I should have died, but the pain told me it was real, as well as the lack of mana in my body. I could feel I was lying on hard rock, but it was too dark to see where.
"[Light]."
I used the ambient magic around me to create a small ball of light to illuminate my surroundings. I was in a dark cave, a small space with no exit in sight.
I cultivated with care, healing myself with magic as I absorbed the mana. Since I no longer had a mana core, I could only flood my body with the mana and hope it would stay. The first to stop was the bleeding.
My body healed itself over time. My bones were patched up, tissue was regenerated, and lost organs recovered. My left leg was still missing, and my brain felt tired, but that would have to do for now.
My healing wasn't perfect. Some parts hadn't healed correctly or at all. Scars littered my body. As I felt my neck where the blade of the axe had touched me, I could feel the massive bump of a huge scar.
My mana core would also recover gradually; it would have to wait before I focused on it. I sat up against a wall of the cave. It was a semi-spherical dome, a meter tall and at least two meters wide. There was no exit, as I'd thought before.
To know how to get out of here, I must remember how I got here.
'Well, that's simple. You blew up your mana core. It should have killed you. Instead, it brought you here.'
A rift through space. All sorts of elemental and ambient mana fill the mana core. It contains most of the mana the body absorbs, but it can only hold so much. My mana core was lime, the norm for fifth-circle magicians.
My mana core was predominantly filled with space magic. I had used a lot of it in my large-scale spells. Blowing up that mana might have created space magic. Or, the blast could have been powerful enough to tear a hole in space-time.
Either way, a spatial portal brought me here. Judging by the fact I was still in a life-supporting environment, I was still on Arclen. The human name for the planet we live on. I hadn't used a blast enough to send me to another planet.
I couldn't feel any familiar magic signatures around, only the signature of dirt. I had to be somewhere deep underground. With my wounds 'patched' up, I began to move with the help of an earthen crutch. While staying put would be better, not knowing your surroundings could be a lot more fatal.
I found a small magic circle at the room's edge. It was a high-level teleportation spell. I was not in a safe place. That type of magic was at least at the eighth circle—or higher. Small magic circles are more complex to make, especially ones like this that anyone can use. I judged that the manufacturer was at least as powerful as the demon.
I would use my mana to teleport to the preset destination on the other side. Logic told me to stay and recover. But I begged to differ.
'What's the worst that could happen?'
I activated the magic circle, leaving enough mana for a return. It was slow, taking 10 seconds before sending me to the other side. Immediately, a wave of nausea rushed over me. My crutch and light hadn't teleported over, so I made new ones.
At first glance, I was still in a cave. I wasn't alone this time—a gigantic, scaly tail connected to an equally giant body. And for the kicker, it had seven wolf heads. It was a mutated Hydra. Hydras were terrible enough, but a mutated one was even worse.
Most adult hydras were seventh-ranked monsters. It took four humans of the same level even to try to defeat one. Mutated hydras could be eighth or even ninth-ranked; they are more than a match for me. I was a fifth-ranked mage.
Thankfully, it was asleep. But unthankfully, the light I conjured woke it up. With no lights in underground caves, it was sensitive. I, being the idiot I am, used up my escape mana to conjure the light and crutch.
It was at least 20 seconds until I got teleported back, accounting for the activation time.
'Maybe this is why I died in my past life. Unnecessary risk.'
As the Hydra stirred, I sent the light to the opposite side of the room. It was a good distraction, drawing attention away from me. But it didn't work; the Hydra was more interested in the new smell in my form than in the bright light.
By now, only 10 seconds had passed, and I was pouring all my mana into the teleportation circle. Only another 10 seconds were between me and survival. Half the Hydra's heads observed me while the other half ripped apart the magical light.
Flicking tongues tasted for my scent. While the Hydra felt confused now, it wouldn't be long before it recognized the smell of prey. The teleportation circle needed more time, which I didn't know I had.
'Five… four… three… two…'
The head closest to me bit down. The Hydra finally recognized me as food. I stood still as the giant maws entrapped me. A faint purple light illuminated the inside of the mouth, and fate stood by my side.
I teleported not a moment too soon. The familiar wave of nausea hit again; this time, only I expected it. I sat down, grabbing the first crutch I had made.
'As long as I need this, I am dead.'
I could regenerate my leg by copying and differentiating my stem cells. But that would take days, if not weeks. Not to mention, I would still be too weak to face the Hydra and live. I could only survive with mana for so long.
Turning mana into air, water, and food was all possible but not healthy. Humans couldn't consume mana or mana-made stuff without suffering from mana overdose. The body can't digest mana. When it does, pure mana is like poison. It damages the body's magic circuits.
I had thought of ways to turn mana into real matter, not imitations. I also thought of using mana to reconfigure atoms and directly manipulate matter. It was all theoretical; I needed to be more skilled, and I needed more mana to do it.
Wind magic would get me air for a week using small cracks in the cave. The enormous cave with the Hydra was also close, roughly 100 meters away. I could use that to get air as well. The magic circle, the maze-like cave structure I noticed, and the Hydra all pointed to this being a dungeon.
A wolf-headed Hydra wouldn't be underground. And only a maniac would hide a valuable magic circle here. It matched up with the eccentricity of dungeon masters.
Being a dungeon also meant the Hydra had been here for a while. Either the dungeon master could manipulate matter, or the cave had ventilation. Both meant connecting to the main cave would get me air. But it also meant that the main cave got fresh air. So, the Hydra couldn't suffocate.
I could survive a week on mana food imitations. They wouldn't cause permanent damage, but I would need food soon. I could get water from air moisture. I only had a week to figure out what to do with my leg, my mana core, and how to get out of here.