Dungeons

Asher explained his deal with El to Cynthia. "You did what?" Cynthia was in shock. "I leave for a week, and you end up making a deal to go into a dungeon, and with that lunatic. Let me see the contract." Asher gave her his copy of the contract for her to examine. She gave it a look over. "Damn Bastard. He tricked you into signing this nonsense."

Asher looked at her, confused. "Tricked me?" Asher had taken advantage and was getting a better-than-good deal.

"This El. I assume you mean Elden van Lancet, The Vice Merchant guild master, Correct?" Asher nodded in response to Cynthia's question. "He is a miracle element user."

"Miracle element?" Asher looked for Cynthia's explanation.

"The miracle element is also known as the element of contracts. It allows the user to form contracts with other individuals. It is impossible to break the contracts without the user's consent, which will cause a penalty." Cynthia explains.

"Then why is it the miracle element, not the contract element?"

"Because if used correctly, it can perform miracles. It is part of the reason that the holy kingdom is having a hard time taking Hanzel." Cynthia sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"About 500 years ago, the Grand Empire existed. During this time, slavery was commonplace, though it is frowned upon now. The Empire viewed nonhuman races as lesser and not worthy of freedom. Zoldic, the demon king, was a miracle element user. He made contracts with all of his subordinates. The contracts made them beyond strong and unstoppable in exchange for obedience."

"What does that have to do with Hanzel?"

"I am getting to it." Cynthia snapped before continuing. "The Demon King launched campaign after campaign to free beastmen slaves. He made a contract with a beastman by the name of Hanzel Tiger. Upon the demon king's death, he would establish a nation for beastmen. That contract protected Hanzel for 500 years. Any attempt to attack Hanzel has met with disaster. Monsters, Storms, natural disasters, and numerous other things that would leave any attackers barely able to fight."

"If the contract has been protecting Hanzel for that long, then why is the king launching another campaign to attempt to take it back?" Asher felt worried for his father. The king had to have a plan if he sent Mirr.

"The contract end date is this year. It would only last 500 years after the Demon King's death. That is why the King is launching a campaign to take back Hanzel. Now, do you see why it is the miracle element? A spell lasting 500 years after its caster is dead and buried is truly a miracle." Cynthia stated.

Asher thought about it. Making a contract that could be carried out after death was terrific. But not only that, according to Cynthia, they can make someone stronger by leaps and bounds. Asher lamented not having the element. He wanted to test the limits of what was possible. "What would happen if someone were to break a miracle contract?"

"Depends on if it is written into the contract. For yours, it is not specified so it can be anything from you getting sick to dying to having a string of bad luck." Cynthia shrugged.

Asher gulped that the miracle element could do that. "Then let's avoid that." The miracle element must be helpful to a Vice Merchant Guild Master.

"From your contract, you are going to the Derma caves. It is a dungeon with monsters that range from novices to knights. So it should be fine. I am mainly worried that you have no experience with the danger of dungeons." Cynthia tapped her chin.

"What kind of dangers?" Asher thought it over. The dangers should be the monsters.

"Miasma," Cynthia stated flatly.

"Miasma?" Asher repeated.

"Aether is a compound that exists naturally in our world's atmosphere. It has four common forms: Ether, Mana, Essence, and Miasma. Ether is the pure, unfiltered form. Essence is formed when aether is aspected to one of the elements and embedded into something. Ore, plants, objects, or people. You should know a little about essence as you need essence to refine your core and mana network."

Asher nodded as he listened to her explanation. "Mana is the refined form of aether. For people, they intake ether from the air then refine and store it in their core as mana. For monsters, they cannot refine ether, so they have to eat beings with mana. That's why monsters rarely eat plants or livestock when they attack towns."

"They would only attack people with cores." Asher took a guess.

"Yep, a lot of orphans have a story of staring down a monster only for that monster to turn away leaving them alive and devouring their parents. It's because they don't have cores yet." Cynthia nodded in agreement. "When mana is expelled from the body, it decays back into ether. This decay produces energy."

"And that energy is magic, right?" Asher interrupted.

"Yes. The last form is miasma. It is what happens when a large quantity of Aether is located in a single space." Cynthia explained. "There are ley lines. They are invisible paths that move Aether around the world. They crisscross and circumnavigate the entire globe. However, some locations cause the aether to settle in large quantities. This creates vapor and..."

"Dungeons." Asher realized what Cynthia was getting at.

"Yes and no. Miasma is not enough to make a dungeon. Miasma causes miasma madness. People begin to attack strange. They become increasingly deranged. I remember one man sitting in a corner repeatedly saying, 'Rain, make it clean,' repeatedly. It still gives me nightmares." Cynthia sighed. "However, monsters become hyper-aggressive. They begin ripping apart everything and anything until one monster reigns supreme. That monster becomes the dungeon boss and establishes the dungeon."

"So, dungeon needs a dungeon boss? But wait, if haze is what makes a dungeon and has such a bad effect, then how can anyone explore a dungeon and remain sane?" Asher realized that no one could survive a dungeon.

"Yes," Cynthia laughed. She enjoyed the inquisitive nature of her students. "Short exposure has little effect. However, for longer exploration, they use Aether filters. It is a mask that filters and converts some into miasma."

'Kind of sounds like some kind of gas mask.' Asher thought. "So the masks are useful. Maybe I should get me one."

Cynthia nodded. "For the most part, they are useful in standard dungeons. There are four types: standard, instance, raid, and mass. Standard dungeons are like the ones that you are going to. They are formed from natural aether pools like caverns and labyrinths."

Asher thought it over. "I see. They form because they are in locations cut off from the ley lines. But what about instance dungeons?"

"Remember what I said about mana having a semi-intelligence. Aether is the same if enough people have the same belief about a location, the aether will collect around it. It is normal places like temples and ruins that people have rumors about. It is this type of dungeon. It is rare to see a blessing element user not in the clergy."

"Blessing element?" Asher looked curiously at Cynthia.

"The blessing element can be used to purify miasma. The church always forces anyone with the blessing element to join them because miasma collects there frequently due to people's belief." Cynthia sighed. "They practically bully anyone born a commoner with a blessing element to join them."

"Okay, I see. What about the other two types?" Asher wanted to know everything about the dungeons.

"A mass dungeon forms from the ley lines. They are constantly moving and crossing each other. If three or four lines cross at the same point, it fills the area with miasma, driving all the monsters in the area insane. They start attacking anything that moves. They usually last a few days until the lines diverge and everything returns to normal." Cynthia smirked as Asher listened intently.

"The last is a raid, and they are formed from War. If a bunch of mages get into the same place and release high-level spells one after another, they will saturate the area in the aether, creating a raid dungeon. They are the rarest as the condition needs to be just right, but usually, it results in a massive monster appearing to feed on the corpses of fallen soldiers." Cynthia explained.

Asher scratched his chin. "I see why dungeons are so terrifying."

"There are many dangers inside dungeons that don't include just the monster, which is why I am against you going, but you are going to have to." Cynthia sighed. "Luckily, I bought you some things that should help on my trip." Cynthia pulled out an egg, a stone slate, a metal box, and a halberd. "These should help you somewhat."

Asher looked over the items. He picked up the metal box and opened it. It was filled with greenish-blue chalk. "That is alchemy chalk. You use it to draw transmutation circles." Asher looked at her with wide eyes. 'What don't you clap your hands to transmute?' "Transmutation circles are no different than normal magic circles, except they need to be precise one mistake can have unexpected results. So, it is usually easier to take your time and draw a detailed circle by hand. The slate is so you have a smooth surface to draw."

"So, you're planning to teach me transmutation?"

"Yes, but it is not my specialty." Cynthia poured some tea and took a long sip. "I am more skilled at apothecary than transmutation. But I know a thing or two."

"That explains the slate. So, what makes these alchemy chalk?" Asher questioned.

"It is made by mixing chalk with ground-up monster cores with an alchemy element," Cynthia explained.

"What about the egg and halberd?" Asher used his scan on both.

[Scan complete]

Name: Lotto Egg

Description: An egg from a Lotto. No telling what is inside. Pour mana into into it to make it hatch.

0/100 MP

[Scan Complete]

Name: Burning Halberd

Type: Weapon (Halberd)

Quality: B+

Element: Fire

[A Halberd enchanted with the fire element. The blade radiates heat with every second.]

Status: Slashing/Stabbing Damage

Skill: Fire Slash

[Covers the axe blade entirely in fire]

Cost: 2% Mana

Skill: Burning Thrush

[Covers the pike with fire]

Price: 1% Mana

Skill: Fire Arch

[Creates a wave of fire that travels in a straight line]

Cost: 15% Mana

They seem interesting. The halberd, in particular, would be extremely useful to Asher.