Chapter 196: Dispelled Ire

My feet land on soft sand. Despite being a secret exit, I’m still deposited in the same safe-zone. Even now, though, it grows more elaborate. More clouds, more “setpieces”. There are even more trees - though the central one remains the tallest, and the only one bearing fruit.

There are also only two exit portals. One leads to the special floor we were promised, and it is a pitch-black void. Our only hint is that it smells of decay, but in a mouldy, stale way, rather than a “rotting corpse” kind of way. I politely ignore the portal as I pluck my coconut, and eat it.

[Your stats have been reinforced!]

Instantly, relief spreads through me.

I carefully observe the way the healing makes its way through me, and it seems almost intelligent. It goes to my lung first, and then disperses most of its energy to mostly patch that up. I can still feel the muscles ache, but the hole in my chest is fixed - though poorly. There’s a clump of dense, numb tissue there, a scar. 

Shame, that. But, well, I’ll fix it once I’m good enough to heal my arm. Even now, I’m still working on that, as mana regenerates in my vessel. I watch that process, too. The way power bubbles forth from it like a well, generating in bursts, almost in tune with my heartbeat, but not quite. 

Curious how that works. Some part of my regeneration gets diverted to creating more runes under my skin, these ones meant to heal me. Or at least keep me functioning and patched up. They might even help my physical stats out a little, letting me push myself further than I otherwise could.

Even now, I’m having to carefully reapply the cruncher and my attunement loop to keep my growing mana in check. After emptying it out, it’s already getting to the point of blowing me up again.

Sadly, the coconut doesn’t regenerate my lost pinky. Which also has its upsides! It gives me more chances to experiment with limb regeneration on a smaller scale, after all. “Truly, I am our group’s greatest optimist,” I say out loud.

Instantly, Sylves laughs. “No you’re fricken not, Snow,” she complains. “Clearly, that’s me.”

I nod at her statement, understanding that evidently, I was not changing her mind. Sylves could get like that. Underneath all that playfulness, she was a pretty vicious person. But that’s alright. I like her, after all, so she can be as vicious as she likes. I’ll cover for her.

“Going for a swim,” Opal announces happily, shedding their trenchcoat and some more meaningless clothes, then diving into the ocean. Inu soon follows them - wearing her full armor. She, predictably, sinks to the ground, and I trail her location by a small stream of bubbles popping at the surface, as she partakes in her own exploration.

Even then, I can feel the Ire pressing in on us. The mana around us is growing denser, like a hand trying to grab and squeeze me. Is the monolith about to shake us down for our lunch money? Surely not. If it wants my lunch money, then I’ll need to learn how to fully replace calories with mana.

Well, I do learn best under pressure. So maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea-

“We should talk about what we will do,” Richard says quietly. “I can feel the monolith growing dissatisfied with us. I wish to avoid that,” she explains, adjusting the fly on her suit to be a little more loose as she pulls out her cooking equipment.

Humming softly, I nod. “We either need to recruit someone, or ditch three people - maybe have them form their own group?” I suggest.

There are some slow nods in reply to that, but no one wants to fully commit yet. So we wait, at least until everyone has a meal in their hands and sits around the campfire.

Then, we talk.

- - -

Anna will take Trey and Isabelle to a regular floor. 

Jean and I can’t go, because Delfine would find us, and cause trouble. And I refuse to climb without my friends, so that leaves Richard in a flexible position. We could swap her for Trey, but frankly, chances are that the special floor will be more dangerous than a normal one. But also more rewarding. Maybe we’ll find more treasures, which could be fun. I do like treasures.

Reasonably, Delfine won’t harm any of them. Anna has, on the account of killing Vincent, grabbed an authority for herself, and broken through to the late 60s in terms of her supremacy. Which means she’s now also stronger and faster than me. They grow up so quick…

“Stop looking at me like that,” Anna says, shivering slightly, and I turn my gaze to the fire again. Whoops. “Like a child, I mean,” she amends.

Hm. I guess I was doing that. Is that rude? Was I being condescending again? I look at Inu, and she nods. Dang it. People are so hard. What a pain, what a pain. Instead of people, I let time pass again, reading my book a bit more. 

Now that my vessel is almost entirely full on mana, it seems a little afraid of me. Well, even more than when I pressed down on it. I make sure to be really careful when feeding it mana, so it doesn’t explode or anything. I’m polite like that, after all!

After a few more hours, Anna, Trey and Isabelle split off from us. The old lady threatens to murder us all if anything happens to Jean. Which isn’t really all that scary. Despite all of the complaints, the ends up taking the portal to the “normal” safe zone. Which leaves just seven of us to tackle the hidden floor.

As soon as they’re all gone, I can feel the Ire retreating. The mana that felt almost cloying, choking, dissipates back into nothingness, the usual acidic prickle against my skin, easily kept at bay by my own mana. I smile faintly. It’s a little like the monolith has little rules for its personal happiness as well. A little like me, I think. Fun.

- - -

Eventually, after about a day, we leave for the new floor.

[Selection 30 > 31]

Mana tethers connect the treasure-tome to me, now. I’ve made them solid, but as flexible as I can - which isn’t very much. I really need to look into playing more with mana flexibility. Right now, my structures are a little too… rigid, I guess? Hm.

Regardless, they work. The book at least acts like it’s attached to me by a few chains. Surely not because it tries to escape or infect anyone else. No, no, my precious book wouldn’t do that. 

It stops wriggling as I look at it. That’s what I thought.

Once I’ve sufficiently pacified the tome, I step through the portal to the hidden floor. Darkness envelops me, and I can feel Kuro drinking it in, almost. There’s a moment where I wait for light to appear, but it just doesn’t. Instead, Opal bumps into me, making me stumble slightly.

Reflexively, I pulse [Observation] to see through the darkness - and all I get is dull feedback about a metre out. Then, the blackness hungrily absorbs my mana. A soft humming feels the air, like a gentle song.

The stone feels cold underneath my feet, slick and wet and covered with… moss, I think, after dragging my hand through it. Again, I send out mana to scan the area. The humming grows a little louder, and I still can’t see further than a few feet - just far enough to know we’re in a tunnel of some kind. 

“Thatch, can you see anything?” I ask, my voice dull in this space.

“Nope,” he admits readily, and I hum. 

The distant music seems to be drawing closer, and our only way forward is towards it.

Well. This seems like a problem.