Messing up my sleep schedule was not the bestest of idea
~~
Hiking up the mountain, I took a couple of breaks along the way, realizing that an untrained body tires out easily.
"I really should do some muscle training," I muttered and started to gather my things, continuing my ascent. However, I decided not to follow the trail and instead ventured into the woods, finally encountering a cave after an hour of walking.
Arriving at the cave entrance, I looked around the surroundings to confirm that this was the right place, and after confirming it, I entered without hesitation.
Inside the cave, many crystals formed as the thick mana in the atmosphere roamed, but something was preventing the mana in the air from escaping out of the cave.
This cave was a gold mine in itself, and the reason why miners had not found this cave yet was because of the normality of the mana atmosphere around the mountain. They would try to find a dense amount of mana on the surface first before looking around for a cave.
Of course, with this much mana, there would be consequences.
"KYAA!" Eight goblins appeared, each holding a pickaxe, presumably mining the mana crystal.
"Paralysis:edit." A bolt hit the center of the group, and after impact, a burst of electricity hit seven of them, leaving one standing.
Looking at their comrade's state, fear overcame him, and he started running away.
"Mana dart." But his retreat was cut short by the apparent hole that had appeared on his head. Turning my attention towards the paralyzed group.
"Mana dart."
-
Following the path down the cave, I encountered many monsters along the way—wolves, giant bats, etc. The deeper I went, the thicker the mana atmosphere was, indicating I was on the right path.
Soon, I discovered a giant door marked with carvings all over it, though most of them could not be interpreted and could be passed off as scrambling.
This is a dungeon's boss door. Many dungeons have bosses usually at a depth of 10 meters from the surface. Beating such bosses rewards the heroes with gear and artifacts.
After mentally preparing myself and forming a plan, I touched the doors and they opened themselves.
*CRACK* The sound of the door and ground grinding filled the silence, and on the other side was revealed to be a dark room.
"Fuuu." Taking a deep breath, I entered the room, hearing the heavy door close behind me. I continued to stare into the darkness in front of me. Soon, candles became lit, revealing the room.
A throne at the very end of the room, and a skeleton wearing a robe sat upon it. As if sensing my presence, the hollow eyes became lit with green fire as he looked directly at me.
"It's truly been centuries since I've seen a human, but also a mage with that much mana pool," an old voice came from the skeleton as it stood up from his throne.
"But your greed for the promised treasure ends here!" He summoned a staff and slammed it to the ground, reverberating the sound across the room.
"Paralysis:edit." Without words, I instantly created many minefields of Paralysis orbs around me.
"Interesting." The lich slammed his staff once more and summoned skeleton soldiers. "Go," commanded by the lich, the soldiers rushed at me.
"Mana dart:edit." A single dart rushed towards the soldiers and split into several ones, each aiming at a different skeleton.
Feeling mana gathering below me, I dashed forward and dodged a giant ghostly hand rising.
"Excellent sense!" The lich commended me and continued firing spells.
"Mana bolt." A superior version of Mana dart was fired at me.
Reacting a bit too late, I was grazed on the shoulder. Feeling the burning pain, I took a sharp breath to concentrate and commanded all my paralysis mines to aim for the lich.
"Hahahaha! Barrier." As if enjoying my futile attempt, he laughed in joy.
Trying to close the space between us, I dashed toward him.
"Mana dart:edit." I aimed at his barrier, and after impact, it created a heavy smoke cloud.
"Your little game of guerrilla warfare is useless," the lich said as he waited for the smoke to clear up. "As soon as you enter my room, your death is certain."
"Mana dart:edit." A huge amount of mana left Ethan's body as a Mana dart infused with holy attributes left my body. Hearing Ethan's spell, the lich simply lifted his barrier once more but felt his danger senses come to full alert.
Before even being able to react, a golden mana dart pierced through the smoke and broke the barrier. A giant explosion of golden brilliance scattered the smoke as the only thing left in the lich's position was a pile of dust and his robe.
Making sure that I really killed the lich, I collapsed to the ground from physical and mana exhaustion.
--
Ethan Smith
Health: 25/50
Mana: 2000/10000
Rank: F-
Potential: Cannot be detected
Art: Paralysis, Mana Dart
--
I'd used too many edited spells to win that fight, wasting 8000 mana. Retrieving a water bottle, I slowly drank it as I recovered my stamina.
After recovering enough, I walked to the lich's corpse and took a look at his robe.
--
Sage's Robe
Effect: Once worn, it will increase mana regeneration, raise the potency of spells, and greatly raise the potency of necromancy spells
--
Though the effects were great, looking at its tattered condition, it wouldn't last close to a month. And Necromancy spells are considered taboo, the mage-world equivalent of biological warfare. Well... non-biological warfare since it's about the dead and all.
Deciding to deal with it later, I threw it into my bracelet and looked at the lich's remaining.
--
Enchanted Bone Dust
Crafting Ingredient
--
"The alchemy guild will love this." I stored all the dust in an empty water bottle and finally turned my attention toward the throne or, to be specific, what was behind the throne.
Walking past the throne revealed another door. Entering it, I found a workshop of sorts. Many books were scattered around, but two books stood out from the rest, one pristine-looking book on a table and another floating in the middle of the room.
Wanting to leave the more interesting one for last, I decided to look at the book on the table.