Blacksmith vs. the System

Watching Maria approach while carrying clear signs of battle damage, while Eleanor was absent, was not good news. However, as she approached closer, there was no grief on her face, which prevented my mind from going to the worst place.

"What's going on," I asked as the griffin landed near, looking worse for wear.

"I- it's bad, I need mana," she called. "Quick!"

My eyes widened as I quickly activated the crusher, glad that we were prepared for this exact eventuality. Only when she was at the center of the flow, pulling the mana in rapidly, I questioned her. "What's going on?"

Her expression turned grim. "The dungeon is already breached, and the gate you discovered isn't the only one. We're cut from every direction, and…"

"And, what?" I asked, realizing it must be something really intense to make her hesitate like that.

"Ascended warriors, multiple of them," she said. I tensed up. Ascended, meaning above hundred. I had no idea how strong they were, but I wasn't willing to risk it. "Don't worry, I managed to take down their mounts," she said. "Even if they could replace them easily, we have enough time to evacuate the town into the dungeon."

I paused, realizing that she was about to leave. "Are you needed outside?" I asked.

"There might be other dangers," she said.

"True, but those ascended warriors would eventually arrive here, and we can't hold them on the first floor."

She looked at me, looking disappointed. "You can't ask us to escape. Not after everything. We have thousands —"

I interrupted her, appreciating the concern she was showing. "No, the opposite," I said. "What if we can change the destination of the entrance? Do you think it'll be easier to defend against them on the fifth floor, with their weapons and armor getting damaged every second?"

Her eyes widened. "You want to push for a decisive battle."

I shrugged. "That's the best option, right? No need to bring thousands that couldn't even slow them down. Or trying to escape, only to end up in a hopeless chase through wilderness that we would eventually fail."

Not to mention, I felt responsible. I remembered the panicked way Thomas reacted once I killed that mage who had been trying to break the dungeon. The sudden appearance of warriors who could have dealt with us with ease didn't feel like something Thomas could mobilize on his own.

It looked like I had poked the beehive.

"It's too risky," she countered.

"Riskier than trying to fight ascended warriors on equal footing?" I asked. She looked like she wanted to say yes, but she could not. "Fine," she said even as she looked at me. "Sit down. I'll guide you based on what I have understood."

"Good," I said as I crouched down as she had requested, focusing on the center of the orb created by my Meditation skill. "I can feel the connection through Meditation," I said.

"You can?" she said. 'There's nothing about that in the notebook."

"Check my notes," I said.

"What's a tesseract —" she started, then gasped.

"Not those, and not now," I said as I ripped the papers from her hand. "One potentially deadly experiment at a time!"

"But, what you have written there —"

"Completely theoretical, and potentially enough to evaporate you from the face of the earth if there's a mistake about the theory. The idea that the same pattern of behavior works just as well in the fourth dimension is just a raw theory!"

"Fine," she said. She put her notes down, and instead focused on the others. Her expression of surprise wasn't any less than the previous notes. "You want to further stabilize the connection," she said.

"Makes sense for an emergency attempt. Everything in his notes is based on the idea of breaking the dungeon entrance before cutting the connection. We don't have the luxury."

"But, what if it turns permanent?"

I sighed. "We can think about it then. Please, just make sure the process is internally consistent, and won't kill me."

Silence ruled as she went through my notes. I looked at the horizon where people were entering the dungeon in a hurry. Only when they stopped did Eleanor arrive, her armor carrying several black patches like she had been subjected to flame attacks.

"The idea seems consistent. It won't kill you, as far as I can tell," she admitted, showing her reluctance.

"Good, then, guide me," I said even as I closed my eyes.

"Focus on the connection," she said. "It must be a weak, fragile link. Try to reinforce it slowly with your … Health is probably the better option for what you are trying to do." Then, her hand landed on the back of my head. "Just one point, nothing more!" she added. "I need to see there's no adverse effect."

The link wasn't weak or fragile like she described, but I didn't exactly have a point of comparison. Either way, following her clues was a good idea. I did, pushing a sole point of Health through the connection.

[-1 Health]

In response, the dungeon around me … pulsated. "Did you feel that?" I said.

"Feel what?" she said.

"The dungeon, it shifted," I said. "Or, was it just my perception?"

"Probably the latter," she said. I felt her mana exploring my body. I could have pushed it out despite the great difference in stats, but I let her. "There's no side effects that I can feel. Another point," she followed.

We repeated the same trick five times before I interrupted her. "We probably need to be faster," I said. I didn't want to hurry a potentially dangerous process, but the idea of fighting against people who actually intimidated her on a battlefield was even less palatable.

"Fine. Ten points, nothing more," she said.

[-10 Health]

This time, I felt a shift in my body. It was weak, almost impossible to detect, but my mana got … slower.

Dirtier.

It was a subtle, but familiar feeling. I had no doubt that, if I hadn't forged tens of thousands of pieces of equipment, each carrying the properties of anti-corrosion, I would have missed it.

"I can feel something shifting. The dungeon energies are getting more familiar," I said. As much as I wanted to keep it a secret to keep her from worrying, considering her current role, it was a very unwise idea.

"How so?" she said. I briefly explained the details. "Do you want to continue?" she asked. "I won't blame you if you change your mind."

I pushed more of my Health through connection as an answer.

[-20 Health]

"I get it," she said as her grip tightened. "But, I'd prefer less dramatic answers next time," she warned.

"Noted," I said, unable to help but chuckle. It felt somewhat hysteric. The experiment was similar to what I had pulled with Meditation, but there, I had at least had the response from the System, confirming that I was on the right path.

The thing with the dungeon didn't seem to register on the System.

Under her guidance, we repeated the same process with mana, until we turned it into an alternating pattern of Health and mana, which seemed to work the best. I could feel the connection getting stronger.

No, stronger was the wrong word. The connection had been plenty strong already, whether due to my misguided forestation project or the absurd number of boss crystals I consumed, I didn't know. But, the connection turned more focused, like an old TV, with reception getting clearer as one adjusted the antenna.

"I think we need to use the Epic variants for mana and Health," I suddenly said.

"You sure?" she asked.

"Yes," I responded. "It's hard to describe, but the connection is more conceptual than I had expected. And, the denser variants have more ... Conceptual weight."

"For a professor, you enjoy throwing around words without truly understanding their meaning," she grumbled. I wanted to say she was wrong, but I could not. She was right, after all. I just chuckled. "Fine, try it," she said.

I did so, and the connection got even stronger in my mind. Consequently, I could feel my Health and Mana getting even dirtier with the concept of corrosion.

The risk was obvious. The dungeon was dangerous. I wondered if I could have dared to establish such a connection if it wasn't for the feeling about the dungeons. If the system was a game — a deadly, aggressive game with horrible consequences — then the dungeons were its tutorials.

Equally inefficient, aggressive, and horrible. Fitting.

I was aware that the connection could easily kill me. Somehow creating a connection with an external object that seemed to cover hundreds of square miles was intimidating.

It was ironic that, even when facing that idea, I was more afraid of releasing discoveries publicly. Human nature was scarier than the potentially deadly eldritch construct that seemed to operate in its dangerous but rigid rules.

As we repeated our process, things shifted. I could feel my body change, but it paled in comparison to the other changes. I had a certain awareness of the dungeon, with some aspects being easy to change. "Is the evacuation complete?" I asked.

"Yes," Maria replied. "Eleanor has walked in with the rest of the guards."

"Good," I said, and sent a mental command. One that came as easy as breathing. She gasped. I didn't need to open my eyes to know, but I still did, and saw the gate was gone.

Victory. However, no matter how much I wanted to smile, I could not.

As, not only did the connection with the dungeon feel irreversible, but a deep exhaustion settled over me the moment I changed the location of the gate.