Chapter 5 – A Crystal and a Plan

“Why do you have a Mana Crystal this good?”

“How long do you think I’ve been here?”

Evan did not know exactly how much time had passed since he arrived in this world. The dungeon depths had neither day and night nor changing seasons. By his own estimate, however, it had been at least two or three years.

Even if he counted only the time since founding the Mycelial Garden, he had been mining for a long while. The entire rock face belonged to him. Given enough excavation, a few high-quality Mana Crystals were inevitable.

He had not collected them because he understood their value. Pure Amethyst Crystals simply looked prettier, and placing them around his true body allowed them to gather mana while serving as decoration.

“Can you cast other spells more quickly with this?”

“You’re letting me use it? Truly?”

Evan had not known Elara long, but even he could tell that she genuinely loved Mana Crystals, or perhaps everything associated with magic.

“Of course. I want to see more spells. Come to think of it, Elara, what spells do you know?”

Her Status Panel listed [Light Magic LV4], but that only indicated the highest tier of Light Magic she could use. It did not reveal the individual spells she had learned.

Every school of magic contained a multitude of spells across its tiers, and many spells had countless variations. A living-creature Polymorph, for example, might turn its target into a hawk, a dog, a Puffcap, or any number of other forms.

Elara stood still for a moment as she searched her memory. Evan imagined that, in human form, she would be counting them one by one on her fingers.

“Let me think... Water Serpent, Refracting Water Mirror, Ice Blade, Purify, Healing Light, Revelation, Illumination, Create Water, Energy Ward, Mire... I think that’s all.”

That was quite a collection.

“Try Mire on this Puffcap.”

Evan summoned a mining Puffcap from the rock wall, where it had been hammering stone with its armored cap, and sent it to the clearing used for Detonation. Another tendril extended beneath a mushroom and tied the A-grade Mana Crystal to Elara’s cap.

“Be careful not to break this one. It’s the last tendril here.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Mana surged from Elara into the crystal. This time, the moment she began casting, ambient mana rushed toward her. The A-grade Mana Crystal above her cap became a tiny vortex, devouring mana from every direction.

No wonder such crystals were used in wands. With that much mana reinforcing a spell, its power was bound to multiply.

“It worked!”

The mining Puffcap sank slightly. The firm ground beneath it had become a pool of mud. It tried to lift one foot, but the mire held it fast.

Stolen novel; please report.

Mire was normally supposed to slow its target, and even with the A-grade Mana Crystal, the enhancement should have expanded the affected area rather than made the spell restrain a creature completely.

The mining Puffcap was trapped only because its shell was too heavy and its body too weak to lift it free.

“Now try Ice Blade.”

“What? Are you sure? It might...”

“It’s fine. Cast it.”

It was only a Puffcap. If one died inside the Mycelial Garden, it would return to the cycle as fertilizer. The loss would be negligible.

“All right.”

An Ice Blade formed before Elara. This time, even she was startled.

Unlike Mire, the crystal’s effect on Ice Blade was immediately obvious. The spell was normally less than three feet long. The enhanced blade stretched past seven feet, and the bitter cold rolling from it promised a corresponding increase in power.

“Go!”

Ice met chitin with a crisp crack. The blade cut into the shell and passed through three-quarters of its thickness before stopping.

Even Evan found the result impressive. That was Chitinous Shell LV4. It took two strikes from his Spore Cannon LV6 to break through, yet an Ice Blade of the same level had nearly severed it in one.

Whether the spell itself or the A-grade Mana Crystal deserved more credit, he could not say. Probably both.

Magic was remarkable. If Evan had possessed spells in the early days, he might have avoided a great deal of suffering.

It was not too late. He still could not cast, but he now had an ally who could. Certain plans for reaching the upper strata might finally become possible.

That did not mean killing the Magma Fiend guarding the passage. Evan had seen the creature through sacrificial scouting Puffcaps. The level gap was too great for its Status Panel to reveal any details, but LV64 alone was enough to discourage every ambitious thought.

Who said the only way upward was through the existing passage?

“Elara, do you want this Mana Crystal?”

“You’re giving it to me?”

Why was this mushroom treating her so well? Was it a trap?

After her recent betrayal, Elara had become cautious, especially around a monster whose true body she had never seen.

“Not for free. Help me hunt a few monsters, and it’s yours.”

“Agreed!”

The condition reassured her. She wanted the crystal desperately, but if Evan had simply offered it as a gift, she might not have dared accept.

Monsters, though?

She was in the Deep Strata. The Mycelial Garden was so strange that she had almost forgotten.

But how did mushrooms hunt monsters? With Puffcaps?

“What kind of monster are we hunting?”

“An Earthborer. Do you know them?”

Earthborer.

The name was familiar. Where had she heard it?

Then she remembered.

“Do you mean those enormous creatures with stone-like skin that tunnel through the depths and eat ore all day?”

Evan considered the description. “That’s the one.”

“We’re hunting an Earthborer larva?”

“An adult.”

“Adults are at least LV45! They’re large monsters that require a complete Gold-rank adventuring party to hunt safely. Mr. Mercer, I’m only LV28!”

Elara’s thoughts reduced themselves to one incredulous question: he wanted her to fight an Earthborer?

Even in her human form, she would have been swallowed in a single bite. Had something gone wrong with this mushroom’s mind? A mushroom wanted to hunt an Earthborer?

“You appear to have misunderstood what I am capable of.”

Only after seeing the disbelief of the pink Puffcap did Evan remember that he had never shown her the borders of the Mycelial Garden. No wonder she doubted him.

He had wanted to hunt an Earthborer for a long time. The creatures possessed the skill [Thermal Burrowing].

They generated intense heat to weaken rock, then crushed it with rotating mouthparts and swallowed the fragments. Anything they did not need was expelled through gills along their sides, reinforcing the tunnel walls behind them.

If Evan could plunder that skill, he could carve a new passage through the rock directly to the stratum above. There would be no need to sneak under the Magma Fiend’s nose.

Unfortunately, Earthborers were exceptional diggers. If a battle turned against one, it vanished underground. Their enormous bodies could absorb tremendous punishment, and even a mortally wounded adult took a long time to kill.

Evan had attempted the hunt once before. He had suffered heavy losses and gained nothing.

Elara’s Mire gave him new hope. An Earthborer would not move quickly through mud.

Before that, however, he needed to learn how well his new member worked with the others.

“We aren’t hunting the Earthborer immediately. You need time to become comfortable casting through that Mana Crystal. Join the Expeditionary Force on its next outing and use the opportunity to practice.”

“The Expeditionary Force?”