Chapter 492: Tracking The Dungeon

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

’Wait,’ Adrian thought. ’If it can sense my mana... you should also be able to sense its mana, right?’

[Affirmative.]

’Wait, so let me run a wild idea by you,’ Adrian said. ’I just want you to confirm if this is theoretically possible. Let’s say that you send a tiny bit of your mana out into the real world. Will you still have a connection to this mana, or is it completely out of your control once it leaves?’

[Through Dungeon Link, the connection will still exist for slightly more than one second.]

’If that’s the case,’ Adrian grinned. ’Then if you send mana out, and the hidden dungeon that is outside here somewhere pulls the mana like it usually does for the rainwater stuff... wouldn’t you be able to get a generalized direction of where the mana is being pulled toward? Because from what I know, all of the mana from the water directly travels toward the dungeon core when it rains, right?’

[Affirmative. But the dungeon only absorbs mana that comes directly from the rainwater. Any other form of gaseous mana can be considered as a threat. You must have all been considered as foreigners when you entered the area, but bringing things out or sending too much mana out, can alert the dungeon further.]

Adrian smirked.

’Well, if that’s the case, then just make me the rainwater,’ Adrian said. ’Make me the mana water inside the dungeon. Since this mana water will be synthesized inside the dungeon, you will have a connection to it, right? This way we should be able to track the pull and make some progress.’

[Affirmative.]

A moment later, a system prompt appeared.

[Created a container filled with Mana Liquid.]

’Good,’ Adrian thought. ’Send out one drop. No, wait, not one drop. Send out exactly ten milliliters into the real world since that’s basically one mana.’

[Affirmative.]

A moment later, a small, decent-sized ball of water appeared out of thin air. It fell straight onto the bamboo floor of the hut.

Adrian kept his eyes glued on the system screen and it immediately gave a response.

[The mana traveled 42 degrees to the North before the connection was severed.]

Seeing this made Adrian smile widely in the dark room.

’Yeah,’ Adrian thought. ’That’s the fucking thing I wanted. Time to add another dungeon to my arsenal soon, mweheheheh.’

He quietly opened the bamboo door and walked outside into the cool night air. He looked in the exact direction where the mana traveled by using the system’s inbuilt compass, which he honestly never knew existed until right now. It just showed him a straight red arrow on his screen.

He looked into the dark forest in that specific direction.

It was only when he stared into the distance that he realized something. It was pretty much in the exact same direction as the very first tribe he had visited. The place where he traded steel sickles for eggs and stayed for two nights.

’Wait,’ Adrian frowned. ’Isn’t this kind of in the same direction of the other tribe? The first one?’

He just frowned and walked back inside the hut.

’Well, I guess I will just finish all of this stuff here and then head back there,’ Adrian thought. ’After all, I still need to learn about the blacksmithing techniques and the cooking techniques from the other villages too. I will learn all of that and then head over.’

He closed the door and lay back down on his bed.

’Tomorrow I will go out hunting with Tiger and his men,’ Adrian planned in his head. ’I want to see how they actually fight and everything. They don’t really have a formal training method. The only secret that they have is how to give mana veins to their children. All the adults do is drink the rainwater to replenish their mana reserves and go out hunting.’

He frowned again. ’And apart from that... yeah, there is also their insane regeneration, right?’

He opened his system again.

’System, do you have any idea of how the regeneration actually works when it comes to these guys?’

[The regeneration only works when there are bruises or open cuts on the body. Since the artificial mana veins are just following the path of regular veins and arteries, it is just the blood that is carrying the mana. Whenever the rainwater falls onto the open bruises and cuts during combat, the raw mana seeps directly into the blood and is absorbed. It is a very minute amount, but during the process of absorption, while some of it is directly absorbed by the blood, the rest is used for healing.]

[This ability can be improved by the act of repetition.]

Adrian just stared at the text.

’Wait,’ Adrian thought. ’Just repetition? So the only reason these warriors of this tribe are better than the others is because they intentionally hurt themselves in the rain? Their bodies literally just get better at abusing this mechanic by repeatedly breaking themselves?’

[Affirmative.]

Seeing this made Adrian chuckle inwardly. It was basically a masochistic method of getting strong. He just shook his head and finally let himself fall asleep.

The next morning, just like he had planned, he went out hunting with Tiger’s men.

There, he saw exactly how the tribesmen fought against huge, mutated boars in the jungle.

Their fighting style made a lot of sense now, considering the fact that they were literally using low-quality iron spears until he arrived. Those kinds of primitive spears just did not have the capability to pierce through the thick, rock-like hide of the boars.

Even with the brand new premium steel spears Adrian had given them, they still did not attempt to pierce into the thick hides. They just went straight for the soft underbellies or the eyes. And that was that.

They were incredibly efficient. They were much better at fighting in a coordinated group than he expected, and their teamwork was flawless. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking or magical. It was just pure skill and coordination with a good team that had fought together for years.

Soon, the hunt was done.