[Arcane Body Art — First Layer: 4.5%]

The progress was great and my cultivation had spread towards my thumb a measurable amount. I could now store a substantial amount of purified mana into my arcane hand.

I blinked and tried to deal with the darkness. But there was no light. I tried to engage my other senses through Heightened Senses. There was a slightly metallic smell to the dark cavern, like a faint taste of copper in my mouth when I inhaled. It was cold and dry down here, which was quite a contrast to the humid jungle.

Unfortunately my strongest senses didn’t pick up anything. I didn’t hear or see a damn thing. I suppose it was a good thing I didn’t hear anything, but I had a sense of unease. The mana was rich here, which would attract monsters. And if there were monsters, they’d rely on stealth and dark corners for ambush. It might not be true, but it was better to assume that, than to think this was a harmless picnic.

I used my Mana Sight to navigate the darkness. There was some mana in the cavern walls, just like there was mana everywhere, but the way it floated and danced in the air gave me orientation. Tracing my hand against the stone, I slowly started to walk forwards. I stopped every few steps to listen. After doing it a few times, I got a level.

[Heightened Senses level 3!]

[+1 Perception]

[+1 Reflex]

There were a few crossroads in the tight corridors, but I decided to walk mostly straight. The fewer turns I made in this blind labyrinth, the better. Then I sensed something with my Mana Sight. There was a shape ahead; something long curled into a coil in the ceiling. It was alive, and it was waiting. I slid ever so slightly closer, while I was watching it, and it twitched. Oh, it was waiting alright. Little sneak. It looked like a giant worm. It could have been a weird snake too, but it was pretty thick.

It was curled into an alcove in the upper corner of the corridor where it made a turn. I didn’t have a clear shot at it, which was a problem. If I needed to move close enough to get a clear shot, it might jump me, and I wasn’t having any of that.

Either way, I cast a pretty hefty barrier on myself before I took another step. Like, hefty enough to withstand a bullrush. I had no idea what the hell was prowling there in the darkness, but I wasn’t going further without protection.

I might have been a curious baby, but I wasn’t a stupid baby.

I didn’t know what I was dealing with, so I just drank in the rich mana and surrounded myself with a barrier. I also topped up my cultivation mana reserves if I needed to act quickly.

But even so I hesitated. If the mana was so thick here, surely the creatures were powerful here, even if they were small. For all I knew they might shoot lasers at me!

I weighed my options. Then I looked at the strange flute I was clutching in my hand. I decided to blow on it. Maybe it would summon an eidolon or something. 

Well, probably not. I doubted the Belator would leave anything valuable or useful here.

It didn’t. It let out an eerie high whistle that echoed in the corridor. To my surprise the creature ahead twitched. Maybe it was blind and had a hunting method based on sound or vibration.

I looked at the flute again. I ran my fingers over the carvings in the bone and fed a little mana into it. The inscriptions filled slowly. There was a small structure near the mouthpiece that gathered some of the mana separately. I put it to my lips and blew on it. A little louder this time.

This time I watched the artifact with my Mana Sight. The little gathering of mana released into a pulse that spread down the corridor. I watched it reach the bend.

The creature twitched again and peeked. I stopped blowing and watched. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the thing slowly uncoiled and stretched part of its body around the corner. It was definitely peeking.

It stayed there, moving slightly from side to side. Looking for something, perhaps. Whatever the flute had done, it had gotten its attention. I held still and kept my Water Bullet ready.

It was still tucked behind cover, the careful little creeper! So I blew on the whistle a third time and the creature crawled further out. I could almost take a clean shot.

I had no idea what the artifact was called, but I was starting to appreciate it. I also chuckled to myself, not missing the irony of House Belator luring me into their trap with a lure-artifact. But it was pretty neat, and I decided to keep it.

I blew on the flute again, and finally the creature crawled out of its alcove and started creeping along the upper wall of the corridor towards me. Naturally, I wasn’t having any of that. I needed a restraining order against these little creeps!

The Water Bullet was pretty intense. Anything larger might have caused another collapse. But I sure as hell wasn’t pulling my punches with creepy crawlies. To my surprise, when the spell launched from my hand, the creature moved, as if sensing it had to. I managed a glancing shot at the creature and a low hiss filled the cavern. It gave me the creeps, but I stayed focused. The creature coiled on the floor and launched itself at me. The creepy hiss got angry and the worm struck my barrier. Fortunately, wounded as it was, it couldn’t break the barrier, but this thing packed a surprising punch for its size. I pinned it down with a kinetic spell. Once I knew it was secure, I released the barrier and cast a Water Bullet to kill it. 

I really needed to figure out a way to cast more than two spells. I wasn’t sure what my limiting factor was. Spellcraft? Cultivation? All of it combined in some strange equation? Probably.

If given enough time to prepare, I could augment my body with mana and cast two spells. That was my current limit: Mana Augmentation, Kinetic Barrier, and a water spell, usually of the bullet variation. Another good combo I had was the kinetic spells under my soles to help me levitate and then unleash a Water Jet. But that was always a little scary, because I couldn't have a barrier on if  did that.

 If I wanted to keep a barrier on me at all times, I needed to improve. Speaking of which, I cast a continuous barrier on myself.

I crouched down and wished I could see the creature. I knew there was light and fire magic in the spellbook I owned, but I hadn’t learned them yet. I didn’t want to touch the creature either without knowing more. I assumed it was venomous. Whether it applied its toxins through a stinger or teeth or barbs on its skin as it wrapped around its victim’s neck, hell if I knew. But it had been very agile even after I had wounded it, so I needed to be careful.

After some careful movement forward, I encountered another one. This one I managed to kill with a single hit from further away. But it was clearly the same kind of creature. Coiled around a stalactite, waiting to drop down on its prey.

Creepy damn things. I hoped there was something worthwhile down here, so I wouldn’t be traumatized for nothing.

I traveled downwards some more and encountered another one of these monsters. By now I realized the underground caverns were fairly large. I was fortunate enough that these worm-things weren’t crawling around and jumping at me from behind, but they were polite enough to wait for me. If I didn’t have Mana Sight, I’d have real trouble dealing with them.

Then blessedly, I got another level.

[Heightened Senses level 4!]

[+1 Perception]

[+1 Reflex]

Thank the spirits and gods and the System for the Sage and my other Skill Experience boosting advantages! Even in a situation like this where I had to be extremely careful and alert, I could level up only so fast. I took a moment to appreciate my luck. I sometimes forgot about stuff like the Sage Perk, but here it really came in clutch. It was such a passive, innocuous effect that I didn’t usually think about it, but it gave me the extra edge I needed. 

I now had some measure of dark vision, even though it was completely lightless in this cave. I could now see faint outlines of the corridor, and the loose rocks on the cavern floor. I could barely see further than my own extended hand, but in this pitch black darkness that was already a boon.

So naturally when I killed the next creepy crawlie, I took a long and hard look at it.

Yup, it was a centipede, and an ugly one at that. It was also very fortunate that I hadn’t touched it, because it was covered in some kind of fine hair that seemed to hide nasty looking barbs. They were covering its back and stomach. Additionally, it had an ugly set of pincers that looked strong enough to snap a toddler’s neck. I swallowed. Since the mana was so rich down here, I figured it was a good place to take a break.

No, of course I didn’t turn to magic training to calm my nerves. I wasn’t a baby! I was doing it to be more prepared!

Before I started practicing, I took another look at the flute.

That little pulse had been interesting. The artifact hadn’t emptied all its mana when I blew into it. A small part had gathered separately, then released. The rest had stayed where it was.

I traced the inscriptions with Mana Sight and Arcane Deconstruction and tried to understand how.

There. The little branch near the mouthpiece. It filled, released, and stopped drawing mana until it was used again. Could I do something like that with Barrier Pulse?

I didn’t need the part that interested creepy cave monsters. I had enough of their attention already. But controlling how much mana went into each pulse would be useful. I cast my continuous barrier and started adjusting the formula.

My first attempt made the whole thing flicker before the spell destabilized. Well, I might have been talented, but nobody gets it right the first time. Repetition was the mother of learning.

I reinforced the barrier and tried again, this time feeding a small amount of mana from my cultivated finger into the extra structure. A weak pulse spread out from the barrier. I heard some rubble crumble from the wall when it struck.

The barrier stayed up and I felt a little triumph swell in my chest. I was gaining some measure of control.

Until now I had been putting everything into Barrier Pulse whenever I used it. This was natural when starting out with a new spell. Large unwieldy moves. That was great for throwing a giant monkey off me, but I wanted to use it without having to rebuild my defense afterwards.

It was time to increase my mastery, so I started small.

Inhale, gather mana. Exhale, release a pulse.

Once I got the timing right, I could keep doing it. And with all the mana down here, I had plenty to practice with. Finally, I was certain I had made tangible progress: I could now use Barrier Pulse without breaking my barrier.

You know… as long as I was reasonable. Which, admittedly, wasn't my strong suite.

It was calming and relaxing, and I fell into a meditative trance after a while. I forgot I was trapped in a cave with monstrous centipedes. I felt the muscles of my shoulders and neck loosen. I hadn’t realized how tense I had been. I let go of the sense of danger, worry about my mother above, worry about the Silver Sea Tournament and the schemes of Belator. And through that I found the joy of magic again, and I played with it. 

[Mana Absorption level 15!]

[+2 Magic Power]

[+2 Focus]

It took a few hours until I came back from the deep play. I felt so relaxed and happy. My understanding of kinetic magic was deeper and I had managed to implement some of the concepts from the flute into Barrier Pulse. Using my cultivation with structured magic was also starting to become second nature to me. It had been kind of weird to use, because it was like having an extra sense, or a third arm. But magic had a blessed feature: If you just practiced and played with it, you’d get better. I liked that, I liked that a lot.

Since it had already been a few hours, I went back to the collapse and told my mother I was still fine. I didn’t tell her about the murderous centipedes. What was she going to do with that information? Worry even harder? Yeah, no thanks.

Now that I was calm again, and better equipped, I decided to continue. Both my time in the darkness and actively using Heightened Senses were starting to gradually wear down my blindness. It was still hard to see, and I was mostly relying on my Mana Sight, but things were getting easier.

But then I noticed how much easier things were getting with every step.

Wait a minute. This wasn’t the effect of a Skill. There was a light source ahead!

It was faint and pale and when I moved forward, I was starting to get my sight back. I trekked upwards a long corridor and noticed the air was getting warmer as the light ahead strengthened. Finally I found myself looking down into a cavern from a perch.

The light was coming from the walls. Blue and silver veins criss-crossed across the cavern walls, creating a spiderweb of patterns that converged on the other side of the cavern into a mass of gemstone that was protruding from the wall. In my Mana Sight, it shone like a beacon. 

Jackpot!

Whatever that was, it was absolutely brimming with mana. The monster cores were a pittance, a snack, compared to whatever this was. This was the source of the rich mana inside. I could see that the gemstone was slowly releasing mana into the cavern. It was beautiful and I wanted all of it.

But my heart dropped when I realized it just wouldn’t be that easy.

On the other end of the wide cavern, above the mysterious gemstone, was a gleaming shape tucked in the shadows. I could see the outline of something massive wrapped around a thick stalactite.

It was black and red and covered in thin hair. Red and green barbs the size of my body were protruding from the body. A sickly green light emanated from them. The creature must have been sixty feet long. I couldn’t see all of it, but judging from the massive pincers capable of chomping a horse in half, that was my guess.

This was a giant-ass centipede. If I had Sixth Sense, it would have probably had a nervous breakdown and asked for sick leave. I felt a chill run down my spine. 

This thing was an Awakened beast, there was no doubt. A huge one.

And certainly stronger than anything I had faced so far.