Mint Flavored Mana

~~~

Riva immediately noticed the new type of mana that suddenly appeared within the city. Her perception was enhanced enough to lock onto its origin. There she found a familiar signature, Rao! Even more, he had apparently locked onto her and was watching her, damn stalker!

What was he doing? Couldn't he just leave her alone and what was up with this strange mana?

[Core Essence of an Ice Dragon]

[Originates from a dragon's core. User is advised to recover a sample to unlock further dungeon functions]

A quick check with the identification skill revealed the information.

Riva was hesitating. Wasn't this another one of Rao's manipulations? She didn't want to let him control her actions.

No! There was no need for hesitation. She had to take advantage of anything and everything that could help her achieve her goals, be it the system and the ones behind it, the dryad or Rao! So what if they had ulterior motives? She could take advantage of them all the same!

And if Rao expected to get in her good books by doing this, he was dead wrong. She had no intention to help the creep in any way.

Having come to a decision, Riva didn't hesitate any longer and targeted the newly appeared mana for absorption.

If she had to describe it, the mana before had been a bit bland with all kinds of mixed flavors that intertwined into one muddy whole. This new mana had a pronounced taste. Refreshing, like mint-flavored candy.

Delicious!

~

In the morning, Riva left Marinon for her first revenge target.

She had endured the boring gaze from Rao for the remainder of the night, there was simply nothing to be done about it, and absorbed a good bit of ice dragon mana. She was eventually rewarded with the pleasant sight.

['Devourer' racial skill activated. Comprehension of 'Ice Dragon' reached the required percentage.

Related skills unlocked for purchase. Related dungeon management options unlocked. Mutation requirement met]

On her way, Riva found the guard post in panic. There were several new important-looking people wearing shining armor. Something must have happened, but it couldn't have been all too serious because they completely ignored her departure once she flashed her identity badge.

She was no longer hesitant about using it. She would take advantage of the resources at hand and worry about the consequences once they became relevant. She had spent far too much time worrying.

Riva was humming a happy tune while looking through the system with satisfaction.

She finally found the time to check the system's shop. Its interface was that of a search engine. Only by entering something in the search would it display the corresponding goods.

It was a little stupid in the sense that she couldn't preview the items that the shop carried. She needed to know about it in advance or make a blind guess in order to find them.

She had tried generalized terms like 'weapon' but this only resulted in [The search term is too broad]

Thus Riva tried searching for something that she was certain, the shop carried because the system had informed her of it. Searching for 'Ice Dragon Skill' resulted in a short list of skills, with the most notable being 'Ice Magic Proficiency and 'Frost Scale Armor'. Others included 'Fresh Breath' and Riva couldn't help laughing when she read 'Demeanor of the Tyrant', which appeared to be a common racial skill for all dragons.

These skills were indeed pretty damn interesting, non the less she searched for something different before deciding to make a purchase. She had had an idea for a while now and this was her chance to test its viability.

Turned out Riva was lucky because she easily found what she had been looking for. She immediately purchased it, spending most of her newly acquired energy reserves.

[Telepathy]

[A skill from the mind domain enables its user to speak directly through their thoughts and project their voice into a willing target's mind*]

The '*' disclaimer just clarified that only the skill's user could speak in other people's heads. The target couldn't reply in the same way. This would have been a massive downside for normal users but it didn't matter for Riva's plan.

Riva continued searching through the shop by entering random terms. She found a few more skills that might come in handy and even discovered that the system also carried mundane items.

After a while of searching, she came to the conclusion that the shop seemed to carry all the mundane items with which she came into contact. Based on the notification, after absorbing the mana from the ice dragon, she could also unlock skills by coming into contact with something that was related to them. She suspected that 'Telepathy' was only available because of her extended contact with Rao.

Without noticing, Riva had already walked a long distance and was getting close to the next town, when she encountered something odd. She was taking the public road, which was the most convenient way to reach the fortress where her target stayed.

Meeting one or two merchant wagons on her path was to be expected, but what the hell was a full-blown traffic jam doing out here in the boonies?

For real, there were at least 20 wagons of different shapes and sizes parked on the road ahead!

Riva approached the last wagon, a simple wooden and ox-drawn model carrying sacks of potatoes, and addressed its driver.

"Hey there and good afternoon to you! Can you tell me what's going on? How come you're all waiting here?" Riva initiated the conversation.

"Well met young traveler!" The burly farmer answered in kind, "I dunno bout the details but from what I 'eard the young folks're makin' a ruckus cause of a new Dungeon or sumthin'. They're campin' out here and obstructin' us ord'nary folks just goin' about our buss'ness."

He gestured towards a man in armor that was heading their way. "You know how t'is, all them tryin' to keep the good grub all to 'emselves. Thinkin' blockin' the road will keep the news from gettin' out or sumthin'."

Maybe Riva would need to invest in a language comprehension skill in the future. This farmer dude's accent was bad enough to make it sound like he was speaking a different language.

"Old man, stop spreading lies and slandering our name." The armored man had heard the farmer's complaints (and understood them) and immediately defended himself. "We, the Granite Adventurers, would never stoop that low. It's us who're protecting you ordinary people. You owe us your gratitude!"

The man was evidently already in a bad mood, but he still smiled, benefits of Riva's good looks, when he turned and addressed her.

"You're out of luck, the road's closed. The perimeter needs to be secured until we've determined the dungeon's type and rank. We can't risk contamination. I suggest you take a detour or get ready to camp out. We'll be done by tomorrow morning."