Harvest Dungeon

The cobra"s...o...b..flashed then a two feet long version of the emerald cobra appeared in its place.

"You seem smaller." I commented dryly.

"Serpents are capable of controlling their size." Vanessa replied walking over to the serpent then bending down so he could wrap around her arm before she stood back up. Then followed us to the door.

Outside the floor had gotten even colder. As soon as the cold hit the sprite and fairy they both stuck to either side of my neck. Thankfully the two spells I made earlier worked fine letting Vanessa and I stay warm, and through us our companions. It didn"t take long to dig up the roots with the hoe, then we were on our way up to the surface again.

Nothing had really changed since we were last here. Except the fact that there wasn"t a horde of giant mice trying to break through our barrier to get to the enchanted dandelions.

I watched the gra.s.s around us while shifting my mana sight to allow the ambient mana to be seen. The odd haze I had noticed earlier returned, but I was able to make out the fact that it was a mix of several different colors. Taking it a step further I was able to isolate the colors to get a general idea of how much of each type made up the ambient mana. It shouldn"t have been a surprise that the majority of the mana was earth based, followed by wind, water up from the lake, and a green energy that I was guessing was plant or living mana. Interestingly enough the mana flowed like a river. To me the plain around me was flat with no obstructions, but to the mana there seemed to be all kinds of obstructions. Some seemed to be the beasts hiding in the gra.s.s, others seemed to be areas of high concentration of other mana. A strong breeze full of air mana would stir everything up like a ladle in a pot. Seeing all of this I wondered if I could use it in the dungeon. Guide the mana to make certain places have a higher concentration of mana than others. It might make growing some plants easier, while making it harder on intruders.

"Anything interesting out there?" Vanessa asked from behind me.

I scanned around again after removing the ambient mana from my view so I could focus on the mana emitted from the beasts. "No, a few more mice, and earth slimes." I replied.

"Then why the intense look?" she asked me.

I hesitated for a moment. "I was curious if there was anything else out there I couldn"t see. The mice and earth slimes emit mana I can see with my mana sight if I set the conditions right." I told her.

"So?" she asked.

"I can even see the mana coming off of Lilian and Zephirah." I added.

"It"s Zephirah and Lilian." Zephirah interrupted.

Vanessa and I both ignored her.

"So?" Vanessa coaxed.

"I can"t see any mana being admitted from you or Seth. Not now or earlier." I told her.

"Oh." Vanessa said. "Does it matter? The shield is still up, and none of the beast seem to want to bother with us now."

I considered that then shrugged. "I wasn"t really worried that there was something out there. I was trying to understand this new ability. What it can do, and what it can"t. It would be bad if I got used to being able to see enemies based on the mana they emit, then run into something that can hide it from me." I explained.

"Why would you?" Vanessa asked.

"I have the ability now. Why shouldn"t I use it?" I asked in return.

"It"s a horrible idea, that is not even close to how the mana sight is meant to be used." Lilian spoke up.

"Isn"t it your job to tell me such things?" I asked.

"No, it is not." Lilian replied. "I am only here to pa.s.s on knowledge." she replied.

"What of the test?" I asked.

"Its results are part of the knowledge I need to impart." Lilian replied.

"I see. How long will that take?" I asked. With my new insight into mana flow I wondered if there would be more knowledge like it in the information she needed to pa.s.s on to me.

"An hour or so, but you will need to be asleep for me to pa.s.s the information directly to your subconscious, after that you can slowly digest it and determine your future path." she told me.

"Want to go back?" I asked.

Lilian was silent for a while. "No." she replied.

I looked towards my shoulder where the little fairy was relaxing. It wasn"t nearly as easy as I thought it would be.

"Don"t be so surprised. When mistress explains more about our mana races to you, you should understand." she told me.

I shook my head then turned back to the portal. "All done?" I asked Vanessa who nodded in return.

"Great, let"s head down and get started on the expansion and redecoration. Zeph, can I move the plants without causing them any damage?" I asked.

"Didn"t you move us?" Zephirah asked in return.

"I will take that as a yes." I remarked then started for the portal.

An angry yowl was heard from behind me followed by the familiar sound of something hitting the barrier, quickly followed by another angry yowl.

I turned to see a beast staring back at me from outside of the barrier. A second later it looked behind itself then started to move around my barrier. What surprised me was what the creature was. It was some kind of huge canine, something like an over sized bulldog. It had a dark brown coat, and was four feet tall at the shoulder, but despite its size it gave off the aura of an adolescent not fully grown.

I glanced behind it into the distance but didn"t see anything. That didn"t mean nothing was there. The gra.s.s wasn"t tall enough to completely hide this dog beast, yet it still got within a leap of me.
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What worried me more was the fact that it didn"t seem to be after me, or anything in my territory. In fact it seemed more annoyed that we were in its way. Which meant something was chasing it.

I always wanted a dog, but Melissa never liked them, or any other animal for that matter. With a smile to myself I called forth my own mana. Since Zephirah had told me that she had a limit to how many minions, guardians, and champions she could have per level I had been curious if there was a way around it. The serpent gem seemed to be one, and I wondered if I could be another.

Using my mana I started to craft a spell to catch and bind the beast to me as a servant. I didn"t initially think I could pull off a spell like this before, but I had gotten used to using the dungeon as a power source letting me concentrate on the crafting of the spell. Whether I could pull it off was still to be seen, but I wanted to try. It was a more complicated sphere than the one I had used with the wisp so I couldn"t be sure.

I kept my eyes on the dog as I worked, but it became apparent that I was going to fail. Whatever was after it, had the beast spooked. It moved around my barrier cautiously but quickly. I was nine tenths of the way finished with the spell when the beast reached the side of the barrier and started to run again, this time away from my territory. I finished the spell as the dog"s long whip like was disappearing into the gra.s.s.

I grunted a bit irritated then glanced around as I tried to decide what to do with the spell I had just made. I could release it, but that felt like a waste. I considered the matter for a moment then spotted my rock golems. "Make me a perfectly round rock the size of an orange." I told the golem.

"What are you doing?" Lilian asked me.

"Trying something." I replied.

The golem produced the stone at my feet. I bent down and picked up the stone then looked at the spell I had created. Shifting the spell to encompa.s.s the rock I considered what I wanted to do. The runes in the spell were bold and powerful looking, but they still had curves, zigs, and zags in them that had to be perfect to work correctly. I set the spell onto the surface of the stone then pumped a bunch more mana into the spell until it glowed a bright almost glaring white. Then I contracted the spell into the stone for a moment and released it a moment later. The idea I had was to brand the spell onto the stone, but I wasn"t sure if it would work or not. As the glare from the mana faded from my eyes, I saw that the spell had miraculously been embedded on the stone.

I wanted to cheer at my success but I knew it was still too early. Instead I drew on the mana again and channeled it into the runes around the stone filling up each mark without overflowing. When it was perfect the mana flashed blue as the spell activated. Then the stone crumbled into dust. Despite that I smiled then looked over to Zephirah whose eyes were shining brightly as she stared at the spell in my hand.

"Hurry." she urged me excitedly.

I laughed then took the stone that had already been formed at my feet and repeated the process to brand the stone again. When it was done I inspected the runes on the rock carefully just in case there was any mistake that had carried over from the first copy. I didn"t see any. When I was satisfied I handed the stone to Zephirah. As soon as it touched her hands the stone disintegrated again. I didn"t care though.

"I got it." she told me.

"Make me one, just to be sure." I told her. "We"ll call them capture stones."

She nodded then a new stone appeared at my feet. However this one was already branded.

I activated the spell just like I had the last one. It flashed then activated before the stone disintegrated.

"That was very pretty, but what are you doing?" Vanessa asked finally.

I smiled at her but decided not to answer, at least not yet. I needed to test the spell on something living before I was sure it worked.

Another yowl was heard then another closer to us.

I watched the gra.s.s for any signs of the dog or its pursuers but nothing appeared. A few more yowls were heard, each in a different direction. While it might be a dog it seemed smart enough to avoid us while trying to run. Unfortunately whatever was hunting it seemed to be even smarter.

"Give me a few more." I told Zephirah.

"Why?" she asked.

"It would be a waste to miss an opportunity if it presents itself." I replied.

"It sounds too powerful for me to handle right now." she told me seriously but created a few more stones at my feet.

"What about me?" I asked.

Zephirah frowned but shrugged obviously she had no idea.

After waiting and listening to several more yowls from the dog, it finally appeared. I wanted to try and catch it, but it was moving too quickly for me to target it. It ran beside my barrier until it reached the end then took a sharp turn as it head in a direction perpendicular to its original direction away from my barrier.

I thought it was rather clever, until to gray streaks flew over my barrier, and landed on top of the dog. I steeled my resolve as I took in the gray beasts that quickly tore into the dog by ripping its throat out then proceed to devour it in front of me. Honestly I wanted to be sick, but I had already started to steel myself to this when I watched my own golems killing the giant mice. The two gray beasts were definitely wolves. Wolves that seemed to be at the very peak of their existence, their gray fur seemed to shine with a metallic l.u.s.ter in the light while they stood five feet tall at the shoulder. I considered trying to catch them, but stopped myself. Not because I wasn"t interested, but because I didn"t think there would be enough mana in the dungeon to hold both beasts I didn"t have the aura check thingy I would get at level five, but I was sure these two were much stronger than I was.

A low growl caught my attention making me turn to see another even larger wolf peering at me from the gra.s.s. It was a two feet taller than the other pair making me think it might be an alpha. Its fur was more of silver than gray, and its eyes looked like forged gold glowing with the light of the noon sun as it looked at me. Gazing into its eyes I was sure that this beast was more than powerful enough to destroy my barrier if it so desired. Not only did it exude a powerful presence easily discernible to those normally unable to sense it. Its eyes reflected an intelligence that was both wise and cunning. If Seth were a mouse, this thing would have been a tiger.