PREPARATIONS FOR THE DUNGEON

Tristan acted swiftly. The urgency in Melany's voice rang in his ears. He decided to use all the skills at his disposal.

First he had to collect herbs. Medicinal, poisonous, plain grass, he made no distinction. Tristan used a thin veil of reinforcement along with cleverly using wind magic to make his moves inaudible. After using his manna to sense around for enemies, he swiftly began collecting. 

He first collected all the grass he could find. Using a manipulation array he swiftly arranged the grass in a checkered pattern to create a simple weaved bag of considerable size. He then used it to collect herbs indiscriminately.

After about two hours he had collected three mountainfuls of herbs, mushrooms, roots, fruits and vines. He had run at his limit for a couple hours and now he decided to rest and get back energy. He began sifting through the herbs.

Once he finished sifting, it was time for some herbal alchemy. He used transmutation to quickly mold a high quality mortar and pestle from clay which he imbued with manna to become extremely efficient. He proceeded to concoct potions for status recovery, health and stamina. He also made nutritional essences which would boost stamina and energy as well as provide nourishment from fruits and vegetables.he made several strong ropes using vines and used the remaining grass and vines to make a very resilient backpack.

Next he started brewing poisons. He planned to lure and poison monsters or enemies if any inside the dungeon. But poison wouldn't help a lot in active battle so he made highly concentrated acids that he stored in glass bottles he created from the clay using his arrays for smithing.

He had created way more glass than he required. So he kept it aside for the moment, because he had an idea for the glass. 

Once that was done, he began with arrays. He used the silk threads he collected from silk worms to weave a pair of gloves. On them he painted ten extremely tiny transmutation circles each. 

Coincidentally while working Tristan saw his reflection in the glass. He had hair long enough to reach his the mid of his spine and he had grown quite a bit taller, however at the same time he remained somewhat on the leaner side instead of the muscular brute that his dad wanted him to become. The thought spiraled to the news of his dad's death but he quickly set that aside for now.

He decided to change his clothes. He made some tailored combat clothes that covered him from neck to toe and black. He transmuted the silk carefully with an alloy he prepared from all the metal he could scrape from the soil around him. It was mostly iron and copper. This made the clothes very durable against blunt attacks and even against some piercing attacks. He then imbued it with all the manna he had which left him extremely tired. He groomed his hair, cleaned himself using water he prepared from water magic earlier and fell asleep.

The next day. Tristan woke up fresh, walked out collected some fruits and caught a rabbit which he skinned and cooked to eat. Satisfied with the outcome, he decided to smith some weapons. 

This was the part he was most worried about. Physically Tristan could be called fairly fit, however he was by no means combat ready. He had never practiced hand to hand combat or martial arts. If he used a sword he would just flail around with it and cause himself harm. He carefully analysed the situation.

"In this case, whether it is the dungeon or Sindry, I am a lone person going against a potential army. My only advantages are using sneak attacks and guerilla tactics. I have a lot of poison and acid, throw weapons are the best choice..."

Charmy, his dog hadn't woken up the entire time that he had awoken from meditation an entire day. Tristan was worried about his health and tried to check his condition.

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"I see... Charmy, you've been with me through thick and thin. I will save you."

Charmy was suffering from an illness called Sleep of loneliness which affects dogs whose masters are too sick or die. Charmy's brain had shut down and he was in a comatose state of hibernation beside the meditating Tristan. If Tristan wouldn't awaken soon, he would've died of starvation - the dog that accompanied him since birth.

Tristan once again went collecting for herbs. Except this time it was a special herb, one that is considered a pest for people who collect the Trivial Fern and was often found near wet rocks at the base of an oak tree. A cursed manimushroom. If prepared correctly it will cure Charmy of his comatose state. 

****

Several hours of gathering, scouting for enemies and medicine making later, Charmy who had medicine fed to him through a small but sharp ray of water dissolved medicine. Tristan used one if the new elementary spells he had created piercing aqua. At the same time,  he flushed Charmy's body with his magical energy pulsing along with the beat of his heart energizing and revitalizing Charmy to become more agile than ever before. Tristan's years of intense world abandoning meditation had taken his magic manipulation and reinforcement skills to blinding heights.

When Charmy woke up he was extremely surprised and happy! But just as he was about to bark loudly in happiness he heard Tristan in his head! Tristan smiled at him and spoke telepathically.

"My friend, you missed me so much that you fell sick? I have now bound you telepathically to me so you can understand right? Thank you for staying by me. But now, don't make a sound. None at all. We have work to do."

Charmy nodded crazily and jumped into Tristan's arms who tightly hugged him. The magic transformation had turned Charmy into a powerful ally for Tristan. Tristan had carefully turned his fur black, enhanced his muscles and cushioned his paws to make him.extremely silent. An accomplice of the night!

By now the the weapons he was preparing were ready too. Two extremely thin daggers and a hundred throwing knives and shurikens each. His strength was so low he had very little chance of throwing weapons on target, but throwing them physically wasn't an intention from the beginning.

He was now prepared. He stuffed all support items into his backpack and reinforced it. He then spent the next two days meditating to improve his manna flow.

****

Five days since the awakening of Tristan. Tristan finally begins his mission. Entering a dungeon!

Tristan had read about the stories of adventurers venturing into dungeons to collect incredible prizes and rewards. He had studied tactics to capture dungeons from a lot of Melany's books. She had taught him about the basics of party formation, luring, trapping and using one's strengths to defeat dungeons.

However, he was now alone. Without a party. His only teammate was his dog Charmy. He would have to rely on his instincts and quick thinking to avoid death. Tristan decided to he needed to scout carefully first.

He telepathically beckoned Charmy who had been stealthily hunting for game in the forest and began his search for the dungeon entrance. 

Gliding over the lake's frozen top in the death of night in his ninja-esque clothes, Tristan ensured he was keeping absolute silence by using wind magic to silence noise vibrations. This would normally be impossible for ordinary magicians because of the time needed to chant upon each step. Even ingeniously modifying the magic would require casting time. However, Tristan could cast any magic he understood the working of chantlessly. Thus, he would conserve his manna by constantly using it only at the required moment.

It was the day of the new moon and the sky was extremely dark. There wasn't any way by which Tristan could be noticed by ordinary people, yet he remained cautious. He slowly explored the area beyond the lake at the base of the mountain that surrounded the lake. It would've been impossible to see anything if Tristan hadn't used reinforcement magic on his eyes to increase his visual capabilities in the dark.

However finding the entrance seemed to be getting impossible.he had spent his entire life in Sindry and had explored the forest more times than he could count, but he had never come across a dungeon. In those circumstances the only thing he could think was that it was hidden either through illusion is through magic.

Tristan decided tonscan through the area using his mind's eye, the technique used up a ton of manna and so he couldn't afford to do it often. He could feel the throbbing volcanic veins inside the mountain and underneath him, but then he suddenly found a large network of caves that didn't feel like a natural formation at all. It was an extremely large network of technically carved tunnels. And the entrance...was under the lake!