I wake up just a few moments later based on the heat still lingering around me. I feel several notifications from the fight and the explosion waiting to be opened, but I ignore them for now. I somehow managed to keep [Concentration] running while I was briefly unconscious, which is probably why I’m awake so soon. The last thing I remember is getting the dungeon completion notification, so I should be safe for now.
The front of my body, apparently covered in burns, erupts with pain as I flip myself over to lie on my back, [Concentration] working overtime to keep me from passing out again. I do a quick scan of my internals, finding nothing more than some light internal bleeding and a few cracked ribs, so pretty much business as usual. The real damage is on the outside.
My clothes have been pretty well burnt, with only charred strips remaining above my waist. My coat seems to have taken the brunt of the damage for my upper torso and arms, but it wasn’t enough, as the brief moment of contact with the flames was enough to eat through it and get to my flesh. I managed to get my arms in front of my face right before the explosion hit me, so the burns on my face are minimal, but my hair got singed pretty badly. My arms, chest, and belly got the worst of it, causing pretty much every movement, no matter how small, to bring tear-welling amounts of pain to me, even through [Concentration].
I lay on the cavern floor, as absolutely still as possible, and coursed mana through my entire body, focusing on the areas causing me the most pain. It brings the immediate relief and soothing that it always does, but it’s a flimsy umbrella fighting against a storm of pain, unable to stop it. The burns feel like they’re getting hotter and hotter each second, like the flames are still clinging to me, but my [Mana Sense] tells me all the fire mana is gone.
I start pushing more mana into [Concentration], attempting to push more of my pain to the background, many of my other emotions going with it as I start straining against the limits of the skill. The pain slowly starts dulling, and the calm, logical mindset starts to take over, and the skill levels up to level sixteen, which reminds me to check my other notifications and to apply my free stat points.
I clear all the level-up and kill notifications, only briefly glancing at them. The real prize lies in the stats screen, where I can see all my progress at once.
[Ray Alder] - [Self-Made Space Mage] lvl 34
Race
[Human]
Active Skills
[Space Control] lvl 22
[Mana Shaping] lvl 21
[Concentration] lvl 16
Passive Skills
[Mana Sense] lvl 20
[Mana Stabilization Field] lvl 13
Traits
[Adaptive Affinity]
[Beast mana-heart]
[Mana-Body Synchronization]
Constructs
[Mana Concentration and Circulation System]
Affinities
[Space]
Stats - Body
[Strength] - 32
[Dexterity] - 38
[Constitution] - 38
Stats - Mana
[Regeneration] - 130
[Capacity] - 72
[Resistance] - 30
Free points: 6
Even as horrifically and painfully burnt as I am, this dungeon was well worth it. One level in [Space Control], [Mana Shaping], [Mana Sense], and [Mana Stabilization Field], while [Concentration] got three. On top of all of that, I leveled up twice, gaining six more stat points, making for an incredibly productive last hour and a half. I decide to put all six points into mana resistance, as I now realize the mistake of neglecting that stat, at least until I’m fast enough to dodge better. And by dodge I mean teleport out of the way.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
As soon as I confirm the stat selection, I feel my mind start to hold up better under the level of [Concentration] I currently have going, allowing me to push it just a little bit further. It’s not enough to gain another level, but it is enough to allow me to mostly ignore the pain for now. It also makes me realize that mana resistance doesn’t just help with withstanding mana-based attacks, but also with how well my body and mind hold up to my own mana and skills.
I expand my spatial perception, finding Daniel first, frantically looking around the site of the explosion. He seems to be fine based on the way he’s running around. Next, I find Stella. She’s on her back, breathing heavily, with mana swirling all over the surface of her exposed skin. She seems to have taken much less damage from the fire than I did, probably thanks to her armor, and is currently healing herself of the few burns that remain. Corvax is sitting on his butt, also healing his burns, and he, like Stella, didn’t get it as bad as me. I imagine both of them have much higher body stats than I do based on how well they took those flames. I wonder if Stella has been focusing on body stats? It would make sense with how she fights.
Standing up, I grab my storage core, which thankfully survived the blast, and decide to teleport next to Daniel. He’s clearly looking for me but didn’t realize I got blown away as far as I did. I appear right in front of him, causing him to stumble back and fall to the ground at my sudden appearance.
“Fuck, Ray! Are… are you okay?” There’s surprise in his voice at first, then concern, then guilt.
I don’t blame him for the explosion, like he probably fears I will. I would have done the same thing after all. And I heavily doubt he aimed for whatever organ was producing the fire. He doesn’t have the mana-sensing capabilities for that. No, it was just a lucky shot. Or maybe unlucky.
I look down at my friend, only now noticing that my body is smoking, and much of my skin is either charred black or bright red with blood and burns. I give my friend a smile to try and assuage his fears and guilt and answer his question before he can apologize.
“It’s just a flesh wound, is all. A little healing and I’ll be right as rain.” My voice is raspy but calm and steady as I say this, a product of [Concentration]. “Nice shot, by the way. You must’ve hit it right in whatever organ produces the flames, causing it to explode.”
Daniel stands up, his eyes never leaving the burns covering my body. “I’ll… I’ll go get Stella. You wait here.”
“She’s already walking over. You should gather the bodies of the higher-level creatures in one pile while I get healed. Have Corvax help you when he can.”
Daniel nods, his eyes lingering on the worst of my burns for a moment before he leaves. Stella and Daniel pass by each other, stopping to talk for a second, but they’re too far for me to hear what they said. Stella walks up to me, examining my burns as she approaches.
“Wow, you look like you should be on the ground screaming and crying right now, or unconscious from the pain, more realistically.” She says as she places a hand on both of my shoulders.
The pain flares for a moment, but with my current level of [Concentration] I don’t show it and keep a straight face. A second later I feel the mana from Stella’s healing skill enter my body, and I let it run its course unimpeded. It soothes my burns first, significantly reducing the pain before the mana starts to heal my flesh, working from the deepest, most severe burns outward. Using my [Mana Sense], I see Stella’s mana absorb into my flesh and start to grow fresh tissue, but how exactly it works eludes me.
“You have a weird body. It’s much closer to some of the more powerful mages I’ve healed. It takes a lot of mana to fix you properly.” She says nonchalantly.
“I was actually wondering how it affects getting healed. I have a mana-based trait that affects my entire body. It’s probably that.” I respond.
“Interesting. What’s this?” She asks as she points out my internal construct with her mana.
“It’s a construct I made, basically an enchantment engraved onto my body. It automatically condenses the mana my heart produces and circulates it around my body for me. It’s still a borderline prototype, but it works well.”
As she continues to heal me and the level of pain decreases, I start to drop [Concentration] as well, doing it gradually so I don’t get crushed under the sudden rush of emotions. It’s been holding back. By the time Stella tells me she’s done all she can for now, most of the pain is gone. Only a dull throb comes from a few places.
Now, instead of being covered in fresh burns, about half of my body is covered in burn scars. I put on some fresh new clothes and leave the escorted ones on the floor. The only scars visible while I’m dressed are the ones covering my entire right hand that reach up to my elbow and one on my face that covers my entire right cheek and continues down to below my collar. My skeletal hand is also black with soot now, but it looks pretty cool like this, to be honest. I might try to dye it black or something later.
“I feel like a new man, Stella. Thank you.” I say as I fully stop [Concentration].
“Glad to help.” She smiles. “But if you want all of those scars removed, it will take a few more sessions.”
“What if we added an arm to those sessions as well?” I ask with a smile of my own, probably not as charming as I intended based on the fact I look like a burn victim. Well, I guess I am a burn victim after all.
She grimaces slightly at my words. “Healing limbs isn’t that easy. I’m still working on a few things, and your trait complicates it even more. I fear that I might fuck you up irreversibly if I did that.”
I just shrug, already used to my prosthetic. “No worries then. Just let me know when you can.”
Daniel and Corvax have gathered up all the corpses of the monsters level twenty-five and up. There are the six Ember-Tongue Raptors, four Flame-Tongue Raptors, and only about half of the Flame-Breath Tyrant. The bottom half was basically vaporized in the explosion, but luckily the top half is somewhat salvageable. I use [Mana Sense] to search what’s left of the tyrant’s corpse, finding the mana heart stone pretty quickly. Using a mana dagger with a spatial edge, I quickly cut it out, getting an orange crystal similar in size to the bears of the Undead City.
Daniel also hands me my sword hilt, or what’s left of it. It got mangled in the explosion, and is now completely useless. I’m not too upset about it though, it served its purpose, and it did it well. I can make another one, a better one, especially with how much [Concentration] has improved recently.
The rest of the beasts either get loaded into my storage core or Daniel and Corvax’s bags of holding with the intention of selling them in the city. Apparently Stella has a good connection for that. After loading up all the bodies, Stella directs us to the obelisk, as it’s our way out.
The stone walls around the pillar were destroyed almost completely in the explosion, but the obelisk itself is completely undamaged. I think that when the tyrant died and the dungeon was completed, the obelisk turned indestructible before the explosion reached it. Or maybe they are just that tough. Either way, it’s time to leave.
Each of us stands at the obelisk and reach out a hand to touch it. Stella accepts the prompt to leave, and all of us get teleported back to the room where we entered the dungeon. We walk out of the fog wall and back up the staircase into the room with the two guards and the receptionist.
“Welcome back.” The receptionist says to us after briefly looking up from his desk. “Glad to see all of you made it out.” He immediately dives back into the pile of paperwork as we leave the building.
Once outside, Stella turns around and faces the three of us. “Well, that was a fun way to spend a morning, but I have to get back to the hospital now. Let me know if you ever want to do it again.” She walks off in the direction of the hospital.
“I like her. She’s fun,” Corvax says as she walks away.
“I’m down to do this again. Maybe even make a habit out of it.” I respond. “That was fun.”
“Agreed.” Daniel says. “But what now?”
As if perfectly timed, Corvax’s stomach lets out a grumble. “Maybe we get another breakfast?”
I look at Daniel and shrug my shoulders. “I’m in. But after that I'm going to Morah’s house to check up on the kid.”