Oswald Perchant was both thrilled and dismayed.
He was thrilled because this dungeon had far exceeded his expectations. The Space Mage trainer that sat across from him answered several questions that he had been struggling with for years. He had now found a new path forward. One he was eager to embark upon.
He was dismayed because he had already agreed to become a professor at the Academy of Magic and Term started next week. He would have to leave soon.
"Thank you, teacher." Oswald said with a bow.
That right there amazed him as well. A month ago, he would of thought it ridiculous if he was told that he would hold an undead mage in high esteem and even bow to the man/being in respect.
"Do not trouble yourself." The advanced class trainer said, stopping Oswald from bowing further.
"This will be our last meeting for a while. I will be leaving tomorrow."
The lich nodded. "Keep making progress on the spells and abilities you have selected then."
"I will teacher."
"Good. And if you have time before you leave, I suggest exploring off the path on Fey Nights. There are several unique uses of spatial magic on that map that most people won't be able to appreciate. You may be able to find inspiration from them."
Oswald's eyes lit up in surprise. He had tried the level once and found that he was more interested in the mage tower. It seemed he would have to take another look before he left.
Oswald stowed away the books he had been using and left the training room.
Seeing that his senior sister was still in her meditation room, he decided now would be a perfect time to check out the first level of the dungeon.
He had no desire to conquer it. He had attempted the level 15 version with Lady Winters, Lord Titters, the man's daughter and the captain of his guard. The dungeon was certainly difficult. At first, he thought it had been a ridiculous challenge that was impossible to pass.
After spending a week with his teacher, he realized that there were a lot of spells and abilities that he should be able to use but had yet to unlock. Perhaps with a full party that was at full strength for their level it would be a challenge but doable.
Since his teacher had advised him to explore off the path, he decided that he would go it alone. It wasn't as if he was planning on tackling a boss.
Stepping through the archway he entered that grassy area before the forest.
Oswald closed his eyes and let his senses spread.
Those same eyes snapped back open with intrigue.
He looked to his left and then his right. Stepping off the path, he walked through the grassland.
The further away from the path he ventured the more twisted his sense of direction became. But Oswald was no ordinary mage. His chosen path was that of spatial magic. With the help of his teacher, his senses were starting to become finely tuned in detecting spatial fluctuations. Closing his eyes, he followed his senses.
His body was telling him he was going in the wrong direction and that he needed to turn around, but he pressed forward. With each step he wanted to turn a random direction. It was a struggle to continue forward.
The feeling continued to build until suddenly, it vanished.
Opening his eyes and looking around, Oswald was amazed.
"Incredible." He whispered to himself.
He looked forward and saw the path into the dungeon far ahead of him. He looked behind him and saw the same path far behind him.
"The limits of the dungeon are fused together. If one were to ignore the impulse to turn around, it would be possible to walk forward forever, covering the same terrain over and over. Brilliant. I wonder if something like this could be added to a trapping array. Now that would be something."
Oswald decided to walk towards the forest while on the territory limit of the dungeon.
As he entered the trees the fog settled. He noticed a small compulsion start to gnaw at him. Something was urging him back towards the path.
That was surprising because he knew that when a person stepped off the path, the fog would make it difficult to get back on.
He was intrigued. What was hidden in this area that required the fog to direct him away?
Oswald closed his eyes again and continued walking forward, ignoring the instincts the fog was forcing on him.
After 20 minutes he could feel an anomaly in the space ahead of him. He smiled since the fog was now fairly strong in its urging to turn away. That meant there was certainly something of interest up ahead.
Feeling the anomalies in the space ahead, he pressed forward.
Oswald almost shouted out in surprise when he discovered what the anomaly was. He found a gaunt and sallow looking man. He had mangy hair and worn-out cloth. He was lying on the forest floor surround by several small rocks. He could feel spatial mana flowing through these rocks.
"Hello, are you okay?" Oswald asked, moving towards the circle.
He wasn't concerned about the magical circle. The reason was that the mana was static and unmoving. It wasn't likely to react or trigger anything. It had some unknown function that was currently active. The man inside didn't seem to be in pain.
Oswald reached out but his hand collided into something solid at the border of the circle.
The man on the ground slowly opened his eyes and turned to Oswald. When he saw the mage, excitement covered his face.
"Please, you have to help me. Those Fey trapped me in here. I don't know how to get out."
Oswald considered the situation. The man didn't appear to be a threat. He had no weapons, and he didn't have the look of a caster. Heck, the guy's clothes were almost falling apart on his small frame.
"Let me see what I can do." Oswald said as he started studying the magic circle.
He began to cast a few detection spells as he circled the man.
"Ah, yes. I see. Quite ingenious. It appears you have been trapped in a spatial lock. It is as if you are on an entirely different plane of existence. The only thing that can pass through is air, sound, and images. But it is only locked from the inside. Yes, yes, moving a rock or 2 from the outside should be enough to break the lock. But I wonder. Just hold on another moment my friend."
Oswald took a seat before the largest rock in the circle.
"Yes, I believe I should be able to siphon off a bit of the mana from this circle. Done correctly it may even give a slight boost to my mana reserves. What a treasure."
Oswald closed his eyes and used his own mana to reach out towards the circle. He felt his spatial magic begin to strengthen the circle as his magic fused with the mana powering the lock.
After they intertwined he began to pull his mana back, bringing everything with him.
"Ah! That feels wonderful." Oswald said. He felt his mana core stretch as the excess mana was pulled into him. It quickly assimilated with his own. His core bled off the excess, but it was slightly larger than when he started.
*Crack* *Shatter*
The spatial lock fell to pieces.
Oswald opened his eyes and found the man inside breathing a sigh of relief as he stood up and stretched.
"Thank you for freeing me. I am not even sure how long I was stuck in there. I could use a good bath, but first, I need to find something to eat."
"I have a few things I could share with you." Oswald offered.
"No, you have done more than enough. I also prefer to hunt my own food." The man said while staring directly at the mage.
Oswald noticed his brown eyes begin to turn yellow. The mage took a step back as the man threw back his head.
"HOWWLLLL!"
He then howled at the full moon as his limbs began to lengthen and fur rapidly grew over his body. As his figure swelled his tattered clothes were ripped apart.
Oswald realized what he had done. The spatial lock blocked almost everything, including the energy of the full moon. He had just freed a werewolf on the worst possible night of the month.
The being lowered its head. The man's smile long gone and now replaced with the snarl of wolf.
As the creature lunged toward him, Oswald blinked away 5 meters.
When he reappeared, he was already chanting.
A blade of spatial energy was launched from his staff.
The werewolf dropped to all fours and hugged the ground as it soared over head. In an instant the creature was rushing forward.
Oswald pointed his staff to a nearby tree. A black orb of spatial magic appeared on the trunk as he blinked away just before the werewolf's claws sunk into him.
The beast howled and turned to chase after him, but a strong force ripped him off his paws.
The orb on the tree was drawing everything towards it.
*Crack* *Groan*
The tree itself began to shake and collapse in on the small ball of magic.
The werewolf tried to run away but was slowly being dragged towards the magic.
It suddenly rolled to the side as another spatial blade came flying towards it.
The creature let out a yelp. It had rolled closer towards the magic.
One of its arms held a nearby tree but its other was being pulled into the orb.
With a pain yelled, the beast started gnawing on its shoulder much to Oswald shock. With a ferocious howl, the werewolf bit its arm off. The dead limb was sucked into the orb of magic.
With its good arm still around the tree the beast pulled itself away from the ball with a murderous gaze in its eyes.
The beast heard a loud crack behind him but paid no mind. The sound made Oswald want to curse. His spell was over.
The black ball of magic exploded, propelling the werewolf forward at an incredible speed.
Oswald was barely too slow and wasn't able to blink away. A large claw shredded through his robes and shattered the bones in his chest.
He fell to the ground as the one-armed creature howled towards the moon. Its jaws opened wide as it then came towards his neck.
*Slice* *Spalt*
A large spatial blade entered its mouth and split the top of its head from his lower jaw. The beast fell limp, but Oswald's vision went dark a moment later as he passed away.