New Story -- Chapter 37

Chapter 37

About 30 rooms into the Maximal difficulty Mausoleum of Despair Dungeon, Thaden started to regain his wits as he tore through the Undead that infested the place. At first, he had only fought Grave Stalkers, but that soon changed to a combination of the Stalkers with Demi Liches, which were smaller Undead at only about 7 feet tall, but they cast devastatingly deadly spells – at least he assumed they were – that exploded in dramatic fashion in black and dark green against his Major Absorption Field. They were also able to raise small forces of skeletons and bring back the Grave Stalkers when Thaden killed them, which made them annoying because they tended to stay at the far reaches of the rooms, which were largely out of his range if he stayed near the entrance. Once he learned that fact, however, he quickly ignored the Stalkers and chased after the Demi Liches, who tended to want to retreat whenever he got close so as to maintain some distance. It made the entire process annoying and more time-consuming but not much harder than it had been.

You have slain a Demi Lich – Maximal – Level 45!

You have received 45 PICK!

PICK reward altered based on Party and Monster Level disparity!

You have received 103 PICK!

All the Demi Liches he fought were between Level 44 and Level 48, which gave him a little more PICK than the Grave Stalkers when he randomly checked at one point, but it wasn’t a substantial difference. He knew that it was largely because he was in a party and not solo like usual, but at that point he didn’t really care; all he was concerned with was killing the Undead and his PICK rewards were just a bonus.

After that, Thaden encountered larger rooms than he was used to seeing in the Medial difficulty version of the dungeon, but that was because of a new opponent. The Grave Stalkers and Demi Liches disappeared but were replaced by a large, multi-limbed skeletal creature called a Bone Beast. The Bone Beasts ranged in Level between 49 and 54, and the Level definitely played a role in what they looked like. The smallest of the Bone Beasts were at least 20 feet long, 10 feet tall, and was as wide as a school bus; they looked like a cross between a tentacled triceratops and an elephant, with anywhere between 6 and 10 legs and multiple flexible limbs that looked like trunks but with even more versatility. The largest of the Bone Beasts at Level 54 were half-again as large and heavy, and when they charged at him from across the room, he had trouble even keeping his feet because the stone floor shook erratically from the impact of its feet.

The strangest thing about them was that they were entirely made of bones without a hint of rotting flesh anywhere, which meant that the bones were extremely dense and hard.  Looking at them a lot closer than he preferred, as they attempted to wrap their bony tentacles around him or stomp him into paste, he could tell that they were extremely durable and wouldn’t go down easy with conventional tactics.

Even with his unconventional tactics, including using his Lesser Circle of Healing in place of his Major Absorption Field because they didn’t use anything but powerful physical force on him, it still took nearly 5 minutes of constant damage through his healing spells for them to go down.

And that was with his Afterglow Advancement doing 1% damage to their maximum Health every 5 seconds.

It was after a few of these Bone Beast rooms that he doggedly plowed through that his bloodlust started to subside, and he began to communicate with his party again. They had been diligently following him and staying out of the way, only extracting the loot from the fallen Undead, but now that he could think of something other than killing things again, he wanted to know more from them.

“You don’t want to know the easy stuff, do you?” Sara asked with a chuckle as soon as he spouted off his list of questions again. “I’ll let Diallo answer what we know, as his mind is like a steel trap with this stuff.”

“Fine with me,” Thaden shouted over the ground-shaking pounding of bony limbs against his Major Repulsion Field that came from fighting a pair of Bone Beasts.

“Very well, I believe we should start with this world, Tarth,” Diallo stated, beginning his lecture with a tone of voice designed to carry. “Tarth, as well as every other developmental world used by Contenders, is a salvaged world clawed from the domain of the Adversary. Every person living upon this world, which I hesitate to say planet because it doesn’t exactly conform to what we from Earth would constitute a celestial body, was eradicated by the Adversary and its monsters at one point in the past. Contenders in service of the Assimilation System reconquered it many millennia later, wiping out all the monsters that propagated in the intervening time.

“Unfortunately, the Adversary isn’t called the ‘Perpetual Adversary’ for nothing, and remnants of its power continued to exist even after the entire world was purged of monsters. These remnants, which are a fraction of the original monsters’ strength, are the monsters that we have and will fight in the future. The System has a modicum of control over these monster remnants, enough to organize them into different sections of the world and assign to them a rudimentary behavioral structure. It’s why you don’t see monsters simply running amok outside, as they typically stick to the places they are assigned in their behavioral structure.

“Why is it done this way? If the System has so much power, why not eliminate them in the first place? Well, it’s because the Assimilation System cannot directly affect anything with a physical nature, only the energy that exists in this world. The Perpetual Adversary energy is what the monsters spawn from constantly, and the only thing the System can do is alter it in a way that it becomes more manageable. In other words, these monsters are going to exist no matter what the System does, but by adding structure to the energy, these worlds can be populated once again – as well as be used by future Contenders for development.”

Thaden didn’t say anything as Diallo spoke, but things were starting to make a little bit more sense. Not a lot of sense yet, but the holes in his knowledge of this world was beginning to fill in.

Moving on to the next room, which contained not only a Bone Beast but a pair of Demi Liches, he settled in listen to the Apprentice Fire Mage as he continued, knowing that this was going to be a long fight because he couldn’t deactivate his Major Absorption Field because of the Demi Liches.

“As for dungeons, they are concentrated sources of the Adversarial energy that is organized in a sort of containment area. The organization of the energy is stricter and can alter the actual environment in addition to the monsters, but at the same time this can cause some issues. Dungeons, unlike the wider world, need to be maintained by siphoning off the energy within, which is done by people – Contenders or other Adventurers – delving within and killing the monsters within, taking the energy within the dungeon with them in the form of PICK rewards. It’s why there is a special dispensation of PICK within a dungeon that a party can benefit from that isn’t available outside. As a result of this requirement, the System encourages the constant maintenance of these dungeons through the use of Adventurer Coalition Quests in addition to its normal rewards.

“But there is always a danger that the energy within a dungeon will rebel or even break free of the dungeon, as it naturally obtains a sentience if left for long enough time without maintenance. If this happens, it is possible that the sentient monsters can forcibly break free of their confines and roam free, which would cause more than a bit of chaos, I would imagine.

“In addition, if something violates the structure of the dungeon’s organization, this can have unforeseen consequences upon the monsters inside. We were never informed of what these consequences were, exactly, but we were told to avoid them by obeying the rules and only entering the dungeon from a designated entrance. What I assume this means is that you shouldn’t blow a hole in the side of this Mausoleum looking for another way in, for example.”

Both of those things seem like what happened to me. First, when I arrived in the Vogmite Tunnels Dungeon in an unconventional manner, where I completely bypassed going in the entrance and selecting a difficulty. The way that Vogmite Foreman said that I “violated the sanctity of their hoard” and that its “constraints were lifted” sounds exactly like would happen if their structure was altered unexpectedly.

Then there was the SPECIAL Quest where the Medial difficulty of the Mausoleum was starting to break. I can only assume that if I can’t cleared the dungeon that it would’ve broken completely and allowed the unrestrained Undead to roam all over the nearby lands.

“You also asked about the whole extraction process, loot, and your Inventory,” Diallo went on as Thaden continued to wear the Undead down in the room. “Unfortunately, all we were told was that a portion of the energy that is obtained by reverting monsters back into their formless, primal state of being is converted through the extraction process into rewards, which is all done through the System that we tap into. That is how we receive Quest rewards and Achievements as well, as a portion of every slain monster is held in reserve by the System and parceled out to those who earn those rewards. Just like the System can influence the structure of the Adversarial energy, it can also influence the structure of the reclaimed PICK energy in a way that was never completely explained.

“Our Inventory is also a mystery to all of us, but it is posited that it is some sort of sub-dimensional space that the System gives everyone within its reach access to, but the how and why of such a thing is unknown to us.”

It was a bit more information than he’d had before and explained a few things, though Thaden was disappointed it wasn’t more comprehensive. Then again, he doubted that every Contender was taught the detailed processes of a System that had to be unimaginably complicated. He briefly wondered if anyone even knew everything there was to know about the System, or if anyone oversaw it; was it like a really advanced AI program, or had it also gained sentience or sapience over time? Unfortunately, he doubted he would learn that kind of information anytime soon, especially if those that had actually gone through Training barely knew that much.

Thaden thought it was possible that the natives of Tarth, who weren’t natives at all but transplants according to what he had just learned, knew more about the inner workings of the Assimilation System, but somehow he doubted it. Thinking about those semi-natives, such as the Charee, their presence in the world and how subservient they seemed to the Contenders made a little more sense, as they were there to prepare the way for the Contenders’ arrival and support them as they were developed. It sounded as if Contenders were sort of like a powerful army that was the only thing holding the Adversary back from killing everyone in the… galaxy? Universe? Dimension? He had no idea of how large the scope of the Assimilation System and the Adversary stretched, but it had to be significantly large to incorporate the preparations that had been put in place for the Earthlings’ arrival.

Thaden was finally able to kill the Undead he’d been fighting for nearly 10 minutes, and he turned to Diallo and the others as they came into the room to loot the corpses of the Bone Beast and the pair of Demi Liches. He hadn’t really been paying attention to what they extracted and he didn’t now, because he still had questions that he wanted answers to. There was one in particular that he’d been wanting to know since he arrived in this world, and it was something that affected him more than just about anything else.

“One last question for now, as we’re getting further into the dungeon and the fights are only going to become more intense from here on out.” Diallo nodded, as the other three handled the looting process with the three Undead remains. “What exactly is Mana, and how is it we are able to do all of these crazy, magical things?  Oh, and I suppose I should probably ask how it is that we know how to cast spells and all that, despite it being completely new to us. It never made any sense to me.”

Diallo took a moment before responding. “I’ll go over the easy part first, which are the spells and abilities that we have, at least those that are defined as part of different Classes. The simple explanation is that they are taught by the same System that controls everything else, and the knowledge of how to perform them is sent through the electrical impulses in our brain. Just think of it like our minds have been physically jacked into the System and information can transfer almost instantly to us, which includes things like how to cast spells. Where they originated or why there are even Classes other than as a way to specialize ones focus, we don’t really know. The same goes for party limits, though there can be what are called Assault Groups that can incorporate multiple parties to accomplish a particular task, but that’s a whole different topic.

“The topic of Mana is a bit harder to explain, but the gist of it all is that Mana is mostly thought of as a product of the Adversary, and not the System itself.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Well, we were told that it didn’t exist before the Adversary arrived and started to eliminate sapient life on different worlds. As the monsters of the enemy began to spread, so too did a fundamental change occur not only within those world that had been taken over, but also within adjacent worlds and beyond. An ambient energy began to infuse the very environment, which was virtually undetectable by normal means, but it was also able to be harnessed by certain people who could take it within themselves and manipulate it in certain ways. Over time, it was assumed that these were the first spellcasters, and as more and more people began to learn how to do the same, the people were able to fight back against the Adversary in a limited capacity.

“Now, all of this is conjecture based upon what we were taught during Training, but my guess is that someone eventually learned how to manipulate the energy, or Mana, in a way that combined with whatever you want to classify as actual “life energy”, and were able to create the Assimilation System. The System was then used to automate the process of learning how to manipulate Mana, which led to the people being able to fight back more and more. Their success allowed them to expand into other worlds, but such expansion wasn’t free – as we explained earlier, as it needed additional life energy to operate correctly in new worlds.

“Which brings us to today. Mana wasn’t present on Earth until just recently, but no one had really known about it. Somehow, though, the System knew, and based on thousands of years of fighting against the Adversary, it recognized Earth as its next target thanks to the Mana’s presence. Hence, why millions of us were whisked away to become Contenders, aiding in the fight against the Adversary.”  Diallo paused for a few seconds before asking, “Does that answer your questions?”

Thaden nodded absently, before turning toward the exit leading to yet another room with his thoughts running around in his head. Based on his previous experience in the dungeon, or at least the Medial difficulty version, he was fairly certain that they were getting close to the end.

So, it sounds like Mana is just a natural part of this world now, and it doesn’t look like it is a finite resource. I was slightly worried that there was a limited amount of Mana in the world and I was rapidly using all of it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Thaden almost asked if Diallo knew why there was even a limit to someone’s Mana if they could access it at any time, but decided that he was already treading too close to his own secret for comfort. Besides, he thought he’d already figured it out.

It was all about the capacity of the body. Just like he couldn’t hold in reserve an unlimited amount of PICK before he hit a limit, which likely would’ve killed him faster than being eaten by a monster if he pushed significantly past that limit, so too was a person’s ability to handle large amounts of Mana. He was fairly certain that one needed a better understanding of how to convert and hold Mana in a usable form before it could be used in greater quantities, which was accomplished by a higher Mentality stat. With a higher Mentality stat, people could hold a lot more Mana, which led to more complex spells and abilities that needed higher quantities of the precious resource, and the cycle continued as they got stronger.

Mana regeneration speed was a way for the body to process incoming Mana so that it could be used for whatever purpose was needed, and that process also increased as the mind and body became accustomed to doing such a thing.

As for how Thaden was fairly confident of all this, it was because he and Mana had a special relationship that no one else had. Once he stopped to think about it, he realized that he wasn’t limited by any sort of Mana regeneration – because he didn’t regenerate Mana at all. It wasn’t that he used Mana and it regenerated so fast it was imperceptible; instead, he simply used the Mana around him to do what he wanted instead of bringing it inside of him like everyone else.

Something altered within his body and mind when he was eaten and forced to be rebuilt with only Mana available in that dungeon treasure room. Thaden didn’t absorb Mana and use it for his spells; instead, he was more of a conduit of the available Mana outside of his body, which was automatically transformed into a usable form. The only limit was how much Mana could pass through that conduit, which was based on his Mentality and subsequently his maximum Mana.

Which meant that, unless he was mistaken, what he had thought of as a glitch in the System by giving him unlimited Mana was actually something that was part of Thaden, and it wasn’t something that could be taken away. It was as if he was some sort of mutation, and if anything, he was made the better for it. At least, he hoped so; he had no way of knowing if the fundamental changes in his very self would have any long-term side effects.

Feeling a slight relief at that sudden understanding, he moved on to the next room with a bit of a spring in his step, even though he knew that he wasn’t necessarily out of danger yet. There were still the Contenders who would want to kill him once they increased their Level past 21 that he had to deal with, and he wasn’t confident that learning about his fundamentally different approach to using Mana would lead to the System to want to eliminate him for fear that he was corrupted by the Adversary or some other such ignorant nonsense; either way, he still had to be cautious, but he was less fearful that everything would be snatched away without him being able to do anything about it.

Looking through the tunnel he entered, Thaden thought he saw something both different and familiar up ahead. “Hey! I think we’re getting close to the end—”

He cut himself off abruptly as an enormous, phantasmal-looking, bony hand erupted from underneath him and enveloped his Major Absorption Field, but instead of it being absorbed and disappearing, it continued to try and break through over and over again. He cast as many healing spells as he could in attempt to get rid of the hand as he moved back down the tunnel, which was when he glimpsed his party also caught by identical hands – and they were screaming as they tried to free themselves, but it was to no avail.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem as though the hands were there to squish them, but to transport; as he watched his own efforts do nothing against the hand surrounding him, the others were transported down the tunnel past him, their pleas to free them from whatever was happening echoing down the stone passageway. He redoubled his efforts and finally the hand disappeared, only for another one to appear almost immediately.

What’s going on?

A few seconds later, his party was out of sight, having been carried by the hands into the room he had been heading toward, and he tried to follow. Unfortunately, the hand surrounding him stopped attacking and sat there around him, keeping him trapped because he couldn’t physically move it. After nearly a minute of fruitless effort, he stopped and sighed, before making a decision he hoped the wouldn’t regret.

As he deactivated his Major Absorption Field, he was immediately scooped up by the magical hand and carried down the tunnel into whatever awaited him inside what he was fairly confident was the Mausoleum of Despair’s Maximal difficulty Boss room.