The crystal heart that lies in the centre of my soul realm sings as if welcoming me back from my time meditating. I can tell ive been out of it for about the same amount of time as I was previously. With no time to waste I leave my soul realm to find Oberon, I don’t have to look for long. The moment I open my eyes I find him standing before me. His restlessness is flooding across our bond. Not good news then? At least he isn’t kneeling this time.
“Elysia! thank the maker you are back!”
“what happened?”
“Well, we continued to dig in the direction we had been and we finally found something. A cave system”
A cave! I grab his stony hands in reflex “Have you explored it yet? What did you find? Does it lead to the surface?!”
“N-not yet, We have only looked through the opening. I thought it was best to wait for you. it does seem to be large though as you cannot see where it leads to.”
“What are we waiting for then let's go!” I pull him along as I move toward the area we were digging in.
“Ahh— Elysia, I feel we should not go in... just yet? What about building our forces with the stone and the mana you regenerated first? Then maybe in a couple of days… we can go in fully prepared?”
“think of what we could possibly find inside! New resources? Stronger stone, maybe even—“
“Creatures that want to kill you”
“Well yeah… I know you won't like this but, how about I go alone? You and the defenders stay here and guard the crystal. I'm good at being stealthy as ive had to do it while foraging most of my previous life and it should translate over to this body. At the first sign of trouble ill come back, alright?”
“… I suppose that could work, it is risky though.”
“Haha, what's life or I suppose, second life without a little risk?” I'm completely going to ignore the fact that taking a risk was what landed me in this new life.
“Well... if that is what you want to do… you will not be able to explore a lot of it just yet as you need to expand your influence. You will know when you hit that point. Explore up to where you can feel its effects and come back. I will explain how you expand then.”
“I’ll be back soon!” I Dart over to the hole and peer through without waiting for a reply. The inside of the cave looks very much the same as the cave my heart is in. Only darker. I look around and find the nearest defender with one of the longer picks and take it to use as a weapon. It's time to explore this cave.
The cave system gradually becomes smaller as I move through its branches. Eventually, I don't even have enough room to step to the side. I find it strange though. The walls of the cave are completely bare of all life. No insects. No fungi. Not even the mosses that love the damp and dark. I continue walking however, the further I go… I'm getting weaker? It's almost as if I'm tired. I push through a little more only to find my body is getting heavy. The feeling of weakness makes me panic for a moment and I quickly begin to look around thinking I'm being poisoned by something. That's when I realise. I'm made of rock, poison wouldn’t work… maybe this is what Oberon was talking about when he said I would know? I try to push it further however I soon reach the point where I might not be able to get back and so I begin my trek back to the heart.
When I get back to the entrance Oberon is waiting along with several defenders behind the walls of the opening.
“How did it go?” he says.
“I didn’t find as much as I thought I would to be honest. I felt the moment that I reached the end of my influence though.”
“It is the same for all beings under your control, gradually they will get weaker until they will lose connection to their body and will end up back in your soul realm as a way to protect them.”
“Good to know at least if I order them past my influence I won't permanently lose them. So, how is it that I expand my influence?”
“Just like when you draw mana into the skill stone when you use a skill, you must draw your mana and use it to push back the mists that surround your soul realm to expand its size. You can visualise it in many ways but I feel the ‘pushing’ will work best for your affinity.”
I close my eyes and enter my soul realm. The mist that surrounds this small area still as thick as ever. I pull on the mana inside the well and carefully begin to spin the liquid mana to form a thick shell around the area. I'm shocked at how well it responds and was expecting at least a few failures. I'm unsure whether this is due to me having practice visualising or if it something innate? I imagine the shell spinning in the same way the mist does. Faster. Faster. Soon I feel the mana pushing against the wall of mist forcing it back. In its place, the thick mana shell begins to thin spreading out as it increases in size. I stop feeding it mana and watch as it continues to spread until finally, it stops. The mana shell disappears from sight though I can tell it's still there. The mists are much further away and in its places lies nothing. I was expecting more of the odd shape stone floor but instead, after the standing stones, is a carved lip of stone that swiftly goes into a sharp drop.
I walk over to the edge and look down. I didn’t flinch as I was expecting to. The dome of mana I created actually spread out into the shape of a sphere and this place inside my soul is on top of one gigantic round pillar. The mist however still obscures where ever this pillar is connected to.
I look around one last time to see if I had missed anything. I had. In the distance, lining up with the central crystal and the skill stone for summoning lies a path of floating stone slabs.
I walk over and peer toward the mist. the stone path disappears into it and I can't make out anything behind it. It makes me really want to expand my influence again to see where it leads. I focus on my mana pool but I’m surprised to find that what I have done so far actually used the majority of my mana. That settles it then. I don't wish to meditate again so soon. I close my eyes and shift out of my soul realm.
When I open my eyes again I go straight to Oberon who is standing guard of the cave system.
“Oberon when I expanded my influence it uncovered a path? It leads nowhere at the moment and is behind the summoning skill stone.”
“I am not certain of what that may be as no two soul realms follow the exact same pattern for what lies beyond… I can only say it will most likely take a long time to uncover but will be a boon once it happens”
Interesting that's something to keep in mind for the future. Another question popped into my mind at that moment, one I was meaning to ask “How can I increase the amount of mana I can have at one moment? The expanding of my influence took a very large chunk of it and I can feel it will only get worse.”
“it will most certainly get worse. I am afraid the amount of mana required increases exponentially — more rapidly the further you progress. Do you know about the tier and rank system awakened are measured by?”
“Of course the 10 tiers that are governed by your active skill stones and the 9 ranks that it takes to reach each tier.”
“Exactly, it is the same for all beings. The only difference is sometimes a being will gain the first skill stone early if it is vital to their survival with the downside of not being able to choose it. As a dungeon, you are an example of a race that does this. even though you have a skill, you are still only tier 0 and rank 1”
“Ok… but how does this all relate to mana capacity? It is tied to the rank?”
“Precisely, when your rank increase so does every aspect of your being, in your case the size and durability of your heart as well as the regeneration and size of your mana pool.”
“So the question is how to increase your rank?”
“There are 2 ways: increasing it by funnelling your mana directly into your crystal OR by using the already condensed mana of beings that have died in your influence. I would advise not to use the former unless absolutely necessary or you are very close to a breakthrough. The conversion rate is just really inefficient”
I let what Oberon said roll around in my mind as I proceed to trace back my steps through the caverns. I have killed livestock before. I have even killed small creatures in self-defence but that doesn’t mean I gone actively searching to do so. my apprehension on the matter is clear to see but I know I will probably need to get over it. Even if not actively searching to kill at least I need to be prepared to defend myself.
I reach the point I got to before and as expected I can no longer feel the oppressive tiredness that I once did. I go further in and notice the cavern walls opening up to become much easier to move around in again. A light shines on the wall in front of me from around the corner. I quickly rush toward it forgoing the stealthy approach I had before. the glowing mushrooms and mist-filled expanse being what I so dearly hope for. What I find though was an insect. An incredibly large one with a blue glowing behind. The creature notices my presence and turns around while I'm still staring. For a moment it watches me. then, it lunges toward me with its sickle-like arms.
*Hollow knight bossfight music starts*