Infinite Mana - Chapter 212: Something Noticed (Patreon)

Magic Vision made sorting through the dead goblins considerably easier than Sieghart expected. Their bodies looked similar enough externally, but the mana inside them varied noticeably, and only some contained the concentrated structures he had learned to recognize as cores.

Three of the five patrol members possessed proper cores. The remaining two carried mana through their bodies without forming anything dense enough to absorb, which immediately suggested that dungeon goblins did not all develop exactly the same way.

Sieghart extracted the first core carefully and absorbed it while keeping Magic Vision active. The familiar mana entered his body, followed by a modest amount of Personal Experience and absolutely nothing resembling a new magical branch. He tried the second one afterward, then the third. Both produced Experience, but neither contained any magical principle unfamiliar enough for the System to transform into another spell, branch, or entirely separate type of magic.

Sieghart stared at the last fading notification and eventually sighed. Perhaps expecting every new species he encountered to provide an entirely new magical discipline was beginning to become slightly unreasonable.

He had gotten accustomed to bizarre rewards lately. Chimerians had given him Alchemy, an undead Guardian had unlocked Necromancy, corrupted monsters had produced Sin Magic, and the recent golem core had somehow introduced Assimilation Magic.

That did not mean every goblin wandering through a dungeon needed to contain the magical equivalent of a hidden treasure chest. Sometimes a core was apparently just a core, and Sieghart was probably becoming greedy.

The realization made him think about Sin Magic again. If corrupted cores could unlock branches based on specific concepts, then theoretically different monsters might contain other sins beyond Wrath and Gluttony. That possibility immediately became interesting enough to distract him from the dead patrol. Sieghart already possessed Wrath through Fury and Gluttony through Magic Resistance, which left several obvious branches he had never encountered.

Sloth.

Pride.

Envy.

Greed.

And Lust.

Sieghart’s expression flattened almost immediately at the final possibility. His current body was ten years old, and whatever twisted interpretation Sin Magic might have for Lust was something he had absolutely no intention of experimenting with.

He did not care whether the System treated it abstractly as desire, temptation, attraction, obsession, or something completely different from ordinary sexuality. Some magical questions simply did not deserve experimental enthusiasm.

“That one can stay completely unexplored and preferably until I’m desperate enough to think corrupted magic involving Lust sounds remotely reasonable, which hopefully means never.”

The other possibilities were less immediately horrifying, though that did not make them safe. Sloth might reduce effort or suppress movement, but Sieghart could easily imagine it making him increasingly unwilling to act without magical assistance.

Pride sounded even worse in a different way. A spell based on superiority could strengthen confidence, resistance to intimidation, or perhaps create some kind of dominating presence, while quietly making retreat and admitting mistakes feel unacceptable.

Envy sounded dangerous enough that Sieghart almost laughed. A branch centered around copying, stealing, or temporarily reproducing someone else’s abilities would fit his current obsession with acquiring new magic far too perfectly.

Greed might somehow be even more troublesome. Sieghart already disliked leaving useful dungeon materials behind, had nearly turned entire golem corpses into luggage, and constantly evaluated how much value he could extract from everything around him. He did not need corrupted magic telling him that refusing to abandon property was a virtue. That sounded like an excellent way to die beneath a collapsing dungeon because one valuable core remained twenty meters behind him.

Sieghart rubbed his temple and returned his attention to the bodies. Learning new Sin branches from corrupted cores was possible, but actively hunting them specifically for that purpose sounded dangerously close to letting corruption decide his progression path.

That did not mean he would refuse useful spells if they appeared. It simply meant searching for them deliberately was probably a terrible idea. Probably. Sieghart collected the goblins’ weapons next. The equipment was crude compared with what he had seen in human cities, but crude did not necessarily mean useless, particularly when the materials had survived repeated dungeon combat.

The first spear possessed a dark wooden shaft reinforced by metal bands near both ends, while the blade itself had been hammered into shape with noticeably less precision than even cheap human military equipment.

The second spear was better. Its blade contained faint mana residue, though Sieghart found no proper runic structure anywhere along the metal or shaft when he examined it through Magic Vision. The curved sword interested him more. Several chips damaged the edge, yet the metal itself looked surprisingly durable, and the tang extended deeply enough into the handle that adding reinforcement runes later should be relatively straightforward.

Neither bow possessed magical modifications. Their strings were thick, the wooden limbs showed uneven shaping, and one had been repaired near the center using leather wrapping and what appeared to be hardened resin.

Sieghart placed everything together and started considering improvements. Reinforcing the spearheads would be simple, while Wind Runes along the shafts might reduce drag or slightly accelerate thrusts if positioned correctly.

The bows offered more possibilities. He could add runes that reduced draw resistance without reducing stored force, reinforce the limbs against higher tension, or potentially enchant arrows during release instead of preparing every projectile beforehand. The goblins probably would not appreciate him improving their weapons before using those same weapons against them, but Sieghart had learned long ago that morality became strangely selective whenever someone tried stabbing him first.

He had just started examining the second spear more closely when Magic Vision revealed movement approaching through the nearby intersection. Sieghart immediately lowered the weapon and shifted behind the ruined wall.

Another patrol entered the street less than a minute later. This group contained six goblins rather than five, and their equipment looked slightly better. Three carried swords, two had spears, and the final goblin held a round wooden shield reinforced with several overlapping metal strips.

They noticed Sieghart almost immediately. That was partly his fault.

He had allowed Phantom Image to relax while inspecting the weapons, and although his disguised body remained goblin-shaped from earlier experimentation, the equipment scattered around him looked suspicious enough to attract attention.

The lead goblin barked something sharp. Sieghart understood none of it. The spear came toward his chest anyway. That translated well enough.

Sieghart shifted sideways before the thrust reached him. A second spear followed almost immediately, forcing him backward while the sword users spread to either side instead of charging together.

This group coordinated more aggressively than the first. One fighter pressured him forward while another tried to circle behind, and the shield user positioned himself between Sieghart and the safest open route.

Sieghart smiled slightly. So much for continuing the stealth experiment. The first swordsman lunged. Sieghart ducked beneath the blade and used Wind Magic before the goblin could recover. A compressed crescent formed beside his hand and shot across the narrow distance almost instantly.

Wind Blade struck the goblin across the waist. Armor resisted for a fraction of a second. Then the cutting pressure passed through. The goblin separated into two pieces. The remaining patrol froze. Only briefly.

Both spearmen attacked simultaneously, one targeting his chest while the other swept low toward his legs. Sieghart used Impulse backward and created two Wind Blades before his feet completely settled.

The first blade crossed the upper spear shaft, cut through both wood and the goblin holding it, and continued far enough to leave a deep mark across the wall behind him.

The second traveled lower. The other spearman tried jumping. Not high enough. The Wind Blade passed through both legs and continued through the goblin behind him, opening the swordsman’s abdomen before either creature understood what had happened.

Blood struck the street.

Sieghart grimaced.

Stealth was definitely over.

The shield user charged with a roar while the final two swordsmen separated. Sieghart raised one hand and fired another Wind Blade directly toward the shield.

The reinforced wood split down the center. So did the arm behind it. The goblin staggered. Sieghart fired again. The second Wind Blade crossed the torso and ended the charge immediately, throwing broken equipment and blood across the stone instead of leaving anything capable of continuing the fight.

One surviving swordsman turned and ran.

Sieghart reacted immediately.

A Wind Blade crossed the street faster than the goblin could reach the intersection. The attack struck between the shoulders and continued through the chest, dropping the creature before any warning escaped.

The final goblin chose the opposite response. It charged. Sieghart almost admired the decision.

Almost.

He sidestepped the sword, caught the goblin’s wrist using Telekinesis, and held the arm in place while another Wind Blade formed less than a meter from the creature’s chest. The goblin struggled hard enough that the wrist joint began twisting unnaturally beneath the invisible pressure. Sieghart released the restraint and launched the spell before the creature could regain balance.

The blade passed through the center of the body. Silence returned. For approximately two seconds. Then distant voices began echoing between the buildings. Sieghart looked around at the blood covering the street and immediately acknowledged that this ambush had gone considerably worse than the previous one from a concealment perspective.

Nobody nearby needed Magic Vision to recognize that something violent had happened. Six bodies, severed weapons, and several deep cuts through stone walls made subtlety somewhat difficult.

Sieghart quickly extracted whatever cores Magic Vision identified while Telekinesis gathered the surviving weapons. This time, he did not bother hiding every corpse because anyone finding the street would already know an attacker existed.

Instead, he focused on the equipment.

Two swords were useless after being cut almost completely through. One spear remained intact, and the shield’s surviving metal bands could potentially become useful material despite the wooden portion being ruined. Sieghart lifted the intact weapons and inspected their mana response. Once again, there were no visible runes, which made him wonder whether goblins simply lacked Enchanting Magic or reserved magical equipment for stronger fighters deeper inside the city.

A reinforced Wind Rune along a spear could improve thrusting speed. Fire Imbuement could make the blade considerably more dangerous, though something permanent would be far more useful than repeatedly casting Elemental Imbuement during combat.

Sieghart pictured several possibilities as he worked. A spear that created a short Wind burst whenever thrust forward could function almost like a miniature Impulse system, increasing acceleration without requiring the wielder to cast anything personally.

The swords could use impact-triggered Fire Runes or perhaps tiny Mana Barrier structures along the flat surface, allowing them to block stronger attacks before the blade itself absorbed the force. He was still considering whether runes could survive repeated weapon collisions when a sound rolled through the underground city.

Sieghart stopped moving.

The first part resembled a distant impact. Then the roar reached him.

It erupted from somewhere much deeper inside the settlement, powerful enough that the sound traveled across streets, between buildings, and through stone passages before striking Sieghart as a low vibration in his chest.

Windows rattled.

Several birds or bat-like creatures hidden near the cavern ceiling scattered from distant rooftops.

Goblin voices stopped. Then hundreds began shouting at once. Sieghart slowly turned toward the center of the city. The roar came again. Louder. Angrier. This time, Sieghart could hear something almost intelligent beneath the raw sound, though no recognizable words reached him across the distance.

Whatever produced it was large. Or extremely powerful. Possibly both. Sieghart looked at the six bodies surrounding him. Then he remembered the five patrol members who had vanished earlier. His expression became thoughtful.

“That probably isn’t because somebody burned dinner, and considering eleven armed goblins disappeared shortly after I arrived, I have an uncomfortable feeling this might be my fault.”

Another roar echoed across the cavern. Several distant patrols began moving. Not randomly. Toward the outer districts. Toward him. Sieghart looked down at the goblin weapons he had been examining, then toward the approaching mana signatures appearing through Magic Vision.

So much for quiet infiltration.

Something inside the city was very unhappy.

And Sieghart was probably the reason.