Beyond the Mana Veil

“Snap! You in there newbie? Back with us now?” Runa snapped her fingers in front of my face, drawing my attention. I didn’t understand what was going on. My mind felt as though it was in a haze. My body moved sluggishly. Still, I tried to make the most of our surroundings.

In front of me was a long narrow hallway that branched off to the side at equal intervals. Everything was pitch black except for the white lights snaking along the edges and corners of the floor and ceiling. I could hear absolutely nothing, making me think this futuristic looking place was abandoned.

“Where are we?” I spoke aloud unconsciously.

“You can think of this as another world,” Runa said, walking off once again. Her footsteps were assured, as though she knew exactly where she was going. I snapped out of my stupor and quickly followed behind her. I could feel how sluggish I was as I walked.

“What do you mean another world?” I asked, unsure how she knew so much. Looking to the side, I noticed that the branches broke off into small rooms. However, there was nothing inside of them, which was rather strange.

“It’s simple. You know how dungeons form, right?”

“Yeah? It generally happens when mana stagnates for a long period of time in one place. But what does it have to do with this place?” I had no idea where she was going with this question.

“I’m getting to that,” Runa said, turning around a corner towards another pathway. “If a dungeon forms when mana stagnates, then where do the beasts come from? Why do some of them dissipate when defeated? And why do you feel more powerful after defeating those beasts?

“Well, it’s rather simple,” Runa pointed into one of the rooms. I took a look inside.

Silently, little nubs began rising from the floor. Four of them grew from the ground, starting to turn into…legs?! From one of the walls, a large cylindrical thing jutted out, sliding across the legs before it covered them all. Then, the cylinder shrank until it looked like the body of a deer. From the ceiling, a head formed, dripping down in small blobs. It sloshed onto the rest of the body before landing in its natural position. The blackness of the thing then gained color until it looked like any other deer-like beast. A purple veil opened in front of the deer-like beast. Mechanically, the beast walked through, the veil closing behind it.

“What was that?” I asked, my voice quivering as I tried to process what I had just seen.

“It was a beast made by the dungeon. The beasts here are beings of pure mana. The stronger the concentration of mana in a certain location, the stronger the beasts. When you defeat a beast, the mana dissipates, allowing you to absorb some of it back. Though, with the amount you gain, it doesn’t do much except fill up what you used.” Listening to her and seeing that thing form in front of me, I started to believe her.

However, I still had my doubts. “But what about the beasts that don’t disappear? Those aren’t made from mana at all…Hey!” Runa had already started walking down the hallway again! Seriously! She needs to stop doing things like this!

“Honestly, I have absolutely no idea,” she said with a smile.

“...seriously?”

“I’m totally serious!” Yeah, with that playful look on your face, I don’t believe you at all. “Back when the forest capital was still around about…two million years ago? Something like that. But back when the forest capital was around, there was a dungeon that caused a stampede every ten to twenty thousand years. I heard they tried to study the differences between regular and mana beasts after they managed to figure out how to handle the stampede. Sadly, they ended up learning nothing from this endeavor.

“The only thing they did figure out was when the mana in a dungeon built up past a certain point, the walls in the deepest areas would crack. Then, those amalgamations stronger than some gods would wander into the world. It was very problematic, but if you could defeat an amalgamation, the amount of mana they stored would allow a person’s mana capacity to increase exponentially.

“You can confirm for yourself, can’t you?” I closed my eyes and concentrated for a moment. I didn’t notice it at first because of my sluggish movement, but I did feel like I had a bit more mana than before. However, it was nowhere near enough to take down the amalgamation with any degree of certainty. It would likely kill me 99 out of 100 fights.

As we continued snaking down more corners, the number of beasts being assembled increased. It was as though this place was a giant factory.

“So, let me ask you something,” Runa began, stopping in front of the entrance to another room. “If your mana increased from defeating an amalgamation, how much stronger would you get if you stepped into the place where the amalgamation came from?” Runa turned to her side, allowing me to see into the room.

Compared to the other cube-like rooms, this one was cylindrical. We were on a raised platform, looking down towards the center. On each layer, it looked as though there were hundreds of terminals that were switched off. A giant glowing light from a well in the center permeated through the room. Next to that light, there was a human-like figure standing next to it. Its hands were permanently attached to the well as it looked deeply into it, as though they were monitoring whatever the light was. I was speechless as Runa answered the question she just asked.

“Well, that person could gain strength even greater than the gods.”