Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Matt carefully watched the surroundings while on watch from his place near the camp. The world was so active. This was a living planet that had a functional ecosystem well before the Empire arrived. The world was teeming with bugs, trees, and native animals.

It shouldnt have been a shock to him, as his own planet Lilly was just the same in the not so distant past. It was his time on the desolate training world that had tainted his perspective of what uninhabited worlds were.

Just as the old mnemonic said... Life makes mana. Mana makes essence. Essence creates rifts. Rifts convert all three.

It didnt account for the fact that essence multiplied on its own, given enough time. Or that essence could break down into mana given the right environment. Or even that rifts created life itself.

But the self-propagating feature of essence was the reason that Tier 15 was the watershed Tier for immortality. The amount of essence one possessed at Tier 15 was enough to replace the bodys needs, allowing the cultivator to become completely self-sustaining.

That was why Tier 15s had complete control of their bodys shapes and features. They could manipulate their spirits and essence, which let them transfigure their bodies. The further they advanced past Tier 15, the further they deviated from the restrictions of humanity.

In theory, it was possible to advance solely from the essence production of your cores, but that was so slow only the crazy would pursue that path. You needed so much more essence to advance, that it would take eons to go from one Tier to to the next. A single delve would be trillions of times more effective than relying on ones natural production of essence.

Still, it was interesting to ponder while he was on watch.

The small stone in his hand was the reason why Matts mind kept going back to essence. Their reward from the delve of the boar rift had been an essence stone. Much like mana stones were pure ambient mana condensed into a small form, an essence stone was rift essence condensed into a small oblong. It was about the same size as the last knuckle of his thumb, with perfectly smooth edges.

They contained essence equal to the amount that the rift would contain in a complete clear. The small stones were incredibly valuable, as they would allow someone to advance with all the advantages of rift delving, but with none of the risks.

Matt twirled the stone in his hand. It wasnt hard to understand why they held so much value. The rich would pay out their noses for a resource like this. It was also useful for them, but there was no way to split the essence between the four of them who actively cleared the rift. So, they intended to sell the stone, and split the rewards equally.

Malcolm hadnt contested a share of the reward. The man had cowered behind them, and rushed from massive mushroom to mushroom for cover, while the other four killed everything that moved.

He had gotten a small share of the essence, just from being near them. If he had complained about the free ride, Matt wasnt sure who would have hit him first. No one wanted the freeloader claiming a share of the prize.

Malcolm, for having done nearly nothing all day, was currently nodding off on the log he was sitting on. Matt shook his head and walked the perimeter once more. He had done some searching through his survival guides to occupy himself. According to one, night watch used to be called fire watch, which made him chuckle for a minute. How primitive would you have to be to be worried about a fire going out? Even a [Fireball] skill could be used in a pinch.

Matt flicked the stone in his hand, sending it spinning in the air. This essence stone was worth something like twenty-five Tier 7 mana stones in the Empire proper. It was crazy that people would pay that much for a little bit of essence, but he wasnt complaining about the small windfall.

A part of Matt couldnt believe it. If someone could afford that price, they should be able to afford an escort through a Tier 5 rift. At the same time, it took time to be guided through a rift, whereas the essence stone was nearly instant. Besides, if you were a Tier 15, it would be chump change to buy essence stones for your children.

Considering how mana stones increased in value, buying down was of little concern. The reward was good for their team, though. Even with a quarter going to Camilla, they would be able to get a nice item or two.

Watching the night sky slowly start brightening as dawn approached, Matts daydreams drifted to how different his life could have been if he had been accepted to a guild.

Would they have taken advantage of him after he hit Tier 3?

Would he have even hit Tier 3?

Matt tried to think of the possibilities. He couldnt see the future, but it was fun to come up with scenarios while keeping his friends safe. He had already run through all the possibilities of random calamities he could think of, and how he would react to them.

A blip interrupted him, and his AIs draw on his mana decreased. Trying to not get his hopes raised too high, he checked the results of the enchanting test that his AI was running. The results were conclusive.

Ha!

His outburst jolted Malcolm out of his stupor. After being abruptly woken up, he wiped his face and started walking around.

Matt called out, Hey, keep watch for a few minutes. I want to test something.

At the nod, he pulled out a plank of wood, and used his carving tool to begin removing wood in strips. While he worked, he injected his mana into the woods cell structure. When he completed the runes and connecting formations, he started pouring mana into the roughly carved plank.

With anticipation, he watched as the center of the rune started to glow. Ever so slowly, the light it was producing increased. At first, he thought it was just the sun rising, but soon, the rune was outproducing the sun in brightness. It became a veritable beacon in the predawn glow.

Ha! Fuck yeah!

Liz poked her head out of her tent and called out, Why didnt you wake us up if its so late?

As she squinted her eyes to adjust to the increasing brightness, she asked, Why are you making so much light this early?

Matt didnt let her tone get him down.

My AI figured out this light rune all on its own!

She tilted her head. ...So?

This is a new light rune combination! Thats so cool! And my AI did it, all on its own!

Liz shrugged, Is it better or something?The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

Matt shook his head with a smile. Nope! Its five percent worse than the standard model.

Liz crawled out of the tent and came to sit next to him.

Im proud of you. I really am. But do you realize that you cut my sleep off by half an hour?

Matt looked at his clock in his HUD and gave her a weak smile.

Sorry.

Liz rolled her eyes and poked his ribs, causing Matt to flinch. Its just enough time that its not worth going back to sleep. I want a good breakfast. A pout accompanied the comment that he could only assume was meant to melt his heart.

He didnt have it in him to tell her it was ineffective, especially after the look had been used on him so many times by Aster. The fox had the fluffy factor working in her favor too.

Sure. Ill get on it.

It was close enough to sunrise that it was reasonable to start cooking anyway.

With the plank of wood spreading enough light for him to work with, he started cooking. Without more mana being added, or a rune to draw ambient mana in, the light slowly started to dim. His AI was recording the output the whole time, and he kept a part of his view covered with its readings.

For the first time, he was enjoying enchanting something. While he knew the rune probably wasnt entirely new, it wasnt in the common rune collection for Tier 5 and below. It was just so cool that his AI had created something from just the beginner books.

Still in a good mood, Matt cooked for everyone, and even used a few of their perishables to apologize for disrupting Lizs sleeping time. Camilla and Aster crawled out of their tents not long after the smells started wafting through the clearing. Neither said a word, but Aster didnt hide her irritation at the plank of wood through their bond. Her sitting on the rune carved plank told Matt everything that her emotions didnt.

After they sat and ate, everyones eyes started drifting to the hole in the side of the mountain that they had camped out next to. None of them could resist the allure of a ruin.

A [Mana Bolt] flew over from the backline and missed completely. The skill splashed along the wall and lit up a series of lights.

Liz shouted something at Malcolm, but Matt was far too occupied to hear it. The golems head and chest were heavily dented, but it kept trying to lash out with its long arms.

Two long minutes later, with him and Camilla battering at the metal golem, they eventually broke something critical, and the monsters glow dispersed as it slumped to the ground.

Matt gave it a heavy stomp to make sure that it was really dead. When it didnt move, he turned to Liz and Aster, who were glaring at Malcolm. He wasnt even mad. The man was so clearly an amateur that he didnt even know what a mana absorber was.

Shaking his head, he knelt down next to Camilla, and they inspected the golem. It was a creature made of steel and some other alloy. The mystery metal was flexible enough to give the creature a bit more mobility than a typical golem should have.

Camilla looked at the creature and the still glowing wall. Matt followed her gaze and made the same connection. This entire ruin was a mages worst nightmare.

Trying to be optimistic, he said, Maybe its only pure mana that it can absorb.

That wouldnt be an unheard-of restriction. Just a rare one.

Liz and Aster had stopped yelling at Malcolm, and joined Matt and Camilla. Malcolm stood off to the side while looking scared and apologetic.

Before the man could speak, Matt clapped him on the shoulder and said, Lesson learned. Right?

At his nod, Matt didnt press. The man had fucked up pretty badly by launching a mana skill, after knowing that the enemy was a mana absorber. Most of them used mana to empower their fighting style, and if he hadnt missed, it would have made the fight that much harder. But he was an amateur and clearly didn't have any combat experience, so Matt tired to not hold a grudge.

Liz pointed at the wall and asked, Any reason we dont test all of our skills on the walls? Maybe well get lucky, and itll turn out to be unable to take the mana out of me and Asters spells.

Matt wasnt hopeful, but they tested it anyway. While the mages cast their skills at the wall, Matt retrieved his longsword and swapped it out for his mace and shield.

Turning his attention back to the mages, they received some pretty terrible news. Aster and Liz couldnt use their manipulation skills at all. When they touched the walls, and presumably the golems, their mana was ripped out of the skills, and they lost control of their elements.

Skills like [Ice Spear] and [Blood Bullet] performed slightly better, since they relied on the momentum of the moving elements to do damage. But they still increased the glow from the wall as it absorbed the damage from the skills, so using those particular skills was determined to be a last resort.

Camillas [Bolt] was entirely useless, as it was mana created energy, and performed no better than Malcolms [Mana Bolt] or Matts swords [Mana Charge].

Matt raised the question that he knew everyone was thinking. This is a shitshow of a counter. Do we pull out and leave?

Malcolm, who Matt expected to be the one who wanted to stay, was looking at the hall and stairwell behind them with longing.

Liz shook her armored head, and in the blue, mana-powered lights of the now bright hall said, No. I think we push on. This is still a ruin. I have my spears butt and a backup mace that I can use. Aster can still use ice to block areas off or disrupt footing. This is bad, but not that bad. We can still do damage with our skills as well, its just a last resort.

Camilla nodded. She was mainly a melee blunt damage fighter, so she was less affected by the ruin than Matt was. She couldnt use her whip, but that was only half of her usual arsenal. Matt would be unable to use his primary weapon.

As they were about to continue, Matts AI flashed, and he called a halt.

Going through the readout, he returned to the wall and watched its brightness, then inspected the runes that were used to light the halls. They were a better version of light runes, and should be dimming faster than they were.

After sharing the findings with the others, they all looked at the walls and at the golem they could make out in the distance.

Malcolm asked, Why isnt this place just draining the ambient mana to power itself?

Matt opened his mouth and paused. That was a good question. In his spiritual sense, he could feel the ambient mana. Most mana absorbing rifts were mana dead zones. At least, that was according to the information about common rifts in the Tier 5 through Tier 10 zone.

I dont know. But lets not give this place any more mana.

No one wanted to find out what the walls were powering the hard way.

With their intention to continue confirmed, they pushed deeper, and Matt continued to check his steps with his stick. It paid off again when a giant cleaver suddenly sliced out of the wall at waist high, and cut the stick in half. It slammed into the wall so hard, Matt was surprised that the blade didnt end up cracking the wall, or shattering against it.

Matt didnt think he could survive that kind of blow, and somberly inspected the two halves of the stick. They were less cut, and more crushed in half. Pulling a second stick out, he called to Liz and the others, who gawked at the now sprung cleaver trap.

Did any of you bring any sticks? I only have this one and one more.

At the shaking of heads, Matt cursed under his breath.

If this stick gets broken, were going back out for more sticks. Im not checking without them.

No one dared to argue, and they continued down the hall. The next golem they found wasnt far behind a second trap that Matt saw and triggered early.

As they fought with this particular golem, they had Malcolm start shooting [Mana Bolts] at it slowly. They wanted to observe the abilities of the golems. They were strong but slow when running on only ambient mana, so they wanted to test how much of a threat they would be as they charged up.

It was better to learn while they had control of the situation, rather than when shit hit the fan.

The results were... not good. When the golem was running on ambient mana, they operated at about mid Tier 5 strength. Not that strong for a Tier 6 ruin. But as they absorbed more mana for fuel, their attacks started to increase in speed and complexity.

Once it reached early Tier 6 in power, the golem created a mana shield around its arm. At the middle of Tier 6, it produced a mana blade, and at the peak of Tier 6, it produced a layer of mana armor that was hard to break through.

The increased arsenal was accompanied by an increase in combat ability that rendered the golem truly terrifying.

The fight was long, and only possible because [Cracked Phantom Armor] was so effective against magical attacks. Matt was able to handle blows that he would never have dared to take against physical weapons.

It also helped that the golem wasnt using [Mana Blade], but instead runes to mimic the effect, according to his AI. The hits lacked the weight that perfectly distributed mana from a skill would have. Matt had to rely on Camilla to deal most of the damage, while he distracted the golem and kept its attention.

He still hit hard with his mace, but Camilla was able to strike at the vulnerable parts, while Matt just concentrated on hitting the shield and sword. His responsibility was to drain as much mana from the monster as he could.

Nearly twenty minutes later, they finally killed the golem, and the rush of essence caused them all to breathe a sigh of relief. Camilla was off to the side, struggling to catch her breath.

The only reason Matt wasnt in the same boat as her was that he had been channeling [Endurance]. For once, he actually was using it for its intended purpose, and with it, was simply able to ignore the effects of a long, drawn out fight.

Aster sent him worried feelings through their bond, and he walked over and nuzzled her. She was very unhappy with the fact that her ice was hurting them more than helping. She took pride in being a valuable member of the team. He took the time to reassure her that it was ok, and Liz helped by assuring her that she was in the same boat, but Aster still wanted to help.

Camilla, from her place leaning against the wall, said, While the testing was necessary, lets not give any of those things mana ever again.

Malcolm added, Yes. Ill not be using any of my skills unless I need to. I dont want to deal with one of those again. Ever. He almost sobbed, I regret not taking [Earth Manipulation].

He continued to quietly say something about this not being what he expected but Matt mostly tuned him out. The muttering man had a point. With [Earth Manipulation], or better yet, the higher Tier [Stone Manipulation], they would have been able to simply lock the creature down by shaping the earth around its feet. Even if it was empowered by the mana, it would still be encased in stone, and unable to move.

Matt shook himself and readied his stick. Wishing for skills they didnt have was pointless, and he needed to play find the traps again.