by Jamey Sultan
The room was filled with books, floor to ceiling. Books that weren’t on shelves were stacked haphazardly in piles that looked ready to topple. The only area free of books was the ceiling, crafted from the same dark metal as the door and covered with the same scrawling script. Mouth agape, James picked up a book and examined it.
Necrophilia: Is It Okay if It’s Your Summon?
Rank: Unique
Durability: 100/100
The only known copy of a peer-reviewed book documenting the ethics behind carnal relations with summoned undead. By R. Ichter
James dropped the book.
Why was it sticky? Never mind, I don’t want to know. Before it could hit the ground, the book floated into the air and inserted itself into one of the many stacks around him.
A stern voice chastised him. “Careful with that. It’s priceless.”
James jumped, looking around wildly for the speaker. He stopped when he realized that nobody was there. “Hello?” he called into the seemingly empty library.
“I’m in the back. And hurry, I don’t have all day.”
Curious, James headed towards the voice. It didn’t sound hostile, which was good. Better than the skeletons at least. Navigating through the maze of books was a difficult task, because sometimes paths would simply end and he’d have to backtrack to find a new opening, usually a small space between the shelves he’d overlooked, that he could squeeze through. Along the way, he stopped to read the covers of books that seemed especially interesting to him.
The Divine Dungeon. Gnomes and Why They Rule. A System Apocalypse.
Eventually James made it to the back of the room where he found a kindly, bespectacled old man, barely visible behind a desk stacked high with books and papers.
Name: ???
Race: ???
Level: ???
Class: ???
“You’re a person!”
The old man chuckled. “Of course I’m a person.”
“You can call me Ozure. Welcome to my library.”
“What is this place?” James gestured around the room.
“It is my home,” Ozure answered simply. “Now, on to business, what have you brought me?”
“Brought you?” James asked, trying to remember where he’d heard the name Ozure before. It was something to do with the history of the Dwarves, but he couldn’t recall what.
“Yes, a bit of original work, something to add to my collection.”
“Oh,” James said, looking through his bag. He really needed to stay on this guy’s good side, because he was pretty sure Ozure could kill him with a glance. Something about the man emanated power. The book Potion Making for Dummies probably wouldn’t work, it was just a Common item. “What about this?” He pulled out Mary’s Cinderstalk Pie recipe.
Ozure smiled and took the parchment, reading over the recipe. “I’ve never seen this recipe before. Looks delicious. This’ll work.”
“So, why am I here?” James asked.
Ozure raised an eyebrow. “And what do you mean by that?”
“I mean that somehow, I made it through a chunk of a dungeon hundreds of levels higher than I could handle, and I barely encountered any enemies.”
“I guess I felt your mark, and needed to see why Sytar’s chosen wanted to enter my humble dungeon.”
“I didn’t come here on purpose,” James said, trying to convey that he was harmless and didn’t want to fight. “Honestly, if you’d let me out, I’d be happy to go peacefully.”
“Oh, would you?” He laughed. “Don’t you want to hear why you’re here?”
“I… suppose.”
“But first, I must apologize for being such a bad host.” Ozure got up from his chair and approached James slowly. The Mana flowing around his body was so powerful that James could hear it crackle. “You brought me such a nice gift, and I haven’t done anything for you.”
James backed away, slowly at first, but then faster. This stranger locked away in the bottom of a dungeon wasn’t his friend. Because that’s what he was. It had taken James a while to figure out what the issue with the stranger was, but he’d just realized it.
Ozure kept referring to this as his library. His home. James had thought the runes around the door were to keep people from getting into the room, but perhaps they were to keep Ozure from escaping.
He recalled the dungeon name. Prison of the First. He didn’t know what the first was, but he knew what a prison was.
Quickly, James turned and bolted for the door, only to find Ozure standing in front of it waiting for him. The old man raised an eyebrow and gave him a smirk. “Going somewhere?”
“Just... heading out. It was lovely to meet you, but I have to meet up with some friends.”
“Oh, I’m sure they can wait. After all, I have to thank you for your gift.” Quick as a snake, Ozure struck. He grabbed James by the head and flooded Mana into his body.
You have been [Paralyzed].
Duration: ???
Questing tendrils of energy flowed into James, interacting cautiously with his broken Mana channels. “You really did a number on yourself, didn’t you?” Ozure shook his head. “I think I can help, but you’re going to have to let me.”
What did he mean, let him? James was paralyzed. Ozure could do whatever he wanted.
Ozure must have seen the question in James’ eyes, because he sighed in annoyance and waved his hands. With a rush, James felt the paralysis slip away, and he got up, backing away from Ozure. “Let me go,” he said, trembling.
Ozure chuckled but didn’t move. “Are you sure you want that?” He asked. “I could let you leave, but you’d be stuck back where you were; dead in a dungeon. You need me.”
“You need me just as much as I need you,” James said. “And if you want my help, you’re going to have to answer some questions.” It was a bold play, but James was running out of options.
Ozure sighed. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
“What were you going to do to me?”
“I was about to fix your Mana channels.”
“Then why did you chase me down and paralyze me?”
“You started running. I didn’t want you to leave before I could help.”
James thought about that for a second. Ozure had just given up something that he probably hadn’t meant to say. He’d inadvertently revealed that he couldn’t leave this room. James filed that information away for later, but it wouldn’t help him right now, because Ozure was clearly much faster than him.
“So, you were going to fix my Mana channels. Why?”
Ozure nodded.
“For no reason. Just out of the goodness of your heart.” James wasn’t buying it, and he hated dancing around an issue. “Just tell me what you want,” he said, annoyed. “I thought you ancient beings were supposed to be wise and to the point.”
“I’ll fix your channels as a gesture of goodwill.” Ozure gave him a smile that didn’t reassure him at all. “After that, we can bargain.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t really have any other options,” Ozure pointed out. “Feel free to try to make it out of the dungeon without my help. You won’t.”
James thought. As much as he hated to admit it, Ozure was right. James did need him. Even if he could make it out of this room, he’d still be stuck in a dungeon hundreds of levels too high. “Fine,” he grumbled. “What did you need?”
Ozure grinned. “Delightful. I just need your permission to access your core. From there, I can work to repair your Mana channels. You’ll be good as new.”
James really didn’t want to do this. Everything about this interaction was setting off alarm bells, but he didn’t have much of a choice. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” he muttered.
“Fine. Do it.”
Would you like to grant Ozure access to your Mana core?
Warning: This can leave you vulnerable. Be sure you trust whoever you are granting access to.
James
gulped, but he didn’t have a choice. He agreed.
Ozure placed his hand back on James’ head and reconnected his Mana tendrils. This time, the connection was much stronger, and James felt the wispy touch of a vast, alien mind swirling with thoughts. Powers he couldn’t comprehend.
“You...you’re not Human,” he whispered as the world faded into darkness. The last thing he remembered was a dark glint in Ozure’s eyes.
***
Once James was unconscious, Ozure smiled. Everything was going according to plan. It had taken thousands of years, but soon he’d be out of this prison, and he’d have his revenge. But he wasn’t out yet. First, he had to fix this Human’s Mana channels, a trivial task for him.
Tendrils of multicolored energy extended into James’ core, the center of his being. The energy wrapped around it and ate away at the scar tissue that had built up inside. Slowly, it crept through James’ body, following his Mana channels. Whenever the energy encountered scarring it cleared the damage away and widened the channels.
It was time for the real work to begin. James hadn’t only caused scarring. He’d permanently damaged the core itself, making it impossible for the Mana to flow quickly. Fixing the Mana scars had made it so James wouldn’t be in pain when he cast spells, but the Human would be weak as a kitten, unable to cast anything but the most basic spells.
Unfortunately, Ozure couldn’t do anything to improve Mana flow through the core, even with James’ permission. What he could do was work around it, but it would be dangerous. Even after all his years, Ozure had never tried to do this before. But he’d spent years meticulously planning it, and the Human had brought something in that could help make the procedure safer.
Ozure raised his hands and started chanting. His Mana control was perfect. He’d evolved past the need for spells long ago when he’d gained the Mana Manipulation skill, widely considered the start of any real mage’s journey.
Tendrils of Mana wrapped around James’ wrist and explored the Bracelet of Last Breath. The item was unique, a powerful artifact created through Runic magic, and it had taken quite a bit of energy for Ozure to tip the scales of fate to cause it to fall into James’ hands. He’d spent weeks unable to see out of his cursed prison after the artifact fell into the damned slaver’s hands. But it was all worth it.
His Mana thrummed as he sent a command into it, crushing the bracelet. For the briefest instant, the spell contained inside was freed, but before it could dissipate into the atmosphere, his Mana wrapped around it, trapping it. Using the trapped spell, Ozure wove a powerful stasis enchantment around James’ body.
You have created a spell: Stasis
Stasis (Level 1):
For 24 hours, the target of this spell cannot move, breathe, speak, feel, or die.
Range: Touch
Cast time: Instant
Cooldown: None
Cost: 975 mana
His Mana level dropped almost a thousand points, but the bar in the corner of his vision barely twitched.
Once he knew that he would be able to perform the surgery without killing James, Ozure concentrated and condensed his mana, forming a razor thin scalpel. Carefully he cut into James’ chest, the knife easily slicing through muscle, sinew, and bone. Eerily, because of the Stasis effect, no blood flowed from the wound. It stayed motionless inside of him as if he were a frozen corpse.
Ozure summoned more mana, flowing it into the wound in James’ chest and pulling, cracking the chest open and leaving a gaping hole that revealed a heart frozen mid-beat.
Next, Ozure moved down to James’ leg. With a few precise slashes, he exposed a long, thick vein.
Much slower now, he cut out two sections of the vein, taking care to include the tightly wound Mana channels that followed the vascular system around the body. Mana channels worked in a similar way to veins and arteries, transporting Mana around the body. The systems were tightly linked, but normally they never intersected. Ozure’s theory was that if he connected the two systems, that the force of the blood moving through the body would be able to push the Mana along with it.
Setting aside the newly separated sections of vein, Ozure stretched the cut leg vein down and used Mana to repair the damage he’d caused and reseal the vein and Mana channels.
Once he’d healed the wound in James’ leg, Ozure returned his focus to James’ chest—it was time for the difficult part. He was going to have to connect the heart to the Mana channels. For it to work he would need to remove the Mana core completely and use the heart as the sole Mana pump.
He disconnected the input area of the core and, using the segment of vein he had harvested from the leg, connected the input Mana channel to the aorta, so that blood and Mana would be pushed through the heart and into the Mana system. Then he disconnected the output area of the core and connected it to the superior vena cava, so that the blood and Mana would drain back into the heart. He then carefully cut out James’ Mana core and removed it, setting it aside.
Mana Core (James):
Rank: Unique
A Mana core belonging to the Human James. This core is unique to him and can be used in a variety of ways.
Finally, Ozure closed all the damaged areas and sealed James’ chest, leaving him looking normal except for a thin scar on his chest and a much smaller scar on his leg.
Chapter 41
James groaned, grabbing his head. “Where am I?”
“Careful,” a voice from behind him said as a hand on his back helped guide him to a seated position. “I repaired your Mana channels, but you need time to recover. Here, drink this.” James felt a glass of water touch his lips and he drank greedily, barely noticing when the water sloshed out and over his chest and legs.
As he drank, the events of the previous day slowly filtered back to James. He was in a in a dungeon. He’d found a weird library prison where a strange man had offered to give him surgery, and he’d accepted. “What happened?” He asked shakily. “What did you do to me?”
Ozure came into view as James’ eyesight returned. He was smiling pleasantly—maybe James had imagined the dark look in his eyes before. “The surgery was successful.”
“I can cast spells again?” James was excited to finally be able to use magic again, he’d felt weak without it. He tried to stand up, but when he moved, he was hit with a wave of vertigo that left him nauseated.
“Be careful. I had to connect your Mana system to your circulatory system to fix everything, which means that for now, you’ll have to fill up twice as much space with the same amount of blood. You’ll be dizzy for a few days as your body produces more blood to compensate for the new space. Drink plenty of fluids.”
James nodded. He didn’t really understand what Ozure had done, but he understood the concept.
“How about you rest and check your prompts and let me know what changes there were.” There was a hungry look in Ozure’s eyes when he asked James to look over his prompts that James didn’t like. He’d tried to be casual about it, but his tone was almost too casual. For the first time since arriving, James had a slight upper hand, and he wasn’t sure what to do with it. He didn’t know enough to make any decisions yet, so he nodded in agreement, which was a mistake. Another wave of nausea overwhelmed him.
James lay back and closed his eyes, pulling up his notifications.
Your mind has encountered the mind of a being of power. It was only for an instant, but it was enough.
Your Mana type has evolved from Shadow (Tier II) to Arcane (Transcendent).
Spells and skills will change over time.
James remembered the brief instant of contact he had with Ozure’s mind. It had been alien and malevolent. The fact that a mere instant of contact with Ozure’s mind had upgraded his magic to a new type spoke volumes about how powerful he... it was. James had never heard of transcendent magic and wasn’t sure where it fell on the tier chart Nana had shown him.
Your Bracelet of Last Breath has been destroyed.
That was a scary
thought. He’d been counting on the bracelet as a trump card that would let him survive certain death. Even though he hadn’t used it, with the bracelet gone he felt more naked and vulnerable. James shrugged mentally. It didn’t matter. He was alive, and could theoretically use his Mana again. That was what mattered.
Your Mana core has been removed. Your body can no longer circulate mana. Some skills have been modified to reflect this.
Your magic and circulatory systems have been combined. This has created a new stat: Essence, a combination of Mana and health.
Your Ability: Blood of the Mountain has given your blood a strong affinity of mana.
Normally, blood and Mana cannot mix, but because of your unique circumstances, your blood has a higher affinity for Mana than it does for oxygen.
Your blood will now carry Mana throughout your body, and Mana will fuel your cells.
You are no longer Human. You have evolved past the need for the basic forms of energy. Now you subsist on pure energy. Your race has changed to reflect this.
Race Change: Shakti
You have evolved into a being of energy. This is a unique race, and most changes will not reveal themselves immediately. They will evolve and grow with you. For now, here are a few immediate changes.
+ No need to breathe
+ 99% poison resistance
+ No need for food, drink, or sleep