Chapter 84

  The cave entrance was a yawning mouth, full of jagged rocks and vines that looked like they belonged in a tropical forest. All efforts to clean it up had turned out to be in vain, the cave returning to its default state after a while no matter what was done to it to make it less ominous. All lights vanished, and rocks removed reformed as all the vegetation regrew.

  Old Dave was already thinking about using it as a source of infinite stone to quarry, provided they found a place to quarry the stone from that wouldn’t make accessing the dungeon itself a chore. And, of course, provided that the dungeon didn’t see it as a capital offense and decided to close up shop.

  “Tell me about aura masking again,” Michael said as he and Johanne approached the threshold leading into the dungeon. There was work to be done, and time inside the dungeon had a whole other meaning compared to time in the real world.

  “Of course, my lord,” the woman said as they stopped right outside the entrance. There were things all around them, creatures moving in the mana that suffused the air all around the dungeon. They were a known quantity by now, studied by the Candle Light division’s mana-sight operators. She looked at one of them with something like contempt before sniffing once and stepping into the dungeon.

  Michael followed soon after. The creatures were not a threat, not yet, and he couldn’t touch them even if he used his manipulation ability. They were, at worst, a problem for the future.

  As Michael stepped into the dungeon, away from prying eyes, Johanne’s demeanor changed, her proud posture not gone but diminished. She regarded Michael with deference and subservience. Had Michael not been used to such a drastic transformation whenever they were alone by now, he would have felt deeply uncomfortable. Instead, he simply suppressed a sigh.

  “Aura masking is a way to conceal your aura, making it so that it appears weaker than it really is,” she began.

  As she spoke more about the intricacies of aura suppression, they fought the monsters of the first floor, obliterating everything in their way. Soon, they were at the threshold of the Valley.

  “Is it really weaker, or does it just appear to be so?” asked Michael.

  “A difficult question to answer. I suppose it depends on how you manage to suppress your power. Were you using conventional means, I would say it would become weaker. But you are gifted with a magic system unlike any I have ever seen, and things might be different.”

  “You think I should try to make a skill, then?”

  Johanne nodded. “It is the safest way. I know you can do some basic unbound casting, but your ability to project magic is only limited to mana and the elements, while your aura also contains Qi. Only an Uncommon-rank or higher skill can fully hide it.”

  She did not mention the fact that, despite getting the ability to do unbound casting and influence the world with magic directly, Michael had barely begun to get an understanding of how the skill worked. Sometimes the process was intuitive, while at other times it was like trying to out-will the world itself.

  Lately, Michael had even taken to trying to replicate entire skill fractal structures using [Magic Manipulation]’s ability to project mana, sacrificing flexibility for ease of use. If he could learn how to copy the fractals and make them work without them being actual skills, he could free up space in his Sanctum and instead use [Magic Manipulation] to cast any Common-rank skill he knew the fractal of.

  They made their way to the treehouse. Drullkrin greeted them on the way there, saying hello to his lord and then retreating to his duties. The goblin commander was about to go on an expedition to the third floor, training up some Fae against the mummified monsters and farming as many materials as he could. Safely, of course: the Fae who died outside the Valley did not respawn.

  At the treehouse, the duo did not immediately begin working on masking Michael’s aura, instead they enjoyed some food and chatted for a while, unwinding and enjoying the breeze at the crown of the tree. It felt rejuvenating, being surrounded by the swaying branches of the magical tree, their green color vibrant and lush.

  Time had another meaning down here. “Do we grow old in here?” Michael mused.

  “Yes, but not as quickly as normal people,” said Johanne, “if that is what you were worried about, my lord, then you should know that the aging process slows down as your aura ranks up, to the point where it is said to become completely still, freezing your body in time.”

  “I see,” he said. He wondered if having your body forever frozen in its state was a good or a bad thing, before realizing that probably mages of such caliber would have their own ways to modify their bodies to suit their needs and desires.

  “I would not fuss over such things just yet, however,” Johanne said, looking at the clouds. How did clouds exist here? “The dwarves had a saying. Dark is the chasm of time.”

  “Why do you say had?”

  “They are gone, now. As far as I know, at least,” she said. “A lost race from the place my original memories come from. Perhaps the dungeon has preserved them, perhaps not.”

  Later, when they were finally ready to start working on Michael’s aura, they took a seat on the wooden boards of the balcony. The two were like dark silhouettes meditating against the setting sun of the paradoxical space within the dungeon. Both had their eyes closed, but Johanne was speaking gently, following Michael’s aura and mana with her own senses. She instructed him, guided him, helped him feel the presence of his own magic.

  “I think I can sense the edge of my aura,” Michael said, “where it touches the solid matter of the world. But it’s fuzzy.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “That is a good start,” said Johanne, “but it is not enough, sadly. You need to feel every part of the aura, starting from its edge.”

  Michael opened his eyes, frowning. “Am I not already feeling its edge?”

  Johanne shook her head, saying nothing.

  “I see.” Michael’s frown deepened, “it’s not just where it touches solid matter, is it? The edge is also where there’s just air. That’s… a whole different beast to tame.”

  Johanne nodded. “And it is but the first step. After that, you need to be able to feel every unit of space that lies under your control.”

  With that, silence fell between the two, each busy with their own matters.

  ***

  “I think I am seeing improvements.”

  “As am I,” Johanne said. “I might soon be ready to cross into Silver, perhaps with your guidance. Despite knowing more, I feel like your intuition and talent far outshine mine, and I would like to make use of them if that’s alright with you.”

  “That’s great. Of course I will help.”

  Michael sipped the slightly sweet drink in his ceramic mug. The drink was Fae-made, slightly intoxicating in huge quantities, but nothing that his healing aura couldn’t deal with. The mug, like Johanne’s, was imported from the upstairs world. Some conveniences were too good to let go of, and proper mugs were something one learned to enjoy after being forced to drink out of wood or bone mugs made by the Fae.

  The mugs were just an example of what was becoming a budding economy taking root within the now united Fae civilization. Goods coming from the upper world were being exchanged among the Fae, the monsters learning to appreciate the conveniences of an industrialized world. As soon as Old Dave had learned of this, he immediately started to leverage his instincts as a seasoned merchant to extract as much value from the Fae as possible.

  The Fae were technically under Michael’s control as their king, but even he recognized the need for a proper economy. They were monsters living in a dungeon with strange mechanics, which meant that it needed a lot of adjustments to implement, but the benefits were already evident, the Fae being even more motivated to work hard and fight now that they had some incentive other than just the thrill of the fight itself.

  “What sort of improvements are you seeing, my lord? Did you finally map the whole edge of your aura?”

  Michael nodded slowly. “I think so. I can feel it all the time now, it’s almost distracting. There seems to be more outside of this edge, but it’s hard to tell.”

  Johanne reached for a small pastry, frowned and put it back on the table where Michael snatched it instead. “What lies beyond, even I don’t know. It’s not relevant for this skill, however.”

  She took out a small notebook and scribbled something on it.

  “What now? Do I push on?”

  “Are you in a hurry?” she asked.

  “I feel kinda stifled, yeah,” he replied.

  “It would be best if you acclimatized to the change before pushing to perceiving the whole inner space. You would lose a lot of gains otherwise.”

  Michael hummed. “Let’s find something to do in here in the meantime, then.”

  ***

  “This is not what I meant when I said to find something to do,” Michael grumbled.

  Johanne was no longer consulting her notebook, but rather she had commandeered Michael’s laptop to take notes and use sophisticated programs to create mathematical models.

  “Do you wish to stop?” she asked, “you know I am always at your service. This was merely something I thought would interest you, while at the same time furthering our own understanding of magic.”

  Michael hummed. “Mana, Qi and Intent exercises are not fun, Johanne.”

  “Isn’t getting stronger fun?” she asked. “From what I gathered on the online forums, it should be.”

  “Yeah.” Michael said, getting up, “they don’t mention how boring incremental increases feel!”

  He levitated his mug in the air using nothing but his aura, letting it float around him like a lazy asteroid. Then, he manipulated the scented water inside, creating a ring around him that gradually got bigger until it finally left his range and fell to the ground. With a wave of his hand, the water disappeared.

  “That’s a great use of unbound magic together with aura control,” said Johanne, ever clinical, “good data point. Next time, try to stretch your aura outwards and use it to evaporate the water, rather than using mana. How much mana did it cost, by the way?”

  “Almost my full pool.” Which was close to 1.5 Silver coins, having grown a lot from constant use. Still a long way from the 100 Silver needed to even start the upgrade process into Gold territory.

  Michael tried not to think about that. Instead, he concentrated on the feat he had just accomplished. It was something he would have never been able to do when he entered the valley a few days ago with the intent to learn how to conceal his aura. He had, just like Johanne predicted, found a lot of new uses for his aura control now that he could perceive its edge completely.

  It was like the world was under his control, at least when it was inside his aura’s range. Magic was easier, and he could influence the world directly with just a thought. At the same time, his defenses were bolstered, to the point where Travis’ prediction of him being able to shrug off bullets was becoming closer and closer to being true.

  “Can we move onto the next step?”

  “Are you confident in your ability to perceive the edge of the aura at all times?” she asked.

  Michael nodded.

  “What about your control over Qi, Mana and Intent?”

  Michael closed his eyes for a moment, quickly sinking into his Skill Sanctum. There, he located the rolling thunderclouds of Intent, sometimes interacting with his Chi to create Jing but otherwise inert. He noticed the mana in the veins lining the walls of the sanctum like a vascular system. With but a thought, the mana pulsed, and the clouds of intent swirled as if moved by an intangible air current.

  There was only one thing missing. “I can’t find the source of the Qi.”

  Johanne hummed. “You have been looking, my lord, that much I know. How can you not find it?”

  “It’s like my Dantian is nowhere to be found,” Michael said with a shrug that hid his real feelings on the matter.

  “Well, I am thinking about possible solutions, but it seems like we are at an impasse,” Johanne said. “Qi is necessary to create a skill that goes beyond Common rarity.”

  “Or, we could farm skill stones,” said Michael.

  “I hope you are not serious, my lord. You would relinquish control to the dungeon and pray to the god of chance?”

  Michael shook his head slowly, “sorry, I’m just tired. No, Theobond told me what happened to his world when they started relying on the dungeon. It simply got bored and left them to die, eventually becoming pawns inside its floors.”

  Johanne said nothing for a moment, looking at Michael with her still eyes. There was so much emotion hidden within, if one knew how to read its language. “I know this is hard, but you have always valued hard work over chance, luck and free handouts. Is this not the same?”

  “Of course,” sighed Michael, “Let’s take stock. I can’t feel the origin of my Qi but I can control it, though. Isn’t it enough? Do I need to know where it comes from?”

  Johanne thought about it. “I suppose it’s not strictly necessary. However, you will need to be very careful and precise. You must mix Mana, Qi and Intent in just the right proportions while trying to get a feel of your whole aura. It would be easier if you knew where the Qi came from.”

  “That’s not going to happen any time soon.”

  “I understand,” she said. “If you manage to reach a balance, then you must pull the aura tight around you. Do you remember how it felt when it was still Copper-rank?”

  “Yes.”

  “Keep the feeling in mind. Try to replicate it. And do not forget to use all the energies. We want a skill that’s at least Rare-ranked.”

  “How do I know if I reach the right proportions?”

  Johanne smirked. “That is what the exercises were for, my lord. Awareness. Everything else was a side benefit. You will feel when they are just right.”