It turned out that crafting her sword, which could light itself on fire, took a significant amount of mana. To be precise, it required her entire mana pool. She found that out after being forced to sit down due to the spectacular headache that erupted when she attempted to ignite the blade. Her Status page displayed her Mana sitting at zero, which answered one question. Almost.
Glad to have confirmation that dropping to zero Mana is not going to kill me Devi thought as she massaged her temples. That would have been the worst way to go. After surviving being almost eaten alive, crafting my own weapon would do me in.
She chuckled to herself but stopped halfway through due to the pain. It was reminiscent of when she had woken up hanging upside down on the spiderweb. Though this time was much more manageable. It was already subsiding, ebbing to a dull ache rather than a stabbing pain whenever she moved her head.
To distract herself, she focused on the glowing blue box that had popped up when she had put the final touches on the blade she was still carrying.
Congratulations
A new Magic Item (G) (common) has been created
XP has been awarded
The notification was followed by two more, one for each her Race and Vocation gaining a level, putting both at level five. The moment the wave of energy washed over her, the headache that had been plaguing her became much more manageable.
Well, that does answer that question she thought as she saw her mana had jumped up to 11 after the level up. No mana means a headache, and getting a little back helps. Good to know.
She sent a trickle of her newly acquired mana into the blade, watching the edges start to glow. They didn’t catch fire, but slowly turned from silver to a fiery orange. The amount of mana she was sending to the blade was a minuscule amount, even less than what she had to give her firestarter to produce a flame.
The blade seemed fairly warm, radiating enough heat that she could feel it by just holding the handle. Thankfully, Devi had placed the fire runes a fair bit above the crossguard, figuring that having flames jet out right next to her hands would be bad. So while a bit uncomfortable, it wasn’t unbearable.
Curious, she sent a small burst of mana into the blade, watching as a small gout of flame leaped out of the top of the blade, while the fire danced along the edges. The flames died down right after, as the mana was used up. Thankfully, none of the flames had gotten close to her hand, though it was still like holding her hand very close to a stove. Not quite burning, but very uncomfortable. Though still probably not advisable to do long-term. A glove would be perfect, but of course, she didn’t have one.
The headache was returning after she had spent the little mana she had managed to regain, but it was completely worth it. She had a literal fire sword, what was there to complain about? Except for being stuck in a cave, with no food, and a hoard of bloodthirsty monsters everywhere.
Basically paradise.
With a new weapon, she wanted to go out and test it against something, just to see how much better it was than the original. But a quick look at her mana pool dissuaded her of that notion very quickly. It was sitting at 4, which was less than 5% of her total. Not ideal for monster slaying.
Which meant she had quite a bit of time to kill and nothing to do with it. All the things she could do involved using her mana. So instead, she started carving more runes into the ground, trying different combinations and how to intertwine the symbols. She couldn’t test any of them out yet, but it was a good way to pass the time.
Devi didn’t have all that many runes she knew, and the ones she did know, didn’t have a good grasp on what they did. As for combining them, she could only guess. She was fairly confident with the fire symbol, but all the others were a bit more nebulous.
Soon, the whole floor of the crevice was filled with diagrams scratched into the stone, some even on a few walls. She might have gotten a bit carried away. Possibly.
Some she didn’t even think had a possibility of working, they were more just seeing if the runes could be connected to each other. But she didn’t mind. Even if they all failed, each one would give her precious data on how the symbols worked, and how she could combine them in new ways. There was literal magic here, magic that worked on principles she was so close to understanding.
Each time she crafted a rune or a magic item, she felt out a bit more about how magic worked. She had even gotten to the point where she could summon water out of thin air with only her own magic. No magic item needed. Just her mana and her mind.
Not quite to the point she could pull out magic that wasn’t her magic items in a fight. But she felt it was close. To be able to casually throw a fireball at a monster that was lunging at her was one of her favorite fantasies. No more having to throw herself out of the way, instead, calmly incinerating them as they came.
But that was for future Devi to enjoy, right now, she had gotten around 100 mana back in her pool, and was ready to field test her blade. She figured that hunting down a lone bat would be the best option. Going as quietly as she could through the tunnels, so as to not run into the giant spider or another swarm of bats.
She crept out of her crevice and slunk down the tunnel, holding an array disk in her wrapped and mangled hand. Its dim light illuminated her surroundings enough for her to make her way and not trip over any loose rocks.
The oppressive darkness threatened to hide any number of monsters. Devi was fairly certain the only big threats were the massive spider and large bats. But that didn’t mean a massive stone snake that could spit acid over her couldn’t leap out of the walls and attack her. The fear of the unknown kept her on her toes. The threats she knew about she could devise plans for, but something new, that could potentially do her in.
Devi reached the decrepit corpse of the adventurer who had gone before and stopped to rip a few strips of cloth from the threadbare fabric. The strips were wrapped around her hand to hopefully protect it from her own fire. It probably wouldn’t do much, but something was better than nothing.
With the makeshift cloth protection in place, Devi continued her cautious trek through the dark tunnels. The dim light from the array disk cast eerie shadows on the damp walls, making the environment even more foreboding. Her heart raced with every soft scurrying sound and the rustle of distant wings. The oppressive silence of the dungeon seemed to amplify the threat of the unknown.
Finally, she spotted another lone bat hanging from the ceiling. It seemed to sense her presence, its beady eyes narrowing as it observed her. Devi took a deep breath, steadying her nerves and her mana. She focused her energy into the blade, and once again, the magical flames danced to life.
The bat launched itself at her the moment the flames sprung into existence, mouth open in an ear-piercing screech. Devi spun to the side as the bat swooped past, its talons trailing lines of red energy through the air.
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It twisted in mid-air and looped back around at Devi, but this time, she was prepared. She brought her sword up and sent a burst of mana through her hand. The blade responded, a tongue of flame swept through the air at the attacking bat, igniting its fur.
The bat tumbled to the ground, wings flapping to try and put out the fire to no avail. The flames seemed to devour their form hungrily. Devi swiftly reversed the blade in her hand and stabbed down. Its piercing shriek ended as it died on the end of her blade.
Congratulations
You have defeated your opponent
XP has been awarded
She let out a relieved sigh as she read the notification. The fight hadn't lasted long at all. It had taken a good seven points of mana to get there, but the bat lay dead at her feet. She probably hadn't even needed to blast it with fire; a quick strike could have left it wounded enough for her to finish it off.
Its movements had been eerily easy to read and respond to. From the time she had almost died to a squirrel until now, she hadn’t really practiced fighting all that much. But her body still seemed to respond to her wishes far better, and she had been starting to notice during her fights a sort of sense of what her opponents would do. Not like she could read the future or anything like that, but more like noticing small twitches that would entail certain actions.
It had been most notable in her most recent fight, as she had fought quite a number of bats and had gotten a feeling for how they moved. But she would have never been able to accomplish anything close to what she was doing even a few days ago. It honestly scared her a little to think about how much she was changing now that she was dwelling on it.
But she had no time to contemplate that. That shriek had doubtlessly alerted more bats or even other monsters. She had to keep going.
Devi bent down and quickly slit the monster's chest, searching for a mana crystal, but couldn't locate one. She scowled at the corpse and wiped her hand on her pants. It would have been nice to have another crystal, especially since she was planning another attempt through the stone doors.
It is probably going to take everything I have to even get to the boss, let alone fight it. She remembered the three beasts that had attacked her, forcing her to run after mangling her arm. Probably the only reason she was still alive was the mana crystal grenade. Guess I will have to go kill some more bats.
She set off again, keeping her slow pace from before, but more confident in her combat abilities. A lone bat hadn't offered a real challenge. It was time for her to go hunting.
A soft rustling echoed through the tunnel, just at the edge of her hearing. She stopped, cocking her head to the side to try and listen. It soon increased in intensity, rushing towards her, a cacophony of sound.
Devi's heart raced as the sound of approaching wings grew louder and more frenetic. It wasn't just a single bat this time; it sounded like an entire swarm was headed her way. The adrenaline surged through her veins as she quickly assessed her options.
She couldn't take on a whole swarm of bats at once, not with her current mana pool and physical condition. Running was an option, but she wouldn't be able to outrun all of them, and besides, they could easily fit into her narrow crevice. Trying to intimidate them was another option, one that had more of a chance of working. They seemed to be quite vulnerable to flames, so she ignited her blade, holding it aloft in front of her.
It was just in time as a cloud of wings surged out of the looming darkness, skirting the light of her blade. Glowing eyes glared down at her as the swarm of bats hovered just beyond the reach of her weapon. She couldn’t even count how many of them there were, as they undulated and flocked.
With a growl, she sent a wave of fire forward, causing the foremost bat to screech in pain, its fur singed, but unfortunately not on fire. The monsters on her flanks threatened to swoop in, but she twirled around, waving her blade in their direction as well.
Maybe hunting for bats was not such a good idea. They seem a tad angry this time.
All she needed to do was down a few monsters, and hopefully, the rest would scatter. That’s what she was telling herself at least. Getting to that point would be a bit hard. But it was really her only option.
“[Attribute Enhancement]”
She felt her mana rush out, stretching her body, enabling her to move quicker than she had been able to previously. It wasn’t much, but it was an edge she was going to use to the fullest. Devi debated on using her hoarded free points for a brief second before deciding against it. She hadn’t quite determined what would be the best way to spend them, so she was holding off for now.
The swarm seemed to sense the shift in her demeanor, growing agitated. Two of the bats swooped in close, no longer afraid of the fire.
That proved to be a mistake as Devi ducked under the first one and blasted the other with a tongue of flame, setting it ablaze. It tumbled to the ground, fruitlessly trying to smother the flames, but to no avail.
A swift kick sent the shrieking monster to the side so it wouldn’t get in her way as she scanned the remaining bats. They seemed more fearful, but not quite to the point of fleeing.
“Time for you to learn why fire is dangerous.”
Instead of waiting for the bats to come to her, she charged forward. No sense in letting the bats dictate the flow of the fight she figured. Her blade swung forward, aiming to stab into one of the fluttering monsters, only for it to dance out of the way, enabling another to swoop down and claw at her face.
It scored a nasty cut along her cheek. Devi could feel the blood start to drip down her face as she instinctively took a swipe at the offending creature—with the hand that held a flaming sword.
The good news was that the bat got charbroiled. The bad news was that her face also received the same treatment. She could feel her skin peeling as the heat washed over it, even as the bat screeched in pain. Devi gritted her teeth but didn’t have time to focus on her burning flesh. The rest of the bats took that opportunity to descend on her.
Multiple talons cut through the air toward her, each accompanied by its own shriek. She dropped to one knee, trying to get below the agitated swarm. Her blade sliced out above, earning her a few more scratches, but igniting two bats.
Rolling out of the way of a flurry of attacks, Devi stabbed at one of the flying rodents that had gotten too close. She grinned at its pained yelp as it tumbled to the ground, but had to quickly weave between two dive-bombing bats.
"Just run away already. Do you really want to end up as barbeque?" She yelled up at the swarm, her voice echoing along the tunnel.
Apparently, they did. The bats kept up their relentless attack, and Devi quickly acquired far more cuts than she had wanted. But for every bat that dug into her flesh, another was flambeed by her blade. Her health kept ticking down, but she could feel the bats about to break.
She scanned the now sparse flock of bats for an opening, but they all fluttered above her, feinting in and out, but always staying just out of her reach. They seemed reluctant to engage, the consequence of doing so lay scattered around. But they wouldn’t fly away.
A growl escaped her throat in frustration. If she turned her back on them, Devi knew they wouldn’t hesitate to attack, but right now, she had no real way of attacking. Unless she abandoned her cautious approach and jumped at them while waving her blade wildly. Not wanting to do that, she dug her mangled hand into her satchel and threw the first thing she grabbed at the swarming monsters.
The small metal pot wobbled through the air, missing all of the bats as they squawked in surprise at the unfamiliar projectile. That was all Devi needed.
She leaped up, her blade a crescent arc of flame. The forefront bat reacted too late, its focus on the pot that had clanged off the side of the tunnel. It got a belly full of steel for its trouble, as Devi landed, sending a blast of flame at the remaining bats.
That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The swarm of wings and teeth fluttered away amidst a chorus of terrified squeaks. Or at least, she assumed they were terrified. The tunnel was littered with the corpses of their companions, a few still struggling fruitlessly with singed wings and bodies.
She started the grisly task of slamming her blade into the bats still struggling, and then cutting the chest cavities open. Her search yielded 5 crystals and a pair of bloody hands. That felt a little high to her, as she had only trawled through the guts of nine bats, but she wasn’t going to complain.
"With your pockets full of crystals, Devi was about to walk back to her crevice until curiosity got the better of her. All those bats seemed to come from a certain direction, and she felt an odd urge to go explore it. The same urge that told her to go kill the massive spider and go through the large stone doors. An itch inside her brain she couldn’t scratch unless she explored this tunnel.
With only a moment of hesitation, she headed off down the tunnel.
"What is the worst thing that could happen?"