Caves

Cool white-blue ice covers the walls, or I suppose it’s more accurate to say that the walls are made of the ice. The compacted earth and stone gives way to the ice cave at a well-defined borderline, and if what I’ve heard is accurate, we’ll find more strata of earth below, interspaced with more ice.

There are no glowing fungi to illuminate this cave, unlike the many other underground expanses I’ve explored, but that isn’t to say that the place is lifeless.

I glance back towards the vibrant colours growing from the ground, walls, and even hanging from the ceiling of the earthen cave behind me. The ice ahead is comparatively colourless, though not without its own growths.

White grass rises from the ground in clumps so delicate that the blades shatter and break at a touch, cold as the ice it grows from, mushrooms squeeze their way into the cracks in the floor and the walls, and occasionally I even catch sight of the small, frightened form of a mouse, or something the like.

“These plants aren’t good ingredients?” I ask quietly, my voice carrying through the cave clearly even so.

“I could use them…” Thresh says, sounding conflicted for a moment. “I will later, for now I want to see if I can find a potent base. Or that crystal stage flower…” She sounds a little more doubtful of the latter.

We continue to trek down deeper into the ice, stepping carefully though the ground is not as slippery as it would seem. We watch closely for any particularly dense growth of mana, but the plants and critters surrounding are all of the ordinary sort.

The ice reflects the light from our light wands brightening our way forwards, seeming more inviting than the lingering shadows of its earthen entrance we’ve already tread through.

Touching a gloved finger on the icy wall, I almost expect it to stick like something from a cartoon, but no. The mana lining my glove is far more dense than that of the ice, with little effort the ice cracks beneath my fingertip.

I brush a few clinging shards from my finger and continue walking after Thresh, who walks at the centre of our formation. Eshya is leading us with Vii supporting her, while I cover our backs with Adler’s help.

We move slowly and carefully, while there shouldn’t be many dangerous beasts, the uneven ground is a trip hazard and there’s always an unlikely chance of a cave in. The ice crunches a little underfoot, more delicate than I’d expect. The sound of it is strangely satisfying, though it does make me more and more worried of a possible cave in.

The path splits ahead of us but as we agreed earlier, Eshya leads us down the left most path while leaving a mark on the wall. We’re not going to let ourselves get trapped down here from something as simple as losing our way.

The others don’t show any hint of worry, though they still do tread carefully, especially as the path gets particularly thin and we no longer have room to walk shoulder to shoulder. Thresh has to squeeze more than the rest of us, her arachnid body not well suited to tight spaces.

My breath mists as it escapes my veil, which is a little shocking. It doesn’t feel all that cold, though I’m sure it should. Between my armour and my mana density, I’m more protected from the cold than I would be bundled up in dozens of warm blankets.

The problem for me is that exploring a frigid cave should be freezing, I should feel the oppressive chill in the air at the very least. What’s the worth in exploring such places if I can’t even experience them properly?

Moving my mana into my skin, I can feel even the last of the coldness fading, souring my mood, though I’m loath to let it show.

“What about this moss?” Vii says, poking at a mass of purple growth on one of the icy walls. It glows brightly with mana, somewhere in the lower liquid stage if I were to guess.

“It could be useful.” Thresh says, “I’ll leave it diffusing in a base liquid, I think.”

After a little thinking, she pulls out a large bottle, two to three litres in volume, filled with yellowish liquid. Using a knife, she frees some of the purple moss from the wall, carefully scraping it into the large bottle while ensuring that she doesn’t let any fall to waste. There’s plenty more on the wall, but I suppose she’s used to working with more limited samples.

The purple moss floats atop the yellow liquid like oil on water, but after a little shaking they begin to stir and the liquids in the moss slowly mix into the yellow fluids inside the bottle. She looks at it closely, seeing something that I can’t, she places it carefully back into her bags.

We move on quickly afterwards, exploring the icy cave deeper and deeper, sometimes stopping to gather from one plant or another. Thresh is consistently careful to only take what she can use, and even then, not allowing a single drop to waste.

“Do you really need to be so careful?” I ask, thinking back to the countless potential ingredients I’ve let go to waste. Most of which become nothing more than fuel for my mana form.

“Of course.” Thresh replies. “We can’t let a single ingredient go to waste. Not only are we limited with what we’re given as students, but it’s a core value of our entire society. I can complain about a few rules here and there, though I know I shouldn’t, but it’s common sense to be mindful of what we waste.”

“Understandable.” I agree timidly, “Then it’ll be nice to bring you down to our base. We have far too much going to waste because no one knows what to do with it all.”

She growls quietly, shaking her head. There’s a vicious smile on her lips, somehow both keen and frustrated at once.

“Dead end.” Eshya calls back. “I don’t want to risk trying to squeeze through this next part.”

The gap she’s referring to is a split in the ice barely wide enough that we might be able to squeeze through. It would leave us vulnerable, and potentially worse; it isn’t guaranteed that there’s room for us on the other side of the gap.

I remember hearing stories about divers trying to squeeze into tight spaces, getting stuck and drowning. While it’s rather unlikely that we’d manage to drown ourselves down here, getting stuck would still be quite the bother, if not actually dangerous.

We turn back, leaving another mark on the wall at the intersection as we pass so that we know it’s a dead end.

“How far are we going?” I ask Thresh. We’re here for her, and she’s the one who wants to find the powerful ingredients hidden down in these caves.

“I was hoping to spend most of our week in here.” Thresh says. “There’s little of worth on the surface. The most interesting things are buried in these caves.”

“It’s not going to cave-in on us?” Vii asks, showing some nervousness that she’s been burying rather well. Until now, that is. “Should we really be going this deep? What if we get lost? Isn’t this like, really dangerous? I don’t want to starve down here!”

“The villagers come down here often.” Thresh replies. “Cave-ins are rare, and when they do happen it’s never anything too dangerous.”

“I’ve been marking the wall, and I’m exercising a new ‘mapping’ Skill.” Eshya says, “We should be safe from getting lost, at least. I’d still welcome an attack from beasts, though.”

“They can have some quite useful organs, apparently.” Thresh says. “If you do kill them, try to limit the damage.”

“That’s what our training is for.” I say with a shrug.

“That doesn’t make me feel better…” Vii whispers, shivering a little, though I doubt it’s from the cold.

“We’ll be alright.” I say, trying to comfort her, though I can’t do much for her without breaking formation. She’s not in such a bad way that we should be taking that extra risk.

She smiles nervously back at me, nodding while taking a few deep breaths and finding her focus again.

Without sight of the sun, it’s difficult to tell how long we’ve been down here. I’m sure there are some useful Skills that could help in the oversized library inside Chip but sorting through the list is a little overwhelming and in a quick search I can’t find anything that’ll serve my needs.

We settle down for lunch when hunger takes us. We each have our own water bottles with us, and some lunches wrapped in oiled paper. There are some slight enchantments in the paper ensuring that it lasts and isn’t permanently stained or damaged.

Recycle and reuse is truly the ethos of the Unified States, though that’s still most clearly proven by their funerary rites. I’m still not entirely certain whether it’s only the beasts that make it to the dinner table, or if ordinary citizens are given the same treatment. It’s not exactly the most pleasant question to be asking people about.

I can’t imagine it would go down well, asking a teacher if he’s going to end up as a hotdog or a hamburger when he dies, especially with our track record of killing teachers. Still only at one kidnapping and one killing, technically not yet a spree.

Back to the dinner table, I wonder if we get some choice in what we end up as? Perhaps we should be given something like a written will, describing how we’d prefer our remains to be prepared and marinated.

“Mana anyone?” I ask, shaking the thought free from my mind. Eshya, quickly hops to my side to take advantage of the offer. I fill up a bite of jerky with mana, which she makes short work of. Thankfully, I know where this meat has come from.

She doesn’t flinch from the pain of it anymore, though she still closes her eyes to focus for a few moments. Vii begrudgingly follows suit, and Adler too accepts the offer, still not entirely used to our methods, but willing to go along with it for now.

“Why are you giving away your mana?” Thresh asks. “You’re letting so much mana decay into the air, it can’t be efficient.”

“I can consume mana really quickly.” I say, “Since I can replace all this in moments, I share the blessing around. There’s practically no mana in our food, well in the food we don’t source for ourselves at least, so this is how we get our mana. Do you want some?”

“I’m fine...” She says hesitantly, her brows furrowed as she lets her own meal rest, quickly frosting over. “Where do you get the mana from?”

“Dead beasts.” I reply easily. “There’s never really any shortage on beast corpses.”

“I can assure you there is quite the shortage on beast parts.” Thresh replies firmly, “Us alchemy students mostly use plants because of how difficult it can be to get a reliable supply of ingredients harvested from beasts. It’s not even just us students either, even the alchemists in town have trouble with supply.”

“Huh,” I mumble, thinking back to the last weeks. I’ve been fighting beasts every other day, and it’s strange to think that others have been living such peaceful lives that they can’t find a corpse even if they want one.

Which is probably a good thing?

“Well, are we going to keep moving?” I ask with a shrug, brushing the shards of shattered ice off of my arse as the alchemist rushes her chilled food down.

“Let’s.” Eshya says. “I want a fight before we head back.”

“Before we go, can I make a further request?” Thresh asks, looking nervously between us.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I’d like to keep hunting ingredients until morning. There’s some plants that are more potent when harvested of a night.” She explains, her eight legs tapping nervously against the white-blue ice floor. “Ah, also there are beasts that only hunt of a night, too.” She says, turning to Eshya as she tried to sweeten her up.

“I’m in.” Eshya says, looking back to the rest of us for support.

“It sounds reasonable enough.” I reply. “If we can’t find any food we might go a little hungry, though.”

“I’m just following along.” Adler replies uncertainly. “I’ll leave the decision to all of you.”

“Ah, fine.” Vii grumbles, looking up at the ceiling. “It’s just… I want to see the sky again.”

“You’re never so bothered in the ruins or the dungeon.” I say, taking a moment to rub Vii’s back as she shudders in fear and frustration.

“The ruins are well constructed; they’re not going to fall so easily. The dungeon isn’t going to collapse unless Frey herself wants to crush the cavern. Here? Here, there’s nothing stopping the roof from falling in on us.” She complains, waving at that very ceiling.

“It… It should be fine. Thresh said that collapses are rare, and if something like that does happen, I’ll make sure to keep everyone safe.” A promise that I’m not sure I can actually make real, but I’ll certainly do my best.

Vii, even knowing my abilities, looks up at my face and quickly calms back down. Her tense expression relaxing back to normal quite quickly.

“Yeah, okay.” She says with a nod and a nervous laugh. “It’ll be fine. It’s not like everything’s going to end here because of a cave-in. There’s still so much ahead of us.”

“Exactly.” I say, patting her head before we continue forwards again.

“Dungeon?” Thresh whispers quietly enough that I can pretend that I didn’t hear. It’s best to leave that particular issue for later. We’re also going to have to ensure that Arduelle gives her a free pass to travel between Frey and the academy.

The caves continue much as we’ve already seen, there’s no mythical, crystal flowers, at least none that are actually impressive mana-wise, and we’ve yet to stumble into another earthen cavern.

The ice isn’t endless, however. As we start to grow hungry again, likely approaching dinner time, we stumble into something rather unexpected.

“It’s deep, and it’s warm.” Eshya says, carefully dipping a finger into the waters that block our path. The cave continues on into the distance curving out of sight, but the ground has been replaced with a warm pool of water.

“Be careful.” I say, stepping up beside her and carefully peering down into the depths, a few spells ready at hand to rapid cast the moment something peeks its head above the surface. “None of us are good for a fight in the water, are we?”

Adler cautiously lifts a hand while the others shake their heads. Thresh nervously watches the water’s surface while licking her lips greedily. I suppose the water might be useful for something in her alchemy?

“I’m capable of fighting underwater.” Adler says. “So long as the beasts aren’t too dangerous, I can save you if you sink.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” I say, looking back towards the water.

“I’d like to take a dip… I just wish I knew how to swim…” Eshya says, begrudgingly staying by the waters side as she watches the depths.

“You don’t know how to swim?” I ask, my eyes not leaving the water. There are some shapes down in the depths, they scatter when we shine our lights down at them. They don’t seem overly dangerous, their mana barely into the liquid stage if my mana sense is as reliable as I hope it to be.

“Not anymore.” She replies begrudgingly. “I used to go swimming as a kid, but back then my mana wasn’t so dense. There are some Skills in our heads we could use, but it’ll take some time to get them working.”

“Ah…” I make a vague sound of agreement as I try to figure out the physics behind this new puzzling development.

I hadn’t thought about it too much before. The only water I’ve really been immersed in since leaving Earth was in the dungeon, and even then, I was just getting carried on the currents, not actually swimming in it.

The physics at play are relatively simple. The more mana dense a person is, the more the water will give way to them, buoyancy overcome by gravity and mana density. Or at least that’s what I’m assuming.

At this point, I’m so mana dense that even keeping my head above water would be a struggle without some Skill or trick up my sleeve.

“That sucks.” I groan, as I flick through a few relevant Skills in Chip. These ones are a little easier to find, even if there’s a selection a little too wide, again filled with Skills for people who’s physical form is much different to my own.

“Do you think… Is there any way we can catch some of the fish?” Thresh asks, cautiously stepping a little closer to the water. “They shouldn’t be dangerous, and I think I could make something by mixing their parts into a base made from this spring water.”

“Spring water?” I ask.

“This place is immersed in the warm mana of the spring spots.” Thresh explains. “It’s why the ice is melted. It’ll make for an interesting alchemical base, the water should retain some of the ice element, while also immersed in spring mana.

“The fish live by following the spring spot as it moves around, some of the plants in there are also incredibly valuable, but…” She says, seeming rather unhappy. “If we can’t swim…”

“The fish aren’t dangerous?” I ask, “And nothing dangerous should be coming to surprise us?”

“The fish aren’t dangerous at all from what I’ve been told, and the villagers are weaker than you girls. There’re few dangerous predators in these caves. The townspeople were vague about it, but they assured me that there were few dangerous species about. We should be safe.”

“Adler, you can pull us out of the water if we start drowning?” I turn to her and get a nod. “Then it might be a good chance to learn how to swim. It can’t be too hard, right?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 1679 units

~Mana distribution:

Defence: 0/58%

Offense: 0/57%

Mana sense: 76/76%

Recovery: 0/30%

Gluttony: 0/26%

Misc.: 0/42%

Efficiency: 76/100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Reactive defence

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Charged casting (Annihilation)

-Mana form flow fixer

-Branching magic