Helwan had sat down across from him, fiddling with his pan pipes. Tess stood with folded arms off to the side, frowning like she always did when she considered something. Basil and Cora were, apparently, completely content with watching their respective corridors, so Arche turned his focus back to Helwan.
“That thing you said earlier, about Mana manipulation, how does someone go about doing that?”
Helwan put away his pipes and scratched his nose.
“The theory behind it is all quite complicated, you see, but the practice itself is fairly simple. It’s considered to be one of the foundational pieces to spellwork. Normally, people find it very difficult to interact with their Mana at all if they haven’t learned at least one technique of manipulation .”
“So there are different techniques to moving Mana?”
“Oh, yes. Some have spent their entire academic careers studying Mana. It exists inside of us, certainly, but also innately in the world around us. Sometimes our external environments can have effects on the internal Mana that resides within us.”
Arche raised his eyebrows, chewing on that thought.
“Where does Mana reside when it’s inside us?”
Helwan gave him a smile.
“Why, in our heads, of course. Mana is intrinsically linked to the mind. It’s a sort of alternative energy source. Whereas our bodies are nourished by food and exercise, our mind subsists off of food and Mana. Nutrients, sugars, vitamins, these all provide the brain with nourishment, but Mana helps facilitate connections. Without Mana, our minds become slow and sluggish. You may have felt some of those effects as your Mana is spent.”
Arche nodded.
“Hold on a second. Do we create Mana or collect it?”
“An excellent question. The answer is that we’re not terribly sure. We know ambient Mana has an effect, but the proportions aren’t well-known. Most of Tartarus is what we would call a Mana neutral environment. That means that people accumulate Mana at a rate comparable to their Wisdom score per minute. There are a select few locations, however, where there is even more Mana, allowing people to recover Mana faster. The Lyceum Apokryfos has a chamber that acts as such, and the highest regeneration rate I’ve seen was an additional fifty percent, increasing the subject’s effective Wisdom score by half.”
Arche let out a whistle, but Helwan hadn’t finished.
“I do know that some tests are being done to see whether the Mana environment is changing, whether the ambient Mana released in spells is causing the Mana in Tartarus to become thicker or not. But those experiments are too recent to have published results yet, and they have other complications. Personally, I find those to be the most promising on whether or not we accumulate Mana or create it. If we create it, then we should expect the environment to become more and more saturated over time.”
“As opposed to if we accumulated it from outside sources, which would cause the environment to stay the same, or maybe even decrease.”
“Precisely! As I said, there are other complicating factors, but that’s more or less it. You catch on quickly.”
“It…” Arche trailed off, shaking his head. “I don’t know. It made sense. Maybe you’re just a good teacher.”
Helwan blushed and became very interested in his hands. Arche snorted at his friend’s embarrassment.
“Come on, Teach. What’s a Mana manipulation technique I can learn?”
The satyr blew out his cheeks and stroked his goatee.
“Let’s see, the beginner techniques. I haven’t practiced those in years. Ah, here’s one. Attempt to visualize your Mana. You know that it resides in your mind, so try to see it with your ‘mind’s eye’ and picture it flowing throughout you. Your body has natural passageways for Mana which it will gravitate toward.”
Arche closed his eyes and tried to do as he was told. It wasn’t dissimilar from opening himself to psychic connections, so visualizing his mind space wasn’t difficult. The walls of his mind were still made of a mud-and-stick substance, but sections were in the process of being upgraded to stone. Improving his mental defenses required time, Mana, and conscious effort, but once a change was made, it was permanent. Upgrading those defenses was vital in case he ran into other psychics, but it was hard to prioritize it over everything else going on in his life.
Arche let out a steady breath, letting his thoughts settle without forcibly reining them in. Once he’d refocused, he searched for Mana. It didn’t take long to find. The ground of his mindscape pulsed with an orange light, flowing across the entire surface of his mind. He followed the origins of the pulse to find the pool of his Mana. Deep below the surface sat a red-orange crystal beating with light and power. All of the Mana in the pool siphoned itself through the crystal, making it a nexus for access. Just looking at it conjured images of Ares, a bloody statue of power and malevolence, of conflict. If he was to be believed, Ares was the source of Arche’s spark of Divinity, the reason Arche had learned the Divine Body skill and claimed the profession of Demigod. Now, staring into the Mana pool, he wondered if he was looking at that spark. The last time he had seen it, the crystal had been fully red and he had turned it orange by breaking its connections. It seemed to be in the process of recovering, but he hadn’t yet felt its malign influence driving him to slaughter.
Arche stepped out with his mental avatar and sank into the pool, immersing himself in Mana. When he grew level with the crystal, he laid his hand on the pulsing surface, trying to connect himself to it. The hairs on his arms and neck stood and the sensation nearly broke his concentration. The Mana was electrifying, similar to Divine Body. It flowed through the channels but it was dull and sluggish. Arche could feel the passages it longed to pass through, metaphysical routes through the rest of his being, but they were stiff and resistant. Yet another effect from Mana Burnout, no doubt.
Arche pushed his consciousness into the crystal, trying to connect to it. It was difficult to feel, like a limb that had fallen asleep. A part of him, but numb. Arche pictured a siphon connecting the crystal to the rest of his body, letting it flow in the same way that blood oozed from a wound. At first, the Mana resisted his command, but Arche increased the pressure, exerting his Willpower over it until it finally released. It flowed slowly, like honey dripping over the sides of a spoon, but it was moving. It poured down his throat and collected in his chest. As it pooled, he felt, rather than heard, a pop from the crystal and Mana flowed much more easily. Mana Burnout had finally elapsed.
His chest filled with Mana as it flowed outward, down his arms. It was warm, not quite burning but definitely enough to smother any chill in the air. As it collected in his hands, the Mana still in his chest moved down his body toward his hips.
“Don’t be disappointed if you can’t move it the first time you try or if you can only interact with it a little bit. Most people have to coax their Mana for weeks before they can actively manipulate it.”
Deep in his mindscape as he was, Arche felt the smile creep across his real face.
“I can feel it, Helwan. It’s coursing through me. It’s like napalm.”
“You…you…well, yes, of course you’d have an easier time with it. You’ve been using your Mana actively for weeks. Right. How far throughout your body have you channeled it?”
“It’s starting to run down my legs.”
“What, already? I mean, erm, yes, that’s very good. Let it collect into your feet, then focus on drawing it back up into your hands.”
The Mana dripped down Arche’s legs, collecting in his heels and in the balls of his feet. He let it sit there for a moment, reveling in its warmth, then focused on pulling it back up. That process was more difficult as the Mana wanted to stay in his extremities, but Arche would not be denied. He leveraged his Willpower and the Mana obeyed. When most of his Mana had coalesced into his arms, he nodded.
“Excellent. Now, I want you to focus on propelling your Mana outside your body. I want you to try and push the Mana out of your hands. Hold it, control it, contain it. Don’t let the Mana escape. It is outside of you, but part of you.”
Arche hardened his mind and tried to push the hot Mana through his hands. Sweat beaded on his fingers as the Mana grew blistering, well past the point of comfort. It was damned difficult to focus on the flow while simultaneously envisioning it outside of himself. Sweat dripped from his brow and hands, and his shirt grew distractingly damp. An insect buzzed next to his ear and his concentration snapped. The Mana slipped through his grasp and receded inside of him, collecting back into his mind.
Arche opened his eyes, panting, to see Helwan smiling at him.
“Not to worry. You went remarkably far for a first attempt. Most can’t even feel their Mana the first time they try. I suppose your unique skill gives you a more intuitive connection with your Mana, allowing you to skip ahead in the process, but it’s good to know that even you have your limits. If you keep practicing, I’m sure you’ll make it in no time. If you check your notifications, I’m sure you’ll notice you have some waiting for you.”
Arche nodded.
You have learned a Skill.
Mana Manipulation — Level 13
You’re finally learning that Mana is capable of so much more than being used for a few parlor tricks. Keep it up and perhaps you won’t make such a fool of yourself.
Every level in this skill improves your ability to channel and manipulate your Mana.
Every 5 levels in this skill increases your Willpower by 1.
+2% Control of Mana Flow (+26%)
+2% Speed of Mana Flow (+26%)
+2 Willpower
Instruction by an Adept Mana Manipulator has improved your starting level.
You have reached the Novice rank in Mana Manipulation.
You gain 100 experience.
“Wow.”
“Like what you see?”
“Yeah. Definitely going to have to keep practicing with that.”
Arche checked his Mana total, finding he had completely regenerated his lost Mana.
“Alright, shield your eyes everyone.”
Divine Body lit the passage in bloody orange light, easily eclipsing Helwan’s Everlit Lantern. For the first time, the Mana flowing through him felt manageable. It was his Mana, channeled through the Divine Spark that Ares had bestowed on him. Arche felt its warmth as it settled into his wounds and tired muscles, soothing them back to health.
His breath was steady and even, feeling the Mana cut through his body. The paths were similar to the ones he had pushed Mana through a few moments earlier, but there were more of them. Instead of flowing through his arms in a single place, like a major vein or artery, it flowed down a multitude of channels he hadn’t even known existed. He could feel them, now, and was left to wonder how he’d ever missed them in the first place.
Arche stood, holding onto the feeling even as his Mana stores dipped below half. He could have greater control over his Divine Body skill now, he knew it. Mana Manipulation was the key. As he let the skill fade, his Health had completely regenerated and his Stamina was back at ninety percent.
He pulled the shield from his inventory and fit it over his left arm, then hooked his boot beneath the Tridory and kicked it up into his hand.
“All right. Let’s go hunting.”