<~> Chapter 28It’s a new day and time to look over my status again. The main differen my status since I st checked is Novice Light Mage going up to level 5 and my drawing and ritual magic skills increasing in level. Since we’re about to head out on a real mission I think I’ll put my Bck bsp;css ba si seems to be the most powerful css I have access tht now. I’m not sure if it’s really worth iing experieo but the luck minimum and 5 finesse per level really make it seem appealing.

  [Status]Name: Lilith [Surname Undefined]Race: Succubus (Demon) [Race hidden - Dispyed as Beastkin (Sheep)]Gender: FemaleCss: Bck Cat Lv. 1Level: 23

  Stat Spread:Strength: 50Vitality: 100Charisma: 10Luck: 20 (400)Finesse: 40 (45)Magitrol: 30Magic Force: 40

  Unallocated Statpoints: 0

  Karmiergy: 1717

  Skills:Haggling Lv. 1Swordsmanship Lv. 33Illusion Magic Lv. 3Light Magic Lv. 2Light Manipution Lv. 1Uuna Riding Lv. 13Linguistics Lv. 10Ritual Magic Lv. 3Drawing Lv. 8

  Innate AbilitiesKarmiceKarma AwarenessKarmic Resonance Karmic Retribution Dominating Authority Karmic HypnotismSoultouched e Lv. 1

  Racial Traits:Infernal Heat Resistanfernal Cold ResistanceDarksightSexual Appetite Lv. 3Soultouor Physical Shapeshifting (Succubus)

  Titles:[World Traveler - Hidden Title][in of Succubi - Hidden Title]

  I’d like to equip Intermediate Swordswoman at some point soon so I unlock the speed stat but it’s not like I have any unallocated points right now anyway. The base 10 speed would be I only get to ge my css once a day and it feels safer to go with Bck bsp;for what we’re doing. I’d like to level up Novice Light Mage more some time but it’s not really a critical priority for me.

  I get out of bed and stretch. Bel had already gotten out of bed a me sleep a little extra this m. She seemed to be doing something ihrht now so it’s probably best not to disturb her. I took a quick peek out of the window, it was just before dawn. I didn’t want to keep the twins waiting so I made sure everything acked up and ready to go.

  Less than fifteen mier Bel and I came to the front of the Adventurer's guild to find Torien and Man waiting for us. Both girls looked chipper and had smiles on their faces.

  “Hope we didn’t keep you waiting long,” Bel said when we walked up.

  “Nah, we haven’t been here long. We half expected you two to uch ter based on how te you guys showed up yesterday,” Torien replied while handlihe additional pack of surveying gear.

  “We’d never get anything done if we waited that long,” I replied jovially. “Anyway, do you girls have everything ready? Any st miops before we leave?”

  Both girls shook their heads, I looked over at Bel and she shook her head too.

  “Alright then, In that case we had better get moving.”

  We left out the west gate towards the wilds. Apparently the road goes on a little ways but just stops abruptly. There are only small froowns like Bel’s around here so a lot of the nd in the area isn’t surveyed or mapped out yet. We’re meant to be just an initial probe to get an idea of the terrain and monsters before an adventuring group with a dedicated cartographer es out and creates a proper map of the ndscape.

  It’s half a day’s walk to the area and the four of us spend most of the time getting to know each other a little bit more. The twins Torien and Man don’t really like talking about their past much but I’m able to gather that they have been sves sihey were children, if not born into it. They’ve gohrough all sorts of sve training for many different roles and are sidered trustworthy enough to work for the guild. I remember they told me earlier they were trying to pay off a debt or something, I wonder if it’s the kind of situatioheir room, board, and training is being added to a debt they were responsible for thus keeping them ensved forever. Their situation seems pretty bleak to me.

  Bel chats about life on a farm but I notice she doesn’t talk about her family situation at all, only the various chores and tasks she did growing up. Bel being a farmgirl surprises the twins a lot because acc to them, she looks too pretty to have been a farm browing up. That makes me ugh a bit to myself.

  When asked about my past I told them I was a traveler from the Queendom of Ara but I was in an act retly and lost most of my memory. I said that I only have some general knowledge and know a lot of nguages but I don’t really have any memories about myself or my past. If I heard my own expnation I would have thought it retty suspicious but maybe weirder things have happened in this world with the influenagic around.

  Since we’re starting to get close to the survey marker Torien decides to scout up ahead a little bit so I decide to take the opportunity to ask a little about the situation surrounding the job. “Hey Man, I heard the reason Traehall was formed was because there was a dungeon found nearby but I don’t really uand why that would suddenly make people want to survey the whion.”

  “Dungeons are usually found in groups or clusters. If no one captures them and tames or destroys the dungeon, they grow into each other and form a great byrinth dungeon and no one wants that.”

  “What’s a great byrinth dungeon?”

  “It’s a giant dungeon with hundreds of floors or levels and each have all sorts of weird effects. The main problem with leaving dungeons unchecked is they are one of the primary sources of wild monsters. Dungeons that aren’t managed usually don’t have anything to stop monsters from spilling out into the surrounding areas and an unchecked great byrinth dungeon lead te monster migrations that take out entire tries. One of the primary reasons adventurers exist is to track down and deal with these dungeons. If it wasn’t for the threat of dungeons many tries likely wouldn’t be so accepting of the presence of high level adventurers running around.”

  Huh, so dungeons are responsible for mohen. “Where do dungeons e from? Do they just pop up randomly?”

  Man looked up at the sky while tapping her lip before putting her reply into words, “Dungeons are created in areas of really high miasma trations. Monsters be created outside of dungeons from miasma too but dungeons are like a closed off area that lets the monsters grow stronger and be safer while they beore powerful. It’s unclear ecifiditions are required for a duo spawn but lots of miasma seems like the most important factor.”

  Hmm, it seems like dungeons fun somewhat like closed ecosystems for the most part. “What is miasma anyway?”

  “Your memory loss seems to have left you with a lot of odd holes in your knowledge… Miasma is stagnant mana. Schors think that mana ’t be created or destroyed, using spells ical effects just ge the asped move the mana from one pce or another so to speak. Even without the use of magic, mana is stantly flowing everywhere through living things, pnts, the wind, and through the ground. Everything takes in mana, transforms it for it’s own use and expels it bato the cycle. Miasma is stagnant mana, that is, mana that for some reason is too heavy or stibsp;and is having trouble re-entering the cycle.”

  Man takes a moment to collect her thoughts before tinuing, “There are mana wells and mana sinks. Mana wells are areas flowing with very mobile magic, it infuses everything around it and super charges any magic that is used near ohe opposite, a mana sink is an area of very lethargibsp;mana. Rather than infusing anything, it saps mana from anything around it and de until the mana bees heavy enough to turn into miasma. Once miasma has been formed it ihings the same way that mana does, twisting and perverting anything that es into tact with. It also saps and dehe mana of anything affected by the miasma until they ge into a monster. When we kill monsters, something happens to the mana and it’s released bato the cycle, at that time the mana released from killing a monster infuses us with some of its power and releases the rest to flow bato the ambient mana.”

  The thing that really cshes with my own on sense is the idea that mana is a universal stant but matter isn’t. In my short time here I’ve overheard of all sorts of magical effects that create aroy mass but apparently, the mana used to aplish these things isn’t dimihey’re just transformed into a different state. That’s just such a wild idea I don’t know what to make of it.

  “You sure know a lot about this topic.”

  “I am a wild mage after all, I probably wouldn’t be able to use magic at all if I didn’t know how the cyana worked. My knowledge on the subject is actually pretty basic but it’s still probably more than mages who do nothing but use their magic as another blunt instrument to kill things with.”

  “Well I find it pretty iing all the same.”

  Man tinued on, “Ohing we should look out for are magic beasts, they’re different from monsters but be just as dangerous. Magic beasts are animals and sometimes pnts that are heavily infused with mana and manipute the magi their bodies to do all kinds of things. Usually they’re pretty easy to spot because the magitration tends to make them glow in various ways, especially when they're evoking the magic to do something. That’s not always the case though so be wary.”

  “Are magical beasts all unique or are there groups of the same kind of magic beast?”

  “Both happen, sometimes an individual animal evolve into a magic beast someontaneously or aire group of animals evolve into a group of magic beasts slowly over time.”

  “That’s all pretty wild.”

  Torien who had been leading this whole time slowed down a bit a us catch up with her. “I know you guys are enjoying your b magic theory talk but we’re almost there.”

  She points forward towards a small unnaturally smooth stone mo looking thing on the side of the road. It must have been made with some kind of terra magic or something I guess.

  She points to some writing I reize as on. “This is the designation we were given so this is the start of the zone we’re supposed to survey.” She points further down the road. “A few miles down should be another marker like this, everything on this side of the road betweeo markers are the areas we’re supposed to dot.” She then points to the mountain rahat runs parallel to the dirt road. “We o go as far that way as we , to the foot of the mountain.”

  “That’s pretty far. The first thing we should do is set up a camp. Our pn is to stay here about three full days starting tomorrow so it would be best to get something together as soon as possible. What are the ces we’ll find a water source around here?”

  “Ah! I check!” Bel looked excited. “I use my nature magic to see if there is any water nearby!” I was caught a little off guard by her enthusiasm but other than her healing there doesn’t seem to be a ton of opportunities for her to use her magic so that’s probably why she seems so excited.

  She stepped away from us and started to quietly t. At first I was just watg her casually but while she was ting I started to feel an odd feeling from the area around her. Eventually she spoke in a voice that rippled the air around her, “[Detect Water Sources]” I squi the spot she was standing in for a little while before I heard a chime in my head.

  [Mana Sense Lv. 1 unlocked - You have successfully observed mana being maniputed near yourself multiple times]

  [Mana Sense - Unon Skill]Mana Sense governs the ability tnize ambient and infused mana. Higher ranks improves the ability to sense more subtle mana flows and increases the range of the perception.

  !

  Saine

  Into the wilds, I wonder what iing things our adventurers will e across? Thanks for reading!

  If you're so ined please support my writing on Patreon, you read up to 10 chapters ahead there! I've ged to the new Patreoing to charge monthly individually, so if you subscribe oh of one month it won't charge you again until the 10th of the month. Also leave a favorite so I get my story in front of more eyeballs! I would greatly appreciate it!