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1075 Words
His fingers were clumsy, given he was only able to guide them by looking at them through his spiritual senses, but they found their way to his mana stone belt and traced over the first crystal therein. A few weeks back, he’d been given the last portion of his Tournament rewards, a rush job because Luna had decided to send them into Minkalla a cycle early.
A single rechargeable mana stone that minutely concentrated the mana stored within it, while keeping it attuned to him. From what he’d gathered, it had been the result of a fair amount of research, and Talented crafters working on ways to concentrate mana outside of cultivation, which he suspected may have started because of him.
With the knowledge of how Minkalla worked, it was apparent that it was intended to potentially bond to him as a growth item, and hopefully solve his mana concentration issues. Technically, the stone was already concentrating his mana, and he could use it for a minute increase to his concentration, but it didn’t change what his spirit actually made. If it were a growth item, the hope was that once it was a part of his spirit, the result would be a permanent increase.
At least, that was the idea.
Accordingly, he was cycling the full 2,000 mana it could hold in and out of it as fast as it could manage, trying to ‘use’ it as much as possible. He wouldn’t be able to do so much in combat or while exploring, but an hour or so a day dedicated to using it, and the passive usage that his armor got whenever they were fighting, would hopefully put those two items as prime candidates for bonding.
Once they were all done with their prep work, they started their trek through the halls while watching out for more of the six-limbed monsters, which they encountered every few hundred feet. They were just settling into a rhythm when the tunnel ended, and there was a wide-open expanse that felt endless to their restricted senses.
After carefully exploring the tunnel, they found themselves on a ledge near the top of a massive pit with sheer walls that sunk out of their view.
Testing, Matt found that flying in all forms was restricted in this area.
“No flying, so do we go up or down?” Matt asked the question while trying to send his perception down into the pit.
Aster immediately voted, “We explore the ceiling! Going the wrong way is how you find the best loot, after all.”
Liz waited for Susanne and Matt’s agreement before the four of them started climbing the craggy walls.
Because this was Minkalla, and it seemed to actively restrict them where and however it wanted, they couldn’t even use [Earth Manipulation] to create better handholds in the wall as they climbed.
Still, they were all Tier 11’s, and even having to hold their body weight with one finger was more than doable for them, so climbing was easy enough.
Or it would have been, if they weren’t immediately attacked by a swarm of very hard-to-notice bat creatures.
Matt cast [Hail] a few feet behind them and focused on climbing as Aster, who was still situated in the backpack, yipped as she used his created ice to slaughter the weaker flying monsters.
She had gotten very, very good at using Matt’s ice to deadly effect in their training, and these monsters, while being low Tier 14s, only seemed to have the body strength of a low Tier 12.
Minkalla clearly meant for them to be more an annoyance than a danger for anyone with a few spells that they could cast behind them.
Sadly, the Genesis Energy they received confirmed that supposition, as even after Aster killed dozens of the bats, they got less Genesis Energy than a single hall monster.
When they climbed the few hundred feet to the top of the tunnel, they found nothing of importance, so they started to climb around in a circle before they all felt something moving toward them.
Its presence was generally hidden, but it was so big, it shattered Matt’s [Hail] spell just by flying through it. Wings and fangs were the only general perception that he was able to feel before it landed with a crash on the wall.
Hanging onto a wall as it shook without the feedback from their senses was incredibly disconcerting, but they all managed, even as the monster tried to eat Susanne.
A massive maw snapped forward at her, but she summoned her second manifestation and cut the monster in the mouth without even turning her real body away.
She had to have used her [Hypersonic Edge], as the Tier 14 monster’s tongue and teeth were cleanly sliced through, which let Liz make her first move in Minkalla.
The Tier 14 blood, instead of just falling, froze and started to climb up the monster’s jaws and face.
As the blood started to cover its face, Matt’s spiritual perception was finally able to see that it was some mix of wyvern and bat, possessing a bat’s head but with scales covering its hide.
As it tried to lunge again, Liz’s control over the blood stopped it in its tracks as she summoned more blood out of her glove, creating sanguine spires to halt its advance.
Normally, Liz would then use her blood to strangle or cut the monster’s throat, but this monster was smarter than most, and shook its head back and forth, breaking Liz’s control over the blood and throwing itself away from them.
Through their AI, Liz said, “It has a spell for breaking active spells. I lost control over all the blood that was touching it. Careful. Matt, another [Hail] please.”
He did so and made it as wide as possible to create a net that the monster would have to break through again. As he had that thought, he also cast [Air Manipulation] to lock down the area around them.
If the beast broke spells it passed through, he’d know. Even if he couldn’t get feedback from the spell, he could still sense when it broke.
They started climbing once again but found nothing along the top of the pit where it met the roof.
Aster was disappointed that they didn’t discover any good loot, but her mood perked up as they started climbing back down.
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