Mana Crystals

Slashing forward with all his might, Mark's attack hit the first goblin to approach. Not even having a chance to let out a death cry, the creature's body fell limply to the ground.

Mark didn't stop there, as his swings flowed through the crowd, reaping lives constantly.

Rick, who was standing to the side, stared at the scene with wide eyes. 'This is the difference with a proper sword?!' He clutched his own, and looked down. After a short time he took the leap and rushed to Mark's side to join him in his fight.

The two fought hard, clearing the cave all the way back to the village. After such a tough battle, the two sat down in their ragged clothes, staring at the rewards imparted by the dungeon.

"A hammer and a shield. I don't need either of them, all yours Rick." Mark tossed the two items to Rick, who promptly caught them and got a feel of their weight.

"Feels good to hold a hammer again! Now I just need an anvil and a forge!" Rick laughed, as he and Mark went to collect the suitcases.

'No reward for Jor? Unless...' Mark looked to Jor, asking quickly, "Jor, did you get a skill?!" Jor rubbed her legs in affirmation, doing a little dance on Mark's shoulder.

"Can we see it, or is it passive?" Mark inquired.

Soon, Jor's front leg was coated in mana, gathering into a sharp point at the tip of her leg. She shot her leg forward and the point launched at rapid speed.

"Interesting!" Rick watched with amusement, still swinging around his hammer.

"Seems to be a very cool skill Jor, congrats." Mark smiled, rubbing its thorax gently. Jor seemed pleased, pushing more into Mark's finger.

After a while, everyone was ready and made their way to the mining area.

"The miners were around here..." Mark said looking around. Soon they found a small pile of ores on the ground, as well as some pickaxes.

"Hmm... They seem to be mostly iron ore, but there are a few of these shiny blue ores I've never seen before." Rick commented as he picked one up.

{Inspect}

{Item: Mana Crystal

Rank: F

Info: A low quality mana crystal. Can be used to cultivate core density during hollow stage.}

Staring at the information screen, Mark was shocked. Clye was continuously urging him to collect them all, as Rick was poking him in the shoulder trying to get his attention.

Snapping out of his daze, he told Rick about the information he read, and immediately discarded the iron ore. They had no way to refine it at the moment, and this dungeon wasn't going anywhere, so the two came to a consensus.

Stuffing the two suitcases, the happy duo lugged them back to base and showed them to the people there, explaining the benefits.

Hearing this, many of the combat teams wanted to rush in and gather them. Mark stopped them and reminded them that there were more than a hundred goblins in there and to prepare properly, before storing all the crystals in the storage room.

"Now that that adventure is over I'll be heading out to clear the way to terminal three. I'll see you guys later." Mark then waved as he and Jor left the base, heading towards their next destination with new resolve and greater strength.

"Now that I reached stage three, the dungeon will at most provide me four or five percent, so I should just focus on clearing the area instead." Mark was slightly sad that he could no longer reap the insane benefits he had the past two visits, but the mana crystal discovery definitely cheered him up.

Being able to reach the next level of core density was a huge milestone in Mark's eyes. He had no idea how much he would gain from it, but basing it off the fact that it didn't have stages like mana circuit, he assumed it would be a large qualitative change.

As Mark's thoughts continued to wander, he approached the next territory. Seeing it was almost all stage 1 enemies, he quickly lost interest and cleared them out post haste.

This continued for a time as Mark quickly made his way to terminal three. As he stood before the terminal, he frowned. Many bodies of species he knew retained their intelligence laid before him.

Mark entered the terminal, sword ready. The bodies were relatively fresh, looking to be from sometime yesterday.

Assuming there was a monster claiming this area, Mark quietly entered. He and Clye scanned his surroundings as they looked for any signs of life.

Reaching the halfway point, they began to hear the sounds of fighting up ahead. Mark rushed forward as he heard a bellowing roar.

When he approached the scene, a large dog, nearly eight feet tall was clenching a person in its teeth. The dog violently shook its head, tearing the person apart. The remaining people mournfully screamed as they fired mana bolts, or swung chair legs coated in mana at the dog.

The attacks did very little to it as the dog only became more enraged. Mark quickly used inspect on the monster to see what he was dealing with.

{Inspect}

{Creature: Bloodthirsty Wild Dog

Core Density: Hollow

Mana Circuit: Beginner (Stage 3)

Info: A domesticated dog that has gotten in touch with its wild side after mutating, becoming bloodthirsty.}

Seeing it was stage three, just like him, Mark smiled and rushed forward. "Everyone back off! I'll handle it! Take care of the injured!" Hearing this everyone looked back with hope in their eyes, before seeing it was just a young man barely out of high school

"Kid turn around and run, this thing is way too powerful to handle alone." One of the older men, carrying a metal chair leg said with care.

"Just a stage three monster, I can handle it fine!" Mark ignored the warning and charged forward.

"Jor!" Mark called out as Jor shot the dog with her webs. His sword hummed as he coated it in mana and slashed heavily on the back legs.

*AWOOOO*

The dog howled as it felt its leg get sliced off by a strong force. Blood splattered on the ground, as the dog collapsed from a lack of balance.

It tried to stand up, but the opening it created was perfectly exploited by Mark as he laid out a powerful attack on the creature's neck.

*Gurgle*

It tried to howl again, but the blood flowed from its wound and filled its throat. Not long after it breathed its last breath as Mark received a notification.

{Bloodthirsty Wild Dog killed}

{[Mana Circuit] progress 1%}

Using the fur of the dog to clean off Vibra, Mark stored it away in his backpack side pocket before looking back at the group of people behind him.

"What was that before about being too powerful to handle alone?" Mark jabbed at the old man with a smile.

"Sorry kid, guess I let the times get ahead of me a bit." The old man blushed as he rubbed his head.

"It's all good I'm just joking around. Anyways, I have a base set up in terminal two with a decent amount of people, you guys are welcome to bring your injured and join us. I've cleared all the monsters between the terminals for now." Mark patted the old man's shoulder and went back to the dog, grabbing the tail and dragging it back with him.

"Why are you taking the corpse with you?" One of the people asked with confusion.

"Well we have a blacksmith, so I want to see if anything is useful on it. Also I'll be asking our logistics team captain if she wants to use the hide for something. I don't exactly have any tools to dismember it here." Mark explained, turning back around and returning to base.

He was very pleased with today's work. He cleared the dungeon, increased a stage, found a path to increase his core faster, and even found new people. He just couldn't wipe the smile from his face.