Ramiel awoke, and he first felt a dull pain along his spine. He had slept upright for seven long hours, which took its toll on him twice. At this point, he envied Asme's hard floor.
" Wait... where did she go? - Leaning back, Ramiel felt a resistance.
Turning his head, he saw Asme's back. The woman was sleeping in the same position as he was. They had most likely spent the night together, leaning against each other.
At first, Ramiel was puzzled. He tried to understand why the woman acted this way, but that was something only she knew. This didn't change the fact that he was a tad grateful to her.
He stood up and placed the two women next to each other. He had to admit that Asme was having a hard time sleeping. As for the fairy... Her ability to stay in the hair of the bond bordered on the supernatural. If she didn't come down from there herself, it was almost impossible to pull her down.
Ramiel threw the last pieces of wood into the fire and began to roast the meat. Since he had found a source of food, he tried to eat three meals a day.
" I'd better hurry, I'm on a tight schedule. " - Ramiel muttered while grilling the meat. This wasn't an inexhaustible excuse. He really had a lot planned for today.
First, he needed to improve his mana techniques.
Second, the vision of bathing in a body-strengthening lake seemed tempting.
Third, he wanted to send skeletons to the cave with rabbits to gather vegetables and fruits, not to mention cutting down some withered trees. As it happens, wood is one of the many resources he needs in an emergency.
The last thing on the long list is training goblins. It would be foolish not to do it. Stronger soldiers will directly give him more room to maneuver. Besides, who knows, maybe in the near future he will find weapons somewhere in the abyss to equip them decently. After all, along with the evolution of the dungeon, there should be a new branch of the abyss.
Soon Ramiel finished preparing the food and hid most of it in the space ring. He didn't plan to return to the dungeon all day; additionally, an extra meal would always be handy.
He left the rest to Asme and Caera along with the medicine.
" Rascal, gather the goblins, I want to go to the Abyss in ten minutes. " - Ramiel made sure his voice reached the second floor of the dungeon.
The goblin chief leaned his head out from behind the stairs as a sign that he understood and proceeded to organize his subordinates. Ramiel had to admit one thing, Rascal was doing an excellent job of his duties.
~~~~~~
An hour later, Ramiel was standing naked in front of the lake. Meanwhile, the skeletons were busy gathering resources under the protection of the goblins.
" Are you sure this will help me? " - Ramiel was rather skeptical about the idea of bathing in the lake. He already felt the chill of the water's surface. It is worth mentioning that he hasn't entered yet.
" Don't frown! You should get benefits from it. " - replied the fairy and added in a hushed voice. "If you don't get cold. "
" If I don't freeze? " - Ramiel repeated. His eyebrow raised.
" I said don't freeze! " - Avi rolled eyes and pointed to the water's surface. " Look at the fish and take an example from them! They are swimming and doing well. I don't see them turning into ice cubes or anything like that. "
Ramiel fumed, hearing the logic behind the fairy's arguments.
" Stop acting like a little child and jump into the lake! Maybe the baby is afraid of a bit of cold water? He He " - Avi seized the opportunity and laughed at the man. Nevertheless, her happiness didn't last long.
Ramiel caught the fairy in flight with a quick movement.
" If I have to go to the bottom, you come with me. " - The man sounded cool and didn't look like he was joking.
Avi's eyes widened and she tried with all her might to free herself, but Ramiel's grip was too strong.
" Let me go! You can't do that! This is cold! I curse you! " - Avi shouted desperately trying to save herself.
" Oh... It's just water... You don't have to be scared, or maybe the baby is afraid to get wet? " - Ramiel repaid the favor. He had to curb the fairy's infantile behavior somehow, otherwise he wouldn't be able to deal with her in the future.
" YOU?!" - Avi shouted in protest, but it didn't help her much. Ramiel had just stepped into the lake.
He grunted unpleasantly as soon as he touched the water mirror. Suddenly, an intense rain shower passed through the former hunter's body, causing a piercing pain. Ramiel felt as if millions of needles, piercing him from all sides. The man's entire nervous system was paralyzed in an instant.
Avi cleverly used the momentary shock to break free of the iron grip. As a precaution, she flew high under the vault. She didn't want to be caught again.
After a few minutes, the shock passed and Ramiel regained feeling, but the pain remained.
This is only one foot... what will happen if I dive? - The question echoed through the man's mind. Contrary to expectation, he didn't get an answer.
In that case, Ramiel was left with no choice but to take a deep breath and dive all the way down to his neck. Contrary to what he expected, the second approach was without unpleasant surprises. Apparently, the shock was a one-time thing and acted more as a deterrent to monsters and wild beasts than a real threat. Of course, the pain still remained, but it is now incomparably less.
Ramiel noticed another change, namely that his sensations were different. The lake provided him with a strange sense of security. Even the water no longer seemed so cold, on the contrary, it was warm.
Could it be that my brain couldn't handle the dose of pain and turned off some of the stimuli? - The ridiculous theory quickly passed through the man's mind and died even faster. History has recorded similar cases, but they usually preceded superhuman feats or occurred shortly before death.
Rather, the former hunter wasn't dying, yet....
Ramiel relaxed and began to enjoy the bath. Slowly, he felt the water penetrate deep into his body, targeting mainly man's internal organs. It was a rather peculiar sensation, but pleasant in its own unique way.
Wanting to use the time as objectively as possible, he concentrated on increasing mana reserves. He closed eyes and looked into himself.
So far, the circulation of energy is running smoothly. Saying more, he noted a slight improvement under the influence of the refined water.
Ramiel's attention shifted to the mana vortex inside the body. First and foremost, he needed to stabilize it before doing anything with it. Currently, the mana particles inside the vortex were moving chaotically.
This couldn't go on any longer. In the current state, delivering more mana was like walking around with a ticking bomb in the chest.
But let's not look too far into the future. First, the former hunter has to slow down the vortex's speed and change its internal structure, which is a bit problematic.
Rebuilding the vortex wasn't the easiest task. Simply arranging the mana particles to move in a certain pattern is almost impossible for a simple reason.
Mana is inherently chaotic and capricious, even after being transformed into a more stable variant of internal mana, it is difficult to control. Proficient handling of mana requires long and rigorous training. If we are talking about some higher level, it will take at least years. The shortcut is to understand energy better, but that too is difficult and demanding.
So, you can imagine what kind of hell happens inside the vortex, where the inner mana mixes with the outer mana. The two equal, but at the same time different types of energy, are balanced on a shaky line, where even a millimeter's deviation could mean disaster.
Nevertheless, it isn't without reason that Ramiel on Earth is regarded among specialists as a true genius. He has found a solution to this.
In order to gain control of the vortex, Ramiel created something like thin tubes inside it. As you can easily guess, they were made of internal mana and provided a path for external mana to move through.
Here another problem arose. If the tube was too thick, the density of the mana particles ruptured it. If it was too thin, it failed to perform.
Finding the golden mean was difficult, but not impossible. When Ramiel found the right thickness, he repeated the procedure thousands of times. There are about ten thousand tubes per small vortex.
This allowed him to gain relative control over both types of mana within the vortex and thus stabilize it. Relatively, because he cannot directly bend the external mana to his will. Instead, he could reduce its speed by influencing the internal mana contained in the tubes.
The next step was to increase the size of the vortex.
This was much simpler. Ramiel simply had to put more into a specific rotational motion. Then all he had to do was create additional tubes. A medium-sized vortex has about seventeen thousand of them.
The former hunter took a deep breath and had already moved on to the last step planned for today, namely he wanted to create a second vortex.
Unfortunately, he couldn't place it where he wanted it, the first two vortexes had to be placed in parallel with a small distance between them. Otherwise, they would fight each other.
Ramiel was a bit apprehensive about this stage; it was risky. In the past, he had experimented a lot to achieve the desired result, often ending up bedridden for long weeks.
The main obstacle was the suction force of the first vortex. The man had to reduce it while maintaining a steady flow of particles and not disrupting the circulation of mana outside the vortex.
The task seemed theoretically impossible. However, this isn't the first time a former hunter has accomplished something that defies logic.
With luck, I should succeed the first time. - Ramiel thought and began to create a second vortex near his right chest. The internal battle he was waging at the time was long and fierce.
There were many times when the larger vortex narrowly missed devouring its smaller counterpart. The man had to double and triple his efforts to prevent the worst from happening.
However, his efforts paid off.
Finally, after immeasurable hours, Ramiel succeeded. He created and stabilized the second vortex. It cost him a lot of nerves, but it was worth it. Now he had two independently functioning mana generators.
The former hunter opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. It may seem strange, but he was grateful for the refined water. It had a significant share in the success he had achieved.
In a strange and unexplainable way, the snow-white variety of mana within it affected the chaotic disposition of the energy inside Ramiel. From the man's perspective, it looked as if the third type of energy acted as a big brother, keeping his younger siblings in order in the absence of their parents.
He was sure of one thing: without the influence of the noble energy, the two vortexes would have destroyed each other.
Ramiel stretched and looked at the magic hourglass. The sand indicated the passage of seven hours.
So only seven? I expected at least twelve. Apparently, I underestimated the impact of the lake. - Ramiel thought.
The man rose and shoved the flowers of the Ice Touch Lily away. All the plants gathered around him. This was another strange thing that happened today.
He was careful not to damage any of the plants. Apparently, some of them are on the verge of transforming into a more advanced variant. At least that's what Avi says.
The former hunter can't tell the difference, but that's why he has a fairy for such tasks.
When Ramiel emerged from the lake, he examined his body carefully. The changes that had taken place in him were noticeable to the naked eye.
The muscles had gained mass and become more compact, the skin had become duller and seemed as hard as ice. His eyesight improved, he could now see farther and the image seemed sharper. The man also seemed to tolerate the low temperatures better now. This might have something to do with his resistance to the ice element, but he could only verify that in the dungeon core.
Ramiel stretched prophylactically and noticed another change. The muscles, in addition to increasing in volume, had become more flexible and stretchy.
The former hunter was even more anxious to check the status window. He had a strange feeling that he would be pleasantly surprised.
Contrary to what he thought at first, the lake turned out to be a real treasure. With it, the man should progress faster. At his current pace, he should be back to peak form in four years.
It will be interesting to see how much Asme and Caera will improve after one session in the lake. Their result shouldn't be worse than mine. I'll have to check it out later. - Ramiel came up with an interesting idea.
He didn't want to monopolize the lake just for himself. If his subjects could develop, why should he prevent them from doing so? That would be foolish and unreasonable.
Wasting no time, Ramiel set out to find the goblins. He needed to teach them the basics of mana manipulation and train them in teamwork.
He didn't expect them to understand anything, but it was always worth a try. His greatest hope lay with Rascal. The goblin chief showed great potential.
Up to a certain stage, monsters would intuitively use mana to enhance their attacks. Sometimes, in the early stages, some exceptions were able to form simple spells and later turned them into skills.
When Ramiel began his adventure as a hunter, he fought many goblins, but only a few of them could cast spells. But Rascal is no ordinary goblin, he has also undergone evolution.
His train of thought can be compared to a teenager, only speaking doesn't come out too well.
Upon arriving at the place, Ramiel gathered his little nursery. He delegated the skeletons to slave labor and told the goblins to listen carefully.
The result obtained after the first session didn't surprise the former hunter. It happened more or less as he predicted, only Rascal understood the intricate basics of mana. Besides him, there was another green creature who grasped something, but the knowledge assimilated by him turned out to be too little to do anything.
" At least it's better than expected. If you spend another hour on goblin number 3, I think he might be able to cast a simple spell. By the way, isn't that the same goblin with the curly light beam? "
Avi aptly pointed out.
" It's the same one, I'm curious what kind of evolution it will receive. It has a good flexible body, it can be a good assassin or scout. "
Ramiel looked at the other two with pity.
" I don't have high hopes with them. "The one with the long arms is good for a spearman. As for goblin number 1, I have no idea what will become of him. I think I'll just give him a sword with a shield... "
Ramiel stopped halfway. His jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what he saw. The number one goblin he had written off had just used a green vine spell.
" Oh? Could you repeat what you think of him? Because in my opinion, he will grow up to be a gifted nature mage. " - Avi wallowed in the shortsightedness of the bond.
" Are you really not going to eat for a whole week? " - Ramiel quickly came up with a counter.
" Hmpf, this is blackmail! " - Avi crossed her arms over her chest.
" Yes, and what are you going to do about it, complain to the police? " - The corners of the man's mouth lifted in a mocking smile.
" ... "
" I think so too ... " - Before Ramiel could finish the angry fairy sunk her teeth into his neck. This happened every time she lost an argument.
" Let me guess, are you hungry again? "
Ramiel didn't get an answer. He left Avi alone and focused back on the goblins, giving them another lesson.
Rascal turned out to be skilled in the elements of fire and earth. After many attempts, goblin number three managed to create a simple wind spell, increasing agility in a short period of time.
In return, goblin number 1 manifested an understanding of the element of nature. The vines he conjured from the ground were able to immobilize the Night Ripper for three seconds. Of course, we're talking about the young ones they recently fought.
goblin number 2 fared the worst of them all. He was a rare case of talentlessness. The former hunter decided to go with his previous thought and give him a spear, if he could find any in the abyss, of course.
With that, Ramiel ended today's expedition. He ordered the skeletons and goblins to take the raw materials he had gathered and they all set off on their way back. He could have hidden everything in the space ring, but he decided that additional training would be useful for the young soldiers.
In the meantime, he created several balls of dark matter that orbited around him. In this way, he worked on increasing his mana reserves. Now, with two whirlwinds, he can afford a little more.
~~~~~~
In the meantime, an interesting conversation took place in the maze.
" So... you mean to tell me that he did something so crazy for me? " - A blushing Caera lowered her eyes.
" I don't know the details, but Avi shouted something about a strong monster protecting mandragora. By the way, she also called Ramiel an imbecile and a mentally retarded donkey. " - Asme replied, combing the other woman's hair.
" But that's not all. When you lost consciousness, he sacrificed his strange drugs for you. " - The horned beauty paused for a moment. "The truth is, if it weren't for him, you wouldn't be here now. I... I could only watch. "
Asme sighed in frustration. She didn't like to admit it, but she was powerless during Caera's illness.
" Maybe he isn't as bad as we thought at first? " - The horned beauty mused. " I think I would have acted similarly if I were him. "
" Can we trust him? " - Caera asked uncertainly, embracing her knees with hands.
" I don't know that, but if he wanted to hurt us, he would have done it a long time ago. Above all, he wouldn't have stuck his neck out for you. "
Caera remained silent as she continued to listen.
" We are dependent on him whether we like it or not. If we want to survive we must become stronger. No one keeps worthless things, remember that. "
Asme finishing combing her hair added.
" Besides, he was the one who prepared food for us in the morning. Have you ever heard of a dungeon master who would do that? "
The answer involuntarily came to the elfess' lips.
" No... "
The rest of the evening passed the women gossiping. They didn't realize that their innocent talk was the seed of something bigger.