The last thing I was expecting was to encounter humans coming up from below me. They’d approached from the tunnel of pulsing tissue which had scared me earlier, but I suppose it couldn’t be that bad if they managed to traverse it safely. It’s a good thing I went through the effort of making the outer side of all my fortifications match the natural terrain, however, because I’d finished it so recently, the flora hadn’t had time to cover the surface yet.

Luckily for me, the miners didn’t seem to care too much, as they just turned around when they hit the dead end. Rather than following their flickering lamp light into the darkness, I decided to go check up on their mine again, they must’ve breached a separate portion of the cave system recently.

Popping over to the strand of my domain that I’d previously used to explore their mine, I take note of the latest expansions.

The tunnels were each of the same width as before however, the side tunnels were all longer. Furthermore, the main shaft was 14 m longer. Near the end of the main shaft was yet another side tunnel, however, here there were a couple dozen miners milling past each other in the tight confines of their workplace. Figuring this is probably where they’d broken into the cave system, I delve in.

Sure enough, I witness the telltale purple glow of archer pods emanating from a man-sized hole at the end of the offshoot, with several more miners standing around. Speaking of which, what kind of idiot gets anywhere near those treacherous gastropods?

The mineshaft opens up into a 3 m wide natural tunnel running in two directions. Leading both ways are long ropes which are probably being used for navigation. I can’t expand my dungeon domain very quickly this far from my core, so rather than taking a potentially time-wasting gamble on which rope to follow, I refocus on the area where I’d first seen the miners in the creepy tunnel. They haven’t been gone long so I easily locate them.

They are resting in a small chamber. The walls are still covered in the strange yellowish tissue, however, in every direction sprouts numerous plants with leaves showcasing a motley of colors, a truly enthralling sight for anyone expecting to encounter only greenery. The chamber is actually part of a flat ledge embedded in the side of a deep subterranean canyon. I can’t tell how long it is because it snakes in on itself, however, it has got to be at least 150 m deep. Much like my newly acquired cavern, the terrain here is dense with vegetation, however, due to a lack of horizontal purchase, most of the flora could be seen clinging to the sheer cliffs.

Along the walls emerged rows of shelf fungi, resembling a scaled-up version of what you’d see on rotting logs. Atop the organic shelves sprouted numerous epiphytic orchids and other commensal plants.

The air was thick with flying animals. Besides the flocks of cave swallows and swarming insects, I could also see the familiar dragon flies zipping about. Near the top of the chasm hung thousands of exposed honeycombs covered in millions of, well, absolutely normal looking honeybees. As regular as they may outwardly look, the sheer size of their communal hive hinted at many key behavioral differences, such as the inclusion of many queens in a single colony.

At the bottom of the fissure flows a raging river filled with energetic fish. Striding atop the water’s surface on unusually long vertical stilt-like legs is a herd of titanic crabs agilely snatching the leaping fish straight out of the air with their elongated and serrated pincers filling the same niche as a grizzly bear with a taste for salmon. The tallest amongst them stands a daunting 7 m above the frothing white water, their choice prey must be larger and/or more plentiful than a bear’s...

This is beauty. I’ll come back later, but right now I need to finish trailing the miner’s spelunking rope back to their shaft.

Following the rope through a short labyrinth of caves, I’m once more at the entrance to their mine. Inspecting a fern at the edge of the breached tunnel is none other than Clifford Graham. He’s chatting with an older miner, someone who I presume to be one of the planners, so I take the opportunity to listen in.

Chuckling at a comment from Clifford which I’d just missed, the miner said, “Thank Arken for guiding our picks in the right direction, we’re blessed to’ve encountered the upper subterrane so near to the surface.”

Showing a genuine smile, Clifford said, “Indeed, people will pay you well for access to this region. As per the standard procedure, your men’ll need to temporarily seal the passage until the Caverknights arrive to secure the entrance.”

Nodding, the miner responds, “Of course, of course. Do ya happen to know when that’ll be?”

Clifford said, “From my understanding, it’ll be just a couple more weeks before they’re here. The Capital Chamber has decided to directly support the defensive arrangements here in Sevit, so the timeline has been shortened. Again.”

“Hahaha, we’re making history here, it’s only natural! Glory to Lyria!” exclaimed the miner.

“Glory to Lyria!” intoned Clifford.

I make my leave as the conversation devolves into little more than a display of nationalistic zeal and consider what I’d heard. The miners probably consulted the village’s resident mage for a second input on their discovery, though I must’ve missed the useful part of their exchange. Clifford said the “Caverknights,” would protect the entrance in the future. Considering their straightforward name, I can only imagine they’re a military group specialized in underground combat. It’s a good thing too, it’d be quite unfortunate if a gargantuan toad decided to pay the surface a visit…

Once again opening up “Theo Kant’s Book for Beginner Mages,” which I’d been so rudely taken from earlier, I proceed with learning to use arcane devices.

…

At certain points the book calls for the aspiring mage to try operating a practice rune, however, I didn’t have the foresight to ask for any when I’d first contacted Wes. I saw no reason not to completely finish reading it before attempting to wield a wand, seeing as to how I have a near perfect memory now. Inorganic information storage at its finest!

With Kant’s guide finished, I now have some new noteworthy insights to share; it’s possible to overload any rune with too much mana, for this reason, many consumer devices come with a built in “mana check,” which behaves similarly to an electric step-down transformer, excluding the fact that it’s much more flexible with its inputs, and that voltage isn’t really a concept which applies to mana. Actually, maybe it is, I’ll need to tap the secrets of mana later.

Anyway, a mana check is most often made from an inscribed magicite crystal. As it turns out, the small white crystals which came with my first purchase are magicite crystals, however, they’re uninscribed because they’re intended for a different purpose. Uninscribed magicite crystals are used for short term mana storage. They’re unable to hold onto a charge for very long, but they aid in using runes which require more mana than a mage can output at once. In fact, they were the very crystals mounted on the tripods that Clifford used in his communication ritual.

Similarly, soulstones, like that maroon consumable Clifford used in his ritual, also store mana. My core, and apparently all other dungeon cores, are giant soulstones. Unlike a magicite crystal, soulstones are a long-term, perhaps even permanent, storage medium. Furthermore, their capacity is vastly superior to a magicite crystal’s. They cannot be recharged, as they crumble into useless dust after they’ve discharged their mana.

Most interestingly, they’re actually synthetic objects, grown in vats of a liquid (Which I don’t know the name of.) infused with an explosive quantity of mana. It’s good to finally receive confirmation that they’re not the diced up remains of innocent dungeons…

Anyway, magicite crystals are fairly abundant, forming most often in sprawling crystalline caverns deep underneath a mana well. The merchants included them because they’re useful for many things, I’m not complaining.

My control of mana, while still limited, is still greater than a total beginner human mage, so I don’t expect this to be too difficult. I select one of my 4 metal wands, now that I have a foundational understanding of magic, I recognize the runescript as a “Lightning Bolt” spell. The base of the handle is hollow, with a small metal stopper plugging the end. The stopper is fastened with a shoddy bronze clip, which is about what you’d expect from a society with primitive manufacturing processes. Oh, how I desire the ability to bore threaded holes through solid metal… I will do my best to ensure that day comes.

The hollow portion is for a charged magicite crystal to be inserted; most mages cannot move mana fast enough to feed a standard Lightning Bolt rune. I happen to fall under the category of “most mages,” so I set about charging a magicite crystal in the method outlined in Kant’s guide.

Enclosing the now-full crystal in its place, I telekinetically loft the wand over to my disk room to test fire it.

Many arcane devices contain a “trigger rune” which require the operating mage to insert a small amount of mana into in order to produce a predetermined reaction. In the case of a basic wand, this almost always causes it to activate the primary spell rune.

As soon as I activate the trigger, a bright white bolt jaggedly arcs through the air and strikes the stone wall bordering the room. Exactly where I aimed it.

This, this is magic, unlimited power!

Ah, but electricity does not behave this way, the bolt should’ve grounded itself on the floor immediately, instead of traversing a wide area first. Once again, magic defies my current understanding of physics. I can’t wait to redefine my understanding of reality!

The other three wands are as follows: Fast Bind, Force Missile, and Shield.

You can probably guess at these generic spell’s functions. Fast Bind is useful for tripping up or restraining enemies, making it a good non-lethal weapon. Force Missile projects a fast-moving telekinetic wave at the enemy and hits them with something similar, but stronger than, a hard-hitting punch. How that actually works, is a mystery to me. Telekinesis is one of the most physically irreconcilable aspects of magic that I’ve encountered so far. Shield projects a barrier of “force” which stops many kinds of attacks. You can’t make something out of a force, which is why this nomenclature twists my mind so much, I need to get to the bottom of what’s actually going on here and assign better names…

I’m at a good stopping point, so it’s time to consider a new idea I had earlier. It’s a bit off topic, I know, but that’s just how my mind works.

While I was merging pebbles together to barricade the lava tubes in the cavern, I couldn’t help but draw connections with my work and masonry. One of the largest bottlenecks on the speedy development of Sevit is the acute lack of local building materials. At the moment the vast majority of their constructions make use of imported timber, with a few farmers using adobe and sod as well.

Now earlier I mentioned that I like to be rational, but, well, the plan I’m forming is undoubtedly stupid.

When I excavate new territory, I essentially throw away the displaced stone, but I’ve realized that there’s a way for me to turn it into profit. I have the ability to cut stone into high-quality blocks, an extremely valuable skill.

The obvious problem; There’s no way for me to sell stone blocks without revealing myself.

The smartest decision would be to continue hiding and maybe sell ember blossoms alone.

But, and this is significant, I don’t want to do that.

While I might not’ve been the most socially fluent person in the past, that doesn’t mean I didn’t value my friendships. After all, true friends don’t care if you’re a clever conversationalist or not. If I’m to maintain my long-term mental health, I’ll need to interact with others.

Unfortunately for me, I can’t simply take a casual stroll and chat people up as I please, having a mysterious entity speak directly into someone’s mind probably doesn’t set them at ease very well.

In fact, I can see three primary reasons to lay the groundwork for this new plan; I’ll make loads of money, I’ll have a good excuse to talk with people, and, if I’m being honest with myself, I’ll finally have a justification for creating some of the simple machines I’ve been itching to fabricate!