Cipiteca396

I think I'll work on the other story quietly until it's finished, then post it all at once. Sort of like how I'm planning to post this story to Royal Road once it reaches the end of Vol I.

"Hey Geni, is there anything we can do about this mana? It doesn't seem dangerous for now, but it's a bit unpleasant." I crossed my arms and huffed at the wall. Actually, there were a couple things I was concerned about now. For the moment, I decided to focus on this.

The little Fairy was burrowed into my computer. With just her head sticking out, she looked far more frightened than she actually was. "The obvious solution would be to use it for something. Darkness aligned Fae could use and manage it. With this much, I might be able to rig up a generator based on the one you made."

 The Fairy started mumbling. "Or, no. I could make that one cost less to maintain? I can't replicate the materials and techniques used to make it, but I could funnel mana into it... Definitely gotta try that. Not safe at all though- I'll need some protective wards..."

She wasn't paying attention to me anymore...

I looked at the Kindlesprite, but she just shrugged back at me. Without a direct expert, Geni was the most reliable for dealing with the death mana. Frankly, she had too much work to do. Hopefully the Water Fairy would be able to help her.

The other new problem was distance. The distance between the Gate room and my Core room before had been enough that I didn't even bother making the trip. Now around twice that distance was between my Core room and the Residential room. I didn't like the idea of leaving my Crystal Core unattended, but efficiency demanded I make my home close to everyone else.

Even then, I would still have the same problem. I couldn't just keep ignoring the rooms that were a little further away. I wonder... I opened the Spell menu in the Interface. The keyword I searched for was 'teleport'. The result- I smiled unconsciously. There was quite a long list. I just had to sift through and find the ones that would solve my problem.

I hadn't paid enough attention before, but some spells had submenus like in the Creature menu. The spells listed there were just variants with slightly different properties. For instance, the 'Combat Blink' spell had elemental variants like 'Shadow Walk' that let you move through shadows and darkness. I wasn't entirely sure of the utility of that, except that it might be cheaper or something.

Honestly, I wanted at least one variant of Combat Blink. I loved the idea of being able to teleport around like crazy whenever I wanted. However, the range was too low for what I was looking for right now. Instead, the classically named 'Teleport' seemed better. The description had some reassuring information, as well as some interesting technical details. However, one thing stood out, and looking through other long range teleportation spells showed the same problem. A note from Nyx.

I can't leave. The other line specifically says Creatures can't leave 'temporarily'. But I am trapped here, presumably forever.

I... wasn't as upset as I should have been. It wasn't good news of course, assuming it was true. But I found myself hardly caring about anything outside the Dungeon. If I had to, I could use the Avatar function to deal with anything. I briefly wondered if I would be upset if I didn't have the Avatar... Probably not. All I could feel was a suffocating indifference. And I knew it wasn't some Dungeon instinct too. That was how I truly felt.

Ironically, that made me a little melancholy. I didn't care about what was outside, but not caring was kind of sad in it's own way...

...

I snorted at myself. Save the pity for those who need it. I have spells to practice. The cost was annoying, but at the very least I needed to be able to travel through my own Dungeon. I looked through the variants, especially at the one that specified travel through earth and the one that let me bring other people, but I went with the default in the end. Theoretically, I might want to teleport into the lake or midair. Another one CP down and-

-Whoops. Where the hell am I? I'd forgotten that purchasing a Spell actually casts it instead of just teaching it. I was in a tunnel, two meters tall, two meters wide. It stretched on into the distance in one direction, and hit a sharp turn in the other. Between my Core room and the Residential room, then.

This wasn't part of the plan. I briefly got caught up wondering if I should just teleport back, or if I should just go with the little twist of fate and do something else. I could take a small tour of the Dungeon with the spell... Not that it was necessary with so little progress. Or I could go back and keep playing around until I hit the eight hours I'd assigned as my 'break time'. There was only an hour and a half left anyways, so I could get back to more important work soon.

I paused again. Somehow I'd ended up doing a lot of work while I was supposed to be taking my break. I wasn't really upset about it. Actually, I was a little amused. I laughed quietly for a moment, both at my mistake and at my emerging workaholic tendencies.

I still couldn't cast Teleport unassisted, so I used the Known Spells menu to Cast the spell. With a destination this time. I kept an eye on my Heart and mana, but even watching as closely as I was, the spell was far too complex for me to fully understand. I would need to study a lot more before I could use this one reliably... Ah well, maybe it's fine just to rely on the Interface for this one.

I reappeared close to my Crystal Core. I was a little tired since that spell caused a bit of strain, and took a moment to bask in the warmth and light it emitted. This close, even the darkness mana wasn't able to affect my mood...

I looked around to find Geni already messing around with a stylus, carving runes all around the room. They were inert at the moment, but there was an interesting shimmer in the flow of mana. Like heatwaves on hot pavement.

I shook my head. I'd been gone for like... less than a minute. The amount of work she'd done in that time was quite impressive. I didn't want to distract her while she was focused, so I quietly sat next to the Kindlesprite. I wanted to start a conversation, or something, but I just couldn't think of anything to say. In the end, I just watched her play the game while we waited for Geni to finish.

It wasn't a long wait. There was a flare of darkness and then the runes lit up with purple light before dimming down a little. The runes led to the CP generator I made before, then continued on to my Crystal Core. There wasn't any significant change in the amount of mana moving through or being absorbed, as far as I could tell. But the air felt warmer, less tense. It was nice.

Geni fluttered over to us with a smile. "All done! Well, not really. But you looked a little impatient, so I can finish the rest later." She giggled at my confusion, then innocently continued. "Shall we get back to playing now?"

We did just that. The time flew by, and maybe we played a little longer than we were supposed to. My alarm went off once again. Only this time, I couldn't immediately recall setting an alarm.

I took a look at the title, and felt a surge of excitement. Finally, some of my earliest plans would begin moving forward. I looked up at the other two with a grin. "The other two types of Rockworm just repopped. Should we go talk with Corina and Mica about how to use them?"