For a long moment, Lev stared at the bone carpet covering the ground. Most of it had been burned away, and what little was left was also pressed into the ground by the explosion, resembling finely ground gray sand instead.
With a sigh, he turned to the others. Now that his mind was completely unaffected, he could see that none of his companions were hurt. Beatrice was lying on the ground in a corner, whereas the scouts were sprawled around the food table he had created for them.
First, he sent a small tendril of healing mana through Beatrice’s visor. It passed through with difficulty, giving him a look at the woman’s physical condition.
It took a surprising amount of effort to ignore the… more detailed feedback from the restoration mana. A memory tried to resurface, but he didn’t allow it to; instead sending a burst of healing mana into her head.
The aura mage woke up with a gasp, her eyes watering immediately when her throat protested. She looked around in panic, her nose almost colliding with a barrier glass of water.
She looked up and, after noticing that Lev himself was busy gulping down water directly from his canteen, followed his example.
One by one, Lev woke up the scouts. Compared to the Masters, their reactions were loud and filled with agony. He had already prepared food and water for all of them on the table, and it took his and Beatrice’s full focus to heal them all to an acceptable state over an hour.
Now that they were out of the hot waters, the scouts looked around, properly noticing the state of the cavern. Charred stone, broken bone fragments, and remnants of fires were still visible, burning the precious oxygen underground.
Fortunately, the scouts were prepared for that. A simple dual converter solved that issue. It took pure mana, converted it into air mana, and replicated stale, breathable air.
Lev inquired about it, only to be left disappointed. Such runes were unbelievably rare and hoarded by the richest, and the item they had was only possible because of a class rune.
“Are you going to tell us now?” Beatrice asked.
Lev sat down with a deep exhale. “I only woke up like, a few minutes before you guys. A monster called Shadow Puppeteer had us all under some sort of mental hex, and I just barely found it. My Mana Perception almost evolved from that alone.
“It couldn’t pierce the bubble with its direct attacks because my willpower was constantly using shadow mana to keep it isolated. I was also fooled by illusions multiple times, but when I realized you guys were out of its reach and safe, I, well, blasted everything.”
He waved a hand around to finish, the state of the cavern obvious. The scouts didn’t speak, and neither did Beatrice. That suited him just fine, for he was worried. Much more so than the other ten in the bubble.
After all, they had been stuck underground for much longer than he planned to be. How was the fort faring? Was it still standing? What were the consequences of his absence? Were rescue teams looking for him, and did others think he was dead?
Questions fueled his urgency. He controlled himself, breathing deeply to push down the rising panic.
To distract himself, he looked around properly, scanning everything. The four fangs were destroyed, and so were the rest of the bones. Only the skull underneath him survived, marred by cracks and on the brink of crumbling.
Unfurling a barrier rope, he smacked the skull’s forehead. It didn’t break, though it did scare everyone around him. Again, he hit it until it shattered, revealing an inactive core.
[
Core
An empty core. Will disintegrate upon touch.
]
He poked it, and it withered away. Nodding to himself, he addressed the scouts.
“How are you guys holding up?”
The sound mage shook his head. “Still alive.”
“We’re ready to leave,” the old leader interjected, getting a grim nod from the girl leader. Lev looked at Beatrice, who was staring at her open palms.
“I should’ve felt it,” she spoke up, feeling his gaze. “Aura mages specialize in emotions. They’re the most specialized of scouts in this scenario.”
“We were caught unprepared,” Lev added after a few seconds of silence. “I doubt it will happen again.”
“It won’t.”
Hearing the resoluteness in her voice, he decided she would be fine. Beatrice was strong, always willing to accompany Lev on his adventures. Not many could say the same about themselves.
“Get ready,” he announced, glancing at the scouts. “Report anything unusual immediately.”
He didn’t wait for an answer and started backtracking. Given his Master memory, he had no problems remembering the turns he had taken, though it also helped that he had only turned left at every point.
Within minutes of moving towards the surface, something stood out.
“Beatrice?”
He could hear the frown in her words. “None. We are completely alone.”
Lev had arrived at the same conclusion. He risked detection to scan as far as he could, sending his spiritual senses through the vast caverns. No signs of auras or life could be felt, nor were there any indications of recent movements.
“Sir…” the sound mage spoke up, gulping. “My skills are getting feedback.”
Lev halted the bubble and increased the concealment potency. “And?”
“That’s all. I can’t yet decipher what is producing that sound, or if it is some other form of vibration. The traces are too faint.”
He and Beatrice shared a glance. The chances of getting back to the surface without a fight were slim to none if the vibrations were originating from monsters, and his willpower was still in tatters. His mana was mostly full, primarily because his willpower had only utilized his regeneration. It had yet to be trained to efficiently utilize his and Stargazer’s mana pools.
While the scout teams engaged in hushed conversations to pool their skills together, Lev commanded his bubble to move slowly. Rushing could end horribly.
In the meantime, he took stock of his willpower. It was fixing itself, though the rate at which it was happening was far too low. He would need to rest for at least two weeks, two weeks he didn’t have.
I suppose it’s about time I learn how to meditate for willpower.
That was the most common solution. A few skills could manage that, and so could some obscenely expensive potions. He didn’t have either option, so he sat down and crossed his legs.
Under the curious gazes of everyone present, he dismissed his armor to its passive state. Summoning his water canteen, he washed his face and hair. Draining the water through a small hole in the bubble floor, he formed a barrier dryer. With a basic air flow and heating formation, he dried himself before answering the inquisitive stares.
“My soul is in horrible condition,” he announced. With a great deal of amusement, he watched as nine faces paled, and even Beatrice flinched. “But, I have some advantages that let me stay operational. I just need to meditate and repair my willpower. It is the only reason we are still alive.”
No one protested. He would’ve liked to see any of the scouts try after his explanation. That would’ve gotten ugly pretty quickly.
Realizing that the suppressed pain was clouding his mind, he finally dove inwards, looking at his pool. With clarity came the clear impressions of just how fucked his soul was, and keeping the symptoms contained to put up a strong front hadn’t helped either.
He wasn’t sure what expression he was making in front of others, his eyes being closed tightly shut, so he started working towards his first attempts at healing it.
Restoration mana coursed through his body, bringing it back to a normal condition. Lev focused on trying to detect the restoration mana while gazing at the cracked walls of his mana pool, to see if he could bring the mana into the soul space and repair the cracks.
He had absolutely no hope of accomplishing that anytime soon, but any progress would be good progress towards that grand goal.
****
Claire looked at their leader, the old veteran returning her stare. Both of them were more than a little confused, quite terrified, and very alarmed.
After all, their lifeline, the Master, sat cross-legged on the ground, his face visible for the first time without the ridiculous enchanted armor.
Lev looked quite charming, if she had to be honest. Or at least, he would’ve looked great if not for the tears rolling down his cheeks and the blood dropping out of his nose.
Occasionally, he twitched, his face contorting into a pained grimace. The expression lasted for a while, sometimes even whole minutes, before it eased into something resembling bearable pain.
“Think he’s gonna be alright?” Judy, the other team’s leader, asked.
No one had an answer, for they didn’t have any clue about what the Master was going through. All they knew was that, somehow, he kept the “bubble” moving even through the intense meditation. The aura mage was also keeping a very close eye on him, completely ignoring everyone else.
“Probably,” Claire answered before she could stop herself. “I mean, he has to be.”
From her side, the sound mage piped up. “We’re getting close to something. I don’t know how he’s guiding the construct, but he should either slow down or stop entirely. I don’t know what’s happening out there, but if the sounds are any indication, it’s originating from something massive.”
“We can’t slow down,” Beatrice, as Claire had learned, interrupted. “Regardless of his condition, we need to go back and see if the fort is still standing. You guys already know he’s strong. Us returning can be the difference between life and death for hundreds, so don’t try to stop him.”
Oblivious to that conversation, Lev focused deeper. The bubble came to a halt as his efforts intensified, revealing the extent of just how bad things could’ve gotten if they had been ensnared for another day.
****
Well… this is something.
He grunted in his head, feeling another pang of pain course through his soul. Lev couldn’t help it. The sensation was akin to poking a bruise repeatedly, somehow enjoying how it stung to do so.
Unaware of his body’s reaction, he continued his unexpectedly deep meditation. In that state, he was completely dead to the world, instead lost in the confines of his soul.
The System hid almost all of it, so the only possible way to observe the soul was through the pool. And that was enough to know how close he was to dying without even realizing what had happened.
Cracks, barely noticeable yet undeniably horrible, snaked through the pool’s walls. He could feel that trying to interact with them would end horribly, so instead of risking more damage by trying to heal them, he poked the corners of the wounds.
It wasn’t fun, nor was it worthwhile for the little he would learn. What he was entranced by was the sheer novelty. Each poke resulted in pain coursing through his entire soul, and while he couldn’t exactly feel the rest of his soul, the sting was still something he hadn’t ever felt before.
Ten minutes later, he stopped, having noticed nothing new. The System’s authority was absolute; a mortal had no chance at subverting it.
At least this mental state seems to accelerate the healing, he noted, looking at a few cracks that had healed visibly. To confirm the effects, he focused on the real world and opened his eyes.
Immediately, he was assaulted by a horrible headache. It was bad enough that the bubble dropped to the stone ground, and even his control over the intangible armor faltered.
Beatrice didn’t waste a moment in using his converted mana and healing his brain, and by extension, his mind. That allowed him to think clearly enough to retake control of the bubble. It was still invisible to all senses, so they weren’t in any danger.
“Thanks,” Lev mumbled, washing his face and creating an opaque barrier around him. Storing the bloody clothes in his ring and summoning a new set on his body, he stood back up to his full height and tried to flex his willpower.
It… was better than before, and he could feel that recovery would be accelerated the more it was patched up by the passage of time, but it was still far from usable in combat.
He directed it to keep the armor’s enchantments powered, doing everything else manually.
“How long has it been? Did something happen?”
Beatrice shook her head. “All silent except the same vibrational feedback. You were out of it for about three hours, give or take.”
He nodded once and got comfortable in his driver’s seat. “We’re going to push for the surface. Prepare whatever you guys need to.”
The scouts were already prepared. Lev guided the bubble to speed up, reducing the shadow mana input and focusing more on the pure mana invisibility and aura concealments.
That way, as they shot through the caverns, retracing their path towards the surface, the enchantments wouldn’t be disturbed.
On the way, no monsters tried to attack them. Hell, Lev didn’t even find any monsters in the first place. Everywhere was silent, devoid of any indications that the caverns had housed dangerous monsters not that long ago. Even during their descent, the same caverns were teeming with auras, though none of them were in their path.
Now, it was dead silent. Until it wasn’t.
It started as a low rumble. Then it ceased, before starting again. The closer they got to the surface, the louder it became until everyone around him was pale.
Lev didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. Not when his curiosity burned so bright that he was almost hyperventilating, his good senses warring with a suicidal desire.
He settled for a compromise. Parking the bubble a few hundred meters below the surface, he ignored the protests from both Beatrice and the scouts.
Shadow mana flooded his armor, pushing all concealment enchantments beyond their limit. Under the protection of multiple layers of invisibility, he stepped out of the cave’s mouth and beheld the storm in all its glory.