Quintessence of Arcana

The Start of the Hunt

Mana.

If one were to define it in the simplest terms, it could also be called as 'magic essence'.

Excluding some unusual cases, all living beings around the continent generally possessed some amount of mana. This type of energy is 'innate' and can be similarly compared to one's life force.

However, an individual’s growth potential in this aspect is usually dictated by one’s inborn talents or bloodlines. Those who possess great talent in this aspect are able to utilize a more effective skill—which is Magic.

Pretty much everyone who used this power ‘professionally’ would say the same thing: it’d be for the best if one started training their mana as early in their lives as possible. This advice wasn’t simply meant to imply the fact that one’s amount of mana would increase from the training. One would also get to train the pathways in their bodies where the mana flowed, the so-called 'Mana Veins'.

Someone born with a great deal of this energy needed to pay close attention when they started their training. There had been several cases where the fragile Mana Veins couldn’t endure the circulation of the mana and tore up. In some cases, their Mana Veins were destroyed completely.

Just as one would temper the steel repeatedly to remove impurities as much as possible, the ‘Mana Veins’ would also strengthen gradually as a manageable amount of mana constantly flowed through the pathways. Thus, training oneself from early on was indeed the right call to make.

However, the situation Erald faced was quite complicated. Not in a bad way, but in a 'bizarre' sense.

His powers manifested just recently. Although he had practiced 'mana manipulation' in just several weeks, the amount of energy he could wield had grown by a lot. Furthermore, his body is already used to the presence of mana, allowing him to utilize it almost subconsciously.

If one could grade Erald's progress, he already surpassed the 'standard limit' a beginner like him could attain.

But right now, he had a bigger problem...

“Mmh...”

Erald’s sight was blurry. He blinked several times, causing a pooled secretion to glide off his face.

He could hear the wet, splashing noises every time he tried to move. It almost felt like he was wading in a puddle of water or thick mud. His entire body felt sticky and heavy. Erald cautiously pushed his upper body up from his position, only to begin retching out urgently.

“Pwack...!”

The bitter, acrid odor of dried blood and the rotting stench of filth combined to assault his nose. Erald continued to vomit for a while, and after recovering, he noticed all the filthy secretion and excrement filling up the spot he was in. A deep frown formed on his face.

There was rotting black blood filled with remnants of his peeled skin; sickly yellow liquid that could be either his sweat or puss; real, bona fide crap; and finally, completely unidentifiable floating hardened pieces of something...

All these disgusting and smelly excrements were all scattered around his spot. There were so much of these 'substances' in the tub, that Erald could scarcely believe that they all came out of his own body.

“Good thing I'm near a body of water..”

Erald held his breath as he decided to take a bath to a river nearby his location. He had a feeling that, once he leaves this area, taking a bath like this would be a luxury he might not be able to afford in a while. Also, he wanted to get rid of all the dirty things off him as soon as possible, too.

He proceeded to dipped his body down in the cold water. He stayed there for over 30 minutes and scrubbed his whole body clean twice. Only then did he feel fully refreshed. Before long, though, he fell into quiet contemplation. Now that he got rid of all the disgusting things off of him, it was time to confirm the progress of his training.

“Mm..?”

He realized that the flow of his mana had become even smoother. Even though he never felt the flow was slow to begin with, it was still akin to someone who once used a horse before moving to a car after discovering the disparity of their speed.

Erald soon figured out the reason from checking out his Mana Veins. Not only was his Mana core slightly expanded, but the overall length of his Mana Veins had become longer as well. Also, the impurities blocking the pathway had been cleared away, which effectively meant that the overall width of the Veins had increased by several folds, too.

More importantly, since the amount that could flow through the Mana Veins increased, the vigor at which it flowed also strengthened in turn.

If he were to compare his previous flow of mana to a cute little stream of water trickling out from a valley, now it was like a majestic river that snaked and raged around quite freely.

And indeed, he found it even easier to control his mana. Goosebumps broke out from his skin after he realized how refreshing it felt as the energy spread around and enter even the tiniest acupuncture points all over his body.

From hereon, Erald would be able to output far more mana than what his current level alluded to.

It had been several weeks since Shea, his Grimoire's spirit, undergone into the state of hibernation. During these times, Erald continue his training all by himself under the imparted guidance of the spirit.

He had been trapped in this dungeon for almost a month. Now that he finally completed his training, he would be able to counter and withstand the dangers of this place while finding a way out.

.........................

Twin-tailed Wolves are white-furred creatures that made their dens in certain parts of the dungeon floor. They usually moved together in packs of four to six. Alone, they were among the weakest of the monsters that roamed the floor, so they always acted in groups. This pack was no exception, and was a group of four.

They wandered the corridors for a while until finding what they deemed a suitable hunting spot and all hid behind different boulders. All that remained was to wait for prey to fall into their trap. One of the wolves slipped between a small crack in a nearby boulder and the wall, then erased its presence. It licked its lips in anticipation, imagining the flesh it would soon feast on, when suddenly it felt a rather odd sense of unease.

As the wolves’ key to survival was their cooperation, the members of a pack all shared a peculiar link with each other. It wasn’t as straightforward as telepathy, but they were basically able to tell what the rest of their pack was doing and where they were. And it was that link that tipped the wolf off. They were a pack of four, and yet the wolf could only sense two of its other companions. The wolf that should have been lying in wait on the other end of the corridor suddenly vanished.

Suspicious, the wolf slowly rose on its haunches, when suddenly another one of its comrades howled. The wolf that was hiding on the same side of the wall as the one that had disappeared was feeling a sense of impatience. It was caught in something and trying to escape, but seemed unable to do so.

The two wolves on the other side of the corridor rose to go to its aid. But then the struggling wolf’s presence suddenly vanished as well.

Confused, the two wolves rushed over to the far side, but found no one there. Bewildered at the turn of events, the two wolves put their snouts to the ground and began sniffing the area their pack members had been in moments ago.

However, their assailant had predicted their confusion, as well as their hesitation. And their precious few moments of confusion were enough for him to strike them.

“Graaaah!?” The two wolves howled angrily as they found themselves being stabbed quickly by a sharp object. It acted like a blade that slashed them with ease, and only the echoes of their screams remained.

It was, of course, Erald who had struck down the four wolves. Ever since he had resolved to leave this place, he had spent each day in ceaseless training, ignoring his pain and hunger. His mana-enhanced physique seemed to restore his strength and senses, allowing him to engaged in combat twenty-four seven. He worked on his speed, his precision, and his range. He also honed the only weapon he possessed. That weapon was, of course, a stick enhanced with mana.

Thanks to his focused training for almost a month, his skills increased far more rapidly than they had been until now. It gave him enough reason to wander around the dungeon, while finding a way out.

That was when he had found the pack of Twin-tailed Wolves.

“Still alive, are we?” Erald grinned wolfishly as he peered down at the immobilized monsters down at his feet. They were all whimpering softly, panic evident in their eyes.

He pointed his enhanced-stick down at the wolves as he said that. He thrust down, and felt their tough fur and skin deflect his weapon.

“So I can’t stab through, huh? Well, I expected that, though.”

In fact, the stronger a monster got, the tougher its outer hide was, usually. Obviously there were species that were exceptions to the rule, but as Erald spent all his time studying this place, he knew that a normal knife or sword wouldn’t penetrate the hides of monsters at this level.

And that was why he began to twist the two feet-long stick, while applying a steady downward pressure. The spiral-shaped tip began to rotate as he twisted. He had made a drill to pierce the thick hide of monsters.

He pushed the weight of his entire body down into the drill as he turned it with his right hand. Slowly but surely, the drill began to penetrate the wolf’s thick hide.

The wolf howled in pain.

Finally, the drill pierced the flesh of the wolf. And Erald mercilessly gouged out its insides. The wolf screamed in agony as it died. Its howls lasted for a while, until suddenly, it spasmed and grew still.

“Alright, with this I finally have some food.”

Erald smiled happily as he drilled the other three wolves to death. Once they were all dead, Erald dragged their corpses up to him, then began awkwardly peeling away their fur with one hand.

After that, driven by his hunger, he began to devour them. He cut a ghastly figure as he tore into their flesh, illuminated dimly by the blue light of the crystals around the place. He greedily devoured the creature, without bothering whether it is cooked or not.

“Gah... tastes like s**t!”

He spat curses, but that didn’t stop him from eating the wolf. His entire mind was focused on his meal.

The flesh was tough and stringy, and the fresh blood clogged his throat, but he tore at the meat and swallowed it all happily nonetheless. It was his first time tasting food in almost a month. His stomach protested at the sudden infusion of flesh, and resisted its ingestion. But Erald didn’t care what his stomach thought, so he continued devouring the creature down.

Erald looked just like a feral monster. Any modern human would have found his current figure repulsive.