Nico's eyelids fluttered open, heralding an intense light.
The brown-haired boy instinctively winced.
What was going on?
The last thing he recalled was a clash of light and darkness before his awareness had turned faint.
Had he died? Or did he somehow miraculously survive the strange ordeal?
Slowly, carefully, he attempted to blink once, twice, thrice.
Finding that he could indeed open and shut his eyes, a sense of relief welled within Nico.
He had survived!
But what of his wound inflicted by the Dungeon Boss?
As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light, he attempted to investigate…
[I wouldn't do that if I were you.]
… but froze after he heard a voice reverberate within his head.
Nico's heart skipped a beat.
He flinched, his eyes widening.
'Who?!!' he thought.
[Relax. I mean you no harm.]
'Who are you?' Nico repeated in a slightly calmer tone.
Hearing voices in his head was not what he had expected to happen after he somehow cheated certain death.
'Have I gone mad?'
[Probably. Considering you were stupid enough to fight the Dungeon Boss by yourself.]
Sensing the brown-haired boy's alarm, the voice hurriedly continued:
[My apologies, your thoughts were unshielded, so I automatically received them through our mental connection. As for your earlier question, I'm the Descender on standby if anything happens. Ah, you're not aware since you were obviously on the brink of death, but you're inside the Dungeon Core right now… ]
A surprised expression appeared on the brown-haired boy's face.
Before he could even ask, the telepath answered:
[That half-blood friend of yours came in really clutch. If he had arrived even a minute later, you would have been gone. Remember to thank him later for me… he's currently trying to form a core.]
A warm feeling bloomed in Nico's chest, grateful to have a companion like Leon.
The latter part of the psychic's words then prompted him to try and inspect his surroundings in greater detail, but the man hurriedly cut him off:
[For Fate's sake, will you stop moving?! I dealt with your wound so that it isn't life-threatening, but it's still a grievous injury, nonetheless. I would advise against moving too much. Another thing, while I was treating you, I discovered traces of lingering mana on the wound, so be prepared to face some extra difficulty.]
The brown-haired boy cracked a sheepish grin at the telepath's reproachful tone. He mentally thanked the Descender through the mental connection, receiving a short and simple "You're welcome" in return.
Reflecting on the latter part of the telepath's words, Nico frowned.
Having received two doses of the mythical energy, his chances of forming a core had now significantly lowered, with the difficulty of success rising exponentially.
Still, he couldn't be picky.
In the end, what mattered was that he was alive.
[I'm glad to see you have your priorities straight… Now, before I listen to any more of your thoughts, I have one final thing to say: you have six hours before the time limit of the Ceremony ends. Do your best to form a core in that time, youngster. May Fate be with you.]
With that… Nico sensed the telepath's presence within his mind disappear.
He blinked, the mystical display of power amazing him.
The fact that someone had been privy to all his internal thoughts only dawned on him a moment later.
The brown-haired boy ground his teeth, pushing down the wave of shame and anger that erupted in the wake of the late realisation.
Nico then sighed… the words "six hours" reverberating through his mind like a raging storm.
'Blasted Fates! That's barely enough time!'
The formation of a Mana Core was not something he could rush.
Acting hastily would only spell his doom.
Taking a deep breath to calm his chaotic mind, the brown-haired boy first inspected his surroundings.
A vast, cavernous space countless times larger than any of the corridors he had travelled through unfolded before his gaze.
Numerous youths dotted its expanse, seated cross-legged with their brows furrowed. Around them, the very air seemed to shimmer with an iridescent hue, as if containing the whole spectrum of colour.
Nico shifted his gaze toward the ceiling and found that just like the air, the stalactites above glowed with an ethereal hue, shining with the luminous hue of a rainbow.
It was a magical scene… and one that continued to impress Nico the more he looked at it.
After a few seconds of observation, his gaze drifted naturally to the source of all the bright light, right in the centre of the chamber.
The strange object had eight faces, twelve edges and six vertices.
It hovered a few meters above the ground, held up by an enigmatic, mysterious, and mystical force.
Its contours were sleek as if it could not possibly possess any imperfection. Its transparent exterior was crafted from a heavenly ore, emitting a soft, iridescent glow, like the one all around him.
The only difference was that the supernatural phenomenon appeared to be much more concentrated within its crystalline confines.
The opalescence seemed to writhe chaotically, but within that mayhem, lay a strange sense of order… as if it were following one of the natural laws.
'Fates…'
This was probably what was powering the whole Dungeon and its erratic shifting, Nico realised with a jolt.
Behind the sparkling crystal, a rift in space squirmed and thrashed. Gazing at the portal, the brown-haired boy surmised that the mystical tear was their way out of the otherworldly realm.
Nico exhaled, his breath creating a disturbance in the sparkling air.
As he shifted slightly, breaking out of his reverie, it was only then that he noticed his back was up against a wall.
Looking down, he saw numerous bloody bandages covering his midsection.
The boy grimaced, his mind just registering the fiery pain contained within his stomach.
Ignoring the discomfort, Nico took another breath before promptly closing his eyes.
'Focus.'
As he had done so many times before, he slowly crossed his legs and turned his focus inward.
Repeating the process of mediation, the brown-haired boy expected himself to be met with extreme resistance.
Fortunately for him - or unfortunately for the mass of darkness sealed within his heart - that was not the case.
No, it was strangely smooth sailing.
Nico decided not to try to decipher why this was so, although he had his guesses.
Most notable among them was the theory that now that he knew Cedric was not dead, the strength of the negative feelings gained from that encounter had lessened somewhat.
…Enough that his worry of being unable to achieve inner peace no longer plagued his mind.
Doing his best to meditate, the brown-haired boy prepared to begin the procedure which would help him embark on the path toward the divine.
***
A Mana Core.
A supernatural reservoir where a person's mana naturally converged to and was stored within.
The Mana Core was also a device that its wielder could use to refine ambient or impure mana into their own.
It was an essential facet in the numerous mystical societies all over the world.
Particularly, in the Human Territory, where the onus was on them to form a core from scratch, rather than simply being born with it like a few members of the other Major Races had.
As a result, there were fewer ascended humans amongst the warriors of Crelerath compared to the other races.
Still, what the humans lacked in privilege at birth, they more than made up for it with their ingenuity and elemental comprehension.
That was a fact the Major Races had learned… the hard way.
Furrowing his brows as he concentrated, Nico attempted to sense the mana in the air.
Since the Dungeon Core had the greatest concentration of mythical energy within the Dungeon, not to mention its abundance of pure mana - which couldn't be stressed enough when one sought to form a core - it provided the perfect environment for aspiring warriors to work with.
Usually, sensing mana as a mundane human was all but impossible… since Mana Sense was only unlocked after the formation of one's core.
Still, the task the youths faced was made considerably easier because of the high density of pure mythical energy found inside the Dungeon Core.
Nico perceived a strange, mysterious, powerful energy in the air.
It appeared to be dormant, but he knew that if disturbed, or drawn upon, that energy could cause calamitous damage.
To his mundane senses, the sensation was a bit disorientating, but he persisted nonetheless, for too much was on the line for him to fail here.
He would rise above all challenges.
He had to.
After all, the responsibility of preventing and stopping the end Cedric had envisioned fell on his shoulders, and his shoulders alone.
Nico had no intention of shirking that duty.