Upping The Ante

12. It all Comes Back to Mana

For the time being, Tiny and I resist the temptation to try and eat this strange tree creature. After a few minutes of tickling, I back away a few steps, making it clear that tickle-time is over, and wait to see how the creature will respond.

After wiggling about on the ground for a moment, then giving me the puppy dog eyes for a little while longer, the strange branch monster stands up. Now that it’s standing on its own two feet, I can get a better look at it.

This thing is skinny. Rather than a walking tree, it resembles a stick insect. The body is more of a branch than a trunk, and four humanoid-like limbs extend organically, with little sign of joints. The monster doesn’t have a head of any kind, really. The face peeks out from the top of the torso, the wrinkles and grooves in the wood giving rise to surprisingly expressive features.

Tiny radiates disappointment after getting a closer look at the monster. I think he’s sad at how thin the monster is, it isn’t likely he’d be able to get much of a feed from it.

Blissfully ignorant of being weighed for Biomass the… Branchie? The Branchie, looks at the two of us with eyes twinkling deep in that weathered face before gesturing for us to follow and walking briskly off into the forest.

I hesitate only a moment before I decide to follow. I’ve not seen anything in this forest that is a match for Tiny and myself, we should be fairly safe. Besides, I want to learn a little more about this walking wood stick if I can. It seems relatively harmless and is the only creature other than Formo that hasn’t reacted with hostility upon seeing me.

So, I follow along with Tiny trundling in my wake. It isn’t long before we have to speed up though. The Branchie is fast! Despite being shorter than Tiny, so skinny a stiff breeze could knock it down, and not having knees, the Branchie really motors along.

Could it be the lack of air resistance?

Whatever the reason, Tiny and I have to pick up our pace. In the end, having sprinted along behind the Branchie for ten solid minutes, it finally stops at a beautiful section of forest.

A small pond in the centre sits perfectly still, ringed with spectacularly old-looking trees. The air is so still here, as if nothing has drawn breath in this spot for a hundred years.

The Branchie smiles at us, the folds and twists of the wood curving to create the expression, before walking toward one of the trees and just, blending into it. I almost can’t believe my eyes. One second the Branchie was there, and the next it was just… gone!

I can still detect it with my heat sensitive antennae though. As I wave my antennae about this section of forest, there are a few more signals from the nearby trees. Curious, I wind my way around the pond and find more than twenty responses from the trees in the area. It looks like the Branchie brought us back to its community.

It doesn’t appear as if they want to come out and greet us though. I get the feeling these are particularly shy monsters, hiding from their enemies by using their impressive tree melding skills.

There must be something special about this spot for these tree creatures to make their homes here. My attention turns back to the pond. Do I detect a faintly familiar shimmer to this water?

Out of curiosity, I flip on my Mana Sensing, and sure enough, the pond lights up with a faint response. The water is infused with Mana! Nostalgia comes flooding back as I recall the pond in the first chamber I’d entered after being reborn.

By drinking that water, I’d taken the Mana into my body and expedited the formation of my core. This water probably has similar properties and the Branchies likely formed their community here due to the Mana in this water.

Or perhaps they were formed from the trees here? The trees drinking in this water with their roots may have been what created these tree creatures in the first place.

And it all comes back to Mana. This mysterious energy that can be turned into almost anything, has a seemingly unlimited supply, and can even create life itself! I can’t help but feel the source of this energy resides somewhere deep in the Dungeon. I have no evidence for that, but it just seems right. I mean, it has to come from somewhere.

Actually…

It has to come from somewhere, right?

So how did it get into this pool?

With a thought tingling in my mind, I retreat from the pool about thirty metres, Tiny trailing curiously behind me. Once I’ve created enough distance, I start to dig. Furiously ripping into the dirt with my mandibles, I make rapid progress.

Before too long, I’ve managed to tunnel down ten metres, slightly angled toward the pond. Gasping for breath after my exertions, I activate my Mana Sense and eagerly look to the pond.

And there it is. Under the pond is a thin tendril of Mana reaching up underneath.

It’s the Dungeon!

It’s extremely thin. Just a miniscule thread, but it’s enough to bleed Mana out of the Dungeon and up into the waters of this pond. If I were to dig farther, I would definitely be able to connect a small tunnel to the Dungeon and begin farming XP and Biomass.

This is excellent news! I’ll have to thank those Branchies somehow. They’ve saved me a lot of effort.

This also gives me a place to recharge my Mana, which will allow me to more rapidly develop my magic skills. Everything is coming up Anthony!

Not willing to wait a second longer, I throw myself into my digging efforts, burrowing deep under the pond to avoid the saturated water and connect myself to the tiny thread of Mana. More and more of it becomes clear, extending deep into the ground.

It takes a few hours to dig my way down to that thin tendril of Dungeon, but when I do, it’s a glorious sight to behold.

The bright glow of Mana shines in my eyes thanks to the veins having wound their way up even in this space. To be honest, I may have saved the Branchies, and perhaps even the humans, with this effort of mine. It’s possible the veins would expand upward and connect directly to the pool, and perhaps even start spawning monsters directly on the surface!

As it is, I’m delighted to see those Mana veins start to slowly extend into my new tunnel.

I’m assuming monsters didn’t spawn in that thin crack since there wasn’t enough space. As the veins extend deep into my tunnel, the monster spawning will soon follow!

Muahahaha!

Success!

Elated to the extreme, I bring Tiny down my cramped little tunnel to help me dig and expand it out in preparation for the monster spawning.

After several more hours’ work, we’ve dug out a relatively open chamber with a narrower opening fairly high above the floor, hopefully preventing any monsters from escaping to the surface. Except for those that spawn in the surface tunnel once the veins have grown that far, but I want to limit the surface exposure as much as possible.

After digging out this huge space, I’m pretty knackered. It might be time to head back to the colony and come back after a nap to see how things have progressed. With a little luck and a lot of effort, I should be able to create a nice monster farming network here, giving the colony a healthy shortcut to pump up in size and strength.

The only drawback is that Tiny and myself won’t be able to strengthen ourselves much. The monsters will simply be too low a Level to provide enough experience and Biomass.

I shake my head. A problem for another time.

For now, we head back to the colony where I develop a pounding headache practicing my shaping, getting myself to Level nine before taking a well-earned rest.