The soft light emitting from the floating crystal illuminated the small room in a soft blue hue. Rana rested in a corner and stared out a translucent barrier colored by blue strands and into the ever-extending tunnels outside. It was as if two entirely different worlds were connected, joint side by side but never interacting with the other.

When Rana ran from the Rot Mother, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to escape. The monster realized its ruse was discovered and abandoned all attempts at subterfuge. The Rot Eaters under its command came out of hiding and rushed towards their prey, a delicious mana fuelled bag of dead flesh. Their sharp fangs came from every direction and she could hear the sound of twisting death crash towards her from behind.

Still, it was due to the Rot Mother’s impatience did Rana manage to survive. If the monster had its ambush lie in wait, she would have to charge blindly through their assault and her dwindling health would definitely be chipped down to nothing. However, since the Rot Eaters came to attack her so brazenly, she managed to either dodge the onslaught of sharp teeth or defend against them with the jacket she wore.

The kingdom still supplied its soldiers with decent equipment at the very least.

Rana ran until she saw a glimpse of light blue. It was a hue she recognized and its sighting brought solace to many adventurers. She ran and stumbled into the safe room.

The safe room was an anomaly. They were contradictions that shouldn’t exist but for reasons unknown they do. A Dungeon was an embodiment of hatred and everything within it existed for the purpose of actualizing death for them to consume. However, every Dungeon had havens free from its malice. They were small rooms built with indestructible pale plates and the only entrance was a barrier that no monsters were able to breach. Within the barrier was a sanctuary free from hostility.

Rana was unsure why she was able to enter the room despite being a zombie, but the answer was rather obvious in retrospect. The barrier did not ward out monsters. It allowed those who fulfilled certain conditions in and the condition was most likely mana, and only marked ones had mana. Mana was an energy source that directly connected with the System, hence its volatile nature when out of it. Something from the System could only be contained by the System. This also explained the indestructible plates. No mortal force would be able to destroy them. What the System created were unbreakable rules, whether they were physical constructs or not.

The crystal floating in the middle of the room was a recovery stone, an ancient System artifact that healed injuries. When Rana walked up to the crystal earlier she was cautious. She was unsure how the healing power within would interact with her undead body, but she suffered no adverse effect when the crystal began to glow. It was unfortunate the crystal could not heal her, but it was expected. The recovery stone could heal even the grimmest of wounds but it was never able to revive the dead.

There was one thing, however, that Rana could do here. She could craft Spells. The warm hue of the crystal calmed the violent nature of mana, to a certain extent. That was why bringing a mage during critical deviance helped them reclaim control over their mana, and it was also why mages who fell to deviance still died in these rooms.

It was worth a try.

Rana did not know how much her undead body was able to handle the mana without being in a state-of-combat, but with the help of the crystal, she should at least mitigate most of the harm if she simply crafted basic-tier Spells. She knew she had the skills to go further, but safety was her first concern. Greed and overconfidence were vices, not virtues.

When crafting Spells, a mage had to build the runic-pattern within their own body and bring it out into the world. The System then recognized the completion of the process and the Spell would be registered to the mark. This meant that a mage had to withstand the potency of the Spell and its elemental nature from within and bear the brunt of its violent nature. If she made a mistake, the Spell would unleash from within with intensified ferocity.

Rana closed her eyes. She called upon her mana core and like a heart, it pulsated. The beating replaced the silence within her chest and calmed her mind. Her body might not feel but she sensed every small sound her mana made.

She was in The Mines Without Blood and she would burn down her enemies with fire.

Rana did not rush. That was a novice mistake. She reached into her mana core and pulled out strands of fire. She weaved each strand of fire into a stream of neutral mana, reducing the burn her body would suffer. She did not construct the rune yet. She allowed the mana to flow as she continued to extract more fire. She knew exactly how much mana was needed for the Spell. There was no need to wrestle the rune in her body.

The pattern appeared in her mind. The ancient language spoke to her. The mana within her body danced, the fire blazed, and as the chaos settled her eyes snapped open. She pulled the Spell out of her body and into the palm of her hand.

Rana was confident and refused to settle for less.

The Spell in her hand was advanced-tier magic. Rana crafted Fool’s Fire.

The Spell was less powerful among other offensive magic in its tier or even other more potent lower tiered ones, and it had very specific conditions. Fool’s Fire was a difficult Spell to master and use effectively. However, its mana cost was low and most importantly, Rana should have no issue wielding it to its fullest potential.

Rana let the residue mana in her body dissipate and dismantled her mana core.

She looked out the barrier into the empty path. Monsters usually did not linger near the barrier as then marked ones could easily duck in and out of the protected zone and slaughter them without any risk. If only hunting monsters could be that easy.

Rana stood up and straightened the jacket she was wearing. She wanted to check the stats of her equipment but her Status did not display that information. She knew she had to figure out the reason for her Status not behaving as it should. It currently didn't pose much of a problem but she could not guarantee what the future may bring.

The floor quaked and Rana was thrown towards the wall. She held out her hand and managed to break the force of the slam but she had to lower her body and use the wall as a support to prevent herself from falling over. It was impossible for monsters to enter the room or collapse it from the outside. The strength of the quake was also too strong to be done by the Rot Mother.

This only meant one thing.

The Mines Without Blood was a unique Dungeon. It had a strange property that few Dungeons matched and was one of the reasons only the foolish explored the mines. The walls would collapse and the tunnels consumed itself periodically. Entrances were closed, paths became dead ends, and walls opened to an entirely new layout.

Rana sighed and looked towards where the barrier was. The plane of blue strands disappeared into white tiles and a new barrier appeared and opened a path.

Unknown Blessing

— *unknown effects: description hidden

— duration expires in 5 hours

There was no time for hesitation. Rana stepped out of the safe room and into the Dungeon. Her salvation lied within and she had to find it before the Rot Mother found her.