Rather than exploring the Dungeon, I found myself sitting atop the very pedestal I was meant to be moving. In my haste, I had called for my pets without even wondering about how I might gain access to it. It would’ve been nice if Igazi had destroyed it along with the statue. I needed to find a way through, how?

Humming in thought, I sent my Sharkfang Dagger back to my inventory and called out the Amber Orb. As the name implied, it was a sphere of amber that fit quite nicely into my palm. Tossing it from one hand to the other, I recalled what little I knew about Metal Magic.

It was the branch of magic that dealt with inorganic materials like rocks, minerals and, of course, metals. All my other problems so far had been solved by creating new spells, so perhaps that was the best route. It was the best bet I had, anyways.

Still, even if I was going to try making a new spell, I shouldn’t do it here. My experiments with the Water Whip spell had ended with it exploding in my face more times than I could count. With water, that wasn’t so much of an issue. If I messed up with something this heavy, it might take out a wall, or my head. I really didn’t want my adventure to end with the ceiling caving or a rock ricocheting off a wall from my own spell and killing me.

It didn’t take long until I found my way back into the field that surrounded the temple. The number of things that Metal Magic might affect were boundless out here: the half-buried cobblestone path leading to the temple’s entrance, the semi-intact pillars that lined that path, dozens of boulders dotting the landscape and even the dirt everything stood on.

At some point, my wandering search for something to experiment on led me to one of the larger things that I could’ve chosen. It was the missing door to Igazi’s temple that had allowed me to enter. The thing had to weigh at least a ton, if not more. I could start with something smaller, but if I could do something with this then surely the pedestal would be much easier by comparison.

I tossed the ball of amber between my hands a few more times, trying to figure out how to approach this. What exactly did I want to do? Well, I wanted to move the stone pedestal, obviously. So, I wanted something that could move objects made of stone or destroy them.

It would probably be best to be able to move stone objects. I wanted to get this door back where it belonged. It wasn’t that I wanted to restore the temple, but if I didn’t find a way to close up the entrance then anyone, or anything, could get into the Temple at night while I was asleep. That’s probably how those monsters entered in the first place.

Still, I’d made three other spells so far, so it hopefully wouldn’t take too long. By now, I’d figured out how to feel for my Aether and guide it through my body. It seemed to be centrally located somewhere in my midsection. Well, that wasn’t quite right. It was all over my body, but the largest concentration of that energy was in my stomach.

So, I took hold of the pool of Aether I felt there and began to pull at it. If I pulled too hard, I knew it would snap back violently enough to cause me pain. I’d dealt with that a bit too often when I was figuring out how to make the Water Whip work. So, I pulled it slowly from my gut, up to my shoulder, down my arm and into the Amber Orb.

Looking at the Conduit, I watched as the inside began to look as if it was filling with a milky-white substance. Once the entire thing looked like it might burst, an orangish-yellow aura encapsulated the ball.

I wanted to get used to how this Conduit changed my Aether just as I had with the others. I hadn’t really experimented much with the fan, all told. The Charcoal Wand and Sharkfang Dagger absolutely felt different when using them though. The wand always felt warm, on the border of comfortably and unbearably warm, even whenever I pushed my Aether into it. The dagger, on the other hand, had this coolness to it when it was filled with my Aether. Aside from that, just the way the Aether felt as it exited each one was different.

When I used the wand to create my Witchlights, my Aether felt like it was trying to explode out and it took everything I could to rein it in. Instinctively, I could tell that if I lost control, I’d feel the full brunt of whatever I tried to make rather than my target. The dagger was far different though. It was almost impossible to force my magic in, and when I did, the whip would just keep exploding. Instead, I had to let the Aether do as it wished and guide it this way and that gently.

I would very much rather this door didn’t explode and kill me, so it would be best to understand how Metal Aether worked before attempting the spell, I think. Perhaps it would be best to create a different spell first, actually.

Turning my back to the door, I looked at the ground in front of my feet and concentrated. Taking a deep breath, I began to push the Aether out of the orb. As I did so, I could see my MP bar slowly draining, but ignored it for the most part.

Several tendrils of Metal Aether grew out of the sphere. Each of them felt dense. That was the only word I could come up with to describe the feeling. It was hard to get them to move, but once they started moving it was easier to keep them going in the same direction. At the same time, getting them to change direction seemed at least twice as difficult than just getting them to move in the first place.

It was like trying to push a large boulder.

With that in mind, I concentrated and ‘pushed’ harder. The tendrils that had manifested came together, intertwining tightly as I forced them to take a particular shape. The tendrils had formed an enormous cone that tapered off to a dangerously sharp point, two edges coiling around the entire shape from tip to the wide base.

The entire construct was still connected to the orb in my hand, and when I moved it around, it followed suit. When I pressed the construct’s tip against the dirt, it began to move. More accurately, it began to spin very quickly. Dirt was flung in every which direction as a hole larger than my head formed in the ground. It persisted for several seconds until my MP was finally drained completely, at which point the construct dissipated.

[Earth Drill] Ability Acquired!

You can create a construct of Metal Aether functionally and aesthetically similar to a drill. It can easily dig through soft earth materials and can even pass through harder materials at a higher MP cost. It will disappear if it is not constantly fueled with Aether.

Dismissing the notification, I couldn’t help but grin. I was really starting to understand this whole magic thing. Not only that, I think I was starting to get why my past self wanted to go so hard into magic. It seemed like I really could do anything I wanted if I could only visualize it.

Looking down at myself, and all the dirt that had been flung onto my clothing, I did realize that perhaps it might’ve been prudent to prepare a bit before digging a hole in the ground like that. Shaking my head, I sent the now soiled outfit into my inventory and materialized a new one. A little dirt on my boots and gambeson wasn’t the end of the world, but I could at least change out my shirt and pants.

My own lack of forethought aside, I couldn’t help but grin. “This experiment has been a resounding success.” I declare more to myself than anyone else. Tossing the orb in the air a bit, I snatched it by swiping my hand through the air. Next would be to figure out if I could do anything about moving that enormous door. I couldn’t do that until my MP regenerated though, so I decided to bask in the glow of this minor victory.

The elation quickly disappeared, however, as I felt the ground rumble. Searching for anything that might be rushing headlong towards me was fruitless. I did notice cracks forming in the ground below my feet just in time to jump backwards though. That door I’d been next to was flung several feet further away from the Temple as the very place I’d drilled a hole into opened.

From the now larger hole, a massive pillar of black scales erupted, towering far above the temple behind me, casting its shadow over myself and my pets, who had rushed out of the temple and at my side. The thing had to be at least 30 feet high, with a cylindrical body segmented evenly every few inches and twice as wide as I was tall.

The very top of the black tower swiveled around a bit, seemingly trying to get its bearing before the top came to a forty-five degree angle. There were no eyes, but I couldn’t help but think it was ‘looking’ at me. There was a single opening at the very tip of its body. Tip was perhaps not the right word, as there was a gentle slope from the body that led to the hole, a pinprick really.

Then that opening widened and a thunderclap snapped everything in the area to attention as the monster roared. Staring into its maw was very much like looking into the Void again, and it was all I could do to keep myself from panicking. Thousands of teeth stared greeted me, rotating within the thing’s body.

Steeling my nerves, I replaced the amber orb with my charcoal wand and replaced my shield with my fan. There was simply no point in my measly shield against something that could swallow me whole.

“I didn’t come this far to be eaten by a bug that woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You’ll make a nice meal for my pets though!”