Crystals, Water

"Cobwebs cling, like ghostly lace,

Veiling the dungeon's eerie space.

A flickering light, a dim respite,

In this abyss of endless night.

But we will venture ever on,

Guided by a flickering lantern's yawn.

For within this dungeon's deep domain,

Hidden gems await their claim."

- A poem composed about a certain part of the dungeon. 42 AA.

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'Let's get building, shall we?'

The last stretch of the construction remained, that being the 'Lamp Posts' in the form of mana crystals embedded inside the trees. Another question was which type of crystal to use in them as well.

However, the answer to that was quite obvious. Lan was currently attuned to Life, and Earth mana, and was otherwise able to manipulate Neutral and Mental mana. Among all of them, the ones that could help a tree regenerate were Neutral and Life Crystals. And between the two, Life Mana was the more efficient one.

First Lan started to experiment with the embedding technique in the first place.

Currently, there was only a single birch tree grown, and it also wasn't anywhere close to the Paths, so Lan chose it as an experimental subject.

The first attempt consisted of trying to condense the crystal on the surface of the birch tree.

At this point condensing a Mana Crystal wasn't something that required effort, it was as simple as lifting a finger for Lan. As long as he was attuned to the needed element, the creation was easy.

So, the Life mana quickly gathered. A part of it got absorbed by the tree itself, and the rest of it successfully formed a Life Crystal... Midair.

The crystal fell to the ground, and as if grabbing onto food, the roots of the tree burst from underground, enveloped the crystal, and pulled it under the tree for consumption.

Lan stared at the scene and came to a conclusion.

'...Huh. The trees actively seek out nearby mana-dense sources. They probably won't attack animals though. Not this tree at least. Who knows what other trees exist out there.'

In the end, it would seem that simply trying to embed it into a fully-grown tree won't work, as it would consume the crystal rather than siphon mana from it. Probably to avoid it being stolen, an instinctual action.

But, this line of thought brought Lan an idea.

'...Fully grown... To secure it... Then what if?!'

Two separate puzzle pieces combined.

'What if I give it a way to secure the crystal, completely removing the possibility of stealing, thus removing the need for immediate consumption?'

'And what better way than to make the trees grow around the crystal, securing it safely within, at the same time during the growth process the birch tree won't need additional mana due to the amount I am already supplying to it!'

'Lan, you're a genius, bless my Core!'

After a brief episode of narcissism, Lan immediately put the idea to use.

He moved a birch tree seed to one of the spaces arranged along the left Path. This seed was additionally enhanced as the grown tree was rapidly devouring the Life Mana at the time.

Quickly Lan planted it into the ground, however, he didn't immediately infuse ginormous amounts of mana, as he needed time for the Life Crystal to grow, and for the tree to envelop it within.

As such, he slowed down, splitting his focus into two, feeding a steady trickle of mana toward the sprouting birch, and forming a Life Crystal above it at the same time. When the crystal was formed after a minute, he released the 'limit' of mana infused into the sprout.

Next came the moment of truth.

The Crystal was floating amidst the air, being lifted by currents of mana, and soon after, under Lan's closest attention, the wood enveloped it, hiding it within. The tree then continued growing. Without devouring the Crystal.

When the birch reached an adequate size (around 5 meters in height), Lan stopped the active supply of mana and observed.

1 minute passed, then 2, and soon it turned into 5 and 10 minutes.

And yet, the crystal remained intact. It didn't crumble because of being sucked dry by the tree, no, it remained, mana gathering into it, and dispersing into the tree.

It was as if the birch tree gained a heart. And sure enough, mana was gathering and dispersing around the tree, creating a mana-rich zone.

'Yes! Plan Success!'

Lan mentally pumped his fist at his success. 

'Beasts will gather here soon enough... How do I exactly call this though? Can't keep calling it a 'lamp post'... Beasts gather here to gain power, so what about... Place of Power? I think I read that somewhere, but sounds good enough.'

Meanwhile, empowered by mana, the grass already started growing rapidly near the tree.

Lan then carried on with making Places of Power along the Path, 5 in total along the left side of the Path. The birches were planted and grown with their own 'tree hearts'. As such, the left Path potentially gained 5 guaranteed combat encounters for any passerby.

Another issue arose though, with the left Path being newly suffused with Life Mana, the Path got a bit... Overgrown. The plants grew along the Path so densely to the point that the passage was invisible now.

And while Lan didn't want to help the intruders in any way, if they didn't tread the obvious (and dangerous) path, what was the purpose of it all? While a party possessing a mana-sensitive person could still follow the Places of Power, a party relying solely on their vision would trudge randomly.

And while they could be lost, which was of benefit to Lan, the chamber wasn't that big, and there was a chance they would avoid the Places of Power entirely.

'Damnit, this gives me a headache... My next Floor will be a maze with no other complicated bullshit!'

So, he started thinking of a solution. Lan could just turn the excessive plant life into mana, but that wouldn't be a permanent solution with Life Mana leaking in. And if the problem lay in Mana, then the solution lay in Mana as well.

Life Mana couldn't fix the problem, neither could Neutral. Conveniently, Earth Mana remained.

'Doesn't assist plant growth, check. Can be infused into the ground, check! Possible solution found!'

As an experiment, he disintegrated a patch of grass and infused earth mana into the ground. The Earth Mana, with its largely immobile nature, remained, but Life Mana still came through the gaps.

So, Lan kept infusing. Eventually, when it reached a certain density, to the point of leaving no space for other mana, the ground condensing into a rock.

What came out as a result was a pebble, the grass around it was significantly lower.

'An unexpected gain! It seems that Earth Mana suppresses growth when there is too much of it. So I can create these 'growth-suppressing rocks' along the Path. It will look stylish and serve its purpose at the same time!'

As such, Lan began creating stones along the Path, not too densely, but to the point where they could be used to navigate as well, the Path now being even more obvious with its lowered vegetation.

'Now this looks like something closer to the truth!'

The Left Path was now largely completed, leading travelers along a path lined with stones and surrounded by pines, with Birches being beacons of mana, their white bark standing out visually as well.

Next on the agenda was the Right Path. Lan had the technique for the Places of Power already figured out, so this time the Birches, 5 in total as well, got grown much quicker this time.

Following the plan, he lined the Right Path with stones as well. However, they would probably be of much lesser help in a visually impairing environment such as the Right Path, since it was almost completely covered in darkness and shadows.

After some time, the Right Path was done as well, but both Paths were still missing something.

'What is it... Ah, of course, the Beasts haven't settled in yet.'

The main purpose of these Paths was to attract Beasts to them, but that hadn't yet happened. This could not be sped up with mana, like growth. This matter needed time.

But that reminded Lan of the fact that the center wasn't 'fortified' with Places of Power yet. This time Lan didn't have the need for them to stand out, so he had more freedom in making them.

At first, he had trees other than Birches grow around Life Crystals. Then, he tried burying it under the roots of a budding plant. Finally, Lan made a couple of small mounds with Earth Crystals below them, as if inviting some Beast to make a burrow.

And that made Lan realize a couple more things. The main one is the fact he kind of lacked in variety of usable mana. And the second one came from observing the behavior of Beasts.

The Beasts and Monsters, not having a body fully made of mana yet, still needed water. And water was fortunately available in a stream that crossed the entire chamber. But the First Floor didn't have such a privilege. Lan noticed this by a familiar presence in the Second Chamber.

It was the Huntress. The big cat was trudging through as if she owned the place, which she kind of did, being strongest and all. She was bigger than what Lan remembered, her dark fur blending in with the surrounding darkness, her claws now covered in a metallic sheen.

Surprisingly though, despite living in a mana-dense First Floor, she was only a Monster right now, not possessing a mana body. This was the reason she came up here, she was thirsty.

Lan didn't notice it earlier, but the Huntress actually came up quite often for a drink. One such time almost resulted in another confrontation with the Deer Herd. Both sides backed off though.

'While the deeper floors might not actively need water anymore, the First Floor certainly does... Who knows how many died of thirst there... So, I need a way to supply water. Either I continue to re-route rivers and streams from the surface... Or I find a way to make my own.

Lan didn't even need to rack his brains for that long though, as he soon witnessed a curious scene.

Among the Herd of Deer, one Steelhorn stood out. It has successfully turned into a Magic Beast, gaining visible Mana Patterns. And said patterns looked more swirly and gentle compared to Lorn, Remy, and other Magic Beasts.

What especially made it stand out was the fact that its fur turned a whole different color. It was light blue, the color of water and clear sky. And in addition to that, water droplets condensed from moisture floated around its horns, surrounding them.

This gave Lan the answer on a silver platter.

'Water Affinity! Water Mana! Why didn't I think of this!'

After a brief exclamation got to it.

'Alright, same old. Feel it, imagine it, attune to it. Plain and simple.

Water mana.

Gentle, Flowing.

Tasteless, Nurturing.

Lan was focusing on the feel of the concept, but he couldn't quite get it immediately. As if a piece of the puzzle was missing, or as if a piece of it was wrong.

So, he tried to grasp the elusive feeling.

Lan was peering into the flowing stream, ignoring all else.

And eventually, he understood.

It is Playful.

Water is unrestrained.

The all-too-familiar feeling of a new pair of eyes opening, as if taking off yet another veil, covered Lan. Spots of blue resided in the ground, and flowed along the stream, being one with it.

Lan was ecstatic.

'Water magic unlocked!'

However, while Lan was in the midst of the joy of discovery, a brutal battle for Places of Power has already begun.

On the left Path, a wild boar and a wolverine were battling it out. Or rather, the battle was coming to a conclusion.

The wolverine was fast, far faster than the slower boar, but its attack power and stamina weren't enough. It couldn't deal severe damage to the Beasts with two pairs of tusks and instead exhausted itself.

The Boar won by impaling the slowed-down foe with a charge.

Meanwhile, on the right Path, another battle concluded. There was no epic conclusion or a thrilling battle to it.

All that remained was a silhouette of a four-legged animal wrapped up in cobwebs, hanging from the branch of the Birch.