With a thought tingling in my mind, I retreat from the pool about thirty metres, Tiny trailing curiously behind me. Once I’ve created enough distance, I start to dig. Furiously ripping into the dirt with my mandibles, I make rapid progress.
Before too long, I’ve managed to tunnel down ten metres, slightly angled toward the pond. Gasping for breath after my exertions, I activate my Mana Sense and eagerly look to the pond.
And there it is. Under the pond is a thin tendril of Mana reaching up underneath.
It’s the Dungeon!
It’s extremely thin. Just a miniscule thread, but it’s enough to bleed Mana out of the Dungeon and up into the waters of this pond. If I were to dig farther, I would definitely be able to connect a small tunnel to the Dungeon and begin farming XP and Biomass.
This is excellent news! I’ll have to thank those Branchies somehow. They’ve saved me a lot of effort.
This also gives me a place to recharge my Mana, which will allow me to more rapidly develop my magic skills. Everything is coming up Anthony!
Not willing to wait a second longer, I throw myself into my digging efforts, burrowing deep under the pond to avoid the saturated water and connect myself to the tiny thread of Mana. More and more of it becomes clear, extending deep into the ground.
It takes a few hours to dig my way down to that thin tendril of Dungeon, but when I do, it’s a glorious sight to behold.
The bright glow of Mana shines in my eyes thanks to the veins having wound their way up even in this space. To be honest, I may have saved the Branchies, and perhaps even the humans, with this effort of mine. It’s possible the veins would expand upward and connect directly to the pool, and perhaps even start spawning monsters directly on the surface!
As it is, I’m delighted to see those Mana veins start to slowly extend into my new tunnel.
I’m assuming monsters didn’t spawn in that thin crack since there wasn’t enough space. As the veins extend deep into my tunnel, the monster spawning will soon follow!
Muahahaha!
Success!
Elated to the extreme, I bring Tiny down my cramped little tunnel to help me dig and expand it out in preparation for the monster spawning.
After several more hours’ work, we’ve dug out a relatively open chamber with a narrower opening fairly high above the floor, hopefully preventing any monsters from escaping to the surface. Except for those that spawn in the surface tunnel once the veins have grown that far, but I want to limit the surface exposure as much as possible.
After digging out this huge space, I’m pretty knackered. It might be time to head back to the colony and come back after a nap to see how things have progressed. With a little luck and a lot of effort, I should be able to create a nice monster farming network here, giving the colony a healthy shortcut to pump up in size and strength.
The only drawback is that Tiny and myself won’t be able to strengthen ourselves much. The monsters will simply be too low a Level to provide enough experience and Biomass.
I shake my head. A problem for another time.
For now, we head back to the colony where I develop a pounding headache practicing my shaping, getting myself to Level nine before taking a well-earned rest.
13. Just so Skillful
Two days zip by in our new environment.
So blissful! So peaceful! I haven’t had anything threatening happen to me for over forty-eight hours. I might go soft at this rate.
What’s even more amusing is watching just how bored Tiny is. The big guy is almost catatonic, craving the stimulus of battle like a drug he’s withdrawing from. Other than eating, he just flops about sleeping or staring at the walls. He’s so still, the workers just crawl over him as he lies there.
To be honest, I feel a little bad, and can sympathise to some extent. Battling with your life on the line is terrifying, but at the same time extremely thrilling. The rewards provided give such immediate gratification that it becomes hard to resist the lure of combat. After spending time in those dangerous places, constantly living on the edge, our relatively peaceful environment here on the surface is a little… boring.
It’s like our intense days were filled with shockingly vibrant splashes of colour and now our scene is far more muted and tranquil. Just like Tiny, there’s that itch in my heart for action.
Unlike that dumb ape though, I know how to keep myself busy and get stronger even without high-Level monsters to fight! I keep every day full.
Tiny and I spent most of yesterday down in our monster farming zone. I was pleased to see the veins had rapidly extended and monsters were already spawning by the time we got back, the familiar scenes of chaos a welcome sight in my eyes. I gave Tiny an order that he probably never wanted to hear and instructed him to disable the monsters but not kill them.
His utter horror is amusing even now. He couldn’t refuse, though, and reluctantly ran through the small chamber, smashing legs and crippling the monsters without landing the final blow.
It was a horrifying sight, actually. All those monsters on the floor, unable to even crawl or defend themselves.
When that job was done, I laid down a food trail for the colony. Soon, a flood of workers poured into the small chamber, finishing off the monsters and carrying their precious Biomass back to the colony.
Tiny and I took a little food to stave off our hunger and then set to digging, expanding the farm a bit farther out.
Since Tiny and I are both double evolved monsters, and the creatures spawning in our farm are base Level, we get a greatly reduced fraction of the XP and Biomass when we kill and eat them. It just isn’t worth it for us to monopolise these resources. Especially considering we need far more experience and Biomass in total to advance when compared to the workforce.
To maximise efficiency, I’ve decided to use the farm to power Level the colony. I really want more workers to advance and evolve, then they’ll be able to fight more effectively without me around.
Tiny and I will have to do something soon about our stagnating Levels. What exactly, I haven’t worked out.
After we expanded the farm and instructed the workers to leave so the monsters could build up again, I put my mind to practicing my magic skills.
With the low-Level monsters popping out, I had a few targets to practice on! So far, the only ‘shape’ I’d been able to put into action was the Gravity Domain. There are more tucked away in my head and I don’t want to pass up this opportunity to test them out.
The first spell required me to shape an intricate ball that tapered to a point on one end. I’ll admit I failed quite a few times on this one, but with my Gravitational Mana topped off, there was no risk of running out.
Eventually, I was able to finish shaping the complex construction and powered it up. Once ready, I instinctually aimed and fired.
The ball-like spell zipped through the air at blinding speed and impacted the targeted monster in less than a second! Once it hit, the spell expanded out, encompassing the creature in complex, revolving shapes which collapsed inward a moment later.
Hoping for something spectacular to happen, I was a bit disappointed when the target simply slumped and lay still. It was still alive since I’d received no notification, so what exactly happened?
After a moment, I noticed one of the creature’s claws twitching slightly in a struggle to raise it. It’d been placed under the effect of powerful gravity! This spell allowed me to fire off a gravity effect to a target farther away, as opposed to the Domain which only affects those immediately around me.
I called it, Gravity Bolt!