Cipiteca396

Got sick. Took a break. Got better. Forgot why I was writing at all? Made for some bad writer's block. But then... Here we are anyways. Sorry for the delay.

I regained consciousness instantly, as I'd come to expect lately when awakening. I briefly wondered if it would be better if I could laze around half-asleep for a few minutes... But ultimately I preferred it this way. 

For the moment, I wanted to check on my CP. At the rate it was rising, even a normal night's sleep risked hitting the cap. I knew that would just raise the cap, but it still felt like something I wanted to avoid. Purely for the sake of my pride. 

I found my CP at ninety-four, rising to ninety-five as I watched. Even with the orders I'd set before sleeping, it would max out in less than an hour. Assuming the orders worked in the first place... Better check on it after creating the Alseid. 

Sitting up, I found only the Kindlesprite nearby. She noticed I was awake, and abandoned her computer to greet me. She also gave me a quick update on what had happened while I was asleep to allay my concerns.

The Elegy of the Pale Moon had been applied to all three of the Rooms that didn't have it yet. Additionally, everyone had been busily trading on the market, with a net loss of ten CP. With all of the materials they'd purchased, everyone would be able to work for some time without worrying about supplies.

There was also a new weapon... Geni was studying it, but they were waiting for me before testing it. It was a prototype magical cannon made by another Dungeon. As it was effectively artillery, it was certain to be loud when fired. I'm glad they let me sleep. Should I get some earplugs for everyone though? Helmets too- should have had those a while ago since we're working underground.

We moved as we talked, following the river away from the lake. Initially, I'd wanted to put the Alseid near the garden we'd already set up. However, there was no telling how the plants would be affected by a place of power appearing on top of them. And more importantly, the location wasn't that great for a Nymph. Especially not one as strong as she would theoretically be. It was best to put her near the center of the Room with everyone else. That would keep her from getting lonely and allow her to hold the riverbank if enemies got this far.

We arrived at the designated location, and I quickly confirmed the Creation of an Alseid. For just an instant, I was blinded by a gathering of golden light mana before it was rapidly overcome by white moonlight mana. Darker but quickly coming into focus were several shades of life mana, which mixed into the newly forming place of power.

Trees of many varieties burst from the ground, leaving plenty of space between them without seeming to be isolated. Luscious grass sprouted from the ground, with the occasional cotton plant or flowering herb to break up the sea of green. Even the river was affected, with something like seaweed sprouting up from the riverbed and colorful mosses crawling along the shore. 

Most notable however, was a single apple tree at the exact center of the grove. Its pink-white flowers burst into bloom as the branches stretched up to ridiculous heights. Even once it stopped growing taller, it continued to reach outwards. Yet under the shade its leaves cast, the moonlight only grew brighter. The tree's bark took on the sheen of polished iron, and the first apples appeared. Each radiated moonlight mana from their creamy white skin.

A woman leaned out from inside the tree, honey colored eyes locking onto me. She had suntanned caramel skin and fluffy white hair. After a moment she stepped out of the tree and walked towards me, straightening out a yellow tank top and brown hotpants. She faltered a moment, then called out to me quietly. "Hello. Uh- I'm at your service, Ma'am."

"Uh, thanks." I looked away, embarrassed that I didn't have a proper response. I pushed away that feeling and spoke. "Call me Selene. There's a few things that could use your attention- like the garden- but you can discuss the details with the others. Could you tell me what kind of things you'd be interested in doing?"

"Uhm- I..." She thought about it for a long moment, scrambling for an answer. "I think... I should probably learn some magic. Other than that... They're not exactly sheep, but I can look after those earth snake things! Maybe shear off some of that plating, or something." She moved her hands around restlessly, apparently unsure what to do with them.

"Oh, that sounds helpful. I-" My voice died out. -didn't even consider if they needed looking after. I need to pay more attention to things like this... "I'll leave them to you." I paused to gather my thoughts. "Is that all? Ah wait- would you like me to give you a name?"

"O- oh. Um, please do, Selene." She bowed a little, waiting for a response to lift her head.

"Then... Is Phoebe alright with you?" Please look up, it's really weird talking to the top of your head.

"Yes!" She deepened her bow, then looked up with sparkling eyes. Literally sparkling, light mana was radiating from her face. She breathed in, and reintroduced herself. "I am Phoebe. At your service, Selene!" Then she bowed again, a deep but quick bow this time.

"R- right... If you think of anything else, tell me. Okay?" Receiving a nod in response, we left her to learn the ropes with Corina.

The Kindlesprite brought me to Geni, who was studying the cannon out in the mineral fields. 

"So... It doesn't need ammo as long as it's supplied with mana?" I leaned in close to examine the construct. The thing was two and a half meters long, and thick as a telephone pole. Unlike a normal cannon, this was shaped like a rifle; from the shoulder stock, to the sight, to the heavy bipod. The idea of actually firing it made me rub my shoulder from the imagined recoil though...

"Well, the mana is the ammo. Once mana of any element is poured into this spellform, it creates a charge out of that element. Obviously some types of mana are less effective than others. But then the charge is encased in a shell of metal mana and accelerated by several more spellforms. The shell primes after a few seconds in the air and then detonates when it contacts something. It should be pretty effective considering how short the development time was." The little Contraption Fairy ran a hand across the device, and ripples of energy ran across the glyphs in a way I was nearly certain was just my imagination.

She twirled around to look at me. "In theory, there won't be any recoil, and the weight's not too bad for strong folk like you two, but I suggest mounting it down before firing." She started pointing out key features of the cannon for us. "Normally you'd just put a little mana into this channel here, and that would bolt the bipod to whatever you've got it set to. Nothing too fragile maybe? That's already done though, so you just need to charge it, aim, and then pull this trigger here."

I furrowed a brow at her. "It seems hard to believe there's no recoil from something this big..." Nevertheless, I knelt down with the weapon, tentatively setting it against my shoulder. I took a moment to adjust the thing, swiveling it around to test the range of motion. It was even heavier than I expected, but somehow I felt like that wasn't a problem for me anymore.

"Ah, you can also adjust the bipod's position with this thingy if you're having trouble aiming. Uh, the recoil thing- the fling part of the spell works mostly the same way as a bolt spell, I guess? I don't really understand how that works, now that I think of it... It's definitely not magnetic..." She trailed off into a mutter. 

"Oh, sorry!" Back on track, she gestured to the far end of the weapon. "Uh, there will be something like recoil though- from the displacement of the air. But even that should be muted and since it's planted it shouldn't cause any problems, but... Keep it in mind, okay?" She waited for me to nod, then pressed a hand to her chest. Her concern slowly turned to excitement. "Okay! I'll wait behind the shield, ask if you need anything. I can hear you just fine over there, so don't shout at me!"

With that last remark, she fluttered away, leaving me and the Kindlesprite alone on the testing platform. I raised a brow questioningly, and received a nod in response. There wasn't much to say, so I began charging up the cannon.

I chose to use moonlight mana, if only because there was so much of it. In less than a second, the glyph that signaled the charge level filled up. Turning my gaze forward, I let the very tip of the little spike of a sight overlap with the dull iron-green boulder we'd agreed to target. At this range, there shouldn't be any drop from gravity, but I was a little anxious that I'd miss and embarrass myself. 

Oh well... I pulled the trigger, bracing myself at the same time. There was a muffled *thump* and a sudden breeze, but the heavy impact I was expecting didn't come. There was just a hefty reverberation that ran through the weapon and into my hands and shoulder. A slight shudder ran up my spine at the sensation.

Before I could really think about anything, the boulder I was aiming at exploded. The shot was slightly off, but close enough that the magic hit it anyways. Chunks of blackish green ore scattered through the air, but the effect of the magic was far more interesting to me. A shimmering haze of white light burst out like an aurora, before splintering into dozens of different, seemingly meaningless colors. Nothing the light touched seemed to be damaged at all. But I felt something was off about those places. Different in a way I couldn't identify.

Either way, the trial seemed successful. Looking at the still falling debris, I was somewhat certain moonlight was one of the less destructive mana types for this. Probably anything would have led to a more potent attack. The only way to tell though was to try it with other types of mana.

I glanced at the others again, getting a nod from the Kindlesprite and some excited babbling from Geni. Turning back, I felt my lips curl up a little. First is fire...

As expected, the explosion from the fire element shot was slightly more destructive. After the initial burst of flames, a lingering heat haze distorted the air. A warm wind even made its way to where I was... 

After testing a few different elements, I was starting to get lethargic from mana loss. The Kindlesprite swapped with me, and we took turns from there. Some of the less busy Fairies even joined in, alongside the Sculptor and the third Kindlesprite. It was best if everyone knew how to use the weapon in case- in case nobody else was around to use it. To that end, Geni recorded a tutorial video that she could share with the Nymphs, though she said she'd instruct them personally later. 

Regarding the other elemental charges, I was starting to pick out a few patterns. Although every effect was mostly unique, some were similar enough to each other. For example, ice and stone mana froze and petrified enemies, respectively. Although there was a difference between the two effects, they achieved rather similar results. 

Additionally, the initial attack had two components. The first was the impact of the charge itself. Certain types of mana seemed to add 'weight' to the attack, causing it to crush whatever it hit. The second component was the following magical effect. Fire had a low weight, so it didn't do too much damage on the first hit- but the following explosion was quite potent. On the other hand, water mana hit so hard on impact that it shook the earth. The following burst of water did do some damage and flood the area, but it seemed a little underwhelming compared to the fire burst. 

Over time, we started sorting the shots based on their utility. Obviously, we'd need to account for elemental weaknesses and vulnerabilities later on... But for now, the actual effects were more important. It would take dedicated training to know which element to use in any given situation, but having some clear documentation helped.

My experience took a turn for the worse when we tested the life mana shot though... It was... Not pleasant. Yeah. So, I remembered that I had other things to do. Like touring the Dungeon. 

And more importantly, I really needed to look over the Kindlesprite's research on the Evolution menu. Assuming nothing came up, now was the time to do it.

Is this really going to be alright? I couldn't help brooding about it as I led the Kindlesprite toward the Fortification Room.

Cipiteca396

So yeah. I really am sorry for the delay. It's been a hundred words at a time for a while now. I can't even really call it writer's block, since I still have a load of writable scenarios running through my head. It's just when I sit down to write this story that I blank out.

Having finally finished this chapter, I thought about making a backlog instead of releasing right away. Since I've already delayed this long, can't hurt to wait a little longer right? But I already feel pretty guilty, lol. So, there probably won't be another chapter for a while. Unless you're really lucky.