Chapter 31: Post-dungeon Hangovers

Chapter 31: Post-dungeon Hangovers

Nathan quickly reached the end of the hallway, taking in the two doors and wondering which to open.

Both were made of metal-inlaid wood, but while one was fancy, the other looked secure. He stepped towards the fancy door, finding it opened with a gentle touch. Beyond was a wide-open living space, sumptuously decorated but uninhabited. He panned his eyes quickly over couches, a kitchen, an empty pool, before shaking his head and turning around.

Ok. That looks like a luxury penthouse suite. Lets see whats through door number 2!

He pivoted to the other door and busted through its enchanted lock with a slight run-up, emerging into what looked like nothing so much as a spaceship engineering room from a sci-fi show.

There were panels all around covered with displays, indicators and controls. Screens at the front displayed images of the Heirs, who appeared to be hunkered against the base of one of the walls. They were protected by layered barriers of force and divine mana that were under continual attack by a variety of spells and weapons carried by the sword-golems. It was hard to tell, but it appeared that Aarl was slowly battering his way through the walls with an enchanted pickaxe.

Theres probably a shut-down somewhere around here. But I dont know where, what fail-safes are on it, and Id probably break the controls trying to hit it.

Beyond the screens was a giant crystal that looked grown, with internal refractions that revealed a complex internal structure. It was nearly five feet tall and blazed with power which flowed into the enchantments around it.

Why is it always a crystal? Youd think thered be a dungeon with a magical plant as a power source or something. I guess there was that one dungeon where a giant snake statue was the power source, so nevermind.

Regardless, Nathan hopped a safety barrier and dropped into the pit in which the crystal sat. He was ready for one final threat, one last challenge. But nothing happened. He just walked up to the crystal and examined it.

Theres gotta be enough mana in there to power a city for a month. Just being close to it is raising the hair on my arms. I *could* try to depower it, but that would take a while and might actually cause me to explode from Stamina overload. Maybe Id better cut it off from the rest of the network. And check for self-destructs?

Nathan spent a moment looking over the connections into the crystal and trying to figure out if there was a self-destruct somewhere. It wasnt something he could have done unaided, but the combination of [Notice], [Identify], [Spellsense] and [Enhanced Memory] helped him pick apart some of what was going on in the giant construct.

A lot of it seemed to be some kind of mana-siphon, a complex knot of flowing mana that Nathan could feel from feet away. It sucked in ambient mana, allowing the crystal to recharge.

Mid-tier Identify 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this skill to develop it to high-tier.

Doubt its recharging faster than this stronghold is spending mana trying to kill my friends.

Nathan shook his head and focused on what was important. It only took him a handful of seconds to be sure hed identified all of the enchanted conduits that fed magic into the rest of the fortress. Each mana flow was a different mana type, matching the ones Nathan had seen outside. Force, fire, sound, void, metal, acid and many more.

High-Tier Spellsense 8 achieved!

Its like an artificial mage, in a lot of ways. A mana pool that recharges and has different mana types. Damn.But I havent found a self-destruct yet, and that makes me nervous.

He spent nearly another minute studying the crystal, intensely aware of the sounds of explosions and other mana outside.

The Heirs will be fine. Both Stella and Khachi can shield them now. The fact that the sounds are still going means theyre fine. But they wont be fine if I let my Rage or impatience dictate my actions and let this crystal detonate.

After a moment, Nathan realized he should be looking for parts of the crystalline growth that were inactive. Places where he couldnt currently feel a significant quantity of mana flowing. The self-destruct wasnt currently charging, after all.

He touched each of those sections gently, getting the feel for how the traces of mana left behind siphoned into his hands. His [Identify] helped greatly, giving him cues for what each module was for. This one seemed like a communication nexus, while that one was some kind of mana conversion system that wasnt currently active. But the third one reminded Nathan of the crystal spellbook.

Specifically, it reminded him of the self-destruct spell that had left a crater in the banks of the Drakefish river. It seemed built to compress mana down to incredible densities while instilling a complex layering that Nathan didnt try to understand. But the real nail in the coffin was that this section of the larger crystal was cursed, though it was subtle enough that Nathan would have missed it without his experience using his antimagic to de-curse items.

Congratulations, you have developed the [Mid-tier Identify] utility skill into [High-tier Identify].

Utility skill: [High-Tier Identify]Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

This skill will help you interpret complex cues to understand strange objects, curses and effects, as well as give you clues on how to manipulate them. Will not help you identify types of mana or spellcraft.

As the curse activated, the self-destruct started to fill with mana, building up to detonation. It was fast, and would have only taken a few seconds to complete the process. Nathan didnt give it that time.

He jerked into motion and snapped off that portion of the crystal before crushing it to powder beneath his fingers. Much of the mana was absorbed into his hands, but what remained reacted wildly. Nathan spun around, putting the bulk of his body in between the unstable mana and the magical reactor. The leftover mana flared, and Nathan braced himself as it lashed out, doing nothing so clean as a simple explosion.

He almost slid back into the crystal, but managed to brace himself as fingers of wild mana scourged the inside of the control room. More grounded themselves against Nathans chest, and he once more felt Stamina overload. Hed barely not felt overloaded with mana this fight.

Well thats nice. But I still need to disconnect the crystal from the rest of the fortress so it stops barraging my friends with military-grade explosive magic.

So Nathan let the crushed chunks of inert crystal fall to the ground as he turned and examined the rest of the room. He struck quickly, disabling the various connections hed already scoped out. It was simple work, merely a series of powerful stomps atop each of the mana conduits.

After he finished, Nathan spun towards the giant crystal. Both of the inactive portions hed avoided breaking before to avoid setting off the self-destruct prematurely were now active - the mana conversion and long-distance communication modules. A wave of disintegration was sweeping out from the mana conversion system, and he had no idea what the communication module was doing.

Oh. Bad. Should have seen that coming. Maybe I should have broken those before moving on the conduits. What is my priority? Not waking up something thatll eat a village, I think.

Nathan made his choice quickly, smashing the chunk of crystal that was probably casting some equivalent of [Message] before moving around to the source of the disintegration spell that was steadily consuming what remained of the magical reactor.

The disintegration spell was tricky - it was some sort of self-propagating spell that fed off the mana contained in the crystal to keep itself going. When he tried to disable a region of the spell, it tried to disintegrate him, but quickly burnt out and was absorbed. However, the advancing tide of destruction was insidious, and Nathan couldnt tamp it all down quickly enough to halt the spread. It was only by ripping off chunks and using his antimagic to nullify all of the disintegration effect on each piece individually that Nathan was able to save even pieces of the original monolithic construct.

Now thats some aggressive DRM. I cant dispute its effectiveness, though.

Then he was done. He had been tossing the crystalline chunks after hed finished decontaminating them, and they were scattered around the edges of the room and in the control area, which was quickly losing its power. The magical lights stayed on, but the displays were flickering out and dying as Nathan watched.

Nathan got up before he really did disintegrate the comfortable seating, though where hed sat was probably not as springy anymore. Grumpy, he prowled around the space for a moment while the Heirs nervously watched from the door to see if he was about to blow up. Nathan checked the kitchen - empty cupboards. The pool was dry as a bone.

There were two doors leading out of the space. One was tucked away in a corner near the doors that led out into the hallway with the Heirs, while the other led deeper underground. Nathan walked over to the door near the Heirs, noting that it was locked with an obvious and heavy-duty enchantment. He carefully placed a finger on the very edge of the enchantment, slowly draining it dry to avoid a violent breakage that might trigger a self-destruct.

These ancient dungeons are really a little too heavily seeded with traps and things that go boom.

The Heirs scooted over to see what he was doing, taking a few steps into the room. Nathan waved them in. I think that most of the traps depended on the crystal for power. Besides, would you want hair-trigger traps in your living room?

The Heirs were still careful, and Stella put up a few panes of force to protect them from any surprise traps.

I should remember that not everybody can just take a fireball to the face and laugh it off. Oh man, my new class choices are exciting. All of them seem pretty great.

When the security enchantment was drained, Nathan gently pushed open the door, and stepped into a small armory.

It was obviously only supposed to equip one or two people, with a pair of armor stands taking up the middle of the room. Only one of them was occupied, bearing a tight-fitting robe made entirely of woven metal. It was covered with symbols made by patterns of metal strands, and oozed legendary armor vibes.

However, the racks of weapons and assorted items on the walls were just as impressive, even if there were a number of empty places where things were missing.

Skill comparison:

Utility skill: [Mid-Tier Identify]

This skill will help you interpret complex cues to understand strange objects and effects, as well as give you clues on how to manipulate them. Will not reveal curses without obvious clues, and will not help you identify types of mana or spellcraft.

Utility skill: [High-Tier Identify]

This skill will help you interpret complex cues to understand strange objects, curses and effects, as well as give you clues on how to manipulate them. Will not help you identify types of mana or spellcraft.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 7

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 81

Stamina: 833/910

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 3

High-tier Earnestness 7

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 2

High-tier Identify 1

High-tier Dodging Footwork 1

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 7

Mid-tier Tumbling 7