I clambered my way up from the strange room, tightly gripping the metal box I had found within. The exit was in sight, a slight warm glow of the soon-to-be setting sun peeking out from a small crack in the ceiling.

The way out had been covered slightly by the remains of a fallen tree. After a strong push, the path was cleared. Once I was back on the surface, I stood up to scan my surroundings.

I was viewing distance from the main entrance to the cave. This hole must've been caused by a more recent collapse in the cave, likely a result of those bugs taking refuge here. Dusting myself off, I began the trek back to Esoterion.

The way back was less challenging, as I had the required turns memorized from my journey here. Before long, I had reached one of the main roads connecting to the city, and people began to take notice of my sorry appearance.

"Hey! What are you doing out here?" I heard a voice behind me say. To my surprise, the voice had come from Grav's beastkin friend; Findal, who was steering what looked like a mechanical-horse-drawn cart towards the city.

"Findal? I'm coming back from the mine Grav sent me to. I went to get those enhanced manakyte stones." I told him, patting the stone-filled pouch that was hanging from my belt.

"He really sent you out there? Well then hop on. I'm heading that way too." Findal shifted to the side, offering me the seat next to him on the cart.

"Thanks, I wasn't looking forward to hauling this all the way back on foot." I said, putting down the metal box inbetween us.

"What is that anyways? I didn't think Grav would be one to indulge in such fancy décor." Findal asked, chuckling slightly at the thought.

"Yeah, well, he isn't. I found this in some weird room in the cave. Its got something even weirder inside." I answer.

"Well, now you've got me curious, let's take a gander at it." He reached his hand over top of the box, ready to open it. I quickly smack his hand back, warning him.

"I wouldn't do that."

"Ah... right." He seemed to understand my intention.

After a while we reached the street leading to Grav's workshop. It was too thin for the cart so we got off and continued by foot.

Findal opened the door for me and I set the box down on the floor inside.

"Damn Kid, ya sure took yer time, I was about to start worrying." Grav shouted out from around the corner. When he saw the state I was in, he raised his eyebrows for a moment in surprise.

"I got the stones, or at least I think they're the right thing." I said, tossing him the pouch I had.

"Nice job Kid, These'll do nicely. But on another note, what's this thing ya dragged in here, and why do ya look like that?" Grav had now turned most of his attention to the strange metal box from the cave.

Taking a seat, I began to explain what had happened in the cave. After a short while, they both knew the whole story, starting with me going into the cave, and ending with Findal seeing me.

"Well... Shit. To think another mine got infested by mana-eaters. It's a miracle you made it out of there, and unbelievable you took out the whole hive." Findal said, looking at the ground with hand on his chin, looking like he was pondering what to do next.

"If what the Kid's saying is true though, he found something worth taking a look at." Grav said to Findal.

"What's a mana-eater? Is that what those bugs were?" I asked them openly.

"Bullseye Kid. They're a type of insect who's bodies don't have any manakyte or mana at all. So they eat mana-rich organisms to sustain themselves. People are a favored delicacy for 'em." Grav told me. If that's the case, I'm glad they didn't catch me.

"But why would the mana rush into ya like that? It shoulda just dispersed into the air." Grav wondered aloud.

"This doctor I met, Octavia's her name, took a look at me and said I didn't have any manakyte in my blood, so I soak it up like a sponge." I told him. They both were surprised for a moment. But then Findal spoke up.

"Octavia, you say? I know her, truth be told that's who I was making a shipment to, but I got intrigued so I took a detour here." Findal admitted to us.

"Her magic may be good at seeing what's up with this box. It's probably our best bet if opening it's a no-go." Grav said. It wasn't a bad idea, at the very least it was worth a try.

Findal nodded and pulled out a pendant from his shirt pocket. It was a small circular trinket a couple of inches in diameter, it had a slight resemblance to the horses that pulled his cart. He began to twist a ring that spun freely on the outside of the pendant, making a small clicking noise every few degrees it spun. After a few seconds of fiddling with it, Findel then pushed down in the center of the pendant and began to speak into it.

"Hello? Is 'Esoterion Clinicals' there? This is Findal coming in." After a few seconds, the pendant hummed to life.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

" *~zzt* -lo? Hello? Yes we're here. What's this about?" A voice sounded out of the pendant. It sounded like Octavia's.

"I'm at Grav's workshop right now, there's something we need you to come take a look at, if your schedule allows it. We think you'll be interested though." Findal spoke into the pendant again. After a few seconds, a response came through.

"Um... Yes I should be able to stop by for a moment. I'll be over shortly." After this, the pendant became silence once more. Findal then tucked it back into his pocket.

"What was that?" I asked Findal, up until now I hadn't seen much of anything that reminded me of my home, but that trinket of his was surprisingly advanced.

"It's a Tele-Talk. I give all of my close customers one. I can make them quite easily with my golem magic." He responded nonchalantly.

Golem magic huh? Magic in this world is more diverse than I imagined.

While Findal was talking with Octavia, Grav took it upon himself to inspect the metal that composed the box.

"This is quite a marvelous piece of work. It's far beyond what I'm capable of, both in concept and skill." Grav said to himself.

"If you're admitting that, it must be quite something." Findal told Grav.

"It truely is. It's hard to even put my hand on it, it pushes back against me." Grav continued to praise the craftmanship of the box.

"I noticed that it was pushing back most of the mana around it in the cave. Could that be why?" I asked Grav.

"That could very well be it... But, why? how does something like that exist, nearly everything in the world should have mana and manakyte in it. Even the most impure of materials."

During that voiced thought, Octavia came through the door. Apparently she was already close by. She looked around for a moment before noticing me.

"Gen? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I got a job here, I work for Grav." I told her.

"Oh congrats! Well, Findal, what is it you needed me to take a look at?" She asked Findal.

He pointed to the box we were huddled around, Octavia knelt down by it and began to use her magic. She procured a pair of glasses that had multiple levels of magnification.

"Hmm, this is strange, I'm not getting anything from the box itself. I don't believe it has any manakyte in it." She told us, confused.

"Yeah we had a feeling about that Missy, but we're more interested with what's in the box." Grav told her.

"Oh, is it locked or something?" She asked us.

"No, but based on Gen's story, we don't wanna open it." Findal answered.

She nodded and flipped a few lens down in her glasses. She looked around the box for a moment, then she looked shocked. Not half a second passed before she ripped the glasses off and they fell to the ground.

"Gah! It's like staring into the sun!" She yelled out.

"Hey, what did you see?" Findal asked frantically.

"It was so bright... I've never seen anything like it. That amount of mana, from something so small... It shouldn't be possible." She confusingly explained to us.

Grav and Findal looked at me. They must've thought the same thing.

"Hey Kid... Are ya sure yer okay?" Grav asked me, concerned.

"Yeah. Honestly, I feel better than usual." I told him.

"Wait, Gen. Don't tell me... Did you touch what's in that box?" Octavia looked extremely worried.

"Um... No. I just looked at it for a few seconds. But when I felt the mana rush at me, I closed the box."

Octavia got up close and began to use her magic to examine me.

"Something must be wrong." She said. That's not something I want to hear a doctor say.

"W- What's wrong?" I asked.

"Your blood... It has mana." She told me.

"What? But I thought you said I didn't have any manakyte in me." I was confused as to what she meant.

"You still don't. It's just the mana." She clarified.

I thought I would die if too much mana got into my blood steam... Why was I fine? Did this mean I could use magic?

"Does it have an attribute?" I asked her.

"No, it's just mana. No impurities, and no alterations." I guess that means still no magic for me.

"Hey, doesn't that sound an awful lot like what Primal manakyte did?" Findal said to us.

"Yeah, it does don't it..." Grav agreed.

What are they talking about? That wasn't on Grav's label. The highest I saw was pure...

"Have you felt hungry lately Gen? Maybe tired at all today?" Octavia asked me.

Now that I though about it. I was starving before I went in the cave, and even after that fight with the bugs... I just had to catch my breath before I was fine again.

"Not really no. Ever since I found that box, I've been fine." I answered her question.

"I thought so... It appears your body is processing mana differently than other people." She continued to explain what that meant.

"Your body is metabolizing the mana flowing through it, giving you everything you need energy-wise, but the amount of mana isn't decreasing."

"Wait, am I still at risk of my blood... y'know, popping?" I asked her.

"If you mean from this mana, I don't believe so... But, if this really is due to Primal manakyte, there's no medical precedent to go off of. However, you may still get triggered from normal manakyte and mana." She said.

That's Reassuring... But...

"What is that? Primal manakyte, I think you said." I asked them. They keep bringing this up, but I haven't heard the term before.

"It's a ancient remnant of magic." Findal told me.

"The stuff's only ever been talked about in legends, so no one knew if it was real, even among dwarves." Grav continued the explanation.

"If what you encountered really is what we're thinking it is, this is much bigger than just a random encounter in some cave." Octavia said, finishing what the other two started.

...

"What?" I asked.

"Doesn't that seem like a little much to just gloss over like that?" I say, raising my voice slightly.

"Kid, this ain't something you can understand all at once." Grav told me, trying to reason with me.

"Bullshit. Grav, I did what you asked of me. Now, it's your turn. Tell me everything. Starting with humans." I said in a firm voice.

"Kid... You ain't in a position to be acting like this." Grav told me. I could tell from his eyes, he was getting angry.

Tensions were high. Me and Grav were staring holes through each other. But, Findal calmed things by speaking up. He pulled Grav to the side and began to talk to him.

"Grav, you gotta put yourself in Gen's shoes for a second. If he's really never learned about this stuff, and had no mana up until now, this is a huge change. He's probably stressing out. You're one of the only dwarves in the city, you're the only one he can go to for an answer." Findal said.

Grav sighed, then nodded his head.

"Okay, on that note, I've got some reports to go and make. I'll leave out the whole, history-changing discovery for now, so don't worry about getting hounded for that." Findal told us.

"Octavia, I still have to make that delivery to the hospital. Why don't we head over now?" He continued.

"Right, I have to see if there's any documents on something like this." She said. Then she turned to me and place a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry Gen, If there's anything to learn about something like this, we'll find out." On that note, she and Findal left.

"Alright Kid. If ya really want to know, I'll tell ya." Grav told me.

"Yes... I need to know." I answered. Grav sat down and began to speak.

"Okay, here goes..."