There are places that, spontaneously appearing within, would rank low on the list of places I want to be teleported. An active volcano, for example. It was a little-known fact, but I had a rather severe allergy to magma, flaring up with symptoms like spontaneous combustion.

Other places I didn’t want to end up in included the middle of a tsunami and acid swamps.

Not included on the list, but an honorable mention was the middle of a damn glacier.

Which, after the light of the transporting dungeon ray faded, is precisely where I found myself.

“Of course,” I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself. “Cold, cold, and colder.”

“Wonderful, isn’t it?” A voice suddenly spoke up, resonating from the ice surrounding me.

“Hello?” I looked for the source, but no one was inside the middle of the glacier with me besides my soggy-looking cat.

“So you’re the sage. Nice to finally meet you.”

“Nice to uhh, hear you?” I responded.

“Apologies, where are my manners?” Appearing before me, a man wearing a lab coat, of all things, stood leaning against a pillar of ice. “I’m the lead researcher of this facility, Don.”

“Don?” I suppressed a chuckle; such a mundane name coming from the man. “I take it you’re also the Dungeon Will?”

“Yes, that would also be included in my job title.” The man frowned. “Though I’ve always been a researcher first and foremost.”

“Well, Don, you think you could do me a favor, answer some questions, and then I can be out of your hair?”

I winced when I said it, the researcher’s shining bald head a glaring error in my phrasing.

“Hmm… Yes, that does sound agreeable.” The Dungeon Will nodded after a moment as I breathed a sigh of relief.

Well, that was easier than expected.

“Except-”

Spoke too soon.

“Unfortunately, I can’t just-” The man waved his hand about. “This is a dungeon, and as such, there are rules that must be followed.”

“You can’t just.. fudge them?”

“Unfortunately not. I don’t make the rules, just as I don’t make the rules of nature. They simply are.”

“Right. So, should I-”

In response, a titanic spear of ice erupted from beneath my feet, nearly spearing me through the gut as I threw myself out of my way, my cat yowling as she likewise dodged aside.

Right. Of course.

Tapping into the mana stored within my Sage rings, I activated flow, my speed and power multiplying as I charged the Dungeon Will. Before I could near the man, whoever, he vanished, or instead he seemed to disappear, reappearing next to me and throwing a viciously strong uppercut into my ribs as I was tossed from my feet, crashing on the ground with a pained groan.

“A little overly linear of an attack pattern, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled as I pulled myself to my feet, Rainsplitter appearing in its partially manifested form within my hand. “Let’s get on with it.”

Once more, I charged the man, swinging my sword with vicious intent, only to redirect my slash into a stab, a testing feint that bit through the crisp air, the researcher vanishing instantly before throwing another punch at me.

Accelerating even faster, I swept my sword through the air in a defensive strike, expecting his punch before he’d ever thrown it.

Yet, even expecting it, I somehow missed, my sword passing through nothing as the man vanished, reappearing to my right as his punch, aimed initially at my left side ribs, landed true against my right, knocking me flat on my ass.

“You have speed, I won’t deny that, and the attempt at deceit was there, but again, I would expect more from a Sage.”

I was growing frustrated, nearly growling as I stood once more and faced the man with my sword raised.

“An impressive blade.” Don’s eyes glowed a light turquoise momentarily before the light faded, his eyes returning to their standard brown. “A conceptual blade. Intriguing. I had imagined it was perhaps a blade stored within a meta-space that you bound to one of your Sage rings, but that is, in fact, even more intriguing.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that or where he’d even come to believe such, but I suspected that glowing eyes were probably the cause.

Not that it matters.

I continued to pursue the Dungeon Will with dogged determination. Still, no matter how complicated the attack pattern was, the Dungeon Will disappeared and reappeared like the constraints of physical space were no more than a suggestion to him.

Damnit, hold still!

After another failed attempt at striking down the Dungeon Will, the man sighed, stepping away from me as he pointed at my cat.

“Why haven’t you utilized your familiar yet?”

“My.. my what?”

“Your familiar,” Don repeated.

“No.” I laughed. “You’re mistaken. She’s not a familiar. She’s just a pet.”

“She is a docile monster, is she not?” Don said with exasperation, the same tone I took with my students when they didn’t seem to understand something obvious.

“I’m not sure I would call her docile,” I muttered. “But I guess.

“Then she meets the qualifications; the shadow blossom is your familiar.” The Dungeon Will answered. “As a sage, all you need to do is establish a soul conduit.”

“I... I can do that?” I asked plainly, not bothering to hide the surprise on my face.

“Goodness, the education really has gotten worse. I expected it from the others who’ve made it this far in the dungeon. They weren’t Sages, little better than thugs paid to shake down our dungeon. You, on the other hand, I’d expect more out of. Wisdom should have taught you better.”

“How did you know about that?” I asked, suspicious of how a Dungeon Will bound to their dungeon could know I’d been mentored under the former Great Sage’s vestige.

“You have his mark, his mana signature.” The Dungeon Will answered as if it were obvious. “We can discuss those matters further after you’ve bested me. Well, that is assuming you can. Otherwise, we will spend quite a bit of quality time together.”

What is this, some sort of attempt at training me?

I didn’t need mentoring, not from a lab jockey who’d been dead, un-alive, or whatever his status was, for thousands of years already.

Come on, Rook, you’re just saying that because you’re annoyed.

I disregarded my more sensible thoughts, instead turning to look at my cat.

“So, wanna help me out or something?” I asked my cat, feeling only a tiny bit self-conscious. I’d only met three or four adventurers with familiars, usually, low-grade monsters they’d raised up from eggs or a young age and, as a result, had imprinted upon them. Panthera was definitely not a low-grade monster, not when compared to the likes of what those adventurers had with them. As far as I knew, they hadn’t formed any soul conduit with their familiars, so I assumed that asking should be enough, at least for now.

My Shadow Blossom stared at me, her eyes shining with far more intelligence than an ordinary monster should have. The expression within those very same eyes made me think she was pitying me.

I wonder if it’s because she was raised around a human?

At last, my demon-cat turned her attention toward the Dungeon Will, her hackles rising on command.

Guess that’s a yes.

The Dungeon Will nodded approvingly as the battle resumed, this time joined by the young shadow blossom. While the monster wasn’t nearly as fast as I, she was agile in a way only a monster cat could be, her body behaving more like a liquid than a solid mass with how she seemed capable of twisting and maneuvering about. She followed behind me like a striking shadow. Wherever my sword passed, she was quick to follow.

And yet, even with the added aid of my ‘familiar,’ a term that would take some getting used to when used about my cat, we could still not land a hit upon the researcher.

How?

I’d fought countless monsters and enemies, and yet none had been able to move so swiftly.

No, it’s not his speed.

The man himself wasn’t all that fast. Compared to the average human, he may have been, but I’d fought against foes with terrifying speed, such as Harris Flash Step. Yet at every moment of the fight, he was always the one leading, forcing me to respond and chase him like he were nothing more than an afterimage, a flickering light that-

Wait… No? That can’t be. Unless?

With an idea in mind, I swung with all my speed at the man before shouting, activating a spell I’d thought useless.

“Crawl!”

Instantly the world slowed to a crawl, my thoughts moving just as slowly. My arm, mid-swing, continued to swing on its own as my eyes bore a hole into the man’s skull, watching. My thoughts moved at a slug’s pace, too slow to form any coherent plan with my elongated sense of time, but I wasn’t looking for extra time to scheme.

I just needed to watch.

In what felt like the passage of several minutes, but in reality, was no more than fractions of a second, my sword crawled toward the neck of the researcher, who remained unmoving. I watched with continued intensity, brain activity slowed too much to do anything more than watch, waiting to see just how the man continued to evade my blade, dodging with such swiftness when the rest of his movements seemed downright sluggish in comparison.

My answer came when rather than move, the man simply vanished. With my perception of time slowed, it should have been impossible for anything to move so quickly that my trained eyes would have failed to see even a sign of movement to avoid my strikes.

Ending my spell, the passage of time resumed as I considered what I’d seen.

That wasn’t simple evasion.

That much was evident now.

Meaning?

Lost in my thoughts, I could not avoid another punch thrown into my gut, tossing me backward as my cat bounded in front of me, hissing at the man.

“It’s okay.” I attempted to soothe my familiar as I rose on unsteady legs, the most recent punch knocking the wind out of me. “Besides, it was a small price to pay. I think I got ‘im figured out.”

“You do know?” The researcher cocked an eyebrow at me, the threat of a smile playing on his lips.

“Yeah. It’s not physical movement. You’re quite literally performing instant transportation through space.”

“Close, by all practicality, you’re correct, but in purely technical terms, I am still moving through space normally.”

I pointed around at the ice surrounding us. “Light. You can utilize light to adjust your positioning. As fast as light is, it may as well be instant teleportation. That’s why your little arena is in the middle of a glacier. A bunch of reflective ice makes the perfect location while avoiding any suspicions that a bunch of mirrors would likely elicit.”

“A perfect ten out of ten.” The Dungeon Will applauded. “Now, how will you use that information to your benefit?”

The man vanished in the blink of an eye, disappearing as he was ferried through space upon the reflected light throughout the glacial cave. In response, I flicked my fingers upward as I drained what remained of my mana reserves.

Bend.

Without mana to fuel any spells or augment my physical capabilities, I was left with nothing more than throwing an ordinary punch.

It was all I needed.

Appearing in front of my fist with a surprised expression, the Dungeon Will took the full force of my punch as it cracked his nose with a solid thump, sending the researcher staggering a step back, cradling his nose.

“Good enough for you?” I smiled wearily, balling my fists up in a basic fighting stance.

“Yes, so you can put those down.” The Dungeon Will grunted before jerking his hand nose back in place.

Exhausted of mana, I was happy to do as he said. After spending so long traversing the dungeon, particularly the subterranean sea of the last layer, I’d exhausted much of my mana without adequate time to replenish it.

“How exactly did you do that at the end? I know I meant to appear to your left.”

“Figured as much,” I responded. “I bent space so you’d appear directly before me rather than to my side.”

“Spatial bending? With your level of mana, that should be impossible.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Don’t have to be rude about it,” I muttered.

“Apologies.” Now that I’d passed his test, the Dungeon Will seemed more than content to exchange idle chatter. “I simply meant that as a fact. It’s part of why I put you through this trial in the first place. Aside from wide-eyed apprentices, I’ve never met a Sage with such diminutive mana reserves.”

“Disability of sorts. I could never form a mana core, so I instead rely on my sage rings to store and utilize mana.”

“That is a clever idea. Sage Rings were only meant to perform the function of mana transformation; Sage mana would then be deposited in the core instead of pure mana that ordinary mages utilize. Adapting the design of a Sage Ring to incorporate mana storage isn’t a far reach of their original intent. However, most Sages would have scoffed at the thought for the simple nature of potentially crippling your ability to develop as a Sage by following a derivative of the traditional means.”

“You sure know a lot about that stuff.” I pointed out.

“Of course. As I said earlier, I was the lead researcher of this facility. The Sage Who Sits was always curious as to the nature of mana. Even though they were no more than a seventh ring Sage, even the Sage of Wisdom would occasionally come to them with questions regarding their research.”

For a moment, I recalled sifting through the decrepit laboratory of the Sage of Wisdom, stumbling upon his notes about how he’d needed to shift the paradigm of his understanding of what mana really was. Taking what the Dungeon Will had just told me, it wasn’t hard to guess.

“Well, if you really want to know, I spent months developing the perfect sequence of interwoven mana dynamics necessary to bend space without requiring inordinate amounts of mana that I lack.”

“You have my admiration then, young Sage. Spatial manipulation isn’t typically a topic an apprentice-level sage such as yourself typically undertakes.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve had lots of time to consider how to shore up my shortcomings. But that’s not the point of why I’m here.”

“What, you didn’t come here to seek the approval of an ancient scientist?” Don asked, his eyes twinkling with good-natured humor.

“Not quite.” I shook my head. “I need to know what’s been going on with this dungeon as of late.”

“Ahh, I figured this would happen eventually.” The Dungeon Will nodded as if unsurprised. “Yes, the dungeon has become active as late. Except, I have no part in that.

“Huh?”

“You heard correctly. I may be the Dungeon Will, but it is not due to me that the dungeon has been acting as it has. My hypothesis is that it’s currently undergoing resonance.”

“Resonance?” I questioned, unfamiliar with the term.

“Before I give you the answers you seek, first let me ask, how familiar are you with dungeons?”

“I cleared one.” I offered.

“Yes, but how much do you understand the nature of a dungeon?”

“They’re physical locations that were folded into a meta-space, created by an initial massive amount of mana, and then sustained by some other source.”

“Yes, that’s how a dungeon is defined in its creation, but I asked what you understand of a dungeon.”

“Not… not much, I suppose,” I admitted.

“And the Sage of Wisdom did not tell you as much, given you are his apprentice.”

“I’m not really his apprentice. His vestige took me under its wing, and it was only for a short bit.”

“His vestige. So he’s passed on. I’m not surprised. Even for Great Sages, living thousands of years would have been magnitudes longer than the next longest-lived sage. Yet, when I sensed his signature upon you, I had hope… Well, it’s the way of the world.” The researcher shrugged, hiding the look of saddened disappointment that had clouded his features for a moment. “This vestige, where did you meet them?”

“The dungeon I cleared, the Citadel of the Moon.”

“Oh?” The researcher seemed surprised, furrowing his brow a moment later. “His disappearance toward the war’s end makes sense. He hid within a dungeon.”

“Err, not quite. The dungeon was only made recently. Apparently, it was nothing more than a lost research site for the longest time.”

“Who made it into a dungeon?”

I shrugged, only a single idea in my mind.

“Hmm. Well, the nature of that mystery aside, I can understand why you wouldn’t understand dungeons if your master was nothing more than a temporary mentor and a vestige at that. Yes, a dungeon is a meta-space, a place where reality is warped by the pressure of the immense density of the mana within its walls. The knowledge of their creation was first discovered hundreds of years before my time even. While I was alive, dungeons were not altogether uncommon. Secluded within spatially remote meta-spaces, dungeons were perfect places for research into dangerous or unstable topics. Take this location, for example. Even before the threat of extinction by our enemies, there was consideration to transform this facility into a dungeon so that we could more rigorously research the nature of mana transformation. Pre-transformation, we could only do research at a theoretical level. Still, after we became a dungeon and before we realized the sages would not be returning, we began extensive research into practical mana transformation. In this case, we investigated turning natural energy such as thermal or kinetic energy and converting it into mana itself.”

“Is that why this place is so far north?”

“Correct, you catch on quick. A dungeon cut off from the outside reality and capable of utilizing mana and forming resources from that mana was perfect for research purposes. But it was discovered that dungeons are not as cut off from the outside reality as we had initially assumed. And when I say we, I don’t mean that in the literal sense; I was not part of the teams that discovered what I’m telling you. They can undergo something known as resonance. When a dungeon secluded within its own meta-space shares a similar ‘frequency’ with an outside location, they resonate.”

The Dungeon Will let the words sink in as I began considering the implications of what he had just said.

“If this dungeon is undergoing resonance, then….” I tabulated my thoughts, like grading papers and checking them for errors. “For somewhere in the outside world to share a ‘frequency,’ wouldn’t that mean they would have to be performing research similar to what was done here?”

“Exactly, except for one small correction. It does not have to simply be research.”

“So anything that shares commonality with what was done here, and I’m assuming in large enough scale that it can somehow reach through space or however that works,” I asked, ensuring I had the right idea.

“Correct.”

“Meaning somewhere-” I waved my hands in a circle, emulating the shape of a globe. “Some people are doing… something that involves mana transformation, and at a large scale.”

“Exactly.”

“Is that dangerous?”

“It depends.” The Dungeon Will answered. “Mana transformation has an inherent risk of instability. In fact, any process, be it magical or natural in nature, has an inherent risk of instability when it involves converting mass or energy into differing forms.”

“And how difficult is that in the first place?”

“It was a topic that was still in its infancy right up to the fall of the sages. Considering the regression of knowledge, both magical and natural, that has happened throughout the world since then, I would consider it a field of research that should be another two or three hundred years ahead of what I speculate the outside world’s current capabilities to even imagine are.”

“And how do you come to that conclusion?”

“Simple enough, it’s been thirty or so years since the last modern people came through these walls, and based on what they knew and what they spoke of, I was able to get a rough idea of where the level of knowledge is at.”

“And you’re saying that, at best, mana transformation as a field is another two or three hundred years from even being thought of.”

“Yes, your ways are quite primitive. You have basic electrical knowledge, which is after thousands of years since the era of the sages. With your people’s basic needs met and the throttling of knowledge, you’ve effectively met a period of utter stagnation, a dark age.”

“Insulting, but not wrong,” I admitted. “So, how is it even possible that there is anything outside that is even close to advance enough to not just grasp the concept but practice it on such a scale that it’s causing resonance?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Do not worry, though. The resonance between this dungeon and the outside world will exhaust itself with time.”

“I’m not sure that’s my main worry at this point,” I said with a frown. “I’m more curious about the source of the resonance.”

“Perhaps a singular mind has appeared that has shaken free the shackles of darkness that cloud the intellectual minds of the modern era. It is easy to estimate the course of a large group of people. Still, singular individuals can throw free those estimations. Take you, for example. You’re the first sage in thousands of years, bringing rippling effects that those in power will likely have never predicted.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not the first sage. I’m the second.”

“Oh?”

“The Sage Above All was reborn before I became a sage.”

“The Sage Above All.” The Dungeon Will said, eyes narrowing.

“Yes.”

“Then I amend my assumptions. For your own safety, I advise you against further investigating the source of the resonance.”

“You think it’s her, don’t you.” I realized, watching the suddenly nervous-looking researcher.

“It would make sense. She was savagely intelligent, perhaps the smartest person I’ve ever met.”

“You met her?”

“Thrice. She toured this facility before. As a Great Sage, she held status even over the elder, more wizened sages. She and the Sage of Wisdom were young by the rights of a top sage. A Sage typically would take three or four hundred years to obtain their tenth and final ring. In contrast, the two of them reached it within the lifespan of a regular human. After reaching that level, add on another two hundred years of experience, and you’ll understand more about the person she was. Unlike the Sage of Wisdom, who seemed to have some sort of consideration for others and could even be seen as a philanthropist occasionally, the Sage Above All was solely concerned with herself and her own research. It would be one thing if she retreated to parts unknown to further her research, yet she never did, staying active within the world. Whimsical but quick to anger, with a curiosity that knew no restraint, she could be likened to a childish god at best.”

“So I should avoid her.”

“Like the plague.” The man advised.

“Well, that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing since I last saw her.”

“And that is wisdom that perhaps rivals the wisdom of the Great Sage himself.”

I couldn’t deny my curiosity about what the Sage Above All was doing, somehow causing resonance with the dungeon. Still, I would not stick my hand into the metaphorical bear trap.

“Questions as to the resonance of the dungeon aside, is there anything else you wish to have answered?”

I thought about it for a second or two before raising a single finger.

“Only one?”

“Yes. You mentioned that this facility was researching mana transformation, and I can’t say I’m not curious. Things that a mana core would normally automatically take care of, I’ve had to simulate myself to progress my development as a sage. It was made easier when I received a mana matrix from the vestige of wisdom-”

“A mana matrix?” The researcher interrupted. “As in a device for assimilating mana?”

“I guess?”

“Where is it?”

“It’s, uhh, a part of me.”

“A part of you?”

“Yeah, it was… ‘grafted’ for lack of a better word, into my very essence, soul, whatever you want to call it.”

The researcher’s eyes went wide before a chuckle escaped from him.

“What, what’s so funny?” I asked.

“Nothing is ‘funny’ in the traditional sense. It’s just that the Sage of Wisdom managed to take our research and further it all by himself. We had prototype versions of mana matrices ourselves. Still, we never reached the level of efficiency we were after, only capable of assimilating between singular forms of mana and energy. They were nowhere close to being incorporated into a person’s essence. I have plenty of questions, but unfortunately, they are questions that I believe only the Sage of Wisdom himself could explain; his vestige is likely incapable of explaining, not that such matters. I am bound to this dungeon just as I am sure the vestige is bound to his own.”

“That reminds me, if you’re part vestige, why can you understand things and continue research? Shouldn’t you be like…. Incapable or however that works?”

“It’s because I’m not a true vestige, as I’m sure my daughter explained. Functionally my mind is still that of a living human, it’s just that I have become a part of this dungeon, undying until the end of time or until this dungeon is incapable of sustaining itself, but we’re capturing mana from the world around us, so it would take the destruction of the world before we ran out of mana to sustain this dungeon.”

“Righttt.” I dragged the word out, realizing we’d been sidetracking from my initial question. “That aside, my question?”

“Oh, yes, please go on.”

“Regarding the nature of mana, I well understand that there do not exist ‘types’ of mana and that mana itself is nothing more than metaphysical ‘particles’ that, depending on the organization of said particles and how the bonds between them are energized, is how you end up with ‘earth’ or ‘fire’ mana, or even pure mana which is the most fundamental form of particle and bond interplay, but I’ve never understood abstract ‘types’ of mana, such a draconic mana or sage mana. If all mana is mana, why can’t ordinary people utilize those?”

“Ahh, a good question.” Don snapped with one hand while rubbing a hand over his head with the other like he was running it through hair that used to be there. “A question that has been asked many times by past sages. As for the answer, well, it’s because there are types of mana.”

“Huh?” I stared at the researcher, shocked. “But I’ve seen the bonds myself. It’s all just a stew of the same stuff, in different shapes or energy levels.”

“Yes, but that’s regarding standard mana, what you know as pure mana, and all the derivatives of it. Sage mana and draconic mana exist outside that. We’ll take draconic and regular mana as an example. Think of regular mana as a net positive field. If you look at a number timeline, you can imagine regular mana as everything on that timeline, negative infinity, zero, and infinity.”

“I suppose I follow.”

“Well, draconic mana is antithetical to that concept.”

“How does that work? How could draconic mana be antithetical to that if standard mana already encompasses the totality of your example?”

“Because!” The Dungeon Will raised his hand excitedly. “Draconic mana doesn’t function as a negative or a positive. It functions as an anti. If regular mana were negative, net zero, or positive, then draconic mana would denote an inverse negative, an inverse zero, and an inverse positive. It’s why draconic mana is mentioned as having a ‘spiky’ feel. It quite literally cannot exist in equilibrium with regular mana. The two forms of mana eradicate each other.”

“That’s… a bit abstract,” I said, trying to wrap my mind around it.

“Mhmm, well, that’s simply the best way I have of explaining it. How dragons can even generate that inverse, that anti-mana, is a bit of a mystery, some believed it came from a zero-point field. Others believed it was some sort of localized reversal of mechanical reality. None have been able to say for certain, and with the passing of all those enlightened thinkers of the far-flung past, I suppose it likely won’t be answered any time soon.”

I like to pride myself as an educator. Perhaps I was new to it, but I generally believed that I was pretty educated as far as most things went, gained from several years of indulging in reading like a drunkard would an all-you-can-drink bar. But, with the casual degree that the Dungeon Will spoke of such abstract theories, I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps I’d gotten ahead of myself.

“Now, as for sage mana, if draconic mana is an inverse, then sage mana can be considered neither positive nor anti, but virtual. Again, using numbers as an example, sage mana would be the square root of a negative number.”

“But’ that’s not possible.”

“Tell that to the mathematicians of my time.” The man laughed. “But don’t focus on the analogy, just what it represents. Because sage mana exists outside the standard and anti-continuum, it allows interaction that normally isn’t possible. So, as you can see, there are different forms of mana, just not as mistakenly believed by the masses.”

“This is almost too much for me.” I laughed. “Much less my students.”

“Oh, you asked for your students?”

“Well, no. I’d lie if I said it wasn’t partially my own curiosity.” I admitted.

“Curiosity, the defining trait of a sage. Now, are there any other questions?”

“No, and even if there were, I don’t believe I could digest anything else.”

“If that’s the case, I congratulate you on reaching the end of the dungeon. If it weren’t already cleared in the past, I would offer you the grand reward of our facility.”

“What was that?” I asked, suddenly curious.

The man suddenly had a mischievous gleam in his eyes, as if he’d performed a brilliant prank.

“It was a dagger that was used to test the mechanics of mana transformation. It absorbed heat from the surroundings before storing it as minuscule amounts of mana within the gem upon its pommel. It was nothing more than a gimmick, a theory-testing method. Still, you should have seen the look in their eyes, like they’d received some priceless artifact. Hah!”

“Right. Well, I don’t think I would have needed that anyway.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You’re already several magnitudes better off with a real mana matrix.”

“Then I guess I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Certainly.” The man seemed pleased with himself before frowning. “Now, since we’ve covered everything, I suppose I should be sending you along your way.”

“I guess I should... Actually, there is one thing I’d like to ask about, aside from the other stuff.”

“That is?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a way to adjust the destination of a Ring Gate, would you?” I asked, suddenly hopeful. “The Ring Gate I came through doesn’t lead to where I’m headed next.”

“I believe I can do you one better.” The researcher raised his hand as a circular frame of ice rose from behind him. “If you can recall a mana signature of wherever you want to go, I can send you there directly.”

“Wait, you can just freely raise Ring Gates?” I stared in amazement at the gate of ice.

“No, not by any means. You just happen to be lucky that the dungeon has excess mana and a connection with the outside world while undergoing resonance. The same principle that allows spatial warping through the dungeon can then be applied outwardly.”

“Convenient, though I won’t pretend I don’t appreciate it.”

“It’s something I afford to you only as a friend of the dungeon, the first sage of a new era.”

“Your daughter called me something similar.”

“She likely feels it even more strongly than I do, so I don’t doubt it. If it weren’t for our benefactor, the Sage Who Sits, we would have never left the squalor of our village, a remote place ruled over by the iron fist of a local warlord. While I have long since left that life behind, my daughter tries to preserve her memories of the place. You likely noticed it in her accent. It’s her way of reminding herself where she came from and the precious opportunity she was afforded by the sages who gave us a new place to belong.”

That does explain a lot.

“In the future, feel free to visit as you please. As long as you’re alone or accompanied by nothing more than a familiar, I’ll grant you access to traverse the dungeon freely. Perhaps I can even give you a tour of our old facilities. However, the spatial warping they underwent as they became part of the dungeon has made them a bit more hostile.”

“I appreciate it.” I gave the former researcher a deep bow, genuinely appreciating the sentiment even if I had no urge to accept the offer any time soon.

“Good. Now, off with you.”

Waving toward the gate, the Dungeon Will gave me one last nod before vanishing.

Guess I can call this mission complete.

Approaching the temporary Ring Gate, I took a few moments to examine the structure. I’d failed to notice them at first, but very faintly within the ice were carvings of runes and symbols, tying together a greater cohesive spell that I was still far from fully understanding at my current level. Even without opening my mana sense, I could feel the raw volume of mana coursing through the structure, the overflowing excess of the resonating dungeon being funneled into a singular point.

Just need to focus on a mana signature, don’t I?

Perhaps had it been any ordinary mana signature, such a dubious task would have been more daunting, but there were only two people in the world with the type of mana I was searching for, and one of them I’d spent so much time around in the years past that there was no possibility that I’d somehow forget her.

Pips, I’m coming home.

With a held breath, I stepped forward, vanishing for the final time in a burst of light.