For a few minutes, I watch a man screaming and flailing on the ground. It's one of the men that came with Elydor to our house. A man with long black hair, pale skin, and an annoying laugh.
After a while, I get bored, and since they stopped trying to get through the barrier, I go back to working on inscribing the mana stone.
That's nearly all I've done in the past two weeks; I carefully observe them trying to get through the barrier, and I'm learning a lot. I'm not sure I would be able to get through it, not even with [Resonance], so watching them work while also examining it on my own helps a lot. Well, maybe I could get through, but only alone, having to leave others behind.
And I don't want that.
The inscription I work on is something that might help me create a passage in the barrier.
I sigh when the man starts screaming again and take a look towards where he is. Currently, branches are poking through his skin, and on these branches, more leaves grow. Blood is everywhere; his bones are breaking, and his screams become hoarse.
His guild is trying everything they can, yet nothing helps. No matter how many leaves or branches they remove, new ones grow. They can't even stop it with their skills.
At some point, Elydor sends one man to Lily, and they grab her hand, pulling her towards the man and screaming something at her.
The petite black-haired girl glances at me a few times and then tries something as well, yet even her healing is not helping and only seems to prolong the man's suffering.
In the end, Elydor clenches his teeth and a sharp blast of mana blows off the man's head, the screams finally stopping.
As if not held back anymore, more and more branches poke through the dead man's body, covering nearly the entirety of it, and beautifully vibrant green leaves appear, most of them covered in blood.
Tess pushes everyone from group 4 away and comes closer to me alone. She squats in front of me, her eyes more serious than ever.
“Nathaniel,” her tone is serious, “I need to know what's happening. I need to know what's wrong with you and how the hell you don't care at all when they pull Lily around like that. Or when they hit Biscuit, punched Hadwin, or…” she shakes her head, “You haven't been acting like yourself.”
“Tess, as I said, I'm busy,” I continue to examine her face. Her words also made me feel a hint of curiosity. Am I really that different? “I have my [Focus] constantly blocking my emotions so I can keep up the domain, and you guys won't end up like him,” I nod at the man, well, a bunch of flesh, bones, and skin intertwined with branches and leaves.
“Nat, we can fight, we will deal with them all, and then we can get out of here on our own,” she leans closer and whispers.
It seems like two weeks down there have even affected Tess; her eyes are wild like an animal pushed into a corner and ready to bite.
I shake my head, “We won't be able to, Tess. The moment we leave the tunnels to go to the city, the Living Tree will destroy us; I'm sure of that. The tunnels seem to block its influence to some extent. As for the barrier, I need to observe them a bit longer. Just a little bit longer, and I will be able to get us out.”
When I open my mouth to continue, I feel blood on my lips, and when I reach out to wipe it, I realize that it's blood from my nose. It's not the first time this has happened, but I didn't want Tess to see it.
“Should I call Lily? They already know she's a healer so…” Tess offers.
“It's fine; there is no wound. It's just that there are more and more particles in the air, and it's getting more difficult,” I say.
In response to that, Tess's face becomes even more worried.
Before she can say anything, I ask her, “Tess, do you trust me?”
Without any hesitation, she nods, and for a long moment, I just look at her. She's not lying. There's only full and honest trust shown in her expression.
I wonder how I earned that.
“Give this stone to Sophie; she can work on our project on her own if she gets bored. I think I won't be able to do it right now.” I try to lower [Focus] to examine my feelings, but only deep, red-hot rage surfaces, so I slide back into the cold, calm embrace of the skill.
I check the latest notifications.
[Mana Domain - lvl 5 > Mana Domain - lvl 6]
[Perception - lvl 37 > Perception - lvl 38]
[Resonance - lvl 24 > Resonance - lvl 25]
Then I go back to observing the men and women trying to get through the barrier. I do it carefully, only perceiving mana. Once in a while, they notice some small mana observing them, but I quickly cancel the skill, and they, unwilling to get more distracted, continue.
I'm learning a lot from them, and I especially like the technique where they create mana circuits by drawing on the barrier with paint that conducts mana so well. Thanks to that, I keep getting better and better at inscribing patterns into my mana stones.
But to be honest, I'm quite disappointed. Even though the people working on the barrier are over level 170 and have much more experience than my barely half a year in the tutorial, they don't seem that good?
Or maybe they are. I don't know. They all feel soft, easily distracted, and prone to panic. They lack hunger and determination, and they rely too much on the skills themselves.
They're missing something that's hard for me to describe.
Now they're even drawing circuits on the ground to strengthen their repelling force of mana to fight against particles, and that's where I see them panic the most. The way they twitch every time something itches them or their clothes rub against their bodies. The fear with which they keep looking around and the amount of mana they spend to fight against the attack of the Living Tree.
It's almost funny.
One day passes, and we are already close to exhausting all the food and water we brought with us. Unfortunately, the man who died did have a skill that supplied us with water until now. I wonder if it's a coincidence.
Even though Group 4 is huddled around me to make me deal with as small a domain as possible, Lily comes to talk to me, not caring that others can hear. In her voice, I can hear how worried she is, and with my own eyes, I can see it in others. I have a suspicion that it might be something I wouldn't like that much usually, but I'm currently using [Focus] to block nearly all emotions.
It's a weird feeling; I'm surprisingly logical, but even then there's a hint of dislike bleeding through. It's something that Maya told me some time ago. It's as if the skill is changing my personality.
I don't mind it lowering some emotions like fear, anxiety, or anger a bit, but this might be too much. Well, it's not like I have much choice.
Lily continues to talk to me, she also touches me and sends her warm mana through my body in an attempt to heal, but there isn't much she can do with the strain I put on myself. Not at her current level.
I listen to her, I feed Biscuit some food from my portion, and again continue to work on my idea, inscribing a difficult set of circuits into the largest mana stone I have. I do it even though it makes it more difficult to stop the Living Tree´s particles.
Another day passes and a woman dies in the same way the first man did. It starts with her arm and after they cut it off in an attempt to stop it, leaves start growing through the skin on her neck. Once again it's someone from Elydor's guild and while cursing, he kills her, this time earlier than the man before.
I notice that he starts to look toward where the door to the mansion in the city is. I know that his decision is close.
He notices me watching him and when our eyes meet, he is calm. Unlike before when he acted like a B-rate villain, he is now focused in the face of danger. It's not a skill, no, it's just the strength of his will. You don't become one of the most powerful men in a city like Virelia without being skilled.
Yet, he is still an asshole and soon his men come to our group, taking all the food and water away from us and pushing us further from the main group and into the darkness of the tunnel.
Elydor's eyes are suspicious as he watches us, most likely unsure why we didn't die in a similar way his guild members did.
Three more days pass and all at once, four men from the small guild Blackrock die in the same gruesome manner.
Elydor and his men conduct some experiments now that they are not from their guild. They cut off limbs, they burn leaves, they try to dissect them while they are alive and branches grow from them. They even draw some glowing symbols on them and test some items.
One of Elydor's men tries some shadow skill, and Elydor himself sends his mana into the body of one of the men to fight against the process, but that only accelerates it.
And then, when all the men are dead and he stares down at their bodies, it seems to be enough.
"We will try to get through the city," he says to the deafening silence that ensues.
His voice is sharp and his face is determined. Mana moves around his body domineeringly, and he now seems taller and stronger.
"Fodder will go first and buy us some time, and then we will run for it, everyone on their own. The ones that make it will meet outside the city," he says, ignoring the fact that the barrier is most likely around the entirety of the city.
He is desperate and wants to try it while he still has some strength left. The most surprising thing to me is that he doesn't even suggest attacking the Calamity, clearly showing how terrifying the tree monster is.
Well, the waiting is finally over.
After a long time, I stand up with a sigh of relief. I have learned all I could and I do not need them anymore.
I throw the mana stone I was working on at Sophie and she grabs it, giving me a short nod. She immediately sends her mana inside, keeping the field that protects us from the Living Tree stable over a considerable part of the tunnel.
That much is enough.
After close to 20 days, I reach out and start weakening the hold over my emotions that [Focus] has.
POV Maya Jones
Out of nowhere, the silence becomes even more deafening. It's so quiet I can swear I hear my blood moving through my veins. Then the air becomes colder and every movement I make is like I'm moving through molasses.
And only then, a loud thump sounds, followed by another. As if a heartbeat continues to echo in the tunnel.
Nathaniel stands up, his face pale, bags under his eyes, messy hair, and even a visible hint of some weight loss. But he doesn't move slowly, and I don't feel any weakness from him; he stands up confidently, each movement sharp and strong.
Then mana starts radiating from his body. It slowly ramps up as if it's a generator creating more and more of it, and it continues to flow into the tunnel, almost feeling like waves hitting and reflecting from it.
“Oh, so you did hide a little bit of mana,” Elydor smiles, immediately noticing it, his tone almost as if delighted by the challenge.
But it doesn't stop there; even more and more mana continues to radiate from Nathaniel to the point where the smile slowly disappears from Elydor's face, replaced by sheer surprise and then a hint of fear.
“Get into formation 5, we are against an Amplificator. Estimated level a bit under 200,” he hisses quickly at his men, his mana also activating.
On the other side, Nathaniel just lazily takes a step away from us and towards them, keeping Group 4 behind his back.
“You with them?” Nathaniel asks shortly towards the woman called Obelia, guild master of Storm Brigade.
To Elydor's cursing, Obelia shakes her head and only takes a step back, creating a barrier around her guild members that they continue to strengthen.
And then Nathaniel's expression changes. The distant face he had up until now disappears as he deactivates the skill both he and I share. For the first time since we ended up trapped in the tunnels, his eyes become different. They are not so uncaring and distant anymore.
Like a burning fire, hate appears in them. A terrible, unforgiving rage.
At the same moment, his mana changes, it stops freely flowing and freezes in the air, dominated by his will.
“Change of assessment, level over 200, at least a rare-grade Primary class,” Elydor shouts, and his mana rushes and clashes against Nathaniel's.
cerim
The next chapter is 3,400 words long. I hope you enjoyed the build-up.
Also the next chapter:
Spoiler
For a few minutes, I watch a man screaming and flailing on the ground. It's one of the men that came with Elydor to our house. A man with long black hair, pale skin, and an annoying laugh.
After a while, I get bored, and since they stopped trying to get through the barrier, I go back to working on inscribing the mana stone.
That's nearly all I've done in the past two weeks; I carefully observe them trying to get through the barrier, and I'm learning a lot. I'm not sure I would be able to get through it, not even with [Resonance], so watching them work while also examining it on my own helps a lot. Well, maybe I could get through, but only alone, having to leave others behind.
And I don't want that.
The inscription I work on is something that might help me create a passage in the barrier.
I sigh when the man starts screaming again and take a look towards where he is. Currently, branches are poking through his skin, and on these branches, more leaves grow. Blood is everywhere; his bones are breaking, and his screams become hoarse.
His guild is trying everything they can, yet nothing helps. No matter how many leaves or branches they remove, new ones grow. They can't even stop it with their skills.
At some point, Elydor sends one man to Lily, and they grab her hand, pulling her towards the man and screaming something at her.
The petite black-haired girl glances at me a few times and then tries something as well, yet even her healing is not helping and only seems to prolong the man's suffering.
In the end, Elydor clenches his teeth and a sharp blast of mana blows off the man's head, the screams finally stopping.
As if not held back anymore, more and more branches poke through the dead man's body, covering nearly the entirety of it, and beautifully vibrant green leaves appear, most of them covered in blood.
Tess pushes everyone from group 4 away and comes closer to me alone. She squats in front of me, her eyes more serious than ever.
“Nathaniel,” her tone is serious, “I need to know what's happening. I need to know what's wrong with you and how the hell you don't care at all when they pull Lily around like that. Or when they hit Biscuit, punched Hadwin, or…” she shakes her head, “You haven't been acting like yourself.”
“Tess, as I said, I'm busy,” I continue to examine her face. Her words also made me feel a hint of curiosity. Am I really that different? “I have my [Focus] constantly blocking my emotions so I can keep up the domain, and you guys won't end up like him,” I nod at the man, well, a bunch of flesh, bones, and skin intertwined with branches and leaves.
“Nat, we can fight, we will deal with them all, and then we can get out of here on our own,” she leans closer and whispers.
It seems like two weeks down there have even affected Tess; her eyes are wild like an animal pushed into a corner and ready to bite.
I shake my head, “We won't be able to, Tess. The moment we leave the tunnels to go to the city, the Living Tree will destroy us; I'm sure of that. The tunnels seem to block its influence to some extent. As for the barrier, I need to observe them a bit longer. Just a little bit longer, and I will be able to get us out.”
When I open my mouth to continue, I feel blood on my lips, and when I reach out to wipe it, I realize that it's blood from my nose. It's not the first time this has happened, but I didn't want Tess to see it.
“Should I call Lily? They already know she's a healer so…” Tess offers.
“It's fine; there is no wound. It's just that there are more and more particles in the air, and it's getting more difficult,” I say.
In response to that, Tess's face becomes even more worried.
Before she can say anything, I ask her, “Tess, do you trust me?”
Without any hesitation, she nods, and for a long moment, I just look at her. She's not lying. There's only full and honest trust shown in her expression.
I wonder how I earned that.
“Give this stone to Sophie; she can work on our project on her own if she gets bored. I think I won't be able to do it right now.” I try to lower [Focus] to examine my feelings, but only deep, red-hot rage surfaces, so I slide back into the cold, calm embrace of the skill.
I check the latest notifications.
[Mana Domain - lvl 5 > Mana Domain - lvl 6]
[Perception - lvl 37 > Perception - lvl 38]
[Resonance - lvl 24 > Resonance - lvl 25]
Then I go back to observing the men and women trying to get through the barrier. I do it carefully, only perceiving mana. Once in a while, they notice some small mana observing them, but I quickly cancel the skill, and they, unwilling to get more distracted, continue.
I'm learning a lot from them, and I especially like the technique where they create mana circuits by drawing on the barrier with paint that conducts mana so well. Thanks to that, I keep getting better and better at inscribing patterns into my mana stones.
But to be honest, I'm quite disappointed. Even though the people working on the barrier are over level 170 and have much more experience than my barely half a year in the tutorial, they don't seem that good?
Or maybe they are. I don't know. They all feel soft, easily distracted, and prone to panic. They lack hunger and determination, and they rely too much on the skills themselves.
They're missing something that's hard for me to describe.
Now they're even drawing circuits on the ground to strengthen their repelling force of mana to fight against particles, and that's where I see them panic the most. The way they twitch every time something itches them or their clothes rub against their bodies. The fear with which they keep looking around and the amount of mana they spend to fight against the attack of the Living Tree.
It's almost funny.
One day passes, and we are already close to exhausting all the food and water we brought with us. Unfortunately, the man who died did have a skill that supplied us with water until now. I wonder if it's a coincidence.
Even though Group 4 is huddled around me to make me deal with as small a domain as possible, Lily comes to talk to me, not caring that others can hear. In her voice, I can hear how worried she is, and with my own eyes, I can see it in others. I have a suspicion that it might be something I wouldn't like that much usually, but I'm currently using [Focus] to block nearly all emotions.
It's a weird feeling; I'm surprisingly logical, but even then there's a hint of dislike bleeding through. It's something that Maya told me some time ago. It's as if the skill is changing my personality.
I don't mind it lowering some emotions like fear, anxiety, or anger a bit, but this might be too much. Well, it's not like I have much choice.
Lily continues to talk to me, she also touches me and sends her warm mana through my body in an attempt to heal, but there isn't much she can do with the strain I put on myself. Not at her current level.
I listen to her, I feed Biscuit some food from my portion, and again continue to work on my idea, inscribing a difficult set of circuits into the largest mana stone I have. I do it even though it makes it more difficult to stop the Living Tree´s particles.
Another day passes and a woman dies in the same way the first man did. It starts with her arm and after they cut it off in an attempt to stop it, leaves start growing through the skin on her neck. Once again it's someone from Elydor's guild and while cursing, he kills her, this time earlier than the man before.
I notice that he starts to look toward where the door to the mansion in the city is. I know that his decision is close.
He notices me watching him and when our eyes meet, he is calm. Unlike before when he acted like a B-rate villain, he is now focused in the face of danger. It's not a skill, no, it's just the strength of his will. You don't become one of the most powerful men in a city like Virelia without being skilled.
Yet, he is still an asshole and soon his men come to our group, taking all the food and water away from us and pushing us further from the main group and into the darkness of the tunnel.
Elydor's eyes are suspicious as he watches us, most likely unsure why we didn't die in a similar way his guild members did.
Three more days pass and all at once, four men from the small guild Blackrock die in the same gruesome manner.
Elydor and his men conduct some experiments now that they are not from their guild. They cut off limbs, they burn leaves, they try to dissect them while they are alive and branches grow from them. They even draw some glowing symbols on them and test some items.
One of Elydor's men tries some shadow skill, and Elydor himself sends his mana into the body of one of the men to fight against the process, but that only accelerates it.
And then, when all the men are dead and he stares down at their bodies, it seems to be enough.
"We will try to get through the city," he says to the deafening silence that ensues.
His voice is sharp and his face is determined. Mana moves around his body domineeringly, and he now seems taller and stronger.
"Fodder will go first and buy us some time, and then we will run for it, everyone on their own. The ones that make it will meet outside the city," he says, ignoring the fact that the barrier is most likely around the entirety of the city.
He is desperate and wants to try it while he still has some strength left. The most surprising thing to me is that he doesn't even suggest attacking the Calamity, clearly showing how terrifying the tree monster is.
Well, the waiting is finally over.
After a long time, I stand up with a sigh of relief. I have learned all I could and I do not need them anymore.
I throw the mana stone I was working on at Sophie and she grabs it, giving me a short nod. She immediately sends her mana inside, keeping the field that protects us from the Living Tree stable over a considerable part of the tunnel.
That much is enough.
After close to 20 days, I reach out and start weakening the hold over my emotions that [Focus] has.
POV Maya Jones
Out of nowhere, the silence becomes even more deafening. It's so quiet I can swear I hear my blood moving through my veins. Then the air becomes colder and every movement I make is like I'm moving through molasses.
And only then, a loud thump sounds, followed by another. As if a heartbeat continues to echo in the tunnel.
Nathaniel stands up, his face pale, bags under his eyes, messy hair, and even a visible hint of some weight loss. But he doesn't move slowly, and I don't feel any weakness from him; he stands up confidently, each movement sharp and strong.
Then mana starts radiating from his body. It slowly ramps up as if it's a generator creating more and more of it, and it continues to flow into the tunnel, almost feeling like waves hitting and reflecting from it.
“Oh, so you did hide a little bit of mana,” Elydor smiles, immediately noticing it, his tone almost as if delighted by the challenge.
But it doesn't stop there; even more and more mana continues to radiate from Nathaniel to the point where the smile slowly disappears from Elydor's face, replaced by sheer surprise and then a hint of fear.
“Get into formation 5, we are against an Amplificator. Estimated level a bit under 200,” he hisses quickly at his men, his mana also activating.
On the other side, Nathaniel just lazily takes a step away from us and towards them, keeping Group 4 behind his back.
“You with them?” Nathaniel asks shortly towards the woman called Obelia, guild master of Storm Brigade.
To Elydor's cursing, Obelia shakes her head and only takes a step back, creating a barrier around her guild members that they continue to strengthen.
And then Nathaniel's expression changes. The distant face he had up until now disappears as he deactivates the skill both he and I share. For the first time since we ended up trapped in the tunnels, his eyes become different. They are not so uncaring and distant anymore.
Like a burning fire, hate appears in them. A terrible, unforgiving rage.
At the same moment, his mana changes, it stops freely flowing and freezes in the air, dominated by his will.
“Change of assessment, level over 200, at least a rare-grade Primary class,” Elydor shouts, and his mana rushes and clashes against Nathaniel's.
cerim
The next chapter is 3,400 words long. I hope you enjoyed the build-up.
Also the next chapter:
Spoiler